Holy Redaction, Batman

Admittedly, this is a lot to wade through.

http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1005714/senate-intelligence-committee-report-on-benghazi.pdf

Here are a couple of summaries.

http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/01/15-benghazi-related-victims-murdered-matter-now-hillary/

http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/01/17/15-libyans-helping-us-investigation-into-us-benghazi-mission-attack-murdered-us-senate-report/#axzz2rUCjAVjY

Garry Kasparov Critiques Sochi Olympic Village

I don't think he was the player Bobby Fischer was but he certainly weathers retirement better.

The buildings are already crumbling, but Sochi will stand forever as a case study on the epidemic corruption of an authoritarian regime.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) January 26, 2014

Sochi is a Potemkin village!

Potemkin himself could not cover up all the garbage, shoddy construction, & ruins in Sochi today. 7 years & $51 billion dollars for this.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) January 26, 2014

Wakobird John McCain censured by Arizona Republican Party

Who is the wakobird now? I don't recall hearing that Rand Paul or Ted Cruz were censured by their own states' party. From AP;

The Arizona Republican Party formally censured Sen. John McCain on Saturday, citing a voting record they say is insufficiently conservative.
The resolution to censure McCain was approved by a voice-vote during a meeting of state committee members in Tempe, state party spokesman Tim Sifert said. It needed signatures from at least 20 percent of state committee members to reach the floor for debate.

That's probably it for now but expect more if McCain run for re-election.

Timothy Schwartz, the Legislative District 30 Republican chairman who helped write the resolution, said the censure showed that McCain was losing support from his own party.
"We would gladly embrace Sen. McCain if he stood behind us and represented us," Schwartz said.
 

Introducing Marita Noon: A Rising Star In The Common Sense Movement

IF AMERICA HAS A RENAISSANCE, IT WILL BE BASED ON ENERGY AND THE PEOPLE WHO PRODUCE IT

MSNBC Dumps Jane Harman for Justin Bieber and entire evening line up for hockey

One could argue that the making of a good news organization is the ability to know in an instant what is newsworthy and what is not. Gone are the old days when news ran on a 24 hour cycle when there was ample time to reflect and discuss current events before sharing them with the viewing audience. The ability to know what is important to one's particular audience is important too as cable news channels scramble for viewer share. Notice how adroitly Andrea Mitchell maneuvers from Jane Harman's report on reforming the NSA to what interests her viewers most, Justin Bieber.

Of course knowing one's viewers is little help when the NBC parent company decides that instead of Special Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow the viewers really need to watch more hockey. From Norman Chad's column at the Washington Post;
MSNBC will carry hours and hours and hours of live hockey. I feel for MSNBC, I really do. The cable network has gone through a litany of left-leaning nighttime hosts in search of an audience that never materializes. And now these poor rascals have to present hockey every evening for two weeks? You’d get a better Nielsen number showing a Zamboni running over a carton of eggs on an icy stretch of road in Chautauqua, N.Y.
If I were an MSNBC executive, I’d just run the film “Miracle” on a continuous loop.

Wendy Davis wins critical endorsement from Seeking Arrangement .com

Stunning! Eat your heart out Greg Abbott. You may have experience, money, and organization but the little lady from Fort Worth has something you'll never have. Wendy Davis has won the endorsement of SeekingArrangement.com a web site that matches “sugar daddies” with “sugar babies” for “mutually beneficial dating arrangements”.
Savor this ringing endorsement;
“Wendy Davis is proof that the sugar lifestyle is empowering. It can take a single mom from squalor to scholar, or in this case from the trailer park to Harvard, and a seat in the Senate. The sugar lifestyle creates an opportunity for women to transcend the single mother stereotypes.”
Prowling around on their web site I found this advice that seems especially appropriate for Davis. Under the headline "Unique ways to pay for college"

Scholarships and financial aid are never enough. Many private college tuitions are soaring above and beyond $40,000 a year. There has to be a way to make ends meet, right?

Is your Sugar Daddy taking awhile to get here? Check out our list of fun, funky, and playful ways to put more money in your pocket without increasing those pesky student loans.

Meet a Smart Sugar Daddy

If your parents can’t afford to pay your tuition, why not find another daddy who can? Our average Sugar Babies make about $3,000 a month. This could be used to pay tuition or just truly enjoy the college life. Say bye, bye to nasty Ramen Noodles, and hello to numerous pairs of designer duds.

Did Reince give Rand a leg up?

Did Reince Priebus and the RNC just hand the 2016 nomination to Rand Paul? If they didn't, they did at least make him a heavy favorite. First Florida which would favor Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio will not be an early state. The month of February will be reserved for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. Ron Paul was well organized in Iowa and that organization will certainly follow the younger Paul. Rand has assiduously courted Iowa and it being a caucus state gives the candidate with the strongest organization a huge advantage.
New Hampshire? Here again Paul has some organizational advantages and his libertarian message will find a receptive electorate. Ron Paul ran second here to the Romney money machine. I would make him a strong favorite. South Carolina may be Paul's biggest challenge in February. His father finished fourth in a four horse field in 2012. He may have a hard time selling his message here.
Nevada? This is Paul territory. Ron Paul won 8 delegates and Romney won 22 and they were the only candidates to win delegates. To his credit Ron Paul ran against all odds. He ran to sell a message and one doubts if he ever dreamed of getting to the White House. Rand Paul will probably run a much better funded campaign with the ardent support of some elected GOP and Tea Party office holders. An endorsement from fellow Senator Chuck Grassley, Governor Nikki Haley, or Congressman Trey Gowdy is something the senior Paul would never get but those endorsements and many others may be Rand's for the asking by February of 2016.

The Standbys

There are a few pundits--Thomas Sowell, Gary North,  Peter Schiff--who make it tempting to link to their every word. These are people whose words might be ridiculed and distorted, but they are never refuted.

So it is with reluctance that I call your attention to Thomas Sowell once more. But man, oh man, when this guy knocks one out of the park, you just have to watch the ball soar over the fence.

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2014/01/23/factfree-liberals-part-iii-n1781571/page/full

Nat Henthoff, Village Voice Columnist Of 51 Years, Calls For Obama's Impeachment

I always liked Henthoff. The first time I ever saw Rush Limbaugh he was guest-hosting a Friday night show on an NBC precursor to CNBC or MSNBC. They had sort of a wild card show and Limbaugh gpt tp host it one rime. He had Oliver North as a guest it was slurpy (Did you Oliver North is a great American? If you watched this lovefest you would be informed on this matter.) Henthoff called the show to lend support to Limbaugh. "I don't always agree with what you say but I will defend with a phone call..." Limbaugh thanked Nat and went back to praising Ollie.

These are the reasons Hentoff thinks that Obama should be impeached, he doesn’t feel a president should have such unrestricted power and be able to ignore laws that he merely finds inconvenient.

Hentoff also said that “This is the worst state, I think, that our country has ever been in,” adding that “Never before in our history has a president done these things.”

Read entire article below.

http://www.mrconservative.com/2014/01/30819-liberal-journalist-claims-obama-the-most-dangerous-president-ever-calls-for-impeachment/

Taking DOJ malfeasance to a new level

I suppose there is the possibility that the Obama Justice Department does occasionally act in good faith but two recent events cause me to wonder how often. News that Dinesh D’Souza has been charged with campaign election fraud does not engender visions of a blindfolded lady with a balance in hand. We don't see many New York Times best selling authors and film makers in federal court these days and when said author and film maker is extremely critical of the president and is charged with a crime in an insignificant state senate race it invites suspicion of malicious prosecution. D’Souza is alleged to have encouraged friends to donate to the senator's campaign and then reimbursed them for their donations. D' Souza does not seem surprised.
“We are now living in the America that we warned our fellow citizens could come to pass if President Obama were re-elected,” he wrote on his website.
Harold McGraw III, CEO of McGraw Hill, the parent company of Standard and Poor claims that his company is a victim of retaliation by Obama's DOJ for downgrading the county's credit rating. Both Moody's and S&P were under investigation for issuing poor guidance leading up to the 2008 financial meltdown however after S&P downgraded US debt the investigation of S&P ramped up and the investigation of Moody's was closed.
In an affidavit McGraw states that he was warned by then Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner that he could expect bad things to happen. A chronology that was stapled to  McGraw's affidavit states:

Mr. Geithner expressed anger at the downgrade. In the course of our
discussion, he referred to an asserted two trillion dollar error in S&P’s work, an error that he had
described in various discussions with the media following the announcement of the downgrade.
Having been briefed on the issue by S&P personnel in the wake of those statements by Mr.
Geithner, I explained to him that in relying on Congressional Budget Office figures, as it had,
S&P had not made an error. Mr. Geithner said that S&P had made a huge error and that “you are
accountable for that.” He added that S&P had a previous history of errors and that this was not
the first mistake it had made.
As I reported contemporaneously to my colleagues, he said that “you have
done an enormous disservice to yourselves and to your country”, that the U.S. economy was bad
and that the downgrade had done real damage. S&P’s conduct would be “looked at very carefully” he said. Such behavior could not occur, he said, without a response from the government.

It sort of reminds me of a classic movie confrontation: "I can't remember the last time that you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee." or "Sorry about the pretty fish."
About the only agreement in the media is that the case is probably two years away from settlement but McGraw does not seem to be in any mood to plea bargain. He has elevated it to a First Amendment case and is demanding discovery of communication between Treasury and DOJ. I strongly encourage you to read the motion. It begins:

A. The United States Must Produce Documents Relating to the
Independence or Objectivity of Ratings or Rating Agencies. .............. 3
B. The United States Must Produce Documents Relating to the
Conduct of Mortgage Lenders, Financial Institutions and
Issuers of the Securities at Issue. ........................................................ 12
C. The United States Must Produce Documents Relevant to
S&P’s First Amendment Retaliation Defense. ................................... 16

Under section C it states:

S&P asks this Court to compel just the same sort of discovery that Judge
Kelleher ordered on just the same sort of affirmative defense: discovery as to
documents from the highest levels of the government and the DOJ concerning the
decision to commence a litigation that was arguably filed to punish those whose
speech offended the government.

This could get exciting!

Piling It Higher Than Anyone Thought Possible

The poignant and sagacious David Remnick once more.

Obama’s election was one of the great markers in the black freedom struggle. 

I respectfully disagree with the prose hose. Barack Obama's career has nothing to do with black freedom any more than Selma had to do with his conception. This is the story of a con artist being elevated to cult leader. Please, Mr. Remnick, please show us a black person whose freedom has increased under Obama. How did the "black freedom struggle" rise with Barack Obama's fortunes?

The popular opposition to the Administration comes largely from older whites who feel threatened, underemployed, overlooked, and disdained in a globalized economy and in an increasingly diverse country. 

You might also add that we resent being lied to with a fervor and frequency and impunity such as we have never before witnessed. We also don't like doubling and trebling of health care premiums. We also have a distaste for IRS harrassment and I for one dislike quantitative easing. And I will add, anyone who can type is intensely jealous of illiterates like David Remnick who land cushy jobs at "The New Yorker" for piling it higher and deeper.

“There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black President,”

And some of us dislike you because you are an overgrown pansy. Yes, it demeans the presidency to dismiss legitimate criticism as racism. But worse in my eyes, playing the race card is chickenshit. You are supposed to be a leader. Compared to George Bush, your criticism is padded  and sugar-coated and virtually nonexistent. When it does raise its gentle, apologetic head, it gets hammered down with the racist sledge hammer. Mr. President, will you ever be a man? 

Tea Party at Perrysburg was able to wade through 23% of this sludge. She is a better blogger than me. I endured about 15% and I feel like I need a shower. Someone else can swim through the rest of this muck.

De Blasio's signature fumble

There are two schools of thought on Sandinista-Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio's botched response to the latest New York snowstorm. Is he merely inept or has uptown New York been put on notice that city services are reserved for the 99%? Either way it's a hell of a mess his honor finds himself in today.

“He is trying to get us back. He is very divisive and political,” said writer and Life-long Upper East Sider and mom Molly Jong Fast of Mayor de Blasio.
“By not plowing the Upper East Side, he is saying, ‘I’m not one of them.’ But we have everyone in this area on the Upper East Side. We have rich people, middle class people, and housing projects. We have it all.”

Not really but hold that thought. It appears there has been very little snow removal in NYC. The city offered up the ridiculous explanation that a faulty GPS on one of its salt spreaders was to blame. In any event it seems the failure is citywide.

#DeBlasio no plows no sanders in manhattan. How dare you! You will be a one term mayor!
— Bubbles Bott (@bubblesbott) January 21, 2014

@NY1headlines liar deblasio . barely any plows in Queens. 1 pass at 10 am residential. He is a jerk and LIAR! pic.twitter.com/1YsgdlC28I
— bapartofmylife (@bapartofmylife) January 22, 2014

Snow causes long evening commute on Staten Island http://t.co/Vzyjlgq7VN
— Charlie (@Charlie4927) January 22, 2014

I guess he's just incompetent.

Piling It Higher And Deeper

Is this our future? Will "Poor, Poor Barack" stories dominate the world of print? The high-minded, idealistic saint butting heads with the vestiges of power. Can a mini-series ve far behind?

Usually, Obama spends Sundays with his family. Now he was headed for a three-day fund-raising trip to Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, rattling the cup in one preposterous mansion after another. The prospect was dispiriting. 

How long can we choke back the tears? Yes, he could have stayed in that cabin on the Potomac and toiled in the job he was elected to do but Barry had to be amongst his people. Poor, poor Barack.

“At the back end of his career, I see him as an international and national community organizer.”

Is that what we call a latter day Jim Jones?

“I don’t see him locked up in a room writing all the time. His capacity to crank stuff out is amazing. When he was writing his second book, he would say, ‘I’m gonna get up at seven and write this chapter—and at nine we’ll play golf.’ I would think no, it’s going to be a lot later, but he would knock on my door at nine and say, ‘Let’s go.’ 

In other words, he used a ghost writer and will use a ghost in the future?

The question is whether Obama will satisfy the standard he set for himself. 

This is just page two of eighteen, folks.

His biggest early disappointment as President was being forced to recognize that his romantic vision of a post-partisan era, in which there are no red states or blue states, only the United States, was, in practical terms, a fantasy. 

But what did he find enchanting?

The structures of American division came into high relief once he was in office. 

But Barry was never, ever, ever, ever divisive?

The Republican Party is living through the late-mannerist phase of that revolution, fuelled less by ideas than by resentments. 

And if they did have ideas, they would not be considered.

Rejection is all. Obama can never be opposed vehemently enough.

We tried to choke back the tears.  The floodgates are opened and we are now treading water in the briny swells. Poor, poor Barack.

Two pages is all I can do today, folks. Maybe after I drink lots of water and the eyes have sated their reservoirs, maybe, just maybe I can view this saga anew.  Poor, poor Barack.

How To Talk To The Media

Breitbart did not merely go on the defensive, he counterattacked at every opportunity. No "Kick me again in the fetal position, I can take it" from Breitbart. I wish there were more of him.

Bullshit Unlimited

I am trying to read David Remnick's 'New Yorker' puff without getting sick. Almost every paragraph drips with questions like "Why doesn't everyone love him?" and "Why doesn't everyone love him more?"

One of the enduring mysteries of the Obama years is that so many members of the hyper-deluxe economy—corporate C.E.O.s and Wall Street bankers—have abandoned him.

Then we are told of how great our economy is and it's followed up by:

Obama bruised some feelings once or twice with remarks about “fat-cat bankers” and “reckless behavior and unchecked excess,” but, in general, he dares not offend.  

Say what? You didn't build that. Obama is not just chronically offensive, it is his intent to offend. His life and words are an ongoing tribute to the attack politics of Saul Alinsky.

I can't finish the hagiography just yet. I am off to the dentist. That should be less painful.

At least it wasn't a 1-900 number

One would think that rather than disdain, Democratic politicians would express thanks, to the 36 states that declined to set up Obamacare exchanges. Covered Oregon has spent $199 million on a website that has yet to enroll a single person. Maryland has spent only $170 million while enrolling less than 23,000. It hopes to enroll 150,000 by March 31. As of late the exchange, which had been touted as an early success story, has been under performing to say the least.

At first, Beth Perry of Baltimore was delighted to hear Lunz's voice.
Perry, 59, started shopping for insurance Dec. 16 and still hasn't signed up. She said she had spent hours calling and getting busy signals or being placed on hold with the state's call center, which has been overwhelmed and has twice beefed up staff to handle the volume of insurance shoppers in need of help.
Perry joked that she thought she heard angels singing when Lunz picked up the phone on the first ring, only to realize that she heard "pottery supply" instead.
Perry said she has logged on more than 20 times but gets stymied when she reaches the page where she is supposed to pick a service provider. Most times she is directed to call the state's call center. This week, she got a new error message and instructions to call "State Advantage" for help. When she called, Lunz picked up.

The trouble is Sue Lunz works for Seattle Pottery Supply Co. of Seattle, Washington.

A state spokeswoman said officials would look into fixing the problem as soon as possible — and consider whether to reimburse Lunz for the long-distance calls from Maryland.

As soon as possible? That's the ethic that made this country great? I think I would get that 1-800 number changed before Lunz loses patience and forwards the calls to Steny Hoyer's office.

Porn Industry Leaving California

A lot of jokes will be made about this and a lot of pundits will take the opportunity to hurl tomatoes at their favorite villain but pornography is a bell whether. In some situations (VCR sales) pornography has driven the trends.  In this particular case, they are followers.

Industry has left California for Oregon, Nevada and Arizona. Nevada has done especially well because they have no income tax. They might do even better if 80% of the state's real estate was not federally owned.

It's an age old phenomenon. Industry leaves for the greener pastures of lower production costs which just happened to coincide with lower taxes, lower fees and a lower degree of regulation. TV production and high tech might not be far behind.

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/01/17/porn-production-moves-to-vegas-after-condom-law/20810593/?ncid=webmail1