SportsAndLady;1452350 wrote:Spelling, syntax, and punctuation are not your strong suits.

That important on the internet ...

Anyway, two things with IRS are very fishy:
1) Shulman's 157 visits to the White House. I saw one liberal rag try to spin and question that number, but however you slice it that's still 4X the number of Clinton and other cabinet members. Plus, when questioned about it he didn't challenge the number nor try to explain it.

2) Lois Lerner taking the 5th. You only have the right not to incriminate yourself, yet she claimed to have done nothing wrong. So her statement is a lie or she's improperly hiding behind the 5th to protect someone above her.

It DOES kind of smell like a voter suppression effort. You bury these people in audits and under a pile of paperwork and you limit their fundraising and other political activities. Really not surprising from this administration - efforts to silence opposition appear to be pretty comprehensive. Too bad the libertarians are apparently too inconsequential to matter, because they could have used the press.

Most of the visits were at the exec building and not at the west wing. Few were with the potus.

Oh well, some other straw man will be walking by soon....

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/the-fake-story-about-the-irs-commissioner-and-the-white-house/276399/

Devils Advocate;1453566 wrote:Most of the visits were at the exec building and not at the west wing. Few were with the potus.

Oh well, some other straw man will be walking by soon....

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/the-fake-story-about-the-irs-commissioner-and-the-white-house/276399/

LMAO, I read that article (or one very similar) when I posted my questions above. That article is pure obfuscation and nothing more. It DOES NOT explain why Schulman is in the logs 4X as often as senior cabinet members, it DOES NOT explain why Schulman didn't contest the number or say what he was doing there, and it DOES NOT explain why Lerner took the 5th.

That article is simply pretending there is no smoke where there's a fire. I don't think anyone believes Obama isn't insulated from this, but smart people know the fish rots from the head down.

Well....The article did say that cabinet members that swipe their cards are not recorded. All these scandals are hiding BHOs real problem

Where the hell are the jobs? I really think they are happy with the focus somewhere else.

Devils Advocate;1453577 wrote: Where the hell are the jobs? I really think they are happy with the focus somewhere else.

Haha, true. Economy is actually picking up a bit - so much for the sequestration boogeyman...

And I don't think a lot of these issues are really Obama-specific. Rather I think it illustrates the size of gubmit is getting out of hand, and that powers are being abused.

Radicals scare me. Not that Obama is radical, but I think he has plenty of ultra-liberals and idealogues in his administration. And the same could be said of right-wingers. The scary thing is these extremists tend to believe their agenda is so important and so righteous that the ends justifies the means.

That's what's being highlighted here. It's not a Dem/Repub problem or issue, it's a question of liberty and governance.

gut;1453590 wrote:Haha, true. Economy is actually picking up a bit - so much for the sequestration boogeyman...

And I don't think a lot of these issues are really Obama-specific. Rather I think it illustrates the size of gubmit is getting out of hand, and that powers are being abused.

Radicals scare me. Not that Obama is radical, but I think he has plenty of ultra-liberals and idealogues in his administration. And the same could be said of right-wingers. The scary thing is these extremists tend to believe their agenda is so important and so righteous that the ends justifies the means.

That's what's being highlighted here. It's not a Dem/Repub problem or issue, it's a question of liberty and governance.

The economy is barely slugging along and that is all thanks to the FED. You're right the Sequester headlines and Obama's stumping were worse than reality but pay no attention to his demagoguery....pay attention to what Boatshoes was saying....that the Sequester and the Tax Raises to high earners and the payroll tax raise would be a drag on the economy and result in slower growth and higher unemployment than what would have happened had they not gone into effect...not that it would be this drastic end to the world.

And, that seems correct

“The softer job market this spring is largely due to significant fiscal drag from tax increases and government spending cuts,” said the ADP-Moody’s job data report.

“More than half of America thinks we’re still in a recession and only 36 percent of Americans are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the economy. That actually counts as good news—those results, from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, are much better than they have been. In fact, the share happy with the economy is the highest it’s been since President Obama took office. And the share of people who think we’re still in recession—58 percent—is down 6 percentage points from December.” Niraj Chokshi in NationalJournal.

^That counts as good news???

“The U.S. economy has continued to expand at a modest pace, supported by a resurgent housing sector and gains in manufacturing, the Federal Reserve said in a report Wednesday…The economic snapshot, based on anecdotal information gathered through late May, will be one of many reports Fed officials weigh ahead of their next policy meeting on June 18-19. Fed officials have indicated they could they could start to roll back their $85 billion-a-month stimulus program in the coming months, and financial markets have been on edge as investors seek clues about the central bank’s next move.” Jonathan House in The Wall Street Journal.

All we have going for us is the FED...and if we're going to cut spending and raise taxes Bernanke and Co. should be doing more, not less. The second the FED signaled that they might begin to tighten stocks began to fall and bonds began to fall while the dollar was up...indicating that the market believes the FED will tighten too soon and not that the economy is improving or that the Bond Vigilantes have arrived.

Evans Rule + QE3 + No Sequester + No Tax Raises would have resulted in betters jobs and growth numbers than we have now but,

Evans Rule + QE3 is better than nothing and dampens the harm done by Sequester + Tax Raises.

The FED is our lone warrior and hopefully they communicate clearly on June 18 that they don't intend to tighten too soon.

gut;1452393 wrote:Anyway, two things with IRS are very fishy:
1) Shulman's 157 visits to the White House. I saw one liberal rag try to spin and question that number, but however you slice it that's still 4X the number of Clinton and other cabinet members. Plus, when questioned about it he didn't challenge the number nor try to explain it.

My wife said Shulman has a mistress at the White House, hence his visiting agenda. It's the simplest explanation as to why he won't divulge anything about his 157 trips.

This is why some people believe Barry hates the America he grew up in - http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/06/07/obama-fails-to-commemorate-dday-n1615206

Yesterday was the 69th anniversary of the D-Day invasion and President Obama failed to say anything about it. There is no released statement on WhiteHouse.gov and nothing on the White House or Barack Obama twitter feeds about the anniversary. President Obama did not make any public remarks about the anniversary yesterday, either.
However, Obama has taken the time to release a statement about Rep. John Dingell becoming the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history. Obama has failed to commemorate D-Day since 2010.

Limbaugh: 'We are in the midst of a coup'...
NSA, FBI secretly mining data from Internet firms...
Seek INTERNS to sift through your digital records...
'THEY QUITE LITERALLY CAN WATCH YOUR IDEAS AS YOU TYPE'...
MICROSOFTYAHOOGOOGLEYOUTUBEFACEBOOKSKYPEAPPLE...
Top-secret PRISM program...
PRIMARY CONTRIBUTOR TO OBAMA INTEL BRIEFINGS...
Vast Data Trove...
Billions of Phone Calls...
Justice Dept Fights Release of Court Opinion Finding Unconstitutional Surveillance...
USA spends $80 billion year on secret information gathering...
Postal service photographs front and back of EVERY piece of mail it processes...
SAVAGE: NSA snooping 'biggest scandal of your entire life'...
Government to open criminal probe into leaks about leaks...




We have elected the enemy!

Change we can believe in ....

BoatShoes;1453774 wrote:...indicating that the market believes the FED will tighten too soon and not that the economy is improving or that the Bond Vigilantes have arrived.

That's not how valuation and investing works. Bond prices move in inverse to interest rates. If he FED begins raising rates, or even ending QE (which lowers the demand side of the equation), bond prices must necessarily fall.

There is zero doubt that there will be a very painful revaluation process in fixed income as we start to return to normalized rates & liquidity. Right now it's a game of musical chairs, and any hint that the band is leaving is going to cause a rush for the exits.

Equity markets are less sensitive to interest rates (vs. bonds) for a variety of reasons, but there's still a direct and significant impact because when the the cost of capital rises the value decreases.

Interesting Ohio-related article on Obamacare:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/06/10/ohio-dept-of-insurance-obamacare-to-increase-individual-market-health-premiums-by-88-percent/?partner=yahootix

Not sure why this is surprising - the whole point of Obamacare is to not make insurance......insurance. It is another redistribution plan. Can anyone imagine a government takeover of a real insurance industry? That we would tell 50 year old drivers with no points or accidents that their auto insurance premium must go up, to help pay for the 20 year old guy who already has a couple of accidents on his record? People would go nuts.

gut;1454430 wrote:That's not how valuation and investing works. Bond prices move in inverse to interest rates. If he FED begins raising rates, or even ending QE (which lowers the demand side of the equation), bond prices must necessarily fall.

There is zero doubt that there will be a very painful revaluation process in fixed income as we start to return to normalized rates & liquidity. Right now it's a game of musical chairs, and any hint that the band is leaving is going to cause a rush for the exits.

Equity markets are less sensitive to interest rates (vs. bonds) for a variety of reasons, but there's still a direct and significant impact because when the the cost of capital rises the value decreases.

Um...you're basically saying the same thing I was...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/06/14/cbs-news-confirms-multiple-breaches-of-sharyl-attkissons-computer/



Breaking and Entering / Theft ….. felony offenses ……….just like Watergate, except this is also intimidation of the media, which is far, far worse. Add that to the intimidation of regular Americans by the IRS, and you have tyranny.

Change we can believe in …..

According to reuters and AP, Avril Haines just got promoted to deputy CIA director, with virtually no experience or background.

Now I know why Larry Summers and Christina Romer quit, they were overqualified.

Qualification means nothing to Obama - he wants true believers and loyalty.

I'm waiting for the bombshell that the secret to Obama's campaign machine was really all that NSA metadata.

gut;1457875 wrote:Qualification means nothing to Obama - he wants true believers and loyalty.

I'm waiting for the bombshell that the secret to Obama's campaign machine was really all that NSA metadata.

He stocks his advisors and department heads with yes men/women whose main qualification is to be willing to do whatever is asked of them and to be able to deflect the blame away from their boss.

I don't think that even if that 'bombshell' exploded, it wouldn't matter. Quaker has illustrated that what is/has been going on by Watergate standards....and the people are asleep or a sheep.

HitsRus;1457898 wrote: I don't think that even if that 'bombshell' exploded, it wouldn't matter.

Dem or Repub, "big data" is a huge advantage that virtually no amount of funding can replicate in the year before an election.

Most people can pretty readily understand what kind and sorts of data are out there. What I suspect they don't realize is how easy the data is to mine, and how powerful the implications. Just imagine if the computer spits out a phone number in CLE of an unregistered voter that is 95% likely to vote (if they vote) for Obama. It would even tell you the best way to target that voter - what issues are most important to them and how to influence them.

The implication is that non-establishment players have virtually 0 chance to be elected.

I'm not saying Valerie Jarrett has her own copy of the NSA metadata...But it wouldn't be surprising, much less could you objectively claim with any confidence that she doesn't.

^^^I didn't mean "it won't matter" in that respect, I meant that people wouldn't care enough.

HitsRus;1457941 wrote:^^^I didn't mean "it won't matter" in that respect, I meant that people wouldn't care enough.

They might not. But using govt resources in a campaign is illegal (I think), and corrupting the election process is extremely alarming. The question is how much malfeasance can a POTUS claim "not to know about" before knowledge/complicity becomes irrelevant to a failure to govern?

The Obama election machine was remarkable, especially on a micro level with the precision and success. Really astounding, and back then we just marveled at their "algorithms". They even bragged about it. Reality is there likely was nothing special about the algorithms - it's all about the data. I have a strong suspicion they were able to tap into that NSA metadata. Take your existing campaign efforts to establish known voter patterns/characteristics, and then you go mine the metadata for similar profiles to target.

Heck, it doesn't even have to get that complicated. I know John Smith is a strong supporter, and just to know the 10 numbers he calls most often would be a goldmine.

gut;1457955 wrote:They might not. But using govt resources in a campaign is illegal (I think), and corrupting the election process is extremely alarming. The question is how much malfeasance can a POTUS claim "not to know about" before knowledge/complicity becomes irrelevant to a failure to govern?

The Obama election machine was remarkable, especially on a micro level with the precision and success. Really astounding, and back then we just marveled at their "algorithms". They even bragged about it. Reality is there likely was nothing special about the algorithms - it's all about the data. I have a strong suspicion they were able to tap into that NSA metadata. Take your existing campaign efforts to establish known voter patterns/characteristics, and then you go mine the metadata for similar profiles to target.

Heck, it doesn't even have to get that complicated. I know John Smith is a strong supporter, and just to know the 10 numbers he calls most often would be a goldmine.

Based upon what evidence? Such actions would be tremendously criminal and a clear violation of the Hatch Act by any NSA employees complying with Obama campaign officials. In all the wild allegations in scandelmania thus far this is the first I've heard of this one.

Seems like you're being tempted by the dark side of conservative Obama-hate...

BoatShoes;1457974 wrote:Based upon what evidence? Such actions would be tremendously criminal and a clear violation of the Hatch Act by any NSA employees complying with Obama campaign officials. In all the wild allegations in scandelmania thus far this is the first I've heard of this one.

Seems like you're being tempted by the dark side of conservative Obama-hate...

The only thing I have in "common" with Repubs is fiscal conservative. I put that in quotes because they aren't really fiscally conservative. And I don't hate Obama, I hate his repeated failures and refusal to govern. I never voted for him, but I hoped and expected for much, much more. I also didn't begin railing on him until well into his first term when it became evident the only thing he cared about and excelled at was campaigning. Typical liberal to dismiss any and all criticism of this administration as "conservative hatred".

They are not supposed to share that data? You really believe that stops this administration? Do you pay any attention at all to the news? The IRS wasn't supposed to target conservatives or release the private data, but that has quite apparently happened.

Anyway, you've not heard of this conspiracy theory because I think for myself and don't get fed my talking points. I realize thinking for oneself is anathema to "living in the bubble", but kind of a "based on what we know now" these magically wonderful algorithms smell pretty fishy to me.

BoatShoes;1457974 wrote:Such actions would be tremendously criminal and a clear violation of the Hatch Act by any NSA employees complying with Obama campaign officials.

This bears repeating because your faith in such "checks and balances" is absolutely comical. And who said anything about NSA releasing that info to campaign officials, as opposed to say, an administration person acting in an official capacity?

Nixon was just ahead of his time, and unfortunately for him also well ahead of the technology available at the time.

57% fear govt will use NSA data to harass political opponents. LOL @ "fear" and "will"
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/june_2013/57_fear_government_will_use_nsa_data_to_harass_political_opponents

That 'sho is a lot of conservative hate.

Or how about this from the Daily Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/10/1215064/-What-Will-Happen-When-A-President-Uses-The-NSA-To-Get-Reelected
"To be clear: There is no evidence at all that Obama's team used national security information inappropriately to win reelection. But they have opened the gate. The NSA is surveilling and analyzing the social networks and communications of the American people to an astonishing degree. And this is occurring at the exact same moment pols have launched an information arms race in presidential campaigns like we've never seen before.

The people in the next administration will be privy to a platinum-grade level of information about those whose votes they want to win. To say a reelection campaign won't use their position to gain advantage is naïve.

To say it won't be inevitably revealed is short-sighted.

To say such revelation won't cripple this country's political system and harm its national security is stupid."

gut;1457979 wrote:The only thing I have in "common" with Repubs is fiscal conservative. I put that in quotes because they aren't really fiscally conservative. And I don't hate Obama, I hate his repeated failures and refusal to govern. I never voted for him, but I hoped and expected for much, much more. I also didn't begin railing on him until well into his first term when it became evident the only thing he cared about and excelled at was campaigning. Typical liberal to dismiss any and all criticism of this administration as "conservative hatred".

They are not supposed to share that data? You really believe that stops this administration? Do you pay any attention at all to the news? The IRS wasn't supposed to target conservatives or release the private data, but that has quite apparently happened.

Anyway, you've not heard of this conspiracy theory because I think for myself and don't get fed my talking points. I realize thinking for oneself is anathema to "living in the bubble", but kind of a "based on what we know now" these magically wonderful algorithms smell pretty fishy to me.

I only said that you were being "tempted by conservative hate" because I think your entirely ungrounded suspicion that Obama campaign officials had any kind of access to the NSA meta-data is a claim worthyof Freeper land...where you typically don't venture into.