Are there still Republicans in Congress? Is someone going to ask why DHS needs 2,700 armored vehicles and billions of rounds of ammo?

"If weapons of war don't belong on the street, Mr. President, explain these purchases."
I guess President Obama was serious when he pledged -- on two separate occasions -- to build a "civilian national security force" just as powerful and well-equipped as the U.S. military. You may also recall from that antiquated document called the United States Constitution (like, dude, maybe 100 years old... right, Ezra Klein?) that using American armed forces for domestic military operations is forbidden.

But that doesn't seem to be much of a hindrance for this administration.

In addition to stockpiling over a billion bullets and thousands of semiautomatic weapons the feds would deny U.S. citizens, the vehicle of choice for fighting the counterinsurgency war in Iraq is appearing on U.S. streets.

The sequestration question du jour is why the Department of Homeland Security, busy releasing hundreds, if not thousands, of deportable and detained illegal aliens due to budget constraints, is buying several thousand Mine Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicles?

And just who are they intended to be used against?

This acquisition comes on top of the recent news of the stockpiling by DHS of more than 1.6 billion (with a 'b') bullets of various calibers, enough...to fight the equivalent of a 24-year Iraq War, and the ordering of some 7,000 5.56x45mm NATO "personal defense weapons" (PDW) — also known as "assault weapons" when owned by civilians.

...The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 of these MRAP vehicles for service on the streets of the U.S. They were formerly used for counterinsurgency in Iraq... These vehicles are specifically designed to resist mines and ambush attacks. They use bulletproof windows and are designed to withstand small-arms fire, including smaller-caliber rifles such as a .223 Remington. Does DHS expect a counterinsurgency here?

...A DHS officer, Robert Whitaker, stationed in El Paso, Texas, recently proudly described the agency's new armored toy as "Mine-resistant ... we use to deliver our team to high-risk warrant services ... (with) gun ports so we can actually shoot from within the vehicle; you may think it's pretty loud but actually it's not too bad ... we have gun ports there in the back and two on the sides as well. They are designed for .50-caliber weapons."

This is needed to serve warrants? Perhaps it might have been useful at Waco.

So the question is what does DHS need 1.6 billion bullets, 7,000 Ar-15s and 2,700 armored vehicles for?

Are there still Republicans in Congress?

Do we still have a single journalist in the media?

Does no one care that this president is -- at the same time he whines endlessly about tiny Sequester cuts -- spending billions arming a huge, powerful, domestic security force?


Hat tip: BadBlue.com News Service.

Emails confirm Obama is the first president in history who is out to hurt the American people as badly as possible

There is no other way to put it.

The Obama administration denied an appeal for flexibility in lessening the sequester’s effects, with an email this week appearing to show officials in Washington that because they already had promised the cuts would be devastating, they now have to follow through on that...

...In the email sent Monday by Charles Brown, an official with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service office in Raleigh, N.C., Mr. Brown asked “if there was any latitude” in how to spread the sequester cuts across the region to lessen the impacts on fish inspections.

He said he was discouraged by officials in Washington, who gave him this reply: “We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that ‘APHIS would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 states in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.’ So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be...”

While APHIS may be cutting back on food inspectors, it's still hiring bureaucrats.

As for the Department of Homeland Security, it is intentionally releasing dangerous predators onto the streets at the same time it is buying billions of rounds of ammunition and spending tens of millions for new uniforms.

Europe, Unemployment and Instability [Friedman]

Guest post by George Friedman, Founder and Chairman, Stratfor Research

The global financial crisis of 2008 has slowly yielded to a global unemployment crisis. This unemployment crisis will, fairly quickly, give way to a political crisis. The crisis involves all three of the major pillars of the global system -- Europe, China and the United States. The level of intensity differs, the political response differs and the relationship to the financial crisis differs. But there is a common element, which is that unemployment is increasingly replacing finance as the central problem of the financial system.

Europe is the focal point of this crisis. Last week Italy held elections, and the party that won the most votes -- with about a quarter of the total -- was a brand-new group called the Five Star Movement that is led by a professional comedian. Two things are of interest about this movement. First, one of its central pillars is the call for defaulting on a part of Italy's debt as the lesser of evils. The second is that Italy, with 11.2 percent unemployment, is far from the worst case of unemployment in the European Union. Nevertheless, Italy is breeding radical parties deeply opposed to the austerity policies currently in place.

The core debate in Europe has been how to solve the sovereign debt crisis and the resulting threat to Europe's banks. The issue was who would bear the burden of stabilizing the system. The argument that won the day, particularly among Europe's elites, was that what Europe needed was austerity, that government spending had to be dramatically restrained so that sovereign debt -- however restructured it might be -- would not default.

One of the consequences of austerity is recession. The economies of many European countries, especially those in the eurozone, are now contracting, since austerity obviously means that less money will be available to purchase goods and services. If the primary goal is to stabilize the financial system, it makes sense. But whether financial stability can remain the primary goal depends on a consensus involving broad sectors of society. When unemployment emerges, that consensus shifts and the focus shifts with it. When unemployment becomes intense, then the entire political system can shift. From my point of view, the Italian election was the first, but expected, tremor.

Larwyn's Linx: A Low-Information Voter's Guide to Politics

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

Nation

A Low-Information Voter's Guide to Politics: Cube
The Kind of Cop We Need: LibertyZone
Failed Government: A Study of Futility: NoisyRoom

Putting politics over public safety: Gaffney
Pick your analogy for Obama's sequester fear-mongering fail: LI
Barack Obama: the Man Behind the Mask: McCann

When confiscation begins, politicians guilty until proven innocent: Western
GOP accusation confirmed: Obama out to break it: Rubin
Ultra-assertive Obama adopts new strategy: Taking no prisoners: Hill

Economy

Circle The Wagons: The Left Goes Gunning For Texas: RS
Obamacare Insurance Plans Will Be Bare Bones -- And Expensive: RCM
Non-Teaching School Staff Costing Taxpayers Money: Foundry

Mark Levin schools Jeb Bush and Matt Lauer: Scoop
Doom: A Heap of Broken Images: Ace
Arne Duncan: Sorry For Making All That Stuff Up About the Sequester: WZ

Scandal Central

Sen. Graham Backs Radical Obama Judicial Appointment: Tatler
Is 5th Time the Charm to Get Obama’s Leftist Activist on DC Circuit? : JW
Washington Post report confuses one prostitute with another in bid to debunk Menendez allegations: DC

Climate & Energy

Obama Possibly Trading Keystone for More Taxes?: RWN
California's Green Energy Completely Fails to Power State: LI
Flashback: Ashley Judd Compared Coal Mining To Rape: WZ

Media

Advice To Candy-Ass Reporters On How To Deal With Bullies: Ace
An Open Letter From a Black Republican to Reince Priebus: IJ Review
NY Times Obama Sequester Hysteria: 125,000 Families Could Become Homeless: JWF

National Journal’s Ron Fournier Asks Why Obama Doesn’t Just Murder John Boehner: NB
Sequester Scare: Two Thirds of News Stories Devoted to Hyping Budget Hysteria: MRC
Pirro to Chi Police Chief Garry McCarthy: How About Tracking Illegal Guns and Policing Southside?: MagNote

Rubin, wouldn’t you like to be a conservative too?: Kuznicki
5 Myths in Steven Brill's Opus on Health Costs--Part 1: Forbes
Keith Olbermann Wants To Work At ESPN Again: Deadspin

Obama admin opens new front in war on women, calls journalist a c***: NakedDC
Dr. Ben Carson: Your right to own a semiautomatic should depend on where you live: Hot Air
Bob Woodward is a limp noodled tool of Barack Obama: Winter Soldier

World

Threat Level: Obama: Peters
Jihadists, Suicide, and Nuclear Weapons: Commentary
Hitler's Islamist Allies: The History Lesson You Didn't Get in School: WorldThreat

Forum: Do you consider a nuclear armed Iran a problem? If so, how would you deal with it?: Watcher
41% of Dems think president should have power to kill suspected American terrorist on American soil: Hot Air
Biden: Obama 'not bluffing' on Iran -- 'as far as you know' (okay, I added that last bit): ynet

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

30 years of PCWorld, 30 pivotal moments in PC history: PC World
How Search Works: Google
Jailed cybercriminal hacked into his own prison's computer system after being put in IT class: Sophos

Cornucopia

Just Had To Share This Picture With You: Western
A Message From the Future: AllThingsD
Some 3-D Printing Links: Chicago Boyz

Image: People's Cube
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Gun News - the Latest News on Firearms

QOTD: "Conservatives are fighting a losing battle of moral arithmetic. They hand an argument with virtually 100% public support—care for the vulnerable—to progressives, and focus instead on materialistic concerns and minority moral viewpoints.

The irony is maddening. America's poor people have been saddled with generations of disastrous progressive policy results, from welfare-induced dependency to failing schools that continue to trap millions of children.

Meanwhile, the record of free enterprise in improving the lives of the poor both here and abroad is spectacular. According to Columbia University economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin, the percentage of people in the world living on a dollar a day or less—a traditional poverty measure—has fallen by 80% since 1970. This is the greatest antipoverty achievement in world history. That achievement is not the result of philanthropy or foreign aid. It occurred because billions of souls have been able to pull themselves out of poverty thanks to global free trade, property rights, the rule of law and entrepreneurship.

The left talks a big game about helping the bottom half, but its policies are gradually ruining the economy, which will have catastrophic results once the safety net is no longer affordable. Labyrinthine regulations, punitive taxation and wage distortions destroy the ability to create private-sector jobs. Opportunities for Americans on the bottom to better their station in life are being erased." --Arthur C. Brooks

AETNA CEO: Prepare for Obamacare Premium "Rate Shock" With 100 Percent Increases Possible Next Year

I'm guessing the administration's infamous "Enemies List" just got bigger by one.

Aetna CEO Warns of Approaching Health Insurance ‘Premium Rate Shock’ in 2014 for Consumers and Others Under Accountable Care Act

Steep increases in insurance costs may leave patients with less money to cover deductibles and copayments for clinical laboratory tests

Next year, consumers and small businesses can expect what one health insurance CEO says will be, “Premium rate shock for 2014.” As this happens, clinical laboratories and pathology groups are likely to find it even more difficult to collect co-pays, deductibles, and out-of-pocket fees from patients who had medical laboratory tests performed.

The premium rate shock remark was made by no less than Mark Bertolini, the CEO of Aetna, Inc. (NYSE: AET). In his speech at an investor conference, he predicted premiums would rise by 20% to 50% next year before the government subsidies are applied. In some markets, rates could double, he added.

Aetna is not alone in seeking steep hikes in health insurance premiums. Blue Shield of California is seeking a rate increase of 12% to 20% for more than 300,000 individuals, The Los Angeles Times reported. These new rates would go into effect in March, the company said.

...For pathologists and clinical laboratory managers, such increases mean patients may have less money to cover deductibles and co-payments for medical laboratory tests. Labs would then need to invest more time and money in collecting these payments. Also, health premiums are likely to rise sharply for those clinical laboratories that offer health insurance in the small group market...

...No less an authority than Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, Inc., is predicting that consumers and employers alike will experience significant “premium rate shock for 2014” in the cost of health insurance and healthcare benefits. Financial analysts are pointing out that, along with the regular, expected annual increase in healthcare costs, mandates of the Accountable Care Act, which will take effect at the start of 2014, will further add to the costs of health insurance for many employers and consumers...

One reason insurance costs are rising is the requirement under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that older consumers can be charged no more than three times as much as the youngest consumers, said Robert Laszewski in his blog at Health Policy and Market... Laszewski predicts that individuals can expect a 30% to 40% increase in what they pay for health insurance. That cost includes premiums, deductibles, and copayments. He based this estimate on an informal survey of health insurers he conducted late last year.

...“But consumers who make less than 400% of poverty will have their premiums capped at a percentage of their income,” Laszewski observed. “So, anyone getting a subsidy will be insulated from the very highest premiums. Who will pick up the rest of the premium? Federal taxpayers... The formula spelled out in the ACA will increase the risk the federal government bears...

It is significant that two nationally recognized experts like Laszewski and Paul Mango are predicting significant—even dramatic—increases in what employers and consumers must pay for health insurance. To that must be added the higher deductibles, out-of-pocket and co-pay requirements that employers are instituting...

The clinical laboratory journal Dark Daily summarizes the effect on Obama's beloved "middle class", to wit: they're about to get boinked, hard.

It seems clear that “sticker shock” is about to hit many middle-class Americans. As a consequence, clinical laboratories should anticipate higher rates of bad debt from patients who are financially overwhelmed by all the increases in the cost of their healthcare.

As conservatives predicted, Obama, Pelosi and Reid all lied about Obamacare as they rammed it through Congress, sight unseen. Rates are going to skyrocket. Employers will drop coverage. Physicians will stop accepting Medicare patients. Insurance carriers will go bankrupt. Care, when you can find it, will be rationed. And the system is going to melt down, with the poor and seniors suffering most.

Obama lied -- and people will die. Obamacare is an Angel of Death hovering over the very fabric of this society.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

THE GENIUS OF RAHM EMANUEL: Chicago blowing $55 million on Maggie Daley memorial park while cops go without squad cars

And they say that Rahm "Dead Fish Ballerina" Emanuel is a presidential candidate?

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA AH AHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AH AHHA AHHA AHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA AH HAHAHA *cough* AHAHHAHAHAHAHA *gasp* HHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA *wheeze* HAHA *choke* ---

I think I just tore my nimbus muscle.

It seems that Chicago is so broke it can't even afford the police squad cars it so desperately needs.

The city is so short of cars that they are handling out "rentals" to detectives and to sergeants working VRI!

...Chevy Impalas with NO emergency equipment...

Typical democrat waste of money!!!

Why doesn’t the city just pay Ford for the new damn squad cars on time?

The license plates are from Indiana on these [rental] cars...

So the brilliant Democrat leaders in Chicago can't afford to put detectives in squad cars, but are blowing $55 million on a park memorializing Maggie Daley. Yes, that's right - the ex-mayor's late wife who was allegedly hip-deep in the kind of skulduggery for which the Chicago machine is notorious.

$55 million for a Maggie Daley park while cops go without their rides.

Genius.

How Search Works: Fighting Spam

Google has introduced a new portal that attempts to clarify how their monumentally successful search engine actually works under the covers. One of the more interesting aspects of their presentation relates to the search engine's "War on Spam" -- bogus content of little or no value that is intended to deceive the search engine to generate traffic (and ad revenue).


It would appear that one of the more recent "innovations" in spam is hacking reputable sites for the purpose of influencing search-engine optimization (SEO) scores. Along with "Watering Hole Attacks," the trend of exploiting legitimate sites to effect malicious ends is certainly an ominous development.

ACTION: Obama Nominee Halligan Said to be the Most Radical Anti-Constitutionalist and Rabid Gun-Hater in Modern American History

We know from the president's statements -- like his oft-repeated mantra "If Congress won't act, I will" -- that he has no respect for the United States Constitution and the separation of powers it codifies.

But his most recent nomination is beyond the pale.

Obama Pushing “Most Anti-Second Amendment Nominee” in Recent History

Senators on Capitol Hill [tell us that] Harry Reid is twisting arms to get support for one of the most anti-gun judicial nominees in recent memory.

Her name is Caitlin Halligan, and she has a long track record in favor of gun control. In fact, one Senate Republican said that she is the most “anti-Second Amendment nominee Obama has ever put forward.”

As New York’s Solicitor General, Halligan was one of the chief lawyers responsible for New York’s baseless and politically motivated efforts to bankrupt gun manufacturers using frivolous litigation. In so doing, Halligan proved that she places liberal political activism above fealty to the law.

Halligan’s public hatred for firearms was only matched by her zealotry inside the courtroom. In a speech on May 5, 2003, Halligan called for “handgun manufacturers [to be held] liable for criminal acts committed with handguns.”

Certainly, no other manufacturer of another item -- whether it be cars, baseball bats, or anything else -- would be held liable for the criminal misuse of its product. And, as Halligan well knows, the application of that principle to firearms would surely eliminate the manufacture of firearms in America.

After attempts of legal extortion of the firearms industry were repudiated by a bipartisan vote in Congress, Halligan’s office did not let up on attacking gun rights, signing a legal brief calling for New York courts to declare the federal Gun Makers’ Protection Act unconstitutional.

Finally, Halligan, in written testimony submitted to the Senate in connection with her nomination, attempted to conceal the extent of her anti-gun animus.

Halligan’s failure to provide information that would clarify her statements, thus keeping her testimony from being misleading, constitutes “fraud” against the Senate. As such, the only role she should play in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is the role of a defendant.

But, of course, none of this matters to Harry Reid. He and President Obama are doing what they can to pack the Appeals Courts with radical leftists... We have to stop this Reid/Obama court-packing scheme. Please act now, as Reid is pushing hard for a vote on Halligan’s nomination.

Click here to contact your Senators: tell them in no uncertain terms that radical extremists like Halligan must be filibustered.

Larwyn's Linx: Sperling Admits Obama Lied--The President Did Propose the Sequester

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

Nation

Sperling Admits Obama Lied: The President Did Propose the Sequester: WS
Know Thy Enemy, Prologue: Dewey
Beretta Exec Likens Gun Ban to Book Ban: WFB

Disgraceful Behavior by Extremist Justices Sotomayor and Kagan: Breitbart
Why is Joe Biden Such a Moron?: Haus of Guns
DOJ: Children Do Not Need—and Have No Right to--Mothers: CNS

Feds want drones to watch for citizens carrying guns: Lott
New Gun Control Lie: States Can Ban Anything: Backwoods Engineer
Utah Set to Become 5th Constitutional Carry State: TAG

Economy

Sequestrationgeddon: Airplanes Will Fall From The Sky!: Ace
More Sequester Scares: SCC
The Crushing Impact Of 24% Minimum Wage Hike: RS

California busted through spending limits to feed the unions: LI
Public Pension Watch: Light Dawning: Commune
Cash airlift helped avert Greek bank run during debt crisis: paper: Yahoo!

Scandal Central

Obscene Government Waste: CFP
Did Obama Pay Off a Crony to The Tune of $340 Million Using Obamacare?: Blaze
Administration-approved takeover by Chinese oil company provides Obama backers windfall: WFB

Climate & Energy

State Department Budget: $469 Million for Climate Change: Patriot
Mike’s AGU Trick: ClimateAudit
New EPA chief must end political attacks on Pebble Mine: DC

Media

AP's Raum Rewrites 80 Years of History in Sequestration Lament: NB
In Case You Weren't Sure, Obama's Lying About the Sequester and Intends to Keep On Lying: Ace
Woodsy On The Rampage: The Ecology Of Radical Environmentalism: CFP

The Mystery of the Filthy, Filthy Carpet — Happy Ten Year Anniversary to “The Streisand Effect”!: HillBuzz
Paper Which Just Laid Off A Bunch Of Employees Hysterical Over “Austerity”: Cove
Will Big-Drama Obama Backfire?: Dossier

MSNBC fake twitter scandal widens-Lib Blogger finds Ed Shultz using paid spambots to promote show: FreeRep
A Sordid Business Indeed: Shaw
TIME Executive Editor: 'We're All Welfare Queens' and 'Socialists From the Day We're Born': NB

World

The Sequester and the Arab Spring: McCarthy
Beppe Grillo: Italy's new Mussolini: Spectator
The Future of Warfare Requires Space Capabilities: Foundry

Top Obama Bundler Leads Code Pink in Anti-Israeli Chants at AIPAC: GWP
Amos: With sequester, USMC will ‘cut into bone’: MarineTimes
As Passover Approaches, Swarms Of Locusts Hit Near Cairo Causing Massive Damage To Agriculture: WZ

DHS Used Sequester to Release Thousands of Illegals; Just Bought 2,700 Light-Armored Vehicles: Nice Deb
Obama Talks Sequester Doom Then Gives $250 Million to Egypt: Sentinel
Farrakhan: White People Fear Becoming Minority So They Push Birth Control On Black Women: WZ

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Three reasons I love Timehop: Tuaw
86 Mac Plus Vs. 07 AMD DualCore. You Won't Believe Who Wins: HubPages
Google's Chrome and Punishment for PCs: WSJ

Cornucopia

The 10 Best Conservative Photoshops Of February: RWN
When Booth Saved Lincoln: HistoryNet
America: On the Edge of the Physical Cliff : MOTUS

Image: Second City Cop
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Gun News

QOTD: "The 'general welfare' is every tyrant’s excuse, going back to Robespierre and the guillotine. Free people are not in the habit of providing reasons why they 'need' something simply because the government wants to ban it. That’s true of anything — but especially something the government is constitutionally prohibited from banning, like guns.

The question isn’t whether we 'need' guns. It’s whether the government should have a monopoly on force.

In liberals’ ideal world, no one will even know you don’t have to wait 22 minutes for the police when someone breaks into your home, there are toilets that can get the job done on one flush, food tastes better with salt, and you can drive over 55 mph and get there faster.

Meanwhile, we’re all required to subsidize their hobbies — recycling, abortion, the 'arts,' bicycling, illegal alien workers, etc.

Liberals ought to think about acquiring a new hobby: leaving people alone." --Ann Coulter

New York Post: Administration Officials Called Female Reporter Who Asked Tough Questions a "C***", "B****", "A**hole"

Bob Woodward has unleashed the floodgates: liberal media is finally admitting the truth about the Obama administration's lack of respect for the freedom of the press.

In addition to Woodward, correspondents Lanny Davis, Bill Plante, Neil Munro, Ron Fournier, David Brody, Conor Friedersdorf, and others have expressed their concern and disbelief regarding the administration's fascistic mindset:

... “I had a young reporter asking tough, important questions of an Obama Cabinet secretary,” says one DC veteran. “She was doing her job, and they were trying to bully her. In an e-mail, they called her the vilest names — bitch, c--t, a--hole.” He complained and was told the matter would be investigated: “They were hemming and hawing, saying, ‘We’ll look into it.’ Nothing happened.”

...He wound up confronting the author of the e-mail directly. “I said, ‘From now on, every e-mail you send this reporter will be on the record, and you will be speaking on behalf of the president of the United States.’ That shut it down.”

...Another White House correspondent says that last week’s blowup over pool reporters’ access to the president’s golf game with Tiger Woods — which was none — is indicative of a larger problem. “Today’s a perfect example,” he says. “Jack Lew is sworn in” — as US Treasury secretary, on Thursday — “and they didn’t even allow a photographer in there. A reporter asked [press secretary] Jay Carney why, and his answer was, ‘It’s a family ceremony.’ No! This is a high-ranking government official whose salary is paid for by taxpayers. No.”

“This administration has tools to reach people on their own,” CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante said this week. "...they’re undercutting the First Amendment, which guarantees a free press through many voices. If they put out their own material, it’s state-run media..."

None of the White House correspondents who spoke to The Post are hopeful that things will improve. “What’s our recourse?” says one. “How do you force them?”

...For these reasons especially, Fournier is nostalgic for the days of covering Bill Clinton. “Every five or six days, he’d do a public event, and we’d go and yell questions and occasionally, he would answer,” Fournier says. “He had to be accountable to an a--hole like me. That’s healthy for democracy.”

Now that's a war on women.

Unlike Dick Nixon, the Obama administration wears its 'Enemies List' on its sleeve.

OBAMANOMICS 101: Four out of Five Americans aged 18 to 34 say economy makes it hard to afford a... car

Not a home. A car. Ain't Democrat policies grand?


It's indeed ironic that the millennials who overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama are going to be those devastated most by his policies in the years to come.


Hat tip: Jalopnik.

ONE CHART: Illustrating the Horrifying Depth of the Sequester Cuts

Oh, the humanity:


I'm no math wizard, but it sure looks like government spending continues increasing at a pretty good clip even with the dreaded Sequester.

NEW COMIC STRIP: The Adventures of Bob Woodward and the Obama Spin Machine

An overview of the administration's Sequester skulduggery (depicted as a comic book so that liberals, drones, progressives and other miscreants can follow along):

Larwyn's Linx: For Clueless GOP There Is No Amnesty Upside; Staggering Costs Certain

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

Nation

For Clueless GOP, No Amnesty Upside; Staggering Costs Certain: RWN
Obama's America -- Mall Warnings: Second City Cop
Does this portrait make Bloomberg look like a tinpot dictator?: Blaze

“Psychotard” Gun Owners Attend Council Meeting, Marston Backs Down: TAG
Colorado bans semiauto and pump shotguns: A&L
Obama pardons man convicted of firearm charges: Exam

Economy

Rotten to the Core: Lessons from Texas: Malkin
Obamanomics: Most Americans Can No Longer Afford New Cars: GWP
The Fed’s Tightening Pipe Dream: Schiff

Scandal Central

FBI Benghazi Survivor Interviews Delivered to Senate Intel Committee: Breitbart
Great moments in presidential history: Matzav
Pwnt: Twitter axes fake accounts that pimped Maddow’s MSNBC show: FAM

Climate & Energy

The EPA’s nonexistent-product mandate: DC
State Dept report paves way for Keystone; eco-kook backlash grows: Times

Media

Media Outraged as Lying Dem Governor dubbed a “Lying Whore”: FPM
Touré: ‘What stops a mad good guy with a gun’ from shooting his wife?: Twitchy
Piers Morgan Tonight hits yearly low in 25-54 demographic. Lowest demo in its time slot.: TV by the Numbers

I Didn't Realize Anyone Even Read Rolling Stone Anymore: OG&M
Joe Biden Says We Can’t Have Tanks, WSJ Proves Him Wrong: Pagun
This is NOT the Second Amendment: WR2A

The press in 2013 is so much worse than in 2008: LI
SNL’s Obama Admits He Has ‘No Idea How Money Works,’ Tries To Explain Cuts Anyway: Mediaite
Back Into the 40s – Obama’s Approval Rating Sinks: GWP

World

Why Europeans Will Never Forgive The Jews For Auschwitz: JoshuaPundit
Violent protests outside Cairo as protests spread: Times
Assad: We'll retaliate against Israeli airstrike: ynet

Violent Clashes Hit Cairo With John Kerry Visit: ‘You Have to Know the Egyptian People Are Angry’: Blaze
The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking: RCP
Controversy in China as state TV broadcasts live execution coverage: Verge

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Evernote note-sharing service says hackers stole some user data: Trib
Evernote shoots itself in foot over "never click on 'reset password' requests" advice: Sophos
The Story Behind Qualtrics, The Next Great Enterprise Company: TechCrunch

Cornucopia

Kyrzakhstan protests America's denial of its existence: Cube
In The Words of the Wordle Wizard of Oz: MOTUS
Guide to Surviving Obama Drone Strikes: Morlock Revolt

Image: Gaffer's Tape, by iOwnTheWorld
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: BadBlue Guns

QOTD: "Woodward, almost 70, is Washington’s Reporter Emeritus. His facts stand up to scrutiny. His motivations withstand the test of objectivity. Sperling obviously assumed that Woodward wouldn’t take offense at the suggestion that he not only was wrong but was also endangering his valuable proximity to power.

...the Obama administration has demonstrated its intolerance for dissent and its contempt for any who stray from the White House script. Yes, all administrations are sensitive to criticism, and all push back when such criticism is deemed unfair or inaccurate. But no president since Richard Nixon has demonstrated such overt contempt for the messenger...

...Killing the messenger is a time-honored method of controlling the message, but we have already spilled that blood. And the First Amendment’s protection of a free press, the purpose of which is to check power and constrain government’s ability to dictate the lives of private citizens, was no accident." --Kathleen Parker

FREE CHEAT-SHEET: Do I qualify for the Obamacare mandate-tax-penalty surcharge fee?

The average American may be intimately familiar with Erin Andrews' awkward smooch with 50 Cent, but he or she has no freaking idea how painful the health care system will become under Obamacare.

Thanks, John Roberts!


Hat tip: Adapted from a chart found at Noisy Room.

AUDIT THE FED, INDEED: Revealed - JPMorgan Gold Vault Linked by Underground Tunnel to the Vault of the New York Fed

One of the most unconventional -- and effective -- financial reporters operating today is Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge. Among the first to call attention to Wall Street's HFT ("High Frequency Trading") crooks that give certain institutional investors guaranteed advantage over retail traders, Durden today has another blockbuster scoop.

When two weeks ago we exposed the heretofore secret location of JPM's London gold vault (located under the firm's massive L-shaped office complex at 60 Victoria Embankment) we thought: what about New York? After all, while London is the legacy financial capital of the "old world", it is New York that the biggest private wealth of the past century is concentrated, and it is also New York where the bulk of the hard assets backing the public money of the world's sovereigns are located, some 80 feet below ground level in the fifth sub-basement of the New York Fed, resting on the bedrock of Manhattan.

That the topic of the gold "held" by the New York Fed - historically considered the gold vault with the largest concentration of gold bars in the world - has become rather sensitive, in the aftermath of the Bundesbank's request to repatriate it... is an understatement. Yet in the aftermath of some of the revelations presented here, we believe quite a few other countries will follow in Germany's footsteps for one very simple reason: suddenly the question of whether their gold is located at 33 Liberty, or just adjacent to it, in what we have learned is the de facto largest gold vault in the world, located across the street 90 feet below 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, doesn't appear to have a clear answer...


[Although JPMorgan asked the CFTC to guard the vault's location from Freed of Information Act (FOIA) requests,] the FOIA request letter itself, while also being filed with a request for Confidential Treatment, never got it. As a result it was posted at this address. Ooops.

But a far bigger oops, is that on the first page of said declassified confidential FOIA app, in black ink, we get the missing piece:

In addition, the Exchanges are providing the Commission with the application summary of requirements for the JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. facility located at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, New York, NY.

And so, despite the extended attempts at secrecy, we finally hit the proverbial goldmine vault...


...That's right, ladies and gentlemen, as a result of our cursory examination, we have learned that the world's largest private, and commercial, gold vault, that belonging once upon a time to Chase Manhattan, and now to JPMorgan Chase, is located, right across the street, and at the same level underground, resting just on top of the Manhattan bedrock, as the vault belonging to the New York Federal Reserve, which according to folklore is the official location of the biggest collection of sovereign, public gold in the world.

At this point we would hate to be self-referential, and point out what one of our own commentators noted on the topic of the Fed's vault a year ago, namely that:

Chase Plaza (now the Property of JPM) is linked to the facility via tunnel... I have seen it. The elevators on the Chase side are incredible. They could lift a tank.

... but we won't, and instead we will let readers make up their own mind why the the thousands of tons of sovereign gold in the possession of the New York Fed, have to be literally inches across, if not directly connected, to the largest private gold vault in the world.

We think readers can do a good enough job on their own.

Gentlemen, start your repatriations!


Hat tip: The invaluable BadBlue News Service.

The Media Should Be Ashamed of Themselves: They Leave it up to Foreign Journalists to Speak Truth to Power

Babalú points us to an exceptional editorial by Niles Gardiner of London's Telegraph:

A nasty, brutish, imperial presidency

Thomas Hobbes wrote that the life of man is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Today’s White House definitely isn’t poor, lavishly feeding off the wealth of the American taxpayer, and the current presidency certainly isn’t short, with nearly four more years to run. But it is undeniably nasty and brutish, as veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward has found after questioning President Obama’s narrative on the sequester issue.

...The threats being dished out to [Bob] Woodward, [Lanny] Davis and others are extremely disturbing in a free society, and are a reflection of an imperial presidency that acts with impunity and is highly intolerant of dissent. The heavy-arm tactics that Obama’s team have deployed for years against conservatives are now being increasingly implemented as well against liberals questioning the president’s record.

Leading US political analyst Michael Barone predicted all this in a piece for National Review Online back in October 2008, when he wrote about “The Coming Obama Thugocracy.” It is an article that is strikingly accurate in its predictions...

Obama supporters ... seem to find it entirely natural to suppress speech that they don’t like and seem utterly oblivious to claims that this violates the letter and spirit of the First Amendment. In this campaign, we have seen the coming of the Obama thugocracy, suppressing free speech, and we may see its flourishing in the four or eight years ahead.

Will American liberals now stand up to the Obama White House and condemn its blatant attempts to suppress criticism and free speech? I doubt it. The Washington Post has provided relatively little coverage of the story, despite the fact that one its own star writers has been targeted. The New York Times is, unsurprisingly, completely silent (with the exception of a small mention in a single blog) on the issue. Ironically, most of the reporting of the White House’s attempts to intimidate liberal critics has come from the conservative press, led by the Drudge Report, which has propelled the story to national prominence. Both conservatives and liberals should be rallying to the defence of free speech and freedom of the press, holding the Obama presidency to account. All Americans should be concerned by government attempts to stifle press criticism in the land of the free, tactics which undermine the very foundations of liberty.

The media in this country are a pathetic joke. We now know what it was like to live in the old Soviet Union.

IT'S OFFICIAL: Seniors who paid into Medicare see benefits slashed to pay for those who haven't contributed a nickel

Conservatives have warned of this scenario since the cluster known as Obamacare was rammed through Congress in 2010. For a demagogue who continually hectors Americans about "fairness", it is indeed ironic that those who paid into Medicare are having their benefits slashed in order to subsidize those who've contributed nothing. We call that unfair.

[It loves to talk about the Sequester, but] the Obama administration doesn’t want to talk about its own devastating cuts in Medicare. On Friday, February 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced $716 billion in cuts over the next ten years. Instead of being put toward the debt, most of the money will go toward a new entitlement: Obamacare’s vast expansion of coverage for the uninsured.

Where Obama is cutting is telling. At least half of the savings will come out of Medicare Advantage, under which a full 28 percent of seniors buy privately managed health insurance that often includes added benefits such as vision and dental care or chronic-illness management. In exchange, patients agree to stay within a medical network, which helps insurance companies manage their costs. The program is most popular with Hispanics and African Americans. A study by CMS found that 38 percent of Hispanics and 31 percent of African Americans on Medicare were enrolled in Medicare Advantage, compared with 27 percent of whites...

To add cynicism to injury, the Obama administration postponed the Medicare Advantage cuts until after the 2012 election, using a slush fund to tide the program over and conceal the true costs of Obamacare to seniors.

The cuts are so much larger than expected that health-care stocks tanked across the board after they were announced. Managed-care analyst Carl McDonald told clients in an e-mail that Obamacare’s reducing payments to private-plan providers “would turn almost every plan in the industry unprofitable.” The Congressional Budget Office projects that the payment cuts will result in an enrollment drop of 3 million for Medicare Advantage.

...Obamacare will relentlessly restrict the choices seniors have by forcing them into traditional Medicare with all of its attendant contradictions, restrictions, and waste [and] the media are ignoring the Obama administration’s bigger, more brazen threat to vulnerable American seniors.

Obamacare represents the greatest redistribution of wealth in America since LBJ's colossal failure known as "Great Society".

Obamacare has nothing at all to do with your health. As Landmark Legal Foundation's Amicus Curiae brief in the abysmal Supreme Court decision observed (for which the name John Roberts will live in infamy), this despicable, unconstitutional law "forever changes the relationship between the individual and the government."

Obamacare is about control over the you -- the individual -- and your mental and physical well-being. It is a tool of tyrants.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Larwyn's Linx: Woodward pays the price of speaking truth to power

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

Nation

Woodward pays the price of speaking truth to power: No Quarter
House & Senate Republicans Set to Endorse and Fund Obamacare: RS
Does Obama want to take away your gun … magazine?: DC

A Brit doing the job of the Yank MSM: Babalu
Levin: What Obama is doing is 100 times worse than Watergate: Scoop
Concealed Carry Coming To Illinois, Gang Capital Chicago: IBD

Eric Cantor Wants War on Conservatives: Wisom
He Would Fain Have Had It’: RSM
The President’s (Second) Marriage Evolution: NRO

Economy

U.S. incomes drop the most in 20 years: GWP
Friday Humor: World's Safest Banks In 2008: ZH
Sequester: Much Larger Spending Cuts Needed to Balance the Budget: Foundry

Broke U.S. Government Eying Your Retirement Savings: IBD
Obama's Golf Weekend With Tiger Cost As Much As 341 Fed Workers: WS
White House Releases 700 Pages Of New ObamaCare Regulations: Glob

Scandal Central

The Modern-Day Robber Barons: Obama's Green Energy Scheme Exposed: Loudon
Thousands of illegal immigrants already released, according to report: Fox
Connecticut Dem to 17-year-old girl: If you’re bashful, I’ve got a snake right here under my desk: Hot Air

Climate & Energy

State Department Again Finds Keystone XL Environmentally Soun: Hackbarth

Media

ABC: Sequester 'Armageddon' Will Lead to 'Jobs Vaporizing' and 'Criminals Walking Free': NB
Happy Sequester Day!: Polipundit
ONE PERCENT: Elizabeth Warren Buys $740,000 Condo In Washington DC: Glob

My Two Cents On My Friend And My Icon, @Andrewbreitbart: Miss Delgado
Greg Gutfeld Eviscerates Liberal Media’s Double Standard On Bob Woodward: Glob
Harvard Crimson Warns Conservatives Not To Apply To Harvard this passes as enlightened education?: WZ

CPAC Turns Away Pamela Geller, Embraces Jeb Bush: Breitbart
WaPo, CBS, CNN: In spite of what Obama said, Capitol janitors are not getting a sequester-induced pay cut: Malkin
Rachel Maddow Busted Using Multiple Fake Twitter Accounts To Boost Mentions Of Her Show: Free Republic

World

Army Update: Good News, Bad News: RSM
Dangerous Times: How Euro-socialism Set off a Fascist Bomb: AT
Dennis Rodman, companions have awesome time with leader of starving totalitarian gulag-state: Hot Air

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Phishing Has Gotten Very Good: Schneier
Corning forecasts three-year wait for flexible glass gadgets: Slashgear
Science: Women Should do More Housework to Control Their Weight: NRO

Cornucopia

Cover Of New Al Qaeda Magazine: “U.S. Is The Enemy Of Islam”: WZ
How many Girl Scouts will die because of Joe Biden??: Owens
Barack Obama's Impeachable Offense: Western Journalism

Image: Sheriff David Clarke Jr. reacts to gun control push

QOTD: :"I am saying that everybody is going to have to do something, and the one key to this whole thing is trying to make sure we keep in mind who we are here for. We're not here for ourselves, we're not here for our parties. We're not here to advance our electoral prospects. We're here for American families who have been getting battered pretty good over the last four years, are just starting to see the economy improved. Businesses are just starting to see some confidence coming back, and this is not a win for anybody. This is a loss for the American people."--President Barack Obama

MUGSHOT O' THE DAY: The Patriot

If this guy really made it past the valets at the Fontainebleau, something's fundamentally wrong with America.

SEQUESTER-GEDDON: Twitter Documents the End of Civilization

Heh:

OH, THE HUMANITY: One Chart Illustrates the Brutal, Savage, Monstrous Sequester Cuts

How can anyone survive these cuts to the very bone of the federal budget?

Sequestration, the set of automatic spending reductions set to hit on March 1, barely makes a dent in federal spending over the next decade. Much larger spending cuts are needed to rein in growing spending and debt and avoid a debt crisis. [Ed.: Gee, ya think?]


Federal spending is projected to grow from $3.6 trillion in 2013 to more than $6 trillion by 2023, a 69 percent increase without sequestration. Even with sequestration, federal spending would still grow by 67 percent. Sequestration barely even slows the growth in spending, let alone cuts any spending out of the overall budget.

Not to worry, though: according to Paul Ryan, the entire economy will have collapsed before 2023. No society can continue to borrow trillions per year, just as no family can borrow millions per year without having to present a plan to pay that money back. We call it a "budget" -- a term unfamiliar to the traitorous Democrat "leadership", which has failed to produce or pass a budget that is required by law since they took power in 2009.

In colloquial Spanish, sequester (secuestro) means to kidnap, to hostage, to ransom.

Which is fitting, as that is precisely what the President is doing. He is holding the American people hostage -- releasing dangerous prisoners, compromising national security -- in order to increase taxes and spending. He is, of course, addicted to taxes and spending; and only a serious intervention can stop him. In this case, shutting the government down for a few weeks could be the intervention we need.

Obamacare hits Maine like a Nor'easter: policyholders to see rate increases up to 47 percent today

Let me guess: it's Bush's fault:

Some policyholders could see 47 percent hike when health insurance rate increase kicks in March 1

About 7,000 Maine customers of Mega Life and Health Insurance Co. will be affected by a rate change set to take effect March 1... While some policyholders will see their health premium costs drop... others will be hit with rate hikes of up to 47 percent...

...Richard Barclay, 67, of Holden said he received a letter from the company last week stating that his wife’s individual policy would jump from $323 to $449 a month, a nearly 40 percent increase. He looked into a similar plan offered by Anthem, but it carried hefty costs for visiting medical providers outside the insurer’s network, he said.

Faced with paying the higher Mega rate for another 19 months, after which his wife will qualify for Medicare at age 65, Barclay said the couple may drop her coverage... “If there are no [health] issues come January, we’re probably going to go with no insurance,” he said.

The letter from Mega about his wife’s policy, a $7,500 deductible plan, cites rising “health care-related costs” as the reason for the rate increase, Barclay said.

...Mega ultimately will net an estimated profit margin of 3 percent, according to the insurance bureau.

Three percent profit margins. Those greedy SOBs.

Gee, what happened to:

"The average family will see their premiums go down by as much as $2,500 a year."

"If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan."

"If you like your doctor, my plan won't prevent you from seeing your doctor."

All promises straight from the mouth of Obama. And all obvious lies. Every single one.

And now the progressives, the drones, and the other Leftist miscreants are mad at the health insurers, because they're trying to keep up with all of the mandated services from the federal government?

Friends, these are the tactics of a despot: set rules for industry that are impossible to meet, then demonize that industry when it inevitably fails to deliver affordable products and services. And then nationalize that industry.

We are headed for the dustbin of history, like Venezuela, like the Soviet Union, like Cuba, and half the people in this country still aren't seeing what's going on right before their eyes. Tyranny is coming.

Larwyn's Linx: Illegal Alien Who Killed Nun Was Just One of Many Released by Obama

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

Nation

Illegal Alien Who Killed Nun Was Just One of Many Released by Obama: JW
The White House Must Make Sequestration Cuts as Nasty as Possible: RS
NBC lays down covering fire for Woodward Attacks: Ace

Extortionist in Chief: Thomas
Woodward at War: Politico
John Kerry starts his new job doing what he does best: RWN

Department of No Homeland Security: Border Patrol Union Local 2544: MagNote
Rep. Poe to DHS' Napolitano: Explain your Organized Jailbreak: Breitbart
CBS’ Sharyl Attkisson May Get A Personal Threat After This: Tatler

Your Daily Does of "John Boehner is Useless": Ace
Hilarity: Jim Moran to Hold Gun Violence Forum: LibertyZone
Dems ramp up push for assault weapons ban, face headwinds from states: Fox

Economy

So Much Government Growth, So Much Spending To Cut: IBD
Maxine Waters: Sequester will cost 170 million Americans their jobs: Malkin
Obama's Sequester Math: $300B In New Taxes Called 'Spending Cuts': IBD

Projected Growth in Unpaid Bills Shows Illinois on Path to Total Breakdown: NB
Bernanke’s Defense of Fed Policies Neither Comforting nor Convincing: Foundry
What Bernanke Didn't Say About Housing (And Everything Else): Mish

Scandal Central

Creepy: Obama OFA Responds To Being Caught Using Spambots on Twitter To Push Gun Control: WZ
High-flying Holder: Report shows AG, FBI director used luxury jets for personal travel: Fox
Chicago public schools may start sex ed in kindergarten: Fox

Climate & Energy

California is "greening" itself toward a third world electrical grid: WyBlog
Domestic Oil Production At Record Level Despite Obama: IBD
Goracle Calls Marco Rubio “Pitiful” And “Dangerous”: WZ

Media

Lanny Davis: Obama White House Threatened Washington Times Over My Column: Times
Liberal Claws Come Out To Rip Bob Woodward: Glob
Cuomo the Elitist Hypocrite Snake: LibertyZone

Exclusive: The Woodward, Sperling emails revealed: Politico
Why Bob Woodward's Fight With The White House Matters to You: Fournier
When Jay Carney liked hard-nosed Bob Woodward: WaPo

Massive Turnout at Council Meeting After Lib Alderman Slams “Psychotard” Gun Owners: GWP
Conservatives lose institutions by allowing the minnows to eat the whale: ¡No Pasarán!
Video o' the Day: Black & Right

World

"Hugo Chavez is Brain Dead": Fausta
Italy’s New Political Star Has Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic History: Algemeiner
Pic o' the Day: Black & Right

Agenda: How Marxists Are Grinding America Down: RS
Why Am I Not Writing?: Winter Soldier
White House slams Erdogan's Zionism remark: JPost

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Invisibility Cloak demoed at TED2013: Boing Boing
YC-Backed MYO Armband Attracts 10,000 Pre-Orders In 2 Days, Which Adds Up To $1.5M In Sales: TechCrunch
Google and Democrats deny that Google is helping Democrats: RS

Cornucopia

Woodward Draws a Charging Foul on Team Obama: MOTUS
Obama Declares America Indefensible due to Sequestration: Cube
Dreams from my surrogate father: RWN

Image: Glock 30S Review

QOTD: "...Read "Berlin Diary" by William Shirer sometime and let's see how quick you are to dimiss the similarities between then and now. A charismatic leader who combines subtlety to manipulate his followers gradually into a mindset they never would have entertained previous to the leader's political emergence with strong arm tactics used on all oppostion, manipulation of the media with the end game being media control and the emergence of a "Boogy Man" group to blame and use as a scape goat for all of the leader's policy failures. Least you be reminded that Herr Hitler was a socialist and a fan of many of the American progressive's favorite causes including eugenics." --Commenter "William" at Politico