How can we miss you if you won't go away?

Hot Air: "Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox would appreciate it if you stopped calling her that."  Wow, the self-styled martyrdom of this woman has no bottom.  She's the Sandra Fluke of infectious diseases.

Extra - Neo-Neocon: "Hickox really isn’t the ebola nurse; for one thing, she hasn’t demonstrated that much knowledge about the disease. But she just might be the most detested nurse in America right now."

Stuff I just done heard about

Twitchy: "‘Well briefed’ Obama tells Ed Henry ‘I just heard about’ Gruber."

Yeah, I just heard about this stuff.

Obamacare now with sky-high deductibles

Powerline: "If you like your health insurance plan, you must pay more to keep your health insurance plan."  "The IRS defines a high-deductible plan as one with a deductible of $1,300 or more. Many Obamacare plans are better described as stratospheric-deductible plans. And many consumers will be forced to switch to such plans if they wish to keep their premiums roughly the same."

Let's see what the NY Times decided to report in its Saturday edition

All the news fit to hide: "Cost of coverage under affordable care act to increase in 2015."

The Obama administration on Friday unveiled data showing that many Americans with health insurance bought under the Affordable Care Act could face substantial price increases next year — in some cases as much as 20 percent — unless they switch plans.
The data became available just hours before the health insurance marketplace was to open to buyers seeking insurance for 2015.

And just days after the midterm elections because stupid Americans.

Save us, Ron Swanson

Hot Air: "Comet scientist issues teary apology for wearing tacky shirt because that’s life in the Internet age, people."

That'll take the wind out of this guy's sails.  Thinks he's a big shot or something.

What was I watching?

This.

Last night I was watching "The Da Vinci Code" on AMC and it ran from 8pm to 11:30pm.  Three-and-a-half hours!  I need to read more.

He just wanted his detonators

Nancy Pelosi doesn't know any Gruber:

Pelosi's office told the Washington Post that the minority leader meant that she didn't know Gruber personally.
"She said she doesn’t 'know who he is,' not that she’s never heard of him," Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said.

Ohhhhhh.  She never had dinner with him and she certainly had nothing to do with the Nakatomi heist.

Extra - From Gateway Pundit.

Where's your God now, Tom Steyer?

WashPost: "Senate Democrats are weighing plan to approve Keystone — and save Mary Landrieu."  Good luck with that:

Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu's re-election race is truly running out of air: She's responsible for a mere 4 percent of all TV spots in the week-old Louisiana runoff.  Republican challenger Bill Cassidy and his friends paid for 96 percent of the spots that have run so far. 

That might explain why Mary gave Chuck Schumer the cold shoulder.

Another "speak-o" for Gruber

The Corner: "Gruber Backpedals on Obamacare Comments: Spoke ‘Off the Cuff,’ ‘Inappropriately’"

Keith Hennessey: "Dr. Gruber’s honesty about lying."

Why it's almost as if the media completely ignored all the warnings by those Tea Party nutcases, the ones that turned out to be completely true.  Could they be biased?  Say it ain't so!

Extra - Commentary: "Obamacare lies and democracy."

Negative 2%

Daily Caller: "Millennials Struggling To Save Despite Economic Upturn."  Ah, yes, the "upturn."

Older Americans are saving at a rate of between 3 and 13 percent, but Americans under 35 are saving about -2 percent, reported The Wall Street Journal, leaving them exposed to unexpected economic downturns and events.
“They are truly a vulnerable group,” Annamaria Lusardi, an economist at George Washington University told the WSJ. “They don’t have assets to buffer themselves against shocks, and they also have to manage debt.”

But interest rates are low and they'll stay low forever.

Fauxcohontas wants to let you know you're being hammered

Native American Senator Elizabeth Warren has penned an opinion piece for the Washington Post and it's everything you'd expect from the populist do-nothing.  Here's a sampling of her greatest hits:

"families are getting squeezed hard"

"changes needed if families are going to get a shot"

"this government does not work for them"

"The American people want a fighting chance"

"looking for the chance to rig the game just a little more"

"working families just get hammered"

And so on.  All of Washington is rigged to hammer you working families looking for a fighting chance.  When will somebody stand up for these squeezed Americans looking for a fair shot?

Maybe Elizabeth Warren?

14 Sponsored Bills (Ranks 86 of 100) 0 Made Into Law
284 Co-Sponsored Bills (Ranks 18 of 100) 6 Made Into Law

Oh dear.  Here's Politico's story on her one big idea to hammer the Richie Riches to pay for student loans:

The Senate on Wednesday voted not to move forward on a bill from Sen. Elizabeth Warren that would have allowed an estimated 25 million people with older student loans to refinance that debt at current, lower interest rates.

That would be Harry Reid's (until recently) Democrat-controlled Senate, and it's a tacit acknowledgement that Warren's legislation to help people is 100% politics and 0% actual help.

Don't let the facts get in the way of a good Koch brothers grilling

Powerline: "Liberals still not giving up on Keystone."

Those darn obstructionists

Hot Air: "Why the Loretta Lynch nomination is absolutely political."  Lather rinse repeat: "Nothing has changed since Tuesday. Nothing."

NAACP entirely invested in victimhood

Townhall noted that the "non-partisan" national organization committed to "advancement" couldn't bring itself to congratulate the first black Senator from the South since Reconstruction or the first-ever black female Republican.  Instead, the NAACP issued a statement about the 2014 election that warmed over the same unfounded allegations of voter suppression.  Better for fundraising that way.

So many good reaction tweets over at Twitchy, but these two are the best:

NAACP has publicly praised Donald Sterling more times than Mia Love and Tim Scott combined.
— Matthew (@Matthops82) November 6, 2014

The drinking fountain at the NAACP pic.twitter.com/RmYlsEACK0
— TakingHayekSeriously (@FriedrichHayek) November 7, 2014

Heads I win, tails you lose

Here's Chris Cillizza in the WashPost: "Who had the worst week in Washington?  President Obama."

“There’s no doubt that the Republicans had a good night,” he conceded, before pivoting to note that the message voters were sending had nothing to do with him but, rather, was about wanting politicians to get things done.
Except that Obama had said repeatedly during the runup to the vote that his policies were very much part of the election. “Make no mistake: These policies are on the ballot,” he said at Northwestern University in early October. “Every single one of them.”
You don’t get to have it both ways — taking the credit if your side wins and shirking the blame if it loses. Obama said Wednesday that he wouldn’t “read the tea leaves” of the 2014 elections. Of course, he was more than willing to read those same leaves after his 2012 reelection.

You've met Obama right?

Meanwhile here in Massachusetts

I was pretty happy that Charlie Baker won the governor's race here in the Bay State.  Two ballot questions went the way I wanted: eliminating automatic gas tax increases and a "no" on a bottle tax.  But I really wanted Massachusetts voters to repeal the casino law that will place a temple of gambling in Springfield.

Alas, the rest of Massachusetts wanted some easy tax revenues.  The communities around Springfield were not so enthusiastic:

The anti-casino communities include:
A cluster of 17 contiguous towns in Hampshire and Franklin counties, stretching from New Salem in the east to Worthington in the west.

I suppose I should be a good libertarian and let people do what they want, but I just don't think the government should be in the business of casinos.  It creates all kind of perverse, entangling conflicts of interest where the state government will be actively supporting the fleecing of its citizens for a cut of the vig.

Finally, a Keystone vote

Zero Hedge: "Obama May Have To Shut Down Government To Halt The Keystone Pipeline."

Some stats

Legal Insurrection: "Election Day odds and ends."  New York elected the youngest-ever Congresswoman, so that was cool.

Wave-ish

Hot Air: "As I’m writing this, tea partier Paul LePage has been reelected governor in bluish-purple Maine. The only race I can think of offhand where the GOP had a real shot and didn’t capitalize was Scott Brown’s loss in New Hampshire. Otherwise it’s a wipeout."

Did I say "eight is enough?"  At this writing, it looks like nine Senate seats will be the basement.

Here's a comment from earlier today:

Only two races need to be watched: Mia Love in Utah, and Scott Walker in Wisconsin. All others are pendulum.
If a black female Republican wins in Utah, and a Union-busting governor wins in a blue state like Wisconsin, it’s Katie bar the door for Democrat Doom.

Uh-oh.

Thanks, Joe!

Weekly Standard: "Biden Blows Greg Orman's Cover: He 'Will Be With Us'"  Or not.

I'm so happy on this race only because it rejects the Torricelli maneuver.

Eight is enough

I meant to post this earlier but Larry Sabato's analysis of +8 in the Senate for the Republicans is spot on.  The only close race here is Kansas but I think the built-in political structure of the GOP in Kansas will overcome an Independent bid.

Yes, I was wrong about Scott Brown in New Hampshire.  I shook his hand before the special election against Martha Coakley so I have a special place in my heart for the guy.

Extra - I should have known that Brown would lose in New Hampshire but - on the flip side - I should have guessed that Tillis would win in deep-red North Carolina.  And he did!  Nice.

Headline of the year

Business Insider: "Man Immediately Regrets Jumping Onto A Dead Whale Being Eaten By Great White Sharks."  Australia, mate.

The problem with democracy is those dumb voters

The Corner: "The New York Times’ ‘Cancel the Midterms’ Rant Is a Call for Monarchy."  "They don’t want government to be more accountable to the people, because they believe the people are the problem."

What happened to the New York Times?  They have absolutely no values that stay constant, regardless of political bias.  Watch their position on the Senate filibuster swing back again after the midterms.

Extra - Hot Air: "The most depressing thing about it is that it treats the midterms as an unwelcome obstacle to presidential power at a moment when presidential power has arguably never been greater (in peacetime, at least). That’s a Hopenchange view of democracy if ever there was one."

More - Commentary: "Democrats' pitiful premature sour grapes."

There goes Iowa

Politico: "Harry Reid: Senate hinges on Iowa."

Latest poll here.  Poor Bruce Bailey.

Lena Dunham is messed up

I was trying to ignore this story of Dunham's childhood, um, "curiosities" aptly described by Kevin Williamson this way: "There is no non-horrific interpretation of this episode."  But if pre-pubescent exploration can be explained away as a youthful indiscretion, what explains Dunham's need to recount the event in her book?  Has she no shame, or is she really hard up for autobiographical material?

Then, to compound the problem, she takes to Twitter to express outrage that she would be quoted with her own words.  Yes, Lena, it is disgusting but not for the reasons you think.

Disclaimer: I have never seen "Girls."  That might be a "claimer" now that I think of it.

Because foreign policy is going so great

Hot Air: "An Iran nuclear deal will be the ObamaCare of our second term."  "By which he means it’ll be terrible in practice, enacted though dubious procedures, and defended by liberals unto eternity because protecting Obama’s legacy requires them to keep his biggest turds polished to a glossy sheen."

Just one

Fox News: "Holder says ‘subpoena’ to Fox News reporter is his one regret."  My bad, almost destroying your career, infringing on your First Amendment rights, and stuff.

Extra - Business as usual at the DOJ: "FBI Announces Investigation of GOP Senate Candidate Days Before Election."

Frat house foreign policy

We're in the very best of hands: our enemies march overland while this White House insults our only ally in the Middle East.  The Corner: "The Embarassing, Sophomoric Malice of Obama-Administration Foreign Policy":

The Islamic State rampages, Hamas restocks (with the help of American humanitarian aid), Boko Haram kidnaps, the Taliban advance, Russia owns new/old ground in Europe. And amidst the ruin of their foreign policy, the intellectual and emotional infants in the Obama administration hashtag away, mustering up their anger and fury to sling schoolyard insults at a close ally. All while doing their best to defer the hardest fighting against emerging enemies to the Oval Office’s next occupant.

Bravo. You truly have “reset” American foreign policy. You must feel so proud.

Ed Driscoll piles on John Kerry, our erstwhile Secretary of State, who is doing something I-don't-know-what.  As for me, I look at everything through the prism of Obama's enormous ego: the mystery "high official" who called Netanyahu "chickens--t" was probably echoing the opinion of his boss.  Because if things are spiraling out of control, it's not Obama's fault, oh heaven's no.  It must be the Israelites.  Maybe Dubya.

Obama's foreign policy devolved from "don't do stupid shit" to calling world leaders "chickenshit." Two more years of this genius, folks.
— jon gabriel (@exjon) October 29, 2014

Sorry for the language, folks.

Extra - The Federalist: "Obama Administration Finally Identifies The Middle East’s Biggest Problem: Israel."

More - Meanwhile, Turkey is drifting away from the NATO alliance.  This is all the fault of that jerk Erdogan, I suppose.

The mission of the Red Cross

I donate to the Red Cross once in a while so that means I'm bombarded with solicitations.  No more, not after hearing this story on NPR this morning: "Red Cross 'Diverted Assets' During Storms' Aftermath To Focus On Image."  It turns out they were much more concerned about public relations = such as providing a backdrop to any politician in front of a microphone - than actual relief activity.

Extra - From Hot Air.

Berkeley hates free speech

An ongoing series on tolerance: "Berkeley Muslims prove Bill Maher's point."  "What was it that Bill Maher said that got him into hot water with leftwingers and Muslims?  Right — he slammed their intolerance, their illiberalism."

Condi Rice sympathizes,

Down to the wire in New Hampshire

Remember the other day when I predicted Scott Brown was going to pull out the upset win in New Hampshire?

Don't look now....

Best headline since "Foot heads arms body"

Saw this on Imgur:

The most popular comment is: "My mom worked for a local paper. They live for chances like this."  I totally forget where I saw this but there was some documentary about working on a newspaper and a bunch of guys were spitballing headlines.  The situation for the front page was that President Clinton was coming to New York City but was pointedly avoiding a meeting with then-mayor Rudy Giuliani.  There were a bunch of variations on "Slick Willie" but then somebody said "The Brooklyn Dodger" and everybody erupted in a show of admiration for the perfect line.

Today's feel-good story

MassLive: "After 3 miscarriages, Springfield couple has triplets."  Two identical twin boys and a fraternal twin girl.

I like your "Tolerance" bumper sticker

WashPost: "Liberals are more likely to unfriend you over politics - online and off."  So "unfriend" is officially a word now, I guess.

Out of the loop

Charles Krauthammer: "Barack Obama, bewildered bystander."

The hive mind of the mainstream media

Ed Morrissey: "Why a GOP wave election will surprise the media."  The press was positively giddy in 2006 - this sixth-year midterm?  Not so much.

Related - "CNN anchor, liberals give grins and thumbs up to violence against the 'Right' women."

Obama should fire himself

Here's Ron Fournier in the National Journal insisting that Obama should really clean house: "What a real White House shakeup looks like"

For his sake and ours, Obama must fire himself. He needs to recognize that, for all of his strengths as a person and a politician, he's shown an astonishing lack of growth on the job. Obama won't evolve unless he replaces enablers with truth-tellers—advisers unafraid of telling the president he's wrong.

He suggests a new chief of staff: Leon Panetta, who is the only Democrats in Washington willing to state that the emperor has no clothes.

Here in Massachusetts

Shocker from the Boston Globe: "Baker opens up lead over Coakley in new poll."

Republican Charlie Baker has opened up a 9-point lead over Democrat Martha Coakley, 45 percent to 36 percent, according to a new Globe poll that depicts a far more comfortable advantage than either candidate for governor has enjoyed in months.
The poll reflects an October surge in independent voters toward Baker’s column. It was independents who provided Governor Deval Patrick with his margins of victory in 2006 and 2010.

Nine. Points.  I have to comment on the quality of television commercials I've seen: Baker's commercials are "jobs jobs jobs" backed with American flags while Coakley...talks about her brother who had mental illness.  Huh?  The negative ads have been handled mostly by outside groups and virtually every one by the Baker supporters shows Coakley awkwardly guessing that the gas tax in Massachusetts is ten cents (it's actually 24 cents).  This election is coming down to an unlikable Democrat against an appealing alternative.

And since I'm already on that theme, this is why I think Scott Brown is going to win in New Hampshire.  The polls there are extremely tight and, just like Coakley, I don't think there's a wellspring of support for Jeanne Shaheen.  If it comes down to turnout, Brown's going to overcome a 1-2% deficit.  IIRC independents broke heavily for Brown in his special election for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat so maybe lightning will strike twice.

IQ Tunes

Consequence of Sound: "Smart people listen to Radiohead and dumb people listen to Beyoncé, according to study."

Ebola in NYC

Well that's just peachy: an infectious disease in the nation's most populous city.  Ron Klain will be here any moment to tell us there's nothing to worry about.  This man is a doctor and: "Apparently it didn’t worry Spencer enough to self-isolate during the potential incubation period, which raises a whole lot of questions about the CDC’s latest approach to dealing with travelers from western Africa."

No money down

Hit & Run: "Insanity Defined: Feds Unveil Plan to Help High-Risk Homebuyers Take On Massive Debt. Again."

Won't you come home, Bruce Bailey?

Democrats are starting to get wise: ""The ineptitude of the White House political operation has sunk from annoying to embarrassing," said one Democratic Senate strategist."

Extra - Commentary: "Obama's gift to Republicans."  Keep talkin' chief.

Of course you can keep your insurance as long as it's Medicaid

The original story is behind a paywall but White House Dossier excerpts a surgeon: "Obamacare dumping patients into Medicaid."

Oh no, reconciliation!

Hot Air: "Scary news from MoveOn: If Republicans win the Senate, they might use a dubious procedure known as “reconciliation”.  "Turns out history for the left didn’t begin on January 20, 2009 but rather in April 2010 or thereabouts."

Checking that box

Ron Fournier in National Journal: "Naked Politics: The Ebola Czar Has No Clothes."

1. We shouldn't need an Ebola czar.
2. We already put somebody in charge of corralling federal bureaucracies and coordinating local responses to national emergencies. His name is Barack Obama.

Look, man, he's very busy today.

Extra - Minuteman: "My advice to Team Obama - encourage the Big Guy to take a look around. If he sees a playing field and thousands of screaming fans then he is probably in a luxury skybox somewhere and yes, he is free to cheer and boo like any other spectator. But if he sees a famous desk and slightly curved walls, then he is probably in the Oval Office and might want to remember that he is Chief Executive of the United States and is notionally responsible for the many bureaucracies he purportedly leads."

More - Powerline: "NY Times says: Obama is angry at Administration's incompetence!"  Yes it's the "I'm so mad!" stage of crisis management.

The headline says it all

Obamacare in the New York Times (!!!): "Unable to meet the deductible or the doctor."  Otherwise, what a great program.  That's why nearly twice as many Americans say they've been harmed by Obamacare than helped.

It's OK: we can just print more money

Reason Online: "How much will Obamacare cost?  Bet on 'more than expected'."  With graphic graphics included.

Two Jeremys from Gotham City

Why does everybody want to talk about the Batman?  Geez.

Dr Pepper was unavailable

Doug Ross: "Top 10 #BetterEbolaCzars".

Onward low-wage soldiers!

Hit and Run: "Socialists Push For $20 Minimum Wage But Won’t Pay Workers That Much."

Setting the standard for blame

Patterico: "Is it unfair to criticize Obama over Ebola?"  Well, Senator Obama certainly didn't think so.  "Having sowed the wind ... I can’t say I’m going to be too disturbed if partisan hacks like Obama reap the whirlwind."

Joe Biden's son discharged from Navy after claiming to play high school football

Or something like that.

Eleven days later

Ace: "Obamacare Website Won't Reveal New, Higher Premiums -- Until After the Election, Of Course."

I think Republicans should take a page from the playbook of alleged pederast Harry Reid: just say loudly and repeatedly that Obamacare premiums are going to go up 30%.  It's not true?  Who cares: it's truthy enough and there's an election to win.

Thanks for the weekend, Henry Ford

Interesting post at The Truth About Cars: "Henry Ford Paid His Workers $5 a Day So They Wouldn’t Quit, Not So They Could Afford Model Ts."

While Henry Ford may be unfairly credited with inventing the assembly line, he usually doesn't get any credit for an innovation of his that has made the lives of working men and women much more pleasant, the weekend. Having the weekend off from work is conventionally attributed to organized labor. The labor movement has given workers a lot of things, but not the weekend. That, too, was Henry Ford’s innovation.

So he could run his assembly line 24/7/365.

Present and future value

Marginal Revolution: "How to discount pensions" reviews how the Dutch calculate their pension obligations.  "But all economists now agree. The expected-return approach is a huge economic offense, hurting younger generations.”

Simply put, when future pension payouts are projected to fall short, the pension operator (such as CALPers) is supposed to increase the required contribution percentage.  But they hate to do this because it always causes a huge political backlash.  So instead they just say: "Hey, we project the fund will grow by 20% a year forever" and problem solved...until the future generations come looking for their "guaranteed" pension.

I'm pretty sure lifting another player for a slam dunk is illegal

Did I say illegal?  I meant awesome:



Via Hot Air.

Guess the country

Via Maggie's Farm, a tale of desperate times:

There is “an anti-work mentality, absurd fiscal pressure, a lack of promotion prospects, and the burden of debt hanging over future generations,” [said the government commission chair].
...
“Young people feel stuck, and they want interesting jobs. Businessmen say the labour code is complex and they’re taxed even before they start working. Pensioners can also pay less tax abroad,” she says.

Anyway, the country is France.  On that last point, though, I've noticed that Belize - we speak English! - has been advertising on television, urging retirees to have their Social Security checks forwarded to their white sand beach houses,

Murder, south of the border

At my last job, I used to write technical paper for conferences, which was a great way to travel.  One conference was in Mexico and I steadfastly refused to go - with good reason.  Good Lord.

Where's the love?

Gallup: "More Still Say Health Law Has Hurt Instead of Helped Them - Nearly half in U.S. say ACA will make healthcare worse in long run."

Film review: "Divergent" - Stereotypes on steroids

I saw this movie last night and at first I'm like "meh" but the more I thought about it, the worse it became.

In a dystopian future Chicago, everybody is separated into five factions.  The "Amity" faction are a bunch of hippy-dippy farmers, possibly sampling too much of their crop.  The "Candor" faction "always tells the truth" which amounts to be that rude douchebag who says: "Yes, that dress does make you look fat."

But the main story is the conflict between "Erudite," "Dauntless" and "Abnegation."  Make no mistake: the "Abnegation" faction which chooses a simple lifestyle and helps the poor (i.e. "Factionless") is the hero of the story.  This faction runs the government but here comes "Erudite" - the brains of society - to take over.  Because that's what the smart overclass does.  Thanks Citizens United!

But wait: how can these pencil-pushing poindexters take over the government?  Well, they take control of the "Dauntless" faction by literally turning them into mindless drones.  Maybe I'm overreacting but this struck me as a calumny against the military as a whole.

The movie is full of insults to the intelligence, large and small.  There is one annoying character who exists only to bad-mouth the protagonist (Tris); we get it, dude, you're here to introduce conflict.  The Abnegation father, who has clearly never touched a gun in his life, turns into shotgun-pumping Rambo.  The movie closes with our heroes "riding the train to the end" which means something, I don't know what.

The inevitable crisis

This article by WashPost's editorial page editor Fred Hiatt is almost too good to excerpt.  We have an entitlement crisis growing and this President, despite his stated promises, is determined to ignore them: "Obama's false victory over the deficit."

In other words, when it comes to entitlement reform, as far as this administration is concerned: mission accomplished.
Which is fair enough, if your horizon is Jan. 20, 2017.
Anyone looking beyond that date should be alarmed at the satisfaction Obama proclaims despite the prospect of ever-rising government debt. What’s most astounding about his flip-flop on entitlement reform is that the biggest victim will be the progressive causes he claims to cherish.

I've been saying this forever: the debt load will squeeze out all the things we call the "government":

Federal debt has reached 74 percent of the economy’s annual output (GDP), “a higher percentage than at any point in U.S. history except a brief period around World War II,” the CBO says, “and almost twice the percentage at the end of 2008.” With no change in policy, that percentage will hold steady or decline a bit for a couple of years and then start rising again, to a dangerous 78 percent by 2024 and an insupportable 106 percent by 2039.
As a result, by 2039 the government will be shelling out interest payments equal to 4.5 percent of GDP, more than twice the average share of the past 40 years.
Meanwhile, with the population aging and costs still rising, payments for Social Security and health programs including Medicare and Obamacare also will soar, the CBO estimates. By 2039 those programs will consume 14 percent of GDP, again double the average of the past 40 years. That’s taking into account the good news that Podesta heralded in his tweet.
Put those together and the government will be spending on entitlement programs and interest alone just about what it spends today on the entire budget. Everything else — schools, pre-K, Pell grants, national parks, mass transit, housing subsidies — will get squeezed, or taxes will soar, or both.

I fear that Americans are so enamored with the road to serfdom, they'll fail to see the danger of government that exists only to tax and send that money to retirees and banks.  At 100% debt-to-GDP, there's virtually no flexibility for a government to respond to major disruptions like the TARP bailout and we become a slave to our creditors.  This was how Eisenhower broke the will of the Brits in the Suez Crisis.  It's not so hard to see how a showdown over Hong Kong or Taiwan would take shape when China floats taking payment on $1 trillion in U.S. bonds.

But, hey, we'll have Obamacare.  Which is nice.

RFK Jr.: Shut up or it's jail for you

Powerline: "Little Bobby, now in full backtracking mode."  Why he never, ever, said he we should throw "denialists" in jail and throw away the key.

Kinda funny and awful

Buzzfeed: "“Modern Family” Editor Live-Tweets Every Passenger’s Worst Nightmare."  It was a drunk woman on a plane being loud and drunk.

I don't travel as much by plane as I used to but, especially after 9/11, it was always my fear that the flight would be grounded due to the airline's hair-trigger response to jerks like this.

Norway says "nei takk" to the Olympics

Thank you Google Translate!  Anyway, Norway heeded the will of the people and pulled Oslo out of contention for the 2022 Winter Olympics, leaving only China and Kazakhstan in the running.  It seems the Norwegians didn't want the headache and recoiled at some of the IOC's outlandish demands.

Democrats hate free speech: the proof

It's been my long-standing position that Democrats hate the First Amendment and now I have the data.  Hot Air: "Poll 51% of Democrats support criminalizing hate speech."  As long as they can define hate speech, the Dems are ready to censor.

By a 2-1 margin, both Republicans and Independents oppose hate crime laws but by well over a 2-1 margin, Democrats say "shut the hell up".  Because Gaia, racist.

Another article proving it's impossible to talk about Social Security

News flash everybody: there are Republicans out there in the American heartland who are suggesting that all may not be well in Social Security land - just like the program's Trustees:

Neither Medicare nor Social Security can sustain projected long-run program costs in full under currently scheduled financing, and legislative changes are necessary to avoid disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers.

Crazy talk! sez the New York Times (natch) columnist Gail Collins who has decided it's all a diabolical plot to throw Grandma from the gravy train:

By the way, Social Security is not going bankrupt. In 2033, incoming payroll taxes will no longer be enough to pay for all the benefits. But they’ll still cover about 75 percent of the payments and we could take care of the rest of the problem with a few tweaks — like getting rid of the cap on Social Security taxes. (Currently, all income over $117,000 is exempt from the payroll tax.)

There you go Generation X: you may have an Excel spreadsheet with estimated benefits from Social Security when you retire in 2033 but it's going to be 25% less than you calculated.  Geez, what's the big deal?  Besides, we can just soak those Richie-Riches.

Or can we?  The handshake agreement of Social Security is that it is a universal benefit and everybody gets back a benefit proportional to what was put in.  Raising the income cap means that people like Bill Gates would receive million-dollar Social Security benefit checks every month.  FDR didn't want Social Security to be a welfare program and that's why the income cap exists: the maximum in taxes also caps the maximum benefit.

This important distinction is lost on 98% of the commenters on the NYT opinion page, who are in full torch-and-pitchfork mode.  We shouldn't expect anything different from the paper that puts populist rhetoric above all.

Youths of an indeterminate race and/or religion

Charles C.W. Cooke: "All the facts fit to delete - When the truth is too objectionable to print."

A while ago I read an article about how newspapers would report the last meal to condemned prisoners.  It was the kind of minutiae that readers wanted to know and the media provided the information.  Now I guess it's considered somehow objectionable to know that Timothy McVeigh ate two pints of mint and chocolate chip ice cream before they slipped the needle in.  The media made the decision that's not "news."

Now details are expunged from the public record if they fail to fit a mold on the newsroom floor.  Is it any wonder that the public's faith in the American media is at an all-time low?

Well, except for Fox News.

Extra - From Hot Air.

What day is this? Tuesday?

My kid's in the hospital recovering from a pneumothorax due to - I'm not making this up - practicing his trombone too much.  It's going as well as could be expected.

Speak with candor

Roger Kimball: "The fate of free speech."  "What are the major threats to free speech today? Perhaps the overarching condition that threatens free speech is the spread of political correctness. This has sharply curtailed candor about all manner of contentious subjects.  It is no longer possible, in polite society, to speak frankly about race, about differences between the sexes, or a hundred other topics — so-called “climate change,” for example, or the relationship between Islam and free speech."

Backward caps everywhere

We were in Amherst tonight for dinner, unaware that it was homecoming at the University of Massachusetts.  (The football team lost again to go 0-5 on the season.)  I immediately thought of this Simpsons episode:

Thai Man: You quitter!  [sing-song:] Quitter boy!  Quitter boy!
Bart:     I'm sorry.
Thai Man: Now restaurant fail.  Children go to state college.  Serious
          students powerless against drunken jockocracy.  Baseball hats
          everywhere.

And the language...the Algonquin Round Table it was not.  Even with little kids within earshot, you'd think there was only one adjective in the whole world.

BAM! You're getting an IRS audit

PJ Tatler: "Famed Chef Emeril Lagasse Says Obama May Drive Him Broke."

Because war on women

Ace has a recap on the actions of Kathy Rummler whose name has been floated as a potential replacement for Eric Holder: "Surprise! Name Floated as Possible Holder Replacement Has Prior History of Slow-Walking Information."  Just like Holder, Rummler acted as a "heat shield" to the Boy President who had to find about stuff on TV.

I believe the Rummler whispers.  Some think that Holder is making a fast and furious exit so that the Democratic Senate can make an appointment before that chamber flips to the Republicans.  But I think it's just the latest chapter in the "war on woman" narrative.  Cause she's a woman and those old men are going to attack her.  So prediction time: Obama will nominate a woman.

American deadbeat

Zero Hedge: "Meet the world's largest subprime debtor."  "Do you have a friend who consistently borrows 30% of his income each year, is currently in debt about six times her annual income, and wanted to take advantage of short-term interest rates so that he needs to renegotiate with his banker about once every six years? Well, if Uncle Sam is your friend you do!"

Ladies and gentlemen, the paper of record

Neo-Neocon: "The surprise is not that the Times got it so wrong...the surprise is that it ever issued the correction."

This correction from the NY Times comes only a day after an AP reporter dropped the mask on Twitter and a week after it was demonstrated that the media is burying Obama's bad poll numbers like they never did for Dubya.

This raises a question about the media: are they actively lying or merely ignorant?  Is the bubble on Eighth Avenue so impenetrable that it took ten days for the Times to correct a clearly erroneous statement?  Or was there a debate in the Times' newsroom as to whether admitting the mistake would encourage the "wrong" people?

What separates a writer from a "journalist?"  I would guess the perfessers at Columbia would say something about objectivity or the ability to present facts without bias - apparently too much to ask.  Because the Tea Party and Sarah Palin.

The underachievers of the Kennedy clan

Now that winter is approaching, Joe Kennedy will be running commercials in Massachusetts whoring himself out to Venezuela for cheap oil.  At least he's doing something that can be considered constructive (if you're willing to sell out).  Then there's environmental wacko Robert Kennedy Jr., a deluded half-wit who - in the well-worn habit of the Far Left - wants to throw climate deniers in jail:

Kennedy saved his most venomous comments for the Koch Brothers, accusing them of “treason” for “polluting our atmosphere.”
“I think it’s treason. Do I think the Koch Brothers are treasonous, yes I do,” Kennedy explained.
“They are enjoying making themselves billionaires by impoverishing the rest of us. Do I think they should be in jail, I think they should be enjoying three hots and a cot at the Hague with all the other war criminals,” Kennedy declared.

Clearly, this is a man of rational thought.

Extra - Via Maggie's Farm and Power Line.

You had one job

This WashPost article is unintentionally hilarious: "Secret Service reviews White House security after fence-jumper enters mansion."

The Secret Service on Saturday launched a security review to learn how a man carrying a knife was able to get inside the front door of the White House Friday night after jumping a fence and sprinting more than 70 yards across the North Lawn — the first time that has ever happened.

Conclusion of security review: the Secret Service sucks.  Everybody start counterfeiting: nobody's on guard.

Side note: jumping a fence + 70 yards!  Unless this was Usain Bolt, this was an embarrassingly long time to respond to an intruder.

Another viewpoint

Hit and Run: "3 reasons to NOT fight ISIS."

I don't know: maybe they're a JV team after all but they're a JV team pulling in over $1 million a day in boosted oil.  With that kind of inflow, they'll be major league soon enough.

I had a rough week

I *heart* you red wine.

The wrong medicine

Hit and Run: "America's Self-Inflicted Economic Wounds -  "But it's a lousy recovery, and one that most people find unconvincing as hell. Whatever else the sort-of recovery, not really recession may be, it's strong evidence of self-inflicted economic wounds. America may be limping along, but we did it to ourselves."

Stone of Destiny

It's funny but just a couple months ago, on a whim, I rented "Stone of Destiny" from Netflix about a group of Scottish college students who boosted the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey in 1951.  I have a funny feeling that Scots are going to vote for independence tomorrow.  Why?  Because the pro-independence Scots are full of passion while the pro-Unity are just holding on to the familiar.

Extra - Seems like there's a lot of "yes" voters here on Reddit.

A heartbeat away

Hot Air: "Joe Biden: Jewish outreach edition" calls bankers a bunch of Shylocks.

Jesse Jackson empathizes.

This will not end well

Zero Hedge: "The U.S. National Debt Has Grown By More Than A Trillion Dollars In The Last 12 Months".  "We continue to wildly run up debt as if there is no tomorrow, and by doing so we are destroying the future of this nation."

I remember in the mid-eighties when kids at college were taking Japanese lessons because Japan was going to surpass the United States as the next global powerhouse.  Now Japan has a national debt over 200% of its GDP over two decades of stagnation with no plan to reverse the downward spiral.

Quotes for today

Joe Louis: "Everyone has a plan until they've been hit."

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder: "No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy."

Then there's this guy:

Asked by one of the columnists what he would do if his strategy did not work and he had to escalate further, Mr. Obama rejected the premise. “I’m not going to anticipate failure at this point,” he said.

Finally, here's Gabriel Malor: "Contest: Which quote best sums up Obama's ridiculous presidency?"

We're not at war

Fox News: "Obama repeats US mission on defeating Islamic State but avoids the word 'war’"



Extra - From Vodkapundit.

From TRS-80 to chapter 11

Quartz: "The slow, sad decline of RadioShack, one of the great brands of the ’80s."

You know what's part of the problem?  Nobody knows what a "radio" or a "shack" is.

That's not what Scarlett Johansson told me on our date last night

Time: "Less than 5 hours of sleep leads to false memories."

The court jester

Powerline on that tireless ass-kisser E.J. Dionne: "Being a courtier must be tough: you have to be really dumb, or else pretend to be."

So many feels

Here's a story about cadaver dogs searching, in vain, for survivors after 9/11.  The dogs kept returning to cadavers they were supposed to ignore because it was so depressing not finding anybody alive:

Finding those live victims is really important to a dog like Moxie. To keep her spirits up, to keep her focused, Aliberti took the time to find ways to reward her.
He would often ask other firefighters to hide among the rubble, so Moxie could find somebody.
“That’ll bolster them, get them up and running again,” Aliberti explained. “You have to do that after a while because it’s long days.”

....

The speech in a nutshell

States Islamic State is neither Islamic nor a state.
Broad coalition of 9 NATO countries.
I'm not going to make the mistake of asking Congress for authority like a year ago.
Ain't this economy great?

Expiration date achieved

Every Obama statement has an expiration date.

Then:

In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress? (Specifically, what about the strategic bombing of suspected nuclear sites -- a situation that does not involve stopping an IMMINENT threat?) 

"The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

Now: "Obama says he does not need Congress to wage war on ISIS."

Extra - Hit & Run: "Obama's grotesque flip-flops on Congressional authorization for war."

The objective media remembers something

Now that the One has gotten through re-election by lying about and delaying Obamacare, well lookie here: "NYT Baghdad bureau chief: The White House lied to Americans for years about what bad shape Iraq was in."  If only there was somebody from the media stationed in Baghdad who could report these things.

Related - Bad polls?  What bad polls?

Semi-retired President set to say some stuff

White House Dossier: "Why watch Obama at all?"

Everyone knows President Obama’s speech Wednesday night will include few if any details about how we are going to go about defeating ISIS. Because President Obama has few if any details himself.
CBS reporter Major Garrett asked White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest today why, then, anyone should tune in:
GARRETT: If I’ve listened to you correctly today, you said the president will tell the country that there’ll be no ground troops involved, there’ll be no tactical operational details, no timeline for victory, no cost associated with the pursuit of victory. Why should anyone watch?

Well, certainly the Commander-in-Chief should explain to a nation why he's sending troops into battle.  The problem is that I've seen this show before and, as usual, it will be all about the One answering his critics.

There will be the standard "some people say boots on the ground" while others say "no war!" but he's in the pragmatic middle.  And something like [the opposite of Obama's policy] is "not what America is about."  Also, something about a responsibility to act with help from the "international community."

This morning I heard on NPR that after seizing Mosul, the Islamic State is making $1 to $3 million a day smuggling oil.  They are selling the stolen crude for $25/barrel, about a quarter of the going rate.  It's useless to talk about financial pressures when warlords from Syria to Iran are getting fabulously rich and ISIL is accumulating bullet money.  I'd really like to hear a plan to choke off this money flow which would do more to weaken ISIL than a hundred drone strikes.

The Left hates free speech

This is an ongoing theme here on this blog that the political Left hates any kind of dissent whether it's climate change or reproductive rights or any range of topics.

I think Ann Althouse has it right: "Because they don't know how to talk about the substantive merits when they are challenged."  So now we're going to go through this kabuki theater of a Constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United to fire up the base, nothing more.

Freedom of Press is a sacred right for the NY Times, LA Times, and Mother Jones.  Fox News, however, must be destroyed.

Extra - Legal Insurrection: "Senate Democrats renew push to gut free speech."

More - Hit & Run: "If it did pass, this amendment would mark the second time in U.S. history that Americans decided the Constitution should be changed to restrict people's freedom."

Off the 30-inch stick and into the camp fire

Kinda funny: "GOP Leader McCarthy to Forest Service: Don’t tell me how to make a s’more."  I like the Forest Service suggestion to use a roasting stick at least 30 inches in length.

Friday night news dump

Hot Air: "IRS: Lerner adviser, two in Cincinnati office among five more employees who lost e-mails."

Of course, the email servers may have the missing emails but, you know, Steve has the key to the room and he gets kind of testy before his morning coffee.  So we'll check back later.

Fast food protesters in Boston almost hit double digits

I heard the story on NPR this afternoon that a sum total of eight actual fast-food workers demonstrated for a $15 minimum wage in Boston today, surrounded by a hundred professional protesters from the SEIU.  The Springfield Republican paints the scene:

The protesters initially sat in in the middle of Washington Street in Downtown Crossing looking for police to arrest them.
When it became apparent that they would not be arrested by police the protesters moved to the intersection of Congress and State streets in the Financial District where they were arrested in an orderly manner within 15 minutes of their arrival.
Before his arrest, Wendelly Innocent, 18, a Dunkin Donuts employee, said that fast workers were willing to do whatever it takes to improve their situation.
"We just want to get $15 an hour and a union," said Innocent.

"Willing to do whatever it takes."  Uh-huh.

Extra - Enjoy your $8 Big Mac.

Scratch that tat

Marginal Revolution: "What does a tattoo signal?"  For ex-cons, it's "see you soon."

Another "Fact Check" bites the dust

Remember when both Politifact and the Fact Checker were both doing their worst to make sure Americans need not believe their lying eyes when it comes to Obamacare?  Let's flashback to Glenn Kessler's Fact Checker of Sept. 2012: "The bogus claim that Obama skips his intelligence briefings."  Why?  Because instead of sitting down with a CIA briefer, Obama swears to heaven he's reading the PDB.

This led to a rebuttal by Kessler's WashPost colleague Marc Thiessen: "A bogus defense of Obama's intelligence briefing record."

Now the news is out that Obama received extensive briefings on the threat of ISIS, long before he waved them away as "JV".  Did Obama have a long conversation with his National Security Team before overruling them with regard to pro-active measures?  Or, as Ace suspects, did he just not read the briefings:

Incidentally, read further in the article and you'll see that the President never asked for additional information about IS. He read the daily briefings (or the White House claims he did, at least), but apparently had no further questions he wanted to ask anyone about.
You know, the way curious, intellectually-lively people never ask questions about important and interesting things.

It makes the "no strategy" gaffe easier to believe when there's no strategy.

Venezuela needs oil

VodkaPundit notes that Venezuela needs to import light crude to mix with their heavier stuff in "Socialism's timeless endgame."  That is, running out of other people's money.

Use yah blinkah because you're a bad drivah

Popular Mechanics: "Massachusetts Has the Worst Drivers. Duh."

I grew up and got my driver's license in New Jersey but had to re-take the test when I moved to Massachusetts.  I always tell people that the written test in MA is laughable: ten multiple-choice questions and you need to get 70% to pass.  I always remember on my test there was the question: "Smoking marijuana will 1) impair, 2) enhance, 3) make no difference to your ability to drive."  I picked "impair."