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• Healthcare.gov Site Doesn't Work On Last Day Of Signup
  
• Regulators Twice Failed to Open GM Probes
  
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• CNN's Website Doesn't Like It When You Point Out They Haven't Covered The Leland Yee Story
  
• Williamson: Here Comes The Sun
  
• How The Aaron Swartz Case Unfolded
  
• Is Obamacare Beyond Repeal
  
• California Couple Received Pre-Marked Voter Registration From Covered California
  
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• John Kerry Still Rambling On About Climate Change
  
• Putin Interested In Finland?
  
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Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:00 AM | Comments (291)
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Happy Monday.

On this (putative) last day to sign up on the Obamacare exchanges, Sen. Angus King, Maine's independent that caucuses with the Democrats, insists "there's no such thing as Obamacare." Apparently, if people would just use another term for the failing, unpopular health care law, it would change what it does.

Oh, and as I write this Healthcare.gov's login process is down. No, I'm not kidding. Maybe a late surge has overwhelmed the servers?

Meanwhile, Democrats are still trying to figure out how to campaign on Obamacare before November.

Keep those Ask the Blog questions coming.

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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:50 AM | Comments (252)
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If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs...

And do what needs to be done when it's time for it.

Admiral Jeremiah Denton RIP

On July 18, 1965 then CDR Denton was shot down over North Vietnam where he would be a POW for the next seven and half years. After extended torture and solitary confinement the North Vietnamese thought he was sufficiently softened up to be used in propaganda videos. They were wrong.

Denton's name first came to the attention of the American public in 1966, during a television interview arranged by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi. Prior to the interview, torture and threats of more torture were applied to intimidate him to "respond properly and politely." His captors thought he was softened up sufficiently to give the North Vietnamese their propaganda line

...During the interview, after the Japanese interviewer's recitation of alleged U.S. "war atrocities," Denton was asked about his support of U.S. policy concerning the war. He replied: "I don't know what is happening now in Vietnam, because the only news sources I have are North Vietnamese, but whatever the position of my government is, I believe in it, I support it, and I will support it as long as I live." The audience was aghast at his unexpected answer and the room went dead silent.

Throughout the interview, while responding to questions and feigning sensitivity to harsh lighting, Denton blinked his eyes in Morse Code, repeatedly spelling out a covert message: T-O-R-T-U-R-E. The interview, which the Japanese journalist clandestinely took from Hanoi to Tokyo and sold to ABC was broadcast on American television on May 17, 1966[. It] was the first confirmation that American POWs in Vietnam were being tortured.

You can watch his message in this video. The Morse code for 'torture' is -  ---  .-.  -  ..-  .-.  .

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:31 PM | Comments (565)
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It all depends on who's saying it.

Posted by: Ace at 03:45 PM | Comments (685)
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I have no idea whether this 155mm Howitzer crew is any good, but it sure is fun to watch.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:29 PM | Comments (120)
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We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Thread Directly Below This One, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related To This Topic.

As none of you may know, April is National Grilled Cheese Month*. And what better way to celebrate our nation's newest holiday than to make one every day!

30 grilled cheese sandwiches -- 30 days in April. Coincidence? I think not. They are stretching the definition of "grilled cheese," and a few of these are a bit odd (apples? Uh....no), but most of these are drool-worthy.
more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:30 PM | Comments (77)
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Ok, what's this gun of the week? Hint: Confederate soldiers called it "that damned Yankee rifle that you load on Sunday and shoot all week".

Guns in the News: This was mentioned earlier this week, self defense with firearms on the rise in Detroit and the Police Chief approves.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said at a press conference last week that in his 37-year career, he’s never seen as many homeowners defending themselves by shooting intruders. Craig told The News in January he felt the crime rate could be lowered if more “good Americans” were armed, because he said criminals would think twice about attacking.

“It does appear more and more Detroiters are becoming empowered,” Craig said. “More and more Detroiters are getting sick of the violence. I know of no other place where I’ve seen this number of justifiable homicides. It’s interesting that these incidents go across gender lines.”

He's very right and it's refreshing to see a police chief say so.

Ok this is an abbreviated gun thread because sunny and 72 degrees outside. Have a great weekend y'all. Gun answer below the fold.

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Posted by: Dave in Texas at 10:32 AM | Comments (133)
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Welcome to another week of NASCAR racing. This week the action is at the short track at Martinsville in Ridgeville, VA, for the STP 500.

This week NASCAR suffered the loss of a beloved family member as Linda Petty, wife of Richard Petty, succumbed to cancer. ESPN writer Ryan McGee recalls a morning spent with her in 2008.

I was standing just outside the front door to the office, staring out at the front yard of the Petty homestead, and no doubt grinning ear-to-ear. The team had recently moved south to the Charlotte area and the near-empty buildings where the most dominant race cars in NASCAR history were once built was now downright tranquil. But it still gave me chills.

I was so giddy to have the place to myself that I hadn't even noticed the car that pulled up and the woman that started walking toward me.

"Good morning," she called out. "Are you lost or waiting on someone?"

It was Lynda Petty. Wife of Richard, mother of Kyle, matriarch of Petty Enterprises, and to so many, certainly to me, the first lady of stock car racing.

I introduced myself and she was kind enough to act like she remembered me. I told her that I was waiting for her grandson, Austin, to pick me up and take me over to the nearby Victory Junction Gang Camp for a tour. To that she replied, laughing, "If you're riding with Austin, be sure to wear your seat belt." Then she said, "Why don't I wait with you and you tell me about yourself."

Funny, I'd wanted to say the same thing to her.

It's been a tough week for the NASCAR family as another legendary clan lost a loved one. Bobby Waltrip, brother to Darrell and Michael, a Fox Sports announcer and successful go-kart racer, passed away last Sunday.

May God grant the families of Linda and Bobby with peace and the loving support of those who surround them.

Now, on to race day...

The snapshot can be found here. (Warning: There's an auto-play video)

Pole position for today's race belongs to Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin who qualified at 99.674 mph and 99.548 mph respectively.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:20 AM | Comments (89)
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MSNBC and the Democrats are already pushing the line that Chris Christie had "Slut Shamed" this poor woman, when the report on Bridgegate mentioned she'd had an affair with Christie's former campaign manager, Bill Stepien.

A lot of "thrown under the bus" and #WarOnWomen battle-cries here.

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo touches all of the Progressive Caucus Erogenous Zones in such rapid succession he's likely to be accused of having Busy Hands.

Generally speaking when you throw someone under the bus and you want them to play along, you add as much padding to the process as possible. That doesn’t appear to be the Chris Chrisitie way. The main fallperson turns out to be former deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly. And the “report” prepared by Christie’s lawyer not only places all the criminal liability on her (along with David Wildstein). It also goes out of its way to say that she is, to put it bluntly, emotionally unstable and loose.

The whole thing is vaguely reminiscent of David Brock’s notorious line that Anita Hill was “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty.” (If that line is before your time, Brock long since recanted, repented and a bunch else.)

The "mainstream" media -- apart from MSNBC, I mean, which is a clownshow -- will likely follow suit, but right now, it's just MSNBC and MSNBC's Research Department, by which I mean leftwing blogs and Democratic strategic statements.

Usually the infection proceeds thus:

Infection phase: A leftwing blog or cooked-up Democratic attack line provides the initial vector of infection.

Incubation period: MSNBC begins spending six to eight hours each day covering the "shocking new allegations" for 4-8 days.

Re-infection & Outbreak Period: Shortly after, the entire "mainstream" media comes down with a bad case of Progressive Meme Transmission Syndrome.

We'll see if that pattern holds.

Posted by: Ace at 08:34 AM | Comments (189)
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Y-not is otherwise engaged: apparently she is doing a free climb of Mt. Everest to harvest a rare orchid that grows only on the South slope of the mountain.

Remember all of those interminable trips you took with your family? The ones where you were unsure whether your dad's threat to "pull this damned car over and leave you all in the desert" was actually serious? more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 01:30 PM | Comments (238)
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