News of the Week for November 24th, 2013
- Obama Scandals
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Obama Scandals
Obama poses as Lincoln, evokes Gettysburg while Obamacare crashes
President Barack Obama has given the nation a hand-written and collectivist update of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, just as his political prospects are threatened by the cascading collapse of his Obamacare program.
Census ‘Fake’gate goes back even further
Over the past couple of days I’ve been writing about the fabrication of the unemployment rate derived from the Current Population Survey — also known as the Household Survey — that the Census Bureau conducts on behalf of the Labor Department.
Gun Rights
“Knockout Game” Player Shot By Concealed Carry Permittee
Townhall reported on the “knockout” game last week, and now one participant is learning that trying to knock random people unconscious with a single punch could have dangerous consequences.
Hide the Decline
Environment &
“Green Energy”
‘Free as the Wind’: The True Cost of Wind Energy
As it turns out, Bodhi the Magic Unicorn lives in a lake filled with carcinogenic sludge.
UN climate talks fall apart as 132 countries storm out
Poor countries pulled out of the United Nations climate talks during a fight over transferring wealth from richer countries to fight global warming.
The skillful predictions of climate science
FAIL
The 97% consensus myth – busted by a real survey
We’ve all been subjected to the incessant “97% of scientists agree …global warming…blah blah” meme, which is nothing more than another statistical fabrication by John Cook and his collection of “anything for the cause” zealots.
Study: Greenland Ice Sheet was smaller 3000-5000 years ago than today
Clues in the Arctic fossil record suggest that 3-5,000 years ago, the ice sheet was the smallest it has been in the past 10,000 years
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Sea Change: Majority of Public Now Says Guaranteeing “Access” To Health Care (A Euphemism for “Taxpayers Paying for It”) Is Not the Government’s Responsibility
There has been a lot of chatter about the extent to which the Obamacare debacle changes the nation’s philosophical attitude to the soft, easy blandishments of progressivism. Does it damage them a little, or does it more fully discredit them?
Federal Government Spent $4.4 Billion On State Insurance Exchanges
14 websites — $4.4 billion dollars. Only the US Government can spend that much money and produce nothing but a heaping pile of failure.
Lesson Is Seen in Failure of Law on Medicare in 1989
Angry Americans voice outrage at being asked to pay more for health coverage. Lawmakers and the White House say the public just doesn’t appreciate the benefits of the new health law. Opponents clamor for repeal before the program fully kicks in.
99% of people who visit Nevada’s ACA website don’t end up applying for a plan
Last time we checked, only 1 in 4 Nevadans who selected a Obamacare plan had actually sent in a check (513 paid enrollees out of 1,997 people who had selected plans).
OFA perpetuates myth that Obamacare prohibits rescission of health insurance
The @Obamacare Twitter account, run by Organizing For Action, wants us to believe that Obamacare banned rescission. This is a fairly common Talking Point on the Left
Judge Rules Pittsburgh Catholic Church Doesn’t Have to Comply With HHS Mandate
In yet another pro-life victory against the HHS mandate that forces churches and religious groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for their employees, a federal judge has ruled that the Catholic Church in Pittsburgh doesn’t have to comply.
For Obamacare Architects, Problems Are Features, Not Bugs
The defects of the Obamacare website have become well known. But the problems with the law go further than the website. These problems are not incidental, but central to its design and the intentions of its architects.
Clever: Obama Delays 2015 ObamaCare Enrollment Until After 2014 Midterm Elections
Why do we even have a two-party government when this maniac can just rewrite the laws himself?
The “Obamacare Shock” – One California Employer’s Terrifying True Story
Woman Hailed by President as Obamacare Success Story Now Can’t Afford Obamacare
CNN reports that a woman the president hailed as an Obamacare success story just realized she won’t be able to afford Obamacare because it’s too expensive
War & Terror
US May Have Let ‘Dozens’ of Terrorists Into Country As Refugees
Several dozen suspected terrorist bombmakers, including some believed to have targeted American troops, may have mistakenly been allowed to move to the United States as war refugees, according to FBI agents investigating the remnants of roadside bombs recovered from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Endless Afghanistan? US-Afghan agreement would keep troops in place and funds flowing, perhaps indefinitely
While many Americans have been led to believe the war in Afghanistan will soon be over, a draft of a key U.S.-Afghan security deal obtained by NBC News shows the United States is prepared to maintain military outposts in Afghanistan for many years to come, and pay to support hundreds of thousands of Afghan security forces.
North Texas Drivers Stopped at Roadblock Asked for Saliva, Blood
Fort Worth police apologize for its role in federal survey
NHTSA May Mandate That New Cars Broadcast Location, Direction and Speed November
Before the end of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will decide whether or not to begin the rulemaking process to mandate that newly manufactured cars include what is being called “vehicle-to-vehicle” (V2V) communications technology that constantly broadcasts via radio wave the car’s location, direction, speed and, possibly, even the number of passengers it is carrying.
‘Gender Integration’ = FAIL
This is both hysterically funny and pathetically sad
National
De Blasio Denounces Freedom, Praises “Heavy Hand of Government”
It was a short step from leaders who pay only the most obviously insincere lip service to economic freedom to rulers who don’t even pretend not to be authoritarian collectivists in the mold of Stalin and Castro. New York City has already taken it by electing Bill de Blasio
Obama Surgeon General nominee – Podesta/Soros
Obama has nominated a new Surgeon General
“Knockout Game” Player Shot By Concealed Carry Permittee
Townhall reported on the “knockout” game last week, and now one participant is learning that trying to knock random people unconscious with a single punch could have dangerous consequences.
Toronto District School Board: “Queering Radical Parenting” and “Gender-Fluid Parenting Practices”
The TDSB recommends a Queer Radical Parenting meeting on November 28. And in the latest email sent out by the TDSB’s Gender Based Violence Protection office, they are also endorsing this book launch on November 22.
Police Called, Man arrested, cuffed after using Legal 2.00 Dollar bills at Best Buy
A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency’s legitimacy and called police.
Regionalism: The left’s big plan for how we should live
We have written before about “regionalism,” the left’s stealth plan to impose equality through urban and suburban planning. Stanley Kurtz has been, to my knowledge, the leading critic of this effort.
Long-term contraceptive pill use doubles glaucoma risk, research finds
Women on pill for more than three years ‘twice as likely’ to develop eye disease that can cause blindness if left untreated
Watch What Happens When a Tea Party Senator Is Pressed on Whether He Will Endorse Lindsey Graham in 2014
South Carolina will have two incumbent U.S. senators up for reelection in 2014: Republicans Lindsey Graham, seeking his third term, and Tim Scott, who was appointed to that seat by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley after former Sen. Jim DeMint’s departure.
Democrats Go ‘Nuclear,’ Eliminate Filibusters on Most Nominees (Update)
Senate Democrats succeeded Thursday in deploying the “nuclear option” to make the most fundamental change to floor operations in almost four decades, ending the minority’s ability to kill most presidential nominations by filibuster.
U.N. Disabilities Treaty a Trojan Horse
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, despite its innocent-sounding name, contains a Trojan horse for the pro-life movement. It is the first treaty that contains a reference to “reproductive health.” This term may sound innocuous, but it is not. Ever since the U.N. Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994, anti-life forces have used the term to try to promote a binding, international legal right to abortion. They have argued — and continue to argue — that the repetition of these words, in various statements in a variety of contexts around the world, has created a “customary law” right to abortion that, in turn, binds every nation in the world.
Americas’ Natives Have European Roots
The oldest known genome of a modern human solves long-standing puzzles about the New World’s genetic heritage
Mom Gives Kids Homemade Lunch, School Forces Them to Eat Ritz Crackers
A mom who thought she was properly parenting by sending her two young kids to school with a homemade, whole-food lunch was shocked to find a penalty note from school officials informing her that the lunch of roast beef, potatoes, carrots, oranges and milk she provided was “unbalanced” and therefore had to be supplemented with Ritz crackers.
Sec. State John Kerry declares Monroe Doctrine to be dead
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday declared that a nearly 200-year-old policy which had governed Washington’s relations with Latin America was finally dead.
Tennessee school safety officer arrests parent for calmly objecting to pick-up policy
Here’s a video of a Cumberland County, Tennessee school safety officer illegally arresting a parent who disagreed with the school’s policy on picking up kids. The policy had recently changed, creating a long traffic jam, so the soon-to-be-arrested man walked to the school to get his kids.
George P. Bush files to run statewide in TX
George Prescott Bush, a political newcomer who is the grandson and nephew of U.S. presidents, filed to run for Texas land commissioner on Tuesday
Smart TV from LG phones home with user’s viewing habits, USB file names
It’s not the premise of a sci-fi novel. Internet-connected TVs are watching you now.
Justice Thomas speaks: The video
Our friends at the Federalist Society have posted a comprehensive set of links to the videos of this year’s National Lawyers Convention programs here. As promised, they have posted the 51-minute video of Justice Thomas’s interview with Seventh Circuit Judge Diane Sykes this past Thursday evening at the Federalist Society’s annual dinner. Those of us in attendance that night knew we had been witness to something special.
Even Arne Duncan’s “Apology” for Insulting Common Core Opponents Is Condescending
Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, had a moment of brutal honesty the other day. He immediately walked it back, of course, because when politicians occasionally let slip the impatience and contempt they feel for their constituents, it’s usually a good idea to fake a little contrition lest their careers suffer. But he condescendingly lashed out at “white suburban moms” for rebelling against Common Core education standards, saying it’s because their feelings are hurt when their kids don’t score as well as they once did. Thanks for letting the mask slip, Arne, and revealing your disdain for anybody who might insist on leeway in educating their own kids.
150 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln praised ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’ – but the words were not his
On November 19, 1863, at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, President Abraham Lincoln, weak and lightheaded with an oncoming case of smallpox, made a speech that lasted for just over two minutes, and ended with his hope “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Virgina State Senator Critically Wounded, Son Dead, Police Say
Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds was stabbed this morning at his residence, and is critically wounded. He has been flown to a local hospital. Also at that residence, it’s being reported that his son was found dead, but police have only confirmed that a person other than the Senator was found dead at the scene, apparently from a gunshot wound.
Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs report
In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington.
UCLA Prof accused of racist “micro-aggression” for correcting student grammar
Grammar is bad and racist, right?
Shock Video: Black students decry UCLA as not diverse enough
The University of California – Los Angeles has a noted diversity program, which provides diversity-related resources for undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Students defend professor after sit-in over racial climate
Current and former students in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies expressed their support for professor emeritus Val Rust following a demonstration in one of his graduate classes last Thursday.
It’s okay to make students uncomfortable with racial remarks REMARKS so long as they’re white students.
I don’t think anyone has a right not to be “uncomfortable” in class — but since universities feel otherwise, I’m glad to see people extending the principle evenhandedly.
California Town Bans Smoking in Condos and Apartments That Share Walls
The town of San Rafael, Calif., has passed a ban on smoking that city officials have called the most stringent in the nation. The new ordinance makes it illegal for residents to smoke in their own homes if they share a wall with another dwelling.
Following Common Core money: Where are millions of dollars going?
In this post, award-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York raises some new questions about the Common Core State Standards and curriculum being developed around them.
Economy
& Taxes
Ghost of Chavez Can’t Stop Hyperinflation
Steve Hanke, a Johns Hopkins University economist who studies hyperinflation, thinks that Venezuela is sliding into a hyperinflation episode
Inequality in two graphs
I have written many times that the subsidies to Wall Street and its employees have distorted economic outcomes for a handful of folks relative to the rest of us. So I want to start by pointing out that there is at least one source of inequality that is destructive to democracy and capitalism.
Wall Streeters Are Starting To Pass Around This Chart Showing The Market On The Cusp Of A Big Crash
It shows the current market aligned with the market in the days before the Depression.
International
Norwegian TV anchorwoman discharged for wearing a Cross After Muslims Complained: “a Necklace with a Cross insults Islam”
More of that interfaith dialogue, mutual respect and tolerance that the Muslims are always berating us with.
Marxist Sandinista Movement Could Maintain Permanent Control of Nicaragua
New constitutional amendments could put dictator in place
‘Refusal will result in a Racial Discrimination note being attached to your child’s educational record…’
What is the single most depressing aspect of this letter. Is it the idea of labelling eight-year-olds racists? Is it the moronic conflation of religion and ethnicity? Is it the ugly grammar (“As such our expectations are that all children in years 4 to 6 attend school on Wednesday…”)? Is it the bullying tone? Is it the unconscionable choice of font? Is it that someone can write that way and yet hold a position of authority in a school?
Daniel Hannan: Why have we forgotten our Bill of Rights?
British prime ministers today have powers like monarchs, and EU laws sideline primary legislation — let’s repatriate our revolution
Venezuela gives president decree powers for ‘economic war’
Venezuelan lawmakers granted President Nicolas Maduro yearlong decree powers on Tuesday that he says are essential to regulate the economy and stamp out corruption but adversaries view as a power grab.
Brutal North Korean regime considered ‘chic’ by Elle magazine
The creative director of Elle Magazine has named “North Korea chic” a “fall fashion trend.” Because of course, famine and execution is so in right now. What the hell is Joe Zee thinking?
France says Central African Republic on verge of genocide
France said on Thursday that Central African Republic was “on the verge of genocide” and it expected the United Nations to give Paris and the African Union permission to intervene.
Venezuela’s Opposition Stages Nationwide Protests
Thousands of opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro took to the streets on Saturday to express outrage over the country’s deepening economic crisis, seeking to rebuild momentum sapped after a string of electoral defeats.
Opinion
Why Coolidge Is Cool Again
The 30th president not only offers us a lesson on what was done, but what will have to be done again.
We’re Losing The Two Things Tocqueville Said Mattered Most About American Democracy
A view of America, from France.
Obama’s Sesame Street Communications Strategy
I’ve previously mentioned my annoyance with Obama’s baby-talk style of condescension to the American public. On one hand, he demands that we be as high-minded and intellectual as he mistakenly conceives himself to be. But on the other hand, he doesn’t trust us enough to speak to us like adults, and so he does what adults do to children when they wish to manipulate them: They lie. They make up magical elves like Santa Claus who keep naughty and nice lists
Freedom for the Press — Protection for an Industry/Profession, or for All Users of a Technology?
Since the issue has come up again in recent comments, I thought I’d repost the introduction to my article, Freedom for the Press as an Industry, or for the Press as a Technology? From the Framing to Today, 160 U. Penn. L. Rev. 459 (2011)
Education Secretary Arne Duncan: Common Core Opponents Are Just “White Suburban Moms” Upset to Learn Their Children Aren’t “Brilliant”
Incredible — and an undeniable mode of thinking among the self-professed elite.
The GOP’s “Just Get to 270” Electoral Strategy Needs A Complete Overhaul
Time for Republicans to reconsider their strategy.
The World of English Freedoms
It’s no accident that the English-speaking nations are the ones most devoted to law and individual rights, writes Daniel Hannan
Children Must Learn What Makes America Exceptional
It is vitally important that young Americans learn what makes America unique. Unlike most nations, which are defined by things like geography, ethnicity, language, and tradition, America is a nation defined by a few great ideals.
Allen West: ‘Dependency Society’ Lead to ‘Knockout Game’
Col. Allen West, former GOP U.S. Congressman from Florida, said at a Thursday morning panel focused on the devastating economic impacts of amnesty that economic policies that displace black youths from jobs—like President Barack Obama’s immigration policies—have led to fads like the “knockout game.”
Destructive Totalitarian ‘Equality’
The various “-isms” of left-wing ideology are really just variations of a destructive anti-social nihilism, whose purpose was forever defined more than 150 years ago when, in their Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels declared: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” Once you understand this profound hostility to social order — the misfit’s appetite for anarchy — then you realize that whatever grievance they complain of is really just a pretext. They do not actually wish to reform society. Rather, they seek revenge against society, and don’t care that others are harmed by their acts of destruction, except insofar as they actively desire such harm.
Liberals announce future legislation promoting gay rights – progress to come!
I had the idea for this post upon reading this comment (in a thread about the Elane Photography case)
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