$1B coerced from “racist” lenders ….. and we’ve “Only Just Begun” …..

From Investor’s Business Daily:

“…..So “victims” were never actually identified. That’s why the complaint has to estimate that Ally discriminated against “approximately” 100,000 African-American borrowers.

More shocking, civil-rights prosecutors never actually checked the creditworthiness of those borrowers. That’s right, they never looked at credit scores, down payments, debt or other key risk-related factors banks consider to set interest rates. Not for blacks, or for supposedly “similarly situated” whites.

So how in the world can Justice claim “Ally’s specific policy and practice are not justified by a legitimate business need?”

It really can’t. That’s why it relies on statistics to “prove” such policies had a “disparate impact” on minorities, while arbitrarily finding those disparities so “significant” they can’t be explained by chance.

Arbitrary, because neither Justice nor CFPB will reveal its threshold for “significant,” despite repeated bipartisan requests from Congress.

What a clever fraud by your own government.”

The Credit Rating service Fitch notes that it may be more than just a desire to extort from the banks which lend in the auto market:

Fitch also notes that CFPB does not have jurisdiction over auto dealers and their practices. Actions taken against lenders could be an indirect way to regulate dealers.

A look through the CFPB “Advisory Groups” listings will show a “who’s-who” of Progressives with tentacles to well known fraud front groups, such as ACORN.

The official news release for the latest shakedown , er, “settlement” states it will consist of several parts: (more…)

Outlined in new documents obtained by The Investigative Project on Terrorism we find confirmation the State Dept coordinated the entry of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood delegation into the U.S. in April of 2012.   Using a designation “Expedited Entry -or- Port Courtesy, normally reserved for high-ranking visiting government officials and dignitaries” which allowed them to skip basic airport inspections.

It’s no secret, either in the U.S. or in Egypt, that President Obama and Secretary Clinton were key allies to Egyptian Islamist President Morsi prior to his ouster from office.

The U.S. support for Morsi was a source of anger amid secular Egyptians against the United States administration for supporting the Islamists within the Muslim Brotherhood.

That mainstream anger eventually led to the Egyptian military acting on behalf of the majority of Egyptian citizens to remove the Islamist head from power.   In addition they reinstated the controls on the Brotherhood which Morsi had removed and put al-Qaeda’s Muhammed al-Zawahiri back behind bars. (more…)

Readers will know by now how often we have spotlighted a historical similarity between the former polish Solidarity Movement, and the ruse behind the current U.S. body politic as narrated by the media.    So it’s a little ironic to see Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa speak openly about how diminished the U.S. influence is.
(via WeaselZippers) The Nobel Peace Prize-winning former president of Poland, Lech Walesa, says President Obama has failed to reclaim America’s role as a world leader.

“When he was elected… there was great hope,” Walesa said. “…. we were hoping Obama would reclaim moral leadership for America,” adding: “That failed.”
“…. in terms of politics and morality, America no longer leads the world,” he said. “…America did not regain its leadership status. We were just lucky there were no big conflicts in the world,” saying the world has relied on a strong America to maintain the balance of power around the globe.
“… It’s a dangerous situation so we are awaiting a president who will understand that,” he said. (link)

The progressive mantra of modern liberalism is flailing miserably everywhere you look and the media protestations of a “Do Nothing Congress” are flares shooting up from their encampments identifying exactly where they reside.

All around us are signs the various liberalist causes are visibly in the minority.   The odd thing is how willing the progressives are to out their failing positions.    Against the liberal yard-stick of emotional legislative advancement, which is diametrically antithetical to freedom, the media are proclaiming congress as failed.
However, when you consider that stopping intrusion by government into your life is a central tenant of freedom this congress is the most successful in a decade.
Coast to coast people are showing their pushback against the nanny state.    People are rising up, or using their TV remotes, or tuning their car radios, or expressing their voice, to reflect an ideology of freedom in opposition to the current federal administration and the beliefs they visibly represent. (more…)

Venezuela, in a squeeze for hard currency, devalued its currency for foreigners another 44%, following an initial devaluation of 32% by Chavez in February.  The move is seen as a necessity to keep Venezuela from defaulting on sovereign debt when reliance on excessively high levels of public spending has been the tool of Chavez and his successor, Maduro, to maintain their grip on power.  It is the 6th such major devaluation in a decade.
The move is essentially a bookkeeping sleight-of-hand – it allows the Venezuelan central bank to balance its books by “earning” more Bolivars for its oil export sales, at a time when overall sales volume has decreased dramatically.

(more…)

The New York Times reports that middle class Obama voters are less than happy with finding out that their private plans are being cancelled, and that the Obamacare plans are much more expensive than their private coverage.
The Times describes them as “frustrated”. (!)
…. “We are just right over that line,” said Ms. Chapman, who is 54 and does administrative work for a small wealth management firm. Because their plan is being canceled, she is looking for new coverage for her family, which includes Mr. Chapman, 55, a retired fireman who works on a friend’s farm, and her two sons. “That’s an insane amount of money,” she said of their new premium. “How are you supposed to pay that?”
(more…)

Kitty Werthman is a 85 year old survivor of the Anschluss and after WWII suffered for 3 years under Soviet Occupation.

She has been speaking out about Liberalism, Socialism and its incremental advancement for over a decade.  She is the President of the South Dakota Eagle Forum and has been an advocate for liberty and family issues for many years.

In 2003, she wrote an essay warning about National Identity cards (the REAL ID that the government has been trying to enforce), loss of free speech that was deemed politically outlawed and gun registration, among other topics.
More recently, she gave a speech in New Jersey to a Tea Party which a You Tube subscriber interspersed with quotes from Obama about socialism, universal healthcare, gun registration and gun control.
“How could a Christian nation, almost 100%, elect a monster like Hitler?  The truth is, at the beginning, Hitler did not look like or talk like a monster at all.  He talked like an American politician ….”
(more…)

This past Thursday, a town hall meeting hosted by Al Sharpton and the National Action Network in Chicago to address gun violence exploded into a revolt against: “Chicago Machine” politics, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and black alderman in City Hall, with panel and audience members calling to vote out their elected officials.
One 82-year-old preacher even called for “Tea Party” style meetings in some of Chicago’s south side communities such as Altgen Gardens and Trumbull Park.  (via Breitbart)
[The last statement in the video is, well, um… just watch it]

(more…)

Seniors Carl Schmidt and Brendon Mendelson were in yoga class at Arapahoe High when the shooting began. Their teacher hurried them promptly away from the door and into a closet. (link)

Seriously ? What type of schools have accredited Yoga Classes?

https://twitter.com/toddstarnes/status/411722030975692800

A classmate said Karl Pierson got a bit of a kick out of the fact that his first name was spelled the same way as Karl Marx. #ArapahoeHigh

— Sadie Gurman (@sgurman) December 14, 2013

We’re learning more about the gunman, too. A student who had econ with him called him opinionated, outspoken, a little odd, a socialist.
— Sadie Gurman (@sgurman) December 14, 2013

Denver Post – […]  Pierson’s parents  divorced in late 2011, according to court records. The  divorce was finalized in August 2012.
Thomas Conrad, who had an economics class with Pierson, described him as   very opinionated.
[…]  In one Facebook post, Pierson attacks the philosophies of economist Adam Smith who through his invisible hand theory pushed the notion that the free market was self-regulating. In another post, he describes himself as “Keynesian.” (more…)

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea on Friday announced the execution of Kim  Jong Un’s uncle, calling the leader’s former mentor a traitor who tried to  overthrow the state.

….”Wait,…. Wait,…. Wait…., Annnddd FIRE” !…..
…..”See,…. I tell you uncle Dog Boy run fast”…

The announcement came only days after Pyongyang announced through state media  that Jang Song Thaek — long considered the country’s No. 2 power — had been  removed from all his posts because of allegations of corruption, drug use,  gambling, womanizing and leading a “dissolute and depraved life.”

The state news agency KCNA said a tribunal examined Jang’s  crimes, including “attempting to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues  and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our  party and state.”
(more…)