The Obama administration has one again unilaterally and unlawfully extended the delay in enforcement of the Obamacare employer mandate.

The government will now exempt companies employing between 50 and 100 full-time workers from complying with the mandate to offer employees affordable health insurance by another year, until 2016.

It will be such sweet turnabout to use the Obama Precedent against Democratic programs in 2017. The Obamacare employer mandate is actually a tax enforcement statute. Having established that Presidents can simply decide not to enforce taxes they do not like, I can't wait for President Perry to start nixing taxes by executive fiat. Also, that pesky EPA that holds down economic growth? Sayonara sucker!

[Update 5:45pm] CAC has informed me that I misspelled "President Walker" in this post. I regret the confusion, but I was referring to the 46th President, Rick Perry, not the 45th President, Scott Walker, whom I'm sure you all fondly anticipate uses the Obama Precedent not to enforce the federal income tax. Again, I regret the confusion.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 01:10 PM | Comments (470)
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I'll admit, it's an ugly gun. However, I applaud their efforts to circumvent the stupid New York state SAFE ACT.

Prototypes for the newly designed AR-15 are hitting gun shops across New York, as gun shops and machinists have designed a rifle that complies with the anti-gun law. At least one gun shop has received a letter from state police saying that the new AR-15 style rifles should be legal in the state as long as they donÂ’t have some of the features that the law prohibits.
(...)
Features like adjustable stocks, pistols grips, and flash suppressors has been deemed to be unlawful on these rifles, mainly because it makes them LOOK mean. And we all know how little these anti-gun lawmakers really know about guns, as the “Ghost gun” video illustrated.

The new AR-15 design did away with the pistol grip which gives the gun an odd paintball gun look. The stock is fixed as well, but at least New Yorkers now have a legal way to own an AR-15, a fact which is still driving some gun control activists mad.

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Last week, Noam Scheiber wrote at the New Republic a column advocating for the socialization of law so as to prevent the wealthy from "buying justice." His column was explicitly founded in the claim that "the 99 percent" had a right to the same quality of legal representation as the wealthy. Recognizing that it would be impossible to provide expensive legal aid to every litigant, Scheiber proposed the obvious, but atrocious alternative: if we can't give top tier legal representation to the 99 percent, we should simply deprive the 1 percent of top tier legal representation.

Scheiber employed the rhetoric of rights to suggest that depriving the wealthy of legal representation somehow makes everyone more of a citizen. This was semantic gobbledygook, envy simply re-dressed in the language of liberty. This strikes me as deeply wrong, as I explained over at the Federalist this morning.

A taste:

“Too long, didn’t read” is an entirely reasonable response to such rubbish, relying, as it does, on a sketchy recitation of history, a steaming pile of class resentment, a fundamental misapprehension of the purpose for and effect of a legal system—not to mention the constitutional distinction between civil and criminal proceedings—and a shamelessly flippant redefinition of the word “liberalism.”

However, having thought it over for a few days more, I have to confess I was wrong. ScheiberÂ’s article can be quite succinctly summarized: Scheiber doesnÂ’t care a damn thing about justice in this country at all.

Throughout the ages, most religions have rightly condemned envy as a terribly destructive motivator, harmful both to the individual and to the community. The Bible warns of it repeatedly and the thinkers of the Middle Ages elevated (lowered?) it to be one of the Seven Deadly Sins. And yet the modern leftists' embrace of class resentment is nothing more than envy dressed up in the language of virtue.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:54 AM | Comments (345)
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As Slublog calls it, the feel good story of the day.

A group of Sunni militants attending a suicide bombing training class at a camp north of Baghdad were killed on Monday when their commander unwittingly conducted a demonstration with a belt that was packed with explosives, army and police officials said.

The militants belonged to a group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, which is fighting the Shiite-dominated army of the Iraqi government, mostly in Anbar Province. But they are also linked to bomb attacks elsewhere and other fighting that has thrown Iraq deeper into sectarian violence.

Twenty-two ISIS members were killed, and 15 were wounded, in the explosion at the camp, which is in a farming area in the northeastern province of Samara, according to the police and army officials. Stores of other explosive devices and heavy weapons were also kept there, the officials said.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 08:24 AM | Comments (515)
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Gov. Jindal had an excellent piece in Politico Magazine about Obamacare's failures. There's a lot in there (read the whole thing), but the one that sticks out is his observation that the President's signature healthcare law prioritizes health coverage for able-bodied adults over seniors and those with disabilities.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2012 more than half a million seniors and people with disabilities on state Medicaid lists were awaiting access to home and community-based services. Prompt access to these services could keep individuals with disabilities out of institutions, which are often more costly.

Yet Obamacare provides states with a much greater federal Medicaid match — 100 percent for the first three years, phasing down to 90 percent over time — to cover previously ineligible low-income individuals. According to the Urban Institute, nearly five in six adults to be covered under the Medicaid expansion are adults without children, most in their prime working years.

In other words, rather than start with the neediest and cover them first, Obamacare's Medicaid expansion goes to other groups. Coincidentally (Gov. Jindal is too nice to say it in his piece, but I will), those are groups that Democrats are most interested in luring to the voting booth.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:20 AM | Comments (179)
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Happy Monday.

Rep. Bachmann joins other conservatives on a clean debt ceiling bill. "YouÂ’ve got to know when to hold them and when to fold them. My assessment is that most of us donÂ’t think itÂ’s the time to fight." Reps. Labrador and Amash shared similar sentiments last week.

Only Washington, D.C. had a positive "economic confidence index" last year—that is, Gallup's composite of a economic conditions in the U.S. combined with residents' perceptions of those conditions. Gallup notes that political sentiment appears to play a role in economic perception.

Washington Free Beacon's Alana Goodman investigates "the Hillary Papers," unpublished documents contained in the archive of one of Clinton's best friends and advisers. It is must-read.

Geeks with significant others, I've got a a Valentine's Day possibility for you.

NYTimes' Opinionator blog has an excellent column on single motherhood from Kay Hymowitz.

RCP's Scott Conroy dug deep into Gov. Christie's college years. Good stuff.

Toyota announced it will shut down its Australian manufacturing by 2017. Quite simply, it's cheaper to manufacture elsewhere (especially here in the U.S.) and ship to Australia. The company had been trying to reduce its labor costs by amending contracts, but that got nixed by the country's court system. Toyota was the last of the automakers to announce that it is leaving Australia. Once it pulls out, Australia will have no consumer carmaker.

Ya'll be good to each other today.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:46 AM | Comments (270)
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Got home late so you get the 20 minute hurry-up ONT with a solid 16 minutes of quality effort.

Welcome to Sochi!

How USA Olympic bobsledder Johnny Quinn Escaped From His Bathroom

An Elevator in Sochi

Maybe cars cost extra.

And the 'Wall of Steel' police presence.

And then you have the toilets. Now they've had toilets and bathrooms in Russia for a while so what the hell were they thinking?

Oops - Sochi Games' Biathlon Track 130 Feet Too Short

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:48 PM | Comments (431)
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For all of of your non-astronomy needs. more...

Posted by: CAC at 04:51 PM | Comments (316)
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• Dems Want Obama To Stay Away From Them On Campaign Trail
  
• Dick Durbin Claims 10 Million Enrolled In Obamacare
  
• Second Amendment Applies To Guns In Cars
  
• Want A Government Official To Change His Mind? Hire Him
  
• Conservatives Should Stop Crying Pot
  
• Man Mocks City Council Over Gun Ban
  
• Cronyism Corrupted Sochi Olympics
  
• PA House Race Previews Dems' 2016
  
• AIDS Patients In Limbo Under Obamacare
  
• US Blames China For Risisng Tensions In South China Sea
  
• Aging America Heading for Disaster
  
• Swiss Voters Curb Immigration Via Referendum
  
• Russia Makes Bitcoin Illegal
  
• We Vote With Our Feet
  
• Apple's Stock Buyback
  
• Runner Falls Immediately After TV Interview
  
• Pet Squirell Tries To Hide Nut In Dogs Fur (autoplay video)
  

Follow me on twitter.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:00 AM | Comments (278)
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[We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Open Thread down page, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related To This Topic. Enjoy!]

Welcome again to the Spaced-Out Challenge! Whether you have a question about equipment, a new astronomical discovery you want to expand on, or just want to kick back and enjoy the cosmos above, come one come all on our weekly astronomical journey.

With the moon full, we'll stay mostly within our own solar system and enjoy two favorites: Mars, the planet of war, and Venus, the planet of love, which both grace our pre-dawn skies this week. Plus, you'll find a beautiful double star target in the Big Dog, we'll review an interesting technique for seeing color in the Orion Nebula, and we'll open the mail bag and share some moron astrophotography. So, step outside, turn off the lights, and let me guide you through space and time.
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Posted by: CAC at 04:55 PM | Comments (23)
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