Conservative Happenings

Thursday, May 28, 2015

It’s Official: “WTF” Is Now In The Dictionary….

Example: WTF were Americans thinking when they elected President Pantywaist in 2008 and again in 2012?

(CNN) – It’s official: WTF is in the dictionary. It’s short for an informal phrase that starts with “what the …” and is “used especially to express or describe outraged surprise, recklessness, confusion, or bemusement.”

WTF joins emoji, NSFW, net neutrality, clickbait, click fraud, photobomb and other words reflecting modern life among the latest entries in Merriam-Webster’s unabridged dictionary. Some 1,700 words have been included, along with 3,200 new examples to add context.

The new entries speak to what’s current in the English language today, touching on technology, food, the worldwide food supply and the sharing economy.

In the world of food, we have crema: “a layer of tan creamy froth that forms on the top of freshly made espresso.”

And what’s not to love about chilaquiles, “a Mexican dish of fried corn tortilla pieces simmered with salsa or mole and typically topped with cheese and other accompaniments”?

Not all the dictionary’s additions are that delicious.

There’s colony collapse disorder, “a disorder of honeybees (Apis mellifera) that is characterized by sudden colony death due to the disappearance of all adult worker bees in a hive while immature bees, the queen bee and the honey remain and that is of unknown cause.”

Via: Weasel Zippers

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[VIDEO] MEGYN KELLY RIPS OBAMA SPOX JOSH EARNEST, SAID HE REMINDS HER OF ‘THE JERK’

In disbelief of Josh Earnest’s comments suggesting the Obama strategy against ISIS is successful, Megyn Kelly said she had to read his comments three times just to understand it, referring to it as ‘nonsense’. After Brit Hume weighed in on it, Kelly then played a clip from ‘The Jerk’ saying this is what Josh Earnest reminded her of after his comments today.

Watch:

Via: The Right Scoop

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Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Report: How Corrupt FIFA Is Tied to Clinton Foundation

From The Daily Beast: Corrupt FIFA Has Clinton Foundation Ties; World Cup Host Qatar Gave Millions

Both Bill Clinton and his family’s charity have been tied to soccer’s governing body, as well as Qatar’s disastrous World Cup bid.

By Jackie Kucinich, The Daily Beast

And just like that, another Clinton Foundation donor is in the news.

The Clinton global charity has received between $50,000 and $100,000 from soccer’s governing body and has partnered with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association on several occasions, according to donor listings on the foundation’s website.

Several top FIFA executives were arrested Wednesday in Zurich and face corruption charges stretching back two decades, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Involvement with the embattled body extends beyond the foundation to Bill Clinton himself. The former president was an honorary chairman of the bid committee put together to promote the United States as a possible host nation for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

When the U.S. lost the 2022 bid to Qatar, Clinton was rumored to be so upset he shattered a mirror.

Via: The Daily Beast

D.C. Requests Stay on Ruling Declaring Gun Law Unconstitutional

Update: Plaintiffs file motion asking D.C. be held in contempt of court (Updated)

Wikimedia Commons

BY: Stephen Gutowski
May 26, 2015 7:42 pm

Update, 8:56 P.M.: The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a motion asking Judge Frederick J. Scullin to hold the District of Columbia in contempt of court. The request comes after the Metropolitan Police Department sent a letter to one applicant notifying him the city would not be issuing him a permit for at least another 90 days despite Scullin’s ruling. The letter said the 90 day period was to allow the city’s attorneys time to clarify the ruling but the Second Amendment Foundation said in their motion the ruling was clear and the city is not complying with it.

The District of Columbia has filed a request for a stay on last Monday’s ruling declaring part of the city’s gun carry law unconstitutional.

“In its Order, the Court misinterpreted and misapplied the relevant case law and, as shown below, a careful balancing of the interests demonstrates that a stay of the Order, and an immediate administrative stay, should issue so that the District may pursue its appellate rights,” the city said in its filing.

“This injunction has important public safety consequences, if for no other reason than it will result in an increase in the number of guns carried publicly,” the city added.

The May 18th order from Judge Frederick J. Scullin, which issued a preliminary injunction against the District, prevents the city government from enforcing the “good reason” requirement embedded in its gun carry law. That requirement said applicants must prove to the city’s chief of police that they have a good reason to carry a gun.

Critics claimed that the “good reason” requirement allowed few permits to be issued; they also argued that it violates the Second Amendment.

Via: WFB

‘ObamaCare is penalizing me for pursuing my dreams!’

No, I don’t “got insurance”: ObamaCare makes coverage unaffordable for dream-chasing entrepreneurs.

In a Midtown specialist’s office, I confessed the secret that’s been weighing on my mind.

“My health insurance expires at the end of May,” I told the doctor.

I had a lot of questions for him: How much does an uninsured visit cost? What is the fewest number of follow-ups we can do this year? Do you have payment plans available to patients paying cash?

I’ve been down the uninsured path before, having spent my post-college years waiting tables and freelance writing. I know the risks involved, but I also know what information I need to make sure I’m relatively safe and mostly healthy.

My doctor looked confused. “Well, you’re required to have it now, right? So you’ll be covered?”

If only it were that simple.

ObamaCare has hit people like me the hardest. I left a desk job at The Post to dedicate my time to teaching yoga and developing a career in health and wellness (the irony of sacrificing my health insurance for this is not lost on me).

I’m teaching on a freelance basis. My husband is also a full-time freelancer, or a “perma-lance,” if you will. Our household income puts us just barely in the lower-middle-class bracket.

And we will end up paying top dollar to have any type of insurance.

So we’ve decided we’re just going to pay the Affordable Care Act’s individual-mandate penalty: 2 percent of household income or $325 per person, whichever is more (of course).

Via: New York Post

Giant Cable Companies Merging Is Bad for You; Only Savior Is an Uber for the Internet

How much do you like your cable and Internet service provider? The answer is likely to fall on the spectrum from “strongly dislike” to “it is the literal spawn of the devil.”

We all generally feel this way and yet we’re not really sure what to do about it. These guys are the Goliaths and we’re a bunch of Davids. And now the Goliaths want to team up.

Earlier this year, we almost had the Comcast and Time Warner Cable merger, which thankfully never made it off the ground. Now with Comcast, the Goliath-est of the cable/internet providers, on the sidelines, we have the making of a new super-Goliath, with Charter Communications attempting to purchase Time Warner Cable for approximately $55 billion and Bright House Networks for $10.4 billion.

This is bad news for you and will only make the cable company you have and hate now more hateable. And the sad thing is, David can actually beat Goliath — we’ve seen it happen. It’s why the solution is an Uber for the Internet.

On a recent Uber trip, the driver missed a couple turns, causing the trip to last a few minutes longer than it should have been. The driver was cool about it and apologetic — not a huge deal. I gave him 5 stars but made a note about the turn mishaps. The next day I was refunded a third of the trip with a quick email saying sorry. They didn’t have to do it, but that small gesture doesn’t phase Uber and makes me a more loyal customer.

Uber cares if you have a bad experience. Uber gives a shit — whereas your cable and Internet company DGAF. Have you ever had a service interruption and your Internet wasn’t working properly for a couple hours, or days? Ever try to call up your Internet service provider and get some sort of rebate? Please. Your Internet provider doesn’t ultimately care if you have shitty service. There’s no incentive for them to win you over. In most areas, between two-thirds and three-quarters of the country, there is no other Internet option. What are you going to do, stop using the Internet? ‘Ha ha you have no say in the matter, so write your congressman or something (by the way, we own them too).’

Via: Mediaite

California:Small Measures Can Provide Large Benefits to Taxpayers

Those who follow the political machinations in Sacramento might well conclude that not much good emerges from the California Legislature. Gas taxes, attacks on home ownership, a tax increase on commercial property, ever-expanding pension deficits, high speed rail, there seems an endless list of proposals for which the average taxpayer is supposed to foot the bill, while others receive the benefit.

With all this bad news, it is easy to overlook some relatively obscure bills that could have an oversized beneficial impact on taxpayers.

Assembly Bill 809 by Assembly Member Jay Obernolte (Hesperia) is a proposal that will aid local voters deciding on tax measures by providing some much needed transparency. Under current law, there is no word limit requirement on the ballot label – the descriptive information that appears on the ballot — for local tax measures. The ballot label is the last thing most citizens see before casting their vote. The label is often filled with whole paragraphs explaining how the funds will be spent, but little or no information that helps voters determine what it will cost them.

AB809 states that the ballot label will include the tax rate increase, its duration, and a revenue estimate of what it will generate annually. If voters approve a county-wide sales tax increase for 30-40 years, they should at least be fully aware of the cost in the years to come. By placing this information in the ballot label, voters can make informed decisions that will best benefit their communities.

Via: California Political Review

San Andreas Ready to Blow – In Theaters and In Real Life

Admit it, there's nothing more fun than sitting in a dark theatre, munching on a bucket of buttery popcorn, and watching the Earth get demolished. In the latest round of catastrophic flicks, California is destroyed as the famous San Andreas Fault unleashes unimaginable (and unrealistic) devastation across the state.

The new film, San Andreas, depicts the rupture of an unknown fault near the Hoover Dam in Nevada, which gets the destructive ball rolling by setting off powerful earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault. And although earthquakes are nothing new to Californians, and pose serious threats along the famous fault, Hollywood has once again thrown caution (and science) to the wind in order to feed our catastrophic needs.

The San Andreas Fault is a very real hazard. At almost 800 miles long, the fault marks the boundary where the North American plate meets the Pacific plate. And it's the movement of these plates against each other that cause the powerful quakes characteristic to the region.

A recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the inevitability of just such a quake, which is predicted to hit within the next couple of decades.

"The new likelihoods are due to the inclusion of possible multi-fault ruptures, where earthquakes are no longer confined to separate, individual faults, but can occasionally rupture multiple faults simultaneously," lead author of the study and USGS scientist, Ned Field says. "This is a significant advancement in terms of representing a broader range of earthquakes throughout California's complex fault system."

The study shows that the likelihood of a magnitude 8 or larger earthquake in the next 30 years has risen from about 4.7 percent to around 7 percent, based on recent findings. However, the area most at risk is along the southern end of the fault, not the northern end near San Francisco.

Via: The Science Times

Senate GOP Backing Plan to Extend Obamacare Subsidies

In preparation for a decision by the Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare subsidies, a number of Senate Republicans are backing a plan that would temporarily restore them for current enrollees.

According to Politico, 31 senators have signed onto a bill authored by Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson that would extend the subsidies through September 2017 but, at the same time, repeal Obamacare's individual and employer mandates and insurance coverage requirements.

Special: Expose Finds Elite 1% Use a Secret Cancer Therapy

"In that moment of what could be political chaos, we're offering such a reasonable proposal that solves a mess," Johnson said, according to Politico. "It fixes a mess caused by a sloppily written law, unlawfully implemented. All we're asking for is a little bit of freedom back, which would be, I think, pretty popular."

The measure has the backing of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP leadership, as well as a number of lawmakers who are facing tough re-elections.

But Johnson's plan is unlikely to gain support from the White House or Senate Democrats.

The president has already been clear that he will not support legislation that would undermine the main tenets of Obamacare.

And Republican colleagues in the House are also unlikely to sign on, Politico said.

"If you're voting for an extension, you're essentially voting for the continuation of Obamacare — that's a real problem," said Republican Study Committee Chairman Bill Flores, according to Politico.

Via: Newsmax

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How Hillary Politicized Benghazi

The 848 emails that were released last week are a small fraction of Hillary Clinton’s emails, but they are sufficient to paint a troubling picture of what Clinton knew about Benghazi, when she knew it, and how she politicized the tragedy. The emails show that within hours after the attacks on the Special Mission Compound (SMC) and Annex in Libya that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, Clinton received information from Sidney Blumenthal, a former associate and longtime friend, that offered a very different narrative from what the White House claimed were the cause of the attacks. Specifically, the Blumenthal September 12 and 13, 2012 emails report the attacks were planned and carried out by an Islamist militia group, Ansar al-Sharia, which is in sharp contrast to early White House claims that the attacks were a spontaneous reaction by enraged Muslims to an internet video that depicted the prophet Mohammed in an offensive manner. If Clinton had publicly disclosed the Blumenthal emails immediately however, she would have contradicted the White House’s version of events and increased the risk of political damage to President Obama’s bid for re-election. Faced with the choice of disclosing the Blumenthal emails or remaining silent for political reasons, Clinton chose the latter.

The following is an account of events that led to the murder of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi. With the exception of references to Clinton’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, all of the facts, dates and people presented below are based on information contained in the newly released emails.

Everyone knew that a U.S. presence in Libya was dangerous. In 2011, there was a continuing concern over the safety of American personnel in Libya. As early as April 2011, then-Special Envoy Christopher Stevens and his team remained in their hotel, “moving only for meetings as required.” By April 9, 2011, Clinton received an email that Stevens was doing a “phased checkout” and was considering leaving Benghazi. Clinton also received an email on April 24, 2011 that hotels were being targeted and that Stevens would be making a written request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for added security at the hotel and for better security-related coordination.

Via: American Thinker

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Bernie Sanders' Foul Socialist Odor By Michelle Malkin

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced his candidacy for president on Tuesday, May 26, 2015: "We begin a political revolution to transform our country economically, politically, socially and environmentally," he told a crowd in Burllington, Vt. (AP File Photo)

Socialist genius Bernie Sanders has figured out what's really ailing America.

Our store shelves have too many different brands of deodorant and sneakers. Just look at all those horrible, fully stocked aisles at Target and Walgreens and Wal-Mart and Payless and DSW and Dick's Sporting Goods. It's a national nightmare! If only consumers had fewer choices in the free market, fewer entrepreneurs offering a wide variety of products and fewer workers manufacturing goods people wanted, Sanders believes, we could end childhood hunger.

Nobody parodies the far left better than far-leftists themselves.

In an interview with financial journalist John Harwood on Tuesday, Sanders detailed his grievances with an overabundance of antiperspirants and footwear. "You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country. I don't think the media appreciates the kind of stress that ordinary Americans are working on."

Try to suppress a snicker: Sanders, Decider of Your Sanitary and Footwear Needs, is casting himself as the Everyman in touch with "ordinary Americans" to contrast his campaign with Hillary "my Beltway lobbyist and foreign agent operator Sid Blumenthal is just a friend I talk to for advice" Clinton.

Via: CNS News

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[VIDEO] Did MSNBC President Phil Griffin Commit Perjury?

Ed Schultz is a classic school yard bully.

So it makes perverse sense that the deposition of MSNBC President Phil Griffin turned into a show and tell exhibit, with the MSNBC president forced to read back all the emails Schultz sent his ex-business partner Michael Queen promising him a piece of the pie.

And that was even before Griffin volunteered that he was just so impressed with Schultz when he thought he saw him ask a question at Barack Obama’s first presidential news conference.

The Mirror has exclusively obtained the video of Griffin’s deposition on September 4, 2014 at NBC headquarters in New York. Lawyers presented Griffin with email after email that Schultz wrote to Queen making clear they had partnered to get Schultz a TV show.

Abbott had Griffin read the emails aloud and then asked if Schultz ever discussed them with him.

The point was that Schultz deliberately cut Queen out of the loop when he inked a deal with Griffin. About 15 minutes into the deposition, Catfish Abbott, the trial lawyer for Queen, gave Griffin a June 7, 2008 email from Schultz to Queen about the show pilot.

Like a chastened schoolboy, Griffin [at 14:30 on the video] dutifully read it aloud.

Via: Daily Caller

OBAMA’S OFFICE OF DIGITAL STRATEGY BIGGER THAN GEORGE W. BUSH’S ENTIRE PRESS STAFF

President Obama, long heralded as the ‘First Digital President,’ has built up his Office of Digital Strategy to includes 14 employees.

The Washington Post’s Julia Eilperin examines Obama’s rapid shift to digital media, creating their own content to engage users not only in the United States but around the world. The team creates specialized content to engage with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Medium, Instagram, YouTube, and even Google+.

According to the article, Obama’s 14-member staff of the White House Office of Digital Strategy is larger than the entire press secretary’s office of George W. Bush in 2005 — a crew of 12.

In June 2009, Obama himself only had a 13 person press staff.

Via: Breitbart

Loretta Lynch's Justice Department Just Launched a Full-Blown Offensive Against FIFA

May 27, 2015 Loretta Lynch's Justice Department unsealed a 47-count indictment Wednesday morning laden with racketeering, corruption and conspiracy charges against 14 people associated with FIFA, the world soccer association, and international soccer organizations.

It's the latest in a series of high-profile moves from the Justice Department since Lynch became attorney general last month, including its investigations into police misconduct in Baltimore. The indictment was born out of the Eastern District of New York, where Lynch served as U.S. attorney until her confirmation.

According to a Justice Department release, the defendants include high-ranking FIFA officials—including two of the organization's vice presidents—officials from soccer associations "that operate under the FIFA umbrella," and South American and U.S. marketing executives. The indictment comes as FIFA is slated to hold an election Friday for president; it had beenexpected that the current leader, Sepp Blatter, will get a fifth term in office.

(RELATED: John McCain Wants FIFA to Take the World Cup Away From Russia)

In a statement, Lynch said the Justice Department plans to work with other nations to "end corrupt practices" within FIFA and "root out misconduct."

"The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States," Lynch said in a statement. "It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. And it has profoundly harmed a multitude of victims, from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the revenue generated by the commercial rights these organizations hold, to the fans at home and throughout the world whose support for the game makes those rights valuable."

The Justice Department's actions against FIFA officials and associates have spanned continents in just the last few hours. In the early morning in Zurich, Swiss law enforcementarrested seven of the defendants "at the request of the United States." And department officials reported that the Miami headquarters of CONCACAF, the organization governing soccer in the Americas, was served with a search warrant Wednesday morning. The president of CONCACAF, Jeffrey Webb, was one of the defendants named in the indictment who was arrested in Zurich Wednesday. His predecessor, Jack Warner, was also named in the indictment. Two corporations and four individual defendants named in the indictment have already pled guilty.

Via: National Journal

[VIDEO] Minimum Wage Increase Trickle Down Effect: Michigan's Big Show

Via: You Tube

[VIDEO] Harf highlight reel: State Dept. spokeswoman leaving post

From suggesting combating ISIS with jobs to dismissing questions about Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's conduct as "rumor," spokeswoman Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has woven a rich tapestry as the voice of the State Department.

But she's moving on.

The department announced late Tuesday that starting June 1, Harf will be moving out of the briefing room and beginning a "new role" as senior adviser for strategic communications to Secretary of State John Kerry. (Ex-Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has already assumed the role of spokesman, while former deputy spokesman Mark Toner is moving into his old job.)

Here's a look back at some of Harf's more memorable moments:

June 3, 2014: In response to questioning by Fox News at the briefing, Harf downplayed criticism of the recently announced trade of five Taliban fighters for Bergdahl.

She downplayed "conflicting reports" and "rumor" when asked about accounts from Bergdahl's platoon-mates that he walked off base.

"There's a lot of rumor and telephone game that's being played here," she said.

After continued questioning, she said: "It happened five years ago."

Bergdahl would later be charged with desertion. Former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal also told Fox News this week it was his initial understanding as well that Bergdahl walked off his base before he disappeared.

Via: Fox News

The Un-Scary Truth About NSA 'Spying'

If the National Security Agency’s bulk data program expires, the coroner should conclude that it was “Death by Bumper Sticker.”

Rarely has a controversial government program been so fiercely debated and so poorly understood. Authorized by soon-to-expire Section 215 of the Patriot Act, it has been brought to the edge of extinction by a couple of simple but inaccurate phrases, including “listening to your phone calls” and “domestic spying.”

You can listen to orations on the NSA program for hours and be outraged by its violation of our liberties, inspired by the glories of the Fourth Amendment and prepared to mount the barricades to stop the NSA in its tracks — and still have no idea what the program actually does.

That’s what the opponents leave out or distort, since their case against the program becomes so much less compelling upon fleeting contact with reality.

The program involves so-called metadata, information about phone calls, but not the content of the calls — things like the numbers called, the time of the call, the duration of the call. The phone companies have all this information, which the NSA acquires from them.

What happens next probably won’t shock you, and it shouldn’t. As Rachel Brand of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board writes, “It is stored in a database that may be searched only by a handful of trained employees, and even they may search it only after a judge has determined that there is evidence connecting a specific phone number to terrorism.”

Via: New York Post

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

President Obama, long heralded as the ‘First Digital President,’ has built up his Office of Digital Strategy to includes 14 employees.

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