Happy New Year!

It's almost like there's some kind of cause and effect

Coming on the shocking report that high cigarette taxes reduce revenues, here's some news on the minimum wage.  Hot Air: "A higher minimum wage doesn’t reduce poverty, says… the federal government."

The Mafia thanks you

Daily Caller: "New York Loses $400 Million After Imposing The Nation’s Highest Cigarette Tax."  The black market for cigarettes is soaring in NYC because people just won't pay $10 for a pack.

This is starting to be the rule and not the exception

When I first heard this story about a mosque being set on fire in Texas my radar said "hoax."  But then I didn't think I'd heard of a similar story (unlike, say, Oberlin College) so I thought it was possible.  Well, no: "Another day, another hate crime hoax."

The "Mr. Robot" marathon is on now

NPR: "The Best Television of 2015."  I disagree with a lot of picks but #1 is spot on.

"Drunk History" should totally be on this list.

Debt and the danger ahead

If you're a fan of "The Big Short" then you'll appreciate this interview with the financial genius: "Michael Burry, Real-Life Market Genius From The Big Short, Thinks Another Financial Crisis Is Looming."  (Hat tip: Maggie's Farm.)

Short answer: easy money and the accumulation of debt.

Shut up, they explained

It's time for the end-of-year lists.  Reason Online: "Silencing Students: The 8 Most Loathsome Campus Censors of 2015."

Saw the new "Star Wars" - it was good

Right at the start of "Star Wars Episode 7" I was like: "Is that Oscar Isaac?"  And it was, playing ace fighter Poe Dameron.  This guy has unbelievable range from oil salesman Abel in "A Most Violent Year" to the Bill Gates-type guy in "Ex Machina."  He's going to grabbing an Academy Award one day.

I managed to avoid spoilers and there were some pleasant surprises.  But one thing I appreciated was the character development; it wasn't just whiz-bang fighting scenes in front of a blue screen.

Move along, nothing to see here

Here's news from Western Mass: "KFC restaurant in Hadley closes after nearly 30 years of business."  Golly, what happened?

"We just can't make money here anymore with the minimum wage increase and new part-time sick leave," said Houston, who also owns KFC restaurants in Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke.

"Things weren't that great anymore," he added, "but those things were the final nail."

Cause and effect?  What's that?

Agent provocateur

Daily Caller: "Bernie Sanders Adviser Makes Explosive Allegation Against DNC Over Voter Data Flap."

England meets New England for Christmas

MassLive: "English couple fulfills bucket list wish with Yankee Candle visit, topped by Santa-assisted marriage proposal."  Nice!

Merry Christmas, everyone

It's a beautiful 60 degrees here in Western Massachusetts.

BLM at Mall of America

Powerline: "A sad day in Minneapolis."  "The protesters’ actions today have won precisely no one over to their cause."

You don't say

Townhall: "Wait–Did Hillary Just Say Obamacare Hurts Workers?"  She sure did:

"Well, that’s why [employers] are going to part-time. That, and also, the Affordable Care Act. You know, we got to change that because we have built in some unfortunate incentives that discourage full-time employment."

You gotta break some eggs to get an omelette that nobody wants.

Escalation inevitable

Politico: "Washington Post removes cartoon depicting Ted Cruz's daughters as monkeys."

Well, it's only a matter of time until Malia and Sasha get the same illustrative treatment.

"The Big Short"

I was really excited to see this movie because I absolutely loved the Michael Lewis book about the handful of analysts who saw the collapse of the housing market and took the "short" position.

I have to give this caveat: it will be much easier to follow the movie if you read the book.  Otherwise, a fair amount of the movie is spent trying to explain just what they're talking about including collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, and tranches.  There are some humorous moments where they break the fourth wall and various celebrities break down some complex concepts; for example, Margot Robbie in a bubble bath explains subprime mortgages.

This is a story of a bunch of underdogs Cassandras who tried to tell everyone there was an economic implosion coming.  The end credits run with the highly-appropriate song "When the Levee Breaks".

Not dreaming of a white Christmas

How do I feel about the warmest Christmas in history?
(looks at heating bill)
I like it.

A liberal mugged by reality

Via Instapundit, a Bernie Sanders supporter objects to higher taxes on his second home in Provincetown.  "It feels punitive."  Hahahaha!

Divergent views

Hot Air: "The racial divide on gun deaths in America."

Forget about Kylo Ren. Here's Rilo Kiley!

I haven't seen the new Star Wars yet but I understand the villain is called Kylo Ren.  Well one of my favorite bands is an L.A. group called Rilo Kiley - I have all their CDs.  Here they are!

Everything old is new again

You know, it must be nice for President Obama: when everything is falling apart around you, well, you always have your stand-by excuse:

Obama said some opposition to his agenda could be fueled by ingrained resistance to an African-American commander in chief, citing "specific strains in the Republican Party that suggest that somehow I'm different, I'm Muslim, I'm disloyal to the country."

"In some ways, I may represent change that worries them," he said.

"I think if you are talking about the specific virulence of some of the opposition directed towards me, then, you know, that may be explained by the particulars of who I am," he added later.

Yep, we've let him down again America.

Extra - Hot Air: "Obama: It’s the media’s fault that people are worried about ISIS, you know."

More - Gateway Pundit: "Obama plays the race card."  And the Minuteman.

No, not the one with top secret information

Hillary is really, really angry about a data breach on a computer network.

Protect the semi-retired President

MRC: "Networks Censor NYT Deleting Obama Quote Saying He Didn’t ‘Appreciate the Anxiety’ Post-Terror Attacks"  Of course.

Extra - From the Federalist.

These aren't the debates you're looking for

Frank Bruni: "The invisible Democratic debates."  "What a shamefully imbalanced primary season this has been. For all their flaws and fakery, the Republican candidates have squared off frequently, at convenient hours and despite the menacing nimbus of Donald Trump’s hair; the Democratic candidates have, in contrast, hidden in a closet."

The fix is in.

Hush-hush

Federalist: "We’re All Being Pretty Quiet About Obama’s Failures, Aren’t We?"

Therefore, a felony

Fox News: "Sources: Review affirms Clinton server emails were 'top secret,' despite department challenge"

An intelligence community review has re-affirmed that two classified emails were indeed “top secret” when they hit Hillary Clinton’s unsecured personal server despite a challenge to that designation by the State Department, according to two sources familiar with the review.

I like the "confused old lady" position the Hillary campaign takes whenever this issue comes up: "How was I supposed to know that an update on the position of North Korean missiles was classified?"

Disney does it again

Wired: "Star Wars' $4 billion price tag was the deal of the century."

Extra - The merchandise is strong with this one.

I'm just gonna leave this here

Jim Geraghty: "Obama's awful year."

Let's see: Obamacare is in a death spiral, everybody's worried about the contained JV squad of ISIS, and the only way he can govern is by executive decree.  The only thing Obama's got going for him is a 5% unemployment rate which is kept unnaturally elevated - Wile E. Coyote style - by the lowest labor participation rate since the Carter Administration.

Don't worry true believers: this last year is going to be awesome sauce.

Bergdahl faces a court-martial

Back then: this honorable soldier was well-worth the trade of five Gitmo detainees

Today: the Army says "we beg to differ."

Extra - Weekly Standard: "Obama releases dangerous jihadists - then misleads the country about it."  Maybe that's why he's hitting new lows on handling of terrorism.

More - Mark Steyn: "Celebrating a deserter in the Rose Garden."  "If there were a real press in this country, someone would ask Obama how it is that he became the first president to host a Rose Garden celebration for a deserter."  Yeah, like that would ever happen.

Just like our "treaties" with Iran and Cuba

Washington Examiner: "Kerry says Paris agreement crafted to avoid Congress."  Which means that these historic and landmark decisions are written on air.

A conspiracy to obstruct justice

Plain and simple.  Politico: "State Department can't find emails of top Clinton IT staffer."  "The State Department has told Senate investigators it cannot find backup copies of emails sent by Bryan Pagliano, the top Hillary Clinton IT staffer who maintained her email server but has asserted his Fifth Amendment right and refused to answer questions on the matter."

Anything goes

WSJ: "No Political Guardrails":

Barack Obama has done plenty of damage to the country, but perhaps the worst is his determined destruction of Washington’s guardrails. Mr. Obama wants what he wants. If ObamaCare is problematic, he unilaterally alters the law. If Congress won’t change the immigration system, he refuses to enforce it. If the nation won’t support laws to fight climate change, he creates one with regulation. If the Senate won’t confirm his nominees, he declares it in recess and installs them anyway. “As to limits, you set your own,” observed Dan in that editorial. This is our president’s motto.

Mr. Obama doesn’t need anyone to justify his actions, because he’s realized no one can stop him. He gets criticized, but at the same time his approach has seeped into the national conscience. It has set new norms. You see this in the ever-more-outrageous proposals from the presidential field, in particular front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Although I think Trump's shouting about immigration policy is repugnant, the Democrats have a lot of nerve claiming it's unconstitutional when they regularly rewrite laws and talk about seizing guns.  Also, I've written in the past that Obama has set the standard for future Presidents to selectively enforce the law into meaninglessness.

Extra - From Instapundit: "The press and political class let him burn it all down because they agreed with him, and besides he was black so to complain would be racist or something. Now they can’t figure out how to survive the wind that will blow, now that everything that can stop it has been removed."

Of course, the "survive the wind that will blow" reference that Dr. R is alluding to is from "A Man for All Seasons":

Trump! Donald Trump! Trump! Trump!

Not really.  That guy is sucking up all the oxygen in the news.

Just something funny at work today: somebody named "Ebenezer" won the Christmas raffle.  Heh...irony.

Pyrrhic-care

"One more victory will utterly undo him" - Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus

How's that hard-won, unilateral legislation to bring health care to all Americans working out?

Not so great: "‘Successful’ Obamacare Co-Op Imploding"

The only one of 23 co-ops to make a profit last year, CHO started to bleed money in 2015 because enrollees sought more medical care than expected.

Some success.  But wait, there's more less!  Hot Air: "New CBO report: ObamaCare will reduce workforce by 2 million over next 10 years."

The NY Times does it again

Do I love ragging on the Old Grey Lady?  Yes I do!  The Minuteman has a hilarious take on the Times' op-ed piece titled "Diversity makes you brighter":

OMG, LOL, and WTF. This explains why the NY Times newsroom is filled with reporters who are evangelical Christians, pro-lifers, gun owners, climate change skeptics, and white-bread New England conservatives. Oh, wait. It's not a diversity of ideas that promote broader thinking - its a diversity of skin tone! My bad.

Oh, Tom....the Times has plenty of diversity running the gamut from Leftists to Liberals.

Western Massachusetts update

Masslive: "Smith & Wesson announces positive earnings, net sales up 32.1 percent."  For some reason.

Brace yourself: the NY Times engages in pure hypocrisy

I know!  I was surprised too.  But the eagle-eyed Charles C.W. Cooke noted that just last year, the Times deplored the No-Fly List as an extra-Constitutional tool of intimidation.  Now, it's the preferred method to void a person's Second Amendment rights without due process:

By the Times’s own standards, the GOP’s skepticism was sensible no? Surely, it would be downright outrageous to allow the Bill of Rights to be compromised by the “the shadowy, self-contradictory world of American terror watch lists, which operate under a veil of secrecy so thick that it is virtually impossible to pierce it when mistakes are made”?

Apparently not.

Don't try to make sense of it.

Admonishment to the nation

Obama's giving a rare Oval Office address on terrorism tonight, which will certainly take a left turn into gun-grabbing straight through a field of straw men.

Get ready for being told "that's not who we are", America.

Our thorough screening

Remember when Americans nervous about Syrian refugees were denounced as xenophobic and irrational when calling for additional screening?

Good times.  Fox News: "Female San Bernardino shooter reportedly entered US on 'fiance' visa with inaccurate address."

No fact check necessary

Here's Obama just making stuff up on climate change:

"Mr. Trump should run back a tape or quote on some of the stuff he's said -- 99.5 percent of scientists in the world say this is a really urgent problem," Mr. Obama said. 

Yeah, right.  It's exactly this kind of hyperbole is why Americans are tuning out.

Extra - Listen to Greg Sargent! "Dems should go hard at GOP climate denialism in 2016."  This is good advice, Dems.  Run hard on an issue nobody cares about with the inevitable goal of increasing the prices of carbon-based energy.  Americans love paying more for gas and heating in the winter.  Do it.

Huma said she's confused

Legal Insurrection: "Hillary can't remember her plan to deal with the national debt."

I do!  Everybody in America gives a speech at Goldman Sachs = instant $.

After the shooting

Ace: "Left Spends Day In Coordinated Attack on Saying "Thoughts and Prayers" For the Victims."

Do you know what's even more useless against gun violence than thoughts and prayers?  The Democrats' gun-control proposals.

Hit and Run: "Obama Insists 'We Have to Do Something' About Mass Shootings but Can't Say What or Why It Would Work - "Enough is enough" is not a policy."

What political party runs Chicago? Nobody knows

Here's Spike Lee talking about his soon-to-be-ignored movie and Chicago:

So is it Mayor Rahm Emanuel who’s culpable here?
Well, you could go back to Mayor Daley. And right now, the Republican governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner, is cutting programs. The summer before last, Father Pfleger had funds allocated and had 3,000 summer jobs to get kids off the streets. I don’t know the exact number, but it was significantly cut. And those jobs are a matter of life and death.

Emphasis added.  Rahm Emanuel might be a Whig and Daley was probably a Green but, gosh darn it, we know that the governor is one of those job-slashing Republicans.  Keep in mind that Rauner was elected to fix the mess in Illinois which has the worst bond rating in the country, a hairbreadth over junk status, but summer jobs for the kids.  They're a matter of life and death.

The New York Times had an opinion piece called "Cover-Up in Chicago" and you won't discover what political party former Clinton and Obama administration adviser Emanuel belongs to.

In an alternate universe somewhere Chicago is a Republican stronghold and the Bizarro New York is running an editorial excoriating the proliferation of guns, regular murders, corrupt police and incompetent government as a sign of a failed single-party rule.

Here on Terra Alpha One, it's the same ole predictable NYT.

Not surprising

The Corner: "Here's a surprise: Iran rejects scrutiny of its weapons program."

More classified info on the bathroom server

Fox News: "Nearly 1,000 Clinton emails had classified info."

The thin twig that the Clinton campaign is putting out is that these were not classified at the time, but were only classified later.  A reasonable question then would be: did Clinton receive any classified emails during her time as Secretary of State?  If not, how is that even possible for such a high-level government official?  It's not possible, that's how.

Extra - From Legal Insurrection.  ROLF!

More - Power Line talks about Hillary and her BFF Sid Vicious: "I think it is reasonable to infer that the long-rumored enmity between Barack Obama and the Clintons is a reality."

"It's a time bomb"

Just this past Thanksgiving weekend, I finished "Too Big to Fail" about the collapse of the housing market and the chaos that swallowed Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, and nearly brought down the entire U.S. economy.

Now I see that in December there's a movie based on the other side of the housing market: the guys who made a huge bet that real estate was hugely over-extended, over-valued, and over-leveraged.  I read the Michael Lewis book "The Big Short" when it first came out in 2011 and I can't wait for the movie.



By the way, for those of you who don't know, to "short" an investment (stock, fund, real estate, etc.) means you're betting the price of something will go down while most buyers in the market are hoping the value of an investment will go up.  In "Too Big to Fail", certain CEOs (notably Dick Fuld of Lehman) were reported to have railed against short sellers as the bottom-feeders of the investment world, preaching doom and gloom to drive down a stock price.  In reality (IMHO) they were exposing weaknesses in certain companies that deserved to be exploited.  If Lehman was a solid company, the short-sellers would have gone broke.  But instead Lehman, along with many other investment companies, were hobbled by terrible real estate investments and the short-sellers were the Cassandras of Wall Street.

Today's ELI5

Explain Like I'm Five: "How would a $15 minimum wage actually affect a franchised business like McDonalds?"  Good review.

Shut down those urban businesses

Black Lives Matter blocks holiday shoppers in Chicago.  Jeff Bezos smiles.

Yeah, I'm getting there

The Hill: "GOP in panic over Trump."

The Republican establishment is nearing full-blown panic about Donald Trump.
The demise of Trump’s candidacy has been predicted by centrist Republicans and the media alike virtually since the day it began. But there is no empirical evidence at all to suggest it is happening.

I was convinced that the only reason Trump was on top of the polls at the start of silly season was name recognition.  Now I think he's defying gravity by being the anti-Romney: somebody who throws blind punches and doesn't really cares who is in the way.  Ted Cruz is rising in the polls for the same reason by swinging away at the press and then taking aggressive stands during the debates.

But at some point, the GOP is going to go from "shopping" to "buying" mode.  Then reality will set in about Trump.  Right?  Right?  Oh boy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Like a trained seal

Daily Caller: "CNN Reporter Coordinated With Hillary Aide To Smear Rand Paul During 2013 Benghazi Hearing."

The mainstream media is the enemy.

Extra - No worries: it's just tradecraft.

More - Even their bias is biased.  WashPost: "Politico just handed Republicans a ‘liberal media’ talking point."

Yeah, that's the real crime here.  Not the conscious and unconscious bias of the overwhelmingly liberal media, but the reaction of those whiny Republicans.

Sad face emoji: "Fighting terrorism is hard."

Here's Dana Milbank in the WashPost: "Barack Obama, President Oh-bummer."

Chicagoland-style

It's hard to look at this video of the shooting of Laquan McDonald and conclude it was not an execution.  The guy was on the ground and shots keep coming - 16 shots.  I'm tempted to say that the only reason this indictment came out at all, a year later, is because the dashcam video was released and it was revealed that the police wiped the video from a nearby Burger King.

I think we all saw this coming

National Review: "Clock Boy - Not a bombmaker, just a blackmailer."  "In case there was any doubt that the Ahmed “Clock Boy” Mohamed-episode was an extended exercise in fraud and extortion, the family has now made it explicit."

Kyle Busch wins NASCAR championship

Quick story: I've always been a Kyle Busch fan and a couple of years ago I was cheering for him at the Sprint Cup race in New Hampshire.  During driver introductions, I waved my #5 Kelloggs Frosted Flakes baseball cap in the air and I was virtually the only person in the crowd showing support.

And I understand: Kyle was a bit of a jerk.  All right, he was a big jerk.  In that same race, he was dumped by another driver (Juan Pablo Montoya, if I remember correctly) and the crowd cheered.

But this year was a year of transition for Kyle.  First, he broke his leg at the Daytona 500 and missed the first eleven races of the season.  Then his wife gave birth to his son, Brexton and - in my opinion - he became a changed man, somebody who had perspective on the important things in life.  In a classic comeback story, he worked his way back to gain enough points and wins to make the Chase.  Then tonight he held off a charge by last-year's winner Kevin Harvick to win his first Sprint Cup championship.

Congratulations, Kyle.

Extra - I think this Fox News update echoes a lot of what I said:

The title is a sweet reward for Busch, who has made huge personal and professional gains over the last several years. Known as one of most talented drivers in the sport, his temperament often got in his own way. But he has mellowed with marriage, gained perspective after the Daytona wreck, and was determined to be on his feet in the delivery room when wife Samantha delivered their first baby, a boy born in May — right after Busch returned to the race car and celebrated his 30th birthday.

By the way, that kid was so funny in Victory Lane tonight.  Slobbered all over a microphone.

Dead legislation walking

HuffPost: "Bad Obamacare News Is Real. That Doesn't Mean Obamacare Is Dying."

This article is pretty remarkable: the authors acknowledge that virtually nothing has gone right, that the predictions of Obamacare critics have been borne out, but - darn it - it's just the gyrations of a new insurance marketplace.  The comments of the typically-liberal readers of HuffPost are telling.  They hate Obamacare but think single-payer is the solution.  That pipe dream is never going to fly, right Vermont?

Extra - Kevin Williamson: "Obamacare is dead."

The war against jihadism of an untold religion

Legal Insurrection reviews the latest DNC ad: "The DNC Just Lost Its Mind—and Maybe Its Own Base—with this New Ad."

The Democrats start from the assumption that voters are stupid and can't differentiate between a billion peaceful Muslims and the radical Islamic strain that is killing people.

It's so simple

Steve Martin on how to make a million dollars: "First, get a million dollars."

Hot Air: "Hillary announces her strategy to defeat ISIS: Defeat ISIS."

Twitchy: "‘Underpants gnome foreign policy’: John Podesta presents a mock-worthy summary of Hillary’s anti-terror plan."

Then when somebody asks if you have a post-operational plan, say "I forgot."

UnitedHealthcare looks for the exit

The Hill: "Major insurer may leave ObamaCare."  "One of the country’s largest health insurers warned Thursday that it may leave the ObamaCare exchanges within two years, delivering a shock announcement that could ripple through the marketplace."

Better ramp up the secret advertising spending.

Broken heart syndrome is real

This is so sad: "Former Patriots, Boston College QB Doug Flutie loses both parents to heart attacks on same day."  Geez.

Classy as an internet troll

Commentary: "Our bitter and graceless President."

By now it’s all quite predictable and quite tiresome. Even the president’s own peculiar psychological habits – his tendency to project, his narcissism and seething resentment in reaction to criticisms, his inability to see reality when reality conflicts with his rigid and dogmatic views – are tedious because they are so commonly on display.

The way to understand Obama is through his vanity.  All is vanity.

That was then

Everything - every single "principle" that Hillary has - is subject to polling.  Hot Air: "As a senator, Hillary Clinton was a fan of profiling."

Obama loves him some straw men

So said the Washington Post: "President Obama’s false choice against the Islamic State."

Pressed about his strategy for fighting the Islamic State, a petulant-sounding President Obama insisted Monday, as he has before, that his critics have offered no concrete alternatives for action in Syria and Iraq, other than putting “large numbers of U.S. troops on the ground.” This claim was faulty in two respects. First, few if any White House critics are proposing a U.S. ground operation on the scale of the previous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, military experts both within and outside the administration have proposed more modest measures that could significantly increase the pressure on the Islamic State if the president were to adopt them.

"Why do you want war?" quipped our so-called Commander in Chief.

Our CinC talks about the contained JV team

I've been trying to lay off the regular screeds against our semi-retired President, the Blamer-in-Chief, King Putt.  But his press conference addressing the rise of ISIS and the attacks in France were beyond the pale.  Red State: "How Disastrous Was Obama’s Press Conference In Antalya, Turkey?"

The truth is evident. Barack Obama is a tiny, timorous man who is intellectually unable to comprehend the challenge facing the United States and Europe from ISIS and even if he could recognize the challenge he is morally incapable responding.

Whenever Obama faces a media horde that doesn't kiss his ass, he falls back on a series of dilatory and discursive tropes.  Step one: every question deserves a rambling, shifting, professorial filibuster that never really gets around to an answer.  There's a reason why the press asked the same question about underestimating ISIS.  Because the most arrogant and thin-skinned President cannot admit a mistake, well, there's no way to explain away how less than a day after Obama said ISIS was "contained" they could launch the deadliest attack in Paris since World War II.  Oh and our current strategy is totally working and we're going to stick to it (shut up, Dianne).

Second, loves to play this little grade-school taunt of "what's your plan, smart guy?"  He only does this to open up the logical fallacy of "appeal to authority" - that authority being himself.  By asking for an alternate plan to the current one (that's failing), Obama wants to assert his position and paint himself as the only person who has "all the facts."

Third, Obama characterized the latest symbol of the failed fight against ISIS in a bloodless manner - it was a "setback" you know - but when he talks about the Republicans who are criticizing his feckless approach to the terror fight, then the sincere outrage really emerges.

Fourth: the straw men, always the straw men.  The fight against ISIS will "take time" because - golly - everybody wants them defeated, like, tomorrow.  This great strategy will work because ISIS is on "the wrong side of history."  Rinse and repeat.

This train wreck of a press conference shows what happens when Obama steps outside of his Valerie Jarrett-inflated bubble and face up to the consequences of "leading from behind."  He doesn't like and neither do we.

France doesn't waste any time

Here comes the bombing, Raqqa.  Hot Air: "France levels ISIS in Raqqa after Paris attack."

Mark Steyn justifiably wonders if a policy change is on the way in Europe, or this is all for show:

What's the happy ending here? Because if M Hollande isn't prepared to end mass Muslim immigration to France and Europe, then his "pitiless war" isn't serious. And, if they're still willing to tolerate Mutti Merkel's mad plan to reverse Germany's demographic death spiral through fast-track Islamization, then Europeans aren't serious. In the end, the decadence of Merkel, Hollande, Cameron and the rest of the fin de civilisation western leadership will cost you your world and everything you love.

So screw the candlelight vigil.

Well.

Our oldest ally

Open borders in Europe invite terrorists

NeoNeocon: "It is now reported that one of the Paris terrorists was a recent arrival with a Syrian passports."

Terrorism in France

Hot Air has updates.  It sounds like multiple, coordinated attacks with 100+ dead.

Also regular updates on the Corner and PJ Media.  It's horrible.

OMG - make it stop

The future of America.

Extra - Ace: "I swear, I don't want to upset anyone, but you cannot look upon this Generation of Imbeciles and not tremble with fear."

You know, the more I think about this, the more it infuriates me.  As somebody who has given many presentations in my day, you owe it both your cause and your audience to prepare accordingly.  It's clear that Keely's advance preparation for this appearance on national television involved drinking a Red Bull and picking out a Twisty for her hair.

Do you want to know "Keely" why nobody takes this national temper-tantrum seriously?  Because this.

Blue meth, yo!

GQ: "Breaking Bad Props and Costumes Have Been Added to the Smithsonian."

Privileged little girls walk out at Smith College

Boston.com: "Hundreds of Smith College students walk out of class to protest racism."

Not racism at Smith, nota bene.  Racism somewhere because there must be solidarity with the precious snowflakes traumatized by uncomfortable speech:

“I’m walking out today because I think it’s important to show this isn’t something that’s happening on one campus, and it isn’t a movement that can be stopped,” said Anna George, a student at Smith. “And I know that racism does exist at Smith since it’s predominantly a white campus.”

Say no more, Anna George.  You had me at "white campus."

Extra - Lifted from comments!  The Onion: "College Encourages Lively Exchange Of Idea - Students, Faculty Invited To Freely Express Single Viewpoint."

Shut up, they explained

Mises Daily: "When You're Popular, You Don't Need Freedom of Speech."

The weathervane candidacy

Paraphrasing Hillary: "Those are my principles! And if the polls change, so will I."  Politico: "Hillary Clinton rebukes charter schools."

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sounded less like a decades-long supporter of charter schools over the weekend and more like a teachers union president when she argued that most of these schools “don’t take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don’t keep them.”

Oh, that's "old" Hillary, the same one who opposed gay marriage but loved TPP and Keystone.  This is new and improved Hillary.

Who will rid me of this meddlesome Congress?

TownHall: "White House Not Sure If Closing GITMO With Executive Order is Constitutional, Hints Obama Might Do It Anyway."  Hat tip: Instapundit.

I like how this guy turns "Congress failed to act the way I want" into carte blanche to do whatever.  Like the WSJ says: "Decision first, law later."  That's going to be a helpful precedent when the Republican President starts to selectively enforce Obamacare.

Related - Politico: "Appeals court keeps block on Obama immigration."

Reckless disregard

Legal Insurrection: "Phi Kappa Psi Sues Rolling Stone, Writer Over Discredited Campus Rape Article."

Gangland Springfield

Two years ago, 60 Minutes ran a piece called "Counterinsurgency Cops" about how a couple of ex-military State Policemen were bringing counterinsurgency tactics to fight gang violence in Springfield, Mass.

How's that going, mayor?  MassLive: "Springfield Mayor Sarno denounces 'gang bangers' and 'cesspools' he believes contribute to late-night violence."

The victims and dozens of potential witnesses refused to cooperate with police, said Deputy Police Chief William Cochrane.
"All we need is for someone to say: 'I saw that person shoot that guy with that gun,'" [deputy police chief] Cochrane said...

Snitches get stitches, yo.  Oh, yeah, and black lives matter.

What media bias?

Instapundit: "Washington Post columnist, Face the Nation host stricken with a mysterious case of collective amnesia."

The MSM is in constant Pauline Kael mode: nobody they know could be anything but objective.

The perpetual story

If you want to know why this country is $18+ trillion in debt, look no further than the Democrats looking to roll back the "Cadillac tax" in Obamacare.  From Social Security to Medicare to anything else, programs start out as "paid for" and then there is inevitable political pressure to expand benefits and roll back taxes.  End result: more debt.

Security theater, Egypt-style

Shot - Popular Mechanics: "The TSA is Frighteningly Awful at Screening Passengers - The Department of Homeland Security has released an official report stating they "found layers of security simply missing" during covert testing."

Chaser - Fox News: "Evidence in Russian plane crash consistent with 'high end' explosive device, government source says."

In fact, I heard on the news tonight that a working theory is that the security agents that were supposed to safeguard the airport may have allowed the terrorists through.  If true, you can kiss Egypt's tourism industry goodbye, a cash-cow that accounts for 10% of the country's GDP.

Very clever, Thursday Night Football

Tonight it's the Cleveland Browns vs. the Cincinnati Bengals.

As they went into halftime, CBS played "Love Rollercoaster" by the Ohio Players.  Nice.

None dare call it media bias

Old and busted: Mitt Romney is too rich to be President!

New and shiny: Marco Rubio is too poor to be President!

Look who's whining about Fox News

The Hill: "President warns of 'misinformation' during ObamaCare enrollment."

Awww...if you can't handle Fox News, how are you going to handle Russia?  Oh, yeah.

Looks like Bernie wants a do-over

After being accused by Hillary of being both sexist and racist, Bernie Sanders is thinking that maybe America does want to talk about her damn emails.  WSJ: "Bernie Sanders Takes Gloves Off Against Hillary Clinton in Interview - Democratic presidential candidate draws sharper distinctions with front-runner, casting her policy reversals as a character issue."

The delays will continue

Legal Insurrection: "State Department: Keystone XL Review Will Proceed."

Kentucky surprise

In the race for Kentucky governor, Democrat Jack Conway led in every poll taken except the one that mattered.  In the end, it wasn't remotely close: Matt Bevin will flip the governor's seat to the Republicans largely on a campaign of repealing Obamacare.

What? He just got a little loose!

Fox Sports: "NASCAR suspends Kenseth for 2 races over Logano wreck."

Yeah, it was pretty egregious:

NASA joins the conspiracy

NASA says that Antarctica is gaining ice and lowering the sea level: "Mass gains of Antarctic Ice Sheet greater than losses, NASA study reports."  Insert Manbearpig joke here.

Entitlement nation

Newsday: "Social Security’s impending insolvency — just the facts."

I like this review because it directly addresses the Left's favorite panacea to fixing Social Security: raising the income level subject to taxation.  Or as Bernie Sanders says: "Scrap the cap!"  Well, it won't work and it fundamentally changes the nature of Social Security into another welfare program.

Americans being American

I got around to seeing the Friday edition of the Amazing Race and quietly wept for our country, or at least for the Racers representing us in different countries.  Everybody went to Paris and the Racers had to climb into a World-War II era plane and find the motto of the French Revolution which is "Liberte Egalite Fraternite."

After spotting these words from the plane, the Racers had to recite the words to a French judge and every one of them mangled the pronunciation beyond belief.  One of the Racers got the "liberte" and "egalite" part but missed the last part and, not knowing it, just stood there mute.

Really?  Is "Liberte Egalite Fraternite" that obscure?  I don't know, maybe.  But it kinda confirms my theory that the producers of the Amazing Race purposely seek out people who 1) don't know anything about foreign cultures 2) can't drive a stick-shift and 3) are afraid of heights for the eventual bungee-cord jump.

Chris Stevens did not

The Hill: "Ben Affleck had Hillary Clinton's private email address."

Teach me how to journal

This profane screed from Ace on the media has made my top-ten list for 2015.  Here's a semi-clean excerpt:

But Cultural Power is Political Power, and the fact that these imbeciles populate our Idiot Boxes and speak words to us at night puts them in a position where they can serve as the witch-doctors of a heathen, ugly, wicked tribe, if they choose to.

It's the job of journalists, some might argue, to report the news - the first edition of history - accurately and in an objective manner.  From Brian Williams, to Dan Rather, to Jayson Blair (just to name the pure fabulists) it's clear that they can't accomplish this simple task.  So why do we put them in charge of these Presidential debates?  What makes "journalists" more qualified than, as Ace puts it, the next guy sitting on a barstool?

In fact, let's put that guy on the barstool in charge of the next debate.  To paraphrase William F. Buckley, I'd rather have the first dozen names in the Boston telephone directory moderate the Presidential debates rather than the royalty of the American media.

That's a nice oil company you got there....

...it would be a shame if somebody called for a federal investigation.  International Business Times: "Hillary Clinton Demands Probe of Exxon After Oil Giant Stops Funding Clinton Foundation."

The mask slips, completely

There's not much I can add by way of commentary about the most egregious case of media bias since Candy Crowley actively shilled for Obama in the Presidential debates.

I'll just leave this commentary from media critic Howard Kurtz:

[T]his was an absolute trainwreck for CNBC. Many of the moderators' questions seemed to be snide, hostile, condescending, borderline insulting. And let me just make clear: I'm totally in favor of tough and provocative questions. When you do that, sometimes audience doesn't like it, sometimes the candidates don't like it. But a lot of the questions were not drilling down on facts or record or policy. When John Harwood says Trump, comic book campaign, or do you have the moral authority to be president? When Carl Quintanilla asked Marco Rubio -- who had a good night by the way -- are you a young man in a hurry? Shouldn't you wait a few years to run for president? It just validated what a lot of people think about the mainstream media -- and this channel is affiliated of course with NBC News -- that they cannot be fair to Republicans.

Eyes wide open.

Why so secretive?

In case you missed it the other day - and you probably did - Vox excoriated the House Science committee because they were looking for information from government agencies on how they've come to their conclusions on climate change.

Well, in the interest of openness, transparency, and fresh air (pun intended), these agencies have...declined to answer.  PJ Tatler: "NOAA Refuses House GOP Subpoena of Research Denying Pause in Global Warming."

I'm no climate scientist, but this seems suspicious.

Related - Mark Steyn: "The certainty of uncertainty."

Oooh...yeah...my bad

I must have watched this video 15 times.  Hockey player gets called for elbowing (I think) and goes to the penalty box.  He clearly says "bullsh-t" then sees the instant replay.

Politics makes strange bedfellows

I got a chuckle about how talking heads across the political spectrum were rolling their eyes at Hillary's false charge of sexism against Bernie:

National Review Corner: "2016 Officially Begins: Hillary Clinton Calls Critic Sexist."
Hot Air: "Morning Joe hosts (repeatedly) agree: Hillary’s claims of Bernie’s sexism are “pathetic”."

And then there's the left-leaning Cannonfire who laments how the screw of identity politics has turned:

Remember when anyone who called Obama a progressive poseur was considered an unhooded Klansman?
Remember when I was called a "racist" every minute of every hour of every day for weeks simply because I pointed out that Obama had lied about his opposition to NAFTA?
Remember when I was considered kin to George Wallace simply because I dared to mention the easily-proved fact that Obama did not denounce the Iraq invasion during his 2004 convention speech (or at any other time during his senate campaign)?

Yes, you were a racist then but now everyone's a sexist for opposing Grandma.  Who is a woman.

Western Massachusetts update

MassLive: "'Super Troopers 2' filming underway at Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts."  This is just a couple miles from my house.

Fake but awful

Megan McArdle: "If you like the truth, don't watch 'Truth'."

Related, on the journalism front: "Vice President Joe Biden accuses ‘people’ of very bad journalism."  Welcome to the party, pal.

The death spiral, as predicted

Wall Street Journal: "The Decline of ObamaCare."

ObamaCare’s image of invincibility is increasingly being exposed as a political illusion, at least for those with permission to be honest about the evidence. Witness the heretofore unknown phenomenon of a “free” entitlement that its beneficiaries can’t afford or don’t want.

It seems that younger, healthier Americans simply don't want to be coerced into buying expensive policies, even with subsidies.

Nobody beats the Wiz!

Tonight I stopped by at the Best Buy in the Hadley Mall - it's going out of business.  (Possibly due to Best Buy's underhanded practices.)  I guess it's just this store and not the entire chain, but it occurred to me that every electronic store I've dealt with in my life has eventually gone bankrupt.  There was:

Crazy Eddie
The Wiz  ("I'm the Wiz, nobody beats me!")
Lechmere
Circuit City
Best Buy (maybe)
Radio Shack (kinda)

It can't just be the Amazon effect since many of these stores were around well before Amazon.  The Wiz, I remember, had a pretty robust mail-order business.  There has to be some reason why these businesses shine bright then flame out.  Well, with the exception of Crazy Eddie, which was destroyed from within by fraud.  And INSANITY!

Rutgers, Rah!

I see the Scarlet Knights game will be televised tonight.  I'm feeling really good about their chances against....

Ohio State?!?  Never mind.

Nice work if you can get it

LA Times: "Critics say air marshals, much wanted after 9/11, have become 'bored cops' flying first class."

I used to travel a lot for my last job but I don't miss it at all.  This nonsense is all "security theater."

Profiles in tolerance

Williams College: "Hey, we're going to have a lecture series called 'Uncomfortable Learning' to expose students to a wider range of viewpoints."

Students: "That makes us uncomfortable."

Williams College: "Oh, nevermind then."

People died then Hillary lied

Hit and Run: "Hillary Clinton Knew All Along Benghazi Attack Had "Nothing To Do With The Film," Documents Reveal."

I missed the hearings because, you know, I work.  But I had not heard this information about the reaction of State department experts on Susan Rice lying on five Sunday morning news programs:

In a series of e-mails shown by Jordan, experts in the State Department’s Near East Affairs Bureau are shown reacting dubiously to Rice’s claim. “I think Rice was off the reservation on this one,” one wrote. “Off the reservation on five networks!” another responded. Another e-mail said the “WH [was] very worried about the politics. This was all their doing.”

It was two months before the election and the narrative was that Al-Qaeda was "decimated" so, in classic Clinton-style, it was time to lie for the greater good.

Clean water and electricity

That's what poverty-stricken nations need.  Bjorn Lomberg: "This Child Doesn’t Need a Solar Panel - Spending billions of dollars on climate-related aid in countries that need help with tuberculosis, malaria and malnutrition."

Well, I don't like this article one bit

Ramesh Ponnuru in The Corner (!): "Why Hillary will likely win the White House."

Republicans have very little in the way of popular policy proposals to counter the appeal of liberalism.

There's something to this: the Republicans have done well in the off-years by opposing (unpopular) Obama policies but a Presidential candidate has to have a forward-looking, optimistic vision.  It's not enough to just knock down a terrible candidate like Hillary.

Pension crisis, Brazil-style

Hit and Run has an interesting blog post about runaway pensions in Brazil.

Here's the silver lining: there's a powerful incentive for elderly male pensioners to take on young wives.  It's called "the Viagra effect."

The future is coming

Website: Is Today the Day Marty McFly arrives when he travels to the future?

Perpetuating the narrative

Reason Online: "The Media's narrow minds."  ""Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views," William F. Buckley once observed, "but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views." He might have been writing about some of the nation's newsrooms."

This can't be happening

It is snowing in Western Massachusetts.  Snowing.

Sorry, Hillary, the email scandal isn't going away

Althouse has the video of the Saturday Night Live skit of the Democratic debate and I found myself nodding at this comment:

What stuck me most was the audience reaction after hearing him repeat Bernie Sander's comment about nobody caring about Hillary Clinton's emails. I would have expected the same kind of reaction as at the debate. Instead, there was total silence. Not sure what to make of that.

Yeah, no spontaneous applause or even a chuckle.  Just quiet from the New York City crowd.

This is relevant: "Actually, only Democrats are sick and tired of hearing about Clinton’s e-mails."  Drip drip drip.

It's (not) getting hot in here

This won't convince the true believers of climate change alarmism since it's a religion to them.  Here's a longish review to bookmark: "What I Learned about Climate Change: The Science is not Settled."

Not lovin' it

The iconic American fast-food company is in trouble.  Yahoo Finance: "McDonald's franchisees say the brand is in a 'deep depression' and 'facing its final days'."

I ate so much McDonalds in high school but it just doesn't appeal to me anymore.  Maybe it's because other players have entered the game (Subway, Chipolte, Five Guys).  The all-day breakfast seems gimmicky and when it comes to healthy choices, McDonalds doesn't come to mind.

Obamacare co-ops are dropping like flies

Last month it was New York.
Yesterday, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Today, Colorado.

Joe ready to go if the FBI sez so

I've hinted at this before, but let me repeat: if Joe Biden enters the race at this stage, it's only because he has inside knowledge that Hillary is about to be indicted for violating the Espionage Act.

Microaggressions at UCLA

This sounds perfect for the blog "Everything's a Problem."  Some students at UCLA had a problem with a "Kanye Western" themed party.

Can you guessed what happened next?

1) They got over it and went on with their lives
2) They confronted the party sponsors and expressed their objections
3) They went running to the school administration demanding the attenuation of First Amendment rights.

Foreign aid prolongs dictatorships

Hot Air: "Nobel winner: Conservatives may have been right all along on foreign aid."  "Government handouts do not solve poverty; they only provide a very temporary stop-gap solution to immediate crises. In the context of foreign aid, they create incentives that undermine and destroy entrepreneurship in favor of cronyist corruption at best, and usually much worse."

Corruption in Chicago? No!

Chicago Tribune: "Ex-CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett pleads guilty, tearfully apologizes to students."  "Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett faces up to about 7 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to steering multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts to an education consulting firm in exchange for the promise of lucrative kickbacks and other perks."

Pander-palooza at the penny slots

Hot Air: "Senior citizens set for evening of fun in Las Vegas."  Meh...I'll catch the highlights tomorrow - there's baseball on.

I expect it's going to be competition on who can offer up the most free stuff.  Democrats love to say stuff like "Government is the things we decide to do together" but the one thing they never want everyone to do is pay for it.  If bigger government is so great, why not ask Americans to make a sacrifice for it?  Instead it's "tax the rich" and put it on the tab.

Give or take several generations

You gotta love the global warming alarmists: they know how to cover their asses.  For example: this terrifying headline: "Sea level rise will swallow Miami, New Orleans, study finds."

Oh no!  When will this happen?

"Some of this could happen as early as next century," [Ben] Strauss told AFP.

Well, it's 2015 right now so lead author Ben Strauss will be not be around to see his prediction come true, or not.  But, still, it's a frightening future indeed:

"But it might also take many centuries," he added.

I suspect you don't have the slightest idea.

Hey, don't rule out Cuba

Powerline: "Russia and Iran running neck-and-neck in Obama-humiliating sweepstakes."

First thought of Obama on "60 Minutes"

Obama's inner dialogue: "Hey, Steve, where are the softball questions that I'm accustomed to?"

Kroft is really going at him: "It's an embarrassment: You said yourself you never believed in this [training of moderate Syrians]."  "I feel like I'm being filibustered."  Wow.  And he's knocking down the straw men, too: "Nobody said it was going to be easy."

This is why we can't have a discussion

Bookworm Room: "Found it on Facebook — What passes for insightful commentary on the Left (part 2, the gun control edition)."

What’s amazing is that every single statement in the above poster is wrong, whether factually or because of the conclusions the poster tries to draw from the statements.

Long, detailed, sourced rebuttal.

This is not a blog post about Syrian policy

There will be plenty of time to discuss that after 60 Minutes airs their interview with an incredulous Steve Kroft.  No, this is about the execrable New York Times and their atrocious editorial page.  Today they criticize Obama's Syrian policy and if you guessed they ran this in Saturday's edition (the least-read of the week), you win a prize:

The initial plan was dubious. The new one is hallucinatory, and it is being rolled out as the war enters a more perilous phase now that Russia has significantly stepped up its military support of Mr. Assad’s forces.

Russia?  Russia is filling the power vacuum that Obama has left behind in the Middle East?  As Neo-Neocon noted, the NY Times once sneered at such delusions:

Two decades after the end of the cold war, Mitt Romney still considers Russia to be America’s “No. 1 geopolitical foe.” His comments display either a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics. Either way, they are reckless and unworthy of a major presidential contender.

Maybe there was a tickle of conscious by this editorial writer, an acknowledgment that he/she should at least make a passing reference to Russia's ascendancy in the region.

That will require the ironing out of stark differences between the United States and Mr. Assad’s chief backers, Russia and Iran. 

Oh, NYT, you so crazy.  The 80s called and they want their foreign policy back.

One more time

Five Thirty Eight: "The 25 Most Rewatchable Movies Of All Time."

The first movie that popped into my mind was "Goodfellas" (#23) but honestly I could re-watch "This is Spinal Tap" forever.

Speaking of clown show

Fox News: "U.S. officials conclude Iran deal violates federal law."  These mumbo-jumbo officials want war - that is the only explanation.

Chaos in the House

OMG what a clown show.  First Kevin McCarthy pulls out of the House of Representatives speaker's position for unknown reasons, leading everybody to Wikipedia to brush up on Bob Livingston.

Then John Boehner goes to his backup Irish, Paul Ryan who said "no no no" and tonight is saying "no comment."  Hmmmm.

At this point, I"ll take anybody who can produce a budget on time for once.

The results from the focus group are in

Federalist: "Hillary Clinton: I Totally Oppose That Trade Agreement I Negotiated In 2012 - Despite referring to it as the "gold standard" for trade agreements in 2012, Hillary Clinton says she now opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP."

Well that sucked

I finally got "Mad Max - Fury Road" from Netflix.  Spoiler alert: there's a chase scene through the desert.

For two hours.

President Fredo

He's smaht!  And he wants respect!  WSJ: "President Mumbo-Jumbo: Obama’s preferred method for dealing with disagreement is denigration."

So it is with this president. It’s not enough for him to stake and defend his positions. He wants you to know that he thinks deeper, sees further, knows better, operates from a purer motive. His preferred method for dealing with disagreement is denigration. If Republicans want a tougher line in Syria, they’re warmongers. If Hillary Clinton thinks a no-fly zone is a good idea, she’s playing politics: “There is obviously a difference,” the president tut-tutted about his former secretary of state’s position, “between running for president and being president.”

He's an insecure man...with good reason.

It's in the cloud

McClatchy: "Firm backed up Clinton’s server, might still have personal emails."

Don't worry: just because it's in cloud storage doesn't mean it's not secure.  Amirite, Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton?

Insider trading

NYT: "Scandal Erupts in Unregulated World of Fantasy Sports."  Well, that didn't take long.  Who would have guessed that a barely legal gambling forum, run by some twenty-something frat boys, would succumb to cheating?  Here's my shocked face.

Hillary: "L'etat c'est moi"

Everybody is up in arms about Hillary declaring that she'll change gun laws in this country by executive fiat.  But I took notice at this little bit of pique at the Benghazi committee:

“This committee was set up, as they have admitted, for the purpose of making a partisan political issue out of the deaths of four Americans,” she said. “I would never have done that, and if I were president and there were Republicans or Democrats thinking about that, I would have done everything to shut it down.”

There you have it: a President Clinton would have "shut down" a Congressional investigative committee because separation of powers is for suckers.  How dare you suggest she's above the law!

By the way, if you missed it, the Benghazi investigation has dragged on by design:

The State Department announced Friday that it is sending the House Benghazi committee nearly 1,000 emails from Hillary Clinton's private account — a batch three times larger than the set of Clinton messages her former agency sent to Capitol Hill back in May.

This Clinton playbook is so old: admit a minor infraction, drag out the investigation, then declare it "old news" because we have "more important issues to deal with."  Now stop asking about my email.

Report the narrative - retract later

The Hill: "Benghazi panel talking point proven false."

The claim that the Benghazi committee had been in existence longer than any other special investigation committee was incorrectly reported by The Hill as well as The New York Times, ABC News and other media outlets.

Of course it was.  By the way, I was reading a story on a local newspaper web site and there was an opening sentence about people lining up for event being "cued" up.  I sent an email to the journalist - Masters of Journalism from Columbia - and it was quietly changed to "queued" sometime later.

Bernie draws a crowd in Western Mass

Bernie Sanders' Springfield visit was expected to pull in a crowd of 3,000 - he ended up with 6,000.  Because everybody wants free stuff.

Oregon shooter didn't target Christians

It sounds like he had a beef with organized religion in general.

The Stepford students

UK Spectator: "Free speech is so last century. Today’s students want the ‘right to be comfortable’."

Let me guess: aftereffects of the great recession

Zero Hedge: "Payrolls Disaster: Only 142K Jobs Added In September With Zero Wage Growth; August Revised Much Lower."

Shooter identified

Gateway Pundit: "Umpqua Shooter Identified as ‘Chris Harper Mercer’ – Student at College"

Contra GP, the Washington Times reports that Mercer was not a student.

Stop me if you've heard this joke before

Fox News: "Dozens of Clinton emails in latest release contain classified info."  Can we talk to the guy who set up the server?  Oh, no, we can't.

Obamacare, cure thyself

Hit and Run: "Obamacare's Biggest Government-Backed Non-Profit Insurer Is Shutting Down."  "While some of Obamacare's co-ops may survive, it seems likely, given their generally precarious finances, that several more will eventually cease operations, and that taxpayers will ultimately end up shortchanged on much of the "loan" money that was used to help start the program."  Of course.

There's a reason for that

Here's Chris Cillizza in the Washington Post, trying to be funny I assume: "Trust in the media is at an all-time low.  That's a terrible thing for all of us."  And by "us" I assume he means him and all his left-wing mouthpiece in the incurably liberal media.

What's most interesting about this poll is that independents are now in the same camp as Republicans while Democrats, who benefit from a biased press, think the media is mostly OK.

All the world a victim

Hot Air: "Elizabeth Warren launches the Big Pander to #BlackLivesMatter."

Warren is the perfect mouthpiece for the BLM movement because it dovetails with her economic message that there is no such thing as personal responsibility.  (Oh you took out a third mortgage and lost it all at the track?  Damn those bankers!)  I read her entire speech and it's wrapped in the soothing message that nothing is ever your fault.

You would think that - maybe just for the sake of variety - Warren could urge the reformation of the African-American family where 72% of kids are born without a father, leading to instability, poverty and crime.  At least that's what this dude told me a couple years ago:

The absence of fathers is important, [this dude] continued, because "children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison."

Racist.

Extra - Daily Beast: "Black Lives Matter is living in the past."

I'm just a girl - tee hee!

Doug Ross: "Symphony of lies: Hillary Clinton’ Startlingly Awful Performance on Meet The Press."

There's a lot of retread here but one thing that stood out is that Hillary is now claiming she's not a technical expert and depended on others to do that science-stuff.  Who did she depend on?  Brian Pagliano who has taken the Fifth.  How convenient.

Obvious headline is obvious

The Hill: "Clinton may not have turned over all her emails."

“We provided all of them,” she said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” in recent days.

That's also what she told the judge.

Boehner bails

This happened while I was at work and my reaction was: "What's this all about?" followed by "Not surprising."  I just don't think the man has the temperament to be Speaker.  I mean, all that crying.

Also, I have to wonder how much losing Eric Cantor - in a primary challenge - hurt his leadership.  I think Boehner depended on Cantor to herd the cats and, without him, Boehner was overwhelmed.

The Texas clock hoax

Investor's Business Daily: "Did Muslim Clock Boy perpetrate a hoax?"  Yes he did.

The real scandal here is the reaction of the media and assorted Leftists (but I repeat myself).  The clock/bomb story was the Perfect Storm for the Left to sneer at Texas: for being anti-science, for the "over-reaction" of the police, and - naturally - for racism.  No wonder the Obama White House jumped in feet first before even checking out the details.

What did Ahmed get for his traumatic subjugation at the hands of these Lone Star knuckle-draggers?  An invite to the White House, an invite to Facebook, and a ton of swag from Microsoft.

Like with a cloth or something?

Hillary last month: "I don't know nothin' about wipin' no servers!"

Cybersecurity expert Hillary now: "There's no evidence of a security breach."

That's some learning curve.

The Iranians know what they're doing

Fox News: "Iran deal open for debate? Tehran presses new ayatollah demand."

The Iranian government is pressing the U.S. and others to give even more ground to Tehran in the already-sealed nuclear agreement, posing a new headache as the Obama administration and others try to implement the deal.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier this month demanded that sanctions be lifted entirely, not just suspended. A top Khamenei adviser reiterated that demand over the weekend -- ahead of potential informal talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The mullahs know that Obama is desperate for his foreign policy legacy "achievement" and John Kerry is salivating for a Nobel Peace Prize (they'll give it to anybody nowadays.)  And since these two dopes have framed the agreement as a choice between peace and WAR! - how can they now back down?

Oh, that's a red line?  Adorable.

Drunk History is on tonight!

Oh man, I love Drunk History.  This is one of my favorites:



And, for your further edification on Bell Labs, read "The Idea Factory."  I worked for Lucent for a couple years and visited the original Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where the transistor was invented.

Joe ready to go

The Hill: "Dems see Biden entering race — and complicating life for Hillary Clinton."

I have a theory about Joe Biden: I don't think he wants to get into the race but also wants to be ready in case Hillary is indicted otherwise too politically damaged to continue.  Then the Democrats can "pull a Torricelli" and replace their candidate at the moment of peril.

What? I'm a nice guy!

We got a two-year-old rescue dog last week and she shies away from me like I'm going to hit her.

I'm starting to get a complex.

Isn't that exactly what you'd expect a replicant to say?

CBS News: "Hillary Clinton: 'I am a real person'."

We're going to need this equipment.

Extra - From today's Boston Globe: "Hillary Clinton is lacking in the art of contact"

Some in the audience of 300 packed into a Boys & Girls Club in this lakeside town appeared moved by the story. But not, at least that one could tell, the woman who organized the forum, which was intended to focus on the scourge of drug addiction in New Hampshire. 

Hillary Clinton physically backed up closer to a wall as she listened and nodded. When the woman finished her story, the leading Democratic presidential contender retrieved a microphone, turned away, and began asking another panelist to respond. 

Then she stopped herself. “I’m very sorry,” said Clinton, who followed with a bland observation. “We’re not doing enough on mental health treatment.” 

No real show of compassion. No hug or even a touch on the hand.

ERROR in file "C:/EMOTIONS/EMPATHY".

The Left hates free speech, a continuing series

Powerline: "Arrest those climate skeptics!"  When you're winning a debate, you don't ask the other side to shut up.

Oh the things you haven't done

Legal Insurrection: "Hillary's accomplishments: A snapshot of nothing much."  "Ask 20 Democrats for Hillary’s accomplishments and sit back for the funny."

It's funny how a lot of stuff boils down to "gave a speech" or "was in the vicinity of Bill at the time."

No capes!

This is great (found on Imgur).  There's a fan theory that Edna Mode in "The Incredibles" was the secret hero of the movie by providing Syndrome with a caped costume.

Obama: The buck stops there

Hot Air: "White House: You people forced Obama to start this failed training program for Syrian rebels, you know."

At long last, my friends, we’ve reached Peak Obama.

And you thought we reached it when he said: "I didn't draw that red line."  You know, I have no illusions that there were no good choices in Syria.  But this is typical for our vanity-swollen Boy Wonder: it's impossible for him to take an ounce of blame for anything.  It's too late in his Administration to blame Dubya for security-related disasters so: Hillary!  You're up!

I can't vacillate forever!

MSNBC: "Hillary Clinton promises Keystone decision 'soon'."  The focus group must be meeting this weekend.

Nobody will go to jail

The Truth About Cars: "GM to Pay $900 Million For Faulty Ignition Switch Cover-up."  I'm sure glad the government sold all its shares in GM before it stuck them with this fine.

The economy stinks

Powerline: "Census: Economy is going nowhere."

Zero Hedge: "Obama's recovery in just 9 charts."

Ace: "Obama: How dare unpatriotic people criticize America."

I got that joke!

Marco Rubio said: "I brought my own water tonight."  Nice.

Draft Kings isn't taking my money against my will

Somebody in Congress wants to regulate fantasy football betting sites.  Yeah, OK, but I agree with this guy:

How about Frank Pallone look into why Social Security is scheduled to go bust in a 15 years? As someone who involuntarily pays into this Ponzi scheme, shouldn't these hacks be concerned with that? As for fantasy sports, people willingly pay into that and understand the consequences.

We don't need Frank Pallone or any of these other losers wasting taxpayer money on 'reviewing' policies they created and aren't broken. Social Security is broken. Fix that for starters, you hacks.

It'll never happen.

But then you knew that

Hot Air: "CMS audit of ObamaCare federal exchange shows incompetence, waste."

The five-month gap

Sometimes I read a story and say: "Can't possibly be true."  Judicial Watch is reporting that email records requested under a Freedom of Information Act request are missing for a critical period:

Emails sent and received by Clinton on her private server are missing over periods totaling five months, beginning when she took office as secretary of state in 2009.

Um, that's a lot of yoga routines and other exclusively personal emails.  The Hillary-hater in me assumes all these wiped emails were discussing all the sweetheart deals between State and the Clinton Foundation, but then it's only us right-wing wackos who care about this stuff, amirite?

If polls & @HillaryClinton camp are right D voters don't care abt emails, Brooklyn has another Q to answer: what's driving her #s down?

— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) September 14, 2015