‘The Central Prob. of Obamacare Will Not Yield to Technical or Rhetorical Solutions’

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by Smitty

Thus asserts Micheal Gerson in the WaPoo.

The central problem of Obamacare will not yield to technical or rhetorical solutions. President Obama sold it to Americans as a plan with no losers. But it is a redistribution program, creating both winners and losers. And many of the losers in Obamacare consider themselves middle class. This realization may eventually lead a number of elected Democrats to favor serious revisions.

Two challenges I have with the first sentence in this paragraph:

  1. That anybody thinks the federal government should have this task at all is nuts. The best defense of ObamaCare is that it was the final step in the lemming march off the cliff of Progress.
  2. That anybody thinks the government ‘solves’ anything, ever, is daft. Government maintains problems; the actual solutions are in the glove compartment of Godot’s car, which, regrettably, has been delayed.

Progressivism is an old man, stricken with Alzheimer’s, on the cusp of dementia, that cannot grasp the reality of his time having passed. ObamaCare’s swath of economic destruction is going to continue to claim victims. As the year drags on, the employer mandate is going to loom, the Democrats are going to lie, and the codpiece media is going to protect them. Wash, rinse, repeat. That old man isn’t going to the retirement home easily.

The central problem for the GOP is a split political personality. For congressional Republicans, ideological timidity is a reasonable, short-term electoral strategy. For Republicans concerned about retaking the presidency in 2016, it is wholly insufficient. There is an urgent need to reposition the party among minorities, women and the young. Pointing and laughing at the failures of Obamacare will not be a sufficient governing vision.

Gerson has the right of it. That old Progressive coot needs to be put out to pasture. It’s time for reform. The inability to offer something, anything, in the way of reform, I would argue, has been the real driver in depressing conservative turnout in the last two Presidential elections. We need this ObamaCare horse boiled down for glue; the suspicion was that Romney was going to get his veterinarian on.

Don’t stand there holding the coats while the IRS stones the Tea Party, GOP: either

  1. have your Road to Damascus moment, and get on the reform bandwagon, or
  2. stand by to join the ObamaCare horse at the glue factory.

Jake Tapper reports that 40k new laws are kicking in today. I know some incumbents needing kicked out in November if that death-by-red-tape situation isn’t improved.

Because @Deanofcomedy Isn’t Funny

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A guy named Dean Obeidallah uses the Twitter handle @Deanofcomedy and was part of the MSNBC panel whose discussion of a Mitt Romney family photo led host Melissa Harris-Perry to apologize. Obeidallah evidently feels he got shortchanged, and that he didn’t get enough credit for his own “jokes” during that panel, because he’s written an entire column about it at the Daily Beast:

As a comedian and writer I have been called a lot of things—but up until yesterday no one had ever said I was a “baby bully.”
What did I do to deserve this new title? Have I been going around the neighborhood and shaking down babies for their lunch money? Have I been forcing babies to walk on the other side of the street when they see me? Nope.
I told a joke that many on the right — and even a few in the middle — didn’t like. This all happened Sunday when I was on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry show with three other comedians for an episode called: “Look back on 2013 and Laugh.” . . .
One of the segments featured the panelists trying to come up with funny captions for various photos, including a photo of Mitt Romney’s extended family with their recently adopted African-American baby, “Kieran.” This photo had been tweeted out to the world by Romney on Christmas Eve.
Upon seeing the photo, I commented: “It really sums up the diversity of the Republican party, the RNC. At the convention, they find the one black person.” . . .

(If you were “trying to come up with funny captions,” this would be scored a failure. It simply is not funny.)

But on Monday apparently those on the right who monitor MSNBC were outraged. And by Monday night there were articles denouncing us as “baby bullies” in right-wing media outlets like The Blaze, Town Hall, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, et cetra. Fox News’ The Five covered the story with five its team of “racially diverse” co-hosts expressing outrage over racial insensitivity.
And, of course, my Twitter feed exploded with right-wing trolls attacking me. Leading the charge was conservative Dana Loesch who tweeted various comments to me such as: “You’re a baby-bullying bigot.”

Dean Obeidallah has a strange definition of “troll.” Generally speaking, people who use their online presence mainly to attack or harass others — which is a fair description of a troll — don’t have a lot of Twitter followers. Trolls are unpopular, by definition.

Dana Loesch has 173,633 Twitter followers.

Dean Obeidallah has 18,727 Twitter followers.

Who is the “troll” here?

Ace did a good take on the MHP controversy that included this:

The chronic snarkster isn’t snarking to communicate any particular idea, except for two very base, primitive ones:

1. We’re Superior to This Thing We’re Talking About, Whatever It Is, and
2. We Constitute a Tribe, You and I, Mutually Loyal To Each Other, Because We All Hoot and Grunt At the Same Things. . . .

In Hollywood fictions, as well as in alleged “news” stories recounted by the media, there are Designated Heroes and there are Designated Villains. Whatever the hero does is heroic not because of the intrinsic heroism of the action but simply because it is the Designated Hero doing it — and thus the action is heroic, simply because he performs it.
Likewise, everything the Designated Villain — here, the Romney family — does is villainous. Not because adopting a black orphan is villainous, but simply because the Villains are performing the action, and you know they must be up to no good. After all, they’re the Villains.

This is an apt summary not just of the calculus behind that particular segment, but of MSNBC as a network, and it reminds me of an observation I offered in November:

[I]n career fields where liberalism enjoys hegemonic dominance — including academia, the entertainment industry and especially journalism — being a liberal is an acceptable substitute for any virtue. In such environments, if a coward wishes to be praised for “courage” or a liar wants to be lauded for his “honesty,” he need merely be a dutiful outspoken liberal, and he will be showered with encomiums.

And if you are a tedious bore who wishes to be praised as “funny,” you become Dean Obeidallah, so that all your liberal friends are then obliged to play along with your pretenses to humor.

 

 


REVEALED: Who Was On The Boat That Called The German Coast Guard?

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by Smitty

The mayday is clearly a joke:

But the joke is really the Obama Administration:

White House adviser Phil Schiliro said on Tuesday that the oft-cited seven million Obamacare enrollment target “was never our target number.”

Ah, yes. The target number for the enrollment is written on a balloon that keeps rotating as it deflates, hiding more zeros, as the crew of the S.S. Obama Minnow, on its three hour strategy session tour in the North Atlantic, radios in for help.

Wasn’t the Affordable Care Act supposed to be the insurance policy for the Progressive Project? That, hopefully, will prove the ultimate cancellation as this debacle moves onto its submarine phase. At the helm of the Obama Minnow, the ghost of Ted Kennedy was heard yelling “This is not what I meant when I said ‘Take me to the bridge!'”

Happy New Year everybody. Gird your loins, and keep your debt low. 2014 promises to be a doozy.

Motions, Motions, Motions — Judge Grants Brett Kimberlin a Delay

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Rather than subject you to the tedium of every motion filed in Brett Kimberlin’s two lawsuits — the Maryland suit Kimberlin v. Walker, et al., and the federal RICO suit John Hoge has dubbed Kimberlin v. the Universe, et al. — I’ve opted for occasionally updating you on the process. Most recently (and quite hysterically) Kimberlin filed a motion in the federal case complaining that some of the defendants, in responding with motions to dismiss, were conspiring to ruin his holidays by filing motions to which the rules required him to respond in late December and early January. This was just an outrageous lie, and Kimberlin had the unspeakable effrontery, in making that claim, to name me as part of this non-existent conspiracy when (as he damned well knows) he hasn’t even served me yet in the federal case, and I have therefore not yet filed any motions at all in that case.

My co-defendants John Hoge, Aaron Walker and DB Capital Strategies all replied to Kimberlin’s preposterous claim for a two-month delay (until Feb. 28). However, it appears from a letter the judge in the case issued Monday that he didn’t see either Hoge’s or Walker’s replies. At any rate, this part of the judge’s letter granting an 18-day extension (until Jan. 17) seemed to me rather interesting:

The bloated buffoon Bill Schmalfedlt was huffing and puffing on Twitter about what a huge victory this is for Brett Kimberlin, when obviously it is nothing of the sort. The delay granted is 41 days less than Kimberlin sought, and the judge pretty much puts him on notice: “Cut out your shenanigans and get in line.”

Kimberlin has no plausible excuse for having served only a few of the defendants in his RICO suit against 20 different parties, and certainly he can’t claim that I have avoided service, as I showed up at a hearing in his Maryland lawsuit in November. All he would have had to do was to hand a copy of the federal suit to the Maryland bailiff and had the bailiff serve me. There will be another hearing Jan. 13 in the Maryland case that I also plan to attend, so I suppose Kimberlin can serve me then, if he wishes to save money on postage.

At some point (and I hope we reach this point sooner rather than later), Kimberlin’s litigation will collapse under the weight of its own demonstrable falsity, and everything that transpires between now and then is just prelude to the predictable finale.

 

BomberSuesBloggers.com




 

‘U.S. Hate Preacher’?

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When I saw that phrase in a headline, I at first thought they were talking about Phil Robertson, but no, it refers to Harlem-born Islamic extremist Khalid Yasin, whose hateful doctrine inspired Michael Adebowale, one of the perpetrators of the Woolwich Massacre.

The article points out that Khalid Yasin preaches hatred toward homosexuals, in addition to the rest of his general all-purpose hatred (e.g., anti-Christian, anti-America and anti-Israel), which would be cheerfully endorsed by most of MSNBC’s audience.

(Via Memeorandum; more at Jihad Watch and Weasel Zippers.)

 

Unpopular Personality @MHarrisPerry on Obscure MSNBC Network Apologizes

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The sequence of headlines tells the story:

Melissa Harris-Perry Panel Mocks
Black Romney Grandchild As Token
— The Right Scoop

Outrage as MSNBC panelists make Mitt Romney’s
adopted black grandchild the punchline of a joke
— Daily Mail

Sarah Palin: MSNBC ‘despicable’
— Politico

MSNBC host apologizes after panel makes
fun of Romney photo with black grandchild
— CNN

It goes without saying, of course, that Melissa Harris-Perry’s apology was insincere: She hates and despises Mitt Romney, she hates and despises the entire Romney family, and she hates and despises everyone who voted for Romney. Whatever offensive thing she said about Romney’s grandchild was simply an expression of her partisan hatred and — because partisan hatred is the entire raison d’être of MSNBC — there’s no way Melissa Harris-Perry is going to apologize for that, is there?

Anyway, Melissa Harris-Perry has now been compelled to apologize, which is perhaps of minor interest to the 600,000 or so Democrats who watch MSNBC, but the larger and more permanent question remains: When will the corporate proprietor of MSNBC come to grips with the reality that there is no commercially viable audience of Republican-hating news consumers on cable TV?

There were a few brief years during the Bush presidency when Keith Olbermann’s anti-Bush, anti-war, anti-GOP rantings attracted a large enough viewership to lift MSNBC past CNN in the cable-news ratings, but that boomlet has clearly ended. MSNBC’s audience has shrunken drastically since Olbermann’s departure (and especially, since Obama’s re-election). The only reason MSNBC is still in second place ahead of CNN is because, unwisely, CNN executives decided to mimic the anti-Republican bias of MSNBC, and the failure of CNN’s weak imitation only further demonstrates the non-viability of the MSNBC model.

MSNBC’s corporate parent Comcast is now subsidizing a continuation of this failed project only because their executives lack the creativity to envision anything more watchable. Therefore, the network gives airtime to third-rate talents like Melissa Harris-Perry and everybody acts surprised when their anti-Republican shtick (which is the only reason anyone watches MSNBC) yields embarrasment.

Well, excuse me for not playing along with this charade. At some point, a routine that is so predictable ceases to be interesting.

 


In The Mailbox, 12.31.13

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— compiled by Wombat-socho


OVER THE TRANSOM
First Street Journal: They Missed It
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: The Last of Us – An Overdue Game Review
Twitchy: Actress Pia Glenn Apologizes (Sort Of) After Mocking Romneys’ Grandchild On MSNBC


RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
American Power: Why Obama Frets About Income Inequality, Not Family Breakdown
American Thinker: The Trillion-Plus Heist
Blackfive: Exclusive Interview With W.E.B. Griffin And William Butterworth IV
The Necropolitan Sentinel: Sixth Day Of Dickens – Most Terrifying Villain? A Respectable Headmaster
Jammie Wearing Fools: Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton Says The Reason People Aren’t Signing Up For Obamacare Is Because They Think It’s Been Repealed
JustOneMinute: Obamacare – Making Insurance Affordable For Fitness Buffs
Pat Dollard: MSNBC Racist Melissa Harris-Perry Mocks Romneys For Adopting Black Child
Protein Wisdom: Politifact Takes Page From USSR
Shot In The Dark: Gun Control In Minnesota – The Next Useless Wave
The Jawa Report: Palestinian Kids Pretty Sure It Was The Jooooos
The Lonely Conservative: Chamber Of Commerce To Spend $50 Million On “Centrist” Republicans
This Ain’t Hell: Army Wants In To The Pacific Rim
Megan McArdle: Change Is Obamacare’s Only Certainty


Shop Amazon – Holiday Favorites from Marketplace Sellers

Game Hackers Launch DDOS, Target @PhantomL0rd for SWATting
UPDATE: In Video, Gamer Describes Police Raid With Automatic Weapons

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@PhantomL0rd is a popular videogame blogger who last night got SWATted by a gang of hacker trolls:

A group of hackers going by the name DERP has launched DDoS attacks on a number of big games and websites today, bringing a number of them down, including the homepage of Electronic Arts.
The attacks have been focused on a single gamer — Phantoml0rd — and have been systematically trying to crash all of the games he regularly streams on his Twitch page, including World of Warcraft and League of Legends. . . .
The group — or maybe it’s just one guy, we’re looking into it — then moved onto other targets like Club Penguin and Electronic Arts . . .
PhantomL0rd has posted a message on his Facebook page saying that police arrived at his home — called to investigate a “hostage situation” — earlier this evening.

just had an automatic pointed at me, put in hand cuffs and sat in the back of a cop car as I watched as 6 policemen go through my whole house.. will keep you all updated.

It appears those going after the streamer’s games have moved on from trying to bring down websites to “Swatting” his home.

The idea that “SWATting” is a harmless prank to play — an idea that originates with the same kind of vandal mentality which considers taking down Web sites with DDOS attacks a pleasant amusement — will not be endorsed by @PhantomL0rd, nor by anyone else who has ever been the target of such crimes.

(Hat-tip: David West on Twitter.)

UPDATE: Just listened to @PhantomL0rd’s hopelessly rambling YouTube video explanation — where do I apply to get a refund for that hour of my life? — and transcribed this:

“Three cop cars and about seven policemen. . . . The first thing I see is this guy leaning on a tree with a fully-automatic [weapon] . . . I wasn’t scared. I knew what was going on. . . . He just yelled at me: ‘Turn around and walk backward.’ . . . Hands up behind my head. . . . Immediately, he puts the handcuffs on me. . . . Now there’s like 13, 14 cops. . . . The police chief was there. . . . These f–king handcuffs hurt. . . 25, 30 minutes in there [locked in back of a police car] . . . They sent about six cops into my house. . . . Later found out that the [fake] threat was a hostage situation, that I was [reportedly] holding five people hostage.”

Really, if someone else wants to take the time to do a complete transcript of that video, good luck. His description of the SWATting starts about the 20-minute mark, after @PhantomL0rd has described his entire day from the time he woke up in the morning.

I understand how, in the jangled emotion of the moment, people lose focus, but the larger problem with first-person accounts of this sort is the lack of objective judgment: What do people need to know? What is the most important part of this story?

Think about the viewer (or reader) and tell your story in a way that engages and makes sense. The viewer or reader doesn’t give a damn about you, as a person or as a videogamer or whatever. You are not the story; the crime against you is the story, and you need to try to tell that story in a just-the-facts-ma’am manner. Anyway . . .

It appears that envy was the motive for the harassment of @PhantomL0rd: He is both popular and successful as a gamer, and was “streaming” some of his game action for a rather large viewership when the hacker or hackers began sequentially targeting online game servers for DDOS attacks. That is to say, they targeted the games that @PhantomL0rd was playing, just to mess up his streaming, and then added a SWATting for good measure. Also, @PhantomL0rd was targeted for about a half-dozen hoax pizza deliveries.

The fact that these crimes were inspired by petty jealousies among videogamers is irrelevant. The people responsible for this kind of harassment need to go to prison.