Saturday, July 27, 2013

A Failed Celebr-Ambassador Returns to Washington

From Michelle Malkin:
Welcome to another installment of No Obama Bundler Left Behind. This chapter stars an elite Hollywood fundraiser who scored a plum diplomatic appointment, slacked off on the job and left her public office in disgrace, and then rebounded from failure as a new Obamacare promoter. Nice crony “work” if you can get it.

This failed celebr-ambassador is Nicole Avant. Her father, Clarence Avant, is a prominent Democratic activist and music executive. Her husband, Ted Sarandos, is the chief content officer at Netflix. Her godfather is music legend Quincy Jones. On Monday, Avant turned up at an Obama administration confab with pop stars (Jennifer Hudson, Jason Derulo), comedy stars (Amy Poehler, Kal Penn, Aisha Tyler) and other assorted Beautiful People (public relations teams for Oprah Winfrey and Alicia Keys). The liberal glam squad members all have agreed to spread Obamacare propaganda to the masses.

Avant, billed as an “Obama administration veteran” by The Hollywood Reporter, represented “industry” at the Ministry of Health Care Misinformation meeting this week. The Wrap, another Hollywood gossip outlet, describes Avant as having been “tasked with helping boost Obama’s relationship with Hollywood.”

But what exactly has this “veteran” accomplished? What are her qualifications? How has she used taxpayer dollars, and what exactly is her “industry”?

By all appearances, the industry of Nicole Avant is Nicole Avant...
Culture of corruption.

More at that top link.

Kopp-Etchells Effect

The corona effect from helicopter rotor blades in Afghanistan, and named the "Kopp-Etchells Effect" by war correspondent Michael Yon, after Cpl. Benjamin Kopp and Cpl. Joseph Etchells, who were killed in action.

Not sure why now, since Yon was writing about this back in 2009, but London's Daily Mail reports, "Mesmerizing halo effect caused by blades of landing combat helicopters named in honor of two fallen soldiers."

Chaos Grips Egypt — Again

At Reuters, "Violence deepens Egypt turmoil, deposed leader probed for murder."

And the New York Times, "Violence Erupts After Mass Rallies Over Fate of Egypt."

And here's the kicker, "Aid to Egypt Can Keep Flowing, Despite Overthrow, White House Decides":



WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has concluded it is not legally required to determine whether the Egyptian military engineered a coup d’état in ousting President Mohamed Morsi, a senior administration official said Thursday, a finding that will allow it to continue to funnel $1.5 billion in American aid to Egypt each year.

The legal opinion, submitted to the White House by lawyers from the State Department and other agencies, amounts to an escape hatch for President Obama and his advisers, who had concluded that cutting off financial assistance could destabilize Egypt at an already fragile moment and would pose a threat to neighbors like Israel.

The senior official did not describe the legal reasoning behind the finding, saying only, “The law does not require us to make a formal determination as to whether a coup took place, and it is not in our national interest to make such a determination.”

“We will not say it was a coup, we will not say it was not a coup, we will just not say,” the official said.
The most corrupt administration in history, completely lawless.

Previous Egypt blogging is here, with plenty of chaos.

Michelle Fields and Katie Pavlich Debate the Left's Sexual Pervert Epidemic

Great stuff, from yesterday's Neil Cavuto featuring Eric Bolling:



'Public Cervix Announcement'

Not sure about this, but I'll link Althouse, "'When I showed my cervix to 40,000 people on stage with Public cervix announcement...'"
"... it was a loving gesture; it wasn’t about shocking people or turning people on."
Following the link takes us to an interview with Annie Sprinkle, Ph.D., an "ecosexual" post-porn modernist, prostitute, and performance artist.

Obviously, a perfect representative of today's "if it feels good do it" left.

BONUS: At the Other McCain, "Armageddon, U.S.A.: Because Nobody Cares About ‘Social Issues’ Anymore."

Kate Upton GIF

Via Goodstuff's World.

Free Image Hosting

Friday, July 26, 2013

Buycott Stolichnaya Vodka

I prefer Bourbon myself, but if you're buying vodka, perhaps pick up a little Stoli.

It turns out the disgusting hate-monger Dan Savage has launched a homosexual boycott against the Russian distiller.

Putin backed a traditional values bill that was passed unanimously in the Duma, "Russian Lawmakers Pass Anti-Gay Bill Banning 'Propaganda of Nontraditional Sexual Relations' in 436-0 Vote."

Funny thing is (or the stupid thing), is that Stoli Vodka is pro-LGBT rights. See BuzzFeed, "Stoli Responds to the Attempted Boycott of Russian Vodka."

And by the way, this isn't to say I'm thrilled with the legislation. It's that homo-ayatollahs like Dan Savage are just as abusive as are Russian autocrats. Screw 'em.

More at Towleroad, "STOLI RESPONDS TO BOYCOTT, DAN SAVAGE RESPONDS TO STOLI."

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Silda Spitzer Plans to Seek Divorce After the Election

Well, I mentioned she was keeping a low profile. Really low, it turns out.

At the New York Post, "EXCLUSIVE: Fed-up Silda Spitzer plans to divorce Eliot after election":

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Silda Spitzer is privately telling friends she plans to divorce her hooker-loving husband, Eliot Spitzer, Page Six can exclusively reveal.

Multiple sources tell us long-suffering Silda — who, he last night admitted, will not be joining him on the campaign trail — “has had enough” and plans to start divorce proceedings after his run for New York City comptroller is over.

One source tells us, “Silda is telling her female friends that she is done with him. She will file for divorce after the [Nov. 5] election.”

A second source told The Post’s Sally Goldenberg, “Silda is saying she is going to wait until this is all over. She has been telling friends, ‘This is too hard. This is too rough.’ ”

Page Six exclusively revealed in May that the Spitzers were living apart, with Eliot staying at 800 Fifth Ave. — less than 20 blocks from the home he shared with Silda at 985 Fifth.
Still more at that top link.

Janet Yellen and the Left's Federal Reserve Gender Debate

Seems to me the relevant question should be "Is this woman the most qualified economist for the job?"

But it's never about that nowadays, in our quota drenched, PC gender-obsessed leftist culture.

Idiot leftist Greg Sargent has a piece up now at Memeorandum, "Senate Dems push White House to appoint Janet Yellen (and not Larry Summers) to the Fed."

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And that reminded me of this morning's New York Times, "In Tug of War Over New Fed Leader, Some Gender Undertones":
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s choice of a replacement for the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, is coming down to a battle between the California girls and the Rubin boys.

Janet L. Yellen, the Fed’s vice chairwoman, is one of three female friends, all former or current professors at the University of California, Berkeley, who have broken into the male-dominated business of advising presidents on economic policy. Her career has been intertwined with those of Christina D. Romer, who led Mr. Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers at the beginning of his first term, and Laura D’Andrea Tyson, who held the same job under President Clinton and later served as the director of the White House economic policy committee. But no woman has climbed to the very top of the hierarchy to serve as Fed chairwoman or Treasury secretary.

Ms. Yellen’s chief rival for Mr. Bernanke’s job, Lawrence H. Summers, is a member of a close-knit group of men, protégés of the former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, who have dominated economic policy-making in both the Clinton and the Obama administrations. Those men, including the former Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Gene B. Sperling, the president’s chief economic policy adviser, are said to be quietly pressing Mr. Obama to nominate Mr. Summers.

The choice of a Fed chair is perhaps the single most important economic policy decision that Mr. Obama will make in his second term. Mr. Bernanke’s successor must lead the Fed’s fractious policy-making committee in deciding how much longer and how much harder it should push to stimulate growth and seek to drive down the unemployment rate.

Ms. Yellen’s selection would be a vote for continuity: she is an architect of the Fed’s stimulus campaign and shares with Mr. Bernanke a low-key, collaborative style. Mr. Summers, by contrast, has said that he doubts the effectiveness of some of the Fed’s efforts, and his self-assured leadership style has more in common with past chairmen like Alan Greenspan and Paul A. Volcker.

But the choice also is roiling Washington because it is reviving longstanding and sensitive questions about the insularity of the Obama White House and the dearth of women in its top economic policy positions. Even as three different women have served as secretary of state under various presidents and growing numbers have taken other high-ranking government jobs, there has been little diversity among Mr. Obama’s top economic advisers.

“Are we moving forward? It’s hard to see it,” said Ms. Romer, herself a late addition to Mr. Obama’s original economic team, chosen partly because the president wanted a woman.
Continue reading.

President Obama runs an extremely sexist "good old boys" White House. He's leaning toward appointing Lawrence Summers, an interesting choice, considering he left Harvard's presidency after inflaming the radical left's gender grievance academic correct-think reeducation commissars.

But like I said, the job should go to the best candidate, and that's Yellen, according to none other than renowned monetary policy economist Amanda Marcotte, "The Best Candidate for Fed Chair Is a Woman, so Why Consider Larry Summers?":
On Tuesday [Ezra] Klein wrote a new column, this time saying that, to his utter disbelief, Larry Summers is the frontrunner for the Fed chair. And I've been told that the Summers camp is using the whisper campaign against Yellen to bolster their man's chances with Obama. Yes, the same Larry Summers who condescendingly told a roomful of people who had lived their adult lives as female scientists that women lack the innate abilities to do science. Yes, the same Larry Summers who, unlike Yellen, played an instrumental role in the economic collapse in the first place by consistently backing deregulation schemes that led to the housing bubble and its collapse. If this is the male candidate Obama needs to exhaust before he deigns to consider a female one, well, he should consider Summers exhausted.
The best minds have spoken!

Renowned monetary policy economist Amanda Marcotte cites renowned Washington juice box policy analyst Ezra Klein, with the added bonus of smacking down those sexist anti-Yellen whisper campaigns.

I'm torn, I'm torn!

Yellen? Summers?

Yellen? Summers?

Oh forget it!

I'm refuse to weigh in until I hear what Sandra Fluke has to say!

Democrat Bob #Filner to Enter 'Behavioral Counseling Clinic'

Keep in mind Filner's so-called "behavior" is not a bug but a feature of the leftist ideological program. Leftists always talk rights and inclusion but then those same standards of propriety don't apply to them. And throughout, the mainstream press gives these assholes a pass.

At the Hill, "San Diego mayor to seek therapy for ‘inexcusable’ behavior." (Via Memeorandum.) And at KPBS San Diego, "Filner Announces He Will Enter Counseling Clinic But Says Nothing of Resigning."

Of course he won't resign. Because it's not about doing the right thing it's about holding onto power at all costs, even when virtually the entire political establishment throws you under the bus. Yeah, it took awhile, but even top Democrats finally cut ties to Filner, the idiot left-wing loser and poster boy for depraved progressives.



Mick Jagger's 70th Birthday

CNN is playing this segment over and over.



I sure would've loved hangin' at that Echo Park gig in L.A., man.

Danica and Ricky: NASCAR's First Couple Open Up

This is cool. Remember, she just divorced last year.

A great, wholesome woman.

At USA Today, "Danica and Ricky are living love in the fast lane."

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#Weiner Had at Least 13 Sexting Partners — 3 After He Left Congress

Hard numbers.

At the New York Post, "Weiner’s dirty baker’s dozen: He had at least 13 cybersex gals — 3 were after he quit Congress."

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Anthony #Weiner 'New Yorker' Cover

USA Today wonders if the cover "goes too far?"

Hardly. Nothing's too far for this pervert.

See, "Cover Story: John Cuneo's 'Carlos Danger'." (At Memeorandum.)

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Here's That Robin Roberts 'GMA' Interview With 'Maddy', #Zimmerman Juror B-29

As mentioned yesterday, here's the clip:



Auburn Policeman Fired for Blowing the Whistle on Hassle, Ticket, and Arrest Quotas

Ed Morrissey has the analysis, "Auburn cop fired for blowing the whistle on ticket, arrest quotas."



Hacktacular Norman Ornstein Bemoans 'Contemptible' GOP Attempts to Sabotage #ObamaCare

He's only upset because congressional Republicans refuse to fall in line with the clusterf-k left's bankrupt socialist program.

Behold completely hacktacular cognitive dissonance by the über Beltway drone Norm Ornstein, at National Journal, "The Unprecedented—and Contemptible—Attempts to Sabotage Obamacare" (at Memeorandum):

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What is going on now to sabotage Obamacare is not treasonous—just sharply beneath any reasonable standards of elected officials with the fiduciary responsibility of governing. A good example is the letter Senate Republican Leaders Mitch McConnell and Cornyn sent to the NFL, demanding that it not cooperate with the Obama administration in a public-education campaign to tell their fans about what benefits would be available to them and how the plan would work—a letter that clearly implied deleterious consequences if the league went ahead anyhow. McConnell and Cornyn got their desired result. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell quickly capitulated. (When I came to Washington in 1969-70, one of my great pleasures was meeting and getting to know Charles Goodell, the courageous Republican senator from New York who took on his own president on Vietnam and was quietly courageous on many other controversial issues. Roger Goodell is his son—although you would not know it from this craven action.)

When a law is enacted, representatives who opposed it have some choices (which are not mutually exclusive). They can try to repeal it, which is perfectly acceptable—unless it becomes an effort at grandstanding so overdone that it detracts from other basic responsibilities of governing. They can try to amend it to make it work better—not just perfectly acceptable but desirable, if the goal is to improve a cumbersome law to work better for the betterment of the society and its people. They can strive to make sure that the law does the most for Americans it is intended to serve, including their own constituents, while doing the least damage to the society and the economy. Or they can step aside and leave the burden of implementation to those who supported the law and got it enacted in the first place.

But to do everything possible to undercut and destroy its implementation—which in this case means finding ways to deny coverage to many who lack any health insurance; to keep millions who might be able to get better and cheaper coverage in the dark about their new options; to create disruption for the health providers who are trying to implement the law, including insurers, hospitals, and physicians; to threaten the even greater disruption via a government shutdown or breach of the debt limit in order to blackmail the president into abandoning the law; and to hope to benefit politically from all the resulting turmoil—is simply unacceptable, even contemptible. One might expect this kind of behavior from a few grenade-throwing firebrands. That the effort is spearheaded by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate—even if Speaker John Boehner is motivated by fear of his caucus, and McConnell and Cornyn by fear of Kentucky and Texas Republican activists—takes one's breath away.
Ornstein's been in the punditry business a long time, and he should know by now that no one really buys the old-line establishment schtick anymore. Folks should read the whole thing. Ornstein compares ObamaCare to G.W. Bush's Medicare expansion of 2003, and the purported Democrat grumbling about the then-biggest expansion of social welfare since the 1960s. Are you kidding me? The Democrats love to expand government. Of course you're not going to see serious efforts to block something like that, because Bush was just going all Democrat-RINO by that point. Now, though, we've had the most polarizing president if office for 5 years and the Republicans are doing exactly what you would expect according to public opinion on the ACA. ObamaCare's the socialist clusterf-k for the ages. Repeal that POS.

Ornstein's a disgrace to his profession. Or, well, his profession's been pretty well disgraced, so I guess he's right in the wheelhouse at this point.

Pathetic, either way.

Phil Mickelson Faces 61 Percent Tax Hit Following Back-to-Back Wins

An obscene tax hit.

At CBS News Los Angeles, "Mickelson Faces 61% Tax Hit Following Back-To-Back Wins..."

Kenneth Turan Reviews 'The Wolverine'

At the Los Angeles Times, "Review: A grumbling 'Wolverine' dilutes Hugh Jackman's powers."


Jackman has in fact played Wolverine six times on film since his debut as the character in 2000, with a seventh outing in the works, and this latest venture reminds us how fortunate we are to have a capable, committed actor who exudes masculinity in the title role.

Unfortunately, not even Jackman can completely rescue his character's latest outing. As directed by the usually reliable James Mangold, "The Wolverine" is an erratic affair, more lumbering than compelling, an ambitious film with its share of effective moments that stubbornly refuses to catch fire.
And it's still expected to take in $75 million this weekend alone, so take that Turan!

Boeing Moving Commercial Plane Modification Work to Long Beach From Seattle

The company modifies old commercial jets into freighters, and will shift 375 jobs to Boeing's underutilized "Fly DC Jets" plant right next to my college.

See, "Boeing to move commercial plane work from Seattle area to Long Beach":
It is a surprising announcement from Boeing, which has 1,200 commercial engineers in Long Beach, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach. The company's commercial work in Southern California has dwindled over the years.

The Long Beach plant was built by Douglas Aircraft Co. and still has a large "Fly DC Jets" sign in front. It thrived for decades, employing thousands and producing some of the world's most popular airliners, including the DC-3, DC-8 and MD-80.

Boeing stopped producing commercial aircraft there in 2006, when the last 717 rolled off the line. It was a plane that Boeing inherited when it acquired McDonnell Douglas Corp. in 1997, but the 717, originally called the MD-95, never caught on with major airlines.

With Thursday's announcement, Long Beach will be home of engineering support for many of its airplanes and for modifying its older planes to freighter aircraft.