Kinda Funny But Kinda Sad

By Richard Fernandez at PJ Media  "Perhaps the saddest and funniest story in recent days comes from Forbes. Merrill Matthews, himself an insurance industry leader, writes about how  his industry was led on by the golden visions of Obamacare only to find itself in a waterless desert.  While being courted by the president they were shown fleeting glimpses of gold and jewels.  But what they got instead was a website that wouldn’t accept payments and a set of rules that forced them to accept non-paying customers, retroactively.
....
"He concludes that “health insurers are being battered by Obamacare and they deserve it.”  And while he feels sorry for them he’s looking for a violin small enough to do justice to the suffering they are experiencing.

"Maybe he can find an even smaller one for Pajama Boy. After he finishes his chocolate he might try his Obamacare policy on for size. Running a close second for the story of tragi-comic news of the year is an article in the Huffington Post which is somewhat jarringly headlined: ”Doctor Shortage Looming As Obamacare Rolls Out”. Signing up hard as it was and paying your premium, difficult as it may be, turns out to be the easy part."  Full article
Richard Fernandez was an early joiner of PJ Media, and he is a longstanding PJ Columnist.
Richard has been a software developer for nearly 15 years. Before that, he worked in forestry, assisted in the negotiations between Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines and the Cabinet, organized tribespeople in the Philippines and played a role in the anti-Marcos movement.
On his PJM blog, titled Belmont Club, Richard provides a discussion of history and history in the making:

Leno: Biden was Buying Sandwiches and was $10 Short... -

CNS News

"During his monologue on a repeat episode of The Tonight Show Wednesday night, Jay Leno said, “Vice President Joe Biden went to pick up a couple of sandwiches for lunch for him and the president…”

Must-Watch: Irish MP Blasts President Obama as 'Hypocrite of the Century'

IJReview  "President Obama got blasted by Clare Daly, a fiery Irish Member of Parliament. She rips the shameful, sycophantic American media for supporting a ‘war criminal’ and the ‘hypocrite of the century.’ And — she’s a soft socialist.

Hat tip to Eddie Strickland on Facebook

Rebranding the Hillary Clinton that many of us knew for years

http://terrellaftermath.com/

 

Is New York’s de Blasio prompting a repositioning by the Clintons?  "It isn’t often that the swearing-in of a new mayor of New York draws national television attention, but then, it isn’t every day that you see a mayor sworn in by a former president of the United States with a prospective presidential candidate also on the stage."

 

NYT, Hillary and Obama's War on a Mom " In a shameless glaring act of hypocrisy to rehabilitate Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations, the New York Times published an article doubling down on the Obama Administration's lie that the attack on our consulate in Benghazi was due to an anti-Islam video."

....

"These people, NYT, Hillary and Obama are always railing about their phony bologna made-up GOP War on Women, all the while displaying a callous cold disregard for Pat Smith who has been simply seeking the truth about the greatest loss of her life."  Lloyd Marcus.

No way Hillary could ever gain our troops’ trust   "And I agree with feminist Camille Paglia that Hillary Clinton disqualified herself as a presidential candidate with her handling of Benghazi.

"Here’s why"  ...

 ....

"So how would our military trust a commander in chief when, as secretary of state, she hung our own Navy SEALs and U.S. ambassador out to dry in Benghazi?"

Bill and Hillary Clinton: A Life of Violating People   "Hillary is a serial perjurer who says she did not give orders to fire the White House Travel Office in 1993, even though David Watkins later said Hillary said to “fire their asses” and he wrote a memo saying there would be “hell to pay” if they Travel Office was not fired immediately."

 

Secret Service agent: Clinton’s staff rude, Hillary aloof   "On the first lady, he describes her as aloof, someone who didn’t say “thank you” to agents while the president and former first daughter Chelsea typically did. He told Secrets, “she was not as out-going or cordial.' ”

The price of political ignorance: More government

George Will  "It was naughty of Winston Churchill to say, if he really did, that “the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” Nevertheless, many voters’ paucity of information about politics and government, although arguably rational, raises awkward questions about concepts central to democratic theory, including consent, representation, public opinion, electoral mandates and officials’ accountability."
....
"Some people vote because it gives them pleasure — the satisfaction of expressive behavior — and because they feel duty-bound to cast a ballot that, by itself, makes virtually no difference, but affirms a process that does." ...

De Blasio’s inauguration was a left-wing celebration.

John Fund at NRO;
"Bill in the China Shop: ‘We Won’t Wait, We’ll Do It Now’"

  

"We all knew we were in for something completely different when the inauguration of self-described “progressive” Bill de Blasio as New York’s mayor began with a keynote from pro-Communist activist Harry Belafonte. 

....

"The speeches finally over, the crowd went into City Hall to celebrate the arrival of the New Progressivism. I noted that Bertha Lewis, the former national head of the scandal-ridden ACORN “community-organizing” group, was an honored guest. ... ACORN had long sought to put de Blasio into the mayor’s office. “Without exaggeration, ACORN’s long-range plan since 2001 was to elect de Blasio mayor,” the insider said. “De Blasio was a big ACORN project.' ”
Would this be a good place to mention that Unsurprisingly, Most Convicted Felons Prefer Democrats?
 

Jake Tapper Reports on Impression of ‘Bitter Partisanship’ and Exclusionary Tone of DeBlasio Inauguration   "CNN host Jake Tapper reported on Wednesday at the conclusion of the inauguration of New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio that many left the ceremony with the impression that the new administration would be anything but inclusive. He reported on the feeling apparently shared by some, including former members of Mike Bloomberg’s administration, that DeBlasio’s inauguration sounded a note of “bitter partisanship.' ”

Journalists Tingle as Bill de Blasio's Inaugurated in New York City With a 'Progressive Jamboree'   "The "Bill de Blasio moment" will be a good opportunity to separate the true socialists in the media elite from the more conventional partisans who worry that the Democrats will be pushed too far to the Left to be electable. After all, journalists never tire of suggesting the Tea Party is too far right to help the Republicans. Why wouldn't they suggest de Blasio is a similar danger for the other side?"

Oh, yeah; de Blasio's wife

Oopsie… Guy Working for Bill de Blasio at Inauguration Caught Coaching the Crowd to Cheer (Video)

Obamacare: your government of, by, and for the people

politicalincorrectnessrunamuck

It's official: Obamacare caused more cancelled plans than enrollments  "This is one stat that we haven't heard from the White House. They announced on Tuesday that 2.1 million people had signed up on the exchanges (no one knows how many of those have actually paid). Meanwhile, it appears that at least 4.7 million Americans had their plans cancelled by Obamacare's coverage mandates." Rick Moran

 

The biggest Obamacare whopper of all  "President Obama told an even bigger lie than his promises about keeping your insurance and doctor, if you like them. And Politifcat already has a leading candidate for the biggest lie of 2014. Betsy McCaughey explains in the New York Post why his words, "you're not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor in your decision making," amount to biggest whopper of all:" ...Thomas Lifson

Thirty-one changes to Obamacare...so far  "By our count at the Galen Institute, more than 31 significant changes already have been made to ObamaCare: at least 14 that President Obama has made unilaterally, 15 that Congress has passed and the president has signed, and 2 by the Supreme Court. But even this large number of changes hasn’t stopped the cascade of failures we are seeing today in the implementation of the law." ...

What does Mayor-elect DeBasio have against horses?

Liberals will not leave us alone to live our lives. Why can't they just work part time?

Rick Moran   "New York city mayor-elect Bill DeBasio is out to ban the iconic horse-drawn carriage rides around Central Park so beloved of tourists and romantics alike.

NY Daily News:

"We are going to get rid of the horse carriages. Period," de Blasio said in response to a question at his press conference announcing his schools chancellor pick Monday.
"It's over," he said.
De Blasio said he would work with existing drivers to set them up with alternative vehicles to ferry tourists around Central Park.
De Blasio and advocacy groups who support him say it's inhumane to make the horses work the dangerous city streets, but drivers insist their horses are well cared for and there's no reason to end the industry.

....
"Celebrities have been driving the opposition to the horse-drawn carriage:"

...."Miley Cyrus? DeBlasio is going to destroy a fine tradtion on the word of an air head twerker? And Alec Baldwin likes horses more than gay people? Who would have thought that?"  

Jan 1, 1944: World War II Today

Hope and dread for the New Year in Berlin  
"Many people were hoping that 1944 would bring a better year. For many it did not seem an unrealistic prospect that the war would be over by the end of the year. An Allied victory now seemed inevitable, although there was much uncertainty as to how that would come about.
"Ursula von Kardorff was a young journalist working in Berlin. She had already lost one of her two brothers on the frontline. Berlin itself was increasingly looking like a battlefield itself as more and more building were destroyed by the bombing. She moved in circles where many young officers were anti Nazi, although she knew very well how careful they had to be in expressing such sentiments. Her diary, if ever discovered by the authorities, would have seen her sent to a concentration camp at the very least:
She writes, seventy years ago:
"Berlin, 1 January 1944
"1943. The worst year of my life. Jurgen’s death, the raids, people rendered homeless by bombing, so that the Germans now wander around as homeless as the Jews, loaded down with the same kinds of sacks and bundles. At least it relieves one of some of one’s guilt, and that is a comfort.

Berliners now knew that the air defences could not prevent the

widespread destruction of their city.

....
"I imagine that the climax of the war will be reached in the spring and that if we, here in Germany, do not do something soon to change the situation radically we shall be finished by the autumn. By then the Russians will be here.
"See Ursula von Kardorff: Diary of a nightmare: Berlin, 1942-1945.

The Comical Conservative tells it like I think it is

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From The Comical Conservative on Facebook.

 

Never trust a photo copier...You MUST watch this

Published on Apr 21, 2012

"CBS Nightly News report on the dangers of used copying machines being resold."

Hat tip to Gail Downie; Nehalem, Oregon

What You Need to Know About the Left's Big Issue for 2014/ Alan Caruba update: Obama's 2014 Big Lie: Income Inequality

Heritage   "Do a Google News search for “income inequality” and it will remove any doubt that this is already the political issue of 2014.

"The left has been gearing up for months. The liberal Center for American Progress launched a new center devoted to the subject, and President Obama has been making it a centerpiece of his speeches.

"Get ready to hear about “fairness”—because some people make more money than others, and this isn’t fair. How can you sit by and watch this happen? What is the government going to do about it?

"It’s a popular argument because everyone—even Warren Buffett—wants to make more money. When someone tells you that what you’re being paid isn’t fair, it’s easy to agree. And if that someone tells you that you can march in a protest and instantly make more money—well, that’s a lot quicker and easier than working toward your next promotion.

"Quick and easy—that’s the allure of the left’s argument. But there are two things you should know about it."....

UPDATE: Obama's 2014 Big Lie: Income Inequality by Alan Caruba

 

"As the liberal disaster called Obamacare unfolds, President Barack Obama is already embarked on his next Big Lie: income inequality.

"It’s useful to visit some of the planks of Karl Marx’s 1848 Communist Manifesto. They included abolition of private property—the keystone of capitalism—and the application of all rents of land to a public purpose. Marx advocated a heavy progressive or graduated income tax whereas a fair tax that treats all Americans fairly by taxing what you spend instead of what you earn. The current tax code is more than 73,000 pages! Marx wanted to eliminate all rights of inheritance and centralize credit by means of a national bank."  ...

Life in a communist economy pictured:

Sodahead, above and below