The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Nov. 13: ObamaCare Failure Day

Posted on | November 13, 2013 | 67 Comments

Historians should mark this day on their calendars as the point at which the failure became obviously irretrievable.

Troubled HealthCare.gov unlikely
to work fully by end of November
— Washington Post

White House officials get earful
from Democrats on Obamacare
— CNN

Obamacare is in much more trouble
than it was one week ago
— Ezra Klein

Kathleen Sebelius had a conference call today to announce how many people had signed up for ObamaCare — about 100,000 so far, of whom about a quarter enrolled through the glitchy website:

Some 106,185 people signed up for Obamacare in its first month of operation, a period marred by major technological problems with both the federal and state enrollment websites.
Fewer than 27,000 Americans selected an insurance plan through the federal healthcare.gov site, which is handling enrollment for 36 states, according to figures released Wednesday by the Obama administration. . . .
Nearly 79,400 people signed up for coverage through state-based exchanges, with California leading the way with nearly 35,400 selecting a plan. States have also been battling system errors, with Oregon having yet to accept online applications.
These figures reflect people who have selected insurance plans through the exchanges, but not necessarily paid for them. Americans have until Dec. 15 to pay if they want coverage to begin on Jan. 1. Open enrollment lasts through March 31.

“HealthCare.gov has been a complete disaster for the administration. It’s clear that they’ve been low-balling what to expect, and I’m not quite sure they low-balled it enough.”
— Gloria Borger, CNN

The sign-up numbers are just a tiny fraction of the millions who have lost health insurance because of ObamaCare-caused cancellations.

 

Category: Barack Obama, Health Care

Why Do @MaxBlumenthal Fanboys Hate @AlanaGoodman and @RosieGray?

Posted on | November 13, 2013 | 21 Comments

Because They Hate would be an acceptable answer, of course, but after BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray put the spotlight on how Max Blumenthal’s anti-Israel book was being defended by Max’s father, longtime Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal, the hate machine cranked up.

Then today, the Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman reported about a book party that Sid hosted for Max, and the machine went into overdrive:

These people are not merely dishonest. They actively hate truth.




 

 

PREVIOUSLY:

 


Category: Israel

ObamaCare Lie = ‘Incorrect Promise’

Posted on | November 13, 2013 | 36 Comments

“Obama: Anatomy of a World Leader,” by Alex Gray (detail)

“I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”
— Barack Obama, June 3, 2008

Orwellian euphemism from the New York Times:

The split between lawmakers and the White House reflects the dilemma the president finds himself in as he seeks to follow through on last week’s acknowledgment about his incorrect promise on health care coverage.

There’s another Twitchy roundup, including these tweets:

The Twitchy roundup does not, however, include this:

AOSHQ Moron representin’, yo!

 


Category: Barack Obama, Health Care, New York Times

The Politics of Weather

Posted on | November 13, 2013 | 23 Comments

One of the horrors of 21st-century America — a harbinger of creeping totalitarianism — is that everything is becoming political.

Sex is political. Food is political. School is political. And, thanks to the global warming scare, even the weather is now political. Except we don’t even call it “weather” anymore. Now it’s called “climate.”

Silly as they seem, these word games are always significant. Until about 1970, for example, people talked about “outdoors” or “nature.” Once the elite started calling it “the environment,” however, you knew it had become political. It was the same way with sex. People used to talk about “homosexuals.” Once the elite decided to use “gay” instead (as random as this choice may have seemed), it was political.

The change of language from “weather” to “climate” is intended to impress and awe us with the authority of Science. Whereas mere weather is something that anyone can talk about — it’s cool, overcast and windy today — you have to be a scientist to talk about climate. And anyone who doesn’t endorse the Scientific Consensus about global warming is marginalized and demonized as being anti-science.

Dr. Heidi Cullen (and don’t you dare omit that authoritative “doctor” in front of her name, you science-hating sexist) once suggested that “meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if they express skepticism about predictions of man-made catastrophic global warming,” Becca J. Lower reminds us, in explaining how Doctor Cullen smuggled politics into the Philippines typhoon story.

 

Category: Global Warming, Science

LIVE AT FIVESEVEN: 11.13.13

Posted on | November 13, 2013 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Typhoon Aid Convoys Come Under Fire As Relief Efforts Become Logistics Nightmare

A Filipino policeman secures a truckload of relief supplies in Tacloban

Convoys being attacked by Communist guerillas, starving people

Hawaii Senate Passes Gay Marriage Bill
Governor to sign, make state 15th to legalize gay marriages


Netanyahu Blocks Plans To Build New Settler Homes
Wants no diversions from lobbying effort against Iranian nukes



POLITICS
Poll: President’s Popularity Plunges As Namesake Program Stumbles

Distrusted by over 50% of Americans! A new low!

Quinnipiac poll shows 39% overall approval rating; ironically, only thing Americans trust him on is handling terrorism

Another ObamaCare Fix Promised As Bill Clinton Criticizes Rollout

Wisconsin Governor Walker Reveals Violence, Death Threats In Upcoming Autobiography

Republicans Block Key Obama Court Appointee In Senate Vote

Obama DHS Pick Facing Tough Questions From Civil Liberties And Human Rights Groups

Is Obama Conducting A Purge Of The Military?



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Rebounds In Asia After Sharp Stateside Drop: NYMEX $93.20, Brent $106.00
Obama Claims Economy Is Growing Thanks To Dodd-Frank Reforms
Starbucks Ordered To Pay $2.76 Billion To Kraft In Packaged Coffee Row
Euro Stocks Fall As Investors Weigh Earnings
Fed Taper Talk Sends Emerging Stocks To Two-Month Lows
Gold Hits One-Month Low On Prospects For Fed Taper
Apple’s New iPad Mini Already Seeing Black Friday Price Slashes
Netflix Service Sees A TV Makeover
What’s Behind Italy’s Love For WinPhones?
Airbnb Makes Lodging Listing All Mobile
Android Dominates 81% Of World Smartphone Market



SPORTS
Pirates’ Hurdle, Indians’ Francona Named Managers Of The Year

Hurdle led the Pirates to their first postseason since 1992

Francona narrowly edges Boston’s Farrell in BBWAA vote

Hill Comes Up Big As Lakers Pound Pelicans

Sam Hurd Opens Up About Drug Use In The NFL

Sabres Edge Kings In Shootout

Warriors Dismantle Pistons 113-95

Blue Jackets Fall To Capitals In OT

Heat Blows Out Bucks

Habs Lose To Lightning In Shootout

Black Caps Grab Unlikely ODI Win Over Sri Lanka

Trent Jewett Leaves Nationals Coaching Staff For Mariners



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Comp Sci Student Pleads Guilty In Miss Teen USA Extortion Case

Miss Teen California Cassidy Wolf is crowned

Hacked entrants’ computers, threatened to publish nude photos

Jennifer Lawrence On Hollywood, Women, And Body Image

Justin Timberlake: #Hashtag Of The Year

Unspeakable Armenian Pulled Over On LA Freeway, Mayhem Ensues

Zac Efron Breaks Jaw After Accidental Fall At Home

Brazilian Model Tati Neves Has Nice Things To Say About Justin Bieber…In Bed

California Dreaming: Kate Hudson

Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner To Adapt “Ghost” As Series For Paramount TV

Kelly Clarkson Plays Coy On Pregnancy Question



FOREIGNERS
UK Unemployment Drops To 7.6% In Third Quarter
PRC’s State Security Committee Shows Xi’s Clout
Palestinian Teen Stabs, Kills Israeli Soldier
Top Indian Cop Under Fire For “Enjoy Rape” Remark, Apologizes
Ukraine Parliament Fails To Agree On Tymoshenko Release
Egypt Lifting State Of Emergency
Syrian Army Retakes Town South Of Damascus
Prince Of Wales Accuses Supermarkets Of Putting The Squeeze On Farmers
Syria’s Kurds Move Toward Autonomous Region, Announce Transitional Government



BLOGS & STUFF
The First Street Journal: Scoring Obaminablecare
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: Who Knew That People With Graduate Degrees Were Such Racists?
Doug Powers: Who Will Be Counted As An Obamacare Enrollee?
Twitchy: Do You Got “Ho-Surance”? “Bro-Surance” Creators Branch Out, Set Sights On Lady Parts
The People’s Cube: If You Liked ObamaCare, You’ll Love ObamaCar
American Power: Congressional Democrats Give Obama 72 Hours To Fix Obamacare
American Thinker: Dangerous Times – Obama And The Crisis Of Evil
The Necropolitan Sentinel: Obamacare Watch – Skeptical About The Websites Working In Time
Don Surber: Daily Scoreboard, November 12
Jammie Wearing Fools: O’Keefe Gets Results – One Obamacare Navigator Fired, Three Suspended After Being Exposed On Video
Pat Dollard: Fox News Continues To Destroy Its Competition
Protein Wisdom: Introversion Isn’t Obama’s Problem, His Inability To Tell The Truth Is
Shot In The Dark: Carpetbaggers – Of Moo And Cow
The Jawa Report: Last Jew In Afghanistan Not So Positive About Americans
The Lonely Conservative: The Food Police Are At It Again
Megan McArdle: Venezuela’s Economic War On Itself


Category: Live at Five

Richard Cohen and a Plate Glass Window

Posted on | November 12, 2013 | 31 Comments

It probably seemed like a good idea: Trash Iowa, trash the Tea Party — an easy day’s work for a Washington Post columnist, and hey, why not throw in a cheap shot at Sarah Palin for good measure?

. . . Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah (considered to the right of Cruz, if such a thing is possible), Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the party’s recent vice presidential candidate and its resident abacus, and the inevitable Sarah Palin, the Alaska quitter who, I think, actually now lives in Arizona. If this is the future of the GOP, then it’s in the past.
None of these candidates bears the slightest resemblance to Christie. And the more literate of them — that’s not you, Palin —– must have chortled over post-election newspaper columns extolling Christie as precisely the sort of candidate the GOP ought to run in 2016.

His publisher hailed the column as “brilliant,” but it was just another 750 words of the useless op-ed drivel Richard Cohen has been getting paid to write for decades. Except . . .

Richard Cohen Has Written Something
Insane About Interracial Marriage 
— Gawker

Richard Cohen on Black-White Marriage
— The Atlantic Monthly

Racist Op-Ed Columns Are
a Strange Business Strategy 
— Slate

Yeah, he went there, thinking to make a clever attack on conservatives without considering the fact that the Young Turks of the online Left have had him on their target list for some time. It’s not fair that this old liberal should have that prime op-ed real estate, you see.

These Young Turks wanted Cohen gone, and his clumsy race-baiting (even though aimed at Republicans) was sufficiently offensive that they decided (in the memorable phrase of Spencer Ackerman) to smash Richard Cohen through a plate glass window.

Should we care? Probably not.

Richard Cohen says that his latest piece was not intended to be and shouldn’t be read as racist.
“The word racist is truly hurtful,” he told The Huffington Post on Tuesday. “It’s not who I am. It’s not who I ever was. It’s just not fair. It’s just not right.” . . .
“The column is about Tea Party extremism and I was not expressing my views, I was expressing the views of what I think some people in the Tea Party held.”

Oh, it’s not fair, eh?

Good luck with that argument.

UPDATE: Twitchy has an excellent round-up of Twitter reaction.

Indeed, what Cohen said “about Tea Party extremism” is not really different from what the Left has been saying about the Right for years. But he was standing on a banana peel — an old liberal with a prestigious gig, resented by ambitious young pundits — and didn’t realize that this shot at the Right might ricochet around and hit him.

 

Category: Liberals, Media Bias

A Maryland Criminal Arrest Warrant Was Issued Today for Bill Schmalfeldt

Posted on | November 12, 2013 | 95 Comments

From District Court of Carroll County, John Hoge reports.

It’s all fun and games until somebody goes to jail.

UPDATE: What I wrote Sunday:

After John Hoge asked the Court to enforce its peace order against deranged cyberstalker Bill Schmalfeldt, the latter decided he had not yet shown sufficient contempt of court, as Hoge explains:

He began tweeting to me within an hour-and-a-half of the judge’s ruling on the 16th, and he’s kept it up. . . .
So how has the Cabin Boy responded? He’s begun tweeting to me at an even greater rate.

Potential penalties are mounting, and why? Most likely because Schmalfeldt believes no judge would actually order him arrested.

It would appear Schmalfeldt has miscalculated.

UPDATE II: Y’know, it seems a mighty hard thing to arrest a guy for Twitter messages, and I feel sorry for Bill Schmalfeldt.

Or, at least, I did feel sorry for him, and then I remembered Lee Stranahan: “Bill Schmalfeldt: The Stranger Who Harassed My Family.”

UPDATE III: Linked by Matt Ross at Conservative Hideout — thanks! — and Aaron Walker comments at length, ending with: “Sometimes Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it Schmalfeldt?”

 


Category: Bill Schmalfeldt, Crime

Veterans: The Next Generation

Posted on | November 12, 2013 | 39 Comments

— Wombat-socho


There’s never been any shortage of military vets among SF writers, the most obvious example being Robert Heinlein. More recently, David Drake and Joe Haldeman have sold a fair amount of books informed by their experiences in Vietnam, and between the Gulf Wars and Afghanistan, it should surprise nobody that we have a new crop of authors whose combat SF has overtones colored by the most recent wars.


We’ve discussed John Ringo before, and in truth he’s more of a Cold War figure. Mike Williamson and Tom Kratman, on the other hand…definitely products of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. For those of you that came in late, “Mad” Mike Williamson made a big splash with Freehold, the tale of a UN supply sergeant who flees to the libertarian world of Grainne to escape a frame, only to discover she’s jumped from the frying pan into the fire when the UN invades to reduce the rebellious “colony” to obedience. Freehold was followed by The Weapon and Rogue, which showed different aspects (and the aftermath) of the UN/Grainne war, and these in turn were followed by a First Contact novel, Contact with Chaos. Other books set in the same universe include the Ripple Creek series, starting with Better to Beg Forgiveness, in which a Grainne-based bodyguard outfit takes on the protection of various notables, sometimes with the “help” of UN security forces. In a stark contrast to portrayals of the UN in SF from the 1950s, Williamson’s UN is an extrapolation of the present highly dysfunctional organization into an even more dysfunctional world government, where effectiveness doesn’t count nearly as much as connections and appearance. The UN colonies depicted in the Ripple Creek stories are all Third World hellholes, dumping grounds for the troublesome and annoying minorities who couldn’t afford the ticket to Grainne or couldn’t stand the idea of not being able to oppress their neighbors. Despite all this, Williamson doesn’t lecture you about how awesome libertarianism is; he just lays out the background and tells a damn good action story. I recommend all of the preceding most enthusiastically.


Tom Kratman, on the other hand…took a while for me to warm up to him. I skipped his debut novel A State of Disobedience after reading sample chapters and finding it more of a polemical technothriller than I wanted to deal with, and the same was true of his collaboration with John Ringo, Watch on the Rhine: Die Wacht am Rhein, a Posleen War side novel showing a Germany so desperate for (effective) troops that they combed the old soldiers’ homes and hospices for SS veterans to put through rejuv. This time the polemic came with a side order of (what I felt at the time was) gratuitous gore and horror, but at least I finished it – and revised my opinion later. The breakthrough came with Caliphate, a brutal novel that could have been written by Bruce Bawer or Mark Steyn but wasn’t.* Caliphate is the world we get after The Camp of the Saints (or Steyn’s America Alone, if you prefer) becomes our future, where an America that has become an empire faces off against a Muslim Eurasia. Most of the story revolves around a German girl sold as a slave to pay her family’s jizya and her brother, taken to serve as a Janissary, and what happens to them as an American spy on a mission lands in what used to be Germany. After that, I picked up A Desert Called Peace, in which the specter of global jihad stalks a new Earth light-years away – and one man, whose wife and children were slain in that world’s equivalent to 9/11, finds himself with the means to exact an epic revenge, despite the interference of the UN. Kratman has some things to say in this series about the feminization of the US military (see The Amazon Legion) and the general uselessness of the EU militaries (Come and Take Them) but by and large the Carrera novels are much in the style of Caliphate: brutal, unsparing looks at wars and what it takes to win them. Recommended.
Kratman is also working on another series, jokingly referred to as “Grumpy Old Men Goes To War”, which begins with Countdown: The Liberators. Can’t tell you what I think because I haven’t read it or its sequels. Yet.

*Mark helpfully reviewed Caliphate along with Robert Ferrigno’s Prayers for the Assassin for Macleans here.


Category: Books
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