Obama, Photo Op President, Votes "Present"

  To say that we have an absolute idiot "governing" us is to minimize the damage he's done to this country and the viciousness with which he attacks citizens who do not agree with him.
  This week, with its "not interested in photo op" beer photo ops, was a screaming throw your shoe at the tv maddening week.
  We're counting down the days until this joker is out. It's obvious at this point that Obama has checked out of the presidency, except for the Air Force One jets, luxury vacations and the petulant borrowed power that Valerie Jarrett is wielding. How else to explain Jarrett's invitation to Rick Perry, in lieu of Obama actually playing the role of POTUS?
  Sums it up.


Countdown Clock

A chilling effect on global warming rhetoric

We should name icebergs still floating in Lake Superior in July after infamous AGW scientists. This one is Gavin pic.twitter.com/tpPO9RYusu
— Tilly LaCampagne (@TillyLaCampagne) July 3, 2014

One would think the AGW crowd would wise up. Icebergs on Superior in July and Chicago facing temperature drops possibly in the 40's. From ABC News;

Between Monday and Wednesday, temperatures in the Midwest will be as much as 15 degrees lower than normal, with the biggest drops seen close to the Great Lakes, though people in Oklahoma and Arkansas will need to break out pants, too.
Meanwhile, the usually temperate Pacific Northwest should get ready to sweat. Places such as Seattle could reach 90 or higher next week, Masters said.
Chicago would normally see highs in the 80s and lows in the mid-60s, but the weather service says highs early next week will climb no higher than the mid-60s — maybe 70 degrees— and lows could dip into the upper 40s.

The IRS meets Judge John Facciola

When you care enough to send the very best. Most of the mainstream media dutifully reported that US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the IRS to explain in writing and under oath how Lois Lerner's emails happened to get lost. Most outlets reported in passing that Sullivan had named US Magistrate John Facciola to oversee discussions between the IRS and Judicial Watch regarding the search and possible retrieval of the emails. Judge Sullivan's appointment of Facciola maybe be indicative of how seriously he takes the case. It would be an exaggeration to say that Facciola wrote the book on E-discovery but he did write the first chapter. In the legal text, Managing e-discovery and ESI Facciola authored Chapter 1 A History of Electronic Discovery.

It is a common complaint that judges lacking technical sophistication are steam rolled by aggressive prosecutors into signing overly broad warrants simply because the don't know how cyber systems function. Another complaint is judges are government yes men. Judge Facciola is not technically challenged nor is he afraid of the government or even the White House.

In Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington v. Executive Office of the President,[2][3] Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act against the Office of Administration suggesting that e-mails were improperly deleted from White House computer servers from late 2003 through late 2005, during the time period of the Iraq War and the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. Facciola wrote the reports and recommendations adopted by Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. who presided. Facciola ordered the White House to preserve backups which could contain the missing information. Subsequent objections and requests for dismissal continued until the end of the Bush administration at which time Facciola ordered the Executive Office of the President to search workstations and issue a notice to employees to preserve media that may contain e-mail created or received during that period.

Facciola has pushed back so hard against government intrusion into personal privacy that Tech Dirt devotes an entire post of Judge Facciola stories. Judge Sullivan gave Judicial Watch the pick of the litter!

Christie yuks it up with the 1% at Sun Valley

Probably few events are as exclusive as the Allen & Company conference at Sun Valley, Idaho. This is the citadel of the 1 percent. Guests include Face Book founder Mark Zuckerberg, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman and Paramount Pictures head Brad Grey, Home Depot founder Ken Langone, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Obama mega donor Harvey Weinstein and of course New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Christie was espied having a late night chat with Mark Zuckerberg. What is Christie doing at Sun Valley? Most of this crowd are Democrats except for Ken Langone who is a Christie backer. The obvious conclusion is that the governor is about the business of raising campaign cash but what kind of president would a man beholden to a few disenchanted Obama donors be. He would probably be a lot like Obama.

Federal judge orders the IRS to explain Lois Lerner's missing emails under oath.

This story is breaking and there is little to add beyond the video. Judge Emmet Sullivan has ordered the IRS to submit written testimony under oath the details of Lois Lerner's infamous hard drive crash. He has also appointed a federal magistrate to oversee discussions between Judicial Watch and the IRS. The next hearing will be August 10 and his honor expects the IRS to have submitted the sworn testimony by then. This judge is not afraid of the DOJ or anyone else.

White House.gov features Obama shooting pool

Not since Nero have we seen anything approaching this monumental insolence and contempt for the citizens of a state. Incredibly the White House finds humor in dereliction of duty as it probes the lower limits of civil deportment. In brighter times the public might find humor in this antic but in the midst of what the president has called a humanitarian crisis it is beneath contempt and well beyond any adjective employed in polite language. The image is a disgrace and so is the president. It is the president's way telling both the American public and the innocent children that he has shed copious crocodile tears over that he does not give a damn for the duties of his office or the suffering of children. All of us are prone from time to time to put recreation before duty but this son-of-a-bitch is making a virtue of his narcissism. This is immoral!

Perry shows class in his interview with Sean Hannity

Rick Perry gave an interview to Sean Hannity after meeting with Obama. Sadly this is the only honest talk the public has heard since the crisis at the border erupted. Do not underestimate the political potential the crisis has given to Governor Perry. Perry looks and sounds presidential, more so than Obama. From a strictly political point of view providence has been very good to Rick Perry. Every pol likes a just cause to run on and Perry owns this cause. Expect to see him running and maybe winning in 2016.

Utica Update: Monroe County is the new hot spot

(Click to enlarge)

Blue denotes permitted but not drilled, Green denotes producing and yellow indicates drilled or drilling.

Horizontal well status as of 6/7/2014
PERMITTED - Permitted, Not Drilled, or Canceled (408)
DRILLED - Drilled or Drilling (421)
PRODUCING - Producing or Plugged Back (467)
INACTIVE - Drilled Inactive or Shut in (1)
PLUGGED - Final Restoration or Lost Hole (12)
Dry and Abandoned (3)

As the Utica "sweet spot" moves south 25 permits were issued for drilling in Monroe County. Nineteen of the permits were issued to Gulfport Energy which will drill 4 wells on a single pad in Adams Township. According to ODNR there have been 47 wells drilled in Monroe County with 17 producing. In second place was Belmont county with 22 new permits. Belmont has 31 wells drilled and 13 producing. The other top counties were:

County	June Permits	Drilled	Producing
Noble	13	50	34
Guernsey	18	32	26
Harrison	17	95	60

Carroll County saw 12 new permits while Geauga, Jefferson, Trumbull and Clay Counties each received a single permit.

Bowe Bergdahl poses with good friend, Taliban Commander Badruddin Haqqani

#Exclusive #US Solider #Bergdahl with Martyr #Taliban Leader Badar'udin Haqqani(RH) S/O Shaykh Jalaludin Haqqani(HA) pic.twitter.com/ddrqHCn0aK
— خرسان البلاغ (@khorasan313) July 9, 2014

Bowe Bergdahl is shown in this Twitter pic with his good bud, the late Taliban Commander Badruddin Haqqani who was killed in a drone strike two years ago. The Twitter account is associated with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Petty Obama snipes at Republicans over border

  While Obama made some fairly calm remarks about meeting Governor Perry about the border fiasco, Obama's speech today was partisan, petty and mean.
  Rather than deal with real issues, Obama resorted to snipes against Republicans for not doing what he wants over resolving the immigration mess.
  Obama claims the $3.7 billion he wants to pay for the thousands and thousands of parentless children who have swamped our borders shouldn't be a problem for Republicans to find, he ignored the fact that the country is trillions of dollars in debt.
  In fact, Obama smirked when he complained that Republicans are suing him rather than doing what he wants.
  Once again, Obama has once again surpassed belief in his partisanship and contempt for the American public.

Ray Nagin gets 10 years

He's in the jailhouse now. Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a bribery-conspiracy scheme that ran for most of the years he was in office. It would be nice if he could meet up with other Democrat felons in the penal system. Former Mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick, former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and former Congressman William Jefferson have much to offer the world in the areas of creative wealth management and conservation of energy. Add Ray to the team and you've got a serious brain trust. Maybe the could start a tattoo business.

While no one is suggesting that you think in stereotypes what do these men have in common?

Has Obama lost MSNBC?

I suspect the folks at MSNBC are upset with Obama for not bringing more illegals into the country but nevertheless the faithful sycophants have spit out the bit. First the Morning Joe crew sides with Governor Rick Perry and his refusal to meet Obama on the tarmac for a photo op.



Later in the day normally sympathetic Alex Wagner grilled White House flack catcher Cecelia Muñoz.



A day later it's Andrea Mitchell's turn to slap Muñoz around. I suppose Muñoz is fortunate the photo of Obama shooting pool in Denver had not yet been released when she went into her discussion of optics.



Lastly, old reliable Chuck Todd let the team down when he suggested Obama was struggling to run the government.

New emails show Lerner was concerned Congress might search her emails

And the plot thickens. As you will hear in the video below the IRS dumped a large volume of emails on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 3. The committee has not released the newly obtained email but Congressman Darrell Issa excerpted a few in his post.

‘I was cautioning folks about email and how we have several occasions where Congress has asked for emails … we need to be cautious about what we say in emails’

Issa does not provide a date for that excerpt but the context suggests it was about the time Learner answered her famous planted question before an ABA tax conference. Quoting further from the Issa post;

From the April 9, 2013, email exchange among Lerner, an IRS technology employee (Maria Hooke), and the agency’s Director for Exempt Organizations Exam Unit Manager Nanette Downing who led audits:
I had a question today about OCS [Microsoft Office Communications Server]. I was cautioning folks about email and how we have several occasions where Congress has asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails – so we need to be cautious about what we say in emails.  Someone asked if OCS conversations were also searchable – I don’t know, but told them I would get back to them.  Do you know? OCS (Office Communications Server) is a Microsoft instant messaging system and evidently it does not save IM's on the server. An IRS technology employees responded that “OCS messages are not set to automatically save” but cautioned that “parties involved in an OCS conversation can copy and save the contents of the conversation to an email or file.”  Lerner responded,“Perfect.”

Congressman Jim Jordan confronted IRS Commissioner John Koskinen with the emails at today's hearing.

Colorado Democrats afraid to be seen with Obama

Obama will meet with Governor Perry when he goes to Texas but when he ventures into to Colorado he's apt to be pretty lonely. Colorado Democrats consider the him to be as toxic a Typhoid Mary. Governor John Hickenlooper will be too busy to see the president, Senator Mark Udall will not be able to get back to Colorado until after Obama has raised funds for his campaign. Poor Andrew Romanoff, the former state House speaker now running for a seat in Congress wont' be there either. Maybe he can call in drunk. Currently 53% of Colorado voters disapprove of the job Obama is doing.
"The governor has been confirmed since late May to attend a veterans' event on Wednesday morning in Colorado Springs. We learned only this morning about the POTUS event at Cheesman Park," wrote Eric Brown, a Hickenlooper spokesman, in a response Monday to questions.
Chris Harris, a Udall spokesman: "This has nothing to do with wanting to be with (Obama) or not. This is just logistics."
Correct! Senator Udall sure the hell doesn't want to jet in on Air Force with with president Toxic Waste.

Silicon Valley corruptocrats seek more federal funds

If Big Oil was on Capitol Hill lobbying for the construction of more roads and bridges I'm sure the mainstream media would be ablaze in commentary about crony capitalism yet when Big Tech does it it seems almost immoral to oppose the crony capitalists from Silicon Valley. Among advocates for better government were Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Dropbox’s Drew Houston, Netflix’s Reed Hastings and HP’s Meg Whitman

“The message from America is clear, if our schools do not have the broadband they need, our students will not be able to compete in the global economy,” the CEOs said in a letter to FCC commissioners on Monday.

Right it's for the children.
The CEO's were not on Capitol Hill as the environment in the House is presently not disposed to spend money the way Obama's Silicon Valley donors see fit but rather they were pleading their case before the FCC whose polices have facilitated and funded great and uniquely American endeavors such as the Obama phone that empowers millions of hard working Americans to traffic in casual sex and illicit drugs from the safety of their homes. Evidently the FCC has a bottomless slush fund as complying with Silicon Valley's hardly seems to concern Chairman Tom Wheeler. His plan would put $5 billion toward providing and upgrading Wi-Fi services and equipment over the next five years on top of the agency’s $2.4 billion annual budget for the E-Rate program, which works to connect schools and libraries to the Internet. But that is not enough for Silicon Valley. It want still more.
E-Rate has been around since 1996 when the internet was in its infancy and after almost 20 years and billion of dollars is still struggling to provide internet service to the nations schools and libraries.

“By responsibly investing $2 billion of unused funds and providing predictable ongoing support for Wi-Fi, the plan will make dramatic progress in bringing high-speed connectivity to our classrooms,” the CEOs said.

Were you aware that the federal government had $2 billion in unused funds? Gee that's the same number Obama says that he needs to house, support and deport the thousands of illegals he's invited to the county. Perhaps the FCC can provide Obama with the cash he needs. That would be a responsible investment.

DHS web site instructs illegals how to get federal aid

The Department of Homeland Security operates the web site Welcome to USA.gov that instructs new arrivals on how to apply for federal largess.

Depending on your immigration status, length of time in the United States, and income, you may be eligible for some federal benefit programs.
The links below will lead you to official government websites describing a range of assistance programs.

Naturally the web site can also be viewed in Spanish.

46% of country thinks Obama is encouraging illegals to come.

Do you think Obama is encouraging illegals to cross the border? Forty-six percent of Americans do, 23% aren't sure and 31% don't blame the president. According to a Rasmussen poll 53% believe Mexico and the gang of 3 Central American countries should foot the bill for the immigration not the US taxpayers. If House Republicans do approve the $2 billion in aid that Obama has requested it may come out of the foreign aid to Latin America. Or they could take it out of the IRS or EPA's budgets.

What state sends women who have committed no crime to prison?

Deep blue Massachusetts certainly deserves a commendation for its war on women. It locks them up. The state has found itself in a federal lawsuit brought by the ACLU challenging the imprisonment of Massachusetts women who are civilly committed for addictions to drugs or alcohol. The state need not prove a crime merely an addiction.

The lawsuit is brought on behalf of women who are imprisoned at MCI-Framingham solely because they are civilly committed under a law known as "Section 35." Under Section 35, an alcoholic or substance abuser can be civilly committed to a treatment facility if her addiction risks "serious harm." But if "suitable facilities" are unavailable, the law says that men or women can be sent to prison. In the last several years, hundreds of civilly committed women have been sent to MCI-Framingham under Section 35.

One would think Sandinista Governor Deval Patrick would be embarrassed by his burgeoning police state but no. He is rather proud of his state's commitment to totalitarianism. From his remarks at the Re-Entry Forum;

Currently, Massachusetts law allows for individuals who, due to substance abuse and addiction, present a likelihood of serious harm to themselves or others to be involuntarily committed by a judge to addiction treatment. Since 2006, when new facilities were established in New Bedford and Brockton to treat individuals who were civilly committed, there has been a 67% increase in the number of these commitments. The resulting volume has exceeded the inpatient bed capacity of DPH’s treatment facilities. The problem is that, by law, committed individuals without access to a treatment facility are directed to prison. And the prisons don’t have the capacity to handle the increase.
Massachusetts is the only state in the country that holds civilly committed people in prison. I think you know I like for Massachusetts to lead -- but not in the wrong direction. And treating those with substance abuse as prisoners is wrong. We must make the beds available for these individuals to receive proper treatment in proper settings. 

No we would not want Massachusetts to lead in the wrong direction.

Obama's Katrina? Si!

Obama will be Texas for 3 fundraisers this week but has no plans to visit the border. Just as on the morning after the Benghazi attack that left 4 Americans dead when Obama flew off to Denver to a fundraiser partisanship trumps presidential duty. George Bush was excoriated for his perceived lack of personal involvement in the wake of Hurricane Katrina yet Obama has the brass to lament the great humanitarian crisis at the border and then snub Nancy Pelosi's "we are all American" fat children. He will fly from Denver to Dallas for a fundraiser on July 9 where more than 2,000 immigrant children will be brought by the end of the month yet won't have time to visit the holding tank long enough to say hola.

The missing Democrats-even Obama voted present

To their credit prominent Democrats have kept their fears private as they stare into the dark horizon. It's not all swagger and and chin up bravado as there is a good deal of hubris and stupidity also in the mix. Assuming that they read the same numbers that we do the electoral horizon must look low, dark, and ominous. They've announced that they are well funded and have learned their lesson from 2010 and will have a massive get out the vote campaign but there is only so far one can go on a tire that is quickly deflating. We learned that lesson in 2012. Republican voters stayed home because they had no reason to vote for Romney not because the were not aware there was an election in progress.
In March the low voter turnout among Democrats in the Texas caught my eye as I noted in the post Where are the Democrats?. Wendy Davis was still relevant and Lyndon LaRouche disciple Kesha Rogers ran strong enough to force a run off. In other word this was a contested primary for both Democrats and Republican. Notwithstanding that the Democrats stayed home. The numbers below tell the story. Republican turnout was more than 2 to 1! Admittedly Texas is a bright red state but at that time Wendy Davis was thought to be competitive.
 

Governor

W. Davis	79%	429,025	G. Abbot	91.5%	1,208,744
R. Madrigal	21%	114,181	L. Fritsch	4.4%	58,140
All Others	-	-	All Others	4.1%	54,044
	100%	543,206		100%	1,320,298

Senate

D. Alameel	47%	235,704	J. Cornyn	59.4%	771,935
K. Rogers	21%	108,868	S. Stockman	19.2%	247,425
All Others	32%	155,823	All Others	21.4%	278,664
	100%	500,395		100%	1,298,051

Wondering if the Texas primary was an aberration, I focused on the Illinois March 19 primary. Governor Pat Quinn's nomination was contested and on the Republican side the race was wide open. In a post I noted that in Chicago less than 19,000 voters under age 45 went to the polls. That's horrendous! The statewide total were;
Governor GOP - Primary -- 10,073 of 10,130 precincts reporting (99%)
Bruce Rauner 325,792 40%
Kirk Dillard 302,920 37%
Bill Brady 122,762 15%
Dan Rutherford 61,447 8%
Total vote cast 812,921

Governor Dem - Primary -- 10,083 of 10,130 precincts reporting (100%)
Pat Quinn 314,085 72%
Tio Hardiman 122,868 28%
Total vote cast 436,953

Deep blue Illinois showed the same Democratic voter apathy as bright Red Texas!
JMC Enterprises of Louisiana has done the analytics of voter turnout in 14 states where there have been contested races in both parties and the finding suggest the Democrats are looking at a rerun of 2010 but worse.
Voter participation has declined 15% but not in bipartisan fashion. For Republicans 4% fewer voters went to the polls but turnout among Democrats was down 29%! One can see rather quickly that if this trend continues into the fall election even "safe" Democrat seats are in peril. In 2010 55% of primary voters were Republican and 45% Democrat. In 2014 the gap has increased to 63% Republican to 37% Democrat.
Let's look at a few states that have contested senate races. In Arkansas where Tea Party Republican Tom Cotton is challenging Mark Pryor for the senate 54% of Republicans voted in the primary compared to 30% in 2010. In Georgia where Michelle Nunn hopes to take the open senate seat Republican turnout inched up from 63% in 2010 to 65% in 2014. Republican voter turnout is also up in Illinois, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
Contested primaries encourage voter participation. The large turnout in the 2008 presidential election was driven in no small part by the prolonged primary battle between Obama and Clinton. Similarly Mitch McConnell's primary bout with faux Tea Party candidate Matt Bevin boosted Republican primary participation from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2014. Remember in 2010 Kentucky sent Rand Paul to the senate.
Much can change between now and the election but there are more downside risks for the opposition than for Republicans. States have yet to announce the increases in Obamacare insurance premiums yet it's safe to bet there will be no price decreases. The IRS scandal will be back in the headlines by week's end when two federal judges may force the IRS to allow outside investigators to look for Lois Lerner's lost emails. The crisis in the middle east shows little sign of improvement and illegals are amassing at the southern border. If that's not enough throw in the VA scandal and possible news emanating from the select committee on Benghazi. Simply winning the senate seems like a far too modest goal given the circumstances. Republicans will win big!