Yup. Wage "growth" is in the dumper.
The quarterly increase in US wages was just 0.2% - a
third of the 0.6% rise expected - and a meager 2% increase Y/Y in line
with all the other depressed BLS data, which dashes the "wage growth is
looming" meme and crushed the 0.7% rise in Q1 that had so many hopeful
of escape velocity any day now.
Because the ECI tracks the same job over time, it removes shifts in the mix of workers across industries, which is a shortcoming of the hourly earnings figures, which makes this number even more of a diaster. This is the weakest US wage growth since records begain in 1982 and half as slow as the weakest of 57 economist estimates....
Yah, hey. You can keep your debt, whether you like it or not, because your earnings will NOT grow.
Friday, July 31, 2015
The (R) Congress in a Nutshell
This sums up the (R) Congress:
...The group responsible for releasing these [PP] videos, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), has done more for the Pro-Life cause and human life in just two weeks than the entire GOP-led Congress has even come close to since January 2011, when Republicans took the House...
Any minute now, Paul Ryan will emerge from his silence (note that he's been VERY silent about this) and tell us that, 'Well, the voters only gave us 2/3rds of the Gummint, and we need ALL of it to actually DO something...' (That happens to be the line that Rubio tried to use on Hannity the other night. What brass balls that twit Rubio has, eh?)
Or some such bullshit. "Mr. Catholic" Ryan--like Cdl. Dolan, and the recently-Catholic Sensenbrenner--have yet to utter a peep on the PP videos.
And these turkeys wonder why Conservatives have no use for them.
...The group responsible for releasing these [PP] videos, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), has done more for the Pro-Life cause and human life in just two weeks than the entire GOP-led Congress has even come close to since January 2011, when Republicans took the House...
Any minute now, Paul Ryan will emerge from his silence (note that he's been VERY silent about this) and tell us that, 'Well, the voters only gave us 2/3rds of the Gummint, and we need ALL of it to actually DO something...' (That happens to be the line that Rubio tried to use on Hannity the other night. What brass balls that twit Rubio has, eh?)
Or some such bullshit. "Mr. Catholic" Ryan--like Cdl. Dolan, and the recently-Catholic Sensenbrenner--have yet to utter a peep on the PP videos.
And these turkeys wonder why Conservatives have no use for them.
Jeb Bush's Murderous Associations
We all know that Barbara Bush is enamored with Planned Parenthood.
Now it appears that Jeb Bush has the same problem.
Until the eve of his presidential campaign, Jeb Bush was [a] director of a philanthropy that gave tens of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood and financed its advocacy of "unrestricted access to abortion" around the world. The charity also approved money to global abortion providers while he sat on its board.
In 2010, Jeb was named one of the founding directors of the Bloomberg Family Foundation...
... While a Bush spokesman has responded to concerns by saying that Bush would not have voted on every initiative of the foundation, a pro-life leader told LifeSiteNews it "stretches credibility" that Bush was unaware of the foundation's pro-abortion work, given the centrality of such work to the foundation's mission, and its scope....
Yes, it does "stretch credibility," especially given the Bush family's anti-life track record.
In fairness, it's not likely that Jeb Bush (nor Barbara) was aware of the utterly depraved practices of PP's chop-shops. On the other hand, they DID know that PP is and always was an abortion business. Did they think that "merely killing babies" was some sort of 'clean' objective?
Hmmmmmm???
Now it appears that Jeb Bush has the same problem.
Until the eve of his presidential campaign, Jeb Bush was [a] director of a philanthropy that gave tens of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood and financed its advocacy of "unrestricted access to abortion" around the world. The charity also approved money to global abortion providers while he sat on its board.
In 2010, Jeb was named one of the founding directors of the Bloomberg Family Foundation...
... While a Bush spokesman has responded to concerns by saying that Bush would not have voted on every initiative of the foundation, a pro-life leader told LifeSiteNews it "stretches credibility" that Bush was unaware of the foundation's pro-abortion work, given the centrality of such work to the foundation's mission, and its scope....
Yes, it does "stretch credibility," especially given the Bush family's anti-life track record.
In fairness, it's not likely that Jeb Bush (nor Barbara) was aware of the utterly depraved practices of PP's chop-shops. On the other hand, they DID know that PP is and always was an abortion business. Did they think that "merely killing babies" was some sort of 'clean' objective?
Hmmmmmm???
Cdl. Dolan's Priority Problem
Sometimes someone does the right thing, but does NOT do the REALLY right thing.
That's Cardinal Dolan of NYC. Again. The fellow has a priority problem.
This week, he compared The Donald's immigration stance to the Know-Nothings and the KKK--both of which were anti-Catholic, and "nativist."
But Cardinal Dolan of NYC did not have the time to say one (internet searchable) word about Planned Parenthood's Holocaust-and-Mengele practice.
In fact, the Cardinal has a few more things upside-down, or inverted, or whatever, on those two issues.
He sorta concedes that 'regulating immigration' is licit while failing to mention that the problem here--today--is totally UN-regulated immigration. He justifiably condemns the attitude that immigrants are (mostly) dirty, unwashed, criminals while failing to mention that the State of Texas's crime problem with illegals is very serious, indeed.
On the other hand......
The Cardinal served as the Grand Marshal of this year's St Paddy's Day parade--and that parade refused to allow a pro-life group to march. Why? Because (apparently) the pro-life group would 'bother' the pro-homosexual bunch who were in the same parade.
Oh, really? So the Cardinal thinks that the homosexuals are Special Snowflakes Deserving Protection from--what?--vicious, bomb-throwing, bullying pro-lifers?
Are the pro-lifers also "dirty, unwashed, criminals", Cardinal?
Perhaps the Cardinal should spend a little more time reflecting on priorities, the first of which is "life." Liberty and the pursuit of happiness are nice, but the Framers had their priorities straight, even though they were (largely) Protestants.
Just sayin'
That's Cardinal Dolan of NYC. Again. The fellow has a priority problem.
This week, he compared The Donald's immigration stance to the Know-Nothings and the KKK--both of which were anti-Catholic, and "nativist."
But Cardinal Dolan of NYC did not have the time to say one (internet searchable) word about Planned Parenthood's Holocaust-and-Mengele practice.
In fact, the Cardinal has a few more things upside-down, or inverted, or whatever, on those two issues.
He sorta concedes that 'regulating immigration' is licit while failing to mention that the problem here--today--is totally UN-regulated immigration. He justifiably condemns the attitude that immigrants are (mostly) dirty, unwashed, criminals while failing to mention that the State of Texas's crime problem with illegals is very serious, indeed.
On the other hand......
The Cardinal served as the Grand Marshal of this year's St Paddy's Day parade--and that parade refused to allow a pro-life group to march. Why? Because (apparently) the pro-life group would 'bother' the pro-homosexual bunch who were in the same parade.
Oh, really? So the Cardinal thinks that the homosexuals are Special Snowflakes Deserving Protection from--what?--vicious, bomb-throwing, bullying pro-lifers?
Are the pro-lifers also "dirty, unwashed, criminals", Cardinal?
Perhaps the Cardinal should spend a little more time reflecting on priorities, the first of which is "life." Liberty and the pursuit of happiness are nice, but the Framers had their priorities straight, even though they were (largely) Protestants.
Just sayin'
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Kleefisch, the Socialist Honda-Rider
You may have seen Joel Kleefisch riding around on his Honda mini-bike, disguising himself with a rather rough beard.
There's a reason for that disguise. He yaps about being "the most conservative Legislator in the Assembly."
Really?
...Dale Kooyenga, Mike Kuglitsch, Rob Hutton, Joe Sanfelippo, Janel Brandtjen and Joel Kleefisch voted yes for publicly funding the arena....
No mention from Joel about ending the Selig Tax, which has now been robbing SE Wisconsin residents for twenty long years.
There's a reason for that disguise. He yaps about being "the most conservative Legislator in the Assembly."
Really?
...Dale Kooyenga, Mike Kuglitsch, Rob Hutton, Joe Sanfelippo, Janel Brandtjen and Joel Kleefisch voted yes for publicly funding the arena....
No mention from Joel about ending the Selig Tax, which has now been robbing SE Wisconsin residents for twenty long years.
Gen. Honore: Still Stuck on Stupid
Apparently the General has reading comprehension problems when it comes to the Second Amendment.
Beyond that, The Captain has some very interesting questions about the hurricane-recovery protocols at the end of his post.
Very interesting, indeed!
Beyond that, The Captain has some very interesting questions about the hurricane-recovery protocols at the end of his post.
Very interesting, indeed!
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Fourth-Gen Warfare, Congressional Style
Here's how Congressional Republicans can counter-attack Obozo and really get into his OODA-loop but good: begin impeachment proceedings against not only IRS's Koskinen, but also the Secretaries of EPA, HHS, and the current big cheese at ATF.
Throw in "Justice" Kennedy for good measure.
I realize that this is impossible. Not because such proceedings are unwarranted; in fact, they are richly deserved. No; the reason it is impossible is because, amidst all the Congressional "leadership" there are not two testicles to be found.
Throw in "Justice" Kennedy for good measure.
I realize that this is impossible. Not because such proceedings are unwarranted; in fact, they are richly deserved. No; the reason it is impossible is because, amidst all the Congressional "leadership" there are not two testicles to be found.
Call a Lying Liar a Liar? Get Punished!
The simpering snivelers of the US Senate:
....Friday, Cruz accused McConnell of telling a “flat-out lie” by shifting his plans to move the bank measure.
Republicans were taken aback, noting that the Senate has rules barring members from impugning the integrity of another senator — much less a party leader.
“I think it was a violation of the rules,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “It’s not how you treat a colleague regardless of how you feel.”
Tillis and several other GOP senators said Cruz’s rhetoric backfired. “Generally speaking,” Tillis said, senators declined to give him a roll-call vote because they disapproved of his name-calling and the risky precedent his tactics would set if he were successful in forcing a vote. A senior Republican senator said refusing to give Cruz a vote was not a coordinated strategy by the leadership: It came about after GOP senators discussed the matter quietly on the floor....
Snivel....wail....stamp feets...
This is hysteria without the ovaries, Tillis, you Twit.
It is a FACT that McConnell is a lying liar. This is not the first time McConnell has done it, nor will it be the last.
The Liar's Club (which includes prominent Members of the House, hint, hint) is at this very time wondering how in Hell The Donald can be so damn popular. SPADE, SHOVEL, morons!
....Friday, Cruz accused McConnell of telling a “flat-out lie” by shifting his plans to move the bank measure.
Republicans were taken aback, noting that the Senate has rules barring members from impugning the integrity of another senator — much less a party leader.
“I think it was a violation of the rules,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “It’s not how you treat a colleague regardless of how you feel.”
Tillis and several other GOP senators said Cruz’s rhetoric backfired. “Generally speaking,” Tillis said, senators declined to give him a roll-call vote because they disapproved of his name-calling and the risky precedent his tactics would set if he were successful in forcing a vote. A senior Republican senator said refusing to give Cruz a vote was not a coordinated strategy by the leadership: It came about after GOP senators discussed the matter quietly on the floor....
Snivel....wail....stamp feets...
This is hysteria without the ovaries, Tillis, you Twit.
It is a FACT that McConnell is a lying liar. This is not the first time McConnell has done it, nor will it be the last.
The Liar's Club (which includes prominent Members of the House, hint, hint) is at this very time wondering how in Hell The Donald can be so damn popular. SPADE, SHOVEL, morons!
Points for Walker: Emasculate EPA
About time that somebody took on this bunch of wackos.
Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker said Monday he would shift most of the responsibilities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to state-based regulators, leaving the EPA to serve as an "umbrella organization" that would resolve disputes between them....
After IRS, the EPA is easily the most visible and dangerous agency in Washington. Walker's idea is good, but it has some problems.
...The EPA, Walker said, should become "an umbrella organization that really is limited to mediating interstate conflicts over, say, where a body of water or a piece of land goes through multiple states."...
That allows EPA far too much wiggle room. EPA will claim, for example, that wind creates interstate "air pollution" problems, thus EPA should have plenipotentiary power wherever there is wind.
And John Roberts will agree.
Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker said Monday he would shift most of the responsibilities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to state-based regulators, leaving the EPA to serve as an "umbrella organization" that would resolve disputes between them....
After IRS, the EPA is easily the most visible and dangerous agency in Washington. Walker's idea is good, but it has some problems.
...The EPA, Walker said, should become "an umbrella organization that really is limited to mediating interstate conflicts over, say, where a body of water or a piece of land goes through multiple states."...
That allows EPA far too much wiggle room. EPA will claim, for example, that wind creates interstate "air pollution" problems, thus EPA should have plenipotentiary power wherever there is wind.
And John Roberts will agree.
Oh. It's Not a "Treaty"
Have to admit that I wasn't keeping up with the parsing since the Clinton(s) left office. I should have.
The White House did not pursue the nuclear agreement with Iran as an international treaty, because getting U.S. Senate advice and consent for a treaty has “become physically impossible,” Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Kerry, of course, is lying. The only treaties which are "impossible" to get through the Senate are the ones which put the US in a secondary position internationally, such as "Law of the Sea" or "Comprehensive Test Ban."
Others which vitiate the Constitution cannot pass, either. But not to worry!! We have SCOTUS for that purpose.
The White House did not pursue the nuclear agreement with Iran as an international treaty, because getting U.S. Senate advice and consent for a treaty has “become physically impossible,” Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Kerry, of course, is lying. The only treaties which are "impossible" to get through the Senate are the ones which put the US in a secondary position internationally, such as "Law of the Sea" or "Comprehensive Test Ban."
Others which vitiate the Constitution cannot pass, either. But not to worry!! We have SCOTUS for that purpose.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Ron Johnson's Priorities
The Highway Robbery Bill, a porker, which the Senate passed (RoJo voted "YEA!!" of course) was a "must pass" bill; without its passage, Federal funding of the usual suspects will come to an end.
So RoJo, good little crony-ist that he is, voted for it.
Mike Lee attempted to add an amendment which would de-fund Planned Parenthood. He couldn't find 9 other "pro-life" Senators to vote for that addition.
RoJo apparently was not interested.
We all have priorities, eh?
So RoJo, good little crony-ist that he is, voted for it.
Mike Lee attempted to add an amendment which would de-fund Planned Parenthood. He couldn't find 9 other "pro-life" Senators to vote for that addition.
RoJo apparently was not interested.
We all have priorities, eh?
ObozoCare Failing Big-Time
No one with common sense would be surprised at that headline.
But the (R) Party, given TWO YEARS during which to shut it down, rolled over and played dead anyway.
Thanks, RoJo!! Thanks, Boehner, you sot.
But the (R) Party, given TWO YEARS during which to shut it down, rolled over and played dead anyway.
Thanks, RoJo!! Thanks, Boehner, you sot.
RoJo! Ryan!! Grothman!!! Pay Attention!
Not to worry. They don't really give a rotten damn about this poll.
But in case YOU are interested, one poll says that FIFTY THREE PERCENT OF (R)-LEANING VOTERS think they are NOT well-represented in D.C.
One wonders if 47% are the corporate cronies or just clueless.
But in case YOU are interested, one poll says that FIFTY THREE PERCENT OF (R)-LEANING VOTERS think they are NOT well-represented in D.C.
One wonders if 47% are the corporate cronies or just clueless.
It Ain't Only the Ladies
Here's a short essay which should be made into sermon material. Has to do with boob-shots at Mass.
But it's not only "the ladies." The number of men who show up for Mass wearing shorts is mind-boggling. Why bother with the nicely-pressed dress short-sleeved shirt? Why not just yesterday's t-shirt?
Some of you are stuffed shirts during the work-week. So do you show up at your law office wearing those shorts? Think your clientele will take you seriously if you do?
What about God? Will He?
But it's not only "the ladies." The number of men who show up for Mass wearing shorts is mind-boggling. Why bother with the nicely-pressed dress short-sleeved shirt? Why not just yesterday's t-shirt?
Some of you are stuffed shirts during the work-week. So do you show up at your law office wearing those shorts? Think your clientele will take you seriously if you do?
What about God? Will He?
Kudos to RoJo!
Kinda nice to find one positive nugget about our senior Senator.
Former Central Intelligence Agency Director R. James Woolsey warned lawmakers that natural and manmade electromagnetic pulses present an “existential threat to the American people” and accused congressional and White House officials of ignoring a potential catastrophe.
Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee, Woolsey, who served two years under President Bill Clinton, warned that EMP is “a clear and present danger and that something must be done to protect the electric grid and other life sustaining critical infrastructures — immediately.”...
...Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the committee chairman, intends to address the potential catastrophe by proposing an immediate $100 million congressional allotment to address the vulnerabilities extent in the nation’s power grid.
The U.S., Johnson said, needs to “pull our heads out of the sand.”
“This is a threat that is real and we need to acknowledge it,” Johnson said.
Woolsey told Johnson – the lone lawmaker sitting through the hearing for the first hour and a half – that EMP “is not science fiction.”
It would be very easy to find FAR MORE than $100 million if RoJo would have ....oh, I dunno.....found the courage to eliminate ObozoCare. But it's a start.
Former Central Intelligence Agency Director R. James Woolsey warned lawmakers that natural and manmade electromagnetic pulses present an “existential threat to the American people” and accused congressional and White House officials of ignoring a potential catastrophe.
Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee, Woolsey, who served two years under President Bill Clinton, warned that EMP is “a clear and present danger and that something must be done to protect the electric grid and other life sustaining critical infrastructures — immediately.”...
...Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the committee chairman, intends to address the potential catastrophe by proposing an immediate $100 million congressional allotment to address the vulnerabilities extent in the nation’s power grid.
The U.S., Johnson said, needs to “pull our heads out of the sand.”
“This is a threat that is real and we need to acknowledge it,” Johnson said.
Woolsey told Johnson – the lone lawmaker sitting through the hearing for the first hour and a half – that EMP “is not science fiction.”
It would be very easy to find FAR MORE than $100 million if RoJo would have ....oh, I dunno.....found the courage to eliminate ObozoCare. But it's a start.
The Authority Writes on The Doe(s)
Esenberg holds forth.
In the wake of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's decision on the John Doe investigation, SpeciaL Prosecutor Fran Schmitz issued a strident statement criticizing the Court's decision. Losing an important case is always disappointing and a lawyer is certainly free to publicly differ with the outcome. But Schmitz' statement is revealing.
He says the Court's ruling "defies common sense" because now someone who contributes $ 25 to a candidate will have his or her name disclosed while someone who gives $ 100,000 to a group who closely coordinates with a candidate will not. That may be so and it may not be desirable, but it is a function of Wisconsin's outdated campaign finance law and not some distortion of that law by the court....
Yes. Legislatures, at all levels, write unclear or half-finished laws so that regulators can fill in the blanks damn near any way they want. To a legislator, that's a feature, not a bug, by the way.
And--whether Schmitz was the brains behind this, or whether he was led down a garden-path by the clearly malevolent D.A. Chisholm (also featured in the below post),-- he was dead wrong on his interpretation of the law.
But that's not the part which inspires revulsion over the matter.
This is:
...Schmitz objects to the Court's characterization of the details of the raids. It doesn't matter. Let's step back and consider what happened here. At the instigation of the Democratic prosecutor of Milwaukee County, a five year long investigation into one side of the political spectrum was conducted. In it's initial iteration, it found almost nothing that it set out to find. That Democratic District Attorney doubled down and launched a new probe. In aid of this latter investigation, prosecutors blanketed Wisconsin's conservative infrastructure with astonishingly broad subpoenas and launched pre-dawn raids on the homes of certain activists. They told the targets that they could tell no one what was being done to them.
There is no dispute about any of that and, quite frankly, other details about the raids don't matter. If true, they merely aggravate the offense. Treating political activists like drug traffickers is highly unusual and sends a clear message to others. Get involved in politics and you may be treated like a criminal....
Let's take this a step further. "Justice" Kennedy has invited the Obozo Administration to prosecute those who object to queer "marriage" as "Haters." "Hate speech" is a prosecutable offense in this country, you know. While AG Lynch may not have the time or the resources to pursue "haters," the gate is wide open for similar raids on conscientious objectors.
Don't believe that? Then watch the DOJ and California's AG prosecute the makers of the "Chop Shop" tapes.
This is the stuff about which Codevilla wrote, as mentioned below.
In the wake of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's decision on the John Doe investigation, SpeciaL Prosecutor Fran Schmitz issued a strident statement criticizing the Court's decision. Losing an important case is always disappointing and a lawyer is certainly free to publicly differ with the outcome. But Schmitz' statement is revealing.
He says the Court's ruling "defies common sense" because now someone who contributes $ 25 to a candidate will have his or her name disclosed while someone who gives $ 100,000 to a group who closely coordinates with a candidate will not. That may be so and it may not be desirable, but it is a function of Wisconsin's outdated campaign finance law and not some distortion of that law by the court....
Yes. Legislatures, at all levels, write unclear or half-finished laws so that regulators can fill in the blanks damn near any way they want. To a legislator, that's a feature, not a bug, by the way.
And--whether Schmitz was the brains behind this, or whether he was led down a garden-path by the clearly malevolent D.A. Chisholm (also featured in the below post),-- he was dead wrong on his interpretation of the law.
But that's not the part which inspires revulsion over the matter.
This is:
...Schmitz objects to the Court's characterization of the details of the raids. It doesn't matter. Let's step back and consider what happened here. At the instigation of the Democratic prosecutor of Milwaukee County, a five year long investigation into one side of the political spectrum was conducted. In it's initial iteration, it found almost nothing that it set out to find. That Democratic District Attorney doubled down and launched a new probe. In aid of this latter investigation, prosecutors blanketed Wisconsin's conservative infrastructure with astonishingly broad subpoenas and launched pre-dawn raids on the homes of certain activists. They told the targets that they could tell no one what was being done to them.
There is no dispute about any of that and, quite frankly, other details about the raids don't matter. If true, they merely aggravate the offense. Treating political activists like drug traffickers is highly unusual and sends a clear message to others. Get involved in politics and you may be treated like a criminal....
Let's take this a step further. "Justice" Kennedy has invited the Obozo Administration to prosecute those who object to queer "marriage" as "Haters." "Hate speech" is a prosecutable offense in this country, you know. While AG Lynch may not have the time or the resources to pursue "haters," the gate is wide open for similar raids on conscientious objectors.
Don't believe that? Then watch the DOJ and California's AG prosecute the makers of the "Chop Shop" tapes.
This is the stuff about which Codevilla wrote, as mentioned below.
Codevilla on Trump, McCain, and the Brahmin (R)/(D) Caste
Prof. Angelo Codevilla has a few damning words for McCain and a lot more damning words for the (R) "Upper Class" surrounding that Senator. (Codevilla was a staffer on the Senate Intel Committee. He knows whereof he speaks.)
...Trump remarked, off the cuff, that “Mexico does not send us its best.” The public had long since decided that our ruling class’s handling of immigration (not just from Mexico) has done us harm. The ruling class – officials, corporations, etc.- booed with generalities but did not try to argue that they had improved America by their handling of immigration. The more they would argue that, the more they would lose....
Yah, well, we knew all about Mexico. So what about McCain? Turns out that Rove had his number a long time ago.
...Because Americans are sick of celebrating victims of defeats, and naturally eager to enjoy the kind of peace that only victories can bring, Trump’s expressed preference for heroes who “don’t get captured” resonated. Trump may or may not know any of the unsavory details about McCain’s actions as a POW and, as a public official, in regard to POWs and MIAs. But it does not take much research to find out why nobody will defend him other than by trying to prevent discussion those details. Surely Republican “architect” Karl Rove, who organized South Carolina’s military vote against McCain in the 2000 primary, knows them. The families of Vietnam POWs-MIAs pour onto anyone who will listen to their bitterness at McCain’s role in denying the existence of abandoned POWs and sealing information about them....
Oh. Well, that makes all that High Dudgeon about McCain considerably less honorable, ain'a?
...The point here is simple: our ruling class has succeeded in ruling not by reason or persuasion, never mind integrity, but by occupying society’s commanding heights, by imposing itself and its ever-changing appetites on the rest of us. It has co-opted or intimidated potential opponents by denying the legitimacy of opposition. Donald Trump, haplessness and clownishness notwithstanding, has shown how easily this regime may be threatened just by refusing to be intimidated....
"Refusing to be intimidated" plays no small part in the massive arming-up of the US citizenry over the last several years, by the way. This is not just about "criminals," although that plays the largest part. It's also about the natural American resistance to Statist ambitions. Yes, the IRS (and dozens of other agencies, Fed, State, and local), can obliterate one's cash and savings with the flip of a switch, and yes (as proven locally by D.A. Chisholm) they can rip through one's personal effects with impunity. So far, anyway....but even local turds like Chisholm have to be thinking "what if?" one of their actions leads to real conflict. The term '4th-generation warfare' exists for a reason.
And there are topics about which even Trump will not speak, but which are more important than illegals and
McCain.
...Justice Kennedy’s majority opinions in Windsor and Obergefell preemptively accused anyone who opposed redefining marriage to include homosexuals of being “offensive,” “hateful.” Refusal to honor homosexual unions, he wrote, is not “explicable by anything except animus.” What if a statesman, speaking for the American people, were to ask what, precisely, is so honorable about anal intercourse that those who refuse to honor it should be so stigmatized? Before 1961, all 50 states criminalized anal intercourse, heterosexual as well as homosexual. Why precisely were they wrong in doing so? By what right does anyone place such questions “out of bounds”?...
Were Trump interested in this, he might declare Kennedy to be both full of s&^% and a slanderous slut. (That would be accurate, but not PC, of course.)
...After a video showing officials of federally-funded Planned Parenthood taking orders for body parts of babies to be custom-slaughtered for that purpose, House Speaker John Boehner deflected demands for legislation to stop this by saying he needed more information....
...oh, yah. Boehner's hung-over feckless spine-deprived crap is Biblical-proportioned. This "need for information" comes from a "Catholic" who regularly campaigns on his anti-abortion creds???
...Republicans and Democrats profit personally and through their corporate cronies by a welter of legislation and regulation by which they command what we must eat, how to shower, what medical care is proper and what is not: mandating that a third of the U.S. corn crop be turned into ethanol, restricting the use of coal, how we may use our land, etc. They justify these predatory intrusions into our lives by claiming that peculiar knowledge of science unavailable to others. They refuse to justify their scientific conclusions with the likes of us....
Oh, yes, Our Leaders are Smart, Informed, and Better. And even when they are criminals (viz. Hillary and Lerner, inter alia) they are well-fed and pensioned courtesy of the taxpayer.
Trump is not the answer. But he has a lot of the right questions.
...Trump remarked, off the cuff, that “Mexico does not send us its best.” The public had long since decided that our ruling class’s handling of immigration (not just from Mexico) has done us harm. The ruling class – officials, corporations, etc.- booed with generalities but did not try to argue that they had improved America by their handling of immigration. The more they would argue that, the more they would lose....
Yah, well, we knew all about Mexico. So what about McCain? Turns out that Rove had his number a long time ago.
...Because Americans are sick of celebrating victims of defeats, and naturally eager to enjoy the kind of peace that only victories can bring, Trump’s expressed preference for heroes who “don’t get captured” resonated. Trump may or may not know any of the unsavory details about McCain’s actions as a POW and, as a public official, in regard to POWs and MIAs. But it does not take much research to find out why nobody will defend him other than by trying to prevent discussion those details. Surely Republican “architect” Karl Rove, who organized South Carolina’s military vote against McCain in the 2000 primary, knows them. The families of Vietnam POWs-MIAs pour onto anyone who will listen to their bitterness at McCain’s role in denying the existence of abandoned POWs and sealing information about them....
Oh. Well, that makes all that High Dudgeon about McCain considerably less honorable, ain'a?
...The point here is simple: our ruling class has succeeded in ruling not by reason or persuasion, never mind integrity, but by occupying society’s commanding heights, by imposing itself and its ever-changing appetites on the rest of us. It has co-opted or intimidated potential opponents by denying the legitimacy of opposition. Donald Trump, haplessness and clownishness notwithstanding, has shown how easily this regime may be threatened just by refusing to be intimidated....
"Refusing to be intimidated" plays no small part in the massive arming-up of the US citizenry over the last several years, by the way. This is not just about "criminals," although that plays the largest part. It's also about the natural American resistance to Statist ambitions. Yes, the IRS (and dozens of other agencies, Fed, State, and local), can obliterate one's cash and savings with the flip of a switch, and yes (as proven locally by D.A. Chisholm) they can rip through one's personal effects with impunity. So far, anyway....but even local turds like Chisholm have to be thinking "what if?" one of their actions leads to real conflict. The term '4th-generation warfare' exists for a reason.
And there are topics about which even Trump will not speak, but which are more important than illegals and
McCain.
...Justice Kennedy’s majority opinions in Windsor and Obergefell preemptively accused anyone who opposed redefining marriage to include homosexuals of being “offensive,” “hateful.” Refusal to honor homosexual unions, he wrote, is not “explicable by anything except animus.” What if a statesman, speaking for the American people, were to ask what, precisely, is so honorable about anal intercourse that those who refuse to honor it should be so stigmatized? Before 1961, all 50 states criminalized anal intercourse, heterosexual as well as homosexual. Why precisely were they wrong in doing so? By what right does anyone place such questions “out of bounds”?...
Were Trump interested in this, he might declare Kennedy to be both full of s&^% and a slanderous slut. (That would be accurate, but not PC, of course.)
...After a video showing officials of federally-funded Planned Parenthood taking orders for body parts of babies to be custom-slaughtered for that purpose, House Speaker John Boehner deflected demands for legislation to stop this by saying he needed more information....
...oh, yah. Boehner's hung-over feckless spine-deprived crap is Biblical-proportioned. This "need for information" comes from a "Catholic" who regularly campaigns on his anti-abortion creds???
...Republicans and Democrats profit personally and through their corporate cronies by a welter of legislation and regulation by which they command what we must eat, how to shower, what medical care is proper and what is not: mandating that a third of the U.S. corn crop be turned into ethanol, restricting the use of coal, how we may use our land, etc. They justify these predatory intrusions into our lives by claiming that peculiar knowledge of science unavailable to others. They refuse to justify their scientific conclusions with the likes of us....
Oh, yes, Our Leaders are Smart, Informed, and Better. And even when they are criminals (viz. Hillary and Lerner, inter alia) they are well-fed and pensioned courtesy of the taxpayer.
Trump is not the answer. But he has a lot of the right questions.
McConnell Continues Baby-killer Funding
The oleaginous huckster McConnell slithers on.
The Highway (Robbery) Bill passed the Senate last night. We all knew that would happen.
And Mike Lee tried to add an amendment which would de-fund the Planned Parenthood chop-shop.
That amendment was said to be "not relevant" to the highway bill.
However, a Ron Johnson favorite "failure theater" amendment WAS added, to defund ObozoCare.
Evidently that amendment IS "germane."
Nearest I can figure out, McConnell wants his highway to Hell to be nicely paved.
The Highway (Robbery) Bill passed the Senate last night. We all knew that would happen.
And Mike Lee tried to add an amendment which would de-fund the Planned Parenthood chop-shop.
That amendment was said to be "not relevant" to the highway bill.
However, a Ron Johnson favorite "failure theater" amendment WAS added, to defund ObozoCare.
Evidently that amendment IS "germane."
Nearest I can figure out, McConnell wants his highway to Hell to be nicely paved.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Ranting on the P*ssy-Wimp (R) Consultants
Yes, the little p*ssy-wimp geeks (Republican Consultants) are all a-twitter, panty-wadded, and a-fuffle over Trump.
Actual Conservatives fire back.
A couple of choice bits here, with P*ssy-wimp accusations in bold:
...You’re angry as Hell, and by God, you’re going to teach the GOP a lesson. See? You do get it. Dimly, because you then go on: Even if it means (and it well may) that Hillary Clinton sits in the White House, names 3 or 4 Supreme Court justices and lets Bill run around the East Wing molesting the help, you’re going to teach the hated Establishment a lesson. Ahh yes, the old SCOTUS boogeyman. If we keep our little temper tantrum going, why, we'll miss out on stalwart Republican Justices like Anthony “Watch as I repeatedly cite my own opinions to invent case law” Kennedy and John “Tax 'em if you got 'em” Roberts....
Uh-huh.
...You’ve decided to become one-issue voters, and immigration is the be-all, end-all issue. Immigration is not the issue, Rick. Illegal immigration that threatens to change the national character and culture while at the same time impoverishing the working class is. There is a big difference. This is an important issue, but you're missing the big picture. The important this here is that the Republican Party has repeatedly rolled over on amnesty after running promising to oppose it. Again, and again and again. You've been lying to us Rick, pissing in our faces and telling us it's raining outside. We elected you to oppose amnesty. Specifically. You haven't. You've supported it. The long hair we just pulled off your collar, this time we're supposed to believe that “she's just a friend”? Yeah right...
Yes, there's more!!
...You don’t know and don’t care why the professionals want Trump in the rear-view mirror Why, by all means. We should stand back and let the “professionals” handle it. Professionals like who Rick? Like you? Like Steve Schmidt? Like the Barbour boys down in Mississippi, appealing to Democrats to get establishment butt boy Thad Cochran elected by hook or by crook?....
Actually, that one was ALL crook. Come to think of it, Crooks and Liars.
The rest is just as good.
Actual Conservatives fire back.
A couple of choice bits here, with P*ssy-wimp accusations in bold:
...You’re angry as Hell, and by God, you’re going to teach the GOP a lesson. See? You do get it. Dimly, because you then go on: Even if it means (and it well may) that Hillary Clinton sits in the White House, names 3 or 4 Supreme Court justices and lets Bill run around the East Wing molesting the help, you’re going to teach the hated Establishment a lesson. Ahh yes, the old SCOTUS boogeyman. If we keep our little temper tantrum going, why, we'll miss out on stalwart Republican Justices like Anthony “Watch as I repeatedly cite my own opinions to invent case law” Kennedy and John “Tax 'em if you got 'em” Roberts....
Uh-huh.
...You’ve decided to become one-issue voters, and immigration is the be-all, end-all issue. Immigration is not the issue, Rick. Illegal immigration that threatens to change the national character and culture while at the same time impoverishing the working class is. There is a big difference. This is an important issue, but you're missing the big picture. The important this here is that the Republican Party has repeatedly rolled over on amnesty after running promising to oppose it. Again, and again and again. You've been lying to us Rick, pissing in our faces and telling us it's raining outside. We elected you to oppose amnesty. Specifically. You haven't. You've supported it. The long hair we just pulled off your collar, this time we're supposed to believe that “she's just a friend”? Yeah right...
Yes, there's more!!
...You don’t know and don’t care why the professionals want Trump in the rear-view mirror Why, by all means. We should stand back and let the “professionals” handle it. Professionals like who Rick? Like you? Like Steve Schmidt? Like the Barbour boys down in Mississippi, appealing to Democrats to get establishment butt boy Thad Cochran elected by hook or by crook?....
Actually, that one was ALL crook. Come to think of it, Crooks and Liars.
The rest is just as good.
McCain: "Don't Arm the Troops"
Interesting little side-note here.
...Senator Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) said that in June he “submitted an amendment” to the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) “to give military base commanders the authority to allow service members to carry personal firearms.”
That was weeks before the heinous attack on Chattanooga, but he says the amendment went nowhere because Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “didn’t want the amendment as part of the bill and wouldn’t accept it.”...
You must remember that McCain was an officer, not an EM. That makes a difference, I guess.
...Senator Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) said that in June he “submitted an amendment” to the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) “to give military base commanders the authority to allow service members to carry personal firearms.”
That was weeks before the heinous attack on Chattanooga, but he says the amendment went nowhere because Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “didn’t want the amendment as part of the bill and wouldn’t accept it.”...
You must remember that McCain was an officer, not an EM. That makes a difference, I guess.
Friday, July 24, 2015
Two Senate Slimeballs Meet.....
...and merge into a Super-Slimeball.
McConnell wants to save Ex-Im because his Chamber masters told him to.
Reid wants to save the National Chop-Shop.
So McConnell arranged it all in one fell swoop on the Highway funding monster.
Talk about a Cantina Scene.
McConnell wants to save Ex-Im because his Chamber masters told him to.
Reid wants to save the National Chop-Shop.
So McConnell arranged it all in one fell swoop on the Highway funding monster.
Talk about a Cantina Scene.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Another Loss for ObozoCare
While Obozo revels in his (temporary) victory, grinding the Little Sisters of the Poor into ObozoCare's Moloch-machine, the 8th Circuit said "not so fast" vis-a-vis individual coverage.
"Last year, for profit business owners prevailed against the HHS mandate imposed by Obamacare when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. Now, individuals and families may also sue to win protection from the Obamacare Mandate, when they have conscientious objections based on sincerely held religious beliefs. As the case has been remanded to the federal district court where our clients' religious liberty claims will be evaluated in light of the governing Hobby Lobby precedent, we hope to prevail in the end." CMR quoting Christian Newswire
Of course, "Justice" Roberts may well declare that "Sincerely held" may really be "ostensibly held", or that the sun rises in the West this year. One never knows about lawyers.
"Last year, for profit business owners prevailed against the HHS mandate imposed by Obamacare when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. Now, individuals and families may also sue to win protection from the Obamacare Mandate, when they have conscientious objections based on sincerely held religious beliefs. As the case has been remanded to the federal district court where our clients' religious liberty claims will be evaluated in light of the governing Hobby Lobby precedent, we hope to prevail in the end." CMR quoting Christian Newswire
Of course, "Justice" Roberts may well declare that "Sincerely held" may really be "ostensibly held", or that the sun rises in the West this year. One never knows about lawyers.
Cruz Gets It (Again)
Hmmm. Ted Cruz is already attempting to amend the Highway (Robbery) Bill with EIGHT seriously important items.
Assuming McConnell allows the amendments (see below post), watch how the Pussy Brigade of (R) folk vote on them. They'll try to have it both ways--voting FOR the amendment and then AGAINST the Highway Robbery bill itself--or vice-versa. Then they'll tell you--the voter--that they "opposed" something while having voted FOR it.
Sure it's fraud. It's also Failure Theater in action. And it's why Trump is on top of the polls.
Assuming McConnell allows the amendments (see below post), watch how the Pussy Brigade of (R) folk vote on them. They'll try to have it both ways--voting FOR the amendment and then AGAINST the Highway Robbery bill itself--or vice-versa. Then they'll tell you--the voter--that they "opposed" something while having voted FOR it.
Sure it's fraud. It's also Failure Theater in action. And it's why Trump is on top of the polls.
Prediction: PP Funding To Remain in Place
Extending the "pussies" post below, here's what RedState sees happening on PP funding.
Rand Paul will attempt to amend the Highway Bill Christmas Tree with a "defund PP" amendment.
McConnell will not allow it to be attached.
There will be committees, investigations, and much chattering from the Pussy Class, (want to guess which way RoJo goes?)
And PP will be funded, just like all the special interests who have their hands in the Highway Bill pocket.
Then the (R) girls will ask for money from you so they can stop spending your money on PP.
Rand Paul will attempt to amend the Highway Bill Christmas Tree with a "defund PP" amendment.
McConnell will not allow it to be attached.
There will be committees, investigations, and much chattering from the Pussy Class, (want to guess which way RoJo goes?)
And PP will be funded, just like all the special interests who have their hands in the Highway Bill pocket.
Then the (R) girls will ask for money from you so they can stop spending your money on PP.
Rush on Trump
Just heard Rush's current take on Trump. Can't be said that Rush is an un-alloyed fan, but along the way, Rush made a very good point.
He said (in substance) that while Trump doesn't say things too well, the people who voted "R" in the last three elections HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE REPUBLICANS TO SAY THIS STUFF about immigration, the Iran deal, (etc.)
But the Party has a way of extracting spines from its men and women once they arrive in DC. The best local example is Ron Johnson, who was neutered about 1 year in and whose (internal) polling undoubtedly shows it, as does his fundraising vis-a-vis Feingold.
One does not have to favor Trump--who is a megalomaniacal blowhard as crass as Croesus--to understand why the (R) pussies don't like him.
ADDENDUM:
You could also read Ace's take on it--which is pretty much the same as Limbaugh's.
Sample (but not the whole discussion):
...My problem with Lewis' piece is that he continues -- as so many corporate/establishment conservatives do -- to assume that the conservatives they don't like are just stupid Followers of Entertainment Wing demagogues, and if those demagogues could just be persuaded to change their tunes, the stupid Followers would finally Do the Right Thing (which continues to be Following, but this time they'd be Following the correct orders, these orders approved by Corporate/Establishment Central)....
Yah, well, they're in NYC/DC/LA/SFO, so they're at least 50 points smarter than anyone else, right?
He said (in substance) that while Trump doesn't say things too well, the people who voted "R" in the last three elections HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE REPUBLICANS TO SAY THIS STUFF about immigration, the Iran deal, (etc.)
But the Party has a way of extracting spines from its men and women once they arrive in DC. The best local example is Ron Johnson, who was neutered about 1 year in and whose (internal) polling undoubtedly shows it, as does his fundraising vis-a-vis Feingold.
One does not have to favor Trump--who is a megalomaniacal blowhard as crass as Croesus--to understand why the (R) pussies don't like him.
ADDENDUM:
You could also read Ace's take on it--which is pretty much the same as Limbaugh's.
Sample (but not the whole discussion):
...My problem with Lewis' piece is that he continues -- as so many corporate/establishment conservatives do -- to assume that the conservatives they don't like are just stupid Followers of Entertainment Wing demagogues, and if those demagogues could just be persuaded to change their tunes, the stupid Followers would finally Do the Right Thing (which continues to be Following, but this time they'd be Following the correct orders, these orders approved by Corporate/Establishment Central)....
Yah, well, they're in NYC/DC/LA/SFO, so they're at least 50 points smarter than anyone else, right?
"Chop Shop" Corporate Supporters
Without a doubt, the best abbreviation for the Planned Parenthood dismember-and-sell operation was given by a Limbaugh caller a couple of days ago.
She characterized PP as a "chop-shop."
Well, yah.
There are 41 corporate outfits which donate money to Planned Parenthood. Among them are AT&T (have "U-Verse"?), Ford Motor Company, (the Better Idea, Ford?), Coca-Cola, (which would like to teach the world to screeeaaaammmmm!!), J&J (to them it's just business, ya'know), and Liberty Mutual, which will treat you like an adult if you actually escape the womb alive.)
As Vox asks: are they all OK with this chop-shop thing?
Really???
She characterized PP as a "chop-shop."
Well, yah.
There are 41 corporate outfits which donate money to Planned Parenthood. Among them are AT&T (have "U-Verse"?), Ford Motor Company, (the Better Idea, Ford?), Coca-Cola, (which would like to teach the world to screeeaaaammmmm!!), J&J (to them it's just business, ya'know), and Liberty Mutual, which will treat you like an adult if you actually escape the womb alive.)
As Vox asks: are they all OK with this chop-shop thing?
Really???
New "Smart Technology" Hijacking Reports
So you all heard that a hacker can literally shut off your Chrysler Corp (FCA) vehicle, right?
...Though I hadn’t touched the dashboard, the vents in the Jeep Cherokee started blasting cold air at the maximum setting, chilling the sweat on my back through the in-seat climate control system. Next the radio switched to the local hip hop station and began blaring Skee-lo at full volume. I spun the control knob left and hit the power button, to no avail. Then the windshield wipers turned on, and wiper fluid blurred the glass....I mentally congratulated myself on my courage under pressure. That’s when they cut the transmission. Immediately my accelerator stopped working. As I frantically pressed the pedal and watched the RPMs climb, the Jeep lost half its speed, then slowed to a crawl. This occurred just as I reached a long overpass, with no shoulder to offer an escape....
Oh, there's more!! Have an Iphone? Android phone?
Following news that iOS devices are at risk of spyware related to the Hacking Team, the saga continues into the Android sphere. We found that among the leaked files is the code for Hacking Team’s open-source malware suite RCSAndroid (Remote Control System Android), which was sold by the company as a tool for monitoring targets.
The RCSAndroid code can be considered one of the most professionally developed and sophisticated Android malware ever exposed. The leak of its code provides cybercriminals with a new weaponized resource for enhancing their surveillance operations. (HT: Ticker)
Not done yet!!
Someone who researched NSA/FBI domestic spying learned that those entities (along with DEA, DHS, and any State/Local LEO agency) can order GM to "turn on" the microphone above your head, whether your OnStar is active or not. That way, they can listen to every word said in your GM car.
Kinda reminds me of an old novel with a character called "Big Brother." YMMV.
...Though I hadn’t touched the dashboard, the vents in the Jeep Cherokee started blasting cold air at the maximum setting, chilling the sweat on my back through the in-seat climate control system. Next the radio switched to the local hip hop station and began blaring Skee-lo at full volume. I spun the control knob left and hit the power button, to no avail. Then the windshield wipers turned on, and wiper fluid blurred the glass....I mentally congratulated myself on my courage under pressure. That’s when they cut the transmission. Immediately my accelerator stopped working. As I frantically pressed the pedal and watched the RPMs climb, the Jeep lost half its speed, then slowed to a crawl. This occurred just as I reached a long overpass, with no shoulder to offer an escape....
Oh, there's more!! Have an Iphone? Android phone?
Following news that iOS devices are at risk of spyware related to the Hacking Team, the saga continues into the Android sphere. We found that among the leaked files is the code for Hacking Team’s open-source malware suite RCSAndroid (Remote Control System Android), which was sold by the company as a tool for monitoring targets.
The RCSAndroid code can be considered one of the most professionally developed and sophisticated Android malware ever exposed. The leak of its code provides cybercriminals with a new weaponized resource for enhancing their surveillance operations. (HT: Ticker)
Not done yet!!
Someone who researched NSA/FBI domestic spying learned that those entities (along with DEA, DHS, and any State/Local LEO agency) can order GM to "turn on" the microphone above your head, whether your OnStar is active or not. That way, they can listen to every word said in your GM car.
Kinda reminds me of an old novel with a character called "Big Brother." YMMV.
World Growth? See CAT Sales
One of the mainstays of industrial America is Caterpillar (CAT). They make the dump trucks, road-graders, earth-movers, and other "heavy" machinery which is absolutely necessary to build buildings and roads and extract stuff from under the earth.
So when the Professional Class Yappers tell you that "global growth is goin' on", the easy way to check their story is against CAT.
And you'll wish you hadn't.
...the company's publicly disclosed monthly retail sales have just one message for anyone who follows them: forget recession, there is a global depression going on.
And it is not just in China as many would like to scapegoat: in June, in addition to a -19% drop in Asia Pacific (following a 30% Y/Y plunge a year ago, which in turn followed a 21% drop in 2013), US retail sales posted their first Y/Y decline since February, dropping by 5%.
But the real depression is in Latin America, where CAT retail sales plummeted by a whopping 50%: the most in reported history, and follow an 18% drop from a year earlier....
CAT retail sales have been going down since about 2Q11 after a rise beginning 3Q09 (which followed the nastiness of sales in '08.)
So when the Professional Class Yappers tell you that "global growth is goin' on", the easy way to check their story is against CAT.
And you'll wish you hadn't.
...the company's publicly disclosed monthly retail sales have just one message for anyone who follows them: forget recession, there is a global depression going on.
And it is not just in China as many would like to scapegoat: in June, in addition to a -19% drop in Asia Pacific (following a 30% Y/Y plunge a year ago, which in turn followed a 21% drop in 2013), US retail sales posted their first Y/Y decline since February, dropping by 5%.
But the real depression is in Latin America, where CAT retail sales plummeted by a whopping 50%: the most in reported history, and follow an 18% drop from a year earlier....
CAT retail sales have been going down since about 2Q11 after a rise beginning 3Q09 (which followed the nastiness of sales in '08.)
Wis. GAB Uses Obozo Line
You know the Obozo line: "I just read that in the newspapers, myself. Don't know anything about it."
Sure, he's lying--his lips were moving, after all, and he's a lawyer to boot.
Anyhow, the Wisconsin GAB issues the same sort of crap, and expects us to believe it.
Myth 1: GAB was a bystander in the John Doe investigation and ensuing litigation, and merely filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court.
The truth is GAB Director Kevin Kennedy and the GAB began working with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm on Aug. 8, 2012. The GAB was admitted into Chisholm’s John Doe investigation in Sept. 2012, soon after it began.
The GAB helped prepare the affidavits for search warrants at issue in the Wisconsin Supreme Court case.
The GAB recruited and hired Francis Schmitz, the Doe special prosecutor. The GAB gave him office space.
The GAB paid for his work on briefing in the case. The GAB even wrote substantial portions of Schmitz’s briefs before presiding) Judge Gregory Peterson and the appellate courts.
Yes, there's more., Follow the link above.
Not only should the Legislature erase GAB completely; they should also erase any pensions and health-coverage for Kevin Kennedy. Now.
Sure, he's lying--his lips were moving, after all, and he's a lawyer to boot.
Anyhow, the Wisconsin GAB issues the same sort of crap, and expects us to believe it.
Myth 1: GAB was a bystander in the John Doe investigation and ensuing litigation, and merely filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court.
The truth is GAB Director Kevin Kennedy and the GAB began working with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm on Aug. 8, 2012. The GAB was admitted into Chisholm’s John Doe investigation in Sept. 2012, soon after it began.
The GAB helped prepare the affidavits for search warrants at issue in the Wisconsin Supreme Court case.
The GAB recruited and hired Francis Schmitz, the Doe special prosecutor. The GAB gave him office space.
The GAB paid for his work on briefing in the case. The GAB even wrote substantial portions of Schmitz’s briefs before presiding) Judge Gregory Peterson and the appellate courts.
Yes, there's more., Follow the link above.
Not only should the Legislature erase GAB completely; they should also erase any pensions and health-coverage for Kevin Kennedy. Now.
RoJo's Immigration Vote
We mentioned that Senator Ron Johnson--now pleading for money to get re-elected--voted FOR the new immigration bill.
Want to know what that bill does? Among other things:
...Legislation written behind closed doors by handpicked special interest groups which put their political agendas and financial gains before sound and effective law and the welfare and safety of the American public. As a result, the 1,200 page substitute bill before the Senate will provide instant legalization and a path to citizenship to gang members and other dangerous criminal aliens, and handcuff ICE officers from enforcing immigration laws in the future. It provides no means of effectively enforcing visa overstays which account for almost half of the nation’s illegal immigration crisis....
There's more!!
...The final bill 68 senators voted for therefore expressly made amnesty available to gang members – an amnesty that included access to green cards, welfare and the prize of U.S. citizenship....
Maybe RoJo's fundraising appeals should go to MS-13 headquarters.
Want to know what that bill does? Among other things:
...Legislation written behind closed doors by handpicked special interest groups which put their political agendas and financial gains before sound and effective law and the welfare and safety of the American public. As a result, the 1,200 page substitute bill before the Senate will provide instant legalization and a path to citizenship to gang members and other dangerous criminal aliens, and handcuff ICE officers from enforcing immigration laws in the future. It provides no means of effectively enforcing visa overstays which account for almost half of the nation’s illegal immigration crisis....
There's more!!
...The final bill 68 senators voted for therefore expressly made amnesty available to gang members – an amnesty that included access to green cards, welfare and the prize of U.S. citizenship....
Maybe RoJo's fundraising appeals should go to MS-13 headquarters.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Brett Favre, H8ter
We all know that Brett Favre has a few faults; he said so last weekend in Green Bay.
But you didn't know that he's a H8ter, did you?
...NFL great Brett Favre is being denounced by the left’s new cultural commissars for not clapping long and hard enough at ESPN’s ESPY awards, as Bruce/“Caitlyn” Jenner received a “Courage” award for his efforts to become a woman. Oddly, Favre did applaud – not doing so would have been a grave heresy to America’s new church of progressive inquisitors. ...
The Special Snowflakes mewl and whine in horror (dare one say 'hysterically' or not?).
But you didn't know that he's a H8ter, did you?
...NFL great Brett Favre is being denounced by the left’s new cultural commissars for not clapping long and hard enough at ESPN’s ESPY awards, as Bruce/“Caitlyn” Jenner received a “Courage” award for his efforts to become a woman. Oddly, Favre did applaud – not doing so would have been a grave heresy to America’s new church of progressive inquisitors. ...
The Special Snowflakes mewl and whine in horror (dare one say 'hysterically' or not?).
The End of Elmbrook, River Hills, and Mequon
Fifty years from now, "ancient history" will include such places as Elm Grove, Brookfield, Mequon, and River Hills. That's because while they may continue to exist in name, they will not be "suburbs." They'll merely be annexations of "Milwaukee." (Yah--the city which is on its way to DOUBLING its murders from 2014...)
...AFFH obligates grantees to conduct all of these analyses at both the local and regional levels. In other words, it’s not enough for, say, Philadelphia’s “Mainline” Montgomery County suburbs to analyze their own populations by race, ethnicity, and class to determine whether there are any imbalances in where groups live, or in access to schools, parks, transportation, and jobs. Those suburbs are also obligated to compare their own housing situations to the Greater Philadelphia region as a whole.
So if some Montgomery County’s suburbs are predominantly upper-middle-class, white, and zoned for single-family housing, while the Philadelphia region as a whole is dotted with concentrations of less-well-off African Americans, Hispanics, or Asians, those suburbs could be obligated to nullify their zoning ordinances and build high-density, low-income housing at their own expense....
... In other words, by obligating all localities receiving HUD funding to compare their demographics to the region as a whole, AFFH effectively nullifies municipal boundaries. Even with no allegation or evidence of intentional discrimination, the mere existence of a demographic imbalance in the region as a whole must be remedied by a given suburb. Suburbs will literally be forced to import population from elsewhere, at their own expense and in violation of their own laws. In effect, suburbs will have been annexed by a city-dominated region, their laws suspended and their tax money transferred to erstwhile non-residents. And to make sure the new high-density housing developments are close to “community assets” such as schools, transportation, parks, and jobs, bedroom suburbs will be forced to develop mini-downtowns. In effect, they will become more like the cities their residents chose to leave in the first place....
Heh. One wonders how Tom Barrett and his (D) pals will explain this to his ultra-high-dollar (D) donors, most of whom live in the North Shore/Mequon areas--and the many who live in The Grove and Brookfield.
...AFFH obligates grantees to conduct all of these analyses at both the local and regional levels. In other words, it’s not enough for, say, Philadelphia’s “Mainline” Montgomery County suburbs to analyze their own populations by race, ethnicity, and class to determine whether there are any imbalances in where groups live, or in access to schools, parks, transportation, and jobs. Those suburbs are also obligated to compare their own housing situations to the Greater Philadelphia region as a whole.
So if some Montgomery County’s suburbs are predominantly upper-middle-class, white, and zoned for single-family housing, while the Philadelphia region as a whole is dotted with concentrations of less-well-off African Americans, Hispanics, or Asians, those suburbs could be obligated to nullify their zoning ordinances and build high-density, low-income housing at their own expense....
... In other words, by obligating all localities receiving HUD funding to compare their demographics to the region as a whole, AFFH effectively nullifies municipal boundaries. Even with no allegation or evidence of intentional discrimination, the mere existence of a demographic imbalance in the region as a whole must be remedied by a given suburb. Suburbs will literally be forced to import population from elsewhere, at their own expense and in violation of their own laws. In effect, suburbs will have been annexed by a city-dominated region, their laws suspended and their tax money transferred to erstwhile non-residents. And to make sure the new high-density housing developments are close to “community assets” such as schools, transportation, parks, and jobs, bedroom suburbs will be forced to develop mini-downtowns. In effect, they will become more like the cities their residents chose to leave in the first place....
Heh. One wonders how Tom Barrett and his (D) pals will explain this to his ultra-high-dollar (D) donors, most of whom live in the North Shore/Mequon areas--and the many who live in The Grove and Brookfield.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Think Your Medical Records Are Private? Wrong!!
It's not that the Feds should never have access to your records.
The problem is that under "administrative subpoenas" they can have anything they want--no "cause" needed.
Administrative subpoenas are issued unilaterally by government agencies -- meaning without approval by neutral judges -- and without probable cause stated under oath and affirmation as required by the Fourth Amendment. There are now 336 federal statutes authorizing administrative subpoenas, according to the Department of Justice.
In U.S. v Zadeh, the DEA obtained the records of 35 patient files without showing probable cause or obtaining a warrant issued by a judge. Citing New Deal-era case law, Judge Reed O’Connor noted that “[t]he Supreme Court has refused to require that [a federal] agency have probable cause to justify issuance of an administrative subpoena,” and that they may be issued “merely on suspicion that the law is being violated, or even just because it wants assurance that it is not." (Emphasis added).
In other words, the government may now use “fishing expeditions” for medical records.
Remember that over the weekend, Obozo ordered that SocSec recipients can be denied gun possession if they are 'mentally incapable of managing their own affairs' (meaning any damn thing one wants it to mean, including Alzheimer's....)
It is reported that the NSA is jealous.
The problem is that under "administrative subpoenas" they can have anything they want--no "cause" needed.
Administrative subpoenas are issued unilaterally by government agencies -- meaning without approval by neutral judges -- and without probable cause stated under oath and affirmation as required by the Fourth Amendment. There are now 336 federal statutes authorizing administrative subpoenas, according to the Department of Justice.
In U.S. v Zadeh, the DEA obtained the records of 35 patient files without showing probable cause or obtaining a warrant issued by a judge. Citing New Deal-era case law, Judge Reed O’Connor noted that “[t]he Supreme Court has refused to require that [a federal] agency have probable cause to justify issuance of an administrative subpoena,” and that they may be issued “merely on suspicion that the law is being violated, or even just because it wants assurance that it is not." (Emphasis added).
In other words, the government may now use “fishing expeditions” for medical records.
Remember that over the weekend, Obozo ordered that SocSec recipients can be denied gun possession if they are 'mentally incapable of managing their own affairs' (meaning any damn thing one wants it to mean, including Alzheimer's....)
It is reported that the NSA is jealous.
Illegal Hiring in Waukesha?
It's to be expected that the Left will harass (R) candidates. It's to be expected that such harassment will be written up in news articles.
But it's not often that we learn of companies which are breaking US law in one of those stories, is it?
...Flores, who lives in Waukesha and works for a medical supply factory, said he and his wife live in fear of being deported and separated from their children, who he said were all born in the United States....
Oh, really? What factory is this?
We also note, to the credit of the reporter, that the pure bullshit line about "..separated from their children" was ignored in the rest of the story. Take the kids home with you to Mexico, Mr. Flores.
There. Problem fixed.
Now let's find that factory and prosecute them.
But it's not often that we learn of companies which are breaking US law in one of those stories, is it?
...Flores, who lives in Waukesha and works for a medical supply factory, said he and his wife live in fear of being deported and separated from their children, who he said were all born in the United States....
Oh, really? What factory is this?
We also note, to the credit of the reporter, that the pure bullshit line about "..separated from their children" was ignored in the rest of the story. Take the kids home with you to Mexico, Mr. Flores.
There. Problem fixed.
Now let's find that factory and prosecute them.
Friday, July 17, 2015
KaBoom! Remove Chisholm!
Listen to the podcast.
Eric O'Keefe, one of the targets of Chisholm's Fascism, will submit a petition to Walker to remove Chisholm from office (which Walker has the power to do, as Governor.)
He's also going after a ton of records from the Fascist and his lackey, Schmitz--and intends to release those records to the public in the next several weeks and months.
Think Walker will do the right thing here? Charlie doesn't--after all, there's a primary at stake. (That is interesting in itself, by the way.)
Stay tuned, as they say.
Eric O'Keefe, one of the targets of Chisholm's Fascism, will submit a petition to Walker to remove Chisholm from office (which Walker has the power to do, as Governor.)
He's also going after a ton of records from the Fascist and his lackey, Schmitz--and intends to release those records to the public in the next several weeks and months.
Think Walker will do the right thing here? Charlie doesn't--after all, there's a primary at stake. (That is interesting in itself, by the way.)
Stay tuned, as they say.
Who's This Part-Time UW Prof-Twit?
Whatever this "Sarah" person is, it ain't what Wisconsin needs.
Goldrick-Rab, a self-proclaimed liberal, replied: “It isn’t the cuts. If this goes through, we are all leaving. No joke.”
Don't let the door hit you in the ass.
HT: Owen
Goldrick-Rab, a self-proclaimed liberal, replied: “It isn’t the cuts. If this goes through, we are all leaving. No joke.”
Don't let the door hit you in the ass.
HT: Owen
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Body-Slam of Schmitz/Chisholm
Not only did SCOWI nail shut the fetid coffin of the Schmitz/Chisholm John Doe.
They also body-slammed the perps (Schmitz and Chisholm).
“It is utterly clear that the special prosecutor has employed theories of law that do not exist in order to investigate citizens who were wholly innocent of any wrongdoing. In other words, the special prosecutor was the instigator of a ‘perfect storm’ of wrongs that was visited upon the innocent Unnamed Movants and those who dared to associate with them. It is fortunate, indeed, for every other citizen of this great State who is interested in the protection of fundamental liberties that the special prosecutor chose as his targets innocent citizens who had both the will and the means to fight the unlimited resources of an unjust prosecution. Further, these brave individuals played a crucial role in presenting this court with an opportunity to re-endorse its commitment to upholding the fundamental right of each and every citizen to engage in lawful political activity and to do so free from the fear of the tyrannical retribution of arbitrary or capricious governmental prosecution. Let one point be clear: our conclusion today ends this unconstitutional John Doe investigation.” --quoted at PowerLine
Since Schmitz states that he voted for Walker, we are supposed to believe that this was a 'non-partisan' effort.
In reality, it was a VERY partisan effort--on behalf of unlimited Statist power. This was the semi-militarized version of "STFU" delivered under color of law.
Remember that Schmitz is a retired Federal prosecutor. Is this also the mindset of the rest of the Federal prosecutors in the US?
Or was Schmitz just a tool who was under the spell of John Chisholm, who was in turn under the spell of his own wife?
They also body-slammed the perps (Schmitz and Chisholm).
“It is utterly clear that the special prosecutor has employed theories of law that do not exist in order to investigate citizens who were wholly innocent of any wrongdoing. In other words, the special prosecutor was the instigator of a ‘perfect storm’ of wrongs that was visited upon the innocent Unnamed Movants and those who dared to associate with them. It is fortunate, indeed, for every other citizen of this great State who is interested in the protection of fundamental liberties that the special prosecutor chose as his targets innocent citizens who had both the will and the means to fight the unlimited resources of an unjust prosecution. Further, these brave individuals played a crucial role in presenting this court with an opportunity to re-endorse its commitment to upholding the fundamental right of each and every citizen to engage in lawful political activity and to do so free from the fear of the tyrannical retribution of arbitrary or capricious governmental prosecution. Let one point be clear: our conclusion today ends this unconstitutional John Doe investigation.” --quoted at PowerLine
Since Schmitz states that he voted for Walker, we are supposed to believe that this was a 'non-partisan' effort.
In reality, it was a VERY partisan effort--on behalf of unlimited Statist power. This was the semi-militarized version of "STFU" delivered under color of law.
Remember that Schmitz is a retired Federal prosecutor. Is this also the mindset of the rest of the Federal prosecutors in the US?
Or was Schmitz just a tool who was under the spell of John Chisholm, who was in turn under the spell of his own wife?
Obozo, the Domestic Terrorist
Aside from the IRS' criminal activities and the AG's willful ignoring of various criminal prosecutions, there's another, even more significant, cloud on the horizon.
Obozo is probably going to release a whole lot of federal prisoners--violent, gang- and drug- criminals--into the country.
On Monday, Obama announced his plan to commute the sentences of 46 drug offenders serving time in federal prison, bringing the total number of commutations to 86 since he has taken office....
... Obama noted that these individuals were not “hardened criminals” and were in prison only for “non-violent drug offenses.” This is part of the broader red herring argument propagated by the bipartisan “criminal justice reform cartel” – that there is an epidemic of 19-year-olds locked up in federal prison caught smoking marijuana once in their lifetime. But the reality is that most people serving in federal prison have done some serious drug dealing or are connected to violent drug cartels or gangs....
...A quick glance at the sentencing history of these 46 individuals reveals that a number of them were dealing or trafficking large amounts of cocaine or methamphetamine....Keep in mind that many of these individuals could have initially been charged with greater offenses but entered into a plea bargain.
As usual, when Obozo's lips are moving, he's lying.
As the essayist notes, Obozo could--because of his power of pardon--release tens of thousands of federal prisoners.
Think it won't happen? Wanna bet?
Obozo is probably going to release a whole lot of federal prisoners--violent, gang- and drug- criminals--into the country.
On Monday, Obama announced his plan to commute the sentences of 46 drug offenders serving time in federal prison, bringing the total number of commutations to 86 since he has taken office....
... Obama noted that these individuals were not “hardened criminals” and were in prison only for “non-violent drug offenses.” This is part of the broader red herring argument propagated by the bipartisan “criminal justice reform cartel” – that there is an epidemic of 19-year-olds locked up in federal prison caught smoking marijuana once in their lifetime. But the reality is that most people serving in federal prison have done some serious drug dealing or are connected to violent drug cartels or gangs....
...A quick glance at the sentencing history of these 46 individuals reveals that a number of them were dealing or trafficking large amounts of cocaine or methamphetamine....Keep in mind that many of these individuals could have initially been charged with greater offenses but entered into a plea bargain.
As usual, when Obozo's lips are moving, he's lying.
As the essayist notes, Obozo could--because of his power of pardon--release tens of thousands of federal prisoners.
Think it won't happen? Wanna bet?
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
The Progressives Have a Theology. It's Wrong, But...
On occasion, we have spoken of The Progressives in American political life. But those Progressives are hardly confined to our shores; they also had (and have) sisters across the pond.
And they have a theology, which is voiced, these days, by Cdl. Kasper of Germany who is making a lot of waves about the upcoming Synod on the Family. Kasper makes waves because he would like the Church to...ahh....modify...her position on marriage and perverted sex.
An Austrian theologian, Dr. Thomas H. Starck, wrote a mid-length essay on Kasper's theology. In it, we find this:
...Teilhard’s eschatology of the Omega point describes a return of world and history to God, as a result of an evolutionary process of development and self-perfection taking place in history. This historical-philosophical pattern corresponds structurally to that of German idealism, especially the Hegelian philosophy of spirit. According to Hegel, history is in fact a process of development in which the absolute spirit comes to itself by synthesizing its “being-in-itself” with its “being-for-itself” into a “being in-and-for-itself,” and at the end returns to itself and grasps itself as the true which is the real.
And they have a theology, which is voiced, these days, by Cdl. Kasper of Germany who is making a lot of waves about the upcoming Synod on the Family. Kasper makes waves because he would like the Church to...ahh....modify...her position on marriage and perverted sex.
An Austrian theologian, Dr. Thomas H. Starck, wrote a mid-length essay on Kasper's theology. In it, we find this:
...Teilhard’s eschatology of the Omega point describes a return of world and history to God, as a result of an evolutionary process of development and self-perfection taking place in history. This historical-philosophical pattern corresponds structurally to that of German idealism, especially the Hegelian philosophy of spirit. According to Hegel, history is in fact a process of development in which the absolute spirit comes to itself by synthesizing its “being-in-itself” with its “being-for-itself” into a “being in-and-for-itself,” and at the end returns to itself and grasps itself as the true which is the real.
From
revelation we know, however, that the end of the story is not characterized by
the final self-perfection of creation, but by its ultimate apostasy and the
concomitant ultimate catastrophe in human history. It has often been pointed
out that it is not apparent how the eschatology of Teilhard could be compatible
with the Scriptures.
It thus seems
to me not too far-fetched, given the quotations cited, to suspect that the
basic problem of the theology of Kasper is its dependence on specific positions
of the philosophy of German idealism. Moreover, this assessment is supported by
the fact that Kasper sees himself in the tradition of the Tübingen School,
which is known to have attempted to re-establish Catholic intellectual life on
the foundation of German idealism.
Kasper’s pneumatology,
of which his ecclesiology is a function, has as its object a “spirit” that—as
Kasper himself says—is not identical to the third divine person, but is much
more reminiscent of Hegel’s absolute spirit, who in a historical process, synthesizing
its dialectical opposites in itself, develops into the whole, that is the truth. ...
Reduced to simpler terms: Teilhard, Hegel, and Walter Kasper believe that Humanity is a 'work in progress', finding its way to perfection, the Omega Point. We all are aware that The Progressive, following its evolution-based theories,hold the same belief.
Implicitly (and explicitly), Kasper and those preceding fellow-travelers deny objective reality, or "order" in the world; rather, they find that "order" is in constant change--something which also showed up in a different forum with Freud and Bernays.
The secular/atheist Progressive, when faced with opposition, declares such opposition to be out of bounds and will do whatever it takes to destroy the opponent. See, e.g., "Justice" Kennedy's nascent attempt to silence opponents of un-natural "marriage" by declaring that voicing such opposition is "hate speech", and his utterly irrational decision in Windsor (which happens to capture the Teilhard/Hegel/Kasper theology very well), or the Oregon bureaucrat who silenced the bakers over his decision to deprive them of all their earthly possessions because they refused to bake for sodomites.
You may call that "progress." I don't think you understand the meaning of that word.
(Another look at the situation, very short and clear, can be found here)
RoJo Already Voted FOR The Treaty
Ace observes that--regardless of the Failure Theater from McConnell--every single Senate Republican already voted FOR the treaty with Iran.
So you'll get to spend a few days while "the opposition Party" inveighs and screeches against the treaty they already voted to approve.
This is RoJo's style: vote FOR something and subsequently, in a meaningless move, vote AGAINST it. And he expects your vote, again, next November.
Sure, Ron.
It may be that the treaty is actually a good deal. Based only on Obozo's track record to date, I seriously doubt it. But it matters not.
The point is RoJo's duplicity, and there's plenty of that to go around.
So you'll get to spend a few days while "the opposition Party" inveighs and screeches against the treaty they already voted to approve.
This is RoJo's style: vote FOR something and subsequently, in a meaningless move, vote AGAINST it. And he expects your vote, again, next November.
Sure, Ron.
It may be that the treaty is actually a good deal. Based only on Obozo's track record to date, I seriously doubt it. But it matters not.
The point is RoJo's duplicity, and there's plenty of that to go around.
Auschwitz Lives On
Actually, there are New Nazis to replace the Old Nazis.
Now Mengele would be called "Planned Parenthood."
....the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of America talking on camera about how to abort a child intact so the child’s body parts can be transferred for medical and scientific research....
You thought that Evil is gone? Think again. This is the reality of the Progressve, Enlightened ones.
Here's the list of PP/Wisconsin's Eminentoes, by the way.
Now Mengele would be called "Planned Parenthood."
....the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of America talking on camera about how to abort a child intact so the child’s body parts can be transferred for medical and scientific research....
You thought that Evil is gone? Think again. This is the reality of the Progressve, Enlightened ones.
Here's the list of PP/Wisconsin's Eminentoes, by the way.
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Obozo Crucifies the LIttle Sisters of the Poor!
You know that he's been waiting for this moment and is overjoyed.
Moments ago, in a departure from the U.S. Supreme Court’s protection of the Little Sisters of the Poorlast year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that the Little Sisters must comply with the government’s HHS mandate. This mandate forces religious ministries to violate their faith or pay massive IRS penalties …Hot Air quoting The Becket Fund
There's really not that much to say. We all knew his objectives within a year of his first inauguration. He's damn near a clean sweep on those.
Moments ago, in a departure from the U.S. Supreme Court’s protection of the Little Sisters of the Poorlast year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that the Little Sisters must comply with the government’s HHS mandate. This mandate forces religious ministries to violate their faith or pay massive IRS penalties …Hot Air quoting The Becket Fund
There's really not that much to say. We all knew his objectives within a year of his first inauguration. He's damn near a clean sweep on those.
Monday, July 13, 2015
The Wonderfulness of CSLewis' "Screwtape"
Was just reminded of this by a chain beginning here.
Screwtape, a senior resident of Hell, writing to his apprentice, Wormwood:
...Having persuaded the patient to treat nearly all discrimination as invidious, you will be on the cusp of the second stage — convincing him that there is no intrinsic difference between “equal” and “same.” This, you will quickly discover, is the loadstone. A finding of sameness eliminates the need for prudential judgment. And when prudential judgment is eliminated, the patient will accept all manner of fallacies and absurdities. And when fallacies and absurdities are routinely accepted we, dearest nephew, are in business....
Certainly is the case on KolegeKampi, and most any gummint entity.
Screwtape, a senior resident of Hell, writing to his apprentice, Wormwood:
...Having persuaded the patient to treat nearly all discrimination as invidious, you will be on the cusp of the second stage — convincing him that there is no intrinsic difference between “equal” and “same.” This, you will quickly discover, is the loadstone. A finding of sameness eliminates the need for prudential judgment. And when prudential judgment is eliminated, the patient will accept all manner of fallacies and absurdities. And when fallacies and absurdities are routinely accepted we, dearest nephew, are in business....
Certainly is the case on KolegeKampi, and most any gummint entity.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
"Buy More Ammo": You Thought I Was Kidding, Eh?
Didn't really pay enough attention to this story until this morning.
....Former IRS official Lois Lerner initially blamed “our line people in Cincinnati” for subjecting conservative and tea-party groups to excessive scrutiny, stifling paperwork demands, intrusive interrogations (“please provide the percentage of time your organization spends on prayer groups”), and endless delays in their applications for tax-exempt status....
Yah, well, everybody knows that, right?
Here's what you did NOT know.
... “The FBI and Justice Department worked with Lois Lerner and the IRS to concoct some reason to put President Obama’s opponents in jail before his reelection, and this abuse resulted in the FBI’s illegally obtaining the IRS files of innocent Americans,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. The conservative watchdog group uncovered an IRS document that shows how the agency furnished the FBI with 21 computer disks bearing 1.25 million pages from some 113,000 tax records. This transfer included the improper disclosure of “confidential taxpayer information,” which is covered by two laws that carry criminal penalties: Internal Revenue Code Section 6103 and the federal Privacy Act....
We don't expect any penalties--criminal or civil--to ensue from this, of course. The Republicans don't have the balls to make something happen.
It's a wonder that the Feebs weren't running the raids on Walker supporters here in Wisconsin, though, given the slimebucket connection of that really cute couple, Kennedy and Lerner.
....Former IRS official Lois Lerner initially blamed “our line people in Cincinnati” for subjecting conservative and tea-party groups to excessive scrutiny, stifling paperwork demands, intrusive interrogations (“please provide the percentage of time your organization spends on prayer groups”), and endless delays in their applications for tax-exempt status....
Yah, well, everybody knows that, right?
Here's what you did NOT know.
... “The FBI and Justice Department worked with Lois Lerner and the IRS to concoct some reason to put President Obama’s opponents in jail before his reelection, and this abuse resulted in the FBI’s illegally obtaining the IRS files of innocent Americans,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. The conservative watchdog group uncovered an IRS document that shows how the agency furnished the FBI with 21 computer disks bearing 1.25 million pages from some 113,000 tax records. This transfer included the improper disclosure of “confidential taxpayer information,” which is covered by two laws that carry criminal penalties: Internal Revenue Code Section 6103 and the federal Privacy Act....
We don't expect any penalties--criminal or civil--to ensue from this, of course. The Republicans don't have the balls to make something happen.
It's a wonder that the Feebs weren't running the raids on Walker supporters here in Wisconsin, though, given the slimebucket connection of that really cute couple, Kennedy and Lerner.
Friday, July 10, 2015
Birds, Feathers, and Slimebuckets
Neither Kevin Kennedy nor Lois Lerner are birds, nor feathers.
But apparently slimebuckets flock together, too.
Surprised?
But apparently slimebuckets flock together, too.
Surprised?
Defunding Milwaukee, the "Sanctuary City"
One of Tom Barrett's nightmares--assuming that he's vestigially rational--is that some illegal will kill someone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in Milwaukee.
Gov. Perry's proposal won't help Tommy get his rest, either.
Gov. Perry's proposal won't help Tommy get his rest, either.
Federalize Grade Schools? OK by Grothman!
One wonders exactly how Grothman claims to be "conservative" when he's on the opposite side of Federalizing grade-schools from (even) Jim Sensenbrenner(!!)
We all knew that Paul Ryan is bound and determined to keep his job, so he toadies up to Boehner and the (D) Left as much as possible. And one really never had much hope for Duffy.
But Grothman? Really??
We all knew that Paul Ryan is bound and determined to keep his job, so he toadies up to Boehner and the (D) Left as much as possible. And one really never had much hope for Duffy.
But Grothman? Really??
Charlie, What I Don't Get....
During yesterday's program, Charlie railed mightily against The Donald. Well, yah. The Donald is a megalomaniac blowhard. This makes him about the same as Mitch McConnell, except for the hair, McConnell's aversion to conflict with Obozo, and McConnell's position as an Eminento of the Ruling Class.
That's not the first time that Charlie became the voice of Reince Priebus, and it won't be the last.
But there's this nagging little problem.
...The party of smaller government has bought into the idea that Washington knows better than the states. Republicans in the House voted for the idea that Washington knows better than the parent when it comes to educating children. Republicans are doing their best to brand themselves as Democrat-lite and it will expedite Hillary’s coronation as our next president....
... Republicans have not challenged the president. They allow President Obama to negotiate a peace treaty with Iran and abdicate their responsibility to ratify that treaty. Republicans give President Obama a huge victory on trade when many conservatives called for this debate to happen in the next administration and with a president who would not hide details of the trade deal. Republicans have yet to pick a fight with a president who is still more unpopular than popular....
Remember the Pubbie collapse on the debt-ceiling? On ObozoCare? On the budget? How about the IRS scandal? Or Holder (in general)? Which (R) has declared that as President, he/she will NOT enforce Obergefell? Which (R) has said that, as President, they'll adopt the "One Penny" solution to the deficit?
Charlie, what I don't get is this: who needs the Reince Priebus Party?
We all know that The Donald is a social leftist and that when the rubber meets the road, his tires will shred pretty quickly.
But which Priebus-(R) is actually going to say AND DO what's right, Charlie?
(So far, the closest one is Cruz. Will he be Reince-approved?)
That's not the first time that Charlie became the voice of Reince Priebus, and it won't be the last.
But there's this nagging little problem.
...The party of smaller government has bought into the idea that Washington knows better than the states. Republicans in the House voted for the idea that Washington knows better than the parent when it comes to educating children. Republicans are doing their best to brand themselves as Democrat-lite and it will expedite Hillary’s coronation as our next president....
... Republicans have not challenged the president. They allow President Obama to negotiate a peace treaty with Iran and abdicate their responsibility to ratify that treaty. Republicans give President Obama a huge victory on trade when many conservatives called for this debate to happen in the next administration and with a president who would not hide details of the trade deal. Republicans have yet to pick a fight with a president who is still more unpopular than popular....
Remember the Pubbie collapse on the debt-ceiling? On ObozoCare? On the budget? How about the IRS scandal? Or Holder (in general)? Which (R) has declared that as President, he/she will NOT enforce Obergefell? Which (R) has said that, as President, they'll adopt the "One Penny" solution to the deficit?
Charlie, what I don't get is this: who needs the Reince Priebus Party?
We all know that The Donald is a social leftist and that when the rubber meets the road, his tires will shred pretty quickly.
But which Priebus-(R) is actually going to say AND DO what's right, Charlie?
(So far, the closest one is Cruz. Will he be Reince-approved?)
Thursday, July 09, 2015
Rubio Doubles Down on Perversion
Evidently Rubio intends to out-do Walker on the "lay down and take it" game.
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said Wednesday he would oppose a constitutional amendment allowing states to ban same-sex marriage after the Supreme legalized it nationwide, even though he disagrees with the landmark 5-4 decision.
Well (as observed at the link) he COULD have said that an Amendment would not pass--which is exactly why Walker favors that "solution." At least that would have been honest.
But then Rubio gets even stupider!!
...“I don’t support a constitutional amendment. I don’t believe the federal government should be in the marriage regulation business,” the Florida senator told reporters...
Perhaps Rubio was under the influence of something. That is easily the most confused statement on the matter since Kennedy's Ode to Delusion, which is called 'the majority opinion' on Obergefell.
Oh, well. Most actual Conservatives won't miss him.
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said Wednesday he would oppose a constitutional amendment allowing states to ban same-sex marriage after the Supreme legalized it nationwide, even though he disagrees with the landmark 5-4 decision.
Well (as observed at the link) he COULD have said that an Amendment would not pass--which is exactly why Walker favors that "solution." At least that would have been honest.
But then Rubio gets even stupider!!
...“I don’t support a constitutional amendment. I don’t believe the federal government should be in the marriage regulation business,” the Florida senator told reporters...
Perhaps Rubio was under the influence of something. That is easily the most confused statement on the matter since Kennedy's Ode to Delusion, which is called 'the majority opinion' on Obergefell.
Oh, well. Most actual Conservatives won't miss him.
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
B-16 on Roman Catholic LIturgical Music
B-16 was awarded an honorary doctorate. This from his remarks on the occasion:
...At this point, I would like to express a thought that has gripped me increasingly, all the more so in as much as the different cultures and religions enter into relation among themselves. Present in the ambit of the different cultures and religions is great literature, great architecture, great painting and great sculptures. And everywhere there is also music. And yet in no other cultural ambit is there music of equal grandeur to that born in the ambit of the Christian faith: from Palestrina to Bach, to Handel, up to Mozart, Beethoven and Bruckner. Western music is something unique, which has no equal in other cultures. And this – it seems to me – should make us think.
Certainly, Western music goes beyond by far the religious and ecclesial ambit. And yet it finds its most profound origin, in any case, in the liturgy of the encounter with God. In Bach, for whom the glory of God represents ultimately the end of all music, this is altogether evident. The great and pure answer of Western music was developed in the encounter with that God that, in the liturgy, makes himself present to us in Christ Jesus. For me, that music is a demonstration of the truth of Christianity. Wherever such an answer is developed, there has been an encounter with truth, with the true Creator of the world. Therefore, great sacred music is a reality of theological rank and of permanent meaning for the faith of the whole of Christianity, even if it is not necessary that it be performed always and everywhere. On the other hand, however, it is also clear that it cannot disappear from the liturgy and that its presence can be an altogether special way of participation in the sacred celebration, in the mystery of the faith....
Yes.
...At this point, I would like to express a thought that has gripped me increasingly, all the more so in as much as the different cultures and religions enter into relation among themselves. Present in the ambit of the different cultures and religions is great literature, great architecture, great painting and great sculptures. And everywhere there is also music. And yet in no other cultural ambit is there music of equal grandeur to that born in the ambit of the Christian faith: from Palestrina to Bach, to Handel, up to Mozart, Beethoven and Bruckner. Western music is something unique, which has no equal in other cultures. And this – it seems to me – should make us think.
Certainly, Western music goes beyond by far the religious and ecclesial ambit. And yet it finds its most profound origin, in any case, in the liturgy of the encounter with God. In Bach, for whom the glory of God represents ultimately the end of all music, this is altogether evident. The great and pure answer of Western music was developed in the encounter with that God that, in the liturgy, makes himself present to us in Christ Jesus. For me, that music is a demonstration of the truth of Christianity. Wherever such an answer is developed, there has been an encounter with truth, with the true Creator of the world. Therefore, great sacred music is a reality of theological rank and of permanent meaning for the faith of the whole of Christianity, even if it is not necessary that it be performed always and everywhere. On the other hand, however, it is also clear that it cannot disappear from the liturgy and that its presence can be an altogether special way of participation in the sacred celebration, in the mystery of the faith....
Yes.
IRS + DOJ: Convert Cash to Ammo, Now
Have cash in the bank? 401(k)? Other Gummint-accessible spots? Conservative?
Prolly time to start converting into hard assets like guns and ammo.
...Records also detail how the Obama IRS gave the FBI 21 computer disks, containing 1.25 million pages of confidential IRS returns from 113,000 nonprofit social 501(c)(4) welfare groups – or nearly every 501(c)(4) in the United States – as part of its prosecution effort. According to a letter from then-House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, “This revelation likely means that the IRS – including possibly Lois Lerner – violated federal tax law by transmitting this information to the Justice Department.” …
Or maybe you're counting on McConnell/Boehner to call for impeachment of the IRS' Koskinen and various DOJ executives? Or for them to cut off Lerner's pension and benefits?
In that case, you are beyond stupid.
HT: Moonbattery
Prolly time to start converting into hard assets like guns and ammo.
...Records also detail how the Obama IRS gave the FBI 21 computer disks, containing 1.25 million pages of confidential IRS returns from 113,000 nonprofit social 501(c)(4) welfare groups – or nearly every 501(c)(4) in the United States – as part of its prosecution effort. According to a letter from then-House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, “This revelation likely means that the IRS – including possibly Lois Lerner – violated federal tax law by transmitting this information to the Justice Department.” …
Or maybe you're counting on McConnell/Boehner to call for impeachment of the IRS' Koskinen and various DOJ executives? Or for them to cut off Lerner's pension and benefits?
In that case, you are beyond stupid.
HT: Moonbattery
More Work for Warmists
It is reported that in Wisconsin, "too hot" is 85 degrees F.
On the other hand, in Arizona, "too hot" is 100 degrees F.
Once AlGore and the Warmist Loons resolve the 'warming' issue, we expect that they will tailor the 'warm' to accomodate these surveys.
Why not? If they can play God, go all the way.
On the other hand, in Arizona, "too hot" is 100 degrees F.
Once AlGore and the Warmist Loons resolve the 'warming' issue, we expect that they will tailor the 'warm' to accomodate these surveys.
Why not? If they can play God, go all the way.
The Scott Walker Government-Boy Runaround
It is reported that a number of anti-Common Core groups--Libertarians, teachers, Eagle Forum, and Tea Party--have called out Scott Walker for his runaround on Common Core.
Why yes, he doesn't want Common Core. Of course!
But the test he has installed is Common Core, renamed "Badger Some-Damn-Thing-or-Another."
Between the stench of this doubletalk, his "None of Your Damn Business" government-secrecy act, and his go limp mouthing on queer "marriage," Walker is showing his real self: Another Nice Government Boy.
Why yes, he doesn't want Common Core. Of course!
But the test he has installed is Common Core, renamed "Badger Some-Damn-Thing-or-Another."
Between the stench of this doubletalk, his "None of Your Damn Business" government-secrecy act, and his go limp mouthing on queer "marriage," Walker is showing his real self: Another Nice Government Boy.
Fed Judge "Shocked" at ObozoGummint
A Texas Fed Judge is "shocked" at the behavior of Illegal Immigration Boss-Man Jeh Johnson.
Not to worry. Roberts will find that "no" means "yes" sometime downtrack.
(Roberts should try that crap with a Feminazi sometime. It would be fun to watch.)
Not to worry. Roberts will find that "no" means "yes" sometime downtrack.
(Roberts should try that crap with a Feminazi sometime. It would be fun to watch.)
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
The Good News
Yes, there is some good news!
According to the NRA, 23% of women in the US owned guns in 2011, up from 11% in '04.
HT: HotAir
According to the NRA, 23% of women in the US owned guns in 2011, up from 11% in '04.
HT: HotAir
The Nascent Revolution in HealthCare Pricing
We all know that flying to India for surgery will save you a lot of money--and at little risk. We all know that buying drugs in Canada will save you a lot of money--and at little risk.
Well, there's more than just that going on.
The Surgery Center of Oklahoma put this in stark relief when they showed up on the scene, offering no-insurance, flat-priced common operations where the price is known before the procedure is undertaken and typically winds up costing 80% less than a hospital charges for the same procedure -- with no surprises.
And in Arizona,
...Anyone can walk into these Wellness Centers at convenient hours and get accurate, rapid lab testing with transparent prices that are always at least 50-80% below Medicare reimbursement rates....
There will be more to follow. Perhaps the (R) absolute majority in the Wisconsin statehouse should consider a few new laws. We'll see who owns the Party, eh?
Well, there's more than just that going on.
The Surgery Center of Oklahoma put this in stark relief when they showed up on the scene, offering no-insurance, flat-priced common operations where the price is known before the procedure is undertaken and typically winds up costing 80% less than a hospital charges for the same procedure -- with no surprises.
And in Arizona,
...Anyone can walk into these Wellness Centers at convenient hours and get accurate, rapid lab testing with transparent prices that are always at least 50-80% below Medicare reimbursement rates....
There will be more to follow. Perhaps the (R) absolute majority in the Wisconsin statehouse should consider a few new laws. We'll see who owns the Party, eh?
Why the GOP Establishment Hates The Donald
Yesterday morning a Milwaukee squawker declared that The Donald was a Democrat plant. So happens that Ace (of AOSHQ) thinks the same way. Well, maybe that's so.
But there's a better reason for the stark raving fear and mud-slinging from the Establishment.
...The idea that Donald Trump is so damaging to the GOP brand is itself laughable because the GOP has worked rather well in destroying its own brand. When the upper echelons of the party declare outright war on its conservative peers and its conservative voting base (which is much larger than its moderate base), you see what happens to the party. Rife with division, we have a GOP establishment that has constantly pushed out weak candidates with more than just “moderate” leanings and fought tooth and nail to keep conservative candidates out of multiple races. It is very clearly in the pocket of major corporate interests and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but accuses its opponents of being in it for the money....
Hello, Healthcare RoJo! Hello, Paul (budget-buster) Ryan!! (Don't have space to list the rest, sorry....)
...The GOP has done everything it can to either not fight (or, at times, support) blanket, executive amnesty, the likes of which is a clear overreach of the powers of the executive branch. Their lack of action on an issue that could easily win back a chunk of their support proves they have no clear grasp of how to handle an electorate that is slowly but surely becoming more and more active in electoral politics....
Cheap labor is good. War is peace.
But there's a better reason for the stark raving fear and mud-slinging from the Establishment.
...The idea that Donald Trump is so damaging to the GOP brand is itself laughable because the GOP has worked rather well in destroying its own brand. When the upper echelons of the party declare outright war on its conservative peers and its conservative voting base (which is much larger than its moderate base), you see what happens to the party. Rife with division, we have a GOP establishment that has constantly pushed out weak candidates with more than just “moderate” leanings and fought tooth and nail to keep conservative candidates out of multiple races. It is very clearly in the pocket of major corporate interests and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but accuses its opponents of being in it for the money....
Hello, Healthcare RoJo! Hello, Paul (budget-buster) Ryan!! (Don't have space to list the rest, sorry....)
...The GOP has done everything it can to either not fight (or, at times, support) blanket, executive amnesty, the likes of which is a clear overreach of the powers of the executive branch. Their lack of action on an issue that could easily win back a chunk of their support proves they have no clear grasp of how to handle an electorate that is slowly but surely becoming more and more active in electoral politics....
Cheap labor is good. War is peace.
The Donald Has Statistics
One may criticize The Donald for his massive bravado problem, or his somewhat tangled syntax, or his off-the-cuff vocal bumbles.
But ya'know, there are these damn stubborn facts:
...There are now 900,000 illegal aliens who have been ordered to leave the country by the courts, yet the Administration is refusing to lift a finger to deport them. Of those ordered to be deported, 170,000 are criminal aliens. After releasing 36,000 criminal aliens in FY 2013, the Administration has let go another 30,558 this past fiscal year. As Jessica Vaughn noted, these criminals racked up “convictions on 79,059 crimes, including 175 homicides, 373 sexual assaults, 186 kidnappings, and 14,014 impaired driving offenses.” According to data from the House Judiciary Committee, 3,100 are deemed “Threat Level 1” criminals.
Among those released were 121 criminal aliens who committed murder after receiving their get-out-of-jail free card....
There are about 12 million illegals living in the US. That means that ONE OF EIGHT is a criminal by virtue of the simple fact that they have ignored court orders to get the Hell out of Dodge. ONE OF SIXTEEN is a convicted criminal, to boot--and those are the ones who were caught.
So yah, near 90% are law-abiding (except for that home-invasion thing of crossing the border without approval), and they're most likely people that we'd be happy to have here, (except for that home-invasion thing of crossing the border without approval.)
Meantime, The Donald has a point.
But ya'know, there are these damn stubborn facts:
...There are now 900,000 illegal aliens who have been ordered to leave the country by the courts, yet the Administration is refusing to lift a finger to deport them. Of those ordered to be deported, 170,000 are criminal aliens. After releasing 36,000 criminal aliens in FY 2013, the Administration has let go another 30,558 this past fiscal year. As Jessica Vaughn noted, these criminals racked up “convictions on 79,059 crimes, including 175 homicides, 373 sexual assaults, 186 kidnappings, and 14,014 impaired driving offenses.” According to data from the House Judiciary Committee, 3,100 are deemed “Threat Level 1” criminals.
Among those released were 121 criminal aliens who committed murder after receiving their get-out-of-jail free card....
There are about 12 million illegals living in the US. That means that ONE OF EIGHT is a criminal by virtue of the simple fact that they have ignored court orders to get the Hell out of Dodge. ONE OF SIXTEEN is a convicted criminal, to boot--and those are the ones who were caught.
So yah, near 90% are law-abiding (except for that home-invasion thing of crossing the border without approval), and they're most likely people that we'd be happy to have here, (except for that home-invasion thing of crossing the border without approval.)
Meantime, The Donald has a point.
Cruz Quotes The Necessary Reservation re: Obergefell
While Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, and a host of others simply gave up following Obergefell, Ted Cruz points to Abraham Lincoln.
From his First Inaugural: "...At the same time the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government, upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in ordinary litigation between parties, in personal actions, the people will have ceased, to be their own rulers, having, to that extent, practically resigned their government, into the hands of that eminent tribunal." --quoted at PowerLine
That was about Dred Scott. Commentary follows from Hayward:
...in his decision to reverse the executive branch decisions supposedly based on Dred Scott in circumstances that were not parallel—both were free blacks in free states, with no one asserting ownership claims to them—Lincoln was asserting that the executive branch was not obligated to extend the principle of the Dred Scott case more broadly. The Constitution belongs to all three branches of government, each of which may assert its constitutional prerogatives in its own sphere—pending a legal challenge in the courts that concludes otherwise....
Hayward is very careful not to bring up the 10th Amendment, by the way, nor Jackson's "...let THEM enforce it!" language, both of which would be appropriate when SCOTUS approves a crime against nature, which is the case in Dred Scott, Roe and Obergefell.
It will take someone with far more courage to do that, and that person is not a current (R) candidate for the Presidency, with the possible exception of Cruz.
And no, we won't hear that from the USCC, either.
From his First Inaugural: "...At the same time the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government, upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in ordinary litigation between parties, in personal actions, the people will have ceased, to be their own rulers, having, to that extent, practically resigned their government, into the hands of that eminent tribunal." --quoted at PowerLine
That was about Dred Scott. Commentary follows from Hayward:
...in his decision to reverse the executive branch decisions supposedly based on Dred Scott in circumstances that were not parallel—both were free blacks in free states, with no one asserting ownership claims to them—Lincoln was asserting that the executive branch was not obligated to extend the principle of the Dred Scott case more broadly. The Constitution belongs to all three branches of government, each of which may assert its constitutional prerogatives in its own sphere—pending a legal challenge in the courts that concludes otherwise....
Hayward is very careful not to bring up the 10th Amendment, by the way, nor Jackson's "...let THEM enforce it!" language, both of which would be appropriate when SCOTUS approves a crime against nature, which is the case in Dred Scott, Roe and Obergefell.
It will take someone with far more courage to do that, and that person is not a current (R) candidate for the Presidency, with the possible exception of Cruz.
And no, we won't hear that from the USCC, either.
More Revenooers for Wisconsin!!
We owe the existence of NASCAR to the existence of "revenooers"--that is, tax agents.
Scott Walker likes them revenooers, too! So he'll hire a bunch of them to finance the Bucks' new playground.
...This year, in his proposed 2015 – 2017 state budget, Walker asked the legislature to approve $27.2 million in funding to hire 113 new Department of Revenue agents. Most of these agents, 102, are going to be used to “increase auditing activity and improve tax collections.” The remaining 11 agents will be used to “improve the collection of debts owed to state agencies and other governmental entities” according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis....
Pay particular attention to the red-highlighted sentence. Remember that Milwaukee County signed over its uncollectable tax accounts to Wisconsin as the County's "contribution" to the new Bucks' playground?
Figure about $60K/revenue agent/year all-in, with benefits, pensions, and expenses. So now how much will the State pay for the County's "contribution"? About $660,000/year. That's to collect $4 million/year, which is to say that the State will only net $3.3 million. That's IF the money is actually collected and IF those new agents never get a raise.
Hmmmmm????
Scott Walker likes them revenooers, too! So he'll hire a bunch of them to finance the Bucks' new playground.
...This year, in his proposed 2015 – 2017 state budget, Walker asked the legislature to approve $27.2 million in funding to hire 113 new Department of Revenue agents. Most of these agents, 102, are going to be used to “increase auditing activity and improve tax collections.” The remaining 11 agents will be used to “improve the collection of debts owed to state agencies and other governmental entities” according to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis....
Pay particular attention to the red-highlighted sentence. Remember that Milwaukee County signed over its uncollectable tax accounts to Wisconsin as the County's "contribution" to the new Bucks' playground?
Figure about $60K/revenue agent/year all-in, with benefits, pensions, and expenses. So now how much will the State pay for the County's "contribution"? About $660,000/year. That's to collect $4 million/year, which is to say that the State will only net $3.3 million. That's IF the money is actually collected and IF those new agents never get a raise.
Hmmmmm????
Schimel Sues EPA. Good!
What took you so long, Brad?
Wisconsin has joined eight other states in filing a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for what they claim unlawfully expands the federal government's regulatory reach over local streams, lands and farms. Attorney General Brad Schimel says the rule, known as the 'Waters of the United States,' would extend the EPA and Corps of Engineers' regulatory reach to an untold number of small bodies of water, including roadside ditches and short-lived streams or any other area where the agencies believe water may flow once every hundred years.
Schimel says the rule could have dire consequences for homeowners, farmers and other entities by forcing them to navigate a complex federal bureaucracy and obtain costly permits in order to perform everyday tasks like digging ditches, building fences or spraying fertilizers.
While you're at it, sue EPA for its ridiculous--and extremely costly--automobile emissions standards. If your car fails, you MUST spend up to EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE bucks to fix it before you can obtain a waiver.
Yah. Low-income folks have that laying around in the couch cushions, right?
Wisconsin has joined eight other states in filing a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for what they claim unlawfully expands the federal government's regulatory reach over local streams, lands and farms. Attorney General Brad Schimel says the rule, known as the 'Waters of the United States,' would extend the EPA and Corps of Engineers' regulatory reach to an untold number of small bodies of water, including roadside ditches and short-lived streams or any other area where the agencies believe water may flow once every hundred years.
Schimel says the rule could have dire consequences for homeowners, farmers and other entities by forcing them to navigate a complex federal bureaucracy and obtain costly permits in order to perform everyday tasks like digging ditches, building fences or spraying fertilizers.
While you're at it, sue EPA for its ridiculous--and extremely costly--automobile emissions standards. If your car fails, you MUST spend up to EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE bucks to fix it before you can obtain a waiver.
Yah. Low-income folks have that laying around in the couch cushions, right?
Monday, July 06, 2015
How "Economics" Is Flawed
Economics is, really, dollar-denominated sociology. As such, there's a flaw in the "economics" system.
...So, let's put all this together. The economic system we've set up isn't a thing in its own right. It doesn't have a nature, and therefore it doesn't have laws of its own. Economics is just a human activity.
Thus, the relevant laws to economics seem to be our laws, that is, they are consequences of our nature. Human nature includes the danger of starvation and the suffering of pain. It also includes this dangerous incapacity to always cleanly distinguish between what our mind tells us about the world and the world itself. Where we've set up a system that is fragile instead of antifragile, systemic collapse is our fault and should be our responsibility. In this case, the Germans' outsized influence on the system suggests outsized German responsibility. They have created much of this problem by acting as if it were possible to impose laws on economics that don't take account of human nature. All economic laws are located in us.
On the other hand, human nature also includes a robust self-love that corrupts us when we try to treat each other fairly. Greeks have behaved in accord with human nature, but not wisely or well. Making exceptions for those who have behaved unwisely is a serious business. It has to be done in a way that doesn't make exception-seeking an attractive proposition for other nations (such as Portugal or Spain).
If that can't be worked out, then we should bow to human nature and let the Greeks take care of themselves -- out of the Euro, and out from under the control of its rules. The rules are unwise, and the philosophy behind them likewise. Because it mistakes the locus of the laws, it thinks you can have economic laws that are detached from human nature. That can only lead to systemic collapses such as this one. We should expect to see more, whether the Germans or the Greeks "win," unless the whole set of rules is re-examined to take account of human nature in its fullness.
Yes.
...So, let's put all this together. The economic system we've set up isn't a thing in its own right. It doesn't have a nature, and therefore it doesn't have laws of its own. Economics is just a human activity.
Thus, the relevant laws to economics seem to be our laws, that is, they are consequences of our nature. Human nature includes the danger of starvation and the suffering of pain. It also includes this dangerous incapacity to always cleanly distinguish between what our mind tells us about the world and the world itself. Where we've set up a system that is fragile instead of antifragile, systemic collapse is our fault and should be our responsibility. In this case, the Germans' outsized influence on the system suggests outsized German responsibility. They have created much of this problem by acting as if it were possible to impose laws on economics that don't take account of human nature. All economic laws are located in us.
On the other hand, human nature also includes a robust self-love that corrupts us when we try to treat each other fairly. Greeks have behaved in accord with human nature, but not wisely or well. Making exceptions for those who have behaved unwisely is a serious business. It has to be done in a way that doesn't make exception-seeking an attractive proposition for other nations (such as Portugal or Spain).
If that can't be worked out, then we should bow to human nature and let the Greeks take care of themselves -- out of the Euro, and out from under the control of its rules. The rules are unwise, and the philosophy behind them likewise. Because it mistakes the locus of the laws, it thinks you can have economic laws that are detached from human nature. That can only lead to systemic collapses such as this one. We should expect to see more, whether the Germans or the Greeks "win," unless the whole set of rules is re-examined to take account of human nature in its fullness.
Yes.
The Inverts, Income Taxes, and Trade Treaties
Read between the lines in this news item, and you'll have a good inkling of exactly why the Republicans voted to give Obozo whatever he wants in the new trade treaties.
The Obama administration quietly handed a victory to U.S. companies that avoid taxes by claiming a foreign address, suggesting that virtually all of them are still eligible for government contracts....
....Ingersoll-Rand’s most sweeping argument is that the government’s obligations under trade agreements trump the contracting law. Ireland and the U.S. are both bound by the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement, which requires members not to discriminate against each other’s companies in government contracting....
But "eligible for contracts" is only one part of it. The OTHER part is that the inverts (I-R, Burger King, Medtronic, etc.) do not pay US corporate income taxes.
If you think that the budget deficit is large now, wait about 3-5 years.
The Obama administration quietly handed a victory to U.S. companies that avoid taxes by claiming a foreign address, suggesting that virtually all of them are still eligible for government contracts....
....Ingersoll-Rand’s most sweeping argument is that the government’s obligations under trade agreements trump the contracting law. Ireland and the U.S. are both bound by the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement, which requires members not to discriminate against each other’s companies in government contracting....
But "eligible for contracts" is only one part of it. The OTHER part is that the inverts (I-R, Burger King, Medtronic, etc.) do not pay US corporate income taxes.
If you think that the budget deficit is large now, wait about 3-5 years.
Sunday, July 05, 2015
"Move On" Marco, "Re-Run" Romney, and The Mouth Attack The Donald
....oh, and "Out Of Love" Jeb, too!!
See, the only problem with The Donald is that he is a lot less Politically Correct than that bunch.
Rubio tells us that HomoMarriage is 'settled law.' Romney can't win unless it's a one-man race. Jeb is just another Bush; same resume, same family connections, same Big Gummint butt-sucker. And Christie? He absolutely despises the Second Amendment (but you have to have a good memory to recall that.)
Meantime, immigrants, mostly illegals, have absorbed all the jobs created in the Obozoconomy and 93 million people have dropped out of the labor force. The US has no friggin' idea of how many ISIL terrorists have come over the Rio Grande in the last 5 years, narco-gangs run large sectors of Mexico adjacent to the border, and this is 'all good for America.'
Uh-huh.
See, the only problem with The Donald is that he is a lot less Politically Correct than that bunch.
Rubio tells us that HomoMarriage is 'settled law.' Romney can't win unless it's a one-man race. Jeb is just another Bush; same resume, same family connections, same Big Gummint butt-sucker. And Christie? He absolutely despises the Second Amendment (but you have to have a good memory to recall that.)
Meantime, immigrants, mostly illegals, have absorbed all the jobs created in the Obozoconomy and 93 million people have dropped out of the labor force. The US has no friggin' idea of how many ISIL terrorists have come over the Rio Grande in the last 5 years, narco-gangs run large sectors of Mexico adjacent to the border, and this is 'all good for America.'
Uh-huh.
New Law School Forming Now!
The Clarice Feldman School of Law!
Why not create a new online law school, the Penumbra School. You can get your law degree from me at little cost and in rapid order. How? Well, we can skip all the courses on legislation. All we need is a meditation course in its place where we try to divine the feelings on matters of the linchpin Justice Kennedy. And we can dispense with constitutional law since it is now whatever five justices think it should have been. Contract and Corporation Law classes are unnecessary as the GM bailout established they count for nothing if the president decides to abrogate them. Immigration Law is unnecessary, too. No need to read what Congress has passed about immigration just leaf through the latest executive orders from the White House. True that leaves a few things -- Administrative law, for example -- but it increasingly appears that with minor exceptions like this week’s SCOTUS slapdown of the EPA, that Congress is just giving the bureaucrats blank checks to regulate whatever the heck they want to as they please and generally the courts are giving them wide berth to do just that. Our laws are being written on shifting, unpredictable sands, and the people charged with legislating, enforcing and interpreting seem to like that just fine.
The school song will be "Feelings," and the colors will be,.........well, .......you know.
Why not create a new online law school, the Penumbra School. You can get your law degree from me at little cost and in rapid order. How? Well, we can skip all the courses on legislation. All we need is a meditation course in its place where we try to divine the feelings on matters of the linchpin Justice Kennedy. And we can dispense with constitutional law since it is now whatever five justices think it should have been. Contract and Corporation Law classes are unnecessary as the GM bailout established they count for nothing if the president decides to abrogate them. Immigration Law is unnecessary, too. No need to read what Congress has passed about immigration just leaf through the latest executive orders from the White House. True that leaves a few things -- Administrative law, for example -- but it increasingly appears that with minor exceptions like this week’s SCOTUS slapdown of the EPA, that Congress is just giving the bureaucrats blank checks to regulate whatever the heck they want to as they please and generally the courts are giving them wide berth to do just that. Our laws are being written on shifting, unpredictable sands, and the people charged with legislating, enforcing and interpreting seem to like that just fine.
The school song will be "Feelings," and the colors will be,.........well, .......you know.
Saturday, July 04, 2015
How the Greeks Got Screwed
There's been a fair amount of propaganda on the 'net about the "laziness" of the Greeks, and their "fat/overpaid/over-pensioned" public servants.
I'll believe the second part--public "servants" are pretty much the same worldwide. (Yes, there are exceptions.)
But that isn't the whole story.
The IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis report on Greece that came out this week has caused a big stir. We now know that the Fund’s analysts confirm what Syriza has been saying ever since they came to power 5 months ago: Greece needs debt relief, lots of it, and fast....
We also know that Europe tried to silence the report. But what’s most interesting is that this has been going on for months, as per Reuters. Ergo, the IMF has known about the -preliminary- analysis for months, and kept silent, while at the same time ‘negotiating’ with Greece on austerity and bailouts.
And if you dig a bit deeper still, there’s no avoiding the fact that the IMF hasn’t merely known this for months, it’s known it for years. The Greek Parliamentary Debt Committee reported three weeks ago that it has in its possession an IMF document from 2010(!) that confirms the Fund knew even at that point in time.
So. IMF gets to take a loss (underwritten by US taxpayers) b/c Merkel wanted to look good.
I'll believe the second part--public "servants" are pretty much the same worldwide. (Yes, there are exceptions.)
But that isn't the whole story.
The IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis report on Greece that came out this week has caused a big stir. We now know that the Fund’s analysts confirm what Syriza has been saying ever since they came to power 5 months ago: Greece needs debt relief, lots of it, and fast....
We also know that Europe tried to silence the report. But what’s most interesting is that this has been going on for months, as per Reuters. Ergo, the IMF has known about the -preliminary- analysis for months, and kept silent, while at the same time ‘negotiating’ with Greece on austerity and bailouts.
And if you dig a bit deeper still, there’s no avoiding the fact that the IMF hasn’t merely known this for months, it’s known it for years. The Greek Parliamentary Debt Committee reported three weeks ago that it has in its possession an IMF document from 2010(!) that confirms the Fund knew even at that point in time.
So. IMF gets to take a loss (underwritten by US taxpayers) b/c Merkel wanted to look good.
ObozoCare Works!!
Just as Obozo the Gramscian/Marxist had hoped, ObozoCare will raise rates.
A lot.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans — market leaders in many states — are seeking rate increases that average 23 percent in Illinois, 25 percent in North Carolina, 31 percent in Oklahoma, 36 percent in Tennessee and 54 percent in Minnesota...
...The Oregon insurance commissioner, Laura N. Cali, has just approved 2016 rate increases for companies that cover more than 220,000 people. Moda Health Plan, which has the largest enrollment in the state, received a 25 percent increase, and the second-largest plan, LifeWise, received a 33 percent increase....
..Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico has requested rate increases averaging 51 percent for its 33,000 members....
Geisinger, [Pennsylvania] often praised as a national model of coordinated care, has requested an increase of 40 percent in rates for its health maintenance organization....
Arches Health Plan, which covers about one-fourth of the people who bought insurance through the federal exchange in Utah. ... It has requested rate increases averaging 45 percent for 2016...
Health Net, for example, requested rate increases averaging 9 percent in Oregon. The state approved increases averaging 34.8 percent. Oregon’s Health Co-op requested a 5.3 percent increase. The state called for a 19.9 percent increase....
The objective for Obozo is to either 1) bankrupt the insurers; or 2) raise rates so high that there is a national outcry for single payer--which would be the Gummint.
Or both.
A lot.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans — market leaders in many states — are seeking rate increases that average 23 percent in Illinois, 25 percent in North Carolina, 31 percent in Oklahoma, 36 percent in Tennessee and 54 percent in Minnesota...
...The Oregon insurance commissioner, Laura N. Cali, has just approved 2016 rate increases for companies that cover more than 220,000 people. Moda Health Plan, which has the largest enrollment in the state, received a 25 percent increase, and the second-largest plan, LifeWise, received a 33 percent increase....
..Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico has requested rate increases averaging 51 percent for its 33,000 members....
Geisinger, [Pennsylvania] often praised as a national model of coordinated care, has requested an increase of 40 percent in rates for its health maintenance organization....
Arches Health Plan, which covers about one-fourth of the people who bought insurance through the federal exchange in Utah. ... It has requested rate increases averaging 45 percent for 2016...
Health Net, for example, requested rate increases averaging 9 percent in Oregon. The state approved increases averaging 34.8 percent. Oregon’s Health Co-op requested a 5.3 percent increase. The state called for a 19.9 percent increase....
The objective for Obozo is to either 1) bankrupt the insurers; or 2) raise rates so high that there is a national outcry for single payer--which would be the Gummint.
Or both.