What I wrote in July about the Reid-Boehner-Obama fake bickerfest over the debt-ceiling hike deal:
Fast-forward past the sound and fury…The debt ceiling is going up. Government is getting bigger. Real spending cuts are getting kicked down the can. Entitlement reform is going nowhere. Reid and McConnell will dilute Boehner’s already diluted plan behind closed doors. And everyone in Washington will rush to take credit for nothing much.
Here’s Gingrich in the GOP debate in Iowa, last August:
Today,while speaking to college students in New Hampshire, Gingrich said he would not compromise on taxes if he was a member of the super committee. But he said, he knew from the moment the Super Committee was announced, that it was “hopeless” and made no sense at all.
Democrats were unwilling to agree to anything less than $1 trillion in tax hikes, and unwilling to offer meaningful reforms for health-care entitlement spending.
So this competition for new jobs and businesses and middle-class security, that’s the race I know we can win. But you don’t win it by saying every American is on their own. We’re not going to win it if we just hand out more tax cuts to people who don’t need them, let companies play by their own rules without any restriction, and we just hope somehow that the success of the wealthiest few translates in the prosperity for everybody else.
We have tried that, by the way. We tried it for 10 years. It’s part of what got into the mess that we’re in. It doesn’t work. It didn’t work for Herbert Hoover, when it was called trickle-down economics during the Depression. It didn’t work between 2000 and 2008, and it won’t work today.
Obama is dead wrong. Data from the White House’s own website shows that Hoover increased, rather than cut, spending in the Great Depression, and ran up deficits that were huge by historical standards.
I was wondering why the NYPD had done all of the investigative work on its own. It seemed a little strange to me that the FBI wasn’t involved.
Well, there was a reason why it was the NYPD acting alone that foiled the plot:
New York Police Department investigators sought to get the FBI involved at least twice as their undercover investigation of Jose Pimentel unfolded, the officials said. Both times, the FBI concluded that he wasn’t a serious threat, they said.
The FBI concluded that the 27-year-old Pimentel “didn’t have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own,” one of the officials said.
The suspect, Jose Pimentel, praised Osama bin Laden in posts on his blog, and the New York police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said he had talked about changing his name to “Osama Hussein” to “celebrate” another of his heroes, Saddam Hussein. On the blog, Mr. Pimentel tried to justify the 9/11 attacks and said that Army bases, police stations and airports were necessarily at risk. “People have to understand that America and its allies are all legitimate targets in warfare,” he wrote in May.
His extremist remarks made even like-minded friends nervous, according Kelly.
“Pimentel talked about killing U.S. military personnel returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly Marines and Army personnel,” Mr. Kelly said. “He talked about bombing post offices in and around Washington Heights and police cars in New York City, as well as a police station in Bayonne, N.J.
“Once his bombing campaign began, Mr. Pimentel said the public would know that there were mujahedeen in the city to fight jihad here.”
But apparently none of this caused raised eyebrows at the FBI.
Bob Owens asks, “what is the Justice Department doing these days, other than trying to obstruct congressional investigations?”
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the NYPD busted a lone-wolf terror suspect without the FBI because it didn’t want to waste any time.
“We had to act quickly because he was, in fact, putting this bomb together,” Kelly said of Al Qaeda sympathizer Jose Pimentel.
“He was drilling the holes and it would have been not appropriate for us to let him walk out the door with that bomb.”
He said the Police Department worked with the feds on the case before Pimentel, 27, was arrested Saturday and charged Sunday — but couldn’t wait for their “assessment process” to move in.
“We had to act,” he said.
This puts into question earlier reports that stated that the NYPD had sought the FBI’s help twice to no avail.
Not sure if this means that they had recently sought out the FBI’s help a third time, or if they had been been working with them longer. I’m sure the smoke will clear, eventually.
In case you missed it, over the weekend, West is still on the warpath over Fast and Furiousand made no bones about it on The Huckabee Show. Huck asked, “Will Holder do the President a favor and walk the plank?”
The number of Members of Congress calling for Holder to resign grows each day. However, this is the wrong direction for this investigation to go. Once Holder resigns with all his government pensions and benefits, he is off the hook.
Holder is one fish where the hook needs to be set, he must be indicted and Newell, McMahon and several others should join him in a courtroom defending his use of a Federal Agency to promote this Administration’s anti-gun agenda while breaking US law in the process.
Foolishness that has gotten two US Federal Agents killed and countless hundreds of innocent Mexican citizens killed and wounded.
Congress, show us you really mean to uphold the Constitution you swore to protect. Indict these people now.
Cooking With The Troops is a program started by Bruce McQuain and fellow Blackfivers, Blake Powers and Bob Miller. Its mission is “to provide comfort, nutrition, and hope through four major programs.”
They’re holding a fund raiser that will run until Thanksgiving day. You can donate, here.
It really is simple: Donate so we can help the wounded, their families, and the U.S. and Allied troops on the line. There is no such thing as too small a donation, because they all can and do add up into something grand. So, please don’t hesitate as all are appreciated and needed!
To give you an idea of what your donations can mean:
$10: covers the costs of napkins for a typical event
$20: covers the costs to feed a meal to a wounded warrior or family member at a European event
$50: covers the cost of disposable plates for an event
$100: covers the cost of drinks for a typical event
$250: covers the cost for all paper goods at an event
$500: covers most or all of the cost of meats for a typical barbecue
$1,000: covers most or all of the cost of airfare to send a guest chef to a European event
We were honored to welcome the group’s CEO, C. Blake Powers, a fellow Blackfive blogger of Bruce’s, to Pundit Review Radio. Blake told us about the group, some of the great events they have held, including on Veterans Day at the NASDAQ. The reception that CWWT has received has been phenomenal. To keep things going, they need our support. You can help them and learn more by visiting their website.
Here’s C. Blake Powers talking about Cooking with the Troops:
How do you describe the indescribable? In some respects, the event done by at the NASDAQ MarketSite by Cooking with the Troops and NASDAQ OMX truly was indescribable. After all, how can one describe the feelings that come from bringing together veterans from WWII to present with those currently serving? How can you describe the joy that came from being able to bring in those in uniform in to watch the cooking demos and for a magnificent lunch? How can one say thank you to all who made it possible?
After all, this is a day that started with a surprise, and what a surprise it was. Blue Nile, the leading online retailer of diamonds and fine jewelry, made it possible for wounded warrior Timothy G. Strobel to propose to his love Jennifer. He was a medic who survived a great deal in Iraq, but was severely wounded in the leg. He refused amputation of his leg, and has worked to walk again when told that it wouldn’t happen. He met Jennifer during that time, and he credits her love and support for his recovery. Blue Nile not only provided the ring and other items, but worked with Fox & Friends (you can see video of this from Fox here, tissue alert) to make the surprise happen. Jennifer thought she was being interviewed because he couldn’t be present, then had Brian point out a video that was playing on the NASDAQ tower — in which Timothy held up five signs outlining his love for her. As she was watching that, he came up, got down on bended knee, and proposed. He later admitted in an interview that he was more nervous at that moment than during a firefight… Yes, that is Cooking with the Troops in the background, we were screening and trying hard not to let her know something was up (to say there was OPSEC on this is an understatement).
To top their morning off, NASDAQ and Cooking with the Troops provided the couple a special breakfast. Chef Ellen Adams and Chef Kashia Cave prepared and served plates of chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and strawberries on behalf of Cooking with the Troops. The couple enjoyed the breakfast in a very special location prepared for them.
On January 14 of this year, I wrote a piece about all of the craven liberal opportunists who shamelessly jumped on the ‘blame Sarah Palin and the Tea party’ bandwagon in the wake of the Tucson shooting that resulted in nineteen people being shot, including a still recovering Dem Rep Gabrielle Giffords. There were six fatalities in that awful attack.
Ironically, many of the shameless and foolhardy Dems who embraced the false narrative that uncivil Tea Party rhetoric inspired the Tucson shooter – are the same shameless and foolhardy Dems who embraced the truly violent and perverse #OWS movement. Back in January, the MSM did it’s best to push a fictional connection between the Tea Party and the Tucson violence, while in recent weeks, it did it’s best to protect the #Occupy movement from exposure with constant assurances that it was “largely peaceful” – that is – until the violence and moonbattery became too conspicuous to hide. In both cases the inevitable truth would eventually escape past the MSM gatekeepers to the masses.
Now that #OWS is in its death throes, and liberals are busy trying to disassociate themselves from it, I’m happy to do my part exposing those among them who enthusiastically endorsed the #Occupy Freak Show (especially the ones who are up for re-election.) Special derision and demerits goes to those who insultingly tried to compare #OWS to the Tea Party.
“The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side, and that we want to set up a system in which hard work, responsibility, doing what you’re supposed to do, is rewarded,” Obama tells ABC News. “And that people who are irresponsible, who are reckless, who don’t feel a sense of obligation to their communities and their companies and their workers that those folks aren’t rewarded.”
“I understand the frustrations being expressed in those protests,” Obama told ABC News senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper in an exclusive interview from Jamestown, N.C.
“In some ways, they’re not that different from some of the protests that we saw coming from the Tea Party. Both on the left and the right, I think people feel separated from their government. They feel that their institutions aren’t looking out for them,” he said.
“What is the core of that protest, and why is it increasing in terms of the people it’s attracting — the core is the bargain has been breeched with the American people,” Biden said. “The core is the American people do not think the system is fair or on the level…..That is the core of what you’re seeing on Wall Street. And that’s what started, by the way — there’s a lot in common with the Tea Party. The Tea Party started why? TARP. They thought it was unfair — we were bailing out the big guy.”
Except the Tea Party directed its protests not toward Wall Street, but toward Big Government.
During a press conference Thursday afternoon, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi praised those participating in the “Occupy Wall Street” protests. “God bless them,” Pelosi said, “for their spontaneity. It’s independent … it’s young, it’s spontaneous, and it’s focused. And it’s going to be effective.”
Frank said he supports the movement “to the extent that they obey the law” and that he wishes “that kind of energy was around two years ago when we were voting on the financial reform bill. We’d have a tougher bill.”
He said this while in the process of taking more donations from those rich Wall Street “fat cats”.
“We understand their frustration, we applaud their activism and hopefully they’re going to help get the Republicans in Washington’s attention so we shift the Republican’s focus from just Barack Obama’s job, to everyone’s job,” she said of the protesters.
Since the Occupy Wall Street protests started Democrats have been largely supportive of the protests which many lawmakers are using to paint Republicans as out of touch with the concerns of middle-class Americans.
“I think the energy coming out of the Wall Street protesters is always
a good thing. When people non-violently speak out and stand for something,
it’s good to challenge authority when they do that.”
Brown went all in for #OWS with this posting on his campaign website:
“We share the anger and frustration of so many Americans who have seen the enormous toll that an unchecked Wall Street has taken on the overwhelming majority of Americans while benefiting the super-wealthy,” Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said in a joint statement.
“We join the calls for corporate accountability and expanded middle-class opportunity.”
“We have the crooks on Wall Street, and I use that word advisedly—don’t misquote me, the word is ‘crooks’—whose greed, whose recklessness, whose illegal behavior caused this terrible recession with so much suffering. We believe in this country; we love this country; and we will be damned if we’re going to see a handful of robber barons control the future of this country.”
Remarkably, considering the caution of so many elected officials with regard to the protests, Sanders actually called for a toughening of the movement’s anti–Wall Street message. “I applaud those protesters who are out there, who are focusing attention on Wall Street, but what we’ve got to do is put meat on that bone,” he said. “We’ve got to make demands on Wall Street [and] break those institutions up.”
Our junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, stated the obvious October 10 when she told The National memo she thinks Occupy Wall Street. “has become a vehicle for people to vent their frustration with the economy.”
“I share the frustration at how broken Washington has become in forging solutions,” Ms. Gillibrand said.
“I was very surprised, but very pleased, that this group of people just came out. I don’t really think that they have to have any solutions for the problem. It reminds me of the movie “Network,” where the guy just yells out his window, ‘I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) released a Web video praising the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters and calling on Americans to support their efforts:
“Your presence is making a difference. You’re exercising the right every American holds most dear, the right of freedom of expression, and with that expression you’re finally getting the attention of the nation,” said Kucinich in the video released Tuesday.
“Wall Street banks got billion dollar bailouts, yet the American people get austerity,” he added.
“It’s time for all Americans to pay their fair share,” Slaughter, the ranking Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said in a statement. “And I’m so proud to see the Occupy Wall Street movement standing up to this rampant corporate greed and peacefully participating in our democracy.”
According to a report from the Associated Press, Whitehouse was impressed with the cleanliness and orderliness of the Occupy camp.
Despite Senator Whitehouse’s visit to the camp, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and Public Safety Commissioner Pare are still determined to force the Occupy protesters – through legal action – out of Burnside Park.
“Public Safety officials have identified level 3 sex offenders among those occupying the park and the City of Providence has concern for the people staying at night due to this reason,” Lague told New England Post. “We are working to ensure the safety.
Senator Murray understands the frustration that is driving these protests in Seattle and across the country. So many workers and middle class families have been devastated in this economic crisis, and most Americans agree that it’s only fair that big corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share and share in the sacrifice this moment requires.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)appeared on MSNBC’s Politics Nation to lend her voice to Occupy groups across the country:
“The Occupy Wall Street, and the Occupy movement, have made a real difference.”
When asked to comment Wednesday about the deaths and crimes that have occurred around Occupy protests being held across the country, Rep. Maxine Waters said “that’s life and it happens.”
“That’s a distraction from the goals of the protesters,” Waters, who says she supports the Occupy movement, told CNSNews.com after an event at the Capitol sponsored by the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“Let me just say this: Anytime you have a gathering, homeless people are going to show up,” said Waters. “They will find some comfort in having some other people out on the streets with them. They’re looking for food. Often times, the criminal element will invade. That’s life and it happens, whether it’s with protesters or other efforts that go on in this country.
“So I’m not deterred in my support for them because of these negative kinds of things,” said Waters. “I just want them to work at doing the best job that they can do to bring attention to this economic crisis and the unfairness of the system at this time.”
Waters isn’t deterred because she knows the gatekeepers are hard at work characterizing anti-capitalist revolutionaries as frustrated but peaceful protesters.
One of the secret weapons the corrupt mainstream media uses in their never-ending quest to Palace Guard for the left is context. For example, when it came to the Tea Party, the MSM was notorious for amplifying a single incident (that was usually a lie) and using it to attempt to smear and define an entire movement. This is what you do when you want to quickly take out a political enemy.
The MSM’s contextual game changes, however, when their desire is to strengthen a movement and give it credibility and room to grow. By dutifully reporting individual incidents but not reporting on the growing scope and size of Occupy Wall Street lawlessness, the MSM is willfully covering up the violence, vandalism, and anti-Semitism that truly does define this movement.
See Nolte’s Rap Sheet, which now has over 300 #OWS violations listed, at the link.
Finally, via The Jawa Report, a side by side comparison of Tea Party vs. #Occupy infractions. As you can see, there is no comparison, and those who tried to make one were trying to put lipstick on a pig.
Nice Deb 