News of the Week for january 4^th, 2014

• Obama Scandals
• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

 

Obama Scandals

 

Breaking Obama’s stonewall
National Review’s Kevin Williamson had an interesting analysis of the Obama administration’s continued stonewalling of Congressional subpoenas and other federal investigations, pointing to a letter from 47 inspectors general to Congress complaining of agency obstruction of lawful internal investigations.

 

Gun Rights

 

Who’s up for an International Gun Registry?
Arms Trade Treaty is UN’s Christmas Present to America

Liberals Waste no Time Pushing Gun Control in 2015
Progressivism never sleeps.

Three Home Invaders Shot After Trying to Rape Man’s 19-Year-Old Granddaughter
Armed self-defense in North Carolina

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Vostok Ice Cores and the 8,000-year Lag
During Earth’s recent history, there has been a relationship between carbon dioxide and global temperatures: when temperatures rise, the concentration of CO2 subsequently rises, and when temperatures fall, CO2 concentration thereafter declines. Ice cores from Vostok in Antarctica have been studied intensively to analyze temperatures and concentrations of various gases over the course of millennia. Euan Mearns reviews the literature as it relates to both CO2 and methane

Pope Embraces the Green Religion
And up until now now Pope Francis had been doing so well: pious, popular, a scourge of incompetence and corruption, a champion of the poor….

Pope Francis, Put A Lid On It. Please.
Pope Francis has already caused consternation among knowledgeable Catholics with his criticisms of economic freedom. Some have tried to defend him or reinterpret his words, but it is hard to sugarcoat the fact that he is instinctively hostile to free enterprise. Perhaps this is because, as a native of Argentina, he has never seen free enterprise at work and doesn’t understand what it can do for the average citizen.

EIGHT CYLINDERS OF ECONOMIC JUSTICE
Let’s say you’re among the one million or so Australians who’ll buy a new car this year.

EU Rules that Coffee Percolators Must Switch off after 5 Minutes to Fight Climate Change
Coffee lovers are facing interference from Brussels who have dictated that they cannot be guaranteed a hot cup of coffee.

Pope Says We Are All Responsible for Climate Change
In a leaked draft of the forthcoming encyclical on the environment

Has NOAA Once Again Tried to Adjust Data to Match Climate Models?
The topic of discussion is their new sea surface temperature dataset, ERSST.v4. Based on a breakpoint analysis recently promoted by RealClimate, NOAA appears to have reduced the early 20th Century warming rate to agree with the climate models used by the IPCC.

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Obamacare Employer Mandate Starts
As long as we have employer-based insurance, companies should be happy to do the right thing for their workers.

Obamacare and the deterioration of private health insurance
Laura Ungar and Jayne O’Donnell write in USA Today about a “reversal of fortunes” in health care. It seems that “poor, long-uninsured patients are getting Medicaid through Obamacare and finally coming to [doctors] for care, but middle-class workers are increasingly staying away.”

 

War & Terror

 

NSA has VPNs in Vulcan death grip—no, really, that’s what they call it
VPN traffic repositories used to find keys, crack encryption of target traffic.

Russia Offers Arms to Argentina
Russia is set to lease Argentina up to a dozen long-range, supersonic strike aircraft in exchange for supplies of wheat and beef. This would be a coup for Argentina, because UK influence has scuppered previous plans to upgrade its aerial attack capabilities.

ISIS fighters “have contracted Ebola”: World Health Organisation investigating reports militants showed up at Iraqi hospital with lethal disease
Militants allegedly attended hospital in Mosul showing signs of disease

Slaves of genocidal misogyny: women’s fight for survival
The image of Islamic State is the face of a terrorised girl. The weeping Yazidi child enslaved by jihadist men, the torment of a woman stripped naked as Islamists cut her throat, the decapitated body of a Christian child held by her grief-stricken father.

 

National

 

10 senators who could lose in 2016
Senate Republicans will have to work hard to retain their recently won majority as they face a tough 2016 electoral map.

‘Traitor’ de Blasio booed at Police Academy graduation
Mayor Bill de Blasio was booed and heckled as he spoke to the city’s newest cops Monday morning.

Wary NYPD cops letting minor crimes slide
With cops on edge following the assassination of two patrol officers on a Brooklyn street, many officers have started turning a blind eye to some minor crimes, sources told The Post, while a union mandate that two patrol cars respond to all police calls has led to slower response times to non-emergencies.

Parochial school teacher fired for violating Church doctrine; awarded $2 million in damages
We’ve noted for a while, under the rubric “you will be made to care,” the fact that people of faith no longer have the ability to ignore the culture and live their faith unmolested. This is not an accident. It is a deliberate policy of the Obama administration which has reached back into history to the administration of another socialist president, Franklin Roosevelt, for guidance and substituted “freedom of worship” for “freedom of religion.” This is more than a semantic difference. Worship is generally confined to one’s home or church. Religion is a part of your character and should form you actions and interactions. Wedding photographers, bakers, and bed and breakfast hosts have been among the first to feel the pain inflicted by a regulatory state harnessed to a hostility to religion.

China Needs Millions of Brides ASAP
In the villages outside of Handan, China, a bachelor looking to marry a local girl needs to have as much as $64,000 — the price tag for a suitable home and obligatory gifts. That’s a bit out of the price range of many of the farmers who live in the area. So in recent years, according to the Beijing News, local men have been turning to a Vietnamese marriage broker, paying as much as $18,500 for an imported wife, complete with a money-back guarantee in case the bride fled.

LAPD: 2nd suspect who fired at patrol car remains at large
The Los Angeles Police Department ended an eight-hour search in South Los Angeles Monday morning without finding a second suspect who opened fire on a patrol car.

Mexico Deported More Central Americans Than US In 2014
During the immigration crisis of 2014, Mexico, a country known as an illegal immigration corridor used by human and drug smugglers, increased its deportation efforts and ended up surpassing the number of Central Americans that the United States deported during the year.

Pennsylvania police kill man whom they say tried to run them over
Police in suburban Philadelphia said late Tuesday that they had shot and killed a man who attempted to run down officers in his car after they tried to arrest him for making threats against law enforcement.

John McCain Leading Purge of AZ Conservatives
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his allies are reportedly leading a purge of conservatives in Arizona to pave the way for an easier reelection bid should McCain decide to run for reelection in 2016.

Boehner Defends Scalise as More Ties to Former KKK Grand Wizard Emerge
House Speaker John Boehner has thrown his full support behind his embattled ally, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, as more ties between Scalise and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke—including a nearly-decade long close relationship with the ex-KKK leader’s top aide—have emerged.

Scalise May Not Have Actually Attended That White Nationalist Conference
House majority whip Steve Scalise may not have spoken to a conference of white nationalists in 2002 after all, even though he’s already apologized for doing so.

A “Letter of Solidarity” from Cal. State University, Northridge reads like a parody of Leftist anti-Americanism
I received in my email a copy of a “letter of solidarity” circulating amongst employees in the Masters of Social Work Department at California State University, Northridge (“CSUN”), a California taxpayer-funded institution that also receives federal tax dollars. In this solidarity letter, department members indict the entire American system for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, as well as for the death and suffering of all other victim classes in America.

House Majority Whip Scalise confirms he spoke to white supremacists in 2002
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House majority whip, acknowledged Monday that he spoke at a gathering hosted by white-supremacist leaders while serving as a state representative in 2002, thrusting a racial controversy into House Republican ranks days before the party assumes control of both congressional chambers.

5 Federal Agencies in the GOP’s Crosshairs
Five federal agencies are bracing for a tough year as Republicans take full control of Congress in January, when lawmakers return to Washington.

Steve Scalise spoke to civic association meeting, not white nationalist conference, David Duke adviser Kenny Knight says
Reports that Rep. Steve Scalise, the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, gave a speech to a white nationalist conference connected with David Duke in 2002 are not accurate, the man who organized the events said Wednesday (Dec. 31).

De Blasio reappoints judge who freed men who threatened cops
Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered another blow to New York’s Finest on Wednesday when he reappointed a Brooklyn judge who freed without bail two men who threatened cops just days after the Bed-Stuy double police assassination.

Pets help children with autism be more assertive
Dogs and other pets play an important role in individuals’ social lives, and they can act as catalysts for social interaction, previous research has shown. Although much media attention has focused on how dogs can improve the social skills of children with autism, a University of Missouri researcher recently found that children with autism have stronger social skills when any kind of pet lived in the home.

Protesters storm police headquarters in downtown St. Louis; 25 arrests made
In what was slated as a peaceful “March to the Arch” by Ferguson demonstrators, more than two dozen people were arrested and pepper spray was used by police. The melee unfolded as protesters tried to storm the St. Louis Metropolitan Police headquarters building.

10 possible Senate retirements
Capitol Hill isn’t a happy or easy place to be these days, and several senators could be eyeing the exits ahead of 2016.

Despite an Ominous New Poll, Speaker Boehner Isn’t Going Anywhere
House Speaker John Boehner is not particularly popular with Republican voters.

La. Democrats Come to Scalise’s Defense: He’s No Racist
It’s been pile-on time this week against House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who has been scrambling to explain if and why he might have spoken to a white-nationalist group as a state legislator back in 2002. Scalise claims he can’t recall speaking at the EURO conference near his Metairie district, and he says that with a staff of one at the time he didn’t vet all the groups he spoke to promoting his opposition to tax increases. The EURO conference featured former KKK leader David Duke as a speaker by video link from Europe.

Extreme helicoptering: Now parents go with kids to college
Lori Osterberg and her husband are lifelong Denver folk, but they got restless and intended to relocate for adventure’s sake once their only child left home for college.

David Duke: I’ve Met with Democrats at Least 50 Times
Knights of the Klu Klux Klan founder David Duke defended the embattled Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) on Tuesday, telling media that he has met with Democratic legislators at least 50 times over the course of his political career.

What’s your top priority in 2016? Let this poll help you pick!
We’ve got 99 problems, and we can’t run on all of ‘em.

Edward Brooke, first African American elected to Senate, dies at 95
Former Sen. Edward Brooke (R-Mass.), who ended an 85-year absence of African-American senators, died on Saturday at age 95, according to Kirsten Hughes, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican Party.

HOW TO FIGHT THE CAMPUS SPEECH POLICE: Get A Good Lawyer:
Then, three months ago, almost a year since the original incident, Mr. Adams re-entered Mr. Mael’s life. Again he was summoned to the dean’s office without knowing the Oct. 8 meeting’s purpose. “I’m told that there are charges against me under bullying, harassment and religious discrimination,” Mr. Mael recalls. “And I’m told that I have to give a response—guilty or not guilty—ideally within 48 hours.” A guilty determination could have led to his suspension or expulsion from school. Since this was around the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Mr. Mael was given about a week to reply.

Gohmert to challenge Boehner for House speaker post
Rep. Louie Gohmert said Sunday morning that he will challenge John Boehner for the post of House speaker.

Elected Official’s Ominous Tweet: “When You Exercise Your #WhitePrivilege, Don’t Think I’m Not Going to Remember.”
In a profile by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal is called “fiery” and is said to be known for her “sometimes profane outbursts” as well as being unpredictable.

“Black brunch” protesters interrupt diners in NYC, Oakland
In a twist on sit-in-style protests, civil rights activists entered several restaurants in New York City and Oakland, Calif., on Sunday in what organizers billed as “Black Brunch.”

Nevada Republican Assembly Caucus about to get raucous
Dust off your Robert’s Rules of Order and lawyer up, it is going to be a bumpy ride.

Hambrick fires back at Fiore’s allegations and contentions
The circular firing squad of the Republican Assembly Caucus keeps firing — ready, fire, aim.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Venezuela confirms recession, inflation hits 63.6 percent in Nov
Venezuela entered a recession in 2014, with the economy shrinking in the first three quarters, the Central Bank said on Tuesday, blaming political opponents for the dismal figures.

The year of dollar danger for the world
We are entering a new financial order where there is no longer an automatic “Fed Put” or a “Politburo Put” to act as a safety net for asset markets

 

International

 

Chinese-Backed Canal Gets Underway in Nicaragua
Chinese investors broke ground on the Nicaragua Canal this week. The hasty opening fulfills chief investor Wang Jing’s promise that construction would start by the close of this year, even though the project’s core problems have not yet been resolved. But observers are already talking up the benefits that Chinese investment will bring to the region, even if the canal never succeeds.

Christians Now Outnumber Communists in China
Though the Chinese Communist Party is the largest explicitly atheist organization in the world, with 85 million official members, it is now overshadowed by an estimated 100 million Christians in China. It is no wonder Beijing is nervous and authorities are cracking down on Christian groups.

Researchers Discover Suspected Secret Nazi Nuclear Development Site
A huge underground facility believed to have been built by the Nazis to develop nuclear weapons has been discovered in Austria.

Cuban dissidents arrested before free-speech demonstration in Havana
Antonio Rodiles, Eliezer Avila and Reinaldo Escobar reportedly detained

Sweden to Opt for Suicide by Immigration?
Left and Right came together to marginalize popular concerns about immigration.

Beware of Greeks Casting Votes
Europe might be heading back toward crisis, and a familiar actor has set things in motion again: Greece. This time, however, the causes are primarily political, rather than financial.

Angry plus-size campaigner calls cops after the TV star labels her unhealthy
Katie Hopkins is accused of committing a hate crime against fat people

Canada Mass Murder: Gunman Kills Eight, Commits Suicide in Edmonton
A crazed gunman killed six people — two of whom were children — then committed suicide in a Canadian town, police believe.

HarperCollins omits Israel from school atlas
The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has accused the publishing giant HarperCollins of harming peace efforts in the Middle East by leaving Israel off its maps

Man stabbed in head and back for shouting “Merry Christmas” in Muslim-dominated area
Recently a Danish couple was slashed in the face with iron chains by Muslims on their way home on Christmas Eve. The Christmas terror attack below happened in Cologne Ehrenfeld, a Muslim-dominated area which recently got its own mega-mosque, Central Mosque Cologne. Shouting “Merry Christmas” can be fatal in certain areas of Europe.

Raped While Lying on Broken Glass – Welcome to the New Sweden
The Danish psychologist Nicolai Sennels published a translation today of a particularly horrific culturally enriched assault that occurred in Gothenburg, Sweden. The incident took place earlier this year, but the news was sparse until the perpetrator was convicted in Gothenburg District Court.

Mon Dieu! France’s Mr. Gay Says He Supports Marine Le Pen & The National Front!
Addendum December 31: The gay magazine Tetu, organizer of the competition “Mister Gay” whose 2015 winner said he was sympathetic to the National Front, will set up a “charter of ethics and new rules” for the next editions of the contest Beauty.

Inside SOUTH Korea’s slave farms where cruel families send mentally disabled relatives to toil in fields rather than care for them
The rural island chain, off southwest coast, is home to thriving slave trade

Cologne Cathedral to turn out the lights to support Islam in Germany
One of Germany’s most famous landmarks, Cologne Cathedral, will be plunged into darkness on Monday evening in protest at a march by a growing grass-roots anti-Muslim movement through the western German city, cathedral authorities said.

Refugees protest rural Sweden relocation
Some 40 asylum-seekers refused to leave the bus when they arrived at their destination in rural northern Sweden, demanding that they be taken back to Malmö or “some big city”.

Outrage after man tortures and murders 10-year-old daughter
Yemeni admits to torturing and gunning down 10-year old for allegedly having sex

Prince Andrew named in US lawsuit over underage sex allegations
In case related to banker Jeffrey Epstein, woman alleges in court filing that she was forced to have repeated ‘sexual relations’ with duke

Scottish Police: We Are Watching You Online, Don’t Say Anything Rude
I would like to report that this represents little more than an idle threat, or, perhaps, that it is merely the product of a rogue and overzealous intern. But, alas, I cannot. As The Independent’s James Bloodworth noted this week, this is in fact rather typical. “Around 20,000 people in Britain have been investigated in the past three years for comments made online,” Bloodworth confirms, “with around 20 people a day being looked into by the forces of the law, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.”

Please be aware that we will continue to monitor comments on social media & any offensive comments will be investigated.

— Police Scotland (@policescotland) December 30, 2014

EU Launches Fund for Thinly Veiled Propaganda Project
British taxpayers have been signed up to paying £18million into an EU propaganda programme by MEPs from across the Continent, with only a tiny percentage earmarked for Eurocrat-approved programmes here in the UK.

Prince Andrew sex claim: Alan Dershowitz threatens action
Alan Dershowitz: “My goal is to bring charges against the client and require her to speak in court”

Prince Andrew may have been secretly filmed with underage girl he is alleged to have abused
Papers filed against his pervert pal Jeffrey Epstein say he recorded VIP orgies he threw at his luxury homes using cameras hidden in the walls

Egypt’s al-Sisi Makes Extraordinary Speech on Islam
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made an extraordinary speech on New Year’s Day to Cairo’s Al-Azhar and the Awqaf Ministry calling for a long overdue virtual ecclesiastical revolution in Islam. This is something no Western leader has the had the courage to do, certainly not Barack Obama, despite his Muslim education.

 

Opinion

 

Crime as Politics
n the last few days, the local Fresno community was outraged — or at least was reportedly to be so — at the vandalism of a local Islamic cultural center.

Elizabeth Warren Is No ‘Populist’
Democrat Elizabeth Warren’s claim to being a Main Street populist is an abuse of the American populist narrative, not unlike the hijacking of the tea party following the 2010 elections.

Dear GOP: Show, Don’t Tell
If Republicans see politics as a game, at least they could play it more convincingly.

For the Media, the Climate of Hate is Always on the Right
I must say that for some decades now, the media have proven to be terrible weather forecasters, always finding the climate of hate on the right, and never seeing it on the left of the political map.

The Real Reason Why Marriage Is on the Downward Slide
Lynn Stuart Parramore (advocate of socialist economist and alleged woman-puncher Thomas Piketty) argues that “economic injustice” is messing with marriage

Hollywood’s Munich Moments
Years of trashing U.S. culture haven’t bought American filmmakers immunity.

Tribalism and Peak Left
“Where you stand depends on where you sit” is favorite aphorism of progressive activists. It’s used to imply that “privilege” can blind someone to inconvenient facts, e.g. police aggression against minorities.

What To Expect In 2015
Here are eight big stories that have been brewing in 2014 that are likely to have a bigger impact in 2015.

Quiz for the Media: David Duke or Louis Farrakhan?
Greetings, members of the media who might be stopping by to see how RedState is responding to the news that Republican Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) spoke to a group that is aligned with David Duke. We understand that it is a slow news day, but that doesn’t mean it’s ever the wrong day to broad brush all Republicans as racist!

A Year of Liberal Double Standards
What seems like staggering hypocrisy is actually remarkably consistent from liberals’ perspective.

Progressives and Disorder
The next two years may be the most dangerous since the Cold War ended.

Actor Nick Searcy on What to Teach a Black Child About Racist Police
Peabody Award-winning world famous actor Nick Searcy is best known for kicking ass in the show “Justified” and kicking liberal ass on the Twitters, but now you can know him for being a Facebook post auteur. Here he tackles the issue of what parents of black children should teach them about racism, since he has a black son by adoption.

Fundamental Concepts – Everything Old is New Again
Every time I write one of these, I try to dink theeply about important shit, and then do my best to express my thoughts for discussion. Sometimes I do rather well. Sometimes I fail miserably. The column I was working on for today went hopelessly pear shaped, and it’s going to take me a while to slap it into shape, so here it is, 2 AM, and I got nothing. Perhaps it’s time to revisit someone who had something, something that’s infinitely better than anything I’ll ever write in any three lifetimes.

The British People Must Now Take Control of the Establishment Paedophile Scandal
As Prince Andrew becomes the latest figure to be named in an establishment paedophile scandal, the British nation has woken up today to face, yet again, the uncomfortable possibility that they are governed by an elite political and media establishment that has, for at least the past 50 years, engaged in, covered up, and ignored institutionalised paedophilia.

Mental Illness on Parade
Occasionally, I amuse myself by searching for certain feminist jargon terms on Twitter and RT’ing the wacky results. The jargon of feminism is a way for misfits to normalize their own insanity. That is to say, feminists look at the lives of normal human beings and see oppression. It is wrong for us to be normal, happy and successful, feminists believe, because our happiness and success are obviously the cause of their misery and failure.

Does Harry Reid have an amazing secret life?
What the Hell goes on in Harry Reid’s house?

Unraveling The Narrative
It was 1993 and Clinton was making us prosperous and balancing the budget, and equality and amity flowed throughout the land. We were glad the “me decade” was well in the past. Everyone was altruistic and full of care for the poor. And weren’t we lucky that Reagan had not nefariously caused WWIII.