Super Powers Not Included

A meteor went screaming over the Ural Mountains near the Russian border with Kazakhstan early this morning, leaving behind hundreds injured from the impact wave as it detonated over the city of Chelyabinsk. 

People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt the shock wave, according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow.

The fireball, travelling at a speed of 30 km (19 miles) per second according to Russian space agency Roscosmos, had blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail that could be seen as far as 200 km (125 miles) away.

Car alarms went off, thousands of windows shattered and mobile phone networks were disrupted. The Interior Ministry said the meteor explosion, a very rare spectacle, also unleashed a sonic boom.

"I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it were day," said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains.

"I felt like I was blinded by headlights."

The meteor, which weighed about 10 tons and may have been made of iron, entered Earth's atmosphere and broke apart 30-50 km (19-31 miles) above ground, according to Russia's Academy of Sciences.

No deaths were reported but the Emergencies Ministry said 20,000 rescue and clean-up workers were sent to the region after President Vladimir Putin told Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov to ease the disruption and help the victims.

The Interior Ministry said about 1,200 people had been injured, at least 200 of them children, and most from shards of glass.

Meanwhile, we dodged an even larger rock this afternoon as asteroid 2012 DA14 missed the Earth by 17,500 miles...considerably less than the circumference of the planet we're on.

It's raining things, man.  Things.

[UPDATE]  Heh.

Four Versus Thousands

John Hinderaker at Power Line is outraged, OUTRAGED I TELL YOU that President Obama did nothing to stop the BENGHAZI MASSACRE DEBACLE and HAS HE NO SHAME?

The White House admitted today that President Obama made no phone calls–none, zero–on the evening of September 11, 2012, during the seven or eight hours when Americans were being murdered in Benghazi. He didn’t talk to Leon Panetta, or any military personnel, or Hillary Clinton. What was he doing that night? We may never know; perhaps writing the speech that he gave at a campaign event the next day in Las Vegas.

Information on Benghazi has to be pried out of the administration with a crowbar; Lindsay Graham got the White House to identify the calls that Obama made that night–none–by holding up Chuck Hagel’s confirmation. Graham says he will put a hold on John Brennan, too, until he gets more facts on Benghazi from the stonewalling White House. Good for him.

The administration’s quiescence in the face of the terrorist attack in Benghazi has always seemed inexplicable. Why didn’t anyone try to help the besieged Americans over the course of that long night? Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey testified on Benghazi before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, but their account made no sense. They said that no help was dispatched to try to save the Americans because 1) the State Department never requested it, and 2) there wasn’t enough time. But there was plenty of time, seven or eight hours before the last two Americans were finally overcome.

Hey Johnny?  I've got seven words for you.

"Bin Laden determined to Strike in US".

You see, when the previous President went AWOL, thousands of US civilians died and we got stuck in two decade-plus long wars where hundreds of thousands more died.   The current President is the one who cleaned up that particular Bin Laden mess and is still cleaning up after it.

And you bring up four guys after that happened?  You're not even worth the time to mock, man.  Go away.  Shoo.

StupidiNews!

• The body pulled from a burned cabin near Big Bear Lake in California has been confirmed as fugitive former LAPD cop Chris Dorner.
• Senate Democrats have unveiled a plan to avoid steep sequestration cuts, the plan includes the "Buffett Rule" to raise revenue to avert the cuts.
• Red state governors in Atlantic coastal states say Interior Secretary nominee Sally Jewell needs to allow offshore drilling as soon as possible if confirmed.
• A 1982 drawing by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was the biggest prize at a London contemporary art auction this week, fetching nearly $20 million.
• Oakland, California residents are up in arms over the Alameda County Sheriff's Department being the first agency in the state to propose using domestic surveillance drones.

Last Call

Back home in NC, with Republicans now controlling the state legislature and the Governor's mansion with the election last November of Pat McCrory, the Tarheel State's about to get a crash course in Austerian Hysteria. First up on the chopping block:  cutting unemployment benefits to the point where the state with the fifth-worst unemployment rate at 9.2% is all but eliminating jobless benefits.

North Carolina lawmakers approved deep cuts to benefits for the jobless on Wednesday, in a state that has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates. 

In a debt-reducing effort, the Republican-controlled legislature voted to cut maximum weekly benefits to $350 from $535, a 35 percent drop; reduce the maximum number of weeks for collecting benefits to between 12 and 20 weeks from 26 weeks; and tighten requirements to qualify. The cuts would begin with new jobless claims on July 1. 

If the bill is signed by Gov. Pat McCrory, as expected, North Carolina would be the eighth state to roll back jobless benefits under the growing financial burden of the recession. 

The measure’s sponsors said it would spur job growth by paying down $2.5 billion in debt to the federal government. The bill passed the State Senate by a vote of 36 to 12. 

“North Carolina owes the federal government $2.5 billion because of a broken unemployment insurance system,” said Mr. McCrory, a Republican. “We’re going to pay down that debt, make the system solvent and provide an economic climate that allows businesses, large and small, to put people back to work. 

And if you think the billion or so a year this will save the state will end up back in the pocket of taxpayers, you're insane.  Once the debt is paid off,  there will of course be tax cuts for businesses.  Not workers, mind you.  Oh, and here's the best news:

The bill also disqualifies 170,000 unemployed people — 39 percent of the 438,000 jobless — from federal emergency extended benefits because it reduces the number of weeks people can receive benefits to below 26. The federal government has set 26 weeks as the national requirement for receiving federal funds. 

Better hope you don't get laid off if you live in NC, with $2.5 billion disappearing from the state's economy in a three year period, that's a hell of a contraction.  Max benefits cut by a third, max weeks cut in half, no federal benefits for anyone. Gotta stick it to those poor people, because we all know that the only reason anyone's ever unemployed is that they're too lazy to take a job that pays $7.25 an hour (or less, if you're waitstaff).

But somehow, this will create jobs, right?

Insanity Pays

NRA spokesloony Wayne LaPierre is still certifiable...certifiable like a banker's check, that is.  The crazier he gets, the more firearms and ammunition gets sold, and he's upping the dosage to max insanity this week with a new op-ed in the Daily Caller.

It has always been sensible for good citizens to own and carry firearms for lawful protection against violent criminals who prey on decent people.

During the second Obama term, however, additional threats are growing. Latin American drug gangs have invaded every city of significant size in the United States. Phoenix is already one of the kidnapping capitals of the world, and though the states on the U.S./Mexico border may be the first places in the nation to suffer from cartel violence, by no means are they the last.

The president flagrantly defies the 2006 federal law ordering the construction of a secure border fence along the entire Mexican border. So the border today remains porous not only to people seeking jobs in the U.S., but to criminals whose jobs are murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. Ominously, the border also remains open to agents of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Numerous intelligence sources have confirmed that foreign terrorists have identified the southern U.S. border as their path of entry into the country.

When the next terrorist attack comes, the Obama administration won’t accept responsibility. Instead, it will do what it does every time: blame a scapegoat and count on Obama’s “mainstream” media enablers to go along.

Got it?  Gun control laws will kill your family because Scary Brown People will murder all of us in our sleep.  ONLY GUNS CAN SAVE YOU.  (PS, please ignore the fact that an AR-15 will have a really, really hard time stopping a 747 from flying into a building.)

Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals. These are perils we are sure to face—not just maybe. It’s not paranoia to buy a gun. It’s survival. It’s responsible behavior, and it’s time we encourage law-abiding Americans to do just that.

WHEN TORNADOES MADE OUT OF BROWN PEOPLE COME, SHOOT THEM.  Shoot them with the shiny new guns you just bought from the manufacturers the NRA represents.  Because otherwise, the brownadoes will kill your babies and your dog.

But you'll buy.  That's the point.  Wayne LaPierre is a genius at this.

Hold On To The Night

Sen. Rand Paul continues to make an ass of himself and my state by threatening to hold up the nomination of CIA Director John Brennan until he gets classified info.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday threatened to hold John Brennan's nomination for CIA director unless he receives more answers on the administration’s drone program.

“I have asked Mr. Brennan if he believed that the President has the power to authorize lethal force, such as a drone strike, against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, and my question remains unanswered," Paul said in a statement. "I will not allow a vote on this nomination until Mr. Brennan openly responds to the questions and concerns my colleagues and I share.

"These issues must be discussed openly so that the American people can understand what constraints exist on the government’s power to use lethal force against its citizens," Paul continued. "Before confirming Mr. Brennan as the head of the CIA, it must be apparent that he understands and will honor the protections provided to every American by the Constitution."

To recap, Mr. "Obama is a dictator ruling by fiat" here has no problem imperiously using the power of bureaucracy to make petulant demands when it suits him.  And as with Huckleberry Graham's blocking of Chuck Hagel, it has nothing to do with the nominee's qualifications, and everything to do with the President they so despise.

Rand Paul will not allow a vote, you see.  He controls the country, apparently.

Arrogant little moron.  Remember this next time he accuses the President of being a fascist.

StupidiNews!

• US Airways and American Airlines have received the green light to form the world's largest airline, reducing the number of large US carriers to just four.
• The director of a documentary detailing the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church asserts the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is "inextricably linked" to the crisis.
• Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders have introduced tough new climate change legislation that they admit will be a near-impossible sell even among Democrats.
• The EU recession continues, as now even Germany is facing economic contraction with the Eurozone 4th quarter 2012 seeing a -0.6% loss.
• EA executive Blake Jorgensen says he doesn't expect Sony or Microsoft to make their new consoles backwards compatible with the current generation.

Last Call

To recap, Republicans are unleashing unprecedented obstruction against President Obama: for the first time in American history, a Cabinet secretary nominee will face a filibuster.

Sen. Roy Blunt signaled Wednesday that there may be enough votes in the Senate to delay debate on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon.

Blunt (R-Mo.) said he believed there were 40 votes in the Senate that indicated “it’s too quick to end the debate on this nomination.”

The GOP, which controls 45 votes in the Senate, would need 41 votes to block former Sen. Hagel from hitting the 60-vote threshold that some Republicans have threatened.

“I don’t think we’ll move forward for a few days on that,” Blunt said at POLITICO’s post-State of the Union event. “And there’s been requests for more information. I think ultimately Senator Hagel will provide that information.”

In particular, Republicans on the Armed Services Committee have asked for more detailed financial disclosures from Hagel – a demand dismissed by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the committee’s chairman.

“We’re not going to accept a change in the rules that applies to one nominee,” Levin said earlier this week as he defended Hagel. “We are not going to accept your suggestion and innuendo that there’s some sort of conflict of interest.”

This has nothing to do with Chuck Hagel, and everything to do with Republicans who despise this President.  Indeed, Republicans filed their motion to filibuster Chuck Hagel's nomination this afternoon, requiring a cloture vote on Friday.  This means Democrats have to come up with 60 votes, and at least 5 Republicans, to proceed.   So far only Susan Collins has committed to this, and it's entirely possible that Republicans will be able to delay Hagel's nomination indefinitely.

The question now is, considering this means the Republicans have completely scrapped the filibuster deal they worked out with Harry Reid less than a month ago (surprise, right?)  what will Harry Reid do?

I know what he should be doing right about now.  Will he go back to the filibuster and blow it up?

The Kroog Versus The "Savior"

Paul Krugman was merciless with last night's GOP response to the President speech, given by Sen. Marco Rubio.  He punctures my favorite zombie lie:  the dreaded "Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to make loans to broke minorities" load of garbage:

Here’s the passage:

This idea – that our problems were caused by a government that was too small – it’s just not true. In fact, a major cause of our recent downturn was a housing crisis created by reckless government policies.

OK, leave on one side the caricature of Obama, with the usual mirror-image fallacy (we want smaller government, therefore liberals just want bigger government, never mind what it does); there we go with the “Barney Frank did it” story. Deregulation, the explosive growth of virtually unregulated shadow banking, lax lending standards by loan originators who sold their loans off as soon as they were made, had nothing to do with it — it was all the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie, and Freddie.

Look, this is one of the most thoroughly researched topics out there, and every piece of the government-did-it thesis has been refuted; see Mike Konczal for a summary. No, the CRA wasn’t responsible for the epidemic of bad lending; no, Fannie and Freddie didn’t cause the housing bubble; no, the “high-risk” loans of the GSEs weren’t remotely as risky as subprime.

This really isn’t about the GSEs, it’s about the BSEs — the Blame Someone Else crowd. Faced with overwhelming, catastrophic evidence that their faith in unregulated financial markets was wrong, they have responded by rewriting history to defend their prejudices.

For Republicans to admit that the banks caused the financial crisis would of course destroy the GOP's base:  the banks, and the people who profit massively by them.  They will tell this lie until they are on their deathbeds, and even then it's only 20-80 that they'd recant.

"The government caused the financial crisis" has to be made to be the truth, or the GOP is done forever.  They know that.  It's the only reason we haven't mobbed every banker in the country yet.

And they're damn well aware of it.

Republican Outreach...With A Clenched Fist

Sen. Marco Rubio explained his vote against the Violence Against Women Act yesterday thusly:

Unfortunately, I could not support the final, entire legislation that contains new provisions that could have potentially adverse consequences.  Specifically, this bill would mandate the diversion of a portion of funding from domestic violence programs to sexual assault programs, although there’s no evidence to suggest this shift will result in a greater number of convictions. These funding decisions should be left up to the state-based coalitions that understand local needs best, but instead this new legislation would put those decisions into the hands of distant Washington bureaucrats in the Department of Justice. Additionally, I have concerns regarding the conferring of criminal jurisdiction to some Indian tribal governments over all persons in Indian country, including non-Indians.

Wait a minute, I mean the awful giant screw you to Florida's Seminole tribes and other Native Americas over criminal jurisdiction of assault of women on tribal lands aside, Marco Rubio seems to be saying that the federal government has no business in enforcing the safety of half the population of the United States.  Also, please note that it should be left in Marco's view up to state and local officials for funding (I guess because "assault" depends on the opinion of any men that are around) but not if those officials are Tribal Police.

Okay.  Sure.  That makes sense.  And because of this, Rubio thinks he's taking a principled stand for Florida's women.

There's your outreach from the GOP, folks.  A crack across the jaw so you'll know who's in charge.

StupidiNews!

• San Bernardino County law enforcement officials say charred human remains found after a shootout and cabin fire may be those of wanted fugitive Chris Dorner.
• President Obama's State of the Union speech included calls for Congress to raise the minimum wage, fix aging bridges, provide preschool for all kids, pass gun control legislation, and more.
• Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul blasted the President's proposals as more of the same, Rubio attacking climate change, while Paul attacked both parties for spending.
• The President also called for trade talks with the 27 member nations of the European Union for a new trade agreement package that would benefit both sides.
• A new "intelligent design" bill in Missouri would go much further than "teaching the controversy", it would redefine science itself  and demand equal classroom time for counter-theories to evolution.

Last Call

The big pull from the President's State of the Union, something I totally did not expect:  a call to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour.  Yggy:

This is an issue people have been debating politically for a long time, and it's no coincidence that perhaps the leading pro minimum wage empirical study was co-authored by Alan Kruger who's currently chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisors. It's interesting to think about this idea in the context of an environment where the Federal Reserve says it will allow inflation to rise to 2.5 percent, but doesn't currently expect it to reach that level. In principle a bump in low-wage worker wages could lead to exactly the kind of tolerated-but-not-expected inflation that the Fed has talked about.

And even $9 is not a living wage, but it's certainly better than $7.25.

Going to be interesting watching the GOP that hard working Americans who have minimum wage jobs are making too much money.

And Don't Let Your Spurs Hit You In The Ass On The Way Out

Democrats moving to Wyoming to follow the American Dream?  Yeah, there's a problem with that.

Over the summer, the Reverend Audette Fulbright moved with her family to Cheyenne, Wyoming. where she preaches at the Unitarian Universalist church. When the state legislature began debating a bill to allow for the carrying of concealed weapons at schools and sporting events, Fulbright wrote to lawmakers to express her concerns about guns and about fracking. 

Seems like a reasonable, civic-minded plan of action.  So she wrote this:

My husband and I moved to Wyoming not too long ago. We believed it was a good place to raise children. With the recent and reactive expansion of gun laws and the profoundly serious dangers of fracking, we find we are seriously reconsidering our decision, which is wrenching to all of us. However, the safety of our family must come first. We are waiting to see what the legislature does this session. I know of other new-to-Wyoming families in similar contemplation. Your choices matter. It would be sad to see an exodus of educated, childrearing age adults from Wyoming as a result of poor lawmaking.

Again, a reasonable letter to her state representative...unless that Wyoming state lawmaker is Republican Hans Hunt.  Her GOP state representative's response?

I'll be blunt. If you don't like the political atmosphere of Wyoming, then by all means, leave. We, who have been here a very long time (I am proudly 4^th generation) are quite proud of our independent heritage. I don't expect a "mass exodus" from our state just because we're standing up for our rights. As to your comments on fracking, I would point out that you're basing your statement on "dangers" that have not been scientifically founded or proved as of yet.

It offends me to no end when liberal out-of-staters such as yourself move into Wyoming, trying to get away from where they came from, and then pompously demand that Wyoming conform to their way of thinking. We are, and will continue to be, a state which stands a head above the rest in terms of economic security. Our ability to do that is, in large part, to our "live and let live" mentality when it comes to allowing economic development, and limiting government oversight. So, to conclude, if you're so worried about what our legislature is working on, then go back home.

Big tent approach, right?  I mean, why should Republicans even bother listening to liberal constituents?  They're not going to be represented in any way, they don't donate to Republicans, they don't vote for Republicans, why should Republicans even bother to treat them as human beings, much less voting constituents?

I'm sure if I wrote to my state reps, I'd get much the same response.  Liberals aren't voters to convince, or constituents to win over, or citizens to represent, to Republicans.  We're "pompous" people who need to "go back home" to blue states where we belong.

Also, we're divisive.  Funny how that works.

Ring A Ding Dong, You Ding Dongs

The Wall Street Journal has found fraud, fraud I tell you!  Obama fraud!  Bigger than Solyndra!  Bigger than life!  "Obama fraud" that has been corrected, and was perpetrated by the nation's cell phone carriers to get free customers they profited from, but nobody cares about that because OBAMAPHONES.

The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven't proved they are eligible to receive them.

The Lifeline program—begun in 1984 to ensure that poor people aren't cut off from jobs, families and emergency services—is funded by charges that appear on the monthly bills of every landline and wireless-phone customer. Payouts under the program have shot up from $819 million in 2008, as more wireless carriers have persuaded regulators to let them offer the service.

Suspecting that many of the new subscribers were ineligible, the Federal Communications Commission tightened the rules last year and required carriers to verify that existing subscribers were eligible. The agency estimated 15% of users would be weeded out, but far more were dropped.

A review of five top recipients of Lifeline support conducted by the FCC for the Journal showed that 41% of their more than six million subscribers either couldn't demonstrate their eligibility or didn't respond to requests for certification.

So actually, that river of endless fraud story should be entitled "FCC Stops Wireless Companies From Defrauding Taxpayers, Saves Hundreds Of Millions" but this is  the Wall Street Hournal, so we get this instead:

He got your vote; now he wants his phone back.

To recap, the government fixed the loophole after they found out cell phone companies were signing up everyone they could fine for phones on the government dime, and then charging those folks "special rates".  Hell of a scam, yes?

Hell of a phone carrier scam, not an Obama scam.  Pay attention.  You know, like the way the big banks take billions in fees for issuing SNAP benefits cards, not to mention the billions companies like Wal-Mart get from taking SNAP business.

But that would be anti-corporate, huh?

StupidiNews!

• North Korea says it has conducted a significant underground nuclear test in defiance of international condemnation and sanctions.
• Conservative rocker and gun advocate Ted Nugent has been invited to tonight's State of the Union address by Texas Republican Steve Stockman, himself an advocate of impeachment of the President.
• New court documents indicate California manhunt subject Chris Dorner may have already fled to Mexico with the help on an accomplice.
• President Obama's nominee for Pentagon chief, Chuck Hagel, is expected to survive a vote in the Senate Armed Services Committee today, but faces an uncertain vote in the fill Senate.
• Rumors swirling around Microsoft's successor to the XBOX 360 indicate the console may require a Kinect to work, and current 360 controllers will not work at all with the system.