Imperial Presidency

White House gives Homeland Security control of all communication systems

"When President Obama inked his name to the executive order on July 6, he authorized Homeland Security to take control of the country’s wired and wireless communications — including the Internet — in instances of emergency. The signing was accompanied with little to no acknowledgment outside of the White House, but initial reports on the order quickly caused the public to speak out over what some equated to creating an Oval Office kill switch for the Web. Now the Obama administration is addressing those complaints by calling the Executive Order a necessary implement for America’s national security." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhite House gives Homeland Security control of all communication systems

Obama orders federal agencies to cede airwaves to private telecom providers

"US President Barack Obama moved Friday to free up more broadcast spectrum used by federal agencies to help meet the surging demand from smartphones and other mobile devices. A White House order calls for a federal team to evaluate ways for agencies to give up or share spectrum for mobile broadband operators. Mignon Clyburn, acting chair of the Federal Communications Commission, said the new effort 'will enable us to meet the challenge of unleashing spectrum for commercial use while also ensuring more efficient use of spectrum.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama orders federal agencies to cede airwaves to private telecom providers

Justin Raimondo: Snowden a Hero to Americans

"American voters say 55 – 34 percent that Edward Snowden is a whistle-blower, rather than a traitor, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. In a massive shift in attitudes, voters say 45 – 40 percent the government’s anti-terrorism efforts go too far restricting civil liberties, a reversal from a January 14, 2010, survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University when voters said 63 – 25 percent that such activities didn’t go far enough to adequately protect the country. Almost every party, gender, income, education, age and income group regards Snowden as a whistle-blower rather than a traitor." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJustin Raimondo: Snowden a Hero to Americans

DOE Green Energy Loans: $11.45 million per job and a rounding error’s worth of averted carbon emissions.

"Green energy jobs and DOE loans are tallied under programs 1703 and 1705 on this list. Permanent jobs created: 2,298; Taxpayer financed loan guarantees: $26.33 billion. 19 of the projects cost more than $10 million per permanent job. Even if you use the Obama maldaministration’s accounting methods and include temporary employment, the totally idiotic 'jobs created/saved' category and include the 33,000 Ford Motor Company jobs 'saved', you get ~60,000 jobs at a cost of $34.5 billion –> $580,000 per job." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDOE Green Energy Loans: $11.45 million per job and a rounding error’s worth of averted carbon emissions.

A ‘disposition matrix’ system is now generating Obama’s secret kill list

"Since the Obama administration largely shut down the CIA’s rendition programme, choosing instead to dispose of its enemies in drone attacks, those individuals who are being nominated for killing have been discussed at a weekly counter-terrorism meeting at the White House situation room that has become known as Terror Tuesday. Barack Obama, in the chair and wishing to be seen as a restraining influence, agrees the final schedule of names. Once details of these meetings began to emerge it was not long before the media began talking of 'kill lists'. Before long the term disposition matrix was born." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA ‘disposition matrix’ system is now generating Obama’s secret kill list

Virginia health centers get $2.5M to ‘promote Obamacare on taxpayer dime’

"Virginia health centers will receive 22 federal grants totaling more than $2.5 million to enroll clients in Obamacare, part of a $150 million national campaign. The largest recipient is the New Canton-based Central Virginia Health Services, which will get $266,020. On a per-capita basis, the 51 new hires in Virginia would be paid an average of $49,000. Skeptics say the overhead costs are emblematic of the Obamacare program. 'There are over 1,200 community health centers throughout the country who are getting a chunk of $150 million in outreach funding for the rollout of Obamacare,' said Ben Domenech at the conservative Heartland Institute." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVirginia health centers get $2.5M to ‘promote Obamacare on taxpayer dime’

Judge Napolitano: President Obama Puts Politics Above the Rule of Law

"What's going on? What we have is a runaway government, dismissive of the Constitution it has sworn to uphold, contemptuous of the law it is required to enforce and driven by its own values of maximum control and minimum personal freedom. And we have a Congress supine enough to let this happen, as well as a judiciary so tangled in its own arcane procedures that immeasurable human freedom will be destroyed and Obama out of office before any meaningful judicial review can be had. Is this the rule of law? What shall we do about it?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJudge Napolitano: President Obama Puts Politics Above the Rule of Law

Will bourbon help Kentucky swallow Obamacare?

"I took a longer look Wednesday at the extreme measures states are taking to get young people signed up for Obamacare programs. They tend to be taking on a regional flare: Oregon might do branded coffee cups, for example, whereas Seattle is looking at doing outreach at music festivals. It only makes sense, then, that Kentucky would be doing outreach at multiple bourbon festivals across the state. When I asked Kentucky spokeswoman for health reform Jill Midkiff where they might find young people, here’s what she e-mailed me back. That’s no fewer than three bourbon festivals on the Kentucky marketplace’s agenda. Drink up!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWill bourbon help Kentucky swallow Obamacare?

A Congregation of Liars: The U.S. Government

"Put aside for a moment that this massive, secret surveillance of all of our emails, phone calls and financial records violates our constitutional rights. I have commented about that before. I want you to consider what a government of lies means to each of us, and to America’s future, when our government officials, led by the president of the United States, routinely lie to us, intentionally and repeatedly. At worst, this destroys whatever trust we have in a government that now controls much of our lives. It engenders fear, disrupting our personal ability to plan our lives, our businesses and to move forward. Living under lies means we can never be certain about our future." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Congregation of Liars: The U.S. Government

Zimmerman Case and Chaos?

"The Zimmerman case – if it does explode into violence – is part of a much broader trend. Internationalists have always used war and violence to make a case for more and stronger global institutions that can guarantee 'peace.' Unfortunately, such rhetoric often leads to the 'peace of the grave' rather than the peace of the living. And if the Obama administration and others have now taken to using the rhetoric of racism as a way of furthering internationalist goals while distracting from the Great Recession, that would indeed be an unfortunate development. It would also explain why Obama was quick to make the remark that the victim reminded him of a son." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingZimmerman Case and Chaos?