Back when God was in the mix..

That was then...this is now..

The president 'evolved' beyond Rick Warren, the Pope, and God, who was previously 'in the mix', on SSM.   More likely he pretended to have a deeply-held belief to get elected and it worked. 

So it's useful to look back before looking ahead.  If the American public--and the American press-- can so easily tolerate that kind of deceit from their leaders then they will have no trouble electing Hillary and Bill Clinton for a third term. 

By the way, here's another snippet from the Warren interview about Supreme Court justices.  The president's answer on Clarence Thomas showed his angle on race pretty well.  His answer on Roberts was ironically interesting considering his 'pen and phone' leadership.  McCain came across as a rock-ribbed conservative, although it's likely he would not have practiced it while in office.  So they will all 'say anything' at times to get elected.  It seems a deeply-held belief would be a red line they wouldn't want to cross, but as we've seen with deadlines, they don't mean much either.  

Another Convenient Study

It appears ABC News pulled a hamstring in getting this report to press:

US Radicals Bigger Terror Threat Than Jihadis in America

Wow. So all this stuff about ISIS sympathizers being tracked in all 50 states and the US being under the greatest threat in our history is just a bunch of hooey?

All along we should have been fearing the new Confederacy?

Why yes, according to the left wing website ABC is quoting, whose study purports that "right wing" terrorists have killed more than the American Jihad since 2001. 

Now, this has come up before and it was just as silly back then. What this group is doing is pretty much mixing data to get their desired result (attack their real enemies on the right) and they do it by pretending certain events are terrorism attacks, all carried out by the new confederacy conspiracy.  In reality they are comparing a global cause, jihadism in the furtherance of Islamic Shariah world control, with a series of unconnected crimes.   It's amazing too, because for years the left wanted Islamic terrorism treated like an unconnected series of crimes, now it's no longer convenient to do that. 

If one is unconvinced one need not look beyond the attack on the Austin Texas IRS building, which they consider "right wing" terrorism (not only them).  The guy who flew into the building was 1) crazier than a bedbug and 2) left a manifesto praising Marx.

ABC "News" could have researched this a little and come to a similar conclusion but it was apparently "too good to check".  Or they checked it, understood the above, and decided they themselves wouldn't attach 'right wing' to their story, only leave it hanging as an inference (for plausible deniability).

Thank Heaven for the internet. Can anyone imagine a world where all we got was ABC News reports like this without the ability to double-check anything or make our voices heard far and wide?  Well, at least far.    

Cardinal-Gate

The media is having fun bashing the midwestern Yankees (otherwise known as the St. Louis Cardinal baseball team) over the alleged hacking scandal announced by the New York Times today.  Evidently someone used former Cardinal exec Jeff Luhnow's old STL passwords and entered the Astro's database. 

Details are still sketchy, but the Cards are already being mentioned in the same breath as the Patriots, Blacksox, Pete Rose and various corporate cheaters.  And that's just by the WaPo.  On the positive side, the team may actually get some significant TV time on ESPN now. 

But you might be asking, is there any politics here?   Well, maybe!   It just so happens the Cardinals principle owner is a guy named Bill DeWitt, who also happens to be a longtime buddy of the Bush family.  Conversely, the principle owner of the Stro's is Jim Crane, a former St. Louisan who made his fortune in Texas.  He also seems to be pretty chummy with ....the president:

For the second time in three years, Astros owner Jim Crane golfed with President Barack Obama on Sunday at Crane’s Floridian National Golf Course. Astros counsel Giles Kibbe confirmed the golf outing to the Houston Chronicle on Sunday afternoon.

The outing was first reported by the Associated Press, which noted that Celtics minority owner Glenn Hutchins and Milton Carroll joined the foursome with Obama and Crane.

But not just golf. Crane and one of the other Astro owners, trial lawyer John Eddie Williams (famous from Big Tobacco settlements) had a pretty nice fundraiser for the preezy earlier this year...

That's what comes with the territory when you host a sitting President of the United States for an intimate fundraiser. And that security detail, along with 55 deep-pocketed Democrats and President Barack Obama, turned the Williams home into security central on Wednesday night.

While guests such as Astros owner Jim Crane, Mayor Annise Parker and former Gov. Mark White mingled over cocktails, POTUS arrived via the underground garage, was welcomed by the Williamses and was whisked upstairs to the servants quarters where he dined privately with staff and security.

Wonder if any of them were at the "private party" at the White House this past weekend?!  Wonder if someone leaked this to the Times on the day after Jeb Bush announced for president, just for fun?   Ok, ok, it's all innuendo by association.  Probably just a weird coincidence on the politics, as always.

As to the baseball side, one could say the Cardinals are a fixture of the Midwest, drawing millions to Busch Stadium from across the central US region.  They have a long tradition of winning, surpassed only by the Yankees, but they have what the Yankees don't-- an image of Midwestern stand-up values.  Any kind of cheating scandal would not only do irreparable harm to the franchise but likely to the city of St. Louis as well due to all the outside money that pours in from the games.  We'll have to see who take the perp walks. 

About that Section 8 in the Burbs Thing..

The story that broke the other day, at least on conservative sites, about Obama's HUD wanting to use federal money as a kind of extortion racket to force municipalities to change zoning laws to basically break up affluent suburbs (and their voting blocs) is not really new news.

It actually broke in 2012. Someone wrote a book about it.  The same guy has been yelling about it for awhile.

The only word that comes to mind here is craven. Not necessarily for the Obama people--they promised change and Obama had socialist roots after all--but for our disgraceful national media.  They've buried this story and countless others in their eight year quest to help the historic first black president.  And he's taken every advantage. 

The End is Near

Today in Germany the president did one of his patented press conferences, using over 30 minutes to interact with 4 reporters.  The last question was about the Supreme Court's possible ruling on the federal exchanges in Obamacare.  The answer was the usual incomprehensible filibuster, but the reporter tried again one more time, at which point this is how it ended..



Bizarre.  

So what about the headline of this post?   Well, this answer doesn't signify the end being near, but the fact the person answering it has the power he does--and many would say his predecessor--is perhaps cause for concern.   Or, the end is near could refer to Obamacare itself, ie, something is going to end with this ruling, either the law or the GOP pushback.  Or maybe it's the end of this silly blog.  Hard to say which will come first. 

Side Tracks

From the Layla album..

All Climate is Local

Think globally, act locally?   All climate is local, not global.   Here in the Mid-South, temperatures have not really warmed much in 100 years.  This is true no matter what kind of correction factor is applied...normals are normals.

Professional Tools

Today's White House briefing is just more evidence there is no effective media left in this nation.  Yeah, Bob Schieffer, the lovable dunce, confirmed it on Howie Kurtz's show over the weekend by admitting the press was smitten with Obama and probably didn't cover him like they should have, but the WH briefings confirm it almost every day.

Josh Earnest must have used the words "professionals" and "tools" in regards to the lapsed Patriot Act a hundred times today--in nearly every reply.  They are clearly key words designed to enhance his talking points and make the opponents look unprofessional or unpatriotic.  He didn't hesitate blaming the GOP for politicizing the lapse.  But there was not one mention of Ron Wyden. 

Earnest also would not admit the country was less safe, despite some decent prodding by Fox News and CNN (they should have ganged up on him over it) because that would be an admission the lapse was on Obama since the buck supposedly stops with him.   Now, if an attack comes, they WILL blame it on Paul (both sides) and get away with it.   There will be no video of the White House admitting they failed the public, etc.

In that same regard, Earnest got mildly caught in a lie about Obama's authority.  Remember that Bush put this program together in secret after 9/11 with no help from Congress.  It was an EO.  As we've seen, Obama is not shy about using his imperial phone/pen, so he could have altered the PA language any way and any time he wanted.  But doing so would put his exclusive BO stamp on it, and that was a bridge too far politically.  Best to lay back and blame Rand Paul.  Nobody in the briefing pointed out the White House was playing their own politics.   Another bridge too far.  

As to the program, let's face it--Bush lied about the bulk collection data.  Obama lied about it.  Had Snowden not come out there would be no national debate with Obama trying to take credit for reform.  Zilch.   The American people should be just a little upset that ALL meta phone records are being kept by the NSA, whether the voice part was there or not.  Having the phone companies keep the data, allowing government access with a valid warrant is better, so long as they don't use it as leverage against them in other ways or the data doesn't get hacked.  

From my view, there are parts of the PA that need reauthorization.  The bulk collection is another animal and it needs to be done differently, but the issue here is public understanding and acceptance of the trade off.   Obama has said the wars are over and AQ is diminished and ISIS isn't coming here tomorrow, so why do we need such a program anyway?   Of course few believe that.   All sides cannot resist playing politics, but they should put on their big boy pants and do some leading.

For instance, come clean and explain that we either give up some liberty and trust the NSA and others not to abuse this power (James Rosen comes to mind) or give up some security for the sake of liberty and freedom, which might mean we get hit again.  If we do and its because the government didn't know everything about everybody, including bank records, well, it's not their fault, it's the terrorists' fault.   Whether the public at large is even able to understand such a concept much less accept it is perhaps a question I don't want to know the answer to.   

Anyway, you now know what some inconsequential blogger thinks.  Does anyone know where Hillary comes down on this?  Has anyone even asked?   Where is the Scooby Van?