HOWEVER WE SHOULDN’T LOOK FOR SUPERHEROES IN POLITICS: Nicolás Maduro promises to use new powers to rescue Venezuelan economy. When you reach peak socialism, apparently you double down.
Archive for 2016
May 13, 2016
I DON’T KNOW. I THINK WE’LL SEE SUPERHERO STORIES AS LONG AS AMERICANS ARE BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE: Captain America: Peak Superhero?
CREDIT WHERE IT’S LONG OVERDUE: Jim Baen And SF.
LAST I CHECKED PORTUGAL HAD NAMING LAWS, AND THEY WERE ODD: 8 Countries With Fascinating Baby Naming Laws.
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: How I scammed a scammer (well, almost).
SURE. AN HOUR A MONTH IS EMPLOYED. TOTALLY: Is there an actual definition for being employed?
THAT SHOCKED FACE! Protesters are just teachers’ unions in disguise.
MUCH WORSE THAN YOU THINK: Cancerous nonprofits & the monopolization of American health care.
May 12, 2016
DEMOCRATS IN DISARRAY: Wasserman-Schultz running scared from liberal challenger.
TOXIC PEOPLE GONNA DO TOXIC THINGS: The Fempire Strikes Back: Anti- Milo ‘Triggering’ Activist Targeted Student Journalist For Accurate Reporting. When you’re an unattractive, hopeless, and possibly mentally ill SJW (but I repeat myself), you’re going to act out.
TRYING TO RECRUIT KIDS TO JOIN YOUR TERROR GROUP? THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT.
SAFER AND EASIER, TOO: Urine tests for Zika more accurate than blood.
TRAIN WRECK UPDATE: Obamacare: Costs Go Up, Insurers Drop Out and Consumers Get Screwed.
AS BOYISH BEN RHODES DROPS TRUTH BOMBS, OBAMA’S MEDIA MASK CRUMBLES, John Schindler writes in the New York Observer:
This will convince the president’s ardent fans but, one suspects, few others. The real damage the New York Times piece does to Mr. Obama’s legacy is how, using Mr. Rhodes’s own words, it confirms so many negative stereotypes about his administration. First, there’s the enormous self-regard, not always based in achievements, coupled with undisguised contempt for opponents—really, enemies. There’s the overweening sense that they really are the “smartest kids in the room.” Always there’s emphasis on domestic politics at the expense of all else, even deals on nuclear weapons with a country that’s been an avowed enemy of the United States since 1979. Salesmanship, not always consistent with facts, matters more than anything else. Above all they think they can get away with anything, aided by much of our media, whose customary skepticism gets suspended when Mr. Obama or his mouthpieces are doing the talking.
How will this all play out in the long run? If journalism is the promised first draft of history, future scholars will surely find Mr. Rhodes’ interview a fascinating look into Mr. Obama’s two terms in the Oval Office, a penetrating insight into what made Team Obama tick. Much will depend on whether Iran gets an atomic bomb anytime soon, as this White House has assured us now they cannot, thanks to Mr. Obama’s deal. That seems like a risky bet right now.
Do yourself a favor and definitely read the whole thing.
OLDER WOMEN DISCOVER DIVORCE CAN BE UNPLEASANT:
The divorce rate among the over-50s is rising. According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of ‘silver divorces’ has risen by three- quarters in the past 20 years, while the divorce rate among the rest of the population has fallen.
As well as fractured relationships and infidelity, the rise in late-life divorce is also fuelled by women fed up with old-before-their-time husbands and a lack of excitement.
Few of these women anticipate that their silver divorce will cost them all the home comforts and financial security they once took for granted.
Dominik Lipnicki, a housing expert for Your Mortgage Decisions, believes this boom in divorce and the financial instability it can cause is a huge problem for older women.
Well, maybe don’t act on impulse, then. Besides, a man who divorces his wife because he’s fed up with her being old before her time and insufficiently exciting is called a pig. So don’t be a sow.
Plus, a warning for would-be “Julia” types: “I tell myself that I’m one of the lucky ones because the council gave me two bedrooms.”
I BLAME ROSE MARY WOODS: State Department: ‘Glitch’ Caused Key Video Segment on Iran Deception to Go Missing.
MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, ONE STATE AT A TIME: Gov. Greg Abbott’s timeline right now is the red meat conservatives crave.
21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: Get Ready For High-Frequency Lawyers.
HOUSE WINS ITS HISTORIC OBAMACARE LAWSUIT: A federal district judge in D.C., Rosemary Collyer, today ruled in favor of the U.S. House of Representatives in its historic lawsuit against the Obama Administration. Judge Collyer granted the House summary judgment on its claim that the Obama Administration had violated separation of powers by spending money–without any congressional appropriation to do so–on the Affordable Care Act’s so-called “cost sharing subsidies” (subsidies that essentially help low-income individuals pay for out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles and copays).
Judge Collyer back in December had ruled that the House of Representatives had standing to bring its separation of powers claim– which was itself an historic decision. Some of you may recall that my colleague David Rivkin and I have long argued—contrary to many naysayers–that the House would have standing to sue the Administration, and that it would ultimately win its constitutional claim on the merits.
Now that the House has won its constitutional claim on the merits at the trial level, the Obama Administration will appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been packed in recent years with Obama appointees. Depending on how the D.C. Circuit rules, the case may be headed for the Supreme Court.
This is for the Obama Administration, which seems to think it’s above the Constitution:
