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

Category: “The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves”

  • More on David Gregory and His “Magazine Incident”

    Remember David Gregory?  You know, that “Meet the Press” host who flouted DC’s gun laws a couple of years ago and got away with it?

    Well, turns out that’s not the fault of the DC police.  It seems the DC police wanted to arrest Gregory for that stunt, and recommended he be charged.  The DC Attorney General, Irvin B. Nathan, ignored their request for an arrest warrant.  The linked story paraphrases the reason as being because the prosecutor thought Gregory “was just too nice a guy and had no other criminal intent”.

    Yeah, right.  How about not p!ssing on our legs and telling us it’s raining, Nathan?

    This has all the indications of having been nothing but a blatant quid pro quo to ensure continued good press and public support from Gregory and NBC on gun control issues.  You cut Gregory a break because you agree with him politically and he could help you in the future – plain and simple.  Had it been an ordinary Joe or Jane vice someone you agreed with politically and found useful, you’d have nailed them to the wall.

    But hey – that’s the DC city government for ya.  Crap like that shouldn’t surprise anyone.  It’s just business as usual.

     

  • Just When You Think They Can’t Get ANY Stupider . . . .

    . . . you read something like this.

    Seven months after federal officials fired CGI Federal for its botched work on Obamacare website Healthcare.gov, the IRS awarded the same company a $4.5 million IT contract for its new Obamacare tax program.

    The Daily Caller today has an article with more details. It’s worthwhile – if depressing and infuriating – reading.

    It will be so damn nice to see the current      band of clueless idiots      DC clown krewe      Administration end. Maybe then we’ll see adult leadership again.

  • Sounds Kinda Like An “Enemies List” to Me

    A few years ago, a lady named Christine O’Donnell ran for the Senate in Delaware. She ran an, um, interesting campaign.

    She lost.

    One can argue whether or not she was a good candidate. I personally thought she was a poor candidate, ran at best a mediocre campaign, and that a better candidate could have won. But regardless, she managed to parlay that experience – and the publicity it generated – into a new gig. She now writes a column for the Washington Times Communities.

    Ms. O’Donnell is quite conservative. She was a Tea Party favorite when she ran for the Senate.

    However, for the past few years she’s been having a bit of trouble with a certain Federal agency. Let’s see – she’s conservative and writes a column for a conservative publication. Gee, what Federal agency do you think might be giving her a hard time?

    If you guessed the IRS, give yourself a pat on the back. Yeah, the same IRS that has been proven grossly biased against conservatives – giving conservative organizations filing for nonprofit status the “slow-roll” treatment, while expediting the processing of those who are politically liberal and/or well-connected.

    The IRS has now reportedly frozen Ms. O’Donnell’s bank accounts. In error. For the second time in the last 5 years. And the IRS also reportedly removed $30,000 from her accounts when it froze them – which has yet to be returned.

    If you or I pulled a stunt like that, it would probably be called “theft by deception”, fraud, or something similar,  We’d almost certainly be on the “hot seat” being grilled by Federal LEOs.

    But here, it’s the IRS doing it to a public figure of the opposite political philosophy than the current      DC clown krewe in charge      Administration.  So it’s seemingly A-OK.

    You know, I can’t help but contrast this incident to stuff I remember from years ago. When employees of a certain past former POTUS pulled similar stunts, it was called “dirty tricks” and an “enemies list”; the press raised hell about it. But today, for the current Administration it seems to be just “business as usual” – and the press doesn’t seem to give a damn.

    “Most transparent administration in history”? Well, maybe. If you’re talking most transparently willing to abuse the power of the Federal bureaucracy to retaliate against its political enemies, that is.

    And meanwhile from the press we hear . . . nada.  They seem unable to pull their thumbs out of their keisters and write anything

  • At Last – A Shovel-Ready Stimulus Project

    Remember that vaunted “economic stimulus” package from several years ago? You know, that one rammed through Congress by the      naive DC clown krewe      current Administration that was going to lassez les bontemps rouler again, economy-wise? And which hasn’t exactly worked out all that well?

    The 2009 economic stimulus program has been widely derided as ineffective. Many of those “shovel-ready” projects you heard about were anything but. Critics called many of the projects funded by the program “make work”, “pork”, or “crap”. And it looks like they were dead on target.

    However, in spite of the ineffectiveness of the program those stimulus funds apparently are still around (and we wonder why we’ve been having budget deficits approaching or over $1 trillion annually). And today we have a new stimulus-funded project that’s truly shovel-ready.

    It’s a contract issued by the Bureau of Land Management to haul off horse and burro manure.

    The contract has one base year and four option years. It will likely be in effect until 2019.

    I’m not joking.

    What a load of horsesh!t. Literally.

    And we’re the ones paying for it.

  • Foreign-Born Civilian Navy Engineer . . . and Apparent Spy

    Seems that a foreign-born, 35-year-old engineer has been arrested by the FBI. The charge; attempting to provide design and vulnerability information concerning the Navy’s most advanced carrier currently under construction to a foreign government.

    It gets even better. The guy apparently immigrated and became a citizen fairly recently – he appears to have begun the process of attaining US citizenship in 2007. But it looks like he must have worked fast; he apparently was granted a security clearance fairly recently.

    Luckily, the “foreign agent” to whom the guy provided the info he’d obtained was an FBI undercover agent. So perhaps we dodged a proverbial bullet here.

    Unfortunately, the bastard isn’t facing the death penalty. He’s facing two charges, each of which have a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison. That’s . . . unfortunate. IMO, he should be looking at hanging – but I’d have settled for a needle instead.

    Both Fox News and the Washington Times have articles giving more details. They’re IMO worth reading.

    Interestingly, I’m not finding much else about this in the rest of the media. I wonder if the fact that the guy was born in Saudi Arabia – and was trying to provide the information to the government of Egypt – might have something to do with that?

    I guess spying on behalf of an Islamic nation must not be news. And that a recently-naturalized individual from a country with a huge Islamic extremist population applying for a security clearance during a time when we’re at war with Islamic extremists doesn’t merit enhanced scrutiny. Even if he’s from the country that, well, provided almost all of the terrorist bastards that perpetrated the 9/11 attacks.

    I swear, at times I think some folks working for the Five Sided Asylum really are crazy. Or perhaps simply have the intellect of a rock with lips.

  • Another SECDEF Candidate?

    Well, we seem to have a new candidate for SECDEF.  Reportedly the current secretary of DHS, Jeh Johnson, is now on the POTUS’s “short list” for appointment to that position.

    Yeah, that Jeh Johnson – the same Jeh Johnson who seems to have a problem being particularly truthful when speaking to the press.  And who assured everyone months ago that DHS could “stem the tide” of illegal immigration.  And as General Counsel for DoD, who gave the SECDEF some truly “head-scratching” advice?
    Yeah, that Jeh Johnson.

    Sounds like he’ll “fit right in” in the new job, doesn’t he?  Well, at least in this Administration he will.

    Then again, since he’s already a longtime      DC clown krewe member      Administration insider, that’s kinda a foregone conclusion.

  • About Those Online VA Systems

    We’ve all heard about the troubles the VA has been having lately. But give them credit where credit is due.

    Take their new online system, MyHealtheVet. It’s a way you can sign up to do a load of stuff online related to VA healthcare. You can check appointments, access medical records, renew prescriptions, and stuff like that.

    Or so I’m told. I don’t have an account.

    And given what is says in this little GAO report – and the multiple VA data breaches that seem to happen periodically – maybe not having an account is a good thing. Seems like the VA’s IT security still kinda, well . . . sucks.

    Yeah, take MyHealtheVet. Please. And secure the damn thing – along with the rest of the VA’s IT systems.

    Because until then, getting on-line access to your electronic information at the VA certainly sounds like a case of caveat emptor.

  • So . . . Ebola Quarantines Are an “Overreaction”, Eh?

    Well then, I guess authorities in India are just “overreacting” too:

    India isolates man with Ebola-infected semen

    The unfortunate fellow contracted Ebola in Liberia.  He was lucky – he was treated there, and survived.

    That was nearly 2 months ago.  He was released from the hospital in Liberia on 30 September.  He returned to New Delhi from Liberia on 10 November.

    On arrival, body fluids were tested.  His semen still contained measurable Ebola virus.

    Yes, that’s post-recovery.  And we already knew some people carried the virus for a substantial amount of time after recovery, and could still be infectious for months.

    But don’t forget, my “liberal brethren” – early tests fairly often provide false negatives, too.  That’s why advanced treatment for latest guy to die in this nation from Ebola was delayed.

    Quarantines exist – and are used – for a reason.  They freaking work.