Friday Funny

Holder Confirms Obama Ready to Use Executive Order on Guns ‘in Absence of Meaningful Action’

There responsibility is to enforce the laws already on the books not legislate new ones. Memo to the Wite House, DO YOUR JOB!

Attorney General Eric Holder said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today that President Obama is open to using an executive action to push through gun-control and/or associated mental health measures that haven’t found approval in Congress.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), one of the top proponents of new gun-control measures in Congress, noted that Obama only made a “very brief” reference to gun violence in his State of the Union address.

“But I hope, and I hope you will join me in the view that the president remains completely committed to ending gun violence in this country, adopting common sense sensible measures like background checks and mental health initiatives; a ban on straw purchases and illegal trafficking,” Blumenthal said to Holder at the Justice Department oversight hearing.

U.S. jobless claims rise more than expected

After 233 consecutive "unexpecteds" isn't it time to expect this?

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, but the underlying trend suggested the labor market continued to heal.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were revised to show 3,000 more applications received than previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits rising to 330,000 in the week ended Jan. 25.

The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of underlying labor market conditions as it irons out week-to-week volatility, edged up 750 to 333,000.

NBC News poll: Pessimism defines the state of the union

Pretty much because there is decidedly nothing to be positive about.

As President Barack Obama enters his sixth year in the White House, 68 percent of Americans say the country is either stagnant or worse off since he took office, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Just 31 percent say the country is better off, and a deep pessimism continues to fuel the public's mood. Most respondents used words like “divided,” “troubled,” and “deteriorating” to describe the current state of the nation.

On the eve of Tuesday’s State of the Union address, more than six-in-10 Americans believe that the nation is headed in the wrong direction and 70 percent are dissatisfied with the economy.

Graphic of the Day

School ditches rules and loses bullies

Some common sense from the Public School system, imagine that.

Ripping up the playground rulebook is having incredible effects on children at an Auckland school.

Chaos may reign at Swanson Primary School with children climbing trees, riding skateboards and playing bullrush during playtime, but surprisingly the students don't cause bedlam, the principal says.

The school is actually seeing a drop in bullying, serious injuries and vandalism, while concentration levels in class are increasing.

Principal Bruce McLachlan rid the school of playtime rules as part of a successful university experiment.

"We want kids to be safe and to look after them, but we end up wrapping them in cotton wool when in fact they should be able to fall over."

Climate Change Implicated In Polar Bear Stress

Maybe the bears were stressed by warmists chasing them around with tweezers.

A group of researchers say they have established a new biomarker for how stressed polar bears are about climate change.

Last year, a team reported that fluctuations in climate and ice cover are closely related to stress among polar bears in East Greenland as indicated by levels of the stress hormone cortisol in hair samples. The team is hopeful this type of analysis will be beneficial once others learn that it can now be done with much greater reliability.

"Nobody else has done this so far," says Jerrold Meyer of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who calls himself a behavioral endocrinologist. "We've not only been one of the key developers of the technique but we have also have worked very hard to demonstrate its reliability and validity. In collaboration with Melinda Novak, chair of the psychology department, we were among the first to show in a major controlled study that a prolonged or major life stress does lead to a demonstrable increase in cortisol in hair. Now we're making the technique available to others and we hope it spurs new collaborations with our lab."

Quote of the Week

Rand Paul: 'If There Was A War On Women, I Think They Won'

U.S. Braces for Coldest Month of the Century

If Global Warming gets any worse we’re all going to freeze to death.

America is set for the coldest month of the century as weather forecasters predict yet another freezing blast of Arctic air - putting Super Bowl Sunday in jeopardy.

Teams have been warned to stay on high alert for changes to the scheduling of the first Super Bowl to be played in an open-air stadium. Temperatures have already hit record lows, at times making parts of the U.S. colder than the North Pole, and are expected to plunge in the coming days.

Meteorologists are forecasting yet another snow storm for the East Coast, which will arrive on Monday First Super Bowl to be held in open-air stadium set to be hit by freezing cold.

Teams on high alert game in New Jersey on February 2 could be postponed.

Welcome to Jobless America

If there was a Republican in the White House this economy would be hailed an unmitigated disaster.

It is becoming laughable to hear the Obama administration talk about a so-called “recovery.” Supposedly, this “recovery” started in June of 2009; however, in reality our economy is on life support and the latest jobs figures just confirm this horrible news.

In the government’s December labor report, the nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.7 percent, which is our lowest rate since October of 2008. While this may be heralded as good news, it is truly disturbing. Unfortunately, only 74,000 new jobs were added last month, the worst job growth numbers since January of 2011.

This is anemic job creation, a fraction of the 200,000+ new jobs needed each month just to keep pace with the nation’s population growth. It is even more shocking since most analysts predicted approximately 193,000 new jobs in December.

Even worse, of the new jobs, 40,000 were temporary positions, not what wage earners need to care for their families. Not surprisingly, the average work week for Americans dropped to only 34.4 hours. So, there are few full time jobs being created and on average Americans are working less. No wonder there are 47 million Americans on food stamps and over 50 million people who are considered poor.

The reason the unemployment rate dropped is that an astounding 347,000 Americans left the work force in December. This means that 5 times more Americans exited the labor pool than located new jobs. Our country now has 91.8 million Americans not in the work force. These are Americans who are receiving benefits, living off their savings or living on the streets. Many of these Americans have given up any hope of finding work and for these poor individuals; the hope of the American dream is over.

Friday Funny

More Companies Dump Employee Insurance for Obamacare

A totally predictable consequence.

This week, another major U.S. retailer—Target—announced that it will be cutting health coverage for its part-time workers in response to changes stemming from the president’s health care law.

Target scales back on health coverage Associated Press Target to drop health policies for part-timers Los Angeles Times Target to stop healthcare coverage for part-time workers Reuters Aetna could be forced out of Obamacare: CEO CNBC [$$] ObamaCare's Missing Uninsured The Wall Street Journal The Minneapolis-based company now joins the likes of Home Depot and Trader Joes, among others, that have decided to dump part-time employee coverage to save on health care costs.

Just Hit The NOAA Motherlode

I wouldn't put ANYTHING past these people.

I spent the evening comparing USHCN V1 and V2 graphs, and discovered a huge discrepancy between their V1 and V2 adjustments.

This is their current US graph. Note that there is a discontinuity at 1998, which doesn’t look right. Globally, temperatures plummeted in 1999-2000, but they didn’t in the US graph.

But when they switched to V2, they started adjusting older temperatures downwards, and left post-2000 temperatures more or less intact. This created a huge jump (greater than one degree) downwards for all years prior to 2000.

By the time they are done corrupting the data, they have hidden the decline and created a strong warming trend, with 1998, 1999 and 2006 being the three hottest years. Prior to corruption, 1999 and 2006 aren’t even in the top ten.

Hacking expert David Kennedy says he cracked HealthCare.gov in 4 minutes

And you thought things were screwed up now.

The man who appeared before Congress last week to explain the security pitfalls of HealthCare.gov took to Fox News on Sunday to explain just how easy it was to penetrate the website.

Hacking expert David Kennedy told Fox’s Chris Wallace that gaining access to 70,000 personal records of Obamacare enrollees via HealthCare.gov took about 4 minutes and required nothing more than a standard browser, the Daily Caller reported.

“And 70,000 was just one of the numbers that I was able to go up to and I stopped after that,” he said. “You know, I’m sure it’s hundreds of thousands, if not more, and it was done within about a 4 minute timeframe. So, it’s just wide open.

“You can literally just open up your browser, go to this, and extract all this information without actually having to hack the website itself,” he said.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Number of Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents on Food Stamps Doubles

Disgusting. It's what happens when you create a generation of dependendents.

The number of Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) receiving food stamps zoomed from 1.7 million to 3.9 million between Fiscal Year 2007 and Fiscal Year 2010. In that same period, food stamp recipients in total grew from 26 million to nearly 40 million.

Spending on food stamps now totals somewhere around $80 billion, twice what the number was in Fiscal Year 2008.

Presently, the work waivers foisted on the states by Obama allow ABAWDs to receive food stamps indefinitely--without working or preparing for work.

Graphic of the Day

Draw your own conclusions.

A Tale of Two Scandals

Typical, cover for your allies, crucify the opposition

The media overreact on Christie, but underreact on the IRS.

Yes, liberal bias does play a role in explaining why — as Newsbusters.org reports — the major networks have had 44 times more coverage of Chris Christie’s “Bridgegate” scandal than they have had on anything related to the IRS political-targeting scandal that began last May.

Jonathan Alter, speaking on MSNBC, has dismissed the comparison by saying that “there are not ongoing revelations [in the IRS story]. If there were ongoing revelations in the IRS matter, that would still be a story.” He made his claim only four days after news broke that the Justice Department had chosen a significant Obama donor to head its investigation of the IRS, creating the obvious perception of a conflict of interest.

But it’s also true that a large part of the difference in coverage is owing simply to the laziness of journalists, for whom anything connected to a future presidential election trumps delving deeply into more complicated topics.

Happy Ending Story of the Day...Three guys try to rob an old man who has a .357

State police said three suspects arrived at the home of David Braman, 69. The suspects, Francois Muchanic, 31, of Susquehanna, Dylan Brewer 20, of New Milford and Evan Hess, 20, of Forest City were driven to the residence by Muchanic’s girlfriend, Erica Major, 30, of Susquehanna.

Muchanic knocked on Braman’s door wearing a ski mask. The victim opened his door carrying a loaded 357 Smith and Wesson revolver. Muchanic told Braman he was having car problems and needed to use his phone, according to state police.

Trooper Mark Mulvey said Braman tried to close the door when he realized Muchanic was wearing a ski mask. State police said Muchanic then forced his way into the home and began assaulting Braman and knocking him to the ground.

Braman fired three shots at Muchanic and hit him once in the groin.

Nice aim!

Obamacare meltdown on schedule: Only a quarter of Obamacare enrollees are 18-34

No wonder they wrote in a "bailout provison".

According to figures released by HHS, only one quarter of the 2 million Obamacare enrollees who signed up through December are young adults - 18-34. On the other side of the coin, fully one half are 45-64.

The White House says that 25% enrollment of young invincible is enough to prevent the dreaded "death spiral" for the program, where older, sicker enrollees far outnumber the younger healthy ones, thus leading to skyrocketing insurace premiums.

But there are no figures available that show how many enrollees have actually paid their first month's premium, nor is there any breakdown of how many in the 18-34 age group are healthy and how many are sick.

Ex-NFL Great Dryer: GOP Establishment Afraid MSM Will Call Them Bigots

Fred Dryer, the former All-Pro NFL defensive end and Hollywood actor of shows like Hunter and Cheers, is furious at the Republican establishment for waging war against the Tea Party.

He sees the establishment as surrendering to the mainstream media and accepting its stereotypes about conservatives.

Appearing on Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 with Breitbart News Executive Chairman and host Stephen K. Bannon, Dryer said it was the "dumbest thing" for the GOP establishment to abandon constitutional principles when the country – and the constitution – is center right.

He blasted GOP establishment honchos like Ed Gillespie for doing nothing but watering down conservative candidates.

You're right Fred.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Job growth weak, raising questions about Fed move

Brother are we screwed.

Job creation stumbled in December, with the U.S. economy adding just 74,000 positions even as the Federal Reserve voted to take the first steps in eliminating its stimulus program.

The unemployment rate dropped to 6.7 percent, below economist estimates and due primarily to continued shrinkage in the labor force. The labor force participation rate tumbled to 62.8 percent, its worst level since January 1978.

The monthly job creation was the worst in nearly three years and well below the upwardly revised 241,000 in November.

Graphic of the Week

Wednesday Funny

Heard Enough BS About the "Polar Vortex"?

Here's a bit more...

In 1974, Time Magazine blamed the cold polar vortex on global cooling:

‘Scientists have found other indications of global cooling. For one thing there has been a noticeable expansion of the great belt of dry, high-altitude polar winds —the so-called circumpolar vortex—that sweep from west to east around the top and bottom of the world.’

Another Ice Age? – TIME

Forty years later, Time Magazine blames the cold polar vortex on global warming:

‘But not only does the cold spell not disprove climate change, it may well be that global warming could be making the occasional bout of extreme cold weather in the U.S. even more likely. Right now much of the U.S. is in the grip of a polar vortex, which is pretty much what it sounds like: a whirlwind of extremely cold, extremely dense air that forms near the poles.’

Federal judge strikes down Chicago gun law

An Obama appointee, go figure.

A federal district court judge in Chicago ruled Monday that the city’s ban on gun sales is unconstitutional.

In a 35-page opinion, Judge Edmond E. Chang from the Northern District of Illinois wrote that the city’s law “goes too far.” Chang was appointed by President Obama in 2010.

Chang delayed the effect of his ruling, however, in order to allow the city time to respond. In his opinion, he acknowledged the city’s “stark reality” of thousands of shooting victims and murders each year.

“But on the other side of this case is another feature of government.: certain fundamental rights are protected by the Constitution, put outside government’s reach, including the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense under the Second Amendment,” he wrote. “This right must also include the right to acquire a firearm.”

Michelle Obama spending extended vacation at Oprah’s Maui home

Filming the latest installment of "Mob Wives" no doubt.

Michelle Obama is spending her extended Hawaiian vacation at Oprah’s “exquisite” Maui getaway, The Daily Caller has learned.

While White House pool reports indicate the first lady stayed behind this week in Hawaii to chill out with friends before her 50th birthday, there weren’t many specifics. But sources with direct knowledge tell TheDC that the first lady is relaxing in Maui at Oprah’s estate with CBS’ Gayle King, Valerie Jarrett and Sharon Malone, who is Attorney General Eric Holder’s wife.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Obamacare birth control mandate doesn't violate nuns' rights: US

Well if it doesn't than nothing does.

The US Justice Department on Friday asked the Supreme Court to throw out a challenge from a nuns' group against a birth control mandate in the Obamacare health reform law.

The Little Sisters of the Poor had asked the US high court to exempt it from the controversial birth control clause, saying that providing birth control was contrary to its religious beliefs.

The US government, in its written response, asked the court to lift the temporary block on birth control, arguing that the provision does not apply to the nuns anyway.

The Little Sisters' lawsuit is "not about the availability or adequacy of a religious accommodation," the Justice Department brief said.

Frozen Out: 98% of Stories Ignore That Ice-bound Ship Was On Global Warming Mission

Now there's a bonafide "inconvenient truth".

A group of climate change scientists were rescued by helicopter Jan. 2, after being stranded in the ice since Christmas morning. But the majority of the broadcast networks’ reports about the ice-locked climate researchers never mentioned climate change.

The Russian ship, Akademic Shokalskiy, was stranded in the ice while on a climate change research expedition, yet nearly 98 percent of network news reports about the stranded researchers failed to mention their mission at all. Forty out of 41 stories (97.5 percent) on the network morning and evening news shows since Dec. 25 failed to mention climate change had anything to do with the expedition.

Oregon Mother: I Can’t Afford Obamacare For Myself, 1-Year-Old Son

Another Obama Kool-Aid drinker stumbles on reality.

PORTLAND, Ore. (CBS Seattle/AP) — One Oregon mother says that she is unable to afford health insurance for her and her 18-month-old son because it’s too expensive.

Kate Holly, 33, tells KOIN-TV that she originally championed President Barack Obama’s signature health care law because she thought it would help people in her situation.

“I’ve been a cheerleader for the Affordable Care Act since I heard about it and I assumed that it was designed for people in my situation,” Holly, a freelance yoga instructor, told KOIN. “I was planning on using the Affordable Care Act and I had done the online calculator in advance to make sure I was going to be able to afford it.”

New Years Funny

Earlier from the Rose Parade.

HAPPY NEW YEAR