By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  December 5th at 04:00 PM  | 

It was Zeero-Dark-30 on a bleak December Morning. General Screwtape kind of knew this was coming since the first Tuesday in November. His rather unique and stylish “Master of Puppets” ringtone awakened him. He was not too surprised when he recognized the number as Brimstone HQ.* It wasn’t going to a pleasant morning. The (expletive) – chewing began with gusto.

“Screwtape! You misbegotten spawn of Beelzbubba! I sent you to America to wage a half-way decent War on Women, and the best you could do is have that idiot Romney put them in binders! And those deals where they only get paid $0.70 for every $1.00 the men get – you’ve seen what’s happened to Male U6 Unemployment, you (expletive)! Sandra Fluke is sending you the tab for her birth control. I’m ordering you to pay it as penance for your pathetic screw-ups! Now I’m feeling particularly jolly this fine morning.**Because of that, I’m sending you a file to read that might save your wretched and villainous career. This here tells you how China keeps the Little Ladies in their proper place!”

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  November 26th at 12:30 PM  | 

In the Potemkin world of Hollywood, President Barack Obama is held in a level of esteem that good men of ages past would have deemed utterly blasphemous. Jamie Foxx describes him as “Our Lord and Savior.” His political enemies are demonized and ridiculed. “Mitches” don’t really believe anything and are basically all just racist. But to truly see how Emperor Barack I’s act plays, it helps to see how his fellow world-leaders view our own almighty Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

We saw this in Blu-Ray as our Glorious Lightworker went east to conduct his post-election victory tour. It didn’t quite work out as well as he would have hoped. Amerika’s recently reelected Dominus et Deus, Barack H. Obama I, decided he would inaugurate a Trans-Pacific Partnership that would draw South-East Asia closer to the US and further from Communist China. It was almost like we were going back to Vietnam to win more hearts and minds.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  October 13th at 12:30 PM  | 

Funny how Google says they can’t fix Googlebombs when the fact is, Google is constantly improving its search algorithms. After all, the Bush-era Googlebombs of WhiteHouse.gov disappeared pretty quick after Obama was elected.

Stuff like this is why I don’t expect Google’s regulatory problems to go away in the event of a Romney win. Google has left its systems open (Blogger, Search, Youtube) for the left to abuse the right, and has been slow to react. It’s going to be very easy for the left wing of the GOP to get talked into expanding government to come after them, unfortunately.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  October 11th at 12:30 AM  | 

Remember the Google Wi-Spy Street View scandal? A seemingly-harmless survey of the country turned into a massive snooping operation, and the FTC smacked them for over 20 million dollars. Well, not only is FCC now wasting money with a survey of Internet speeds, but it turns out that the FCC program runs the risk of warrantless snooping of its own!

We need strong, reformist regulators to be appointed in the next administration to stop stuff like this.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  October 8th at 11:30 PM  | 

So, more cybersecurity. The government is starting to recognize state actors online, which makes sense given that enemies like Iran aren’t shy about it. That’s good. Recognizing fact is a prerequisite to making good policy. But I think trying to dictate to private business is the wrong idea. Huawei and ZTE may be organs of the People’s Liberation Army, which would make it a good | Read More »

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  October 1st at 10:00 AM  | 

On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss a Chinese hacker attack on the White House, the cyber attacks we face from China and Iran and the vulnerability of our infrastructure.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  September 22nd at 06:30 AM  | 

Wow: For a year FCC was tracking the movements of its speed testers without telling them! Privacy! Transparency!

Meanwhile the administration continues to try to do things on its own, without bothering to check that part of the Constitution that says how a bill becomes a law. Remember, the Lieberman-Collins Cybersecurity Act failed in the Senate. It has no business becoming an executive order. It also turns out that they are also looking to grab power when it comes to spectrum, which isn’t great news given the FCC’s obstruction and opposition to the use of efficient market allocation.

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary)  |  September 20th at 01:29 PM  | 

It was 1982, Leopoldo Galtieri was doing a horrendous job of running Argentina and hungry, disappointed people had begun to complain about it. Galtieri decided to initiate a war with Great Britain over the Falkland Islands to Rodeo-Clown the attention of the Argentinean public away from his own inability to govern. Onwar.com describes Galtieri’s motivations for adding to the sum total of human misery below.

In early 1982 the Argentine military junta led by Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri gave up on long-running negotiations with Britain and instead launched an invasion of the islands. The decision to invade was chiefly political: the junta, which was being criticized for economic mismanagement and human rights abuses, believed that the “recovery” of the islands would unite Argentines behind the government in a patriotic fervour.

The plan, and Argentinean public opinion, both blew up in Galtieri’s face. He lost his war, was driven from power, and is remembered more for his appearance in the lyrics of an obscure Pink Floyd Song than for his impact on human history. However, that hasn’t stopped others from following in his benighted footsteps. As Redstate Front Page Contributor, Jeff Emanuel recently wrote, China and Japan are close to initiating violent unpleasantness over a bunch of Islands in the East China Sea.

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  September 5th at 05:06 PM  | 

Now that the gross federal debt has smashed the $16 trillion milestone, more people are focusing on the gravity of the debt crisis.  However, too many people are being exposed to the spurious idea that it’s only the public share of the debt that counts.  Many liberal economists are saying that the non-public share of the debt is “money we owe ourselves,” and is inconsequential | Read More »

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  September 5th at 09:11 AM  | 

On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Allysen Efferson are joined by Jed Babbin to discuss the Democrat’s convention in Charlotte, what he thinks may happen between Israel and Iran, and why sequestration in the Defense department could be devastating to our national security. We’re brought to you by Stephen Clouse and Associates and The Heritage Foundation’s Morning Bell. If you’d like | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  September 1st at 02:00 AM  | 

Governors Robert Bentley, Mitch Daniels, Dennis Daugaard, Bill Haslam, Paul LePage, Rick Snyder, and Tom Corbett are part of push for the Marketplace Fairness act. I’ve come across a July letter to John Boehner, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, and Nancy Pelosi. I find it odd they’d do so now, unless they think they have no chance under a potential Republican Congress. Could that be the case? I wonder.

And yes, those are all Republican governors, some of whom were part of the 2010 landslide. It’s only Republicans I’m seeing back MFA, not Democrats. Democrats are fine with just passing new taxes or raising old ones. They aren’t as hard up to maximize collections of old taxes as Republicans are.

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  August 9th at 04:00 PM  | 

It seems harmless enough when an airline offers their customers “green indulgences” in the form of carbon credits when buying a ticket. The credits are intended to resolve the guilt the customer is supposed to feel for his wanton use of fossil fuels. In practice, the credits have become a perverse incentive for practices that are exactly opposite what the U.N. intended when it created | Read More »

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  July 5th at 12:07 PM  | 

President Obama is off on another campaign tour utilizing his two $1.1 million buses he had us buy for him so his campaign, unlike the Romney campaign, wouldn’t have to pay the bus fare. Along with a scheduled stop for ice cream on Thursday and attending a full fledged ice cream social on Friday, Obama intends to hype his taxpayer-funded so-called investment in manufacturing. Unfortunately, | Read More »

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  June 23rd at 03:57 AM  | 

Texas takes on Google as the state comes after the corporation on antitrust grounds. I’m not sure this is a good idea, any more than it was a good idea for the Clinton administration to go after Microsoft, but it’s probably even dumber for Google to obstruct the investigation.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  June 2nd at 12:00 AM  | 

It’s funny how certain names come up again and again in this space. There are just certain Republicans who are becoming solid Tech leaders. Marsha Blackburn is one of them, pushing to force Barack Obama to take a stand against the Chinese online. Again, a Republican governor comes out for the sales tax compact, this time Governor Christie. The Marketplace Fairness Act I still say | Read More »