Not a smidgen of corruption

Via Twitchy, this is an actual email from IRS saboteur Lois Lerner: "‘No one will ever believe’ two hard drives ‘crashed’ within a week."  Eric Holder just called to say: "Sounds plausible to me!"

Show them the money

This is a good overview: "The Clinton Foundation Scandals, Explained - Everything you need to know about the shady dealings of the Clinton family's global corporate charity conglomerate."

Is it normal to be so rich, yet so obsessed with money?
It’s not unusual, but yeah, this is pretty absurd.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing: is this a psychological defect with the Clintons?  I know that Bill came from humble beginnings and maybe there's this urge for the security of financial means.  But the cash-grabbing of the Clinton Foundation is over-the-top.  Here's a tidbit from Powerline: "Will the Clintons' greed do them in?"

Moreover, there is reason to suspect that the Clinton Foundation has served as a slush fund to finance the Clintons’ private enjoyments. The New York Post reported in 2013 that the Clinton Foundation had spent more than $50 million on travel expenses since 2003. Think about that: $50 million! That would cover a lot of the globe-trotting for which the Clintons are famous.

Look, I realize this includes a staff and some far-flung locales, but $50 million?  C'mon.  I'm sure Hillary justifies it with the same mindset as the "woe-is-me we were dead broke" statement.

ICYMI - Cha-ching!  $300,000 payday on Tuesday talking to Silicon Valley corporations.  Nice work if you can get it.

The Court rules for Sam I Am

This is kinda funny: "Dr. Seuss comes to the Supreme Court"

Today’s dissent by Justice Kagan in fish isn’t a “tangible object” case has the first Dr. Seuss citation in U.S. Supreme Court history.

The citation in question was "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish."

Politifact turns into Politi-fiction

Last week, Hot Air reported: "PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year of 2014 falls apart only two months later."

Today, Kevin Williamson recounts how Politifact beclowned itself by 1) suspending basic journalistic fact-checking to 2) reflexively defend Obamacare while 3) getting everything wrong.

I'll Cu later about this copper

I laughed old-style at this.

Sic semper tyrannis

Robert Reich is upset that "we're all becoming independent contractors."  He really doesn't like Uber because people use their free will to enter into an agreement to give rides to other people and make money using their own cars.  He would prefer if all Americans follow the General Motors model of generous benefits punctuated by periodic bankruptcies.

Clearly, such a change to labor laws compelling corporations to do away with independent contractors should be vetted in the appropriate Congressional committees, debated in the House and Senate, then passed on to the President for approval.

Ha-ha, just kidding:

Congress doesn't have to pass a new law to make this the test of employment. Federal agencies such as the Labor Department and the IRS have the power to do this on their own, through their rule making authority.
They should do so. Now.

For your own good, peasants.  Your Uber ride to the airport is now $230.

Six more years ought to do it

Fox News: "Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill."  Because the State department is still thinking about it:

Jobless jihadis

Ace of Spades: "Investigation of Australia's Home-Grown IS Fighters Reveals That 96% Were On Welfare Before Joining the Jihad."

And on the other end of the spectrum, Osama Bin Laden came from one of the wealthiest families in Saudi Arabia.

Protecting the homeland

Occasional crossword-puzzle clue Jeh Johnson will be on all the news shows this morning to warn that furloughing 30,000 out of 230,000 Homeland Security workers will let ISIS through the border.  Here's Mark Steyn:

I opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security on the basic Thatcherite principle that if you create a government bureaucracy in order to deal with a problem you'll never be rid of the problem. But I underestimated the creativity of our rulers: The DHS was set up because 19 Muslims flew planes into skyscrapers and killed thousands of people. Thirteen years later, the head of the DHS thinks his department's priority should be to "give voice to the plight of Muslims" who have the misfortune to live in America.

I don't want to see another partial shutdown but I understand holding back funding for an immigration policy that a federal judge has now deemed unconstitutional.

Incompressible

Cool video via Maggie's Farm.  I guessed five.

Obama's one great love

I've been trying to stay away from Obama Derangement Syndrome but feel the need to address the whole controversy as to whether Obama loves America.  I'm sure he does but I know Obama loves Obama more.  And when it's time to pump up Obama, Obama spares no effort.

Jim Geraghty has it spot on right here:

Every Obama speech has a villain, and that villain is often other Americans who disagree with the president. He doesn’t hesitate to paint a very dark picture of the country he leads: citizens who are xenophobic and paranoid about Muslims, abusive police forces unfairly focusing on Muslim communities, a public eager to forcibly deport good Americans who just want to serve their country, and lawmakers determined to deny good education to children.

Maybe Giuliani’s language is a bit overwrought or hyperbolic, but is it really that much overwrought or hyperbolic than Obama’s description of Americans who disagree with his policies? And if Obama consistently describes so many Americans as so prejudiced and mean-spirited… is Guiliani’s conclusion really that outlandish?

Thus, in the recent summit on Islamic extremism in which the main goal for Obama was to repeat that "we are not at war with Islam."  You'd be hard pressed to recount an actual short-term plan against extremism beyond "fight 'em on Twitter."  But the summit served the important purpose of allowing Obama to obliquely criticize all those villainous bigots and, more importantly, testify to Obama's virtuous tolerance.  What a great guy.

The Big Me was at it again on Friday at a DNC meeting.  It's not enough to offer "hope and change" and talk about strategy for the future.  It's just another opportunity to paint the Republicans as forces of darkness who have no motivation except malice in their hearts.  Who is standing tall against these malefactors?  Obama.

Why does Obama bad-mouth America?  Because it casts him as the beacon of tolerance, progressiveness, and virtue.

Extra - Oh, and if you don't love Obama, things are going to get difficult for you.  And you, too.

Narrative destroyed

Gateway Pundit: "Call Off the Race Hustlers… NAACP Office Was Not Target of Bomb Plot – Tax Preparation Office Was."

I laughed

You know, I didn't watch the SNL40 show the other night just because I felt like NBC was shoving it down my throat.  Plus, "Downton Abbey" was on.  But they're repeating it tonight and, gosh darn it, it's funny.

Good question

Hit and Run: "If ISIS Isn't Islamic, Were Crusaders Christian? - A summit on violent extremism at the White House aims to tackle radical Islamism in part by quibbling over definitions."

Judging Hanen

Nice find from the Minuteman.  Do you know who voted to confirm that cuckoo crazy Federal judge who blocked Obama's illegal executive action on immigration?

Democrats are bracing for heartfelt hugs of appreciation over Obamacare

Whoops!  I read that headline wrong.  WashPost: "Democrats are bracing for another Obamacare backlash":

The Obamacare window technically just closed this weekend, but a new round of political headaches could just be beginning for the administration.
That's because it's tax season, and many Americans could soon be getting an unwelcome surprise that they owe the government a penalty for skipping health insurance coverage.

Sorry, folks, but It's The Law.

Extra - Brietbart: "Obama touts phony Obamacare numbers again."  Take heart that Obamacare is working just as well as our hashtag offensive against ISIS.

More - From Instapundit.

End of times

When Ace of Spades tells me to read "the most important article published in the American media in 10 years" I tend to listen, even if that statement is a little hyperbolic.

The article at hand is very long, titled "What ISIS really wants" in the Atlantic.  The TL;DR version is this: ISIS is an apocalyptic cult and they are beyond reason.

That the Islamic State holds the imminent fulfillment of prophecy as a matter of dogma at least tells us the mettle of our opponent. It is ready to cheer its own near-obliteration, and to remain confident, even when surrounded, that it will receive divine succor if it stays true to the Prophetic model.

Every time I read about mass movements like this, I'm always reminded of "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer.  A salient quote:

Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.

Last night on "60 Minutes" was a textbook model of the "true believer."  It followed the brothers in the Charlie Hebdo attack:

As a teenager, Cherif was more interested in rap than religion. This video, shot by his friends, documents that period in his life when was he smoking pot and chasing girls. He worked as a pizza delivery boy, but his life changed in 2003 when he became radicalized by a group of young Muslims in this Paris neighborhood. They were angry about the American invasion of Iraq and set up a recruitment ring to send young French Muslims to fight jihad against U.S. forces.

There you go: he went from an everyday kid, smoking weed and delivering pizza.  Then, as Eric Hoffer might say, he was introduced to the devil he could believe in and give his empty life some meaning.  It was a piece of cake to nurse that grievance straight into fanaticism.

Jerks with college degrees issue correction

It only took two days to correct a mistake that could have been avoided with a ten-second search on Google, but hey, that's the Paper of Record for you.  Hot Air: "Gray Lady to Scott Walker: Never mind."

Yeah, whatever.  As I like to say, the sheer impossibility of these mistakes ever happening on the other side of the political spectrum is why the Times needs to be kneecapped at every opportunity.

Double correction: maybe two nuts after all

Hot Air: "Second Copenhagen shooting at Synagogue. One suspect dead, second arrested."

State of green

Washington Free Beacon: "Tom Steyer’s Deep Ties to Oregon Corruption Scandal - Top advisers to billionaire Dem donor helped run group accused of illicit payments to Oregon’s first lady."

Correction: one nut

Fox News: "Police kill man believed to be gunman behind 2 Copenhagen shootings."

Second shooting in Copenhagen

Details are just coming in but there's an attack at a synagogue in the Danish capital.

I'll give you 3 guesses about what this is all about

And the first two don't count.  Fox News: "1 dead after shots fired at Copenhagen cafe where freedom of speech meeting being held."

More detail at Legal Insurrection and Patterico.  It looks like gunmen - plural - again and not just some lone nut.  They should start posting snipers around these events.

Extra - From Hot Air.

I was at the point of ny speech when i was saying that often it is an illusion that we have freedom of speech in Europe.then we heard shots
— inna shevchenko (@femeninna) February 14, 2015

Hopefully, America can survive all these foreign policy successes

Hot Air: "Good news: AQAP just captured a Yemeni military base and all the instruments of death inside."

All quiet on the Western front

Zero Hedge has a bunch of pictures of container ships off the California ports, waiting for clearance: "The "Catastrophic Shutdown Of America's Supply Chain" Begins: Stunning Photos Of West Coast Port Congestion."

Greece on Lake Michigan

Hot Air: "Union pensions and repairing the deadbeat state."  That state is Illinois.

Greek pique

And the future looks bleak: "Greek bailout talks with Europe break down"

Eurozone finance ministers’ first attempt to grapple with the bailout demands made by the new Greek government broke down in recriminations after the two sides failed even to agree a way to take negotiations forward after six hours of talks in Brussels.

Six hours!  I'm always amazed about these "talks" that go on for so long.  What do they say after a while?

10 EU: "Can we have our money?"
20 Greece: "No."
30 Go to 10

The big squeeze

Hit and Run: "Even Democrats are hating on public-sector unions these days."

Politicians can be extremely generous to current workers by promising them spectacular and guaranteed payouts that will be covered by future taxpayers. But those days are ending. Again and again—and certainly in states such as Illinois and cities such as Detroit—those promissory notes are coming due and there's just no way they can be cashed.

And when the pension bills come due, the general budget takes a hit.  No more Parks and Recreation.

He done

Yeah, right, Brian Williams is going to crawl back to NBC News after a six-month suspension.  A wounded and humiliated newsman will only intensify the ridicule.  He won't be back.

Of course, I was way wrong about Michael Vick but I have a feeling this is a different paradigm.

C'mon, man, that's funny

MassLive: "Forum on climate change postponed due to snow."

Cats and dogs living together

American Spectator: "Obamacare ruling may end civilization as we know it - Progressive panic mounts as PPACA’s latest date with the Court draws nigh."

Public pensions time bomb

Chicago Tribune: "Illinois is lead car on the road to ruin."

Update - Shots fired: "Illinois’ GOP governor goes about dismantling state union’s power."

Brian Williams is toast

Well, as they say on the Internet, that escalated quickly.  Mark Steyn has it right:

Maybe Williams is delusional. Maybe he is to anchors as Anthony Wiener is to wankers – a guy so cocksure he figures he can push it a little further each time.

And now he's the butt of a thousand jokes:



He's done.  He can't come back from the ridicule.

Extra - Fun fun fun over at #Brian Williams Misremembers.  Probably in a misguided attempt to honor some veteran because that's the kind of stand-up guy he is.

If you leave

As usual, I've been going to Zero Hedge for all my information on the Grexit:

UK begins preparations for Grexit
Morgan Stanley Says Grexit Would Send EURUSD Crashing To 0.90
and
If Greece Exits, Here Is What Happens

This is an enormous game of chicken but I don't see how this doesn't end worse for Greece.  If they leave the EU, they'll have to revive the drachma, which will be as worthless as Zimbabwe's dollars.  I think this paragraph says a lot:

So who will prevail: those who say a Grexit is bullish for the Euro as it removes tail risk and makes the Eurozone even stronger, or those who say a Grexit will lead to a plunge (controlled of course) in the Euro as the contagion risk never really went away, and now everyone will look to Italy and France, where anti-Europe movements have continued to rise from strength to strength, but nowhere more so than in Spain, where the Syriza peer, Podemos, is now tracking at top spot in polls.

So now Spain is looking for the easy-peasy-Syriza way out of their debts.  What a mess.

Corruption breeds terrorists

Saw this in today's Boston Globe: "How bribes create terrorists."

What stokes terrorism? There are lots of explanations, many of which focus on macro forces, like the politics of fundamentalist Islam and the uneven distribution of rewards in market economy. This past Friday at the Boston Athenaeum, Sarah Chayes offered a surprisingly different explanation: Terrorism, she argued, is an outgrowth of the daily humiliations that arise in corrupt countries.

Here's the link to her speech at the Boston Athenaeum.  Basically, her "Thieves of State" states that young and productive members of society get exasperated by kleptocracies and gravitate towards extremist movements.

The paper of record

Somebody said the New York Times has become a high-school paper so gradually, you'd barely notice.  Powerline: "The New York Times commits one of its funniest blunders ever."  Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Scott?

The kids are running the candy store

I got a chuckle from this line by Walter Russell Mead on Greece's trouble restructuring its debt:

Once elected, Syriza officials have been touring Europe, meeting serially with all the people they denounced as cruel, stupid, and wicked during the campaign, and discovering what an intelligent 10-year-old could have told them: nobody wants to give or lend them any more money because people distrust them and don’t see how the promises they have made to the voters can possibly be reconciled with any of the agreements Greece has made in the past.

Apparently they're not making much headway by saying "Dude, I'm totally going to pay you back" followed shortly by "You used to be cool."

Extra - German's finance minister: "It's cute that you guys had an election.  Where's our money?"

Brian Williams down

I don't know, I just can't get worked up about this story.  NPR suggested that the scandal about Brian Williams' lies will degrade everybody's faith in the media.  If that's true, we're going to have to start digging.

Obama's un-serious budget

Here's a Washington Post editorial noting the debt elephant in the room:

The commander in chief ought to argue for the defense spending necessary for national security, regardless of political considerations. The president is entitled, separately, to make his case for more spending on infrastructure, education and other domestic needs. We support both. But he would have more credibility if he acknowledged the underlying cause of the long-term squeeze on both kinds of discretionary spending: entitlement programs which, if unreformed, will channel larger and larger shares of the budget to the older generation, including the well-off, thereby triggering a vicious cycle in which interest payments on the growing national debt also swell. Mr. Obama used at least to acknowledge this as a problem. Now he seems content to leave it in the next president’s in-box.

How much of the budget is going to mandatory spending?  Nearly all of it:

The new budget projects spending $2.548 TRILLION just on MANDATORY programs like Social Security and Medicare. Another $426 billion will be necessary just to pay interest on the debt.

In total, this is over 99% of ALL the tax revenue the government collected in 2014.

In other words, they’ll spend nearly ALL of their current tax revenue before they write a single check for anything we think of as government (like the military, the IRS, or the light bill at the White House).

Naturally they’re not planning on turning off the lights anytime soon. So they finance the rest of it with… debt.

The debt burden is manageable now because of low interest rates.  But this is not going to last forever:

Currently, the government’s interest costs are around $200 billion a year, a sum that’s low due to the era of low interest rates. Forecasters at the White House and Congressional Budget Office believe interest rates will gradually rise, and when that happens, the interest costs of the U.S. government are set to soar, from just over $200 billion to nearly $800 billion a year by decade’s end.
By 2021, the government will be spending more on interest than on all national defense, according to White House forecasts.

I've said this over and over: the United States "government" will be nothing more than a fund-transfer waystation taking funds from taxpayers and forwarding them to seniors, insurance companies, and banks.  That $800 billion/year in interest on the debt doesn't buy us a shiny aircraft carrier or new bridges or even a Post Office jeep - it gets us nothing.  But, as the WashPost notes, that's a can kicked down the road.

Smooch that ass, Eugene

If Eugene Robinson ever writes an article that doesn't sound exactly like a White House press release, the universe might implode upon itself.  Have a little self-respect, man.

Here's the short version: Obama's budget is totes awesome sauce.

That's where the money is

Michael Barone: "Obama’s Taxed Himself into a Corner - Absent serious entitlement reform, Democrats will have no choice but to raise taxes on the middle class."

Now that Obamacare has joined the list of entitlements, there's no level of taxation on "the other guys" that can satisfy the outlays.  You wanted it, America, and now you're going to get it good and hard.

Only 44% of us are working

Coming as absolutely no surprise to anybody who reads Zero Hedge, the CEO of Gallup today declared the "official" unemployment rate as one gigantic lie to the American people.

ZZ Top just posted this on Facebook

Stole it from Reddit:

Extra - Twitchy: "Internet agrees that ‘Left Shark’ stole halftime show, hearts."

Patriots win!!!

And Star Lord is heading to Boston.

Update - Tom Brady wins MVP again.  Nice.  They should have given it to that rookie Malcolm Butler who made the interception of his lifetime.

Throw another $6 trillion on the tab

PJ Tatler: "Obama’s 10 Year Budget Will Add $6 Trillion to the National Debt."  "No entitlement reform, no serious attempt to balance the budget, no end in sight to an ever-rising national debt — this is not serious governance."  I used to believe that only a Democrat could reform entitlements, the same way that "only Nixon could go to China."  Now I've given up all hope: Democrats will demagogue entitlements until we've spent ourselves into oblivion.  Where is the Daniel Patrick Moynihan for our times?

In other sports news

Arizona Republic: "Tiger Woods shoots an 82, his worst round ever."

And in case you missed it, from ESPN: "Tiger Woods drops out of top 50."

You know, I pity Tiger Woods.  Here was a kid who never had the choice to grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer or a fireman.  His father decided he was going to be a professional golf player with a marketable name and background.  Well, his personal life is in shambles and now his professional career has followed.  What's left for Tiger Woods?  His life was built on pillars of sand.  Sad.

This Super Bowl has taken a turn for the worse

Katy Perry is on.

Also, the Patriots allowed the Seahawks to score 7 with just 40 seconds left.  Not cool.

Germany says "nein" - Krugman hardest hit

NPR: "Merkel: No Relaxing Of Terms On Greek Debt."  Next up: the push for World War II reparations.

Because entitlements

The Corner: "CBO Budget: Enjoy the Dropping Deficits, Because They Won’t Last for Long."

So long and thanks for all the soap

But no "good luck."  Zero Hedge: "The New Greek Government Arrives In Its Residence: Finds No Power, No Wifi Password And No Toilet Soap."

Thank heaven it's deficit-neutral, right?

Hot Air: "CBO: 10 million will lose employer-based coverage under ObamaCare by 2021."  "Plus, the promises of deficit neutrality turn out to be just as valid as if you like your plan/doctor, etc etc etc. ObamaCare will run a $76 billion deficit in this budget year, and that will jump to $109 billion next year — and increase every year through FY2025. Over the next decade, the ACA will produce a deficit of $1.35 trillion dollars."

Terrible idea is scrapped

NY Times: "Obama to Drop Proposal to End ‘529’ College Savings Plans."

Tom Petty's lawyers won't back down

Hit and Run: "Sam Smith Agrees to Pay Tom Petty Royalties for Similarities to 'I Won’t Back Down,' Says He's Never Heard of It."

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

WashPost: "Drone incident at White House highlights long-studied, still-unsolved security gap."

Maybe I'm missing something but wouldn't it just be a matter of blocking or scrambling the radio frequencies on which these remote-control toys operate?  Everything that operates in the radio frequency (e.g. cell phones, TV signals, walkie-talkies, CB radio) is allocated a frequency range for operation.

Also, federal law prohibits the use of any device that could be used to jam or interfere with the GPS signals that drones rely on for navigation.

Well, there you go.  The sky's the limit over at Three Mile Island, boys.

These are the salad days

The CBO is reporting slow growth and trillion-dollar deficits are America's long-term future.  It's OK, because the Chinese will keep lending us money forever.

Epic blizzard

Here it comes.  For the first time ever in my career, they've preemptively shut down the factory in anticipation of this huge nor'easter.  At least we can chuckle at the NY Times lamenting "The end of snow!" a year ago.

Off the curve

This is pretty interesting: Chris Christie has a lot of name recognition but just can't get the love.

Personally, I like the guy, but New Jersey still has high taxes and intractable pension problems.  Where's the problem solving?  For someone who is a self-styled fighter, I'm not sure I see the victories.

The Syriza hits the fan

Fox News: "Greece's anti-bailout Syriza party wins election."

Well, they promised freedom from austerity and now they're going to get it, good and hard:

Alex Tsipras, the young, charismatic leader of Syriza, is an avowed leftist (his son, Ernesto, is reportedly named for Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevera) and the party’s most likely candidate for prime minister. Tsipras has made it clear that any new government under Syriza—an acronym from the Greek words meaning “coalition of the radical left”—will “renegotiate” the loans extended to Greece by the EU, the IMF and the ECB since 2010 in order to preserve the euro. Those loans—now totaling some 175% of Greece’s GDP—were conditioned on austerity measures that Tsipras has declared intolerable.

While the Greek economy is growing moderately, and Greece is likely able to continue its debt service under existing austerity measures, a Syriza-dominated populist government would likely bring about an economic crisis worse than the one Greece and the Eurozone saw in 2010.

As this Atlantic article notes, the options for the Eurozone "troika" are to write down Greece's debt - and give other PIIGS a blueprint for forgiveness - or kick Greece out of the Eurozone.  It's gonna be interesting.

Extra - Or can Tsipras pull of the "Lula pivot"?

More - Daily Mail: "EU braces for catastrophe."

No wonder he's Happy

Pharrell Williams urges climate change awareness. From a private jet. Where he sits, alone: http://t.co/rCfKNy4d78 pic.twitter.com/hTbPKCwpnq
— Jerome Hudson (@JeromeEHudson) January 22, 2015

South of the (Canadian) border

Doug Ross: "Try and contain your surprise: In Vermont, Drivers Licenses are a Magnet for Fraud by Illegal Aliens."

Go Patriots!

I just had a thought: when the Patriots take the field for the Super Bowl, they should play "Big Balls" by AC/DC.

The government is searching your couch cushions for spare change

Megan McArdle notes that Obama's plan to tax 529 savings is indicative of the endgame in seeking out new sources of revenue.  From "Uncle Sam is coming after your savings."

As I observed when I first wrote about the plan, the very fact that we are discussing taxation of educational savings -- redistributing educational subsidies downward -- indicates that the administration has started scraping the bottom of the barrel when seeking out money to fund new programs. Why target a tax benefit that goes to a lot of your supporters (and donors), that tickles one of the sweetest spots in American politics (subsidizing higher education), and that will hit a lot of people who make less than the $250,000 a year that has become the administration's de facto definition of "rich"?

Presumably, because you're running out of other places to get the money.

I make less - a lot less - than $250,000/year but I put 200,000 miles on my Subaru so I could do the responsible thing and put aside some money for my kids' college expenses.  It's utterly bizarre that the government would want to tax these 529 accounts but the government monster must be fed.  Get ready for the value-added tax, the last resort for significant tax revenues, and one that will punish all Americans equally.

OR we could shrink the size of this bloated, oversized government!  Amirite?

Ricky Jay!

Oh man, I love this guy, arguably the best magician in the world right now.  From Vanity Fair:

Ricky Jay might just be the greatest living sleight-of-hand artist, but he’s never marketed himself to the level of becoming a household name, like David Blaine or David Copperfield. He doesn’t splatter himself on reality shows, reveal the secrets behind his greatest illusions for late-night cable, or pander with fans on Twitter or Instagram—which makes him the perfect subject for a documentary on the PBS American Masters series, which airs this week, Ricky Jay: Deceptive Practice.

I'm tuned in right now.  I wanted to see him so bad when he was on Broadway but just never got the chance.  This might be the next-best thing.

The magical power of threatening violence

Mark Steyn on a professor who says "The first amendment ends at insulting Mohammad."

His argument is the classic Heckler's Veto. Because a not insignificant proportion of young Muslim men are bananas, they killed a bunch of people in Niger over the last Charlie Hebdo cover. Whether they even saw the magazine is unclear, but at any rate we should rein in free speech just in case the crazies are minded to kill any more people.

If you're in DeWayne Wickham's class at Morgan State and you'd like to get an A, why not threaten to kill him?

Sounds like a plan.

Saudi king dies

This is kind of a big deal.  NY Times: "King Abdullah, Who Nudged Saudi Arabia Forward, Dies at 90."

Surrounded by bad faith operators

There's an old saying in poker that if you're sitting at a table and can't figure out who the fish is, it's you.  When it comes to Obama's adversaries, there's no such thing as a principled stand.  Everyone around him is a bad player.  Here's the scene: in a closed door meeting of Democrats, New Jersey senator Robert Menendez said that sanctions for Iran should be on the table.  Obama told Menendez he was just saying that because of...certain lobbyists:

Obama said that as a former senator himself, he understood how outside forces -- like special interests and donors -- can influence senators to act, one of the senators recounted.
That's when Menendez stood up to challenge the President, telling Obama he took "personal offense" to his assertions, the New York Times reported, arguing that he has worked to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions for many years and was not motivated by political considerations.

Obama played the same schtick in the SOTU.  When it comes to Iran, there's Obama's way and there's total WAR:

Anyway, I now get to the State of the Union address. Obama said that he would veto any new sanctions bill that “threatens to undo” his “progress.” Then he said, “The American people expect us to only go to war as a last resort, and I intend to stay true to that wisdom.”
So, you see? Support for sanctions — in the event of failed talks — equals support for war. Sanctions-supporter equals war-supporter.

Why do you want to go to WAR, Senator Menendez?

Obama is back on the campaign trail, stirring up credulous college students, and whining that he's ready to work with Republicans if, gosh darn it, they just abandon everything they ran on in the last election.

Because that's the kind of stand-up guy Obama is.  You're welcome, America.

Welcome, Bibi

National Journal: "Boehner, White House Clash Over Netanyahu Invite."

The White House didn't want that chickens*** Netanyahu telling us anything abut Iran.

Oh, yeah, we're out of money

The Corner: "Overlooked in Obama's SOTU: we're broke."  "I did love his shout out to future generations and how much “we” value them. Well, Mr. President, if you value our kids so much, now is the time to engage in fundamental reforms of Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, and Medicaid. If you don’t, you’ll be sending a strong signal that the only reason you value future generations is that they’ll be the ones paying for our unpaid bills."

I can't watch the SOTU

I'll read the transcript later.  In the meantime, here's the Minuteman discussing how Obama wants to punish Americans who are trying to save for college via 529 accounts.  Like me.  Because responsible parents must suppress their instincts for individual initiative and get on the government program.

"Black lives matter" protesters pay no mind

Via Gateway Pundit, we have confirmation that the protesters who shut down a major Boston artery last week are about what you'd expect: "White #BlackLivesMatter Boston Protesters Found Living with Parents in Luxury Mansions."  Needless to say, they are untethered to the responsibilities of a job, which makes this story from yesterday's Boston Globe all the more infuriating: health care workers at a chemotherapy clinic lost wages when they didn't clock in on time:

Some of her friends, most of them, like her, women of color, weren’t as lucky. They got stuck in the mess and were hours late for work. They are paid by the hour and the hours that they don’t work are hours they aren’t paid.
“She was worried about the patients who were late,” Linskey said. “She was worried about her friends who were late and would lose pay. And she wondered what she would have done if she had lost a couple of hours of pay because people claiming to speak for her had done what they had done.”

Congratulations, hippies.  You are exactly the kind of people we thought you were.

Patriots win as expected

Gonna be a good Super Bowl.  Oh, man, I forgot about "Downton Abbey!"

Seattle beats the Packers

That may have been the craziest game ever.  What a comeback.

Three stupid things the Packers did to lose this game:
1) Taunting penalty on the 5-yard line that pushed the ball back to the 20, leading to a field goal instead of an easy-six.
2) Giving up a cross-field blooper pass for the two-point conversion by Seattle.
3) The onside kick.

Well, let's see who's going to play the Pats.  Go Patriots!

Cats and dogs living together

Or: "I may have to re-think how I feel about Bill Maher."  Legal Insurrection: "Bill Maher rips liberal fear of free speech."

Yeah, right, everybody's super-stoked on Krugman

Townhall: "Paul Krugman rejected by his peers."  "Paul Krugman has become an embarrassment to the economics profession. Despite his Nobel Prize and despite his previous high regard in the profession, his twice-a-week editorials in The New York Times are causing even progressive economists to treat him as somewhat of a kook."  And here's Jeffrey Sachs on Krugman's austerity flip-flop.

Saturday diversion

Oh, man, I laughed at this.  America!

Western Massachusetts update

Not from the Onion: "Mount Holyoke College group cancels 'Vagina Monologues' production citing lack of transgender role."  "The fact that Eve Ensler's celebrated play about women, "Vagina Monologues," does not have a transgender character has prompted the theater group at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley to cancel its annual production."  This is Meta.

Best comment: "Did any of the Mt. Holyoke theater productions feature a character who was a disabled transgendered Eskimo?

Their lack of diversity makes me SICK."

This is a joke, right?

Daily Caller: "Apology Tour: John Kerry Brings James Taylor To Paris To Play “You’ve Got A Friend”."

Kerry awkwardly stood by as Taylor played his song for the crowd, who applauded loudly when he was done.

To be fair, everything Kerry does is done awkwardly.  No word on whether friendship bracelets were lovingly wrapped around French wrists.

Extra - Twitchy: "No way this really happened."

More - Hit and Run: "That's Secretary of State John Kerry and his pal James Taylor in Paris, singing America's condolences for the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Terror experts are unsure how the French will retaliate."

Update - France has responded with the Grass Roots:

Wonky

Social Security trustee Charles Blahous discusses the dynamics of Social Security's trust fund and the disability program.  "The recently-enacted House rule conforms to the guidance repeatedly given by the program’s trustees on a bipartisan basis over several years.  Those who suggest that DI’s impending reserve depletion warrants no action beyond taking revenues away from the Social Security retirement fund appear to be unfamiliar with the basis for the current allocation as enacted in 1994."  Yeah, there's a lot of that going around.

Forget it Jake...it's Massachusetts

Protesters prevented hundreds of people from getting to work, sucked up public resources and - topping on the cake - "'Black Lives Matter' protesters prevented ambulance from reaching Boston hospital."

The religion of environmentalism

George Will: "The Keystone catechism".  "Obama revealed his economic sophistication years ago when he said that ATMs and airport ticket kiosks cost jobs. He does not understand that, outside of government, which is all that he knows or respects, all jobs are “temporary.”"

By a 2-1 margin, Americans want the Keystone pipeline constructed.  Are we going to get 42,000 "temporary" jobs or will Tom Steyer's money carry the day?

You may ask but we won't answer

In a remarkable example of self-censorship, a group of activists went on a Reddit AMA and said: "We're working on overturning Citizens United - ask us anything!"

The top questions were voted to the top of the page and...they all ran away.  Hilarious comments ensued.

Cough it up, kids

It's not just the national debt burying future generations.  PJ Media: "Why the Coming Pension Bomb Will Destroy Your City and State - Screwing future generations to take care of non-workers today."

Don't worry: you'll almost certainly get 75% of your promised Social Security benefits.  Maybe.

Ignorance is strength

Matthew Continetti: "Blasphemy for Me, but Not for Thee - Do liberals actually believe in the right to offend?"

In related news, "Largest Islamic Body in the World Calls for More Anti-Free Speech Laws in Wake of Charlie Hebdo Attack."  The New York Times responded: "Where do I sign up!?"

Sally Kohn's stupid article is stupid

Over at CNN, some dummy says we shouldn't purposely antagonize Muslims because "free speech comes with responsibilities."  What it all boils down to is another liberal who wants to decide the limits of First Amendment rights.  Who decides what is disrespectful and what will get you killed for blasphemy?  Kohn makes desultory points that dance around this fundamental point before falling back on a wan call for respect.  Because let's be nice.

If Kohn believes her insipid blather, then let's pull "The Book of Mormon" from Broadway.  I remember when Kanye West appeared as Jesus on the cover of Rolling Stone, somebody remarked that if he really wanted to make himself a controversial figure, he would have appeared as Mohammad.  The difference, it needn't be said, is that Christians aren't going to murder Kanye and firebomb the offices of Rolling Stone.

I'm insulted by Kohn's article and, so insulted, I demand its immediate retraction.

Extra - Taylor Marsh: "Unity rally celebrating liberty and those who would police speech."

More - And this from Iowahawk:

A president who believes in free speech doesn't apologize to foreign governments for videos made by his country's private citizens.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 11, 2015

Fear of a backlash

National Review: "Islamophobia is a myth."  "Islamophobia is a code word for mainstream European elites’ fear of their own populations, of their native hordes, whom they imagine to be unenlightened, prejudiced, easily led by the tabloid media, and given to outbursts of spite and violence."  Those poor, dumb people.

Schadenfreude overload: Western Massachusetts update

If you enjoyed the wailing of Harvard elites complaining about Obamacare, you're going to love this development from the other side of the Bay State.  The most left-wing city here in Western Massachusetts is Northampton, which Wikipedia calls "the most politically liberal medium-size city (population 25,000–99,000) in the United States."

Without a doubt, the flagship store of Northampton is Faces, a quirky arts and clothing store.  It's right in the center of town and it's always packed with people picking up their "Faux News" magnets and Bob Marley posters.  But now, after 40 years, Faces is closing and everybody's upset.

What killed Faces?

Vogel said in a prepared statement he did not make the decision to close lightly, and cited the pressures of running an independent store, including the increasing costs of health insurance, personnel, taxes and business insurance, and utilities.

Health insurance costs rising?  Check.
Higher personnel costs?  Check.
High business taxes?  Check.
Higher utilities costs?  Check.

To paraphrase Obama, if the left-wing created a business model it would look like Faces.  Buh-bye.

I've heard that song before

I want one

Hot Air: "Charlie Hebdo survivors, former contributors to publish edition next week."

My son took a class trip to France last year and he claims he has a friend over there who can get me an issue.

The future of commentary

Freedom of speech

Here's Victor Davis Hanson back in 2012: "Please, no more apologies for free speech"

Apparently leaders of the Islamic world present a non-negotiable demand to the West that they be given a blank check for their governments to defame Jews, Christians, and Americans, but the United States must condemn any private individual who, quite apart from the knowledge of the U.S. government, does the same to Muslims. That is the issue, and anything less than an unapologetic defense of free speech is not only a betrayal of our Constitution, but a very dangerous concession that will only incite more violence in the near future. Unfortunately, Western hedging, appeasement, and apologies to theocrats and authoritarians have never won gratitude, but instead such magnanimity is seen as either weakness to be exploited or proof all along that the apologizer admits culpability and will do so again in the future — a fact well known to history’s thugs, big and small, whether Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Osama bin Laden, or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

It's just coming over the wire just now that two of the three gunmen are in custody and the third is dead.

The NY Times drops the mask again

Remember this story in the NY Observer about a year ago about simmering resentment from the Times staffers towards the editorial page?

Said one staffer, “Andy’s got 14 or 15 people plus a whole bevy of assistants working on these three unsigned editorials every day. They’re completely reflexively liberal, utterly predictable, usually poorly written and totally ineffectual. I mean, just try and remember the last time that anybody was talking about one of those editorials.

Fast forward to the new Republican Congress and we have this gem in an otherwise balanced editorial:

For months, congressional Republicans have been drawing up plans on how they would run Congress if they won the Senate in November. In anticipation of more jockeying and complicated procedural fights on the floor, members of both parties have built up their staffs, bringing back some experienced veterans.

"Procedural fights?"  In other words, the filibuster, that crude cudgel of obstruction when it's in the hands of the Republicans and a principled tool of opposition when in the hands of the Democrats.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.  Golly, I wonder if they'll endorse Hillary in 2016.

Harvard is crimson

With anger over Obamacare.  This is the most delicious story to come out of the Grey Lady in ages: "Harvard Ideas On Health Care Hit Home, Hard."

For years, Harvard’s experts on health economics and policy have advised presidents and Congress on how to provide health benefits to the nation at a reasonable cost. But those remedies will now be applied to the Harvard faculty, and the professors are in an uproar.

It only gets better from there.  Professors at Harvard earn just shy of 200 large and now they're whinging about having to pay a $250 deductible.  Also: did you like going to Harvard Medical School hospitals?  Not so fast!

To create a network of high-value providers, Harvard would probably need to exclude some of its own teaching hospitals, or discourage their use.

Great stuff.  Take it away, William F. Buckley:

I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.

Indeed.

This is news?

NY Post: "How Sharpton gets paid to not cry ‘racism’ at corporations."  The tax-dodger was pulling this scam back when he was only a regional race huckster.

Back on the campaign trail

LA Times: "Obama to hit the road again, selling economic progress."  First stop: Detroit!

Honestly, this guy is way beyond parody now.  It's all campaigning, fundraising and golf now with the occasional vacation thrown in for good measure.  By federal law, Obama is legally required to submit a budget plan by the first Monday in February, something he has done only once.  I'm guessing the over/under will be sometime around April.

Confirmation bias

Isn't it easy to confess how great we are?  WSJ: "A Magician’s Best Trick: Revealing a Basic Human Bias."

State the state

Hit and Run: "Why the Supreme Court Should Ignore Insurance Subsidy Disruption in the Obamacare Subsidies Case."  Because words mean stuff.

Come back, you racist pigs!

DC Trawler: "OUT: ‘Go Away, Cops!’ IN: ‘Where Did You Go, Cops?’"

Rest in peace, Mario Cuomo

WSJ: "Mario Cuomo: Direct, unapologetic liberal."

I grew up in northern New Jersey when Cuomo was governor of New York and, although I disagreed with him, there was no doubt he was an intelligent advocate.  One night I heard him on a radio show and a caller asked why he didn't "bow to the will of the people" and allow the death penalty in New York.  Cuomo gave a lucid and reasoned answer about how the populace votes for leaders to use their judgement and they are not merely a rubber-stamp.

That's why I think it's an inapt comparison to call Cuomo "The Elizabeth Warren of the 1980s."  Cuomo was a smart man whlie Warren is a dimwit who regurgitates populist buzzwords while making zero progress to actually fix anything.

Extra - A different view from Maggie's Farm.

The only thing certain is uncertainty

Interesting read from Business Insider: "122 Things Everyone Should Know About Investing And The Economy."

The S&P 500 gained 27% in 1998. But just five stocks -- Dell, Lucent, Microsoft, Pfizer, and Wal-Mart -- accounted for more than half the gain. There can be huge concentration even in a diverse portfolio.

Ah, yes, Lucent.  That was a great investment tax write-off.

Silent Cal in Boston

National Review: "Where de Blasio is right - How Calvin Coolidge handled a 1919 police strike in Boston holds lessons for New York today."