Gobble, Gobble

Instapundit » Blog Archive » IN RESPONSE TO THE OBAMA HEALTHCARE TALKING POINTS FOR THANKSGIVING, Ace Of Spades offers an alterna…: "IN RESPONSE TO THE OBAMA HEALTHCARE TALKING POINTS FOR THANKSGIVING, Ace Of Spades offers an alternative set. Sample: “Hey remember when you said that Obamacare was going to work great, and then, when people asked you how it actually worked, you sort of implied they were stupid for not knowing, and yet you never provided any evidence that you had any idea of how it was supposed to work yourself? Yeah, you were wrong to do that.”

Still, it makes sense people would talk about ObamaCare at Thanksgiving — it’s the biggest legislative turkey of the century!

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 5:09 pm"

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Centrifugal Farce (Munich Reprise Edition)

Assessing the Iran deal | Power Line: "Third, Iran has broken the psychological momentum and effect of the international economic sanctions. While estimates differ on Iran’s precise gain, it is considerable ($7 billion is the lowest estimate), and presages much more. Tehran correctly assessed that a mere six-months’ easing of sanctions will make it extraordinarily hard for the West to reverse direction, even faced with systematic violations of Iran’s nuclear pledges. Major oil-importing countries (China, India, South Korea, and others) were already chafing under U.S. sanctions, sensing President Obama had no stomach either to impose sanctions on them, or pay the domestic political price of granting further waivers.

Whole thing here, and all of it is very much worth reading.

STEVE adds: Methinks we should call this for what it is: centrifugal farce."

You may not know that Czechoslovakia was not allowed to participate in the negotiation at Munich between Chamberlain and Hitler for its effective surrender. And Israel has not been allowed to negotiate it's own surrender in this case apparently.

Somehow, Obama seems to not actually understand that Israel is a nuclear power.  Just as the Arabs didn't in '73 to their near extinction.

That will be sugar plums and lollipops compared to this time around...

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Stopped Clock Watch (Low N Edition)

Al Sharpton condemns ‘knockout’ attacks | New York Post: "Rev. Al Sharpton condemned “knockout” attacks Saturday but stopped short of calling for marches against the brutal hate crimes.

“This kind of behavior is deplorable and must be condemned by all us,” he said at his weekly National Action Network meeting in Harlem. “We would not be silent if it was the other way around. We cannot be silent or in any way reluctant to confront it when it is coming from our own community.”

On Monday, Sharpton and other leaders plan to discuss a “next move.”"

If he actually keeps this in the forefront I'll be shocked. And at that point I would be truly forthcoming with praise if it turns out to be more than just lip service. I doubt it, but I'll keep an eye out.

In the same vein, it isn't true that I don't agree with Obama on anything. We are in complete agreement that the American people are in desperate need of mental health care. On my dime if necessary.

And until today I would have said that Al's need was foremost among them...

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Did You Know?

Ace of Spades HQ: "Hey, do you know what famous person died on Nov. 22, 1963? Well, C.S. Lewis, for one. I ask again, do you know what famous person died on Nov. 22, 1963? How about Aldous Huxley?

Huxley wrote a royal crap ton of stuff, stories, satire, and novels, and was one of the leading intellectuals of his day. His best known work is probably the dystopian novel Brave New World.

Lewis also wrote a royal crap ton of stuff, and perhaps best known for The Screwtape Letters, although I believe the best way to get to know him is by reading Mere Christianity or, my personal favorite, God In The Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics. And of course, the Narnia Chronicles.

Kennedy "wrote" Profiles in Courage, and I use quotes because it is now known that he wrote PiC the same way that Barak Obama wrote his books, i.e. he didn't. Instead, PiC was mostly written by his lackey speechwriter Ted Sorensen, who admitted decades later that he very well paid by Kennedy for his ghost writing services. Because of his work, Kennedy was awarded a Pulitzer Prize."

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Dear Neighbors,

Ace of Spades HQ: "And anything else that emerges from the darkest depths of your scary minds....."

Couldn't you at least consider "Moo'ing" when farmer Obama walks by?

(Oof. The image resize screwed this up somehow. You just need to know that all the turkeys are "Moo'ing" and the farmer is blind with a cane.)

Let me guess -- you've never even read "Animal Farm" have you?

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Luckily, We Can Trust Them With All This Power

N.S.A. Report Outlined Goals for More Power - NYTimes.com: "And it wants to find ways to combine all of its technical tools to enhance its surveillance powers. The N.S.A. will seek to integrate its “capabilities to reach previously inaccessible targets in support of exploitation, cyberdefense and cyberoperations,” the paper stated.

The agency also intends to improve its access to encrypted communications used by individuals, businesses and foreign governments, the strategy document said. The N.S.A. has already had some success in defeating encryption, The New York Times has reported, but the document makes it clear that countering “ubiquitous, strong, commercial network encryption” is a top priority. The agency plans to fight back against the rise of encryption through relationships with companies that develop encryption tools and through espionage operations. In other countries, the document said, the N.S.A. must also “counter indigenous cryptographic programs by targeting their industrial bases with all available Sigint and Humint” — human intelligence, meaning spies."

Because there's no possibility they might use it to gain even more power or use it "accidentally on purpose" against us.

The phrase "accidentally on purpose" was one of my Dad's favorites to question people's real motives.  It's come back to me more and more lately with all the crap and lies hitting the fan.

Another of his favorites was the toast: "As good as you are, and as bad as I am, I'm as good as you are as bad as I am."  The more I think about it this is an excellent expression of the case against Leviathan government. Those who think they're better than others can easily fall into narcissistic and manipulative power madness. I've become steadily less sanguine about the prospects of the rapidly deteriorating middle class in the face of these so-called people.

Another joke I grew up with was: "How can you tell when a politician is lying? ... Their lips are moving." And then there was Mark Twain's common sense observation that Congress was the country's only native criminal class.

But the politicians and compliant Praetorian Guard media seem to have done their damnedest to expunge common sense from the culture. The reason being that that's the only way to keep the current status quo of kleptocratic kakistocracy from imploding. (This is a great piece I ran across lately on that topic.)

I guess the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.  Well ... I won't talk about my Mom today as I was remembering her fondly yesterday in spite of her vast failings on the political front...

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LOLOL

Narcissist in chief strikes again on 50th anniversary of JFK’s death [pic, bonus Photoshops] | Twitchy: LOLOL. I MUST have a framed print of this. Via @sjkz

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COTD: Run Away!

Healthcare.gov: Worse Than Ever, But Don’t Be Distracted | Power Line:

Douglas Cassel · Harvard University

I am in the industry and have read the bill cover to cover. There are many shoes left to drop, almost too many to even discuss coherently. However, the most important one may be the medicaid utilization projections made by the government. These projections assume utilization rates similar to those of the Kaiser system for new Medicaid patients. The actual demand for care, and subsequent costs, will be much higher. As such, the demand for care could swamp the system, particularly in the inner cities, and the costs will overwhelm the federal and state budgets(who will eventually cover these expenses). I actually support some sort of universal healthcare as a societal imperative, but remain astounded by the deficiencies of this law, and the profound ignorance of the people that passed it.

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Winston Smith, Call Your Office

Instapundit » Blog Archive » TRUST: Documents say NSA repeatedly promised to stop surveillance rules violations. “The Obama adm…: "TRUST: Documents say NSA repeatedly promised to stop surveillance rules violations. “The Obama administration published the heavily censored files Monday night as part of an ongoing civil liberties lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the government’s collection of phone records, which the White House has said is important to countering terrorism. The files published Monday night were so heavily censored that one of the two justifications for the government to search through Americans’ phone records was blacked out.”

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 8:17 am"

Apparently, Obama is racist against himself or something...

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How Inconvenient

Bookworm Room » Liberal logic when it comes to guns: "Hat tip: Caped Crusader"

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No Kidding

Dana Loesch’s house storm damaged; Still manages hilarious observation about homeowners policy [pic] | Twitchy: I'm glad we don’t have Obamacare house insurance.

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Dishonesty

Ace of Spades HQ: "Anti-gun groups thrive on dishonesty, Exhibit 3,256,918:"

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COTD #2: Nobody Told Him

Through The Sheer Brilliance Of Barack Obama's Foreign Policy Vision, Israel and Saudi Arabia Are Now Working Together: "43 Can't wait for him to explain that nobody told him Iran was a problem.

Posted by: Mama AJ at November 16, 2013 09:25 PM (SUKHu)"

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Takeover? What Takeover?

Ace of Spades HQ: "@verumserum pointed out that the left claims it's a "lie" that Obama has subjected the health care industry to a "government takeover." All the various lefty fact-checking sites have called this "FALSE" or "PANTS ON FIRE" multiple times.

And yet here's Obama summoning health care executives to order them to take actions which actually are illegal under last week's law.

Sure seems to be a government takeover to me."

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COTD: Still Digging

Thus Spake Obama | National Review Online: Aris Total Judas Unrepentant • 44 minutes ago
GWB left us down a well.
BHO dug to China and refinanced the shovel.

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A Reminder

Michelle Malkin | Obama threatens to veto bill which would do pretty much what he said he wanted to do Thursday morning «: Reminder: Obama shut down the government instead of accepting a Republican plan to do what he's now admitting he needs to do.

Because he's still lying that he would let anyone keep their plans of course.

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COTD: Your 44th President

This chart does not look good for President Obama:
"johnhiggins1990
9:00 PM MST

The corruption of Nixon, the incompetence of Carter, the dishonesty of Clinton, and the ratings of Bush...  ladies and gentlemen, your 44th President, Barack Obama!"

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He Cared For The Poor, You Know...

Instapundit » Blog Archive » COMMUNISM/SOCIALISM ALWAYS ENDS THIS WAY, AS THE COVERT LOOTING BECOMES OVERT: Venezuela’s Economic…: "As oil prices fell, the government inevitably ran into political trouble, which it has tried to manage with ill-considered economic interventions such as price controls. Shortages of basic household goods are common, and currency restrictions have sent the price of airline tickets soaring as Venezuelans resort to vacations as a way to get a hold of scarce foreign currency.

These restrictions tend to fall apart, creating the need for even more extreme measures.

Sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money. But hey, when Chavez died his family was somehow worth billions. Because he cared for the poor, you know.

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 10:30 am"

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The Sweatshop Of The "Radicals"

Ace of Spades HQ: "If you listen to artists, writers, academics and journalists, you would think that thousands of them operate in a radical underground. They say the right things. They 'speak truth to power', 'transgress boundaries', and all the rest of it. But you will have noticed that they are careful only to challenge religions that won't hurt them (Christianity) and governments that won't arrest them (democracies).

And here is where the Great Revolution begins:"

Yes, that's right, the revolution starts here - in some Third World sweatshop!

But, alas, not in the way that Leftists have traditionally fantasized about: the bloody uprising, the cowed elite, the self-appointed and strangely middle-class functionaries of the proletarian dictatorship coldly dispensing "justice."

The workers are busy. They have orders to fill, and there won't be a "revolution" unless the young Western leftists get their silly masks to give them a sense of fake camaraderie and being part of the night.

Today most 'radicals' on the left are merely engaged in dissident role-playing along with a bit of revolutionary cosplay and puppetry.

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Wow

“All my love, forever and ever …” [Darleen Click] | protein wisdom: "“All my love, forever and ever …”"

Just click over and WTWT.

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* Except For Yours

The United States Of Hypocrisy (In One Cartoon) | Zero Hedge: "...because it's always what's not said that matters..."

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Nothing Was Ever Discovered To Be Missing

Ace of Spades HQ: "The "seven wonders of Communism" makes a point about the economy. Accordingly, in Communism, 1. All had work. 2. Even though all had a job, no one did anything.  3. Even if none of us has done anything useful, the "State Plan" was filled above 100%. 4. Although the "Plan" has been "over fulfilled", you could not buy anything. 5. Even if nothing was offered for sale, everybody had all he needed. 6. Even if everybody had everything he needed, all were stealing. 7. Although everybody was stealing, nothing was ever discovered to be missing."

And:

The "five rules of survival in Socialism" are instructional. "1. Do not think. 2. If you must think, do not speak. 3. If you think and speak, refrain from writing. 4. If you must think, speak and write, then do not sign charters. 5. In case you think, speak up, write and sign, then do not be surprised by what happens to you.

Got it, comrade?

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Spiked

Bloomberg News Is Said to Curb Articles That Might Anger China - NYTimes.com: "BEIJING — The decision came in an early evening call to four journalists huddled in a Hong Kong conference room. On the line 12 time zones away in New York was their boss, Matthew Winkler, the longtime editor in chief of Bloomberg News. And they were frustrated by what he was telling them.

The investigative report they had been working on for the better part of a year, which detailed the hidden financial ties between one of the wealthiest men in China and the families of top Chinese leaders, would not be published.

In the call late last month, Mr. Winkler defended his decision, comparing it to the self-censorship by foreign news bureaus trying to preserve their ability to report inside Nazi-era Germany, according to Bloomberg employees familiar with the discussion."

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The End O Morality

Morality is for suckers … [Darleen Click] | protein wisdom: "“The system is there and it’s available.”"

The fact that this has only 26K views says she's right, huh?

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2010 Video: Obama Admitted It

2010 Video: Obama Admits Millions 'Might Have to Change Their Coverage': "OBAMA:  Since you asked me a question, let me respond. The 8 to 9 million people you refer to that might have to change their coverage -- keep in mind out of the 300 million Americans that we are talking about -- would be folks who the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office,  estimates would find the deal in the exchange better -- would be a better deal. So, yes, they would change coverage because they got more choice and competition.

So even though the president knew that eight to nine million people "might have to change their coverage" way back in February of 2010, afterwards, for three-plus years -- especially while running for reelection -- Obama continued to reassure the American people that if you like your health care plan, you can keep it. Period. End of story."

Of course he either didn't admit all of it or didn't know all of it also even then.

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Luv Guv

Sultan Knish: Love Your Government: "With everything at stake, voters keep picking the candidates they think love them the most. The exit polls keep showing that voters choose unqualified radicals like Barack Obama or Bill de Blasio because they're "likable", "share their values" and "care about them."

Experience came in dead last in the New York election, both literally in Lhota's case, and in the exit polls, which showed voters ranking experience somewhere between a dead zebra and a mugger on the C train. 34 percent wanted someone who shared their values. 30 percent wanted change. And an unspecified number of right-wing lunatics wanted experience.

Voting is starting to look a lot like dating. A big chunk of the electorate doesn't just want someone to manage a government. They want someone who will make them feel special, share their values and love them back.

Government is becoming more personal, even as it's becoming more impersonal. Newly hatched ducks develop an attachment to their wire mothers. Children neglected by their parents fixate on their nannies. And what of a generation of broken families?"

RTWT. It even explains how W won if you can believe that...

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Good Grief

Moonbattery » What Obama Is Good At: "Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barack Hussein Obama boasts that he is “really good at killing people.” Sunny investigates what else he’s good at:"

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Parsing

Parsing Obama’s Promise | Power Line: "Michael Ramirez has come up with a way of reading President Obama’s famous pledge that defends Obama against the charge of being a liar. Actually, it isn’t any dumber than the ones Obama himself has come up with. Who knows, Jay Carney may use it one of these days:"

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COTD: No Response

Time for Internet Engineers to Fight Back Against the "Surveillance Internet" | MIT Technology Review: "dtutelman 16 hours ago 

"The basic problem is that at its core, the existing ‘net is merely a bigger and fancier version of the original one that assumed everyone was honest and trustworthy (all of the early users were researchers in government and academic labs)."

Bingo!

A 100% cooperative community was indeed the mindset of the developers of ARPANET -- which was the foundation for the Internet infrastructure today. In 1974, Cerf and Kahn published their proposal for the IP protocol (still the foundation for Internet routing; upgrades have been aimed at improving capacity, not security or accountability). The year before, I was one of three reviewers for the paper for IEEE Transactions on Communications. I pointed out this problem in my review, but there was never any response."

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DMV Healthcare Update

Bookworm Room » Four minutes of facts and analysis about Obamacare’s negative effects on young people: "She talks fast, and has a fascinatingly mobile face, and everything she says makes sense:"

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Gaslight (Part 7,594,381)

Bookworm Room » Having been caught engaged in out-and-out fraud, Obama engages in a familiar pattern to cover up his lies *UPDATED*: "Think of it this way:  We’re all living out the movie Gaslight, with Obama as the dangerously manipulative, dishonest Charles Boyer character, and the American public as the hapless, helpless Ingrid Bergman character, whom Boyer is trying to drive mad so that he can take her wealth. (Which raises the question whether Ted Cruz is the Joseph Cotten character who rides to the rescue….)

Even though I’m right about something depressing, I’m human enough to take some pleasure in having been right in the first place.  So, forgive me for analyzing Obama’s latest lies, and his lie about those lies, using a post I wrote five-and-a-half years ago, when I first realized he was using the narcissist’s classic approach to lying and manipulation."

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Thanks Again, Suckers

Maybe Pain Will Teach You Millenials Not To Vote For Your Own Serfdom - Kurt Schlichter - Page full: "It breaks my heart to see the young lawyers I hire hobbled by six figures of debt. But hey, your desperation works fine for us established folks. I got 297 applications for a junior associate position. Let me say that again – 297. Most of them weren’t even practicing law – they were brewing coffee, not writing briefs. Now, I understand that most of you learned nothing but liberal clichés in college, but take a guess: As an employer, are the salaries I pay generally more or less when I have 297 people competing for each job?

So feel free to keep voting for the liberals who keep you in chains. I’ll take my cheaper insurance, my future Social Security checks, and the other benefits that come from being established without guilt. The guys who you squander your votes upon certainly won’t change that equation. You’ll tread water in life, but hey, at least those conservatives won’t be in charge!

Thanks again, suckers. Now get off my lawn."

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A Fleeting Glimmer Of Change About The Hope

Moonbattery » All the President’s Scandals: "Obama’s standard defense for the many scandals that characterize his misbegotten administration is that he has no idea what is going on under his supposed command. Let’s see if even college students — who were so enthusiastic about putting him in power — regard him as incompetent, deceitful, or transparent:"

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Yep, You Guessed It

Instapundit » Blog Archive » AVIK ROY: The Myth Of Americans’ Poor Life Expectancy. If you really want to measure health outc…: "If you really want to measure health outcomes, the best way to do it is at the point of medical intervention. If you have a heart attack, how long do you live in the U.S. vs. another country? If you’re diagnosed with breast cancer? In 2008, a group of investigators conducted a worldwide study of cancer survival rates, called CONCORD. They looked at 5-year survival rates for breast cancer, colon and rectal cancer, and prostate cancer. I compiled their data for the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and western Europe. Guess who came out number one?

Yep, you guessed it."

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What's In It

Now we find out what’s in it: Obamacare’s taxpayer bailout for health insurers | Conservative Intelligence Briefing: "Over at The Incidental Economist, Adrianna McIntyre explains part of the health care law that many people probably did not know was in it. (I know I didn’t — at least not in detail.) Even if the individual mandate is delayed for a year, she points out, the private insurance market won’t immediately be destroyed by the so-called “adverse selection death spiral” — the crash that occurs when health plans contain too many sick people (net-users of the money in the pool) and not enough net-payers (healthy people).

The short version? Obamacare contains a partial bailout for insurers with losses greater than 3 percent in any of the first three years"

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The Slop Bucket

Moonbattery: "Via 100 Percent FED Up, on a tip from G. Fox."

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COTD: The Law: All Three End States Simultaneously

Flashback - Ace circa Oct 2004: "Around 1850, Bastiat wrote "The Law." One of his salient points is that when the law is allowed to be used as a means of plunder, there are only three possible end states: 1. The few use the law to plunder from the many; 2. The many use the law to plunder from the few; and 3. Everyone uses the law to plunder from everyone else. I think it's fair to say that we have arrived at all three end states simultaneously, fueled solely by the Fed's ability to print money. When that ends, things are going to get really interesting. Probably after 2017, because the Fed will print through the 2016 elections to hide the damage as much as possible and get Hillary elected.

Posted by: Caesar North of the Rubicon at November 02, 2013 11:37 AM (HubSo)"

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All You Need To Know

Navy SEALs ordered to remove 'don't tread on me' Navy Jack from uniforms | The Daily Caller: "After reading the email, I first wondered, ‘why?’ (Actually, first I headed to the gym to take out my frustration and anger on some unsuspecting weights with the fury and intensity only a former Navy SEAL can exert.) Why would our leaders sell out our heritage? Why would they rob present and future sailors of our battle cry?

When a friend of mine asked his leadership the same question, he was told, “The Jack is too closely associated with radical groups.” We must assume that this thought policeman embedded in the SEAL community is speaking of the Tea Party, whose flag (which also dates from the American Revolution) depicts a snake with the same defiant slogan as The Navy Jack."

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