Friday, March 08, 2013

A Newsreel We're Likely to See in 2015

Universal International News, in conjunction with the Obama administration, presents Government Newsreel number 903.

Under cover of darkness, GM's top secret new vehicle -- the 2016 Buick Bureaucrat -- arrives at the New York Auto Show. Powered entirely by green energy sources, this beautiful head-turner hits a top speed of 200 feet per minute. With wind-powered air-conditioning standard, nothing says luxury like a Bureaucrat!

Not to be outdone, Chrysler's luxurious Dodge Deficit offers a unique eight-door design, which means your entire family will arrive in style at the soup kitchen.

Good news at the National Healthcare Service: President Obama has promised to airlift hundreds of doctors from Cuba later this month to address the long lines in hospitals. Government officials have also promised to address a few scattered complaints that undocumented citizens are receiving priority access to health care.

And more positive news on the economic front: the rate of unemployment increases has slowed, moving from 17.1% to 17.4%, a tenth-of-a-percent less than analysts had predicted! Proof positive that QE Nine is working!

As for financing the $45 trillion national debt, great progress this week as leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China have agreed to meet next month in Beijing. Topic one will be answering President Obama's request to buy $12 trillion in new debt.

Blackouts continue to plague the industrial Northeast as wind production farms have missed their quotas for the third month in a row. The Department of Energy promises to find new green energy sources by 2017 that should help alleviate the troublesome outages.

The velvet cloak of night did not stop President Obama from introducing his new volunteer corp uniforms. The new cadre combines elements of ACORN, Organizing for America, the Department of Homeland Security, the SEIU and Americorps into a single, cohesive unit! First job on the list: internal national security to ensure safety for all Americans!

Lastly, a well-deserved comeuppance for hate-speech specialists Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds. The right-wing extremists were convicted last week of 800 counts of inciting hatred and violating FTC blogging rules; their punishment: 20 years in Leavenworth. Hate-mongers beware: expect internal security forces to be knocking on your doors shortly!

Join us next week for more approved news stories, only from Universal International News, the patriotic channel!


Larwyn's Linx: The Great Right Hope

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

Nation

The Great Right Hope: Protein Wisdom
Blue Civil War: Mead
Rand Paul Stopped Talking Last Night, But...: Instapundit

The World's Largest Banana Republic: Sowell
Cruz: No Teleprompter Was in Front of Rand Paul: WS
Drone Strikes in America: Bracken

Let’s Build on the Paul Filibuster: DLim
The Chart Lindsay Graham Should Have Actually Used: Sooper
Why Lindsey Graham Isn't Acting Like a Worried Man: NatlJrnl

Economy

Boehner-Obama Deals Produce $2.5T New Debt in 2 Years: CNS
Minimum Wage Laws: Economically Harmful Because Immoral: ObjStd
Krugman on the National Debt: Clownish: Foundry

It's official: Fed says Obamacare causes layoffs and hinders hiring: WyBlog
Rotten to the Core: The Feds’ Invasive Student Tracking Database: Malin
80 Percent Of Recent NYC High School Graduates Cannot Read: CBS-NY

Scandal Central

Attorney General Eric Holder is Criminally Dangerous: CFIF
BREAKING: Colorado Rep. Rhonda Fields’ Rap Sheet Longer Than Previously Reported: RS
Chuck Todd on OFA Fundraising: ‘This Just Looks Bad’: WFB

Climate & Energy

NYT shocker: Global warming averted impending ice age: Ace

Media

The media’s approach to Rand Paul’s filibuster: pretend it never happened: Bookworm
Brett Kimberlin Calls Blog Bash Venue, Vows to ‘Put You Guys Out of Business’: RSM
Old GOP bulls to Paul: we were gonna vote against Brennan, but because of you, we’ll now vote for him!: Wisdom

Rush Limbaugh interviews Rand Paul on the filibuster: Scoop
CNN Gives 8 Times More Coverage to Beyoncé Lip Sync Than Obama Sequester Lie: NB
How the White House silenced gun control groups: Politiho

World

Beyond the Flip-Flops: Cruz
"Yes We Can" - Al-Qaeda's English Mag Publishes Wanted Dead or Alive List: Joshua
US to honor Egyptian who 'praised Hitler, terror attacks': Times of Israel

Michelle Obama, John Kerry Set to Honor Rabid Ant-Semite Who Celebrates 9/11 Like It's Christmas: Ace
#Hackers #Hack My Twitter Account As I Try To Clear Up This Ibrahim Mess With the State Department: Ace
#Hacked Again: Ibramhim Announces She's Not Apologizing To No Damn Jews: Ace

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Browser choice - How a "technical error" cost Microsoft over $700 million: Sophos
Chrome; Firefox; IE 10; Java; Win 8 fall at #pwn2own hackfest: SC Mag
Clues of Life's Origins Found In Galactic Cloud: Slashdot

Cornucopia

The Miserable Adventures of McCain and Graham in History: Morlock
Sequestering the Filibuster: MOTUS
'Failure to Fire' on Joe Biden: OG&M

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

QOTD: "As an indication of the problems created in part by minimum wage laws, last November the Associated Press reported that 14.3 percent of blacks—and 40.5 percent of black teens—were unemployed.

As significant and as clear as the economic problems caused by minimum wage laws are, however, the economic problems are not the fundamental issue. The economic harms are a consequence of the immorality of the minimum wage laws: The laws violate individuals’ rights to property and contract. Employers have a moral right to run their businesses as they see fit, free from government interference, so long as they do not violate the rights of others by force or fraud. Both employers and prospective employees have a moral right to negotiate their terms of employment, free from government interference. Minimum wage laws violate the rights of both parties.

So long as most Americans believe it is moral for the government to prohibit the free negotiation of wage rates in order to “help” the poor, the economic observation that minimum wage laws throw many low-skilled workers out of a job will not alter the policy. Only when Americans recognize that the minimum wage laws are immoral—immoral because they violate people’s rights—will Americans come to oppose these laws deeply enough to call for their abolition. Only then will justice and economic sanity prevail." --Ari Armstrong

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Spring Break in Mexico 2013: Security Risks, Travel Recommendations

A Stratfor Research Special Report

Every year between January and March, U.S. college administrators remind their students to exercise caution during spring break. These well-meaning guidelines often go unread by their intended recipients, as do travel warnings issued to citizens by the U.S. State Department. As a result, many regular visitors to Mexican resort areas believe they are safe from transnational criminal organizations, more commonly known as cartels. While many people do travel to Mexico safely (approximately 150,000 U.S. citizens travel to the country each year), there is a misconception that cartels want to avoid interfering with the profitable tourism industry, or that they only target Mexican citizens. This simply is not true.

Nothing in the behavior of Mexican cartels indicates that they would consciously keep tourists out of the line of fire or away from the gruesome displays of their murder victims. Violence related to the cartels is spreading, and while tourists may not be directly targeted, they can be caught in the crossfire or otherwise find themselves in situations where their security is compromised. Transnational criminal organizations, it should be remembered, are more than just drug traffickers: They participate in extortion, robbery, rape and carjackings. And where cartels are violently targeting each other, local gangs can take advantage of law enforcement's resulting distraction to commit crimes of their own.

Mexico's Drug War

Violence between competing criminal organizations in Mexico has been ongoing for more than two decades. In the last decade, this violence has escalated nearly every year. According to Mexico's National System of Public Security, 2006 saw 11,806 murders. Subsequently, there were 10,253 murders in 2007, 13,155 in 2008, 16,118 in 2009, 20,681 in 2010, 22,480 in 2011, and 20,560 in 2012.

The core of the conflict centers on the most valuable routes for trafficking drugs through Mexico. Several groups are waging a violent campaign for control of these corridors. Meanwhile, the Mexican government is using the military to combat drug traffickers, adding an additional actor to the conflict. No part of the country, whether on a trafficking route or not, has been immune to the effects of organized crime, particularly as cartel-related violence has increasingly spread to competition over local criminal enterprises such as retail drug sales, kidnapping, extortion and prostitution, among other activities.

While cartels typically direct their violence toward rival groups, outside parties often wind up in the crossfire. For example, Los Zetas tried to burn down the Casino Royale in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon state, on Aug. 25, 2011, allegedly to send a message to the casino's owner. The attackers were undeterred by the presence of innocent bystanders, and more than 50 individuals died in the blaze.

Shocker: Vintage Media Censored News of Sen. Paul's Historic Filibuster

For the drones, progressives, and other miscreants who rely upon the likes of The New York Times or The Washington Post for their "news", suffice it to say that they missed out completely on yesterday's historic and bi-partisan filibuster led by Rand Paul. It's like it never happened.

Yesterday, Rand Paul embarked upon a nearly 12-hour-long standing filibuster. The filibuster’s ostensible purpose and practical effect was to delay a vote on John Brennan’s nomination to head the CIA. It’s real purpose, though, was to force Attorney General Eric Holder to answer a straightforward question: “Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?” ...


...Paul not only managed to derail the scheduled vote for John Brennan, he forced Eric Holder to answer his question [with a 'no'.]

As Senator Ted Cruz, a renowned litigator, observed last night, Holder's obfuscations and deflections are outrageous. The question isn't a difficult one:

If a citizen of the United States is, say, sitting in a cafe inside the country -- not posing an imminent threat to anyone -- does the president have the authority to order a drone strike and assassinate that person?

Of course not. Any pre-law student could tell you that.

As for antique media? For the most part, they completely ignored this historic question and resulting filibuster of the ostensible CIA director, just as they censored news of Operation Fast and Furious and Benghazi-gate.

The basic information surrounding these deadly scandals, which resulted in the murders of at least a half-dozen U.S. officials -- has never been released by the Obama administration.

And legacy media could care less.

Which is why I use BadBlue News to go around the media. I don't need any progressive Statists censoring my news.


CRACKDOWN: Mayor Bloomberg Unveils NYPD Food Felonies Unit (FFU) to Persuade Citizens to Make Better Food Choices

Spackle News Network - Citing poor compliance with his regulations on salt, soft drinks and styrofoam, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg today unveiled the NYPD's Food Felonies Unit. FFU officials -- who will wear distinctive, knee-length black leather coats and all-black uniforms -- will help guide citizens' food and paper product choices.


Read more


Larwyn's Linx: House GOP Votes to APPROVE Obamacare

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

Nation

House GOP Votes to APPROVE Obamacare: Lid
The Rand Paul Filibuster: A Point Not to be Missed: RS
My God, an Actual Filibuster?: Denninger

Watch how NY, NJ cops tell James O'Keefe to defend family : PJM
Dem: No Need For Guns, Just Tell Men Not To Rape: Cove
Rand Paul filibuster against CIA nominee gains strength in Senate: Hill

Obama's War: Ace
Names of ‘Republicans’ who Obama tried to buy off with dinner: FAM
Colorado Anti-Gun Legislator’s Criminal Record Exposed: RS

Economy

The California ‘Mordida’: Hanson
White House: Tours, No - Calligraphers, Yes!: Ace
Congressman Offers Amendment Defunding Obama’s Golf: Dossier

What Sequester? USDA Still Doing Wine Tasting: LoneCon
Dow Down 50% Against Gold Since Last Record Dow: Keiser
Blowback in Boomer War on Young: Mead

Scandal Central

Obama Administration: Yes, The President Can Drone Strike Americans On U.S. Soil: Mediaite
Cruz Goads Holder Into Admitting That Killing Americans With Drones On U.S. Soil Is Unconstitutional: Mediaite
Drone came within 200 feet of airliner over New York: CNN

Federal Employee in NC Encouraged To Exaggerate Sequester Impact: GayPatriot
State Dept has “ramped up” programs to bring Muslim students to US: Creeping
House GOP: We’re going to need to investigate ICE for those released illegal immigrants: Hot Air

Climate & Energy

The Gore Effect: Global Warming Hearing Canceled Due to Snow: JWF
Green agenda in meltdown: Commentator
The EPA Opens a New Front in the War on Coal: Foundry

Media

Report: Obama Complained To Fox's Murdoch And Ailes That He Didn't Like Sean Hannity Attacking Him: WZ
Obama and the Media: Old Policy Resurfacing: PJM
Obama Visits Wounded Troops—With Photographer in Tow: HAP

Bloomberg deputy to Rand Paul: Hey, the people trust Obama to do the right thing on drones: Hot Air
Predictable… Liberal Media Buries Rand Paul’s Historic 12 Hour Filibuster: GWP
Mark Levin: It’s our guys giving us hope in Washington, not the Republican establishment: Scoop

World

Letting Down America’s Guard with Obama’s “Nuclear Zero” Initiative: Foundry
The Chávez Legacy in Venezuela: PJM
#MyJihad: Lying about the meaning and intention of ‘jihad’: Blogmocracy

Nothing for Chris Kyle, but Obama Sending U.S. Delegation To Hugo Chavez’s Funeral: WZ
"Moderate" Turkey? You must be kidding!: Gatestone
Bill Ayers and Hugo Chavez: Blood Brothers in Terror: AIM (2009)

Michelle Obama and John Kerry to Honor Anti-Semite and 9/11 Fan: WS
After Chavez’ Death, a New Burst of Freedom: Morris
John Kerry’s First Foreign Trip: Not Exactly a Roaring Success: Foundry

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

The EU Just Fined Microsoft $730m Over Its Browser Monopoly: Gizmodo
Samsung cancels Windows RT tablets in parts of Europe citing lack of interest: Verge
Linkedin Wins Dismissal of Lawsuit Seeking Damages for Massive Password Breach: CIO

Cornucopia

WWF: World Wrestling Filibuster!!! The Tea Party Triple Team!!: Sooper
Leaked Document: Military Internment Camps in U.S. to be Used for Political Dissidents: NoisyRm
Big White Goes Dark!: MOTUS

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

QOTD: "Can the U.S. government use a drone to kill you on U.S. soil if they've determined that you're a terrorist threat -- without a trial or review of the accusation by someone outside the executive branch?

They hope they don't have to do that, but yes, they assert they can: "It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States."

Just dandy, huh? They're making Dick Cheney look like Gandhi over there.

Oh, and how does MSNBC's golden boy Chris Hayes assess this statement? "Like a kind of nothingburger."

"The U.S. Attorney General's refusal to rule out the possibility of drone strikes on American citizens and on American soil is more than frightening -- it is an affront the Constitutional due process rights of all Americans," Senator Rand Paul said." --Jim Geraghty

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

It's different this time

They tell us that the Dow is at a record high even though the economy is a disaster. They tell us not to worry about rampant unemployment, the layoffs caused by Obamacare, and all of the new EPA regulations that are killing thousands of jobs each day. They tell us not to worry about all of the Fed's money-printing.

They tell us not to worry that the Dow is truly down by 50 percent if you price it in gold.


After all, it's different this time.



ERIC HOLDER: You know, on second thought, maybe the President isn't allowed to randomly assassinate American citizens on U.S. soil

I love Ted Cruz. I mean, in an extremely manly and purely platonic way. The guy is a mensch, which is why so many conservatives adore the man. Not that I expect the ludicrous Karl Rove-Jeb Bush-John Boehner-Beltway Cocktail Circuit-Neo-Statist Wing of the Republican Party to understand.

Cruz gets it.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice sent shockwaves through the nation when Attorney General Eric Holder informed Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in writing that the White House would be within its legal authority to execute an American citizen via drone on U.S. soil if that person was determined to pose a threat to national security. On Wednesday, testifying before a Senate panel, Holder was prodded repeatedly about this assertion by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Holder eventually admitted that it would not be constitutional to execute an American citizen without due process.

“In your legal judgment, does the Constitution allow a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil to be killed by a drone?” Cruz asked Holder pointedly.

“For sitting in a café and having a cup of coffee? ... I would not think that that would be an appropriate use of any kind of lethal force,” Holder replied.

“With all respect, Gen. Holder, my question wasn’t about appropriateness or prosecutorial discretion. It was a simple legal question,” Cruz clarified.

“This is a hypothetical, but I would not think, that in that situation, the use of a drone or lethal force would not be appropriate,” Holder replied.

“I have to tell you I find it remarkable that in that hypothetical, which is deliberately very simple, you are not able to give a simple, one-word answer: no,” Cruz added. He said he think that his scenario would constitute a “deprivation of life without due process.”

Holder agreed and added that lethal force in Cruz’s case “would not be appropriate.”

You keep saying appropriate – my question isn’t about propriety,” Cruz goaded. “My question is about whether something is constitutional or not.”

When Cruz was about to abandon his line of questioning after a number of equivocations from Holder, the attorney general clarified that he was saying “no” such actions would not be constitutional.

Gee, I'm glad we clarified that part of the Constitution, which admittedly is confusing because it is well over 100 years old, right, Ezra Klein?


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

GUN CONTROL INDEED: Police Discover Perp Had Loaded Revolver in Her, Eh, Lady Garden

Uhm, impressive.

Handgun was found inside Oklahoman during strip search


An Oklahoma woman arrested Monday on drug charges had a loaded handgun hidden in her [panini], according to police.

The weapon was discovered during a search of Christie Dawn Harris, 28, by a female officer with the Ada Police Department. According to a police report, the cop spotted the handle of the five-shot revolver "sticking out from" inside Harris, who is seen at right.

In a less shocking find, investigators also discovered plastic baggies containing methamphetamine lodged in the crack of Harris’s buttocks.

The Freedom Arms .22-caliber handgun was loaded with three live rounds and one spent shell, cops reported. As to where the weapon was recovered, the police report noted, “gun located in suspect's [clam cracker].”

At around 3:45 AM Monday, cops spotted Harris and another woman, Jennifer Delancy, inside a vehicle parked outside a closed restaurant. The women were in the front of the vehicle and “both seats were laid all the way back.” Asked by a cop if the car contained weapons or drugs, Harris, who was behind the wheel, answered that “she did not think there was anything.”

But when a drug dog alerted to both the driver and passenger sides of the Toyota Yaris, cops searched the vehicle and found meth, drug paraphernalia, a pistol, and a loaded magazine. Harris and Delancy were then arrested... While being transported to jail, Harris “stated several times that she needed to go to the bathroom.”

At the lockup, Harris was directed to change out of her clothes into “jail clothing.” When directed to lower her underwear so that a female cop could check for contraband, Harris “advised that she was on her period and did not want to.”

Harris eventually complied with the cop’s order. “I observed at that time a wooden and metal item sticking out from her [mossy patch] area,” reported Officer Kathy Unbewust, who added that she “pulled the item from her [meat locker], and found it to be a 5 shot revolver with rounds in the chamber.”

As seen above, the police report includes a photo of the handgun seized from Harris, who is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon on felony weapons and narcotics charges.

Now that's what you call concealed carry.


The Single Chart That Proves Just How Well Gun Control Works

Which is to say, gun control doesn't work.


And nothing short of traveling back in time a thousand years ago will remove guns from the world, in spite of all the Statist Utopians' wet dreams.


Larwyn's Linx: Jimmy Carter, Hugo Fanboy, Chimes In

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

Nation

Jimmy Carter, Hugo Fanboy, Chimes In: HayRide
Know Thy Enemy II: The Media: Dewey
It Could Never Happen Here — Not In Lee Greenwood’s America: WesternRifle

Veteran: Michelle Obama Using War Amputees as Photo Props: Sooper
Is a Civil War Coming?: Western
Colorado Democrat Berates Rape Survivor At Hearing: PJM

Guess what! It's time for 700 pages more of fun Obamacare regulations: LI
New York Courts May Kill Cuomo Assault on Gun Rights: NewAm
Mandated Wages and Discrimination: Williams

Economy

Obamacare and the Medicaid Expansion: How Does Your State Fare?: Foundry
California, net exporter… of residents: Hot Air
TSA Sealed $50-Million Sequester-Eve Deal to Buy New Uniforms: CNS

Socialism Is Why Greece, Italy And Detroit Suffer: IBD
Economic Mobility: Sowell
Two Airports Cited By Big Sis As Having Sequester-Related Delays Both Say She's Lying: WZ

Scandal Central

Video: Napolitano Calls Reporting on DHS’s Sequestration Amnesty “Mythology”: Nice Deb
Napolitano: We Will Continue to Release Illegal Immigrants ‘For the Foreseeable Future’: TPNN
Email: Obama Regime To Make Sequester As Painful As Promised : WZ

House Investigators : ICE Document Shows Regime Plans To Release 5,000 Illegal Alien Detainees: Nice Deb
State Dept Adviser: Obama a 'Dithering, Controlling, Risk-Averse' President: Yikes: Lid
Army Spokesman Reminds Employees and Civilians Not to Criticize Dear Leader: WS

Climate & Energy

Environmental Zealots vs. the Constitution: Elephant
Bicycles to Be Taxed for Causing Global Warming: Enviromoonbattery has come full circle: MB

Media

Hume: Obama tack on sequester ‘the most peculiar behavior I have ever seen by a president’: DC
The Rookie’s Rough Guide to #CPAC2013: Sundries
CNN Programming Revamp Hits a Speed Bump: AIM

Hugo Chavez’s Socialist Symmetry in Saying Sayonara: Driscoll
Brit Hume: Time For Obama To ‘Put His Big Boy Pants On’: JWF
The Grover's Choice Award: Jihad Watch wins CPAC award, barred from receiving it: JihadWatch

World

$250 Million For Egypt? But, But, But SEQUESTERGEDDON!!!: RWN
National Security Experts Warn: Reject Brennan!!!: Loudon
UN cancels Gaza marathon over Hamas ban on women: Times of Israel

He's Dead, Jim!: Fausta
New York Democrat Congressman Praises Murderous Dictator: Shark Tank
Hugo Chavez becomes best kind of socialist: Owens

CENTCOM chief: Iran sanctions not working: ArmyTimes
Saudi Arabia Sharia Justice: Execute Seven By Crucifixion And Firing Squad For Stealing Jewelry: WZ
China's Housing Bubble Goes Mainstream America: ZH

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Military-industrial patent troll demands BEEELLIONS from Cisco: Register
Azure Fail: Microsoft Says Security Certificates Were Updated, Sort Of: TechWeekEurope
Crawford: High Prices, Slow Speeds for U.S. Internet Users: LafayetteProFiber

Cornucopia

THINGS ANGRY WHITE DUDE WOULD DO BEFORE VOTING FOR JEB BUSH IN ’16: AWD
MOOgle+: MOTUS
I Told You So on Obamacare: RWN

Image: Veteran: Michelle Obama Using War Amputees as Photo Props

QOTD: "Fascism had its roots in Europe in massive economic failures in which the financial elites failed to recognize the political consequences of unemployment. They laughed at parties led by men who had been vagabonds selling post cards on the street and promising economic miracles if only those responsible for the misery of the country were purged. Men and women, plunged from the comfortable life of the petite bourgeoisie, did not laugh, but responded eagerly to that hope. The result was governments who enclosed their economies from the world and managed their performance through directive and manipulation.

This is what happened after World War I. It did not happen after World War II because Europe was occupied. But when we look at the unemployment rates today, the differentials between regions, the fact that there is no promise of improvement and that the middle class is being hurled into the ranks of the dispossessed, we can see the patterns forming." --George Friedman

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

MEET THE NEW SUPER TOILETS: I never knew toilets could be so cool

We've come a long way from the outhouse, eh?

Fancy electric high-tech toilets, which the Japanese call super toilets, can be found in more than 72 percent of Japanese households. At minimum they include a bidet feature and often a seat warmer.

High-tech features vary, but most of the toilets use electricity to provide warming, automation and bidet functions.

The Kohler Numi’s squarish, angled shape, subtle buttons and strange automatic lid make it look like it's anything but a toilet.

It has a motion-activated lid that automatically opens when anyone stands in front of it and what Kohler calls “advanced bidet functionality,” which is an integrated air dryer.

The appliance, however, goes beyond the normal functions of a toilet and adds atmosphere. It has a heated seat and even a subtle air vent that warms the floor in front of the fixture.

It even has an atmosphere light and a music player. A touch-panel remote, which attaches to the toilet with a magnetic docking station, lets you customize all the settings.

The leading super toilet maker in Japan is a company called Toto. And if you’ve ever visited a nice hotel in Japan with a Toto toilet, you know you’re not in Kansas anymore.

Toto’s most advanced toilets are sold only in Japan, with controls labeled only in Japanese. The most advanced Toto toilet you can buy in the United States is the Washlet S300.

It has a heated seat, a remote-controlled bidet feature with air drying and the option of an oscillating bidet stream of water.

Roca W+W, which stands for "washbasin plus water closet," uses advanced technology to help the environment.

The water appliance saves, filters and chemically treats the sink water you use to wash your hands and brush your teeth, then reuses that water for flushing the toilet.

The net effect is that you use the same amount of water in the sink but zero extra water for the toilet.

To be fair, you don't often think of the words toilet and innovation together.


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

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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

Monday, March 04, 2013

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.