FBI: Anarchists May Be Planning Violence At Political Conventions. A number were arrested in a bomb plot at the RNC in 2008.
But will the anarchists be coordinated by AFL-CIO reps again?
Archive for 2012
August 23, 2012
THIS DOES NOT BESPEAK CONFIDENCE: Team Obama breaks precedent to try to spoil Romney’s convention. “Bucking protocol, President Obama and the Democrats are planning a full-scale assault on Republicans next week during their convention.” Wait, “assault?” That sounds kinda violent. I thought the use of such language by politicians and their supporters was dangerously provocative. Of course, you can now assume that Obama operatives are presumptively to blame for any disturbances.
IN THE MAIL: From Steve Forbes, Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets Are Moral and Big Government Isn’t.
CHANGE: Chinese Steel Prices Plummet. “The latest sign that China’s economy is slowing dramatically? A plunge in the price of steel and iron ore. . . . Meanwhile, investors are taking money out of the country, exports have hit a six-month low and growth forecasts are down considerably.” Other than that, China is doing fine.
VITAMIN D UPDATE: Study: Vitamin D Supplements May Protect Against Colds. “Supplementing the diets of kids with low vitamin D levels is strongly associated with a decreased incidence of acute respiratory tract infections (colds). . . . The authors point out that while the study was conducted internationally in a unique environment, the children in this study could be considered analogous to other at-risk populations. A 2009 study in the Archive of Internal Medicine reported that nearly 3 out of 4 adolescents and adults in the United Staes have insufficient vitamin D levels. African American children living in northern states have the highest rates of deficiency. Breast-fed infants and the elderly also tend to suffer from vitamin D deficiencies.”
The 21st Century isn’t turning out like I expected. . . .
INSOMNIA STRIKES, MINORITIES HARDEST HIT: Non-Hispanic whites get more and better-quality sleep than people of other races, studies repeatedly show. Blacks are the most likely to get shorter, more restless sleep. “The idea that race or ethnicity might help determine how well people sleep is relatively new among sleep researchers. But in the few short years that epidemiologists, demographers and psychologists have been studying the link, they have repeatedly come to the same conclusion: In the United States, at least, sleep is not colorblind.”
INSTAVISION: I talk with John Fund about his new book (written with Hans Von Spakovsky), Who’s Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): U.S. middle class set back over last decade-report.
I wonder how those Obama supporters who were expecting something very different are feeling.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Jobless Claims Up Again.
WELL, FAKERY HAS BEEN HER OVERARCHING APPROACH THROUGHOUT: Elizabeth Warren new campaign theme based on doctored video.
EPIC DEFICIT FAILURE: Investor’s Business Daily: Obama Failed To Cut The Deficit In Half, As Promised.
ED MORRISSEY: 4 Ways The GOP Convention Can Win It For Romney.
TODAY ENDS IN “Y,” so I guess it’s time to run that graphic again! You know, the one comparing the Obama Administration’s stimulus promises with what was actually delivered. . . .
But then, it’s always time to do that! And you can click on the image for a bigger version, suitable for sharing, posting by the water cooler at work, or whatever . . . .
THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Child Porn, Coke Smuggling: Hundreds of DHS Employees Arrested Last Year. “Border Patrol agents smuggling weed and coke. Immigration agents forging documents and robbing drug dealers. TSA employees caught with child porn. Those are just a few of the crimes perpetrated by Department of Homeland Security employees in just the past year.” We should abolish the Department of Homeland Security, which has turned out to be just as big a disaster as I predicted back in 2002.
TIM CARNEY ON Rape and pregnancy.
CHARLES GASPARINO: What, Me Work? Outsourcing the Oval Office.
THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: GOP lawmakers rip ATF double dip.
Two key Republicans ripped the Obama administration on Wednesday for allowing an official involved in Operation Fast and Furious to draw a six-figure salary from JPMorgan even as he received a regular government paycheck.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said the ATF let the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) official take a paid leave on the taxpayer’s dime even as he served as executive director of JPMorgan Chase’s Global Security and Investigations Group in the Philippines.
“ATF has essentially facilitated [William] McMahon’s early retirement and ability to double dip for nearly half a year by receiving two full-time paychecks — one from the taxpayer and one from the private sector,” Grassley and Issa wrote in a letter that requested an explanation from the ATF’s acting director.
“Moreover, ATF did not wait for the Office of Inspector General to complete its report on Fast and Furious before approving the arrangement,” the letter said.
I suspect they’re happy to have him out of the country.
THE FRAMERS WOULD DISAGREE: Ina Hughs: Rights come from government, not God. “How silly to say government isn’t the arbiter of our rights as Americans.”
IT’S JUST GOING OUT TO LAW REVIEWS, BUT THROUGH THE MIRACLE OF THE INTERNET, YOU CAN READ IT NOW: Brannon Denning and I have an article on the Supreme Court’s ObamaCare decision and what it means: National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius: Five Takes. Download early and often! (Bumped).
UPDATE: Reader Drew Kelley writes: “C’mon Glenn, that’s been ‘bumped’ more times than a bumper-car on Date-Night.” Hey, in my world SSRN downloads count for a lot. Help me out here.
I DUNNO, LATELY IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS: Tabitha Hale: My Uterus Is Not A Political Tool.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA (CONT’D): Only Half of Fannie Mae’s Previously Foreclosed Homes Are On The Market Or Being Prepared For Sale. It’s almost as if they’re witholding inventory in order to keep housing prices up until the election.
UPDATE: Reader David Smith writes: “That post is an undeserved cheap shot; Ed DeMarco, the FHFA Administrator, has been a model of probity who has resisted Administration calls for dubious bailouts. It takes a long time to pass these gallstones through the system.”
Well, if it was unfair, I apologize — not for being suspicious, given the Administration’s record, but for being suspicious of the wrong guy. On the other hand, there’s this email:
I’ve been trying to buy a house all summer, and my initial direction to the agent was “full price is for suckers”. Short sales and foreclosures only, please. During this process I offered on 3 houses, and in each case (until the 3rd, where I got lucky) I had the distinct impression that the owners/banks were in no hurry to sell. The first one was a foreclosure that needed $20-25K of work, where the asking price was the same as a renovated house with the same floor plan down the street. The second one was very nicely renovated…for $72K more than the same floor plan down the street. And the third one was a renovated short sale for 15% below current market value…that I’m still waiting for HUD to approve the FHA loss from the current owner (bought for $275K in 2007, selling to me for $235K).
During this process it struck me that somebody has made the calculation that it’s smarter financial policy for them to keep these houses empty and pay the upkeep than to accept a discount on the price. Considering that this policy appears to be implemented industry-wide: Fannie Mae, the banks, HUD, is there an argument to be made that the prices are being fixed? Alternately, I’ll be paying as much in mortgage as I am in rent (thanks 3.25% interest rate!) so this won’t impact me until it’s time to sell.
Love the blog, keep up the good work!
James in Denver
At any rate, the overhang suggests that housing prices won’t be making any significant jumps in the near future, with so much inventory still out there to be cleared.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Rob Crawford writes: “I’ve seen multiple homes offered under terms that made no sense unless they didn’t want to sell. One home — that I was seriously tempted to buy as-is — was copper-stripped and water damaged, but only available if you committed to living in it full time for at least a year.”
#OBAMAFAIL: Michelle Obama: ‘Get to the Polls on November the 2.’ “The presidential election this year is November 6.” Well, except in OIHO, where they have early voting. It’s a longstanding Oihoan tradition.