Wow: @AFP capture scale of protests. people on Cairo streets for as far as eye can see. Long night in #Egypt pic.twitter.com/zuEf92pRCZ
— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) June 30, 2013
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Tweet of the Day: Muslims in Egypt Protest Islamism...
Wow...
Nancy Pelosi gives GOP election advice...
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says immigration reform is the right thing for congressional Republicans “if they ever want to win a presidential race.”
The wide-ranging immigration bill approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate last week faces tough opposition in the Republican-controlled House. In the Senate, 14 Republicans joined all Democratic senators and independents in the 68-32 vote.
In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Pelosi linked GOP support for the immigration overhaul with future success of Republicans in political races, particularly for the White House.
“We wouldn’t even be where we are right now had it not been that 70 percent of Hispanics voted for President Obama, voted Democratic in the last election,” she said. “That caused an epiphany in the Senate, that’s for sure. So, all of a sudden now, we have already passed comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate. That’s a big victory.”
Stupid: President Obama supporters consider the Tea Party to be as big a danger as Muslim terrorists...
Via Rasmussen:
Half of all voters consider radical Muslims the bigger terrorist threat facing the nation, but supporters of President Obama consider the Tea Party to be as big a danger. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters consider radical Muslims to be the bigger threat to the United States today. Thirteen percent (13%) view the Tea Party that way, and another 13% consider other political and religious extremists to be the larger danger. Six percent (6%) point to local militia groups. Two percent (2%) see the Occupy Wall Street movement as the bigger terrorist threat.
Unlikely: Obama claims, “The American people don’t have a Big Brother who is snooping into their business.”
Via NY Times:
WASHINGTON — Standing in the grand presidential palace in Senegal this week, President Obama detoured from his diplomatic mission to Africa to offer a message to his own constituents back home.
“The American people don’t have a Big Brother who is snooping into their business,” he said, amplifying his answer to a question about the hunt for a national security leaker. “I’m confident of that. But I want to make sure everybody is confident of that.”
Wherever he goes, whatever else is on his agenda, Mr. Obama in recent weeks has made a point of reassuring Americans that he is not spying on them. His statements are part of a carefully orchestrated White House damage-control effort in response to revelations about surveillance programs that have unnerved many Americans and exposed him to criticism from the political left and right.
Court order stops enforcement of Obamacare contraception mandate against Hobby Lobby...
(CNSNews.com) – Following on yesterday’s 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that Hobby Lobby can continue its lawsuit against the Obama administration’s contraception mandate on religious grounds, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma ruled today that the federal government must halt all enforcement of the mandate (and related financial penalties) against the Christian-based company.
Hobby Lobby and sister company Mardel are suing the Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, arguing that to force the company to pay for health insurance that must offer abortion-inducing drugs, as well as sterilization and contraception, is a violation of its religious liberty. - See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/court-gov-t-must-halt-enforcement-sterilization-contraception-abortifacient-mandate#sthash.jBJiTzcX.dpuf
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Sad: Rare bird appears in Britain after 22 years; get's killed by wind turbine...
Via The Daily Mail:
There had been only eight recorded sightings of the white-throated needletail in the UK since 1846. So when one popped up again on British shores this week, twitchers were understandably excited.
A group of 40 enthusiasts dashed to the Hebrides to catch a glimpse of the brown, black and blue bird, which breeds in Asia and winters in Australasia.
But instead of being treated to a wildlife spectacle they were left with a horror show when it flew into a wind turbine and was killed.
John Marchant, 62, who had made the trip all the way from Norfolk, said: ‘We were absolutely over the moon to see the bird. We watched it for nearly two hours.
‘But while we were watching it suddenly got a bit close to the turbine and then the blades hit it.
Amusing: NY Times set to lose about a billion dollars on sale of Boston Globe...
Via Newsmax:
New York Times Co., which is accepting bids for the Boston Globe Thursday, is likely to fetch a price that’s about a 10th of what it paid in 1993, a sign of the industry’s deterioration over the past two decades.
The bids are set to be in the range of $100 million, according to three people who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The potential buyers include Rick Daniels, a former president of the Globe, and former Time Inc. CEO Jack Griffin, in partnership with cousins Steven and Ben Taylor, whose family once owned the newspaper, the people said.
Gallop: Forty-three percent of uninsured Americans unaware of aware of the “individual mandate”
Via CBS News:
One year after the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that all Americans acquire health insurance, a significant chunk of uninsured Americans are unaware of that looming requirement, a new poll shows.
Forty-three percent of uninsured Americans told Gallup, in a survey conducted June 20-24, that they had not been aware of the “individual mandate” before surveyed on it. Americans overall were more likely to know about the rule — 81 percent said they were aware of it.
Gallup surveyed a random sample of 2,048 adults across the U.S. The poll has a three-point margin of error.
The survey illustrates the challenge facing federal and state governments over the next three months, as they attempt to educate uninsured Americans about the requirement — and the new programs that will be in place to help them get insurance. Starting in January 2014, Americans without health insurance should be able to purchase private plans on an “exchange,” one of the state-based online marketplaces currently under development. Every state is expected to have its own exchange ready for open enrollment by October, though several states have opted to let the federal government run their programs.
Keep on reading…
NYC Mayor Bloomberg: “I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little."
Via NY Post:
Mayor Bloomberg claimed that people of color should be stopped and frisked more — not less — while whites are stopped too frequently.
“I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little. It’s exactly the reverse of what they say,” Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show, in response to the City Council passing two bills aimed at reining in the controversial policing tactic.
“I don’t know where they went to school but they certainly didn’t take a math course. Or a logic course.”
The mayor was referring to statistics showing that a majority of serious crimes in the city are carried out by young men of color.
Keep reading…
FOX News Bret Baier tweets more to come on Benghazi
Hmm....
Thx for comments. Re: survivors-we've talked w/a few-we hope they'll tell their stories-more shoes to drop & when they do-we'll report facts
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) June 29, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Did prosecution's second degree murder charge against George Zimmerman bite the dust today?
Via Legal Insurrection:
A neighbor, John Good, who witnessed the fight between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman has just devastated the State’s case, testifying that he saw the fight between the two, that Trayvon was on top punching Mixed Martial Arts style, and that the scream must have come from Zimmerman because Zimmerman was on the bottom and Trayvon was faced away from the witness.
Keep on reading…
Stupid: Jimmy Carter compares Catholics not allowing female priests to African cultures mutilating the genitals of young girls..
ATLANTA (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says religious leaders, including those in Christianity and Islam, share the blame for mistreatment of women and girls across the world.
The 88-year-old human rights activist said Friday that male religious leaders perpetuate misguided doctrines of male superiority, from the Catholic Church forbidding women from becoming priests to some African cultures mutilating the genitals of young girls.
Carter says the doctrines contribute to a political, social and economic structure where political leaders passively accept domestic violence against women, sexual trafficking, and inequality in the workplace and classroom.
The 39th president delivered his analysis during an international conference on women and religion. He’s hosting representatives from 15 countries at The Carter Center, the human rights organization he launched in 1982 after leaving the White House.
Liberal Heartache: NFL refuses to help propaganda Obamacare...
NFL Says No to Obamacare — Washington Examiner
NFL Spokesman Brian McCarthy emails:
We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about PPACA’s implementation.
Keep on reading…
The IRS inspector general contradicts Democrats; Liberal groups not given the same level of scrutiny Conservatives...
Via The Washington Times:
The IRS inspector general said this week that while some liberal groups were given extra scrutiny by the tax agency, they were not subjected to the same invasive queries as tea party groups — a finding that seems to confirm a political bias was at play.
In a letter sent late Wednesday and released Thursday, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George said that just 30 percent of groups with the word “progressive” in their name were put through special scrutiny for tax-exempt applications, but 100 percent of groups with “tea party,” “patriot” or “9/12” in their name were subjected to invasive questioning.
“TIGTA concluded that inappropriate criteria were used to identify potential political cases for extra scrutiny — specifically, the criteria listed in our audit report. From our audit work, we did not find evidence that the criteria you identified, labeled “Progressives,” were used by the IRS to select potential political cases during the 2010 to 2012 time frame we audited,” Mr. George said.
That finding contradicts claims by congressional Democrats who said liberal groups were targeted too — and, they argue, that suggests the scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service didn’t have a political bias.
Defiance: Magpul Industries giving away 1,500 30-round magazines before ban goes into effect...
Via TheDC:
As a final protest of Colorado’s new high-capacity magazine ban going into effect on Monday, Magpul Industries is giving away 1,500 30-round magazines on Saturday during an event the company calls “Farewell to Arms.”
They will be given away on a first-come first-served basis at Infinity Park in Glendale, near Denver.
The magazine ban is one of several new gun-control laws going into effect July 1, including universal background checks for all firearms transfers, requirements for gun buyers to pay for those checks, and other measures.
The magazine ban, however, is the most contentious. It has led gun parts manufacturers like Magpul to move out of Colorado — a process that the company says has been underway for several weeks. It has not yet announced where it will relocate, but has hinted on its Facebook page that it may operate from several locations.
Keep on reading…
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Tweets of the Day (From the Zimmerman trial)
From the Zimmerman trial (This girl is an idiot and she is the prosecution's star witness)
#Zimmerman Trial Day 4: Jeantel: "I could hear wet grass sounds." http://t.co/ulIhPQD3Fg
— Andrew Branca, LOSD (@LawSelfDefense) June 27, 2013
#Zimmerman Trial Day 4: West: "You heard . . . grass?" http://t.co/ulIhPQD3Fg
— Andrew Branca, LOSD (@LawSelfDefense) June 27, 2013
#Zimmerman Trial Day 4:West: "Can you tell me how wet grass sounds?" Jeantel: *crickets* http://t.co/ulIhPQD3Fg
— Andrew Branca, LOSD (@LawSelfDefense) June 27, 2013
Stupid: Nancy Pelosi wants a modern day Paul Revere to warn "sequester is coming" or something...
Via CNS News:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that America needs a modern day Paul Revere to warn, “sequester is coming.”
“If Paul Revere were here today, we would need someone like him to be running through the street saying, ‘Sequester is coming!’” She said. “Sequester is here, really,” she added.
Zimmerman trial prosecution's star witness: White people are called crackers...
Via Mediaite:
. . . The derogatory term for white people had become a focus of the Zimmerman defense team after Jeantel told the court on Wednesday that the late Trayvon Martin had referred to the defendant as a “creepy-ass cracker” shortly before his own death. Defense lawyer Don West continually grilled Jeantel over various questions related to Martin’s use of the word, ultimately culminating with the question of whether it is “normal” within her own local community to use the slur.
“In the culture that you live in, in your community, people there call white people ‘crackers’?” West asked.
“Yes, sir,” Jeantel replied.
“And do they use the n-word regularly?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
Keep reading…
FOX News Poll: 58% ov voters want to repeal some or all of Obamacare
Via Fox News:
A record number of voters want the 2010 Affordable Care Act repealed entirely, while sizable majorities say they are worried about their health care under the new law and expect their medical costs will go up, according to a new Fox News poll.
The poll, released Wednesday, finds that 58 percent of voters favor repealing all (39 percent) or some (19 percent) of President Obama’s signature legislative achievement.
Another 19 percent would leave the law as is, while 17 percent would expand its coverage further.
The 39 percent who want to repeal the health care law entirely is a record high, up from 30 percent who felt that way in March 2013.
The differing views follow partisan lines: Most Republicans favor repealing all (65 percent) or parts of the health care law (18 percent), while most Democrats want to see the law expanded (31 percent) or kept in place as-is (30 percent).
A 62-percent majority of independents favors repealing at least some of the law.
Tweet of the Day: Alec Baldwin wonders if military is getting ready to overthrow Obama...
Barking moonbat alert...
Are we witnessing the beginnings of a military overthrow of the US govt? Discuss...
— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) June 27, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Bill Clinton is pretty happy SCOTUS overturned the DOMA law he signed...
Via TWS:
President Bill Clinton released a statement, together with his wife Hillary Clinton, hailing the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, a bill he signed into law in 1996.
“By overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, the Court recognized that discrimination towards any group holds us all back in our efforts to form a more perfect union. We are also encouraged that marriage equality may soon return to California. We applaud the hard work of the advocates who have fought so relentlessly for this day, and congratulate Edie Windsor on her historic victory,” the Clintons’ statement reads.
Economic Fail: First quarter GDP revised down to a pitiful 1.8%...
This isn't the recovery Americans were hoping for.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Uh-oh. The U.S. economy suddenly looks weaker, after the government revised its data for the first quarter.
Gross domestic product — the broadest measure of economic activity — rose at a mere 1.8% annual pace between January and March, marking a sharp downward revision from the 2.4% pace reported by the Commerce Department last month.
The government revises its GDP figures several times, but economists weren’t expecting such a dramatic change from the third estimate.
“This was certainly unexpected and, I believe, rare,” said Jennifer Lee, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, referring to the revision.
The weaker figures came primarily from revisions to consumer spending, exports and commercial real estate.
Gov. Rick Perry calling special session for vote on abortion bill stopped by a screaming mob of liberals
Via The Guardian:
The Texas governor, Rick Perry, called a second special session of the state legislature to pass controversial abortion restrictions, after the first attempt by Republicans died overnight thanks to a marathon one-woman filibuster.
On Wednesday, Perry ordered lawmakers to meet again on 1 July to act on the abortion proposals, as well as separate bills that would boost highway funding and deal with a juvenile justice issue. The sweeping abortion rules would close nearly all abortion clinics and impose other widespread restrictions on the procedure across the nation's second-largest state.
The measure passed the House, but died after a Democratic Senator, Wendy Davis, led a filibuster effort that lasted 12 hours. Hundreds of protesters cheered and clapped in the public gallery, disrupting Senate proceedings as the session closed at midnight. That sparked boisterous chanting from the public gallery, which lasted until after midnight and threw proceedings into turmoil.
Poll: 65 percent of Democrats oppose giving welfare benefits to illegals under Gang Of Eight Immigration Bill…
Via Washington Examiner:
Majorities of Americans may tell pollsters they support the idea of giving citizenship to illegal immigrants, but a new poll from National Journal suggests that may change as they are better informed about what the immigration legislation currently being debated in Congress really does.
According to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, 77 percent of Americans oppose giving government benefits, like food stamps and Medicaid, to illegal immigrants before they become citizens. Not only do 90 percent of Republicans oppose such a policy, but 65 percent of Democrats do as well.
Unfortunately for supporters of the Schumer-Rubio immigration legislation, that is exactly what the bill does according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Keep on reading…
Change: More than half of voters find Barack Obama unlikable...
Via Fox News:
President Barack Obama’s job rating remains upside-down — no big change there. Yet for the first time in a Fox News poll, more than half of voters find Obama unlikeable.
In addition, only about a third of voters say they trust the federal government, and most want Congress to continue to investigate Benghazi, the IRS, the government’s electronic surveillance program and the Justice Department’s monitoring of journalists.
The new Fox News national poll of registered voters was released Tuesday.
More voters disapprove than approve of Obama’s job performance on every issue save one: terrorism (on that the president receives positive marks — 52 percent approve, while 41 percent disapprove).
In contrast, majorities disapprove of his handling of the deficit (63 percent disapprove), the economy (58 percent), gun control (57 percent), health care (55 percent) immigration (53 percent) and foreign policy (50 percent).
Voters are also unhappy with the president’s handling of the National Security Agency’s surveillance (61 percent disapprove) and the treatment of conservative groups by the IRS (55 percent).
Overall, Obama’s job rating is underwater by eight percentage points: 43 percent of voters approve and 51 percent disapprove of his performance. That’s close to his previous rating of 44-50 percent in mid-June. A year ago the president’s rating was in positive territory: 48-43 percent (June 2012).
Keep on reading…
OFA Talking Points: Don't mention the economic impact of Obama's climate change agenda...
Via Washington Examiner:
An environmental official suggesting he worked for Organizing for Action, the Obama administration’s advocacy group, sent a memo to supporters and pro-Obama pundits, warning them to avoid using “economic arguments” to defend the president’s new climate change, which could put a damper on coal plants and the Keystone Pipeline project.
Ken Berlin, general counsel to the Coalition for a Green Capital and a former chairman of the Obama campaign’s Energy and Environment Team, also warned people to not “over promise on the impacts taking action will have.”
But officials from Organizing for Action immediately distanced themselves from Berlin and his talking points, saying he was no longer officially affiliated with Obama though he issued the talking points through an email address connecting him to the group and referred to himself as an officer of its Energy and Environmental Team.
Berlin later acknowledged that he wasn’t still affiliated with the Obama organization. Asked about his use of an “OFAeteam” email address, Berlin said, “We have to change that.”
The “Do and Don’t” list Berlin sent out in a email blast was intended to combat criticism of the climate-change speech Obama delivered Tuesday at Georgetown University.
Keep on reading…
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Obama recycles the 97% of scientists believe in man-made CO2 forced global warming crap again...
Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree: #climate change is real, man-made and dangerous. Read more: http://t.co/4lEEBYtVqf
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 16, 2013
The study that this number originates from, Cook et al. (2013), is fatally flawed from a sampling point of view. Also, many scientists claim their papers were misrepresented.
Is this an accurate representation of your paper?
“Certainly not correct and certainly misleading. The paper is strongly against AGW, and documents its absence in the sea level observational facts. Also, it invalidates the mode of sea level handling by the IPCC.” – Dr. Morner
“I am sure that this rating of no position on AGW by CO2 is nowhere accurate nor correct. Rating our serious auditing paper from just a reading of the abstract or words contained in the title of the paper is surely a bad mistake.” – Dr. Soon
“No, if Cook et al’s paper classifies my paper, ‘A Multidisciplinary, Science-Based Approach to the Economics of Climate Change’ as “explicitly endorses AGW but does not quantify or minimize,” nothing could be further from either my intent or the contents of my paper.” – Dr. Carlin
More here: http://www.populartechnology.net/2013/05/97-study-falsely-classifies-scientists.html#Update2I have some 97%'s for Obama to consider:
97% of the children believe in Santa
97% of paranoid believe they are being followed
97% of the homeopaths believe in homeopathy
97% of the astrologists believe in astrology
97% of the KKK think lynch-mobs are a good thing
97% of the intelligent design gang are absolutely convinced that God made it all
97% of all the interviewed Zen Buddhists were convinced it is possible to clap with one hand
97% of Playboy models believe in taking all their clothes off
97% of the paganism movement think sandals are fashionable
97% of the politicians think they are doing some great things
97% of people will believe hogwash if someone famous claims scientists believe it.
Texas to re-establish its voter ID law after the Supreme Court 1965 Voting Rights Act smack-down...
Via Daily Caller:
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced Tuesday his state will re-establish its voter ID law after the Supreme Court struck down a section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required certain states to seek federal approval before changing the electoral process.
Congress must devise a new racial calculus to determine which counties and states must petition the federal government to change election laws, the majority announced.
Texas greeted the ruling with plans to implement its suspended voter ID laws and district maps.
“With today’s decision, the State’s voter ID law will take effect immediately. Redistricting maps passed by the Legislature may also take effect without approval from the federal government,” Abbott’s statement read.
Keep on reading…
Team Obama: Country is now safer with openly gay troops serving...
Gettyimages
Gay superpowers?
Via Washington Times:
The Pentagon on Tuesday toasted gays in the military, with a top adviser to President Obama declaring the country is “safer” now that homosexuals may serve openly.
“Because we repealed ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ our military … is stronger and our country is safer, more equal and more just,” said Valerie Jarrett, the keynote speaker at the Pentagon’s gay pride celebration.
It was the Defense Department second annual gay pride gathering since September 2011, when Mr. Obama signed the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a ban on gays serving openly in the military implemented during the Clinton administration. [...]
Wednesday’s speakers were assembled by a new group, DOD Pride, and featured three senior officials, topped by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Gallop finds Obama disapproval at 49%
Via Beltway Confidential:
President Barack Obama’s disapproval rating jumped three points over the weekend to 49 percent, according to the latest presidential approval rating from Gallup. This is the highest disapproval rating for Obama since October 2012, shortly before the November election that won him a second term.
Keep reading…
Obama skipped 'Nutroots Nation' gathering to go play golf...
Via Red Alert Politics:
President Barack Obama skipped the largest annual gathering of progressives again this year, as he spent his weekend keeping an important engagement — with the golf course.
The POTUS once again recorded a video greeting to be played at Netroots Nation on Thursday night. And while he had other events on Thursday and Friday, the President’s schedule on Saturday only included a trip to the links, per the White House press pool. It’s clear that Obama wasn’t exactly making it a high priority to keep his progressive base happy.
But since the President’s video appearance at the keynote on Thursday was met with some boos, it’s no surprise that he made other weekend arrangements.
Keep reading…
Monday, June 24, 2013
Gallop Poll: 40% of small businesses say that Obamacare has caused them to freeze hiring
Via TWS:
A new Gallup poll of small-business owners indicates that Obamacare is having a dramatic and deleterious effect on Americans’ employment prospects. More than 40 percent of small-business owners say that Obamacare has caused them to freeze hiring, while nearly a fifth say that it has caused them to cut existing workers. According to the poll, 41 percent of small-business owners have frozen hiring, while 19 percent have “reduced the number of employees [they] have in [their] business as a specific result of the Affordable Care Act [Obamacare]” (italics added).
The Gallup poll was commissioned by Littler Mendelson, a firm specializing in employment law. Steven Friedman, an attorney for the firm, said of the results, “We were startled.” He added that these are “some pretty startling answers.”
Unlikely: Charlie Rangel is worried about the future of the Republican Party or something...
Since when does Charlie Rangel give a rat's arse about Republicans?
Via NRO:
Charlie Rangel is just looking out for the Republican party in urging his House colleagues to support the immigration-reform bill.
“I would hate for them to see themselves just go out of business and we don’t have this competitive form of ideas in our great country,” the New York Democrat told Fox News this weekend. “It’s the right thing for the country, and it certainly is a right thing to make certain we have two parties competing against each other.”
New Al Gore Fear Tactic: Global warming pollution equals the energy release by 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs going off every single day
(CNSNews.com) – In a Google “Hangout” aired online on June 13, former Vice President and global warming activist Al Gore said “carbon polluters” are expelling enough “extra energy” to equal almost a half million atomic bombs going off every day.He
“The total amount of man-made global warming pollution surrounding the planet and the atmosphere today now traps enough extra energy every 24 hours to equal the energy release by 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs going off every single day,” Gore said.
“Collectively, we put 90 million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere every 24 hours,” Gore explained. “Twenty percent of it will still be there 10,000 years from now. It’s adding up.”
The amazing persistence of CO2 in the air has allowed billions of our small emissions, like those from the Enola Gay, to amass into an ever growing threat to civilization. How fast is that threat growing? In a must-see TED talk, NASA climate scientist James Hansen say the current increase in global warming is:Wow. A NASA scientists said that. is it really that scary? No...
“…equivalent to exploding 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs per day 365 days per year. That’s how much extra energy Earth is gaining each day.”
From commenter bvdeenen at WUWT:
Napkin calculation, no calculator needed: Hiroshima was ca. 63 TJ = 6E13J. The earths circular area is 3 * (6E6m)^2 = 1E14m2. The suns TSI is ca 1kW = 1E3 J/s, so the earth gets ca 1E17 J/s on the sunlit side, so the sun explodes about 1E17/6E13 = 1E3 Hiroshima atomic bombs on this planet. EVERY SECOND.
Mr. Hansen: the sun explodes about a thousand Hiroshima bombs on this planet. EVERY SECOND. DO something about it!
Rasmussen: Only 28 percent believe the federal government will secure the border if the immigration bill passes
Via TWS:
A new poll by Rasmussen finds that only 28 percent believe the federal government will secure the border if the immigration bill passes.
“Regardless of what a comprehensive immigration reform plan promises, voters are less confident than ever that the federal government really would secure the border to prevent future illegal immigration. Still, voters continue to support the concept of comprehensive reform. Sixty percent (60%) of Likely U.S. Voters now favor an immigration plan that gives those here illegally legal status to stay provided the border is really secured to prevent future immigration. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 25% oppose such a plan, while 15% are undecided,” Rasmussen writes.
Mickey Mouse to push gay agenda...
Via Newsbusters:
Mickey Mouse just officially added the gay agenda to his programming. In early 2014, Disney Channel will be all set to air its first openly gay couple in its family-oriented TV show “Good Luck Charlie.”
According to TV Guide, an episode of the family show will air a plot in which one of the four children has a playdate with a kid who has “two moms.” TV Guide reports that “when the kid arrives, the Duncans learn that Charlie’s pal has two moms.” That’s not an issue, however, in the show: the gay couple is “fine,” apparently, and the real problem is that the dad is not entertaining enough for the gay couple, and so “the potential new friendship is put to the test as one mom chats with Amy and the other is stuck listening to Bob’s dull stories.” [...]
Keep on reading…
Keep an eye on the Supreme Court this week...
Four major cases will be handed down at the Supreme Court this week.
The justices take the bench today to issue the first of 11 decisions before their nine-month term ends. The court is considering limiting university affirmative action, striking down a core part of the landmark Voting Rights Act, invalidating a federal law that defines marriage as an opposite-sex union, and overturning California’s ban on gay weddings.
The result may be a turning point in a debate over equality that has raged since the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. While the cases offer paths for the justices to avoid the central constitutional questions, the disputes also give them an opportunity to rewrite the nation’s civil rights laws.
“In the court’s modern history, I don’t think there has ever been one week with so much at stake,” said Tom Goldstein, a Supreme Court lawyer whose Scotusblog website tracks the court and is sponsored by Bloomberg Law. “We have four pending cases that may be cited for at least a century.”
Good News: Twinkies will be back by July 15th...
NEW YORK (AP) -- Hostess is betting on a sweet comeback for Twinkies when they return to shelves next month.The company that went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with its unionized workers last year is back up and running under new owners and a leaner structure. It says it plans to have Twinkies and other snack cakes back on shelves starting July 15.Based on the outpouring of nostalgia sparked by its demise, Hostess is expecting a blockbuster return next month for Twinkies and other sugary treats, such as CupCakes and Donettes. The company says the cakes will taste the same but that the boxes will now bear the tag line "The Sweetest Comeback In The History Of Ever."
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Your Tax Dollars At Work: $509,840 To Text "Gay Lingo" To Gay Meth Addicts...
(CNSNews.com) – A $509,840 grant by the National Institutes of Health will pay for a study that will send text messages in "gay lingo" to methamphetamine addicts to try to persuade them to use fewer drugs and more condoms. The study began in February.
Lead researcher Dr. Cathy Reback of the Baltimore-based Friends Research Institute, Inc., told CNSNews.com how she and her team of health educators will spend the next four years and over half a million dollars encouraging gay meth addicts to cut down on unprotected sex by periodically sending them “gay-specific” text messages.
"We did a pilot about four, five years ago with 52 out-of-treatment MSM (males who have sex with males)," Dr. Reback explained. "And we sent them text messages that were gay specific - used gay lingo - and made references to the connection between high-risk sex and methamphetamine use among MSM."
Report: Snowden headed to Ecuador...
#Snowden surrounded by journalists, gets into #Ecuador embassy car | http://t.co/yvLGKKwoA6 | pic.twitter.com/IaQYK9nxkj
— Mohit Kumar (@unix_root) June 23, 2013
Fun Video: Nutroots Boos Nancy Pelosi For Calling Edward Snowden a Criminal
Pelosi booed after saying Snowden violated the law. "You suck!" someone in the crowd yelled out. #nn13
— Seema Mehta (@LATSeema) June 22, 2013
Nutroots Boos Nancy Pelosi For Calling Edward Snowden a Criminal
Breaking: Snowden is ion the move...
Via RT:
Hong Kong authorities have said NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is on his way to the Russian capital in a bid to elude the US extradition order against him. However, RT sources report that the former CIA contractor is already in Moscow.
A spokesperson from the Hong Kong government confirmed that Edward Snowden had "legally and voluntarily" left the country.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Obama Claims Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court 'is transparent', Liberal PolitiFact: Your Pants Are on Fire Mr. President...
Rose: So I hear you saying I have no problem with what NSA has been doing.
Obama: Well, let me finish, because I don’t. … (The FBI has) to go to the FISA court with probable cause and ask for a warrant.
Rose: But has FISA court turned down any request?
Obama: First of all, Charlie, the number of requests are surprisingly small, number one. Number two -- folks don’t go with a query unless they’ve got a pretty good suspicion.
Rose: Should this be transparent in some way?
Obama: It is transparent, that’s why we set up the FISA court. The whole point of my concern before I was president -- because some people say well, Obama was this raving liberal before, now he’s Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney sometimes says, "Yes, you know, he took it all, lock stock and barrel." My concern has always been not that we shouldn’t do intelligence gathering to prevent terrorism but rather are we setting up a system of checks and balances?
We wondered whether Obama has justification for saying that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court "is transparent." So we decided to investigate.[...]
Our ruling
Obama said that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court "is transparent." We don’t doubt that there are good reasons for secrecy at the court, but if you’re going to operate a mostly secret court, you also don’t get to crow about how "transparent" it is. The president can’t have his cake and eat it, too. We rate his claim Pants on Fire.
Interesting: Howard Dean considering running for President again...
Via TPM:
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D), famous for his Iowa "scream speech" in the 2004 presidential primary race, said Thursday that he'd consider running for the chief executive's office again.
"I am not driven by my own ambition," Dean told CNN in an interview at the left-leaning activist Netroots Nation conference. "What I am driven by is pushing the country in a direction that it desperately needs to be pushed; pushing other politicians who aren't quite as frank as I am who need to be more candid with the American people about what needs to happen.
Outrage: IRS sent $46 million in refunds to thousands of illegals using same address...
Via Fox Nation:
The Internal Revenue Service sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to “unauthorized” alien workers who all used the same address in Atlanta, Ga., in 2011, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
That was not the only Atlanta address theoretically occupied by thousands of “unauthorized” alien workers receiving millions in federal tax refunds in 2011. In fact, according to a TIGTA audit report published last year, four of the top ten addresses to which the IRS sent thousands of tax refunds to “unauthorized” aliens were in Atlanta.
The IRS sent 11,284 refunds worth a combined $2,164,976 to unauthorized alien workers at a second Atlanta address; 3,608 worth $2,691,448 to a third; and 2,386 worth $1,232,943 to a fourth.
Amusing Tweet of the Day...
This will leave a mark...
In the new world of the NSA, the only secret left is Barack Obama's college grades.
— Roger Simon (@rogerlsimon) June 21, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
New Poll: Obamacare approval at new low...
Via Weekly Standard:
The June Kaiser Health Tracking Poll indicates that Obamacare is now less popular than it has been at any time since October 2011 — about three months before Mitt Romney won his first Republican primary. (Romney, of course, chose not to emphasize Obamacare during the presidential campaign.) Kaiser’s polling now says that — by an 8-point margin — Americans hold an unfavorable (43 percent), rather than favorable (35 percent), view of Obamacare. That’s the worst result for Obamacare in the past 17 surveys that Kaiser has conducted.
Moreover, it marks a 14-point swing against Obamacare since the first poll that Kaiser took after the overhaul’s passage in March of 2010. At that time, Kaiser (almost alone among all polls) said that Obamacare’s net favorability rating was positive — at +6 points. It now says that Obamacare’s net favorability rating is negative — at minus-8 points.
Reuters Poll: 48% disapprove of Obama...
Via Breitbart:
In a poll conducted between June 14-18, Reuters/Ipsos found that President Obama’s job approval rating has fallen to 44%,with 48% disapproving. This poll is one of many showing the president losing favor with the public in the wake of a handful of scandals swirling around his administration.
Currently, both Rasmussen and The Economist have Obama upside down at 44% – 55%; the latest CNN poll showed the president treading water at 45% – 54%.
Obama has declared the war on terror over, but 77% of American voters disagree
Via Fox News:
In a major national security address in May, President Obama said it was time to take the United States off the war footing it has been on since the September 11 terrorist attacks — and at one point stated, “This war, like all wars, must end.”
The speech was widely seen as a signal Obama views the war on terrorism as winding down.
A Fox News national poll released Wednesday finds American voters disagree.
The poll was conducted in the wake of revelations that the government’s National Security Agency has been secretly collecting telephone and internet records of millions of Americans as part of a program to prevent future terrorist attacks.
Asked how they see the war on terrorism, 77 percent of voters say the war is ongoing and “should continue to be a top priority to the government.” Far fewer — 17 percent — feel the war is over and should be a lower priority. The majority opinion overwhelms partisan differences. Ninety percent of those who identify with the Tea Party movement and 87 percent of military veterans believe the fight against terrorism should continue to be a top priority, as do most Republicans (86 percent)
Unionized IRS employees in Cincinnati gave a pass to a labor 501(c)(3)?
Via Fox News:
The Restaurant Opportunities Center has slipped IRS scrutiny, and critics of the nonprofit are asking why.
A complaint filed by a coalition of restaurant owners with the federal tax authority alleges the 501(c)(3) labor nonprofit has received special treatment.
Florida Watchdog has obtained a copy of ROC’s tax exempt acceptance letter, dated June 1, 2010, and approved by Robert Choi, director of exempt organizations at the Cincinnati office of the Internal Revenue Service.
The Cincinnati office is blamed for much of the harassment and delay tactics incurred by conservative groups applying for similar tax exempt treatment, which is no fault of ROC.
What is of concern, according to a coalition of restaurant owners and workers calling itself the Restaurant Opportunities Center Exposed, is the multi-state “union front” continues to slip by the watchful eye of the IRS.
“It does raise the question of whether they’re receiving a pass because they’re ideologically in line with the administration. But we’ll have to see if the IRS will now investigate. We’ve presented them with some pretty strong documentation of lobbying and we’ve juxtaposed that with filings the IRS already has in their possession,” said Mike Paranzino, communications director for ROC Exposed.
Keep on reading…
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Shameful: Cop killer Christopher Dorner was on Mayors Against Illegal Guns gun violence victim list...
Via Breitbart:
Although Mayor Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) has apologized for listing Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev as a victim of gun violence at their Concord, NH rally on June 18, it is now apparent that the “list of names” was pregnant with criminals and cop killers as well.
In fact, the New Hampshire Republican State Committee is pointing out the list also included Christopher Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer who went on a killing spree before finally dying in a fire after a gun fight with police. Dorner killed two police officers.
Keep on reading…
Obama is lying about domestic spying...
Via Guardian:
Top secret documents submitted to the court that oversees surveillance by US intelligence agencies show the judges have signed off on broad orders which allow the NSA to make use of information “inadvertently” collected from domestic US communications without a warrant.
The Guardian is publishing in full two documents submitted to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (known as the Fisa court), signed by Attorney General Eric Holder and stamped 29 July 2009. They detail the procedures the NSA is required to follow to target “non-US persons” under its foreign intelligence powers and what the agency does to minimize data collected on US citizens and residents in the course of that surveillance.
The documents show that even under authorities governing the collection of foreign intelligence from foreign targets, US communications can still be collected, retained and used.[...]
However, alongside those provisions, the Fisa court-approved policies allow the NSA to:
• Keep data that could potentially contain details of US persons for up to five years;
• Retain and make use of “inadvertently acquired” domestic communications if they contain usable intelligence, information on criminal activity, threat of harm to people or property, are encrypted, or are believed to contain any information relevant to cybersecurity;
• Preserve “foreign intelligence information” contained within attorney-client communications;
• Access the content of communications gathered from “U.S. based machine[s]” or phone numbers in order to establish if targets are located in the US, for the purposes of ceasing further surveillance.
The broad scope of the court orders, and the nature of the procedures set out in the documents, appear to clash with assurances from President Obama and senior intelligence officials that the NSA could not access Americans’ call or email information without warrants.
The documents also show that discretion as to who is actually targeted under the NSA’s foreign surveillance powers lies directly with its own analysts, without recourse to courts or superiors – though a percentage of targeting decisions are reviewed by internal audit teams on a regular basis.
Keep on reading…