News of the Week for January 12th<\/sup>, 2014<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Feds pick Obama supporter to lead probe into IRS tea party targeting<\/a> Christie and the IRS<\/a> <\/p>\n Chicago Ban on Gun Sales Within City Struck Down by Judge <\/a> Gun Victories in the Midwest <\/a> Should you lose your gun rights if you visit a shrink?<\/a> A Reddit Gun Lover Has A Hilarious Present For Anti-Gun Mother Jones <\/a> Poll: Household Gun Ownership on Rise in U.S.<\/a> <\/p>\n The Original Temperatures Project<\/a> What Catastrophe? <\/a> Black Hills Power closing 3 coal plants <\/a> If you like your light bulbs, you can keep your light bulbs <\/a> NPR offers a perfect example of how an unfalsifiable, infallible theory works<\/a> <\/p>\n Illinois Conceal Carry Applications Overwhelmingly Outpace Obamacare Enrollment<\/a> Solidarity with the nuns \u2014 a tipping point moment?<\/a> Left Looking Toward Vermont’s Single-Payer System <\/a> Oregon governor bails out of interview after being asked about ObamaCare exchange<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is it 1914 all over again? We are in danger of repeating the mistakes that started WWI, says a leading historian <\/a> Al Qaeda controls more territory than ever in Middle East<\/a> Iraqi ambassador slams Obama, praises Bush<\/a> The decay of the profession of arms <\/a> The Complex Calculus of a North Korean Collapse<\/a> <\/p>\n Parents call police for help, cops show up and kill their 18-year-old son<\/a> Supreme Court puts gay marriage on hold in Utah<\/a> Liz Cheney Out of Wyoming Senate Race; Cites Family Health Issue<\/a><\/p>\n Feds announce plans for stricter wood stove regulations <\/a> Occupy Celebrates Crony Capitalist de Blasio <\/a> VA Dem candidate: Fighting rapists in court just like fighting Tea Party<\/a> Carmakers keep data on drivers’ locations<\/a> U.S. Trademark Office Says \u2018Redskins\u2019 is Derogatory<\/a> YELP critics must be identified, court rules in online landscape altering decision <\/a> Democrat Senator Udall Asked State to Cook Books on Obamacare Numbers<\/a> Battling cancer again, Coburn may cut short his term<\/a> Sergio Garc\u00eda, America’s First Illegal Immigrant Lawyer, May Run for Governor<\/a> Gillespie will challenge Warner, hire Obenshain campaign manager <\/a> Rumblings: More Republicans looking forward to midterms now than at this point in 2010<\/a> Science teacher creates documentary based on McDonald’s diet<\/a> Suspended CU Professor After Prostitution Skit Returns To Class<\/a> Issa heading to New Hampshire<\/a> Fall election will make or break Harry Reid\u2019s dictatorial grip on power <\/a> California\u2019s Dangerous Idea: Give unelected bureaucrats the power to confiscate the private property of Americans<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Just How Bad is California\u2019s Business Climate?<\/a> Office vacancy rates in U.S. unchanged amid sluggish job growth<\/a> Senate confirms Yellen at Fed<\/a> Barack Obama\u2019s broken window economy<\/a> The Trickle-Down Lie <\/a> Nevada’s biggest casinos lose $1.35B in 2013<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hun Sen moves to suppress Cambodian opposition<\/a> ‘Aliens Exist’ Says Canada’s Former Defense Minister<\/a> Coptic Christmas Marked by First Visit from Egyptian Leader to Cathedral Since Nasser<\/a> Protests off limits for Greek presidency kick-off<\/a> Ariel Sharon Dead at 85<\/a> OISE Research Paper “Challenging Heteronormativity In The Primary Classroom” Contains Horrifying Details On Sex-Ed In TDSB <\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rocky Horror State University<\/a> Everything starts with Karl Marx and ends with the Democrats…<\/a> The Denaturalization of America<\/a> The House Seats Most Likely to Flip<\/a> Republicans Really Could Win It All This Year<\/a> Michael Barone Is Right: Hispanics Are Winnable <\/a> Liberalism and Double Standards<\/a> The Outlaw Campus <\/a> Identity Politics Eats Itself: The \u201cWise Latina\u201d Edition<\/a> \u2018Great Society\u2019 agenda led to great \u2014 and lasting \u2014 philosophical divide<\/a> The Not-So-Great Society: Back to the Future?<\/a> Millennial Communists <\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/impeachreno.org\/politicalhat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Newsboy.jpg\" "\\"News")
<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n\n
<\/a>Obama Scandals<\/h1>\n
\nThe Justice Department selected an avowed political supporter of President Obama to lead the criminal probe into the IRS targeting of tea party groups, according to top Republicans who said Wednesday that the move has ruined the entire investigation.<\/p>\n
\nContrast the Governor’s contrition with Obama’s lack thereof.<\/p>\n<\/a>Gun Rights<\/h1>\n
\nA Chicago law prohibiting the sale of guns within the third-most populous U.S. city was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge.<\/p>\n
\nFrom Detroit to Chicago, the Second Amendment wins.<\/p>\n
\nCiting \u2018mental health,\u2019 White House defies patient-privacy rules<\/p>\n
\nIf there\u2019s one thing the anti-gun zealots at Mother Jones hate, it\u2019s firearms in the hands of law-abiding American citizens. If there\u2019s another thing Mother Jones hates, it\u2019s probably the ability of those same law-abiding citizens to manufacture their own means of self-defense from the comfort of their own homes via a 3D printer.<\/p>\n
\nThe latest Economist\/YouGov poll shows that 39 percent of American households own guns, which represents a five percent increase over the number of gun owning households in 2012.<\/p>\n<\/a>Hide the Decline<\/h1>\n
Environment &
\n“Green Energy”<\/h2>\n
\nThe number of adjustments of temperature data appears overwhelming and often undocumented. Are we facing homogenization of temperature data? Or is it \u201cpasteurization\u201d (= warm treatment) of temperature data?<\/p>\n
\nMIT\u2019s Richard Lindzen, the unalarmed climate scientist<\/p>\n
\nRather than pay for environmental upgrades, Black Hills Power is shutting three of its coal-fired electricity generation plants.<\/p>\n
\nYep, This Happened Published on January 07, 2014 1I just took delivery today of three big boxes of incandescent light bulbs <\/p>\n
\nNPR didn\u2019t mean to offer a perfect example of how an unfalsifiable, infallible theory works. It\u2019s stated goal was to have people better understand what a polar vortex is. However, when it chose to interview \u201cAndrew Freedman, senior science writer for Climate Central, an independent non-profit organization that researches and reports on the science and impact of climate change,\u201d Mr. Freedman, true to his climate change beliefs, came up with a good one.<\/p>\n<\/a>Obamacare<\/h1>\n
Government in Healthcare<\/h2>\n
\nOn the heels of a federal court striking down Chicago’s ban on gun sales, those seeking gun permits in Illinois flooded the State Police website over the weekend to begin the permitting process. <\/p>\n
\nRemember back in 1980 when something happened in Poland that seemed little but had enormous consequences? That was the year that Lech Walesa started to lead the Gdansk shipyard workers. Their trade union eventually led in a straight line to the Soviet Union\u2019s downfall. From a trade union, those shipyard workers morphed into an enormous, non-violent protest against the Polish government (a Soviet proxy).<\/p>\n
\nNow that ObamaCare is under attack from all sides, the state of Vermont is getting some love from the left because it is considering an even more insidious healthcare alternative to ObamaCare: a “single-payer” system called Green Mountain Care. <\/p>\n
\nAnd well he should. Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber sat down with KATU for an interview, which he had to know would focus on the disastrous rollout of Cover Oregon, a failure which has already claimed at least one top-ranking official\u2019s job. Kitzhaber now acknowledges that the Cover Oregon website won\u2019t be functioning in the foreseeable future, and now claims that the website rollout was supposed to be a two-year project, which may come as news to Oregonians who are being forced to enroll in ObamaCare now.<\/p>\n<\/a>War & Terror<\/h1>\n
\nThe newly mechanised armies of the early 20th century produced unprecedented slaughter on the battlefields of the “war to end all wars” after a spark lit in the Balkans with the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand.<\/p>\n
\nFrom around Aleppo in western Syria to small areas of Falluja in central Iraq, al Qaeda now controls territory that stretches more than 400 miles across the heart of the Middle East, according to English and Arab language news accounts as well as accounts on jihadist websites.<\/p>\n
\nAmbassador praises Bush\u2019s \u2018ownership\u2019 of relationship<\/p>\n
\nThe Profession of Arms is decaying (weakening or fraying — as opposed to a relative decline), and the primary causes are neglect, anti-intellectual bias, and a creeping, cancerous bureaucracy. <\/p>\n
\nThe Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea remains a sui generis communist monarchy wrapped in mystery, prone to sporadic brinkmanship and violent spasms. The young leader\u2019s surprise execution of his uncle suggests regime instability, which might spark new international provocations for domestic political purposes.<\/p>\n<\/a>National<\/h1>\n
\nTwo North Carolina parents are in shock after local police shot and killed their 18-year-old son in their own home, while they watched helplessly.<\/p>\n
\nThe Supreme Court on Monday put gay marriage on hold in Utah, giving the state time to appeal a federal judge’s ruling against Utah’s same-sex marriage ban.<\/p>\n
\nAt the end of a smoky week in the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new standards for wood stoves that are less stringent than those planned by the state, at least at first.<\/p>\n
\nToday\u2019s unintentionally hilarious sponsored post on Facebook.<\/p>\n
\nThe War on Women is the never-ending Democratic Party strategy.<\/p>\n
\nA government report finds that major automakers are keeping information about where drivers have been \u2014 collected from onboard navigation systems \u2014 for varying lengths of time. Owners of those cars can\u2019t demand that the information be destroyed. And, says the U.S. senator requesting the investigation, that raises questions about driver privacy.<\/p>\n
\nThere will be no trademark for \u201cRedskins Hog Rinds,\u201d a bad omen for the Washington Redskins in the legal battle over their name.<\/p>\n
\nDecision could reshape rules for online consumer reviews of products, businesses<\/p>\n
\nCompleteColorado.com reports that emails show U.S. Senator Mark Udall’s (D-CO) office pressured the Colorado Division of Insurance to downplay the number of insurance cancellations caused by the rollout of ObamaCare. A full 249,199 Colorado citizens were victimized by ObamaCare’s cancellations. According to the emails, Udall’s office hoped to change the definition of a “cancellation” as a way to lower the number. All of this occurred late last year as the storm around cancellations was engulfing Democrats and the president.<\/p>\n
\nThe Oklahoma Republican often arrives in his office two hours before his aides, sometimes as early as 4 a.m. He attends virtually all of his committee hearings. And in the evenings, he either dines with his senator buddies at Capitol Hill establishments or attends his weekly meetings of Christians, conservatives and others at his well-known C Street house.<\/p>\n
\nThe first attorney in history to receive admission to a state bar association despite being in America illegally says practicing law isn’t the limit for him; he might run for governor of California.<\/p>\n
\nFormer Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie has decided to challenge Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and will announce his campaign next week, two sources close to Gillespie confirm to The Hill.<\/p>\n
\nSurprising, although it probably shouldn\u2019t be. Any indicator that the GOP in 2014 might somehow outperform the big red wave of 2010 is noteworthy, but timing is everything here. I think.<\/p>\n
\nThe 2004 documentary Supersize Me featured a man who only ate McDonald’s for a month. The results he reported in film were less than appetizing, and he claimed his health deteriorated significantly.
\nAfter viewing that documentary, John Cisna of Ankeny — who is also a science teacher in the Colo-Nesco School District — put together his own amateur documentary looking at the fast-food giant. He and his team of students came to a much different conclusion.<\/p>\n
\nThe controversial \u201cprostitution\u201d lecture involved mock-interviews with various kinds of prostitutes, as a means of showing social order and deviant behavior. Inside Higher Ed reports that teacher assistants were asked to dress up as \u201cslave whores, crack whores, bar whores, streetwalkers, brothel workers and escort services.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nVista lawmaker to speak at venue known to host presidential hopefuls<\/p>\n
\nThe spotlight is on Nevada\u2019s senior senator, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and it is casting some dark and ugly shadows.<\/p>\n
\nCalifornia\u2019s Senate Bill 1 is what the founding fathers fought against. Straight from the U.N. Agenda 21\u2019s playbook, SB1 will give power to a county to form a \u201cSustainable Communities Investment Authority\u201d (SCIA). These Authorities have the power of eminent domain and can confiscate private property to build \u201csustainable communities.\u201d The bill essentially paves the way for the loss of any true private property in California, resulting in the loss of freedom and driving down home values. If the Senate passes the modified bill, only Governor Jerry Brown (D \u2013 CA) will stand in its way of becoming law.<\/p>\n<\/a>Economy
\n& Taxes<\/h1>\n
\nIt is so bad that even New York is now trying to poach businesses from the Golden State.<\/p>\n
\nOffice vacancy rates in the United States remained unchanged for the fourth quarter of 2013 because lackluster job growth and concerns about the economy muted demand for office space, a preliminary report by real estate research firm Reis Inc said.<\/p>\n
\nThe Senate on Monday voted 56-26 to confirm Janet Yellen as the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s awfully strange to see a President simultaneously claim that his economy is (finally) on the mend\u2026 while simultaneously demanding yet another \u201cemergency\u201d unemployment extension. Obamanomics is a perpetual unemployment emergency. Five years on, the American economy still can\u2019t rise from its sick bed and pull the IV tube out of its arm. Heckuva job, Obama voters!<\/p>\n
\nNobody is advocating the trickle-down theory that the Left attacks.<\/p>\n
\nNevada’s largest casinos, still climbing out of the recession, suffered a combined net loss of $1.35 billion in 2013, marking the fifth straight year without an overall profit, state regulators reported Friday.<\/p>\n<\/a>International<\/h1>\n
\nCAMBODIA’S opposition leaders have been summoned to court on suspicion of inciting civil unrest, their party said, after the government of strongman Hun Sen moved to suppress growing street protests. <\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s nothing quite like a former high-ranking official giving credence to conspiracy theories to kick off a work week.<\/p>\n
\nAt the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi in 2013, the head of Egypt\u2019s Islamic Al-Azhar university and the Coptic pope flanked Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as he announced the monumental news. Violence against Christians has continued at the hands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, but 2014 begins with new hope for Christians in Egypt: a new constitution is coming up for a vote that would allow Christians to build churches without clearance from the president, the Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist organization, and the government has vowed to do a better job of protecting Copts from violence.<\/p>\n
\nGreek authorities imposed an 18-hour ban on protests across the center of Athens during events planned Wednesday to mark the inauguration of the nation’s six-month presidency of the European Union.<\/p>\n
\nFormer Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a brilliant general and controversial Israeli politician, died on Saturday from complications due to a debilitating stroke he suffered in 2006.<\/p>\n
\n“Huge, hideous, massively constipated, marxist organism” is completely right. Reading through this 72 page OISE paper was indeed a “daunting task” that was “messy, nasty, and smelly.”<\/p>\n<\/a>Opinion<\/h1>\n
\nThe University of Houston-Downtown has about 14,000 students and, while Wikipedia says UHD students are 39% Hispanic, 29% African American, 20% white, 9% Asian American, the percentage of transgendered students is evidently unknown. Nevertheless, with the encouragement of \u201cthe university\u2019s new Center for Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,\u201d UHD is now creating \u201cgender-neutral\u201d restrooms to accommodate the, uh, gender neutral. And this regime is \u201ccoming soon to a college near you,\u201d as Aleister at College Insurrection says. <\/p>\n
\nA fabulous diagram.<\/p>\n
\nIn 2008, America elected a president from a broken home whose mother was sympathetic to communists; who as a youngster had formative relationships with a transgender nanny chosen by his mother and a bisexual communist pornographer “mentor” chosen by his grandfather; whose teenage friends were so devoted to drug use that they gave themselves a nickname derived from this habit, and developed their own vernacular related to methods of pot smoking; and whose chums as a young adult were Marxist professors and activists, a liberation theology preacher, and domestic terrorists. This could have worked out all right — we all have a few weird associations.<\/p>\n
\nTen months from Election Day, uncertainty is the watchword in the House of Representatives. Democrats look very unlikely to pick up the 17 seats they would need to retake the House majority, and they could lose seats, with the generic-ballot average settling into a slim Republican advantage after a tumultuous fall. But the speed of earlier movement against both parties shows why it would be foolish to assume what’s true today will be true in 10 months.<\/p>\n
\nAnother midterm election beckons, and over the next 10 months we\u2019ll see headlines about a thousand supposedly critical developments\u2014the \u201cgame changers\u201d and the \u201ctipping points.\u201d But we all know there aren\u2019t a thousand powerful drivers of the vote. I\u2019d argue that three factors are paramount: the president, the economy and the election playing field. And, at least preliminarily, those three factors seem to be pointing toward Republican gains in both houses in the 2014 midterms.<\/p>\n
\nMichael Barone received some harsh criticism from the comment section of his column, \u201cRight and Left of the Hispanic Vote,\u201d for saying that that vote is \u201cup for grabs.\u201d But his critics are wrong in their assertions that the Latino vote is not winnable. A full 55 percent of Hispanics have voted for a Republican at one point in their life \u2014 proof that they are willing to vote for whoever they think cares and can improve their lives and the lives of their children. Obama\u2019s recent and precipitous 23 percent drop in support from Hispanics also points to the fact that they are not part of a permanent liberal majority, in the way, for example, that African-Americans and pro-choice women are.<\/p>\n
\nYes, I know we\u2019ve mentioned before that if liberals didn\u2019t have double standards, they wouldn\u2019t have any standards at all.<\/p>\n
\nThe university has become a rogue institution in need of root-and-branch reform.<\/p>\n
\nThis is identity politics, folks, and it\u2019s getting more and more common on the left, the tendency to define your political position according to one\u2019s religion, race, social background and so on. And really, it is bigotry with a smiley face on it. And as much as it presents itself as warm and friendly, underneath it all is bigotry and hatred: you just have to have the right even to trigger it.<\/p>\n
\nThe ambitious \u201cGreat Society\u201d agenda begun half a century ago continues to touch nearly every aspect of American life. But the deep philosophical divide it created has come to define the nation\u2019s harsh politics, especially in the Obama era.<\/p>\n
\nNothing so surely signals that liberalism has lost its mind than the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Great Society under way this week. Has there been a greater self-evident social policy failure in American history? More importantly, are today\u2019s young liberal journalists completely ignorant of the fact that even liberals despaired of the Great Society by the end of the 1960s\u2014that it completely shattered liberal optimism? (Don\u2019t bother answering\u2014that was a rhetorical question.)<\/p>\n
\nTo the young and idealistic, this time is always different.<\/p>\n