Barack Obama: Inside the Mind of a Genius

Admit it: you find it curiously comforting to see that neither time nor age nor experience has taught Obama anything: he remains as politically-economically brilliant as he always was.

But perhaps over the last seven or so years you’ve not been able to hear him over the noise of his propaganda machine.

Well, just yesterday, he had a great many people shaking their heads when he told an audience of Argentinian youths that there’s no real difference between communism and capitalism and that they should just “choose from what works.”




“So often in the past there has been a division between left and right, between capitalists and communists or socialists, and especially in the Americas, that’s been a big debate,” Obama said.

“Those are interesting intellectual arguments, but I think for your generation, you should be practical and just choose from what works. You don’t have to worry about whether it really fits into socialist theory or capitalist theory. You should just decide what works.”

He went on to laud Communist Cuba and their dictatorial regime, which is such a socialist paradise that each year a great many Cuban people are willing to risk 100 miles of shark-infested waters just to get the hell out of there.

(Note to dems: please tell me again how no serious democratic today still actually admires the Castros. Tell me again how “backward” the Republicans are.)

Obama concluded his lecture by arguing that a market-based system “has to have a social and moral and ethical and community basis.”

Barack Obama, ladies and gentleman: one little glimpse inside the mind of a genius.





What Is Government? (Political Cow: Episode 1)

From the College of Subversive Knowledge (SUBSCRIBE):



Using two cows as a metaphor for illustrating how various political systems function is a practice that’s been around since at least the 1930’s.

Here are a few of the better examples:

SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.

COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You give them to the government, and the government then gives you some milk.

FASCISM: You have two cows. You give them to the government, and the government then sells you some milk.

CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

NAZISM: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.

And that, in essence, is what Political Cow is all about:







Obama’s February, March 2015 Golf Vacations and Fundraisers Cost Taxpayers Over 4 Million in Travel Expenses Alone

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There’s nothing I love more than being lectured by sanctimonious liberals on, for instance, not “taking action on climate change,” or the importance of energy conservation, or the sins of profligacy, et cetera.

I love it even more when I’m being lectured by sanctimonious liberals who are simultaneously engaged in high hypocrisy:

Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that Barack Obama’s February and March 2015 travel for golf vacations and fundraisers totaled $4,436,245.50 in taxpayer-funded transportation expenses. The documents regarding the Obama travel expenses came in response to two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by Judicial Watch.

To date, the Secret Service has not provided requested information, as required by FOIA, regarding security costs.

Using the Air Force’s official cost estimate of $206,337 per hour, the newly released records obtained by Judicial Watch show:

Obama’s February 14, 2015, golf outing to Palm Springs required a five-hour flight, costing taxpayers a total of $1,031,685.

Transportation for Obama’s February 19 day trip to Chicago cost taxpayers $619,011.00.

Transportation for Obama’s March 2015 fundraising trip to Los Angeles cost taxpayers $1,980,835.20.

Obama’s March 28, 2015, golf outing to Palm city required a 3.9-hour flight, costing taxpayers $804,870.3
In Palm Springs, Obama played golf at the luxurious Sunnylands country club, located on the former estate of the late ambassadors Walter and Leonore Annenberg. Obama reportedly spent the weekend on the exclusive, gated property, where he has twice stayed before.

Obama’s February trip to Chicago was billed by the White House as a non-political event to declare the Pullman Historic District a national monument. But, press reports indicated that the trip was heavily political. In a CNN story entitled, “Obama gives Emanuel re-election boost:”

President Barack Obama went to Chicago bearing gifts Thursday for his former chief of staff, Mayor Rahm Emanuel … But the day had all the trappings of a campaign – and Obama even made an unannounced stop at a Kenwood campaign office for Emanuel on his way out of town. “I’m glad he’s my mayor, and I’m glad he’s going to be my mayor for another four years,” Obama told volunteers.

Obama’s travel to California was solely to raise money for the Democratic National Committee and to show his support for fellow Democrats nationwide. His visit to Los Angeles began with an appearance on ABC’s late night comedy program “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and continued on to include a “roundtable discussion” fundraiser hosted at the Santa Monica home of ICM Partners cofounder Chris Silbermann and his wife Julia Franz. Guests paid up to $33,400 per couple for attendance, donations that will be used to aid DNC activities during the approaching 2016 election cycle. Obama’s March 12 fundraising trip to Los Angeles was his 32nd fundraiser in L.A. County since he became president.

In Palm City, Obama played golf at the “spectacular” Floridian National Golf Club, where members pay a $50,000 initiation fee and $15,000 in annual dues. According to the resort’s website, “This stunning, yet formidable par 71 will certainly impress. At 7,114 yards, the 18-hole course offers perfectly manicured rolling fairways and greens, demanding hazards, breathtaking views of the St. Lucie River, and is surrounded by natural preserve and native wildlife.”

“Taxpayers should be outraged that Barack Obama’s wastes 4.4 million of their precious tax dollars on golf vacations and political fundraising,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And to make matters worse, the Secret Service has simply refused to respond to our requests for documents about the security costs of these controversial trips. The Obama travel scandal is about abuse of office, abuse of the taxpayer, and contempt for the rule of law.”

Records released earlier this year by Judicial Watch showed that Michelle Obama’s 2014 trip to China cost more than $360,000 in air transportation costs. Judicial Watch uncovered an expensive combination of trips by the Obamas to Africa and Honolulu, which cost taxpayers $15,885,585.30 in flight expenses. The single largest prior known expense for accommodations was for Michelle Obama’s side-trip to Dublin, Ireland, during the 2013 G-8 conference in Belfast, when she and her entourage booked 30 rooms at the five-star Shelbourne Hotel, with the first lady staying in the 1500 square-foot Princess Grace suite at a cost of $3,500 a night. The total cost to taxpayers for the Obamas’ Ireland trip was $7,921,638.66. To date, the known travel expenses of the Obamas and Vice President Joe Biden exceed $61million.

(Source)

It’s good to be king and queen, n’est ce pas?

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Top Three Things You Did Not Know About Donald Trump

You always knew what a douche Donald Trump was, but you may not have known precisely why.

Here are three reasons:

Number 3.

He believes in a single-payer healthcare system.

Like all progressives, he supports the full socialization of American medicine.

He is perhaps ignorant of the fact that the fifty percent socialization of American medicine, which we enjoy today, has made American medicine all but completely unaffordable.

It’s leftwing policies like Medicare and Medicaid that we have to thank for that. Donald Trump supports this.



Number 2.

Like all good progressives, Donald Trump supports higher taxes and trade tariffs — which, among other things, discloses what you already suspected: he’s as economically illiterate as all the other garden-variety liberals.

Number 1.

Let’s allow the man speak for himself — because this video really says it all:







An Open Question For All Lefties

I have an open question for all my lefty readers who so stridently denounce George W. Bush.

How on earth do you defend this?

From the (left-wing) Associated Press:

Barack Obama Sets New Record Denying Censoring Government Files

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration set a record again for censoring government files or outright denying access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.

The government took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn’t find documents and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy.

It also acknowledged in nearly 1 in 3 cases that its initial decisions to withhold or censor records were improper under the law — but only when it was challenged.

Its backlog of unanswered requests at year’s end grew remarkably by 55 percent to more than 200,000. It also cut by 375, or about 9 percent, the number of full-time employees across government paid to look for records. That was the fewest number of employees working on the issue in five years.

Please read the rest here, I beg you.

In fact, I beseech you. I implore you. Tell me — tell us — how this sort of thing makes you hate one man and yet love another.

As comedian Jon Lovitz tweets:

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Obama Tailors Lies Like A Tailor Tailors Suits

Oh, yeah.

 

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I wonder, then: Does that include Obamacare?

Does it include getting to “keep your insurance if you like your insurance”?

Does it include the IRS targeting (so-called) conservative groups?

Does it include Benghazi?

Does it include operation Fast-and-Furious and the Executive Privilege Obama granted the Department of Justice and the corrupt bureaucrat called Eric Holder?

To name but a few.

 

 

 

The Hardest Working Man in Politics

Barack Obama, who has been criticized by racists for his tendency to vacation during times of crisis, and who during the course of his presidency has hit the golf links 186 times (so far), once, while plugging his book, said the following:

“Uh, umm, you give me this office and in turn my, fears, doubts, insecurities, foibles, need for sleep, family life, vacations, leisure is gone. I am giving my self to you.”


This is touching: from a 2008 video that has recently resurfaced, via Weasel Zippers:

11 Facts About the Minimum Wage Barack Obama Forgot to Mention

The following, which I thought was exceptionally insightful, was written by Sean Davis, over at The Federalist:

1) Only 1 Percent Of The U.S. Labor Force Earns The Minimum Wage

Despite the hoopla surrounding the issue, only a tiny percentage of American workers actually earn the federal hourly minimum wage: 1 percent, to be exact. In 2012, the most recent year for which nationwide minimum wage data is available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), roughly 1.5 million hourly workers were paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25. To put that into perspective, the U.S. labor force consisted of nearly 155 million workers in 2012.

2) Teenagers Comprise The Single Largest Age Group Of Minimum Wage Workers

Teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 years comprise 31 percent of all minimum wage workers in the U.S. according to the BLS. Workers between 20 and 24 years of age comprise 24 percent of all minimum wage workers, those between 25 and 34 years comprise 15.5 percent, workers between 35 and 44 years comprise less than 10 percent, and those 45 years and up comprise roughly 20 percent of all minimum wage workers in the U.S.

3) Most Minimum Wage Workers Are Under The Age Of 25

According to federal data, over 55 percent of all federal minimum wage workers are under the age of 25. Unsurprisingly, young workers are also the most likely to be unemployed. As of last month, the unemployment rate for 16-to-19-year-olds was 20.2 percent, and the unemployment rate for 20-to-24-year-olds was 11.1 percent. The overall U.S. unemployment rate currently sits at 6.7 percent.

4) A Majority Of Those Who Earn The Minimum Wage Work In Food Preparation Or Sales

In addition to classifying minimum wage workers by age, BLS also categorizes them according to their industry and occupation. Data for 2012 indicate that most minimum wage workers work in “food preparation and serving related occupations” (26.1 percent of all minimum wage workers) or in “sales and related occupations” (25.5 percent of all minimum wage workers), an occupation that often pays commissions and bonuses in addition to fixed hourly rates.

5) Less Than 5 Percent Of People Who Earn The Minimum Wage Work In Construction Or Manufacturing

While there seems to be a persistent belief that a large number of minimum wage workers are salt-of-the-earth construction manufacturing types, that’s just not the case. In fact, less than 5 percent of all minimum wage workers are employed in the construction (0.8 percent) or manufacturing industries (3.3 percent) according to federal wage data. [Correction: exactly 5 percent of those earning the minimum wage work in construction (1 percent) or manufacturing (4 percent). I incorrectly used the “at or below minimum wage” column in the original version. Thanks to @aemathisphd for the correction.]

6) A Majority Of Them Also Worked Less Than 30 Hours Per Week

It is true that it is difficult to make a living when you earn only $7.25 an hour. It’s even harder to make a living when you don’t work full-time. BLS says that in 2012, 51.5 percent of U.S. workers earning the federal minimum wage – roughly 800,000 out of 1.5 million — worked an average of 29 hours or less each week.

7) Less Than One-Third Worked Full-Time

You read that correctly. Only 32 percent of the country’s minimum wage workers work full-time — 501,000 out of more than 1.5 million, to be exact. And of those 501,000 minimum wage workers who regularly put in a full work week, only 39 percent are men. Now, it can be argued that it’s not these workers fault that they’re unable to find full-time hourly work. However, Obama administration laws and regulations haven’t made it easier to find full-time work. Recently enacted laws like Obamacare have made the quest even more difficult by creating enormous incentives for employers to shift workers to part-time roles to avoid the health law’s onerous mandates and regulations.

8) A Full-Time Minimum Wage Worker In 2014 Will Make 24 Percent More Than The Federal Poverty Limit

A White House tweet and accompanying infographic from last August said, “It’s time to raise the minimum wage because nobody who works full-time should love in poverty.” But a little math and a quick look at the 2014 federal poverty guidelines show that a single individual who earns the current federal minimum wage and works full-time will earn $14,500 in a year (50 weeks per year x 40 hours per week x $7.25 per hour). By way of comparison, the federal poverty limit for 2014 for a one-person household is $11,670.

Wage income from a two-earner family with two kids where both adults earned the minimum wage would exceed the federal poverty limit by 22 percent: $29,000 in income compared to a four-member household federal poverty limit of $23,850. And that’s before federal benefits like Medicaid and food stamps are included.

9) One-Third Of Minimum Wage Workers Either Dropped Out Of Or Never Attended High School

Educational attainment is clearly a significant factor in determining a worker’s hourly wage. According to BLS, over 36 percent of minimum wage earners — 568,000 out of more than 1.5 million — lack a high school diploma. Only 4 percent of minimum wage workers have a bachelor’s degree or higher. That doesn’t mean a college education is best for everyone, but it does suggest that lacking one can make it more difficult to move up the pay ladder.

10) There Are Nearly Six Times More Minimum Wage Workers Today Than In 2007

In 1980, the number of minimum wage workers in the U.S. reached a peak of 4.7 million workers. At that time, the prevailing federal minimum wage was $3.10 an hour. In 2007, following more than two decades of economic prosperity, the number of Americans earning the minimum wage bottomed out at 267,000 workers. Since then, the number has risen dramatically, exceeding 1.5 million workers as of 2012, the most recent year for which data are available.

11) A Change In The Minimum Wage Often Triggers Union Wage Hikes And Benefit Renegotiations

The famous investment banker J.P. Morgan said something along the lines of, “Every man has two reasons for everything he does: a good reason and the real reason.” Giving minimum wage workers a little extra cash is the White House’s “good” reason for supporting a hike in the minimum wage. But what’s the real reason? Richard Berman, a union analyst, studied numerous union contracts and published his findings on their terms in the Wall Street Journal in 2013:

The labor contracts that we examined used a variety of methods to trigger the [wage] increases. The two most popular formulas were setting baseline union wages as a percentage above the state or federal minimum wage or mandating a ?at wage premium above the minimum wage.
Other union contracts stipulate that, following a minimum-wage increase, the union and the employer reopen wage talks.

[…]

Minimum-wage hikes are beneficial to unions in other ways. The increases restrict the ability of businesses to hire low-skill workers who might gladly work for lower wages in order to gain experience. Union members thus face less competition from workers who might threaten union jobs.

And there you have it. The “real” reason behind the minimum wage push is to pay back the labor unions who helped re-elect the president in the form of higher wages, increased negotiating leverage, and less competition for jobs. The president’s decision to unilaterally hike the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10 an hour doesn’t really make sense until you view it through that lens (is there a critical mass of federal contractors who make only the minimum wage?).

Unfortunately, when it comes to politics, the good reason is rarely, if ever, the real reason.

(Link)





The Raven Chides His Blackness?

AJAX: Can he not be sociable?

ULYSSES: The raven chides his blackness.

(Troilus and Cressida, Act 2, Scene 3)

Earlier today, in a particularly paradoxical press conference — one in which Barack Obama really got down to brass tax — Obama said of Russian president Putin:

“He’s got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom.”

This for some reason recalled to me that straight-laced and model student, with the perfect military posture, whom we’ve all come to know so well:

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B O Doper (1)

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Obama’s Tacit Sanction of Dictatorial Islamists Regimes

Here’s another mind-bender I’d love to hear Obama supporters defend:

Egyptians in the millions [are] out on the street, trying to bring down an Islamist government, increasingly dictatorial, increasingly intolerant, arresting journalists and judges, trying to Islamicize the military and the people are saying no, and what does the president of the United States do? He takes a position of studied neutrality, says he is not supporting either side. And yet, as you point out in the Mubarak revolution, he obviously strongly took the side of the people. He demanded that Mubarak had to go, he was not neutral.

This reminds me of the Green Revolution in Iran in 2009 when the same thing happened. Islamists, dictatorial government, the people out in the street, and they were shouting Obama, Obama, are you with us or against us. And he took a position that was essentially supportive of the regime, and the reason was he wanted to negotiate a nuclear deal which he thought he could do and he didn’t want instability.

That was a shameful episode. But there’s also idea of national interest. Mubarak was pro-American, he was an ally of ours, he helped us in all kinds of ways. Obama worked against him. Morsi represents a movement which is essentially deeply anti-American, and deeply anti-democratic, yet he is neutral on this.This is a shocking position for a president to take. (Charles Krauthammer, Special Report, July 1, 2013)


I would remind readers of something I wrote back in November of 2012:

Mohamed Morsi — first Islamist president in Egypt’s history and a member the Muslim Brotherhood which openly advocates violence against women much like the unspeakable deed we see in this photo — is supported and sanctioned by Barack Obama and his administration.

Barack Obama recently welcomed the election of the first Islamist president in Egypt’s history.

This is a man who during his campaign, a campaign the Obama administration openly supported, said: “The Koran is our Constitution, the prophet is our leader, jihad is our path, and death in the name of allah is our goal.”

This same man, Mohamed Morsi, belongs to an organization called the Muslim Brotherhood, which among other things explicitly pledges in its charter to “infiltrate western society and destroy it from within.”

This same man, to whom Barack Obama sent $450 million taxpayer dollars, also supports forced female circumcision, genital mutilation, and the absolute rejection of women’s rights.

If, therefore, you believe, as I do, in women’s rights, gay rights, and the inalienable rights of all human beings regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, color, class, or creed, please note that if you backed Barack Obama, you backed a man who backs a man who sanctions this. Because when the Obama administration says, as it recently did: “We look forward to working with President-elect Mohamed Morsi, and the government he forms” — they were not, I assure you, kidding (though in reality it sounds like a very sick joke indeed).





Barack Obama Versus Barack Obama

In 2009, the so-called Individual Mandate was, according to Barack Obama (and I quote), “absolutely NOT a tax increase”.

Listen:



Magically, however, in 2012, two short days ago, in fact, that exact same Individual Mandate was, according that exact same Barack Obama, after all a tax:

Barack Obama: “By the way, if you’ve got health insurance, you’re not getting hit by a tax,” the president said during his Friday rally in Roanoke, his third Virginia campaign event of the day. “The only thing that’s happening to you is that you now have more security because insurance companies can’t drop you when you get sick.”


Give them enough rope, they hang themselves every time.



Obama Versus Obama: A Losing Battle

In his attempt to fully socialize American medicine, Barack Obama’s blatant and outright contradiction of himself — regarding, in particular, the Individual Mandate — damages him irreparably, in my opinion, and it’s long surprised me that this fact hasn’t been hammered home more completely.

American Crossroads, however, has just released a video that captures pretty well the essence of what I’m talking about:




As you know, oral argument for and against the Constitutionality of the Individual Mandate began today, and the stakes could not be higher.