NO, WE WANT A NEW CAR: Obama says Americans want 'new car smell' in 2016. And not one that stinks smells like a 2008 model....

COMMENT OF THE DAY: "The utter stupidity of these elected officials is only eclipsed by the stupidity of the voters who continue to re-elect them."

From this post.

INFERNAL ROBBERY INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE warns of refund delays due to 'budget cuts'. Which explains why I always try to owe them instead of vice-versa.

"SPEAKING OF PLAYING WITH DEFLATED FOOTBALLS, Obama ... oh never mind." PowerLine's Week in Pictures is up. And it's a good one this week. My favorite?

But only because if you stand real still, you won't get hit. And now, the best one.

Notice that the missing letter is his favorite? Go, and enjoy the rest.

INSTAPUNDIT: “But Obama must love poor people. Look how many more of them he’s created.”

"I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER": Firearms enthusiasts crash gun buyback to hunt bargains.

MICHAEL RAMIREZ accurately describes Obama's State of the Union speech.

SURPRISED? Urban planning is about control.

WE GET A TAX CREDIT; Obama gets dinner. Same dollar amount.

ADD TO THE LIST of things global warming/climate change/climate disruption causes -- private jets.

PROOF THAT 'progressive' and 'crazy' are synonyms. And it doesn't speak well of Florida's 9th Congressional district either.

ON LAW: A much-needed facelift for the Fourth Amendment.

POTEMKIN VILLAGES: Woman showcased by Obama in SOTU is a former Democrat campaign staffer. Rush Limbaugh is all over it today....

STATE OF THE UNION: "More cowbell! More cowbell!" Either that or "Look! A squirrel."

THEIR LOGIC escapes me. But then they're journalists.

AHA! The culture wars are Clint Eastwood's fault.

FOR SIX YEARS IN A ROW, Obama has used the State of the Union to call for tax increases. He'll try -- and fail -- again this year as well.

THE LAST SELFIE:

It's NOT Rusty....

OBVIOUSLY I need to drink more coffee.

VIDEO: 112 unfulfilled promises from Obama’s last five State of the Union addresses.

How many (to be) unfulfilled promises will he make tonight?

GETTING READY for tonight's State of the Union:

Go to the link above for a larger version.

HEH: Iran cancels its space program. Reason? Lack of money.

So what does Obama do in response? He'll veto any further sanctions on Iran.

SO WAS HE CITED for eating while driving? Or eating a double cheeseburger?

2014 WAS THE HOTTEST YEAR EVER! By 0.02C (0.036 degrees Fahrenheit). With a margin of error of 0.1C (0.18 degrees Fahrenheit).

When the desired result is inside the margin of error, it's not science. It's 'political' science.

TAKE THAT, ASSHOLE: Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer responds to Michael Moore.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Liberal myths about Islam and terrorism.

A CONVERSATION with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX).

TV NEWS commits journalism. And shows Boston protestors living in their parents' basements.

TAXES. MORE TAXES. BIG TAXES. Lame duck gets old-time left-wing religion.

Tune in to the State of the Union for the good news.

FBI HATE CRIME STATISTICS tell a shocking story about Islamophobic bigotry:



There isn't any.

HOT AIR: the silence of the sheep. It's time to punch back. With lawsuits. Big lawsuits.

LOUISANA GOV. BOBBY JINDAL gets it:

Muslim leaders need to condemn anyone who commits these acts of violence and clearly state that these people are evil and are enemies of Islam. It’s not enough to simply condemn violence, they must stand up and loudly proclaim that these people are not martyrs who will receive a reward in the afterlife, and rather they are murderers who are going to hell. If they refuse to do that, then they’re part of the problem. There is no middle ground here.

Which explains why MSNBC needs him to be white....

THERE ARE TIMES when the military should be able to choose which Americans to protect....

PRICING THE POOR out of Medicaid.

As Instapundit noted, “Government” is just another word for the things that we (liberals) screw up together.

POWERLINE: Intelligence tests for liberals. The assumption of stupidity and/or ignorance works for me.

NUMBERS ARE SO UNFEELING: Fake but sort of accurate except for the math part.

DEREK HUNTER: The subdivided states of America. It's time to return to the 'melting pot' and scorn the 'chafing dishes'.

MARTIN LUTHER KING: American to the core.

HEY, PARENTS, leave your kids alone ... but if you do, we'll come after you for child abuse.

"REST IN PEACE CHRIS KYLE. And thank you for your righteous, channeled rage."

Added: I read somewhere that when the movie American Sniper ended, there was total silence throughout the theater as people exited. We went yesterday, and that was absolutely true.

JUST SAY those two little words: Look! Squirrel!

SCOTT OTT: How Far We’ve Fallen from the Constitution.

ANNOY LIBERALS: support your local McDonalds.

CAN'T HANDLE THE 'TRUTHY': Indiana University Monitored ‘Hate Tweets’ in Aftermath of Truthy Scandal.

Internal emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon through a public records request from Indiana University about “Truthy” reveal that the school monitored “hate tweets” and shunned media outlets critical of the project after details of the federally-funded study were made public last year.

Linked from Instapundit.

‘BREAKING’ NEWS FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES: Obama looking to raise taxes on wealthiest Americans.

Alternate (and more correct) headline: "Obama to propose massive tax increases for successful people and businesses."

AS IF YOU NEEDED IT: Proof that the New York Times only censors photos that offend violent religious sects.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty.

Instapundit, however, has the real story: "[I]t’s not that so many students are poor, it’s that the non-poor students, and parents, are exiting the public schools."

BECAUSE SHE'S A COMMITTED FEMINIST IN ACADEMIA? Why does this witch still have her job?

GUN MANUFACTURER PARA USA: "We will no longer provide firearms for use in films starring Liam Neeson."

NAH; HE'S TOO 'SMART' TO BE A MOLE. More Jonathon Gruber.

ATTACK OF THE ENERGY DENIERS: it's time to stock up on sheep (for food and wool) and candles (for heat and light).

WHERE OPPORTUNITY ABOUNDS: the old Confederacy.

Which (just by concidence?) is mostly Republican....

LIVING LARGE beats working. I find it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that that woman actually has two daughters.

‘HERO’ CAT MASHA saves abandoned infant.

Moran is absolutely correct; our four cats are masters at getting their way.

HEH: “Government” is just another word for the things that we screw up together.

A 'TRAGIC MYTH' about defensive gun ownership is buried.

More at PowerLine.

OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH IN FIVE WORDS: "I’ll give you free stuff."

Just like his six previous State of the Union speeches....

UPDATE: another four words. "And raise your taxes."

CHRISTMAS 2015 GIFT PACK:

A full dozen. Pre-order now.

ANGELS AMONG US: Anonymous donor gives $1M to families of slain NYPD officers.

The donor is apparently from Hong Kong....

THE MORE 'FREE STUFF' the Liberals give us, the poorer we become.

When everything is free, we'll all live in poverty.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES: arms are for hugging edition. Here's my favorite:

Check out the rest.

SO CLOSE: some photos of the Falcon 9's barge landing attempt.

ANOTHER CASE of so close and yet so far.

AMMO GRRRLL on those 'folks' President Obama is so solicitous of.

ADDED: it just dawned on me why listening to Obama is akin to listening to fingernails on chalkboard. 'Folks' are family. Usually senior family, like parents and grandparents, but always family.

SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS: up close and personal:

I'll be going in to see it soon.

THE MOST OPEN AND TRANSPARENT ADMINISTRATION EVER: EPA faces internal review over scrubbed text messages.

Little people shouldn't know what's going on behind the curtain in the land of Oz Obama.

THE NEXT BIG THING: drone selfies. Take your dog drone for a walk.

IT'LL BE EIGHT LONG YEARS....

... but our cartoon administration may be coming to an end. Let's just hope the end is with a whimper and not with a bang.

SO WHERE'S OUR FENCE?

Saudi Arabia is building a 600-mile ”Great Wall” along its border with Iraq. The barrier will consist of not two, but five layers of fencing, along with ditches, berms, radar, night-vision cameras, and watch towers. In addition, up to 30,000 troops will be deployed along the barrier.

Ours is still mired in the swamp of political correctness.

ONE HELLUVA WAY TO BUILD A CHAIR: Autonomous Modules Self-Assemble in Air and Water.

THIS WAS A TERRORIST ATTACK — on the working people of Boston, by non-working blow-in drifters, losers and knuckleheads.

A NEW - AND OLD - CHALLENGE: How far should a tolerant society tolerate intolerance?

HOW TO PARALLEL PARK: It does require a wee bit of practice.

NO. NEXT QUESTION. Does the Democrat party have a future?

If it's true that the political spectrum is circular, it won't be much longer before the Democrats become the far Right party (and the Republicans, center Left).

PAPA JOHN'S PIZZA stands by employee who shot armed robber in self defense. Good for them. They'll have my business from here on.

THE WINCHESTER 73: still around after 132 years.

WHAT'S THE EMPLOYER MANDATE GETTING EMPLOYEES? Fewer hours and not much else.

PRINCIPAL: Students Can ‘Hurl’ Cans Of Corn at Gunmen As ‘Last Resort’. I prefer a 9 mm myself.

ANN COULTER: As Long As Obama Brought Up The Cost of College…

COLLEGE DECIDES Vagina Monologues ‘Not Feminist Enough’: “The board has decided to retire the feminist classic as it is not ‘inclusive’ enough to those who identify as women but do not have vaginas.”

And you only thought they were stupid....

IF IT'S THE 'MICROAGGRESSED' who die sooner, then I'm all for microaggressions.

SUFFICIENT REASON to reject net neutrality.

HMM. Jewish-owned D.C. business targeted by self-described ISIS militants.

Coming soon to a city near you.

WHAT WE LEARNED from the Orion spacecraft's first flight.

MORE MEDIA HYPOCRISY: CNN will not show potentially offensive images of the prophet Muhammad. But it will show potentially offensive images of Jesus Christ.

Could it be because Christians are somewhat less likely to murder those who offend them?

AND YOU THOUGHT WHITE PRIVILEGE WAS BAD: The harrowingly oppressive burden of 'Female Privilege'.

NO MORE TRAPS FOR NON-AVIATORS: Navy to buy V-22 Ospreys for carrier on-board delivery. At least I got mine back in 1970....

BEING AN IDIOT IS PROFITABLE; being an idiot's attorney is even more profitable.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD LAID BARE: they're not against targeting Muslims; they're against being targeted by Muslims.

Cowards.

DOES THE MEDIA CARE that the Democratic message on DHS funding fight makes no sense? No, because the Democrat's base has no sense.

THE CALIFORNIA DONNYBROOK: Start the popcorn machine. With butter. Lots of butter.

OBAMA'S EPA: "like issuing regulations forcing ice cream makers to spill less ice cream."

‘A PETULANT CHILD’: Former Secret Service Agent Blasts Obama For Blaming Service For Skipping Paris March.

80 PERCENT OF LIFE is just showing up - when and where you're needed.

NONHUMAN AUTONOMOUS SPACE AGENCY: the future doesn't just belong to humans.

OBAMA: Why should I go to Paris?

A SMILE FOR THE DAY:

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch.

The gravesite was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Born and bread in Minnesota, Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

Please rise to the occasion and pass it on to someone having a crumby day and kneading a lift.

From my email (naturally).

IF YOU DON’T LIKE western freedoms, f**k off.

HAVE THE FOX HUNTERS been trapped?

REAL GUN CONTROL: armed customer thwarts robbery. And inspires woman to obtain a concealed carry permit.

JIMMY CARTER: Jews are safer in France than they are in Israel. Uh, they why are they leaving France for Israel in droves?

Bonus question: Why do we elect morons to the Presidency every 30 years?

YES. NEXT QUESTION. Is “free” community college just another out-of-touch elitist scheme?

Taking your tax money to give you something 'free' that you don't need, don't want, can't afford, and is contrary to your economic interest.

'WELLNESS OR ELSE': Coming soon to a workplace near you.

You will like it.

WHITE HOUSE to propose new methane rules. Cattle and sheep will no longer be permitted to fart outdoors....

HEALTH CARE RATIONING: Don’t send ambulances to terminally ill patients.

AMERICA, you elected an empty suit addicted to sports.

POP QUIZ: Are you a (1960s) liberal?

I agreed, at least in part, with 14 of the 39 propositions. My 'agreements', such as they were, were those that dealt with individual freedoms and discrimination. The others, not so much. So I guess that, even in the l960s, I wasn't much of a liberal.

REACTIONS TO PARIS: The good, the bad, and the crazy. The U.S., as is its wont, got the crazy.

DEMOCRATS try to take credit for "drill, baby, drill".

"America is the No. 1 producer of oil, No. 1 producer of gas. It's helping to save drivers $1.10 a gallon at the pump over this time last year," [President Obama] told a crowd last week in Detroit.

Except that the Democrats are "taking credit for an increase in production that has happened largely on private land and had nothing to do with federal government policies."

POOR PLUTO: New Horizons Spacecraft May Not Be Enough To Reinstate Pluto’s Planetary Status.

DNA-TAGGED NANOPARTICLES can quickly identify blood-borne pathogens. More please.

RUN, SCOTT, RUN: Considering the current state of most colleges, having no degree could be a point in Gov. Walker's favor.

Considering the current state of most colleges (and of their graduates) this could be a point in his favor.

As institutions, colleges have been going downhill since the late 1960’s, but in recent years they have seemed like asylums run by the inmates, with their passion for courses in race and gender studies, free speech suppression, and the Duke LaCrosse scandal, the Penn State pedophilia disaster, the Rolling-Stone-gang-rape fiasco at the University of Virginia, and the performance art staged by a Columbia student who drags a mattress around with her on campus to protest an alleged act of rape. In fact, college seems the place to avoid if you value your checkbook or your sanity, and the academic definitions of intellect don’t seem to go far in real life.

The two greatest presidents in American history (Lincoln and Washington) did not get through grade school, and the only other one to have seen the country through a genuine life-and-death crisis was called a “third rate intellect” by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., and “Feather Duster” by his Roosevelt relatives, for his unbearable lightness of mind. But he was weighty enough to sense early on that Hitler meant business, to keep Britain afloat by his ‘Lend Lease’ provision, and to authorize the Manhattan Project that ended the Pacific War months sooner than otherwise possible.

Truman the dropout set in place the policies by which the Cold War would be won later on by Ronald Reagan, a graduate of a very small school no one had heard of who was described later in life as a dunce.

Walker is in very good company....

A GOOD-NEWS STORY: Even storm troopers have hearts.

SPACE-X: Yes, it was a success.

UNFORTUNATELY TRUE: Too many Americans are morons. Click through for other thoughts from Townhall's Shawn Mitchell.

THE SERVICE MODULE of China's lunar orbiter is back in lunar orbit.

What's amusing (in a ghastly sort of way) is that this is a Chinese website and it correctly used the term 'braking' to describe the deceleration required to transfer to a circular orbit. The English-language source I used for the link called it a 'breaking' maneuver.

THE PRESIDENT'S DUTY of good-faith performance. Using the term 'good faith' in the same sentence as 'President Obama' is an oxymoron.

WHY DIDN'T Obama go to Paris?

It wasn't 'bad optics', and it wasn't a mistake; it was intentional.

NATIONAL SECURITY: CIA bides its time.

"As George Orwell pointed out, people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - attributed to Richard Grenier.

EXTREMISM IS ON THE RISE, but there remain moderate Muslim leaders who can win Islam's future. They had better win; otherwise Islam has no future.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES: Charlie Hebdo edition.

Go and see the rest.

A VANDERBILT PROFESSOR is teaching an undergraduate course this spring semester called “Police Violence and Mass Incarceration.” Lisa Guenther:

Since November 25th, we have used our bodies to decry such injustice on the streets and in shopping centers across our city....

On Friday, December 12th, hundreds of students, clergy, and concerned Nashvillians marched through the city after a vigil for Eric Garner and all victims of police brutality,” the document continues. “With tears in our eyes and the names of the slain on our lips, we stood together to declare that Black Lives Matter. We marched together and held die-ins on the cold asphalt, shutting down roads, intersections, and, with the help of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the interstate.
(emphasis added)

Hypocrisy, anyone?

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN KITTYVILLE:

Rusty and Daisy take their mid-afternoon naps.

REMEMBER THIS — "Big Business and Big Government are often natural allies, and their enemy is free enterprise and smaller competitors."

LONE WOLVES run in packs.

JAKE TAPPER AT CNN:

I say this as an American — not as a journalist, not as a representative of CNN — but as an American: I was ashamed.

Join the crowd.

A COMMENT from this post on the new Charlie Hebdo cover.

If we in the West are going to debate why killers kill and not send soldiers to fight back, I think we all need to renew our first aid training and learn how to make bandages out of bedsheets. Our future is as victims of violence.

We march. We debate. We feel civilized. They bomb. They shoot. They kidnap. Who wins?

My Red Cross first aid certificate is valid until December of 2015. Is yours?

My concealed carry permit is valid until 2018. Is yours?

CALLING FOR GOVERNMENT CONTROL, not gun control.

More precisely, calling for control of government, not control of guns. The police seem to be in agreement....

EXTREME STUPIDITY: Obama calls for (long postponed) conference to 'combat violent extremism'. Note the new acronym (CVE) and the dutiful avoidance of the 'I-word'.

COOKING TIP: How not to make cheese toast.

A SMALL GOOD-NEWS STORY: You won’t believe what Chick-fil-A did for a homeless man.

DC MAYOR literally hates guns.

“If it was up to me, we wouldn’t have any handguns in the District of Columbia,” the Washington Post quoted the mayor as saying. “I swear to protect the Constitution and what the courts say, but I will do it in the most restrictive way as possible.”

I'm sure the Jihadis will take note.

NYPD BRASS: No vacation, sick days until slowdown ends. To put it less politely, New York City needs the income.

I WOULDN'T QUIT truck driving school just yet....

MICHAEL RAMIREZ: A truly offensive cartoon.

'Nuff said.

AWOL in France:

ONE DEAD, 84 HURT after smoke fills DC metro station. That hits close to home; I do occasionally go through the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station enroute to work.

A 'NEW' DEMOCRAT STRATEGY to benefit the middle class -- tax the rich.

How ... original.

UPDATE: More from the Washington Post.

TAMMY BRUCE: Let's get serious about Islamic terrorism.

[T]he serious conversation should be this: What obvious and sensible changes governments must implement to keep this from becoming horribly “normal” and if we are to have any chance of stopping the enemy:

First, Islamists who go to the Middle East to train and fight with a terrorist army must not be allowed to return to any Western nation.

Second, acknowledge this is a world war and stop treating terrorism as and equating it with regular civil crime.

Third, imprison the terrorist enemy in military prisons, ending their ability to “radicalize” civilians in prison.

Fourth, as in war time, arrest those who spread propaganda for the enemy, recruit for the enemy and support the enemy. For those wringing their hands that we must put up with it in a free society, hogwash. It’s a crime to encourage or solicit murder. And if one is associated with and a supporter of an active enemy, it’s also treason.

Common sense.

A PILE OF DUNG would be more appropriate.

GREEN SCIENCE: Fracking causes cancer. Uh, no it doesn't.

SMALL NORTH CAROLINA CITY removes sculpture of soldier kneeling before a cross. After being threatened by a lawsuit from the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

I have to wonder if the city would have been sued if the sculpture had been of a soldier kneeling before an Islamic crescent. Somehow I doubt it....

MSNBC HOST Melissa Harris-Perry gets taken to woodshed on radical Islamism.

JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO: We need to kill those hell-bent on killing us.

Even Woody Allen recognized that sometimes physical force is necessary.

WITHOUT FURTHER COMMENT, go here.

COYOTE CAPTURED IN UPPER MANHATTAN; later released in Bronx. We can't have coyotes running loose in Manhattan; send them to the Bronx where they belong.

WAVE ELECTIONS: What they mean.

COMES THE DAWN: Working in a gun-free zone is unsafe.

SPACEX ROCKET-RECAPTURE BID thwarted by hard landing.

Pictures from the landing attempt are here. That's a damn small target to 'hit' from the edge of space. I'd call it a complete success.

LISTEN UP OBAMA, students don’t want your free education. Neither do taxpayers.

HMM: maybe not. But it would require strong conservative leadership at the community college level to ensure that students progress on schedule and that terminal (associate) degree holders leave with immediately marketable skills.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Multicultural Suicide.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES don't belong at the State of the Union pep rally. For that matter, neither do the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It ought to be the President, Congress, possibly the Cabinet secretaries, and CSPAN. For everyone else, television.

NEXT TIME, they should carry pitchforks. And use them.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Help the Cuban opposition, not the Castros.

HOW TO SOLVE the illegal immigration problem: "allow the immigrants amnesty so long as they settle in blue states...."

PAUL KRUGMAN AND THE NEW YORK TIMES: "all the spin that's fit to print."

DOPEY 'PROFESSORS': Disney is racist, and only black guys like jazz. "Walt Disney might have had his own personal character flaws, but it kinda seems like these two academic hacks are a little overly obsessed with racist tendencies."

SINCE THE LIBERAL MEDIA insists the Paris terrorists are not 'real' Muslims, Erick Erickson at Red State suggested France should "wrap their bodies in the carcasses of pigs". I would agree, except to do so would insult the pigs.

THE LEFT: Blaming America first, last, and always.

AND I THOUGHT IT WAS BECAUSE AMERICA NEEDS MORE NATURAL GAS: Reasons to eat more beans.

OBAMACARE: 2015 tax season's newest headache. In a way I almost feel sorry for the dupes who signed up for ObamaCare.

OBAMA PROPOSES 'free' community college program. It'll only cost us, the taxpayers, $60 billion -- and give liberals another 2 years to propagandize our youth.

UH, ALAN, ever heard of Tim Scott? Grayson is white - and Jewish. Does that make him better than white and Christian?

Time for another Bugs Bunny award....

JONAH GOLDBERG: A win for the jihadists.

DO LIBERALS actually believe in the right to offend? Yes. Their right. Not yours.

EZEKIEL J. EMANUEL: Skip your annual physical. Wait a minute ... isn't this the guy who was a prime mover in the development of ObamaCare, which requires insurance companies to pay for a 'free' annual physical?

On a scale of one to five, this guy deserves ten (10!) Bugs Bunnies.

GRAY LADY DOWN: "[T]he [New York] Times is a daily "Saved By the Bell" rerun, bereft of functional grownups. No wonder the paper is incapable of sanely reporting on the news of the week in Paris. And no wonder it sees such kindred juvenile spirits in the current occupants of the White House."

HATE TO FLY? It's your fault.

HOW GREAT IS TEXAS? Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller will grant massive amnesty — to classroom cupcakes.

NannyCrats, you're not welcome in Texas.

AVIATION WEEK: The debate about the future of human spaceflight. My take? Studies are low risk; action isn't. That means -- fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your political leanings -- that manned space is destined to progress via commercial enterprise.

MOST AMERICANS oppose ground troops against Islamic State. Read the demographics carefully; 'most Americans' are Democrats.

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICESS EXECUTIVES DOING GOOD -- for the airlines, flying first class around the world.

DEMOCRATS WILL TRY to put the Republicans on the record about human-caused climate change. Based on my interpretation of the results of this political quiz, I think they'll fail spectacularly.

OBAMA: Don't buy a gas guzzler. He'll take care of the problem of low gas prices by raising taxes.

BEST COMMENT OF THE DAY: "I just treat the global warming, er, climate change fanatics like I treat anyone else who needs to be spoken to slowly and communicated with in Crayon."

THE NEW YORK TIMES shows its true colors.

MORE: If 'the pen is mightier than the sword', isn't this the journalistic equivalent of Islamic jihad?

IF THE [GLOBAL WARMING] DATA DOESN'T MATCH THE PREDICTIONS, then the data must be wrong.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, Charlie Hebdo edition. I agree with this:

But these two are my favorites:

There are many more. Go visit.

MORE OLD PEOPLE means a “dementia plague.” But you needn't worry -- ObamaCare's 'death panels' will take care of it.

SO WHAT'S NEW? NBC omits 'under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance again.

NANNYCRATS & DEMOCRATS (but I repeat myself) snuff out another perk of adulthood.

DON SURBER: Democrat civil war (over ObamaCare).

The Democratic Caucus in the Senate is splintering. Only 44 senators admit to being a Democrat, the lowest number in decades. The party's leader is acting more juvenile by the day.

The petulance of this irresponsible, immature and incompetent man -- who wastes his mornings watching ESPN -- is an embarrassment for the Democratic Party, which it should wear for the decades that follow. May he live long so that he can remind the people of what socialism looks like.

Yes, it's time to replace Jimmy Carter as the worst ex-President ever.

SHARIF KOUACHI: It was Abu Ghraib radicalized me. The Left's latest excuse.

WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST proves he's dumber than dirt (again): France attack might have been worse here, because guns.

Hmm. First, weapons are more heavily restricted in France, yet the terrorists had AK-47's, with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Those restrictions were working well, weren't they?

Second, French police officers are not always armed. Which might explain why there are two dead officers (one a woman; the other a Muslim) in Paris today.

Third, in America there is an infinitely higher (for the math deficient, even 0.0001 divided by zero is infinite) likelihood the terrorists would have encountered an armed citizen during their rampage.

For his ignorance, Eugene Robinson is awarded a Bugs Bunny.

MICHAEL RAMIREZ on political correctness and Islamic terrorism.

CALIFORNIANS FINALLY CATCH BREAK: Sen. Boxer to retire next year. No worries, mate; they'll find some other idiot to vote for.

THIS IS BAD? Do 'Conservatives' Suffer from 'Race Deafness'?

Maybe 'Liberals' should turn their hearing aids down a notch so they won't get microaggressive ringing in their ears....

RAIL FAIL: California goes full boondoggle on train project.

More here (from the comments): Riding mass transit is like....

Heh.

DON SURBER: We need militarized police. (Just not the way you might think.)

THE NEW YORK TIMES: More media cowardice lies.

DON'T FEED THE VULTURES: Virginia Department of Transportation turning roadkill into compost.

JEFF JACOBY: Dying of laughter in North Korea.

THIS SHOULD GET INTERESTING: Mia Love joins Congressional Black Caucus.

AN (IDIOTIC) OPPOSING VIEW: freedom of 'inoffensive' speech. But "Jews are pigs and apes" isn't offensive....

BUT IT'S PRINCIPLED COWARDICE: the principle being that Christians don't murder those who insult them.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN: a special exhibit “Outside the Spacecraft” that pays tribute to U.S. spacewalkers and tells their stories.

One of the very few reasons why I'll voluntarily go into Washington DC.

THE ONION’S positively brilliant post about the Paris attacks.

And politically correct apologism from the New York Times.

WATCHING TELEVISION AND 'SOCIALIZING': How non-employed Americans spend their weekdays.

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE, there's a new spiritual musical out.

DEMOCRATS TO OBAMA: Stay in Afghanistan. Remember the 'good' war?

GO FOR IT. Senate environment panel to hit EPA regulations early and often.

UNITED VAN LINES NATIONAL MOVERS STUDY: People are leaving New York and New Jersey en masse. I wonder why....

FOUR OBSERVATIONS prompted by the Paris attack.

HOLY COW, the world's largest Bible printer is in atheist China.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane. Puritanism (The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, is having fun) is now government policy.

COWARDS ALL: "We are not at this time showing Charlie Hebdo cartoons of 'the Prophet'.”

Only cartoonists refuse to be intimidated.

AMERICAN LEFT: The Paris attacks aren't about Islam.

Sure, they may swear by the Koran, and sure, most of them come from the Middle East, and sure, they act with plenty of moral support from Salafist clerics based in the same country where Mecca and Medina are located, but hey — that doesn’t make them Islamic.

Just ignore the shouts of "Allahu Akbar" and professions of "avenging the prophet",

WHAT I’VE LEARNED FROM DROPPING FOX NEWS -- it was a bad idea.

SO 2015 WILL BE WORSE YET? "I have to say, I think my year-end column in 2013 pretty much called it: 'Obama’s 2013 is likely to be similarly ‘average:’ Worse than 2012, but better than 2014.'"

MICHELLE MALKIN: The Black Brunch brats.

BAD NEWS FOR 'CLIMATISTAS': The Medieval Warm Period Lives!

UNEXPECTEDLY? Illinois concealed carry fails to produce hoped for bloodshed and mayhem.

Yes, with the lede being 'unexpectedly?' I was being sarcastic....

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS predicted Paris (way before his death in 2011).

For proof of Hitchens' correctness, you need only look here.

IN HONOR OF BUGS BUNNY, Seattle ought to be renamed "Maroonville". Seattle bans throwing food away in trash.

I'M ABOUT TO KILL YOU: Volvo cars will warn bicyclists of impending collisions.

WE'RE VICTIMS TOO: Police unions want hate-crime laws to apply to them as well. They make a better case for themselves than the current set of 'victim' groups can possibly make.

KEYSTONE XL VETO THREAT sets early tone for Obama-Congress relationship. You expected something different? Really?

YES, LET'S PAY OUR VICTIMS MORE. Top Democrats pushing minimum wage hike. To ensure loyalty.

FAA GRANTS PERMITS for agriculture and real estate drones.

The permits require that drone operations include both a ground "pilot" and an observer, that the pilot have at least an FAA private pilot certificate and a current medical certificate, and that the drone remains within line of sight of the operator at all times.

A private pilot's license to fly a 1-1/2 pound drone? And a medical certificate?

MORE PLEASE: ISIS beheading their own in the name of 'purity'?

DAY BY DAY gets it right.

The complete cartoon is here.

‘IT’S TIME. RESIGN.’ Retired Cops Fly Huge Anti-De Blasio Banners Past NYC Skyline. When you insist on making a fool of yourself, you should be treated as such.

A CLOSE ENCOUNTER of the ego-bruising kind....

THOMAS SOWELL: The 'Equality' Racket. Liberal dogma seems to suggest that there can be no 'equality' until everyone is a victim....

BRACE FOR STUPID: Well, except for MSNBC, where stupid is to be expected.

DUELING ECONOMISTS: Sachs v. Krugman.

Question: do two half-wits make a whole wit? Or a nitwit?

PASS OUT THE EGGS: There are some faces that need some.

Don't waste good eggs; rotten ones will do.

TWEET OF THE DAY: "I'm starting to think Harry Reid owes money to the mob."

IS THE NOTION of different “learning styles” a dangerous myth? Dangerous, no. Just dumb. Read the comments for confirmation.

ANOTHER BUMPER STICKER -- this one from Connecticut.

OBAMA TO FLEX HIS JOB CREATION MUSCLE at an auto plant that is closed this week because of lagging demand for its small gasoline and hybrid cars.

Bonus: Obama’s going to tout the “success” of the auto bailout at a factory owned by a company that didn’t take a bailout.

BMW TO DEMONSTRATE CAR that can find a spot and park itself in a garage. Okay, now how does it tell you where it is when you return?

SURPRISE! Coast Guard seeing sharp uptick in Cubans fleeing workers’ paradise. For the intellectually-challenged, "worker's paradise" does not refer to the United States.

GOT HATE? Here’s the most fascist piece you will read today.

Hmm. Is advocating killing cops 'hate speech'?

FINALLY: Big Apple takes on epidemic public-transit threat of … 'man-spreading'.

What's next? 'Gender-specific' subway cars?

YOU CAN NOW shop the web for a feminist boyfriend! Beta 'males' only need apply....

REP. MARTHA ROBY (R-AL) files first plan to defund Obama immigration action. Good for her.

MEDICAID UNDER OBAMACARE: Millions are enrolling, but there are few providers.

“When providers … cannot offer appointments, it may create a significant obstacle for an enrollee seeking care.”

No shit, Sherlock. Note to liberals: ObamaCare is not the same as health care.

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE revisits the Pillars of Creation.

A stunning image.

MEDIA MATTERS: Please don't attack us. Please, please don't attack us.

Cowards.

ISLAMO-FASCISTS: They fear being mocked. Plus:

Claire Berlinski is a woman after my own heart.

THE LIFESTYLE NANNIES ARE NOT HAPPY: “Random mutations may account for two-thirds of the risk of getting many types of cancer, leaving the usual suspects — heredity and environmental factors — to account for only one-third.”

AL SHARPTON: Racism for fun and profit. Mostly profit....

CHINESE SPACECRAFT to return to lunar orbit. A very interesting mission. One half of the spacecraft returned to Earth following lunar orbit; the other half left to orbit the L2 Lagrange point and is now returning to lunar orbit.

AT LEAST 12 DEAD in Islamist terror attack at satirical French publication.

Has the time come to declare 'no quarter' against Islamic terrorists?

MOCK HIM: What you could have done while waiting for Obama to decide on the Keystone pipeline.

Mocking Obama takes an average of 4-1/2 minutes (I made that up). If you limited mocking him to an Obama 'full time' (29 hour) workweek (hard to limit yourself, I know), over the six years of his presidency, you could have mocked him 120,640 times.

ACADEMIA: First they came for the sociologists.... It'll be harder when they come for the engineers, but I've already noticed them trying.

GLENN REYNOLDS: GOP needs to pump new blood. Yes, but ... remember the Democrats in 2008? The 'blood type' is important....

ROGER SIMON: Beware the National Enquirer?

They did take down John Edwards....

MORE: Can a stained blue dress be far behind?

MARYLAND COUNTY COMMISSIONER KIRBY DELAUTER trys to get PowerLine's coveted Green Weenie award. He didn't, but he did get the attention of Fox News. To quote Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon."

Added: He's a Republican, so I'm surprised this isn't all over the mainstream media.

IF YOU LIKE YOUR TAX REFUND, you can can't keep your tax refund.

VIDEO: Egyptian president calls for “religious revolution” in Islam to end violent jihad.

Strange, isn't it, that this hasn't made the mainstream media?

Instapundit agrees.

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:



I had the pleasure of being on a similar Southwest Airlines flight.

OH, WOE: Obama fails to appear under Hawaiian rainbow. And his caravan wasn't led by a unicorn.

A LESSON in liberal newspeak. (If you must speak to liberals....)

THE NEW YORK TIMES can't admit life is better in red states.

Don Surber piles on.

FAMILY FRAGMENTATION: Can anything be done? Not without offending a whole bunch of liberals.

NOW! the infantiles' rallying cry.

ANDREW KLAVAN: It's our turn to take offense ... and be offensive.

THE REPUBLICAN WAR AGAINST OBAMA HAS BEGUN: New rules that will change the House of Representatives.

THE HUNT FOR PHILAE CONTINUES: Space agency now fears lost probe may have become shrouded in dust on comet 67P. Excellent pictures abound.

GOVERNMENT IS THE COUNTRY'S BIGGEST PROBLEM. Not so, suggests Instapundit: the worst political class in American history is.

CHICKENS. ROOST. "Liberals are great at telling other people what to do, but it rarely occurs to them that someday, they might have to live under the rules that they advocate for the rest of us."

SUFFERING FROM A BADLY DAMAGED EGO: Injured Harry Reid out indefinitely.

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS: Another top 10 bumper sticker.

KURT SCHLICTER: Colonel, United States Army, Retired.

Bravo Zulu, Colonel. And thank you.

THE GREATEST GENERATION. And one that is decidedly not.

IS 2015 THE YEAR history rebels against progressivism? No, it is the year that America realizes 2014 was the year that history rebelled against progressives.

FEMINIST BUMPER STICKER: "I practice bitchcraft." I saw her when she got out of her car. The sticker is accurate.

IT'S HOT OUT THERE: MESSENGER’s pass Of Mercury’s surface could melt its soldering.

MAYOR DE BLASIO'S CHICKENS have come home to roost: NYPD officers shot responding to burglary in the Bronx. More here.

Not good.

BUT IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO AFFECT US! Harvard Faculty Angry About Health Care Cost Increases They Championed.

American academics are so used to spouting socialist Utopian nonsense while cashing fat capitalist paychecks that their delicate psyches aren’t prepared for the reality of their leftist fantasies. Most big -government elitists are fans of programs that put the burdens on anyone but them, and that is the way that these boondoggles are usually crafted. It is natural that they thought they’d get a pass on this.

Poor little snowflakes.

MORE: Break Out your Tiny Fiddles...

FIRST SNOW. The first snow of the season famously mucks up traffic in Washington DC; this year is not only no exception, it's the worst I've seen in 15 years. All because the snow began falling just before the start of the morning traffic rush. My wife left the house at 8:20 for a 9 am appointment; as of 8:45 she was still in the 'first mile' on the Parkway outside our cul-de-sac.

Here's what it looks like. Front yard first, then the side:

It's about 2" deep right now, and the updated forecast is now for 2-4 inches.

The cats are pissed. The three who routinely go out immediately after breakfast just sniffed the snow at the back door and headed to the front which has a covered porch. Out, and then 30 minutes later when I opened the door a bullet couldn't have gone faster than the three coming in. Shadow's now in the basement, looking wistfully out his cat door; Rusty's in his 'condo' at the window wondering what all that white stuff is; and the girls have given up and gone back to bed.

THERE’S A GUN IN MY HOUSE: And I'm strangely okay with it. The Ruger LC-9 is a fine weapon; it is in fact my carry weapon. But for a newbie, I think she'd be better with a Ruger SR-22. To be sure, it has less stopping power than the 9mm, but as the salesman told me when I bought my wife's SR-22, "The size of the hole in the end of the barrel looks pretty large when it's pointed at you."

Now from the comments, a caution:

There are four rules of gun safety and you have only quoted two of them. Here are the four rules:

(1) Treat every gun as if it were loaded.
(2) Do not point a gun at anything you aren't willing to destroy.
(3) Know you target and whats beyond it. This is really important to know because you could miss your intended target.
(4) Keep you [sic] finger off the trigger until rule #3 has been satisfied.

I personally add a fifth rule: If you carry a gun it stays in the holster until you are ready to secure it or have to use it. No show and tell.

I usually combine rules #3 and #4: Keep your finger off the trigger until your weapon is pointed at the target and you're ready to fire. And for those who carry, rule #5 is a must.

JIM GERAGHTY: Media Still Hoping for ‘Establishment’–‘Tea Party’ Civil War.

More proof, if any is needed, that the media bubble still hasn't burst.

PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: fuck your trauma.

JEFF JACOBY: White racism has all but disappeared from U.S. Which is why we now have 'microagressions' and 'white privilege'.

THE REPUBLICAN PLAN to address illegal immigration....

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY: Every single 'teabagger' is white. They still believe it. And MSNBC still has only two viewers....

ANOTHER VICTORY FOR MEANINGFUL GUN CONTROL: [H]ome invader killed by armed man & pregnant fiance who refused to be victims.

WHY AREN'T WE thanking 'gridlock' for saving the economy?

IF YOU VISIT SAN FRANCISCO, here's a map you'll need.

BUMPER STICKER OF THE DAY: "Go ahead and hate me if it helps you feel tolerant."

Punching back.

REASONS WHY you shouldn't be allowed to vote. Lena Dunham is featured, but read it anyway.

DAVE BARRY'S 2014 Year in Review.

THE ECONOMICS of climate change. Well written. Fair. Read it all.

IRRELEVANCE: What leading feminists want to accomplish this year. Based on this sample, I suspect they'll succeed.

TEAM OBAMA: Can't we all just get along?

Obama is and remains the president, but he must now get used to a world in which others set the agenda and he merely obstructs it to one degree or another.

Snicker....

SPACECRAFT with a lasso on top set for launch. Clever, but will the spacecraft twirl the 'lasso', or will it twirl the spacecraft?

FAA AUTHORIZES drone use for mosquito control in Florida Keys. Best comment (though slightly off-topic): "Quad copters 'fly'; drones 'vote'."

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: 2015 is the year of the mandate. Enjoy the sticker shock, suckers.

INSTAPUNDIT ON AL SHARPTON: "I guess his loathsome existence is, in a way, proof of just how civilized we are."

WHAT’S A “FAIR SHARE” for upper-income taxpayers? According to liberals, all of it.

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY: the bright side of ObamaCare for seniors.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD’S fiscal year in review: 37 abortions per hour (24/7).

WHAT PASSES FOR THOUGHT on the part of progressives.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, and happy new gun-control nonsense. Except it's not new nonsense, it's the same old nonsense, warmed over and peddled again by one of those 'reality-world' preeners.

More here. The comments are particularly interesting.

TWENTY-FIVE STATES have filed suit challenging the president’s immigration amnesty plan. Who shall rise to defend our chief executive? A goat farmer from Palatka, Fla.

According to the motion, President Obama’s plan to provide “deferred action” (which is basically amnesty) to over 4 million illegal aliens would be good for the farmer’s business because “persons from abroad are much more likely to want to buy a goat for special occasions or feast than long resident Americans.”

Read the rest, but put your coffee down and swallow first.

DEREK HUNTER previews 2015. We should be so lucky.

GET'CHER TERRORIST HERE: A fire sale at Gitmo?

WATCH THE VIDEO: A Pity to Have a Party without The Pity Party.

TAX TIME: More ObamaCare ugliness coming your way.

SARAH PALIN VS. PETA: Palin wins ... big.

GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE to leave Fox, explore a run for president.

I think I could vote for him. Especially if he chooses Sarah Palin to be his vice-president.

THE LIES ARE GETTING OBVIOUS: Why Democrat attacks on Republicans are beginning to misfire.

JEFF JACOBY: The politician, the coach, and the Founding Father.

NASA'S DAWN SPACECRAFT has begun approaching Ceres ahead of a historic March arrival at the mysterious dwarf planet.

Dawn has officially entered the Ceres approach phase, after recently emerging from behind the sun relative to Earth and thus coming back into reliable communication range. The probe is now about 400,000 miles from Ceres and is cruising toward the 590-mile-wide object at 450 mph , NASA officials said.

Dawn should enter orbit around Ceres — the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter — on March 6, 2015. When that happens, the spacecraft will become the first ever to orbit two different unexplored solar system bodies. (Dawn circled the protoplanet Vesta, the asteroid belt's second-largest object, from July 2011 through September 2012.)

Click through and enjoy the video on ion propulsion.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Obama closes 2014 with higher poll numbers. Oddly enough, and surprising to me, that's true. Here are his Rasmussen Approval Index numbers:

January 3, 2014: -18, approve, 47%, disapprove, 51%.
December 31, 2014: -14, approve, 49%, disapprove, 49%.

But voter turnout is a different story.

YOU TOO can print your own 'NASA wrench'.

JEB BUSH and his problem with Common Core. As I've repeatedly said before, I have no problem with a 'common core' as a minimal list of recommended knowledge for the average American to be a responsible voting citizen.

Beyond that, the state and federal governments should stay the hell out of education. And that includes testing.

WILL NORTH DAKOTA pass the 'Hinder Heidi' act? Maybe, maybe not. But Massachusetts did, then caught the 'moron flu' and elected Elizabeth Warren to replace the previously-elected Scott Brown.

ANN COULTER: When the shoe doesn't fit, liberals want to make everyone [else] wear it.

NO MORE SPACEFARING: We might make aliens sick.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Obama saved by peak cheap oil.

OBAMACARE: Even more of a scam than you thought. No, it's exactly the "you're too dumb to take of your own lives" control-freaking progressive pitch I always knew it to be.