Bring Back the Complaint Department

Conceptual
(Secretary of State John Kerry) added that President Obama had charged his aides with “coming up with any concepts that will, in fact, work, and which could help change the situation on the ground.” (New York Times, 11/24/2015)

Kerry and Obama nail exactly what is required in the fight against ISIS: concepts that will in fact work.

How these geniuses ever got to the pinnacle of power is something that future historians will study.


Shady
“One of the things I insisted on the day I walked into the Oval Office was that I don’t want intelligence shaded by politics. I don’t want it shaded by a desire to tell a feel-good story,” he said. (New York Times, 11/23/2015)

So is this why Obama told the American public that Al Queda was neutralized and ISIS contained? It would be just like him to throw the military under the bus. It may be difficult to find out the truth because it would also be just like him to lie for political reasons.

“It’s not as if I’ve been receiving wonderfully rosy, glowing portraits of what’s been going on in Iraq and Syria over the last year and a half,” Mr. Obama said, adding: “At my level, at least, we’ve had a pretty cleareyed, sober assessment of where we’ve made real progress and where we have not. (New York Times, 11/23/2015)

So upon further review, Obama seems to be saying that he did NOT get "feel-good" assessments about Iraq and Syria. He got the truth. That his policies have created chaos and put American lives at risk. And he did what?


It's Working! (Part 47)
UnitedHealth is the largest U.S. insurer by enrollment, and the company is warning it may withdraw from ObamaCare in 2017. The insurer has already suspended advertising for its ObamaCare coverage and stopped paying commissions to insurance brokers for signing people up. It literally doesn’t want consumers to buy its products. (Wall Street Journal, 11/23/2015)

Don't forget to sign up for Obamacare. While there are still insurance companies.


Deceivers
Texas and a handful of other states — including Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana — have moved to eliminate Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood amid the controversy. Secretly recorded videos that were released starting in July purported to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to illegally profit from the sale of aborted fetal tissue and discussing the issue with abortion opponents who posed as representatives of a biomedical firm.

Planned Parenthood said that the videos were deceptively edited and that the group did not do anything illegal or unethical. (New York Times, 11/24/2015)

Whenever Liberals are caught red-handed on tape they resort to their standard defense: who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes? Of course, the full, unedited videos are available and prove that Planned Parenthood officials were doing exactly what it is they were alleged to be doing.

Lying does not matter to Liberals because Planned Parenthood is serving a higher purpose: ensuring that the government continues funding abortion.

Obama Unveils Post Paris Strategy: Attack Republicans

Unsettling Science
A panel of prominent scientists debunked one of the most popular global warming arguments ahead of a major United Nations climate summit to take place in Paris later this month.

The scientists slammed policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as “nonsense,” and they criticized politicians and activists for claiming the world was on the path for catastrophic global warming.

“The most important thing to keep in mind is — when you ask ‘is it warming, is it cooling’, etc.  — is that we are talking about something tiny (temperature changes) and that is the crucial point,” Dr. Richard Lindzen, a veteran climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Dailycaller.com, 11/20/2015)

So is climate change settled science or not? Someone better get to Dr. Lindzen and warn him that funding will dry up if he does not toe the Liberal line. Meanwhile, the Liberal media will ignore this.


Zero
Mr. Sanders zeros in on Wall Street donations to Mrs. Clinton in an aggressive new television commercial that started running in Iowa and New Hampshire on Saturday: “The truth is, you can’t change a corrupt system by taking its money,” he warns. (New York Times, 11/22/2015)

That's fine if Bernie wants to knock Hillary around on Wall Street donations. Nothing could make us happier. But if Bernie were truly honest (hint: he is not) he would remind everyone that Obama was also a major benefactor of Wall Street money. Guess that is an inconvenient truth. Liberal amnesia.


Fighting Evictions, a Single Mother Draws Strength From Her Children (New York Times headline, 11/21/2015)

Today's New York Times Victim of the Week: Gardenia Valerio. Here is what we learn about Gardenia: She has three kids, but apparently never married. Her "partner" walked out, possibly when she was pregnant. The kids play on tablets. She has a smartphone. The Times then goes on to list the various public and private benefits she collects. 

Nothing is going to change for the better until society begins to hold people accountable for their own poor decisions. 


That Thing They Do
What progressives love is to be the mediators who decide which companies to reward (e.g., alternative energy providers) and which to punish via the tax and regulatory code. (Wall Street Journal, 11/21/2015)

And they usually get it wrong. (See Solyndra).

Obama: All Straw Men, All the Time

The Best of Coulter (This Week)
Successful countries must allow themselves to be overrun by backward cultures so that no country thinks it's better than another....While liberals' idea of retaliation is to post the French flag on their Twitter profiles, Republicans think the way to get tough is to go to war in Syria. ...The West's importation of Stone Age people is a completely self-inflicted wound. (Ann Coulter.com, 11/18/2015)


Plowed Under
Asked whether Mr. Obama had underestimated the Islamic State when he referred to the group as the “J.V. team,” Mrs. Clinton said, “I don’t think it’s useful to go back and replow old ground.” (New York Times, 11/20/2015)

She then said "Mission Accomplished" fourteen times.


Not Good with Numbers
University of Vermont economist Art Woolf has suggested that Vermont could accept as many as 5,000 Syrian refugees. When asked if he thinks the state can support that number, Shumlin said, “I’m not an expert on the numbers, I know that Vermont can take more than seven.” (VTDigger.org, 11/17/2015)

Shumlin - self-proclaimed non-expert on number (see his budget) - waves in Syrian refugees including embedded ISIS terrorists. We're guessing they are not going to be housed next door to him in Montpelier.


Checkmate
...the president repeated his promise to “provide refuge to at least 10,000 refugees fleeing violence in Syria” after passing “the highest” security checks. (New York Times, 11/20/2015)

Of course, Obama didn't give a d**n about the Syrians when Assad was gassing them. Now he is Mr. Compassion and Republicans concerned about terrorists leaking in are the evil ones. There has NEVER been a president as duplicitous as Obama. 

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The Next Time

Before the next attack, President Obama will have previously said that the threat is contained, that we have them on the run, that we have degraded their capabilities. He will say that Americans are safe. 

After the next attack, the sites of the massacre will be covered in mountains of flower bouquets.

After the next attack, President Obama will say: "We are all (fill in the name of the American city) now."

After the next attack, there will be a concert to honor the victims. U2 will headline.

After the next attack, President Obama will say: "We are not at war with Islam."

After the next attack, there will be wonderful artistic representations of (fill in the name of the American city) with rainbows, peace signs, doves, etc.

After the next attack, someone will Tweet: "I hope this does not lead to knee-jerk Islamophobia."  

After the next attack, the White House, U.S. monuments  and iconic buildings will be bathed in colored lights.

After the next attack, President Obama will describe the attack as a "setback."

After the next attack, fans at a (football. baseball. soccer, basketball or hockey) game will be asked to observe a moment of silence to honor the deceased.

After the next attack, reasonable people will wonder why their political leaders lack the will to use the full moral authority and full military might of the greatest country the world has ever seen to defeat the greatest threat the world has ever seen. 

The Grinding Wheel

Warning
Obama administration officials said on Sunday that the president had warned for more than a year of the danger that Islamic State fighters pose to Europe, the United States and beyond. (New York Times, 11/15/2015)

So what say Liberals who have blamed Bush for 9/11 saying that he should have heeded the warning that Al Qaeda was determined to strike the U.S? Obama apparently was warned in the same way. Is Obama to blame for Paris? You decide. 


It's Working
Many Say High Deductibles Make Their Health Law Insurance All but Useless (New York Times headline, 11/15/2015)


Lowly
By all means, read Bill McKibben’s victory proclamation on Keystone XL posted by the New Yorker, first for its infantile analysis. He sees Keystone as a harbinger, which it surely is: President Obama waited seven years to kill the pipeline, then did so when he no longer had to face voters and when gasoline prices are near an all-time low in real terms. If abundant fossil fuels is what it takes to afford Mr. McKibben such victories, well, you can see the paradox. (Holman Jenkins, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 11/15/2015)

We'll admit that we enjoy it when Middlebury College's Bill McKibben gets batted about by his intellectual superiors. It happens quite often. 


Dazed and Confused
Abedin: Have you been going over her calls with her? So she knows singh is at 8? [India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh]

Hanley: She was in bed for a nap by the time I heard that she had an 8am call. Will go over with her

Abedin: Very imp to do that. She’s often confused. (Judicialwatch.org, 11/16/2015)

Prediction: The Washington Post, New York Times and MSNBC will ignore this admission by Hillary Clinton's closest aide that she is mentally impaired. The business of electing the first woman president is too important. 

A Three Step Plan

1) No more of this Diversity crap. 

Diversity is not a strength it is a weakness. We want stronger American values, not Third World values. If you say "Diversity is a Strength" you get a warning. If you say it a second time, you get fined. Third time: jail time. 


2) Assimilation.

You must learn and speak English. No more "Press 2 for Spanish." You must take a course in U.S. History and the Constitution. Passing grade is 75.


3) U.S. Borders are closed. 

For 5 years. As Ann Coulter says: "America needs a little me time." We'll spend that time enforcing Steps 1 and 2 above and deporting those who should be deported. (Which may include people who have appeared on MSNBC.) Those who self-deport will be given a present: a copy of the U.S. Constitution to take back to their country of origin. This is how America will sow the seeds of democracy. 


You're welcome. 

Liberals: Romney, too rich; Rubio, not rich enough; Hillary, just right!

Fully
With the release of the 2005-06 statements, there is now a full public accounting of Mr. Rubio’s expenses for the four years he had a Republican Party credit card in his capacity as head of campaign operations for Florida House Republicans. His opponents and news outlets had long asked that they be disclosed. (New York Times, 11/8/2015)

Still not disclosed? Where exactly was President Obama the night that Ambassador Stevens was murdered in Benghazi? Sadly, the media has not asked.


Killer
President Obama personally killed the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, dismissing the project as a mere “symbol” that “has occupied what I, frankly, consider an overinflated role in our political discourse.” The irony is that the pipeline’s benefits would be tangible, while the symbolism and overinflation are entirely political. (Wall Street Journal, 11/8/2015)

When is a job, not a job? When it is an XL pipeline job. Will union toadies continue to support Hillary and Democrats? Probably.


Star
During the many months she spent in immigration detention centers and a county jail, Estrella Sánchez, who is seeking asylum, became used to mockery from guards, taunts from fellow inmates and a deep sense of isolation.
...
In some cases, though, the best solution is to keep transgender people out of correctional facilities. Wherever possible, authorities should seek alternatives to detention, like community-based monitoring.
...
The Justice Department ruled in April that policies barring transgender inmates from beginning new hormone treatment are unconstitutional, and most states allow the treatment for prisoners in principle. However, 44 percent of transgender prison inmates in a 2014 survey reported being denied hormones.
...
Last month, California announced it would begin covering sex reassignment surgery for some inmates. So far, it is the only state to do so. (New York Times editorial, 11/9/2015)

Meet the New York Times Victim of the Day: Estrella Sanchez. An illegal immigrant. 

The Times believes that 1) She should not be in prison, 2) She should receive hormone therapy while she is in prison (even though she really should not be in prison) and, 3) America should pay for his/her sex reassignment surgery.

Not kidding!

Devotion

Lean To
Asked to call a transgender boy by a male name he has chosen for himself, teachers and administrators around the country have leaned toward a simple response: Sure. Allow a high school student who was born male but identifies as female to join the volleyball team? Fine.

But as transgender students assert themselves more, schools have hesitated at the locker room and the bathroom. Many have developed policies that require transgender students to use private changing and showering facilities, drawing opposition from these students, their parents and advocates who say the rules are discriminatory. (New York Times, 11/4/2015)

If you were looking for final proof that society has gone completely off the rails, here it is.

The end of days is near.


Strange Days
How strange it must be for people who comfort themselves with the slander that the GOP is a cult of organized racial hatred that the most popular politician among conservatives is a black man. Better to ignore the elephant in the room than account for such an inconvenient fact. (Jonah Goldberg, Bostonherald.com, 11/3/2015) 

And so the Liberal take-down of another black conservative begins. 


Twilight Time
At 91 and in the twilight of a long and storied public life, the first President Bush evidently felt free to express views he had long suppressed in the interest of family harmony. Mr. Cheney, he said, was “very hard-line” and too eager to “use force to get our way”; Mr. Rumsfeld was an “arrogant fellow” full of “swagger.” He used the same phrase, “iron-ass,” to describe both men. (New York Times, 11/6/2015)

After being vilified for years by the New York Times, the first President Bush now is described in glowing terms....a long and storied public life. Reason? He has criticized Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. If Bush One were to embrace transgender bathroom rights, the Times would rewrite the history of his presidency. 

Thank God (and ExxonMobil) for Oil and Gas

To fund this money-saving program, Vermont would finally hold polluters accountable by putting an end to the fossil fuel companies’ practice of using our atmosphere as their dumping ground for free. Instead, oil and gas companies would pay a tax based on the global warming impact of their pollution. (Paul Burns, Vermont Public Interest Research Group)

The money-savings program that VPIRG's Paul Burns is referring to is .... a tax on carbon to be paid by consumers. The logic of that is mind-boggling but Burns and fellow tax lovers will go on to explain how the taxes collected will actually be used for all sorts of government programs (solar panels, weather stripping, etc.) that will actually end up saving tax payers money. 

You believe him, don't you?

Let's address another issue though, namely the big bad fossil fuel companies. The intent in demonizing oil and gas companies is obviously to put them on a par with cigarette companies, for example, who sell a dangerous, though also entirely legal product. But while everyone alive can survive without cigarettes, no one (in the modern world anyway) can live without oil and gas. The car you drive, the house you live in, your phone, your computer, your food, everything that has helped usher in the modern age and bring the human race out of our primordial existence is a result of fossil fuels. Demonize oil and gas companies? We should be thanking them!

If you disagree, then unbundle yourself from everything made or sustained by oil and gas and live your life without. Otherwise you are a hypocrite. 

Liberals Complain: Mitt Romney was too successful in business; Carly Fiorina not successful enough

Tweaks
But the truth is, people like Mr. McKibben can’t afford practical, meaningful progress—because it would be unnoticeable and undramatic. Modest tweaks to incentives, then seeing how energy technology and the energy economy adapted over time, would not fulfill their need for a pressing global crisis that casts them as moral warriors (well-funded ones) whose victory over deniers and climate criminals is always just around the corner—and must remain so in order to keep the money, media attention and political fealty flowing. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 10/27/2015)

Jenkins skewers Middlebury College's Bill McKibben who - you may have heard - in desperate need of attention just got himself arrested by blocking access to a Burlington, Vermont gas station. McKibben was processed at police headquarters and then walked back to Middlebury.

CORRECTION: We have just received word that McKibben drove back to Middlebury in a car that contained an internal combustion engine. We apologize for the error. 


An Open Letter to Ashley Parker
Of course, attacking the media, especially the so-called liberal media, is a popular and time-tested Republican trope. (Ashley Parker, New York Times, 10/31/2015)

Dear Ash:
The Liberal Media is real! Read RedStateVT regularly for the proof. 

(Hint: Your paper is part of the Liberal Media.)

Regards

RedStateVT


It's Working! Obamacare is Working!
In Tennessee, the state insurance commissioner approved a 36 percent rate increase for the largest health insurer in the state’s individual marketplace. In Iowa, the commissioner approved rate increases averaging 29 percent for the state’s dominant insurer. Health insurance consumers logging into HealthCare.gov on Sunday for the first day of the Affordable Care Act’s third open enrollment season may be in for sticker shock, unless they are willing to shop around. Federal officials acknowledged on Friday that many people would need to pick new plans to avoid substantial increases in premiums.
...

“Shopping can save you money,” said Richard G. Frank, an assistant secretary of health and human services, who unveiled a huge collection of data on health plans that will go on sale on Sunday in the 38 states served by HealthCare.gov.
...

The Obama administration said nearly nine out of 10 consumers with marketplace coverage would be able to choose from three or more insurers in 2016. That is important, Mr. Frank said, because in insurance and other industries, “competition intensifies when there are three or more firms in a market.” (New York Times, 10/31/2015)

The big news is not that Obamacare premiums are going up. That was inevitable and entirely predictable. No the big news is that Obama administration officials admit that competition results in market efficiencies. 

Capitalism works!

Of course this will all be forgotten the next time that Liberals push for single-payer. Then we will only hear about the great inefficiencies of the private sector insurers. 

Leaked! The Questions That Will Be Asked In The Next Democrat Debate

RedStateVT has been given exclusive access to a list of questions said to have been readied for moderators to ask Democrat candidates in the next debate. 

Hillary Clinton:

Madame Secretary, that is a lovely dress you are wearing tonight. We have not heard much from you about granddaughter Charlotte during the campaign so far. Is she your secret weapon?

Madame Secretary, all of America took notice of how well you endured eleven hours of relentless, partisan questioning during yet the latest Benghazi committee hearing. Can Republicans continue to deny that they are engaging in an ongoing "War on Women?"

Madame Secretary, you first took on the national health care crisis in America back in the 80s and were roundly criticized. Describe your feelings then and now as history has vindicated your efforts.

Madame Secretary, if you become president, how will you resist the urges that your husband Bill may feel? (Crowd laughs) Not those urges, the urges to get back behind the desk in the Oval Office and try to be the boss again.


Bernie Sanders:

Senator Sanders, tell us how it feels for a lower middle class Polish-American Jew from Brooklyn to be up here on the stage running for president of the United States.

Senator Sanders, your plan to provide free college tuition to all who want to attend has been criticized by Republicans as too costly. Can the country afford NOT to offer free college tuition?

Senator Sanders, you said during the last debate that America should be more like Denmark. Can you name one country each in Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East that America should also emulate. Take as much time as you need. 

Senator Sanders, you seem to naturally cultivate the look and demeanor of a really smart college professor in an age where many politicians are slick and packaged. Is this because you favor substance over style?


Martin O'Malley:

Marty, if you were to drop out of this race it would make things a lot easier for the party.