The leftist media's perennial attack on conservatives are that they are well-nigh exclusively white and draw their values and political beliefs from a narrow monoculture of shared racial and cultural mores.

Yeah. A lot of that goin' 'round.

Top Ten Things That Are Almost As White As the Huffington Post's Political Team

10. Matchy-matchy group-themed seasonal sweaters

9. A vanilla milkshake infused with white chocolate and cocaine

8. People who are still watching Agents of SHIELD

7. Three quarters of Hall & Oates

6. People who really like Kanye West from that interview they heard on NPR

5. Joan Walsh's entire dating history; also, the periodic bouts of milky smegma occurring over the course Joan Walsh's dating history

4. People who watched that video of the guy faking Sign Language at Nelson Mandela's funeral and became outraged at the racism this man must have faced in Africa to drive him to commit fraud

3. LL Bean's new, ill-advised clothing line, the Kasual Khaki Kollection

2. The victim profile of the many children that Harry Reid has strangled

...and the number one thing almost as white as the HuffPo Politics staff...

1. TIE:

more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:34 PM | Comments (438)
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The official sign-language guy at the Nelson Mandela funeral was... a fake.

He just was moving his hands randomly.

Now that I'm informed this was the case, it seems pretty obvious.

The Daily Mail has a funny quote from someone who spotted the guy as a fake: he was merely "flapping his arms about."

He translated Barack Obama's statement that Nelson Mandela was "an unwavering beacon for those seeking the shores of freedom and dignity" by just miming the hand-signals from MC Hammer's 2 Legit 2 Quit.

Okay not really. But he is basically just doing hand-jive dance moves.

I don't care who you are, this is just f***in funny. dan-O says this man is now his hero.

I wonder how long he's been getting away with this?

more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:54 AM | Comments (378)
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I hate that I'm even mentioning this fake story. I'm linking the Telegraph here, not Time.

As I said, Time made this call to push their left-wing political agenda, and also to achieve their secondary goal, which is selling magazines and making money.

Their precis on Pope Francis highlights only his usefulness as a spokesman for social justice and wealth redistribution. They claim that he's not interested in the "doctrinal" matters that his predecessors were.

Time's headline and subhed:

Pope Francis, The PeopleÂ’s Pope

He took the name of a humble saint and then called for a church of healing. The first non-European pope in 1,200 years is poised to transform a place that measures change by the century

Time's interest: One part Power to the People agitation, one part multiculti uplift. Sprinkle liberally with a call for Hope and Change.

"What makes this Pope so important is the speed with which he has captured the imaginations of millions who had given up on hoping for the church at all," Time magazine said in announcing the winner.

", the buck-passing infighting over lines of authority when all the while (to borrow from Milton), “the hungry Sheep look up, and are not fed.”

"In a matter of months, Francis has elevated the healing mission of the church—the church as servant and comforter of hurting people in an often harsh world—above the doctrinal police work so important to his recent predecessors. John Paul II and Benedict XVI were professors of theology. Francis is a former janitor, nightclub bouncer, chemical technician and literature teacher."

One of us.

And as I said: Social Issues You Guys.

He is quoted saying of women who consider abortion because of poverty or rape, “Who can remain unmoved before such painful situations?” Of gay people: “If a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge.” To divorced and remarried Catholics who are, by rule, forbidden from taking Communion, he says that this crucial rite “is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”

I don't quote Time to knock the Pope, or offer any opinions on his leadership of the Church at all.

I only quote Time to mock Time, to note how predictable they are. I predicted this yesterday, including the reasons they'd offer for their choice.

This is not because I am good at prediction; this is because the leftwing media is so very kneejerk and predictable. They claim to be neutral and objective. And yet someone can predict every single one of their news judgements by proceeding from the rule that they will make whichever judgement best serves the Progressive Socialist Transnationalist Cause.

Suppose I'm in a shady casino. I'm playing craps. I'm given a pair of dice by the pit boss, to throw to determine the results of a particularly large bet. I object and say I believe the dice are loaded, and will come up craps. He insists they are fair dice, and could come up with any dice tally.

If my prediction -- that the dice will come up craps on anything important -- is always correct, that casts a great deal of doubt on crooked house's claim that the dice are fair, doesn't it? They claim any score can come up; I claim it will always come up craps when they need it.

If it always comes up craps, then I am right, and they are lying.

If they're not actually in service of the Progressive Socialist Transnationaist cause, why is it that any moderately-informed observer can predict every single one of their judgements by employing this rule?

Thanks to @daveintexas.

Posted by: Ace at 10:02 AM | Comments (351)
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Or at least a "multifaceted" campaign season PR push.

Senate Democrats facing tough reelections say President Obama has not done enough to fix the botched rollout of his healthcare law and are vowing to repair it themselves.

The Senate Democratic leadership is not on board with lawmaker plans to begin rewriting ObamaCare and have urged for more time to assess the changes made by Obama and his team, lawmakers say.

Landrieu, Shaheen and Udall face reelection next year.

...

Shaheen wants to extend the enrollment period for the ACA; Landrieu wants to mandate that insurance companies continue to offer plans that people like, even if they donÂ’t meet the lawÂ’s requirements; and Udall wants to expand the pool of people included in the individual insurance marketplace.

...

The topic [Landrieu's suggestion that people be permitted to re-up on their old policies] came up briefly at a Tuesday lunch meeting, but Reid has urged the group of centrists to be patient and put off action until after Jan. 1.

...

Bennet and other Democrats have expressed concerns about what many expect to be a wave of new ObamaCare regulations.

“I’m concerned about the regulations which have yet to be issued,” said Angus King (Maine), an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

He expressed concern that businesses providing healthcare coverage could be hit by excessive paperwork demands.

“This town seems to like issuing regulations,” he added. “I think the administration should be exceedingly careful about the onerousness of the regulations that are issued.”

Bennet said there should be an easier process to repeal ill-conceived rules related to healthcare and other issues.

Reid is committed to the "Buy Time" plan, just like Obama is. What Magical Rescue do they expect on January 1st?

As Drew writes in the post below, only 5-15% of the tiny number of Obamacare enrollees have actually paid their first month's premium. That means the tiny number of these so-called "enrollees" overstates the number of people who have actually purchased insurance by a factor of around 10.

About 36,500 people, or thereabouts, will actually have insurance on January 1st.

Five million people have lost insurance due to Obamacare.

It is usually the case that putting off the realization of a setback results in the ultimate setback being even worse when it arrives. That seems very likely to be the case here.

In twenty days we're going to start seeing the use of the C-word -- Crisis. And this is a crisis of Obama's making, Obama, Reid, Pelosi. All of them. They took people's insurance away and in return gave them a non-functioning website that cost several billion dollars of taxpayer money.

Posted by: Ace at 09:13 AM | Comments (265)
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That's a slightly different take that the MSM's "OMG, OMG, ObamaCare Enrollments Surging" headlines but mine is more accurate.

Here's the bottom line.

Just about 1.2 million people have gained health coverage through Obamacare, according to new federal data released Wednesday morning.
Approximately 365,000 of those people have purchased private insurance and 803,000 have been determined to be eligible for the public Medicaid program. These numbers count data from both October and November, and show an especially quick growth in HealthCare.gov enrollment.

A couple of things to give that some actual context.

1- At least 5 million people have lost coverage due to policies being cancelled thanks to ObamaCare. So that 365,000 number is insignificant compared to that. There will no doubt be more uninsured on January 1 than there were on October 1. Don't let them get away with pretending "1.2 million people who didn't have insurance have it now!".

Liberals will point to the new "enrollments" (and assume they will pay and become actual customers) while ignoring the previously uninsured who won't get coverage in time or be able to afford the new rates and deductibles.

The are simply redistributing health insurance from those who paid for it to those who didn't. This is a victory in their minds.

2. You can talk about all the "quick growth" from October to November all you want but it's still far, far below the original targets.

The 364,000 people who have signed up through the first two months still fall short of the administration's expectations for October alone. Another 3 million people would have to sign up this month alone in order to hit the initial year-end goal.

HHS had expected 3.3 million people to sign up by the end of December and 7 million by March 31, when the enrollment window closes. Although enrollment will surely miss the mark for this year, HHS officials said they remain confident they will reach their ultimate goal.

The administration and dead-enders in the media want to judge the numbers against the pathetic first month, not the original targets (which the actuarial numbers are based on).

There's no reason other than advocacy to grant this dispensation.

3. There's still no word on the demographic makeup of this new cohort. The death spiral is still very much in play.

Bottom line: The flacks and hacks will cheer but the reality of the numbers is disastrous.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:32 AM | Comments (484)
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• Those Unobtainable Invincibles
  
• Sebelius Demands Investigation Into Screwed Up Obamacare Website
  
• Detroit's Bankruptcy Ruling Doesn't Spare The Pensions
  
• Euphoria Of Obamacare Becomes Nightmare Of Higher Premiums And Deductibles
  
• Obamacare Hurts Obama In NBC Poll
  
• Selfie-Gate
  
• No, Conservatives Aren't Always On The Wrong Side Of History
  
• Paper Application Missing From Healthcare.gov
  
• Indian Court Reinstates Law Banning Gay Sex
  
• Uraguay Legalizes Marijuana
  
• Will Colorado Have Enough Pot Stores To Meet Demand?
  
• Don't Take Naked Pictures Of Yourself With Your Cell Phone
  

Sorry for the meager offerings, I have a lot of work to do this morning.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:33 AM | Comments (221)
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OK, I may have made up that part about the invisibility cloak, and the dude seems a bit larger than a Munchkin too.

A Louisiana man flying to California woke up on a dark, empty plane parked at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston after sleeping through the call to exit the aircraft, officials said on Monday...

...Company policy requires the flight crew to do a final sweep of the cabin and the company was investigating how Wagner was left onboard, Harrison said...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 04:57 AM | Comments (109)
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Happy Wednesday.

The Obama Admin used to say 7 million Obamacare sign-ups would mean success. Now they're saying they just made that number up . . . because there's no freakin' way they're getting to 7 million sign-ups.

New poll (PDF): most (54%) say Obamacare is having a negative impact on the countryÂ’s health care system.

[ RSS]

[iTunes]

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:49 AM | Comments (309)
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So my work computer decided not to boot this morning which pretty much wasted the entire day and ultimately ensuckened the ONT. But hey it's not like you were really going to read it anyway so we'll just call it a push.

Are You Colorblind? 

Well it's time for the annual AoSHQ color blindness test so we can see what you can't see. It's not like we ever use this information for say embedding secret messages for the other morons on the web site. Because that would be um...wrong I guess.

Tell me what you see.

Can't see anything? Well there are some new fangled glasses for you people.

Okay you saw some things - now let's see how good your color acuity really is. Take the color sorting test here.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:37 PM | Comments (602)
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Embarrassing, as usual. Link to Althouse.

Here are the names picked by a dozen editors you couldn't pick out of a lineup:

Bashar Assad, President of Syria

Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder

Ted Cruz, Texas Senator

Miley Cyrus, Singer

Pope Francis, Leader of the Catholic Church

Barack Obama, President of the United States

Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services

Edward Snowden, N.S.A. Leaker

Edith Windsor, Gay rights activist

Ted Cruz is obviously there for Time's readers to hate at. Several names, such as Obama and Sebelius, and for that matter Miley Cyrus, I assume are either jokes, or Time's desperate efforts to attract differing cultish demographics -- tweener pop music fans, the declining ranks of the Obamanaut Zealots.

They will pick Pope Francis. This is for several reasons. First, and most importantly, it will sell magazines. The Pope is the head of a large church; I can't think of anyone else on earth who is popular and who heads such a large organization, so intimately important in the everyday lives of people.

Picking Pope Francis also allows Time to claim Serious You Guys We're Not Anti-Religion n Stuff.

Of course the reason they would entertain picking Pope Francis (and not Pope Benedict) is that they are anti-religious. I don't mean Pope Francis isn't religious. I mean Time's interest in Pope Francis is entirely political -- they seem him as an ally in their unending political fight with the Right.

Not saying he is that -- I'm saying how that's how the left perceives him. A Polite Company Pontiff, so to speak.

You want proof of that? Time today had to correct a caption it ran with picture of Pope Francis. The caption specified that he was popular because he rejected the teachings of the Church.

No, seriously. Here was Time's first attempt to summarize the importance of Pope Francis:

First Jesuit Pontiff won hearts and headlines with his common touch and rejection of church dogma and luxury.

Yes, the head of the Catholic Church is known for rejecting the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Serious You Guys, the Pope said we need free birth control n stuff.

The Left is repulsively political. On the podcast, I criticized Frank Rich and Jonathan Chait for praising 12 Years a Slave not primarily on artistic merit, but for what they believed to be the film's true importance, its usefulness in swaying the political debate.

Similarly, Pope Francis is not admired for his efforts to bring the Catholic faith to the world.

Time views him only in terms of his potential impact on American politics -- you know, the "social issues" that bewitch them so, and socialistic wealth redistribution.

So that's why they'll pick Francis.

And I'll be over here, not giving a shit, as I don't give a shit every year a collection of mediocrities buy themselves some brief prominence by filling up some TV time during a slow news month.

Posted by: Ace at 04:36 PM | Comments (367)
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