How Many BLTs Are There in America? A RedStateVT Study

With the Liberal Media brimming daily with stories about BLTs (Bi-sexuals, Lesbians, Transgenders) you probably wondered - as did the editors at RedStateVT - just how many individuals of each category there are here in America. 

Well, wonder no more. 

A ground-breaking study using state-of-the-art statistical analysis has recently been completed by RedStateVT which answers this question. The results may surprise you.

RedStateVT developed a proprietary sampling methodology which for competitive reasons we will not disclose. We can say, however, that our approach was to first tabulate the frequency of stories about BLTs in the New York Times and on Rachel Maddow's show on MSNBC and then to compare this number to overall U.S. demographics.

Here are the results:

Bisexuals - 29%

Lesbians - 21%

Transgenders - 12%

Not BLT - 51%

(Note - numbers do not add up to 100% due to rounding and overlap between BLTs, i.e. some Bisexuals are also Lesbians, some Transgenders are also Bisexual.)

Clearly America is at a tipping point. RedStateVT predicts that within 18 months, the "Not BLT" group will be less than 50%.

Other predictions:

Hillary Clinton will be the first bi-sexual president.

Vermont will have a transgender governor before the end of 2015.

Ready for Hillary: E-mail Scandal Officially Declared "Old News"

Questionable
The question moving forward for Mr. Obama may be whether he should essentially write off the Israeli prime minister in much the same way he has written off building any relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, another frequent antagonist. (New York Times, 3/18/2015)

Relationships that Obama has not written off (in fact they are thriving!) include: the Iranian mullahs and the Castro brothers.


Never Never Land
But personally, Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu have never become close, aides said. The Israeli prime minister is known for being difficult. James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state, once barred Mr. Netanyahu, then a more junior government official, from the halls of the State Department. President Bill Clinton famously disliked Mr. Netanyahu. (New York Times, 3/18/2015)

Liberals are beside themselves that Netanyahu was resoundingly re-elected. They haven't been this upset since... well, since the recent U.S. mid-term elections. And so the New York Times decides that the best approach is to trash-talk Bibi.

Meanwhile, over at MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell takes the democratic election of Netanyahu as a sign of the end of days. Helpfully, she interviews Palestinians who provide objective analyses of the horrible consequences that this election has for the region. 

Just kidding about the "objective" part! 

Obama: I Have Fixed the U.S. Economy. You're Welcome America.

Virtuous
If there was a virtue in Mr. Obama’s speech, it’s that we can now retire the lectures on “responsible governing.” (Wall Street Journal, 1/21/2015)

Score!


Unification
But climate is a continuous process of incremental change. A unified theory of media idiocy on climate is beyond the scope of this column, but even someone with the apparently parched intellect of an AP editor should be able to look at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration charts and notice that cool years are grouped with cool years, warm years with warm years, and in-between years with in-between years. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 1/20/2015)

Did you read that 2014 was the warmest year in the history of the solar system and it is all the fault of Republicans who will not let us stop using fossil fuels? You probably did if you were breathing a couple of days ago.  What you probably did not read were the science-based rebuttals. Here is one, you climate change-denier, you!


Zero
The cost of community college isn’t being lowered to zero, the costs will simply be shifted elsewhere. The AP estimates it would cost “an estimated $60 billion over 10 years to the treasury.” Furthermore, the plan would require states to contribute a quarter of tuition, and not all students would qualify. (Breitbart.com, 1/21/2015)

Finally, someone besides RedStateVT calls out President Clueless on the "free" concept. Nothing is free! Someone always pays. If you are a taxpayer then guess what? You pay for "Free!"


Unreal
MITCHELL: I think that on foreign policy, his projection of success against terrorism and against ISIS, in particular, as I said, is not close to reality. They have not come up with a strategy, and they’ve built a global coalition, but again, he’s talked about Ukraine, he’s talked about Putin being isolated. Yes, Putin is isolated economically and the falling oil prices have hammered his economy. But at the same time, there’s renewed fighting in Donetsk, and we haven’t figured out Ukraine, we haven’t figured out how the NATO alliance can push back. Sanctions have not really worked, and Ukraine is going to need more weaponry, and they have not reached that point. So you’re right, Chris, it doesn’t match the reality. (Hotair.com, 1/21/2015)

Andrea Mitchell and Chris Matthews from MSNBC (the Obama administration's in-house television network) practice a random act of journalism....


Messed Up
So here was Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday, confronting a totally predictable (except by the previous governor) budget deficit of $765 million, and he still couldn’t bring himself to mention who created the mess the Commonwealth now finds itself in. (Howiecarrshow.com, 1/21/2015)

The budget deficit in Vermont (a state with less than one million people) approaches $100 million. Now what do the governments of Vermont and Massachusetts have in common? 

Yes, both governors were males and both had the letter "P" in their names. 

Think harder, reader!

Of course, both states were run by Democrats! Deval Patrick and Peter Shumlin.

Democrats should not be entrusted with managing the finances of an ice cream truck.

All Together Now

Longing
Warren is considered a long shot to challenge Hillary for the Democratic nomination in 2016. Hillary Clinton is not only older and richer than Warren; she has also published more memoirs. (freebeacon.com, 12/2/2014)

Now that is funny!


RedStateVT Dissects MSNBC's Analysis of Hillary Clinton's Appearance At Georgetown 
It was the right topic at the right venue for Hillary Clinton Wednesday morning at Georgetown University, but the timing was off. Poor weather and impending finals kept students from filling up the ornate Gaston Hall, and her wonky foreign policy remarks left many disappointed who are hungry for something more from the likely presidential candidate. (MSNBC.com, 12/3/2014)

Liberal Georgetown students were unwilling to brave the rain to see the Democrat party's presumptive presidential nominee. Students - who could normally be enticed to do almost anything else instead of studying - decided to study. 

Questions from students were submitted ahead of time and reviewed by a committee of faculty and students before being read by Verveer. At the start of the program, an announcer declared that interruptions to the program “will not be permitted.”

Her Majesty will not suffer any surprises. 

Approved questions:
How is Bill doing?
How is Chelsea doing?
How is the baby doing?
How does it feel to be a grandmother?

Questions not approved:
What exactly did you accomplish when you traveled one million miles as Secretary of State?
What exactly did you mean when you said of Benghazi: what difference does it make?
What exactly did you mean when you said that corporations do not create jobs?

Meanwhile, as she speaking, an entirely different theme was being pushed by Republicans operatives, who filled reporters’ inboxes and Twitter feeds with pictures showing empty rows of seats in the hall.

The vast right wing conspiracy lives!

The university said the hall seats over 700 people, but that only 400 turned out. The entire balcony was empty, save reporters, while there were several empty seats downstairs.

It is likely that high ticket prices - in addition to the confounded weather - also depressed attendance. 

Tickets were offered free to every student.

Scratch that.

The university and students sympathetic to Clinton pointed out that many students were busy studying for upcoming finals. The rainy weather also may have kept some students indoors...

Just to reiterate, it was the weather and finals. It has nothing to do whatsoever with the plummeting appeal of the prickly Hill. 


Truly Deeply
Randi Weingarten, the affluent, fancypants president of the American Federation of Teachers, issued a statement on Wednesday expressing her deep concern about the salaries of American teachers....Certainly, Weingarten is not feeling squeezed. The teachers union honcho’s salary of $360,000 per year puts her squarely in the top one percent of all Americans. It is 641 percent higher than the $56,130 annual income of an average elementary school teacher. (dailycaller.com, 12/3/2014)

Good timing, we have been thinking about this exact point. So when Liberal redistributionists decry the purported "income inequality" in America, are they also talking about the union bosses who make 641% more than their constituents? We doubt it. With the characteristic hypocrisy of Liberals, it is only corporate CEOs that are greedy.


Dead Letter
While the United States and Iran are traditional rivals, if they can reach a deal over Iran’s nuclear program, more normal relations could follow, including close cooperation against the Islamic State. That was the point Mr. Obama made in a letter to the ayatollah last month urging him to sign off on the nuclear deal.

But the letter, as well as an earlier one wishing the Iranian leader a speedy recovery from surgery, may have backfired, one analyst said, projecting a weakness that only encouraged Iran to display its power more openly.

“When Obama sends letters to our leader wishing him a speedy recovery, to us that is a sign of weakness,” said one Iranian journalist closely connected to the conservative Revolutionary Guards. “During meetings the letter is discussed and we conclude: ‘Obama needs a deal. He needs us.’ We would never write him such a letter.” (New York Times, 12/4/2014)

The Bush Doctrine broadly holds that America will pre-emptively deal with threats to our national security. The Obama Doctrine holds that America will make any deal (Russia, China, Iran), no matter how lopsided, in an attempt to get our enemies to like us. Under Bush, our enemies feared us. Under Obama they laugh at us. This will be Obama's legacy. 

Spirits to Enforce

Heavy Metal
Kennametal plant officials announced Tuesday they would close the Lyndonville plant, which employs a total of about 80 people. The last day of production will be June 30. (VTDigger.org, 3/27/2014)

Reached for comment about the latest hit to employment in Vermont while vacationing in the Caribbean, Gov. Peter Shumlin vowed to focus on job creation in the state when he returns. As soon as illegal aliens in the state are granted drivers licenses. 

Actually Crummy Shummy vowed to send a "Rapid Response Team" up to Lyndonville. Not to save the jobs of Kennametal workers, it is too late for that. The RRT will help the newly unemployed to apply for unemployment benefits. So Shyster Shumster apparently has no problem helping hard-working folks like the Kennametal employees, he would just rather wait until they lose their jobs first. 


Close Encounters
Self-employed people in her area — truck drivers and cosmetologists, for instance — seem eager to sign up, Ms. Walls said, but “negative press” and problems with the federal website have discouraged many consumers. At the small town educational sessions she runs, she often encounters people whose conservative political philosophy makes them uncomfortable about accepting federal subsidies to buy private coverage. (New York Times, 3/28/2014)

Ah yes, self-reliance. That is something that we conservatives are just going to have to get over if we are going to survive in Obamaworld. 


Praised
In some states that have expanded Medicaid, like Kentucky — which has drawn national praise as a model for other states to follow — the biggest chunk of the newly insured are Medicaid patients. More than 300,000 Kentuckians are enrolled in new health coverage, the state says, 80 percent of them through Medicaid. (New York Times, 3/28/2014)

Eighty percent on the public dole. That is something that Liberals can truly be proud of!


Headlines in Today's New York Times
A Whitewash for Chris Christie
Motive Still Unclear in Christie-Backed Lane Closing Report
Report Details a Claim That Christie Knew of Closings
About New York: Report’s Silence Is Deafening
Sexism Is Seen in Report on Former Christie Aide
About New York: Silence Is Deafening in Bridge Report
Report Details Claim by Ally: Christie Knew of Bridge Lane Closings

What is the most important story of the day according to the New York Times? 

Meanwhile, MSNBC (during our short daily watching period) did another ten minutes on Christie and Bridgegate. With a host and two analysts! After there was a brief mention of something happening in the Ukraine. 

Further Reflection

The Uneducated
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to explain the Obama administration's latest decision to extend a key ObamaCare deadline by saying people just "are not educated on how to use the Internet." (Foxnews.com, 3/26/2014)

Liberals are now forbidden from ever - that's ever ever ever ever ever ever - saying anything derisive about Sarah Palin. 

Ever.


Dirty Harry
Tuesday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reimbursed his campaign for nearly $17,000 in payments made in late 2013 to his granddaughter for “holiday gifts.” But new payments are surfacing bringing the total to $31,000. (Breitbart.com, 3/24/2014)

MSNBC has just interrupted their 24 hour coverage of the New Jersey Bridgegate scandal involving Gov. Chris Christie to report on Harry Reid's illegal gifts to family members. Just kidding!

In fact, kid wunderkin journalist Ronan Farrow opened his show on MSNBC talking not about Obama's visit with Pope Francis, not the mudslide out west, not the missing jet. No, instead he talked about the findings of Christie's lawyer on Bridgegate. For the first ten minutes of the show. No kidding!


Absolute
Even if Russia moves into eastern Ukraine, senior administration officials said, there should be absolutely no expectation that American troops would head to Kiev.

“The American people are not going to war with Russia over Ukraine, full stop,” a senior administration official said, echoing public comments by Mr. Obama. (New York Times, 3/27/2014)

There was a time not long ago (well, the Bush administration really) when America did not tell its potential enemies its military strategy in advance. All that has been changed now that General Obama is in charge. 


Aspirations
“If you aspire to be a gangsta rapper, by definition your lyrics need to be violent,” said Charis E. Kubrin, an associate professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine.
...
“What’s getting really unnerving,” said Erik Nielson, an assistant professor of liberal arts at the University of Richmond, “is the amount of time it appears both police and prosecutors are spending over rap lyrics and videos on social media rather than using that time to go and gather more convincing, more conventional forms of evidence.”
...
Critics like Andrea L. Dennis, an associate professor of law at the University of Georgia, say law enforcement ignores the fact that rappers do not necessarily live the lives they sing about. (New York Times, 3/27/2014)

The New York Times writes an article about rappers in jail, perhaps in the view of the Times unfairly, because of their violent lyrics. America's elite academics weigh in. Naturally they support the thugs.

Here is an example of those lyrics - quoted in the very same article - that Liberal professors (yes, that is redundant) suggest that we not take so literally:

"But nobody saw when I [expletive] smoked him. Roped him, sharpened up the shank, then I poked him, 357 Smith & Wesson beam scoped him."

Weep for the state of higher education in America.

Fell Dismay

At Home
Yesterday RedstateVT was watching MSNBC. Wait it gets worse. We were watching Ronan Farrow on MSNBC. Readers are cautioned NOT to do this. RedStateVT is a trained professional. Those who attempt to watch MSNBC (the journalistic home of Rev. Al Sharpton!) without the proper training could suffer grave injury. Anyway, the topic was "Homelessness in America." What was surprising about this is that this topic - Homelessness in America - has never previously been discussed when a Democrat occupies the White House. Homelessness in America, as all know, is the fault of Republican presidents, e.g. Ronald Reagan, George Bush, George W. Bush. Of course, no blame was laid at the feet of President Obama by MSNBC's boy journalist who asked for viewer input on homelessness in their communities and vowed to follow this story...even if it led to the White House. Just kidding about that last part!


Back to the Drawing Board
American officials made clear they would ratchet up the pressure if Mr. Putin does not back down. They went immediately back to the Situation Room after the announcement to begin work on a next round of sanctions that could come as early as this week. (New York Times, 3/19/2014)

In the next round of sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea President Obama threatened to not return Putin's phone calls, to deny Russians the next iPhone model, and to stop drinking Russian vodka.


Hopeless
Mr. Obama held out hope that diplomacy may yet succeed, but he sent Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to Eastern Europe to meet with nervous NATO allies like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and reassure them of American resolve. (New York Times, 3/19/2014)

After stiffing Eastern Europe several years back on the issue of missile defense in order to assuage Putin, Obama now sends Vice President Punch Line to tell them not to worry, Obama has their backs. Message to the Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians: Be worried, be very worried. 

And so this gets added to Obama's foreign policy highlight reel which includes among other things:

Telling a Russian diplomat on an open mic that he would have "more flexibility" after the election. Which Putin then rightly interprets as a license to have his way, whether it be in Syria or in the Ukraine. How ironic it all is, especially in light of Obama's derisive comments to Mitt Romney during the election about "the 80s wanting its foreign policy back." 

And one final thought for Liberals who say: what is Obama supposed to do, go to war over Crimea? That is not the point. The point is that Obama's repeated public appeasement of Putin created the very situation that he now finds himself in. Obama is like the kid who kills his parents and then asks for mercy as an orphan.

The Education of Chris Christie

An article in today's New York Times discusses New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's break with MSNBC, a network that he had assiduously courted to burnish his credentials as a Republican who could reach across the aisle. MSNBC has been running daily 25 hour coverage of the New Jersey Conegate scandal and Christie understandably objects. Christie now joins McCain and past Republicans who MSNBC championed only to villify once it was in the interest of the Democrat party to do so. 

The original deal in these cases is structured as follows: MSNBC gets to portray itself as an objective news organization (we don't hate ALL Republicans!) and, of course, the Republican gets to appear as someone who Liberals can perhaps tolerate (if they must). In EVERY instance, however, the Republican eventually gets burned. Put your hand too close to the crocodile's mouth and, sooner or later, it will get bitten. 

Here, MSNBC recognized that the only thing that was going to deflect attention from the recent damning report claiming State Department culpability in the Benghazi tragedy - and the negative impact on Hillary Clinton - was something big. No doubt MSNBC would have preferred to defer wall-to-wall coverage of the Conegate scandal until Christie became the Republican nominee, but they simply could not wait. And it has worked. What report on Benghazi?

Christie will survive Conegate and has hopefully learned an important lesson. Never trust the Legitimate Media (Joe Biden's characterization of the non-Fox media). Keep your guard up at all times. Never trust MSNBC. They are not your friends. 

Stones of the River

With and Without
Millions of people facing the cancellation of health insurance policies will be allowed to buy catastrophic coverage and will be exempt from penalties if they go without insurance next year, the White House said Thursday night.

The New York Times headline should read: 
OBAMA ALLOWS MILLIONS TO BUY JUNK POLICIES FROM BAD APPLE INSURERS!

Will MSNBC's hosts react with outrage? After all, they said over and over again that these policies were evil. What will they say now? If history is any guide, they will ignore the issue entirely and run stories on Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz.

The Times is good enough to remind us of previous, ahem, delays:

On July 2, the White House abruptly announced a one-year delay, until 2015, in a provision that requires larger employers to offer coverage to their workers or pay penalties. 

On Nov. 27, it deferred a major element of the law that would allow small businesses to buy insurance online for their employees through the federal exchange.

Earlier, in April, the administration said that the federal exchange would not offer employees of a small business the opportunity to choose from multiple health plans in 2014.

And in October 2011, the administration scrapped a long-term care insurance program created by the new law, saying it was too costly and would not work. (New York Times, 12/19/2013)


Slip Sliding
But Mr. Obama must decide whether such a recalibration would unreasonably increase the risk of terrorists slipping through the surveillance net. For all of his campaign speeches, that was a risk he was not willing to take once in office. Yet in recent months, he has discussed eventually ending the war on terrorism. (New York Times, 12/20/2013)

War ends when one side surrenders. 


Inheritance
Mr. Obama came into office having run against Mr. Bush’s first term but inheriting his second. Before leaving office, Mr. Bush had already moderated his counterterrorism program in hopes that it would survive his presidency. He stopped waterboarding, emptied secret C.I.A. prisons, transferred many prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and secured bipartisan legislation on detention, interrogation and surveillance. (New York Times, 12/20/2013)

The Times looks back kindly and nostalgically on W. 
After spending years savaging him. 
Hypocrites.


Softie
President Obama, expanding his push to curtail severe penalties for drug offenses, is expected on Thursday to commute the sentences of eight federal inmates who were convicted of crack cocaine offenses. Each inmate has been imprisoned for at least 15 years, and six were sentenced to life in prison. (New York Times, 12/19/2013)

Liberals are not soft on crime. 
Liberals are not soft on crime. 
Liberals are not soft on crime. 
Liberals are not soft on crime. 
Liberals are not soft on crime. 
Liberals are not soft on crime. 
Liberals are not soft on crime. 
Liberals are not soft on crime. 
Liberals are not.....


Trust
In every one of these mass shootings, there was someone in a position to say before the attack, "Trust me, this person is a psycho." Try getting Jared Loughner or James Holmes through any mental illness hearing in which they're required to speak. (Though both might end up being offered their own shows on MSNBC.) 
...
Democrats absolutely will not address the one thing that was screaming out from all of the mass shootings: a crazy person committing the crime. We can't medicate them and we can't lock them up because the ACLU has handcuffed society's ability to deal rationally with the mentally disturbed. 

Not only will Democrats refuse to address the problem of the mentally ill on their own, but they will fight to the last ditch to protect any crazy person's right not to take his medication. (AnnCoulter.com, 12/18/2013)

The great Coulter takes up RedStateVT's cause celebre: mental illness, Democrats and mass shootings.


Deliverance
Trying to harness the widespread electoral and celebrity support that delivered him to City Hall, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio on Thursday unveiled his newest campaign, to win a tax on high-earning New Yorkers to vastly improve the city’s prekindergarten and after-school programs. (New York Times, 12/20/2013)

Despite numerous long-term scientifically controlled studies showing absolutely no long term benefit to early education, Comrade Bill and his Liberal cohorts push on. They are so invested in their own moral superiority that they ignore the facts.

Cure All

Overwhelmingly
White House officials, fearful that the federal health care website may again be overwhelmed this weekend, have urged their allies to hold back enrollment efforts so the insurance marketplace does not collapse under a crush of new users. (NYT, 11/27/2013)

So the message from the Obama administration is as follows: 

--As promised, Healthcare.gov will be fixed by November 30th.
--Please do not use the website on November 30th as it may crash.
--Nonetheless, we have fixed the website as promised.
--Trust us.


Elemental
The Obama administration is expected to announce on Wednesday a one-year delay in another major element of the new health care law, which allows small businesses to go online and get insurance for their employees through the website of the federal marketplace.
...
The announcement of the delay, just before Thanksgiving, is reminiscent of the way the White House announced, just before the Independence Day weekend, a one-year delay in the requirement for larger employers to offer health insurance to employees. (NYT, 11/28/2013)

Obama pardons turkey, announces delay in Obamacare. There has GOT to be a joke in here. 

How about: Obama pardons Obamacare. 

Or maybe: Another Obamacare turkey.

Perhaps: Sign up for health care; get a turkey.

Readers are invited to submit entries.

Meanwhile, while this news was breaking, RedStateVT checked in with MSNBC. They were doing a story on Guantanamo. 

We are not kidding. 

In Flux

Lines of Sand
Ms. Sebelius, who was in Florida on Tuesday, said the website would improve, but she appeared to lower expectations and to play down the significance of a Nov. 30 deadline set by the White House to fix it.

“The 30th of November is not a magic go, no-go date,” Ms. Sebelius told The Associated Press. “It is a work of constant improvement. We have some very specific things we know we need to complete by the 30th, and that punch list is getting knocked out every week.” (NYT, 11/20/2013)

First Obama did not set a "red line" in Syria. Now - apparently - he did not set a November 30th "deadline" for Healthcare.gov. 

Despite what everyone heard him say, that is. 


Profiles in Liberal Journalism
No responsible cable news host would call for defecating on a public figure. That’s just beyond the pale, right? But that’s exactly what Bashir did on his MSNBC show, while spewing venom at Sarah Palin.
...
MSNBC rightfully suspended Alec Baldwin for two weeks for hurling an anti-gay slur at a photographer.
...
MSNBC once suspended Ed Schultz for calling Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut.”
(Howard Kurtz, Foxnews.com, 11/18/2013)

Just another day at America's Liberal News Network.
(And we haven't even talked about Al Sharpton!)


Free to Be
President Barack Obama is bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom on more than a dozen prominent Americans 50 years after the death of the award's founder, President John F. Kennedy.

Obama is honoring former President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and leaders in sports, science and public service in a White House ceremony on Wednesday. (Huffington Post, 11/20/2013)

Yes, it is true. President Obama today gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former President Bill Clinton. Readers may recall that Bill Clinton conducted numerous extra-marital affairs during his time as governor of Arkansas. He went on to become president where he coerced a White House intern young enough to be his daughter to service him sexually. On multiple occasions. He then lied about his behavior under oath and impeachment proceedings were brought against him. His law license was eventually revoked.

Today we honor Bill Clinton - Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient - for his service to America. 

Ghostly Galleon

Lhota’s Years Working for the Dolans (New York Times headline, 10/29/2013)

Next up from the Times: de Blasio's Years Working for the Sandinistas

(Just kidding!)


Today's Funny Brought to You by Healthcare.gov 
However, insurers said they saw the problems as more significant, affecting 25 percent to 30 percent of enrollments. In some cases, they said, the government lists a dependent as the head of a household, with the result that a 10-year-old child is shown as having three or four dependents and is identified as the policyholder for a family. (NYT, 10/29/2013)

Which reminds us again that Saturday Night Live - that bastion of coastal Liberalism - is having a field day with Obamacare. 

Meanwhile over on MSNBC yesterday they were focused on ..... Dick Cheney. Yes, Dick Cheney. Some Liberal writer has written a book about Cheney and MSNBC convened a panel of Liberals to discuss. The majority of the time was spent snickering about the former Vice-President, a frail old man with severe health problems. They even managed to say "Darth Vader." This is the level of professionalism of MSNBC. 


Take Aways
Take away 620 jobs with an average salary of $100,000 at a company that pays $1.15 million a year in local taxes and it’s going to hurt.

Windham County needs help weathering that as the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant shuts down by the end of next year, several local leaders said Monday at a meeting with two legislative committees. (Burlington Free Press, 10/28/2013)

Vermont Progressives, politicians and the media, have just woken up to the economic realities of closing Vermont Yankee. 

OK geniuses, what's the plan?


Contrarians
House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer conceded to reporters today that Democrats knew people would not be able to keep their current health care plans under Obamacare and expressed qualified contrition for President Obama’s repeated vows to the contrary.

“We knew that there would be some policies that would not qualify and therefore people would be required to get more extensive coverage,” Hoyer said in response to a question from National Review.

Asked by another reporter how repeated statements by Obama to the contrary weren’t “misleading,” Hoyer said “I don’t think the message was wrong. I think the message was accurate. It was not precise enough…[it] should have been caveated with – ‘assuming you have a policy that in fact does do what the bill is designed to do.’” (Nationalreview.com, 10/29/2013)

Everybody satisfied with that explanation?

Anybody satisfied with that explanation?


Highlights from the Suddenly Engaged Liberal Media
President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years. (NBCnews.com, 10/29/2013)

...the Republicans understated the number of issues on which the president has claimed to be in the dark. A compilation by the Republican National Committee titled “The Bystander President” cited the NSA spying on Merkel, the Obamacare rollout and an investigation of the IRS’s targeting of political groups (the White House counsel knew of the inquiry but said she didn’t inform Obama). The RNC also mentioned the failure of clean-energy company Solyndra, which had received government funding (Carney had said Obama read about it in “news accounts”), and the attempts to go after reporters’ phone and e-mail records (which the president also found out about from reading the news, Carney said).

The RNC didn’t mention that Obama had allegedly known nothing about an FBI investigation of an affair involving David Petraeus that led him to resign as CIA director. Neither did it mention two other claims that conservatives often question: Obama’s ignorance of a guns-on-the-border sting operation called “Fast and Furious” that went awry, and his unawareness of requests for additional diplomatic security in Libya before a U.S. outpost in Benghazi was attacked. (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 10/28/2013)

Something went wrong. People could not sign up. Why? Not sure. Who’s at fault? Apparently no one. An act of God. Something that could never have been foreseen. Another president might have had someone in the White House calling every day — no, twice a day — to make sure the program was going to work. But no, it was a shock to everyone, and when the White House rolled out its gigantic cake — maestro, some music please — no one jumped out.

Pathetic. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 10/28/2013)

Occasionally journalism happens.