Wheels are in motion, though, and the check is in the mail.

“I don't have a timetable for when that would happen,” he added.

Carney also noted that the timeline for releasing demographic information and details, such as who among the 7.5 million have paid their first month's insurance premium, is different than the timing for the administration's push to have the Senate confirm Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the next HHS secretary.

I Currently Have No Estimates

...as to whether my promise to not do That Thing in your mouth is still operative.

Oh shit. I've gone and done it.

M'bad.

Posted by: Ace at 11:14 AM | Comments (231)
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Via Instapundit, this Popular Mechanics article notes a recent attempt at opening a pressurized cabin's door.

Nothing happened. The door can't be opened due to the pressure differential. The inside of the plane is pressurized, and the outside is low-pressure; basically you have a thousand pounds of pressure holding the door shut.

Popular Mechanics, however, gets vague about how this works. Airplane doors open outwards. The pressure inside a plane also pushes outwards.

So why does the pressure keep the plane's door shut, rather than giving a would-be door opener a terrific advantage in opening it? Why does pressure fight against a door-opener, rather than fighting for him?

The reason concerns the way that the door is engineered. Some just have locking mechanisms. I suppose those could be opened in flight.

But many are sealed shut by the cabin pressure itself.

These kind of doors are called plug doors, because, like a plug in a sink, they're meant to fill a hole and stay there, sucked into the hole by negative pressure.

Here now some things I learned from Wikipedia and generally scouring the Internet to answer this question, which has long bothered me. (My information is spotty and wholly based on reading so there may be some mistakes here, and I'd appreciate any corrections.)

The inside edge of a plug door is fatter than the outside edge, like a plug that tapers towards its front. The low pressure outside the door hole and the high pressure inside it pushes the plug door into its frame, preventing it from being pulled inwards.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:16 PM | Comments (233)
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James Taranto reports that, get this, the entire leftwing commentariat is now on board with the Democrats' acknowledged plan to simply racially demagogue in lieu running on their record or proposing any sort of positive agenda.

They take orders from the Central Planning Committee very well, don't they?

There is often a longing on the right that we too should be this hierarchical and slavish to the Central Planning Committee's various edicts. But this is inhuman.

In furtherance of the Democrats' Important Action Alert, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank suggests on Al Sharpton that she wasn't threatened with impeachment (as Holder was) because she's white.

From National Review:

LetÂ’s compare Holder to Kathleen Sebelius, who has presided over Obamacare, which is the thing that has most antagonized the Right and the Republicans over all these years. YouÂ’re not seeing calls for her impeachment, youÂ’re not seeing the same level of personal vitriol.

I think, thatÂ’s why, again, itÂ’s fair to ask the question, and let every individual say why it is that they have that particular antipathy toward this attorney general, toward this president, and why not, say, toward Kathleen Sebelius, who theyÂ’re obviously much more at odds with.

Truth Revolt notes dryly that Milbank's own newspaper carried an article in October 2013 listing 30 Republicans who had demanded that Sebelius resign.

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Posted by: Ace at 09:15 AM | Comments (342)
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And coordinating with the DoJ and FEC, based on partisan Democrat Sheldon Whitehorse's assertion that Tea Party aligned groups had "lied" on their application forms.

From: Lerner Lois G

Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2013, 5:30 PM

To: Flax Nikole C

Cc: Grant Joseph H; Marks Nancy J

Subject: DOJ call

Importance: High

I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ, I know him from contacts from my days there. He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folks could talk to about Sen. Whitehouse idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who “lied” on their 1024s –saying they weren’t planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large visible political expenditures. DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs.

Flax responded:

I think we should do it – also need to include CI [Criminal Investigation Division], which we can help coordinate. Also, we need to reach out to FEC. Does it make sense to consider including them in this or keep it separate?"

Posted by: Ace at 08:28 AM | Comments (298)
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1. Governor Mike "Presidential Hair" Pence of Indiana is considering a run for President.

You should check out that link not just to see what Pence says but how the Bloomberg reporter frames it. Hint: KOCH BROTHERS.

I was pretty interested in Pence in 2011 because I think he has the ability to unite significant parts of the traditional GOP 3 legged coalition.

The Bloomberg story is via @ByronYork.

2. Speaking of Bloomberg, Mike is sure he's going to heaven because God is all about fascism or something.

If [Bloomberg] senses that he may not have as much time left as he would like, he has little doubt about what would await him at a Judgment Day. Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smoking cessation, he said with a grin: “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”

Um, ok.

3. Democrats: Hey Kathleen Sebeilus isn't doing anything these days, maybe she should run for Senate this year.

4. Meanwhile in Ukraine, the Russians are winning.

NATO is kind of indifferent on whether or not France should deliver a modern amphibious warship to....Russia.

Can we stop pretending that NATO and "Europe" are serious about anything? Please.

And the real reason for this entire post: A Ukrainian armored personnel carrier doing donuts.

Video via @CDRSalamander

Posted by: DrewM at 06:14 AM | Comments (448)
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• Donald Rumsfeld's Tax Day Letter To The IRS
  
• The Case For A Little Sedition
  
• The Problem With Cliven Bundy
  
• Is Scot Walker On His Way To 2016 Front-Runner Status
  
• Bloomberg To Spend 50 Million Dollars To Disarm Americans
  
• How Much Will Obamacare Cost You In Taxes
  
• Fruit And Vegetable Prices Are Rising
  
• Inequality Looks Different If You Look After Taxes
  
• Progressive Puritans
  
• Coalition Of The Disappointed
  
• Bruce Braley Has A History Of Advocating For Trial Lawyers
  
• You Know It's Harry Reid's SuperPac Because It Can't Stop Lying
  
• Security Holes In Power Grid Have Feds Scrambling
  
• Some People Aren't Reacting Well To The Soda Tax
  
• Gun Rights May Return To The Supreme Court's Agenda
  
• CNN Host Asks What's Wrong With His Stupid Assertion That Right Wingers Kill More Than Al Qaeda
  
• Lawlessness In Chrysler Bankruptcy Still Hurts The Economy
  

Follow me on twitter.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:04 AM | Comments (263)
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A little news from around teh Twitters ...

First up, the secondmost disturbing event at the Boston Marathon memorial yesterday (short video at the embedded link):

More: Man in custody following bomb scare at Boston Marathon finish line

What could top it, you ask?

Tell that to little Jane Richard, who lost a brother and a leg. What a jackass.

And while we're on the jackass beat, Mike Bloomberg proves out that C.S. Lewis quote about the consciences of people who torment you for your own good ...

And the Troll of the Day Award goes to .... Josh Romney:

Well done.

Posted by: andy at 02:43 AM | Comments (307)
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Quote of the Day

Dr Ray Stantz: You know, it just occurred to me that we really haven't had a successful test of this equipment.
Dr. Egon Spengler: I blame myself.
Dr. Peter Venkman: So do I.
Dr Ray Stantz: Well, no sense in worrying about it now.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.

Democrat Ideology vs. Reality

Does anybody actually live and have breakfast like this?

I imagine this is exactly how the Известия Sunday Supplement would have covered up-and-coming members of the nomenklatura. Well assuming they could obtain fresh eggs, realistic-looking pineapples and fruit, matching pajamas, use of a show dacha, as well as afford the necessary color offset printing and photo retouching.

But amid the decadent breakfast Carney and Shipman demonstrate that from their artwork to their clothing that they still haven't forgotten their proletarian and revolutionary roots:

Jay Suit, $895, glen plaid dress shirt, $195, foulard print tie, $135, and polka-dot pocket square, $55, all at Hugo Boss (Tysons Galleria). Claire Cotton jacquard shift dress, $299 at Karen Millen (Tysons Galleria); knotted rope crystal necklace, $98 at Ann Taylor (multiple area locations); and jeweled bracelet by Loren Hope, similar styles at Bishop Boutique (Alexandria).

But if you read the article, amongst the fawning it actually ends up undercutting the Administration and Democrat's claims of widespread pay discrimination against women.

And yet Carney's own experience illustrates how silly the Democrats' claims are. Shipman has worked part-time for the last five years to spend more time with her young children. Carney, meanwhile, leaves for the White House at 7:25 a.m. and tries to get home by 8:00 in the evening. As in most families, it is his wife who takes time out from her career to focus on children, and who devotes more time to her family: "Flexibility, she says, is what most working mothers really want."

Exactly. That is the same choice that most families make-not all, but most. It largely explains why, on the average, men earn more than women. Carney no doubt understands this perfectly well, but this is one of many instances where he has to pretend that the Democrats' politically-inspired claims make sense, even though they are contrary to his own (and everyone else's) experience.

Because party truth trumps reality.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:34 PM | Comments (745)
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Harry Reid seems to have taken the Bundy standoff rather personally:

"Well, it's not over. We can't have an American people that violate the law and then just walk away from it. So it's not over," Reid said.

It is a very scary thing when a government officer takes such things personally -- given that the government can and does order the use of lethal force against citizens.

What is the rationale for Reid's We-Must-Not-Let-This-Insult-Pass attitude? Were Reid talking about a slight from a hostile foreign power -- such as Russia, or, for that matter, al-Qaeda -- he's more than likely counsel us to not lose our heads in bull-headed, testosterone-fueled anger.

Yet here he is counseling just that -- "Let's throw our weight around."

This can only be justified if you believe that the American people are roiling in a state of near-rebellion, and we must squash individual shows of defiance lest the people rise up in open revolt.

Several objections to this:

First, the left often criticizes the right for having a "paranoid" view of government, seeing it as a menace which must be contained.

But notice here that the left harbors its own paranoid views of menaces that must be stamped out -- notably, the American people themselves.

Second, if the populace were really in such a state of near-rebellion such that the tiniest spark from a Nevada cattleman could set off a conflagration, wouldn't that be a sign that perhaps the government needs to adjust its behavior and attitude, rather than Harry Reid's suggestion that it must Show Who's Boss Here like a juvenile street gang demarcating its turf?

Governments do not in fact have to use Maximum Force to crush dissenters. France, for example, allows quite a bit of civil unrest (chiefly from the leftwing). One needn't go so far as to endorse the French model and permit union workers to kidnap their bosses and hold them for ransom in labor "negotiations" (yes, that's a real thing that really happens) to suggest that perhaps the American government, and its agents of enforcement of state will, could perhaps temper the zeal with which they show everyday citizens which gang really controls this turf.

Kevin D. Williamson wrote a piece about this, and finds it troubling that a nation born in revolution and devoted, once upon a time, to the idea that citizens are masters of the state, and not vice versa, should respond so spasmodically to such a minor provocation.

Posted by: Ace at 04:43 PM | Comments (268)
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The company says they've concluded the incident was inadvertent and an "honest mistake," so they won't be firing the employee responsible.

It did seem odd, you know -- the actual tweet to the customer was, as a verbal matter, entirely conciliatory and corporate-friendly. Which is what made the appended picture so funny.

It was so incongruous. It wouldn't have been so funny if the verbal portion of the tweet was "F*** you you ******* ****."

They haven't explained how this happened, but, who knows. Once a picture link is copied, you can't actually tell what the picture is from the link. (As I well know, given my own inadvertent picture-posting.)

I think it's a good thing that US Airways thinks a simple apology for a mistake is adequate in this case. And I suppose it's good that not everyone demanded a scalp here.

And yet... it sure would be nice if more of the country also didn't demand scalps for other Beyond The Pale mistakes, like donating $1000 to Proposition 8.

Thanks to @johnekdahl.

Comments Down. I've alerted Pixy to wake the hamsters.

Posted by: Ace at 03:10 PM | Comments (123)
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