COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, March 26, 2017

The GOP Taliban Caucus

Paul Ryan Was Warned About These Assholes - 2015:



WHO ARE THE FREEDOM COCKASSES? -2015:


Freedom Caucus drives dagger into heart of young Trump presidency


It is hard to overestimate the damage the Freedom Caucus has done to the fledgling presidency of Donald Trump, and to the country. By blocking the American Health Care Act of 2017, the conservative group has guaranteed that Americans will struggle forward under the burden of Obamacare. In the next few months insurers will announce their premium hikes for the coming year; chances are, given the continuing withdrawal of major companies from the marketplaces and the ongoing failure of the bill to attract enough young and healthy participants, the new rates will not be pretty. Last year premiums went up 25%; it’s likely the increases will be higher this year.

Republicans will own those higher rates. Their failure to repeal the financial underpinnings of Obamacare and start replacing that failing program with an approach that encourages competition and that embodies numerous other common sense reforms will mean that families hit by ever-higher costs will blame the GOP. Voters elected Donald Trump and a GOP Congress to get this job done – the number one promise of every Republican campaign since 2010.

Now the Republican Party inherits the Sisyphean task of managing Obamacare’s inevitable decline. They are no longer critics; they are now the producers of the show. It is unlikely that House Speaker Paul Ryan or Trump will have the political will and patience to return to the drawing board and attempt to craft a brand new bill. They have made other commitments to voters, and so Obamacare, as a defeated Paul Ryan admitted after withdrawing the AHCA, is the law of the land. Live with it.

Of course, the damage is not limited to healthcare reform. The undermining of the House leadership is profound and clouds prospects of tax reform, infrastructure spending and other important jobs to be done. If Ryan cannot be counted on to herd the cats on healthcare, how do we know he can round up votes on tax reform?

It is the young Trump presidency, however, that takes the biggest hit here. Trump was elected because people across the political spectrum thought he could fix some of our problems. He was the businessman who could import common sense to Washington, and the deal maker who could bring people together. He made big promises; a country tired of stalemate and disappointment believed that he could bring back jobs, reduce our debt, build the wall, find a better healthcare solution.
His credibility and credentials now lie in tatters. All that optimism that has stoked the stock market and boosted investment plans – all that may fade.

Who is to blame? House Speaker Paul Ryan will be dragged through the mud for failing to win enough votes. He will also be criticized for concocting an arguably complicated and overly cerebral approach to the mission at hand. The AHCA was only part of the solution; Ryan vowed to press forward with more changes – like allowing insurers to compete across state lines, expanded health savings accounts and Medicaid reforms – in future legislation. It was a complex three-step approach; framing a sales pitch was all but impossible.

He was hemmed in by the strictures of reconciliation, through which Obamacare was to be dismantled but even so, it was a hard story to tell. Once the CBO published their score, showing that 24 million would lose coverage by 2026, Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues were off to the races, souring the country on Ryan’s bill. Few noted that subsequent measures would make the numbers significantly more appealing. Negative polling encouraged those keen to defeat it, and defeat it they did.

Nancy Pelosi mocked Trump for bringing the bill to the floor before he had the votes; that won’t sit well with a president who likes winning. So far, he is blaming Democrats, but he will doubtless find others – including perhaps the Speaker – to chastise for the loss. That will be unfortunate. As an outsider, President Trump has to rely on some seasoned hands to move bills through Congress; notwithstanding this recent defeat, Vice President Pence, chief of staff Reince Priebus and Paul Ryan are an excellent and necessary team. Relying on executive orders, as Obama did, produces unsustainable measures easily overturned by the courts.

Outraged Republicans should save most of their ire for the Freedom Caucus. The group of 30-odd conservatives are patting themselves on the backs this evening; joining their celebration are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Hillary Clinton declared the failure a victory, while disgusted Republicans across the country wonder how it went so wrong.

Caucus leader Mark Meadows, who hails from western North Carolina, may find himself under scrutiny. People may wonder why the American Society of Anesthesiologists was one of the top five funders of Meadows’ campaign and why health professionals were among the top five industries donating to his reelection in 2016. Medical groups typically like Obamacare, which provides healthcare services to an expanded population. Did they count on Meadows undermining Obamacare repeal? Did they know that thanks to his efforts, Obamacare would carry on?

Meadows could well find himself with a primary challenger in 2018 who promises to support Donald Trump. After all, Trump carried North Carolina, and especially the western regions.  

And Meadows may not be alone. The National Republican Congressional Committee has been hauling in record amounts of money these past few months – money that can go to fielding candidates that support the White House. The Chair of the NRCC is Ohio’s Steve Stivers, who was a yes vote for the AHCA. His predecessor at the NRCC was Oregon Representative Greg Walden, who campaigned all-out for the AHCA. It’ unlikely either Stivers or Walden will champion the reelection of Meadows or his colleagues. 

The Trump White House is apparently going to move on to the other items on the agenda. The country will watch to see if the administration can bring tax reform about. With Democrats obstructing every move, nothing will be easy. But with Democrats and the Freedom Caucus standing in the way of the Trump agenda, nearly everything becomes impossible. 


Liz Peek is a writer who contributes frequently to FoxNews.com. She is a financial columnist who also writes for The Fiscal Times. For more visit LizPeek.com. Follow her on Twitter@LizPeek.

90 comments:

  1. These 40 ignoramuses make The Congressional Black Caucus look like the Mensa Society.

    The Freedom Cockasses have done a better job at destroying the fledgling Trump Administration than the Liberal Media and the Left could have ever dreamed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Freedom Cockasses are to the Republican Party as the Taliban and ISIS is to Islam and modern civilization. They know how to strap on suicide belts and wreck things but are totally incapable of governance. Without even looking, I'll bet they are predictably anti-science and religious zealots.

    They did Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi's work and broke Trump's presidency. Maybe Trump can fix it. It is doubtful.

    Ignorance and zealotry cannot be compromised with nor is it negotiable. Kick them out of the Republican Party and all leadership positions. Rebuild from there and let them celebrate their political purism with Glenn Beck.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Has it ever happened before - A lame duck POTUS after 60 days while his party controls Congress and the Governorships?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I cannot recall it happening except in parliamentary systems. It happened under two months in Canada in the late seventies under Joe Clark. It was very common in the UK.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think your examples refer to folk who were ruling with a minority in parliament.

      Delete
    2. That is true but the US system is rigged to the two-party system. //it is a gross distortion that enfeebles good governance.

      Naturally the US should have 8-10 political parties.

      Delete
  5. Trump and Ryan made an error. As soon as they saw his happening, they should have worked on the Blue Dog Democrats. The only need a dozen to nullify the GOP Cockasses. They had better do the same in the Senate to nullify McCain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This spell correction is out of control. Apple ought to ask Siri how to fix it.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  6. Not to do it, gives the assholes power they don't deserve.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The strategy should be to engineer bills that are 70% acceptable and desirable to a bi-partisan majority and attach incremental pieces of legislation that is more problematic. Taxes, infrastructure and immigration control and reform are all natural areas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trump - coalition builder. That would be something to see. I'm not holding my breath.

      Delete
    2. Believe it or not, he did it many times during his career. Perhaps he forgot.

      Delete
    3. All I've ever seen from him has been counterpunching.

      Delete
    4. Building consensus is the mother's milk of successful real estate development. Sometimes a new traffic light and some shrubbery can mean the difference between an approval and a rejection.

      Trump also knows that an initial rejection is a negotiating stance.

      Let Trump be Trump.

      Delete
    5. Trump needs to use some incrementalism in his exercise of transposition. Trump has a conservative Jew for a son in law and close relationships with many Jews. Jews have survived using incrementalism as a tactic. They are masters at it.

      It has been a mistake for Trump, trying to do too much, too fast. it is the shock of the new. High risk - High Reward but in this case, it obviously has not worked. Trump needs to take a longer historic view.

      Delete
    6. .

      Erik and Ivanka went skiing during the AHCA debate. Reportedly, The Donald was a little upset.

      .

      Delete
  8. .

    Careful, we don't want to get Bob wound up.

    As he put it so eloquently on the last stream, 'a rose by any other name'. The Tea Party is the Freedom Caucus, if not in name in inclination and Bob has bragged about his Tea Party affiliation.

    I don't want to go so far as to say you can blame Bob for Trump's failure on the AHCA but, well...


    :o)

    .

    ReplyDelete
  9. .

    Kick them out of the Republican Party and all leadership positions. Rebuild from there and let them celebrate their political purism with Glenn Beck.

    Boehner tried that and it cost him the speakership.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  10. .

    Mike Mulvaney was on Meet the Press and swore Trump was not blaming Ryan for the loss on healthcare. If so, why did Trump put out a tweet Saturday morning saying

    Watch @JudgeJeanine tonight @FoxNews tonight at 9:00 pm

    For those who did tune in what they got was a hysterical screed by the Judge (is/was she an actual judge? If so, FOX should wise up given their recent luck with judges) demanding that Paul Ryan be kicked out of the speakership.

    http://thecount.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-Judge-Jeanine-tweet.jpg

    We also know Trump has berated and blamed the Freedom caucus. We know Bannon told the moderates 'this is not a negotiation' get on board. We know Trump told individual GOP moderates that if they vote against AHAC they are responsible for 'killing the bill, ruining tax reform, and continuing funding for Planned Parenthood.'

    The Dems were the first Trump blamed

    Expert opinion (mine): Trump is washing his hands of this fiasco and will be blaming whoever it takes to shift all responsibility away from himself.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      What is interesting about Ryan and the speakership is that his job may be safe because of the simple fact that no one else seems to want it.

      .

      Delete
  11. .

    The GOP spent 17 legislative days trying to push through AHCA.

    Obama and the Dems spent 13 months working on the ACA. They ended up taking massive hits in the following election. In other words, they were willing to expend a lot of political capital to get ACA through.

    The GOP whined about the ACA for 7 years yet did absolutely nothing to try to come up with a plan of their own. They had nothing to hand over to Trump on November 9. They spent 2 months trying to cobble a plan together before bringing it to the floor.

    Expert opinion (mine): Most of the GOP could give a shit about healthcare. The AHCA was not a healthcare plan. It was a tax cut plan.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  12. .

    Trump says he is moving on. Good luck with that. The AHCA defeat complicates things. there was a reason the GOP did healthcare first. The savings from that change was designed to provide the savings needed the tax cuts for the rich.

    - Tax Reform - How will they pay for the tax cuts for the rich they plan?

    - Infrastructure Spending - If the Freedom Caucus shot down the AHCA what will they do with a $1 trillion dollar outlay for infrastructure, an issue the GOP has never championed.

    - The Budget - Grass roots, state, and Democratic opposition will be strong given the massive cuts in many areas in the huge increase in military spending.

    Trump will get Gorsuch confirmed. Perhaps that's enough for some of his supporters. As for the country? We'll see. Trump better enjoy it while he can.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  13. INFRASTRUCTURE IS A NO-BRAINER. IT CAN HAVE NO IMPACT ON THE DEFICIT. HERE IS HOW:

    Assume that it is all spent on airports

    * You finance it 100% with 60 year revenue bonds

    * $1,000,000,000,000 @ 3% interest is $30 billion per year

    * $30 billion is $8,200,000 per year

    * Divide $8.2 million by a ten dollar fee for transaction = 820,000 transactions per day

    * 2.2 million passengers fly every day in the USA and would pay a federal airport use fee of $25 per flight, which would result in a cash flow of $55 million per day

    * Out of the daily, $55 million, $8.2 million goes to bond holders interest and $44 million goes toward amortizing the bonds

    It gets better. If all materials are of US origin, something amazing occurs: Almost all costs in construction end up as ordinary income in pay checks and benefits, including the supplies, and are taxed as ordinary income.

    The propensity to spend is significantly higher for individuals than corporations. This enhance the multiplier affect. I would estimate that out of each transaction less than 10% gets saved. At a 4 times multiplier and a tax rate of 20%, the treasury collects over $750 billion in wage taxes.

    The project costs $.25 on the dollar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Out of the $25 fee,( less than a checked bag), $8.20 goes towards bond interest, the balance goes towards amortization and transaction costs.

      Delete
    2. The same formula could be used on other infrastructure, including the internet and emails. At the time it took you to read this sentence, 20 million emails were sent.

      Delete
    3. mistake: $30 billion is $8,200,000 per year

      That of course, is per day.

      Delete
  14. Raul Labrador has gained a lot of weight.

    He almost has the double chin now.

    No longer the lean and hungry look.

    I've always liked Raul on a whole host of issues.

    But the double chin is a sign it's time for a politician to go.

    My daughter's dog is named Raul, but not after Labrador. After some hiphop artist or something, perhaps some postmodern thinker who holds literature, and language itself, is perpetually self referencing, nothing is ever new, and one might as well watch Fox News as read, or move to Las Vegas where everyone thinks the very same thoughts, at the very same time, year after year after decade, and there is no meaning in anything.

    In other words, a Quirk type of dude.

    Helps me remember the dog's name, though I'm always messing up and calling him 'Roethke' rather than 'Raul' quite often.

    'Roethke' was another beloved dog of our family, a wonderful large creature, quite shy, who was always wandering off.

    He got arrested in the Albertson's meat department one time, for instance, quite far from here.

    One time, after being gone overnight, he came back with a note attached to his collar:

    "Please call this number"

    Doing so I found where he had been hanging.....about three miles away with a lady who had about three dogs, and they all loved to play together.

    He was back east in Ohio at the old home one time, and wandered off, and never came back.....except some years later my son happened to see him when talking a walk....they had a visit and then finally Roethke took off again....the last any of us have seen him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My Aunt loved my daughter past understanding. She had the humorous habit of sometimes calling her 'bobbie' though, which she called my sister when she was young, rather than using my daughter's real name.

      Just a mistake of old age, my daugther finally accepted it, understood it, and liked it.

      Calling Raul Roethke is a similar type mistake, and my daughter accepts that too.

      If I start to call Raul 'Umberto' please have me committed.

      Delete
    2. That 'Umberto' fellow is quite the guy.

      I've now looked into him.

      No Meaning is his chime.

      Which is why I now know that Quirk is just pulling our dicks with all his recent interminable b.s.

      In fact, that is a polite understatement.

      Quirk has been jerking us all off, biggly, and chuckling and yucking to himself behind the screen....that's our endearing Quirk for ya....

      Delete
  15. O Canada !


    JIHAD WATCH
    Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

    Canadians Duped: A Victorious Day for Islamic Supremacists

    MARCH 25, 2017 12:02 PM BY CHRISTINE WILLIAMS

    The Canadian House of Commons passed anti-Islamophobia motion (M-103) on Thursday, leaving opponents stunned that protests and tens of thousands of Canadian signatures to petitions calling for rejection of the motion were ignored. M-103 was touted as advancing tolerance, inclusiveness and racial harmony, but instead it bestows a special status to Muslims and is a first step in edging Canada down a dangerous path, eroding the freedom of speech and potentially leading to the censorship of reporting on crimes committed by Muslims in the name of Islam. Even after the cover-up of the UK’s “grooming gangs” and the eventual revelation that up to “one million white English children” may have been victims of Muslim rape gangs; the sex assaults in Germany which have led to signs in pool areas telling Muslim migrants that it is not appropriate to touch women; Sweden’s rape crisis; and France’s no-go zones, still, the German Media Council told journalists not to mention the ethnicity or religion of perpetrators on the grounds that it would be discriminatory to do so. Such an approach leaves Westerners ignorant and uninformed, and living in a permanent state of unease. In Canada, Mohamed Huque, executive director of the Islamic Family and Social Services Association in Edmonton has already called for migrant sex crimes to be covered up following the sex assault of six Edmonton teen girls of which a Syrian refugee was arrested.

    In a Toronto Sun article entitled “I’m a liberal Muslim and I reject M-103,” Farzana Hassan writes:....

    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/03/canadians-duped-a-victorious-day-for-islamic-supremacists

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Canadian Government is trying to control what people think, and how they speak, and what they speak....

      Is this not fascism ?

      Not turning this question over to Quirk Jerker, as he would make mockery of it, but asking the readers to consider the question themselves.

      Delete
    2. Meanwhile the Imams keep on preaching the genocide of Jews in Canadian mosques.

      Delete
    3. Fascist Jews?

      Why are they in Mosques?

      Delete
    4. What's a Lame Duck Fascist?

      Delete
  16. Why not blame Priebus?

    ..or Gov Walker.

    Don't blame free government.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Blaming conservatives, Trump signals new openness to Dems

    http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article140868453.html#storylink=latest_side

    ReplyDelete
  18. Jerry Brown rips Trump’s wall: ‘We’re not going to sit around and just play patsy’


    http://www.sacbee.com/#storylink=cpy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many years ago, they built a wall south of San Diego.

      Worked just like it was supposed to.

      Delete
  19. 3 Green Berets were ‘executed’ and nothing is being done about it, these parents say

    An investigation by the FBI and American military concluded that the Green Berets acted heroically and cleared them of any wrongdoing.

    Earlier this month, Chuck Lewellen and fathers of the other fallen Green Berets spoke at the National Press Club in Washington. They want an apology from Jordan, and they’ve called for a suspension of aid to the country until that happens.

    “The government of Jordan lied to the world, immediately claiming that our sons failed to stop at the gate,” James R. Moriarty told the press club. “When the FBI confirmed the video showed that to be a lie, the Jordanians then claimed there had been an accidental discharge by one of the Americans. This was also proven to be a lie.

    “The American public is told Jordan is our ally. Jordan has never accepted responsibility nor has a Jordanian official ever explained what truly happened."

    http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article140870813.html#storylink=cpy

    ReplyDelete
  20. .

    Where is this information Rep. Nunes has promised? He has indicated in a press release that he has seen info proving someone from the Trump team was surveilled and their names disseminated without being redacted. He told the president the same thing (purportedly). All this without informing the Dems on the intelligence committee.

    After being criticized he indicated that he was waiting for the information he had previously seen to be delivered to him. First, he promised to share the info with the Dems when it was delivered to him on Friday. Then it became 'or over the weekend'. To date, it does not appear Nunes has provided any of this info to the Dems.

    On Friday, Nunes said he had scheduled new hearings for Tuesday. Paul Manafort had volunteered to testify. Clapper, Brennen, and Yates were to appear in open hearing. Nunes has now cancelled the Tuesday hearing and not announced why or when the hearing would be re-scheduled. None of this was done with any input from the Dems on the committee.

    Calls for an independent review or even a special prosecutor are growing and not only from the Dems.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies


    1. "Calls for an independent review or even a special prosecutor are growing and not only from the Dems"
      ===
      Yeah,
      John McCain and his boyfriend.

      Delete
  21. PRESIDENT TO COURT DEMS....DRUDGE BLAZING HEADLINE


    WHAT ??????


    HOW CAN THIS BE ????


    WHY, WE WERE TOLD JUST THE OTHER DAY BY PROFESSOR THE QUIRK THAT THE DONALD WOULD SOON BE CHARGING THEM WITH TREASON !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought he would gas them, given that he is a FASCIST!

      Delete
    2. .


      Why doesn't that surprise me?


      .

      Delete
  22. Violence erupts in California beach town as Trump supporters clash with protesters (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

    The OC register reports that 2,000 Trump supporters attended the rally. The fighting started early in the afternoon as the supporters of the president were marching along Bolsa Chica state beach around 40 miles (64 km) south of Los Angeles.

    California State Parks Police estimated that 2,000 Trump supporters attended the rally. Approximately 20 anti-Trump protesters, dressed all in black, were at the scene. They reportedly refused to move from a bike path to allow the rally to pass and the confrontation quickly turned violent.

    https://www.rt.com/usa/382377-trump-rally-violence-california/

    ReplyDelete
  23. Things are looking grim.

    Gonzaga - those cupcakes - is in the Final Four, and Kentucky currently trails North Carolina at half time.

    My wife is about to start throwing things at the TV.

    ReplyDelete
  24. ComputoTabPhone

    In display devices such as tiled displays or hinged displays, where multiple display panels may be included and separated by one another via the support structure, the visibility of the support structure may hinder a user's perception of displayed objects," Microsoft states in its patent application.

    "In order to reduce and/or obscure the visibility of a support structure for a display panel, the present disclosure provides example display devices including curved or otherwise bent regions for directing light to a user's eye when the user's gaze is directed to a support structure at an edge of the display panel. In this way, when a user is viewing a region occupied by the support panel, the user may instead see light from the display panel showing the displayed objects," Microsoft continues.

    http://hothardware.com/news/folding-surface-phone-concept-revealed-in-microsoft-patent#qCPdjqq7d4Dekz7c.99

    ReplyDelete
  25. I LOVE IT: Those stupid bastards

    WASHINGTON—The White House, stung by the collapse of the House Republican health bill last week, is signaling it may be time to start working with moderate Democrats to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda, a shift with the potential to upend years of partisanship in Washington.

    “This president is not going to be a partisan president,” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said on “Fox News Sunday.” He said that while “I think it’s time for our folks to come together, I also think it’s time to potentially get a few moderate Democrats on board as well.”

    It was one of a rapid-fire series of signs that the Trump administration is fed up with many of the factions in the House Republican conference and is considering changing its legislative strategy. The president took to Twitter to criticize hard-line conservatives—known as the House Freedom Caucus—who had worked to topple the GOP health plan.

    “Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club for Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!” Mr. Trump wrote.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      If it happens, there would be nothing surprising about it. Trump is an opportunist and has few if any core values. His conservatism was late in coming. In the campaign, he played to his base and promised them whatever they wanted to hear. When he became president he tossed all that aside and went with the flow. Being inexperienced and basically not knowing shit about the workings of government he hitched himself to a dysfunctional GOP. Now having been gobsmacked with the AHCA defeat, he will try something else in order to avoid further embarrassment.

      If we are lucky, his new course will lead to something positive getting done. If it doesn't or more importantly to him if it doesn't look like it, he will shift again.

      .

      Delete
    2. Quirk:

      A record in accuracy of prediction.

      Delete
    3. Trump is an opportunist and has few if any core values. His conservatism was late in coming. In the campaign, he played to his base and promised them whatever they wanted to hear.

      I seem to recall that Obama, within seconds of expressing his profound humility... and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.

      Delete
  26. They either forced Trump's hand or played into it. As I said this morning, this now gives Trump an opportunity to nullify McCain

    Deuce ☂Sun Mar 26, 09:06:00 AM EDT
    Trump and Ryan made an error. As soon as they saw his happening, they should have worked on the Blue Dog Democrats. The only need a dozen to nullify the GOP Cockasses. They had better do the same in the Senate to nullify McCain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They can't nullify Quirk's hero!

      Delete
    2. .

      Once again, Doug plays the fool.

      I report the news. He provides the editorials.

      .

      Delete
    3. President Hillary Fascist Trump.

      Delete
    4. It's called "thinking on your feet."

      Delete

  27. US Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments Over Your Right To Refill Ink And Toner Cartridges

    Lexmark offers a “shrink-wrap license” in which customers can purchase cartridges at a discounted rate if they agree to not resell or reuse them. The customer essentially accepts the agreement once they have opened the cartridge’s packing. Lexmark argues that customers cannot resell or reuse the cartridges because the item technically never belonged to the customer.

    Impression Products is fighting back with the concept of “patent exhaustion”. This concept states that a manufacturer loses their rights to control the fate of their products once they have been sold to a customer. If a customer purchases an item, they may reuse or resell it.

    http://hothardware.com/news/us-supreme-court-hears-oral-arguments-over-your-right-to-refill-ink-and-toner-cartridges

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Capitalism is the basis of Western Democracy, and much hinges on such cases as you cite.

      Let us Thank The Lord that the Criminal Hillary Clinton is not appointing Justices to the US Supreme Court.

      Delete
    2. .

      The courts have already allowed the same shit when they let Monsanto get away with the same kind of thing with their GMO seeds.

      Pure bull.

      .

      Delete
  28. Sadly, we must now, for accuracy's sake, start referring to Canada as a fascist country, and its leader as a fascist.

    As we have recently learned from Professor The Quirk, suppression of speech is a primary, perhaps THE primary, characteristic of fascism.

    Don't get me wrong. I love Canada, and most Canadians. Wonderful people, and super country. My dad's life long partner was from Canada, from farm country, which always helps, and Jewish, which always helps as well.

    He must have seen 'the writing on the wall', for as soon as he received his inheritance he headed south, to God's Country, settling in North Idaho, where any man or woman can speak their minds openly and without fear, and never looked back.

    We should not blame all Canadians, only the Canadian Government and its current fascist dictator, for the current suppression of free speech and the courtesies allowed to mooslims to continue urging the genocide of Jews in Canada and around the world....

    Nor should we blame all Italians for the tragi/farce of Mussolini and Italian fascism.

    Those of us who have read and studied the works of Ignazio Silone, most particularly his wonderful Bread and Wine realize this.

    And history gives us reason to hope, as we recall how Mussolini met his end, hanging upside down from a lamp post
    in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra in northern Italy, with his current whore hanging upside down as well, her working parts nearly exposed for all to see.

    Benito may have been trying to make his way to Germany, but, Quirk having, in an action of bravery and daring do worthy of everlasting memory in the Book of Life, had secured the Brenner Pass, the The Duce met his deserved end in his homeland.

    Is it possible that the slimy little dick Trudeau, and whoever his current mistress will be, could someday meet a similar fate in a newly liberated and outspoken Canada ?

    ReplyDelete
  29. Kentucky falls two points short in an exciting ending.

    Final Four:

    Gonzaga v South Carolina

    Oregon v North Carolina

    ReplyDelete


  30. Egypt's last Jews aim to keep alive heritage

    AFP
    Emmanuel Parisse

    AFPMarch 25, 2017
    The president of the Egyptian Jewish Community, Magda Shehata Haroun, at the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue in CairoView photos
    (AFP Photo/KHALED DESOUKI)

    Cairo (AFP) - Once a flourishing community, only a handful of Egyptian Jews, mostly elderly women, remain in the Arab world's most populous country, aiming at least to preserve their heritage....

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/egypts-last-jews-aim-keep-alive-heritage-031827251.html

    ReplyDelete
  31. TRUMP TO COURT DEMS
    OPENS DOOR....DRUDGE HEADLINE


    This is all a ruse.

    I have it from my off the deep end source Quirk that as soon as they enter the White House grounds The Donald is going to have them all arrested by his Presidential Guards and try them in Star Chamber for TREASON, and HANG THEM ALL !!

    You just wait, and watch, or, watch, and wait, your choice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Don't count on it. The last guy who entered the White House grounds spent 17 minutes there with no one even seeing him. Rumor has it he had a twinkie and a juice box before sharing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with one of the guard dogs that was patrolling the grounds.

      .

      Delete
  32. If enough Dems and Republicans could find enough common ground to pass legislation I could see Trump signing it. Chances are that won't happen...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And that would entail the leadership, the ESTABLISHMENT, of each party cooperating cutting out the fringes. Don't hold your breath.

      Delete
  33. Fed's Cyanide Bomb Kills Family Dog, Endangers Child.

    http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03/21/cyanide-device-explodes-killing-familys-dog-they-cant-believe-who-planted-it-behind-their-home/

    ReplyDelete
  34. Fascist Canadians Sue Balloonist

    http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03/26/watch-man-floats-away-in-unconscionably-stupid-balloon-chair-stunt-judge-lays-down-the-law/

    ReplyDelete
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    1. CBC News reports Boria appeared completely unapologetic outside of the courthouse.

      “Why climb the highest mountain?” said Boria, who calls himself “balloon chair man,” to CBC News. “Why 85 years ago fly the Atlantic? Why do the Oilers play the Flames? I chose to fly a chair; not because it is easy but because it is hard. Because that goal served to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.”

      “It’s pretty hard to take it seriously when you guys are asking me these questions based on me flying a lawn chair,” Boria told reporters at the courthouse.


      Just another disgusting example of the anti-capitalist Canucks trying to stifle individual initiative and creativity.

      The Canadian press sucks, too.

      Delete
  35. Sickos

    Sometimes one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry

    Why are such a high proportion of Democrats creeps ?

    March 26, 2017
    Plucky couple Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner reportedly giving marriage another shot
    By Thomas Lifson

    It’s the feel-good story of the day for naïve people: Huma and Tony “working hard” on their marriage. The New York Post (of course!) has the story:

    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool Huma Abedin four times, and she’ll still take you back.


    After years of public humiliation by her sext-a-holic husband, Anthony Weiner, 40-year-old Abedin finally separated from the former congressman in August, one day after The Post reported that he had sent yet another explicit photo to a woman — this one showing his toddler son asleep beside him.

    But sources tell The Post that Hillary Clinton’s righthand woman is now giving the marriage another try.

    “Huma has been working hard on her relationship with Anthony,” said a source close to the Abedin family. “He has been spending 80 to 90 percent of his time at the [Irving Place apartment] they share . . . If there is a disagreement, he goes to his mother’s apartment in Brooklyn.

    Huma had to jettison Tony because of the negative impact his sexting scandal on the Hillary campaign, where Huma was the highly visible right hand girl of Hillary Clinton. It was always a bizarre matchup that reeked of political convenience and cover, even if there were some spark of attraction between the two very, very odd people.

    If anybody is working hard, it is Tony, who has little bargaining leverage on Huma. She has signaled a shift in personal strategy, toward celebrityhood:

    Lately, though, Abedin has been embracing the spotlight like never before. She was in the front row at the Prabal Gurung and Oscar de la Renta/Monse shows this past New York Fashion Week. She was spotted accompanying Clinton to the John Barrett Salon last week for a paparazzi-friendly glam session. And this past week, she has been gallivanting around Los Angeles with a big smile on her face. She made a very public visit to Disneyland with actor Tony Goldwyn — who played the president on “Scandal.” She also attended the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star ceremony for film producer Haim Saban on Wednesday with famous womanizer and composer David Foster.

    The Clinton source said that, despite her seeming reluctance, Abedin has always adored “that celebrity s–t. She loves the fashion world. She always has. When she married Anthony, nobody could understand it because he’s one of the world’s greatest a–holes . . . but she saw a life she wanted to live, that provided her with a lot of the stuff that she’s drawn to.”

    He’s also not surprised that the duo is getting back together given that Abedin has been encamped with the Clintons for more than two decades.

    “You can be around a real world of value or you can live in a fake Clinton world that’s totally dysfunctional and without principle . . . and [with] an incredible amount of selfishness and narcissism,” the source explained. “She doesn’t know any different because she doesn’t want to know any different.”

    Everything that Huma derives depends on the Clinton Machine. Whatever else is at work here depends on that fact as a given.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/03/plucky_couple_huma_abedin_and_anthony_weiner_reportedly_giving_marriage_another_shot.html

      Oh My Lord, look at this:

      “Huma has been working hard on her relationship with Anthony,” said a source close to the Abedin family. “He has been spending 80 to 90 percent of his time at the [Irving Place apartment] they share . . . If there is a disagreement, he goes to his mother’s apartment in Brooklyn.

      Delete
  36. Montana on the verge of a law that can pass constitutional muster prohibiting courts from applying sharia
    March 26, 2017
    The Democrats' stupid effort at sabotage failed. More....

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/03/montana_on_the_verge_a_law_that_can_pass_constitutional_muster_prohibiting_courts_from_applying_sharia.html

    Quirk, a big booster of Sharia Courts in USA for mooslims, will be devastated.

    Non-goofy men and women all across the USA will celebrate.

    (I had written 'sane' but toned it down to non-goofy....I figgered Quirk's been taking a real beating lately and, always looking out for Q's best interests, thought it best to lower the psychological pressure level)

    ReplyDelete
  37. THE CIVIL WAR IS HERE
    The left doesn’t want to secede. It wants to rule.
    March 27, 2017

    This is a primal conflict between a totalitarian system and a democratic system. Its outcome will determine whether we will be a free nation or a nation of slaves.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266197/civil-war-here-daniel-greenfield

    "If totalitarianism comes to the USA it will come from the left not the right"

    Secession ?

    Idawyotana sounds pretty good to me.

    No Sharia Courts, everybody armed up protecting one another, honest intelligent women, industrious kids, dead wolves and plenty of elk....

    ReplyDelete
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    1. They Cyanide Bomb Coyotes in Idaholand, don't they?

      (To the tune of "they shoot horses don't they?")

      Delete
    2. Never have heard of cyanide bombs for coyotes out this way, Doug.

      Most folks don't feel about them the way they do about the imported wolves.

      Coyotes are pretty harmless, really, surviving on a lot of mice, the occasional rabbit, etc.

      While a pack could bring down a deer, it doesn't seem to happen much. They'd have a tough time bring down an elk....

      It's kind of live and let live with the coyotes.

      Ground squirrels in crops, though, used to be a major target of cyanide bombs....until the Feds decided these grizzeled old farmers out here were to immature and stupid to use such a lethal device, and banned the practice.

      On what authority no one knows. They just done it.

      So now when the squirrels get going good we are reduced to useless smoke bombs, the .22 rifle, and traps.

      Needless to say the ground squirrels often win these battles.

      Delete
    3. Perhaps we ought to figure out some real incentive for the coyotes to switch from mice, and go after the ground squirrels, but not sure what the incentive would be.

      Perhaps warm shelters for them in the winters....

      Our hawks do a lot of good work on the squirrels, and the mice too.

      Delete
    4. Had an outbreak of badgers once, the only time. All of a sudden, from nowhere, four or five families of badgers took up residence in the crop. This was right on the edge of town, city impact zone, so the obvious solution, the firearm, was out. Smokes bombs wouldn't touch 'em, the traps available at the time too small. Even the hawks didn't know how to handle 'em.

      They raised holy hell in the crops with their burrows and dens but finally disappeared in a year or two, as mysteriously as they had come, perhaps the victim of some communicable badger disease, or maybe they just wanted some new scenery.

      Those suckers know how to move earth, the badgers.

      Never has happened again.

      Delete
    5. Pics of The Idaho Badger:


      https://www.google.com/search?q=Idaho+badger&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS698US698&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixkoLzo_bSAhUY-GMKHc4gAZIQsAQILA&biw=1093&bih=510

      Delete
    6. Quirk told me once he could earn his keep on the farm by grinning the badgers down.

      I didn't believe him though, thinking he just wanted to sit there grinning and getting a free lunch out of the deal.

      Told him I'd pay him $5 a pelt, but he never brought any in.

      After sitting on his ass grinning all summer through harvest he finally left and went back to Detroit.

      The rural life was too stressful for him, he said.

      I found out later he'd been getting romantic letters from Me-Me all that summer.

      Delete
    7. Pocatello, it was:

      Canyon Mansfield was on a walk Thursday with his dog Casey on a hill behind his family’s Pocatello, Idaho, home when he noticed a pipe-like object sticking out of the snow-covered ground.

      “I go over and touch it,” Mansfield, 14, told the East Idaho News. “Then it makes a pop sound, and it spews orange gas everywhere.”

      The gas was cyanide, the paper said, and it hit Mansfield’s left eye and clothing. So he washed out his eye with snow, the News said.

      But then he noticed his dog was in trouble. Turns out the wind blew the cyanide right into Casey’s face, the News reported.

      http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03/21/cyanide-device-explodes-killing-familys-dog-they-cant-believe-who-planted-it-behind-their-home/

      Delete

    8. Damn Feds didn't even notify nobody!

      Delete
    9. I figured out too what he was grinning about....it wasn't the badgers.....he was grinning about all of Me-Me's lusty explicit sexual suggestions, week after week....

      Delete
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      Delete
    11. I have trouble believing the Feds are parking cyanide bombs around the country side.

      I think it's a new form of muzzie rural jihad....the culprits probably being the newly arrived 'refugees' from Syria, the same group responsible for raping and sexually assaulting the little school kids down that way. The incidents were all over the local Idaho news outlets. They're all over the Poccee area now, these savages....and a changed scene doesn't alter behavior patterns learned from birth in the old country....

      Delete

    12. Feds or Muzzies:

      Both a threat to civilized life.

      Delete