Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Two Politifacts in One!

The indefatigable Avik Roy of Forbes offers us this scandalous dichotomy (hat tip: Sondrakistan):

Politifact, October 2008:


Politifact, December 2013:


As noted earlier, Politifact has already completed its transition from embarrassment to laughingstock.


New Jersey Says You Must Have a "Justifiable Need" to Exercise Your Constitutional Rights

Guest post by Brian Kelly

Picture a woman going to register to vote in New Jersey only to find the State has passed a law requiring her to undergo a background check, pay a fee, show proficiency in civics and, after meeting all those requirements, having to write a summary justifying her Need to vote.

Now, after attempting to justify her need to exercise her right (let that statement sink in) she is denied by a judge who has arbitrarily determined that she didn’t have an urgent need to vote.

That judge’s lover and the local police chief’s sister-in-law however have miraculously passed all the above hurtles and can freely exercise that right with gleeful abandon.

Too farfetched? How about in the aftermath of 911, New Jersey passes a law requiring anyone wishing to practice Islam must apply for an Islam permit and show ‘justifiable need’ to pray to Allah. The State justifies this by claiming a large amount of terrorists are Islamic and therefore the Islam Permits will only be issued to very few people in order to protect the public, after all they can’t have NJ turn into the Gaza Strip.

If you find these examples offensive, you should, as they clearly violate an American’s rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and no amount of fearful justification merits such infringement. Unfortunately that same, arbitrary, subjective standard applies to most New Jersian’s right to protect themselves and their loved ones in public with a firearm.

New Jersey’s ‘Justifiable Need’ requirement to obtain a carry permit is the self defense equivalent of ‘Separate but Equal’ Jim Crow laws.

The Crisis of the Middle Class and American Power

Guest post by George Friedman

When I wrote about the crisis of unemployment in Europe, I received a great deal of feedback. Europeans agreed that this is the core problem while Americans argued that the United States has the same problem, asserting that U.S. unemployment is twice as high as the government's official unemployment rate. My counterargument is that unemployment in the United States is not a problem in the same sense that it is in Europe because it does not pose a geopolitical threat. The United States does not face political disintegration from unemployment, whatever the number is. Europe might.

At the same time, I would agree that the United States faces a potentially significant but longer-term geopolitical problem deriving from economic trends. The threat to the United States is the persistent decline in the middle class' standard of living, a problem that is reshaping the social order that has been in place since World War II and that, if it continues, poses a threat to American power.

The Crisis of the American Middle Class

The median household income of Americans in 2011 was $49,103. Adjusted for inflation, the median income is just below what it was in 1989 and is $4,000 less than it was in 2000. Take-home income is a bit less than $40,000 when Social Security and state and federal taxes are included. That means a monthly income, per household, of about $3,300. It is urgent to bear in mind that half of all American households earn less than this. It is also vital to consider not the difference between 1990 and 2011, but the difference between the 1950s and 1960s and the 21st century. This is where the difference in the meaning of middle class becomes most apparent.

New York Times: We Had a Reporter Embedded With Terrorists in Benghazi During the Attack

Based on the headline, I really thought the Twitchy story entitled "NYT: ‘We had a reporter on the scene talking to the attackers during the [Benghazi] attack’" was satire. It wasn't.

What’s that? The New York Times had a reporter on the scene of the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya? Reporter David D. Kirkpatrick, who wrote this weekend’s piece on Benghazi, says it was invaluable to have a reporter on the ground talking to the attackers during the attack.

Which begs the question: who in the hell was this "reporter" and just what the hell was he doing during the attack -- and for the last 15 months? Biff Spackle offers some possibilities:


This scandal needs to go viral.


Larwyn's Linx: Trey Gowdy Cremates NYT Benghazi Fable That Curiously Omits Hillary Clinton

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Trey Gowdy Cremates NYT Benghazi Fable That Omits Hillary Clinton: MagNote
A New Year and Old Problems: Thomas Sowell
Political Timidity & Clerical Cowardice: Paul A. Rahe

WWII vet warns America: 90 percent of Congress are traitors: BPR
White House Quietly Announces a Net Loss of 3 Million Insurance Plans: TPNN
Wonderful: Labor Unions Funding the Republican Civil War: Scott Bland

How The NSA Hacks Your iPhone (Presenting DROPOUT JEEP): ZH
GOP Must Strike While Obamacare Iron Is Hot: David Limbaugh
A GOP “dam ready to break” in West Virginia: Jazz Shaw

Economy

Why Obama frets about income inequality, not family breakdown: Pethokoukis
Crashing and Burning in 2013: Victor Davis Hanson
AFL-CIO Defends Union Violence As A ‘Legitimate’ Union Activity: LUR

The Government-Employee Dismissal Rate For Poor Performance is...: WZ
Democrats, Obama, Unions prepare for big minimum wage push in '14: Hot Air
Downfall of a California police-union law firm: Walter Olson

Scandal Central

Yes, There IS Evidence Linking al Qaeda to Benghazi: Eli Lake
NY Times Benghazi Piece Penned by Cairo Bureau Chief: Shoebat
Michelle Obama, CGI and the $678 million connection: Allen West

Climate & Energy

If only the Global Warming Expedition had sailed 100 years ago: DTG
Climate Research Ship Trapped By Ice; Only 1 of 23 Network News Stories Mention: MRC
Helicopter rescue needed for passengers on icebound ship: Fox

Media

NYT: ‘We had a reporter on the scene talking to the attackers during the [Benghazi] attack’: Twitchy
So, that NYT Benghazi ‘investigation’ to cover for Hillary isn’t working out too well, huh?: Dan Calabrese
Dear Gallup: For WHAT is Obama Most Admired, Exactly?: SIGIS

NY Times: Hey, that YouTube video did have something to do with Benghazi attack after all: Ed Morrissey
Globe op/ed page highlights the great national divide: Caldwell's Corner
‘Beyond the pale’: Fox Business’ Charles Payne blasts MSNBC for mocking Romney grandson: Twitchy

Leftism Is A Mental Disorder…Part 965: Nice Deb
Charlottesville Newspaper Shuts Down Comments on Knockout Game Report for 'Hateful Nature': TruthRevolt
Washington Post's Obamacare Miracle: Loren Heal

World

The Islamization of Britain in 2013: Soeren Kern
NBA Tony Parker now making Nazi salutes quenelle: FAM
Wiesenthal Center Accepts Tony Parker Apology, Calls for Statement in French: Algemeiner

America's Internal Checkpoints: Wes Kimbell, Reason
St. Louis to Become DUI “No Refusal Zone” – Driver Blood Tests Required: GWP
I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on: Guardian

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Cops to Use Portable Drug Test at New Year's DUI Checkpoints: NBC-LA
Photographer captures stunning photos of the split-second when a gun fires: Bob Owens
Four New Tech Trends That Should Be Huge In 2014: Julie Bort

Cornucopia

Top 10 Conservatives of 2013: John Hawkins
Frontpage’s 2013 Man of the Year: Ted Cruz: Daniel Greenfield
A&E, The NYT and the DNC Bring You “REHAB ADDICT: The Hillary Addition”: MOTUS

Image: A&E, The NYT and the DNC Bring You “REHAB ADDICT: The Hillary Addition”
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Please Support the Senate Conservatives Fund

QOTD: "Next time some lefty tells you how uninformed Fox News viewers are, remind them of this uncomfortable statistic:

81: Percentage of young Democrats who approve of the Affordable Care Act, according to December poll by Harvard's Institute of Politics.

58: Percentage of young Democrats who approve of "Obamacare."

Ahem. "Obamacare" and the "Affordable Care Act" are the same thing." --Jim Geraghty

Year-end Blog Stats

Here's a year-long chart of daily visits to this site. Can you find the time the Drudge Report linked?


Here are the year's top 50 referrers:

Rank Source Visits % New Visits New Visits
1 hotair.com 103443 19.01% 19664
2 drudgereport.com 84705 88.76% 75188
3 linkiest.com 65924 50.26% 33136
4 badblue.com 63399 14.96% 9484
5 thegatewaypundit.com 25303 28.97% 7331
6 iowntheworld.com 24638 24.99% 6156
7 ace.mu.nu 20575 40.54% 8341
8 reddit.com 19604 95.88% 18797
9 maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com 17444 31.08% 5421
10 michellesmirror.com 15615 20.90% 3263
11 pjmedia.com 13957 42.27% 5900
12 rightwingnews.com 12279 39.64% 4868
13 newsbusters.org 10140 28.48% 2888
14 americandigest.org 9458 25.05% 2369
15 legalinsurrection.com 8556 16.80% 1437
16 smalldeadanimals.com 8164 71.84% 5865
17 zerohedge.com 8077 79.50% 6421
18 freerepublic.com 7465 67.05% 5005
19 punditandpundette.com 7161 20.64% 1478
20 theferalirishman.blogspot.com 6518 30.45% 1985
21 ihatethemedia.com 5558 48.96% 2721
22 godlikeproductions.com 5500 90.80% 4994
23 curmudgeonlyskeptical.blogspot.com 5009 29.33% 1469
24 jammiewf.com 4560 25.70% 1172
25 im41.com 4354 66.88% 2912
26 weaselzippers.us 4187 51.97% 2176
27 astuteblogger.blogspot.com 3375 11.29% 381
28 proteinwisdom.com 3328 35.91% 1195
29 nicedeb.wordpress.com 2843 15.20% 432
30 jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com 2789 20.62% 575
31 stevequayle.com 2782 94.36% 2625
32 bastionofliberty.blogspot.com 2771 27.21% 754
33 dailypaul.com 2750 80.76% 2221
34 coldfury.com 2748 19.43% 534
35 michellemalkin.com 2705 56.71% 1534
36 beforeitsnews.com 2637 86.04% 2269
37 whitehousedossier.com 2630 30.95% 814
38 thepiratescove.us 2430 25.06% 609
39 yidwithlid.blogspot.com 2410 28.46% 686
40 sondrakistan.com 2359 19.08% 450
41 americanglob.com 2350 20.81% 489
42 reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com 2328 23.63% 550
43 adriennescatholiccorner.blogspot.com 2192 10.63% 233
44 powerlineblog.com 2121 68.65% 1456
45 moonbattery.com 2079 31.07% 646
46 thenewscommenter.com 1962 85.47% 1677
47 westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com 1930 66.53% 1284
48 angrymikeshood.blogspot.com 1815 35.26% 640
49 nicedoggie.net 1813 46.22% 838
50 ninetymilesfromtyranny.blogspot.com 1782 47.98% 855

Thanks to all of my beloved readers and fellow bloggers -- patriots one and all -- except for you progressive miscreants and you know who you are.