POWERLINE: Cromnibus survives, 219-206. Well, at least in the House. It still has to pass the Senate, and my hope is that Sen. Warren will defeat it there. That way the blame for a government shutdown will be squarely on the Democrats.

WHITE HOUSE prepares for a shutdown. Motto: "It’s Different When We Do It."

AS IF WE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS: Health care to suppress wages even more.

ZOMBIE SATELLITES are for real.

DEMOCRAT REPRESENTATIVE JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): America should apologize to suspected terrorists who underwent enhanced interrogation. I've got a better idea. Why doesn't she go in person to apologize for me?

DON'T QUESTION THE KING EMPEROR: The royal decree explained.

ELIZABETH WARREN: I'm shutting down the government ... but it's you Republicans' fault.

PEW POLL: Americans value gun rights more than gun control.

The demo[graphic]s on this change are fascinating — mainly because it occurs in almost every demo Pew uses. The largest gain is among black voters, where the conclusion that guns protect people from becoming victims rose an astonishing 25 points in two years, from 29% to 54%. Among women, it rose 11 points to go from 40% to 51%. It even rose among Democrats who identify as conservative or moderate by eight points to 47%, although still slightly outweighed by the safety-risk sentiment (49%). The only demo in which protection lost ground from two years ago is among liberal Democrats, and it only declined three points.

Note that the only demographic that didn't increase is those who can afford bodyguards to carry their weapons for them....

YA THINK? There seems to be incongruity and even political opportunism in President Obama's selective transparency.

KEEP ENVIRONMENTALISTS HAPPY: Shit your way to Mars.

REP. TREY GOWDY (R-SC) on standing up to the Obama administration.



It's an old speech (May 2014) but worthy of revisiting. Gowdy is an impressive speaker.

THE OBAMA DOCTRINE: After all, you never know when you may come across a 'killer rabbit'.

TAKING WORKING FROM HOME TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL: Store opens staffed only by robots.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: We have a right to conceal material evidence in order to escape liability. Translation: we're crooks but you can't be allowed to find out.

BREAKING: Key test vote on “Cromnibus” passes — by two votes, after a last-second switch.

Will the Democrats, led by Elizabeth Warren and Nancy Pelosi, try to shut down the government? Stay tuned.

GOING DOWN: Democrats lose the culture war -- and the South.

WHO SAYS liberals aren't religious. It's secular, true enough, but who can argue that it isn't faith-based?

DEFEAT THE OMNIBUS: "It’s important that the nascent GOP majority’s first act not be surrender."

IEEE SPECTRUM: Can drivers assist their own driver assistance systems?

I would suggest that those enamored of self-driving cars consider the analogy to commercial aircraft automated flight systems: Air France Flight 447, Asiana Airlines Flight 214, and Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 among others.

The first two crashes were a result of pilot complacency with the automation. Since Malaysia MH370 has yet to be found, it's cause cannot yet be attributed, but my guess is that eventually it will also be a case of pilot error.

$500 BILLION A YEAR in taxes lost to loopholes. And not a single loophole for me....

THEY DIDN'T WANT THEIR VIEWERS TO KNOW HOW STUPID THEY ARE: NBC News finally gets around to reporting on the Jonathan Grubering of America.

WILLIAM BUCKLEY WAS RIGHT: It is better to be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston phone book than the faculty of Harvard University.

A reminder: Dr. Jonathon Gruber is a 1992 Harvard graduate.

AFTER THE DEMOCRATS ELECTION ANNIHILATION, a CNN pundit panel ponders potential ruination of the GOP. The progressives took over the Democrat party from the left a few years ago and now they're concerned that the Tea Party is taking over the Republican party from the right? Shouldn't they be cheering?