Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Really, do you think Prof. Gruber's assessment regarding 50% of the American voters was all that wrong?
Jonathan Gruber and the Obamacare memory hole ... "To some, Gruber's memory losses were nearly comical, but as the hearing progressed, Gruber also suffered a serious lapse on perhaps the key issue of the hearing: whether his views on Obamacare were shared by the Democratic lawmakers and staff who wrote the law, and by the members of the Obama administration who worked alongside them. Did any of those Democrats also believe it was necessary to pull the wool over the American people's eyes in order to pass Obamacare?" ...
Kerpen to Gruber: 'Thanks For Helping Us Destroy Sh*tty Law You Passed' ..."Reactions were swift and captured by Twitchy.com. Kerpen was called a "hero," a "baller," a "boss." But saving the best for last, @DonnyFerguson said, "Chuck Norris wears a Phil @Kerpen T-shirt."
Pushback on the Democrat Interrogation Report; a Reading List for You
NRO: The Democrats’ ‘Torture Report’ Is a Dangerous, Partisan Mess
... "America has never fought a war perfectly, and it never will. But the history of our arms and government in war is largely one of courage and honor, and this war is no exception. The “torture report” should not stain America, but it should stain those who twist reality for their own partisan ends — without sufficient regard for innocent American lives or the innocent lives of our friends and allies."
Also at NRO:
The Feinstein report reflects the Democratic party’s contempt for U.S. intelligence agencies.
"Led by Senator Dianne Feinstein and conducted only by Democrats, the partisan investigation in the short term could provoke retaliation against Americans."
Torturing the Truth ..."But a full and fair accounting of such policies wasn’t what committee chairman Dianne Feinstein and other Democrats set out for. Republicans on the committee soon realized this and quit the effort. It’s simply impossible to conduct a fair investigation without interviewing its subjects, and Senate Democrats did not do so. " ...
Blitzer to Feinstein: ‘I Assume You Would Feel Guilty’ if Americans are Killed Because of CIA Report
... "America has never fought a war perfectly, and it never will. But the history of our arms and government in war is largely one of courage and honor, and this war is no exception. The “torture report” should not stain America, but it should stain those who twist reality for their own partisan ends — without sufficient regard for innocent American lives or the innocent lives of our friends and allies."
Also at NRO:
The Feinstein report reflects the Democratic party’s contempt for U.S. intelligence agencies.
"Led by Senator Dianne Feinstein and conducted only by Democrats, the partisan investigation in the short term could provoke retaliation against Americans."
Torturing the Truth ..."But a full and fair accounting of such policies wasn’t what committee chairman Dianne Feinstein and other Democrats set out for. Republicans on the committee soon realized this and quit the effort. It’s simply impossible to conduct a fair investigation without interviewing its subjects, and Senate Democrats did not do so. " ...
Blitzer to Feinstein: ‘I Assume You Would Feel Guilty’ if Americans are Killed Because of CIA Report
“ 'I would feel very badly, of course. I mean what do you think, Wolf Blitzer?” Feinstein shot back."
...
"When pressed on CIA Director John Brennan’s response to the report — he asserted in a statement that “the intelligence gained from the program was critical to our understanding of al Qaeda and continues to inform our counterterrorism efforts to this day” — Feinstein said “an examination of the records going back to the beginning of the program indicates that this is simply not true.' ”...
Stephen F. Hayes: The Truth About Interrogation ... "Now, for the first time, one of the lead interrogators is attempting to tell the other side of the story. Writing under the pseudonym Jason Beale, he has produced a provocative 39-page document in an effort to counter the narrative pushed by Democrats and amplified by journalists eager to discredit the program. The document—which Beale says was reviewed, redacted, and cleared by a U.S. government agency—does not reveal Beale’s precise role in the program." ...
" Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee put America's citizens, interests, and allies at risk yesterday with their release of a report about CIA interrogation techniques used post-9/11. Techniques which B. Hussein Obama (who enthusiastically endorsed the release of the report, whatever the negative consequences) gleefully calls torture." ...
What Interrogation Tactics Would You Not Try? ... "Now, put yourself in the shoes of the CIA director, or of the interrogator in the field.
"If you thought you had even a small chance of stopping another attack, what “enhanced” tactics would you not try?"What moral code would impede you from your utmost exertion to quench the flame…to catch the falling man?
"Damn them in hindsight, if you will.
"I cannot.
"In their best efforts, I hear the whisper of angel wings.
CIA Torture Report May Set Off Global Prosecutions "The release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s secret prisons roiled Washington Tuesday, but its real impact could be felt in courtrooms across the globe in the months and years to come.
"Attorneys for human rights organizations are now poring over the 525-page declassified summary of the Senate majority report to find new material that could revive long-dormant and failed civil and criminal lawsuits on behalf of those detained by the Central Intelligence Agency." ...
On the Democrat Interrogation Report: An Interrogator Breaks His Silence
STEPHEN F. HAYES "What follows is the document written by Jason Beale -- a pseudonym for a longtime U.S. military and intelligence interrogator with extensive knowledge of the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA on some high-value detainees. Those techniques are scrutinized a forthcoming report prepared by the Democratic staff of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Beale would not confirm to THE WEEKLY STANDARD that he worked in that program, but others with knowledge of the program and its personnel tell TWS that he served as a senior interrogator beginning in 2004.
"Beale tells TWS that his document was reviewed, redacted, and cleared by a U.S. government agency. A CIA spokesman would not confirm that the CIA was the agency in question. Beale says he made minor edits for grammar and flow after the document was cleared.
LET’S TALK ABOUT ERIC GARNER
Somebody damned sure should have been indicted in this one, though maybe not the police officers involved.
Some background .. then I’ll flesh out my insensitive thoughts.
Background .. On Staten Island the tax on one package of cigarettes is $5.85. That means a thirty-cents tax on every one of the 20 cigarettes in a pack. (There are 20 cigarettes, right? I’ve never bought a pack, so I don’t know). The tax on a carton of cigarettes would be $58.50. The actual price for a pack of ciggys in New York City, and that includes Staten Island, is over $15. A carton would be nearly $150.00.
Now just who is buying these cigarettes and paying these taxes? The poor, that’s who. Studies show that the only group in the country where smoking is not on the decline is the poor. The poorest among us – those making $13,000 or less, spend 26% of their income on tobacco. Idiots. But it makes sense. You have to be pretty damned ignorant to smoke, and ditto for being poor. I’ll cut some slack for physical or mental disasters .. but it’s so easy to avoid poverty in this country you really have to be a dumb mass to end up on the dole.
Here’s what we have then. New York state puts a huge tax on cigarettes, and New York City tops that tax with another $1.60 or so. So at over $15 a pack you’re not going to find many poor people buying their pack of Camels. What do they do? They go out on the street and buy cigarettes one at a time from people like Eric Garner.
The brilliant politicians want us to believe that they put this tax on cigarettes to make them unaffordable so people would quit smoking. HorseObama. It’s all about tax revenue. And when people like Eric Garner go out there and fill a marketplace demand for single cigarettes the government loses tax revenue; and governments don’t like to lose tax revenue.
Eric Garner was not depriving any person of life, liberty or property. He was violating nobody’s rights. He presented no threat to anyone. He was engaged in free enterprise – at a base level, but free enterprise nonetheless. The police are trying to say that he was harassing people on the sidewalk. Seems kinda flimsy to me. All they had to do was tell him to move on --- but noooooo. Eric was costing the state money, and this could not be allowed to stand; so he died. Not intentionally, but he died nonetheless.
Never forget the one power that government has which you do not. The government can use force, deadly force, to accomplish its goals. In this case the goal was for tax revenue .. tax revenue from the pathetic habits of the poor. When Eric Garner is found selling single cigarettes … which for some odd reason is illegal … he had to be stopped. Well, they sure stopped him.
But like I said … someone should have been indicted. The cop(s)? Perhaps. But I’m thinking of the politicians who put this absurd punishing tax on cigarettes in the first place. They knew what would happen. New York is surrounded by states with a lower tax rate on cigarettes, so they knew smuggling and resale would be an issue. No problem though. They had the cops. And they had to lawful right to order those cops to use force to make sure that by God those taxes were collected. And Eric Garner is dead. Find the right politician and indict them. Let them explain why a father had do die so they could collect their taxes.
The Torture Report and the possibility of International Criminal Court charges. Former Sen. Bob Kerry challenges the report.
Sen. Bob Kerrey: Partisan torture report fails America ... "I do not need to read the report to know that the Democratic staff alone wrote it. The Republicans checked out early when they determined that their counterparts started out with the premise that the CIA was guilty and then worked to prove it." ...
"The Senate’s report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s harsh treatment of detainees, amounting to torture, comes shortly after the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced she is conducting a preliminary investigation of alleged detainee abuse by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. (Afghanistan joined the court in 2003 – I do not know what the U.S. was thinking when it allowed this – and torture is certainly a crime, or multiple crimes, within the Court’s treaty-based jurisdiction.) The Senate report, which I have read only in small parts, gives significant impetus and ammunition to the ICC’s investigation, as well as providing a basis for expanding its scope."
"This post will examine possible jurisdictional barriers to a full ICC investigation, especially in light of the new information in the report. " ... More.
Brennan’s reversal: Enhanced interrogation saved lives ... "That steps on the message that Democrats wanted to send yesterday — that the Bush era had nothing to do with them, and that any intelligence wins on Barack Obama’s watch were his alone. That’s the entire point of this exercise, after all. Dianne Feinstein and her panel pushed the report out before the Republican majority that voters just elected could stop them from releasing their cherry-picked conclusions." ...
Former Democratic Senator rails against 'partisan torture report "Former Nebraska Senator and member of the Intelligence Committee Bob Kerrey wrote an op ed in USA Today, bemoaning the partisan nature of the torture report, and calling on the intel committee to offer recommendations for reform." Read more:
Sen. Bob Kerrey: Partisan torture report fails America ... "I do not need to read the report to know that the Democratic staff alone wrote it. The Republicans checked out early when they determined that their counterparts started out with the premise that the CIA was guilty and then worked to prove it." ...
Lena Delivers The Apology "Barry" Was Waiting For. Churlishly, Natch
Lena's Campus Rape Story Unravels "Lena Dunham – the 28-year-old writer, actress, director – seems to be getting more attention for the writing in her “memoir” Not That Kind of Girl in the past two months, than she has for the writing that won her two Golden Globe Awards and eight nominations for the Emmy Awards for her HBO series Girls.
"But this attention isn’t the “good” kind. As a matter of fact, the amount of negative attention this book has gotten due to investigations by various news outlets is beginning to unravel one of the chapters of her book that centers on an alleged rape from a “campus Republican” named “Barry”, that it outed an innocent man who has racked up a tremendous amount of debt in legal fees trying to clear his name – even AFTER reaching out to Dunham and her publisher Random House a few months ago." ...
"Lena Dunham, presumably typing with one arm twisted behind her back, shows how not to apologize:
"Lena Dunham: Why I Chose To Speak Out
"Noo! To inspire rape survivors everywhere! Her lead, with the apology "Barry" was looking for:
Lena and Grace Dunham: Life in the Shame-Free Zone .."First, there is overwhelming evidence that Dunham perpetrated a rape-hoax against a fellow Oberlin student she identified as Barry the Republican. At the time this rape was supposed to have occurred, only one student at Oberlin College was named Barry, a well-known member of the small group of campus Republicans. This man, who now has a family and children, was readily identified and has had the national spotlight shined on him by what appears to be Dunham’s libel. Second, her book provided a multilayered history of her -- by her own feminist definition -- sexually abusing her younger sister, Grace." Read more:
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