Oh Yes, Mitt Romney, a Real Man of the People

One Good Turn

SOME limitation on the incentive for police to confiscate property.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/holder-ends-seized-asset-sharing-process-that-split-billions-with-local-state-police/2015/01/16/0e7ca058-99d4-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html

The Terrorists Have Won

What happened to the post-Charlie Hebdo American  I shake my pen at you, you don't scare me, I'm American, FREDOM! attitude?

The Jeffrey Sterling Trial

This is the trial for which the government persecuted author and journalist James Risen for the past 7 years, and eventually had to let him off the hook. Check out this short New York Times article about Condoleezza Rice's testimony, wherein she describes how the White House kills a story that they don't want published. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/16/us/politics/condoleezza-rice-testifies-on-urging-the-times-to-suppress-leak.html

That Would Be Awesome

Apologies for the quality. ..it took me a long time to figure out how to do this from my phone.   Couldn't take the time to crop the photo.

UPDATE:  I should have prefaced that with this:  Citizenfour has been nominated for best documentary Oscar.

Bitter with a Chance of Light Blogging

I've been tapped to go to a huge market event in Dallas this week. I'm flying, and I just don't want the hassle of taking my laptop and risk damaging it. I'll be limited to my smartphone for internet access, and that probably means little, if any, blogging. I think it will be a safe bet to guess that world affairs will only get worse in the next week, but that's not news.

Breaking....

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/us/times-reporter-james-risen-will-not-be-called-to-testify-in-leak-case-lawyers-say.html?smid=tw-share

Mr. Kurtzberg, a lawyer with Cahill Gordon & Reindel, said that while Mr. Risen ultimately may not have to testify, the Justice Department used the case to create court precedent that could be used to force journalists to testify in the future.

“I worry about future administrations,” he said. “Now there’s bad precedent, and not every executive branch in the future will exercise their discretion the way this one did. It didn’t have to go this way.”

  NYT

In these times, in this world, yes, it did.

Why Obama Didn't Go to Paris

Yes, well, everyone else isn't as important as Obama, so they don't need as much security, do they?

Remember when W went to England?



Wait. What? He didn't watch coverage of the Paris march?

Geez, he's so much like W, you might be forgiven for wondering how they're related.  Never mind the birth certificate; I want to see proof that he isn't the illegitimate result of a tryst between GHW Bush and a black maid, secreted off to the interracial Obamas to raise until time to mold him for the presidency.

British Gov't Response to Gunmen Killing Twelve: Take Control of Internet

[P]rime minister [David Cameron] said a future Conservative government would aim to deny terrorists “safe space” to communicate online, days after a warning from the director general of MI5, Andrew Parker, that the intelligence agencies are in danger of losing the ability to monitor “dark places” on the net.

  Guardian

Since when?

Was it the internet that killed the Charlie Hebdo staff?

The prime minister outlined his plans after meeting Britain’s intelligence chiefs in the wake of the Paris attacks. He promised to ensure there would be what officials describe as “no no-go areas” on the net where terrorists can hide.

So, they’re hiding on the internet. No wonder they can’t be stopped. We have to wait for them to come out on the streets.

Is there even any indication that the attack was planned using the internet? We just immediately go to cracking down on internet privacy? Gee, it’s almost as if they have been waiting for an excuse to further stifle private use of the internet.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: Ray McGovern weighs in.

Coincidence? Psychic Phenomenon? Terrorists?

First, the http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/13/smoke-at-lenfant-plaza-station/ (blamed on "arcing" but unidentified). Now, Penn Station (cause uknown).