Vintage

Coming From Reality
...the most persuasive repudiation of Mr. Obama’s economic record is coming from Democrats. Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton are both campaigning against the economic status quo, deploring the lack of income growth, rising income inequality and unaffordable health care, among other problems. (Wall Street Journal, 2/11/2016)

One of the most striking things about Barack Obama's life story, and presidency, is the absence of accountability. He never has to answer for anything. Whether it be his early drug use, his "present" votes as a senator, rising - not falling - health care premiums or his economic stewardship over the past seven years. Both Sanders and Clinton deplore economic conditions in the U.S. at the same time that they argue over who loves Barack more.


Missing
Mr. Obama was otherwise in a reflective mood on the show, taking stock of his seven years in office and talking about what he will miss most when he leaves the White House. At the top of the list: Air Force One. When Ms. DeGeneres asked him if he would go back to flying on commercial airlines as a private citizen, he replied with an emphatic “No.” (New York Times, 2/12/2016)

Global climate change warrior Obama ain't going back to commercial air travel. It's private aviation only, proving yet again that Liberal hypocrisy knows no limits.


Entitled
His (Sanders) socialism is farcical in a country that can’t afford the entitlements it already has. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 2/12/2016)

One of the great services that Hillary Clinton can do for the country is to expose Bernie Sanders on the issue of how he intends to pay for the welfare state that he aims to create. She has done a bit so far, but she can certainly hammer him a lot harder. For his part, Bernie has two, equally ludicrous, responses. First, he denies the facts.*  For example, he is on the record already as saying that Social Security is fully funded for years into the future. Second, he is going to pay for it all by taxing stock trades which, of course, hurts anybody with a mutual fund.

*With the latest report of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees, the programs’ unfunded liabilities, in present value terms, are $60 trillion. The worker-to-retiree ratio, which was 5.0 when Medicare was created in the mid-1960s, today is 2.5, and headed for less than 2.0 after 2030. Left out of this calculation, of course, is the growing rank of non-retired entitlement recipients whom taxpayers must also support. (Wall Street Journal, 2/12/2016)


Face Lift
However, I do want to explain why I so firmly believe that, even today, women have an obligation to help one another. In a society where women often feel pressured to tear one another down, our saving grace lies in our willingness to lift one another up. (Madeline Albright, New York Times, 2/13/2016)

We are awaiting the correction which will read "...Liberal" women have an obligation to help one another." Because otherwise, how can Albright pass over the abuse suffered by Michelle Bachmann, Nikki Haley, Sarah Palin, Carly Fiorina and scores of other non-Liberal women?


Doctor My Eyes
Dr. Imani Perry of Princeton University (a transgender-friendly institution of higher learning!) was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Of course she insists that it was racially motivated and that she was mistreated by the police. Here is what the arresting officer said to her (as quoted in the New York Times yesterday) as evidenced by the video dashcam:

“Just give me a couple minutes; let me just look over everything, just make sure everything else is valid by checking your registration and everything, and we’ll get you out of here,” the officer told her, going back to his squad car.
...
“Unfortunately, anytime we transport anyone, because you’re under arrest because of the warrant, we have to put you in handcuffs, O.K., that’s anyone,” the male officer said.

“It’s just a parking offense, so nobody else has to know about it,” he added.
...
He said, “When we get there, you can call them, you can make as many phone calls and texts as you want.”
...
“We just gotta be sure that you’ve got nothing sharp, not saying you do,” the officer said.
...
“Are you O.K.?” he asked.
...
“No? Are you hyperventilating?” he asked. 
...
“As long as you have the money ... we’re just going to process you real quick.”

Sounds like yet another case of police brutality. How could the arresting officer fail to offer her a decaf cappuchino? 


Reject
In nearly every speech, Bernie Sanders reminds voters that he doesn’t have a super PAC, doesn’t want money from Wall Street and rejects establishment politics. Yet the Vermont senator has benefited from at least $1.5 million in backing from super PACs and from political groups that don’t have to fully disclose their donors, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. (Wall Street Journal, 2/13/2016)

So why doesn't Bernie disavow these efforts on his behalf?


Indications
The fact that emails sent on Mrs. Clinton’s unclassified server must now be reviewed on the department’s classified network — with hundreds being released only with redactions — could be viewed as an indication that at least some of the information in the roughly 33,000 emails turned over by Mrs. Clinton’s lawyers should never have been sent on an unclassified network. (New York Times, 2/14/2016)

Well yes, it could, couldn't it? You would have to read down to paragraph twenty-one of this twenty-four paragraph article to see this admission.

Motif

Shifty
...Secretary Clinton’s public statements have shifted markedly. Initially, she maintained that no classified information had been communicated through her private system. This claim became untenable with the revelation that hundreds of her emails contained classified information (the current count exceeds 1,500). So Secretary Clinton adopted the similarly unsustainable position that this became classified only after she received it. Now, faced with the undeniable fact that much of the information was “born classified,” she claims that it was not “marked” classified, and that any mishandling may be the fault of underlings. (Andrew C. McCarthy, former federal prosecutor, New York Times, 2/4/2016)

A concise rendering of how Hillary has lied.


As They Say
Mrs. Clinton, lobbing her harshest assault yet in their race for the Democratic presidential nomination, said months of criticism by Mr. Sanders over her taking speaking fees from Wall Street banks amounted to a suggestion that she was corrupt — or, as she put it, a “very artful smear.” (New York Times, 2/5/2016)

Why is Hillary so mad at Berns over his bringing up her Wall Street speaking fees? It's simple. The Bern is breaking a cardinal rule among Liberals. Namely, Liberals are allowed to do the things that they criticize others for doing. Whether its trying to avoid taxes (John Kerry), flying around in private planes (any Hollywood actor), or taking money from Wall Street (B. Hussein Obama, Hillary Clinton), it is not a sin if Liberals do it. By the way, good for The Bern!


ICUed
Filmmaker Michael Moore is in an intensive-care unit with pneumonia, he said Thursday through his verified Twitter account. (USAtoday.com, 2/5/2016)

Oddly, Moore is rumored to be receiving care in the U.S. and not in a Cuban hospital... Another Liberal hypocrite.


DOA
President Obama will propose a $10 fee for every barrel of oil to be paid by oil companies in order to fund clean energy transport system, the White House announced Thursday -- although Republicans were quick to declare the plan "dead on arrival" in Congress. (Foxnews.com, 2/5/2016)

Liberals still don't get it no matter how many times that we try to educate them. Obama's $10 tax is not going to be paid by the oil companies. It will be passed along to the consumer just like a carbon tax or any other brilliant Liberal idea for raising revenue to pay for the welfare state. Working people - who Liberals claim they want to help - will be penalized. 

Anchor Baby Anchor Baby Anchor Baby

Note to Pope Francis: It is Capitalism, not Socialism, which creates the wealth that supports the poor ... and the Church.


Evident
There is no evidence that any of the emails — a small portion of some 60,000 that Mrs. Clinton sent or received as secretary of state — were hacked or caused any harm to American interests, and law enforcement officials have said she is not a target of their investigation. But one of the questions they are seeking to answer is whether her aides or other State Department officials broke federal rules or laws when they sent her information. And arriving at an answer will not be simple, given the complex and often conflicting views of just how diplomatically fragile the information conveyed in the emails actually was. (New York Times, 9/25/2015)

So the final strategy for containing the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal is now in place:

--Hillary did nothing illegal.
--Her aides will take the fall for any criminal acts.
--The whole question of what is and is not classified is just so darn confusing anyway.

The path to the nomination is now clear.


Huma Watch
Hillary Rodham Clinton was directly involved in arranging a new government position for a top aide that allowed the aide to begin working for a private consulting firm while remaining at the State Department, according to documents released on Thursday.

The documents, released by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, show that Mrs. Clinton personally signed forms establishing a new title and position for the aide, Huma Abedin, in March 2012. The forms were part of a broader process in which Ms. Abedin, then Mrs. Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, was transitioning to a role as a “special government employee,” which allowed her to collect salaries from the State Department, the Clinton Foundation and the private firm, Teneo, which was co-founded by a former aide to President Clinton. (New York Times, 9/25/2015)

"....which allowed her to collect salaries from the State Department, the Clinton Foundation and the private firm, Teneo..." 

Wow! Well done Huma. Nothing about this will make anyone cynical about either government or the Clintons. Of course, Hillary previously denied any involvement in Huma's unique job arrangement. 

Remind us again why most of America views Hillary Clinton as untrustworthy?


Fishy
“Liberals and progressives will spend inordinate amounts of time and money protecting fish, frogs and flies,” Mrs. Fiorina said, adding: “They do not think a 17-week-old, a 20-week-old, a 24-week-old is worth saving. This, ladies and gentlemen, is hypocrisy, and it goes to the core of the character of our nation.” (New York Times, 9/25/2015)

Just as Liberals think it is OK to kill granny, but not a death row murderer. Well put by Fiorina.  We like this "character of our nation" dialog. 


Squishy
Despite the criticism from the right of Mr. Boehner as a “squish” or a Republican-in-name only, he was actually a strong conservative with the two-decade voting record and beliefs to match. He was someone who knew how Washington worked and wanted to keep it working as much on Republican terms as possible, given a Democratic president and for a time, a Democratic Senate. (New York Times, 9/26/2015)

Exactly as predicted by conservative commentators, the Liberal press now begins to heap praise upon the departing John Boehner. Why he was so much more reasonable than those radical Tea Partiers!


Cold Steel
Her silver tongue honed by decades in corporate marketing, Carly Fiorina has used two debates, and a steely determination on the campaign trail, to climb near the top of the polls for the Republican nomination.

But Americans should pause on her biggest professional credential for our highest office: a short, disastrous stint atop one of America’s iconic technology companies, Hewlett-Packard. (Steven Rattner, New York Times, 9/26/2015)

Steven Rattner REALLY does not like Carly Fiorina. She was - according to him - a bad CEO. Remind us again, who Steven Rattner is? Oh, that's right, he's this guy:

Quadrangle paid $7 million in April 2010 to settle the SEC investigation, and Rattner personally settled in November for $6.2 million without admitting or denying any wrongdoing. (Wikipedia)

And who does Rattner think was a good CEO? Why none other than Mitt Romney, that rapacious capitalist who plundered companies:

However, the lack of public service or sustained business success makes Mrs. Fiorina unqualified for the nation’s highest office. By comparison, Mitt Romney had built an extraordinarily successful investment firm and served for four years as governor of Massachusetts.

Liberals are just TOO much.

Spell Check

The Decider
From Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, campaigning in Iowa on Tuesday: I thought this would be decided by now, and therefore I could tell you whether I agreed or I disagreed. But it hasn’t been decided, and I feel now I’ve got a responsibility to you and to other voters who ask me about this. (Wall Street Journal, 9/23/2015)

This deserves to be read carefully. Basically Hillary says that she expected Keystone to be resolved, after which she would have told us whether she agreed or disagreed. 

How is that for leadership!


Anomalous
The Transportation Security Administration defended its officers’ treatment of a transgender woman on Tuesday, a day after she says she was harassed and held for 40 minutes while passing through security in Orlando, Fla., causing her to miss a flight.

The transgender woman, Shadi Petosky, said Tuesday in an interview that T.S.A. officers at Orlando International Airport calibrated the full-body scanner for a woman, and the device flagged what officers called an “anomaly” in the groin area. (New York Times, 9/23/2015)

So once again it is left to RedStateVT to set the record right. Given the "anomaly" found by the T.S.A. it is clear that dear Shadi is not "transgendered." That is when you have the anomaly removed. Shadi is a transvestite, i.e. a dude who dresses up in ladies clothes. We are happy to provide this clarification, but how many times are we going to have to do so?


Politics
Energy and policy experts have long said that the battle over Keystone XL is chiefly political, because the pipeline would have little effect on either climate change or the United States job market. A State Department analysis last year found the pipeline would not significantly add to carbon pollution, because the oil was already reaching refineries by other pipelines and by rail. (New York Times, 9/23/2015)

So energy experts - many of whom we can call scientists - say Keystone XL will not impact the climate. Yet Liberals oppose it. Let's call them what they are: pipeline deniers, science deniers. 


Coffee Time
Last year, Starbucks vowed to provide store employees with more consistent schedules from week to week, and to post their schedules at least 10 days in advance. The company said it would stop asking workers to endure the sleep-depriving ritual known as a “clopening,” which requires them to shut down a store at night only to return early the next morning to help open it.

But Starbucks has fallen short on these promises, according to interviews with five current or recent workers at several locations across the country. Most complained that they often receive their schedules one week or less in advance, and that the schedules vary substantially every few weeks. Two said their stores still practiced clopenings. (New York Times, 9/23/2015)

The poor babes! They sometimes do not get their schedules one week in advance. And they have to come in to work early in the morning. What a generation of wimps we have in this country. Starbucks should fight back and point out that no one is forced to work at the grueling job of pouring coffee. Starbucks won't because it is part of the Liberal culture that has now turned on it. Note that the story is based on interviews with five employees. Five. Great journalism coup New York Times.


Recovery
F.B.I. investigators have recovered work-related and personal emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton said had been deleted from the server that housed the personal account she used exclusively when she was secretary of state, according to two government officials. (New York Times, 9/23/2015)

So maybe we can stop talking about whether a Muslim should be president for five minutes and talk about whether a former Secretary of State should be president.


7 Killed in Shootings Across New York City (New York Times headline, 9/23/2015)
Black lives matter.....right?

Just For You

Unmentionables
Not mentioned was Mr. Biden’s own history with the financial services industry, an economic power in his home state of Delaware, or the critics who saw him as too close to credit-card companies in more than three decades in the Senate. (New York Times, 8/31/2015)

The New York Times is conflicted, seriously conflicted. On the one hand, it has already settled on Hillary Clinton. She meets their number one requirement for president: she is a woman. (The fact that she is a grandmother is just icing on the cake.) And so the Times has largely buried Clinton's biggest problem: Benghazi. The e-mail scandal has caused consternation at the Times, no doubt. Rouge elements there have been dogged in pursuing the story. Our thought is that editorial pressure will eventually lead to a concluding article that Hill may have been a tad careless, but THERE IS NO CRIME. Onward to the coronation.

Suddenly, however, Uncle Joe comes along. Biden's main qualification...how to put it delicately? Well, it can't be put delicately. Biden's main qualification is that his son died tragically young. So the Times has to acknowledge Biden's status as a victim of horrible family tragedies. The Times loves victims. But ultimately Biden cannot be allowed to get in the way of Hillary. And so the Times runs a second soft hit piece on Uncle Joe. Call it another warning shot across the bow. 


Unconvinced
One of Mr. Biden’s likely priorities as a candidate would be to make a convincing argument that his approach to consumer issues has evolved since his time as a senator. (New York Times, 8/31/2015)

Once again we are reminded that Democrats evolve while Republicans flip-flop.


Spent
Mrs. Clinton spent the weekend fund-raising in the Hamptons.... (New York Times, 8/31/2015)

With the 1%ers?


Catch and Release
The State Department is scheduled to release another trove of Mrs. Clinton’s emails on Monday, as part of its monthly production of messages from the personal email account she used exclusively as secretary of state. (New York Times, 8/31/2015)

We are impressed. Usually these data dumps take place on Friday so that they can be ignored over the weekend. 

What's that?

Oh, sorry. Monday is Labor Day.


Origins
Originally it (Obamacare) was going to lower rates. Then it was going to keep them roughly the same. Then the Democrats admitted that the rates would go up, but they would go up more slowly than they would if we never passed the legislation. (But hey… we had to pass it to find out what was in it, so I suppose all’s fair in love and legislative war.) (Jazz Shaw, Hotair.com, 8/31/2015)

Well put. 

Power Play

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Heartbreaker
Mr. Biden’s first campaign in 1988 ended in heartbreak after news reports that he plagiarized parts of a speech and exaggerated his academic record forced him to drop out. (New York Times, 8/2/2015)

Really? Biden's first presidential run ended in "heartbreak" after he was caught cheating?

We might say that it ended in shame and embarrassment. 


Puzzling
In all, this second cache of emails that Mrs. Clinton sent and received during 2009 and parts of 2010, released by the State Department by court order, added 1,356 new tiles to the mosaic of her tenure in President Obama’s cabinet. And the monthly release of the emails prescribed by the court ensures that her handling of her electronic correspondence will be updated throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. (New York Times, 8/2/2015)

So this is how the New York Times is going to describe Hillary Clinton's disastrous term as Secretary of State. It was a "mosaic!" Is this a joke?


Dogged
In the way that some conservatives worry that marriage equality will ultimately lead to people walking down the aisle with their goats or their half-sisters, some dog owners feared that DNA testing would open the gates to a new era of unstoppable oppression and tyranny. (New York Times, 8/2/2015)

It's Bash Conservatives Day at the New York Times today. How do we know? Every author, no matter what the subject, has to include a denigrating comment about right-wingers. And so here we have an article about a Brooklyn co-op dealing with a problem related to dog owners not cleaning up dog feces. Note how the Times has cleverly tied it back to conservatives.

(By the way, just kidding! It's Bash Conservatives Day at the New York Times every day!)


Beggar Man
At one point, Mr. Sanders begged for the crowd’s indulgence to discuss his campaign platform before focusing on the “save our cities” subject of the gathering. But he called that “your theme” — an off-key remark, and one that echoed a speech he made on Thursday, in which he twice referred to Latinos as “your people” before the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. (New York Times, 8/2/2015)

Bernie Sanders says "your people" to a group of Latinos which apparently is politically incorrect. Not to worry, it gets virtually no press coverage and the Times buries it in Section Q. If Scott Walker said "your people" to a group of Latinos it would be the end of his presidential campaign. 

We Insist that Joe Biden Run for President

A RedStateVT Editorial
The initial promise of the Bernie Sanders No Deodorant Presidential Campaign is beginning to fade. The Bern has failed to deliver any new bon mots lately and, frankly, we are getting bored of hearing about how the "billionaires and millionaires" are ruining everything. And then the Colonel heads to Martha's Vineyard to party. How very unprogressive. Sure Hillary is stepping up to the plate. We just loved it when she said of her self-inflicted e-mail scandal: "The facts are clear." That is good stuff. As for the other Dems....zip, zero, zilch. O'Malley and Chaffee have given us nothing. (There might be one other Dem running but we cannot remember his name. What does that tell you?) It is time for Joe Biden, serial groper and human gaffe machine to enter the race. We need him now!


Castaway
Therefore, Mrs. Clinton cast questions about her emails as little more than an interagency squabble over which emails should be made public under freedom of information laws. “What I think you’re seeing here is a very typical kind of discussion, to some extent disagreement, among various parts of the government over what should or should not be publicly released,” she said. The debate among government agencies “has nothing to do with me,” Mrs. Clinton added. “They can fight over it or argue over it. That’s up to them.” (Wall Street Journal, 7/26/2015)

So Hill sets up her own server, sends classified e-mails from it, then deletes the e-mails and the fuss is all just a bureaucratic squabble. As Peggy Noonan famously says: "the Clintons are insulated from charges of corruption by their reputation for corruption."


Commuter-in-Chief
President Obama announced on Monday that he was commuting the sentences of 46 federal drug offenders, more than doubling the number of nonviolent criminals to whom he has granted clemency since taking office. (New York Times, 7/13/2015)

Once again President Obama focuses with laser-like precision on the issues that a majority of Americans deem MOST important. Who among us has not said: "Gee, I wish the president would let more criminals out of jail?"


End Game
After years of debate about whether the government should encourage end-of-life planning – an idea that Sarah Palin claimed would lead to “death panels” cutting off care to the sick – Medicare, the federal program that insures 55 million older and disabled Americans, is now proposing to reimburse doctors for having conversations with patients about whether and how they would want to be kept alive if they become too sick to speak for themselves. (New York Times, 7/8/2015)

Obsessed with Sarah Palin as they are, Liberals constantly belittle and misrepresent her. It makes them feel intellectually superior. It turns out, of course, that Palin is right. Through Obamacare, Medicare seeks to reduce reimbursement rates for doctors treating the elderly infirmed and now will instead pay them to talk grandma into ending it all. Sarah Palin will now accept your apologies. 


Revved Up
But with the presidential campaign revving up, Democrats and abortion rights supporters are bracing for a sustained, sophisticated and coordinated effort to force a debate on the uncomfortable moral and ethical questions that abortion raises. (New York Times, 7/27/2015)

The New York Times admits that abortion raises "uncomfortable moral and ethical questions?" How did this slip past their editors? We thought abortion was a women's health issue. 

With Troubles Mounting for Hillary Look for Granddaughter to Appear Soon

Insecurities
Government investigators said Friday that they had discovered classified information on the private email account that Hillary Rodham Clinton used while secretary of state, stating unequivocally that those secrets never should have been stored outside of secure government computer systems. (New York Times, 7/25/2015)

No the lead story is not about a presidential candidate who broke the law. That presidential candidate is a Democrat and so the story appears buried underneath a headline in 6 point font. Lead stories about controversial things that Donald Trump says get the really big headlines.


Unclear
Campaigning in Iowa on Saturday, she was asked about the email issue. “I think there’s so much confusion around this that I understand why reporters and the public are asking questions, but the facts are pretty clear,” she told reporters, according to The Associated Press. “I did not send nor receive anything that was classified at the time.” But the two inspectors general said on Friday that the information they found was classified when it was sent and remains so. (New York Times, 7/26/2015)

So another lie.


Crier
President Obama has said repeatedly that each mass shooting cries out for stricter controls to keep mentally ill people and criminals from obtaining guns, but the issue has not resonated on the campaign trail. (New York Times, 7/25/2015)

Another idea...stop calling the mentally ill "differently-abled" and start locking them in insane asylums like we used to do. 

Thug Life

Stemmed
A former Port Authority official and ally of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is expected to plead guilty on Friday to the first charges stemming from the 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal. (New York Times, 5/1/2015)

The New York Times interrupts its ongoing investigation into the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal to report on Chris Christie and Bridgegate. Just kidding!  The New York Times has moved on from the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal. Better to circle back to an (even older) Republican scandal. And so the Times provides readers with a useful color graphic showing all the Bridgegate players. Also included is a helpful Q&A for readers who want even more information. No doubt the Times is thinking Pulitzer Prize....


It's Never the Perp's Fault
The problem is not black culture. It is policy and politics, the very things that bind together the history of Ferguson and Baltimore and, for that matter, the rest of America.

...the financial enrichment of landlords, corner store merchants and other vendors selling second-rate goods.

...The problem originates in a political culture that has long bound black bodies to questions of property. Yes, I’m referring to slavery.
...
The conditions in West Baltimore today are the direct consequence of speculative real estate practices that have long targeted people with few to no options.
...
Cities that are starved for income have found ways to raise revenues by way of fines and fees exacted from poor, underemployed African-Americans and migrants of color. These include property taxes and court costs. (N. D. B. Connolly is an assistant professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, New York Times, 5/1/2015)

You might have thought the root causes of the rioting in Baltimore were illegitimacy, the breakdown of the black family, the glorification of violent rap culture and decades of misguided government policies toward poverty. 

You would be wrong. 

Luckily we have Professor Connolly to set us straight.

Professor Connolly helpfully informs us as to the REAL issues which include: the merchants who provide goods and services to impoverished communities, landlords who provide housing to the poor and the local governments who collect taxes.

Oh, and slavery. (If only America would outlaw slavery....)

Time to take Johns Hopkins off the list of potential schools for Junior.

Clinton E-Mail Server Receives Secret Service Protection

What Difference, at this Point, Does it Make?
At a news conference this month, Mrs. Clinton appeared to provide two answers about whether she still had copies of her emails. First, she said that she “chose not to keep” her private personal emails after her lawyers had examined the account and determined on their own which ones were personal and which were State Department records. But later, she said that the server, which contained personal communication by her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, “will remain private.” The server was kept at their home in Chappaqua, N.Y., which is protected around the clock by the Secret Service. (New York Times, 3/28/2015)

Our next president.

America weeps. 


Dirty Harry
Mr. Reid’s admirers seem to think Mr. Reid is their champion, but the reason he has carried so much water for Mr. Obama isn’t liberal ideals. It’s the result of a crude political bargain in which Mr. Reid agreed to do the President’s dirty work on Capitol Hill if Mr. Obama blocked the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. (Wall Street Journal, 3/30/2015)

Reid will be feted at his retirement by Democrats and the media who will use words like "tireless" and "unflinching." We are glad to be reminded of his crass political deals. And, of course, we will always cherish his description of Barack Obama as  "a light-skinned African American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." If John Boehner used such language he would be in a nursing home now. No such banishment for Reid, however, because Obama 'knows what is in Reid's heart.'


Measured
Measures similar to that signed into law by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence this week are already in place at the federal level and in some 30 states. The law covers a relatively complex issue—setting a legal framework for those who claim a government rule or requirement is hampering their exercise of religion. (Wall Street Journal, 3/29/2015)

The Gay Mafia along with its Liberal enablers are apoplectic about a new Indiana law. 

Which is exceedingly complex to understand, never mind explain. 

Which mirrors federal law. 

And state law in thirty states. 

It does not matter, however, because any opportunity to cry "homophobe!" is an opportunity not to be missed.


Adventurous
One of Silicon Valley’s most famous venture capital firms prevailed on Friday over a former partner in a closely watched suit claiming gender discrimination, but hardly got away unscathed. The plaintiff, Ellen Pao, had accused the firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, of discriminating against her in the course of her employment and eventual dismissal.
...
After the jurors rejected each of her four claims, they were found to be one vote short on a claim about her termination. For two hours, doubt reigned, the media unspooled possible outcomes and the jury went back to work. In the end, the problem seemed more juror confusion than anything else, and the claim went down with the others. (New York Times, 3/28/2015)

We have absolutely no idea whether Ellen Pao's lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers had any merit. We don't know if either party is good or bad. What amazes us, however, is the way in which the New York Times and feminists can claim that the case 'prompts a debate' and 'sends a powerful signal.' 

How exactly? She lost. 

On every single count.

What does failure look like?

Casting Spells

Yemen: Another Obama Foreign Policy Success!
The evacuation of 125 United States Special Operations advisers from Yemen in the past two days is the latest blow to the Obama administration’s counterterrorism campaign, which is already struggling with significant setbacks in Syria, Libya and elsewhere in the volatile region, American officials said Sunday. (New York Times, 3/23/2015)

“This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.” President B. Hussein Obama


Practices
But they did show that Mrs. Clinton’s top aides at times corresponded with her about State Department matters from their personal email accounts, raising questions about her recent assertions that she made it her practice to email aides at their government addresses so the messages would be preserved, in compliance with federal record-keeping regulations. (New York Times, 3/23/2015)

Reminding us - once again - of the late William Safire's depiction of Hillary Clinton as a "congenital liar."


No Conflicts Here
When Mr. Mezvinsky and his partners began raising money in 2011 for a new hedge fund firm, Eaglevale Partners, a number of investors in the firm were longtime supporters of the Clintons, according to interviews and financial documents reviewed by The New York Times. Tens of millions of dollars raised by Eaglevale can be attributed to investors with some relationship or link to the Clintons.
...
Mr. Mezvinsky is a Stanford graduate who is the child of political parents himself. His father, Edward M. Mezvinsky, was a two-term member of Congress from Iowa, and his mother, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, served a term in Congress from Pennsylvania. (New York Times, 3/23/2015)

First, a reminder to all that the Clinton's son-in-law is a hedge fund executive. How Hillary is going to square this with the Elizabeth Warren-Bernie Sanders wing of the Democrat party is anyone's guess.

And then there is the small matter of Edward M. Mezvinsky. What is the New York Times forgetting to tell us? Thinking..... Oh, that's right! It's this:

His father, Ed Mezvinsky, was a two-term Democratic congressman, representing Iowa’s first congressional district from 1973 to 1977. But in 2002, the former congressman pleaded guilty to swindling more than $10 million from family and friends in a Ponzi-esque scheme. (abcnews.com, 9/27/2014)

Perhaps the New York Times did not know this. Or - and it pains us to even think this - Times reporters knew it and simply chose to omit it because they are dishonest journalists. 


Coffee Black
Howard D. Schultz, the chief executive of Starbucks, said in a letter to employees on Sunday that baristas would no longer be encouraged to write the phrase “Race Together” on customers’ coffee cups, drawing to a close a widely derided component of the company’s plan to promote a discussion on racial issues. (New York Times, 3/23/2015)

Sources say that Starbucks intends shortly to roll out a new communication campaign in which baristas will ask customers to rate the job performance of President Obama on a scale of 1 (high) to 10 (low). All customers who rate him 5 or below will be given a free latte. 


We Can Breathe (Again)
Giving implicit credence to the named sources who described Michael Brown as having his hands up as he was fired on by Officer Darren Wilson, I criticized the use of unnamed sources who offered opposing information: They said that the officer had reason to fear Mr. Brown. I even went so far as to call those unnamed sources “ghosts” because readers had so little ability to evaluate their identity and credibility... But I want to go further now and say that what I wrote was substantially flawed. (Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor, New York Times, 3/23/2015)

The New York Times confesses. Too bad they do not put it on the front page...as they did the initial slander. 


Wordy
“We take him at his word when he said that it wouldn’t happen during his prime ministership, and so that’s why we’ve got to evaluate what other options are available to make sure that we don’t see a chaotic situation in the region,” Mr. Obama said in the interview, which was taped Friday. (Wall Street Journal, 3/23/2015)

Obama on Netanyahu. 

And we took Obama at this word when he said that we could keep our health insurance....

Lighten Other Skies

Relations
H. 395. An act relating to establishing a carbon pollution tax. This would tax carbon at $50 per tonne in its first year, then raise that by $10 per tonne each year until the tax reached $100 per tonne. 80 percent of the revenue from the tax would be dispersed through various income redistribution streams. The remaining 20 percent would be used to subsidize weatherization and other thermal energy efficiency projects and something called a Vermont Sustainable Transportation Fund. (ethanallen.org, 3/15/2015)

With Liberals the solution to any problem - real or imagined - is taxes. Always taxes.


Old And In The Way
On MSNBC last week, 70-year-old James Carville denounced the coverage of his old friend Hillary Rodham Clinton’s use of a personal email account at the State Department, ticking off two decades’ worth of scandals surrounding the Clintons that he attributed to an irresponsible news media.

Mr. Carville complained to the host, Andrea Mitchell, that he had “lived through this.”

“Do you remember Whitewater?” he asked. “Do you remember Filegate? You remember Travelgate? You remember Pardongate? You remember Benghazi?” (New York Times, 3/15/2015)

Thank you to James Carville for reminding us of previous Clinton scandals.


Spreading It
“My contacts and friends in newspapers and TV tell me that they’ve been contacted by the White House and offered all kinds of negative stories about us,” one of Bill’s friends quotes him as saying. “The Obamas are behind the e-mail story, and they’re spreading rumors that I’ve been with women, that Hillary promoted people at the State Department who’d done favors for our foundation, that John Kerry had to clean up diplomatic messes Hillary left behind.” (NYPost.com, 3/15/2015)

Bill Clinton continued: "They're lies! All lies! Except for the part about me being with other women..."

Breaking: Hillary Clinton concedes, will release e-mails related to her yoga routines

Shredder
Hillary Clinton said today she has deleted more than 30,000 “personal” emails from her days as Secretary of State and won’t allow access to the private server she used to send them. “The server will remain private,” she declared. (NYPost.com, 3/10/2015)

This is now.

In 2007, Mrs. Clinton, then a senator from New York and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, accused the George W. Bush administration of using “secret White House email accounts” along with secret wiretaps and military tribunals. “You know, our Constitution is being shredded,” she said at the time. (New York Times, 3/11/2015)

That was then.


AKA
Attorney General Eric Holder has used three different email aliases during his six years in the top job at the Justice Department, officials say. (Foxnews.com, 3/11/2015)

RedStateVT can confirm that among the aliases used by Holder were the following: SexyAG@AOL.com, thefunkmeister@yahoo.com and BlackPowerMan@gmail.com


Cooled Off
It is a cool, businesslike approach, similar to the way Mr. Obama deals with members of Congress, donors and activists at home. But historians and some of the president’s former foreign policy advisers say the distance the president keeps from foreign leaders leaves him without the durable relationships that previous presidents forged to help smooth disagreements and secure reluctant cooperation. (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

Liberals love the idea of Obama as a too-cool-for-school hipster. The politics is beneath him. He is playing a different game than everyone else, etc. 

The truth is that he is a loner who does not connect with people. He does not like others and generally they do not like him. 


Not Viable
The two most viable alternatives to Clinton spoke at the IAFF gathering Monday: Biden, who projects sincerity, blue-collar appeal and solid competence; and Warren, who, with her passion and righteous indignation, could ignite a populist movement. But the senator from Massachusetts doesn’t want to run, and the vice president would like to but sees no way to upend the Clinton juggernaut. (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 3/10/2015)

Biden projects "sincerity" and "competence?"

OK, it is official. Nothing Milbank says can ever be taken seriously again. 


Say It Again
The Obama administration said Tuesday that 11.7 million Americans now have private health insurance through federal and state marketplaces, with 86 percent of them receiving financial assistance from the federal government to help pay premiums. (New York Times, 3/11/2015)

Eighty-six percent of Americans getting health insurance through the exchanges are getting subsidies! To Liberals, this is success. To others, this is further evidence of the nanny state gone awry.

Hillary Clinton: I Urge Me to Release My E-Mails

Trader B
At the White House, Josh Earnest, the press secretary, told reporters that President Obama traded emails with Mrs. Clinton while she was secretary of state, but that the president did not understand that her messages were not being made available to the government in some form. (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

Said the president: "I don't really understand how all this computer stuff works."


Preparation H
Hillary Rodham Clinton is preparing in coming days to address her use of a private email account while serving as secretary of state, according to people close to Mrs. Clinton, even as she continued to avoid questions about the matter on Monday after speaking at a Clinton Foundation event in New York. (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

Hillary has a few things to do before she addresses the issue of why she violated State Department policy including: choosing an outfit to wear (will she go with pink?), speaking out for women's rights, getting photographed with Chelsea's baby, poll-testing possible excuses, and finally, deleting any embarrassing e-mails. 


Muscle Bound
Beyond that, Democrats assert, the new laws throughout the region are intended to help Republicans build a favorable electoral map for 2016, by weakening the labor groups that have traditionally provided muscle and money to Democratic candidates in crucial swing states. (New York Times, 3/9/2015)

So right-to-work laws which "help Republicans" are bad because they disadvantage Democrats.

Question: How do they disadvantage Democrats? 

Answer: Democrats get less money from unions.

Question: Why does this matter?

Answer: See below.

...In Mr. de Blasio’s case, the parent union of the United Federation of Teachers made a $350,000 contribution to the fund last spring, as City Hall and the teachers’ union negotiated a labor contract. (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

So union bribes to Democrats are jeopardized by right-to-work laws. Score one for democracy.


Fractured
The fractious debate over a possible nuclear deal with Iran escalated on Monday as 47 Republican senators warned Iran about making an agreement with President Obama, and the White House accused them of undercutting foreign policy. (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

So President Obama does not like it when Republicans act unilaterally. Who else acts unilaterally? 


Darkness
Last week, at a gathering convened without the mayor, the commissioner turned the city’s attention to marijuana again, delivering a darker message: Homicides were up — to 54 through March 1, compared with 45 over the same period the year before. Shootings too. And marijuana, Mr. Bratton said, was a factor in the violence.

“The seemingly innocent drug that’s being legalized around the country,” he said. “In this city, people are killing each other over marijuana.” (New York Times, 3/10/2015)

Like Vermont's Shumlin, NYC mayor, Sub-commander de Blasio cannot wait to legalize marijuana. Meanwhile NYC returns to chaos. Could it have ANYTHING to do with the mayor's directive to police to cease "stop-and-frisk?"

Yonder Tomb

Slow Learner
President Obama said Saturday that he had learned only last week that Hillary Rodham Clinton used a private email system for her official correspondence while she was secretary of state. (New York Times, 3/8/2015)

Furthermore, Obama said, he only realized last week that Clinton was no longer secretary of state!


Discouraged
In an interview with Bill Plante of CBS News, Mr. Obama said the policy of his administration was to “encourage transparency” and that he was pleased that Mrs. Clinton had instructed the State Department to turn over her emails for archiving. (New York Times, 3/8/2015)

And this, of course, demonstrates just how utterly corrupt both Clinton and Obama are and how little regard they have for the American people. The State Department does not have Clinton's e-mails. She does! They are locked up in Chappaqua on her private server!


Heads Spin
As Hillary Clinton Stays Quiet About Private Emails, Republicans Seize Moment to Criticize Her (New York Times headline, 3/9/2015)

Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, attempted to tone down the rhetoric, calling it a political attack that would soon blow over. (New York Times, 3/9/2015)

Well, the New York Times (and Democrats) seemed to have settled on a strategy for dealing with the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal: blame Republicans. If your head is spinning, it is no surprise. Yes, news of the scandal first appeared in the New York Times which continues to report on it...but it is somehow a Republican issue. We're guessing that the Times and Hillary are eventually going to go with the "War on Women" defense. 

We also note that perennial Clinton apologist James Carville has crawled out from under a rock. With Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC (of all people!) he employed his patented defense whenever a Clinton scandal erupts: he yells. 


Outspoken
Former President Bill Clinton spoke out in defense of his family foundation’s acceptance of donations from foreign governments on Saturday, after a series of news reports that raised questions about the practice, which quietly resumed after Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped down as secretary of state.....“My theory about all this is, disclose everything,” Mr. Clinton said. “And then let people make their judgments,” Mr. Clinton said. (New York Times, 3/8/2015)

Bill Clinton said further: "You may recall that during my presidency when it came out that I was having an adulterous sexual relationship with one of my young White House employees, I followed this same practice and immediately disclosed everything."


Framed
Mrs. Clinton’s glide path to a likely April announcement that she will seek the presidency was built around women’s issues. Advancing women has been her central life’s work, as she and her admirers say proudly; she made it a priority as secretary of state and focused on it as a philanthropist. But that focus also allowed Mrs. Clinton, who played down her gender in 2008, to frame her second attempt at the White House in what could be one way to make it special and new: as a shot at history for her and for all women. (New York Times, 3/9/2015)

Left unsaid by the Times, of course, is the work that Hillary Clinton did in her "other" central life's work: disparaging the numerous women with whom her husband was having affairs. That was also a "priority." Call it "the War on Bill's Women."