Doug Ross @ Journal: August 2015

Monday, August 31, 2015

NOSTRADUMBASS COMIX: Presidential Predictions Edition

Kindly proffered by Senior Summer Intern @BiffSpackle.

These Traitor Senators Took Money from the Iranian Lobby and Now Back the Terror State’s Nukes

By Daniel Greenfield

Senator Ed Markey (Democrat-Massachusetts) has announced his support for the Iran deal that will let the terrorist regime inspect its own Parchin nuclear weapons research site, conduct uranium enrichment, build advanced centrifuges, buy ballistic missiles, fund terrorism and have a near zero breakout time to a nuclear bomb.

There was no surprise there.

Markey had topped the list of candidates supported by the Iran Lobby. And the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) had maxed out its contributions to his campaign.

After more fake suspense, Al Franken, another IAPAC backed politician who also benefited from Iran Lobby money, came out for the nuke sellout.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Iran Lobby’s third Dem senator, didn’t bother playing coy like her colleagues. She came out for the deal a while back even though she only got half the IAPAC cash that Franken and Markey received.

As did Senator Gillibrand, who had benefited from IAPAC money back when she first ran for senator and whose position on the deal should have come as no surprise.

HUSSMAN: Get Out Before It’s Too Late

By Jim Quinn

Last week ended with the cackling hens on CNBC and the spokesmodels on Bloomberg bloviating about the temporary pothole on the road to riches. They assured their few thousand remaining viewers the 11% plunge in the stock market was caused by China and the communist government’s direct intervention in their stock market, arrest of a brokerage CEO, and threat to prosecute sellers surely cured what ails their market. The Fed and their Plunge Protection Team co-conspirators reversed the free fall, manipulating derivatives and creating a short seller covering rally back to previous week levels. The moneyed interests are desperate to retain the appearance of normality and stability, as their debt saturated system teeters on the verge of collapse.

John Hussman’s weekly letter provides sound advice for anyone looking to avoid a 50% loss in the next 18 months. The market has been overvalued for the last three years and now sits at overvaluation levels on par with 1929 and 2000. The difference is that fear has been overtaking greed in the psyches of traders. The average Joe isn’t in the market. Only the Ivy League MBA High frequency trading computer gurus are playing in this rigged market. The 1,100 point crash last Monday is what happens when arrogant young traders, fear and computer algorithms combine in a perfect storm of mindless selling. Suddenly the pompous risk takers became frightened risk-averse lemmings.

Larwyn's Linx: The "Iran deal makes war more, not less likely"

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QOTD: "The [EPA] recently concluded its authority to regulate “navigable” waters extended to any water source within 4,000 feet of genuinely navigable waters, which meant countless land uses from farming to mining to gas and oil extraction now would require a whole new set of federal permitting.

A federal judge, however, has stepped emphatically in the EPA’s path, declaring its plan to regulate ditches, streams, ponds and other “navigable” waters to be overbroad and an end-run around Congress.

The EPA’s water rule, said Judge Ralph R. Erickson, is “inexplicable, arbitrary and devoid of a reasoned process.”

In a remarkable display of bureaucratic cheek, however, the EPA has responded that it will abide by Judge Erickson’s restraining order only in the 13 states that were named in the lawsuit.

A guiding principle of federal law is that it is meant to cover all Americans, and each of the 50 states, equally. The agency’s decision to go forward with its rule in the balance of the states mocks that principle." --The Republic

Sunday, August 30, 2015

THE FEDERAL RESERVE: A Solution in Search of a Problem

By Jim DeMint

The Federal Reserve opened its annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Thursday. Its experts have assembled to discuss “inflation dynamics.” Concurrently, another group of economists and financial experts is meeting just down the road. They’re discussing monetary policy, as well, but they’re considering questions never raised at Fed symposia—questions like: “Do we really need the Fed?”

It’s a question worth asking. America’s monetary system is the Achilles heel of the world’s economic system.

Something is seriously wrong when trillions of new dollars are created out of thin air to bail out big banks, “stimulate” the economy and buy government debt. And something is dangerously wrong when the political establishment is afraid even to discuss it.

The common assumption—in financial as well as political circles—is that America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve—not only can manipulate monetary policy to keep the economy rolling, but that it must, if we are to avoid economic ruin. But ample evidence suggests that this assumption is dead wrong.

The SEIU has blown "$80 million in members’ dues money attacking the McDonald's brand and its franchisees"

By Labor Union Report

Last year, according to reports on file with the U.S. Department of Labor, the Service Employees Internationals Union paid Scott Courtney $232,060 in total compensation.

However, that is a mere pittance to the estimated nearly $80 million that the SEIU has shelled out in its nearly three-year battle to unionize the nation’s fast-food workers.

Though his official SEIU title is “Deputy Chief of Staff,” according to a post in the Guardian, Courtney is the chief strategist of the SEIU’s Fight for $15 campaign–the campaign concocted by the SEIU in late 2009 as a means of unionizing low-wage fast-food workers.

To date, Courtney and the SEIU have rejected the notion of unionizing 100 or 200 McDonalds and negotiating higher wages to use as a model elsewhere, opting instead for a much grander goal.

Here is a complete list of all of the differences between Socialists and Democrats: _________.

By Richard Larsen

Sometimes what’s not said in response to a direct inquiry is more noteworthy than what is said. When the chairman of the Democrat National Committee was asked recently what the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist was, she sidestepped the issue and went a totally divergent direction. It would have provided a valuable service if she’d answered the question directly, for there seems to be no substantive distinction.

“What is the difference between a Democrat and a socialist?” MSNBC’s Chris Matthews asked Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. The DNC chairman started to laugh, so Matthews tried again. “I used to think there was a big difference. What do you think?” Wasserman-Schultz started to sidestep the issue again, so Matthews tried a third time. “Yeah, but what’s the big difference between being a Democrat and being a socialist? You’re the chairwoman of the Democratic Party. Tell me the difference between you and a socialist.” Intentionally avoiding Matthew’s question, she responded, “The difference between—the real question is what’s the difference between being a Democrat and being a Republican.” Her dogmatically superficial and fallacious explication ensued.

A little later, NBC’s Chuck Todd, on “Meet the Press,” asked the same question, which she responded to very similarly, choosing to answer a question not asked. But when the Matthews interview is looked at contextually, she may have already answered the question, when she called Bernie Sanders “a good Democrat.”

That’s a significant statement even at face value, for Bernie Sanders, the junior senator from Vermont, and a Democrat candidate for president, is a self-avowed socialist. He’s officially an Independent, but caucuses with the Democrats and votes with them 98% of the time, according to Socialistworker.org.

BRILLIANT: Failed Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to Join the Dying Campaign of... Jeb Bush

By Julia Hahn

Rejected GOP leader Eric Cantor will endorse Jeb Bush and become the co-chair of Bush’s presidential campaign in Virginia, according to Politico.

Cantor was rejected by his Virginia constituents in 2014 for backing a plan developed by Democrats, Republicans, and business leaders that would triple the nation’s huge inflow of migrants.

Bush is promoting a similar migration-boosting policy in his 2016 campaign.

Bush has picked Cantor—who is now working as an investment banker in New York—because of his ability to raise huge funds from business investors, Politico said. Cantor “retains a strong political network in Virginia and has enviable connections among Jewish business leaders who can be key supporters and donors,” says the Politico report.

In turn, Cantor’s support for Bush shows that “he’s making a play for a cabinet position in the next Republican presidential administration,” a source active in the Republican Party of Virginia told Breitbart News.

Last month, Cantor slammed Donald Trump’s popular migration-reform plan, which draws much support from many of Cantor’s former constituents. Trump’s policy is “mean, it’s ugly, it’s divisive, and it is not a sustainable model… ultimately that kind of language, which is off-putting to a large swath of the population, is not something that will elect a president,” Cantor claimed in July.

Cantor held his position as House Majority Leader until he was rejected by his GOP supporters in the June 2014 primary. In the 7th district ballot, Cantor was trounced by a little-known economics professor, Dave Brat, who slammed Cantor’s cooperation with corporatist groups:

The last thing you see before you die

Marketing. It's both art and science, and someone just blew away all of the formulas with a single, earth-shattering invention:

So this just came in the mail. pic.twitter.com/L67LXpWEF5
— Vince Coglianese (@TheDCVince) August 28, 2015

I call dibs on employing this prop as the central theme of a Chuckie-style horror movie.

Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Fighting With Another Defense Secretary Over Freeing Terrorists

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Nation

Obama Fighting With Another Defense Secretary Over Freeing Terrorists: Daniel Greenfield
DNC trying to shield itself from Iran disaster. Or maybe just Wasserman Schultz is: Moe Lane
Nothing's more terrifying to elites than Trump’s tangible American nationalism: Julius Krein

Will Biden Be Bluffed?: William Kristol
Hillary Invokes Holocaust to Describe GOP Immigration Plans: Keith Koffler
The Corruption of David Ignatius and the Washington Post: Ace

Trio of top fundraisers depart Jeb Bush campaign: Gabby Morrongiello
Donald Trump: 'This is a movement': Ben Schreckinger
Hillary Clinton Really Is Coming For Your Guns: Jackie Kucinich

Police arrest suspect in execution-style killing of sheriff’s deputy in TX: Howard Portnoy
Trump: I’m winning because Americans are 'tired of being the patsies': Mark Hensch
After 8 Birmingham shootings in 3 days, dozens walk and pray to combat crime: AL.com

Economy

The Cost Of Capitalism vs. Socialism: Ace
Lottery dreams turn to nightmares in Illinois budget crisis: Philly Voice
Rauner's $30,000/mo. Budget Consultant Leaves, But Illinois Still Has No Budget: Kate Shepherd

Scandal Central

IRS must say if White House sought taxpayers’ information: Judge: Times
Emails show Bill Clinton asked State Dept. for OK on N. Korea, Congo invites: Barnini Chakraborty
Hillary Clinton Defends Bill Clinton's 'Unusual' Paid Speech Vetting Requests: Arlette Saenz

Grassley continues questioning top Hillary aide: Sarah Westwood
Washington Post investigates Hillary Clinton Dublin dinner: Sheila Langan
Beaten to Death With His Own Bible: GoV

Media

Black Activist’s Radio Show In TX Called For Murder Of Cops Days Before Deputy Was Murdered: WZ
#BlueLivesMatter: Did A Radio Show Incite Murder?: Deanna Fisher
NYT's Barro: 'Massive' Gun Grab Only Way To Impact Violent Crime: Mark Finkelstein

Dear Feminists: You Think Too Much: R.S. McCain
Breaking the Law is Not A Human Right: Why Jorge Ramos Is Wrong: Mary Ramirez
DNC Writes Slobbering Letter To Obama, Supporting His Iran Deal: William Teach

World

Pentagon Not Targeting Islamic State Training Camps: Bill Gertz
Iran Renews Support For Hamas Terrorists: Adam Kredo
Cheney: Iran deal 'tragically reminiscent' of Munich deal: Hayom

Armed Patrols Planned For European Trains In Recognition Of Islam’s Contribution To Civilization: BCF
Cubans don’t need permission to be free: Belen Marty
Hobby Lobby’s $400M Bible museum getting largest Israel artifact collection: Michael F. Haverluck

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Cody Wilson’s 3D Printed Liberator Lawsuit on Its Way to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals: 3Dprint.com
Windows NT: Scripting News
These virtual reality cameras will change entertainment forever: Lily Prasuethsut

Cornucopia

Why I Support Donald Trump’s Campaign – And It’s Probably Not What You Think: Treehouse (July 2015)
MOTUS 2016 GOP “Sweet 16” Battle: Brackets “B” & “F”: MOTUS
The inalienable right to a leisurely breakfast, and other nonsense: C&S

Image: Why I Support Donald Trump’s Campaign – And It’s Probably Not What You Think
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: #ReadyForLiberty: TED CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT

QOTD: "A Free Republic reader has made an excellent point: liberals say that deporting 11 million illegal immigrants would be impossibly expensive and impractical, yet they favor confiscating many of the over 300 million guns owned by civilians in the United States." --Mark Finkelstein

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Tweet o' the day

Perfection, via Don Surber:

Hillary would never support violent, armed raids to capture and deport Hispanic immigrants https://t.co/ceI5EnEZ0t pic.twitter.com/FsetjY9r1T
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 28, 2015

Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Dear @PaneraBread: I want a refund. Love, Doug. P.S., I really, really hate @Keurig machines.

You know, I've come to hate these Keurig machines.

Dudes. I want my money back. @panerabread coffee packs ain't compatible with @Keurig machines, despite the packaging. pic.twitter.com/Ua0weF4b28
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) August 29, 2015

No idea whether it works or not, but someone claims you can hack a Keurig with a piece of tape.

The best thing about Obamacare is all that bending of the cost curves

A sober Wall Street Journal relays the bad news:

[The state's health care commissioner approved a] 36.3% increase sought by the biggest health plan in the state, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. She said the insurer demonstrated the hefty increase for 2016 was needed to cover higher-than-expected claims from sick people who signed up for individual policies in the first two years of the Affordable Care Act.

Several regulators around the country agree with her, and have approved all or most of the big premium increases sought by the largest health plans in their states for the new sign-up season that begins Nov. 1.

...the upsurge is likely to be a big talking point not only during the three-month enrollment season, but through the 2016 campaigns, where GOP opponents of the law are expected to use it as a defining issue against their Democratic rivals.

At Hot Air, Ed Morrissey close-captions the story:

Andy Johnson owes the #EPA more than $16 million in fines because he built a small pond on his land

By Eric Boehm

A rancher is taking the Environmental Protection Agency to federal court, asking a judge to stop the agency from fining him more than $16 million because he built a small pond on his property.

Andy Johnson of Fort Bridger, Wyoming says he made sure to get the proper permits from his state government before building the pond. After all, this is America in the 21^st century, and nothing done on your own property — certainly when it involves the use of water — is beyond government concern.

Johnson is facing millions in fines from the federal government after the EPA determined his small pond — technically a “stock pond” to provide better access to water for animals on his ranch — is somehow violating the federal Clean Water Act.

“We went through all the hoops that the state of Wyoming required, and I’m proud of what we built,” Johnson said. “The EPA ignored all that.”

In a compliance order, the EPA told Johnson he had to return his property — under federal oversight — to conditions before the stock pond was built. When he refused to comply, the EPA tagged Johnson with a fines of $37,000 per day.

Dismantling the pond within the 30-day window the EPA originally gave him was “physically impossible,” Johnson said.

That was in 2012. Today, Johnson owes the federal government more than $16 million, and the amount is growing as he tries to fight back.

BODY LANGUAGE QUIZ: What do you see?

Hillary's campaign has been described as operating in "bubblewrap", meaning she has been insulated from real citizens and real journalists alike. Except when someone like Ed Henry slips through her rope cordon:

"Did you try to wipe the entire [server]? *crickets * #Hillary4Prison2016 #OrangeIsTheNewHillary https://t.co/ZRm6BoGaAc
— Angela #1A #DefundPP (@angelacarwile) August 28, 2015

ED HENRY: Secretary Clinton, I wonder if I could ask you a couple of questions. One would be—were you aware—were you aware—thank you. Were you aware that your husband wanted to give paid speeches to repressive regimes like North Korea? Do you have any comment on these new emails that raise questions about conflict of interest involving your aide, Huma Abedin? And finally, I wonder — you said there’s nothing unique about this situation. You’ve said this before. Can you name one other Cabinet secretary who had their own server?

CLINTON: Well, let me answer one of your questions because I think that’s what you are entitled to.

As Doug Powers noted the other day as it pertains to Hillary Clinton's public image, "America has spoken."

You know who's not #ReadyForHillary? The thousands who've died fleeing the Libya she destroyed

Hillary Clinton is directly responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Mediterranean Sea as the death toll of those who drowned fleeing her destabilized Libya approaches 2,500.

Rescue workers counted dozens of victims Friday from the increasingly desperate tide of humanity sweeping into Europe fleeing war, oppression and poverty. Austrian police said 71 people likely suffocated in an airless truck and authorities estimated 200 people drowned off the Libyan coast when two overloaded boats bound for Europe capsized...

...The International Office of Migration has recorded 2,432 deaths linked to Mediterranean crossings this year, but countless more have vanished beneath the waves out of sight of rescuers. The official count was set to rise Friday as authorities counted the dead from three shipwrecks off the Libyan coast.