Americans inexplicably drop out of super-great program

Fox News: "About 1.6M drop-outs from ObamaCare coverage this year."  "The report from the Health and Human Services department said some 11.1 million people were still signed up. But that's a drop of nearly 13 percent from the 12.7 million who initially enrolled for subsidized private coverage this year."

The Left hates free speech, a continuing series

Ace: "Democrat Party Platform: Prosecute Those Who Deny Global Warming."

Related - Hit and Run: "The Clinton/Obama Benghazi Scapegoating of Free Speech Continues to Hide in Plain Sight - House Select Committee report reinforces what we already knew: In moments of danger and stress, the Democratic elite will respond to violence with censorship."

But there's hope! - Hot Air: "One college rejects free speech zones and safe spaces."  Suck it up, buttercups.

Quid pro quo

Why is this not a bigger story?  Oh, right, the media is protecting the Queen.  Hot Air: "Donor promised to make Clinton ‘look good’ if appointed to international security board."

Just to recap: this guy who had no business on a State department security council gave a ton of money to the Clinton Foundation and - voila! - he's on the council.  Then the very moment that ABC News starts asking question, the guy tenders his resignation.

Because Bernie Sanders is considered a serious contender

Hey, he could still win the Democratic nomination after Hillary's inevitable indictment.  So it's worth noting where the Socialist creed leads: privation and starvation.

Forbes: "Congratulations To Bolivarian Socialism - Venezuela Now Faces Imminent Famine."

Venezuela has been held up for years as a glorious example of what socialism could do for a country. And of course now we can still hold up Venezuela as a glorious example of what socialism can do for a country. Which is, if current reports are to be believed, manage to create actual famine in a middle income country. It’s really a quite extraordinary result for any economic policy at all, to be able to manage that.

Quite the turn of events for a founding member of OPEC.

A while ago, I saw an online question (maybe it was "Ask Reddit") asking "What three books would you give to somebody who disagrees with you to change their mind?"  One of my choices would be Joshua Muravchik's "Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism."  As Muravchik notes in various examples, even among "true believers" that want to see the socialist dream made into reality, there's no way to make it work.  At the best, there is frustration and failure.  At its worst, there is mass famine.

But, hey, let's all talk about Brexit.  Wheee!

Who's next?

Fox News: "Germany fears Brexit could trigger domino effect, leading other nations to exit EU."

The other side of the Brexit story

I stumbled across this really good explanation by an (apparent) Brit explaining how the Leave campaign interpreted their mistreatment by the EU.

Extra fun - Frexit, Itexit, and Nexit are boring.  These are better: "Campaign names of other countries leaving the EU."

Always about the money

Power Line: "Report: Clinton's State Department calendar hid meetings with big donors."

The Big Brexit

Zero Hedge has the running results and - oh boy - it's going to be a nailbiter.  Some bellwether cities have reported results and they are leaning towards "Leave" which has sent the British Pound into a tailspin.

Extra - Did this guy singlehandedly make the case for Brexit?  I think so!

Immigration policy blocked by Supreme Court

In this story, I'm with Ace:

Four liberals voting in lockstep, yet again.

Doesn't matter what the issue is -- they're not voting on the law. They're just supporting their socialist team.

The crux of the case was that the executive branch's "enforcement discretion" did not allow the White House to hand out work permits; that is something only Congress can enact.  But Captain YOLO - who once told crowds (correctly) he couldn't take this action without legislation - went ahead with his phone and pen.

I would have liked to read the opinions of the judges, revealing their Constitutional basis for siding with this executive overreach.  But, alas, we were only given a one-sentence ruling.  Oh well.

The conspiracy to keep you poor

The government needs money, so if there are businesses that expand consumer freedom but reduce government income - well, that thing must be destroyed.

We're in the best of hands

Sometimes I read the news and say: "This can't possibly be true."  But it is.  Patterico: "AG Lynch: Well, Yes, Omar Mateen’s Wife Disappeared Right Out From Under Our Nose."

State Department disables email security for the Queen

Unbelievable.  Associated Press: "Emails: State Dept. scrambled on trouble on Clinton's server."

State Department staffers wrestled for weeks in December 2010 over a serious technical problem that affected emails from then-Secretary Hillary Clinton's home email server, causing them to temporarily disable security features on the government's own systems, according to emails released Wednesday.
The emails were released under court order Wednesday to the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch, which has sued the State Department over access to public records related to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's service as the nation's top diplomat between 2009 and 2013.
The emails, reviewed by The Associated Press, show that State Department technical staff disabled software on their systems intended to block phishing emails that could deliver dangerous viruses. They were trying urgently to resolve delivery problems with emails sent from Clinton's private server.

And then, a couple of weeks after the State Department scramble, with security disabled - surprise! - the Clinton server was hit by a hack attack.  Not to worry: there's no "evidence" the hack was successful...or a failure, either.

Extra - Red State: "For the convenience on one elderly harridan, the entire email system of the State Department was made more vulnerable to foreign penetration."

It'd be a shame if something happened to your business

Kimberly Strassel in the WSJ: "The Speech Intimidation Game - The left plays rough to shut down conservative ideas—as Visa and Coke learned the hard way."

Justice 1, Justice 0

Story of the day via MassLive: "Air Jordans sale arranged through Facebook turns into robbery."  "Justice McDonald on Monday admitted instead of selling a "customer" some bargain-priced Air Jordans he robbed him in Holyoke."

Justice will be served...on a metal tray at the county jail.

Worst Mad Libs ever

Fox News: "FBI, DOJ release new, full transcript of Orlando shooter's 911 call."

Seriously, who did they think they were fooling?

Save the Constitution

The Federalist: "Do Democrats Care About The Constitution Anymore? It Sure Doesn’t Look Like It"

The Constitution limits power and thus often gets in the way of Left’s notions of equality, redistribution, social reconstruction, and safety. These days, the only two inalienable rights in the founding document are abortion and gay marriage. The rest — self-defense, speech, due process—is all up for debate and modification.

I've titled a lot of posts "The Left hates free speech" because they're very comfortable trying to muzzle free speech, whether through overturning Citizens United or prosecuting Exxon for global warming heresy.  This morning on "Face the Nation", Dianne Feinstein averred that a new gun-control proposal that completely violates due process is kosher because - hey - you can go to an appeals court to have your Constitutional rights restored.

Isn't that nice of our tyrannical overlords?

That's the narrative they're sticking with

Jonah Goldberg has a good article: "Why Can’t the Left Distinguish Conservative Christians from Islamic Terrorists?"  "It desperately wants the Orlando tragedy to fit its pre-existing narrative."

Red flags everywhere

Fox News: "Timeline of terror: Missed warning signs of Orlando radical worry experts."

As officials investigate whether others may have been involved in the attack, which left 49 dead and 53 wounded, lawmakers are trying to find out how the 29-year-old slipped through the cracks.

He was on an FBI watch list twice, reported to authorities by a fearful co-worker, raised alarms at Disney World earlier this year and made a Florida gun shop owner nervous enough to alert police.

The owner of the gun shop called the cops after this guy tried to buy body armor and bulk ammo and nobody in law enforcement said: "hey, this guy has been on our list before."  Nope.  So, as Ace notes, clearly the answer is to restrict Constitutional rights and expand the government - just like always:

This is why I've come to hate gun control laws. These laws are largely buck-passing excuses for lapses by the government. The government, as usual, fails cataclysmically, then begins nattering that it's not its fault it f----ed up for the billionth time; it just needs laws further stripping citizens of more rights, then it'll get its act together. Swearsies.

Just a few dollars more.

Update - Jim Geraghty: "Parade of the red flags."

I have to stop going on vacation

I don't go on extended vacations very often, but when I do, bad things happen.  The last week-long vacation I took, the Boston Bombing occurred.  This time it was Orlando.  I was trying to avoid the news but it was hard when I saw a "Our Hearts are with Orlando" signs in Canada.

Blog on hiatus

I'm taking some time for a personal matter.  Here's a video of a husky who wants a bath:

"Bret, I've been very consistent in my lies about this"

Twitchy: "Tireless fighter Hillary Clinton continues to bob and weave over emails, FBI investigation."

Hill gave an interview to Fox News and - miracle of miracles - Bret Baier finally asked the question I've been waiting to hear for months:

BAIER: "Secretary Clinton, you said you sent or received nothing that was marked classified. But you did sign a nondisclosure agreement, an NDA, in 2009 that said markings don’t matter whether it’s marked or unmarked. Do you remember signing that?"

CLINTON: "No, I do not. But the fact is, nothing that I sent or received was marked classified and nothing has been demonstrated to contradict that.

Here's the thing: the whole "marked classified" is a complete red herring and Baier is correct when he says that security policy is "markings don't matter."  That's exactly the point of the State Department NDA which, of course, Hillary has to claim she didn't sign.  But she did.

Dementia or law-breaking?  You make the call!

Extra - Newsbusters: "Unlike the Networks, FNC’s Bret Baier and CNN’s Anderson Cooper Bring the Heat Against Hillary."

Scratch Al Gore and you'll find a tyrant

Hit and Run: "Free Speech and Climate Change Skepticism: Meet the people who want to throw global warming deniers in jail."

The curse of socialism

Hot Air: "Venezuelan social order collapsing as looting, robbery and murder become the norm."  It's all unraveling now.

More nukes

Watts Up with That: "Scientific American joins the Push for Emission Free Nuclear Power."

Aside from hydroelectric, nuclear is the only reliable power source that produces zero emissions.  In fact, it's a little known fact that nuclear power releases less radioactive material into the atmosphere than coal, which contains trace radioactive isotopes.

Sorry not sorry

I want to touch upon something that drives me crazy about Hillary's response to the email scandal, as well as the media's handling of her rhetoric.  Here she is on Stephanopoulos today:

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you were the only one who had exclusive use of a personal account. Secretary Powell did have a personal e-mail account as well and they were very, very clear.
CLINTON: You know --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Go ahead.
CLINTON: Well, George, I have to tell you that -- that, you know, I -- I will say it was a mistake. I would not do it again. But I think that the rules were not clarified until after I had left and the first secretary of State to use a government email account was John Kerry, some months into his tenure. Those are the facts.

She has said this over and over again: "it was a mistake."  Claiming something was a mistake implies some kind of wrongdoing, some kind of error, on the person confessing the mistake.

But WHAT personal error does Hillary admit to?  None at all.  The problem is that you, America, are over-reacting to this whole subversion of the FOIA and confidentiality protocols.  It's a mistake only in the sense that other people have made it a headache for Hillary.

And nobody in the press ever pins her down on this salient point.  It's maddening.  They prepare the same set list of questions so she can answer them in exactly the same way.

Let's go broke faster

David Stockman: "Obama’s Latest Whopper—-Let’s Raise Social Security Benefits!"

The U.S. has approximately $80 trillion of unfunded liabilities for social security, medicare and other entitlements sitting atop a work force that is rapidly aging and an economy that is lapsing into stasis. Yet in the midst of a campaign diatribe about Donald Trump’s alleged lack of preparation for the highest office in the land, the current White House occupant proved that in nearly eight years he has learned exactly nothing about the nation’s abysmal fiscal plight.

Like the consequences of the Iran nuclear deal, that's a problem for the next guy.

GOAT

MassLive: "Muhammad Ali dead at 74 after years battling Parkinson's."

As Trump would say: "pathetic"

Hot Air: "May jobs report worst in 5 years: Only 38,000 jobs added, labor force declines 458K."

Let me guess: lingering effects of the Great Recession and/or obstructionist Congress.

Extra - Zero Hedge: "The funniest BLS report ever."

Can we talk? Probably not.

Megan McArdle: "Global-Warming Alarmists, You're Doing It Wrong."

I predicted this

I called it.  Must credit Viking Pundit:

In fact, I'm placing 50-50 odds that she'll refuse to testify for the FBI and fall into the perjury trap. 

And now:

Sources: @HillaryClinton lawyer D. Kendall has reminded @FBI Clinton is under NO legal obligation to give interview. #clintonemails

— David Shuster (@DavidShuster) May 31, 2016

Demagoguer-in-chief

Since it's an election year, it's time to scare Grandma.  Bloomberg: "Obama urges Social Security increase in preview of campaign role."

Obama has no specific proposal in mind for a benefits increase, said a White House official who asked for anonymity. Obama didn’t say in his speech how much he wants to raise benefit levels or offer a timetable.

In other words, it's just an election-year ploy to appeal to the Bernie Sanders wing and pander to the seniors.  Social Security is going broke but the secret is to spend more.

It must be so depressing to be a Social Security Trustee.  Every year, you warn Washington that the Trust Funds are going to run dry and every year it's turned into another political football with no solution in sight.