September 29th, 2015
Another LinkSwarm. And if you’re live in Austin, don’t forget the meetup/blogshoot on October 10th.
Theory: The people flooding into Europe are innocent families of refugees fleeing war. Reality: “young men [heaving] rocks at the authorities and showing up on YouTube videos shouting Allahu Akbar.”
“There is something shallow and decadent about a pontiff who prioritizes “climate change” even as every last Christian is driven from the Archeparchy of Mosul. What will they say of such a pope? That he fiddled with the thermostat while Rome burned?”
If the illegal alien crisis threatens to collapse the EU, it wasn’t very strong to begin with, was it?
Why are liberals in love with radical Islam?
One theory:
I increasingly think the Democrat/Muslim union has to do with old-fashioned relativism. Democrats don’t actually believe that women’s rights and gay rights apply to everyone; white people: sure. Arabs? Well, who am I to judge? And Muslims know this.
When Robby George is just dumbfounded as to why all these Muslims support the party of abortion on demand and gay marriage, the answer seems pretty clear to me: They’re supporting the party of abortion on demand and gay marriage for infidels
Another:
I think the issue is more that they see Muslims as a new potential mascot group that they can champion and therefore obtain that cheap sense of moral superiority that comes with riding in like a white knight. I think a lot of liberal attitudes towards minorities aren’t actually based on the good of the minorities, but how good it makes the liberals feel to champion them. Muslims are (as of now) a tiny, insignificant minority. They’re mostly kinda swarthy, so the “it’s racism” meme is easily transferable, and a significant chunk of liberals loathe Christianity.
A map of worldwide Islamic State attacks.
In the little town of Bethlehem/Things have gotten quite scary/Islamists have gotten out and torched/the local monastery.
You might want to hold onto your hate for this shocking revelation: Hillary Clinton lied under oath about her secret e-mail server.
And polls show that Vice President Joe Biden is way, way more popular than Clinton.
Reminder: Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign started the “birther” movement.
Ten times John Boehner caved into liberals.
Pacifica radio station institutes socialist democracy and promptly starts to spiral down toward bankruptcy. (Hat tip: Powerline.)
Dealing drugs while on the DEA payroll? Automatic firing? Ha! Remember: Obama Administration. 14 day suspension.
“Cobynite solutions belong in the realm of fantasy.” Keep in mind that I disagree with possibly three-quarters of the writer’s analysis, but still share his conclusion….
The World According to Xi Jinping. Sounds like a whole lot of vague platitudes…
“German Rheinmetall shows off 80 kilowatt naval combat laser with four 20 kw laser barrels.” Though until they can demonstrate the system through actual field testing, I wouldn’t get too excited.
How did I miss the fact that McGruff The Crime Dog is currently doing 16 years for possessing a marijuana grow operation and a grenade launcher?
Tags: 2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Bethlehem, China, Christianity, Communism, Crime, DEA, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Germany, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Scandals, Islam, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jeremy Corbyn, Jihad, John Boehner, Labour, McGruff The Crime Dog, Military, Pacifica, Texas, Xi Jinping
Posted in Border Control, Communism, Crime, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Military, Texas | No Comments »
September 28th, 2015
The opaque, dishonest nature by which ObamaCare was passed ensured that the full brunt of many provisions wouldn’t be felt before Obama’s 2012 reelection bid. While that stratagem worked for Obama, it also ensured that ObamaCare would turn into an unending supply of timebomb policies with unpleasant consequences which would continue to plague Democrats (and America) long after the bill’s passage.
And those bombs continue continue to explode:
“The more time Americans have had to experience the health care reform legislation first-hand, the more obvious it has become that, like virtually all government-controlled social experiments, Obamacare’s waste of taxpayers’ money has grown to epic levels. And there’s no sign the poorly managed program is improving.”
ObamaCare deductibles are now rising seven times faster than inflation. “Premiums have risen nearly $5,000 since Obama promised to cut them.”
Even Democrat’s own direct-mail advertising admits that “fewer than half of all U.S. doctors accept Medicaid,” a direct consequence of ObamaCare’s “cost control” features while dumping millions more patients into Medicaid.
All of which explains why ObamaCare remains deeply unpopular with voters, with 52% viewing it unfavorably, and 36% very unfavorably.
All of which explains why American consumers are still staying away from ObamaCare in droves.
Despite all that, Hillary Clinton is vigorously defending ObamaCare. In fact, what Hillary is actually doing is propising ObamaCare 2.0:
The solution is obvious: Reduce federal coverage mandates to reduce premiums and deductibles. Instead, Mrs. Clinton wants even more mandates that are guaranteed to make premiums and deductibles rise even higher.
First, on Tuesday in Iowa, Mrs. Clinton released her plan to make prescription drugs more “affordable.” (Sound familiar?) She proposes capping patients’ monthly out-of-pocket prescription costs at $250. Making insurers pay more toward retail drug costs ensures those costs will be passed on to employers and policy holders through premium increases, forcing the young and healthy to further subsidize the old and the sick. And Mrs. Clinton wants to stick it to drug makers by prohibiting them from deducting the cost of advertising on their taxes (as other kinds of businesses can) and shortening their patents, which will give them shorter horizons to recover their sizable investments. Making it more expensive for pharmaceutical companies to do business will either increase the costs of drugs or prevent their development in the first place.
Then, on Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton said she wants to expand the “free” services mandated under Obamacare to include three doctor visits per year, on top of preventive care such as vaccines and screenings. When Democrats were selling Obamacare to taxpayers, they said fully covered preventive care would help reduce overall health care spending by giving Americans an incentive to take better care of themselves and not avoid seeking care because of cost concerns. But the law of supply and demand can’t be suspended by Congress; increasing demand for health care increases costs. Now Mrs. Clinton wants sick care to be fully covered as well, which will — wait for it — increase demand for a limited supply of doctors and providers, and increase costs through higher premiums and deductibles. She also wants to deny insurers the ability to charge higher out-of-network costs for hospital care when those very networks help insurers keep costs down.
And there’s plenty more time for more ObamaCare-fueled rate and deductible explosions between now and the 2016 election…
Tags: 2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare
Posted in Democrats, ObamaCare, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »
September 26th, 2015
Once again Ted Cruz has articulated the problems the Republican grassroots has with Republican congressional leadership:
Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a blistering critique of Republican leadership Thursday, just hours before lawmakers held what he described as a “show vote” attempting to end Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding.
The Texas Republican summoned a handful of reporters, including The Daily Signal, to his Senate office to blast his own party for surrendering on the issue before even attempting to fight President Barack Obama and Democrats.
“The reason why Republicans always lose these fights is because Republicans assume Barack Obama is the Terminator—he will never stop, he will never give up—and Republicans surrender at the outset,” Cruz said.
Snip.
This isn’t the first time Cruz finds himself amid a fight with leadership over a government shutdown. Two years ago, he rallied conservatives in their quest to defund Obamacare. The government closed for 16 days.
Cruz said Republicans failed to learn from that experience. The following year, he noted, many Republicans campaigned against Obamacare, and the GOP won a landslide election to take control of the Senate and expand its majority in the House.
“In 2013, when we were fighting against Obamacare, all the Washington graybeards went on television and said over and over again, ‘This is a catastrophic mistake. This will hurt Republicans.’ The Wall Street Journal opined that Cruz is the minority maker,” he told reporters.
“Not only did it not happen, it was exactly the opposite. It was one of the most overwhelming tidal-wave victories in history. And the No. 1 issue … was Obamacare,” Cruz said. “And it does not occur to Republican leadership there is any possible connection between energizing and mobilizing millions of Americans across this country and then winning a tidal-wave election on that exact issue in the very next election.”
Republicans want representatives that will fight for conservative principles and stop the reckless growth of big government liberalism, not preemptively surrender to Democrats so they can stay in office as tax collectors for the welfare state. That’s why Boehner was pushed out as speaker, and that’s the Tea Party will keep primarying incumbents until they start voting like Republicans when it actually counts.
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Tags: John Boehner, Planned Parenthood, Republicans, Tea Party, Ted Cruz
Posted in Republicans, Welfare State | No Comments »
September 25th, 2015
Under pressure from conservatives, U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner will resign from his position and congress effective at the end of October.
This need not have come to pass if Boehner, who campaigned as a conservative, had actually governed as a conservative rather than a dish rag willing to give in to Obama on just about anything over fears Republicans might hurt their poll numbers.
After having Boehner betray them on issues various issues great and small, it turns out that House Republicans were finally willing to draw the line at continued taxpayer funded infanticide.
For all the talk of the Tea Party being a spent force, they’re he ones who took Boehner’s scalp, and the Senate Conservatives Fund just sent out an email crowing over Boehner stepping down.
The Center for Medical Progress also deserves congratulations as well. Without their activism and sting videos, Boehner would still be speaker.
All this could have been avoided if John Boehner had actually obeyed the wishes of his caucus rather than the Washington establishment. Having the majority is worthless unless you actually use it instead of rolling over for Obama at every opportunity. The next Speaker is up in the air right now (though House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California is reportedly Boehner’s choice to succeed him), but whoever it is must take seriously both Republican wishes and the coequal role of the legislature the writers of the Constitution intended.
And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should consider himself on notice.
Tags: Center for Medical Progress, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Planned Parenthood, Senate Conservative Fund
Posted in Republicans | 1 Comment »
September 24th, 2015
You may have heard that Angela Merkel has performed a 180 degree flip on allowing those 800,000 “refugees” (read: Muslim illegal aliens, most from outside Syria) to settle in Germany.
Idiocy like this certainly isn’t going to convince Germans to let more Muslims in:
Muslims in Germany Demand End to “Un-Islamic” Oktoberfest
Dear City council of Munich,
I am writing this letter to bring to your attention something that I
and many Muslims believe is unfair and requires attention. I would like to inform you that the Oktoberfest is an Intolerant and Anti-Islamic event. We tried to ignore the event, but there too many Un-Islamic acts done at the Oktoberfest. Such as alcohol consumption, public nudity etc.
We understand that the Oktoberfest is a yearly German tradition, but we, Muslims, can not tolerate this Un-Islamic event, because it offends us and all Muslims on the earth. We are requesting the immediate cancellation of the upcoming Oktoberfest event.
Yeah, you go ahead and try to prevent Germans from celebrating Oktoberfest or drinking beer. Because pissing off Germans is such a proven route to happiness…
Tags: Alcohol, Foreign Policy, Germany, Islam, Oktoberfest
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | 1 Comment »
September 23rd, 2015
Recently I received a solicitation email from a “Stop Hillary PAC.” Well guess what? It’s another Dan Backer scam PAC.
Like “Conservative Action Fund” or “Patriots for Economic Freedom” or any of a number of scam PACs run by Backer and his associates Tyler Whitney and Michael Gruccio, they’re happy to take money from gullible conservatives, but almost none of that money ever ends up supporting actual candidates. Instead it gets channeled into the pockets of a small number of consultants.
Among the consultants getting the lions share of Stop Hillary PAC disbursements (warning: big PDF):
DB Capitol Strategies (owned and operated by Dan Backer)
American Action News, which has recently started spamming me with pro-Donald Trump email, and which, surprise surprise, has the exact same address as DB Capitol Strategies (203 S. Union St., Suite 300 Alexandria, VA 22314)!
Campaign Solutions of Alexandria, Virginia
Strategic Fundraising, which may be defunct
A Ted Harvey of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, which I assume is this Colorado State Representative.
For the record, here are the other groups that show up for that same 203 S. Union St., Suite 300 Alexandria, VA 22314 address:
American Defense News
Conservative America Now
Constitutional Rights PAC
EndJeb2016.com
innovationPAC
Special Operations Speaks
Stand With Rand
Stark360 PAC
The Tea Party Leadership Fund
ZP Action PAC (“ZP Action is in no way affiliated with Zeta Psi Fraternity of N.A. or the Zeta Psi Educational Foundation”)
It looks like I may a little late to this party: Someone outed Stop Hillary PAC as a Dan Backer scam last year. But boy does his weedy garden of fake PACs and sham news sources continue to grow like Topsy…
Tags: American Action News, American Defense News, Campaign Solutions, Constitutional Rights PAC, Dan Backer, DB Capitol Strategies, Donald Trump, Elections, innovationPAC, Michael Gruccio, PAC, Rand Paul, Republicans, scam, Special Operations Speaks, Stand With Rand, Stark360 PAC, Stop Hillary PAC, Tea Party Leadership Fund, Ted Harvey, ZP Action PAC
Posted in Elections, Republicans | 7 Comments »
September 22nd, 2015
My contract technical writing position ended, so I’ve been busy looking for a new job (if you know of one, drop me a line). As such, this LinkSwarm is a bit out of band. I’ve been busy.
Ted Cruz is sitting pretty. And that piece came before Scott Walker’s exit from the race…
Gun Owners of America endorses Cruz.
Scott Walker’s implosion. Namely Trump and burn rate.
All glory is fleeing. Especially when it comes to polls this time of the year.
Man pushing RICO lawsuit against global warming skeptics has raked in more than $5.6 million in taxpayer money for himself and his wife since 2001.
“Free of the pension costs and union contracts that weighed down its previous owners, Hostess has nurtured retail sales of its products nearly back to their pre-liquidation level of more than $1.3 billion in 2012, with a fraction of the workers. The old Hostess—which included other brands—employed some 19,000 people. The Twinkies purveyor these days has just 1,100.”
While Europeans wring their hands over Muslim illegal aliens, Egypt floods Gaza smuggling tunnels.
“From the 1970s to the present day, organised pedophilia has been a recurring problem for the supposedly progressive movement.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
When do leftists object to a gay pride parade? When it marches through Muslim areas.
Moody’s downgrades France.
“The fences are going up all over Europe, we shall not see them torn down again in our life-time.”
Documented case of Islamic State fighters trying to enter Europe as refugees.
More than 100 girls poisoned in Afghanistan for daring to go to school, but details seem scanty.
Robert Spencer has a new book out: The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS.
America’s Unbanked.
Larry Correia fisks that idiot Lorraine D. Wilke piece about how writers shouldn’t write fast, where Correia discusses greedy desire that his children wear shoes.
Heh: “Extension Cord On Stage Steals Spotlight From Jeb Bush During Campaign Rally.”
Congressman John Carter getting a primary challenger?
Brain, brain, what is brain?
Tags: Afghanistan, Anthropogenic Global Warming, Border Controls, Donald Trump, Egypt, Elections, Gaza, Global Warming, Gun Owners of America, Guns, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jeb Bush, Jihad, Milo Yiannopoulos, pedophilia, Republicans, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz
Posted in Border Control, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Jihad, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
September 21st, 2015
Just more proof that, when it comes to 2016 presidential race, Nobody Knows Nothing: Scott Walker dropped out of the Presidential race tonight.
If you had asked me six months ago who would get the nomination, I’d have guessed Scott Walker had the best chance as a candidate acceptable to both movement conservatives and the GOP Establishment. I couldn’t imagine the possibility that Walker would be polling less than John Kasich. Such is the wild, woolly nature of the 2016 race, partially due to Donald Trump widely surpassing expectations of early popularity, and partially due to signs that voters on both sides are Tired Of The Same Old Bullshit.
Who benefits most from Walker dropping out? Maybe Ted Cruz. With Walker out, Cruz has a bigger claim on being the race’s true conservative candidate, one who (unlike Marco Rubio) hasn’t stumbled on the hot button illegal alien amnesty issue. It also looks like Cruz’s decision to jump in early was much sounder than Walker’s decision to jump in late.
But a crazy race just got even crazier…
Edited to Add: Well, that was quick. The Cruz campaign is already poaching some of Scott Walker’s people.
Tags: 2016 Election, 2016 Presidential Race, amnesty, Border Controls, Elections, John Kasich, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz
Posted in Elections, Republicans | No Comments »
September 20th, 2015
Dwight Brown of Whipped Cream Difficulties and I are putting on a gunny/VRWC blog shooting meetup/Tweetup at the Eagle Peak Gun Range in Leander on Saturday, October 10, at 5 PM, to be followed by a group dinner at the Oasis at 7 PM. Bring ear and eye protection as well as any weapon you’d like to shoot (no full metal jacket ammo, as per range rules). You can come to the shoot and skip dinner, or vice versa.
If you’re interested in attending, drop me a line (lawrenceperson at gmail dot com) so I know how many people to expect at the range and for dinner).
Tags: Austin, Blog Meetup, blogging, Guns
Posted in Austin | 5 Comments »
September 19th, 2015
Anyone paying attention has long known what a miserable failure Obama’s Syrian strategy (such as it is) against Bashar Assad has been. But only recently has it come to light just how ridiculously expensive that miserable failure has been:
The aim was to identify reasonably secular moderate fighters in Syria, transfer them to third-party countries in the region, train them, equip them, and reintroduce them into the theater of operations. By August of this year and $500 million later, the Pentagon acknowledged that only 54 Syrian rebels had been prepared for combat. Less than a month later, almost all of them had been killed or captured.
$500 Million for 54 guys? What were they, hand-crafted artisanal rebels? Where did the money go? Did they hire Damien Hirst to make each of their 54 uniforms? Did each of the 54 make a $1 million donation to the Clinton Foundation? Even by the pathetic standards of the Obama Administration that’s a ridiculous amount of graft, fraud and waste. You could easily have trained and equipped an effective mercenary brigade for that much money.
There were actual reasons to support the removal of Assad early in the Obama Administration, but the rise of the Islamic State rendered most of them obsolete. Now that Obama and Kerry have rolled over to let Assad’s paymasters in Tehran rub their furry bellies, there’s no point in pretending to equip opposition fighters beyond Obama’s desire to keep up the facade of a Syrian policy as a sop to his wounded vanity.
Since Obama can’t topple Assad and is singularly unwilling to fight a real war against the Islamic State, at this point we should probably just let Iran, Syria and Russia try their hands at crushing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s barbaric caliphate. A long, grinding Sunni-Shia civil war in Mesopotamia is probably among the least bad outcomes available for the region after Obama’s serial bungling…
(Hat tip: Ed Driscoll on Instapundit.)
Tags: al-Baghdadi, Bashar Assad, Foreign Policy, Iran, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jihad, John Kerry, Military, Obama, Russia, Syria
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad, Military | No Comments »