RussianTroops Take Over Ukraine's Crimea Region

Why not, he certainly has nothing to fear from this country under the Obama administration

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops took over the strategic Crimean peninsula Saturday without firing a shot. The newly installed government in Kiev was powerless to react, and despite calls by U.S. President Barack Obama for Russia to pull back its forces, Western governments had few options to counter Russia's military moves.

Ignoring President Barack Obama's warning Friday that "there will be costs" if Russia intervenes militarily, Putin sharply raised the stakes in the conflict over Ukraine's future evoking memories of Cold War brinkmanship.

U.S. fourth-quarter growth cut to 2.4 percent

Figures.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government slashed its estimate for fourth-quarter growth as consumer spending and exports were less robust than initially thought, leaving the economy on a more sustainable path of modest expansion.

domestic product expanded at a 2.4 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday. That was down sharply from the 3.2 percent pace reported last month and the 4.1 percent logged in the third quarter.

Jobless claims climb unexpectedly

Any bad news oncerning thw economy is "unexpected" when it comes to the MSM particularly the clueless MSNBC.

The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits jumped by 14,000 to 348,000 last week to match a five-week high, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected claims to total 335,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The average of new claims over the past month, a more reliable gauge than the volatile weekly number, was unchanged at 338,250.

Girl Scout CEO Makes YouTube Plea Against Cookiecott

Wish they had stayed out of fray. Unfortunately we won't be buying this year.

There is now little doubt that the Girl Scout cookie boycott is having an effect on cookie sales this year.

Girl Scout spokesman Kelly Parisi went on The O’Reilly Factor this week to try and defuse the mounting controversy, and Girl Scout executives have sent threatening letters to their critics.

Girl Scout CEO Anna Marie Chavez took to YouTube on Thursday to deny all charges leveled by the boycotters and to deny at least one charge they haven’t even made.<.p>

“Recently, various individuals and organizations announced their intention to boycott GS cookies this year, based on mistaken beliefs about our movement," Chavez said. "These same individuals also believe the Girl Scouts has become too political.”

Rep. John Dingell (88) calls it quits (after 58 years)

Making a lifelong career out of squatting in Congress....precisely the opposite of what the framers intended.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the longest-serving House member in history, will retire at the end of his term, he told the Detriot News in an interview.

"I'm not going to be carried out feet first," Dingell told the paper. "I don't want people to say I stayed too long."

Dingell, 88, has been in Congress since 1955 and is the longest-serving member in congressional history.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Abortions outnumber live births among NYC's black community

A truly abhorrent statistic.

Abortions outnumber live births among African American women living in New York City, according to a new health report.

Newly released Department of Health and Mental Hygiene figures show black women had 31,328 'crude induced terminations' in 2012, compared with 24,758 'live births'.

The terminations comprised more than 42 percent of the Big Apple's total number.

Cruz to CNN: Global warming not supported by data

Yep.

, questions whether global warming is real, arguing that the "data are not supporting what the advocates are arguing."

"The last 15 years, there has been no recorded warming. Contrary to all the theories that – that they are expounding, there should have been warming over the last 15 years. It hasn't happened," said Cruz.

Cruz spoke to CNN in an exclusive interview following an event here to promote his new energy plan, which he says he will formally introduce in the Senate next week.

BTW Arctic ice is up 30% this year.

Only 79% of Obama voters would vote for him again

Paging Captain Hindsight. Clear thinking Americans always knew better.

Given a chance to do it all over again, only 79 percent of those who voted for President Obama would vote for him again and 71 percent of Obama voters now inclined to vote for somebody else “regret” their vote to reelect the president, according to a new poll.

The Economist/YouGov.com poll found that Obama would lose enough votes in a rematch with Mitt Romney that the Republican would win. “90 percent of people who voted for Romney would do it again, compared to only 79 percent of Obama voters who would,” said the poll.

“Clearly Romney fares better, although he had fewer voters to begin with. As a proportion of the voters each of them actually received in 2012 (66 million for Obama and 61 million for Romney), the GOP candidate ends up with 55 million votes retained to Obama’s 52 million. Not exactly a wipeout. It’s also unclear for any poll that hypothetically revisits 2012 how much it says about renewed hope for Mitt Romney – who has notably been liberated from the scrutiny of a presidential campaign ­– rather than about dissatisfaction with an incumbent president who has spent the last year defending his administration over leaks, scandals and Obamacare roll-outs,” added the poll.

Criminologist: 'More Youngsters Killed in Bicycle Accidents' Than with Guns

Any is too many, however, this gives you some perspective.

Responding to a recent report that Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (MDA) and Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) conducted about the dangers of guns in public schools, Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox said the annual risk of gun-related death in school is "well below one in two million," and "many times more youngsters are killed annually in bicycle accidents."

Because of this, Fox said he "trusts [MDA and MAIG] would support a national helmet law as quickly as a gun restriction."

According to USA Today, the report by MDA and MAIG claims "44 shootings" took place in schools since the heinous crime at Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2012. Rather than argue with that figure, Fox shows that it is "lower than two decades ago when gang violence was especially problematic at school settings."

81% of people receiving public housing benefits vote Democratic – and that’s just the tip

Democrats have well known this for decades.

Perhaps I spend too much time lurking around left-leaning blogs, but there are many myths taken as fact without any additional analysis.

One of the most prominent? The notion that red states take the most aid from the government.

Mitt Romney sparked outrage during the 2012 election for his comments about the “47 percent” of Americans who are dependent on government. Romney was actually quoting the percentage of Americans who pay no federal income tax, not the percentage of people who receive government aid, which is a slightly larger 49 percent.

In an article published before Romney’s gaffe, liberal economist Paul Krugman blogged that “Aaron Carroll of Indiana University tells us that in 2010, residents of the 10 states Gallup ranks as ‘most conservative’ received 21.2 percent of their income in government transfers, while the number for the most liberal states was only 17.1 percent.”

Sid Caesar Dead

One of the funniest guys on the planet.....back when they didn't feel the neccessity to be shockingly disgusting to be that way.

Chart of the Day

Suicide Bomb Instructor Accidentally Kills Iraqi Pupils

They wanted to die in an explosion for the cause....they got their wish.

BAGHDAD — A group of Sunni militants attending a suicide bombing training class at a camp north of Baghdad were killed on Monday when their commander unwittingly conducted a demonstration with a belt that was packed with explosives, army and police officials said.

The militants belonged to a group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, which is fighting the Shiite-dominated army of the Iraqi government, mostly in Anbar Province. But they are also linked to bomb attacks elsewhere and other fighting that has thrown Iraq deeper into sectarian violence.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Sunday Celebration

One of my twins set two school records yesterday.... Was the first freshman in scool wrestling history to win a Regional Chaampionship and was the first wrestler ever to achieve 25 wins in his freshman season. CONGRATULATIONS NATHAN!

Friday fait accompli

Cut threw all the crappola spin and it boils down to just this: 1,154,000 Fewer Americans Working Today Than 6 Years Ago

U.S. Adds 113,000 Jobs, in Latest Worrying Sign on Growth

Appears that an increasing number of Americans are excaping dreaded “job lock.”

WASHINGTON—The labor market in January registered weak gains for the second straight month, a slowdown that could heighten fears about the economic recovery and may lead some to call on the Federal Reserve to reconsider its easy-money strategy.

U.S. payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 113,000 in January, the Labor Department said Friday. Job growth improved compared with December's gain, which was revised up by just 1,000 to 75,000, but was well below last year's average pace. The November increase was recast up by 33,000 to 274,000.

The unemployment rate, obtained through a separate survey, fell to 6.6% last month from 6.7% in December, the Labor Department said.

Public School Students Suing Over Tenure

It may be an excercise in futility but BRAVO.

There are times where someone actually takes a stand and gives me hope that we can eventually roll back the progressive liberal tide and bring sanity back to our country. One such instance is taking place in California, where nine public school students and their families are suing the state over its laws governing teacher tenure, seniority, and the last hired, first fired practice. The aim is to dismantle a system that keeps bad teachers in the classroom; a system that teachers unions fully support. The lawsuit, filed by an advocacy group called Students Matter on behalf of the students, is arguing that such laws violate the Constitution's equal protection guarantee in that such practices ensures that not all students have access to good education.

The system currently in place in California makes it virtually impossible to hire a bad teacher, and student performance isn't even taken into account when reviewing the effectiveness of a teacher. The normal modus operandi is to automatically give each teacher a satisfactory grade. It comes as no surprise to us that the state of California and the teachers union are fighting this lawsuit tooth and nail. There's no way that they're going to have a little something like accountability enter into the equation. Teachers need to live a consequence-free environment to fully indoctrinate the youth of California. The teachers union cries about funding and bellyache about being 49th in the nation (counting all fifty states - unless you're Obama in which case it's fifty-seven - and the District of Columbia) in teacher-to-student ratio. Sounds bad until you realize that the average teacher has a class of 21 students. From kindergarten to high school graduation, I only had three classes that had less than thirty students or more: Latin I, Latin II, and Chemistry II. Somehow I did pretty good as did the vast majority of my peers. Such complaints are distractions that the progressive left makes to brainwash us into throwing more money into the education pit to further fuel their takeover.

Wednesday Funny

Colorado high school to students: No celebrating America. But Cinco De Mayo is just fine.

Unbelievable.

Students and parents at a Colorado high school are outraged after administrators turned down their request for a spirit week day honoring America because it might offend non-Americans.

"They said they didn't want to offend anyone from other countries or immigrants," a 16-year-old member of the student council told me. "They just really did not want to make anyone feel uncomfortable."

The student council at Fort Collins High School had proposed having a day to celebrate the United States during next week's Winter Spirit Week. The young people pitched "'Merica Monday" - and invited their classmates to dress in patriotic colors. Their proposal was promptly shot down by administrators.

"They said they didn't want to be exclusive to any other country," a 17-year-old member of the student council told me.

Global Warming Graphic of the Day

It's Official: Sandra Fluke Files for Congress

The slut constituency...

Sandra Fluke has made it official: she has filed to run for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) after 40 years. The birth control advocate who shook up the 2012 presidential campaign does not live in the 33rd district, but is eligible to run for the seat. She will be facing off against local Democratic stalwart Wendy Greuel, who narrowly missed winning the Los Angeles mayor's race last year, among others.

Graph of the day

DOJ Report: Firearm-Related Murders Down 39% Since 1993

Manufacturing slows sharply in January, sends new orders reeling

Expect more "quantitative easing". It's the only thing keeping the economy afloat.

U.S. manufacturing grew at a substantially slower pace in January as new order growth plunged by the most in 33 years, driving overall factory activity to an eight-month low, an industry report showed on Monday.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity fell to 51.3 last month, to its lowest level since May 2013, from a recently revised 56.5 in December.

January's figure was also well below the median forecast of 56 in a Reuters poll of economists, missing even the lowest estimate of 54.2. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.

The Movie: Son of God

This looks like a definate must see.

From the award-winning producers of the record-breaking miniseries The Bible, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, comes Son of God, the larger-than-life story of The New Testament, to be released by 20th Century Fox on February 28, 2014. Son of God is a major motion picture that brings the life of Jesus Christ to the big screen like never before.

Told with the scope and scale of an action epic, the film features powerful performances, exotic locales, dazzling visual effects and a rich orchestral score from Oscar®- winner Hans Zimmer. Award-winning actor Diogo Morgado portrays Jesus as the film spans from his humble birth through his teachings, crucifixion and ultimate resurrection.

Saturday Funny

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

Obama pollster: reporters should stop covering polls in 2014

This is how low the MSM has sunk....if it's bad news for Obama, just don't report it.

After a year of seeing President Obama’s approval ratings plummet, the president’s pollster is offering a strikingly candid and pessimistic New Year’s resolution.

Reporters should go the next “year without reporting any public polling data,” Joel Benenson, president and CEO of Benenson Strategy Group, said.

His comments were made to reporter Mike Allen, who published them in his daily “Politico Playbook” morning newsletter on Tuesday.

Benenson explained that he thinks the polling often reported by news organizations lacks the proper context.

Asked his New Year’s resolution: “Here’s one — with a variation, if mine is too extreme: Go one year without reporting any public polling data.”

Quote of the Day

You just can't make this stuff up.(click for larger)

SC woman stabs husband with ceramic squirrel over lack of beer, police say

Classy

North Charleston woman is in jail after police say she stabbed her husband with a ceramic squirrel.

According to the police report, Helen Ann Williams attacked her husband on Christmas Day after he failed to bring beer back to the house.

Police said they were dispatched to the home and found the victim with a large amount of blood on his face.

When police asked Williams what happened to her husband, she first said that he fell and cut himself, but then told officers more.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

GLAAD Rages Against Phil Robertson's Return to Duck Dynasty

Apears GLAAD isn't so glad after all.

At first, the gay advocacy group GLAAD successfully urged A&E network to punish Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson for comments about homosexuals he made in GQ. But now that the network has relented and returned the elder Robertson to his reality show, the advocacy group is not very happy at all.

"Phil Robertson should look African American and gay people in the eyes and hear about the hurtful impact of praising Jim Crow laws and comparing gay people to terrorists," GLAAD said in a statement to the press. "If dialogue with Phil is not part of next steps then A&E has chosen profits over African American and gay people—especially its employees and viewers."

After the suspension, the gay advocacy group celebrated A&E's decision to punish the reality show patriarch, saying, "By taking quick action and removing Robertson from future filming, A&E has sent a strong message that discrimination is neither a Christian nor an American value."

It is interesting that GLAAD put Robertson's comments about African Americans first in its own statement about his comments on homosexuals. One might think that GLAAD feels it lost the battle on that issue and needed the cover of "racism" to add heft to its complaints.

Thomas the Tank Engine needs more female trains, Labour MP says

Good grief

Thomas the Tank Engine is setting a poor example to children and needs more female engines to encourage girls to become train drivers, Labour’s shadow transport secretary has said.

Mary Creagh described the lack of female train drivers in Britain as a “national scandal” and said that children’s television shows and “negative stereotypes” are partly to blame.

Mrs. Creagh said that train companies need to offer female drivers more flexible working hours so they can care for their children. She said: “There are quite a lot of stereotypical attitudes in the industry. I was talking to one freight operator who said, ‘We think women don’t like working night shifts,’ and I said, ‘Well, have you told that to all the NHS nurses who work nights in hospitals across the country, and probably do it for half the pay of train drivers?’” …

HE HAS COME!

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on Christmas

Jesus Christ is God in the form of man. The eternal appears in time. The Eternal Word, by Whom all things in the world were made, is now rejected by the world He made: “There was no room in the inn.” The Bird Who built the nest of the universe is hatched therein: He Who made His mother, is born of His Mother. All the nations of the earth are made of one blood, and now the Son of God partakes and assumes that blood as the new Head of Humanity. At Bethlehem, heaven and earth meet: God and Man look each other in the face. A Mother for the first time in the universe, as she holds the babe in her arms, now looks “down” to heaven. Because nothing greater than this will ever happen in the world, the peace of the world is conditioned upon that great act being repeated, in a reduced measure, in each of us. As God took upon Himself a human nature through the free consent of a woman, so too He asks us, through our free consent to give Him our nature, as Mary gave Him one. Then Christ begins to rule our mind: then we put on the mind of Christ, the love of Christ, the Spirit of Christ. Not many are willing to do this. “He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” That is why there are Christmas cards with sleighs and fat men. But there will always be some who will see and understand the meaning, and to all who received Him “He gave them the power to become the sons of God.” We cannot have the word Christmas without Christ: so neither can we be Merry on the inside without Him." Archbishop Fulton Sheen 1962.

Truth.

Report: 'Meet The Press' May Get Axed

And good riddance...

NBC's flagship Sunday show, Meet The Press, has seen its ratings go bust as it continually props up members of the permanent political class in Washington, D.C.'s "Boomtown." Now the show may get axed from NBC News's lineup.

According to the New York Post, new NBC News president Deborah Turness "has been trying to figure out the future for David Gregory’s 'Meet the Press.'" She is reportedly considering "bringing in MSNBC’s 'Morning Joe' team of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for a Sunday show, or blowing up the entire franchise and trying something completely different."

CNN Poll: Heath care law support drops to all-time low

But Nancy Pelosi says they'll "run on Obamacare in 2014!".

Washington (CNN) – Support for the country's new health care law has dropped to a record low, according to a new national poll.

And a CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also indicates that most Americans predict that the Affordable Care Act will actually result in higher prices for their own medical care.

Only 35% of those questioned in the poll say they support the health care law, a 5-point drop in less than a month. Sixty-two percent say they oppose the law, up four points from November.

CDC: 94 to 95 percent of HIV cases among young men linked to gay sex

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 13, 2013 (Americans for Truth) - The above is a graphic from a CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) online slide presentation, “HIV Surveillance in Adolescents and Young Adults” [1] – breaking down the incidence of HIV among young men ages 13-24. In 2011, an astonishing 94.9 percent of HIV diagnoses among teenage boys (13-19-years-old) were linked to homosexual (“male-to-male”) sex. And 94.1 percent of the cases among young men ages 20-24 (more analysis below) were from “gay” sex.




I wonder if GLAAD would classify worry about this very troubling stat "homophobic"?

Duck Dynasty clan may quit the show

Good for them. They are financially secure and don't need to compromise their beliefs for a buck. Will be interesting to see the heads roll at A&E when the inevitable reckoning comes.

A&E was hit by a 12-gauge “Duck Dynasty” backlash Thursday as religious and conservative groups denounced the network for suspending the reality show’s gay-bashing star — whose family suggested it could be the end.

Supporters of show patriarch Phil Robertson — who in a magazine interview compared homosexuality to bestiality — called for a boycott of the cable network.

“Phil Robertson and his family are great citizens of the state of Louisiana,” declared Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of the state where the show is filmed. “The politically correct crowd is tolerant of all viewpoints, except those they disagree with.”

“It is a messed-up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh and Phil Robertson gets suspended.”

Thursday Funny

Federal Judge Calls Obamacare "Totally Ineffective" While Striking Down Contraception Mandate

The courts are finally getting a clue that their authority is being usurped by this administration. Look for some pushback.

Yesterday, Judge Brian Cogan of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, not only struck down Obamacare's contraception mandate as applied to religious non-profit organizations, but also sent a strong signal that federal courts were losing patience with President Obama's many stitches of executive power.

Previous courts had ruled against President Obama's contraception mandate as applied to for-profit entities (see Sebelius v Hobby Lobby), but this was the first court to hold that participating in Obama's scheme to provide free birth control is a substantial burden on the free practice of religion (specifically the Catholic Archdiocese of New York and its affiliate organizations).

The contraception mandate "directly compels plaintiffs, through the threat of onerous penalties, to undertake actions that their religion forbids," Cogan wrote. "There is no way that a court can, or should, determine that a coerced violation of conscience is of insufficient quantum to merit constitutional protection."

5 Things Obamacare Teaches You About Liberals

1) It's inherently dishonest

2) Results are irrelevant

3) It penalizes success

4) It doesn't work

5) There are no trade-offs

Elaboration HERE.

White House: No debt-ceiling negotiations

Funny how the White House is only interested in "negotiating" when it's to their advantage.

The White House reiterated Monday that administration officials would not negotiate over the debt ceiling, after House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said over the weekend that Republicans would seek concessions in exchange for extending the limit on borrowing.

"The president's position has not changed," said White House press secretary Jay Carney.

Carney said officials were skeptical that Republicans would actually pursue the strategy after the polling hit the party took during the government shutdown earlier this year.

"We do not expect Republicans to walk that path again, precisely because it proved so disastrous," Carney said.

EEEE-GAD!

This would be one sweater that is DEFINATELY going back....if they'll take it.

Judge Cites Same-Sex Marriage in Declaring Polygamy Ban Unconstitutional

We all knew this was coming.

In a game-changer for the legal fight over same-sex marriage that gives credence to opponents’ “slippery slope” arguments, a federal judge has now ruled that the legal reasoning for same-sex marriage means that laws against polygamy are likewise unconstitutional.

In his 91-page opinion in Brown v. Buhman, on Dec. 13, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups struck down Utah’s law making polygamy a crime. In so doing, he may have opened Pandora’s Box.

As a condition for becoming a state in 1896, Congress required Utah to outlaw polygamy, which is marriage between three or more persons. This case involved a family of fundamentalist offshoots of nineteenth-century Mormonism. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints disavowed polygamy in 1890, and again in 1904, but some splinter groups continue the practice.

BOEHNER GOES OFF: Conservative Groups Have 'Lost All Credibility'

Is this guy nuts???? If he thinks badmouthing the Teaparty is going to endear him to the great unwashed moderates, he's dumber than he looks.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) continued to blast outside conservative groups over their opposition to the budget deal struck by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), saying in a press conference Thursday that they have "lost all credibility."

" When you criticize something and you have no idea what you’re criticizing, you’ve lost your credibility," Boehner told reporters on Capitol Hill.

" It just comes to a point where some people step over the line," he added, accusing the groups of "misleading their members."

More Lies: Gov’t Motors: Obama fudges math on auto bailout, $10.5 billion loss for taxpayers

This administration is absolutely incapable of being straight with the American people.

With final losses from the auto industry bailout near $15 billion, President Obama is using fuzzy math to claim that taxpayers lost no money on his administration’s portion of the rescue program, analysts say.

On the heels of the Treasury Department’s announcement Monday that it was selling its final shares of General Motors Co. acquired during the 2008-09 bailout, Mr. Obama seems more intent on claiming credit and avoiding blame than providing taxpayers with a final accounting of the bailout that also included Chrysler LLC and GM’s financing arm, Ally Financial.

“GM has now repaid every taxpayer dollar my administration committed to its rescue, plus billions invested by the previous administration,” Mr. Obama said in a statement after the Treasury announcement.

The White House didn’t respond to questions Tuesday about how the president arrived at his rosy mathematical conclusions. But analysts of the auto bailout said Mr. Obama appeared to be using a “last-in, first-out” method of accounting to justify his argument that all the bailout money committed has been repaid.

Antarctica Sets Cold Record of -135.8 Degrees

Look for the most contortionist convoluted spin from the Global warming crowd you can imagine.

Feeling chilly? Here's cold comfort: You could be in East Antarctica which new data says set a record for soul-crushing cold.

Try 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero; that's 93.2 degrees below zero Celsius, which sounds only slightly toastier. Better yet, don't try it. That's so cold scientists say it hurts to breathe.

A new look at NASA satellite data revealed that Earth set a new record for coldest temperature recorded. It happened in August 2010 when it hit -135.8 degrees. Then on July 31 of this year, it came close again: -135.3 degrees.

The old record had been -128.6 degrees, which is -89.2 degrees Celsius.

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry equates term ‘Obamacare’ with N-word

This women is truly ludicrous.

MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry equated the term “Obamacare” with the N-word on Sunday, saying it was “conceived by a group of wealthy white men who needed to… render [a black man] inferior and unequal and diminish his accomplishments.”

Buoyed by righteous indignation, Harris-Perry advances the white superiority narrative that is standard fare on the left in a full-on effort to run interference for President Obama.

Or, in other words, the failures associated with Obama’s signature healthcare law cannot be because of incompetence because he is a black man, so it must be whitey’s fault!

Does this mean we're going to have to start calling Obamacare the "O" word?

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Waitress claiming couple didn’t tip because she’s gay gets fired

She's lucky she's not charged with fraud.

A New Jersey waitress who raked in thousands in donations after claiming a couple didn’t tip her because she’s gay was fired from her job on Saturday.

Dayna Morales, 22, was finally canned from Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater — nearly a month after she made national headlines over what’s likely a hoax.

“She exaggerated every story,” former coworker Julie Howat told The Post. “I knew [the receipt] was fake. When the articles came out, everyone at my job laughed.”

Photo of the Day

Small boat rescues a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Two men can be seen on the superstructure of the USS West Virginia, upper center, with the mast of the USS Tennessee in the background. Dec 7 1941.

Report: Scientists predict a century of global cooling

But but Obama said if I like my Global Warming I could keep my Global Warming!

Better start investing in some warm clothes because German scientists are predicting that the Earth will cool over the next century.

German scientists found that two naturally occurring cycles will combine to lower global temperatures during the 21st century, eventually dropping to levels corresponding with the “little ice age” of 1870.

“Due to the de Vries cycle, the global temperature will drop until 2100 to a value corresponding to the ‘little ice age’ of 1870,” write German scientists Horst-Joachim Luedecke and Carl-Otto Weiss of the European Institute for Climate and Energy.

Researchers used historical temperature data and data from cave stalagmites to show a 200-year solar cycle, called the de Vries cycle.

WH admits Obama briefly stayed with uncle

And the lie parade from the Obama administration just keeps rolling along.

The White House confirmed on Thursday President Obama had met his uncle, Onyango Obama, who was granted legal residency to the country this week — reversing a previous statement.

The White House had previously told The Boston Globe that the president had never met his uncle, after Onyango — referred to as Omar — was arrested in 2011 for drunk driving.

But it revised its statement on Thursday, saying the press office had not actually asked the president about his relationship with his uncle before talking to the Globe in 2011.

“The president first met Omar Obama when he moved to Cambridge for law school,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz told the Globe.

Already a Lame Duck

Just waiting for an Executive Order outlawing all polling.

Recent polling from the Pew Research Center and Quinnipiac University has shown Obama’s approval rating on almost all major issues plunging into the 30s — below even his lowest-ever overall approval rating, which has stood around 40 percent in recent polls.

One might expect Obama’s issue approval rating to be lagging on the economy, for example. And it is.

But even with an issue on which which the president appears to fall in line with a majority of Americans, he’s struggling.

The Pew poll showed Obama’s approval rating on immigration, for instance, was at 32 percent, with 60 percent disapproving, and Quinnipiac showed just 35 percent approving of Obama on that issue.

Quote of the Day

JONATHAN TURLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The danger is quite severe. The problem with what the president is doing is that he's not simply posing a danger to the constitutional system. He's becoming the very danger the Constitution was designed to avoid...

Martin Bashir Resigns From MSNBC

Too late, MSNBC hasn't a single iota of credibility left.

Just over two weeks ago, MSNBC host Martin Bashir delivered a harsh piece of commentary that culminated in the suggestion that someone should “s-h-i-t” in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin‘s (R-AK) mouth. Bashir offered an abject apology on his next broadcast, but a chorus of critics continued to demand action against the host. After a reported “vacation” for the host earlier this week, Bashir announced, Wednesday afternoon, that MSNBC and Martin Bashir are parting ways.

Wednesday Funny

Polls Show ObamaCare Wave Building Against Senate Democrats

We'll see if it holds.

Recent polling shows that an election wave of anti-ObamaCare sentiment is growing, and it is not only likely to hand the GOP control of the United States Senate, but might wipe out as many as 12 Democrat seats--many of which looked safe just a few months ago.

Back in July, Five Thirty Eight's election guru Nate Silver believed that control of the Senate was a tossup. That has all changed now that voters got their first real look at the brutal consequences of ObamaCare.

Starting with the generic ballot that simply pits Republican lawmakers against their Democrat counterparts, the movement towards the GOP has been striking. In the Real Clear Politics average of these polls, going back as far as the beginning of the year, Democrats have consistently led by 3 to 4 points. During the government shutdown, Democrats leaped to 6 and 7 point leads. Since the disastrous rollout of ObamaCare, though, Republicans are not only in the lead by 2.5 points, they have led in every poll but one since November 10.

Detroit CAN file bankruptcy; pensions CAN be reduced forcibly

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Judge Steven Rhodes determined Detroit is eligible for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Tuesday morning.

Get the popcorn, this is going to get interesting from here on out.

Arctic ice cap grows 29% in one year

The BBC reported in 2007 global warming would leave the Arctic ice-free in summer by 2013.

A chilly Arctic summer has left 533,000 more square miles of ocean covered with ice than at the same time last year - an increase of 29 per cent. (snip)

...days before the annual autumn re-freeze is due to begin, an unbroken ice sheet more than half the size of Europe already stretches from the Canadian islands to Russia's northern shores.

The Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific has remained blocked by pack-ice all year. More than 20 yachts that had planned to sail it have been left ice-bound and a cruise ship attempting the route was forced to turn back.

And Antarctic sea ice is at a 35-year record high.

Obama promised 8 times during campaign to televise health care debate

Just another Obama LIE. We should be used to it by now.

The health care revolution will not be televised despite what President Obama promised you two years ago.

Obama has broken his campaign promises to make the health care debate a transparent process after saying he would do so on at least eight ocassions during his 2008 White House run.

Instead, Obama prodded House and Senate Democrats to get him a final health care bill as soon as possible — encouraging them on Tuesday night to go behind closed doors and skip the usual public negotiations between the two chambers in the interest of speed.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Photo of the Day

Sgt. William Olas Bee, a US Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire near Garmsir in Helmand Province of Afghanistan. May 2008.


Photo by Goran Tomasevic, Reuters.

Woman gets laughed at after bringing up Obamacare at Thanksgivi

Lucky, anybody bringing it up at our table would have likely been shot.

Video HERE.