Facts are so inconvenient to douchebags like Obama and his lapdog mainstream media minions. Zero Hedge absolutely obliterates his entire 59 minutes of lies, misinformation, propaganda, and touchdown dancing.
‘Everything Is Awesome’ SOTU Post-Mortem: “It’s Not Government’s Job To Make Everybody Rich”
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/20/2015 22:11 -0500
The only thing we did not get from tonight’s State of The Union speech was a “Mission Accomplished” flag… oddly some of the 6,493 words (the lowest word-count of his Presidency) were not entirely ‘factual’…
“Make A New America”
Some color…“The shadow of crisis has passed” – so why are Treasury yields at record lows and why does The Fed have ZIRP and keep threatening QE on every 5% drop in stocks?
“the stock market has doubled”
“our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999”
“These ideas won’t make everybody rich, or relieve every hardship. That’s not the job of government.” – indeed only the ‘already rich’ get rich…
“The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate”
The world’s billionaires fighting climate change in Davos
“Middle Class Economics” – How’s that working out?
As WSJ notes, no one is even clear what the Middle-Class is…
“Cost of community college for all will be zero” – yeah that didn’t work out so well did it…
“As Americans, we cherish our civil liberties?” – not so much Germans… or North Koreans
U.S. Spies Tapped North Korean Computers Before Sony Hack http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-19/u-s-spies-tapped-north-korean-computers-prior-to-sony-attack.html …
U.S. Spies Tapped North Korean Computers Before Sony Hack 
And finally… “That’s a better politics. That’s how we start rebuilding trust. That’s how we move this country forward. That’s what the American people want. That’s what they deserve.”
Obama: Congress should come together
Obama: I will veto anything I disagree with
* * *Bloomberg headline summary…
- *OBAMA SAYS `THE SHADOW OF CRISIS HAS PASSED’
- *OBAMA SAYS BUDGET WILL BE PRACTICAL, NOT PARTISAN
- *OBAMA SAYS HE WILL VETO ATTEMPTS TO KILL OBAMACARE, DODD-FRANK
- *OBAMA CALLS ON CONGRESS TO EXPAND PAID SICK LEAVE
- *OBAMA SAYS HE’S SENDING CONGRESS PLAN FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
- *OBAMA SAYS COST OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE WILL BE ZERO UNDER PLAN
- *OBAMA REITERATES CALL FOR TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY
- *OBAMA SAYS HE’S LAUNCHING INITIATIVE FOR CURING DISEASES
- *OBAMA CALLS ON CONGRESS TO HELP HIM CLOSE TAX LOOPHOLES
- *OBAMA REITERATES HE WANTS `FREE AND OPEN’ INTERNET
- *OBAMA: U.S. HAS LEARNED `COSTLY LESSONS’ IN FOREIGN POLICY
- *OBAMA SAYS RUSSIA IS ISOLATED, `ITS ECONOMY IN TATTERS’
- *OBAMA: IRAN SANCTIONS ALL BUT GUARANTEE NUKE TALKS WILL FAIL
- *OBAMA SAYS HE WILL VETO ANY NEW IRAN SANCTIONS BILL
- *OBAMA: NOTHING IS GREATER THREAT TO FUTURE THAN CLIMATE CHANGE
* * *
So, according the word-cloud analysis, the message was “Make A New America” ??
Does that mean that his plan from before the 1st term to “fundamentally remake America” is a failure? It must be if he’s calling on ‘his fellow Americans’ to “Make A New America” at this point?
Rush Limbaugh must be happy; he wanted Obummer to fail in the attempt to remake America.
I didn’t listen or watch that speech. Why would I waste time watching a bunch of habitual liars watching and listening to another habitual liar? Egad! Have we gotten the fate we deserve?
I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. I sit down in the waiting room and some MSM “news” channel is on the boob tube. I glance up and the big breasted bimbo “journalist” is gushing about Moochelle’s dress, which was just recently featured on The Good Wife. But that’s not all. She was in a tizzy about the camo shoes worn by the Republican Senator who gave the Republican response last night.
This is what passes for analysis of the SOTU address. Shallow and vapid doesn’t go far enough to explain how degraded our country has become.
Based on the above bullet points, a bigger load of bull (or pig) shit I have never seen.
we are not worthy of the “ONE!”
but sometime in the near future…
“The word “We” is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages.
What is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it? What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and impotent, are my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey?
But I am done with this creed of corruption.
I am done with the monster of “We,” the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame.
And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride.
This god, this one word:
“I.”
― Ayn Rand, Anthem
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
― H.L. Mencken
I really like that quote from Mencken. It reinforces my belief that Americans are too stupid to live.
I never listen to politicians’ speeches. I only care about their actions. So I can’t wait to see what the Republicans try and do to us, besides eliminating birth control and abortion and privatizing Social Security.
Rand Paul’s Response to Obama’s 2015 State of the Union Address
TEXT OF SPEECH
================
Good Evening. I wish I had better news for you, but… All is not well in America. America is adrift. Something is clearly wrong.
America needs many things, but what America desperately needs is new leadership.
I’ve only been in office a short time, but one thing I’ve discovered is that there is no monopoly on knowledge in Washington.
The best thing that could happen is for us—to once and for all—limit the terms of all politicians. We already limit the President to two terms.
I think we should put limits on the terms of Congress and infuse our government with fresh ideas.
Before I ran for office, I practiced medicine for nearly 20 years in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Liberal elites fly over my small town, but they don’t understand us. They simply seek to impose their will upon us—from what insurance we can buy, to what light bulbs we can use, to how we generate electricity.
Most of us in flyover country, and I suspect many who live in our big cities, think those in government take us for granted. Those of us who are actively pursuing the American Dream simply want government to get out of our way.
For those of us who feel separated and distant from the American Dream, we don’t want be perpetually talked down to, forgotten, and left in perpetual poverty. Many are discouraged that the “gifts” offered by liberals have not generated wealth, but rather perpetuated poverty.
People want a way out—not fake concern and baubles.
The war on poverty is 50 years old, and still black unemployment is twice that of white unemployment.
Income inequality has worsened under this Administration, and tonight President Obama offers more of the same policies—policies that have allowed the poor to get poorer, and the rich to get richer.
Pitting one American against another is not a pathway towards prosperity.
The President is intent on redistributing the pie but not growing it. He misunderstands that the bulk of America wants a bigger pie. They want to work and don’t want a handout—but a hand up.
Not only do we need new blood in Washington, we need a new way of thinking in Washington.
As a physician, I was taught first to do no harm:
To think before you act,
To analyze the unintended consequences of your actions.
I think America would be better off if all our politicians took that same approach: “First, do no harm.”
It is self-evident that the President and Congress are unable to do what every family in America must do—balance the budget.
If Congress cannot, or will not, balance the budget, then we should amend the Constitution to make it mandatory. President Obama is on course to add more to our national debt than all previous presidents combined. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Our $18 trillion dollar debt has become an anchor. Some economists argue that the burden of debt costs us a million jobs a year.
I fear that this enormous burden of debt threatens our currency. I fear that another 2008-style panic is possible, and I fear that this degree of debt is an imminent threat to our national security.
You cannot project power from bankruptcy court. It does not make us appear stronger when we borrow money from China and send it to countries that burn our flag. The hollowing out of our national defense comes from the advocates for unlimited spending and perpetual military intervention.
Secretary Gates got it right when he said that we’ve over-militarized our foreign policy. Should we be engaged in trying to encourage stability in the world? Absolutely. But we must think before we act. We must remember the maxim—first, do no harm.
Hillary’s war in Libya is a prime example of acting without thinking. Libya is now a jihadist wonderland. Jihadists swim in our embassy pool. Our Ambassador is dead, and we are now more at risk from terrorist attacks than ever before.
Unfortunately, both parties too often seek military intervention without thinking through the possible unintended consequences. Many Republicans only complain that we didn’t send U.S. ground troops or we didn’t stay long enough.
The Middle East lives in the midst of a 1,000-year war between Sunni and Shia. Superimposed on the long war is a century-old war pitting a barbaric aberration of Islam against civilized Islam.
We are foolish to believe we will solve this puzzle. We must defend ourselves and defend vital American interests, but we must not be deluded into believing that we can remake the Middle East in an image of Western Democracy.
At home, much of nation still suffers.
Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of two Americas. He described them as “two starkly different American experiences that exist side by side.”
In one America, people experienced “the opportunity of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in all its dimensions.”
In the other America, people experienced a “daily ugliness” that dashes hope and leaves only “the fatigue of despair.”
Although I was born into the America that experiences and believes in opportunity, my trips to Ferguson, Detroit, Atlanta, and Chicago have revealed what I call an “undercurrent of unease.”
There is a tension that has become visible in the protests in every major American city. As Congressman John Lewis put it: “There is a growing discontent in this country. ”
I think peace will come when those of us who have enjoyed the American Dream become aware of those who are missing out on the American Dream. The future of our country will be secure when we break down the wall that separates us from “the other America.”
It is a noble aspiration and a moral obligation to make sure our fellow man is provided for, that medical treatment is made available to all.
But compassion cannot be delivered in the form of coercion.
President Obama’s fundamental promise that if you like your doctor you can keep them—was a lie.
Obamacare, at its core, takes away a patient’s right to choose. Under Obamacare, patients are prohibited from choosing their doctor or their insurance.
Today, more Americans may have medical insurance, but Americans are now paying more money for worse care.
The relationship between doctor and patient is withering.
Doctors are fleeing the profession they love. Hospitals are straining, closing, or refusing to accept Obamacare policies.
Everyone knows our health care system needed reforming, but it was the wrong prescription to choose more government instead of more consumer choice and competition.
Obamacare restricts freedom and must be repealed!
I was asked recently how we would fix our healthcare system. I replied, “Let’s try freedom again. It worked for over 200 years!”
The President tonight calls for higher taxes. I believe we should do the opposite. I propose we cut everyone’s taxes, from the richest to poorest, and we cut spending at the same time.
Imagine a private stimulus fed by allowing you to keep more of your own money!
Some will ask, “But what of the safety net?”
I say: We will not cut one penny from the safety net until we’ve cut every penny from corporate welfare!
So much of Washington’s inability to cut waste in government comes from them not doing their job. It has been several decades since Congress passed all the spending bills individually.
Instead, the spending bills are lumped together in something they call a “Cromnibus” that is thousands of pages long. They allow no amendments to cut wasteful spending. Often the bill is plopped on our desk with only a few hours to review. No one, and I mean no one, is able to read what is in the bill.
To fix this, I will introduce legislation called “Read the Bills Act.” It mandates that Congress wait one day for each 20 pages of legislation.
Congress should also live under the laws they pass.
I will introduce a Constitutional Amendment that Congress shall pass no law that exempts Congress from the requirements of the bill.
We have set up a privileged class in Washington, and Americans are sick and tired of it.
These elites say, “trust us, we won’t violate your privacy.”
But when the Intelligence Director is not punished for lying to Congress, how are we to trust them?
Are we to trust them to collect and hold every American’s phone records?
Remember, these are the same people who have only a 10 percent approval rating!
The Constitution is clear. Politicians should NOT collect this information without a warrant. Warrants must be specific to an individual and there must be probable cause before government is allowed to search any American’s documents.
The President created this vast dragnet by Executive Order without Congressional authority. He should immediately end this invasion of our privacy.
We need to return to our founding principles and stand up for the entire Bill of Rights.
To defend the Bill of Rights, we must have a strong national defense. I believe national defense is the single most important, Constitutional obligation of our Federal Government.
We should have a military that is second to none in the world, and ready to defend us from all enemies.
To defend ourselves, we need a lean, mean fighting machine that doesn’t waste money on a bloated civilian bureaucracy.
The civilian bureaucracy at the Pentagon has doubled in the past 30 years, gobbling up the money necessary to modernize our defense.
That’s why I will propose the first ever Audit of the Pentagon, and seek ways to make our defense department more modern and efficient.
Without leadership, our country is adrift — yet there is still much promise for the future of America.
Our future can include a road back to prosperity… back to respect at home and abroad.
It can include a balanced budget and a simple, fair tax system.
It can include a government that protects your rights and your security.
It can include a Congress that is responsive to YOU, the people, and not the special interests.
It can include a stronger, better military, where our troops and veterans are valued and taken care of.
It can include a plan to bring prosperity to our inner cities, and real justice to all Americans.
The path we are on now does not lead there. But there is time to change course.
This President tonight, and for the past six years, has had the wrong diagnosis for what ails our country.
I look forward to having a conversation with the American people about this throughout this next year.
Thank you, and God Bless America.
No one listens to them anymore. No one believes them, no one cares. There was a reason most of the proposals in the speech were leaked to the complicit media in the previous few weeks. They knew that ratings for the actual speech would be near zero.
The government, which only a few years ago was at least a hot topic of conversation, has becoming nothing more than Tokyo Rose, D.C. affiliate. For those who have wondered what it was like living in a Soviet state with constant propaganda, this is it. The economy is growing, healthcare is affordable, and there are no tanks in Baghdad.
Fact-Checking Obama’s State Of The Union Speech
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/21/2015 11:17 -0500
We already did our post-mortem of last night’s teleprompted annual evangelizing of Barack Obama’s “straight to folks” propaganda that would make both Goebbels and Dzerzhinsky blush. So instead of repeating ourselves, here is AP with its own fact check of what can only be dubbed lie after lie, courtesy of the president of the “free world” and the head of the “most transparent administration ever.”
* * *
AP looks at some of Obama’s claims, and the facts and the political climate behind them:
OBAMA: “At this moment – with a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry and booming energy production – we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth.”
THE FACTS: By many measures, the economy is still recovering from the deep scars left by the Great Recession.
Job growth has been healthy, but fueled in part by lower-paying jobs in areas such as retail and restaurants, which have replaced many higher-paying positions in manufacturing and construction. Part-time jobs also remain elevated: There are still 1.7 million fewer workers with full-time jobs than when the recession began in December 2007.
And the faster hiring hasn’t pushed up wages much. They have been growing at a tepid pace of about 2 percent a year since the recession ended 5 1/2 years ago. That’s barely ahead of inflation and below the annual pace of about 3.5 percent to 4 percent that is typical of a fully healthy economy.
That has left the income of the typical household below its pre-recession level. Inflation-adjusted median household income reached $53,880 in November 2014, according to an analysis of government data by Sentier Research. That is about 4 percent higher than when it bottomed out in 2011. But it is still 4.5 percent lower than the $56,447 median income in December 2007, the month the recession began.
Booming energy production is indeed a reality, but that’s a phenomenon many years in the making, with the development of cost-effective extraction from fracking and other means playing into the rise of the U.S. as an energy production giant.
—
OBAMA: “I am sending this Congress a bold new plan to lower the cost of community college – to zero.”
THE FACTS: Zero for qualifying students; an estimated $60 billion over 10 years to the treasury.
Obama confronts a Republican-controlled Congress that can be expected to be wary of a new program costing that much. Moreover, the proposal requires states to contribute about a quarter of the money, and getting them to go along is bound to be tough. Many states refused to expand Medicaid under the health care law, for example, even though Washington is picking up the entire cost in the first years.
On the other hand, community college is an issue close to home for state government, perhaps more appealing than partnering with Washington on the health law, so the idea could have a fighting chance if it can get through Congress. Educators are divided on its merits, with some worrying that aid for a community college education could divert students and scholarships away from four-year schools.
—
OBAMA: “We’ve set aside more public lands and waters than any administration in history.”
THE FACTS: Waters is the key word here. Before expanding the Pacific Remote Islands National Monument last year from almost 87,000 square miles to more than 490,000 square miles, Obama had protected far fewer acres than his four predecessors, including President George W. Bush.
Expansion of the massive Pacific islands monument puts Obama on top. It’s nearly all water, however, and the move has limited practical implications. While it bans commercial fishing, deep-sea mining and other extraction of underwater resources, little fishing or drilling occur in the mid-ocean region now.
—
OBAMA: “Thanks to a growing economy, the recovery is touching more and more lives. Wages are finally starting to rise again. We know that more small-business owners plan to raise their employees’ pay than at any time since 2007.”
THE FACTS: A survey of small businesses by the National Federation of Independent Business does show that a rising proportion plans to raise wages. But plans to raise pay aren’t the same as actually raising them.
Average hourly earnings rose just 1.7 percent in December from 12 months earlier, according to the Labor Department. That’s about half the rate that is typical of a healthy economy and actually lower than the previous month. Economists generally expect wage gains to accelerate this year, as unemployment continues to fall and businesses are forced to offer higher pay to attract workers. But there is scant evidence that it is happening yet.
—
OBAMA: “In Iraq and Syria, American leadership – including our military power – is stopping ISIL’s advance. Instead of getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group. We’re also supporting a moderate opposition in Syria that can help us in this effort.”
THE FACTS: The U.S. also has been slow to set up long-promised training for the moderate Syrian opposition, and has yet to begin the actual vetting of the rebels. Also, despite persistent pleas from the rebels, the U.S. hasn’t sent the more lethal weapons they want. U.S. officials have expressed concerns that the weapons could end up in the hands of insurgents.
Military leaders, however, agree that coalition airstrikes and the military effort in Syria and Iraq have stopped the momentum of the Islamic State group, or ISIL, made it hard for the insurgents to communicate and travel, and hurt their oil revenues.
I didn’t listen to more than a minute of the speech, but I know he made multiple reference to this whiny bitch Rebekah Erler who lives in MN with her husband, Ben. The whole thing make me livid. First, she supposedly wrote a letter to Obama about how hard her life was and how it’d be nice if he could make things easier. She’s the white equivalent of the “I’m not going to have to worry about paying my mortgage” lady from 2008. The truth is that she’s democrat operative (originally from Washington State) who had worked for WA Senator Patty Murray, so I call bullshit on her having written any letter at all. She has a college degree and works as an accountant. They bought a house for $200k in the fall of 2013 and within mere months is supposedly writing a letter to the President of the United States about how making the payment is so hard. Her loan – which is probably only about $1,300 / month, all-in, had just been approved only a few months earlier and she signed up for the payment! A couple months later she’s writing a letter to the President? Lies, lies, lies. Can’t they stop lying for one fucking minute?
One thing I wish AP and the other fact-checkers would point out on the wage front is the fact that these increases are at or below the rate of inflation. So “increasing wages” but not at the same level of inflation (or equal to the decreasing purchase power of the dollar) means it’s a net deficit, not a gain.
Simple enough concept for people to understand, and it blows the “rising incomes” myth out of the water, but no one is commenting on it. Obama can say Congress needs to raise the minimum wage, but he never took responsibility for the fact that the Fed destroyed the dollar during his administration(s) and is likely to continue to tank it.
Well, it looks like the commenters here at TBP and elsewhere were in good company. I grabbed this off the Hollywood reporter site:
“With final ratings in for the State of the Union address, Nielsen Media puts the grand total just shy of last year’s for a 14-year low. The gross average audience of 13 networks airing President Barack Obama’s speech puts viewership at 33,299,172. That’s down from the 33.5 million that tuned in for the 2013 speech for its lowest showing since 2000. (President Bill Clinton’s final address in office averaged 31,478,000.)”
Here’s hoping that this is a sign. Only 33.3 million sheeple watching the SOTU show may indicate that a rising number of Americans are starting to ‘get it’ and no longer believe the BS. Or it could mean that attention spans are still dropping…
Oh look, a pretty butterfly! I must post this on Facebook!
Obama seems to have no internal voice that says “What I’m saying is a lie”.
Obama, previously as a community organizer realized fellow in Chi-town would buy this shit. Just like the false narrative ‘black lives matter’. Facts don’t matter to neegrows – including our HNIC.
He spews lies, misrepresentations, generalities, distortions, manipulations, and non sequiturs with impunity and no embarrassment.
I hate this cock sucker!
one of my favorite quotes:
Whose Fault, Prince of Fools or Nation of Fools Who Elected Him?
The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president.
The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.
I can agree with some of Rand Paul’s statements, others I think are pandering to his posse (Abortion, Israel). The idea of cutting taxes and cutting spending is nothing new; that was the basis for “Reaganomics”, which failed because although they succeeded in cutting taxes they just couldn’t take away the punch bowl when it came to cutting spending.
Where all this ends up is anyone’s guess but I believe it will take a hard crash before any D.C. politician actually proposes any reasonable plan to cut spending.
@Dutchman,
Re: the ease with which Obama lies
It’s why he was groomed for the job. He’s a natural.
@ASIG…Amen!!