It doesn’t take a leap to see the possibility Barack Obama is just about over this gig he was willingly thrust into.   When you look at his speech today about the NSA domestically, and then review the reality of failure in foreign affairs, you can almost see the visible gears turning out the thought/perspective, “this sucks”.

There comes a time when a highly scripted and massively controlled person eventually turns inward and asks the hard questions of themselves.   It sure looks like Dear Leader is in such a position.

All the stuff indoctrinated to sell via teleprompter with grand prose just isn’t carrying the same value it once did.   That Columbia liberalism doesn’t actually deliver the sense of fulfillment – especially when you do all the things they said would work, and yet look at the consequences evident in the reality of abject failure. (more…)

I’ll admit to being a little frustrated with the Charles Krauthammer’s of the world who talk about ObamaCare self-destructing because it is financially “unsustainable”.   This they also call the “death spiral” to describe the possible collapse of ObamaCare because the financial arrangements inherent within ObamaCare do not support it continuing.

Intellectually accurate.    BUT, when you think about how current political progressives operate, PROFOUNDLY NAIVE  and structurally false.

U.S. taxpayers will make up the difference between costs and revenues via the Reinsurance program:

[WSJ] Robert Laszewski—a prominent consultant to health insurance companies—recently wrote in a remarkably candid blog post that, while Obamacare is almost certain to cause insurance costs to skyrocket even higher than it already has, “insurers won’t be losing a lot of sleep over it.”  How can this be?  Because insurance companies won’t bear the cost of their own losses—at least not more than about a quarter of them.  The other three-quarters will be borne by American taxpayers. (more…)

The New York Times has a lengthy article about the evolution of Obama’s ideology and perspective regarding NSA spying.    However, inside the article there is this admission from White House advisor/campaign director David Plouffe that everyone appears to be overlooking (emphasis mine):

[…]   “When you get the package every morning, it puts steel in your spine,” said David Plouffe, the president’s longtime adviser. “There are people out there every day who are plotting. The notion that we would put down a tool that would protect people here in America is hard to fathom.”

At the same time, aides said Mr. Obama was surprised to learn after leaks by Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, just how far the surveillance had gone. “Things seem to have grown at the N.S.A.,” Mr. Plouffe said, citing specifically the tapping of foreign leaders’ telephones. “I think it was disturbing to most people, and I think he found it disturbing.”

Yet it is hard to express indignation at actions of the government after five years of running it, and some involved in surveillance note that it was Mr. Obama who pushed national security agencies to be aggressive in hunting terrorists.  (read full article)

Sometimes people ask us ‘why are you willing to confront the third rail issues’?  I think Allen West has just provided the best explanation of ‘why’.

Allen West – “racial protectionism” – When the concept of doing a website was presented to me, initially I scoffed thinking there wouldn’t be enough critical material daily to comment on — boy was I wrong. Every day I am amazed at the insanity I witness in our America and here is another example.

According to a report in The Hill, Attorney General Eric Holder is at it again with his racial preference policies,

Attorney General Eric Holder called upon the nation’s school districts Wednesday to rethink “zero tolerance” disciplinary policies that he said disproportionately punish minorities and push too many students into the justice system. Alarming numbers of young people are suspended, expelled or even arrested for relatively minor transgressions like school uniform violations, schoolyard fights or showing ‘disrespect’ by laughing in class,” Holder said during a speech in Baltimore.

What did his remarks really mean? They accompanied the release of new federal guidance from the departments of Justice and Education encouraging (i.e. threatening) schools to adopt disciplinary policies that are “fair, nondiscriminatory, and effective.” The guidance offers parameters for punishment as governed by federal civil rights protections, alternatives to exclusionary discipline and a comprehensive list of regulations on the books in every state. (more…)

President Obama Tuesday said he’s “not going to be waiting for legislation” from Congress to move forward on his agenda in 2014, further stoking a clash between both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue over the reach of executive power.

“I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone,” Obama said before a Cabinet meeting at the White House Tuesday, issuing a challenge to GOP lawmakers who have blocked most of his second-term agenda. (more…)

Iran and the White House are aligned in their demand the U.S. congress must not issue any further sanctions against the Iranian nuclear ambitions.   However, the more alarming aspect is that the White House is refusing to let congress review the exact terminology of the previously announced arrangement.

Not passing proverbial sniff test….

WASHINGTON DC –  Iran vowed to maintain its nuclear infrastructure and threatened to boost its uranium enrichment capabilities just hours after announcing that it had agreed to a deal to halt some aspects of its contested nuclear program.

Iran and Western nations announced on Sunday that they had agreed to an interim deal to halt portions of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for some $7 billion in sanctions relief.

Secretary of State John Kerry celebrated the interim agreement, which will officially begin on Jan. 20.

However, Iranian officials threatened to ramp up nuclear activities should they feel the West is violating the accord.

“We will in no way, never, dismantle our [nuclear] centrifuges,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the country’s state-run television station on Sunday, according to New York Times reporter Thomas Erdbrink. (more…)

SUPREME COURT – Justice Antonin Scalia on Monday tore into President Barack Obama’s use of recess appointments to staff government agencies when the Senate is unofficially on recess.

During oral arguments, Scalia shot back at an argument by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli that the Constitution’s recess appointments clause is ambiguous enough to validate Obama’s temporary appointments.

“It’s been assumed to be ambiguous by self-interested presidents,” Scalia said, to “oohs” and laughs in the court room.

Scalia argued emphatically that the text of the Constitution does not permit presidents to appoint individuals to government agencies during pro forma sessions — when the Senate technically gavels in and out to fulfill a constitutional requirement, but does not conduct any business. He suggested the power ought to be restricted to official recesses. (more…)

We received this account via email – from a reliable source.  However, we have no way to actually authenticate the first hand account and out of an abundance of caution we will not publish the author.   Presented as received:

My wife and I are on Oahu for our annual Hawaii trip with good friends and two granddaughters enjoying the hospitality of the Hawaiian people on this lovely Island. Being retired military allows us the privilege of using the military facilities and especially the highly desirable golf  courses.

Yesterday , Jan 4, we had a tee time of 12:04 to play golf at Kaneohe Marine Corps on Oahu. We arrived early because we were advised the President was possibly going to play but also that he was leaving to fly back to D.C. that same day.

We checked in and were second off and waiting for carts when we were advised that he really may be coming but there was no count of when or how many in the party. We then got body scanned, our golf bags searched and briefed on the proper behavior expected. He and his party finally arrived at 1:00 and he then hit balls on the range and then drove right in front of us on his way to the first tee hollering Happy New Year to the small group( 50 or so) golfers waiting to play. (more…)

Really Mr. Gates?    Really?    You were surprised and disturbed by this?