News of the Week for Apr. 28th, 2013
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Gun Rights
NY State Troopers Distance Themselves From Cuomo, Hesitant to Enforce Draconian Gun Laws
Let this be a lesson to the gun-grabbing, anti-Second Amendment politicians out there. Ramming through gun laws in the dead of night with no debate and that are pretty much unenforceable leads to situations like this.
Five sad pictures from today’s anti-NRA March
I swung by the Stop the NRA March this afternoon to watch the protest and march against gun violence. I was late, but caught two of the speeches before the crowd started marching.
Boston Bombing Suspects Did Not Have Valid Handgun Licenses
The two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings, who police say engaged in a gun battle with officers early Friday after a frenzied manhunt, were not licensed to own guns in the towns where they lived, authorities said on Sunday.
Hide the Decline
Environment &
“Green Energy”
More and more likely that double CO2 means less than 2°C: New study
Yes, it warms the planet – just not as much as thought
El Niño-Southern Oscillation Then and Now
I’m presenting this for those who look for patterns. I see it only as a curiosity—nothing more. I am not suggesting that future ENSO events will mimic those of the past, but…
13 Worst Predictions Made on Earth Day, 1970
The 1970s were a lousy decade. Embarrassing movies, dreadful music and downright terrifying clothes reflected the national mood following an unpopular war, endless political scandals and a faltering economy.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Ophthalmologists walk out of Obamacare talk at national medical meeting
The topic of the Government Relations session is complying with and implementing Obamacare. Dr. Held doesn’t like what’s she’s hearing, and she’s not the only one. Indeed, almost all the doctors have walked out of the meeting.
Thousands of hospital patients may have died needlessly, says inquiry
Almost 3,000 people may have died unnecessarily in just one year at the 14 NHS trusts whose excessive mortality rates were reviewed in the wake of the Mid Staffordshire scandal, it emerged today.
Governments may push workers to health exchange
In a move that would capitalize on provisions under President Barack Obama’s health care law but could cost the federal government millions of dollars, Washington state lawmakers have found a creative way to pass a large chunk of their health care expenses along to Washington, D.C. – and analysts say others are likely to follow suit.
Bedbugs Invade Hospitals
As if adapting to health-care reform and curbing the “nightmare bacteria” weren’t challenge enough, hospitals are increasingly plagued by another problem: bedbugs.
War & Terror
The Boston Bombers and the Collapse of Assimilation
We don’t know all the details of the lives of the Boston bombers, but a portrait is starting to take shape.
Shots fired at TVA Watts Bar Nuclear Plant
A TVA spokesperson confirmed that a security officer patrolling TVA Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City was involved in a shootout with a suspect Sunday at about 2:00 a.m.
U.S. female sailor beats Dubai rapist bus driver into submission
An off-duty U.S. navy sailor wrestled a Dubai bus driver to the ground and beat him into submission after he tried to rape her at knifepoint on Jan. 19, a courtroom heard Wednesday.
US has ‘some confidence’ Syria used chemical weapons
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has said American intelligence believes “to some degree of varying confidence” that Syria has used chemical weapons.
Animal-rights activists wreak havoc in Milan laboratory
University says loss of animals and lab records may ruin years of work on psychiatric diseases.
Domestic terrorist says he targeted conservative group for being ‘anti-gay’
Family Research Council (FRC) officials released video of federal investigators questioning convicted domestic terrorist Floyd Lee Corkins II, who explained that he attacked the group’s headquarters because the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) identified them as a “hate group” due to their traditional marriage views.
UN Human Rights Official Justifies Boston Bombing as ‘Retribution’
You had this coming, America.
National
School Counselor Gloats Over Dead of West, Texas
It isn’t easy for a black female to get fired from any job in this country, much less a job in education. For Karon Wright, a school counselor at Andrew Jackson Middle School in Grand Prairie, Texas, it took putting this on her Facebook page following the tragic explosion in nearby West
MJ Rosenberg Calls for Public Execution of Republicans and Matt Drudge
How the ex-Media Matters fellow celebrates the capture of a Jihadist.
3 hurt as fuel barges explode, catch fire on Mobile River in Alabama
Firefighters in Mobile, Ala. and the Coast Guard responded Wednesday night to four explosions on two fuel barges in the Mobile River in Alabama that left three people injured.
NPR Host: Constitution ‘Like Tinkerbell…Only Alive As We Collectively Decide’
Peter Sagal, host of NPR’s highly entertaining “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” is planning a new PBS special on the US Constitution. In an interview with Politico, Sagal explains that he will be using the show to “educate” Americans about our government’s framing document .
Secret Emails: Cato, Norquist, Rubio Use Boston Terror Attacks to Push Immigration Reform
Secret emails obtained exclusively by Breitbart News show the libertarian Cato Institute, Americans for Tax Reform, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) are colluding on immigration reform messaging in the wake of the Boston Marathon terror attack in order to push the “Gang of Eight” bill that was released this past week.
Secret Emails: Pro-Immigration Reform Consultants, Think Tanks Testify Through Grover Norquist
In addition to the emails showing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) working with the libertarian Cato Institute and pro-Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) to shape pro-immigraiton reform messages in the wake of the Boston terror attack, additional emails obtained exclusively by Breitbart News suggest the two think tank groups are working closely together to push the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” immigration bill through Congress.
The Secret War on Men?
Dr. Helen Smith highlights an explosive topic that few want to talk about openly: discrimination against male students on college campuses. As Dr. Helen notes, university policies on sexual misconduct, as well as societal bias, are putting many college men in the hot seat, but few seem to care
Brutally efficient galaxy SPITS OUT STARS at ‘maximum rate’
Burns through its gas supply, making Milky Way look slooow
Top Tier GOP Senate Candidates a Hard Sell for Some Open Seats
Republican recruiters are finding it slow going in convincing top-tier candidates to run for open Senate seats in some states that the GOP needs to fashion a majority in 2014.
Marijuana Repeal Considered In Colorado
The proposal for a marijuana ballot measure came as the House started debate Friday evening on bills to regulate and tax pot. One bill would state how pot should be grown and sold, and the other would tax recreational marijuana more than 30 percent.
Media Echoes Harvard “Revolutionary” Socialists’ Post-Bombing Talking Points
The Harvard “Revolutionary” Socialists gathered last week, just three days after the Boston Marathon bombings, for a forum entitled “Don’t Let Them Turn Tragedy into Racism” on the Harvard University campus.
Dartmouth Alum Slams “Social Justice” Expert’s “Dishonest Facts”
Yesterday we reported that in response to student activists’ antics, Dartmouth College cancelled classes and made everyone attend a speech given by a “social justice and diversity” consultant.
How anti-racism lessons INCREASE pupil intolerance by ‘causing animosity to other cultures’
Dutch study finds discussing sensitive ethnic concerns can be counter-productive
Education Secretary Michael Gove under fire over plans to stop teaching teenagers about multicultural topics
Hot*, Young Naked Woman Allegedly Breaks Into Texas Home
Kids, don’t try this stunt at home. Texas has the Castle Doctrine. If young Sara Soto had been holding anything in her hands that could have been construed as a deadly weapon, despite the fact that she wasn’t wearing a thing and no matter how good you think you look not wearing a thing, and had the homeowners been armed and jumpy, this past Tuesday could have been her last. Hiding out naked in a stranger’s bathtub is just no way to go out, friends.
Could 50 be the new zero for Broward schools?
The Broward school district is proposing eliminating the grade of zero and making 50 the lowest score a student could earn as a way to motivate failing students.
Female High School Teacher Resigns After Charged With Raping Female Student
A female math teacher and girls’ basketball team coach in a Riverton, Utah high school has been arrested and charged with raping a 17-year-old female student. Courtney Louise Jarrell, age 22, faces charges of object rape (a first-degree felony) and forcible sexual abuse (a second-degree felony).
The Presidential Wheel Turns
Disaffection for Bush gave us Obama. That explains the new affection for Bush.
California high-speed rail estimates “astounding”
The idiocy of California’s proposed high-speed rail line continues to astonish. For reasons why, consult “California High-Speed Rail: An Updated Due Diligence Report”
Dem Congressman: ‘Imagine a World Without Balloons’
Speaking on the House floor yesterday, Representative Hank Johnson (D., Ga.) stood up for some of the most important victims of congressional gridlock: children’s birthday parties and comedians trying to make their voices high-pitched.
College’s husky dog logo promotes rape, says student
The new logo for the University of Connecticut’s sports teams is a terrifying husky dog that calls to mind images of sexual assault, says one student.
Planned Parenthood Awards ‘Margaret Sanger’ Award to Short German Offering Final Solution for Undesirable Children
Last night, the purveyors of infanticide enjoyed a dinner and toasted to the millions of children they had successfully advocated for extinction.
Former Congressman Todd Akin breaks silence: talks comeback, takes on Republican establishment
The 65-year-old former congressman says don’t rule him out. Nearly six months after losing the Senate race he continues to be attacked from all sides of the political spectrum. But the greatest barbs are thrown by fellow Republicans.
Scientists Find Antibody that Transforms Bone Marrow Stem Cells Directly into Brain Cells
In a serendipitous discovery, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a way to turn bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells.
Scientists Identify First Potentially Effective Therapy for Human Prion Disease
Human diseases caused by misfolded proteins known as prions are some of most rare yet terrifying on the planet—incurable with disturbing symptoms that include dementia, personality shifts, hallucinations and coordination problems. The most well-known of these is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which can be described as the naturally occurring human equivalent of mad cow disease.
Hormone said to raise insulin lost to diabetes
Harvard University researchers have discovered a naturally occurring hormone in mice that sharply increases the number of precious, insulin-producing cells found in the pancreas — the beta cells that are lost during diabetes.
Calif. bill would let non-citizens serve on juries
The California Assembly passed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the first in the nation to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve on jury duty.
California’s Latest Suicide Attempt
Modern liberalism is all about “rights”—rights to health care, right to a job, right to food, the right to more rights, and so forth. You know the drill. Of course, these kind of liberal “rights” aren’t rights at all property understood; they are benefits that require the state to tax or expropriate someone’s property to provide the “right” to someone else.
Federal authorities indict alleged gang members, jail guards
Indictment alleges criminal conspiracy inside Baltimore City Detention Center
Immigration reform could be bonanza for Democrats
The immigration proposal pending in Congress would transform the nation’s political landscape for a generation or more — pumping as many as 11 million new Hispanic voters into the electorate a decade from now in ways that, if current trends hold, would produce an electoral bonanza for Democrats and cripple Republican prospects in many states they now win easily
Our Broken System of Assimilation
Although an Op-Ed in today’s New York Times by liberal immigration researchers Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco, “Immigrant Kids, Adrift,” comes from a very different perspective than the important new study by John Fonte and Althea Nagai, “America’s Patriotic Assimilation System is Broken,” their conclusions are remarkably similar. Like Fonte and Nagai, the Suarez-Orozcos argue that America is not successfully assimilating new immigrants.
After Authoring the ObamaCare ‘Train Wreck,’ Dem. Sen. Max Baucus will Retire
As the champion of President Obama’s healthcare law in the Senate, Sen. Max Baucus’ (MT) legacy includes strangling the US economy and ruining our healthcare system, while fundamentally altering the citizen’s relationship to the state, in favor of the state.
Teamsters head Hoffa tries to squash his own employees’ union
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) general president Jimmy Hoffa Jr. is suspected by his members of trying to squash a union comprised of some of his own Teamsters organizers.
Obama Still Not Scheduled to Visit West, Texas
President Obama is still not scheduled to visit the devastated community of West, Texas, where an explosion at a fertilizer plant five days ago killed 14 – including 11 emergency responders – and wounded approximately 200 people.
Americans ‘snapping’ by the millions
Harris-Perry: Islam As Relevant to Bombers’ Motivations as Ben Affleck Movies
On her MSNBC show yesterday, Melissa Harris-Perry argued that the Tsarnaev brothers’ Muslim faith is inconsequential — or at least, only as significant to their motivations as, say, the violent movies produced by Ben Affleck set in the city of Boston.
Melissa Harris-Perry Leans Forward into . . . Private-School Tuition Bills
Before Islamofascist bombs lethally disrupted last week’s Boston Marathon, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry was under fire for an on-air “Lean Forward” promotion that seemed to call for the collective ownership of the means of parenting.
Fire at Marathon refinery in southwest Detroit
A fire broke out Saturday evening at the Marathon Detroit refinery in southwest Detroit.
“Institution of marriage should not exist” – Gay activist admits ‘we lie’ that marriage won’t change
It’s not often you hear the truth from people who lie about their agendas, but here’s an instance in which gay activist, Masha Gessen, admits “we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change” and further says she doesn’t believe it should exist at all
College: What’s the Point?
As nearly half of young American college grads work in jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree while struggling to pay off crushing student debt, lawmakers and educators are beginning to ask a critical question: What is college for?
Abortion clinic employee caught on tape recommending killing infant
In an undercover sting operation, a woman who was 23-plus weeks pregnant (abortion is illegal in New York and other states after 24 weeks) secretly recorded the conversations she had in this abortionist’s office.
Economy
& Taxes
“Working Poor” Spark 170% Increase In Britons Needing Food Handouts In Past Year
While the dismal news of endlessly rising food stamp recipients in the US seems to be glossed over by most of the media because, well, stock markets are at all-time highs, in Britain, things are becoming increasingly awful.
Central Banks Join The Herd, Openly Buying Stocks In Record Amounts
When tin-foil-hat wearing digital dickweed blogs first suggested that Central Banks were actively buying stocks, the mainstream media scoffed at the idiocy and un-independence of such an idea. However, it is clear the central banks themselves are now not only actively buying stocks but are activley encouraging it and propagandizing their efforts to lever this last policy tool left in the toolbox.
The Euro Is Ripping Europe Apart
Greece is dredging up some ugly memories in Europe with a new push for German war reparations from World War II. Two weeks ago, a “top-secret” report from the Greek Finance Ministry was leaked that claimed that Germany still owes Greece €162 billion in reparations. The report made waves, but it wasn’t clear whether the Greek government was serious about pressing ahead with the claims or was planning on burying them in the interest of smoothing over its relations with Germany.
Nigel Farage: EU = Common Criminals
International
‘Raped’ by anarchist in St Paul’s protest camp tent: Leader of anti-capitalists attacked me twice in shadow of cathedral, woman tells court
Malcolm Blackman, 45, allegedly raped woman twice in her tent in London
Activist frequently spoke to media during anti-capitalist protest at St Paul’s
He tied woman’s hands behind her back with cable ties, Old Bailey hears
Outrage as five-year-olds get sex-education book on how to achieve orgasms and put on a condom in Germany
The book, called ‘Where Do You Come From?’, sparked outrage
It features graphic images of a couple called Lisa and Lars having sex
One of the cartoon images shows Lisa putting a condom on Lars
Parents complained to the Berlin Senate, the city’s governing body
Man sent to jail for watching ‘pixie sex’
A man has been jailed for watching cartoon videos of elves, pixies and other fantasy creatures having sex.
Merkel says euro members must be prepared to cede sovereignty
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that euro zone members must be prepared to cede control over certain policy domains to European institutions if the bloc is truly to overcome its debt crisis and win back foreign investors.
Opinion
Fault Lines Loom for “Dominant” Dem Majority
So what do a governor’s race in Rhode Island, President Obama’s proposed Social Security and Medicare cuts, a bankruptcy in Stockton, Calif., the fiscal cliff, and the funding mechanism for the Affordable Care Act have in common? This isn’t some quirky setup for a joke only a wonk could love. The common thread here is that they all involve cross-currents in the Democratic Party that pose existential threats to their coalition.
Pink Police State
The Pink Police State is a more extreme version of a regime I use to taunt my libertarian friends in my essay on ‘The Sex Vote’ that’s just been published in Doublethink. I worry, and I think we should all worry, about the way cultural libertarianism is snowballing while the snowball of political libertarianism rolls deeper into hell.
More Than Dependency
In a post last night about Mike Lee’s superb Heritage speech from Monday, I mentioned in passing that I was at least as struck by the fact that Lee did not emphasize the problem of “dependency” as by the crucially important themes he did lay out. A fair number of friendly readers, all of whom were just as impressed by Lee’s remarks, have asked me to say a little more about why dependency might not be the best way to describe conservative objections to the detrimental moral effects of the welfare state.
The Sheep of Watertown
The events following the Boston bombing were instructive as to how far we have fallen as a free society. After having failed at their most basic fiduciary responsibility of keeping the country safe (surely more to come on this in the future), the government aggressively flexed its authority over its subjects, the residents of Watertown, Massachusetts. Juxtaposed with the recent national debate on more stringent gun laws, the future of Americanism is in question.
What Would You Add to the Bill of Rights?
An informal survey suggests a desire for greater privacy protections is present among some liberals, conservatives and libertarians.
The Get Off My Lawn Party vs. the Future
I keep an eye on Apple news, in part because I’m an investor and in part because my new book is organized around the question: Why does your smart phone get better and cheaper every year while your public schools get more expensive and less effective, and why isn’t health care, a basic necessity, as cheap and accessible as mobile-phone service, which until the day before yesterday was a millionaire’s luxury?
