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Tag: government idiocy
OUR GOVERNMENT KNOWS BEST
Jumping the Global Warming Shark
Guest Post by Tom Luongo
There’s a moment near the end of Ayn Rand’s mostly brilliant Atlas Shrugged where she details the unveiling of various government-funded boondoggles whose development we track as the story unfolds.
All of them end in tragedy and mass death. From trains asphyxiating their passengers to sonic weapons killing spectators, the hubris and ineptitude of the rentier class which took over the U.S. government was on display in all its glory.
So, every time I see some hare-brained idea in service of a politically-motivated lie I just look at my wife, shake my head and say, “Act III, Atlas Shrugged, hon.”
The latest is the patently insane idea of dimming the sun by dispersing sulfate particles into the atmosphere to reflect and absorb some of the energy coming from it to slow the rate of global warming.
Colorado Embraces EV Tar Baby
Guest Post by Eric Peters
Colorado has become the 13th state – plus the District of Columbia – to embrace the fatuously titled “zero emissions” electric car tar baby.
This will ” . . . protect the quality of our air and safeguard against returning to the days of the ‘brown clould,’ ” warbled Governor John Hickenlooper – whose name sounds like a villain out of an Ayn Rand novel.
Actually, it won’t do any such thing.
Circle of Absurdity: Killing the Extremists We Create
Guest Post by Major Danny Sjursen
The U.S. military remains mired in countless wars in the Greater Middle East. Ironically – and tragically – it tends to combat Islamists that Washington either armed or birthed.
We, Americans, truly are a strange lot. Our government in Washington – ostensibly representative of “We the People” – speaks of peace, but wages endless war, prattles on about “freedom,” but backs absolute monarchs and authoritarian strongmen the world over. A bipartisan array of politicians warns of the evils of radical Islamic (though Islamist is more accurate) terrorism; and yet, truthfully, the US once supported and/or funded those same extremists not too long ago. In some cases, and certain circumstances, it backs them still; until, that is, all those guns are turned on the US military, or those fighters threaten Washington’s (ever shifting) “interests.”
Perhaps, one imagines, there are lessons here: be careful who you arm; be careful where you meddle; today’s “friends” are, all too often, tomorrow’s enemies; and, in the turbulent Middle East, sometimes less is more.
Continue reading “Circle of Absurdity: Killing the Extremists We Create”
Britain’s Knife Control Campaign Just Got Way Funnier
Over the weekend London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a strict crackdown, banning all knife possession. Yesterday the London police bragged about confiscating tools like pliers and scissors in their knife control efforts to keep the streets safe. If you’re like me, you find this all to completely hilarious, but it’s nothing compared to what came next. A British police agency has released a series of anti-knife public service announcements that make those “this is you brain on drugs” commercials seem semi-serious.
The following are real tweets from the Office of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner and not something from a parody account or a satire site:
Continue reading “Britain’s Knife Control Campaign Just Got Way Funnier”
Cash For Not Clunkers
Guest Post by Eric Peters
You’ve heard the saying that history repeats . . . as farce? Well, here we are. Not quite ten years after the government paid people to throw away perfectly good used cars to “stimulate” demand for new ones – the despicable Cash for Clunkers program – the government is doing the same thing again.
Only this time, the cars are not “clunkers” and the government is forcing VW to pay people to throw them away.
Almost 600,000 of them.
These cars are not high-miles and worn out, on their last legs. Many are only a year or two old. Nothing is wrong with any of them – other than their having been deemed “out of compliance” with Byzantine EPA emissions tests.
But only sometimes – and only slightly.
OBAMACARE MATH
Guest Post by Dave Laviolette
Here’s an October Surprise. Obamacare for 2017 plans.
A 54 year old man(not me) non-smoking and making $48,000 per year, meaning NO SUBSIDY, and living in Pinal County, Arizona can go on the exchange and buy the following plans from BCBS only. No other plans available.
1. Bronze $680.66/month $6,550 Deductible $6,550 Out of Pocket
2. Bronze $797.40/month $6,500 D $7,150 OOP
3. Silver $964.00/month $6,650 D $ 6,650 OOP
4. Gold $1,178.21/month $1,000 D $5,500 OOP
The same individual could go to his boss and ask for a $2,000 cut in pay and buy the same four plans with regard to Deductibles and Out of Pocket totals and pay the following because of the subsidy he would get.
1. Bronze $87.51/month
2. Bronze $204.85/month
3. Silver $371.45/month
4. Gold $585.66/month.
This would save him $5,116 per year AFTER taking the cut in pay. So, he either wins by lowering his pay thus lowering his income and FICA taxes, or he just lies and say his income is not as much as it is.
What a country.
I Did Not Have Sucks With That Vermin
Guest Post by Stilton Jarlsberg
First things first: this is an appalling joke and Bill “Money Shot” Clinton should be thoroughly ashamed of himself for making us think of such a horrible gag. Oops- Now we’ve used “gag” in a sentence involving Bill Clinton. We’d claim it was unintentional, but you might find that hard to swallow.
Sadly and truthfully, the Zika virus is terribly serious, and the heightened risk of giving birth to a child who will suffer the lifelong physical and development consequences of microcephaly is nightmarish. It is no laughing matter.
Which is why, for the umpteenth time, Hope n’ Change is sorry (but not surprised) to see Washington making a complete mess out of preparations to fight this potentially deadly invasion.
Yesterday, votes were being taken to decide how much money to allocate to this crisis. Barack Obama wanted the most, of course, saying $2 billion was required to prevent the blood-sucking parasites coming across our southern border from wreaking destruction. The $2 billion would presumably be used to put the young mosquitoes in good schools, settle their families in middle class neighborhoods, and give the grown mosquitoes some walking around money until they can find permanent blood-sucking jobs in government.
The Senate, on the other hand, seemed likely to authorize only $1.1 billion to fight the mosquitoes. Which, to us, sounds like it could do the job if the government is frugal enough to go to Costco and buy a few million spray cans of “Off!”
Mom Arrested for Letting Kids Walk to McDonald’s Around the Corner
A South Carolina mom who let her 9-year-old nephew walk her 3-year-old son to the McDonald’s less than a quarter mile away has been—I’m sure you can finish this sentence in your sleep by now—arrested and charged with child neglect.
The reason? According to WSPA News 7:
The officer says the boys had to cross a street and pass several businesses and homes to get to the eatery, putting their safety at risk.
The mom, Tiesha Mesha Hillstock, 24, told the police the unthinkable: She had trusted the older boy to “take care of his cousin.”
Which, apparently, he was doing. Nonetheless, when the kids were spotted without an adult, or drone, or armored tank to keep them safe, the cops swooped in and accompanied them back to their home. Then the Spartanburg police department then issued an arrest warrant for mom.
Because anytime a child is unsupervised, a parent must be arrested. It’s as simple as that. Note that in another independent child story that is getting a ton of attention today, a 9-year-old Pennsylvania girl has been reporting on a real-life murder for her self-published newspaper. And people are mad at her, too, for not playing with dolls or having a tea party. They have written her nasty letters.
Now imagine if your own childhood had been lived under constant, state-mandated adult supervision. How many adventures would you have had? How much joy? How many memories with your friends and cousins?
Seems like America would like nothing better than to raise children who are completely inert unless an adult is on-hand to make sure nothing happens.
And nothing will.
GOVERNMENT DRONES: “DON’T TOUCH A LIT CANDLE”
Dirty Laundry
Guest Post by Eric Peters
Remember that old Eagle’s tune about the bubble headed bleached blonde who comes on at five? She can tell you about the plane crash, with a gleam in her eye.
The song neatly describes the vacuous but vicious nonetheless media feeding frenzy over the VW diesel “cheating” scandal.
What could be better than raking a car company over the coals for having tried to give its customers a better car as opposed to a government-compliant one?
Now the same finger-wagging is being directed at other car companies – among them Mercedes-Benz, Mazda and Honda. The accusation isn’t “cheating” per se, but it amounts to the same thing.
According to the Guardian – a British paper/web site – diesel-powered models sold by these manufacturers emit more than they’re supposed to (see here).Or rather, they emit more when driven in – muffled cough, now – “realistic” conditions.
This is interesting because it ties into the VW debacle.
Here’s how: