News of the Week (September 7th, 2015)

Posted on September 7, 2015 by The Political Hat

 

News of the Week for September 7th, 2015


 

Obama Scandals

 

VA Report: 307,000 Veterans Died Waiting for Applications to Be Processed
The Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General issued another utterly appalling report, painting a picture of incompetence and callousness

 

Gun Rights

 

Fatal Firearm Accidents vs Private Gun Ownership 1965 – 2013
The number of fatal firearm accidents, or unintentional firearm fatalities, have been falling for more than 50 years. At the same time, the number of firearms in the United States has been steadily rising. The cause of fatal firearm accidents is not correlated to the number of firearms in society . . .

So, What About the Clerk Who Won’t Issue Concealed-Carry Permits?
Throughout the online battles over Kim Davis, the counterfactual I’m most presented with is along the lines of the following: “You wouldn’t support or respect a clerk who refuses to issue concealed-carry permits, so why do you support Davis?” I have two thoughts in response.

 

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Navajo Nation preps lawsuit against EPA over mine spill
The Navajo Nation is preparing for a legal battle against President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Ted Cruz SCHOOLS two separate Climate Change activists who were trying to work him over
A liberal activist named Tyler, with question in hand, was hoping to create a bad media moment for Ted Cruz by trying to force him to answer “yes or no” on whether he denies the existence of Climate Change. But Tyler apparently didn’t know who he was up against as Cruz rejected his premise and then proceeded to school him on Climate Change. It was major fail for Tyler, but his friend Kaity would try later (below).

Chinese warships spotted off the coast of Alaska
President Obama isn’t the only one making a visit to Alaska this week, according to a new report from Pentagon officials. The U.S. military has spotted five Chinese navy ships off the coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea, heading in the direction of the Aleutian Islands. The presence of the Chinese ships, including three combat ships, a replenishment vessel, and an amphibious ship, marks the first time that the U.S. military has reported seeing “any such activity in the area,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Tyranny of Consensus
Never mind that climate change is the single most complex scientific question of human history. Human nature has managed to morph politics and science together into a repulsive, philosophic monstrosity — half science and half religion — specifically designed to reduce multifaceted, chaos-based theory and its inherent, profound complexity to absurdly simple computer modeled abstractions.

Britain’s Electricity Network In “Uncharted Territory” As Blackouts Loom
Britain faces potential power shortages in the next four years

 

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

The Latest Frontier in Total Regulation
The most salient feature of what I and others call the “Administrative State” is its relentless logic that virtually every aspect of life should be subject in principle to regulation, and sooner or later in practice, too. Hence the crackdown on little kid lemonade stands and amateur magicians who keep rabbits, which I’ve commented upon previously. Call it the theory of “total regulation” if you like that better than the clangy “Administrative State.”

 

War & Terror

 

More Than 100 School Girls Poisoned in Herat. Afghanistan
Local officials said more than 100 school girls were poisoned in western Herat province early Monday.

Russian jets in Syrian skies
Russia has begun its military intervention in Syria, deploying an aerial contingent to a permanent Syrian base, in order to launch attacks against ISIS and Islamist rebels; US stays silent.

Iran Vows to Violate UN Restrictions on Ballistic Missiles
Iran missile stocks increase

The Democrats Now Own Iran. They’ll Soon Wish They Didn’t
This morning, President Obama got what he’s been working toward all year. With Senator Barbara Mikulski’s announcement that she will vote to support the Iran nuclear deal, the administration got its 34th vote in the Senate, thus assuring that the president will have enough support to sustain a veto of a resolution of disapproval of the pact.

Dutch air force sergeant joins Islamic State in first such desertion
A 26-year-old Dutch air force sergeant is believed to have travelled to Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Iran Promises to “Set Fire” to U.S. Interests
A senior Iranian military official has vowed to “set fire” to all U.S. interests in the region and maintained that the Islamic Republic welcomes war with America, according to regional reports demonstrating that Tehran is still committed to fighting the United States in the wake of a recently inked nuclear accord.

Iraqi woman kills Daesh militant commander near Mosul
An Iraqi woman has reportedly killed a senior commander of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in the country’s northern province of Nineveh after the latter forced her to act as a sex slave for his militants.

 

National

 

Illinois Says It Can’t Pay Big Lottery Winners
Without a state budget agreement two months into the new fiscal year, there’s no authority for the state comptroller to cut checks over $25,000. That means smaller winnings can be paid out, but not the larger lottery wins.

PC Police Alert!! MSNBC Deems Another Word Racist: “Resilient”!!
Erstwhile Civil Rights Attorney and full-time moron Tracie Washington went on the Melissa Harris Perry show yesterday morning to show that she too could compete with the profound idiocy that flows forth from that boundless cornucopia of stupidity.

#ThanksMichelleObama: School resumes – so do skimpy lunches
Public schools across the country are throwing their doors open for another year of learning.

Ed Klein: Sanders Preparing to Run as Independent
Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders will be breaking from the Democratic Party and running for president as a third party, a move that “would all but guarantee a catastrophic split in the Democratic vote and ensure a Republican victory,” Ed Klein confidential reports, citing sources inside Sanders’ campaign.

DNC Passes Resolution to Support #BlackLivesMatter – The Next Day They Chant “Pigs in a Blanket”
The panderers at the Democratic National Committee passed a resolution on Friday supporting the Black Lives Matter mob movement. The resolution also condemns police in America for shooting unarmed black men.

Armed Black Panthers to Texas Cops: “We Will Start Creeping Up on You in the Darkness”
Armed Black Panther members marched in front of the Waller County jail and shouted, “You’re gonna stop doing what you’re doing, or we will start creeping up on you in the darkness.”

Sid Blumenthal (in Hillary E-Mails): Boehner “Alcoholic”, “Lazy”, “Banal”, “Louche”…
Seems as if we conservatives are on the same page as Team Hillary, re. John Boehner’s principles, morals, and skill set– if a just-released 2011 e-mail from one of the Clintons’ closest advisors is anything to go by

Sid Blumenthal Unloaded on Tea Party in “Confidential” Three-Page Memo to Hillary Clinton
Sid Blumenthal unloaded on the Tea Party in a formerly confidential three-page memo to Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Intentionally Originated And Distributed Highly Classified Information
A review of recently released e-mails shows that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeatedly originated and distributed highly classified national security information. Clinton’s classified e-mail missives were not constrained to State Department staff, either. She also sent classified information to Sidney Blumenthal, a former Clinton White House operative banned by the Obama White House.

Hillary Received Plan to Impeach Clarence Thomas
Hillary Clinton’s recently released emails includes a memo sent by David Brock titled, “Memo on Impeaching Clarence Thomas.”

Blumenthal: John Boehner is “alcoholic,” “lazy,” “banal”
Hillary Clinton confidant Sid Blumenthal had nothing but bad things to say about incoming House Speaker John Boehner on the day Republicans won back the House from Democrats in 2010, according to new emails released by the State Department late Monday.

Hillary’s National Marketing Director Illegally Accepting Foreign Contribution
Trickle-Down Corruption: Hillary Clinton’s top lieutenants were caught on hidden camera by James O’Keefe violating election law from the very beginning of her campaign.

Planned Parenthood Baby Parts Vendor ABR Pays Off Clinics, Intact Fetuses “Just Fell Out”
The ninth video in the Planned Parenthood baby parts scandal focuses on Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc. (ABR), the small and secretive company that has harvested and sold fetal body parts at Planned Parenthood clinics longer than any other entity.

Stanford’s Low-Carbon Water Splitter Produces Hydrogen 24-7
Stanford University scientists have invented a low-cost water splitter that uses a single catalyst to produce both hydrogen and oxygen gas 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Analysis: On Classified Information, Hillary Seems to Have Followed the YOLO Protocol
The YOLO protocol says you can send, like, whatever.

FCC Introduces Rules Banning WiFi Router Firmware Modification
For years we have been graced by cheap consumer electronics that are able to be upgraded through unofficial means. Your Nintendo DS is able to run unsigned code, your old XBox was a capable server for its time, your Android smartphone can be made better with CyanogenMod, and your wireless router could be expanded far beyond what it was originally designed to do thanks to the efforts of open source firmware creators. Now, this may change. In a proposed rule from the US Federal Communications Commission, devices with radios may be required to prevent modifications to firmware.

Clinton, using private server, wrote and sent e-mails now deemed classified
While she was secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote and sent at least six e-mails using her private server that contained what government officials now say is classified information, according to thousands of e-mails released by the State Department.

Majority of Immigrant Households Are on WelfareShare article on Facebook
A new report by my colleague Steven Camarota finds that most immigrant households use welfare. That immigrants receive taxpayer-funded benefits at higher rates than the native-born isn’t a new finding. But previous research (including by CIS) has never found such a high rate. The reason is that Camarota used a different Census Bureau data source, the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), that is more difficult to use but, as its name suggests, provides the most comprehensive view of welfare use (a.k.a “program participation”).

In Missouri, Transgender Reality Meets Transgender Myth
A 17-year-old boy, who wants to identify as a girl, has ignited a huge controversy in a small Missouri town outside of St. Louis by insisting he be allowed to use the girls’ restroom and locker room.

Jeb Bush Fires Back At Donald Trump: Speaking Spanish “Reality of America”
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is defending his use of Spanish on the campaign trail, calling Donald Trump’s criticism of him a “joke” that made him laugh.

CA Legislature May Un-Ban Kangaroo Products
Animal rights activists are furious that a bill in California to allow the importation of products made from kangaroos is being offered in the state legislature.

MPD officer confronted by crowd, punched, police say
A Madison police officer was confronted by a crowd and punched after a street fight on Prairie Road Wednesday night, according to a release from Madison police.

Best Excuse Ever For Fleeing A Police Officer
Alleged Florida gang member is allergic to “weird” white people

Of Course: Granny Clinton Stooge Who Set Up Private Server to Plead the Fifth
Gee, it’s almost as if Grandma has something to hide.

Study includes “remarks about physical appearance” to trump up sexual violence numbers
One of the best tactics so-called researchers have used to conclude that fully one-fifth of college women will be sexually assaulted is to vastly expand the definition of what it is.

Nikki Haley – Potential VP Pick?
Is it too early to talk second spot on the ticket?

#ThanksMichelleObama: Schools laying off cafeteria workers as kids refuse to buy skimpy and tasteless lunches
A new group can join the school kids using #thanksMichelleObama as a bitter hashtag. The kids were merely Tweeting pictures of unappetizing and skimpy school lunches conforming to her anti-obesity program.

Mark Meadows Launches Mission to Fix Broken Congress
Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) worst nightmare is on the rise here in rural North Carolina. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) is gaining steam as a clearly coordinated, highly orchestrated effort to remove Boehner as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives—and fix a broken Congress that no longer represents the wishes of the American people—comes into much clearer focus.

New mandatory diversity class at University of Oklahoma draws boos from students
Freshmen will be required to take a 5-hour course on diversity in their first year, starting this fall at the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa World reported in June.

Marco Hits Back at Hillary in Puerto Rico
Old blood, new blood

Washington Supreme Court rules charter schools are unconstitutional
Charter schools in Washington state could be on the way out before ever really getting started. The Washington Supreme Court ruled Friday the schools couldn’t exist for several reasons, including the fact the charter schools aren’t governed by elected officials.

The “Terrifying” New Threat to Free Speech in America
Radley Balko, the award-winning reporter and author of Washington Post’s opinion blog The Watch, shares his thoughts on the biggest threats to free speech in America today, specifically increased public demand for protection from offensive speech and government crackdowns on extremism.

Tennessee Middle Schoolers Assigned to Write “Allah is the ONLY God”
The 2015 school year is not even a month old…yet the Progressive agents who call themselves “educators” are already indoctrinating young American minds.

Madonna’s Gay Brother Defends Kim Davis: “Is It So Difficult to Allow this Woman her Religion?”
Christopher Ciccone, brother of pop superstar Madonna, unleashed a strongly-worded defense of Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed last week for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses due to her religious beliefs.

 

Economy & Taxes

 

Chicago Mayor Gets An Earful At Relatively Calm Final Budget Forum
A handful of people voiced outrage about a proposal to fill most of next year’s budget gap through a $500 million property tax hike.

 

International

 

Colombia and Venezuela recall ambassadors amid border crisis
Venezuelan president shuts border crossings indefinitely after shootout between smugglers and troops recalling disputes during predecessor Hugo Chávez’s rule

British Labor Party Frontrunner: Osama bin Laden’s Death Was a “Tragedy”
Candidate Jeremy Corbyn shocked even the most extreme members of the left-leaning party with his bizarre characterization of the 2011 takedown of the terrorist top dog.

Defying the EU the Italian Way
“Reform, yes; change, no.” As this excellent Reuters report by Gavin Jones makes clear, this has been the slogan of Italy’s bureaucrats and big industrialists for many years now. Laws are passed, prime ministers take bows for the camera, and then…nothing.

How Hugo Chavez Trashed Latin America’s Richest Economy
When Hugo Chavez first took office as Venezuela’s president in 1999, the country wasn’t exactly anybody’s economic model. Great oil riches had been squandered, repeatedly. Inflation was a recurrent problem — it had topped 100 percent in 1996. The economy wasn’t growing much. Almost half the population was below the country’s poverty line. One political scientist, sizing things up a few months into the Chavez presidency, went so far as to declare that the nation was “in ruins.”

U.N. Attacks Holland’s “Racist” Christmas Tradition
U.N. calls Dutch Santa’s companion Black Pete a “reminder of slavery”

Wikipedia rocked by “rogue editors” blackmail scam targeting small businesses and celebrities
Hundreds of small British businesses and minor celebrities have been targeted by a sophisticated blackmail scam orchestrated by “rogue editors” at Wikipedia, The Independent can reveal.

Guatemala’s congress strips president Otto Perez of immunity
Guatemala’s Congress voted Tuesday to strip embattled President Otto Perez’s immunity, clearing the way for him to be prosecuted over allegations he masterminded a multi-million-dollar corruption scheme.

Norwegian Bank Prints Anti-Semitic Credit Card
A Norwegian bank has issued a credit card featuring an anti-Semitic cartoon. The bank allows customers to design their own card and suggested that in this case their system failed to detect and reject the insulting image. But the customer insists that the image was not what he had ordered.

War criminal ice cream
A Chinese ice-cream chain has 3D-printed ice creams with the face of Japan’s wartime prime minister, General Hideki Tojo, to mark 70 years since VJ Day. War criminal Tojo was executed in 1948. “Doesn’t the thought of putting an evil man’s head in your mouth make you feel sick?” asks a user on social media site Weibo.

Teen novel prompts first New Zealand book ban in decades
New Zealand censors sparked outrage on Monday after banning an award-winning teen novel that includes sex and bullying, making it the first book removed from shelves in more than two decades.

German Police to Separate Oktoberfest Revellers from Migrant Masses, Fears of Clashes
Munich, the first point of arrival for the thousands of economic migrants travelling by train from Hungary into Western Europe will be put into a state of police emergency during the usually jubilant Oktoberfest celebrations.

 

Opinion

 

Mutiny at the Hugo Awards
The latest pitched battle in science fiction is not between space pirates and alien monsters but between fandom factions, with the Hugo Awards as the battlefield. Depending on where you stand, this fight pits either forces of progress against reactionary barbarians or the elitist establishment against anti-authoritarian rebels. The progressive elites have decisively won this round; but was it a pyrrhic victory? One thing is certain: this culture war is here to stay.

The Rehabilitationists
How a small band of determined legal academics set out to persuade the Supreme Court to undo the New Deal—and have almost won.

Nine Signs of the Impending American Collapse
The unmistakable signs of a disaster from which we would all suffer, the fall of the once-greatest nation on earth, have left me “shaken.”

Sneaky Little Hobbitses: How Gamers Transformed The Culture Wars
It has been a year since I wrote my first article on GamerGate, the remarkable online uprising against atrocious journalism and wacky social justice warriors in the world of video games. What a year it’s been!

Godless Commies: The Critical Theory Cult and The Devil’s Pleasure Palace
A decade ago, when my oldest daughter Kennedy was 16, I drove her and her friend Mandy to Creation, a Christian music festival in Pennsylvania. As we were driving along, something inspired me to start talking about Communism, and I mentioned that when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, this was a miraculous event that answered the prayers of millions. Then I explained how, growing up a Baptist in Georgia, I learned to despise “godless Commies,” who had persecuted Christians in Russia, China and everywhere else Marxist-Leninist regimes gained power.

The Socialist Dream Will Never Die (2)
A reader of my post last week on “The Socialist Dream Will Never Die” writes in reminding me of the late Leszek Kolakowski, the great Polish philosopher who broke with Communism in the 1970s, and produced the magisterial three-volume treatise, Main Currents of Marxism, originally published in 1978, when Communism and the Soviet Union were still on the march.

Mitch McConnell And The Planned Parenthood Atom Bomb
Mitch McConnell can’t and won’t defuse the Planned Parenthood atom bomb that’s going to go off in Washington at the end of the month.

Polyamory Is Next, And I’m One Reason Why
Here’s how libertarianism has led me and my partner into polyamory, and why America will have to grapple with this issue next.

Are liberals facing a string of coming defeats at the Supreme Court?
Most all of the news coming out of SCOTUS this year has been less than heartening for the conservative battalions around the nation.

Testicles Are Not a Social Construct
Feminists have been fighting this war for more than four decades, and you will be accused of misogyny (woman hating) if you express skepticism about their project of creating an androgynous “equality” by eradicating male/female differences.

Kim Davis Uproar Shows That Breaking The Law Is Only Okay When Progressives Do It
The main contestant on this week’s edition of Internet outrage theater is Kim Davis, a Democratic clerk in Kentucky who is refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples

The Privilege of the Oppressed
This is what our nation’s liberal elite demands in 2015, because the liberal elite believes in a radical egalitarian ideology in which only those who are deemed “oppressed” have any influence or protection in American society.

Fundamental Concepts – Expediency vs Principle
This week on social media, THE big topic has been Kim Davis and her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. The Left has been outraged, OUTRAGED I tell you, that someone would so flout the decision of the SCOTUS.

Fewer Women in Government Than Men? So What?
The poor women of these United States. We are so under-represented in American politics. It certainly must mean that discrimination is to blame as we survey elected office, and find that there are fewer women than men. Certainly nothing can account for that lopsided nature, other than the evil Patriarchy, right?

The word of the day is “Völkerwanderung.”
German word, obviously: Völkerwanderung more or less means “folk migration.” Admittedly, Iron Age European history is a little outside of my patch, but I do seem to recall that the Roman Empire (and later, its successor states*) had to deal with lots of people moving to where there wasn’t a war. Or at least to where the people moving could win a war.

Affirmative consent and switching the burden of proof
I have been thinking a lot about affirmative consent in sex cases. I understand why advocates want affirmative consent as a policy matter; certainly, people should ensure that they are only having sex with partners who actually want to be doing whatever conventional or freaky act they happen to be engaged in. But I have a problem with legally requiring affirmative consent. I don’t see how making a person prove that her partner consented doesn’t switch the burden of proof to the accused.

Remember the Law Is Only Sacred When It Furthers a Liberal Value
Liberals seem to have no regard for fundamental civil rights, just ones that help their agenda.

A Brief History of White Privilege
Like most PC concepts, “white privilege” has never been adequately defined. Quite deliberately so — the idea is to have a concept so elastic and amorphous that it can be stretched to cover any given situation, distorted through multiple dimensions, and immediately changeable if necessary. White privilege is a tactic rather than an idea, and to ask for a specific definition is to ask for something that has never been and cannot be.

Sooper Mexican’s Conservative Lifehacks For Liberals
Sooper Mexican gives liberals some tips for life.

Thank the Patriarchy
It built your car.

Labor Day California: No Right To Work, No Right To Vote
While California Gov. Jerry Brown has ignored thousands of California farm workers who don’t want to be unionized, Wisconsin became the 25th Right-to-Work state.

Bullying and Teen Suicide Explained: It’s Public Schools
We teach conformity, then wonder how we get bullies.

Some Unsolicited Advice on How to Eat Better at Your Roleplaying Game Sessions
So you’re ready to start up a new tabletop roleplaying game campaign. It’s been a while, so you’re trying to remember what you need. Books, paper, pencils, dice, miniature figures for combat, a plastic mat, dry erase markers, munchies… OK, let’s stop right there. You should be thinking about food a bit more for a minute.

Killing the goose that laid the golden egg, or, Culture Matters
Culture matters. In Swabia, the part of Germany now largely the German state of Baden-Wurttemburg (as well as a slice now a part of Bavaria, including Augsburg, my husband’s hometown), there’s an expression, “schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue,” which is meant to express, as the Swabian’s self-conception and the stereotype the rest of Germany holds, the key characteristic of Swabians (see here for an English-language piece, or here for a German-language one): it’s generally translated as “work, work, build a house” and expresses the Swabians’ thriftiness. But it’s more than that: the word translated as “work” isn’t really that, “schaffen means “to make” or “to create” and has more of a flavor of “do something productive” than simply “earn a living.”

Weaponized Empathy
I’m really bad at fighting. Oh, not physical fighting, though I suppose I’m bad at that too at this point, since I haven’t been exercising like I used to and I’m not twenty anymore.

Guardian Columnist Julie Bindel Says Put All Males “In Some Kind of Camp”
England’s most influential radical feminist was asked whether she believes “heterosexuality will survive women’s liberation”

“Feminist Motherhood Has Failed”
Only a feminist could describe pregnancy as “a woman growing the parasitic entity of a fetus in her,” and there is no limit to a radical lesbian feminist blogger’s absolute hatred of motherhood

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