This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: “The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves”

  • Yet Another Installment of ObamaCare “Good News”

    Well, we have more “good news” about that wonderful Federal law called the      Patently Pathetic Accumulated Conglomerate of Asininity         Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, AKA “ObamaCare”.

    I’ve written before about issues with ObamaCare health care cooperatives  – and again here.  And I’ve also written about how some insurers were starting to abandon the ObamaCare market.

    Well, it seems another ObamaCare domino toppled yesterday.   Aetna – the nation’s 3rd largest health insurance provider – has announced that they’re largely pulling out of the ObamaCare insurance exchange market as well.

    This year, Aetna offered ObamaCare plans through government-run exchanges in 15 states.  Next year, they’re cutting back to a whopping four states:  VA, DE, IA, and NE.  They’re pulling out of the ObamaCare exchange market everywhere else – though they’ll still offer individual health insurance plans in some or all of those states.

    This is significant.  Earlier this year, Aetna was among those saying it was “too early to give up on” ObamaCare insurance exchanges.  Apparently they changed their minds.

    Why?  Simple:  they’re losing their butts financially.

    This year, Aetna had a 2nd quarter pretax loss on the ObamaCare exchange market of $200M.  They’ve lost $430M since those markets began in 2014.  Losing that much money – as well as losing money consistently over time – isn’t exactly conducive to staying in business.

    But don’t worry, folks.  Dear Leader will explain to us how we’ve misinterpreted what’s going on here.  We just need to give it more time, and it will work as desired!

    Yeah, right.  The Communist Party of the Soviet Union spent just short of 69 years trying to perfect their brand of command-driven economic socialism.  The idiotic concepts on which their cockamamie theories were based were no closer to being viable on day 25,198 than they were on day 0.

    ObamaCare will fare no differently.  It’s similarly based on ideology-driven idiocy that ignores economic reality.

  • Benghazi Redux? Maybe.

    “I know the U.S. Embassy was working on a plan, but it’s a shell of what they need. There appears to be a lack of coordinated effort between the U.S. Embassy and the American companies and personnel here . . . .”

    So, the above was written about Benghazi, right?  Um, that would be a, “No.”

    The above is a statement by Mike Warren, a security director for the USAID-backed Mining Investment and Development for Afghanistan Sustainability Project.  He’s referring to the current state of US emergency evacuation planning for Afghanistan should things go bad there.

    As Santayana said:  “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

    Circa.com has a detailed article discussing the above today.  IMO it’s worth reading.

    Sheesh.  If the linked article is anywhere near accurate, nothing has changed.  DoS appears to be just as institutionally clueless and inept as it was 4 years ago.

    But for the current      gang of fools and tools calling the shots in DC       Administration, being institutionally clueless and inept is nothing new.  Besides:  “What difference does it make?”

  • Interesting Polling Results from Venezuela

    Even though it’s in the middle of some seriously bad times, polling organizations still take polls in Venezuela.  And Venezuelans still respond.

    But the latest poll results are a bit surprising.

    The percentage of Venezuelans who feel safe walking down the street at night, according to the latest polls taken by Gallup, is 14%.  In Syria – a nation that has experienced civil war for the past several years – the corresponding percentage is 32%.

    Yes, you read that correctly.  Per recent poll data, almost one out of 3 Syrians feels safe walking down the street at night.  Less than one out of 7 Venezuelans likewise feel safe walking down the street at night.

    But that’s not the fault of the leftist, Communist idiots and ideological heirs of Hugo Chavez “living large” while ruling Venezuela – while simultaneously driving a country of 30 million with some of the world’s largest known oil reserves to the brink of economic collapse via trying to ram command-driven Marxist theology down everyone’s throat. Things would be just great if everyone would quit insisting on that pesky thing called “freedom” and would just follow the late Hugo’s lead!

    Remember:  Don’t Fear the Commie.

  • More “Iran Nuclear Agreement” News

    Remember that “Nuclear Deal” with Iran that was negotiated by the current        gang of fools who want to give away the farm      Administration?  You know, the one that was going to “put the brakes” on Iran’s nuclear program and ensure they never developed a nuke?

    Well, it seems that Iran has announced the construction of two additional nuclear plants.  They’re going to spend a total of $10 billion to do so – of which, 17% ($1.7 billion) was recently paid to Iran in cash by the US as       ransom for US citizens held by Iran       a “settlement” of outstanding financial issues dating back to the Iranian revolution.  In effect, we provided Iran the down payment for this nuclear expansion.

    So, the current Administration is aghast at this development – right?  They’re pulling out all the stops to keep Iran from doing this?

    Hardly.  In fact, the US Administration approves of it.  They say that the two new plants are permitted under the agreement.

    The Washington Free Beacon has an article giving more details.  Their story is IMO worth a read.

    Yeah, that “nuclear agreement” is really a great deal.  For the Iranians, anyway.

  • About that San Bernardino “Valor Award” . . . .

    A few weeks ago, Jonn wrote about Irene Martinez – chief of an USICS office in San Bernardino – being nominated to receive the DHS “Award for Valor”.  However, at the time USICS was reluctant to disclose precisely what it was that Ms. Martinez had done to merit nomination to receive the award.

    Well, now we know.  Apparently DHS has finally responded to a FOIA request concerning the matter.

    During the San Bernardino terrorist shootings that occurred about a mile and a half away from her facility, Ms. Martinez first “warned [her] employees to be very careful and to be vigil (sic) about their surroundings”.  While the facility was on lockdown, she then went out to the parking lot and fetched one of her employees who was sitting in his car after returning from lunch, bringing him inside.

    She afterwards “soothed members of the public who were temporarily stranded in the building.”  According to the paperwork nominating her for the DHS Award for Valor, her actions that day “demonstrated not only her professionalism and exceptional leadership, but also her compassion and caring for her employees and the public we serve.”

    Yes, I’m serious.  That’s really why she was nominated.  The material in quotes above are reportedly direct quotes from the award nomination paperwork.

    Now, I don’t know about you – but something strikes me as a bit odd here.  Previous recipients of the same award apparently received the award for actions such as confronting armed criminals, or for rescuing persons from sinking ships or burning cars.  You know, for situations in which actual honest-to-God bravery was required.

    Ms. Martinez, in contrast, was apparently nominated for the award for nothing more than taking those routine actions any supervisor would be expected to take during a facility lockdown.  In short:  she was nominated simply for doing her freaking job.

    Oh, and in case anyone’s forgotten:  Ms. Martinez also apparently has a rather odd view of what consititutes “doing her job”.  It turns out that Ms. Martinez was quite uncooperative when 5 DHS LE personnel came to her facility the next day looking for a person of interest in connection with the previous day’s terrorist shooting.  That person of interest – Enrique Marquez – was believed at the time to have supplied the two terrorist bastards who’d perpetrated the previous day’s attack the weapons they’d used.  Marquez was scheduled for an appointment at Ms. Martinez’s facility, but was a no-show.

    Ms. Martinez delayed those 5 Federal LE agents for approximately 1 1/2 hours in the performance of their duties, apparently for bureaucratic “turf war” reasons.  She then outright lied to DHS IG investigators about her actions that day when the matter was later investigated.

    It seems to me that both of those later actions by Ms. Martinez may well qualify as crimes – the former possibly as interfering with a Federal investigation (18 USC 111, or 18 USC 1512(b)3) and the latter as giving a false statement to Federal investigators (18 USC 1001).  But it doesn’t seem as if anyone at DHS much cares about that.

    But they sure seem to want to give the lady an award for doing nothing more than her job.  Go figure.

  • $20 Million for Art? Pfft. Merely Peanuts.

    I suppose everyone’s heard the recent news about the VA spending $20M on art.  Well, as far as VA “management excellence” goes, it turns out that’s peanuts.

    During the period 2010-2013, the VA began implementation of 15 solar energy projects.  They were projected to take on average of 7 to 12 months, and to all be completed by now.

    I suppose you can guess what’s coming.  And if you guessed “another sterling example of the VA’s excellence in managing the use of its resources” – you’d be right.  (I trust the sarcasm in the previous sentence is obvious.)

    Instead, the projects are taking an average of 42 months to completion.  Further, most aren’t yet fully operational.

    In aggregate, the projects were projected to cost $95M.  So far, the VA has spent approximately $408M – which is “only” 329+% over budget.  And some of the projects haven’t even begun to produce electricity, let alone reach full operating capacity.  In fact, of the 15 projects investigated by the VA OIG only two were operating at design capacity by March of this year.

    The Washington Free Beacon has a good article giving more details.  It’s worth a read.  So is the VA OIG report on the subject (PDF format).  Be forewarned:  both just might p!ss you off.

    “Saving the environment”? Yeah, right.  IMO “political payback using tax dollars” sounds more like it.

  • Clock-Boy Wants to Get Paid

    Remember “Clock boy”, AKA Clachmed?  You know, the Islamic activist’s son who disassembled a 1980s-vintage digital clock and repackaged it into a case large enough to hold a complete M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mine with room to spare, and took it to school – then set it to alarm in class?  And who did that about 4 months after a couple of terrorist bastards had tried to shoot up a “Draw Mohammed” show a few miles away from his school?

    Well, guess what.  It appears he and his family – who left the US for Qatar last October – have decided they want to get paid.

    Clachmed is currently in the USA for the summer “visiting family and friends”.   I’m sure that it’s “just a coincidence” that while he’s “visiting family and friends” here in the USA, his family has also filed suit against his former school district for “violating his civil rights”.

    Yeah, right.  Can you say, “Fishing for a 7-figure settlement?”  Sure.  I knew you could.

    Sheesh.  All things considered, the young man is lucky as hell.  If he’d pulled that stunt in many if not most places in the world and gotten caught there’s a good chance he’d still be in jail – if not dead.

    I hope the judge who gets this case has enough common sense to toss it with prejudice, and sticks the youngster’s family with attorneys’ fees for both sides.  But I’m not holding my breath.

     

  • Can You Say, “Ransom?” Sure. I Knew You Could.

    And apparently, so can the current Administration.  From the Wall Street Journal:

    U.S. Sent Cash to Iran as Americans Were Freed

    Predictably, the current       gang of naive tools in DC       Administration says that there was no “quid pro quo” involved.  It was merely a “coincidence” that $400M worth of cash procured by the US government from European central banks was airlifted in an unmarked cargo plane to Tehran at the same time 4 Americans held hostage by Iran were released.

    The article linked above gives more details.  IMO you should read it.  Prepare to get angry.

    I really wish the current Administration would quit insulting our  intelligence by peeing on our legs and claiming it’s raining.  I can’t speak for others – but I can certainly tell the difference between the two, thanks.

    This wasn’t rain.