Surprise: Republicans Doubt Obama’s Willingness To Negotiate

By William Teach January 19, 2015 – 8:25 am

They also expect bitter confrontations. I’m not quite sure what would make them think that, you guys!

(Washington Times) House and Senate Republicans came away from their joint retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania, this weekend bracing for bitter confrontations with President Obama and skeptical that the president is willing to make deals even on the handful of policies where the executive and legislative branches could find agreement.

Republicans insisted that they could stake out common ground with Mr. Obama on trade deals, tax code reforms, infrastructure projects and cybersecurity measures, yet they repeatedly raised doubts about the president’s inclination to negotiate with lawmakers and break the gridlock that has stymied Washington for six years.

“So far, what we’ve seen is the president and the White House have expressed an interest in tax reform. But when push comes to shove, he’s not really engaging with the Congress on tax reforms,” Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, told reporters at the retreat.

There are certainly issues where there could be common ground and/or compromise, yet, Obama’s history shows that he prefers to create strife rather than deals. In those few times where compromise happened, Obama found a way to demand more and scuttle the deal (the shutdown over the budget is one incident). He barely worked with his own party over the last 6 years. He barely talked to elected Democrats. Those same elected Dems did all they could to support him, and what did they get? Historic losses

“We’re not feeling overly optimistic that the president has gotten the message from the last election,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Obama has not given a damn over Congressional Democrats through the years. Don’t forget, it hasn’t just been losses for Dems in Congress. There have been record losses in State government for Dems, as well.

“I’m the guy born with the glass half full, and I believe hope springs eternal,” said House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican. “The American people want us to find a way to address their concerns. That was the big message out of the election. You hear it from our members on both sides of the Capitol. I’m hopeful the president heard the same message.”

Obama listens to no one but Obama and the like-minded folks he surrounds himself with. Things must be done Obama’s way or no way, and he is what would be termed a bad faith negotiator in the private sector. If he was in the private sector, no one would want to work with him, because of his extreme views, extreme manners, and predilection to create strife.

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Appeasement: Muslims Want NYPD Terrorism Report Scrubbed

By William Teach January 19, 2015 – 8:01 am

Back in 2007, the NYPD compiled a report regarding home grown Islamist terrorists, which was the blue print for monitoring mosques and Muslim groups to attempt to stop terrorist attacks and the home grown Islamists. This made Muslims very upset that law enforcement would dare to go where Muslims are radicalized, so they sued. Now the NY Post learns

In top-secret talks to settle federal lawsuits against the NYPD for monitoring mosques, the city is weighing a demand that it scrub from its Web site a report on Islamic terrorists, The Post has learned.

The groundbreaking, 92-page report, titled “Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat,” angers critics who say it promotes “religious profiling” and discrimination against Muslims. But law-enforcement sources say removing the report now would come at the worst time — after mounting terror attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris, Boston, Sydney and Ottawa.

That is one of the main sticking points in settling the lawsuit with the Muslims.

“The harm is that it sends the message that the NYPD is ­going to back down on its counterterrorism effort in the name of political correctness,” said a former NYPD official. “Shame on the NYPD if they do.”

If the NYPD was doing this to Whites, Christians, and/or Conservative groups, no one would be batting an eye. However, in our PC world, certain groups must never be surveilled. What’s more disturbing than removing the report is this next bit

Also on the table are demands that the NYPD halt any ongoing surveillance in the Muslim community and that records of prior monitoring be expunged, sources said.

It’s not like a homegrown jihadi attacked NYPD officers with a hatchet last April. Sadly, Mosques and Islamic schools are some of the prime recruiting grounds around the world for Muslim radicalization. No, most will not become jihadis. They won’t engage in violence. But, if you have a profile of a suspect, you use that profile to look for the suspect. But, in today’s PC world, certain groups are off-limits.

Liberals will, of course, throw out the word “Islamophobia”. Well, yeah. Phobias are often called “irrational”. Yet, spiders can harm you. So can snakes. So can falling. Surely, not all Muslims are radicalized. Yet, where are they? So few refuse to speak up. Few get involved in things like the Paris march last week. Why? Well, one reason is that they’re afraid of being attacked by the radicals. Think on that.

(The DiploMad 2.0) Let’s look around the world, and ask “Who is not an Islamophobe?” The world is full to the rafters with Islamophobes. I wonder if the people slaughtered at Charlie Hebdo and in the kosher market had a bout of Islamophobia just before the AK rounds put an end to those thoughts? What about the people in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi or in the villages of Nigeria? Guess what? Huge numbers of Islamophobes live lives of utter misery and horror in the Islamic world. I lived for years in Muslim countries, and met countless Muslims terrified of Islam, especially women and budding intellectuals. Let us not forget that in the long and bloody history of the Religion of Peace, the greatest number, by far, of Islam’s victims have come from the ranks of Muslims. Nobody massacres Muslims as frequently and as copiously as do other Muslims following the dictates of Islam.

Liberals are more than happy to equate every action by a Christian, Jew, Conservative, White, with the group as a whole, even when the perpetrator is performing actions/saying things that are completely contradictory to the belief set of the group. Yet, in Liberal World, the same never applies when an Islamist does something while claiming it is the name of Mohammed and/or Allah.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Whoops: “Scientists” Only 38% Sure 2014 Was Warmest Year Evah!

By William Teach January 18, 2015 – 3:00 pm

Of course, at the end of the day, it matters little whether 2014 was the hottest during…um, yeah, a weak Holocene warm period,which had been preceded by a big cool period, and a strong warm period. Why? Because we should expect warming during a warm period. The argument is over causation. Anyhow, the computer modelers, er, excuse me, climate scientists, made an interesting admission

(UK Daily Mail) The Nasa climate scientists who claimed 2014 set a new record for global warmth last night admitted they were only 38 per cent sure this was true.

In a press release on Friday, Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) claimed its analysis of world temperatures showed ‘2014 was the warmest year on record’.

The claim made headlines around the world, but yesterday it emerged that GISS’s analysis – based on readings from more than 3,000 measuring stations worldwide – is subject to a margin of error. Nasa admits this means it is far from certain that 2014 set a record at all.

Yet the Nasa press release failed to mention this, as well as the fact that the alleged ‘record’ amounted to an increase over 2010, the previous ‘warmest year’, of just two-hundredths of a degree – or 0.02C. The margin of error is said by scientists to be approximately 0.1C – several times as much.

Seriously, even if it was, does a hundredth of a degree C make a difference?

Of course, it helps the narrative when the data is changed on a constant basis.

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If All You See…

By William Teach January 18, 2015 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible wood fire polluting the atmosphere with carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Independent Sentinel, with a post on why Muslims don’t speak out.

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach January 18, 2015 – 9:59 am

Happy Sunday! Another wonderful day in America. Though I am getting really tired of the commercials for candy crush style game apps. I’ve already seen at least 8 9 of them since I got up at 730. Anyhow, this pinup is by Bill Randall, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. protein wisdom discusses Progressives and Islamists rooting out blasphemy
  2. Political Realities discusses Obama’s tax increase “plan” (has to be in quotes, because it’s nothing more than a talking point)
  3. Political Clown Parade is less than impressed with John Kerry’s Paris schtick
  4. Moonbattery highlights who will interview Obama…it’s beyond nuts
  5. Jihad Watch notes that ISIS fighters really like “jihad meth”
  6. Flopping Aces highlights a Liberals dream
  7. Fire Andrea Mitchell notes Muslims establishing no go zones in America
  8. Doug Ross covers Islamist training camps….in America
  9. Common Cents brings some humor with a video of a cop jamming to “Shake it Off”
  10. A few days old, but Bookworm Room offers a joke that explains our economy
  11. Barking Moonbat EWS notes that Islam is Islamic
  12. American Power covers the Muslim riots in Nigeria
  13. 90Ninety Miles From Tyranny notes the Republicans that must be defeated in 2016
  14. Wizbang has more on the radical feminists
  15. And last, but not least, The People’s Cube has the redesigned flag

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

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Semi-Retired President To Propose Tax Increases On The Rich

By William Teach January 18, 2015 – 8:26 am

Last time he tried this, all his rich buddies, who were making massive donations to Obama’s campaign, along with other Democrats, Democrat groups, and outside Democrat groups, felt this was great. They were like “yeah, raise my income tax.” I doubt they’ll be so enthusiastic this time

(Huffington Post) During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Barack Obama will lay out a plan to extend tax credits to the middle class by hiking taxes on wealthier Americans and big banks, according to senior administration officials.

Under the plan, the capital gains tax for couples with income over $500,000 per year would be raised from its current level of 23.8 percent up to 28. The plan would also strip a tax break, known as a “step-up,” that allows heirs to avoid capital gains taxes on large inheritances.

In addition, the plan would institute a new tax on the biggest financial institutions, basing the fee on liabilities in order to discourage risky borrowing. The administration says the fee would hit the roughly 100 banks that have assets of $50 billion or more.

So many of those rich folks, such as Warren Buffett, would not have been affected much by an income tax increase. Raising the capital gains rate, along with several of the others Obama is trotting out, will have a big effect on The Rich. This has zero chance of passing the Republican Congress. Not that Obama will actually do more than give a speech, as no one actually expects Obama to do anything as pedestrian as sending legislation over to Congress.

The president’s plan would use revenues from those tax code changes to finance credits aimed at the middle class, officials said. That includes extending the earned income tax credits to families without children, which would benefit an estimated 13 million low-income workers, while also tripling the maximum tax credits for child care in low- and middle-income homes.

This part could happen, I’d suspect the GOP Congress could jump on reducing taxes on the mid-low income citizens. Of Course, Team Obama partially portrays the entire thing as somehow helping make the economy run better. They never explain how, nor do they explain why they didn’t do this anytime over the last 6 years, particularly during his first two years when Congress was in the hands of Democrats. The other reason?

“This proposal is probably the most impactful way we can address the manifest unfairness in our tax system,” an administration official said.

Of course. Redistribution of wealth. Class warfare. The same ol’ same ol’ schtick. Of course, the tax code is in fact unfair, in that it fails to provide equal treatment under the law, having different rates for different earners. Having different breaks that only some people are eligible for.

In addition to the tax credits, the president’s proposals will also include a plan to give more workers access to retirement accounts. Employers with at least 10 workers who don’t currently offer their employees a 401(k) would have to enroll them in what’s known as an automatic IRA, a plan that Obama has included in previous budgets he’s proposed.

While it’s nice for companies to offer 401(k)’s, is it government’s job to force companies to offer them? No. No it isn’t.

Another reason for doing this?

(Fox News) Obama’s call for higher taxes on the wealthy is likely to further antagonize Republicans who are already angry with the president over his vows to veto several of the party’s priorities, including legislation to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, make changes to the president’s signature health care legislation and block his executive actions on immigration.

Obama wants to pick a fight. It’s what he does. He knows that the tax increases won’t get through Congress, and he’ll assault and impugn Congress over the tax decreases which they will most likely support during the SOTU speech. This is the reason the plan was released early, to make sure Congress will have had time to read and hear about it: he can denigrate Republicans for not taking action immediately. Like Monday and Tuesday.

Expect this to be a very dry and very boring State Of The Union address, with even more people tuning out.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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By William Teach January 17, 2015 – 1:00 pm

…is wonderful primitive living which Everyone Else should try, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Rhymes With Right, with a post on protecting blasphemous utterances.

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ISIS Throws Gay Men From Rooftop, Stones Woman

By William Teach January 17, 2015 – 9:32 am

Why is this horrific story not more widely disseminated?

(UK Daily Mail) Two men were hurled from the top of a tower block, two more were crucified in front of a baying crowd and a woman was stoned to death in the latest series of horrific executions by ISIS.

The men were thrown from the roof down to the crowd below in the brutal punishment for being gay.

Charges found against the accused were announced by a masked Islamic State fighter, using a small handheld radio. Reading from a list, he declares the men are guilty of engaging in homosexual activities and should be punished by death, in accordance with Islamic State’s radical interpretation of Sharia law.

The horrific punishment was reportedly carried out in the Iraqi province of al-Furat. The victim’s broken body is photographed on the dirty road, lying outside the steps of the orange patterned building. Two other men were also crucified for alleged rape crimes. Their bodies are shown lying tied up to the railings of a nearby fence.

The woman was accused of adultery.

One has to wonder when, or even if, Liberals/Leftists/Progressives will turn on radical Islam, which constantly treats gays and women in horrific manners. There are competing interests within the LLP community in wanting to show their support for gays and women but also to be tolerant of all Muslims, a kind of generic Islam, which leads to their constant defense of the hardcores, known as Islamists in truly unique and blindingly stupid ways. LLPs are mostly incapable of condemning the Islamists, and call any criticism “Islamophobia”, in their insane multiculturalism/diversity worldview.

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Obligatory “2014 Is Hottest Year Ever And We’re All Doomed!!!!!” Post

By William Teach January 17, 2015 – 8:14 am

I never got around to this Friday, since life happened (shot a 43 while walking 9 yesterday afternoon, even with the wind. Putting was great), plus, I really didn’t care that much. There are always breathless pronouncements by Warmists, and they’ve been pushing this meme for months. Outlets like the Washington Post, Vox, Politico, etc, along with all sorts of left leaning blogs and organizations, are all going bat guano insane over this “news”, blaming Mankind, yet, none of the writers and organizations are pledging to give up their own fossil fuels usage. Strange, I know!

NASA, NOAA Find 2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record

The year 2014 ranks as Earth’s warmest since 1880, according to two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists.

The 10 warmest years in the instrumental record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000. This trend continues a long-term warming of the planet, according to an analysis of surface temperature measurements by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

Perhaps they can tell us the temperature in the previous warm periods? No?

Since 1880, Earth’s average surface temperature has warmed by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius), a trend that is largely driven by the increase in carbon dioxide and other human emissions into the planet’s atmosphere. The majority of that warming has occurred in the past three decades.

Well, wouldn’t be proper for NASA/NOAA to not primarily Blame Mankind, right? Overall, though, the world is still in Pause. Something not discussed in the press release, nor in most of the Warmist articles, is the actual “temperature”. As Not A Lot Of People Know That notes

Nowhere does their press release tell us that it only beat the previous record by a tiny, effectively unmeasurable 0.02C. Nor do they mention that the error bars are many times greater, or even tell us what they are.

One can barely tell the difference between 57F and 58.4F. “Is 58.46° then distinguishable from 58.45°?” That’s what Dr. Pat Michaels asks, and his answer is “no”.

Both Not A Lot Of People Know That and Dr. Judith Curry note that NASA claims it was an El Nino neutral year. The actual data refutes that. Dr. Curry also notes

Berkeley Earth sums it up well with this statement:

That is, of course, an indication that the Earth’s average temperature for the last decade has changed very little.

The key issue remains the growing discrepancy between the climate model projections and the observations: 2014 just made the discrepancy larger.

So, essentially, the Pause continues, and the Warmist computer models continue to fail stupendously. She also writes

With 2014 essentially tied with 2005 and 2010 for hottest year, this implies that there has been essentially no trend in warming over the past decade.

The temperature is stable.

One thing we’re still waiting for is the satellite records. Once those come out, this whole “2014 is the hottest year” stuff will go away…oh, who am I kidding. The media and Warmists will ignore any actual data which disagrees with their cultish beliefs.

Regardless, even if the data is 100% spot on, it still doesn’t prove mostly/solely anthropogenic causation, just another wishy washy warm period during this interglacial period. The argument is not over warming, but causation.

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Obama Tells Cops He’ll Continue Giving Them Military Equipment, Just Don’t Be Racist

By William Teach January 17, 2015 – 7:42 am

One of the early issues surrounding what happened in Ferguson was the use of military styled equipment against protesters. While many were reserving judgement regarding what happened between Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson, which ended up with Brown dead, many people were concerned over the use of said military style equipment, even after the riots, looting, and arson broke out. This prompted a “national discussion” over police using that equipment, and why they need it. No worries, though, Obama is available to provide more!

(Daily Caller) President Obama quietly issued an executive order Friday in which he continued to give local police departments military-style tanks, but also created a working group to make sure that the tanks won’t be used in a racist way.

“For decades, the Federal Government has provided equipment to State, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies [LEAs] through excess equipment transfers [including GSA donations], asset forfeiture programs, and Federal grants,” Obama stated in the executive order.

“These programs have assisted LEAs as they carry out their critical missions to keep the American people safe. The equipment acquired by LEAs through these programs includes administrative equipment, such as office furniture and computers. But it also includes military and military-styled equipment, firearms, and tactical vehicles provided by the Federal Government.”

Stars and Stripes noted in August

The 1033 Program was an invention of Congress, not the Pentagon. It came into being through the 1990-1991 National Defense Authorization Act, and the program’s original scope was much narrower than it is today. As the federal government’s “war on drugs” escalated, the 1990-1991 NDAA authorized the transfer of excess DOD property to federal and state agencies for use in counterdrug activities. A few years later, the program was broadened considerably to include materiel that could be used for “the execution of law enforcement activities,” to include counterdrug and counterterrorism missions, according to DOD.

The theory behind the initiative was that the military’s unneeded equipment might as well be put to good use, rather than be destroyed or warehoused.

There was a time when drug dealers and gangs were arming themselves heavily, and police needed a way to protect themselves and match the firepower. Terrorism was spreading outside of the Middle East. All tactical vehicles are stripped down, and are without weapons. Less than 5% are weapons, and 1% are vehicles. Most are things like “office equipment, blankets and sleeping bags, computers, digital cameras and video recorders, binoculars, flashlights, extreme weather clothing, repair tools, first-aid supplies and TVs.” But, it is rather disconcerting for citizens to see those tank-like vehicles on our streets shooting water cannons and tear gas.

The question is, are they needed? There are arguments for and against. That’s an argument for another day, but Obama apparently thinks so, on one condition

“There is established an interagency Law Enforcement Equipment Working Group to identify agency actions that can improve Federal support for the acquisition of controlled equipment…ensuring LEA compliance with civil rights requirements resulting from receipt of Federal financial assistance.”

“The Working Group shall engage with external stakeholders, including appropriate State officials, law enforcement organizations, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, and academics, in developing the recommendations required by subsection [a] of this section.”

In other words, state, county, and city police departments will have commissars/political officers looking over their shoulders from now on, manufacturing raaaaacism charges.

One thing to note: tanks do not go to any law enforcement agencies from the military. Period. You can read a bit more on the equipment and uses here.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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