A new Government Accountability Institute (GAI) report reveals that President Barack Obama has attended only 42.1% of his daily intelligence briefings (known officially as the Presidential Daily Brief, or PDB) in the 2,079 days of his presidency through September 29, 2014. The GAI report also included a breakdown of Obama’s PDB attendance record between terms; he attended 42.4% of his PDBs in his first term and 41.3% in his second. The GAI’s alarming findings come on the heels of Obama’s 60 Minutes comments on Sunday, wherein the president laid the blame for his tardy response to the Islamic State (IS) at the door of the intelligence community. [Source]
Barack Obama's Diary: That's orsome, dood
Dear Diary: I am constantly exhorting the few fossils in my administration, like Joe Biden, to update themselves in public forums so they sound part of a young and hip group. "Use contemporary words, I tell them, like I do. Scatter expressions like "orsome dood" liberally through your utterances. That will seduce the young and ensure a Democrat government for years to come."
9/29/14
You lie! Obama's warped reality
'We’re being had. Again," writes Andrew C. McCarthy.
"For six years, President Obama has endeavored to will the country into accepting two pillars of his alternative national-security reality. First, he claims to have dealt decisively with the terrorist threat, rendering it a disparate series of ragtag jayvees. Second, he asserts that the threat is unrelated to Islam, which is innately peaceful, moderate, and opposed to the wanton “violent extremists” who purport to act in its name.
Now, the president has been compelled to act against a jihad that has neither ended nor been “decimated.” The jihad, in fact, has inevitably intensified under his counterfactual worldview, which holds that empowering Islamic supremacists is the path to security and stability. Yet even as war intensifies in Iraq and Syria — even as jihadists continue advancing, continue killing and capturing hapless opposition forces on the ground despite Obama’s futile air raids — the president won’t let go of the charade. Hence, Obama gives us the Khorosan Group.
The who?
There is a reason that no one had heard of such a group until a nanosecond ago, when the “Khorosan Group” suddenly went from anonymity to the “imminent threat” that became the rationale for an emergency air war there was supposedly no time to ask Congress to authorize.
You haven’t heard of the Khorosan Group because there isn’t one. It is a name the administration came up with, calculating that Khorosan — the –Iranian–Afghan border region — had sufficient connection to jihadist lore that no one would call the president on it.
The “Khorosan Group” is al-Qaeda. It is simply a faction within the global terror network’s Syrian franchise, “Jabhat al-Nusra.” Its leader, Mushin al-Fadhli (believed to have been killed in this week’s U.S.-led air strikes), was an intimate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the emir of al-Qaeda who dispatched him to the jihad in Syria. Except that if you listen to administration officials long enough, you come away thinking that Zawahiri is not really al-Qaeda, either. Instead, he’s something the administration is at pains to call “core al-Qaeda.” [More] ECS
"For six years, President Obama has endeavored to will the country into accepting two pillars of his alternative national-security reality. First, he claims to have dealt decisively with the terrorist threat, rendering it a disparate series of ragtag jayvees. Second, he asserts that the threat is unrelated to Islam, which is innately peaceful, moderate, and opposed to the wanton “violent extremists” who purport to act in its name.
Now, the president has been compelled to act against a jihad that has neither ended nor been “decimated.” The jihad, in fact, has inevitably intensified under his counterfactual worldview, which holds that empowering Islamic supremacists is the path to security and stability. Yet even as war intensifies in Iraq and Syria — even as jihadists continue advancing, continue killing and capturing hapless opposition forces on the ground despite Obama’s futile air raids — the president won’t let go of the charade. Hence, Obama gives us the Khorosan Group.
The who?
There is a reason that no one had heard of such a group until a nanosecond ago, when the “Khorosan Group” suddenly went from anonymity to the “imminent threat” that became the rationale for an emergency air war there was supposedly no time to ask Congress to authorize.
You haven’t heard of the Khorosan Group because there isn’t one. It is a name the administration came up with, calculating that Khorosan — the –Iranian–Afghan border region — had sufficient connection to jihadist lore that no one would call the president on it.
The “Khorosan Group” is al-Qaeda. It is simply a faction within the global terror network’s Syrian franchise, “Jabhat al-Nusra.” Its leader, Mushin al-Fadhli (believed to have been killed in this week’s U.S.-led air strikes), was an intimate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the emir of al-Qaeda who dispatched him to the jihad in Syria. Except that if you listen to administration officials long enough, you come away thinking that Zawahiri is not really al-Qaeda, either. Instead, he’s something the administration is at pains to call “core al-Qaeda.” [More] ECS
Bam silent on OK beheading
It’s been three days since Jah’Keem Yisrael — AKA Alton Noel — perpetrated a horrific terrorist attack on 54 year old co-worker Colleen Hufford, stabbing her repeatedly and then sawing her head off with a knife, and we have yet to hear any acknowledgment from President Obama of the incident.
Why not? All the elements of an Islamic act of terror are present: the savagery, the shouting of Islamic verses during the act, the stated determination to carry out jihad, and a fanatical belief in Islam that, in his mind, justified everything. From a political standpoint, it’s a bad idea to bring attention to the attack. But we don’t pay presidents to do what is politically expedient. We pay them to lead. And leadership — so sorely lacking in this and many other incidences — is what President Obama is unable to give.
Instead, our president could be found, for the 198th time, playing golf.
Why not? All the elements of an Islamic act of terror are present: the savagery, the shouting of Islamic verses during the act, the stated determination to carry out jihad, and a fanatical belief in Islam that, in his mind, justified everything. From a political standpoint, it’s a bad idea to bring attention to the attack. But we don’t pay presidents to do what is politically expedient. We pay them to lead. And leadership — so sorely lacking in this and many other incidences — is what President Obama is unable to give.
Instead, our president could be found, for the 198th time, playing golf.
The art of self deception
BH, our man in Sydney, forwards this delightful Tim Blair column from Sydney's Telegraph :" I abandoned my arts degree after just one year when I realised it could result in a career serving food. Or, worse, in Labor politics. This was a mistake, according to actress and anti-carbon dioxide activist Cate Blanchett, who last week revealed the almost mystical power of an arts degree. Blanchett said: “I’d like to posit today that it is the arts that have always been the driver for innovation and exploration. I chose these words precisely because they are always credited to science.”
Quite right. What do scientists know about exploration? We all remember arts graduate Neil Armstrong’s thrilling dissertation on lunar inequality and post-modernism during his landmark 1969 moon tutorial. Cate also had this to say: “I work in the arts, and you who have been exposed to these broad but vitally important series of disciplines, the arts are what we stay alive for, what we work all week for, what we dream about, what connects us and indeed, what some would say makes us human.”
Indeed, some would say that, in between hallucinogen doses. Blanchett also took on those who would dismiss arts degrees: “When someone asks ‘What the hell can you do with an arts degree?’ – what can the world do without them?”
The Telegraph‘s online readers quickly reminded Cate of various contributions made by non-arts graduates, including electricity, medicine, housing, dental surgery, anesthesia, plumbing, sanitation, roads, irrigation, solar power, agriculture, transport, mass production, the printed word, telephones, the internet, microphones, industry, television, cinema, photography, the compass, air conditioning, penicillin, business, the Theory of Relativity, cochlear implants, heart pace makers, radar, logistics, refrigeration, retailing, fire, botany, vaccination, microbial fermentation, pasteurisation, the internal combustion engine, chemistry, physics, algebra and aeronautics.
There may have been one or two others. On that final point, however, reader Philip asked a brilliant question: “I wonder if Cate would feel comfortable globe trotting on a jet built by arts graduates?” [Source] [BH]
Quite right. What do scientists know about exploration? We all remember arts graduate Neil Armstrong’s thrilling dissertation on lunar inequality and post-modernism during his landmark 1969 moon tutorial. Cate also had this to say: “I work in the arts, and you who have been exposed to these broad but vitally important series of disciplines, the arts are what we stay alive for, what we work all week for, what we dream about, what connects us and indeed, what some would say makes us human.”
Indeed, some would say that, in between hallucinogen doses. Blanchett also took on those who would dismiss arts degrees: “When someone asks ‘What the hell can you do with an arts degree?’ – what can the world do without them?”
The Telegraph‘s online readers quickly reminded Cate of various contributions made by non-arts graduates, including electricity, medicine, housing, dental surgery, anesthesia, plumbing, sanitation, roads, irrigation, solar power, agriculture, transport, mass production, the printed word, telephones, the internet, microphones, industry, television, cinema, photography, the compass, air conditioning, penicillin, business, the Theory of Relativity, cochlear implants, heart pace makers, radar, logistics, refrigeration, retailing, fire, botany, vaccination, microbial fermentation, pasteurisation, the internal combustion engine, chemistry, physics, algebra and aeronautics.
There may have been one or two others. On that final point, however, reader Philip asked a brilliant question: “I wonder if Cate would feel comfortable globe trotting on a jet built by arts graduates?” [Source] [BH]
Bam, for God's sake, lead! Another Muslim threatens beheading in OK
Jacob Mugambi Muriithi, a Muslim from Kenya, was arrested Friday after he threatened to behead a coworker at the Bellevue Nursing Home in Oklahoma City. Muriithi told the coworker he “represented ISIS and that ISIS kills Christians.” The silence from the White House continues [More]
Barack Obama's Diary: Our wickedly clever plan
Dear Diary: The Ruse hatched by Eric and I, has worked better than even our formidable combined intellects could have expected. Rush Limbaugh and other sworn enemies have been fooled by our carefully laid trail of disinformation into thinking that the next move is to maneuver Eric onto the bench of the Supreme Court. Little do they realize how infinitely more complex and cunning our plan is -- to have Eric run for the presidency in 2016. Is that genius or is that genius? The Obama presidency will thus effectively be extended for another four, or even eight, years. There will be dancing in the streets of D.C.
9/26/14
9/25/14
Joke of the Day...
Osama bin Laden arrives at the pearly gates. There, he is greeted by George Washington.
“How dare you attack the nation I helped conceive!” yells Mr. Washington, slapping Osama in the face. Patrick Henry comes up from behind: “You wanted to end Americans’ liberty, so they gave you death!” Henry punches Osama on the nose. James Madison comes up next, and says, “This is why I allowed the Federal government to provide for the common defense!” He drops a large weight on Osama’s knee.
Osama is subject to similar beatings from John Randolph of Roanoke, James Monroe and 65 other 18th-century American revolutionaries. As he writhes on the ground, Thomas Jefferson picks him up to hurl him back toward the gate where he is to be judged. As Osama awaits his journey to his final very hot destination, he screams, “This is not what I was promised!”
An angel replies: “I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you. What did you think I said?”
“How dare you attack the nation I helped conceive!” yells Mr. Washington, slapping Osama in the face. Patrick Henry comes up from behind: “You wanted to end Americans’ liberty, so they gave you death!” Henry punches Osama on the nose. James Madison comes up next, and says, “This is why I allowed the Federal government to provide for the common defense!” He drops a large weight on Osama’s knee.
Osama is subject to similar beatings from John Randolph of Roanoke, James Monroe and 65 other 18th-century American revolutionaries. As he writhes on the ground, Thomas Jefferson picks him up to hurl him back toward the gate where he is to be judged. As Osama awaits his journey to his final very hot destination, he screams, “This is not what I was promised!”
An angel replies: “I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you. What did you think I said?”
Mayor de Blasio loses his grip
A week after NY mayor Bill de Blasio dropped the groundhog Staten Island Chuck during a photo-op the winter-weather prognosticator died of internal injuries — and then the cover-up began, says The NY Post. Staten Island Zoo officials went to great lengths to hide the death from the public — and keep secret the fact that “Chuck” was actually “Charlotte,” a female impostor
The stand-in was found dead in her enclosure at the Staten Island Zoo on Feb. 9 — and a necropsy determined she died from “acute internal injuries,” sources said.
She had fallen nearly 6 feet when the mayor lost his grip during the Groundhog Day photo-op. ECS
The stand-in was found dead in her enclosure at the Staten Island Zoo on Feb. 9 — and a necropsy determined she died from “acute internal injuries,” sources said.
She had fallen nearly 6 feet when the mayor lost his grip during the Groundhog Day photo-op. ECS
9/24/14
Barack Obama's Diary: I lit up the world
I dazzled the world today with my compelling address to the UN. To prepare, I had smoked a joint of Hawaii-grown Blueberry Yum Yum in the rear of The Beast. I watched Manhattan traffic halted just for me. What a trip! As I stood before the green marble backdrop of the General Assembly and wa introduced by UN Secretary-General Banksy Moon [the famous grafitti artist] I felt the immense power of my role as world's pre-eminent leader course through my veins. I was the embodiment of Colonel Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, sweating metaphors from every pore. "After nearly six years as President, I believe that this promise can help light the world. Because I’ve seen a longing for positive change – for peace and freedom and opportunity – in the eyes of young people I’ve met around the globe..."
Oh, the poetry of my prose...What a genius I am! But enough about me.
Oh, the poetry of my prose...What a genius I am! But enough about me.
9/23/14
Dim Crims: Man greets cop, held for DUI
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Barack Obama's Diary: I am surrounded by imbeciles
Dear Diary: Sheesh! On days like today it seems that I can't get no respect. While I was conducting a bold and muscular air attack against militant Islamists in Syria, I made the error of saluting two Marines at the foot of the steps of my Marine One chopper, with a Styrofoam cup of tea still in my hand. The howls of outrage on social media must have been audible from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli. The whole business was more embarrassing even than Joe Biden's bizarre attempt to take over the Oval Office by disguising himself as a war vet and leaping over the White House fence while Michelle and I were en route to Camp David. I am surrounded by imbeciles. [ECS]
9/21/14
PolitiZoid - The Great Pretender
TG, who has his finger on the conservative pulse for us in Alaska, sends this video: PolitiZoid - The Great Pretender
9/20/14
Socialist medicine: Thousands of UK doctors quit
New figures have revealed 4,700 UK doctors have applied for certificates to enable them to work abroad, threatening to further deepen severe staff shortages in the National Health Service. [More] [BJS]
The Power of Positive Thinking
[Vulgarity alert:] Late in the night the Marine regained
consciousness in the Naval
hospital ICU. Tubes up his nose, both legs and one arm in casts
and wires and sensors monitoring every function. He realized he'd been seriously wounded. A pretty nurse bent over him, looked him in the eyes, and he heard her
slowly say: "You may not feel anything from the waist down."
With effort and in great pain, he whispered:
"May I at least feel your tits? [RK]
consciousness in the Naval
hospital ICU. Tubes up his nose, both legs and one arm in casts
and wires and sensors monitoring every function. He realized he'd been seriously wounded. A pretty nurse bent over him, looked him in the eyes, and he heard her
slowly say: "You may not feel anything from the waist down."
With effort and in great pain, he whispered:
"May I at least feel your tits? [RK]
Attack of the unGodly
Despite their continued verbal commitment to keeping religious materials out of public schools, both the Satanic Temple and The Freedom From Religion Foundation have publicly announced plans to disseminate printed information among public school students in Orange County, Florida. [More] [ECS]
Obama at war with military chiefs
The Washington Post is reporting a worrying rift between Obama and military chiefs. Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, who served under Obama until last year, became the latest high-profile skeptic on Thursday, telling the House Intelligence Committee that a blanket prohibition on ground combat was tying the military’s hands. “Half-hearted or tentative efforts, or airstrikes alone, can backfire on us and actually strengthen our foes’ credibility,” he said. “We may not wish to reassure our enemies in advance that they will not see American boots on the ground.”
Mattis’s comments came two days after Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took the rare step of publicly suggesting that a policy already set by the commander in chief could be reconsidered.
Despite Obama’s promise that he would not deploy ground combat forces, Dempsey made clear that he didn’t want to rule out the possibility, if only to deploy small teams in limited circumstances. He also acknowledged that Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commander for the Middle East, had already recommended doing so in the case of at least one battle in Iraq, but was overruled.
Mattis’s comments came two days after Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took the rare step of publicly suggesting that a policy already set by the commander in chief could be reconsidered.
Despite Obama’s promise that he would not deploy ground combat forces, Dempsey made clear that he didn’t want to rule out the possibility, if only to deploy small teams in limited circumstances. He also acknowledged that Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commander for the Middle East, had already recommended doing so in the case of at least one battle in Iraq, but was overruled.
9/19/14
Ig-Nobel Prizes
The winners of the Ig-Nobel Prize for neuroscience may not get a Nobel for their research into what happens in the brains of people who see Jesus' face in toast. But the University of Toronto's Kang Lee, one of the laureates, said the study could provide those people with valuable reassurance. [More] BJS
Attack of the killer bees
African bees, it seems, are even more aggressive on their home turf than in the USA. Gert Venter, who has been a traffic pointsman in South Africa for 13 years, was attacked by a swarm on Tuesday.
Motorist Vena Strauss tried to help him but was forced back into her own car when the bees started attacking her. Motorists gathered around Venter in cars and some vainly tried to scare off the bees with fire extinguishers. Eventually a man in a pick-up truck, shouted at Venter to jump on the back and they sped off trailing remnants of the swarm. Venter later recovered in hospital. [CG],
Motorist Vena Strauss tried to help him but was forced back into her own car when the bees started attacking her. Motorists gathered around Venter in cars and some vainly tried to scare off the bees with fire extinguishers. Eventually a man in a pick-up truck, shouted at Venter to jump on the back and they sped off trailing remnants of the swarm. Venter later recovered in hospital. [CG],
9/18/14
The Dung Beetle Award goes to...
Australians rethink anti-gun laws
With news of the ISIS plot to randomly abduct members of the Australian public and behead them, Australian sentiment on guns is dramatically shifting. It appears Australians are finally understanding the importance of gun ownership, and craving it at a time when the world is increasingly unsafe.
“I’ll tell you this point blank: I’d feel safer in a country where I was legally allowed to carry around a firearm,” says J Coughran, 30, a businessman.
According to Coughran, media coverage of Islamic State is fueling the change in heart: “This ISIS stuff is seeing quite a few people changing their opinions.. one of my mates told me today- he’s coming around on the gun issue. He’s 68 years old, been against guns his whole life- now he’s turning around because of these savages.” [More]
“I’ll tell you this point blank: I’d feel safer in a country where I was legally allowed to carry around a firearm,” says J Coughran, 30, a businessman.
According to Coughran, media coverage of Islamic State is fueling the change in heart: “This ISIS stuff is seeing quite a few people changing their opinions.. one of my mates told me today- he’s coming around on the gun issue. He’s 68 years old, been against guns his whole life- now he’s turning around because of these savages.” [More]
Queen of satire
The incomparable Andy Borowitz writes: "...Queen Elizabeth II took to the British airwaves on Thursday to excoriate the Scots in a one-hour, profanity-laden tirade.
The Queen’s speech began with the phrase “Listen, you Scottish bastards,” and became steadily saltier as the monarch blasted her subjects for having the impudence to consider leaving the fold.
“I’ll make you heel like a litter of [Anglo-Saxon vulgarity] corgis,” she said, as her rage reached a crescendo.
After the speech, British Prime Minister David Cameron made a desperate attempt at damage control, hoping to distance himself from the Queen’s paint-peeling rant.
“The views of Her Majesty the Queen are her own,” he said in a hastily prepared statement. “Neither I nor my government consider the people of Scotland ‘bloody wankers.’ ” [Source]
The Queen’s speech began with the phrase “Listen, you Scottish bastards,” and became steadily saltier as the monarch blasted her subjects for having the impudence to consider leaving the fold.
“I’ll make you heel like a litter of [Anglo-Saxon vulgarity] corgis,” she said, as her rage reached a crescendo.
After the speech, British Prime Minister David Cameron made a desperate attempt at damage control, hoping to distance himself from the Queen’s paint-peeling rant.
“The views of Her Majesty the Queen are her own,” he said in a hastily prepared statement. “Neither I nor my government consider the people of Scotland ‘bloody wankers.’ ” [Source]
5 lies that have shaped Bam's Presidency
If past presidents are remembered for their signature achievements, Obama will be remembered for his signature lie: “If you like your health care plan, blah, blah, blah.” The reader knows the rest. Although the most consequential of Obama’s lies — it got him re-elected — it’s far from his only prevarication.
Jack Cashill writes in the NY Post: "I've counted 75 significant lies since his campaign for president began, but that doesn't begin to tally the casual fibs and hyperbole he spouts seemingly every day. Here are five that illustrate just how much Obama’s presidency is built on falsehoods:
5. “My father left my family when I was 2 years old.”Obama made this claim in September 2009, when addressing the nation’s schoolkids. By then, the blogosphere knew that baby Obama had never spent a night under the same roof as his father, let alone two years.
For years, Obama and his advisers invested enormous political capital in what biographer David Remnick called Obama’s “signature appeal: the use of the details of his own life as a reflection of a kind of multicultural ideal.” Remnick called Obama’s autobiography “a mixture of verifiable fact, recollection, recreation, invention and artful shaping.” In other words, the truth is never good enough.
4. “The Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration.”
Obama spun this fiction at a September 2012 Univision forum knowing it was false. In fact, the bizarre, deadly idea to let American guns “walk” into Mexico, where they were used by drug cartels to kill dozens, began in October 2009.
Three months earlier, White House press secretary Jay Carney had made the same bogus claim virtually word for word at a press conference and got shot down on national TV. “It began in fall 2009,” corrected White House correspondent Jake Tapper, then with ABC.
Carney refused to acknowledge he lied, and the president continued to lie weeks later. It’s all part of Obama’s ducking of responsibility — it’s always someone else’s fault.
3. “Not even a smidgen of corruption.” Obama said this in response to Bill O'Reilly’s question about the IRS scandal: “You’re saying no corruption?”
If there were not even a “smidgen of corruption,” as Obama insisted, it is hard to understand what outraged him, or at least seemed to, when news of the IRS scandal first broke. “It’s inexcusable, and Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it,” Obama said in May 2013. Obama routinely expressed anger when some new scandal erupted on his watch — IRS, the failed ObamaCare website, the VA scandal, Fast and Furious — but never before had he shoved a scandal down the memory hole so quickly.
And how could Obama know there wasn't a smidgen of corruption before the investigation was even over? Perhaps because the administration knew that any proof of that was gone with deleted emails and destroyed hard drives?
During that same Super Bowl Sunday interview, Obama made this claim in response to O’Reilly’s inquiry about the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. Obama continued to dissemble: “The notion that we would hide the ball for political purposes when a week later we all said, in fact, there was a terrorist attack taking place and the day after I said it was an act of terror, that wouldn't be a very good coverup.”
In fact, it was exactly a week after the attack, on Sept. 18, that Obama took his first questions about Benghazi. Bizarrely, he did so to David Letterman. “Here’s what happened,” Obama said.
“You had a video that was released by somebody who lives here, sort of a shadowy character who — who made an extremely offensive video directed at — at Mohammed and Islam.”
We know now that the administration knew this wasn't true. Not a week later; not even the very night of the attacks. many levels, this was Obama’s most telling lie. He only deals with the world as he sees it, not as it is.
1. “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”
Obama told this whopper to his assembled staff on his first day in office. He promised it to the press. Instead, his administration refuses to hand over documents and Obama refuses to answer questions. As liberal constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley assessed the presidency, “Barack Obama is really the president Richard Nixon always wanted to be.” [Source] [BJS]
Jack Cashill writes in the NY Post: "I've counted 75 significant lies since his campaign for president began, but that doesn't begin to tally the casual fibs and hyperbole he spouts seemingly every day. Here are five that illustrate just how much Obama’s presidency is built on falsehoods:
5. “My father left my family when I was 2 years old.”Obama made this claim in September 2009, when addressing the nation’s schoolkids. By then, the blogosphere knew that baby Obama had never spent a night under the same roof as his father, let alone two years.
For years, Obama and his advisers invested enormous political capital in what biographer David Remnick called Obama’s “signature appeal: the use of the details of his own life as a reflection of a kind of multicultural ideal.” Remnick called Obama’s autobiography “a mixture of verifiable fact, recollection, recreation, invention and artful shaping.” In other words, the truth is never good enough.
4. “The Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration.”
Obama spun this fiction at a September 2012 Univision forum knowing it was false. In fact, the bizarre, deadly idea to let American guns “walk” into Mexico, where they were used by drug cartels to kill dozens, began in October 2009.
Three months earlier, White House press secretary Jay Carney had made the same bogus claim virtually word for word at a press conference and got shot down on national TV. “It began in fall 2009,” corrected White House correspondent Jake Tapper, then with ABC.
Carney refused to acknowledge he lied, and the president continued to lie weeks later. It’s all part of Obama’s ducking of responsibility — it’s always someone else’s fault.
3. “Not even a smidgen of corruption.” Obama said this in response to Bill O'Reilly’s question about the IRS scandal: “You’re saying no corruption?”
If there were not even a “smidgen of corruption,” as Obama insisted, it is hard to understand what outraged him, or at least seemed to, when news of the IRS scandal first broke. “It’s inexcusable, and Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it,” Obama said in May 2013. Obama routinely expressed anger when some new scandal erupted on his watch — IRS, the failed ObamaCare website, the VA scandal, Fast and Furious — but never before had he shoved a scandal down the memory hole so quickly.
And how could Obama know there wasn't a smidgen of corruption before the investigation was even over? Perhaps because the administration knew that any proof of that was gone with deleted emails and destroyed hard drives?
During that same Super Bowl Sunday interview, Obama made this claim in response to O’Reilly’s inquiry about the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. Obama continued to dissemble: “The notion that we would hide the ball for political purposes when a week later we all said, in fact, there was a terrorist attack taking place and the day after I said it was an act of terror, that wouldn't be a very good coverup.”
In fact, it was exactly a week after the attack, on Sept. 18, that Obama took his first questions about Benghazi. Bizarrely, he did so to David Letterman. “Here’s what happened,” Obama said.
“You had a video that was released by somebody who lives here, sort of a shadowy character who — who made an extremely offensive video directed at — at Mohammed and Islam.”
We know now that the administration knew this wasn't true. Not a week later; not even the very night of the attacks. many levels, this was Obama’s most telling lie. He only deals with the world as he sees it, not as it is.
1. “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”
Obama told this whopper to his assembled staff on his first day in office. He promised it to the press. Instead, his administration refuses to hand over documents and Obama refuses to answer questions. As liberal constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley assessed the presidency, “Barack Obama is really the president Richard Nixon always wanted to be.” [Source] [BJS]
Glowbull warming, by Michael Loftus
TG, our man in Alaska, found this clip of Michael Loftus on glowbull warming:
9/17/14
Victory is all that matters --- Coulter
Obamcare contractors play Pictionary
Serco, a private contracting firm paid more than $1 billion to process paper Obamacare applications, paid employees to do nothing. In a local report from Missouri’s KMOV, Serco employees told reporters they spent their office hours playing Pictionary and 20 Words.
One employee said a supervisor told her she was only expected to process one or two applications a month. Serco initially testified before Congress that the company was prepared to process an estimated 6.2 million paper applications. After KMOV filed a Freedom of Information Act request, Serco revealed that they had only processed 271,000 applications–less than 5 percent of what they projected. Source [ECS]
One employee said a supervisor told her she was only expected to process one or two applications a month. Serco initially testified before Congress that the company was prepared to process an estimated 6.2 million paper applications. After KMOV filed a Freedom of Information Act request, Serco revealed that they had only processed 271,000 applications–less than 5 percent of what they projected. Source [ECS]
9/16/14
Bam left high and dry as leaders spurn climate conference
The imminent climate summit in New York is rapidly turning into an utter embarrassment for President Obama in addition to becoming a punishment round for national deputy leaders. Aussie PM Tony Abbott today defended his decision not to hop on an earlier flight to America, so he could attend the UN climate conference in New York, because he has more important matters to attend to, such as running the country.
[Source] [ECS]
[Source] [ECS]
Obamanomics: Foreign residents' pay soars 15 times that of US citizens
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that household income for non-citizens working in the United States rose 6.0 percent between 2012 and 2013, 15 times more than the paltry 0.4 percent increase for households led by native-born U.S. workers. ECS
Frog appeasement backfires
Al-Qaida has for the first time announced a union with an Algerian insurgent group that has designated France as an enemy, saying they will act together against French and American interests.
"So much for appeasement," comments our Australia contributor, BH.
"So much for appeasement," comments our Australia contributor, BH.
Barack Obama's Diary: Behold ---I'm a colossus
Dear Diary: I'm at my remarkable best when I'm multitasking. ISOLA, one moment, Ebisis the next. Nothing is beyond my mental compass. I'm sending 3000 troops and a field hospital to Syria to combat Ebisol, while bombing anything that moves in Iraq. Yet I retain mental mental acuity with copious inhalations of Blueberry Yum-Yum. History will see me as a colossus bestriding the World. But enough about me.
9/15/14
Barack Obama's Diary: Harken unto me, ye Muslim masses
Dear Diary: I am exceedingly excited that my breathtaking rhetorical skills have been revived in the face of ISIL. Yea, I say unto ye who dare oppose me or John Kerry, ye shall be vanquished from the face of the earth. Yea, vanquished. But enough about me. I have more important things to worry about, like ordering refueling tankers for Air Force One so I can stay aloft indefinitely, should an airborne form of Ebola reach the US. I will need to lead from the air and I daren't be exposed to the disease-ridden common herd. But enough about me.
Dim Crims: Suspect calls cops over stolen phone
According to the Seattle Police Department, a 20-year-old suspect called 911 around 4 p.m. Saturday from a gas station. She said a man was following her and accusing her of taking his phone.
Officers arrived to find the suspect standing with a 21-year-old man, who had multiple cuts and bruises.
According to police, the suspect told officers she and her boyfriend were sitting near the 21-year-old on a Metro bus when he woke up from a nap, accused them of stealing his cellphone and attacked them as they ran from the bus. According to the 21-year-old, that's not quite how it happened. He told officers he was sitting on the bus with his eyes closed when suddenly the music he had been listening to stopped. He opened his eyes to see the suspect and a man with his phone.
The 21-year-old said he asked the couple to return his phone only to have them punch and kick him in the head. He told officers the couple ran off the bus,, and he followed them. He said the other man kept running, while the suspect stopped to call 911.
According to police, the suspect denied taking the victim's phone until officers noticed a phone-shaped bulge in her pocket. Officers reportedly found both the victim's phone and three grams of crack on the suspect.
She was booked into King County Jail for investigation of robbery and drug possession. Source [BJS]
Officers arrived to find the suspect standing with a 21-year-old man, who had multiple cuts and bruises.
According to police, the suspect told officers she and her boyfriend were sitting near the 21-year-old on a Metro bus when he woke up from a nap, accused them of stealing his cellphone and attacked them as they ran from the bus. According to the 21-year-old, that's not quite how it happened. He told officers he was sitting on the bus with his eyes closed when suddenly the music he had been listening to stopped. He opened his eyes to see the suspect and a man with his phone.
The 21-year-old said he asked the couple to return his phone only to have them punch and kick him in the head. He told officers the couple ran off the bus,, and he followed them. He said the other man kept running, while the suspect stopped to call 911.
According to police, the suspect denied taking the victim's phone until officers noticed a phone-shaped bulge in her pocket. Officers reportedly found both the victim's phone and three grams of crack on the suspect.
She was booked into King County Jail for investigation of robbery and drug possession. Source [BJS]
9/13/14
Progress Notes for Patient No. 540463, OBAMA, Barack H.
9/13/2014 I have been commissioned by Valerie Jarrett to be on call 24/7 for Patient, who is showing increasing signs of instability, threatening to 'degrade' and 'ultimately, destroy' anyone who dares to disagree with him. This includes wife Michelle and Joseph 'Brown-nose' Biden. I'm keeping a vial of sedative handy to inject into Patient's boney butt, if he were unwise enough to incur the wrath of Michelle--- Dictated by S.H.Rink M.D.
Barbarians in the cross-hairs
RK, our Vermont contributor, sends this on the day ISIL released video of the barbaric beheading of a British aid worker.
A CNN reporter asked a Marine sniper what he feels when he shoots a terrorist.
"Recoil," said the sniper.
A CNN reporter asked a Marine sniper what he feels when he shoots a terrorist.
"Recoil," said the sniper.
9/12/14
Ten Buck Friday
Week Three of a Nine Week Mission, to Seek Out new life for the Senate.
Focusing on the Senate races (Republicans need just six seats to oust the Dimbulb from Searchlight, Harry Reid as majority leader, ten to show Obama what the country really thinks of him!), is it worth ten bucks a week (1 1/2 lbs. of bacon?) to eliminate Reid's control and give the Senate responsible leadership again?
With that in mind, this week we look to the open Senate seat in AR. Can you contribute just $10 to Senate candidate Tom Cotton? asks Proof Positive.
Real Clear Politics has Cotton up 1.7 points on the average, and rates the state as a toss up.
You can contribute to Tom Cotton here.
Focusing on the Senate races (Republicans need just six seats to oust the Dimbulb from Searchlight, Harry Reid as majority leader, ten to show Obama what the country really thinks of him!), is it worth ten bucks a week (1 1/2 lbs. of bacon?) to eliminate Reid's control and give the Senate responsible leadership again?
With that in mind, this week we look to the open Senate seat in AR. Can you contribute just $10 to Senate candidate Tom Cotton? asks Proof Positive.
Real Clear Politics has Cotton up 1.7 points on the average, and rates the state as a toss up.
You can contribute to Tom Cotton here.
Now 'Obamavirus' invades New York state
More than a dozen cases of Enterovirus D68 have been confirmed in New York state, according to officials.
"EV-D68 is causing cases of severe respiratory illness ... sometimes resulting in hospitalization, especially among children with asthma," the NYS Department of Health said.
There has been considerable speculation that the virus has been spread by Obama-sponsored illegal migrant children. [Source]
"EV-D68 is causing cases of severe respiratory illness ... sometimes resulting in hospitalization, especially among children with asthma," the NYS Department of Health said.
There has been considerable speculation that the virus has been spread by Obama-sponsored illegal migrant children. [Source]
Dim Crims: Walmart shoppers flee on ride-on carts
Shirley Mae Mason, 46, was arrested Monday night and charged with the theft of the $1200 electric cart and six bags stuffed with clothing from Walmart. Failing to secure a car ride from the store. Mason, according to a police report, said she just “didn’t feel like walking.” [Source] [BJS]
Last month, an 18-year-old New Mexico man was arrested for stealing a similar Walmart cart and driving it to a meeting with his probation officer at an Albuquerque courthouse.
Last month, an 18-year-old New Mexico man was arrested for stealing a similar Walmart cart and driving it to a meeting with his probation officer at an Albuquerque courthouse.
Barack Obama's Diary: Roar! But I'm not at war...
Dear Diary: I am elated about my speech addressing the nation about the decisive measures I plan to take against the ISIL. I was as fierce as a lion. Who could hear me and not have fled in fear of my wrath? I asked Biden, "ISIL," he replied. "They haven't fled." Very funny, Joe." . I have been nervous lately about the tropical storm and volcanic lava threatening Hawaii's big island. I have a fine plantation there of Blueberry Yum-yum --that marvellous mature merlot of marijuanas-- that is just reaching perfect ripeness. It's time to harvest it and have it loaded it aboard Air Force One and then have a few bags stashed in the secret compartment of the Resolute Desk where Teddy Roosevelt kept his Big Stick and Bill Clinton his notorious cigars. But enough about me.
9/11/14
Dim Crims: 'Burglar' snoozes his way to jail
An alleged burglar in Sarasota County, Fla., was caught napping by deputies, who paused to take a few photos of the man snoozing next to a bag of jewelry before waking him up and taking him to jail. A maid called police when she discovered Dion Davis, 29, asleep on a bed. [Source] [BJS]
9/10/14
Americans slam 'weak' Bam in new poll
There’s an avalanche of bad news for the Obama administration in the latest Fox News poll on foreign policy.
American voters feel:
- Barack Obama is weak and indecisive.
- The U.S. is less respected since Obama became president.
- The U.S. should do more to stop the Islamic extremist group ISIS.
- Obama isn’t willing to do what it takes to defeat ISIS.
- ISIS will try to attack the U.S. soon.
- Embarrassed about Obama not having a strategy for dealing with ISIS.
- Obama will try to “manage” ISIS rather than “defeat” it.
The poll also finds:
- For the first time, more voters than not feel the U.S. is less safe today than before 9/11.
- Obama’s job approval is at record lows on Syria, Iraq and terrorism. (Obama’s overall job approval matches his all-time low.
- Most would tell Obama to kill extremists beheading Americans now, rather than caution him against overreacting.
The new poll was released hours before President Obama’s prime-time address to the nation about ISIS. [ECS]
Welfare for weed
Welfare recipients can use their EBT cards at marijuana dispensaries in states such as Colorado that have legalized pot, Sen. Jeff Sessions revealed Tuesday.
The Alabama Republican announced that he was drafting legislation to close the welfare-for-weed loophole after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to him that marijuana shops were not off limits to EBT cards, which replaced food stamps, or other federal benefits. Read more: [Thanks ECS]
The Alabama Republican announced that he was drafting legislation to close the welfare-for-weed loophole after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to him that marijuana shops were not off limits to EBT cards, which replaced food stamps, or other federal benefits. Read more: [Thanks ECS]
Listen to Obama? Why bother?
Everyone knows President Obama’s speech Wednesday night will include few if any details about how we are going to go about defeating ISIS. Because President Obama has few if any details himself, writes Keith Koffler at White House Dossier. "CBS reporter Major Garrett asked White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest today why, then, anyone should tune in:
GARRETT: If I’ve listened to you correctly today, you said the president will tell the country that there’ll be no ground troops involved, there’ll be no tactical operational details, no timeline for victory, no cost associated with the pursuit of victory. Why should anyone watch? Well, it’s a good question, but people should watch, if only because it is the job of the president of the United States to at least explain the danger America faces and why he is committing the U.S. military to action, however hesitantly he is doing it. It would be nice if he could also explain how we are going to “degrade and destroy” ISIS, as he’s been saying, but that’s too much to expect of Obama,"adds Koffler He has some kind of insufferably protracted three-year plan in his head, which is of course no plan at all, since in over the course of three years Martians could land and establish a separate Martian Caliphate in Manitoba". Source
Bare breasts fall out of fashion
France´s summer is fast becoming a memory, and so is one of its iconic beach sights: the topless woman. As few as 2 percent of French women under 35 now say they want to bare their breasts, according to an Elle magazine poll this summer. It´s a far cry from the once-ubiquitous scenes of semi-nudity on the French Riviera, epitomized by 1960s blond bombshell Brigitte Bardot. "It´s seen as vulgar. People are more prudish these days," explains 60-year old Muriel Trazie, keeping her breasts out of the public eye while sunning herself on Paris Plages, the capital´s summer beach. [AP]
9/9/14
Urban Myth : Apologies---Please ignore
Our all-seeing Australian contributor, B.H., sends this startling view of New York City's Madison Avenue: More info here [thanks BJS]
9/6/14
See huge Chinese cyber attack in real time!
Fascinating: Watch a huge Chinese cyber attack against the USA in real time, here . [Thanks to Weasel Zippers]
Now Obama wants to make less of the s'more
One of the great moments in history came when an unsuspecting camper sandwiched a marshmallow and a piece of chocolate between two graham crackers -- creating an American masterpiece -- the s’more, writes Todd Starnes. But now the Obama administration is attempting to modify the third sacrament in camping’s holy trinity. The U.S. Forest Service wants Americans to make healthier s’mores by replacing the chocolate with fruit. [Source] [ECS]
9/4/14
Barack Obama's Diary: All the world's my stage...
Dear Diary: I'm strutting my stuff upon the world's stage, here in Cardiff. I have been practicing my Welsh, saying " Yechidda" [Welsh for "cheers"] to greet other NATO leaders so as not to intimidate them with the overwhelming force of my intellect. I am determined to hatch a compromise to the Isis crisis which they will all accept gratefully. What would the world do without Barry? But that's enough about me.
Where have all the illegals gone? Bam's not saying
Former CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson says the Obama administration is refusing to tell Congress where the ten of thousands of unaccompanied minors who crossed the U.S.-Mexican Border this summer were sent after they were processed though holding centers along the border.
Attkisson said the Obama administration seems to be intentionally stonewalling by not answering letters from members of Congress or reporters' questions. She added that the only recourse is a lawsuit that will take years to go through the system. [Source]
Attkisson said the Obama administration seems to be intentionally stonewalling by not answering letters from members of Congress or reporters' questions. She added that the only recourse is a lawsuit that will take years to go through the system. [Source]
...And the Dung Beetle Award goes to...
Isis is already here
Isis is already on American soil-- this pooch was spotted on a Cosi's bulletin board by an upstate New York contributor. [ECS]
9/2/14
The extortion of U.S. business
WHO runs the world’s most lucrative shakedown operation? The Sicilian mafia? The People’s Liberation Army in China? The kleptocracy in the Kremlin? If you are a big business, all these are less grasping than America’s regulatory system. The formula is simple, says The Economist: find a large company that may (or may not) have done something wrong; threaten its managers with commercial ruin, preferably with criminal charges; force them to use their shareholders’ money to pay an enormous fine to drop the charges in a secret settlement (so nobody can check the details). Then repeat with another large company.
"The amounts are mind-boggling," The Economist adds. So far this year, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and other banks have coughed up close to $50 billion for supposedly misleading investors in mortgage-backed bonds. BNP Paribas is paying $9 billion over breaches of American sanctions against Sudan and Iran. Credit Suisse, UBS, Barclays and others have settled for billions more, over various accusations. And that is just the financial institutions. Add BP’s $13 billion in settlements since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Toyota’s $1.2 billion settlement over alleged faults in some cars, and many more...." [Read it all] [BJS]
"The amounts are mind-boggling," The Economist adds. So far this year, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and other banks have coughed up close to $50 billion for supposedly misleading investors in mortgage-backed bonds. BNP Paribas is paying $9 billion over breaches of American sanctions against Sudan and Iran. Credit Suisse, UBS, Barclays and others have settled for billions more, over various accusations. And that is just the financial institutions. Add BP’s $13 billion in settlements since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Toyota’s $1.2 billion settlement over alleged faults in some cars, and many more...." [Read it all] [BJS]
'Snorts-for-votes' charge
A Federal investigation has brought up allegations that a Hidalgo County Commissioner paid for votes with bags of cocaine while other politicians paid for votes with cash, cigarettes, marijuana and beer.
Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas from the arrest of two women accused of buying votes show that during the democratic primaries in 2012, a campaign manager for a Hidalgo County Commissioner who said that during the campaign, he bought $50 worth of cocaine, commonly known as an 8-ball and split it up in order to give it to the two women so they could use it to entice voters. [More] [ECS]
9/1/14
Jihad this...
Prime Minister David Cameron has announced tough measures against Britons planning to fight in Iraq and Syria, and battle-hardened jihadists who could return to launch attacks at home.
Cameron said his government would draw up measures to ban suspects who are British nationals from returning to the UK, while police will get enhanced powers to temporarily strip departing suspects of passports at the border.
“Adhering to British values is not an option or a choice. It is a duty for all those who live in these islands so we will stand up for our values, we will in the end defeat this extremism and we will secure our way of life for generations to come,” Cameron told Parliament. [Source]
His decisiveness was in sharp contrast to the vacillation of Obama who spent yesterday playing golf.
Cameron said his government would draw up measures to ban suspects who are British nationals from returning to the UK, while police will get enhanced powers to temporarily strip departing suspects of passports at the border.
“Adhering to British values is not an option or a choice. It is a duty for all those who live in these islands so we will stand up for our values, we will in the end defeat this extremism and we will secure our way of life for generations to come,” Cameron told Parliament. [Source]
His decisiveness was in sharp contrast to the vacillation of Obama who spent yesterday playing golf.
Lurch works the lines as our embassy is raided
Isn’t it comforting to know what our ‘leaders’ are hard at work dealing with the imminent ISIS terrorist threat. Source [ECS]
Barack Obama's Diary: My real strategy
Dear Diary: What's wrong with people? They pester me constantly to reveal my intentions and even when I DO reveal my cunning strategy on ISIL, which is is to have no strategy, they get their panties in a wad. After six years of my occupying the White House, no-one has learned that I know better than they do what's good for them. I have been suffering from stress and overwork and took Valerie Jarrett' s advice to buy myself a drone, yes, a drone, via Amazon.. I will narrate my adventures with it, shortly. Enough about me.