Saturday, July 27, 2013
CA REPUBLICAN WINS SEAT IN DIST. WITH 60% HISPANICS, 22-PT. DEM ADV.
Perez had initially conceded two months ago when the special election was held. But a recount put Vidak under the 50% threshold that was needed to avoid a runoff, and Perez took back her concession nearly a week after the initial election. The seat became vacant when the Democrat, who won the seat in 2010 by 21 points, resigned to work for Chevron. Democrats thought, especially with a Hispanic female candidate, the seat would be a shoo-in for them. The veto-proof supermajority Democrats have in the state Senate is now imperiled with Vidak's victory....
As Breitbart News had previously reported, though, "Vidak, a working class candidate, resonated with working class Hispanics in the district who also saw how coastal California elites were not putting their bread-and-butter interests first."
...It is often said that California is a harbinger of things to come for the country. For Republicans looking at California, there has not been much of hope of late, but Vidak's victory could be a sign that areas that have traditionally voted for Democrats may give the right kind of Republican a chance as they see unemployment rates increase and opportunities for upward mobility decrease in their communities.
Whatever Your Problem Is, ‘Vote Democrat’ Is Never the Solution
Democrats and their media allies are very good at suggesting that people have problems that can be solved by liberal policies. Democrats imply or suggest that these problems — poverty, racism, violence, whatever — are somehow the fault of Republicans: “Corporate America,” for example, being a handy code, a way of telling the working class that those greedy Republicans are ripping them off. Mitt Romney was made into a proxy for irrational economic resentments, and his GOP handlers were unable to figure out how to combat this cunning theme.
Hey, guys, how about telling the simple truth? Like for example: “The Democrats are stirring up irrational economic resentments. Rich people aren’t the cause of our nation’s problems. You can’t blame ‘Corporate America’ for the job-killing effects of Democrat policies that most business leaders warned would be bad for the economy. And whatever your problem is, ‘vote Democrat’ is never the solution.”
...It doesn’t matter who you are, or what your rationalization for being a Democrat is, you learn — you are taught — to make “Republican” a synonym for whatever you hate.
Hating Republicans, however, won’t solve your problems. And the minute a Democrat figures that out, he’s not a Democrat anymore.... Much more, at the link.
Never underestimate your own influence. Don’t think that you’re a little nobody or that politicians are too important to listen to you. Don’t believe that America’s problems are so big that you can’t make difference, because you can make difference, if you try, and if you encourage the people you know to join you in the fight.
Thank you for reading, and please: Keep fighting every day!
– Robert Stacy McCain◼ Future Ex-Democrats - Robert Stacy McCain/American Spectator
Attorney General Eric Holder has no case against Texas voting laws
Fortunately, racial-polarization politics works better in the political sphere than it does in the courtroom....
Holder’s alleged smoking gun against Texas? He pointed to evidence of racial discrimination in a 2012 redistricting controversy and “the history of pervasive voting-related discrimination against racial minorities” in Texas.
Note how those pervasively racist Texans were busy electing Hispanic U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in the 2012 elections. Also, perhaps the fact that black voter turnout regularly outpaces white turnout in modern Texas is a more relevant measure of the state’s “voting-related discrimination” than is Holder’s memories of the 1960s. In any case, “history” isn’t enough to condemn a state under Section 3. One needs to prove an actual, recent and intentional violation.
And there’s one final nuance to Section 3 that makes it harder for Holder to get his way against Texas. Judges may tailor any requirement for preclearance narrowly, such as only requiring preclearance for redistricting, but not for voter ID or other voting changes. Even if Holder successfully convinces the judges that preclearance is necessary for redistricting, it’s extremely unlikely a court would require preclearance for all voting changes across the entire state.
Bottom-line: the Attorney General’s most recent rallying cry to “stand against discrimination” is probably more about politics than it is about the VRA or the Constitution.
Clashes Between Rival Protest Groups in Egypt Turn Deadly
Obama: I spend every minute every day to make the economy work
◼ And as Washington prepares to enter another budget debate, the stakes could not be higher. The choices we make now will determine whether or not every American has a fighting chance in the 21st century. - Andrew Malcolm/IBD
You'll never guess what POTUS is doing on the very day he claimed total min-to-min focus on the economy: Golf http://t.co/qVhuFZs08T #tcot
— Andrew Malcolm (@AHMalcolm) July 27, 2013
◼ It’s already Obama’s 22nd time playing this year and outing number 133 of his presidency. - keith Koffler/White House Dossier
Employers who take advantage of the delay will be on very shaky legal grounds
On July 2, 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department announced, by blog entry, that it would delay collecting taxes due to Obamacare’s employer-mandate by one year. This was followed by a more formal announcement on June 9: Notice 2013-45. Although greeted as a relief by many, the move actually raises two significant problems for businesses and taxpayers during Obamacare’s roll-out.
First, the delay implies that Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores of government health spending will become even less realistic than they currently are. Second, employers who take advantage of the delay will be on very shaky legal grounds. Explanation, at the link.
Ignored scandals beget “phony scandals.”
◼ Sarah Palin: In 2008 the McCain campaign prohibited me from talking about Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin
2008 came and went, and perhaps as a result of such McCain campaign concern for “media perceptions,” Sarah Palin is back in Alaska while John McCain is still in Washington, D.C. helping out Obama and the Dems.
◼ PALIN: 'LAPDOG' MEDIA HELPING OBAMA 'RUN OUT THE CLOCK' ON SCANDALS - Tony Lee/Breitbart
"They are going to stick with it because they are part of the problem," she said of the media's enabling the Obama administration before, during, and after the scandals. Palin said the mainstream media's actions will be to the detriment of "professional journalism and the free America as we know it." Palin emphasized that many of these scandals have occurred because the media enabled Obama by becoming his lapdogs.
◼ When Did Obama Decide That The Scandals He Once Thought Were Serious Are Now ‘Phony’? - Noah Rothman /Mediaite
ABC News Accused of Dishonestly Editing Zimmerman Juror to Take 'Got Away With Murder' Out of Context
◼ According to all reports, Juror B29, the sole nonwhite juror on the George Zimmerman trial, said the neighborhood watch volunteer got away with murder. But Slate's William Saletan says not so fast, and accused the network on Friday of deceptive editing and manipulation to get the answers they wanted. - Joe Newby/NEWSBUSTERS
According to Saletan, the juror -- identified only by her first name, Maddy -- has "been framed as the woman who was bullied out of voting to convict Zimmerman."
But, he said, that's simply not true....He went on to say the interview that ABC aired "has been cut and spliced in different ways, often so artfully that the transitions appear continuous."
...For starters, he said the phrase "got away with murder" was put in her mouth.
“Some people have said, ‘George Zimmerman got away with murder. How do you respond to those people who say that?’" Robin Roberts asked.
"George Zimmerman got away with murder. But you can’t get away from God,” the juror responded.
But Saletan said that’s not quite how the exchange took place.
"In the unedited video, Roberts’ question is longer, with words that have been trimmed from the Nightline version, and Maddy pauses twice, for several seconds, as she struggles to answer it," he said.
...Saletan also said that while she stands by her verdict, ABC edited her response to make it appear as though she intended to say something else.
"I felt like I let a lot of people down, and I'm thinking to myself, 'Did I go the right way? Did I go the wrong way?'" she said in the online story published by ABC.
"But that's not the whole quote," Saletan said.
According to Saletan, she continued: “I know I went the right way, because by the law and the way it was followed is the way I went. But if I would have used my heart, I probably would have [gone for] a hung jury.”
READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE, AT THE LINK.
Cantor on ObamaCare: The IRS in doctors' offices threatens everyone's privacy
◼ link - Andrew Malcolm/IBD
Tonight, millions of middle class Americans will go to sleep worried - worried about a job, worried about health care, worried about whether they can ever get ahead.
While the bills stack up, many middle class families wonder whether there’s ever going to be enough money left over at the end of the month to save for retirement or college tuition. (Scroll to bottom for video of these full remarks.)
All the while, an out-of-touch government in Washington continues to abuse its power and put special interests first while hard working Americans are left to pay the bill.
Many in Washington have forgotten the most important principle — that the federal government works for you — and not the other way around....
Ominous: Promise To 'Protect Whistleblowers' Disappears From Change.gov...
The folks from the Sunlight Foundation have noticed that the Change.gov website, which was set up by the Obama transition team after the election in 2008 has suddenly been scrubbed of all of its original content. They noted that the front page had pointed to the White House website for a while, but you could still access a variety of old material and agendas. They were wondering why the administration would suddenly pull all that interesting archival information... and hit upon a clue. A little bit from the "ethics agenda":
Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.Yeah. That statement seems a bit embarrassing at the very same time Obama's administration is threatening trade sanctions against anyone who grants asylum to Ed Snowden.
◼ Glenn Greenwald To Testify Before Congress On NSA Surveillance - Mediaite
Greenwald will testify via video-link, and will be joined in the civil libertarian testimony by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Cato Institute.
◼ The father of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden said Friday his son has been so vilified by the Obama administration and members of Congress that he is now better off staying in Russia. - AP
Lon Snowden of Allentown, Pa., had been working behind the scenes with lawyers to try to find a way his son could get a fair trial in the U.S. Edward Snowden has been charged in federal court in Alexandria with violating the Espionage Act by leaking details of NSA surveillance.
But in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, the elder Snowden said he has lost faith in recent weeks that his son would be treated fairly by the Justice Department. He now thinks his 30-year-old son is better off avoiding the U.S. if possible until an administration that respects the Constitution comes into office.
◼ Obama transparency promises disappear from transparency website - UPI
It wouldn't be the first case of website scrubbing after previous positions become inconvenient, but scrubbing a much-vaunted transparency agenda was bound to be noticed. All the content previously found on Change.gov has "effectively disappeared."
Friday, July 26, 2013
Assange: Journalism Doomed if Manning Convicted of Aiding Enemy
...Manning's conviction would "forever change the ability of journalists to reveal the most important crimes of the state," Assange said. "It is an attempt to redefine how journalism is done."
...Assange says President Barack Obama is deliberately seeking to expand the use of the Espionage Act to cover journalists reporting on leaked material.
"There's a harmonization of approach to get up this new legal theory regarding the Espionage Act," he said, referencing the involvement of Fox News reporter James Rosen and New York Times reporter James Risen in criminal leak probes as part of "an extremely worrying path the Obama administration has gone down."
The Australian-born secret-spiller predicted the U.S. Supreme Court may ultimately invalidate parts of the Espionage Act.
Using the Espionage Act, Obama is "effectively rewriting the Constitution," Assange said. The First Amendment, he noted, has "no exception for an embarrassed military or an embarrassed White House. What part of 'no' does President Barack Obama not understand?"
Ex-HHS lawyer: Obamacare to 'inflict on public most widespread violation of Privacy Act in history'...
The Privacy Act is a general prohibition, subject to narrow exceptions, on disclosure of records between agencies or to the public. The “routine use” exception allows disclosure when the use of a record is “for a purpose which is compatible with the purpose for which it is collected.” Privacy being essential to patient care, it is impossible to justify a “routine use” exception for a system knowingly built in a way that will permit disclosure of intimate health care data.
In this regard, the administration is not only preparing to violate the law, it is also holding itself to a far lower privacy standard than that to which it is trying to hold the private sector. In announcing the administration’s “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights,” last year President Obama himself said, “American consumers can’t wait any longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal information is safe online.”
◼ IRS employee union: We don’t want Obamacare - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner @joelmentum
IRS employees have a prominent role in Obamacare, but their union wants no part of the law.
National Treasury Employees Union officials are urging members to write their congressional representatives in opposition to receiving coverage through President Obama’s health care law.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Fourth Ninth Accuser Steps Forward
Against San Diego Mayor Bob Filner;
And a Fifth,
And a Sixth,
And a Seventh
The War on Women
It's calling from... inside the House!
◼ "Your Eyes Have Bewitched Me:" Third Woman Accuses Filthy Filner - Ace Of Spades
◼ Media still not interested. The story does not advance late-term abortion rights. - Ace Of Spades
Among the new accusers: A college Dean and a Rear Admiral.
2 weeks ago Bob Filner essentially admitted he had a groping problem ("I need help") but no national media touched it http://t.co/TO3ucTNR4W
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) July 26, 2013
He did that thing that Democrats are now trained to do -- offer a broad apology which can be taken to *cover* the allegations, without...
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) July 26, 2013
...actually confessing to any of the allegations, but this is an admission, and we all know how the game is played now. Dem Apology 101
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) July 26, 2013
Let me repeat: A 20 year congressman admitted "I need help" and that he must "change his behavior" and was taking sexual harrassment classes
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) July 26, 2013
And the Democratic Party continued to support him, and its handmaidens in the Democratic Corporate Media refused to cover it
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) July 26, 2013
Oh and the kicker: the state party told a female councilwoman she had to support Filner, despite his busy hands, or she'd be blackballed
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) July 26, 2013
◼ Nancy Pelosi, creep-enabler - Michelle Malkin
The most powerful female Democrat on Capitol Hill has turned her back on women. Again. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, entrenched 13-term incumbent, refuses to say whether creepster San Diego Mayor Bob Filner should resign amid an avalanche of longstanding sexual harassment allegations, staff resignations and now a lawsuit.
“What goes on in San Diego is up to the people of San Diego. I’m not here to make any judgments,” declared the very same feminist crusader who has spearheaded unabashedly judgmental nationwide attacks on the so-called “Republican War on Women.”
Democrat Filner’s former spokeswoman revealed Monday that he ordered her to “work without her panties on” and viewed women “as sexual objects or stupid idiots.” Other women alleged that Democrat Filner groped, forcibly kissed and harassed them. His own fiancee broke up with him two weeks ago after taking stock of his “abusiveness” and “disrespect” for women. Filner “apologized” and admitted, “I need help,” but he refuses to step down.
The sheriff’s office has set up a Bob Filner Abuse Hotline, and the mayor is now forbidden from meeting with women behind closed doors. At least one legal expert believes some of the claims rise to the level of sexual assault.
◼ Bob Filner’s 9th accuser comes forward - Politico
Emily Gilbert told Fox 5 San Diego that the 70-year-old Democrat harassed her at a fundraiser where she was hired to sing in December.
College Republicans Profiled, Denied Admittance to Obama Speech
Christopher White of The College Fix reports that students wearing “Tea Party T-Shirts and others who wore patriotic or Republican-inspired clothing” were turned away at the door under the guise of security concerns, despite the fact that they held tickets to the event.
I’d like to offer a helpful tip to all College Republicans who hope to attend an Obama speech in the future: Odds of admission improve if you wear a Che Guevara t-shirt, an “I Heart Kim Jong Un” campaign button, and/or a ballcap displaying the slogan “Obama Girl” prominently above the brim.
◼ 'For president's protection' - Campus Reform
Missouri College Republicans State Treasurer Courtney Scott told Campus Reform on Thursday that an unidentified police officer told the group they were barred from the event for “security reasons and for the president’s protection.”
“You will not be allowed any further,” the officer allegedly told the group of six College Republicans, dressed in republican and tea party clothing, as they attempted to enter the event.
Scott said each member of the group had a ticket to enter the event and that they arrived early complying with all rules.
“Obama was scheduled to speak at around 4 p.m., so around 3:30 pm we gathered our stuff up,” said Scott. “They had announced that there were to be no posters or anything so we dropped our stuff off. We were not carrying anything. We followed all the rules.”
Scott said the officer’s reasoning for stopping them seemed a bit odd.
“I hate to make allegations but it was just very suspicious that we were not allowed in,” she said.
◼ College Republicans called ‘security threat,’ banned from Obama speech - Eric Owens/Daily Caller
FEDS DEMAND WEB FIRMS TURN OVER PASSWORDS
◼ Secret demands mark escalation in Internet surveillance by the federal government through gaining access to user passwords, which are typically stored in encrypted form. - C/Net
The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed.
If the government is able to determine a person's password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user. Obtaining it also would aid in deciphering encrypted devices in situations where passwords are reused.
"I've certainly seen them ask for passwords," said one Internet industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We push back."
A second person who has worked at a large Silicon Valley company confirmed that it received legal requests from the federal government for stored passwords. Companies "really heavily scrutinize" these requests, the person said. "There's a lot of 'over my dead body.'"
Some of the government orders demand not only a user's password but also the encryption algorithm and the so-called salt, according to a person familiar with the requests. A salt is a random string of letters or numbers used to make it more difficult to reverse the encryption process and determine the original password. Other orders demand the secret question codes often associated with user accounts.
◼ NSA's New Spy Facility is 7 Times Bigger Than Pentagon... - DefenseOne
◼ How Nancy Pelosi Saved the NSA Surveillance Program - John Hudson/FP The Cable
Ahead of the razor-thin 205-217 vote, which would have severely limited the NSA's ability to collect data on Americans' telephone records if passed, Pelosi privately and aggressively lobbied wayward Democrats to torpedo the amendment, a Democratic committee aid with knowledge of the deliberations tells The Cable.
Obama Presides Over Worst Economy Ever, Gives Speech Full of Crazy Lies Promising Pie in the Sky
We’ve seen a sizable group of Republican lawmakers suggest they wouldn’t vote to pay the very bills that Congress rang up – a fiasco that harmed a fragile recovery in 2011, and one we can’t afford to repeat.By that, the Liar-in-Chief means that the GOP didn’t want to raise the debt ceiling to accommodate another insane Obama spending spree.
I care about one thing and one thing only, and that’s how to use every minute of the 1,276 days remaining in my term to make this country work for working Americans again.Also golf. And parties with celebs. And more golf. And vacations. So make that like 26 days.
The job creation strategy Americans agree on: repeal ObamaCare.
◼ The more they learn, the more they want it gone. - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o
Our famously poll-obsessed President doesn’t seem to care about one striking set of poll numbers. He’s off on another expensive time-wasting taxpayer-funded cross-country political junket disguised as a listening tour, but he’s not listening to the one economic plan Americans are demanding at the top of their lungs: repeal ObamaCare.
Fox News just released a poll that has 53 percent of Americans calling for ObamaCare repeal, vs. 40 percent who would keep it. The numbers are only that good for Obama’s disastrous health care scheme because of Democrat partisan loyalty. They’re 72-21 percent in favor of keeping it, while Republicans favor repeal by 85-13, and independents want repeal by 65-25.
They know ObamaCare is a job killer, and it’s not doing anything to improve the health insurance market. “By a large 47-11 percent margin, voters expect the 2010 health care law will cost them rather than save them money in the coming year,” says Fox News. “Another 34 percent think the law won’t change their family’s health care costs.”
...Do you think those poll numbers might move a bit if the respondents were told that Obama’s going to blow $700 million of their money on ObamaCare propaganda?
...The Washington Post notes that support for ObamaCare is cratering among moderate Democrats. They registered 74 percent support when the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, but it’s down to 46 percent now, which includes a dizzying 11 percent drop in just the past year. There’s your growth opportunity, champions of repeal. Talk to these people, get a handle on the exact reasons their support for ObamaCare is dropping so rapidly, and get nervous Senate Democrats to think about how 2014 will look if they alienate moderate constituents by voting against repeal.
The ObamaCare repeal movement is growing with impressive speed. It’s already polling higher than a lot of things we’re told The People urgently demand. An explosion of job growth, plus real health care reforms that actually will reduce costs and improve access, are waiting on the other side of ObamaCare’s demise. Obama likes to pretend that those who disagree with his bankrupt ideology are blind obstructionists with no plan of their own. Well, what’s your plan for repealing ObamaCare, Mr. President? If you don’t have one, you’re just a blind obstructionist looking to thwart the will of the people.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Several other Obama campaign workers from other states, all of whom claimed the home of Democratic State Senator Martha Fuller Clark as their "home address," also voted in New Hampshire
...Biden voted on Election Day by swearing in an affidavit that her domicile was in Manchester. After the election, she left the state and moved to New York, according to her LinkedIn profile.
State Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-District 21, has eight people registered to vote under her single-family address in Portsmouth. Several of them came to New Hampshire to work on campaigns for various periods of time and voted in elections before moving on....
How many of those involved also voted in another state?
Hate to say it, but you can’t trust a woman whose husband has been screwing around.
◼ Anthony Weiner's wife wants to reassure us. Don't trust her. - Robin Abcarian/LA Times
◼ New York Post cover dubs Huma ‘Señora Danger’ - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner @charlesspiering
◼ On and on it goes, with a string of CNN parrots squawking in unison about Huma's intelligence, bravery, and uncanny similarity to Hillary Clinton, whose playbook she seems to keep under her pillow. (It gives her something to read while Carlos Danger is in the bathroom with his cell phone and a bottle of hand lotion.) - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o
Meanwhile, a few churlish souls like Andrew McCarthy at National Review find it grimly amusing that all these talking heads are wondering why the spectacular Huma Abedin would remain married to the odious Weiner, and even lie to protect him. There are a couple of very obvious reasons, one of which is the huge amount of taxpayer money the Democrat power elite conspires to tuck into Huma's pockets. Did you know she gets $135,000 a year from the State Department scandal factory, even though she gets to work from New York, and also works as a "strategic consultant" for a company run by a Bill Clinton crony? Admire her sharp wardrobe, tax serfs; you paid for it. We can't cut a single nickel from government spending without pulling cops off the street, but we absolutely must give Huma Abedin $135,000 in walking-around money every year, because her other cushy job doesn't pay well enough to keep her in the ruling-class style to which she has become accustomed.
The other reason McCarthy mentions is the one you are absolutely not supposed to talk about, ever. It's basically been written into the Constitution by the Beltway establishment, a phantom amendment that says "no American shall discuss how well the Muslim Brotherhood has done under the Obama Administration, or Huma Abedin's connections to it."
◼ Why Democrat Women Stick By Their Creeps - Jim Geraghty/National Review
Today’s speech at Knox College, Illinois, was supposed to be the president’s come-back moment, the first of a series of addresses aimed at retaking the initiative by the White House. Instead it was a train-wreck.
...In an hour-long address, which seemed to last forever (and par for course started 15 minutes late), the president spoke in deeply partisan terms, often with bitterness and anger, lambasting his political opponents, dismissing criticism of his policies, and launching into his favourite theme of class warfare, attacking the wealthy and what he calls the “winner takes all economy.” In a display of extraordinary arrogance (even by his standards), he condemned what he called “an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals,” a direct reference to the Congressional investigations into the IRS and Benghazi scandals, which most Americans don’t see as phony. He also defended his increasingly unpopular Obamacare proposals, attacking what he calls “a politically-motivated misinformation campaign,” while failing to acknowledge that moderate Democrats are “steadily turning against Obamacare” as The Washington Post reported today.
This was a highly defensive speech, with President Obama in full campaign mode. There were no fresh ideas, just a tired rehash of earlier campaign rhetoric. It was also another love letter to big government, with a clarion call for yet more federal spending on environmental measures, infrastructure, manufacturing, and a laundry list of liberal pet causes. There was not a word about reducing the burden of government regulation, and getting bureaucracy off the backs of entrepreneurs. His speech promised more government spending at a time when America’s national debt is approaching a staggering $17 trillion. He rejected tax cuts, and bashed the rich, at times sounding more like Francois Hollande than the leader of the free world.
Once again, Barack Obama demonstrated why he has built an unenviable reputation as a perpetual campaigner in chief, with an overwhelmingly partisan agenda....
◼ Lights, camera, economy: Obama uses rhetoric of class warfare in jobs speech - Dave Boyer/Washington Times
Before Mr. Obama took the stage, House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said the president’s address would be empty of content, calling it “an Easter egg with no candy in it.”
◼ The Inequality President - Wall Street Journal/Editorial
President Obama made his fourth or fifth, or maybe it´s the seventh or eighth, pivot to the economy on Wednesday, and a revealing speech it was. We counted four mentions of "growth" but "inequality" got five. This goes a long way to explaining why Mr. Obama is still bemoaning the state of the economy five years into his Presidency.
◼ Obama´s Embarrassing Speech - Rush Limbaugh
He just said, for example, "endless posturing and phony scandals will not help."
...RUSH: Oh, jeez. Folks, I can't react to this without... there's something pathologically wrong here. In the first place, "Washington has taken its eye off the ball, and I'm here to say this needs to stop." Now, I mentioned, I told you I heard that bite, I heard him say it live. He is Washington! This is the Limbaugh Theorem. He's articulating it himself. It's coming out of his own mouth. He's out there in Illinois claiming Washington hasn't been paying enough attention to the economy. They've been looking at the IRS. They've been looking at Benghazi. They have been looking into Obamacare, and they haven't been working on the economy, and (imitation) "I'm here in Illinois to make sure that they refocus in Washington," as though he has had nothing to do with it.
This is it. This is how he does it, folks, with the low-information voters. This is how he maintains his lack of attachment to his own policies.
THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD CALLS FOR WEINER TO DROP OUT OF MAYORAL RACE.
At some point, the full story of Anthony Weiner and his sexual relationships and texting habits will finally be told. In the meantime, the serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye, away from cameras, off the Web and out of the race for mayor of New York City.
...When the first texts were revealed two years ago, Mr. Weiner lied about it, saying he had been the victim of hackers. Then he owned up, tearfully abandoned his office and retreated into private life. Then he was back, telling the world that therapy and his wife’s forgiveness had turned him around and that he was ready to begin a new chapter. That turned out to be the mayor’s race, which he entered in May. What he did not say then, and what voters did not realize until Tuesday, was that his resignation had not been the end of his sexual misconduct.
The timing here matters, as it would for any politician who violates the public’s trust and then asks to have it back. Things are different now, he insists. “This behavior is behind me,” he said again on Tuesday. He suggested that people should have known that his sexting was an unresolved problem well into 2012.
That’s ridiculous and speaks to a familiar but repellent pattern of misleading and evasion. It’s up to Mr. Weiner if he wants to keep running, to count on voters to forgive and forget and hand him the keys to City Hall. But he has already disqualified himself.
◼ Weiner Denial Montage: Anthony Weiner’s prolific history of lies - Glenn Bec
◼ DOES POLITICS ATTRACT PERVERTS? - Teresa Mull/Human Events
Carlos Danger. If it weren’t so disturbing, it’d be hilarious. Anthony Weiner’s escapades are the stuff of SNL skits, but in the real world, he (and others like him) has bounced back from disgrace stemming from his personal life in a way that 50 years ago would have been unthinkable.
There’s a long list of political perverts, some of whom merely dallied in the occasional extramarital dalliance and others who embraced creepy with gusto....
NY GOP: DEMS RUNNING 'FOUR PERVERTS' FOR PUBLIC OFFICE IN NYC
In the midst of more sex chats and pics that surfaced from former New York Democratic Congressman and now New York City Mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, another sex scandal hit the Democratic party Wednesday morning.
New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's office told the New York Times on Tuesday that a senior Assembly lawyer would be stepping down for failing to investigate the sexual harassment allegations regarding fellow Assembly Democrat Micah Kellner four years ago. Kellner is now running for a city council seat in New York City...
The New York GOP's Lawler points to the Democratic Party's "phony notion of a Republican 'War on Women,' saying in a written statement:
Here in New York, there is a real war on women being waged by members of their own party. In the September primary, they are running Anthony Weiner for New York City Mayor (harassed women with naked photos and sexually explicit messages), Eliot Spitzer for City Comptroller (sexually engaged prostitutes, using tax dollars in furtherance of these dalliances), and Vito Lopez and Micah Kellner for City Council, both accused of sexually harassing female assembly staff members who worked for them. With candidates like these, the State Democratic Party can only be described as “The Perv Party.”And what have democrats said about this? Nothing. There is silence from nearly every elected democrat across the state, starting with Andrew Cuomo, Chuck Schumer, and Kirsten Gillibrand.
◼ John Oliver’s Epic Takedown Of Weinergate Pt. 2: Give Up Politics And You’ll Be Free To Be ‘Internet Sex Freak’! VIDEO - Josh Feldman/Mediaite
“He’s addicted to running for office, and if he could just give that up, he could live a full, productive life as an internet sex freak!”
Zimmerman Prosecutor Angela Corey Is Criminally Indicted By Citizens' Grand Jury For Allegedly Falsifying Arrest Warrant And Complaint
The indictment of Corey, which was handed down last week (see ◼ www.citizensgrandjury.com), charges Corey with intentionally withholding photographic evidence of the injuries to George Zimmerman's head in the warrant she allegedly rushed to issue under oath, in an effort to boost her reelection prospects. At the outset of this case, black activists such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who whipped up wrath against Zimmerman, demanded that he be charged with murder, after local police had thus far declined to arrest him pending investigation.
Following Corey's criminal complaint charging Zimmerman, legal experts such as Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz condemned her for falsely signing an arrest affidavit under oath, which intentionally omitted exculpatory evidence consisting of the photographs showing the injuries Zimmerman sustained, and rushing to charge him with second degree murder under political pressure. Dershowitz called her actions unethical and themselves crimes ◼ (http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/drop-george-zimmerman-murder-charge- article-1.1080161).
Larry Klayman, a former U.S. Justice Department prosecutor, a Florida lawyer since 1977, and now the "citizens' prosecutor" who presided over the Ocala grand jury said this: "The Supreme Court has confirmed that the grand jury belongs to the American people, not the three branches of government. (504 U.S. 36, 48 (1992) (quoting United States v. R. Enterprises, Inc., 498 U.S. 292, 297 (1991)). By indicting Florida State Attorney Angela Corey, the people are exercising their God given rights, recognized by our Founding Fathers, to mete out justice when the political and legal establishment subverts the rule of law. Hopefully, this indictment will serve as a warning to the political and legal establishment that they are not above the law. Ironically, Corey will now be tried and likely convicted for her alleged crimes -- which resulted in Zimmerman being charged under false pretenses, now coming home to roost during Zimmerman's on-going trial. Corruption cannot be tolerated, particularly by law enforcement officers who are elected by the people to serve their ends, not the law enforcement officer's political ends."
Results are in: Vidak wins in Senate race
As of 6:00 a.m., Republican Andy Vidak was leading Democratic challenger Leticia Perez, by more than 6,000 votes for the empty seat in the Senate District 16 runoff race....
Vidak, a 47-year old, third-generation Republican farmer from Hanford, seemed to win 51.9 percent of the vote in the special election in May over Bakersfield Democrat Leticia Perez for the Senate seat vacated by former Sen. Michael Rubio, D-Bakersfield.
Vidak needed 50 percent-plus-one votes to avoid a runoff against Perez.
But a large number of provisional ballots magically appeared after Perez had already conceded the election causing Vidak to lose his 51 percent edge, and a runoff election was scheduled for July 23.
July runoff
“With 100% of precincts reporting, the Hanford-area grower holds a nearly 6,000 vote lead over Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez in the contentious 16th State Senate race,” 23 ABC News in Bakersfield just reported.
The California Secretary of State is reporting Vidak has 54 percent of the vote, with a total of 39,085 votes. Perez has 46 percent of the vote, with a total of 33,252 votes.
Kern County and Fresno County were where the majority of the provisional ballots appeared in the special election. In yesterday’s election, Kern County reported 48.1 percent for Vidak, and 58.9 percent for Perez. Fresno reported 45.9 percent for Vidak to 54.1 percent for Perez. However, Vidak (took) Kings and Tulare Counties with large margins.
If it’s not close, they can’t cheat.
White House scrambles to defeat bill to defund NSA program
In the statement, White House spokesman Jay Carney accused Republican lawmakers of trying to “hastily dismantle one of our Intelligence Community’s counterterrorism tools” and said the “blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open or deliberative process.”
The House is preparing to vote on an amendment, written by Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., that would cut off funds to the NSA if it collects data on individuals who are not under investigation — a move that would effectively shut down the sweeping Internet and phone data collection programs that have been revealed in news reports....
Amash took to Twitter to respond to the White House statement, calling on supporters to contact their members of Congress and express their strong support of the measure.
“Pres Obama opposes my #NSA amendment, but American people overwhelmingly support it,” he tweeted. “Will your Rep stand with the WH or the Constitution?”
...Amash has plenty of support for his view among Republicans, as well as liberal Democrats who have criticized the NSA programs sweeping reach.
The Censorship Election How the Broadcast Networks Buried the Bad News That Threatened Barack Obama's Quest for a Second Term
In a typical presidential election year, most of the media’s scrutiny falls on the incumbent, and the campaign becomes referendum on the administration’s performance during the previous four years. But in 2012, the networks failed to incorporate critical examinations of Obama’s record into their campaign narrative, an editorial approach that neatly dovetailed with the Democrat’s strategy of making the election into a referendum on challenger Mitt Romney, not the sitting President.
Instead of covering the news fairly, the networks covered up news that might have hurt Obama’s re-election chances. It was an audacious act of media censorship that could well have changed the outcome of the 2012 election.
◼ Collusion: How the Media Stole the 2012 Election by Brent Bozell and Tim Graham
◼ Interview: Brent Bozell on Collusion: How the Media Stole the 2012 Election - Ed Driscoll/PJMedia
Former prosecutor to run for DA: Candidates file elections paperwork to begin fundraising
A retired prosecutor has filed paperwork with the Humboldt County Elections Office announcing his intent to run for district attorney in 2014.
Arnold Klein, who retired from the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office in January 2012 at the age of 69, filed a candidate intention statement with the elections office on Monday, Elections Manager Kelly Sanders confirmed.
”This is something that allows candidates to go out and start raising money,” Sanders said of the intention statement, which is the first step toward forming candidate committees and fundraising.
Sanders said several incumbent candidates have also filed statements indicating their intention to seek re-election....
Sanders said 5th District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg and 4th District Supervisor Virginia Bass have both filed candidate intention statements indicating they plan to seek re-election next year. Humboldt County Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Division 5 Commissioner Richard Marks has also filed paperwork indicating he intends to seek re-election in November of this year, Sanders said.
Sanders said the filing period for candidates to officially file a declaration of candidacy to seek election in November 2014 begins in March.
◼ CANDIDATES WANTED: SEATS OPEN ON MCSD, MUSD & NHUHSD - Jack Durham/McKinleyville Press
The filing period is open for several seats up for grabs on the McKinleyville Community Services District and two local school boards.
Here are the openings:
McKinleyville Community Services District Board of Directors – Three seats now held by Dennis Mayo, Dr. Bill Wennerholm and David Couch are open. Each is a four-year term.
McKinleyville Union School District Board of Trustees – Three seats held by Tim Hooven, Donald Rosebrook and Justin Zabel are open. All are four-year terms.
Northern Humboldt Union School District Board of Trustees – Three seats held by Dana Silvernale, Mike Pigg and Colleen Toste are open. All are four year terms.
To be eligible to run for office you need to be a registered voter residing within the district boundaries. That’s it.
FILING PERIOD: July 15 to Aug. 9 (extended to Aug. 14 if no incumbent files)
Election Day is Nov. 5
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Weiner admits to MORE XXX online chats with woman for 6 months after resigning from Congress because of sext scandal; won't drop out of race
◼ Thedirty.com reported that Weiner used an anonymous handle — “Carlos Danger” — and exchanged sexually explicit photos and XXX-online sex with the 22-year-old young woman for six months...Weiner's 'explicit' new sex messages, bathroom pic... - NY Post
...Things were very intense by August 2012/already talks of the Chicago sex condo and having sexual conversations. We would send naked images to each other and have phone sex. Anthony Weiner would send me penis pictures from his Carlos Danger yahoo email to my Gmail....
“Anthony Weiner is up to his old tricks again. I’ve been in contact with a young woman who wishes to remain Anonymous. She was lured by Anthony Weiner post scandal via Facebook. They had a relationship for six months and she believed they were in love,” the Web site said.
“Anthony Weiner like a true sex predator promised Anonymous many things like a job at Politico and a condo in Chicago (a place they could meet up and have sex). The relationship consisted of Anthony Weiner and Anonymous sending sexually explicit pictures of each other and having sexual conversations via phone. The best part was Anthony used an alias this time thinking this would protect him.”
The site said Weiner used the pseudonym “Carlos Danger” and the username Dangr33 when he would “email pictures of his penis via Yahoo. Which makes me believe Anonymous wasn’t the only girl he was working.”
The posts include X-rated exchanges.
The woman, using the handle “Anonymous” said of Weiner, “The part that’s most annoying is that I was 22 years old and in a bad place, but if anyone asked him he would say the same thing about himself, yet he’s an adult.”
“This was a bad situation for me because I really admired him. Even post scandal, I thought he was misunderstood. Until I got to know him. I thought Ioved him. Pretty pathetic.”
The woman said last August Weiner he offered to help get her a condo in Chicago.
The woman, who requested that her identity be protected, said she wanted to expose Weiner as a creep.
“I’ll send screen shots of everything. I’m trusting you keep my name out of it, because like I said, it was obviously a mistake. I was young and dumb. I just want people to really know he’s lying when he acts like he has changed.”
◼ ERECTION UPDATE: WEINER STAYS IN - NY Times via Drudge
◼ BALLS TO THE WALL COVERAGE... - Variety via Drudge
◼ Sent graphic smut months after resigning from Congress in shame... - Breitbart
◼ Went by 'Carlos Danger' in sex chats... - CBS New York
◼ Demanded woman delete messages; Promised her job, condo in Chicago... - US News
◼ BUZZFEED: WE FOUND HER... - Andrew Kaczynski/Buzzfeed
The Dirty reported that its anonymous tipster “has lawyered up in fear of Anthony Weiner, but she is willing to expose his sexual nature to TheDirty.com for the betterment of America.”
◼ EXCLUSIVE IMAGE: Anthony Weiner Penis Picture And Timeline - The dirty.com
◼ "Anthony Weiner Is A Sexual Predator Luring His Victims" - Doug Ross
◼ New Sex Scandal Wrecks Anthony Weiner Comeback Attempt - Viral read
BREAKING: photos of Anthony Weiner aka Carlos Danger released. #carlosdanger pic.twitter.com/DlGUaB4KaL
— Mr E™ (@stockdemons) July 23, 2013
People article showing Anthony and Huma cuddling newborn: 7/19. "Carlos Danger" hits on 22 year-old stranger: 7/12. http://t.co/jvtJJaEbKt
— Timothy Noah (@TimothyNoah1) July 23, 2013
◼ Weiner’s Wholesome People Magazine Spread Came One Week After Starting Online Relationship - Andrew Kaczynski/Buzzfeed
◼ Emily Miller: Weiner used ‘numerous porn actor names’ in online affairs - Twitchy
◼ Anthony Weiner admits to seeking re-erection; Allegedly sexted as ‘Carlos Danger’ - Twitchy
I don't always send dirty text messages to strange women, but when I do, I use ridiculous names like Carlos Danger. Stay creepy my friends
— Rachel Figueroa (@Jewyorican) July 23, 2013
Ask the NSA, as part of a freedom of information request, to do a seemingly simple search of its own employees' email? The agency says it doesn’t have the technology.
"There's no central method to search an email at this time with the way our records are set up, unfortunately," NSA Freedom of Information Act officer Cindy Blacker told me last week.
The system is “a little antiquated and archaic," she added.
Krauthammer vs. Sally Kohn: Detroit Not A GOP Failure, "It's Been Run By The Democrats For 60 Years"
◼ CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Sally, Detroit is not really an example of the failure of GOP economic policy. It's been run by the Democrats for 60 years, and you can cite all the studies about how bad austerity is, all you have to do is look at Detroit and you get an idea of how bad the absence of austerity is, it's a city in ruin. - Real Clear Politics
KOHN: I'm not saying that we need to bail out Detroit; I'm not saying that's the right answer. But look, we have to know that the problems in Detroit are deeper than any party. And I put the blame on Obama too for embracing these austerity politics. But, you know, in the '60s, 56% of jobs in the Detroit area were in the city and by the '90s, it was 18%. We have had six decades of divestment in that city that we all are responsible for. It's all our of economic policies. (Special Report, July 22, 2013)
◼ Iowahawk shreds lib Detroit-excusers in one spectacular analogy - Twitchy
Blaming Detroit's problems on "divestment" is like blaming a meth addict's teeth on the price of toothbrushes.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 23, 2013
AFGHAN WOMEN FEARFUL OF U.S. WITHDRAWAL
“Tell Mr. Obama not to leave us alone,” said Marjan, a 28-year-old political science student in Kabul. She spent five years at home—from the age of 12 until the Taliban were toppled in 2001, when she was 17. Under Taliban rule, women were forbidden from leaving their homes without a male companion. When Marjan turned 12, she could no longer leave her house without being noticed, so to protect her from being harassed by the Taliban, her family forced her to stay home for five years. “I have fair skin and bright eyes. I don’t look like a lot of Afghans. A Mullah asked my family for my hand in marriage when I was 13. He was 50. My family was repulsed. But most girls are doomed.” She was homeschooled by her parents, an opportunity not available to her friends with illiterate parents....
Zina, a 24-year-old English language student in Kabul describes her fear clearly: “The Taliban will come back and I will have to stay home, or get married. My mother was beaten for talking to a man at the bakery. The Taliban will come back if the U.S. turns its back on us.”...
The United States is set to withdraw all forces, except trainers, from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. President Barack Obama has promised to bring the war in Afghanistan to a “responsible” end. The only responsible end to the war in Afghanistan is through a U.S. commitment to Afghan security by maintaining combat-ready forces inside Afghanistan and proactively combating and destroying fighters in the Taliban, the Haqqani network, and other militant combatant organizations.
Afghanistan has come a long way in just a little over a decade. And it has a long way to go. To pull the plug on security in Afghanistan means destroying the hopes and dreams of many Marjans, Zinas, and Malalas. U.S. withdrawal without a strong Afghan military force in place means that millions of girls and women are doomed to stay at home, enter into forced marriages as children, and be treated as just another piece of property; it means the cycle of poverty, instability, violence, and illiteracy could return to its Taliban-era track. After all, it was President Obama who said, “The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women. If it’s educating its girls, if women have equal rights, that country is going to move forward. But if women are oppressed and abused and illiterate, then they’re going to fall behind.”
“This is the last stop before ObamaCare fully kicks in on Jan. 1 of next year for us to refuse to fund it”
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told TheBlaze Monday he has recruited more than a dozen Senate Republicans to help him defund President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law.
Fifteen Republican senators, including Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ted Cruz (Texas), John Cornyn (Texas), Rand Paul (Ky.), James Inhofe (Okla.), David Vitter (La.), Roger Wicker (Miss.), John Thune (S.D.), and Chuck Grassley (Iowa), will block a continuing resolution to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30 if it includes funding for Obamacare, Lee said.
“The president has said that he’s not willing and not able to enforce Obamacare as it was written,” Sen. Lee told TheBlaze in a phone interview. “And so he has chosen instead to enforce this law selectively.”
◼ Shutdown looms over ObamaCare - The Hill
ObamaCare is at the center of a rapidly escalating fight that threatens to shut the government down this fall. [WATCH VIDEO]
Senate Republicans, including two members of the leadership, are coalescing around a proposal to block any government funding resolution that includes money for the implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act....
“If Republicans in both houses simply refuse to vote for any continuing resolution that contains further funding for further enforcement of ObamaCare, we can stop it. We can stop the individual mandate from going into effect,” he said.
“We have 64 of my colleagues on this letter and we’re asking the leadership not to bring anything to the floor that has funding for ObamaCare in it,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who is spearheading the House effort....
CONFIRMED: Left Wing Plant at Houston Pro-Zimmerman Rally Is Far Left Activist
◼ LEFTIST PLANT INFILTRATES HOUSTON PRO-ZIMMERMAN RALLY – Liberal Media runs with it - Kristinn Taylor/Gateway Pundit
That looked incongruent with the other reports from the pro-Zimmerman side.
The Houston Chronicle identified her as Renee Vaughan...Scanning the internet we found that a “Renee Vaughn” from Austin ◼ worked for a far left environmental group, ◼ the Texas Campaign for the Environment.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Obama’s eighth pivot to jobs
Pfieffer then announced that Obama would be giving two economic speeches Wednesday, one at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., and another at University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you
Obama’s address will contain little but leftover and forgotten items from past policy addresses, according to the AP. He’ll “talk about efforts to expand manufacturing, sign up the uninsured for health care coverage, revitalize the housing industry and broaden educational opportunities for preschoolers and college students.” He is also expected to claim American businesses are in desperate need of millions of new immigrant employees at a time when the unemployment rate is 7.6 percent, and rising, and 22 million Americans are underemployed.
OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN APPARATUS OFA ON IMMIGRATION REFORM: WE'RE GOING TO 'FORCE IT THROUGH THE HOUSE'
The Senate passed a comprehensive immigration bill last month, but there has been stiff resistance to such a measure in the House.
As the Post notes, Organizing for Action has struggled since it formed earlier this year. It has only raised $13.1 million through June after announcing a goal of raising $50 million for the year. The August activities will also test the group's grassroots strength.
OFA generated embarrassing headlines when it only attracted eight people last month in Indiana and twenty in Tennessee for rallies in support of immigration reform.
"Action August" activities will begin on August 4, which is Obama's birthday, as House Members go back home for recess.
The Royal Baby Is Born: Congrats Pour In From Around the World
◼ Born to proud parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after about 14 hours of labor on Monday, the baby – whose star sign is Cancer – shares his July 22 birthday with some very big names. - People
George Zimmerman rescues victims trapped in overturned truck...Four people, including two children, pulled unscathed from burning vehicle...
George Zimmerman helped save the lives of a family of four that were involved in a single-car accident.
According to a Seminole County Sheriff’s Office report, the family was driving in a Ford Explorer SUV when it went off the road and rolled over in Sanford last week.
A responding deputy reported that when he arrived Zimmerman and another man helped the two parents and two children out of the vehicle.
◼ Zimmerman Saves Family of Four in Florida Car Crash, Extinguishes Car Fire - Breitbart
The deputy reported, when he arrived on the scene that one of the two men helping the family was George Zimmerman. According to Sanford Police Zimmerman had a fire extinguisher with him. The eyewitness told Breitbart News he helped assist the family out of the vehicle and put out the fire with the extinguisher.
"Zimmerman was not a witness to the crash, which was why he was not referenced in the police report," a Sanford Police spokeswoman told Breitbart News. "He left after making contact with the deputy. There were no reports of injuries of any of the vehicle's occupants," she said.
◼ Stranger than fiction: George Zimmerman emerges from hiding — to rescue victim of car accident - Allahpundit
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Statism is turning America into Detroit –
Ayn Rand's Starnesville come to life
Look at this description of Detroit from today’s Observer:
What isn’t dumped is stolen. Factories and homes have largely been stripped of anything of value, so thieves now target cars’ catalytic converters. Illiteracy runs at around 47%; half the adults in some areas are unemployed. In many neighbourhoods, the only sign of activity is a slow trudge to the liquor store.Now have a look at the uncannily prophetic description of Starnesville, a Mid-Western town in Ayn Rand’s dystopian novel, Atlas Shrugged. Starnesville had been home to the great Twentieth Century Motor Company, but declined as a result of socialism:
A few houses still stood within the skeleton of what had once been an industrial town. Everything that could move, had moved away; but some human beings had remained. The empty structures were vertical rubble; they had been eaten, not by time, but by men: boards torn out at random, missing patches of roofs, holes left in gutted cellars. It looked as if blind hands had seized whatever fitted the need of the moment, with no concept of remaining in existence the next morning. The inhabited houses were scattered at random among the ruins; the smoke of their chimneys was the only movement visible in town. A shell of concrete, which had been a schoolhouse, stood on the outskirts; it looked like a skull, with the empty sockets of glassless windows, with a few strands of hair still clinging to it, in the shape of broken wires.Now here’s the really extraordinary thing. When Ayn Rand published those words in 1957, Detroit was, on most measures, the city with the highest per capita GDP in the United States.
Beyond the town, on a distant hill, stood the factory of the Twentieth Century Motor Company. Its walls, roof lines and smokestacks looked trim, impregnable like a fortress. It would have seemed intact but for a silver water tank: the water tank was tipped sidewise.
They saw no trace of a road to the factory in the tangled miles of trees and hillsides. They drove to the door of the first house in sight that showed a feeble signal of rising smoke. The door was open. An old woman came shuffling out at the sound of the motor. She was bent and swollen, barefooted, dressed in a garment of flour sacking. She looked at the car without astonishment, without curiosity; it was the blank stare of a being who had lost the capacity to feel anything but exhaustion.
“Can you tell me the way to the factory?” asked Rearden.
The woman did not answer at once; she looked as if she would be unable to speak English. “What factory?” she asked.
Rearden pointed. “That one.”
“It’s closed.”
The full-time White House horror show
...There’s a sure cure for everyone’s blues, but it will require nothing less than a Damascus road epiphany at the White House. Only a robust economic recovery — just what Barack Obama promised five years ago — will cure what ails us. More of the same won’t do it, but more of the same is all this White House can offer. Excuses are all Mr. Obama and his men know, and that’s a full-time fright.
◼ President Obama’s sad view of America - Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post
The president acknowledged partway through his remarks that the conversation about race he and his attorney general are urging is better done without politicians. Precisely. So why was he there? Anti-racial bias is at an all-time low, interracial marriage is rising and, as he pointed out, with each successive generation race becomes less of a big deal.
In other words, the Obama administration -- which has abused ICE, the IRS, the DOJ, the ATF, and a host of other agencies for political ends -- will have the ultimate leverage over you, the individual. It will know everything about your physical and mental condition. And its political arms -- radical community organizations like ACORN and La Raza -- will have unfettered access to your health care data.
This is a triumph of PR over policy, fiction over reality and madness over sanity.
As I’ve written elsewhere the present crisis is one of information. Society is increasingly unable to solve its pressing problems not for lack of a solution or resources, but primarily from an unshakable determination not to face politically inconvenient facts. Take for example, Chicago’s new crime-fighting strategy. “Chicago police are going to hand deliver letters to people suspected of committing or being victims of gun crimes in an effort to stem violence in the city, according to a new report. ”
This is a triumph of PR over policy, fiction over reality and madness over sanity. Yet all the same everyone will sign up to the letter scheme like it might actually work even though they know it hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell. One minor, yet telling defect in the plan is the unreasonable assumption that the criminals or victims can read the letters they are sent. Why would you think they could?
...Under the current system, given a choice between the Narrative and reality, it’s the Narrative all the way. Things are so bad they’re drinking their own hootch. Recently, Eleanor Clift praised President Obama’s handling of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin circus. “The President’s remarks on Friday are going to be read by future generations. They’re beautiful, they’re eloquent.”
Clift’s remarks underscored the key problem that has to be fixed. No one’s interested in fixing anything. It’s more lucrative to lie, cheat and steal. But not until the public rediscovers the truth and the facts once again can the slightest progress be made made towards fixing anything. Yes, money is short. But far more importantly, sanity is in even shorter supply. Romany Malco, a black actor writing in the Huffington Post risked the wrath of the media gods by stating the obvious. The poor are being taken for a ride...
Because Trayvon Martin the fact was never of any interest to anybody. The facts never mattered; reality is unconstitutional. All the system cared about was Trayvon Martin the fiction; the meal ticket, the product, the Narrative. Nobody gave a damn about the actual man. In this respect he was exactly what all those illiterate multitudes in the crashing cities are: just meal tickets for a system that uses them as window-dressing to justify scams and job programs meant to benefit only political hacks.
Maybe one day people will wake up to the fact, if they can still count to one.
How Soon Will This Madness Stop? And How Much of a Damn Should I Give?
“...Everybody wants to play Internet detective,” I told Ali, describing this ridiculous habit of the New Media age: People who had never set foot in Sanford, Florida, and who had never talked to anyone involved in the case, were attempting to “solve” the crime based on what they found online, as if every fact was on the Internet and the Fundamental Truth could be discovered by anyone with a laptop.
It would be bad enough if only stupid people made this mistake. But this mistake, which we might call the Error of Online Ontology, is commonplace among intelligent and articulate people who presume knowledge about people they don’t know in places they’ve never been, based entirely on what they gather from the Web. And on the basis of that pretended knowledge, these articulate and intelligent fools then add to our collective ignorance by endlessly repeating what they think they “know,” but actually don’t know at all....
This Week’s Episode of ‘The Obama Show’
The President of the United States is the star of the show, and the rest of us are just spectators watching the show on TV. If the producers of the show decide that this week’s episode is about George the half-Peruvian neighborhood watch captain, we watch the episode as if it mattered to own lives, which it wouldn’t, except for the fact that millions of other people are watching the same show....
Largest small-business insurance provider in California jumps off the ObamaCare train wreck
◼ Remember how Barack Obama gave that stupid speech the other day to assure us that ObamaCare was working perfectly, and he was going to plow right through the naysayers? - John Hayward/Breitbart's Conversation @Doc_o
◼ Via Anthem Blue Cross shuns insurance market for small businesses, Anthem is the first big insurer in California to publicly pass on the small-business health insurance pool. - Chad Terhune/LA Times
Health insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross is spurning California's new insurance market for small businesses, a potential setback in the state's rollout of the federal healthcare law.
Anthem, a unit of WellPoint Inc., is California's largest insurer for small employers. The company's surprising move raised concerns about the state's ability to offer competitive rates and attract businesses to its new Covered California exchange that opens Jan. 1....
Friday's disclosure made Anthem the first big insurer in California to publicly pass on the small-business pool. Some other big names, such as UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Aetna Inc., have already opted out of California's larger exchange for individual consumers.
"If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away, no matter what." - Barack Obama, 2009
Obama also promised, "If you’ve got a doctor that you like, you will be able to keep your doctor." But the commissars at the People's Glorious Department of Health and Human Services recently made a very quiet little change to its Q&A website to answer the question, "Can I keep my own doctor?" as follows:
Depending on the plan you choose in the Marketplace, you may be able to keep your current doctor. Different plans have different networks and providers Most health insurance plans offered in the Marketplace have networks of hospitals, doctors, specialists, pharmacies, and other health care providers. Networks include health care providers that the plan contracts with to take care of the plan’s members. Depending on the type of policy you buy, care may be covered only when you get it from a network provider. When comparing plans in the Marketplace, you will see a link to a list of providers in each plan’s network. If staying with your current doctors is important to you, check to see if they are included before choosing a plan.No, America, if staying with your current doctor was important to you, you needed to vote Barack Obama the hell out of office in 2012. But you didn't, so you're going to lose your doctor, especially if you're relying on a plan whose provider just bailed out of the ObamaCare train wreck.
◼ PLUS: OBAMACARE HAS DOCTORS PLANNING EXIT, - Bob Unruh/WND
In a survey by a top research firm, six in 10 physicians said it is likely many doctors will retire earlier than planned in the next one to three years.
The same percentage say the practice of medicine is in jeopardy as medical experts lose control of their clinics and compensation with the implementation of the Affordable Health Care for America Act, or Obamacare.
◼ LEAN FORWARD: Thousands of low-level bureaucrats and contractors will be able to view your medical records - Doug Ross