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

Category: “Your Tax Dollars At Work”

  • Same Old Song and Dance

    Well, for the     gang of fools in DC     current Administration, this is . . . inconvenient.

    Remember the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting?  You know, the incident where an adherent of Islam became radicalized, was investigated twice by the FBI for potential ties to terrorism, pledged his allegiance to Daesh, and shot up an Orlando nightclub frequented by the LGBT crowd – killing 49 and injuring 53?

    You know, that obvious terrorist attack that the Administration has insisted on investigating as a possible “hate crime”?  Because a number of people claimed the shooter had frequented gay clubs and inquired about gay dating apps?

    Well, it seems that those pesky things called facts are looking a bit “inconvenient” regarding the Administration’s      blatant propaganda and “spin”      thesis that this may have been a hate crime vice terrorism.  Per officials familiar with the investigation, the FBI has found no hard evidence supporting that thesis.  Specifically, they can’t seem to corroborate the accounts concerning the shooter that might lead one to believe he may have been gay or bi.

    Still, the investigation into the shooter’s possible sexual orientation continues.  And last week, in an interview the US Attorney General declined to rule out the possibility that the shooter was secretly gay – but that investigators are still trying to determine why the shooter picked a gay nightclub.

    Hmm.  Daesh has been targeting gays for death for the past 2 years.  The shooter chose a gay night club during a special event (when it would be more crowded than usual) as his target.  Daesh is a radical Islamic terrorist organization.  The shooter pledged his allegiance to Daesh, and was a radicalized Muslim.  And he committed a suicide attack.

    I’m not LE.  But I think maybe I’m seeing a pattern here that rather clearly supports one conclusion regarding the shooter’s motive.

    Or, to phrase it differently:  looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, smells like a duck.  Damn, ya think maybe it might be a duck and not a squirrel?

    Fox News has an article this morning giving more details.  It’s worth a read.

    Yeah, it looks like our legs are wet yet again.  And it’s not raining.

  • About That Recent Fire in Los Angeles . . . .

    Last Monday, a vacant building was intentionally torched in Los Angeles. Some homeless people were in it at the time.

    Five of them died.

    The police have a suspect in custody: Johnny Sanchez. Authorities believe he intentionally set the fire with intent to kill.

    Sanchez is a Honduran citizen. He’s 21 years old.

    Sanchez was arrested for illegally crossing the US border in 2012. At the time, Sanchez was released by authorities because he “had no previous criminal history.”

    Instead of being immediately deported to Honduras, Sanchez was placed “under supervision” and ordered to report to authorities regularly. He did – for a while. But he stopped doing that in 2014.

    In January of this year, Sanchez was arrested again – this time on suspicion of domestic violence. He was arrested again twice afterwards on suspicion of drug possession.

    So, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement began deportation proceedings after one of those arrests, right? After all: Sanchez was arrested three times this year for serious crimes, and had also been in violation of the conditions that allowed him to remain in the US (periodic check-in with authorities) for between one and two years.

    Well . . . that would be a “no”.

    Why not, you ask? When asked here’s what ICE had to say:

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement never started the process of deporting him, spokeswoman Virginia Kice said, adding that the reason why was unclear. She told the newspaper it’s ICE policy “to focus on individuals who pose a public safety threat.”

    Sanchez reportedly set the arson fire which killed five Monday after a fight with some of those killed. As noted above, authorities think his intent in setting the fire was to kill.

    Hmm . . . let’s see. Sanchez quit reporting in to authorities as ordered close to 2 years ago, as was required for him to remain in the US. He’d been arrested for domestic violence, and twice had been arrested for drugs, since the beginning of the year. Based on all of that, I’d certainly say Sanchez that damn well did seem to pose a threat to public safety. But apparently ICE felt he didn’t.

    I must have it wrong, though; ICE must have been right about Sanchez not posing a threat to public safety. After all: they apparently didn’t lift a finger when Sanchez was arrested for domestic violence after being “on the lam” for well over a year, then was arrested twice again for serious criminal offenses. But ICE assures us they focus on those illegal immigrants who “pose a public safety threat.” And we know that ICE cares first and foremost about the safety and security of the US public, and that they work tirelessly to protect us.

    I have to wonder, though, if the proverbial “man on the street” would would agree with ICE regarding their hands-off treatment of Sanchez. Or what the next-of-kin of those killed in the fire Sanchez started might say concerning the situation.

     

    (Hopefully the sarcasm in the next to last para of the above was obvious. If it wasn’t, you might want to have your sarcasm detector checked by a competent repair shop.)

  • Yet More ObamaPhone “Good News”

    I’ve written previously about the “Lifeline” program, AKA “ObamaPhones”.   Short version:  the program today is poorly conceived, badly run, and rife with fraud.  You can see my previous articles about it here and here.

    Well, here’s some more news about Lifeline.  And as before – if you pay taxes or pay for your own phone service – and thus pay for stupid crap like this – the recent news concerning the program kinda . . . sucks.

    For those who might not be familiar:  “Lifeline” provides subsidies so that “low income” households can have a phone for emergency essential communications.  The program is theoretically limited to one phone per “independent economic household (IEH)”.

    When the program was landline-only, that was fairly easy to enforce.  Then in 2005, cell phones were allowed under the program.

    Now, Stevie Wonder could have seen that was a bad idea from a fraud perspective.  But the program was changed to allow cells anyway.

    Theoretically, Lifeline enrollees are still required to give a valid address.  Also theoretically, multiple enrollments at the same address are a “no go”.  Except . . . they’re not, really.

    You see, telecom companies are allowed to “override” the IEH (e.g., one subscriber per address) requirement.  The override is designed to be used for places like homeless shelters, where conceivably multiple persons who qualify might reside.

    However, recent reporting from telecom companies participating in indicates that over 1/3 of Lifeline subscribers last year used this “override” – e.g., a second (or third/fourth/fifth/whatever) line at an address already having a Lifeline subscriber.  And there’s no telling how many more covert fraudulent ones were issued (multiple subscribers in one household, but not all using their actual residence address on their application).

    There is no way in hell all of those overrides were legit.  I’d be surprised if even 2% of them were.

    It gets even better.  In one company’s case – Total Call Mobile – 99.8% of their Lifeline subscribers were approved using the override (the overall average was 35+%).  Yeah, Total Call Mobile is the same company that recently got fined $51M by the FCC for program violations – and as I noted here, likely still came out nearly $40M ahead on the deal.  Nice gig if you can stomach the work, I guess.

    Further, employees at Total Call Mobile said they learned how to do that from employees at other companies participating in the program.  So some of the other Lifeline providers are doubtless doing the same, albeit certainly not on the same scale.

    The aggregate cost of this apparent fraud to taxpayers?  Try around $476M annually – or nearly half a billion dollars.  And that’s likely a low estimate.

    The Washington Examiner and Washington Free Beacon each have recent articles describing this latest Obamaphone fishiness.  They’re worthwhile reading, even if they might turn your stomach.

    We need to make major changes to this fraud-filled abomination of a Federal program.  IMO it needs to go back to landline-only – pronto.

  • And In the “YGBSM!” Department . . . .

    . . . these headlines say it all.

    DOJ to nix ‘felon,’ ‘convict’ terms deemed stigmatizing

    and

    Cops cancel ‘insensitive’ Cinco de Mayo checkpoints

    Geez.  GMAFB.

  • More “ObamaCare” News

    Well, we have some more news about that       Plainly Pathetic Abominable Collection of Asininity       Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, AKA “ObamaCare”.  And as is usual, the news isn’t all that good for the US taxpayer.

    First, here’s an Item I apparently overlooked previously.  Remember those “non-profit cooperatives” that were supposed to provide much of ObamaCare’s insurance coverage?  Remember that as of last October, nearly half of them had folded?

    Well, about a month ago more info was released about just how badly those cooperatives did, financially, in 2014 and 2015.  (Short version:  they lost their butts.)

    By March, the number of failed cooperatives was up to 12.  These cooperatives lost $376 million in 2014.  In 2015, their losses are estimated at $1 billion.  And they apparently still owe hospitals and doctors around $1 billion as well.

    The “rest of the story”?  Well, the Federal government apparently loaned cooperatives around $2.4 billion collectively at start-up.  The 12 failed cooperatives apparently still haven’t repaid $1.2 billion that the Federal government loaned them.

    Gee.  That means one of two things will happen.  Either we the taxpayer will eat the cost of those loans –  or their parent firms will raise future premiums to cover losses as well as repaying them.  Which means that you and I will pay for them through increased premiums in the future.

    Wonderful.  Just freaking wonderful.

    In fact, it appears that the higher premiums may take effect later this year.  The new 2017 “ObamaCare” premiums are expected on 1 November.  Premiums announced in November (for next year) are expected to show rather marked increases over last year’s ObamaCare exchange premiums.

    How much?  Well, I’m not sure – but last year, premiums were up an average of “only” 8% or so, and the current       gang of fools in DC who foisted this idiocy on the American public         Administration touted that fact as “good news”.  I’m not really sure why, though – in contrast, CPI inflation for 2015 was 0.1%.  (Yes, that is a zero to the left of the decimal point.)

    Gee – losing money out the wazoo, billions in outstanding debts and loans, and substantial future price increases virtually guaranteed.  What’s not to like?  (smile)

    Sheesh.  We need to kill this idiotic mistake of a law posthaste.  Then burn its corpse until its ash, mix the ashes with quicklime and water, and dump the resulting slurry down an abandoned mine shaft.  Then dynamite the mine shaft so it collapses.

  • “It’s the High Taxes and Over-Regulation, Stupid.”

    Well, new figures for US economic growth are out.  And it turns out last quarter was not a good one.

    The US economy’s annualized real growth rate for the first quarter of this year?  Try a whopping 0.5%.  Yes, that’s a ZERO to the left of the decimal point.  And yes, that’s the annualized growth rate.

    That’s the slowest quarterly annualized real growth rate we’ve seen for the US economy in 2 years.

    The US economic real growth rate was so low last quarter, it was nearly 30% less than expected.  And it was only expected, based on midpoint projections, to be 0.7% – which is itself abysmally bad.  It also marked the third straight year with a p!ss-poor beginning, economic-growth wise.

    This follows on the heels of a rather anemic fourth quarter of last year.  During that quarter, in real terms the US economy grew at a “massive” 1.4% annualized rate.

    It seems a cinch to say that we won’t see 3% real growth this year overall.  So far, the current       gang of economic idiots screwing things up by-the-numbers in DC      Administration has yet to see a single year with US real economic growth at or above an annual rate of 3%.  That makes the Obama Administration the first US Presidential Administration in history to fail to deliver even a single year of 3% growth.  In fact, if the economic growth rate for this year doesn’t reach 2.67% (kinda doubtful at this point IMO), the Obama Administration will be the fourth-worst  Administration in US history, economically speaking.

    If current projections hold, the 8 year average for US economic growth under this      gaggle of economically naïve tools      Administration will be around 1.55% – if they’re lucky.  If the economy doesn’t improve dramatically with respect to last quarter during the rest of this year, they won’t even see that.

    When the US economy doesn’t grow, well, thinks kinda suck for everyone.  For comparison, during the Reagan Administration, the 8 year AVERAGE for real economic growth was 3.5% per year.  Gee – ya think maybe that had something to do with why it’s perceived as “good times”, economically speaking?

    Predictably, the POTUS doesn’t appear to have a clue why the economy is growing so slowly, and keeps touting “low unemployment”.  Well, Mr. President, let me provide you a clue or two – free.

    Here’s yer first clue.  The unemployment rate is dropping for two reasons.  First, it’s dropping because people who want to work are becoming discouraged and ceasing to look for work.  And second, your inane policies regarding social welfare programs have removed many consequences for doing so.  Here’s one example:  you still haven’t reinstated Clintoon’s work requirements for SNAP (AKA food stamps) eligibility since you suspended them in 2009.

    When a recovery begins, the economy starts consistently growing again at a strong rate – typically a real annual growth rate of 3% or higher.  When that happens, people will start looking for work again – which means the unemployment rate will spike.  And the labor participation rate, a much better overall measure of economic health than unemployment, will start to rise consistently.

    Right now, we’re still in Carter Administration territory on the latter.  And since we haven’t seen a spike in unemployment yet, any claims that we’re “in an economic recovery” today . . . are bullsh!t.

    Now, for the second clue.  Regarding why the economy isn’t growing – see the title of this article.  Have someone explain it to you if you don’t “get it”.

    Sheesh.  I will be so damn glad to see someone with a freaking clue about the economy running the show in DC.  At least Slick Willie seemed to know his butt from a hole in the ground there.

  • “And the Hits Just Keep On Coming” . . . for the VA

    We all know that the VA has serious problems.  But this appears to be a new – and disgusting – issue that hasn’t previously surfaced.   Maybe you want to wait until well after lunch before reading the linked story from Fox.

    Whistleblower: Cockroaches served in food
    at Chicago-area VA hospital

    In this case, the “whistleblower” is one Ms. Germaine Clarno – president of the facility’s AFGE Local.

    If the name “Germaine Clarno” seems familiar, it should.  Jonn’s written about her before.

    In case you’re forgotten: Clarno is the same “whistleblower” that refused to discuss other issues involving patient care with Republican Members of Congress from Illinois after her preferred Democratic officials did squat when she brought those issues to their attention.  Clarno herself admits that the issues were serious enough that people died needlessly.

    Then again, when you’re willing to play politics when lives are literally at stake I guess you’re willing to do the same when the food is substandard or vermin-infested. And I’m guessing Clarno’s known about the food issue for a while, too – she says, “It’s been like this for years, ever since anyone can remember.”

    The linked Fox article’s worth reading; so is the article Fox in turn links from Conservative Review, which gives more details.  But as I said earlier:  maybe you should wait an hour or so after having lunch to read either.

    Sad.  As well as infuriating – and absolutely inexcusable.

  • “We have sent many operatives to Europe with the refugees.”

    The Washington Post today has an excellent and informative article – if also a somewhat disturbing one. It documents in some detail how four Da’esh operatives passed themselves off as “refugees” and used that ruse to infiltrate Europe.

    On a crisp morning last October, 198 migrants arrived on the Greek island of Leros, all of them seemingly desperate people seeking sanctuary in Europe. But hiding among them were four men with a very different agenda.

    The four were posing as war-weary Syrians — all carrying doctored passports with false identities. And they were on a deadly mission for the Islamic State.

    Two of the four would masquerade as migrants all the way to Paris. There, at 9:20 p.m. on Nov. 13, they would detonate suicide vests near the Stade de France sports complex, fulfilling their part in the worst attack on French soil since World War II.

    The other two Da’esh operatives were detained in Greece for lying about their identities. However, after a time they were released and allowed to continue their journey. They were later arrested in Austria – thankfully, before they could commit a terrorist attack. God only knows what other actions they took to support terrorism in the interim.

    The article goes on to provide more info about the issue of Da’esh using the “refugee” flood as cover for infiltration. That info paints a rather disturbing picture.

    Think about that for a moment. In one group of less than 200 “refugees”, 4 of them – or over 2% – were decidedly not “refugees” at all. Rather, they were radical Islamist operatives intent on committing terrorist atrocities in a foreign land. They were merely using the ruse of being “refugees” as cover for their infiltration in order to avoid more thorough screening.

    Over a million “refugees” from the Middle East have entered Europe recently. European intelligence agencies believe several hundred thousand of them may never have been adequately screened on entry.

    If even 1% of those unscreened “refugees” are instead terrorist operatives, that’s 1,000 terrorists for every 100,000 alleged “refugees” who entered. And based on an admittedly small sample, there’s evidence that the actual rate may well be more than double that.

    Da’esh brags that they have many more such “sleeper” operatives in Europe now. Indeed, this article’s title is a quote from a Da’esh commander discussing the subject.

    So far, only a bit more than three dozen of those Da’esh operatives infiltrated as “refugees” have been identified and apprehended in Europe. And of those, seven of them participated in the Paris attacks last year.

    And yet, the      gaggle of naive fools and clueless tools running the show in DC      current Administration wants to admit tens of thousands of “refugees” to the US, too. But don’t worry – the Administration assures us that any such “refugees” admitted will be screened “thoroughly”.

    Yeah, right. In reality, if admitted they won’t be screened anywhere near as thoroughly as the foreign born spouse of the couple responsible for San Bernardino. And we know how that turned out.