Month: June 2013

Oh, God, there are *so* many bad puns available for this Weiner poll story…

…including one that would probably get me in major hot water, and deservedly so.  Let us resist temptation:

Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner leads City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in the race for New York City’s Democratic mayoral nomination for the first time, snatching the frontrunner mantle as the contest heads into the final months before the primary, the latest survey from The Wall Street Journal-NBC New York-Marist showed.

Among registered Democrats, Mr. Weiner had 25% of the vote, compared with Ms. Quinn, who had 20%, marking her lowest level of support since polling of the race began. Trailing them were former Comptroller Bill Thompson, at 13%, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, 10% and city Comptroller John Liu, 8%.

It’s gonna be a heck of a campaign. This is, like, going to give me free copy for months.

Moe Lane

 

Actually: the Flat Earth Society is on *your* side, Barack Obama.

In his heart, Barack knows it’s flat.

Doesn’t the President have anybody who can check this sort of thing for him?

In his big speech on climate change today, President Obama mocked Republicans who deny the existence of man-made global warming by derisively referring to them as members of “the Flat Earth Society.”

[snip of a political science major opining on a scientific controversy which is is amassing an impressive amount of corruption allegations on one side]

As it turns out, there is a real Flat Earth Society and its president thinks that anthropogenic climate change is real.

But the real story here is this: Salon felt the urge to note that Barack Obama got something wrong.  More fascinatingly, they actually published it.  The bloom is, as they say, off of the rose. Continue reading Actually: the Flat Earth Society is on *your* side, Barack Obama.

BOOM: Supreme Court declares Section IV of VRA unconstitutional.

Short version: Section V (enforcing preclearances for racial gerrymandering) was not touched, but Section IV (that dictates the criteria used to determine when such a thing would be necessary) was killed, on the grounds that said criteria has long since passed its sell-by date. This effectively kills Section V, because Congress will not pass new criteria any time soon.  Chief Justice Roberts made the ruling, and it’s… elegantly vicious, in its way.

We will now pause as the Online Left freaks.

Remember: today is Barack Obama’s War On Coal speech.

The only real question is whether Barack Obama will use the actual phrase. Certainly, his administration is trying to get the notion out there:

“The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants,” Daniel P. Schrag, a member of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, told the New York Times. ”Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”

Daniel Schrag is perfect for deniable messaging, of course: he doesn’t set policy, but he does officially have President Barack Obama’s ear.  If he’s openly talking about bankrupting the coal industry – something that Barack Obama has been itching to do for years – then it’s either about to become official federal policy, or else the Obama administration has zero control over its own personnel and friendlies.  I don’t know which scenario is more alarming.

Guess we’ll find out today, huh?

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Continue reading Remember: today is Barack Obama’s War On Coal speech.

And this is why you should be careful when trying armed robbery in a CCW state.

I personally would not spend $180 on a pair of sneakers.  Other than that, I’m pleasantly surprised that the Huffington Post decided to report on this:

A man trying to rob Atlanta customers waiting to buy the latest LeBron James sneakers was killed by a shopper who continued to wait on line after the shooting, according to NBC News.

The robber, a man who has not been identified yet, sauntered up to people before dawn in Atlanta, waiting in line to purchase the $180 Lebon X Denim kicks by Nike on the day they were released, CNN reported. The shoes, endorsed by the star forward on the Miami Heat, could be sold for a much higher price on eBay.

Witnesses said the thief pulled out a gun and tried to rob the crowd.

Continue reading And this is why you should be careful when trying armed robbery in a CCW state.

RIP, Richard Matheson (1926-2013).

Sad news:

 

Everybody’s talking about I Am Legend, which makes sense: it’s a bloody good book.  But my favorites of his are probably “Born of Man and Woman” and “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” My condolences to his family and loved ones.

THE SEED THAT IS JOHN KERRY CANNOT BE CONTAINED OR DEFINED.

JOHN KERRY IS BEYOND YOUR BLINKERED CONCEPTIONS OF REALITY.

Since succeeding Hillary Rodham Clinton as America’s top diplomat, Kerry has issued several as yet undelivered — and perhaps undeliverable — pledges to allies and rivals alike, proving a source of concern for Obama’s policy team.

JOHN KERRY KNOWS THE PATH THAT CAN BE TAKEN. MUST BE TAKEN. WILL BE TAKEN.

It is trying to rein in Kerry somewhat, according to officials,

JOHN KERRY LAUGHS AT YOUR PUNY ATTEMPTS TO BRING HIM TO HEEL, PITIFUL O-BA-MA HU-MANS!  HEAR HIS LAUGH!

…which is difficult considering Kerry has spent almost half his tenure so far in the air or on the road…

JOHN KERRY WILL WALK THE HIDDEN PLACES OF AMERICA, LISTENING TO THE CALL.  THE CALL.  THE CALL!

…from where his most dissonant policy statements have come.

JOHN KERRY KNOWS THAT THEY COME FROM THE SEA, FOOLS!  THE HISS OF THE FOAM AND THE PATTERNS OF THE SEAWEED TELL JOHN KERRY WHAT HE MUST DO. WHAT HE MUST SEE.  WHAT HE MUST DREAM.  AND JOHN KERRY WILL SHOW YOU THE DREAM, AND THE DREAMER.

JOHN KERRY KNOWS THE OUTSIDE. SOON, SO SHALL YOU.

MOE LANE

VIA HOT AIR.

If it’s Monday, it must be time for another “Being President is HARD!” article.

:rolling eyes: Every time I think that we’ve exhausted the mine of Why the inability of a Democratic President to do anything is not a reflection upon him, somebody comes up with a new wrinkle.

In the last six weeks – the IRS story broke first on May 10 — those handful of stories have driven every other narrative out of the news headlines. That’s in spite of the Obama Administration’s attempts to shift the focus back to the ongoing immigration debate, jobs and the economy and the U.S.’ role in the world.

While you can debate the relative bad-ness of each of the stories for the White House, what’s not debatable is that everyone in the administration from President Obama on down has been driven by the news rather than driving it over these last weeks. That inability of even the President of the United States to push his preferred message on a given day/week/month points to a fundamental new reality of politics: The bully pulpit just ain’t what it used to be.

Continue reading If it’s Monday, it must be time for another “Being President is HARD!” article.