Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy New Year!















The New Year's bountiful blessing:

Three hundred sixty-five
bright mornings and starlit evenings;
fifty-two promising weeks;
twelve transformative months
full of beautiful possibilities;
and four splendid seasons.
A simply abundant year
to be savored.
◼ Sarah Ban Breathnach: Simple Abundance

SARAH PALIN, 'DUCK DYNASTY' CLAN TO RING IN NEW YEAR ON FOX NEWS


Over the weekend, Fox News's Twitter account teased an appearance by some members of the Robertson family: - FOX

Palin wrote on her Facebook page on Monday that she would be talking about some of her resolutions for 2014 on Fox News:
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Gear up for a great new year, and I'll see you on Fox's New Years Eve Special to talk about joyous resolutions for 2014!



__________________

Meanwhile, on CNN:Left-wing comedian Kathy Griffin has been co-hosting CNN's New Years Eve coverage with Anderson Cooper for a few years now, and every year she does something cheap to draw attention to the low-rated cable news network. - John Nolte/Breitbart

Last year, Griffin simulated oral sex on the air. The year before that, she ripped off her blouse. The year before that she dropped the f-bomb. This year Griffin is promising to show up topless.

MSNBC host semi-apologizes for mockery of Mitt Romney’s adopted grandson



Live by racial obsession, die by racial obsession - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin

MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry apologizes for attack on Mitt Romney's adopted black grandson - NY Daily News

Sarah Palin slammed the 'lamestream media' for an MSNBC segment on Melissa Harris-Perry’s show mocking Mitt Romney’s adopted black grandson. The host apologized Tuesday for causing offense. This marks the second time the cable network has been criticized for a personal attack against a Republican personality....

MSNBC did not provide a network comment.

Unpopular Personality @MHarrisPerry on Obscure MSNBC Network Apologizes - The Other McCain

It goes without saying, of course, that Melissa Harris-Perry’s apology was insincere: She hates and despises Mitt Romney, she hates and despises the entire Romney family, and she hates and despises everyone who voted for Romney. Whatever offensive thing she said about Romney’s grandchild was simply an expression of her partisan hatred and — because partisan hatred is the entire raison d’être of MSNBC — there’s no way Melissa Harris-Perry is going to apologize for that, is there?

Sarah Palin says MSNBC should ashamed of a “despicable” segment in which they mocked Mitt Romney’s adopted black grandson. - Politico

“You really need a conscience, yellow journalists. May your 2014 New Year’s Resolution be to find one,” she added.

Meanwhile, conservatives, as well as other networks, joined in in lambasting MSNBC.

“I’m not even sure what the threshold anymore is for MSNBC going too far,” CNN contributor and Republican Ana Navarro told guest-host Don Lemon during “Erin Burnett OutFront” on Monday.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Guess Who's Funding the Republican Civil War

Labor unions. And they're doing it through a pro-business Republican PAC. - By Scott Bland/National Journal

With this kind of health coverage, why on earth did the president make such a show of “signing up” for Obamacare?

The Obamacare Obama gets - Marc A. Thiessen/Washington Post

...since he was showing solidarity with the rest of America, did the president actually get on his computer like the rest of America and try to navigate the disastrous Obamacare Web site he created? Nope. While most people had to plug their personal information into a Web site that ABC News reports still has “serious security vulnerabilities,” the White House decided that for “security reasons” sharing the president’s personal information on government Web sites was unwise. So, an administration official said, “Like some Americans, the complicated nature of the president’s case required an in-person sign-up.”

...If the White House was so confident that “the product is good” and Americans are “willing to be patient,” then they would have been eager for a photo op of the president signing up with other happy customers. But there was no photo op.

Then, to add insult to injury, Obama chose the cheapest of the four plans available — the bronze plan costing $400 a month. Not for his whole family, mind you. They don’t need Obamacare. He chose a low-cost plan just for himself. Which makes sense. He’s not going to actually use it, so why pay sky-high premiums like the millions of people he drove out of their individual market health plans?

When exactly when did the nation transition from the USA to USSA — the Untrustworthily Surveillanced States of America; the Ubiquitously Spy-Saturated America; the Unfree, Security-Strangled America; the Unhinged, Solemnly Scolding America?

In 2014, Relaunching the Barbaric Yawping Vagina of Fury! - Elizabeth Scalia/The Anchoress

Having spent half a day — far too much time – perusing the headlines and growing more and more disturbed by them, I find I am in a mood.

Such a mood, I am in...

(T)he organized left is only a small cadre of sociopaths – its strength comes from the apathy and cowardice of those who won’t stand up to them. They win only when we surrender.

But we won’t surrender. - Kurt Schlichter/Townhall

In 2014, let’s resolve to preserve some semblance of freedom in our culture and respond to the next blitzkriegs by the progressive fascists with an unequivocal “Go to hell.”

Demanding that Americans hide their religious beliefs. Banning dissenting views on the climate change scam. Slandering people with charges of the kind of racism pioneered and perfected by the Democrat party.

...This campaign is not being pushed by “gays” any more than other campaigns are pushed by “minorities” or “women” or “climate scientists” or whoever else is the day’s designated oppressee. They are pushed by leftists to achieve progressive ends. Leftists care nothing about gay people, or minorities, or women, or global warming. They care about their own power.

Remember, everything progressives tell you about protecting “free speech” and “diversity” is a lie. They don’t want free speech or diversity. They want a plodding, creepy conformity of thought – their thought. Free speech and diversity were useful to them before they gained cultural power; now that they have it, these quaint ideas are liabilities that must be stamped out before someone normal exercises them.

For too long, we have sat back and let these jerks try to dictate what we think, what we feel and what we say. But that’s over. We’re done. Just ask Cracker Barrel.

...Remember, we don’t need to silence our opposition – empirical evidence demonstrates the meritlessness of leftist ideology. Liberals need to silence us because we’re right and they’re wrong.

They want a cultural war, and I say let them have it. We’re fighting for a vibrant, free culture with a multitude of religious expressions, with a plethora of ideas and a refusal to hide truth so as to not offend some vocal component of the leftist coalition. They demand a mindless, fearful conformity with everyone paying homage to the same pagan liberal idols.

To hell with that.

Judge Rules in Favor of Eureka City Council Religious Invocations

On Dec. 24, Judge W. Bruce Watson handed the City of Eureka some yuletide cheer by dismissing half of the lawsuit brought against it earlier in the year — the one that claims the city is violating the California Constitution by engaging in a couple of religiousy practices. - Hank Sims/Lost Coast Outpost

New Yorkers Take Last Ride on Carriage Horses Before DeBlasio Ban


It’s a tradition for New York City mayors to start banning innocent things that everyone before them found completely inoffensive. For Mayor Bloomberg, it was large sodas. For Red Bill de Blasio, it’s carriage horses. - Daniel Greenfield/Front Page

Bill de Blasio, like any good Communist, isn’t just pushing the horse ban at random. His elevation was made possible by NYCLASS; a bunch of rich people posing as animal rights activists who don’t think that ordinary tourists should be able to ride horses in their backyard.

The man behind the Anti-Horse Jihad is Steve Nislick, a real-estate tycoon with an eye on their stables, and a hand in Bill de Blasio’s greasy pocket.

In the slimy world of New York politics, Nislick found useful idiot environmentalists to pursue his land agenda, and when Speaker Quinn proved to have more ethics than to go along with his horse ban, he turned to a slimier fellow; Bill de Blasio.

Bill de Blasio May Save NYC's Carriage Horses by Slaughtering Them - Dan Riehl/Breitbart

Following through on a campaign promise, New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has pronounced the traditional horse drawn carriage industry in NYC's Central Park "over," claiming he will act quickly to end a practice he views as inhumane.

Unfortunately, as pointed out in the New York Post back in October, the move may result in the animals' slaughter.
There are more than 200 horses used in the city's carriage industry and their fate remains unknown as mayoral election approaches. It's possible the animals could be destroyed due to the expensive maintenance.

Key question knockout! Dana Loesch destroys Dem Rep. who sneered at ‘Duck Dynasty bigot’

As Twitchy reported, dunce Rep. Swalwell (D-Calif.) idiotically sneered at A&E for lifting the suspension of Phil Robertson, whom he called the “Duck Dynasty bigot.” Because, “inequality.” Or something.



The alleged coverups included keeping quiet separate IG investigations that found that members of then-Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton’s security detail had engaged hookers and that the Belgian ambassador had solicited underage prostitutes.

State Dept. whistleblower has email hacked, deleted - S.A. Miller/New York Post

...These were among a string of investigations by the service, responsible for protecting dignitaries and investigating crimes within the department, that were allegedly derailed by senior officials, including one instance of interference by Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills.

Since the revelations in June, the department again mostly swept the cases under the rug.

...“We feel like we’re in a movie. It’s nuts. It makes us wonder ....maybe we’ve got something we don’t even realize or maybe they’re worried about something.”

“The economy is healing and there is no government shutdown looming either. Obamacare glitches continue but the GOP is too busy fighting within to even matter on this issue."

Zogby Report Card: 2014 looks 'dim' for Obama - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

“Good news for them is that the Democrats are battling it out, too. New polls show the Dems losing ground on the generic congressional election ballot.

A government and sociology professor at Harvard writes that the Tea Party is more likely than not to "win in the end" in an age when Americans are becoming more removed from Washington and distrusting the federal government and their elected officials.

HARVARD PROF: TEA PARTY NOT GOING ANYWHERE, MORE LIKELY TO WIN - Tony Lee/Breitbart

"Tea Party forces will still win in the end," Theda Skocpol writes, unless moderate Republicans can defeat them. Skocpol concedes that the Tea Party "will triumph just by hanging on long enough" as Americans are getting fed up by "our blatantly manipulated democracy and our permanently hobbled government."

...Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson published a book in 2011 that "showed how bottom-up and top-down forces intersect to give the Tea Party both leverage over the Republican Party and the clout to push national politics sharply to the right."

"At the grassroots, volunteer activists formed hundreds of local Tea Parties, meeting regularly to plot public protests against the Obama Administration and place steady pressure on GOP organizations and candidates at all levels," they found. "At least half of all GOP voters sympathize with this Tea Party upsurge."

Skocpol also sends a warning to Democrats who think that the Tea Party will fade because of a few bad polls.
"Once the October 2013 shutdown ended in supposed total victory for President Obama and his party, many Democrats adopted a cocky swagger and started talking about ousting the House GOP in 2014," Skocpol writes. However, she warns that "a clear-eyed look shows that Tea Party remains powerful and has achieved victories that continue to stymie" Democrats and their statist agenda.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

The Antarctic ‘research’ fiasco: It probably seemed like an excellent idea: Load a bunch of tourists and journalists aboard a ship for an expedition to Antarctica in December (the height of summer at the South Pole) so they can see for themselves how global warming is melting the ice.



MSM Glosses Over Irony Of Global Warming Scientists Trapped In Antarctic Ice

Antarctic global warming expeditionists trapped in ice may have to be rescued by helicopter - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin

Australian climate change professor Chris Turney, passengers and media hoping to get pictures penguins windsurfing where ice should be set out on an expedition to demonstrate the effects of global warming on Antarctica. The ship and all on board have now been trapped in ice for almost a week and counting...

So, what’s the carbon output of all these rescue ship and helicopters? I’m guessing they’re not solar powered.

Global Warming Expedition to Prove Antarctic Ice is Melting Trapped by Ice - Daniel Greenfield/Front Page

...The Antarctic ice was unaware that the science was settled… and settled in place instead trapping Tuney and his media Warmist allies in its Climate Change denier grip.
The metaphor just couldn’t be more fitting: desperate true believers of global warming/accelerating polar ice melt now find themselves trapped by thousands of square kilometers of summertime sea ice that wasn’t supposed to be there.

No picture could better symbolize and communicate the intellectual bankruptcy and disillusionment of a faithful group who refuse to believe they have been led astray. This has to be deeply embarrassing, if not outright humiliating.
...This is what happens when a bunch of Warmists decamp from their local coffee shop to try and prove the climate wrong while tweeting and tumblring and emailing their way around the coldest place on earth.

The Antarctic ‘research’ fiasco – ‘would you, could you, in a boat’? - Watts Up With That?

As we reported previously on WUWT here and here, the saga of the “climate scientists/tourists trapped in ice” continues to fascinate many. Now a second ship has given up on rescue, after the Chinese ship “Snow Dragon” gave up two days ago. The Aurora Australis has abandoned rescue of the trapped Russian “research”vessel in Antarctica and a helicopter evacuation in now being ordered. This episode has taken on a heightened comedic fiasco-like quality.

Now, with such a fantastic failure in full world view, questions are going to start being asked. For example, with advanced tools at their disposal (that Mawson never had) such as near real-time satellite imaging of Antarctic sea ice, GPS navigation, on-board Internet, radar, and satellite communications, one wonders how these folks managed to get themselves stuck at all. Was it simple incompetence of ignoring the signs and data at their disposal combined with “full steam ahead” fever? Even the captain of the Aurora Australis had the good sense to turn back knowing he’d reached the limits of the ship on his rescue attempt. Or, was it some sort of publicity stunt to draw attention? If it was the latter, it has backfired mightily.

‘Unusually Thick Ice’ in Antarctica Traps Scientists With Unusually Thick Heads - The Other McCain

It probably seemed like an excellent idea: Load a bunch of tourists and journalists aboard a ship for an expedition to Antarctica in December (the height of summer at the South Pole) so they can see for themselves how global warming is melting the ice.

Alas, somebody forgot to tell the ice that “the science is settled”

Global warming scientists forced to admit defeat... because of too much ice: Stranded Antarctic ship's crew will be rescued by helicopter - Daily Mail

The expedition is being lead by Chris Turney, a climate scientist, who was hoping to reach the base camp of Douglas Mawson, one of the most famous Antarctic explorers, and repeat observations done by him in 1912 to see what impact climate change had made...

The scientists have been stuck aboard the stricken MV Akademik Schokalskiy since Christmas Day, with repeated sea rescue attempts being abandoned as icebreaking ships failed to reach them.
Now that effort has been ditched, with experts admitting the ice is just too thick. Instead the crew have built an icy helipad, with plans afoot to rescue the 74-strong team by helicopter.

"I think it was absolutely a mistake for President Obama and Harry Reid to force a government shutdown"

Dave Barry’s Review of 2013, the Year of the Zombies

(Illustrations by Dale Stephanos)

It was the Year of the Zombies. Not in the sense of most of humanity dying from a horrible plague and then reanimating as mindless flesh-eating ghouls. No, it was much worse than that.... - Dave Barry/Washington Post

This year was so bad that twerking wasn’t even the stupidest dance craze. That would be the “Harlem Shake,” which is not so much a dance as a mass nervous-system disorder, and which makes the “Gangnam Style” dance we mocked in 2012 look like “Swan Lake.”

We miss 2012.

But getting back to the zombies: It wasn’t just people who came back alarmingly in 2013. The Cold War with Russia came back. Al-Qaeda came back. Turmoil in the Middle East came back. The debt ceiling came back. The major league baseball drug scandal came back. Dennis Rodman came back and went on humanitarian missions to North Korea (or maybe we just hallucinated that). The Endlessly Looming Government Shutdown came back. People lining up to buy iPhones to replace iPhones that they bought only minutes earlier came back. And for approximately the 250th time, the Obama administration pivoted back to the economy, which has somehow been recovering for years now without actually getting any better. Unfortunately, before they could get the darned thing fixed, the administration had to pivot back to yet another zombie issue, health care, because it turned out that Obamacare, despite all the massive brainpower behind it, had some “glitches,” in the same sense that the universe has some “atoms.”

...But before we look ahead to next year, let’s take one last look back at the fiasco that was 2013, starting with … JANUARY

… which begins with a crisis in Washington, a city that — despite having no industries and a workforce consisting almost entirely of former student council presidents — manages to produce 93 percent of the nation’s crises. This particular crisis is a “fiscal cliff” caused by the fact that for years the government has been spending spectacular quantities of money that it does not have, which has resulted in a mess that nobody could possibly have foreseen unless that person had a higher level of financial awareness than a cucumber. At the last minute, congressional leaders and the White House reach an agreement under which the government will be able to continue spending spectacular quantities of money that it does not have, thus temporarily averting the very real looming danger that somebody might have to make a decision....

A Deadly Mix in Benghazi: THE NEW YORK TIMES’ REVISIONIST ACCOUNT OF BENGHAZI

link - DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK/New York Times



New York Times finds no Al Qaeda link to Benghazi terror attack; ‘fueled in large part’ by video





NYT report: Benghazi attack was ‘fueled in large part’ by YouTube video - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin
Rep. Peter King, And Fox News’ Catherine Herridge Shred NY Times’ “Misleading” Benghazi Report (Video) - Nice Deb



Darrell Issa Disputes NY Times Propaganda Piece on Benghazi (Video) -  - Jim Hoft/Gateway Pundit



House Intel Chairman on NYT's Benghazi Report: 'That Story Is Just Not Accurate' - Newsbusters
THE NEW YORK TIMES’ REVISIONIST ACCOUNT OF BENGHAZI - Paul Mirengoff/Powerline

I suspect that the Times story tells us more about Hillary Clinton’s assessment of the threat Benghazi poses to her likely 2016 run for president than it does about what happened in Benghazi. But to the extent that the Times story is viewed as shedding a new, different light on the Benghazi, perhaps the House should hold new hearings on the attack.

Issa stands by claims of al Qaeda-affiliation in Benghazi attacks - NBC

'Completely false': Sources on ground in Benghazi challenge NYT report - Adam Housley/FOX

...“It was a coordinated attack. It is completely false to say anything else. … It is completely a lie,” one witness to the attack told Fox News.

The controversial Times report has stirred a community that normally remains out of sight and wrestles with how to reveal the truth, without revealing classified information.



Benghazi Witnesses Outraged By NYT’s Story: ‘Complete Baloney’ (Video) - Nice Deb

Rep. Trey Gowdy’s Epic Takedown of the Times’ Benghazi Report: MUST SEE VIDEO - FOX

Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) ripped the New York Times for its recent report by David Kirkpatrick that al Qaeda was not a principal player in the 9/11/12 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Defense Expert Concludes the NY Times’ Benghazi Report ‘Backfired’ on the Paper - Mediaite

Krauthammer: NY Times Benghazi Report Undeniably About Protecting Dems, Hillary - Mediaite

NBC's Kristen Welker Laments 2013 As 'A Year To Forget' for Obama's Legacy

On Saturday’s Today, NBC reporter Kristen Welker was assigned the task of rewinding through President Obama’s year in 2013. The screen graphic was clear: “A YEAR TO FORGET?” The liberals couldn't gin up any happy talk. Obama failed to achieve his liberal goals and his health-care rollout was “botched.” - Newsbusters

...KRISTEN WELKER: It was a year that started with great expectations but a few months later, a trio of controversies quickly threatened to detail President Obama’s second-term agenda. Revelations the IRS was targeting conservative groups. And that the Justice Department was seizing the phone records of journalists. Plus the ongoing fallout from the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi....

Obama’s Tedious Act Grown Old and Stale - Commentary

A new Gallup poll finds President Obama’s approval rating at 39 percent and his disapproval rating at 54 percent. But it’s not just that the public is increasingly displeased with the job Mr. Obama is doing; they are growing weary of the whole packaged deal. They are frustrated with the president, his style, his attitude, his approach to the job.

The Boston Herald reports: Experts: Public sick of prez complaining
President Obama’s tanking approval rating in newly released polls shows Americans are tired of his whining, according to some experts, who also see a fighting chance for Republicans to rack up coast-to-coast victories in the 2014 midterm congressional races.

“We think of presidents as being morale leaders … and he goes out and complains,” according to Richard Benedetto, a retired White House correspondent and a journalism professor at American University.

2014: a pivotal year for Republican health care policy

Though a lot of uncertainty surrounds the health care world in 2014, there are three basic scenarios. - Philip Klein/Washington Examiner @philipklein

Under one scenario, Obamacare overcomes its early troubles and turns into a smashing success, extending insurance to millions of Americans while causing little or no disruption to the vast majority of citizens. In this unlikely set of circumstances, the Republican policy response to Obamacare is likely to be quite modest.

Under a second scenario, Obamacare would end up ironing out some of its early wrinkles, but would still leave a lot of people complaining about poor access to doctors and hospitals, rising costs and too few choices. This could cause some Republicans to concede to keeping the law’s exchanges, but deregulating them to make it easier for individuals to purchase less comprehensive health insurance that’s cheaper or covers a wider network of providers. Or to propose alternatives to covering individuals with pre-existing conditions as well as scrapping the individual mandate.

Under a third scenario, individual insurance markets would collapse due to a failure to attract a critical mass of young and healthy consumers and Americans would be rebelling against reduced access as insurers pare provider networks. In such a case, Republicans are unlikely to abandon their efforts to repeal the law.

By this time next year, we will know which scenario played out.

CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) claims December enrollment surge, leaves key questions unanswered - Philip Klein/Washington Examiner @philipklein

...the announcement, which came in the form of a blog post from CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner, left many key questions unanswered.

To start, the figure doesn't reveal how many people actually paid for health plans as of Dec. 24. Though payment is what typically makes enrollment official, up to this point, CMS has counted people as being "enrolled" if they merely went through the process of picking a health care plan.

Additionally, CMS still hasn't provided a demographic breakdown of those who have signed up for insurance through the exchange, which is a key metric for measuring the success of Obamacare, because the exchanges need a critical mass of young and healthy individuals to offset the cost of covering older and sicker enrollees and those with pre-existing conditions.

“I’m a Republican, but I’m a Republican from the old school. I was taught that you get what you put into it. You can be anything you want to be if you work hard enough at it, and you can earn your place. That’s the old way. Now, it’s all meshed together and you can barely figure out one side from the other.”

Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry, right, and singer Steven Tyler. (AP)

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry Tweets ‘Freedom of Speech’ Defense of Duck Dynasty - CNS (image source)

Joe Perry, lead guitarist for the rock band Aerosmith, which is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and who with front-man Steven Tyler is in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, tweeted a defense of the Duck Dynasty controversy concerning anti-gay behavior saying, “More crackin’ down on Freedom of Speech in the US or what?”
In a follow-up tweet, Perry said, “Seems to me people have a right to express their opinions & religious beliefs. But that doesn’t mean we have to agree.”

Tolerance, celebration, and disapproval - John Hayward/Red State @Doc_o

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS: GOP ESTABLISHMENT REMAINED NEUTRAL ON 'DUCK DYNASTY' CONTROVERSY - Tony Lee/Breitbart

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and Sen.Ted Cruz (R-TX) emphatically defended Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson from the moment he was suspended by A&E for supposedly anti-gay remarks. The suspension provoked a relentless outpouring of support online, which pressured A&E to reinstate Robertson on Friday.

Palin, Jindal, and Cruz's support was in contrast to the silence of the Republican establishment, its leadership, and the Republican National Committee. The latter focused instead on Kwanzaa and promoting amnesty, which the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of working class Americans, many of whom make up the bulk of the Duck Dynasty audience.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

"So we dutifully went to the police station and we registered our guns. Not long after they said, 'No, it didn’t help. The only way that we won’t have accidents and crimes [is] you bring the guns to the police station and then we don’t have any crimes anymore and any accidents. And if you don’t do that: capital punishment.'



Nazi survivor’s warning to Americans: ‘Keep your guns and buy more guns’ - Right Wing News

A survivor of Nazi-occupied Austria who sees parallels between that dark period and the United States of today has a word of warning and advice to Americans: “Keep your guns and buy more guns.”

Katie Worthman spoke earlier this year of what she witnessed as a child in Austria during Adolph Hitler’s rise to power, which was followed by Soviet occupation of the country. She said the Nazi takeover happened gradually, as opposed to media accounts to the contrary, according to NRA News, which reported that Worthman said:
In 1938, the media reported that Hitler rode into Austria with tanks and guns and took us over. Not true at all. The Austrian people elected Hitler by 98 percent of the vote by means of the ballot box. Now you might ask how could a Christian nation… elect a monster like Hitler. The truth is at the beginning Hitler didn’t look like or talk like a monster at all. He talked like an American politician.
Worthman said gun control also began gradually, before the Nazis eventually confiscated every firearm.
We also had gun registration. All the Austrian people… had guns. But the government said, “the guns are very dangerous. Children are playing with guns. Hunting accidents happen and we really have to have total controlled safety. And we had criminals again. And the only way that we can trace the criminal was by the serial number of the gun.”

So we dutifully went to the police station and we registered our guns. Not long after they said, “No, it didn’t help. The only way that we won’t have accidents and crimes [is] you bring the guns to the police station and then we don’t have any crimes anymore and any accidents. And if you don’t do that: capital punishment.”

So that’s what we did. So dictatorship didn’t happen overnight. It took five years. Gradually, little by little to escalate up to a dictatorship.
‘I FELL ASLEEP’: LISTEN TO SURVIVOR OF (ANOTHER) NAZI GERMANY REVEAL HER ‘ONE REGRET’ AMID DISTURBING CHALLENGES TO FREEDOM SHE’S WITNESSED IN U.S. The Blaze


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Shoppers Stock Up On Rifles, Shotguns Before California Long Gun Registry Begins - CBS Sacramento
CONNECTICUT GUN OWNERS WAIT IN LINE TO DO SOMETHING MANY GUN OWNERS HOPE THEY NEVER HAVE TO - The Blaze

State police Lt. Paul Vance said that gun owners must fill our forms completely and some may require a notary.

Gun Confiscation Underway in New York - Katie Pavlich/Townhall

Nobody is coming for your guns, they said. Nobody is taking away your rights, they said. This is all about public safety, they said.

Nearly a year ago, the New York legislature passed the toughest gun control law in the country known as the S.A.F.E. Act. It was rushed through in the middle of the night and as soon as it landed on Governor Cuomo's desk, he signed it without asking questions. Now, local and state government are taking the opportunity to crack down on regulations already on the books which means for many, turn in your guns or leave.

Gun reregistration begins in D.C., may lead to arrest and confiscation - Emily Miller/Washington Times

Ann Coulter mentions zombietime on the Sean Hannity Show

Look at their blind, passionate hatred for those on the other side — like George Bush. I mean you can go to this Web site zombietime which has the photos of effigies of George Bush being burned, being decapitated. They look at regular left-wing, anti-war, anti-Bush rallies: they sell hats, bags, backpacks that said “Kill Bush” on them. Can you imagine — I mean forget the reaction from the Left, can you imagine a conservative making up such a bag for Obama or Clinton? No — you oppose their policies; you don’t hate them with the hot hot hate of a thousand suns.
Ann was referring of course to this classic zomblog post:Death Threats Against Bush at Protests Ignored for Years - Zombietime

...this essay exists for one reason only: To prove beyond any doubt that explicit and implicit threats to Bush’s life were commonly displayed at public protests throughout his term as president. Below this introduction you will find dozens of examples of such threats — unaltered photographs from a wide variety of sources, along with links verifying their authenticity.

Surprise! Bronze plans may cost a lot more than you expect

Oh, not up front — although the bronze plan premiums do cost more than many paid before ObamaCare’s mandates went into effect. - HotAir
If you buy one of the less expensive insurance plans sold through the new health law’s marketplaces, you may be in for a surprise: Some plans won’t pay for doctor visits before you meet your annual deductible, which could be thousands of dollars.

“This could be the next shoe to drop, as people don’t realize that if they’re buying a bronze plan, they may have to pay $5,000 out of pocket before it contributes a penny,” said Carl McDonald, senior analyst with Citi Investment Research, speaking at a conference last month in Washington.
Comprehensive plans with deductibles usually cover wellness checks from the start (especially in group plans) — or at least they did until ObamaCare made the entire risk pool a lot more costly. In order to trim costs, especially with millions of new policyholders expected to flood the risk pools, insurers have shielded themselves against the larger risk. Unfortunately, that will have a dampening effect on what Democrats said would be the biggest benefit of ObamaCare — heightened access to routine care:
Experts are worrying that some new enrollees will be discouraged from seeing doctors if they have to pay the full charge, rather than simply a copayment. In Miami, for example, 40 percent of bronze plans require consumers to pay the full deductible before coverage kicks in, according to an analysis by online broker eHealthinsurance.com, a private online marketplace, for Kaiser Health News. The average deductible among the examined bronze plans in Miami is $5,735.
Put it this way: If the average deductible is $5,735 and a doctor visit is $85, it would take sixty-eight doctor visits before the insurance kicked in — more than one visit per week. And it would start all over again every year.

...(it) is the worst of both worlds. The law forces people to pay higher premiums for largely unnecessary comprehensive coverage — especially the middle class — and then forces them to pay for the routine care out of pocket anyway. Health-savings accounts that might have shielded consumers from the pain are now being discouraged, which means this comes out of their checking accounts, right along with the higher premiums.

The result? People will pay more for less coverage, and then spend thousands of dollars before seeing the first dollar in benefits, except for certain preventive tests that HHS deemed mandatory. This will discourage people from getting normal wellness care and quick intervention on illnesses, forcing them to wait until they’re very sick to see a doctor. And even that might be not so bad, considering how often people fill waiting rooms for cold and flu symptoms that could easily be handled with over-the-counter treatment, but it’s not what the Obama administration and Democrats promised. And it’s certainly not “affordable care.”

Of those 109 recalls, 73 succeeded (51 removed in a vote and another 22 resigned) — a 68 percent success rate.

Power to the people? Remembering the year in recalls. - Joshua Spivak/The Week

After recalls suddenly grabbed hold of the nation's attention in 2012, anyone could have been excused for thinking they might have gone back to being little used, frequently ignored weapons this year. But 2013 proved such expectations wrong. Despite a sharp drop in their total number, recall elections once again managed to place themselves on centerstage in American politics.

Unlike in Wisconsin in 2012, the most prominent recalls of 2013 did not appear to be stark Democrat versus Republican fights. Instead, it was a hot button political issue — the fight over gun control — that allowed recalls to push their way into the spotlight.

Colorado, for instance, saw some of its most expensive state legislative elections in history: Two Democratic state senators — including the State Senate president — were kicked out and a third resigned, over the state's new gun control laws....

Already, there are at least 25 recalls scheduled for next year, starting on January 2.

Crowdsourcing the End of Free Speech

The end of free speech will not necessarily come when there are soldiers in the streets, secret police in the alleyways and a mustachioed man screaming at you on a television set that can't be turned off no matter how hard you turn the knob or click the buttons. - Sultan Knish

Some of these things certainly existed in totalitarian countries. But they were there to sweep up the hardened dissenters who refused to be silenced. The vast majority of citizens did not have bugged phones or men in trench-coats following them around.

That was what their friends and neighbors were for....

You never knew lightbulbs would be a part of your freedom, did you?


Time to Stock Up on Incandescent Bulbs Before They Go Out Permanently - Heritage

Beginning January 1, 2014, the federal government will ban the use of 60-watt and 40-watt incandescent light bulbs. The light bulb has become a symbol in the fight for consumer freedom and against unnecessary governmental interference into the lives of the American people....

Proponents of government-imposed efficiency standards and regulations will say, “So what? There are still plenty of lighting options on the shelves at Home Depot; we’re saving families money; and we’re reducing harmful climate change emissions.”

The “so what” is that the federal government is taking decisions out of the hands of families and businesses, destroying jobs, and restricting consumer choice in the market. We all have a wide variety of preferences regarding light bulbs. It is not the role of the federal government to override those preferences with what it believes is in our best interest.

In 2014, liberty-stripping politicians take notice: the big lie for big-government Democrats may be "if you like your plan you can keep your plan," but for big-government Republicans, Edison's light bulb was something we wanted to keep, too. - CNS

Top Stories of 2013



On Media: 2013's biggest media stories (and screw-ups) - Politico

Excedrin headache No. 2013: 2-in-3 call it a 'bad year,' 4-in-10 a disaster for their family - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

Liberals Go Hysterical Over List of 252 Examples of Obama’s Lying, Corruption, and Cronyism - Rand Paul Review

TEN PEOPLE, GROUPS, AND COUNTRIES THROWN UNDER OBAMA'S BUS IN 2013 - Breitbart

GOP Surges Over Dems With Staggering 13-Point Switch

Poll: Big gain for Republican Party - Politico

The CNN/ORC International survey shows Republicans holding a 49 percent to 44 percent lead over Democrats, a swift reversal from just two months ago, when the Democratic Party stood steady with an 8-point lead over the GOP, 50 percent to 42 percent.

Friday, December 27, 2013

This is CNN: Anderson Cooper Discusses His Mother and ‘Cunnilingus’

CNN was doing one of those year in review segments, and Cooper asked (BULLY) Dan Savage for what he thought was a really good scandal story this year. Savage had to go with the amazing saga of Rob Ford, and said, “I love a good cunnilingus joke on the evening news.”

Everyone (especially Andrew Sullivan) burst out laughing, and that’s when Cooper decided to over-share.

“My mom once wrote a romance memoir about men she had dated–and I use that term loosely–and she described one guy she was currently dating––my mom was 85 at the time––as the Nijinsky of cunnilingus. And she made me proofread the book.”
__________________

Vulgarity invades entire culture; few options for escape - Jonah Goldberg/Omaha.com

...as Lee Siegel wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal, vulgarity has become so common in the culture that there’s nothing rebellious about it anymore.

Elvis’ below-the-belt gyrations were taboo-breaking and suggestive. Today, there’s nothing suggestive about Miley Cyrus. Nobody watching her twerk thinks, “I wonder what she’s getting at?”

Indeed, if there’s any larger message to her routine, it is simply to announce that the exception has now become the rule: vulgarity is expected, decency a surprise....

Defenders of vulgarity, and there are many, also say that parents just need to do a better job of monitoring their kids, as if the absence of kids is, by itself, a license for gratuitous obscenity.

I don’t think the vulgarians realize how hard that is when producers and executives refuse to stay in their lanes. Even family-oriented TV shows are punctuated with commercials not just for erectile dysfunction pills and utterly unromantic romantic aids but also inappropriate ads for incredibly inappropriate movies and TV shows. And sometimes family-friendly networks are family-friendly in name only (I’m looking at you, ABC Family Channel). And don’t get me started about the Internet.

America the Vulgar - Lee Siegel/Wall St. Journal

Yes, I know people are complaining. I read the news on the internet. I read blogs. I have a Twitter feed. So what? People in the Soviet Union complained. People in Cuba complain. People in China complain (quietly). Complaining isn’t the same thing as doing anything about it. In fact, much of the complaining that we hear sounds like resignation: Wow. This sucks. Oh well, this is the way things are. Too bad.

We Are Not SUBJECTS (and Other Observations About Obamacare) - Laura Hollis/Townhall

The President, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid (with no small help from Justice John Roberts) take away our health care, and we allow it. They take away our insurance, and we allow it. They take away our doctors, and we allow it. They charge us thousands of dollars more a year, and we allow it. They make legal products illegal, and we allow it. They cripple our businesses, and we allow it. They announce by fiat that we must ignore our most deeply held beliefs – and we allow it.

Where is your spine, America?

...I will say it again: WE ARE NOT SUBJECTS. Not only is the Tea Party right on the fiscal issues, but it appears that they are more relevant than ever. We fought a war once to prove we did not want to be the subjects of a king, and the Boston Tea Party was just a taste of the larger conflict to come. If some people missed that lesson in history class, we can give them a refresher..

GEORGIA OPTS OUT OF OBAMACARE...

South Carolina and Montana are also expected to enact similar legislation.

HB 707 declares, “The assumption of power that the federal government has made by enacting the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 interferes with the right of the people of the State of Georgia to regulate health care as they see fit and makes a mockery of James Madison’s assurance in Federalist No. 45 that the ‘powers delegated’ to the federal government are ‘few and defined,’ while those of the states are ‘numerous and indefinite.’”

Obamacare Showdown: Missouri Bill to Gut Obamacare, Ban Penalties, Ban Healthcare Exchange; How Would Obama Respond?

If enough states act, we are on the way to a constitutional showdown over Obamacare. ◼ The Washington Times reports Missouri bill would gut Obamacare

Next month, the Missouri Senate will consider a bill which would effectively cripple the implementation of the Affordable Care Act within the state.

Following the lead of South Carolina, where lawmakers are fast-tracking House Bill 3101 in 2014, and Georgia, where HB707 was recently introduced by Rep. Jason Spencer, Missouri State Senator John T. Lamping (R-24) pre-filed Senate Bill 546 (SB546) to update the Health Care Freedom Act passed by Missouri voters in 2010. It passed that year with more than 70% support.

SB546 would ban Missouri from taking any action that would “compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in any health care system.” That means the state would be banned by law from operating a health care exchange for the federal government.

The bill also proposes suspending the licenses of insurers who accept federal subsidies which result in the “imposition of penalties contrary to the public policy” set forth in the legislation. Since it is unlikely that any insurer would then accept a subsidy, not a single employer in the state could be hit with the employer-mandate penalties those subsidies trigger.

*GRAPHIC* VIDEO: OBAMA'S PEACE PARTNERS THE TALIBAN PLAYING SOCCER WITH SEVERED HEADS...

Tea partiers, constitutionalists, counter-jihadists, the people of Israel, Egyptians opposing the Muslim Brotherhood, Marines who disrespect the Taliban, Christians in Syria, Libya, Algieria, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Indonesia, Hindus in Bangladesh -- they are the enemy, but these savages? They're Obama's peace partners. - Atlas Shrugs

A&E: PHIL ROBERTSON BACK ON 'DUCK DYNASTY'


A&E Welcomes Phil Robertson Back to 'Duck Dynasty' - Hollywood Reporter

Less than two weeks after his anti-gay remarks prompted an "indefinite hiatus" for the reality patriarch — and a strong fan backlash — the network says he will remain on the series.

'Duck Dynasty' to resume filming with Phil Robertson - The Hill

“...Duck Dynasty is not a show about one man's views,” the statement continued. “It resonates with a large audience because it is a show about family… a family that America has come to love. As you might have seen in many episodes, they come together to reflect and pray for unity, tolerance and forgiveness. These are three values that we at A+E Networks also feel strongly about.”

BREAKING: A&E to Bring Back Papa Phil - Truth Revolt



A&E Announces It's Welcoming Back Phil Robertson, and He'll Be Rejoining the Show - Ace Of Spades

This is not free speech. This is free speech as an exceptional thing -- only for those with a wide, passionate following -- not as a routine thing.

This was all so very predictable - Althouse

Sweet schadenfreude! With Phil Robertson back on ‘Duck Dynasty,’ is GLAAD meltdown imminent? - Twitchy, Who Said What on Twitter

GLAAD Responds To Phil Robertson’s Return To A&E’s Duck Dynasty - the Right Scoop

GLAAD issues statement on Phil Robertson’s return to ‘Duck Dynasty’ - Twitchy, Who Said What on Twitter

What Robertson had said to GQ was, “We never, ever judge someone on who’s going to heaven, hell. That’s the Almighty’s job. We just love ’em, give ’em the good news about Jesus—whether they’re homosexuals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort ’em out later, you see what I’m saying?”

CRP Chairman Named To SacBee's "Californians To Watch In 2014" List

The Sacramento Bee features a handful of newsmakers at the end of each year as being worthy of their readers attention – and for 2014, CRP Chairman Jim Brulte made the list. - CRP

"It’s a small leap from forcing Phil Robertson, the Boy Scouts and Rush Limbaugh out of the public square to forcing wedding photographers and cake bakers to serve gay customers against their will and mandating that Catholic medical providers and Hobby Lobby violate their religious conscience and cover abortion pills in order to stay in business."

GLAAD: Lethal Enforcers of the Left’s Tolerance Mob

“Duck Dynasty’s” Phil Robertson is not alone. He’s the latest in a long, long lineup of politically incorrect targets of the left’s sensitivity mob. Founded in 1985, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) gangstas won’t stop until both the cultural and legal enforcement of their agenda are the norm.

Life on GLAAD's Blacklist - Robert Oscar Lopez

GLAAD is hoping that the current surge of anger over Phil Robertson will begin and end with Duck Dynasty, and then the rest of us who have been erased and whose lives have been destroyed by this totalitarian organization can be out of the way again. Broom, meet rug -- sweep the human waste underneath, march on to the next court case, and proclaim victory.

There's only one way that GLAAD will come out of this kerfuffle unscathed -- if you, the conservatives of America, let them. Please don't. This is much bigger than one reality show.

Fuss and Feathers: Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson is not the worst news for gays. - Deroy Murdock/National Review

I’m not even sure how to word the warning for this video. Adult content?

Charles Krauthammer: Hillary Will Be Relatively Weak Presidential Candidate

Woe to humanity if ever Obama’s pledge to prevent an Iranian nuke is declared "the lie of the year."

Iran and Obama's 'Lie of the Year' - Melanie Sturm/Washington Examiner

Unable to ignore millions of cancellation letters and a rare presidential apology, fact-checkers at PolitiFact and the Washington Post designated “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it” as 2013's “Lie of the Year.”

Repelled by Obamacare's deceptive sales tactics, Americans dread its fallout, but know our system allows us to think again. We can repeal and replace bad laws.

But we can't reverse the fallout from Iranian nukes, which explains President Kennedy's warning that while “domestic policy can defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.”

It also explains the backlash from allies and Congress to the recently signed interim agreement with Iran, the world's most dangerous regime and self-described deceiver. As Alan Dershowitz suggested, it “could be a cataclysmic error of gigantic proportions.”...

‘Millions will begin to understand’: Byron York says Dems can’t avoid O-care in 2014





Democrats are sure to ratchet up the blame on insurance companies, congressional Republicans and maybe even George W. Bush, but will their spin be enough? Not according to York, who says Dems will pay a political price for Obamacare next year as people realize health care costs more when it’s “affordable” than it did when it was too expensive (to paraphrase P.J. O’Rourke). - Twitchy

Granting millions of exemptions from the individual mandate not only serves as a formal admission that the Affordable Care Act is unaffordable for most households, it’s an admission that the law’s authors knew it would create hardships from the get-go.

Obamacare chaos - LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL EDITORIAL

After nearly four years of defending the Affordable Care Act as the “law of the land,” the White House has spent the past three months revising and rewriting the federal government’s forced overhaul of American health insurance. And the closer the calendar gets to Obamacare’s full implementation on Jan. 1, the faster the administration scrambles to fix its most urgent flaws. The more it changes, the more it fails, the more it changes....This law is so bad, the only certainties are more chaos and more public unhappiness.

...the president shut down the government this fall because he refused to meet a Republican demand that Obamacare’s individual mandate be delayed. Now the president himself has done what Republicans — labeled as extortionists and terrorists at the time — asked him to do, though he did so without the consent of Congress, as usual.

As the White House comes to terms with the fact that there will be even more uninsured Americans in 2014 as a direct result of its “signature achievement,” it now must reconcile a new problem created by its revisions: If Obamacare-compliant insurance policies are creating so much hardship, why isn’t everyone exempt from the individual mandate?

Repeal Obamacare.

"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission."

Ayn Rand

Federal judge: The NSA’s phone metadata program is constitutional - HotAir
Here’s the opinion.

Biblical films' Hollywood comeback

Mary Mother of Christ, whose title character will be played by Odeya Rush Photo: Rex Features

Superheroes are being elbowed out by Noah and Mary as Hollywood makes 2014 year of the biblical epic - The Telegraph (image source)

Studio executives who have spent the past few years releasing superhero and zombie films have, it seems, had an epiphany....

“For years Hollywood bent over backwards to reach special interest groups, be it feminists or environmentalists. It has finally realised that there are 91  million evangelical Christians in America.”

For their part, studio executives have taken something of a leap of faith that films in which religious figures save the world will bring big box office receipts.

That faith is based in no small part on the success of The Bible, a television mini-series shown on the History channel earlier this year, which averaged 11.4 million viewers and became America’s most watched cable show of 2013.

“It made the Bible cool to talk about again,” said Mr Cooke. “The separation of church and state in America is so strong that people had become afraid to talk about God, at work or at school. Suddenly, these Bible stories were water cooler conversation again.”

Poll: GOP has edge in 2014 midterms

Republicans lead Democrats on CNN's generic congressional ballot by 49 percent to 44 percent after the tumultuous start of ObamaCare. - The Hill

That's a huge 13-point swing from October, when Democrats had the edge following the government shutdown. At that point, Democrats were up by 50 percent to 42 percent on a generic ballot test.

The new numbers are the latest bad polling news for Democrats, indicating the GOP has a chance to pick up House seats and win control of the Senate.

The poll finds a lack of enthusiasm from both parties' bases — but especially from Democrats.

If voter fraud doesn't exist, then why did Ohio's Secretary of State just find this...

This FACTUAL EVIDENCE of Voter Fraud in Ohio Should Change Democrats' Minds About Voter ID - Bubba Atkinson/IJ Review via ◼ Conservative Daily
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Wednesday that his office found 17 non-citizens illegally cast ballots in the 2012 presidential election — and has referred the case for possible prosecution.

The alleged crime would be a notable case of voter fraud in a key swing state. By law, only American citizens are allowed the privilege of casting ballots for the nation’s leaders.

To be clear, this would not have swung the election, but this is plain and clear evidence that shows beyond a reasonable doubt that the system is broken on some level. If something is broken, why don’t we try to fix it or at least improve it?
It doesn’t stop there:
As part of Ohio’s efforts to clean up the voting rolls, election officials discovered that more than 257,000 dead people were still listed as active voters.

President Obama's Top 10 Constitutional Violations Of 2013

One of Barack Obama’s chief accomplishments has been to return the Constitution to a central place in our public discourse. - Ilya Shapiro/Forbes

And so, as we reach the end of another year of political strife that’s fundamentally based on clashing views on the role of government in society, I thought I’d update a list I made two years ago and hereby present President Obama’s top 10 constitutional violations of 2013.

1. Delay of Obamacare’s out-of-pocket caps.
2. Delay of Obamacare’s employer mandate.
3. Delay of Obamacare’s insurance requirements.
4. Exemption of Congress from Obamacare.
5. Expansion of the employer mandate penalty through IRS regulation.
6. Political profiling by the IRS.
7. Outlandish Supreme Court arguments.
8. Recess appointments.
9. Assault on free speech and due process on college campuses.
10. Mini-DREAM Act.
...read the whys and wherefores, at the link.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

If...

So much sea ice in Antarctica that a research vessel gets stuck, in summer!

MV Akademik Shokalskiy (file photo) from expeditionsonline.com via WUWT

It is summer in the southern hemisphere and yet there is still signifiicantly above normal amounts of sea ice present as the passengers and crew of one tour ship discovered. - Watts Up With That?

The icebreakers Xue Long and Aurora Australis, and a French research vessel Astrolabe are cruising towards the Akademik Shokalskiy at full throttle for rescue.... The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is coordinating a search and rescue for a Russian passenger ship beset by ice approximately 1500 nautical miles south of Hobart.

Three ships with icebreaking capability have responded, including the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) vessel Aurora Australis, and are now en route to the area.

The closest vessels are at least two days sailing time away.

‘Least extreme U.S. weather year ever?’ 2013 shatters the record for fewest U.S. tornadoes — 15% lower than previous record — 2013 also had the fewest U.S. forest fires since 1984

NY TIMES: OBAMACARE EXTENSIONS 'A SWEEPING EXERCISE OF EXECUTIVE POWER'

On Christmas Eve, the Obama administration announced yet another Obamacare enrollment extension on its HealthCare.gov blog for anyone who claims to have missed the myriad sign-up deadlines due to problems with the website. - Wynton Hall/Breitbart

The New York Times called the announcement "vague" and noted that "it was not clear on Tuesday how many people would be affected, or how consumers would prove that website errors had prevented them from signing up by the deadline on Tuesday night."

The Obama administration announcement also failed to note when the "special enrollment period" would cease; however, White House spokesperson Tara McGuinness assured Americans it is not offering a "blanket extension" but will consider "assistance to individuals on a case-by-case basis."

Insurance industry experts say the White House's endless rounds of delays and shifting deadlines create more confusion and uncertainty in an already murky market.

Sign-Up Period Extended Again for Health Plan - NYT

POLL: OBAMACARE SUPPORT COLLAPSES TO RECORD LOW - John Nolte/Breitbart

On the very last day to sign up for ObamaCare before the end of the year, President Obama and his signature piece of legislation received more bad news via a sympathetic media outlet. A new CNN poll shows that support for ObamaCare has collapsed to just 35%, a new record low for this poll and a five-point drop in just 30 days. Opposition sits at a whopping 62%.

Remember: In 2008, when Obama was elected, 52 percent was considered a 'blowout' 'decisive' victory

What to Do When ObamaCare Unravels: Health insurance should be individual, portable across jobs, states and providers, and lifelong and renewable. - JOhn H. Cochrane/Wall St. Journal
A very nervous New Year’s for Obamacare - Politico
Gallup: 25% of Dems call Obamacare president's 'biggest failure' - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

Fewer voters now identify themselves as “socially liberal” than they have in the past.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 29% of Likely U.S. Voters now consider themselves liberal on social issues such as abortion, public prayer and church-state topics. That’s the lowest number of self-identified social liberals since early last year. - Rasmussen

Just as many (30%) consider themselves moderate on such issues, the highest since October 2012, while 37% say they are conservative, up four points from September.

Edward Snowden declares mission 'accomplished'



National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden declared victory in his fight with the government, saying that his "mission's already accomplished." - Washington Examiner

In an interview published Tuesday in the Washington Post, Snowden said that his disclosures about the extent of NSA surveillance on phone and internet traffic had achieved his goal of sparking a debate over the nation's intelligence operations.

“For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished,” said Snowden. “I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated."

"I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself,” Snowden said about his leaks....

“All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed,” Snowden told the Washington Post. “That is a milestone we left a long time ago. Right now, all we are looking at are stretch goals.”

"I am still working for the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don’t realize it." Says Edward Snowden. - Althouse
Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished - Barton Gellman/Washington Post

Snowden offered vignettes from his intelligence career and from his recent life as “an indoor cat” in Russia. But he consistently steered the conversation back to surveillance, democracy and the meaning of the documents he exposed....

The NSA’s business is “information dominance,” the use of other people’s secrets to shape events. At 29, Snowden upended the agency on its own turf....

By his own terms, Snowden succeeded beyond plausible ambition. The NSA, accustomed to watching without being watched, faces scrutiny it has not endured since the 1970s, or perhaps ever....

People who accuse him of disloyalty, he said, mistake his purpose.

“I am not trying to bring down the NSA, I am working to improve the NSA,” he said. “I am still working for the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don’t realize it.”

What entitled Snowden, now 30, to take on that responsibility?

“That whole question — who elected you? — inverts the model,” he said. “They elected me. The overseers.”

He named the chairmen of the Senate and House intelligence committees.

“Dianne Feinstein elected me when she asked softball questions” in committee hearings, he said. “Mike Rogers elected me when he kept these programs hidden. . . . The FISA court elected me when they decided to legislate from the bench on things that were far beyond the mandate of what that court was ever intended to do. The system failed comprehensively, and each level of oversight, each level of responsibility that should have addressed this, abdicated their responsibility.”

Greenwald Snarks at MSNBC: I Defend Snowden Like You Defend Obama ’24 Hours a Day’ - Mediaite

The fight for “tolerance,” “liberation,” and “equality” therefore becomes a fight to destroy society through intolerance, oppression, and inequality

The Intolerance Towards Normalcy - Political Hat

...They themselves will refuse to show the tolerance that they demand of others. This is because they define the views they disagree with as “intolerance,” “H8,” et al. and the opposition to those views as necessarily being for “tolerance” and against “H8″ regardless of the actual lack of tolerance or hatred that they show. ◼ In other words:
“It’s pretty simple: if your choices aren’t their choices, then your choices are wrong, illegitimate, and societally harmful....”
‘We Haven’t Won Yet’: GLAAD Calls For Broader Censorship - Pat Dollard
The gay advocacy organization that pressured the A&E network into silencing Phil Robertson and Duck Dynasty has repeatedly called for censorship against content with which they disagree.... - Jake Hammer/Daily Caller
'Duck Dynasty' controversy should remind Christians what they stand for - Cal Thomas/Washington Examiner

The Tax Whammy of 2014

(T)here are major storm clouds on the horizon and the coming torrent is all about taxes... - Larry Johnson/No Quarter

I did not realize we were facing so many new taxes or loss of deductions. I know what I am going to do–cut back on spending. But it does not stop there.

New ObamaCare fees coming in 2014 - S.A. Miller and Geoff Earle/NY Post
The cost of President Obama’s massive health-care law will hit Americans in 2014 as new taxes pile up on their insurance premiums and on their income-tax bills.

Most insurers aren’t advertising the ObamaCare taxes that are added on to premiums, opting instead to discretely pass them on to customers while quietly lobbying lawmakers for a break.

But one insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, laid bare the taxes on its bills with a separate line item for “Affordable Care Act Fees and Taxes.”

...But ObamaCare taxes don’t stop with health-plan premiums.

Americans also will pay hidden taxes, such as the 2.3 percent medical-device tax that will inflate the cost of items such as pacemakers, stents and prosthetic limbs.

Those with high out-of-pocket medical expenses also will get smaller income-tax deductions.
Americans are currently allowed to deduct expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of their annual income. The threshold jumps to 10 percent under ObamaCare, costing taxpayers about $15 billion over 10 years.

Then there’s the new Medicare tax.

"It’s probably just a coincidence. Let’s not get paranoid."

BIZARRE RADIO MELTDOWN DURING NSA INTERVIEW 'We lost control of the software. It's all going nuts' - WND

Aaron Klein’s WABC Radio show experienced what the host called a “tech meltdown” while he was conducting a live, on-air interview with the lawyer who won an injunction against the National Security Agency’s collection of phone records.

Software used by the radio station dropped the guest, Larry Klayman, and listeners who had called in to ask Klayman questions were cut off in mid-sentence. Other callers could not be put on the air due to technical difficulties at the radio station.

Audio clips saved on an independent system played at the wrong time.

Klein’s headphones had massive feedback that could be heard on the air.

At one point, the WABC call screener said, “We lost control of the software. It’s all going nuts.”

The technical difficulties started on the show about 10 minutes prior to the Klayman interview. They subsided following the two segments that featured Klayman.

“In my three years of broadcasting at WABC we never had such a technological meltdown as we are having today,” Klein told the audience.

He continued: “Calls are dropping. We cant get the guests on. Once the guests are on they are dropping. We’ve had several meltdowns. Feedback from the microphone. I can barely broadcast. … However we are going to land this airplane and we’re going to have fun doing it.”

25 Examples of What America Would Be Like if We Were All Christian Conservative Tea Partiers

1) …There would be fewer regulations, lower taxes, a business-friendly environment, and a much smaller government that would lead to considerably stronger economic growth and job creation. In fact, we’d probably have to dramatically increase the number of work permits we hand out to foreign workers, not because there are “jobs Americans won’t do” (which don’t actually exist), but because so many Americans would be employed that we’d have to bring in more people to do all of the available work. - John Hawkins/Right Wing News
2) …The richest Americans would have more money. Of course, so would the middle class and the poor. In fact, the only Americans who wouldn’t benefit economically would be the Americans who spend their lives relying on the government, instead of their own effort, to pay their bills.... read the rest at the link