Friday, May 29, 2015

Free to financially pillage and rape

By Jim Quinn

It’s always interesting to see a long term chart that reflects your real life experiences. I bought my first home in 1990. It was a small townhouse and I paid $100k, put 10% down, and obtained a 9.875% mortgage. I was thrilled to get under 10%. Those were different times, when you bought a home as a place to live. We had our first kid in 1993 and started looking for a single family home. We stopped because our townhouse had declined in value to $85k, so I couldn’t afford to sell. In 1995 I convinced my employer to rent my townhouse, as they were already renting multiple townhouses for all the foreigners doing short term assignments in the U.S. We bought a single family home in 1995 with the sole purpose of having a decent place to raise a family that was within 20 minutes of my job.

Considering home prices on an inflation adjusted basis were lower than they were in 1980, I was certainly not looking at it as some sort of investment vehicle. But, as you can see from the chart, nationally prices soared by about 55% between 1995 and 2005. My home supposedly doubled in value over 10 years. I was ecstatic when I was eventually able to sell my townhouse in 2004 for $134k. I felt so smart, until I saw a notice in the paper one year later showing my old townhouse had been sold again for $176k. Who knew there were so many greater fools.

This was utterly ridiculous, as home prices over the last 100 years have gone up at the rate of inflation. Robert Shiller and a few other rational thinking people called it a bubble. They were scorned and ridiculed by the whores at the NAR and the bimbo cheerleaders on CNBC. Something smelled rotten in the state of housing. We now know who was responsible. Greenspan and Bernanke were at least 75% responsible for the housing bubble and its eventual implosion, which essentially destroyed our economic system. They purposely kept interest rates at obscenely low levels, encouraging every Tom, Dick and Julio to buy a home with a negative amortization, no doc, nothing down, adjustable rate mortgage, so they could live the American dream of being in debt up to their eyeballs.

Greenspan and Bernanke were also responsible for regulating the Wall Street banks. They allowed them to leverage themselves 30 to 1. They allowed them to create fraudulent high risk mortgage products. They looked the other way as Wall Street sliced and diced these guaranteed to default mortgages into AAA rated derivatives that were then spread throughout the global financial system like ticking time bombs. As home prices rose three standard deviations above the long term average, these Ivy League educated geniuses cheered it all on. Bernanke saw no bubble, just as it was bursting. He saw no mal-investment or systematic risk from this orgy of greed and fraud. And then it all blew up in our faces, while the perpetrators walked away unscathed to pillage and rape once more.

GREAT NEWS: ICE Still Releasing Criminal Aliens Into U.S. Population at a Frightening Pace

By Jessica Vaughan

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published an investigative report on violent criminals released by ICE. Aptly titled "Convicted, but free to roam: Giving little notice, federal authorities have released thousands of detained undeportable immigrants — sometimes with grave results", the article tells the story of a rapist and a murderer turned loose by ICE. Such criminal alien releases are continuing at an alarming pace in 2015.

According to documents provided to the House Judiciary Committee for a hearing last month, ICE released 30,558 convicted criminal aliens in FY 2014. These individuals had been convicted of 79,059 crimes, including 175 homicides, 373 sexual assaults, 186 kidnappings, and 14,014 impaired driving offenses (see the listing of conviction categories here).

As of the end of March, ICE had released another 10,246 criminal aliens. This pace of criminal releases is down from 2013 and 2014 — but only because ICE is arresting far fewer people to start with, not because there are fewer to arrest. ICE arrests of criminal aliens are down 32 percent since this time last year, according to ICE records. Arrests of the most serious offenders are down by 22 percent over last year.

Larwyn's Linx: Remember when the press would hound Bush to admit his mistakes?

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Nation

Remember when the press would hound Bush to admit his mistakes?: Erick Erickson
ICE Still Releasing Criminal Aliens at a Rapid Pace: Jessica Vaughan
Communists Right: Poverty Too Serious To Be left To Government: John Ransom

'Insult to the Constitution': Judge presses Obama lawyer in Obamacare case: Exam
Cruz Attacks: Demands Answers On Obamacare Subsidies: CHQ
These 4 Graphics Tell the Story of School Choice: Kelsey Harris

Sachs: Clintons ‘In Utter Pursuit of Money All The Time’: WFB
New progressive mantra: Greed is good: Ed Morrissey
Teflon Tony Rodham, the Clintons’ Shady Id: Brendan Bordelon

Where It Counts: Huck, Cruz, Walker Lead: Dick Morris
The Circle of Jerks Turns From Scott Walker to Ted Cruz: Erick Erickson
Lifestyles of the Rich and Mostly Useless: MB

Economy

Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge?: Michelle Malkin
Union Threats and LowTactics Over Trade Deal ‘Not Appreciated’ By Democrats: LUR
The CDC is in bed with Big Pharma: Bob Livingston

Scandal Central

Justice as Collateral Damage: Bruce Thompson
Loretta Lynch has a Lois Lerner decision to make: Pete Kasperowicz
Complaint: Tea-Party-targeting DOJ attorneys now work for White House: Exam

Media

MSM: Why, This Hillary Character Seems Evasive and Flawed: Guy Benson
Rubio Warns Mainstream Christianity is Being Labeled Hate Speech in America: DownTrend
WILD BILL FOR AMERICA: 21st Century Crusaders Urgently Needed Again To Defeat Islam: Shoebat

Mark Levin: ‘I Don’t Know How Hillary Hasn’t At Least Served Some Time In Prison’: DC
Megyn Kelly takes down Rand Paul on the Patriot Act: Power Line
Hillary Clinton Adopts Fake Southern Accent, Again: VictoryGirls

Nicholas Kristof tries the Otter Defense on behalf of the Clintons.: Moe Lane
Iran Arrests, Tortures Political Cartoonist - #freeatena: Clarion
Megyn Kelly attacks CNN Cuomo’s ignorance, comparison of ‘Draw Muhammad’ to ‘n-word’: BPR

World

China Warns that War is Inevitable: Daniel John Sobieski
SecDef Carter Talks Tough on China: AmInt
Corrupt Clinton Foundation Paid Blumenthal $10K a Month to Provide Intel on Libya: JWF

Filling the Vacuum in Syria: Islamic State, Al-Nusra Front, and Hezbollah: Yaakov Lappin
Egypt's Blockade of Gaza: Khaled Abu Toameh
Iranian Negotiator: We Reached Solution with P5+1 on Site Inspection, But Khamenei Rejected It: MEMRI

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

John Nash's Game Theory and Greece: Mohamed A. El-Erian
Hubble in Pictures: Astronomers' Top Picks (Photos): Space.com
Australia confident Great Barrier Reef not 'in danger': Phys.org

Cornucopia

Sen. Bernie Sanders' 1972 Essay: Women 'Fantasize About Being Raped': MRC
Friday Photo Fun Match Game: TSG
What a Failed City Looks Like: Bob Owens

Image: Iran Arrests, Tortures Political Cartoonist - #freeatena
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a real conservative? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "Well, the guy who ran the table was the most conservative Republican nominated for president in modern American history. Maybe history period [Reagan]. That’s what we need to do ... I’m not happy with the [current GOP] candidates. There’s too damn many of them. But that said, I can’t control it, and neither can anybody else.”

But I do think we conservatives are going to have to rally behind one or two or three relatively quickly or the RINO’s are going to pick us off, as they did with McCain and Romney and hope to do with Jeb Bush, among others." --Mark Levin

Thursday, May 28, 2015

It Doesn't Get More American Than This

Dan from New York writes:

Some Americans know how to defend freedom of speech better than others. But be forewarned, the twisted sisters of legacy media want you to think it’s a bad thing.

foreignpolicy.com, 2015/05/28

Armed Bikers Plan to Draw Cartoons of Mohammed Outside a Mosque in Arizona


An armed biker gang. Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. A mosque in Arizona. What could possibly go wrong?

We’ll find out Friday, when two organizers — Jon Ritzheimer and Flash Nelson — host what’s being billed as a peaceful demonstration outside the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix. It’s the former site of worship for Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, who were killed after opening fire outside a May 3 contest featuring cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in suburban Dallas. Simpson had no direct link to the Islamic State but was sympathetic to its cause. Many Muslims consider depictions of Mohammed blasphemous.

Just like the cartoon contest outside Dallas, this event, scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Friday, appears to welcome controversy. In a Facebook invite, the planners urge attendees to take full advantage of their Second Amendment right to carry weapons. So far, 163 people have RSVP’d...

...[The organizer] Ritzheimer did not return a request for comment Thursday. He told localmedia in Arizona, “I’m a Marine, and I am far from politically correct.… I’m outspoken, and I’ve just had it.”

Either you believe in free political speech or you don't. And this is political speech we're talking about.


Larwyn's Linx: When They Come for The Smaller Groups

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Nation

When They Come for The Smaller Groups: Axe to the Root
Dem Senators: Importing 65,000 Syrians a “Security Imperative”: Daniel Greenfield
Knocking On War’s Door: Victor Davis Hanson

White House Excuse for Ramadi Defeat: Lack of Diversity: Keith Koffler
Psaki: Obama's Strategy In Iraq, Which Is Perfect, May Need to be Adjusted: Ace
Pelosi: We’re Beating Isis – On Twitter: Tammy Bruce

Elizabeth Warren Bought Foreclosed Homes to Make a Quick Profit: NRO
As Other Dems Emerge, Hillary Will Crash: Dick Morris
Hillary Clinton’s Fake Southern Accent Is Baaaaaaack!: IJR

Rand Paul Reveals His True Colors and Destroys Himself: PJM
Why Rick Santorum Matters: Erick Erickson
Fiorina: Hillary's track record is Middle East collapse and Russian "reset": Breitbart

Economy

LA Unions Want an Exemption From Minimum Wage Law They Just Lobbied For: OTB
No Memorial Day For Inner-City Dead: Cal Thomas
Arizona border town 'like a war zone all the time,' protesting residents say: LAT

Scandal Central

Clinton Foundation hit with racketeering lawsuit: Exam
Clinton Foundation finds itself drawn into FIFA soccer corruption scandal: Moe Lane
Cruz Threatens to Subpoena Treasury Officials to Testify About Obamacare Rules: Niels Lesniewski

Climate & Energy

Leaving the Church of Environmentalism: Alan Caruba
The Loch Ness Monster Of Energy Storage: SDA
Obama Claims ‘Dominion’ Over All U.S. Bodies of Water… Even Puddles: LibertyNews

Media

Politico Smears Scott Walker With False Quote: Caleb Howe
Audio: The Ted Cruz 2016 rap anthem: Hot Air
Ann Coulter Takes On Jorge Ramos–Watch the Video!: VDARE

Journalists: Do Your Job: Joe Cunningham
Limbaugh: American Left and Militant Islam Have 'Formed an Accord' to Target Christianity: Jeff Poor
The rape epidemic and Nicholas Kristof’s cognitive dissonance: RS

World

No One Likes the Nuclear Iran Deal Except Obama and Iran: TIP
Five Taliban Swapped For Bergdahl Soon Free To Travel: S&L
Muslims on Egyptian TV Wonder If Obama Is Insane or on Drugs: Sara Noble

UJA-Federation Exposed: $6MM Sent to New Israel Fund Via Wholly-Owned Subsidiary: JCC Watch
China puts weapons on its new artificial islands: John Garnaut
China raises prospect of South China Sea air defence zone: Charles Clover

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Forget Pizza: In The Future, Drones May Deliver You: Richard Procter
Yes, you can get a ticket for using Apple Watch while driving: Buster Hein
Lenovo's projector phone beams a touchscreen onto any surface: Richard Lai

Cornucopia

Kate Upton Chugging Beer Out Of A Bag And Pitching A Fit Over Her Towed Car: DC
If Alcohol Ads Were Honest: BuzzFeed
AP’s Matt Lee Makes State Dept’s Jen Psaki Look Even Dumber Than Usual: Stephen Kruiser

Image: Lenovo's projector phone beams a touchscreen onto any surface
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a real conservative? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "Sen. Ted Cruz is warning he might seek to compel testimony from the Treasury Department about the Affordable Care Act... The Texas Republican presidential candidate, who has the gavel of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, said his staff had been informed by the Obama administration that witnesses would not be available to testify about the rule-making process for providing subsidies under Obamacare because of ongoing litigation.

“For two main reasons, this excuse is entirely invalid,” Cruz wrote in a new letter to Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew. “First, Congress retains its right to conduct oversight of the executive branch at all times, regardless of any perceptions of poor timing by, or inconvenience to, the executive branch. The Senate Judiciary Committee has obligations to ensure the proper functioning of the federal government at all times, and not just during windows of convenience for political officials. Second, your Department’s pending litigation justification is without basis, particularly given how you have provided at least one Department witness for the exact same topic during the pendency of other litigation over the last few years.”

In the letter, Cruz said if three tax policy officials at the Treasury Department are not made available on a voluntary basis, he may pursue other methods to get them to appear. The subcommittee had been planning to hold the hearing on June 4...

“If you do not opt to assist Congress and make all three individuals available voluntarily, I may have no choice but to pursue other options, including compulsory process, to make them available for testimony,” Cruz wrote in the missive to Lew. “Please note, in the event we are compelled to use compulsory process to ensure the attendance of these witnesses, the two-week courtesy notice prior to testimony is no longer applicable, and these individuals can be summoned for testimony at any time deemed convenient for the Committee.”" --Niels Lesniewski

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

TWO CHARTS: "The stock market is as overvalued as it was in 1929, 2000, and 2007"

By Jim Quinn

“Things always become obvious after the fact”Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The S&P 500 currently stands at 2,126, fractionally below its all-time high. It is now 300% above the 2009 low and 34% above the 2008 and 2001 previous highs. Most people believe this is the new normal. They are comfortably numb in their ignorance of facts, reality, the truth, and the inevitability of a bleak future. When the herd is convinced progress and never ending gains are the norm, the apparent stability and normality always degenerates into instability and extreme anxiety. As many honest analysts have proven, with unequivocal facts and proven valuation measurements, the stock market is as overvalued as it was in 1929, 2000, and 2007.

WELL DONE: Texas Outlaws Any Application of Radical Islamic Sharia Law Within its Borders

By Warner Todd Huston

Once again the nation looks to Texas for the way things ought to be. This time the Texas Legislature has passed a law permanently barring Muslims from trying to institute their own sharia-based savagery on their own communities in the Lone Star State.

Shoebat.com reports that the anti-sharia law was passed this week.

WOAI State Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) doesn’t mention Islamic Koranic law, or ‘Sharia Law’ in her bill. She simply says it guarantees that no laws fro ‘foreign courts’ will be adopted by Texas civil court judges.

“It’s just to provide some belt and suspenders to make sure that, with judicial discretion, we don’t trump Texas law, American law, with a foreign law regarding family law,” Campbell said.

Muslim groups say the bill is a ‘solution looking for problem, and claim that the bill has its genesis in an anti Muslim demonstration on the steps of the Texas Capitol in January in which the proposal was cheered.

But these Muslim groups are lying.

Hillary Clinton, Lord of War

By Matthew Vadum

While presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was America’s top diplomat the Department of State that she oversaw approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments forked over millions of dollars to the now-embattled Clinton Foundation.

According to an International Business Times report by David Sirota and Andrew Perez, “at least seven foreign governments that received State Department clearance for American arms did donate to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary.” The article identified the seven nations as Algeria, Australia, Kuwait, Norway, Oman, Qatar, and Thailand.

Mainstream media’s surprisingly probing coverage of the unfolding Clinton Foundation donations-for-favors scandal suggests that reporters have turned on the Clintons in the age of Obama.

And the fact that the IBT piece was co-authored by Marxist author and radio talk show host David Sirota adds to the growing pile of evidence that some of the more ideologically pure progressives in the Democratic Party are ganging up on Mrs. Clinton in order to help as yet undeclared presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Sirota, a former press aide to various left-wing lawmakers such as then-Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described socialist who just launched his own quixotic presidential campaign, isn’t exactly an objective observer. A longtime left-wing activist who hurls invective at conservatives and Republicans, Sirota has slobbered over Warren, calling the anti-capitalism crusader “one of the most promising political leaders in a generation.”

Meanwhile, the $165 billion figure, “derived from the three full fiscal years of Clinton’s term as Secretary of State (from October 2010 to September 2012) — represented nearly double the value of American arms sales made to the those countries and approved by the State Department during the same period of President George W. Bush’s second term.”

While Hillary Clinton headed the State Department the agency also gave its blessing to “$151 billion of separate Pentagon-brokered deals for 16 of the countries that donated to the Clinton Foundation, resulting in a 143 percent increase in completed sales to those nations over the same time frame during the Bush administration.”

Larwyn's Linx: Hillary Clinton, Lord of War

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

Nation

Hillary Clinton, Lord of War: Moe Lane
An Obama Crime Wave Spreads Across America: IBD
Terror-Tied CAIR Wants Us to Stop Honoring Soldiers on Memorial Day: Sara Noble

Obama, the Jews, the Muslims, and Us: Michael Ledeen
Mark Levin explains federal court smackdown of Obama’s illegal amnesty: Scoop
Osama and Obama: Dueling Perpetual Grad Students: Ed Driscoll

The Beginning of a New Trail for Reporters: Erick Erickson
Bernie Sanders’ Foul Socialist Odor: Michelle Malkin
Hillary Clinton, The Candidate Who Will Sell You Cheap Crap: Ace

Scott Walker suggests he might skip the Florida primary: The Week
In Baltimore, Social Justice = War: Steve Sailer
Mark Levin Responds to Bircher Nonsense around Article V Convention: Jen Kuznicki

Economy

Sunset the Tax Code: Colin Hanna
Is The 505 Trillion Dollar Interest Rate Derivatives Bubble About to Burst?: Michael Snyder
How study contradicts benefits of H-1B visas: Ishani Duttagupta

Scandal Central

Sure, why not: Hillary never disclosed secret shell company that funnels income to Bill Clinton: Hot Air
Clinton Foundation Donors Got Weapons Deals From Hillary Clinton's State Department: IBTimes
GOP Zeroes In On Clinton Aide Huma Abedin Over Email Controversy: Ela Dutt

Climate & Energy

The Green Behind California’s Greens: Steve Malanga
Former Senator Mary Landrieu is Washington’s newest oil lobbyist: ACC
Updated NASA Data: Global Warming Not Causing Any Polar Ice Retreat: Forbes

Media

Al Jazeera Audience Supports ISIS 'Victories': Brian Lilley
Liberals Respect Me: Walter Williams
Rep. Alan Grayson "Accidentally" Tweeted "F*ck The Police": Miami New Times

Ann Coulter’s War: Ben Shapiro
University Administration Bloat: The Tail the Size of the Dog: AmInt
Hollywood Liberal Posts Damning Quote Attributed to Ted Cruz — Except It’s Fake: Dave Urbanski

World

Obama, Anti-Semitism and Iran: Walter Russell Mead
Obama is Putting Our Nuclear Navy at Risk: RS
Seeking to Spark Sectarian War, ISIS Bombs Saudi Arabia: Ryan Mauro

A Genocide of Christians is Underway - and the West Sleeps: Giulio Meotti
'World encourages violence by condemning Israel constantly': Hayom
E-Bracelets for Pilgrims: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Cambiar

Eurozone debt crisis: A Spanish wake-up call for Europe: Desmond Lachman
Now convoy of Russian tanks arrive by rail at border with Ukraine: Daily Mail
U.S. pushback against Muslim refugees ‘growing’: Leo Hohmann

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

This Stealth Missile Will Use EMPs To Cripple Enemy Electronics: Tyler Rogoway
Self-parking Volvo ploughs into journalists: Independent
World’s first robo chef unveiled at the CES in Shanghai: Raif Karerat

Cornucopia

Michelle’s Advice To Graduates: Fraternize With the Enemy i.e. that’s us: MOTUS
Do You Realize Mad Max: Fury Road Is A Miracle?: Rob Bricken
Easy Math: iOTWreport

Image: Hillary Clinton, The Candidate Who Will Sell You Cheap Crap
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a real conservative? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "OK, it’s not just me, right? This looks bad on a basic level, yes? It is not ridiculous to be upset that the Secretary of State was taking millions of dollars from the countries that she was funneling billions of dollars’ worth of business – weapons business – to, correct? Because as the Hill did not particularly note – but the International Business Times (H/T: Hot Air) did – these weapons sales represent a significant increase (read: ‘doubling’) over arms sales as those made during a similar chronological point in the Bush administration. Simply put: the State Department turned on the arms spigot, and various foreign governments and companies started filling up the Clinton Foundation trough.

So what’s the point? The point, my friends, is that you may now tell your liberal friends and colleagues that Hillary Clinton, by the Left’s own rules, can be fairly called a bloody-handed Merchant of Death* who profited off of the American government’s lucrative arms business. Watching them process that should give you some amusement. Especially when you remind them that they’re voluntarily going to vote for a woman who made money from arming regimes that oppress and execute their own subjects.

*”Lady of War” is far too nice-sounding. I frankly wouldn’t trust her to run a paintball tournament, at this point." --Moe Lane

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

NOT THE ONION: "Marie Harf promoted to senior advisor, will focus on negotiations with Iran"

Just when you think Democrats have hit rock bottom:


The last time we checked in with Marie Harf, she was explaining to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that Iraqi security forces “have held their lines on the outside of the city” — that city being Ramadi, which had just fallen to ISIS. We won’t be seeing as much of Harf on CNN or behind the podium beginning next week, and not for the reasons you’d suspect.

Instead, Harf is being promoted to senior advisor for strategic communications to Secretary of State John Kerry, where she will “continue her work leading on the Iran negotiations communications strategy.”

...
Yes, exactly like that, except dealing with nuclear weapons negotiations with a hostile nation.
Gird your loins, my friends.

Valerie Jarrett and Marie Harf have our backs.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.
 

Iranian Terror Newspaper Confirms Hezbollah’s Massive Military Buildup on Border with Israel

By The Tower

A Hezbollah-allied newspaper, As-Safir, recently published a series reports on the massive infrastructure, including a network of tunnels, that the Iranian-backed terrorist organization has been building on Lebanon’s border with Israel, The Times of Israel reported Saturday. According to the Times, Hezbollah is “painting a picture of a military force highly prepared for conflict, both in terms of equipment and of infrastructure.”

According to the reports, based on a tour of Hezbollah facilities given to the newspaper, the group has built a sprawling underground array of tunnels, bunkers and surveillance outposts along the border with Israel, which it is manning at peak readiness for battle.

The tunnels are said to be highly-advanced, with durable concrete, a 24-hour power supply via underground generators, a ventilation system to prevent damp from damaging military equipment and a web of secondary escape shafts in case of attack. The tunnels are said to be housing tens of thousands of rockets ready for launch, themselves wrapped in protective materials in order to preserve them. …

Tunnel construction was said to be continuing around the clock, using primitive means rather than advanced machinery in order to avoid detection by Israeli surveillance.

While the Times cautioned that as-Safir is “a mouthpiece” for Hezbollah, the reports of the tunnels and infrastructure match warnings that the Israeli military has been giving. Earlier this month, The New York Times quoted an Israeli military official who characterized residents of southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah’s infrastructure is strongest, as “civilians are living in a military compound.”

CRIME RATES AND GUN BANS: The Professor is Lying Through His Teeth

By Karl Denninger

The wrong question is being asked here.

In the past few years, Americans have witnessed shootings at a movie in Colorado, a 3-year-old shooting and killing his father in Indiana and, most recently, nine people killed in a fight among biker gangs in Waco.

Amazingly, Americans seem to see these regular incidents as normal. It’s a powerful and sad testament to how anesthetized we have become to this ongoing violence. And despite all of this violence and loss of life, many in Texas and elsewhere want to increase gun ownership and allow people to openly carry firearms.

Since 9/11, Americans have been deeply concerned about threats to national security. Our tendency has been to define national security only in terms of external threats. A much better way is to see national security is in terms of the well-being of our population. If we think of it this way, the evidence is clear — a heavily armed population in the U.S. is not secure because our culture does not seem to lend itself well to allowing the proliferation of guns.

The premise is that there is some magic that will attach if we "strictly regulate" (or even prohibit) private ownership of firearms.

The facts say otherwise, in fact, they say the exact opposite.

The violent crime rate has fallen nearly in half from 1992 to 2011 according to the FBI and it has continued to fall; 2013, the last year for which full data is available, saw further declines.

The rate of murder and non-negligent manslaughter (that is, intentional killing of another human) dropped by a full half from 1994 to 2013.  The rate of******dropped from 39.3 to 25.2, or 36%.

Further, property crime also dropped dramatically; motor vehicle theft, as an example, is down by nearly two thirds and burglary rates are down some 40%.

This dramatic decrease in crime rates come during what has been a reversal of gun bans and restrictions that arguably reached its zenith with the Gun Control Act of 1968.

In other words, the professor is lying through his teeth and, I suspect, he knows it.

14 Democrats Form the Congressional ISIS Caucus

By James Simpson

The United States allows 70,000 people from all over the world to obtain legal permanent residence through our Refugee Program--one of the most generous in the world. We also bring in another 40,000 or so through the Asylum program. Then there is the Special Immigrant Visa for people from Iraq and Afghanistan--about 10,000 in FY 2014--and a Cuban/Haitian Entrant program bringing in another 20,000 annually. That adds up to about 140,000.

Many of these "refugees" come from Islamic countries like Somalia, Iraq and Iran, bringing with them at least the potential for terrorism, in many cases a contempt for our country and the almost universal edict among Muslims to dominate. Islamic supremacist Mega Mosques are being erected all over the country, vigorously supported by the Obama Justice Department, which runs interference for them over the objections of local citizenry.

It's about to get worse. The Syrian civil war--enabled at least partially by Obama's insane foreign policy--has created a refugee crisis, with approximately 2.9 million Syrians now living in refugee camps in surrounding countries. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees wants the U.S. to accept 130,000 Syrians by the end of 2016. We have only taken 700 so far, but given the FBI's warning that it cannot guarantee ISIS or other terrorists are not among the refugees, even that is too many.

Not to be dissuaded from such silly national security concerns, a group of 14 U.S. senators, led by the indefatigable Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, have written a letter to Obama urging him to allow 65,000 Syrians in as refugees. This would require a dramatic expansion of the refugee program, and virtually guarantee that a sizable number of ISIS fighters would slip in among them. Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy has given them the moniker "Jihad Caucus" because practically speaking, Jihad is what this request will bring.

The 14 senators demanding this massive influx of Syrians are:

Larwyn's Linx: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: None Are Safe from the State's Parasites

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

Nation

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: None Are Safe from the State: Pro Libertate
Are We Running Out of Time?: Eileen F. Toplansky
The Civil Disobedience Charles Murray Wants Has Already Arrived: Joy Pullman

Bipartisan crony capitalism and America’s Constitutional crisis: Stephen Z. Nemo
How the left proves Christians and conservatives are not terrorists: RS
The Democrats’ Demographic Mistake.: Moe Lane

Surprise, surprise, there are more Hillary lies: Chip Wood
Chris Wossname: Mark Steyn
Differences Between Left and Right: Part I: Dennis Prager

Memorial Day Thoughts: Ace
“Six Seconds”: Never Yet Melted
A Nation Greater than We Deserve: David French

Economy

Obamacare advocates seek to fix problem they made worse: Byron York
Sticker Shock for Some Obamacare Customers: Megan McArdle
End Fannie and Freddie’s free ride on government credit: Alex J. Pollock

Scandal Central

How EPA flooded the zone on their water power grab: Exam
How The “#Black Lives Matter Crowd” Celebrates Memorial Day 2015: Refuge
Did Clinton pay-to-play arrangement hand over port container operations to UAE?: 1776

Climate & Energy

YNoKyoto: SDA
The sad tales of the Wikipedia gang war regarding WUWT – ‘creepy and a little scary’: WUWT
Obama’s Hot-Air Commencement Address: Cal Thomas

Media

Foundations plan to pay news media to cover radical UN agenda: George Russell
CNN At Peak Level Stupid: Interviews Paid Protester About Twitter Troll: Jay Caruso
The Fall of Mozilla, continued.: Moe Lane

Salon: 'The U.S. military is a national security threat': Mark Tapson
More Accurate New Yorker Locker Room Cover: iOTWreport
Why that Gay Marriage Study Was Faked — and Why We Should Expect More Like It: Ian Tuttle

World

Nobody Wants Syrian Refugees Except Democrats: Brenda Walker
Congress is Investigating Asylum Seekers with Terror Ties: RS
MUSLIMS disrupt air travel on Memorial Day: iOTWreport

81% of respondents to Al Jazeera poll support the Islamic State: Robert Spencer
Kindergarten graduation, 'Palestinian Authority' style: Matzav
Saudi Arabia In Turmoil As Shiites Are Escalating Tensions: Shoebat

Putin Signs Law to Shut Down “Undesirable” Organizations: RS
Report: Moscow Can’t Maintain Current Levels of Military Spending for Much Longer: Paul Goble
John Bolton underestimates Obama: Carol Brown

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Moore's Law Keeps Going, Defying Expectations: Annie Sneed
Milky Way Galaxy Shimmers Over New Zealand Pool in Stunning Amateur Photo: Nina Sen
Giant Black Holes May Be on a Collision Course: Clara Moskowitz

Cornucopia

The Betrayal Papers — Chris Muir Edition (NSFW): Right Planet
Graduation Gifts: Thomas Sowell
Memorial Day in New Hampshire: Mark Steyn

Image: How The “#Black Lives Matter Crowd” Celebrates Memorial Day 2015
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a real conservative? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "Aside from anything else, [the lies about Benghazi are] a wonderful example of how shriveling and corrupting politics is... I don't care what party this is.

It doesn't matter if they're Republicans, if they're Democrats or the Socialist Workers' Party or the Raving Green Looney Party, if you support that party, you should be ashamed of a shriveled definition of politics, that it consumes even those who you claim are your friends, like Chris Stevens. He's a real person. Sean Smith is a real person. Tyrone Woods is a real person. Glen Doherty — these are real people, not just props in Obama's attempt to swing 1,200 soccer moms in southern Ohio." --Mark Steyn

Monday, May 25, 2015

Mass Slaughter of Women, Children in Palmyra While Obama Golfs, Eats Ice Cream for Reporters

By Sara Noble

Libya Also in Danger as ISIS Runs Wild After Hillary and Obama Eviscerated Its Government

Yesterday, Barack Obama played golf, on the same day that 400 women and children and hundreds of troops were slaughtered in Palmyra. Today he’s yucking it up with reporters and eating ice cream while a British Lord is calling out for action, saying “we can no longer rule out boots on the ground.”

He has not a care in the world.

Obama is a completely delusional, unserious man.

According to Reuters, opposition activists on social media claimed that hundreds of bodies were in the streets of the city.

“The terrorists have killed more than 400 people.. and mutilated their bodies, under the pretext that they cooperated with the government and did not follow orders,” a Palmyra resident told Syria’s state news agency.

State employees were among hundreds killed in the massacre. Among them was the head of of nursing department at the hospital and all her family.

More than 300 troops have been killed and a much larger number have disappeared.

People are being set afire in the streets.

Palmyra is the home of an ancient Roman city 2200 years old and can be dated back to 4000 BC. ISIS will destroy and sell all of Palmyra before they are done.

ISIS is becoming a very serious threat in Libya, the country Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton helped destroy and for which he receives no blame whatsoever.

CRONY CLIMATE CAPITALISTS: 6,000 First-Generation Chevrolet Volts Still Sitting On Dealer Lots

"Once a loser, always a loser" may be the new motto of Government Motors:

...before Chevrolet can concentrate on selling the all-new version of the plug-in hybrid EV, it needs to find a way to move the overstock of first-gen models currently sitting on dealer lots."

According to The Detroit Free Press, Chevy dealers had about 6,000 2015 Volts on their lots at the end of April, more than twice the amount of Volts the automaker sold in the first four months of 2015. An enticing 39-month lease at $299 per month and $1,649 due at signing is currently being offered on 2015 Volts, but the majority of owners would still rather wait for the new model to arrive.

The 2016 Volt will travel 50 miles under electric power alone before its 1.5-liter four-cylinder EcoTec engine kicks in to help charge the car’s lithium ion batteries. By comparison, the outgoing model will travel just 37 miles on electric power and uses a less efficient 1.4-liter engine. Chevy has also confirmed the 2016 model will start at $33,995 before a $7,500 tax credit, which is more than the first Volt’s current average transaction price of $30,607, but probably not enough to turn customers away and buy the cheaper first-gen car.

Cheaper gasoline prices have curbed interest in all electric and hybrid cars, with sales of plug-in hybrids like the Volt falling 33% year-over-year.

In 2012, Reuters reported that GM was losing about $50,000 on each Volt it produced. Experts estimated then the Volt cost about $90,000 each to produce.

What a freaking debacle.

And all in a day's work for Obama and his merry band of green energy crony climate fraudsters.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.
 

Top 5 Cover-ups Orchestrated by Clinton Consigliere Cheryl Mills

Writing at The New York Post, Paul Sperry offers an excellent suggestion to the House Select Committee on Benghazi: "call... Cheryl D. Mills to testify — under oath, and under the klieg lights."

Hillary Clinton had named Mills responsible for "identifying and preserving all emails that could potentially be federal records."

The job of damage control has fallen to Mills through a parade of scandals. Her lack of cooperation is legendary. In fact, she’s been officially accused of both perjury and obstruction of justice.

Sworn affidavits, depositions and court rulings, as well as congressional reports and testimony, paint a picture of, to put it charitably, a brazenly dishonest cover-up specialist...

• As White House deputy counsel, Mills ordered Commerce Department officials to “withhold” from investigators emails and other documents detailing then-President Bill Clinton’s and first lady Hillary Clinton’s allegedly illegal selling of seats on foreign trade junkets for campaign cash, according to sworn statements by Commerce’s former FOIA chief. “Ms. Mills, in her position as deputy counsel to the president, advised Commerce officials to withhold certain documents,” testified Sonya Stewart Gilliam in a July 2000 sworn affidavit taken by Judicial Watch, a government watchdog group in Washington. “The Commerce Department’s collaboration with White House Deputy Counsel Mills on these matters was, in my experience, highly irregular and at variance with normal procedures.

AN AMTRAK EXPERIENCE: May 22-23, 2015

Relayed by Lee Cary from a friend

The date should tell you something! I rode Amtrak from Dallas to Hope yesterday. Got here this morning.

The posted departure time was 3:40 p.m. I got to Union Station early, so as not to miss my train. Isn’t that the way it works at the airport? I should have known better. About 3:15, I got a text saying that the train was delayed. The revised departure time was now 7:51 p.m. If you’re good at math, that’s four hours and eleven minutes late.

It could have been worse. The westbound train, #21, headed to Fort Worth and on to Los Angeles, was scheduled to go out at 11:50 a.m. It left Union Station at 7:00 p.m.

Once we got on board, I was pleased to see the nice wide spacing and the comfortable reclining seats. For coach class, I couldn’t complain.

The ride was pleasant, but slow. I had ridden the DART light rail earlier from Plano into Big D. By comparison, the DART is a bullet train. We crept along for what seemed to be forever at 30 mph, tops. Once we got into the countryside, things picked up only slightly.

Larwyn's Linx: Democrats Want Obama To Relocate 60,000 Muslims From ISIS Central Into US

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

Nation

Democrats Want Obama To Import 60,000 Muslims From ISIS Central: Sooper
7 Stages of the Progressive Agenda: Cube
The 15 Benghazi emails you need to read: Lauren French, Politico

Illegals Angry at Hillary’s Secret Service For Asking Their Legal Status: Sooper
Beware of the candidate without accomplishments: John Ruberry
Hillary Prepares Second Big Campaign Event Since First Flopped: Sara Noble

Obama has a strategy for fighting ISIS -- one that isn't working: Doyle McManus, LAT
President Hillary Kardashian: Derek Hunter
What Hillary hasn't been able to cover-up on Benghazi: Thomas Lifson

Leftists Work For the Total State: Henry Dampier
The Libertarian Moment is Everywhere Around Us: Nick Gillespie
14 members of Waco PD involved in bloodbath?: Conservative Headlines

Economy

Bank Of England Accidentally E-mails Top-Secret Brexit Plan To Newspaper: ZH
Behind Science Fraud: Steven Hayward
Congress' familiar path: short-term solutions: Alan Fram

Scandal Central

Emails reveal Hillary cared so much about Benghazi she slept through intel briefing 4 days later: Scoop
Stephanopoulos joined Bill Clinton on Pedo Island: iOTWreport
Gun-Toting Valdosta Flag Defiler Wants to Kill All White Crackkkas – Still on the Loose: Sara Noble

Climate & Energy

The Sound Of Settled Science: SDA
EPA poised to issue landmark water regulations: Timothy Cama, The Hill
Lake Mead Water Level Mysteriously Plunges After Nevada Quake: ZH

Media

100 Million Dead Under Communism – Next to Zero Hollywood Films: Betty Butter
Liberals Disgrace Memorial Day: Kurt Schlichter
The heart-wrenching pictures and stories of veterans from one cemetery on Memorial Weekend: John Brodigan

CNN's King: Within 24 Hours After Saying She Was Dead Broke, Hillary Made $700K: Breitbart
WSJ reporter to Hillary Clinton: 'Can I ride in your lap to the White House?': Examiner
PRESCIENT: Camille Paglia on feminism from 1995: Instapundit

World

Mass Slaughter of Women, Children in Palmyra; Obama Golfs, Eats Ice Cream for Reporters: Sara Noble
Iranian-backed militias lead Iraqi counteroffensive to retake Ramadi: Bill Roggio
Emigration kills Africa, immigration is killing Europe!: Vlad Tepes

Iraqi Refugees Fleeing ISIS Stranded in 'Horrific' Conditions: Right Pundit
Remembering Haifa Bus 37 Suicide Bombing: William A. Jacobson
Americans gave their lives to defeat the Nazis. The Dutch have never forgotten: WaPo

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Military suit with suspended armor, computer makes debut: USA Today
Marchionne approached GM about a merger, but was rebuffed, NYT reports: Automnews
50 years later, a look at what really sank the Thresher: NavyTimes (2013)

Cornucopia

Memorial Day, 2015: Springer's Blog
One is Smarter Than the Other Won: MOTUS
The McLaren 540C Coupe Is an Awesome $165,000 Entry-Level Sports Car: Robb Report

Image: Military suit with suspended armor, computer makes debut
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a real conservative? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "Clinton has insisted she didn’t share classified information through her email account, but the State Department concluded that one email exchange on potential arrests after the attacks was indeed classified. The document appears to have been formally classified Friday by the State Department." --Lauren French, Politico

Sunday, May 24, 2015

"Why I Love Being a Conservative"

Relayed by the invaluable Adam Baldwin:

Perfect.

Pass it on.