News of the Week for June 23rd, 2013
- Obama Scandals
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Obama Scandals
Citizens and the State: The Problem Is Bigger Than You Think
The NSA scandal is the tip of the iceberg.
Government is just another name for things we all do together…like intimidate whistleblowers and their children
In case you missed it evening before last, John Hudson of Foreign Policy posted an update on continued efforts to cover up egregious wrongdoing — including sexual assault and sex crimes against children — at the State Department under Hillary Clinton. You’ll be glad to hear that your tax dollars are now being used to stalk and harass Aurelia Fedenisn, the whistleblower in this case
Gun Rights
Gun play: ‘Zero tolerance’ toward schoolkids could backfire, says expert
Little boys around the nation keep getting in trouble for guns – whether they’re made of plastic, formed by fingers or even fashioned from Pop-Tarts – but some experts say having “zero tolerance” for games children have played for centuries is turning the adults into bullies and backfiring on kids.
California to Charge Ammo Fee, Criminals Rejoice
The California Senate just approved a sweeping gun control bill that makes it among the toughest in the land. SB 53 requires background checks and a $50 ammo purchase fee.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Uses New York City Resources
The official website of gun control advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) is hosted by the City of New York, according to publicly available web hosting records. This revelation, first reported by conservative blogger John Ekdahl on June 20, is the latest evidence of coordination between government officials and MAIG using public resources.
Hide the Decline
Environment &
“Green Energy”
Friday Funny (well maybe not so funny) – XKCD takes on the real climate threat
Sobering graphics to scale: ice sheets 21,000 years ago versus today’s skylines.
Beware of the back-door EPA effort to impose cap-and-trade on gasoline
Is the Environmental Protection Agency working behind closed doors to impose a global warming mandate on transportation fuels that will make drivers pay more for gasoline and weaken America’s energy security? Consumers need to be vigilant in the months ahead to make sure that it doesn’t.
Question: What happens when “settled science,” isn’t?
Answer: Panic. For decades now, self-anointed climate scientists and radical eco-activists have been insisting that the science of global warming is absolutely, unequivocally settled; that there is an overwhelming consensus among the scientific community; and that the whole thing is so far beyond contestation that you must be an ignorant, unfeeling, and/or right-wing knuckle-dragger to even question it.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Was Justice Roberts Intimidated Into Voting for ‘ObamaCare’? Senator Mike Lee Presents the Evidence
After Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts voted to uphold the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as “ObamaCare,” many wondered if there could be a yet-unknown reason why the Republican-nominated justice made the unexpected decision.
Study: 70 Percent Of Americans On Prescription Drugs
Researchers find that nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half receive at least two prescriptions.
Obamacare behind schedule as Oct. 1 rollout nears
Two government reports cite delays in setting up health-insurance exchanges as the Oct. 1 deadline looms.The public is still more negative than positive about reform, but promotion is just starting.
War & Terror
Spain Arrest 8 With Suspected Links to al-Qaeda
Spanish police say they have arrested eight people suspected of recruiting jihadist militants for al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria.
National
John Boehner won’t back immigration bill without majority GOP support
House Speaker John Boehner is not going to bring a comprehensive immigration-reform plan to the floor if a majority of Republicans don’t support it, sources familiar with his plans said.
TNR… trying to make the case for Rand Paul in 2016.
Wait. This stuff is bad? OK, I don’t normally fisk, but I gotta do this one. From The New Republic’s rather alarmed profiling of Senator Rand Paul
Arizona’s Voter Registration Proof Of Citizenship Requirement Thrown Out By Supreme Court
This wasn’t part of the illegal immigration enforcement bills from a few years back but rather a voter imitative law put in place in 2004.
Gingrich and Aides Huddle, Talk 2016
Think Newt Gingrich is out of politics? Think again.
Rubio Admits that Democrat ‘Political Operatives’ Hope the Immigration Bill Will Give the Dems a Lock on Power
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) defended the Senate Gang of Eight’s immigration bill on the Andrea Tantaros Show today. Rubio on Thursday voted with most Republicans to add a security amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). But that amendment went down on a mostly party-line vote. Cornyn’s amendment would have given border security a higher priority in the bill, and made it easier to deport illegal-alien criminals who drunk drive and are caught in domestic abuse cases, among other crimes.
Even ‘candy-ass RINO’ Allahpundit is disgusted by GOP amnesty sell-outs
Hot Air’s Allahpundit is among those who aren’t thrilled in the least with the “Gang of Eight” deal, and proved it with a worthy Twitter rant.
The Speech That Rocked Virginia
Why Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act may be going away.
Justice Anthony Kennedy is apparently spreading marmalade on his English muffins again
Professor Orders Students to Support Gay Rights
A Tennessee community college professor ordered her students to wear ribbons supporting gay rights and said those who believed in the traditional definition of marriage are just “uneducated bigots” who “attack homosexuals with hate,” according to a legal firm representing several of the students in the class.
Loophole in Gang of 8 bill gives Napolitano wide discretion to allow almost anyone to stay in U.S.
One of the things I learned from Obamacare was that each section of the law could take many hours to understand because of cross-references to other sections and other laws. Amendments make the problem even greater.
Crime Pays Under S.744
No matter how many times the Gang of Eight or other amnesty supporters in the U.S. Senate promise that criminals won’t be legalized, S.744 waives a long list of crimes in the bill.
Montana Dem Wants Constitutional Amendment Saying Corporations Aren’t People
A Montana Democrat introduced a constitutional amendment today that would say “the words people, person, or citizen as used in this Constitution do not include corporations.”
Alaska Lt. Gov. Treadwell to challenge Sen. Mark Begich
Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (R) announced Tuesday that he will officially challenge Sen. Mark Begich (D) in 2014, transitioning from an exploratory committee to a full-fledged campaign.
Bill Ayers: Let’s face it, Obama should be on trial for war crimes
And, he’s quick to add, so should every other president of the past century. A fun clip for many reasons. One: Because Ayers is such a far-left caricature, you can bait him all day long knowing to a virtual certainty what his responses will be. The two RCP guys can’t suppress their smirks at how easy it is. There’s a 99 percent chance that he’s going to call O a war criminal and a one percent chance that he’s going to betray his anti-war ethos by defending O’s drone policy out of pure personal loyalty. Either way, it’s news. Two: It’ll never stop being amusing watching leftists express their disappointment in Hopenchange.
Socialism Through Immigration: Leading Marxist Immigration Activist Admits it’s All About the Votes!
On the eve of the immigration debate, the video below really needs to go viral.
Oklahoma voter registration law survives U.S. Supreme Court decision
Oklahoma requires those registering to vote to swear under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens but doesn’t demand documents proving citizenship, as Arizona did.
Matthews: Berlin Sun ‘Ruined’ Obama’s Speech
MSNBC host and Obama sycophant Chris Matthews blamed the sun for spoiling the president’s speech in Berlin today.
Former Rep. Allen West open to Senate primary challenge against Rubio
Former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) said Wednesday that he may mount a primary challenge to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in their state’s 2016 Senate primary.
Capitol Hill Police Block Tea Party Activists from Immigration Rally
Capitol Hill police are trying to block activists attending Wednesday’s “Audit the IRS” rally from also attending a nearly day-long press conference on immigration, hosted by Reps. Steve King and Louie Gohmert. The IRS rally is on the west side of the Capitol, while the immigration event is on the east side. Organizers for the IRS event were told by Hill police that “your people” can only assemble on the west side. Organizers were told to remove the activists from the immigration event.
NPR Moves Into Palatial New Facility: ‘It’s So Fabulous’
For all the devoted Diane Rehm Show listeners worried that public broadcasting is on its way out, take a breath. Apparently, National Public Radio is doing just fine.
Acing the SNAP Challenge
GOP communications director eats for $4.50 per day
The assault on the First Amendment
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave an important speech at AEI this morning on the continuing assault on the First Amendment. Senator McConnell is an expert on the First Amendment and he has seen the assault of which he speaks up close.
Facebook Photo Shows Kennedy Girl Shooting Baby Seals
Strange enough to see a photograph of a Kennedy firing a rifle, one with a telescopic sight no less, as the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination approaches.
CASINO CRONY KICKBACK: Reid, Heller Slip Las Vegas Tourism Handout into Immigration Bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) have inserted a provision that amounts to little more than a handout to Las Vegas casinos into the repackaged immigration reform bill, Breitbart News has learned. This provision, a brazen example of crony capitalism, was inserted into the immigration law enforcement section of the bill despite the fact that it has nothing whatsoever to do with “immigration” or “law enforcement.”
Economy
& Taxes
China’s Mea Culpa: “It Is Not That There Is No Money, But The Money Has Been Put In The Wrong Place”
Ten days ago, we penned “Chinese Liquidity Shortage Hits All Time High”, in which we predicted ridiculous moves in the Chinese interbank market as a result of short-term funding literally evaporating as a result of the PBOC’s stern refusal to step in and bail out its banking sector (despite the occasional rumor of this bank bailed out or that) by injecting trillions in low-powered money. A few days later this prediction was confirmed when the overnight repo and SHIBOR market for all intents and purposes broke down as was also reported here previously. Now, for the first time, China, via the Politburo’s Chinese Hilsenrath-equivalent, Xinhua, has provided its own version of events which is as follows: “It is not that there is no money, but the money has been put in the wrong place.”
International
Erdogan’s Majority Rule
Recent events in Turkey ought remind us, if we needed reminding, that freedom and parliamentary democracy are not identical, though many people mistake the one for the other. But if by parliamentary democracy we mean merely government legitimated by a majority of the votes every few years, there is no reason why such democracy should not lead to tyranny. Indeed, a democratic tyranny may be among the most insidious, if not necessarily the worst, of tyrannies, for it possesses the simulacrum of a justification for its oppression, namely the will of the majority.
Turkey: Erdogan Supporters Rally In Istanbul
In a major show of strength, tens of thousands of people gather in Istanbul to show their support for Turkey’s prime minister.
Depardieu: Never mind Russia, it’s France that’s “almost Bolshevik”
Remember the saga of Gerard Depardieu, the wealthy and much-maligned French actor who had the nerve to seek residence (and, presumably, a lower tax burden) elsewhere? French Socialist politicians flipped their lids when the well-known actor headed for the exits, and even though he hasn’t completely renounced his French citizenship, the actor was pretty clear in a recent interview that nobody has succeeded in guilt-tripping him into backing down.
Scottish Police Worry Breakup of 2 Muslim Paedophile Rings Will “Increase Community Tensions”
There’s so much tiptoeing around this story that you might get the impression that you’re at the Bolshoi Ballet instead of reading an article about the breakup of two major paedo rings.
Turkish man inspires hundreds with silent vigil in Taksim Square
Erdem Gunduz – dubbed ‘standing man’ – stages eight-hour vigil and is joined by 300 people during silent protest
Protesters out again in Brazil’s biggest city
Tens of thousands of Brazilians again flooded the streets of the country’s biggest city to raise a collective cry against a longstanding lament – people are weighed down by high taxes and high prices but get low-quality public services and a system of government infected with corruption.
Girl Scouts of Britain Replace ‘God’ with ‘Myself’ in Oath
On Wednesday, Great Britain’s Girl Guides (their equivalent of U.S. Girl Scouts) and Brownies removed God from their 103-year-old oath.
Why India is More Like Europe than China
The Nobel laureate and Harvard professor Amartya Sen penned an op-ed for the New York Times that in many ways is a useful discussion of the differences between India and China, the two giants of Asia, but which misses some important elements.
French extreme-right leader Marine Le Pen could face trial for comparing the country’s Muslim community to the Nazi occupation
MEPs have begun process of stripping the far-right leader of legal immunity
French prosecutors want to charge her with inciting racial hatred
Her father was in 1998 stripped of immunity to face holocaust denial charge
BC Supreme Court rejects Zesty’s comedian appeal
FREE SPEECH / Entertainment not exempt from discrimination law, judge rules
“Welcome to Sweden, it is our country, not yours” – Swedish woman introduced to joy of a multicultural beating.
NB – Google translate: “The cool and tough immigrant gang asked the woman if she was Swedish. Yes, the woman replied that unfortunately the answer was beaten by such a harsh blow she fell to the ground. The three immigrants liked position and stood over the woman and the words said: “Welcome to Sweden, it is our country, not yours”
Opinion
A Psychosis Called ‘Equality’
The fanatical conceptions of ideologues inspire madness.
Has The Prudent Man Lost His Mind in Post-modern America?
How Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ Construction Fails Under the Weight of Senseless Diversity.
Niall Ferguson: The Regulated States of America
Tocqueville saw a nation of individuals who were defiant of authority. Today? Welcome to Planet Government.
South Africa: America’s Future?
To get an idea of what Conan O’Brien’s audience is cheering when it enthusiastically applauds whites soon becoming a minority in America, look to South Africa, a country built by Europeans who immigrated to the region over the course of several centuries, which was coerced into jumping off a cliff into an abyss of political correctness
Welcome To The Police Industrial Complex
Want to make money on the drug war? Start a company that builds military equipment, then sell that gear to local police departments. Thanks to the generation-long trend toward more militarized police forces, there’s now massive and growing market for private companies to outfit your neighborhood cops with gear that’s more appropriate for a battlefield.
Democrats Aren’t The Only Problem
Many conservatives believe the tipping point has tipped – that a majority of Americans are either ill-informed, uneducated, delusional, foolish, feel entitled or are just plain lazy to the point where they will continue to vote for the Party or candidate they feel will give them more and more free stuff. Young kids espousing socialism over capitalism; rich liberals with their guilt and hypocrisy about how and why we got where we are; minority groups who have been convinced they’ll never survive without help from the government; and rabid, single issue pro-abortion voters have been organized and motivated to keep the Federal pig trough flowing.
Why Immigration Reform Is The Panama Canal Treaty Redux
I’m pretty sure it was my first Washington mentor, the great M. Stanton Evans, who told me—and perhaps originated—the famous story of a senior Senate aide explaining American democracy to a Russian visitor shortly after the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991. The story is probably apocryphal, but like Xenophon’s re-telling of Cyrus the Great, or Machiavelli’s subtle mis-tellings of so many stories, it contains the “effectual truth” of the matter
