Yep, #ObamaCare's 'Cementing in Place,' Which is Why Everyone's Planning for the Law's Unraveling

You gotta love the subliminal messaging at the New York Times, "As Health Law Cements Its Place, G.O.P. Ponders How to Attack."

That's clever headlining, especially how it implies that Republicans will have a hard time replacing ObamaCare once it's all "cemented in place." The piece even quotes Republicans who stress that any reform must account for those now covered by the ACA. At least Republicans care about people not losing their coverage. And as for that "cemented in" part, you'll have to ask the president himself, who treats little of the law as permanently settled. (See WSJ, "Flurry of Tweaks to Affordable Care Act Leaves Insurers Rattled," and "Health-Insurance Deadlines Keep Slipping.")

And interestingly, Phillip Longman and Paul Hewitt, at the far-left Washington Monthly, are looking well beyond ObamaCare with little expectation that the law will restrain healthcare costs. The authors double-down on government fail, however, saying that federal regulators should simply come in and set prices for the entire national healthcare system! See, "After Obamacare."

I don't know what's going to happen with the law, but I'm intrigued with the recent finding at the Reason-Rupe Poll, "Americans Want to Go Back to Previous Health Care System..."

Frankly, polls show that Americans think anything's better than ClusterCare.

But the left doesn't have a way forward. It's a holding pattern for the White House now, with the left hoping the bad news fades away in time to minimize Democrat midterm losses next November. And 2016's still a long ways off.

Meanwhile, some form of market-based reform's needed to get the healthcare system back on track towards quality and affordability. I think this piece by John Cochrane at WSJ is one of the best on this I've seen, "What to Do When ObamaCare Unravels":

The U.S. health-care market is dysfunctional. Obscure prices and $500 Band-Aids are legendary. The reason is simple: Health care and health insurance are strongly protected from competition. There are explicit barriers to entry, for example the laws in many states that require a "certificate of need" before one can build a new hospital. Regulatory compliance costs, approvals, nonprofit status, restrictions on foreign doctors and nurses, limits on medical residencies, and many more barriers keep prices up and competitors out. Hospitals whose main clients are uncompetitive insurers and the government cannot innovate and provide efficient cash service.

We need to permit the Southwest Airlines, LUV 0.00%  Wal-Mart, WMT +0.49% Amazon.com AMZN -0.22%  and Apples of the world to bring to health care the same dramatic improvements in price, quality, variety, technology and efficiency that they brought to air travel, retail and electronics. We'll know we are there when prices are on hospital websites, cash customers get discounts, and new hospitals and insurers swamp your inbox with attractive offers and great service.

The Affordable Care Act bets instead that more regulation, price controls, effectiveness panels, and "accountable care" organizations will force efficiency, innovation, quality and service from the top down. Has this ever worked? Did we get smartphones by government pressure on the 1960s AT&T T +0.60%  phone monopoly? Did effectiveness panels force United Airlines and American Airlines to cut costs, and push TWA and Pan Am out of business? Did the post office invent FedEx, FDX +0.92%  UPS and email? How about public schools or the last 20 or more health-care "cost control" ideas?

Only deregulation can unleash competition. And only disruptive competition, where new businesses drive out old ones, will bring efficiency, lower costs and innovation.

Health insurance should be individual, portable across jobs, states and providers; lifelong and guaranteed-renewable, meaning you have the right to continue with no unexpected increase in premiums if you get sick. Insurance should protect wealth against large, unforeseen, necessary expenses, rather than be a wildly inefficient payment plan for routine expenses.

RTWT.

Democrats on Losing Side of 13-Point Polling Swing Since October

Because the government shutdown was supposed to hurt the "hostage taking" Republicans, or something.

At Politico, "Poll: Big gain for Republican Party":

Democrats are on the losing end of a 13-point swing in the polls since October, resulting in an early lead for the GOP heading into 2014, according to a new poll on the midterm elections released Thursday.

The CNN/ORC International survey shows Republicans holding a 49 percent to 44 percent lead over Democrats, a swift reversal from just two months ago, when the Democratic Party stood steady with an 8-point lead over the GOP, 50 percent to 42 percent.

In the generic ballot test, the poll asked respondents whether they would vote for a Democrat or Republican in their congressional district, without providing any specific names.

The survey follows a tumultuous few months for Democrats, who have been hurt by the rocky rollout of the health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. In October, the GOP was reeling from the perception that House Republicans were to blame for the government shutdown.

The new numbers will very likely concern congressional Democrats, but CNN Polling Director Keating Holland cautions against making any early predictions on the 2014 elections based on the new poll results.

“There is just under a year to go before any votes are actually cast, and the ‘generic ballot’ question is not necessarily a good predictor of the actual outcome of 435 separate elections,” Holland said. “A year before the 2010 midterms, for example, the Democrats held a 6-point lead on the generic ballot, but the GOP wound up regaining control of the House in that election cycle, thanks to an historic 63-seat pickup.”

That's true, but since the Democrats are collapsing because of ObamaCare, the administration's umpteen delays are only going to keep the healthcare disaster at the top of the headlines for 2014. Panic only begins to describe the response to these numbers among Democrat congressional and Senate candidates. It's going to be a bloodbath. See, "The Coming Democrat Congressional Elections Massacre."

Tourists Flock to Detroit to Witness City's Epic Decline

Throngs are flooding Detroit to witness how shiftless black leaders destroyed a once thriving metropolis. And Democrats. Remember, these are black Democrats who destroyed the city. Tourists now are ogling at their idiocy and moral bankruptcy.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Detroit has seen an uptick in history buffs and photographers visiting its ruins since its bankruptcy filing.

Image from iOWNTHEWORLD, "Detroit Memorabilia."

Added: From Blazing Cat Fur, "VIDEO: Understaffed and with few resources, Detroit-area firefighters battle a plague of abandoned, burning buildings."

Hollywood Hypocrisy: Leftist Movie Industry Slammed for Ethnic and Racial Discrimination

Do as we say, not as we do.

Hollywood is dominated by far-left industry hacks and hangers-on, and they're the biggest racists, it turns out.

Time to get with the program, like the rest of society and the norm of diversity and inclusion. Freakin' assholes. Typical left-wing douchebags.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Hollywood is losing the race for ethnic and gender inclusion":

Backstage Hollywood: Despite people of color being honored by the Academy Awards, movie studios still have a fundamental hiring problem.

If you're among the small number of directors or actors who isn't white, there is finally some cause to be excited about what's happening in Hollywood.

For the first time in Academy Awards history, a black man — British filmmaker Steve McQueen — may win the directing Oscar for his heralded, harrowing film "12 Years a Slave."

Besides McQueen, critics and awards voters are celebrating the work of other people of color, singling out "Gravity's" Mexican-born filmmaker, Alfonso Cuarón, the African American talk show host Oprah Winfrey from "Lee Daniels' The Butler," and a variety of black actors, including Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o ("12 Years a Slave"), Barkhad Abdi ("Captain Phillips") and Michael B. Jordan ("Fruitvale Station").

But all of those achievements mask fundamental, enduring problems within the movie industry.

A few weeks of feel-good inclusion can't alter the more troubling fact that opportunities for people of color remain scarce and that, for all of the Academy Award interest these directors and actors are receiving, Hollywood ultimately will judge their value using the only yardstick it believes matters: box-office performance.

"It's a big issue," said Lee Daniels, who directed "The Butler." "People can say, 'I'm sick of hearing about the race issue.' But it has to be addressed. I just think it's time for us to actually be at the party."

Several other prominent black filmmakers say that change within show business remains glacial. Even if Hollywood likes to present itself as magnanimous and liberal, its hiring decisions — including jobs handed to women — continue to be demographically constricted, with most work still going to white men.

It's not just movies that are an issue. The Directors Guild of America recently found that 73% of all primetime TV episodes were made by Caucasian males, and the Screen Actors Guild concluded that 76% of all leading roles in television and film were given to Caucasians. (Separately, the picture for women of all races is similarly depressing, and yet again no female filmmakers are contending for the directing Oscar.)

Following a 2012 Los Angeles Times study that found the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was whiter, older and more male than the organization's toughest critics feared, the academy has tried to diversify its ranks.

The last two classes of people invited to become Oscar voters look far less like members of a country club, even if the invitees hardly mirror the nation itself, where African Americans, Latinos and Asians collectively make up more than 35% of the population. But because the academy has more than 6,000 voters, the more diverse new members haven't been able to change the organization's overall makeup in a meaningful way.

Incandescent Light Bulb Banned January 1st

At Heritage, "Time to Stock Up on Incandescent Bulbs Before They Go Out Permanently."

Commentary at Lonely Conservative, "The Government Is Taking Your 40 And 60 Watt Bulbs Away On January 1."

Details on the ban at Popular Mechanics, "What You Need to Know About the Lightbulb Law."

Candice Swanepoel in January 2014 Edition of Vogue Brazil

Beautiful.

At London's Daily Mail, "Victoria's Secret beauty Candice Swanepoel goes naked apart from a turban in racy new magazine shoot."

Conservative Indiana is Turning Point for Homosexual Marriage Movement

I'm not sure why folks over there think that can preserve marriage, considering how polygamy's already gaining ground in the wake of this summer's homosexual marriage rulings. Utah's fighting a losing battle right now, in the state of the Mormon Church.

So, we'll see.

In any case, at the New York Times, "Indiana Finds It’s Not So Easy to Buck Gay Marriage Trend":

INDIANAPOLIS — Dominated by Republicans and steeped in traditional values, Indiana seemed among the least likely places to become a battleground in the nation’s debate over same-sex marriage when the legislature overwhelmingly chose in 2011 to push forward a state constitutional amendment barring gay couples from marrying.

But in the two years since, the landscape has shifted as voters, lawmakers and courts began recognizing same-sex marriage in places like Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and New Mexico and as the United States Supreme Court declared parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. In just the past few days, a federal judge struck down a ban on same-sex marriage in Utah, home of the Mormon Church, and a federal appeals court rejected a request to halt the marriages on Tuesday. A federal judge in Ohio found that same-sex marriages should be recognized on death certificates.

So suddenly Indiana, where lawmakers in the coming weeks are expected to call for the second vote needed to put a ban before voters in the fall elections, is now in a far more tense, unpredictable and closely watched spot than anyone here had imagined — a test case in whether a state will impose new limits on same-sex marriage in this fast-moving political and legal environment.

“What happens in Indiana is critical,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage. He and other opponents hope the outcome here will reveal that shifts in public sentiment over the last few years are not as widespread as some may think.

Supporters of same-sex marriage, however, are pouring money and effort into defeating the measure in Indiana, a possibility that seemed unthinkable not long ago but one that advocates now insist is conceivable. They say victory in a conservative place like Indiana would be a turning point in a fight that has largely been waged in more predictable, left-leaning states or in the courts. “That would send a clear message to opponents of marriage equality that it’s time to be done fighting this battle,” said Sarah Warbelow, state legislative director of the Human Rights Campaign.

It's probably a done deal, what, with all the other events unraveling traditional marriage around the country.

More at the top link.

MSNBC's 2013 Highlight Reel

Truly vile people.

Warren Weinstein, American Held Hostage in Pakistan, Asks President Obama to Negotiate with al-Qaeda

Man, he's all worn down and weary.

At the Washington Post, "Kidnapped American asks U.S. to negotiate with al-Qaeda for his release":

A U.S. government contractor kidnapped by al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan in 2011 has recorded a video message calling on the Obama administration to negotiate with his captors and saying he feels “totally abandoned and forgotten.”

Warren Weinstein looked ashen and sounded lethargic as he pleaded for renewed interest in his case and asked the U.S. government to consider releasing al-Qaeda militants in its custody. The 72-year-old development expert from Rockville began his address by urging President Obama to step up efforts to get him released.

“You are now in your second term as president of the United States and that means that you can take hard decisions without worrying about reelection,” said Weinstein, who was recorded sitting against a white wall and wearing a gray tracksuit top and a black woolen hat. No one else appeared in the video.

The video, which included the yellow logo of As-Sahab, al-Qaeda’s media production outlet, was sent in an anonymous e-mail to several journalists who have reported from Afghanistan. Included were links to a handwritten note that purports to be from Weinstein, saying “Letter to Media” at the top. The note is dated Oct. 3. It is not clear when the video was made.

Continue reading.

And say a prayer for the guy. I'm sure Obama couldn't care less. Won't be much political upside at this point. Osama bin-Laden's long been dead. Don't expect any Democrat rescue raid football-spiking anytime soon.

Ukraine Activist and Journalist Tetyana Chornovil Beaten Outside Kiev

About that Christmas violence...

At the New York Times, "Journalist Is Beaten in Latest Attack on Ukrainian Opposition":

MOSCOW — A crusading antigovernment journalist and activist in Ukraine who became famous last year after documenting the opulence of the heavily guarded residential compound of President Viktor F. Yanukovich was savagely beaten early Wednesday.

The assault on the activist, Tetyana Chornovol, 34, just outside the capital, Kiev, was the latest attack on government opponents who have been participating in sustained protests that have shaken the country.

On Tuesday evening, Dmitri Pylypets, a protest organizer in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, was beaten and stabbed four times while walking on the street near his apartment, local news media reported.

Just hours before she was ambushed, Ms. Chornovol published a blog post about a “country manor” being constructed for Ukraine’s embattled interior minister, Vitaly Zakharchenko, in the village of Pidhirtsi.

The assaults have occurred as protesters continue to occupy Independence Square in Kiev, where they first gathered last month in anger over Mr. Yanukovich’s decision to back away from sweeping political and free-trade agreements with the European Union...

Continue reading.

The ASA Boycotters: Victims of Hatred and Harassment!

Awww, the poor babies.

The American Studies Association is all butt-hurt after getting some push-back on its anti-Semitic campaign against Israel.

The revolting Philip Weiss reports, "American Studies Association caucus seeks support against campaign to discredit ASA":

Many in the US are unaccustomed to public criticism of Israel. Some organizations and individuals are now mounting a campaign to discredit the ASA. The ASA’s elected leaders have been harassed and are receiving hate mail. The ASA office is being flooded with insulting and threatening phone calls. The ASA Facebook page has been subject to a barrage of inflammatory attacks. National organizations, including Stand With US, are mounting campaigns to undermine the ASA in the academy by appealing to donors and students to call on university administrators to withdraw support from ASA: The Caucus on Academic and Community Activism has already published a press release responding to these attacks but we need more support.

What Can You Do?

Well, Ima just bawl my eyes out! Boo hoo!

More at Legal Insurrection, "Anti-Israel academic boycotters complain criticism violates their academic freedom to boycott."

Britney Spears: 'I love sex. I think sex is great ... but I feel a little different about it now that I’m older...'

Yeah, it takes a lot more work as you get older, but Britney? She's still making these hot videos, so wtf?

At TMZ, "Britney Spears — I LOVE SEX, But ..."



RELATED: At Rolling Stone, "Britney Spears Marks Her Territory in 'Perfume'":

In "Perfume," the latest single off Britney Spears' new LP Britney Jean, the pop star comes up with a brilliant way of letting a mistress know you exist: "mark your territory" on him with your signature scent. And that's just what she does in the video for the song – Britney's the subject of a two-timing, rather chiseled boy who seems to have an affection for jumping in pools late at night, making out on car hoods and (gasp!) brunettes. As Spears runs through the song, she often looks rather glum and angry, a natural feeling for anyone who feels then need to mark someone with their perfume. Will she get revenge, or, at the very least spark an olifactory-based blowout?

Well, So Much for 'Peace on Earth...'

Earlier my timeline was filling up with reports of beatings, bombings, and killings.

I tweeted:

All these bombings, beatings and stabbings in my TL? Dear God, it's Christmas!

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 25, 2013

Here's the New York Post:

Christmas day bombings kill at least 37 in Iraq http://t.co/4yaRly3xYU

— New York Post (@nypost) December 25, 2013

And over at the New York Daily News, "Shooting outside N.J. strip club leaves 3 dead, 2 injured on Christmas," and at New Jersey's Star Ledger, "Victims identified in Christmas Day Irvington go-go bar shooting."

And from yesterday, at Raw Story, "Black Santa shot by pellet gun during D.C. toy giveaway while cameras rolled."

I'm sure there'll be more violence. I don't call it senseless. There's clearly purpose to it, the work of evil in the world, which remains unquiet even on Christmas.

Christmas in Bethlehem

At LAT, "Bethlehem comes alive on Christmas Eve":

BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Thousands of Palestinians as well as international pilgrims and tourists descended on Bethlehem on Tuesday to celebrate Christmas Eve.

People stood at Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity watching a parade of bagpipe- and drum-playing youths, followed by the Roman Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, and his entourage, walk into the church to begin the Christmas religious festivities.

Choirs on a stage in Manger Square sang songs celebrating the birth of Jesus. The area was brightly lighted and decorated with tall Christmas trees.

RTWT.

Research Finds Real Benefits for Kids Who Say 'Thank You'

At WSJ, "Raising Children With an Attitude of Gratitude":

Gratitude works like a muscle. Take time to recognize good fortune, and feelings of appreciation can increase. Even more, those who are less grateful gain the most from a concerted effort. "Gratitude treatments are most effective in those least grateful," says Eastern Washington University psychology professor Philip Watkins.

Among a group of 122 elementary school kids taught a weeklong curriculum on concepts around giving, gratitude grew, according to a study due to be published in 2014 in School Psychology Review. The heightened thankfulness translated into action: 44% of the kids in the curriculum opted to write thank-you notes when given the choice following a PTA presentation. In the control group, 25% wrote notes.

"The old adage that virtues are caught, not taught, applies here," says University of California, Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons. Parents need to model this behavior to build their children's gratitude muscle. "It's not what parents want to hear, but you cannot give your kids something that you yourselves do not have," Dr. Emmons says.

This may seems obvious, but it eludes many parents, Dr. Watkins says. "I think the most important thing for us adults to realize is we're not very grateful either," he says.

RTWT.

And remember, gratitude is the mother of all happiness. See Dennis Prager, "Who Is Happy?"

White House, Desperate to Increase Enrollments, Gives More Time for #ObamaCare Sign-Ups

I first saw this report on my iPhone and thought the app needed to update.

But no, it's at the New York Times for Christmas morning, "Sign-Up Period Extended Again for Health Plan":

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Tuesday that it would provide more time for people to complete their applications for health insurance if they could show that they missed the deadline because of problems with the federal health care website.

The move was the latest in a series of deadline changes, exemptions and clarifications that have confused insurers and many Americans and opened the administration to increasing criticism from Republicans who have opposed the Affordable Care Act from the start and have repeatedly tried to overturn it.

It was not clear on Tuesday how many people would be affected, or how consumers would prove that website errors had prevented them from signing up by the deadline on Tuesday night.

The announcement itself was vague, saying only that if website problems had prevented any consumers from enrolling, they might qualify for what the government has called “a special enrollment period.” The administration did not say how long that would last. Nor did it define what website errors might be involved.

Republicans said the announcement — coming a day after the federal website recorded more than two million visits — showed that President Obama was desperate to increase enrollment, widely seen as a measure of the success of the health care law.

We're seeing changes now on a daily basis. This is totally unreal, and I've been following government and politics for a long time!

I simply have no idea what's going to happen, but clearly, as Glenn Reynolds points out in his most recent USA Today op-ed, the law's obviously not settled and the administration expects further problems well into 2014.

As always, I'll be on top of it, if for nothing else but the schadenfreude.

Continue reading.

'When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage...'

At the Wall Street Journal, "In Hoc Anno Domini":

When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression—for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Continue reading.

Daniel Drezner Quits Blogging

I guess Foreign Policy, where Drezner blogs, is having its bloggers shift to a weekly column requirement, phasing out the magazine's stable of blogs. Drezner was one of the "last holdouts" apparently. Glenn Reynolds expects him to be back: "At least, most bloggers who say goodbye to blogging wind up coming back." (Click through to Drezner at Instapundit's.)

I once quit blogging (at my first blog) and wound up missing it after a couple of months and haven't turned back since. I started about March 2006 and American Power launched in October 2007. I just posted the "5 Million Hits" entry a couple of days ago.

We'll see how it goes. Of course, Drezner's a big-shot blogger and early political science pioneer of the format. I've taken him to task a couple of times for his spinelessness. It's nevertheless interesting he's hanging up his blog keyboard. He's been blogging since 2002.

I usually have an update on blogging on New Year's Day, and I'm sure I'll have more. So until then ... have a Merry Christmas!

2014 Will Be Even Worse for Obama

From Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today, "Obama is a loser at 2013's end."

You gotta read it all at the link: short but sweet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Christmas Greeting 2013

He's a great man.

Via Algemeiner, "Netanyahu Conveys ‘Warmest Christmas Greetings’ From ‘the City of Peace, Jerusalem’ (VIDEO)."

Nobody Should Fear a Merry Christmas

From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary:

The notion of a liberal war on Christmas has become something of a seasonal evergreen discussion topic for pundits. As such, at this point at times it’s not clear whether conservatives like Fox’s Bill O’Reilly talk about it more than politically correct secularists wage it. In this overwhelmingly Christian country, there is little doubt that Christmas is a national holiday and is often practiced in such a manner as to make it more of a secular celebration of consumerism than a Christian religious observance.

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the holiday plays a not unimportant role in the ongoing battle over the height of the so-called wall of separation between church and state. The fight about whether crèches, the lyrics in carols, or Christmas trees constitute an unconstitutional establishment of Christianity has done little to undermine the hold of the holiday or to make religious minorities more comfortable in America. To the contrary, such disputes do much to undermine good community relations between members of different faiths. Dennis Prager is correct when he writes today that those who claim to be “emotionally troubled” by the sight of a Christmas display on public property are indeed emotionally troubled...

Continue reading.

Giving Thanks, in a Time of Raining Ice

An editorial, at the National Post (Toronto):

Late Sunday night, in central Toronto, a team of hydro workers did something very un-Christmassy: They declined a gift. Specifically, a gift of a fine bottle of wine, offered by a homeowner (known to a member of this newspaper’s editorial board) whose electric power the hydro team had just restored.

“If we took a bottle from everyone who’d offered us one tonight, we’d have a truck full of them” a worker said, laughing. “We’re just doing our job.” He and his colleagues then drove off, to continue the tiring and dangerous job of sifting wires from branches, and getting southern Ontario back on the power grid after Saturday night’s ice storm.

Christmas is a time for giving thanks. And these men and women — many of whom are giving up their holidays in the effort to provide Ontarians with warm homes in which to celebrate their own family gatherings — certainly deserve our appreciation.

Canadian cities and provinces build drainage system for rains, and buy plows and trucks for snow. But sometimes, mother nature simply overwhelms us. Nothing can stop a river from overflowing its banks, as we saw in Alberta this past summer. Nothing can stop freezing drizzle from coating tree branches, and nothing can stop those overburdened branches from crashing into whatever lies below.

Of course Toronto’s situation pales in comparison with the Alberta floods, and the unbelievable damage inflicted by the 1998 ice storm in Quebec. But it is reassuring to see, time and again, that Canadians will always come together in the face of adversity...

Continue reading.

And see, "Five killed by carbon monoxide as 220000 face freezing eastern Canada winter without power."

Come Home, Edward Snowden

Once again, Charles Krauthammer delivers.



YESTERDAY: "Edward Snowden's Alternative Christmas Message."

Merry Christmas!

From Gisele, on Twitter.

Edward Snowden's Alternative Christmas Message

Folks know how I feel about this dolt, but here you go anyway.

At RT America, "Snowden's Christmas message: Privacy first."

And the Verge, "Edward Snowden delivers 'alternative Christmas message' on UK's Channel 4."

RELATED: At Washington Post, "Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission's accomplished."

How Impoverished is Our Discussion of Poverty?

Pretty impoverished, if you listen to Katrina vanden Heuvel, at the Washington Post, "During the holidays, remember our ‘least’."

But Josh Painter took exception after I tweeted this earlier.

.@KatrinaNation @AmPowerBlog Jesus said feed the hungry, clothe the poor, heal the sick. He never suggested that was Caesar's responsibility

— Josh Painter (I-TX) (@Josh_Painter) December 24, 2013

Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly!

Holly Ericksson!

I was holding off until later for some additional Rule 5, but Wellywanger's posted some phenomenal Lucy Pinder by the Christmas tree, so here's some lovely Holly for you, via Twitter.

Brokeback Obama and #PajamaBoy — The Left's Homosexual Couple of the Year!

Hey, the country's first gay president shacking it up for the holidays with PajamaBoy!

That Ethan Krupp's so sweet even Rachel Maddow's jealous, lol!

And you know what, Glamour Magazine named gun-grabbers Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly as their Couple of the Year, so what better way to celebrate the year of teh gay than naming Barack "Brokeback" Obama and Ethan "PajamaBoy" Krupp the American Power Homosexual Couple of the Year!

Congratulations to the lucky barebackers!



Image Credit: Ivan Rose on Twitter.

Castrated Homosexuals? Now There's an Idea!

At Independent UK, "Alan Turing gets royal pardon for 'gross indecency' – 61 years after he poisoned himself."

And at CNN, "Alan Turing, British code-breaker castrated for homosexuality, receives pardon."

Well, there's still a lot of leftist "gross indecency" around these days, although not much homosexual castration, which is too bad. These people need to be reined in. Disease and social decay are out of control, thanks to the left.

More at Memeorandum.

Stores Make Frantic Attempts to Win Shoppers, Who Don't Seem Interested

My wife used to be an assistant manager at Kohls. I was telling her about this the other day, and she thought it was a bit much.

At the Washington Post, "Kohl’s offers round-the-clock shopping in dash to boost a tepid holiday season":

At 3 a.m., Christmas carols played through the loud speaker at the Kohl’s in Silver Spring. “Duck Dynasty” doormats were marked down 80 percent, and candles were discounted 50 percent. About a dozen employees stocked handbags and children’s clothing.

But there were no shoppers.

An hour passed in the wee hours of Sunday morning; still nobody. Meanwhile, the drive-through at the McDonald’s across the parking lot attracted a steady stream of cars.

In a holiday season marked by large-scale discounts, seemingly never-ending Black Friday deals and free overnight shipping, Kohl’s is taking its efforts to an extreme, keeping stores open around the clock Friday through Christmas Eve. Like many retailers, Kohl’s is battling sagging profits with a frantic attempt to draw in last-minute customers and avert a holiday disaster.

On Monday, retailers such as Nordstrom, Brookstone and Crate & Barrel were offering free overnight shipping. Bloomingdale’s, owned by Macy’s, was touting a new round of last-minute discounts — dubbed the “procrastinators have all the fun” sale — offering 15 percent off nearly all items through Christmas Eve.

Blizzard Entertainment, the video-game company, took its promotions a step further, extending Black Friday discounts through 2014. Even Target, which has seen relatively strong profits this year, amped up its deals before being hit by a credit card breach that affected up to 40 million shoppers. The retail giant was forced to go further to draw in potentially skeptical customers in the crucial days before Christmas, offering 10 percent off all in-store purchases.

Despite data showing that the economy is expanding at a surprisingly strong pace, it has been a tough year for many retailers, which rely on holiday spending for up to 40 percent of their annual sales. Wealthy consumers are propping up high-end retailers such as Tiffany’s and using cheap financing to make big-ticket purchases, including cars.

Shopping at 3:00am? I'll pass.

More at the link.

Obama's Misguided Obsession With Inequality

An excellent piece, from Robert Grady, at the Wall Street Journal:

Here is the bottom line: In periods of high economic growth, such as the 1980s and 1990s, the vast majority of Americans gain, and have the opportunity to gain. In periods of slow growth, such as the past four and a half years since the recession officially ended, poor people and the middle class are hurt the most, and opportunity is curbed.

Consider the Census Bureau data, which measure only money income. The data show that median family income adjusted for inflation has not been on a steady or stagnating path since the 1970s. It fell, in real terms, by 5.7% from 1974-1982, when slow growth and high inflation ravaged the average family. Tellingly, in this period, real income fell for the bottom four quintiles, but held steady for the top 20%.

From 1983 to 2007, however, median family income grew substantially—by 21.6% above inflation—and real income grew for all five quintiles. Then, beginning in 2008, real income plunged again, both for the median family and for all quintiles.

The point is this: If the goal is to deliver higher incomes and a better standard of living for the majority of Americans, then generating economic growth—not income inequality or the redistribution of wealth—is the defining challenge of our time.

RTWT.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, 1919-2013

The dude invented the weapon of choice for rebel "freedom fighters" the world over.

At the New York Times, "Mikhail Kalashnikov, Creator of AK-47, Dies at 94":

Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, the arms designer credited by the Soviet Union with creating the AK-47, the first in a series of rifles and machine guns that would indelibly associate his name with modern war and become the most abundant firearms ever made, died on Monday in Izhevsk, the capital of the Russian republic of Udmurtia, where he lived. He was 94.

Viktor Chulkov, a spokesman for the republic’s president, confirmed the death, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Born a peasant on the southern Siberian steppe, General Kalashnikov had little formal education and claimed to be a self-taught tinkerer who combined innate mechanical skills with the study of weapons to conceive of a rifle that achieved battlefield ubiquity.

His role in the rifle’s creation, and the attention showered on him by the Kremlin’s propaganda machine, carried him from conscription in the Red Army to senior positions in the Soviet arms-manufacturing bureaucracy and ultimately to six terms on the Supreme Soviet, the Soviet Union’s legislative body.

Tens of millions of Kalashnikov rifles have been manufactured. Their short barrels, steep front-sight posts and curved magazines made them a marker of conflict that has endured for decades. The weapons also became both Soviet and revolutionary symbols and widespread instruments of terrorism, child-soldiering and crime.

The general, who sometimes lamented the weapons’ unchecked distribution but took pride in having invented them and in their reputation for reliability, weathered the collapse of the Soviet Union to assume a public role as a folk hero and unequivocal Russian patriot.

A Soviet nostalgist, he also served as the unofficial arms ambassador of the revived Russian state. He used public appearances to try to cast the AK-47’s checkered legacy in a positive way and to complain that knockoffs were being manufactured illegally by former Soviet allies and cutting into Russian sales.

The weapon, he said, was designed to protect his motherland, not to be used by terrorists or thugs. “This is a weapon of defense,” he said. “It is not a weapon for offense.”

General Kalashnikov’s public life resulted from a secret competition to develop the Soviet infantry rifle for the Cold War. The result was the AK-47 — an abbreviation for “the automatic by Kalashnikov” followed by the year the competition ended.

General Kalashnikov, a senior sergeant at the time who had been injured in battle against German tanks, was credited with leading the design bureau that produced the AK-47 prototype. The Soviet Union began issuing a mass-produced version in 1949.

More at the link.

Don't know if the insurgent genie is going back in the lamp, but this dude was a Soviet patriot whose life had tremendous implications for world history.

More from William Hartung and Rachel Stohl, at Foreign Affairs, "Hired Guns":

More people are killed per year on average as a result of wars fueled by small arms and light weapons (including the AK-47) than were killed in the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone, it is estimated that more than a million people have died in that country’s recent civil war, fought primarily with small arms. The inability of governments to take seriously the damage caused by small arms and light weapons is a failure of major proportions.

And from Mike Boyer, "Looking for a deal on AK-47s? Go to Africa":

In fact, the weapons are so ubiquitous in Africa that "Kalash," an abbreviation of Kalashnikov, has become a popular boy's name in some countries.

More, "From Russia With Blood: C.J. Chivers talks with Foreign Policy about the Kalashnikov, the world's real weapon of mass destruction."


PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

Addicted to Obama!

Heh.

From S.E. Cupp.

Susan Rice Defends the Indefensible

At IBD, "Susan Rice Defends Lies From Herself and James Clapper on '60 Minutes'":

The diplomat who blamed four American deaths in Benghazi on a video claims the denials by the director of national intelligence of blanket surveillance of Americans were inadvertent false representations.

It might have been slightly more credible had Pajama Boy appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes" broadcast on Sunday instead of Susan Rice. The current national security adviser and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations participated in a puff piece that might have been an episode of, "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?"

For viewers, it was deja vu all over again.

Rice went on five Sunday talk shows on Sept. 16, 2012, five days after an al-Qaida-linked terrorist attack killed four Americans — including the first U.S. ambassador to die on duty in three decades — to parrot the administration lie that it was a spontaneous demonstration provoked by a video. This time, she claimed she had no time to revisit a "false controversy" about talking points, or, as President Obama has described Benghazi, just one of many "phony scandals."

Rice did have time, though, to repeat the line that she subbed for Secretary Hillary Clinton that Sunday because Clinton "had just gone through an incredibly painful and stressful week" and "had to reach out to the families, had to greet the bodies upon their arrival at Andrews Air Force Base."

Part of that stressful week in September 2012 included Clinton repeating the video lie to Charles Woods, father of Tyrone Woods, one of the four killed in Benghazi, in front of his son's casket.

"Her countenance was not good, and she made this statement to me . .. she said we will make sure that the person who made that film is arrested and prosecuted," he told radio host Glenn Beck.

Continue reading.

Having STDs Is Feminist Badge of Honor!

Well, no thanks.

Skanky feminists, eww!

An early entry for Offend a Feminist Week, for sure (or Offensive Feminist Week, lol).



Via Heather Boulware.

Holiday Greetings from Victoria's Secret Angels

Via Theo Spark:

Body Painting Tryouts

Via Theo Spark.



That's a hot video. And the 2014 Swimsuit Edition should be coming out pretty quick now. More on that later.

5 Million Hits

I don't think I've celebrated traffic milestones for the last few millions.

See my previous announcements, "One Million Hits at American Power," and "Katy Perry Salutes the Troops — And 2,000,000 Hits at American Power!"

Not much to write except that so far I plan to keep on pluggin'.

And with that, I should post some thank-you linkage.

As always, the Other McCain deserves tremendous gratitude for showing the way on the million hits gig.

Also, Blazing Cat Fur is a reliable linker and a great blogger. Thanks for the hits! And not to mention iOWNTHEWORLD!

And congratulations to Doug Ross and his fabulous blogging aggregator, Bad Blue. (And see Doug's blog, Director Blue, which includes the essential daily Larwyn's Linx.)

Maggie's Farm also does a lot of link-arounds, and it's always an honor to be included. That goes for Proof Positive as well.

And in a tireless effort, William Teach does a reliably large Sunday link-around each week, and his "If All You See..." entries keep us coming back everyday.

For a long time Memeorandum provided reliable linkage, but for some reason their algorithm went haywire of late. It's just the last couple of days that I've been getting hits, but it's an old standby if you're just starting out. (Be sure to link Memeorandum often so as to get caught up in the reciprocal aggregations.)

It's been awhile since I've been Instalanched, but the prospect is always worth throwing the old professor some regular hits. He's awesome on Twitter as well.

And speaking of hits, Blackmailers Don't Shoot is giving Instapundit some competition! See, "Merry Monday Christmas Linkfest."

And frankly, Theo Spark is probably my biggest feeder blog at this point, although I'm a co-blogger there so it probably doesn't count, lol!

Also, 90 Miles From Tyranny throws some nice linkage over this way, and it's much appreciated.

That goes for Bob Belvedere as well, at Camp of the Saints. Thank you.

Dana Pico been a longtime friend of AmPower as well. Much appreciated. Added: Also Saberpoint!

Also the Astute Bloggers. God bless you, Reliapundit.

That's it for now.

If I'm missing anyone who provides regular FMRA action, let me know in the comments. I'll be glad to spread some hits around during my regular Rule 5 and Roundup of the Roundups roundups!

Thanks again and here's to the next 5 million!

Women Abandon #ObamaCare as Nosedive in Public Support Accelerates

I seriously don't know what going to happen. Certainly the White House is hanging on for dear life, and as I've said before, we probably won't have a chance at full repeal until 2016, with the possibility of a unified government under GOP control across the executive and legislative branches.

Until then, I guess conservatives can continue to say "I told you so."

Here's William Jacobson, "Women declare War on Obamacare."

And see Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "CNN poll: ObamaCare support cratering at 35/62" (via Memeorandum).

Lovely Lady in Lingerie

How's that for sexy, via Twitter.

BONUS: Sunday's Rule 5 roundup at the Other McCain, "Rule 5 Sunday: Transfer Station Blue."

#SouthSudan Refugees Swell as Americans Are Evacuated

Robert Stacy McCain continues his reporting, "The Sudden #SouthSudan Crisis," and "#SouthSudan: It’s Civil War Now."

But see the front-page, above-the-fold report at today's Wall Street Journal, "Country the U.S. Helped Create Might Be Spiraling Toward Civil War":

NAIROBI, Kenya—The U.S. military on Sunday rushed to evacuate American citizens from a rebel-held town in South Sudan, the latest sign that a country the U.S. helped create might be spiraling toward civil war.

About 15 Americans were evacuated on Sunday from the town of Bor in helicopters, according to a State Department spokeswoman. The flights were part of a broader exodus of international workers and South Sudanese from fighting between factions of South Sudan's army. The U.S. has evacuated about 380 U.S. officials and private citizens, said the spokeswoman, Jen Psaki.

A political power struggle between former South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir ahead of 2015 elections appears to have set off the violence. It quickly descended into ethnic clashes that risk splitting the country of 10 million.

By Sunday, rebel factions allied with Mr. Machar, a member of the Nuer ethnic group, had solidified control of territory they seized in a week of gunbattles with government forces that have left 500 dead, according to figures provided by South Sudan's military, other officials and the U.N.

Mr. Kiir, from the largest ethnic group, the Dinka, said last week that his former deputy and rival for the presidency had attempted a coup and been beaten back. Mr. Machar denied an attempt to overthrow Mr. Kiir but then said it was time for Mr. Kiir to go.

The dispute quickly widened to Bor, the capital of South Sudan's largest state, on Wednesday, and two U.N. peacekeepers and 20 civilians were killed Thursday when armed men overran a U.N. camp in another part of Jonglei state.

The rebels allied with Mr. Machar have taken two state capitals and the area surrounding them, defying diplomatic attempts to broker a cease-fire and initiate peace talks. The U.N. has reported fighting in six of the country's 10 states.

The violence offered a cautionary lesson for foreign powers that attempted to forge a new African nation in a fractured region where alliances often are short-lived and ethnic divisions run deep.

The U.S. lobbied hard for the creation of South Sudan as part of a drive to help rebel groups get out from under the thumb of the government of Sudan, their erstwhile civil-war foe.

Continue reading.

Environmental Fascists Move to Ban Plastic Gift Cards

The left's environmental fascists go after another hugely popular capitalist standby, the plastic gift card. Nothing is off limits to these assholes. Any product or capitalist innovation that proves popular or highly successful is targeted for destruction. And this time? The stinking retail gift card? How low can retarded leftists go? And we're supposed to go back to gift certificates? That might be hard on trees, you know? And plastic gift cards are recyclable, doh! Maybe a recycling campaign would have been better than assassinating this simple retail purchasing device.

Leftists are vile people out to destroy virtually everything of convenience and utility in the modern capitalist economy.

At LAT, "Retailers seek 'green' alternative to plastic gift cards":

Like millions of Americans, Jessica Hamilton of Pasadena will buy her friends and family a handful of gift cards this holiday season, drawn by their convenience.

Yet Hamilton, who carries reusable bags when she goes shopping, is bothered by the thought of all of that plastic ending up in landfills along with worn-out hotel key cards, credit cards and the like.

In 2012, the global card industry produced 33 billion cards, according to the International Card Manufacturers Assn. Most of those cards contained polyvinyl chloride, a plastic that contains pollutants that are harmful to the environment and is slow to decompose.

"If they had something more eco-friendly, that would make me shop at one place over another," Hamilton said.

Increasingly, card manufacturers and retailers are listening, offering more alternatives to plastic cards. High-end grocery store Whole Foods Market Inc. did away with plastic cards in 2011 and replaced them with paper gift cards.

"Generally, at Whole Foods, we like to think green ... but we were producing tons and tons of waste from PVC cards and that wasn't in line with what we want to do," said Marushka Bland, gift cards project manager for the Austin, Texas, company. Last year, Whole Foods launched a gift card during the holiday season made with wood from sustainably managed forests in Europe.

The cards, produced by Colorado-based Sustainable Cards, are made with 30% less energy than plastic cards and are compostable.

Whole Food's commitment to reducing its environmental impact played a role in the decision to get rid of plastic cards, Bland said, but the change was also an effort to give their customers what they want.

"If one of our customers is environmentally conscious and doesn't want to give a plastic card, then we love to give our customer the opportunity to make a purchase they can feel good about," Bland said. And retailers have excellent reasons to make their customers feel good about gift cards.

Shoppers will buy nearly $30 billion in gift cards this holiday season, spending an average of about $163 on the items, a 4% increase from last year, according to an annual survey sponsored by the National Retail Federation.

Retailers get value out of marketing themselves as "environmentally friendly" through recycling and other programs, said Bob Engle, vice president of biopolymers at Metabolix, a Massachusetts company that produces a bioplastic alternative to the plastic typically used in cards.

But alternative cards have shortcomings.

In 2007, Target began using cards made out of a biodegradable material produced by Metabolix but terminated the deal because of the high price of production.

Although a pound of polyvinyl chloride costs a little over $1, Metabolix's alternative costs almost $2. And one wooden card made by Sustainable Cards costs 10 cents to 15 cents while a plastic card runs 7 cents to 12 cents for orders of 100,000.

Polyvinyl chloride is also readily available around the world, easy to produce, durable and easily recyclable, said Al Vrancart, an industry adviser and founder of the International Card Manufacturers Assn.

"PVC is a product that's been around a long time and served us well," he said.

But the industry, Vrancart said, is attempting to move in a more sustainable direction, adopting eco-friendly standards that, when met, result in a "green" certification for a product.

Continue reading.

Apparently demand for traditional gift cards is extremely robust, despite the idiotic "green alternative" movement pushed by the depraved enviro-fascists. Sometimes common sense and decency wins out, but never doubt the tenacity of the regressive leftists.

White House Quietly Delays #ObamaCare Enrollment Deadline

Quietly? Or secretly?

Either way, another sign things are totally FUBAR.

At Jammie, "Due to Underwhelming Demand, Obama ‘Secretly’ Extends ObamaCare Enrollment Period."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "For Health Coverage Starting Jan. 1, Deadline Extended a Day: March 31 Is Next Key Date in Signing Up for Insurance":

Federal officials delayed the deadline to sign up for Jan. 1 coverage through the end of Christmas Eve.

The deadline was originally set for midnight on Dec. 23, but contractors managing the site changed configurations to allow users to sign up for the first wave of health-law coverage through Dec. 24, people familiar with the matter said.

"Anticipating high demand and the fact that consumers may be enrolling from multiple time zones, we have taken steps to make sure that those who select a plan through tomorrow will get coverage for Jan 1," Julie Bataille, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service's Office of Communications, said in a statement.

The extension was needed in part because technical problems continue to limit the volume of users that can navigate the site at once, and officials worried people attempting to sign up Monday might not be able to do so. The site has had a record day, with more than one million visits by midmorning, federal officials said on Twitter.

Consumers seeking coverage should attempt to sign up today anyway, Ms. Bataille said. "If you are aiming to get coverage January 1, you should try to sign up today."

News of the change was earlier reported by the Washington Post.

The change follows weeks of last-minute policy shifts for the administration. Last week, for instance, with only days before the enrollment deadline, the Obama administration said people whose plans were canceled would be exempted from a requirement that people buy coverage or pay a fee next year.

Continue reading.

The ASA's Boycott of Israel is Anti-Semitism Pure and Simple

From Professor Michael Curtis, at the Commentator, "Deschooling America, and the world, over Israel":

The disgraceful resolution of the American Studies Association (ASA) passed on December 15, 2013 honoring the call from “Palestinian civil society” to support the academic boycott of Israel has brought to the forefront a problem that ought to disturb all concerned with the educational system in the United States and elsewhere.

Once upon a time one assumed that college faculty members were paid to address and make statements on subjects on which they had some competence. The ASA has shown that this practice is no longer the case. With the enthusiasm of short- sighted detectives the members of ASA have obeyed the call of a Palestinian lobby group to pursue an academic boycott of a country of which they have little or no scholarly knowledge.

Moreover, that pursuit has no relevance to the supposed concerns of American Studies. Parents of students attending classes taught by the 1252 of the eligible 3853 members who voted for the resolution might legitimately inquire about what goes on in the learning and teaching behavior of this faculty.

The problem is acute. Of the 18 members of the ASA National Council who voted unanimously to endorse the boycott resolution, none appears to have any connection with Middle East studies. At least seven appear to have gender studies and sexual politics as a major, or one of their major, interests. The others state their primary research interests are race, film, “imperialism,” and Hawaiian and Latino cultural studies....

It is important to note that the ASA boycott follows the call, if not the exact words of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

This Campaign, started in 2004, is a remarkable demonstration of the Palestinian Narrative of Victimhood with its half-truths and falsehoods. Referring to the democratic State of Israel, and ignoring the increasing visibility and role of Israel Arabs in Israeli life, including the many Arabs who attend Israeli universities, it speaks of the “entrenched system of racial discrimination and segregation against the Palestinian citizens of Israel, which resembles the defunct apartheid system in South Africa.”

In addition to the offensiveness and inaccuracy of this assertion, the Campaign called for no participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions.

Everyone concerned with educational issues must be distressed that a body called the American Studies Association responds to a call from a foreign lobbying body in almost identical language and what can only be regarded as an obsequious tone. Since the members who voted for boycott have shown no interest in issuing statements relating to any of the other 192 countries in the world, what can be their motive in passing this resolution against Israel?

It is not unfair to wonder if the ASA has become infected by the virus of antisemitism.

The academic servility continues. It has now been announced by Chadwick Allen,  professor at  Ohio State University and president of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA), a group with 747 members, that the association has decided to boycott Israeli academic institutions.

He states that the association will support the boycott that  “was initiated by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.”

Again, an academic group is taking a stand while in total ignorance of the reality of life in Israel and areas occupied by the Palestinians. They appear unaware of Israeli basic principles such as protection of free speech and assembly, rights that extend to the Arab population in Israel as they do to everyone else.

Instead, the NAISA speaks of the “legal structures of the Israeli state that systematically discriminate against Palestinian and other indigenous peoples.”

Apparently, and incomprehensibly for an Association supposedly concerned with indigenous studies, it is unaware that the only “indigenous peoples” in the area are Jews.

Continue reading.

An outstanding, penetrating essay that simply nails it. Tweet this piece and spread the word on the ASA's campaign of anti-Semitic totalitarianism. It's bad not just for educational establishments, it's bad for freedom and decency in the world.

King Barack Moves to Crush Federal Judge Who Dares Rein-In Obama Monarchy's Surveillance Absolutism

It's no joke at the headline above.

With the administration's new sexual-harassment rules sweeping across college civil rights offices nationwide, a report yesterday at College Insurrection likened the administration's policies to "those of the English Star Chamber or Spanish Inquisition of the 16th century..."

And so now here comes the New York Times with a report on King Barack's program to shut down a federal judge who dared rule against the royal court's unprecedented system of spying on his majesty's subjects.

See, "White House Tries to Prevent Judge From Ruling on Surveillance Efforts":

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration moved late Friday to prevent a federal judge in California from ruling on the constitutionality of warrantless surveillance programs authorized during the Bush administration, telling a court that recent disclosures about National Security Agency spying were not enough to undermine its claim that litigating the case would jeopardize state secrets.

In a set of filings in the two long-running cases in the Northern District of California, the government acknowledged for the first time that the N.S.A. started systematically collecting data about Americans’ emails and phone calls in 2001, alongside its program of wiretapping certain calls without warrants. The government had long argued that disclosure of these and other secrets would put the country at risk if they came out in court.

But the government said that despite recent leaks by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor, that made public a fuller scope of the surveillance and data collection programs put in place after the Sept. 11 attacks, sensitive secrets remained at risk in any courtroom discussion of their details — like whether the plaintiffs were targets of intelligence collection or whether particular telecommunications providers like AT&T and Verizon had helped the agency.

“Disclosure of this still-classified information regarding the scope and operational details of N.S.A. intelligence activities implicated by plaintiffs’ allegations could be expected to cause extremely grave damage to the national security of the United States,” wrote the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr.

So, he said, he was continuing to assert the state secrets privilege, which allows the government to seek to block information from being used in court even if that means the case must be dismissed. The Justice Department wants the judge to dismiss the matter without ruling on whether the programs violated the First or Fourth Amendment.

The filings also included similar declarations from earlier stages of the California litigation, which were classified at the time and shown only to the court but were declassified on Friday. The judge, Jeffrey S. White of the Northern District of California, had ordered the government to evaluate how the disclosures since Mr. Snowden’s leaks had affected its earlier invocations of the state secrets privilege.

The plaintiffs have until late January to file a response. Cindy Cohn, the legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is leading one of the cases, called the government’s assertion “very troubling.” She said that despite the Snowden revelations, it was still essentially saying, “We can’t say whether the American people have been spied on by their government.”

More at the link.

King Barack pretends to be a democratically-elected head-of-government, and the American people pretend to be the popular sovereigns of an advanced democratic republic. In the end, it all works out. The people have "voted" for the obliteration of their freedom.

No matter your ideology or your position on the liberty vs. security debate, this administration's obscene, crushing hubris should really take your breath away. King Barack once campaigned on returning government to the people. The reality is he's stealing American freedom and sovereignty right before our very eyes.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

CARTOON CREDIT: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – The Pajama Game."

Rule 5 Holiday Cheer — #Rule5

With Rosie Jones and India Reynolds, two of my favorite British Page 3 models (via Rosie on Twitter).

And ICYMI, "Rosie in Red, White, and Blue."

Now, getting to the roundup, I'm pleased to include Becca Lower this week, who offers a patriotic --- and very hot --- entry, "Who Says Cheerleaders are Dumb? (Photo)."

Plus, from our old standby, Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is horrible Bad Weather creating PVC clothing and plastic candy canes, you might just be a Warmist."

Over at Blackmailers Don't Shoot, "Rule 5 Friday, Inked Girls Edition," and "This Week in News, Politics and Rule 5."

Subject to Change has, "In the Kitchen."

More at Knuckledraggin', "Your Good Morning Girl."

At Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Sarah Mutch."

Now over at Odie's, "Deep Thought ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

And at Camp of the Saints, "Rule 5 Christmas Countdown: 21-Dec-13."

Reaganite has the "★ 2013 Wardrobe Malfunction Awards ★."

At Diogenes' Middle Finger, "A Good Monday Morning."

Fan of Glamor brings some "Bath-time with Jodie Gasson."

In a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World has "The Friday Pin Up."

From Drunken Stepfather, "Steplinks of the Day."

And see Proof Positive, "Best of the Web* Linkaround," and "Friday Night Babe: Michelle Borth!"

See also the Hostages, "Big Boob Sunday."

At 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Morning Mistress," and "Hot Pick of the Late Night."

From Dana Pico, "Rule 5 Blogging: Estonia."

EBL has, "Turns out A&E may need Duck Dynasty more than Duck Dynasty needs A&E..."

A View from the Beach has, "Forecast: Light Obamacare Schadenfreude."

And at American Perspective, "Blamers Can't Stop Blaming (Pic)."

Goodstuff's has, "GOODSTUFF'S BLOGGING MAGAZINE (Twisted Christmas Issue)."

Soylent has, "Your Breakfast Buffet."

Now, from Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Chloe Bennett."

Plus, at Barnorama, "Emily Ratajkowski Photos" (via Linkiest).

Over at Egotastic!, check out, "Miranda Kerr See-Through Lace Lingerie for Terry Richardson Shoot," and "Thank God It’s Funbags! Ali Rose on Roller Skates to Get Your Weekend Boogie On."

Finally, go to the Rule 5 blog-father's, the Other McCain, "FMJRA 2.0: Painkiller."

And drop your links in the comments if I've missed you and I'll get you linked up at the next roundup!

Hamas, Islamic Jihad Cheer Bat Yam Bus-Bomb Terror Attack

At the Jerusalem Post, "Hamas, Islamic Jihad 'welcome' terror attack on Bat Yam bus":

Passengers narrowly escape bomb after alert passenger spots suspicious package on back seat, bomb exploded moments after passengers get off bus; Islamic Jihad source says he hopes attack will usher the return of suicide bombings.

Right. Because these people are all about peace in the Middle East, or something.

More at the Times of Israel, "Disaster averted as bomb explodes on bus after passengers evacuated."

And at Atlas Shrugs, "JIHAD TERROR ATTACK IN ISRAEL: BOMB ON BUS INJURES POLICE BOMB SQUAD OFFICER."

Justine Sacco Apologizes

She's issued a statement to ABC News, "Justine Sacco, Fired After Tweet on AIDS in Africa, Issues Apology" (via Memeorandum):

Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet," Sacco said. "There is an AIDS crisis taking place in this country, that we read about in America, but do not live with or face on a continuous basis. Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand.

For being insensitive to this crisis -- which does not discriminate by race, gender or sexual orientation, but which terrifies us all uniformly -- and to the millions of people living with the virus, I am ashamed.

This is my father's country, and I was born here. I cherish my ties to South Africa and my frequent visits, but I am in anguish knowing that my remarks have caused pain to so many people here; my family, friends and fellow South Africans. I am very sorry for the pain I caused.

More at Legal Insurrection, "The worst Twitter day of all time."

It's worth noting that Sacco was an Obama-cheering, pro-abortion Democrat. So, once again we see the  biggest racists on the left.

Why the American Studies Association's Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions is So Utterly Ridiculous

From Martin Kramer, at Blazing Cat Fur:

I am now subject to a boycott by the American Studies Association (ASA), an organization of professors that includes roughly 5,000 members. The resolution, passed by the organization's rank-and-file on Dec. 15, supposedly doesn't apply to individuals, but it applies to me.
[…]
Since I am the president of Shalem College in Jerusalem, an accredited Israeli academic institution, I'm clearly subject to the ASA boycott. And while my fledgling liberal arts college doesn't have any "formal collaborations" with the ASA, it's the thought that counts...

Continue reading.

Claudia Romani's Winter Sizzle in Miami Beach

She looks great.

At London's Daily Mail, "Making them green with envy! Model Claudia Romani sizzles on Miami Beach in head-turning thong bikini."

Woman With Painful Skin Condition Fights Back Against Online Bullies

Well you have to fight these bullies, especially leftist bullies, who're the worst.

At London's Daily Mail, "'I fought back with awesome': Woman who lives with painful skin condition shames the bullies of Reddit who thought her picture was a laughing matter."

Arapahoe's Claire Davis Has Died

So sad. A loss of innocence, and for what?

At the Los Angeles Times, "Arapahoe High School shooting victim Claire Davis dies." And at Fire Andrea Mitchell, "Claire Davis dead after socialist Karl Pierson shot her."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Colorado school shooting victim Claire Davis, 17, DIES surrounded by family eight days after she was gunned down by schoolmate."

Researcher Kathleen Geier (@Kathy__Gee) Slams 'Very Privileged' Family Cancelled Under #ObamaCare

You'd think a "public policy researcher" like this Kathleen Geier, writing at the Washington Monthly, would do what public policy researchers are supposed to do: evaluate the alternatives, especially with a cost-benefit analysis. But Ms. Geier doesn't do that. She just slams this "very privileged" family covered at the New York Times for "whining about the ACA." See, "The New York Times and the ACA: the yuppie whine-athon continues." (Via Memeorandum.)

Well, okay. I hate whiners too. But you'd think Ms Geier might actually examine the complaints of the family, the Chapmans, to see if they're so unreasonable to warrant the very privileged whiners smear. It turns out that there's nothing particularly special about them. They're another family that's unfairly lost their health insurance because of the disastrous ObamaCare redistribution scheme, but reading Geier's post you'd never know it unless you clicked through to the New York Times, "New Health Law Frustrates Many in Middle Class":

Ginger Chapman and her husband, Doug, are sitting on the health care cliff.

The cheapest insurance plan they can find through the new federal marketplace in New Hampshire will cost their family of four about $1,000 a month, 12 percent of their annual income of around $100,000 and more than they have ever paid before.

Even more striking, for the Chapmans, is this fact: If they made just a few thousand dollars less a year — below $94,200 — their costs would be cut in half, because a family like theirs could qualify for federal subsidies.

The Chapmans acknowledge that they are better off than many people, but they represent a little-understood reality of the Affordable Care Act. While the act clearly benefits those at the low end of the income scale — and rich people can continue to afford even the most generous plans — people like the Chapmans are caught in the uncomfortable middle: not poor enough for help, but not rich enough to be indifferent to cost.

“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?”

An analysis by The New York Times shows the cost of premiums for people who just miss qualifying for subsidies varies widely across the country and rises rapidly for people in their 50s and 60s. In some places, prices can quickly approach 20 percent of a person’s income.

Experts consider health insurance unaffordable once it exceeds 10 percent of annual income. By that measure, a 50-year-old making $50,000 a year, or just above the qualifying limit for assistance, would find the cheapest available plan to be unaffordable in more than 170 counties around the country, ranging from Anchorage to Jackson, Miss...

If you continue reading it notes that the Chapmans were paying $665.00 a month for their previous insurance, so they're looking at a $335.00 a month increase in premiums, which for their family is a big hit. They qualify for the "catastrophic" plans the administration is now making more widely available under its so-called "fix" to the insurance mandate announced Thursday night, but the up-front costs in those plans are huge, so there's little that's beneficial to them under the administration's reforms (despite the president's endless lies about how people will be better off under the ACA).

But for as long as I can remember, good public policy has been predicated on middle class support. Social Security, for all its flaws, has long been a popular program with Americans very resistant to removing its bottom-line old-age income guarantee for retirees. What the White House is discovering now is what most "public policy researchers" take for granted: that policy changes that impose massive costs on the largest voting demographic are likely to generate enormous political repercussions. To put things more plainly, ObamaCare doesn't work and the public's not pleased. We're watching the predicted "death spiral" unfold right before our eyes. Frankly, any "public policy researcher" worth her salt would know this, but when the pursuit of equality becomes a quasi-religious mission of emancipation for the poor and "underprivileged," facts and basic common sense --- to say nothing of basic decency --- no longer matter.

BONUS: As I mentioned last night, some progressives have responded to the failure of ObamaCare by barking about nationalizing health care along the lines of Britain's NIH. And here's Atrios doing it in light of NYT's latest report, "Health Care Is Expensive In This Country."

The left has been pretty successful in destroying the private insurance market so far. The real solution to this mess is to scrap ObamaCare altogether and develop market-friendly reforms that increase competition and lower costs, and then some kind of national healthcare safety net should be created to protect those unable to afford coverage. The left's alternative, socialized medicine, is bad for America. Indeed, critics who accused the Democrats of pushing for stealth socialized medicine through the ACA now look prescient.