Doug Ross @ Journal: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

HILLARY: I am not a crook!

By Investor's Business Daily

Scandal: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus reminds us of the similarity between the 18-1/2-minute gap that doomed a presidency and an email server wiped clean by a lawyer who served on a Watergate committee staff.

Hillary Clinton should know better, know that the cover-up is often worse than any crime, for she once worked as a member of the impeachment inquiry staff for the House Judiciary Committee investigating the "third-rate burglary" at the Watergate Hotel that doomed Richard Nixon's presidency.

The end came when tapes of presidential conversations were found and became public knowledge with one tape containing that famous 18-1/2-minute gap of erased silence that spoke volumes about the cover-up of the break-in at DNC headquarters.

As RNC Chair Reince Preibus notes, as Richard Nixon's claim that "I am not a crook" unraveled, it was due to the fact that he did not destroy those tapes when he could have. Maybe it was vanity, stubbornness or just garden variety stupidity and arrogance, but he didn't burn them or wipe them clean, even if it might have saved his presidency.

Hillary Clinton has, in different words, said that she is not a crook and that she did nothing wrong in having a private email account on a personal server through which she conducted all her government business in violation of both the letter and spirit of federal statutes.

Read more »

SURPRISE: Israel catches Obama in major Iran nuke flip-flop

Like your doctor, keep your doctor. He 'evolved' on gay marriage. He's against wiretapping American citizens. He's drawing a "red line" with Syria on its use of chemical weapons. Yada yada yada.

So, I ask you drones, leftists and other miscreants: why would you believe anything this man says, ever?

“The biggest threat to our security and our future was and remains Iran's attempts to arm with nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said at the ceremonial opening of the 20th Knesset just hours before the self-imposed deadline for reaching a framework deal between the world powers and Iran.

“The agreement being put together in Lausanne paves the way for that result. Apparently it will leave in Iran's hands underground facilities, the [hard-water] reactor at Arak, advanced centrifuges...

...All those things that only a few months ago we were told, rightfully so, that they were not vital to a peaceful nuclear program.”

Underground facilities? A reactor at Arak? Technically advanced centrifuges? But... but... but... I thought...

It was US President Barack Obama who said that each of those elements was not needed for a peaceful program.

Obama, during a question-and answer session at the Saban Forum at the Brookings Institution in Washington in December 2012, said the following:

“In terms of specifics, we know that they don’t need to have an underground, fortified facility like Fordow in order to have a peaceful nuclear program.

“They certainly don’t need a heavy-water reactor at Arak in order to have a peaceful nuclear program. They don’t need some of the advanced centrifuges that they currently possess in order to have a limited, peaceful nuclear program,” Obama said at the time.

Thought experiment: if Obama really was doing his damnedest to surreptitiously deliver nuclear weapons into the hands of the Iranians, what exactly would he be doing differently?

And I also put it to you: isn't there some way to blame this on Bush?

Hat tip: BadBlue News.

The Invasion Continues Apace

By Jessica Vaughan

More than 2,000 illegal alien juveniles have been apprehended and taken into federal custody in each of the last several months, according to DHS statistics. While Obama administration officials emphasize that these numbers are lower than last year, they are still the second highest level ever for arrests of illegal alien minors, about midway between 2013 and 2014 levels. Most of those apprehended are male teenagers, with the largest number from Guatemala. The statistics confirm that Central Americans still see a strong incentive to head to the United States now, and that the drop in apprehensions reported last August and September was temporary.

While taking custody of roughly 2,000 illegal alien juveniles per month since the start of the 2015 fiscal year last October, ICE reports removing well under 200 juveniles per month. The largest number of these (41 percent) were sent home to Mexico.

The majority of illegal alien juveniles taken into ICE custody are ultimately released to family members in the United States, and only a small number are ever repatriated. About 90 percent of the recent Central American arrivals who had hearings scheduled last summer and fall failed to appear at their immigration hearings and have melted into the larger illegal alien population.

Read more »

FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: SEIU stands to make a mere $34 million a month unionizing fast food workers

By Labor Union Report

To the SEIU, the millions spent on unionizing fast-food workers may make the SEIU billions in union dues.

In the Spring of 2010, the Service Employees International Union’s ambitious plan to unionize fast-food workers was exposed.

Although the SEIU’s plan changed slightly from the orginal draft, the basic premise of tying the union’s campaign to unionize fast-food workers to a “living wage campaign” has not changed all that much.

However, it wasn’t until November 2012, that the SEIU launched the first of several fast-food “strikes” (most of the so-called strikers are not actual employees but paid-SEIU protesters) and its “Fight for $15 (and a union)” campaign commenced.

Since then, the SEIU has spent tens of millions—an astounding $38 million was spent in 2013 alone, according to Worker Center Watch—on its campaign to unionize fast-food workers.

Read more »

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Came in Like a Wrecking Ball for Israel

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

QOTD: "The Obama administration used the IRS as a means to attack and stymie its political opposition. The very person in charge of the exemption policies, Sarah Hall Ingram, was given bonuses and then promoted to an even more powerful position as the new head of the IRS enforcement wing of Obamacare – yet another program with life and death power. But the IRS itself is an agency designated with the task of enforcing the legalized theft of income from every American citizen. It is assigned the task of pouring through the minutia of every person’s life, to “wait upon ladies at their toilett,” to exact tolls for the very act of earning a living. Is anyone shocked that such an agency would be used for “political” purposes?

The Benghazi cover-up was necessary to protect the president before the election in two ways. First, it was necessary to cover-up the incompetence of the administration in protecting our consulate or for even having one that area in the first place. Second, the presence of Al Qaeda contradicted Obama’s entire fantasy-land narrative surrounding Islamic terrorism. According to Obama, we are not at war with an ideology we are at war with a handful of “terrorists” who have hijacked an otherwise peaceful religion. The supposed killing of Bid Laden was equivalent to catching a bank robber – problem solved. The presence of a pre-meditated attack by a group motivated by Islam contradicts this premise, and so the idea of a spontaneous eruption of violence was crafted to fool the American public.

The broad usage of phone taps on the AP, all supposedly to find a national security “leak,” is part of a pattern of press intimidation under this administration from day one designed to chill any opposition to its political programs.

While these scandals are egregious examples of a federal government run amok, Americans must understand that the abuse of government power will continue as long as we give the government the power to abuse." --Doug Reich

Monday, March 30, 2015

WASHINGTON POST RIPS OBAMA-IRAN NUKE DEAL: Would Reward Terror State's Past Violations

By The Tower

The question of whether to trust Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes can be answered by a single issue: “Iran’s failure to deliver on multiple pledges to answer questions about its suspected research on nuclear warheads,” a staff editorial in The Washington Post asserted on Saturday.

The editorial recounts how both in 2007 and 2013, Iran agreed to clear up any questions about possible military dimensions of its past nuclear research, but “it then stonewalled inspectors, refusing to answer questions or permit access to sites.” After Iran refused to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to access its Parchin military base, where nuclear weapons research is suspected to have taken place, “the IAEA published an extensive report detailing what it already knew about the illicit bomb work and listed 12 outstanding issues.” The government of President Hassan Rouhani agreed to address these outstanding issues.

However, the Post documents that the promised cooperation was again not forthcoming.

Read more »

HOTEL SHOWERS, GRILLS AND WOOD-BURNING STOVES: EPA meddling in our lives reaches a zenith

By Paul Chesser

Those in business who have to oblige the Environmental Protection Agency (or the state government agencies that carry out federal laws) on a daily basis know there’s an endless list of issues upon which the cabinet agency can (and does) interfere and obstruct. But a few recent examples reveal the extent to which the government regulators are willing to extinguish our individual freedoms.

Attention this week is trained on the Supreme Court, where a costly Obama regulation on mercury emissions from utilities’ coal-fired power plants is under a challenge. That’s a big issue that addresses whether EPA conducted a proper cost-benefit analysis for limiting those emissions, which has major implications related to the cost of electricity, but is otherwise complex for the layman.

But other areas of increased meddling are more plain – and obnoxious.

Read more »

SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS: Apparently, DC Insiders Can Legally Avoid Paying Taxes

You learn something new every day: did you know that government insiders can receive "certificates of divestiture" that allow them to "indefinitely defer" paying taxes on proceeds from stock sales?

The Daily Caller's Richard Pollock reports:

When Andy Slavitt reported for work as deputy administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last June 10, he pocketed at least $4.8 million in tax-free income from major health-care companies.

...CMS officials ... initially issued a categorical denial to TheDC that Slavitt had sought and received a special “certificate of divestiture,” a loophole which allowed him to indefinitely defer capital gains taxes on the sale of millions of dollars in equities.

But when TheDC produced two certificates of divestiture issued to Andrew and Lana Slavitt — both dated July 9 and signed by the Office of Government Ethics’ general counsel David J. Apol – the agency backtracked.

The special certificates permitted Slavitt to sell 23,711 shares of United Health Group stock and avoid capital gains taxes on the transaction [...on July 9th,] Slavitt pocketed $1.9 million in tax-free income.

That same day, OGE permitted him to sell 11,670 additional shares in the Swiss private equity firm of Partners Group Private Equity, which, according to an Office of Government Ethics official, included underlying health-care investments.

The Swiss per share market price for the stock on July 9 was $249. Slavitt was able to cash in the stock for $2.9 million in tax-free income.

And what exactly is a "certificate of divestiture" (PDF)?

If you are an executive branch employee of the Federal Government or plan to become one, at
some point you may have to sell certain assets to avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of a
conflict. Under tax rules, the sale of an asset may cause you to have a taxable capital gain which must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. However, to make it easier for you and your family to comply with ethics rules, the tax laws provide that before you sell your asset, the Director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) may issue a Certificate of Divestiture (called a CD) which will allow you to defer the capital gains tax. The CD does not eliminate the capital gains tax; it simply defers payment of the tax to some future date.

In reading the applicable statute and regulatory guidance, I could find no timeline for repayment of capital gains taxes.

I guess some animals really are more equal than others.

Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Free Fall in the Middle East

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

Nation

Free Fall in the Middle East: Walter Russell Mead
The Campus Left Begins to Implode: Jonathan V. Last
Virginia State Bar boycotts Israel: The Volokh Conspiracy

Ted, Monica, and Mickey: Star Parker
Iran nuclear deal done: FAM
Advocates for infanticide astounded that people want them to die: Moe Lane

Double Standards Much?: GayPatriot
IN Gov.: This Is Same Religious Freedom Law Obama Voted for in IL: WS
Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis, Chuy Garcia Unmasked: RebelPundit

Jeb Bush favored within GOP; stiff competition desired for Hillary: Ethan Barton
This is why the Democratic Establishment is desperate to run Hillary: Moe Lane
Upset by Warren, U.S. banks debate halting donations to Democrats: Emily Flitter

Economy

Pew: Rate of Illegal Males in Workforce 12% Higher Than US-Born Males: Breitbart
One in eight illegals in the U.S. now has a white-collar job: Rob Wile
How Google, Facebook And Others Pay Their H-1B Employees: Kiran Dhillon

Scandal Central

American Deserter: Bill Whittle
Situation Normal: Hillary Clinton obstructs justice and operates outside the law: RS
The Real Reason Harry Reid is Retiring: Breitbart

Climate & Energy

China’s Never-Ending ‘War on Pollution’: Gordon G. Chang

Media

What they are not saying about Angie's List boycott: Don Surber
Police Called On Anti-White ‘Black Brunch’ Protest in Tacoma; Protesters Whine Like Babies: Sooper
The political kingmaker nobody knows: Ben Wieder

Reporters refuse Obama's dismissal from golf course, are sent to the 'shed': Paul Bedard
Staying: Press refuses to leave Obama, golfing for 223rd time: Paul Bedard
Josh Earnest On Obama Voting For Religious Freedom Bill: Hey, That Was Two Decades Ago!: DownTrend

Who’s pulling the media’s puppet strings?: Sharyl Attkisson
Cut a baby from a woman; kill it; it isn’t murder in Colorado: RS
GOP Failure Theater gave $1.5 billion to abortion industry: RS

World

WaPo Editorial: Nuke Deal Would Reward Iran for Past Violations: The Tower
What I saw in Iran: Andrew Stiles
American-Israeli Rabbi compares Obama to Haman: JPost

Remember when Obama vowed “verification” would have to be part of any Iran nuclear deal?: PW
White House: Nuclear Deal Totally Doable If Country That Says “Death To America” Cooperates: RWN
Obama supporting ethnic cleansing in Iraq: RS

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

3D-Printed Bionic Ants Work as a Terrifying Team: PopMech
Real Paleo Diet: early hominids ate just about everything: EarthSky
Zynga investors can sue FarmVille creator for alleged IPO fraud, judge says: Megan Geuss

Cornucopia

#BanHighCapacityAircraft: More “News” From the Rabbit Hole: MOTUS
Cruise v. Lauer and 4 other cringe-worthy celeb interviews: Jaclyn Hendricks
19 True Stories About Bill Murray That Prove He Is The Coolest Person Ever: Suggest

Image: Marine’s Sign About Obama’s Bergdahl Swap Is Epic
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a conservative candidate? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet.

He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our allies, appeases tyrants, coddles adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast.

Now he’s coming for Israel.

Barack Obama’s promise to transform America was too modest. He is transforming the whole world before our eyes. Do you see it yet?" --Michael Goodwin

Sunday, March 29, 2015

"Under Obama, we have switched sides"

Michael Goodwin:

If you’re confused about the Saudi Arabia-led air attacks against Islamist rebels in Yemen and can’t tell one group of head-choppers in Iraq and Syria from another, don’t despair. All you need is imagination.

Close your eyes and imagine that those countries and terrorists have nuclear weapons. Imagine their barbarism going nuclear as they blow up cities, wipe out ethnic and religious groups and turn the region into cinders.

Now open your eyes and realize you’ve seen the future, thanks to President Obama’s policies. It is a future that will be defined by Obama’s Wars. Yes, plural.

I’ve written frequently about the likelihood of a dystopian “Mad Max” scenario if Iran gets nukes. My thinking is guided by a belief among American military and intelligence officials that a nuclear exchange would take place in the Mideast within five years of Iran getting the bomb. To judge from events, the future is arriving ahead of schedule.

I once called this scenario "The Atomic Mahdi", though I had no idea then that we would have a president actively conspiring with the Mullahs.

These are grim thoughts, expressed because it is impossible to imagine any other outcome of Iran’s rise. It remains the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism and supports Hezbollah and Hamas and now the Houthis in Yemen. As for Iranian influence in Iraq, one analyst is calling Suleimani, the Revolutionary Guard commander, Iraq’s new “viceroy.”

Remember, too, Iran muscle and munitions are keeping Bashar Assad still standing in Syria. The wholesale death and destruction there — an estimated 200,000 people killed and millions displaced within the country and out of it — could be a prototype of its new empire.

While there are many dark and complex forces in play and blame to spread around, the most important catalyst of the violent disorder has been the reversal of America’s policies. Under Obama, we have switched sides, an abomination that ensures a legacy of infamy.

Read the whole thing.

And pray for our country. And our world.

Hat tip: Ace. Backgrounder: The Atomic Mahdi.

10 Best and Worst Looking Automotive Grilles

The "face" of an automobile is its grille. With the advent of hybrid, all-electric and other vehicles that have minimal reliance on water-cooled engines, one would think that grilles might be on the way out. Then, one would think wrong.

BAD: THE AUDI A8

Audi deserves special ridicule not only for this example of IGS (Immense Grille Syndrome), but also for actually starting the ginormous grille trend in 2005. Why not just use a mini-fridge as your grille, Audi?

Read more »

ISIS IN ILLINOIS: "JV" terrorists plotted to kill up to 150 intentionally disarmed soldiers in Ft. Hood copycat attack

By Investor's Business Daily

Terrorism: An Illinois National Guardsman sought to fight with Islamic State as his cousin plotted to kill scores at an Illinois National Guard facility. If they had succeeded, would President Obama call it workplace violence?

President Obama's "JV" terrorist team has metastasized to the point where its franchisees have spread across continents and oceans, with the FBI investigating ISIS-related activities and plots in all 50 states, including a very dangerous one in the commander in chief's home state of Illinois.

One of those FBI investigations involved the arrest Wednesday of Hasan Edmonds — a supply specialist with the Illinois National Guard, who had trained at the Joliet Armory since 2011 — at Chicago's Midway International Airport as he prepared to board a plane to Detroit and then to Cairo via Amsterdam, with the goal of joining the Islamic State.

Two hours later, authorities picked up his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, who had planned to wear Hasan's uniform and attack the facility in the same manner that Maj. Nidal Hasan did at Fort Hood, Texas.

The cousins had scouted out the armory on Tuesday, with Hasan Edmonds picking up a copy of the facility training schedule. The plan was for Jonas Edmonds to carry out the assault using AK-47s and grenades.

Read more »

IRANIAN DEFECTOR: Barack Obama wants Iran to get nukes

Two more data points that offer additional evidence that Barack Obama is doing his level best to see Iran acquire nuclear weapons. Because, eh, crusades, I guess.

Iranian Defector: US arguing on Iran's behalf with P5+1 countries

Times of Israel, 29 March 2015

An Iranian journalist who was sent to cover the nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, defected over the weekend... Amir Hossein Motaghi, who was instrumental in the election of President Hassan Rouhani when he served as his personal aide during the Iranian election, asked authorities in Switzerland to grant him political asylum...

...According to the British Telegraph newspaper, Motaghi ... harshly criticized the American role in the talks, saying the White House was attempting to persuade the other members of the P5+1 group of nations (US, England, France, Russia, China and Germany) to accept Iran’s point of view.

“The US negotiating team is mainly there to speak on Iran’s behalf with other members of the 5+1 countries and convince them of a deal,” Montaghi said.

Expected Iranian nuclear deal worse than Israel feared

Reuters, 29 March 2015

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned on Sunday the framework Iranian nuclear agreement being sought by international negotiators, saying it was even worse than his country had feared...

"This deal, as it appears to be emerging, bears out all of our fears, and even more than that," Netanyahu told his cabinet in Jerusalem as the United States, five other world powers and Iran worked toward a March 31 deadline in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Noting advances made by Iranian-allied forces in Yemen and other Arab countries, Netanyahu accused the Islamic republic of trying to "conquer the entire Middle East" while moving toward nuclearization.

And where will Obama be when nuclear weapons detonate in the Middle East or cities in the West?

Obama May Have Bought Sprawling, $9 Million Hawaiian Beachfront Home

Daily Caller, 22 March 2015

News reports indicate that President Barack Obama may have just purchased a beachfront home in Hawaii. But isn’t he worried about sea level rise from global warming?

Hawaii’s KTV4 News reports that a man connected to Obama purchased the multi-million dollar beachfront home featured in the show “Magnum P.I.” — the property was then sold to a limited liability corporation in Colorado. But if the House was bought on the president’s behalf, isn’t he worried that rising sea levels will harm his new real estate?

Obama has long warned that sea level rises caused by man-made global warming will make storm surges and flooding worse for coastal communities. In his 2015 State of the Union speech, Obama said “we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods.”

So why would Obama give a crap whether Iran gets nukes? He will be long gone when the piper will be paid.

Hat tip: BadBlue Real-Time News