It’s Friday, January 8th, 2016…but before we begin, a few brief thoughts on The Obamao’s crocodile tears.  First, for those who thought attendees at Thursday evening’s “Town Hall meeting” were representative of the American public, get real…then get a life:

Which makes Propaganda Minister Josh Earnest’s already misleading statement…

“I think the President, frankly, is looking forward to talking to people on both sides of this issue.“

…even more deliberately deceptive.  Josef Goebbels couldn’t have promulgated a more prevaricative pronouncement himself!

For more on CNN ‘s history of presenting spontaneous, unrehearsed questioners who are anything but, check out the latest from Michelle Malkin.

As to why The Dear Misleader is offering such bald-faced lies to America’s face, NRO‘s Kevin Williamson offers an eminently logical explanation:

Obama Needs a Gingrich

And he thinks the NRA is it.

 

“The front steps belong only the president. That tradition was lost somehow on Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich when he complained to the press of having to use the rear steps after flying as the president’s guest.”

As he enters the last full year of his presidency, Barack Obama remains bereft of the services of the one man who could make his administration complete. I refer, of course, to Newt Gingrich.

…Gingrich saved Bill Clinton. (He also got him to sign welfare reform and drop some bad ideas.) Gingrich, and to a lesser extent Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated various Clinton scandals, provided Clinton with a foil. Clinton may have been a Dimmesdale [The Scarlet Letter], but so long as he had a Republican Chillingworth to denounce, he was golden: The man threw a party — in the Rose Garden — after his impeachment.

…But on a day-to-day basis, Barack Obama is a victim of his own dominance. There is no Republican bogeyman for him to position himself in opposition to, and he suffers for it. Neither Mitch McConnell in the Senate nor John Boehner in the House, nor the new speaker, Paul Ryan, was or is enough of a Big Bad to counterbalance President Obama. Trump? Not really. In the Washington cliché, Obama sucks the oxygen out of every room he enters. (We’d suggest he just sucks in general!)

And it is in part for this reason that President Obama has accomplished, pardon me for noticing, almost nothing of any enduring consequence during his administration. The man of peace and civil liberties hasn’t closed Gitmo and hasn’t really even curtailed our involvement in the Middle East; indeed, he has deepened that involvement by doing things that Dick Cheney would never have dared dream of: assassinating American citizens, conducting an illegal war in Libya, expanding the drone campaign far beyond what the Bush administration had contemplated. Those 2008 fears about the PATRIOT Act empowering spooks to peek at our library cards are quaint from the point of view of annus Domini 2016. The health-insurance system is more of a mess today than it was before it was “reformed”; the Too Big to Fail banks are bigger and potentially fail-ier. Obama denounced Bush-era deficits and then surpassed them. The man who was supposed to be Mr. Cool, a Vulcan, No-Drama Obama, has contributed nothing to American governance except chaos. (Along with almost $10 TRILLION in additional debt!!!)

And he is smart enough to know this.

If you are wondering why the president is, at the eleventh hour, using probably illegal executive fiats to start a national fight over gun control — a fight that will do nothing to reduce ordinary crime, terrorism, or mass shootings — it’s because he’s still looking for his Gingrich, and he believes that the NRA may be it. That is a grave and uncharacteristic political miscalculation for a man whose only documentable talent is for political calculation, and one suspects that his administration and his party will suffer for it between now and November.

We can only hope and pray it’s so.  Meanwhile…

Gun Sales Soar After Obama Calls for New Restrictions

 

Two questions: (1). Any doubt almost every single ONE of these guns is being purchased by a law-abiding citizen seriously and correctly concerned about a ban by Barack?  (2). Any question January sales will be even higher?!?

As one Mel Katz, a New Jersey…yes, New Jersey…gun shop owner observed:

“Obama is our best salesman and he proves it again. As soon as he makes these executive orders, everyone is going to buy guns.”

377 days and counting, and an awful lot of awful can happen between now and then.  In the meantime, remember who personifies the clearest, most present danger the Founders’ Republic has ever faced…

…and continue clinging to your guns and religion!

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, Kim Jong-Un must be shaking like jello in an earthquake as…

Obama reiterates commitment to SKorea security

 

Not since the days of James Earl Carter have our enemies held America’s leader in such low regard…or our friends with such suspicion and distrust.

Case in point as to why:

Missing U.S. Missile Shows Up in Cuba

Inert Hellfire missile sent to Europe for a training exercise makes mysterious trip, sparking concerns over loss of military technology

 

“It isn’t clear how an inert Hellfire missile wound up in Cuba”: NO SH*T!!!

“An inert U.S. Hellfire missile sent to Europe for training purposes was wrongly shipped from there to Cuba in 2014, said people familiar with the matter, a loss of sensitive military technology that ranks among the worst-known incidents of its kind. (Not according to our Army Captain son.)

The unintended delivery of the missile to Cuba has confounded investigators and experts who work in a regulatory system designed to prevent precisely such equipment from falling into the wrong hands, said those familiar with the matter.

For more than a year, amid a historic thawing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, American authorities have tried to get the Cuban government to return the missile, said people familiar with the matter. At the same time, federal investigators have been tracing the paper trail of the wayward Hellfire to determine if its arrival in Cuba was the work of criminals or spies, or the result of a series of blunders, these people said…”

What…it was sent via DHL with a mislabeled air bill?!?  Two thoughts occur to us: first, Cuba wouldn’t return what was clearly U.S. property, yet Obama continued to roll over backward in the course of thawing relations; incomprehensible.  Second, Heaven help us if the same federal investigators who’ve had more than a year to figure out how a Hellfire was “accidentally” shipped to Cuba are the same guys who screening the Syrian refugees!

Since we’re on the subject of the biggest failure since the Vanguard rocket program…

…Hope n’ Change gives us an…

Obamacare Update

 

It was never really our intention at Hope n’ Change to make an ongoing feature of the Kafkaesque experiences associated with our Obamacare health insurance policy, but we feel that we owe it to history.

As you may recall, despite Barry’s promises we couldn’t keep our doctor or the health insurance we liked and were forced into an Obamacare policy last year…and it turns out we weren’t allowed to keep that either. So we got a new policy this year which doesn’t include any of our doctors, has an even higher deductible and, being an HMO plan, employs a “gatekeeper” to prevent us from getting actual medical care.

But wait! The helpful folks at Healthcare.gov recently called to say there was a problem with the application we turned in months ago. A problem which had to be rectified, or they’d take our insurance away.

The phone call began cryptically enough, with a man claiming to be with Healthcare.gov saying he needed us to give personal information over the phone to prove we were who he’d just called.  We declined, citing concerns about identity theft, and instead asked him to tell us something from our records to show that he was legit.  “I can’t do that,” he pointed out in his best Catch-22 style, “because you haven’t proved that you are who you say you are.”

Once past that hurdle, we got to the crux of the problem…

“Based on your previous tax records, your estimate for your future earnings in 2016 is too low.”
“To begin with,” we replied, “it’s an estimate. But I already know that my earnings will be lower.”
“Yes-s-s-s,” the voice sighed, “but your estimate must be no lower than your adjusted gross income for your most recent tax year.”
“Is that a rule? That’s not listed on the application form. And why would it be my adjusted gross income and not my taxable income?”
“The rule isn’t listed on the application because you’re free to do your own estimate however you like. But if we disagree with your estimate, then your insurance will be rescinded.”
“What?! Okay, how do I keep that from happening?!”
“You need to log on to Healthcare.gov again and change your application to reflect the higher estimated income.”
“But won’t that increase my insurance payments?”
“It will change the amount of any subsidy you qualify for.”
“But my payments will then be based on an income higher than what I’ll really have. So when 2016 is finished and I can show my actual earnings, will I get a rebate for what I overpaid?”
“No. But…you can begin our appeals process.”
(Cue sounds of thunder and ominous organ music)

In the end, we did what the voice on the phone told us to do – much as if we were dealing with a kidnapper demanding ransom. So the price of our insurance has gone up needlessly, and we’ve been reminded that even when you think you’ve got health insurance the government can now take it away at any time for no reason at all.

If that doesn’t scare you, you’re not paying attention.

In an experience similar to Stilton’s, contrary to the President’s promises, immediately upon ObamaScare going into effect we lost our existing insurance plan, with which we were very satisfied.  And while we’re still able to enjoy a PPO, our deductible has tripled, insurance premiums quadrupled and our maximum out-of-pocket quintupled.

Let’s assume for a moment its proponents are correct, and the Unaffordable Care Act isn’t a purposeful plan designed to propel America into socialized, single-payer healthcare.  It’s undeniable what they created is completely counter-productive; res ipsa loquitur, baby! And if their goal was in fact to provide quality healthcare at affordable prices for all, given the reality of what they wrought, wouldn’t they just be dying to work with Republicans to perfect it?!?

Again…

…and yet another lesson in what “assume” means!

Next up, we were struck by something we chanced upon by John Hawkins in a column back in June, 2014 at Townhall.com:

5 Truths You’re Not Allowed To Say About Gays In America

 

“…1) You can’t change your gender: Have you ever heard of Body Integrity Identity Disorder? Long story short, there are people out there who believe they’re “supposed to” have less limbs. Maybe they want to get rid of an arm or a leg. The “problem” these people run into is that surgeons consider it unethical to remove a healthy, functioning body part and refuse to saw off their limbs. Instead, they just refer these people to a psychologist. That seems to make sense, doesn’t it?

Yet, when we have people who want to mutilate themselves to “change their sex,” we don’t treat that as a mental disorder. Instead, we take it seriously. So seriously in fact, we have 9 year olds getting hormone treatments so they can pretend to be another gender.

If a client went to a doctor and said he thought he was a cow, we wouldn’t send him to a surgeon to get horns and udders attached. Yet, you can no more change your sex than you can change into a cow. Even if you have a “sex change,” your sex hasn’t actually changed. A man who mutilates himself to look like a woman, still isn’t female. He can’t have a child. Very few men are going to knowingly date a man who’s surgically mutilated himself to look like a woman. This is a terrible, horrible thing we’re doing as a society to these mentally ill people. Instead of getting them the mental help they need, we’re catering to their pathology. It’s cruel, it’s wrong, and a more compassionate society wouldn’t wallow so deeply in political correctness that we’d allow people to do this to themselves…”

Romans 1:22, baby…Romans 1:22.

In a related item, MRCTV.org‘s Craig Bannister wonders…

Are Climate Skeptics Too ‘Mentally Ill’ to Buy Guns Under Obama’s New Rules?

 

Today, Pres. Obama announced new executive orders on gun control designed to keep “mentally ill” people from buying guns – but, will they be used to prevent climate skeptics from buying firearms?

Under Obama’s new rules, doctors can now report people deemed “mentally ill” to the FBI so they can be denied gun licenses. As the official White House fact sheet on the new gun control regulations states (emphasis added):

“Current law prohibits individuals from buying a gun if, because of a mental health issue, they are either a danger to themselves or others or are unable to manage their own affairs.  The Social Security Administration (SSA) has indicated that it will begin the rule-making process to ensure that appropriate information in its records is reported to NICS.”

If, as Pres. Obama has repeatedly claimed, climate change is a greater threat than terrorism, then aren’t people who deny the climate threat “a danger to themselves or others” and unfit to own guns?

The idea that climate skeptics are mentally ill is nothing new: Oregon-based professor of “sociology and environmental studies” Kari Norgaard has declared climate skepticism a mental illness that must be “treated.”

Psychology Today published an article listing three warning signs that you are in “climate change denial”:

1. “You think climate change is bad, but not that bad.”

2. “You don’t have an emotional reaction to climate change.”

3. “You aren’t getting political.”

Thus, if you don’t think the climate threat is great enough, or you’re not furious about it, or you’re not politically active in the climate fight, then you’ve got mental issues.

The Telegraph’s “Climate ‘Denial’ is Now a Mental Disorder” explains how so-call “eco-psychologists” convened at the University of the West of England in Bristol to explore classifying “climate change denial” as a “mental disorder.” Nature.com published an article warning about high-carbon “addiction” (using central heating, etc.) And remember when Obama’s EPA Chief Gina McCarthy declared that climate skeptics aren’t “normal” people?

So, you might want to think twice before discussing the nearly two-decade pause in global warming with your doctor the next time you go in for your annual check-up.

Seven years ago we’d have said Bannister was bonkers; but not today…not when this feckless fool has over twelve more months in office.

Which brings us, appropriately enough, to today’s installment of the Environmental Moment, and this just in courtesy of Jeff Foutch and The Washington Times:

TransCanada sues Obama administration over Keystone pipeline rejection

 

No Keystone XL: because shipping oil by rail is safer and generates fewer greenhouse gases than pipelines!

“TransCanada on Wednesday accused President Obama in a federal lawsuit of exceeding his constitutional authority when rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline and, in a separate challenge, said the White House violated a historic trade agreement, igniting an election-year battle over a project that most considered dead — at least until the next president takes office in one year.

The company, which proposed the project nearly a decade ago, is seeking $15 billion in damages from the U.S. for the “loss of value” of assets related to Keystone…”

The contributor hopes TransCanada wins; so do we.  Furthermore, we wish the settlement would come directly out of Barry’s purse.

On The Lighter Side…

Then we pay homage to TLJ:

Finally, we’ll call it a week with a cross between MSM Bias…WHAT Bias?!? and another titillating tale torn from the pages of The Crime Blotter:

Making a Murderer: Half a Compelling Story

The Steven Avery case merits attention — but not the attention it receives here.

 

“…The series [Making a Murderer], produced by New York filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, focuses almost entirely on the criminal defense offered by Avery and his nephew, then-16-year-old Brendan Dassey, who confessed, then retracted his confession, claiming his first admission was given under duress. Throughout the trial, the filmmakers had seemingly unlimited access to both Avery’s family and his defense team, who did an admirable job of manufacturing doubt about Avery’s guilt. The series essentially serves as Avery’s Super PAC.

This is why, following the documentary’s release, Avery’s innocence has been proclaimed by millions on social media. Suddenly, everyone has become an expert on criminal procedure. One petition calling for Avery’s release has been signed by over 200,000 people. Celebrities from all corners of the popular media have chimed in. “Never mind an Emmy or an Oscar . . . @MakingAMurderer deserves a Nobel Prize,” gushed Ricky Gervais, who added, “The greatest documentary I’ve ever seen.” And Alec Baldwin proclaimed on Twitter that “If you live in #Matinowoc [sic] WI, you should be scared to death.”

But it seems that the scariest place to be in Manitowoc was in Avery’s junkyard. Basing one’s view of the criminal-justice system on a heavily slanted documentary is like claiming you’re an expert on politics because you watched The West Wing. A ton of evidence presented during Avery’s trial was excluded from Making a Murderer, presumably because it didn’t fit the filmmakers’ agenda…”

All of which leads us to dismiss the filmmakers’ premise without ever watching their show.

Magoo