1. It's been so bad that the media dropped their erstwhile foible of talking about everything that happens in terms of what it means for Obama. And here it is, the first lap of his new term, when there's more reason than usual to talk about how things are working out for the President.
2. Obama made gun control his big issue leading into the new term. He tried so hard to deploy his speaking skills to channel the nation's emotion after the Sandy Hook massacre, and in the end he couldn't even wrangle all of the Democrats in the Senate, and he was reduced yesterday to surrounding himself with human vessels of tragedy and "a scowling Vice President Biden" and pronounce it "all in all... a pretty shameful day for Washington." The media offered weak support by describing him as passionately angry, but I watched the video and found it surprising dull. I couldn't motivate myself to go over to my computer to blog about it last night. Obama knew he was going to lose. The theater of sympathy and outrage had gone on far too long, the show was a flop, and the leading man was obliged to take his curtain call.
3. North Korea apparently has a nuclear weapon and the nerve to use it (or to pose as if it does), and the new Secretary of State, the exceedingly dreary John Kerry, is sojourning in the general area nattering about global warming — "the Foreign Minister and I agreed to raise the initiative above the level that it is today" — and meanwhile, back in the United States, it's really cold.
4. Obama's efforts to get some lightweight good press over basketball failed. His bracket was busted, and a cutesy photo-op produced an embarrassing video in which he went 2 for 22. That he could play basketball was an element of his legend, and now it's that video that comes to mind when we think of Obama and basketball. Does he even have another sport? Golf? Golf, unlike basketball, never worked as an element of the Obama legend.
5. He shut off White House tours, presumably on the theory that it would spark outrage at the sequester (and those terrible Republicans), but that gesture clashed with his own fun in the White House. Ordinary kids had their field trips canceled, while Obama's daughters got Justin Timberlake to come to the White House and perform right in front of them. It was another of the many parties. Wasn't Beyonce just there? And then she and Jay-Z went to Cuba, and, when criticized, Jay-Z put out a pissy rap tune that (I think) insulted Obama.
6. George Bush is making a comeback, with some charming new elements: He's a granddad and he paints pictures of dogs. The big library is opening. And then there's the new disaster in Waco, just 45 miles from his Crawford ranch, giving Bush reason to do a low-profile but touching trip to comfort the injured and the bereaved. So now does that mean Obama has to go to Texas? He's already going to Boston for a memorial service. How can he not go to Texas? But Texas is not comfortable territory for Obama.
7. Margaret Thatcher up and died. What rotten luck! What a platform for the promoters of the ideology in opposition to his! And then idiots take to the streets with all that "Ding, Dong the Witch Is Dead" childishness and disrespect, damaging the left-wing brand. Should Obama attend the funeral? Ah, at least send the Vice President. At least send somebody! No. He sends nobody.
8. What's the legislative agenda? Immigration reform? WaPo headlines: "Obama isn’t leading on immigration, and that’s a good thing." The media's attempts to help are getting really embarrassing. He's not leading, but, see, that's a good thing. Let us explain why: "Presidential leadership is a polarizing force...." Blah blah blah. What really matters are the 2014 elections. Just hang back and wait. Nothing but weakness and failure might just be a devious strategy for winning 565 days from now.
9. What's happening with Obamacare? That was the achievement of Obama's first term. If there's one thing he ought to do with this second term, it's make sure that thing gets implemented in a way that works with some degree of smoothness, at least enough that — when people finally notice what's been in the works for so long — we don't freak out entirely. But: "A senior Democratic senator who helped write President Barack Obama’s health care law stunned administration officials Wednesday, saying openly he thinks it’s headed for a 'train wreck' because of bumbling implementation.'"
10. The trial of Kermit Gosnell is fogging up the clarity achieved in 2012 victory in the War on Women.
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263 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 263 of 263You know, what whoresoftheinternet says is true despite the fact that it is whoresoftheinternet that is saying it..
"Where is the outrage for the all the parading around by K street lobby folks"
It's called the Tea Party.
Unfortunately, K street now looks to the much more protected Democrats, because liberals make excuses and like to blame others rather than address their own party's corruption.
May his president rot in hell for all eternity. Truly. He and his cadre of 5th columnist Marxist apparatchiks that have infested this great country are truly despicable people that are set out to incrementally try and dismember our Constitutional rights either through the legislative process or via executive orders. They have no shame in telling you exactly how they want to turn the American public into doddering sheep while they, the wolves will slowly corral you into flock to be whittled away slowly but surely.
His butthurt over gun legislation is finally showing. Fuck you Urkel, you do nothing, know nothing, piece of shit. You and your kind are disease infested rancid weasels and you know it.
The one thing that Obama is really good at is spending money that we don't have.
Bagoh20,
On the costs of Obamacare:
Our BC/BS currently offers a lot of coverage options so its fairly easy to isolate what drives premium costs. Perhaps the single biggest driver is maternity coverage. The premium difference between plans identical in every way except for maternity coverage is 50%!
Now when Obamacare dictates maternity coverage for everyone, only a fool would be surprised when overall premiums to add that alone jumped 20 to 25%. And that's assuming quite a dilution due to the additional payors.
I think the Bush referred to was HW.
...and HW might not be in any shape to travel, their heyday being 30 years ago. A miracle that George Schultz (93) and James Baker (83) were able to attend.
I would much rather trust my safety to my fellow workers then to a bunch of regulators and politicians. They have different agendas.
I've never had any beef with private unions, even the AFL-CIO. There, it takes two to tango, and if GM management gave a shit about long-term planning, they would have said no a little more often along the way.
"AT LEAST YOU STILL HAVE YOUR FINGERSZ!!!!111!!!!!11"
We actually have an employee who lost the tip of her finger by simply putting it in a machine and mindlessly pushing the button. No regulation could have prevented it, anymore than driving into on-coming traffic can be made safe.
Regardless, our workers compensation insurance tripled this year, not from injuries, but from frauds perpetrated by lawyers and doctors and effectively condoned by law in CA. In Nevada, the cost would be a fraction for the same thing. Politics matter.
from NY Post so grain of salt:
A senior Obama administration official said a series of briefings overnight have produced concern the Texas blast could have been at least criminal in nature. Authorities are trying to contain their speculation for fear of causing a panic, but the official told The Post the cause of the blast is "suspicious."
Authorities suspect the blast was set off by a truck or rail car holding a large quantity of ammonia that somehow caught fire or blew up. Ammonia, under certain conditions, can become combustible or explosive.
"It's 50-50," the source said. "Some sort of explosion caused the ammonia truck/rail car to create a shockwave up to a half-mile away, destroying that little town."
edited to add. Maybe a methhead trying to open a valve?
Even if Obama didn't evolve on capitalism, American exceptionalism, gun rights, AGW, strategic alliances, etc.,--at least he evolved on SSM. So there there's that. And that's what his base really wanted after all.
"Where is the outrage for the all the parading around by K street lobby folks"
Change the tax laws so that NOBODY gets special tax treatment. Would shut them down; but I imagine you would not be in favor of that.
I think the Bush referred to was HW. He served as VP when Reagan and Thatch were close.
I wonder if he's physically able to make the trip.
I don't know if there is an actual theory[...]
Bagoh, here is a link to a theory that precisely addresses your ideas.
Future tense, X: The fourth revolution
The other day I heard an NPR reporter - not commentator - say something like, "Obama was clearly frustrated with Congress for refusing to pass something that enjoys overwhelming public support; this has happened before, with Congress getting in the way of popular legislation despite Obama's best efforts." It's like they don't even realize they're biased. They pretend to be so high-minded and fair.
The problem there is that they believed their own heavily biased polls, that were pushed in order to convince the American people of the inevitability of gun control. And, ignored the reality that the constituents of a lot of the wayward Senators were much better versed in the reality of the legislation than were those who thought that the legislation was inevitable. Probably the thing that spelled doom for the expanded background checks was that it would have opened up the possibility of a national gun registry, without, of course, reducing gun violence whatsoever nor preventing any of the recent mass shooting tragedies. The only real limitation to such a national gun registry in the defeated legislation was that it couldn't be done under the AG in the Department of Justice. But, under Big Sis and Homeland Security? (Actually, I trust her a lot more than I do Eric Holder, for obvious reasons, including Fast and Furious).
I do think that some tweaking of background checking could have passed the Senate, if it had been better designed. In reality, the "gun show loophole" is pretty narrow these days, and the private sale inclusion might have been palatable if it had excluded purchasers well known to the sellers and something could have been done about the implicit tax of having to pay an FFL for the background check. But, these problems were ignored, and the leftists pushing the legislation tried to overreach, and failed.
@EMD
People tend to lump all unions together. But each union is uniqu to its situation. The best union for pay and benefits is the longshoreman. They can cripple the economy by workstoppage since there are so few ports in the country.
The UAW really over-reached with the pension and work rule demands.
Pipefitters are kinda the gypsys of workers. So we concentrate on union health insurance (a lot of worry about Obamacare -- see the roofers union) and work site safety.
Also, regarding bob ellison's comment tieing FDR and BHO, I've thought much the same thing. Pay no attention to government's dismal history at actively fixing recessions. And that it seems that nearly all recessions have corrected in relatively short order once the market was allowed to burn out of its system whatever inefficiency/distortion that caused the recession.
It appears that you need an FDR or BHO in order to turn recessions into a "great depression" or as I'm hearing more recently "great recession". And yet I suspect decades from now the "great recession" AND its long duration will still be Bush's fault.
roesch/voltaire said...
Obama gave a slow,steady and reasoned response to the NRA/Republican shame
Hilarious.
Let's go to the tape:
“This pattern of spreading untruths … served a purpose. A minority in the U.S. Senate decided it wasn’t worth it. They blocked common-sense gun reforms, even while these families looked on from the Senate gallery.
1. There were no "untruths" spread at all.
2. The legislation wasn't "common sense" nor did Obama explain in this slow, steady response why it is "common sense"
3. Invoking dead children, whom even suppporters of the legislation admitted would not have been saved by said legislation, is not "reasoned"
Conclusion: R/V is a liar.
"Where is the outrage for the all the parading around by K street lobby folks"
The Newton, CT families were being paraded around the Capitol building by K Street lobbyists.
R/V is a college professor so by definition he is a liar.
Haven't you been reading this blog?
Bill, Republic of Texas: "Union pay and benefits are OK. Not that much greater than open shops."
Yea, Pipe-fitters. That's one of those jobs that can never be sourced overseas. Your job is safe, even with a union. You only have to compete with other domestic labor. It's jobs that can leave that are endangered by unions, and unions are the main reason that we lost those jobs. If a union took over my workers they would lose their jobs overnight, not because of me, but because we could never compete with China under that. We barely can under government regulation.
My employees are the ones who constantly want to break the law to get around regulations. I sheepishly have to refuse, and I tell them "Don't blame me, I didn't vote for it." Happens every day.
Freder: Fertilizer plants explode because first responders may have inadvertently sprayed water on anhydrous ammonia in storage, causing the ammonia to warm and escape in a vapor cloud.
There, tidied up your shrill, ignorant little rant for you.
I love the fact that freeper decided to weigh in fertilizer plants.
When I sit here and think about that explosion this morning and wonder "who would have good insights into this event" silly, ignorant, left wing troll freeper comes to mind.
Really. Totally.
Has anybody investigate what R\V did his students in the last election?
Enquiring minds want to know!
As to that Texas plant explosion and the Boston Marathon Massacre:
If anyone injured was an Obama voter/fan, good!
Most likely those asses now missing limbs in Boston were huge lefties and got a reward they richly deserved. So hahaha.
I've learned this much from the left: only care about your own. If anyone from the other side is hurt/injured, dance on their grave. Especially white straight christian men who don't apologize for their success.
Turnabout is fair play: I hope the Obama voters and fans suffered a ton. Too bad Inga the lying, murdering Obama whore and Freeman "women before men always" Cunt, Garbage Pail, O Retard, and the rest of their ilk weren't at either of those places.
Enjoy the decline, bitches!
The premium difference between plans identical in every way except for maternity coverage is 50%!
Actually, no. The problem here is termed "adverse selection". Since maternity is optional on your plan, most people don't sign up for it until and unless they are trying to have kids. Back when I was selling health insurance (two careers ago), a pregnancy rider would run maybe 75% of the expected cost of a pregnancy spread out over maybe a year. The other 25% or so (ignoring overhead) was due to the reality that not everyone got pregnant immediately. The cost of pregnancy coverage when it was an all or nothing thing company wide was highly dependent upon the demographics of the insured population - it was almost nothing (and therefore provided) for the computer company I worked for that had an average age of 50 or so.
The problem with ObamaCare is that maternity will be paid for almost entirely by those who don't use it, and the demographic who will use it, won't pay their fair share. Of course, they are also a prime demographic for reelecting Obama and maintaining Dem control of the Senate, and so this is a feature, and not a bug.
Beorn, Thanks for the link.
@Bagoh20
My brother is non-union tool and die maker. He works in a family owned business. There is no need or desire for a union in that type of situation. You may be similar.
I'm a big supporter of union (private -- public sector unions worry me)but I don't say it is needed or wanted in every situation. I believe in freedom.
p.s. our jobs are not that secure. In the 1990's I had to go to Eastern Europe (old East Germany and Ukraine) to make money. When I say we are gypsys I really mean it!
Oh I forgot to say.
Even today a lot of younger guys have to go to Middle East or Africa to make money.
Bagoh, I'm sorry but I didn't realize that article is now behind a subscription wall. I was able to read the entire article last June for free, but evidently they have now archived it. IMO it is well worth the $3 to read.
"Althouse could include a paragraph on how the fertilizer plant exploding is symbolic of Obama's presidency."
Fertilizer plants explode because of poor safety and environmental management. Considering that most of the commenters on this site see regulation as inherently evil, it should be a reminder that sometimes regulations are good.
Cool. Freder agrees.
Bruce Hayden,
Please read all of my comment. I offered an estimate of the dilution of that 50% once spread across everyone. You're free to offer your own estimate. In fact, I encourage you to do so. But don't try to tell me that I don't understand the elective nature of the current situation.
"Where is the outrage for the all the parading around by K street lobby folks"
The Newton, CT families were being paraded around the Capitol building by K Street lobbyists.
If we MUST have all these parades, I demand uniforms to be able to know who belongs in which parade. Tubas and a marching band would be nice too.
Shorter Freder, bring on the ROBOTS!
Human error makes things go boom.
R/V,
Obama gave a slow,steady and reasoned response to the NRA/Republican
This is an out and out lie. Obama's "slow, steady and reasoned response" was "gun control because dead Newtown children!!!!"
Zero's message was pure emotion, completely lacking in reason.
R/V,
oh I see that just politics as usual where as if victims show up that is a show
It is when only a select few of the victim's parents show up. There are many of Newtown parents who oppose Obama's gun owner control legislation.
"I'm a big supporter of union (private -- public sector unions worry me)but I don't say it is needed or wanted in every situation. I believe in freedom."
4/18/13, 11:42 AM
My son is a Millwright Journeyman, who belongs to the Millwright union. I'm relieved he has a skill and a job. So far he gets more than enough hours and often gets overtime. And this is in Milwaukee and surrounding area.
Obviously the union hasn't made his job obsolete.
Perhaps Obama should start with background checks for terrorists and drug cartels.
Gun control does not address crimes committed using guns. It certainly does not address the impetus for progressive gun control, which is ostensibly the Sandy Hook massacre. It paradoxically does nothing to mitigate, and actually serves to enhance, the risk to law-abiding members of society by lowering risk and opportunity costs for commission of involuntary exploitation.
Inga--I am glad your son is doing well, but I would suggest the union will not make your son's job obsolete--it is technology that will do so. Ask travel agents; ask checkers at supermarkets; ask buggy whip manufacturers--technology will always replace workers where it is profitable. A sad fact of economic life.
whoresoftheinternet said...
Especially white straight christian men who don't apologize for their success.
Whores, there is no possibility that you are a success, as judged by any meaningful community standard. That you might think you are a 'success' is plausible, but your anger suggests otherwise.
Roger, it's my understanding of my son's trade, that Millwrights are the ones who calibrate, assemble and take down those high tech robotic factory lines and machinery. I don't see a decline in his type of work as technology advances, but who knows.
(if there is adequate water)
Very big IF for western NoDak.
Very big IF for western NoDak.
Then pipe the gas east to the water.
Bill, Republic of Texas said...
My brother is non-union tool...
Wow- you really don't like those non-union guys...
Thank goodness Obama can shoot buckets in the White House: otherwise
he'd have nothing to do when not on vacation or the links.
It's not Obama's fault - just more "bad luck". At least he can fall back on blaming the president from the last term.
I can come up with a few million, or more, Americans having a worse first quarter of the year than Obama. Most of them didn't even get to go to Hawaii or Florida or play golf with Tiger Woods.
@AReasonableMoron:
lol. I love when lefties try to predict shit. Always wrong, never in doubt.
there is no possibility that you are a success
--totalitarianism is the only way to victory, comrades!
your anger suggests otherwise.
--lmao. Oh yes, no one may be successfuland note where Obama and his hordes are taking us---over the cliff. It's simply un-possible! (/sarcasm).
Enjoy the decline, fascists!
Freder: Fertilizer plants explode because of poor safety and environmental management. Considering that most of the commenters on this site see regulation as inherently evil, it should be a reminder that sometimes regulations are good.
Q: What's the difference between Freder and the Westboro Baptist Church?
A: Freder doesn't wait for the funerals to start taunting and jeering.
It's been a bad first quarter of first year of the second term for President Obama.
Maybe now he can pivot to jobs and the economy.
Via Drudge:
Vice President Biden told White House allies in the gun control fight Thursday that President Obama will be announcing new executive actions on gun violence in the days after the Senate voted down a gun violence bill.
On a conference call with "stakeholders," Biden told gun control advocates that the fight is not over and that eventual action on gun control will come. Press were not invited to the conference call; a participant provided BuzzFeed with access.
"Look I know you're going to say that I'm just being an optimist and I'm trying to put a good face on this. But you know I've been around here a long time and we've already done, because of you, some really good things," Biden said. "Number one, the president is already lining up some additional executive actions he's going to be taking later this week."
After the Newtown shootings, Obama took a number of executive actions to expand research into gun violence and other areas favored by the gun control community. He took the actions without Congressional approval, leading to outrage by some conservatives.
Roger J,
technology will always replace workers where it is profitable. A sad fact of economic life.
This is, in fact, a wonderful economic fact of life and in no way sad.
Are you really sad that instead of having to go through travel gatekeepers, you can now directly access pretty much any type of transportation, including schedules and prices, along with hotels? Are you really sad that you don't have to call a travel agent, tell them what you want, wait a couple days for them to gather information, then get back to you?
Are you really sad that instead of having to deal with a cashier at the grocery store, when all you have is a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk, rather than be in and out through a self check in line?
Are you really suggesting you are sad that we drive cars now, instead of horse drawn buggies?
What you lament as "sad" is the best thing in the world: efficiency. Efficiency means an increased productivity without the need to increase inputs, meaning we are all richer. Efficiency gained year after year means that instead of 99.99% of the human population living at subsistence level (like in 1800), nearly 90% of humanity lives well above this, and 100% of Americans do. The efficiencies you label as "sad" are the very reason poverty has been completely eliminated from the US.
Baron Zemo said...
R/V is a college professor so by definition he is a liar.
Haven't you been reading this blog?
I don't think it's intentional. I just don't think he's ever considered that the opposing viewpoint is equally as valid if not more reasoned.
If Obama: The Wonder Years (as in, "I wonder why those damn fools re-elected him?") was a television show, it would be facing cancellation. Sadly, he has an ironclad 208-week contract.
Re: #4, he obviously inherited his basketball skills from the Kansas branch of the family. President Mom-genes, indeed!
"technology will always replace workers where it is profitable"
Legalzoom
So, can lawyers be taught welding?
Via Drudge:
John Kerry On Benghazi: "We Got A Lot More Important Things To Move On To
Bruce Hayden said...
the President wasting so much of his political capital pushing such is just one more indication that he really isn't that smart, or that shrewd of a politician.
But he has proved his chops as a demagogue extraordinaire, so I think it's premature to dismiss the power he still has.
@ chrisnavin.com
The "Essence of Barry" cologne will smell like burning money.
Ken--re my use of "sad" It was an inappropriate adjective for the reasons you cite. Thank you for the correction.
But he has proved his chops as a demagogue extraordinaire, so I think it's premature to dismiss the power he still has.
I'll go with Lydia on this. I don't think Obama is nearly as smart as advertised, but he is a successful demagogue, and America is sadly more susceptible to his brand of demagoguery than I would have thought.
His 2012 campaign was almost entirely about fanning the flames of culture war and class war. It looked divisive and depressing and it was, but it worked and he won.
It's not optimal to lose the gun control battle, but in the longer war, the angrier his base gets the better for Obama, or so he calculates.
Thanks for the news from Alternative Reality Land!
No mention of Bush's extremely UN-weird paintings, I notice. Hmmm...
Ammonium nitrate, one of the prime components in fertilizer, is also a prime component in explosives. Little known fact amongst most people-
During WWII, ammonium nitrate, to be used to make munitions, was shipped by US flagged ships and union seamen from the ports where the ammonium nitrate was made to where munitions were made. By government deceree, the cargo was clasified as "fertilizer", not "explosives".
Why? Ah, I'm glad you asked. Merchant seamen got extra pay when carrying explosives, not when carrying "fertilizer". Who was president during this time, screwing over the merchant sailors?
Roosevelt! The liberal hero who loved the working class!
How do I know this? My uncle was one of those merchant sailors. One of the lucky ones who never had a ship torpedoed out from under him.
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