Doug Ross @ Journal: January 2015

Saturday, January 31, 2015

FLASHBACK: Governor Jeb Bush Accused of Extramarital Affair With Subordinate by Florida Newspapers

ABC's Brent Kallestad reported:

Gov. Jeb Bush, facing published reports about infidelity as he ponders re-election, dismissed rumors today of an extramarital affair with an agency head as an "outright lie" ...

...For months, talk in Tallahassee bars and state offices and Internet Web pages linked Bush with Cynthia Henderson, secretary of the Department of Management Services. Today's comment was his first public response to the rumors. On Thursday, a columnist for the Tallahassee Democrat reported about a rumor of an affair involving two high-ranking public officials but did not identify them. Over the weekend, two other papers — the St. Petersburg Times and the Orlando Sentinel — wrote about the rumors involving Bush and Henderson and said Bush had denied them...

...Bush originally appointed Henderson to head the Department of Business and Professional Regulation in January 1999. During her first year on the job, she faced questions about her ethics in running the agency on several occasions. Last September, Bush transferred Henderson to the Department of Management Services, a lower profile agency that oversees state facilities and insurance and retirement programs for state employees. Bush at that time said the criticism of Henderson was unjustified and had nothing to do with his decision.

As MFP observed last year:

The Right Reverend Racial Extortionists

By Bill Whittle

Well, the 87^th Annual Academy Awards nominees have been announced, and needless to say, the hate-filled bigots that make up the entertainment industry have set race relations in America back – well, at least ten years, but more likely centuries. Not since 2000 have the slate of prestige nominations – Best Actor and Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress -- been all white. To paraphrase that great American Thinker, Joe Biden, it’s like the toxic limousine liberals in the Hollywood Hills want to put black Americans back in chains.

But not if Al Sharpton has anything to say about it—and don’t you worry, he does. “The movie industry is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher you get, the whiter it gets,” said the famed racial extortionist—I mean, the famed Civil Right Champion. And these words aren’t as empty as the air up there in the snow-white Racist Rocky Mountains, either – they are backed with action! Action in the form of the emergency mobilization – yes, dammit, an EMERGENCY meeting – of Reverend Al’s eight-member diversity task force. If you want to know how all eight people can be assembled so quickly, just step out onto your balcony at night and look for the brilliant searchlight projecting a giant dollar sign up onto the clouds.

Sharpton has called upon Sony Pictures honcho Amy Pascal to address the Diversity problem in Hollywood – true, a black-themed movie, Twelve Years a Slave, won Best Picture and black actress Lupita Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress – but that was LAST year. The struggle continues. Without question, Sony and others will show their commitment to diversity with a significant donation to Sharpton’s shady coffers. That’s how Racial Racket Ball works.

That Al Sharpton is a race-baiting fraud is self-evident: long before championing the myth of Gentle Giant Michael Brown in Ferguson for personal financial and political gain, he championed the myth of racial hate crime False Witness Tawana Brawley. When it comes to Reverend Al Sharpton, The Truth goes into the same slush fund as his millions of dollars of unpaid taxes. But Al Sharpton didn’t invent Racial Racket Ball: that honor belongs to Jesse Jackson.

The Politics of Deceit and Delusion

By Caren Besner

In the heady early days of WWII, fear of an enemy air attack on both East and West coasts was overwhelming. The U.S. government's response was to mobilize tens of thousands of civilian volunteers into an early warning system capable of discerning the number, type, and direction of any enemy aircraft formation over U.S. soil. The volunteers were given silhouettes of both enemy and American aircraft to study and commit to memory. In this way, individuals who could not tell the difference between a Mitsubishi and a Messerschmitt, were taught how to discern the differences between the two. The government also printed and distributed handbooks on both German and Japanese military forces, which detailed not only the uniforms and insignia of the enemy, but their motivation and psychology as well. This was very important, for as any first year cadet at West Point will tell you; enemy recognition is a vital component in the ability to wage war.

Fast forward almost 75 years. In his 2015 State of the Union address, President Obama acknowledged that one of his primary functions was to protect the American homeland and its people from attack. This was the correct thing to say, yet his administration seems to be going about it in a very ambivalent manner; using political correct terminology to re-define the war on terror.

Instead of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is now an "overseas contingency operation."

Major Hassan's rampage at Fort Hood is now classified as "workplace violence," and Islamic Jihadists are not terrorists at all, but "violent extremists." This latter interpretation places ALL acts of Islamic terrorism in the same category as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh; completely ignoring present day realities as they actually exist.

The Official White House Terrorist Identification Chart

I have no idea how he does it, but Michael Ramirez -- the finest political cartoonist of his generation -- keeps getting better each and every day.

I truly believe that Ramirez will go down in history as one of the most influential artists of his era.

Which complements his frequent subject, who will go down in history as one of the most destructive men in American history.

Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Grim Milestone --- 1,000 of Obama's Released Criminal Illegals Commit New Crimes

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QOTD: "In a newly unsealed, Dec. 1, 2014, court ruling that legal experts said was highly unusual, Allegra accused seven Justice Department lawyers of "fraud upon the court, banned them from making any further filings in the case and took the unusual step of directly notifying Attorney General Eric Holder.

“In 40 years of legal practice, government and private, I've never seen that done,” said David Hardy, a constitutional law expert who formerly worked in the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office.

Allegra said the government attorneys may have intimidated a witness and charged that seven of them may have kept illegal behavior secret from the court." -- William La Jeunesse, Maxim Lott

Friday, January 30, 2015

Best Cop Car Ever

I'm wagering it's the 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T used by Deputies in Broward County, Florida:

If memory serves, the R/T employs a 425 HP V8. Which would be nice.

Hat tip: BadBlue Cars.

Vermont DMV backpedals on bogus license applications by illegal aliens

By Bruce Parker

IMMIGRATION FRAUD?: The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles is working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to investigate possible benefits fraud by out-of-state illegals.

A tight-lipped investigation into fraudulent driver’s license applications from out-of-state illegals is producing conflicting details as political pressure mounts from migrant rights groups.

On Tuesday, Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Robert Ide told the House Transportation Committee the department uncovered 144 fraudulent applications for the state’s new driver’s privilege cards.

By Friday, however, the director heading up the investigation backpedaled regarding the number of known fraud cases, saying some suspicious applications may be legitimate after all.

“As we drill down into these investigations, we have found several that on the face would look suspicious because we have multiple people indicating the same address. In following through on those, we found that those were actually legitimate,” Glen Button, the DMV’s director of enforcement and safety, told Vermont Watchdog.

Button is asking his team of investigators to clarify details.

When Democrat hero FDR confiscated citizens' gold -- at the point of a gun

By Nick Sorrentino

FDR, the man who studied Mussolini, who birthed the current intrusive state, who started the drug war in earnest, who put Japanese Americans into concentration camps, who extended the Depression years longer than it needed to be and thereby contributed to the genesis of the Second World War, who tried to pack the Supreme Court, who gave away half of Europe to the Soviets at Yalta, and who confiscated the gold – the real wealth – of the American people.

What a guy. And he still has his face on the dime.

There is a reason why my grandmother, a good New York City Irish catholic despised the man. She thought Roosevelt was a hair’s breadth short of being a dictator.

She was probably being nice.

Watch the video:

SEN. TOM COTTON: Obama's Ally Iran Has Been Killing Americans for Three Decades

By TheTower

Sen. Tom Cotton (R – Ark.) presented an overview of Iran’s record in targeting the United States and its citizens in an op-ed published today in The Wall Street Journal (Google link). After writing that “Iran has been killing Americans for more than three decades,” Cotton offered some examples.

In 1983 Iran helped finance and direct the bombing of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, killing hundreds of American military, diplomatic and intelligence personnel. Iran has also been implicated in the 1996 Khobar Tower bombings, which killed 19 American troops stationed in Saudi Arabia.
More recently and personally for me, Iran has been responsible for the killing and maiming of thousands of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. During my tour in Baghdad leading an infantry platoon, Iran supplied the most advanced, most lethal roadside bombs used against coalition forces. My soldiers and I knew that Iranian-supplied bombs were the one thing our armored vehicles couldn’t withstand. All we could do was hope it wasn’t our day to hit one. My platoon was lucky; too many others were not.

Cotton also referenced Iran’s support for terror, noting that the State Department described it as the “the worst state sponsor of terrorism.”

Cotton made similar remarks yesterday (embedded below) at the Senate Banking Committee hearing on the Nuclear Free Iran Act of 2015.

Larwyn's Linx: White House: Taliban are not terrorists

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Nation

White House: Taliban are not terrorists: RS
Taliban claims responsibility for murder of 3 contractors in Kabul: GWP
Texas Muslim Community Creates Private Court to ‘Dispense Shariah Law’: RWN

White House: Amnesty More Important Than Homeland Security: Neil Munro
Will Republicans Go The Way Of The Whigs?: Ben Shapiro
Communist Party: We Won’t Be Leaving Democrat Party Anytime Soon: TR

Cruz: How About Obama Focus Animosity on Enemies, Not Israel?: Daniel Halper
Levin: Loretta Lynch completely disqualified herself today : Scoop
Hamas-Supporting MB Figures Meet With Congress, State Dept.: IPT

Scott Walker, Presumptive 2016 Favorite: RS
Think Democrats will retake House in ’16? Fine. Name the seats.: RS
Hillary May Delay Campaign: Mike Allen

Economy

Federal Budget Deceit: Scott Rasmussen
Dangerous Words From Democrats on Jobs: Quentin Kramer
Milwaukee Public Schools Continue to Block Opportunities for Poor Kids: RebelPundit

Scandal Central

GOP Should Not Confirm An Attorney General Worse Than Eric Holder: CHQ
Attkisson Testifies: If You Cross The Obama Administration, You Will Be Attacked and Punished: Katie Pavlich
Cruz: Investigate Taxpayer-Funded State Dept. Group Trying To Oust Netanyahu: WZ

Exclusive: Secret tapes undermine Hillary Clinton on Libyan war: Times
ACLU: Feds Using Mobile License Plate Readers To Scan Gun Show Vehicles: Treehouse
Senate GOP demands Obama turn over all communications with IRS: Times

Media

What the MSM Is Failing to Tell You: Adam Garfinkle
Fox’s Housley Questions White House Comments That Taliban Isn't Terrorist Group: Tammy Bruce
Apparently poor old black people sit in a room somewhere waiting to vote, while doing nothing else: iOTWreport

Big Bad Bibi: Roger L. Simon
Scott Walker's First Ad: RightPundit
NBC: American Sniper Chris Kyle Was A Racist On ‘Killing Sprees’ In Middle East: Caleb Howe

World

Terrorist released by Obama for Bergdahl has gone BACK to terror: Sooper
Figures: Taliban Slaughter 22 the Same Day Josh Earnest Claims They Aren’t Terrorists: GWP
Code Pink Tries to Arrest 91-Year-Old for ‘War Crimes,’ Get Smacked Down by 94-Year-Old : Tatler

Obama’s hard-nosed negotiating style bears fruit: RS
Saudi Arabia opens window of opportunity for Obama: Jonah Goldberg
UN Security Council Refuses to Condemn Hezbollah: TheTower

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Scientists: The Ebola virus is mutating: The Week
Boxing And Mixed Martial Arts Cause A Similar Loss Of Processing Speed In Fighters' Brains: Susan Scutti
Microsoft may have found the perfect way to cap Google at the knees: BGR

Cornucopia

Hippos. In the Soup.: MOTUS
When FDR made gold illegal to own for everyday people – At the point of a gun: ACC
Sharpton Group Reports Deficits, Tax Debt Plan: TSG

Image: Afghan in uniform kills 3 at military site
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Car News

QOTD: "The job of getting at the truth has never been more difficult. Facets of federal government have isolated themselves from the public they serve. They covet and withhold public information that we as citizens own. They bully and threaten access of journalists who do their jobs, news organizations that publish stories they don't like and whistleblowers who dare to tell the truth.

When I reported on factual contradictions in the Administration's accounts regarding Fast and Furious, pushback included a frenzied campaign with White House officials trying to chill the reporting by calling and emailing my superiors and colleagues, using surrogate bloggers to advance false claims, one White House official got so mad he angrily cussed me out. The Justice Department used its authority with building security to handpick reports allowed to attend a Fast and Furious briefing, refusing to clear me into the public Justice Department building.

Let me emphasize that my reporting was factually indisputable, government officials weren't angry because I was doing my job poorly, they were panicked because I was doing my job well," --Sharyl Attkisson

Thursday, January 29, 2015

BEHOLD: The Loch Ness Monster of Politics

By Bill Whittle

Ah, Progressives! You really have to – well, not admire them exactly – but if not admire them then at least grant them a grudging respect for the tenacity of their beliefs.

Unfortunately for them, the Socialist utopia is a Cryptid, which, according to Wikipedia’s serviceable definition, is “a creature whose existence has been suggested but has not been discovered or documented by the scientific community.” Here’s another example of a cryptid: it’s called the Loch Ness Monster. Like the socialist utopia, the Loch Ness Monster requires a lot of magical thinking.

Magical thinking is not wishful thinking. “It sure would be cool if there was a Loch Ness Monster!” That’s wishful thinking.

Magical thinking is the belief that belief can make things actually manifest themselves in the real world. Magical thinking not only dulls reason – it kills reason. Magical thinking is actually form of anti-thinking: belief in something not because of evidence, but in spite of evidence.

For example, people who believe in the existence of the Loch Ness Monster will almost universally claim that it is the last of the Plesiosaurs – giant marine dinosaurs that definitely did exist millions of years ago. Like all dinosaurs, Plesiosaurs are air breathers. So in order to believe in the Loch Ness Monster, you have to believe that an air-breathing creature the size of a city bus lives under the surface of Loch Ness.

WHOA: National Right to Work Act Would Terminate Forced Dues Collection by Unions

By Labor Union Report

While this certainly will garner a Presidential veto if passed, it only takes 67 Senate votes to override said presidential veto.

Via the National Right To Work Committee:

Washington, DC (January 29, 2015) –Today, Congressman Steve King (Republican-Iowa) along with 76 cosponsors introduced the National Right to Work Act (H.R. 612) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The one page bill would end Big Labor’s federally-authorized power to force workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Committee, issued the following statement praising the introduction of the bill:

“We’re extremely pleased that Congressman King has introduced the National Right to Work Act, intensifying a growing debate about labor law and worker freedom in our country. This legislation would enshrine the common-sense principle – already enforced in nearly half of U.S. states – that no worker should be compelled to join or pay dues to a union just to get or keep a job.

“In an age of legislative overreach, this is one of the shortest bills ever introduced. A National Right to Work Act does not add a single word to federal law. It simply removes language in the National Labor Relations Act that gives union officials the power to extract dues from nonunion workers as a condition of employment.

“Voluntary association is a quintessential American ideal and the case for Right to Work has always rested on the principles of employee freedom, but passage of a National Right to Work law will also pay economic dividends. Studies demonstrate that workers in Right to Work states enjoy greater private! sector job growth and higher disposable incomes than their counterparts in states without Right to Work protections.

“The Right to Work principle is also popular with the public. Polls consistently show that 80 percent of Americans and union members support the principle of voluntary unionism.

“A National Right to Work Act enshrines worker freedom while providing significant economic benefits for workers. The National Right to Work Committee is mobilizing its 2.8 million members to call on their Congressperson to support the National Right to Work Act.”

Twenty-four states currently have Right to Work protections for workers.

OBAMA PENTAGON: Say, By the Way, Red China is Rapidly Approaching Military Superiority Over U.S.

By Investor's Business Daily

Arms Buildup: A senior weapons developer tells Congress that Beijing's massive defense buildup, emphasizing precision-guided and other advanced weapons, has placed the U.S. and its shrinking military at serious risk.

'I am very concerned about the increasing risk of loss of U.S. military technological superiority," Frank Kendall, deputy undersecretary for acquisition, said Wednesday. "We're at risk, and the situation is getting worse." He was testifying before the House Armed Services Committee at a hearing on the subject of defense and technological change.

The Chinese were paying attention to U.S. military dominance in the early 1990s after we won the arms race and the Cold War, he said. And they watched and analyzed our ability to project overwhelming power in Desert Storm after Iraq invaded Kuwait. "No one observed more carefully the dominance we demonstrated in 1991 than the Chinese," Kendall observed.

China quickly went to work on its own power projection capabilities and what is called asymmetrical warfare, the ability to disrupt an enemy's war plans without necessarily matching them tank for tank or ship for ship. Kendall says he became "alarmed as soon as I started seeing technical intelligence reports on China's modernization programs.

"What I'm seeing," he went on, "is foreign modernization, again particularly China's, in a suite of capabilities that are intended, clearly to me at least, to defeat the American way of doing power projection, (the) American way of warfare when we fight in an expeditionary manner far from the United States."

Among China's advanced weapons systems are:

STRIKE A BLOW FOR LIBERTY: Recall Senators McCain and Flake

By Lawrence Sellin

Republican Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake are liberals representing a conservative state. By their statements and actions, they have proven that they are no longer worthy to be the U.S. Senators from Arizona.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who once described the mainstream media as his political base, has declared war on conservatives and the people of Arizona; reportedly leading a purge of the state’s GOP apparatus to pave the way for an easier reelection bid should he decide to run again in 2016.

In January 2013, Tea Party members and other conservatives managed to get John McCain censured by the Arizona Republican Party, for what they characterized as a liberal record that has been “disastrous and harmful” to the state and nation. It was not even close; the Republican Party of Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous, passed a resolution to censure the senator on a 1,150-to-351 vote. The state GOP party’s censure didn’t even require a recorded vote, it passed by acclamation, meaning by a voice vote.

Now, according to the left-leaning outlet Politico, McCain is getting his revenge.

In Arizona, Republican precinct committeemen elect local party chairmen, who, in turn, determine how state and local GOP funds are spent, which candidates are promoted in an election year, and which political issues are highlighted — all matters of central concern for McCain heading into 2016, when the threat of a primary looms.

Prior to Aug. 26, 2014, when the races for the party offices were held, the vast majority of the 3,925 precinct slots were filled by people McCain’s team considered opponents. Now, after an influx of candidates were recruited by the senator’s allies, around 40 percent of those offices — 1,531 to be exact — will be held by people McCain’s team regards as friendly. They will have the power to vote down hostile Republican chairmen in each of their respective localities.

After securing the support of conservative Sarah Palin, running a campaign as a conservative and gaining reelection in 2010, McCain immediately swerved to the left again, denigrating conservatives and Tea Partiers as “hobbits” and “wacko birds” while championing the Gang of Eight’s comprehensive amnesty legislation in the Senate.

McCain’s junior colleague, Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a member of the Gang of Eight, is also a strong supporter of comprehensive amnesty for illegal aliens.