Taking L.A. Times Columnist Robin Abcarian to Task for Her Misleading Column About Chris Christie, Benghazi, and the IRS Scandal
I have spent the last two days systematically dismantling a silly column by Robin Abcarian of the L.A. Times, who claims that Chris Christie’s bridge-closing deal is a big deal while the IRS and Benghazi scandals were manufactured and meaningless. Part One is here, and Part Two is here. Those posts run a little long, but I assure you it’s fun reading, with the type of joyous Times-bashing that is the reason I started this blog. I’d like to summarize in one short post the basic points I made, and update you on Abcarian’s supercilious responses.
- Abcarian says “the IRS was trying to do its job” and claims the Inspector General focused on Tea Party groups only “because Issa had asked the inspector general to look only at how tea party-affiliated groups were treated.” Contrary to Ms. Abcarian’s false implication, I proved that the Inspector General had indeed looked at how progressive groups were treated, and found that conservatives were overwhelmingly the targets of higher levels of time-consuming scrutiny.
- Abcarian says that “no any amount of reporting” (whatever that means) “can change the fact that Hillary Rodham Clinton did not cause the tragedy that befell four Americans at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.” I noted that nobody is claiming Clinton “caused” the deaths, but there is abundant evidence that her State Department was responsible for overly lax security, which is why a bipartisan Senate report said that she could have prevented the attack.
- Abcarian claims that it is a “fact” that “the Obama White House did not lie about what happened.” I provided quotes from each of the five appearances Susan Rice made on the Sunday talk shows, with links to the transcripts, in which Rice consistently said that the killings were the result of a “spontaneous protest.” I also provided proof that the White House knew days earlier, within moments of the attack, that it was no spontaneous protest, but rather a planned terrorist attack.
- Abcarian says the Obama scandals got plenty of headlines. I agreed that they did — but noted that the headlines (and stories) were misleading. For example, when Greg Hicks testified that the Obama administration retaliated against him for questioning Rice’s false talking points, the headline in Abcarian’s L.A. Times was “Envoy describes night of Benghazi attack.” The story, incredibly, never even mentioned Hicks’s testimony that he was effectively demoted for raising questions about the administration’s lies.
So how has Abcarian reacted to my detailed posts with links and sources showing that she had misled her readers? I told you yesterday about this exchange:
Your implication that the IG did not examine IRS treatment of progressives was false and misleading, @robinabcarian. http://t.co/63W8zs0uG1
— Patterico (@Patterico) January 15, 2014
@Patterico Your implication that my implication is false and misleading is false and misleading.
— Robin Abcarian (@robinabcarian) January 15, 2014
It wasn’t an implication on my part, but why let accuracy get in the way of (what you think is) a good line?
Last night and this morning I pressed Ms. Abcarian to back up her claim that my posts were false and misleading.
@robinabcarian I am still waiting for even the slightest scrap of evidence that I said anything false. I backed up my claims. Why don't you?
— Patterico (@Patterico) January 16, 2014
As I expected, she would not, taking a “let’s agree to disagree” attitude:
@Patterico oh for heaven's sakes, Patrick. We disagree. It happens.
— Robin Abcarian (@robinabcarian) January 16, 2014
I pressed further:
.@robinabcarian If you're going to claim someone's piece is false and misleading, you should back it up. I did. You didn't.
— Patterico (@Patterico) January 16, 2014
.@robinabcarian Do you seriously deny you *strongly* implied the IG didn't examine IRS treatment of progressive groups?
— Patterico (@Patterico) January 16, 2014
.@robinabcarian That implication of yours was false and I proved it. Given that, I'm not surprised you dodge a discussion of specifics.
— Patterico (@Patterico) January 16, 2014
And here it is: the classic Big Media dismissal:
@Patterico I was teasing you because no matter what links I provide or what I tell you, you will continue to be obnoxious.
— Robin Abcarian (@robinabcarian) January 16, 2014
What can I say to that?
.@robinabcarian So it's *my* fault that *you* won't back up what you say? Got it. I'll let others judge whether that is a transparent dodge.
— Patterico (@Patterico) January 16, 2014
She’s a true believer, Patterico. Her faith is unshakeable, and the canons of her religion, far left progressivism, are infallible. You might as as well have tried to convince Mohammed Atta that there weren’t going to be 72 virgins.
nk (dbc370) — 1/16/2014 @ 7:54 amPopehatt has weighed in: @robinabcarian @Patterico Ima try that in court. “What evidence do you have for your claim, Mr. White?” “None, your honor. Just teasing.”
Heh.
Dana (a0013d) — 1/16/2014 @ 7:58 ama lying liar lied….
this is n totally unexpected and unprecedented move for a “reporter” from the LA Slimes.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:02 amA google search says she was the LA Times reporter to follow Republican candidates for president. Unbelievable.
AZ Bob (ade845) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:07 amAbraham Lincoln
Colonel Haiku (1011ad) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:14 amand Robin’s integrity
have been dead long time
Have any of the rest of you noticed that in your undergraduate days, the journalism department did not house the best and brightest on campus?
Bar Sinister (b48c12) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:23 amIt’s now official: the FBI will not take religion or race/ethnicity into consideration when looking for jihadists or illegal immigrants.
Rest easy, America!
Colonel Haiku (1011ad) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:23 amOn bullet point #2, laying the blame for Benghazi:
I still say this was a very loosely coordinated effort on the part of Cabinet and Czar-level WH actors in an effort to give Morsi/MB their Blind Sheikh.
No doubt people were gamed–say Clinton by Brennan–into stripping security and then placing Ambassador Stevens in the web.
Typical of real genius, the Ambassador panicked and drooling Islamist imbeciles suffocated their prey.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:26 am“Republican thrift”
Colonel Haiku (358fb1) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:33 amjust like Fredo with Michael
are dead to me now
You go girl! A few more brown nose articles supporting the regime’s fairy tales and you’ll be eligible for some face time on MSNBC. Who knows, maybe there’s a dedicated bootlicker’s spot open at Journolist.
ropelight (955f8e) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:43 amTwo things, semi-obvious and OT, please bear with me-
I’m not a tweeter/twitterer, in the exchange below:
Patterico @Patterico
Follow
.@robinabcarian So it’s *my* fault that *you* won’t back up what you say? Got it. I’ll let others judge whether that is a transparent dodge.
That is a comment from p to rc, correct?
second, if I go through the amazon search site and purchase through amazon something that is supplied by a third party, does that still help?
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:49 am(Otherwise I’ll buy stuff cheaper elsewhere.)
We are going to see more and more of this. I have often wondered how the jaw-dropping and abject hypocrisy can be justified. I have mentioned before having a colleague of mine call Republicans “ignorant anti-science types” while never having taken a science course in his life. When I mentioned Benghazi, he actually said “Embassies get overrun. It happens.” I asked him (because I knew the answer) if he had written about Republican administrations with the same level of understanding.
I was “defriended” based on that.
I literally think that this weird blindered hypocrisy has to do with narcissism (taking me back to Sowell’s great “Vision of the Anointed”).
People on the Left think that they are on the side of the angels. Seriously, look at how they describe their own positions.
So if someone disagrees with them, the disagreers must be the antithesis—evil, nasty, stupid, heartless, etc. So it is okay to attack their children, insult their person, lie about what they have done.
I also think something even more narcissistic is involved. I believe that most of the Left knows that this administration is all messed up. But they cannot, and will not, admit they themselves were wrong.
This is why I tend to side with the Right. Look at how many folks on the Right find fault with their own candidates (the folks who sanctify Reagan now did not talk about him that way while he was President). This is good, even if it can contribute to True Believers on the Left winning election after election. Politicians are, by their nature, dishonest and self serving. At least the Right knows it.
And this is why the MSM is dangerous. They think it is all right to character assassinate opponents, and ignore the faults of their own side. There are exceptions, but not many.
YMMV.
Simon Jester (9c15cf) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:51 amIt’s worth reading Jay Nordlinger’s series on Horowitz in the NRO this week. The left never, with a couple of rare exceptions, acknowledged its errors and lies about Vietnam. Five hundred thousand south Vietnamese fled in boats before the left published pieces like “Indochina without Americans: For Most a Better Life.” in The New York Times. There are some forms of blindness even gene therapy will not cure.
Mike K (cd7278) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:08 amI believe the principle employed is that the bigger the lie the more likely it is to carry the day.
People are disarmed when the facts themselves are blatantly misrepresented, when our shared language itself is undermined.
While one stands flabbergasted a moment they knock you down, bloody and stun you and move on.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:23 amOh, Robin, you TEASE, you.
Is this a new John Stewart? Clown nose on! I was just TEASING.
Mitch (341ca0) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:25 am13. The plastic turkey?
This week Fallujah will be Al Qaeda’s Waterloo.
Next week, Iran was going to get the bomb anyway, we were just stepping out of the bullseye.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:28 amLeftism (nothing “liberal” about them) is truly a mental disorder.
Colonel Haiku (0f1c4b) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:31 am“Common sense” is not so common.
Colonel Haiku (0f1c4b) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:32 amI think the “short version” from Comrade Abcarian is that she is a charter member of the “I’m an LA Times reporter you bourgeois nobody and I can say whatever the frack I want” school of “journalism.”
MikeHs (1a2353) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:35 amWaiting for acknowledgement by lefties of their provably disastrous policies and miscalculations is like waiting for the Sun to rise in the West… like waiting for one clear moment for a derelict drunk laying in the gutter. It ain’t gonna happen.
Colonel Haiku (017a27) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:38 amPeople on the Left think that they are on the side of the angels.
Comment by Simon Jester (9c15cf) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:51 am
Alinsky more or less said that, making it clear that their lot was thrown in with the angels aligned with Lucifer.
Seriously, what is one of the ways of referring to Lucifer/Satan? “The Father of Lies”
And another, “The Accuser of the Brethren”.
What does Alinsky, et.al. do?
Tell lies and do character assassination, because telling the truth and discussing the merits of policy will get them nowhere.
Some may say such religious references are not helpful in this day and age…
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:41 amwell, at a minimum, the Left invited it and walked into it themselves (like the “Pig in a Blanket” in the Geico commercial),
and at a maximum, perhaps references to spiritual truth really do not become dated after all.
Comment by MD in Philly (f9371b) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:49 am
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:42 amAny answer to my Amazon question?
The Equity Market needle is still bouncing rail-to-rail but I’ll bet it chooses a prevailing pattern soon.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-16/chart-day-goodbye-manufacturing-profits
The Fed is tapering because the Deficit is temporarily shrunken, because it is wrecking the market for Bonds, etc.
85-90% of companies forward guidance was for lower earnings. The Baltic Dry measure of commerce is on its back and now the first data in says profits are missing. Companies are net sellers of their own stock.
Ready to tumble?
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:43 am#13, Mike K, thanks for the link to Nordlinger’s article on David Horowitz, who admits that dedication to the progressive cause made him, and presumably others, like Robin Abcarian, self-righteous and arrogant and blind.
A series of cruel and irreversible crimes in post war Vietnam and in Berkeley California humbled Horowitz and restored his perspective on the essential distinction between right and wrong.
Abcarian apparently has no such second thoughts.
ropelight (955f8e) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:55 amFour of the five remaining members of the WI GOP delegation voted against Mr. Ryan.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2014/roll021.xml
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:55 am25. Make that 3 of 4 remaining, Doh.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:58 am=I believe that most of the Left knows that this administration is all messed up. But they cannot, and will not, admit they themselves were wrong.==
I agree with this analysis. And it will never change for the by-lined ones in the media who shamelessly lied, were incurious, and covered up to get him to the WH and re-elected. But in a room of regular Joe people these days when almost any political subjects (and especially Obamacare or foreign policy) come up, try softly throwing this simple, innocuous, and open ended sentence out there– and then wait while you take a sip of water or wine:
It is always interesting how many people will bite–at first tentatively, and then more firmly as they warm to the subject of his failures and see that others are also joining in. There’s a reason the president’s poll ratings have skidded into a ditch despite the LATimes’ and CNN’s valiant efforts.
elissa (1d372d) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:00 amUrkel: What? Do I have to do everything around here?
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/01/15/Devastating-Benghazi-Timeline-Reveals-Obama-MIA
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:01 am27. ‘lissa, you do write impeccably.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:03 amA couple of days ago, CO announced that a college administrator that ran an escort service out of her office will keep her day job.
Today from TN a kindergartner is locked in a closet and Teach goes home sick.
http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2014/01/15/Teacher-Suspended-After-Allegedly-Locking-5-Year-Old-In-Closet-Then-Leaving-School
Let’s fix all this at the ballot box. Whaddaya say?
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:14 amComment by gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:26 am
Typical of real genius, the Ambassador panicked and drooling Islamist imbeciles suffocated their prey.
The attackers knew the security plan – which was to go into a “safe room” – and they also knew the “safe room” was a firetrap.
And maybe had bene intimately involvd in drawing up the security plan.
Question: Did the Ambassador die there, and remain till his body was recovered
OR
Was he “rescued” and then questioned by people he thought were friendly (as to where other Americans were) and then killed, and his body returned to the compound, where later it could be videotaped being taken out?
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:18 am=side of the angels==
Heh. I was lurking on a marketing website yesterday where the discussion was whether grocers should voluntarily remove candy from the checkout counter aisle “for the greater good” even though one-serve candy is hugely popular with consumers and is a lucrative impulse item for grocers at that particular spot. It was pretty easy to distinguish the conceptual “consultants” from the actual “merchants” by their comments.
elissa (1d372d) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:19 amPeople who regularly eat candy live longer than those who don’t.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-willpower/201010/the-superpowers-candy
happyfeet (8ce051) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:23 amif you hook up with a fascist freedom-hating organization like the thuggy thuggy US State Department don’t come crying to me when you die a distasteful and violent death due primarily to the incompetence of some unqualified whore like Hillary Clinton
are we clear
happyfeet (8ce051) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:26 am@22… Doc, I recall that something was said about this when it first went up (the Amazon thingy) and that as long as initial entry into the Amazon system was via the Patterico site, that the purchase counted as a “Patterico purchase”.
I doubt I need to explain to you the age-memory thing, so there is a chance my recollection is faulty. What can I say.
gramps, the original (64b8ca) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:31 amI signed onto my rarely used twitter acct and sent a few “TWIT!” s her way. CartoonBrew is also taking her to task for some idiocy regarding Disney the man.
Smock Puppet, Gadfly, Racist-Sexist Thug, and Bon Vivant All In One Package (225d0d) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:32 amComment by Colonel Haiku (017a27) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:38 am
like waiting for one clear moment for a derelict drunk laying in the gutter. It ain’t gonna happen
I think it has happened well over a million times.
Example:
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/894234/jewish/Finding-Walter.htm
Here we have not just a moment, but eleven years!
http://silkworth.net/magazine_newspaper/fortune_magazine_feb_1951a.html
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:33 amTo be really fair, I think you need some more quotes around “”””journalism”””” in this context.
😀
Smock Puppet, Gadfly, Racist-Sexist Thug, and Bon Vivant All In One Package (225d0d) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:36 amSo where does that leave Democrats, with their heads stuck so far up their asses?
Jus’ Askin’…
Smock Puppet, Gadfly, Racist-Sexist Thug, and Bon Vivant All In One Package (225d0d) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:38 amThe other day Hucklesbee uttered a special
pleadingbleating that we dispose, once and for all, with the pejorative ‘RINO’.http://minx.cc/?post=346506
I’d bring to the floor a point of order, that we first dispense with the bogus division of the political universe into a Right, Left and Center.
There is no damn Right. What lies to the distal side of Center from the Left are imaginary, mythical beings, troglodytes, orcs, Prosimian interruptus, monotreme precursors, etc.
People who describe their views as lying on the Right should be banned, with extreme prejudice.
Mendacious fabulists.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:48 amFrom the article:
http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-stop-whining-conservatives-obama-scandals-have-not-been-ignored-20140113,0,7041685.story#ixzz2qaXejZQy
I think she’s saying that the IG did look at it, after Democrats asked him to, and implying this was only after the first wave of publicity.
She claims he then found equal treatment of both progressive and Tea Party organziations.
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:49 amI’d ask her to explain what she means by saying Lara Logan and CBS fell into a trap.
If nobody set the trap, can you call it a trap?
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:51 amangels fall like rain is what the psychedelic furs say and me i believe them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxBBs7cW1tg
happyfeet (8ce051) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:53 amIf she says they we only found out about the supposedly equally bad treatment of groups on the left, because if Democrats on the committee ask her if is her position that:
A) They asked the Inspector genral to reinvestigate and he did.
OR is it:
B) They investigated themselves some way, and they found that out.
Isn’t the truth C:
C) They asked some questions about what had already been investigated, and then proceeded to misinterpret for the public what they had learned?
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:59 amTake 2:
44.If she says they we only found out about the supposedly equally bad treatment of groups on the left, because of Democrats on the committee ask her if is her position that:
A) They asked the Inspector genral to reinvestigate and he did.
OR is it:
B) They investigated themselves some way, and they found that out.
Isn’t the truth C:
C) They asked some questions about what had already been investigated, and then proceeded to misinterpret for the public the answers they got?
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:01 amDo you suppose she lunches with Michael Hiltzik?
JVW (f931db) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:09 amthe problem is the IG report, was not that comprehensive either, and Lerner of course, spun the conclusions ahead of time,
narciso (3fec35) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:17 amwe are Devo.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:24 am“For heaven’s sakes, it’s only the news!”
Patricia (be0117) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:27 amWho was Lerner??
Oh, Lois Lerner. I need to have both names to recognize it.
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:49 amI think Patricia Abcarian is just echoing spin she was given by somebody.
The claim that nothing about Benghazi can effect her political future because the people complaining now are already against her, is particularly, stupid (or desperate) spin. Maybe I should just say specious.
It’s not that Patricia Abcarian thinks that she was fed total baloney. She’s not there, yet. But she has nothing more to say.
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:55 amI accidently did a Google search for “kerner ig report” and found a very interesting web site.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/WW/white13.html (about Whitewater)
I further found this:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/FOSTER_COVERUP/foster.php
It looks high quality but I am not sure if all the individual facts there are correct.
It’s missing, of course, the leak to Fred Barnes that appeared on page 10 of the March 14, 1994 New Republic, which contains the White House’s explanation of a secret meeeting the Saudi Arabian Ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan had with President Clinton and Sandy Burglar sometime the previous July.
There’s nothing in there to indicate a connection to the Vincent Foster case, except that it took place at the same time (other) Foster case leaks were happening, and the Saudi Arabian Ambassador’s residence is right next to Fort Marcy Park, and mentioned in the Fiske report, [it mentions it in connection with the CW – Confidential Witness] and the explanation for the meeting is, in all probability, not true. So of course it is not included.
I was never able to get any confirmation of this meeting (or its exact date and time) using the Freedom of Information Act. The Secret Service claimed it did not maintain records of whiote House visitors and I should ask the White House counsel’s office which claimed privilege. Interesting that lists of visitors somehow was diclosed in 1998.
A roundabout way of trying to find out when Prince Bandar visited the Whte House through a FOIA request to the State Department was answered early in the Bush Administration, but gave no confirmation, although that fact, itself, casts further doubt on the story in the March 14, 1994 New Republic.
I found this on the Foster page on the website though:
Now there’s no way a court would agree to a gag order on the very fact of a FOIA request, unless it involved a matter of delicate foreign policy, so there must be more about the Saudis in Fiske’s final report, which somehow maybe got a lot of people to co-operate in a covereup..
This s what the web site says about that ruling:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/FOSTER_COVERUP/PRIOR.html
If this is true, Vincent Foster really has to have been killed by a Saudi with diplomatic immunity. There at leasst have be some clues to the truth in it, else why keep it secret? There might be a cover story for keeping it secret, though.
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:58 amCan they do anything competently;
http://therightscoop.com/cms-official-we-dont-know-who-has-paid-their-obamacare-premiums/
narciso (3fec35) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:04 pmRe: Obamacare
They are just being very slow to face reality.
As long as it isn’t absolutely certain that it will be a financial disaster they will not acknowledge it. (effects on health are probably less clear and will take more time to manifest themselves.)
They are still talking about more advertising.
The problem is, it is NOT affordable.
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:13 pm32. Candy is not tobacco.
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:14 pmMs. Abcarian is taking lessons from Dahlia Lithwick, I think.
Beldar (8ff56a) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:17 pmthanks, gramps (the original)
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:18 pmThat’s why it is “ObamaDon’tCare”
Smock Puppet, Gadfly, Racist-Sexist Thug, and Bon Vivant All In One Package (225d0d) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:19 pmMedical costs are simply too high, but they didn’t want to face that reality.
It is manageable for lower risk people to buy insurance, if people with pre-existing conditions are kept out of the pool.
What Obamacare maybe mainly amounts to, is an attempted transfer of wealth from insurance companies and their customers and the general public to medical institutions. It will fail at that.
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:43 pmSammy – Alex Jones could use a hand.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:48 pm22 35
Comment by gramps, the original (64b8ca)
Doc, I recall that something was said about this when it first went up (the Amazon thingy) and that as long as initial entry into the Amazon system was via the Patterico site, that the purchase counted as a “Patterico purchase”.
That’s what I heard too, but I am not sure that’s correct. Only Patterico could verify that. Maybe if somme of us made a purchase and then asked him if that counted.
—————-
You can enter into Amazon directly and (I believe) have Amazon think you came through Patterico by using this short URL:
http://www.tinyurl.com/btSFswo (Mnemonic: Buy Through Sammy Finkelman’s Shorter Web Option)
The URL that shows up is the same as what you get when going through Patterico, but I am not 100% sure it works the same way.
I’m not sure how it works even when going directly. If you do some searching on Amazon, does it no longer connect the purchase with Patterico or does it? Is there a time limit, maybe?
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:52 pm60. Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:48 pm
– Alex Jones could use a hand.
No, he wouldn’t, because I’d reject 85% of all conspiracy theories. (only 85% because theer are some well known true ones)
And of the rest, say many only had elements of truth in it.
My theories are different, and much more substantiated.
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:54 pmDid you know there was a whole period of time, decades long, from the 1930s on, when the mob had a (secret) rule that no mob murders could be committed in the Bronx??
That’s why, if they wanted to kill somebody in the Bronx, they had to first lure him out of the borough. There’s an example in the Valachi Papers.
Sammy Finkelman (ee49e7) — 1/16/2014 @ 12:57 pmWelcome, you have entered the Twilight zone.
felipe (6100bc) — 1/16/2014 @ 1:44 pm“What Obamacare maybe mainly amounts to, is an attempted transfer of wealth from insurance companies and their customers and the general public to medical institutions.”
Sammy – Can you please explain under your theory what wealth Obamacare is attempting to transfer from insurance companies and their customers to medical institutions?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 1/16/2014 @ 1:55 pmOh no, Daley! you are going to cause a sammalanche! I’m getting out of here.
felipe (6100bc) — 1/16/2014 @ 2:13 pmfelipe – I don’t think so. Sammy usually does not flesh out those theories when challenged.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 1/16/2014 @ 2:17 pmHere is Robin:
http://www.laobserved.com/assets/robin-abcarian-pinterest.jpg
running on empty …
Paul A'Barge (6851c2) — 1/16/2014 @ 2:22 pmI got a taste of her style of journalism when I read her reaction to the Zimmerman acquittal. It was basically “it’s open season on black people” and that SYG could be used to stage murders. If I recall correctly, she insisted that Zimmerman refused orders to stop, which was debunked in the actual trial.
I’m not sure their editors require ANY of their writers to check their facts, even on basic things. 1 out of 4 articles have “this story was updated” line, in which the writer got the name of the person or the location wrong. Maybe that’s common in online articles, but I don’t know.
lee (807b40) — 1/16/2014 @ 3:16 pmWhat Obamacare results in is a transfer of power from the medical establishment to the government. Giving the government the power to extract infinite ‘concessions’ from insurance companies, hospitals, and doctors, with the threat of putting them out of business.
Already they are staffing thousands of incompetent make-work projects with their political supporters, the ‘Obamacare navigators’.
And if an insurance company dares to speak against them, well, their contract won’t be renewed next year and they won’t qualify as an insurance company any more. Too bad, so sad. You outta business.
luagha (5cbe06) — 1/16/2014 @ 3:18 pmWith team republican selling out the military, it’s a one party system going forward.
mg (31009b) — 1/16/2014 @ 3:52 pmComment by mg (31009b) — 1/16/2014 @ 3:52 pm
Pretty amazing to cut retention/”retirement”/deferred pay of military 20 year vets for a token attempt to control spending.
I’m waiting for the “tell all” book to find out who was thinking what and why.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 1/16/2014 @ 4:03 pmI’m sure she thought it was the best thing since ‘sliced bread’
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/16/irans-top-nuclear-negotiator-we-can-resume-enrichm/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS
narciso (3fec35) — 1/16/2014 @ 4:18 pmAnything is possible now, MD in Philly.
mg (31009b) — 1/16/2014 @ 4:21 pmYou keep using that word, substantiated. I do not think it means what you think it means.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 1/16/2014 @ 4:26 pmI swear, Sammy, you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’ if ya don’t stop spoutin’ that stinkin’ thinkin’.
Colonel Haiku (e1567e) — 1/16/2014 @ 4:40 pmWall stgreet Journal: Another IRS Lead the FBI Didn’t Follow Still more potential witnesses who were never interviewed.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 1/16/2014 @ 4:44 pmThe FBI’s IRS Outrage
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 1/16/2014 @ 4:44 pmThe really funny thing is that those folks are the LA Times think they are mainstream Americans and that it’s the hard right (everyone right of Walter Mondale) who are extreme.
Kevin M (536c5d) — 1/16/2014 @ 5:03 pm
Kevin M (536c5d) — 1/16/2014 @ 5:04 pmareatComment by Colonel Haiku (e1567e) — 1/16/2014 @ 4:40 pm
Great song, Colonel.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 1/16/2014 @ 5:22 pmI heard it once on Sirius and made my 12 yo daughter listen to it.
I don’t think she enjoyed it as much as I did.
everyone right of Walter Mondale
That is a great new standard!
Inspired by the Colonel:
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 1/16/2014 @ 5:35 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R7l7nDuj1o
Yes, it was, MD! Here’s the one that revived me after driving all night from SoCal to Lake Powell for our third annual Houseboat Hoochie Extravaganza in the Summer of ’81…
http://youtu.be/vHY0YxdswyY
Colonel Haiku (e1567e) — 1/16/2014 @ 5:35 pmNever heard that one, Colonel, thanks for sharing it.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 1/16/2014 @ 5:49 pmIf I had a “bucket list”, learning to put a guitar on my lap and play slide like David Lindley would be on it.
In fact, I recently restrung an Epiphone Les Paul look-alike left from one of my sons, now I need to find a cable to go to the amp and a slide bar and I’m all set…
“MD comes Alive”
Daley, when you are right, you are right.
felipe (6100bc) — 1/16/2014 @ 5:50 pmThank you felipe.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 1/16/2014 @ 7:31 pmWith team republican selling out the military, it’s a one party system going forward.
Comment by mg (31009b) — 1/16/2014 @ 3:52 pm
Republicans are just Democrat-lite.
AZ Bob (ade845) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:18 pmI have a bad feeling about this:
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/01/16/mitch-mcconnells-tea-party-opponent-not-even-to-the-slightest-degree-am-i-a-proponent-of-shutting-down-the-government/
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:23 pmSplunge, gary, but he’s not being indecisive, lol.
narciso (3fec35) — 1/16/2014 @ 8:54 pmRobin is a twit from the Hiltzik sock puppet school of journalism –ie.. “yellow journalism”.
Comanche Voter (12e67d) — 1/16/2014 @ 9:12 pmI got a taste of her style of journalism when I read her reaction to the Zimmerman acquittal. It was basically “it’s open season on black people” and that SYG could be used to stage murders.
She also wrote not long ago that the “knock out” game, or flash mobbing, involving mainly black youth was an urban myth and based on reports springing forth from the overheated imagination of white racists or narrow-minded killjoys.
Never mind that Abcarian most likely avoids spending much time in or certainly moving to parts of LA where demographically the “knock out” game is most likely to occur. After all, her belief that great compassion, tolerance and sophistication infuse her very soul and supreme essence is actually a masquerade for her fundamental stupidity.
Mark (9f2747) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:14 pmWhat the IRS did and I believe is continuing to do is deeply disturbing to anyone who cares about this country. That the FBI is so politicized it is not enforcing the law is ever more disturbing. That the media is so biased it doesn’t care or even actively shills for this corruption is not surprising anymore, but sad nonetheless.
The worst part, in my opinion, is the realization that President Christie would be as bad or worse. An audit isn’t as bad as dying because your ambulance became part of a corrupt ‘lesson’ to another politician, after all.
There is no real solution for the little guy who sees his nation become more and more corrupt, more intruded upon by elitist nannies, more indebted to countries with long term hostility, and frankly dumber. I can’t just vote this away.
mg raises a great point about the GOP’s attacks on military families. During the Bush era it was a but surreal to see so much saccharin sweetness towards our military in the face of endless war and no real sacrifice asked of anyone who wasn’t in uniform. Now we see just how fake that was.
Dustin (303dca) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:31 pm“What Obamacare maybe mainly amounts to, is an attempted transfer of wealth from insurance companies and their customers and the general public to medical institutions.”
65. Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 1/16/2014 @ 1:55 pm
Sammy – Can you please explain under your theory what wealth Obamacare is attempting to transfer from insurance companies and their customers to medical institutions?
Right now, hospitals and other medical institutions engage in sky high irrational pricing, but they don’t always get paid what they charge.
The uninusured people, on average (not counting really well off people) pay a lot less de facto.
If they had insurance, the medical institutions would get paid more.
Of course the insurance companies don’t have too much money.
The extra money going into medical institutions would mainly come from:
1) The Federal government, through Medicaid and premium and co-pay subsidies.
2) Taxes to help the federal government pay its subsidies – the amount needed actually is grossly underestimated.
3) New customers for insurance companies. Except there won’t be very many unsubsidized customers.
Sammy Finkelman (92657d) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:20 pmIt;s atransfer of wealth, because there’s actually not going to be any difference in medical care – except possibly for the worse.
Yes, a few more regular examinations – but that brings in more business.
Sammy Finkelman (92657d) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:22 pmComment by Dustin (303dca) — 1/16/2014 @ 10:31 pm
The worst part, in my opinion, is the realization that President Christie would be as bad or worse. An audit isn’t as bad as dying because your ambulance became part of a corrupt ‘lesson’ to another politician, after all.
That didn’t really happen, and worse quite openly acknowlesdged disruption happened with Obama during the government shutdown when he first,
1) closed all sorts of things he didn’t have to close instead of minimizing it – I’m not talking even about not having this fight – and second,
2) when the House passed bills restoring things like cancer trials at the NCI, he said he would veto them, and Harry Reid in the Senate did his best to pretend these bills did not exist.
But more to the point, I don’t think Christie ordered it. David Wildstein, who shut down two of the three lanes leading to the toll booths, looks from the e-mails etc that he was definitely taking orders from Bridget Anne Kelly, Governor Christie’s deputy chief of staff.
And she does not appear to be a person who would originate that, nor would Wildstein defer to her, so she was taking orders from somebody.
I don’t think it was Christie.
Most likely it was Christie’s 2013 campaign manager, Bill Stepien…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Stepien
….who had previously held the deputy chief of staff job and quit to run the campaign, and had gotten her the job as his successor.
You might think it was Bill Baroni, Wildstein’s boss at the Port Authority who originated it, and I do think he was involved since he concocted detaled lies about a traffic study, but Wildstein I think was checking wiith Kelly for both of them.
Stepien’s motives may not have had too much to do with the campaign for Governor. It doesn’t make sense that way.
Christie’s problem is that he can’t tell whom not to trust.
I think his press secretary, Mike Drewniak, is a fifth member of that Gang of Four, and he’s still on the job.
David Wildstein was far too friendly to Drewniak. Drewniak saw him Dec 4, two nights before he resigned, and Wildstein wrote that he’d given him advice asnd when Christie assked him about it, Drewniak did not say Wildstein proclaimed his innocence, or that he said he was going to resign and wasn’t open about the reason and sought his advice on finances, or that Wildstein sought his help for personal problems – he just claimed wildstein had not mentioned this much. And tghen when Wildstein resigns, Drewniak sends him a copy of the statement he made prasiing him, which he had gotten Christie;s approval to say, without involving Christie’s chief counsel or someone else in the press office Maria Comella. And then Drewniak’s also meeting with the gang of four.
Sammy Finkelman (92657d) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:45 pmRe: Walter Mondale: When he last ran for office, I think he was for more homework.
Sammy Finkelman (92657d) — 1/16/2014 @ 11:46 pmokay: it hurts my brain, even this late at night, to read Sam the Sham’s “explanations” of how the healthcare world functions.
will the management please put him out of our misery?
😎
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 1/17/2014 @ 12:30 amO/T, but shouldn’t this person’s 15 minutes of fame be about up by now?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2540992/Curvy-Kim-Kardashian-left-scrambling-new-skirt-following-embarrassing-wardrobe-malfunction.html
I have to admit I’ve seen pics of Kim Kardashian when she looks pretty hot. These are not among them. Especially the one on the right, which looks vaguely equine.
But even at her best I’ve doubted that it was worth putting up with the substantial amount of c*** you’d have to deal with.
Steve57 (648e1f) — 1/17/2014 @ 4:05 amAs far as Robins go, a more interesting and accomplished Robin:
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1125
I guess his parents did this guy a favor, what with giving him a chick name and thus spurring a lifetime of overcompensation.
He could probably also write better than that other Robin who got the affirmative action slot at the Slimes.
Steve57 (648e1f) — 1/17/2014 @ 5:14 am*…At the very young age of 22, he was promoted to major and given command of the 434th Fighter Squadron…*
I somehow doubt that if Robin Olds were still around and 22 years old he’d be sitting around in his footie pajamas drinking hot chocolate and basking in the knowledge he still has four more years left of his parents carrying him on their health insurance policy.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZrfWeF_UQmY/UrIZDHnM5GI/AAAAAAAAHiw/mBu2KH_QYxI/s1600/Pajama-Boy.jpg
Steve57 (648e1f) — 1/17/2014 @ 5:19 amComment by Steve57 (648e1f) — 1/17/2014 @ 5:19 am
I somehow doubt that if Robin Olds were still around and 22 years old he’d be sitting around in his footie pajamas drinking hot chocolate and basking in the knowledge he still has four more years left of his parents carrying him on their health insurance policy.
In the 1940s people in the United states didn’t need health insurance, or maybe they needed it only just a little, because health care costs were not astronomical. In the military, it wasn’t needed at all.
Sammy Finkelman (92657d) — 1/17/2014 @ 7:48 amHe who holds the megaphone calls the tune.
Amphipolis (d3e04f) — 1/17/2014 @ 8:36 am“…a transparent dodge…”
About the kindest thing you could say about her level of “journalism”.
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Shaynne (d1f022) — 1/18/2014 @ 3:42 amvoyance gratuite amour
98- Looks as if she needs to check into a fat farm. Or at the minimum put the hostess ho ho’s down.
mg (31009b) — 1/18/2014 @ 3:59 amWell, agree to disagree.
Bob Ellison (c67160) — 1/18/2014 @ 9:46 amThis Robin Abcarian person is simply not used to being challenged.
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 1/18/2014 @ 1:34 pm“It;s atransfer of wealth, because there’s actually not going to be any difference in medical care – except possibly for the worse.”
Sammy – But if the profits of insurance companies are capped and their rates have to be approved by ignorant Washington socialist bureaucrats who hate the idea of corporations earning money, how the heck can you call Obamacare a transfer of wealth to insurance companies? You missed that part.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 1/18/2014 @ 2:08 pmSammy, why do you suppose Barack O’Drama wrote a health care law that would enrich insurance companies ? Do you think he’s getting a cut of their money, under the table ?
I was told that O’Drama was for the people.
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 1/18/2014 @ 2:26 pmOr something.
109. Comment by Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 1/18/2014 @ 2:26 pm
Sammy, why do you suppose Barack O’Drama wrote a health care law that would enrich insurance companies ?
He didn’t write it, even though he did meet with members of Congress at one time – but they had to go with the Senate bill. But you could then say Congress.
And I didn’t say it was insurance companies that get enriched, but “medical institutions” – meaning hospitals, nursing homes, pharmaceutical companies, and so on.
Hospitals already of course were very enriched in the 1960s, but they still have to do some charitable care. They charge sky high prices but often don’t collect, or collect an amount even less than what they charge insurance companies..
The net effect of Obamacare, if it worked, would be to ensure they got paid more money more often. Drug companies also would get more money.
That’s how and why it hurts the economy.
Do you think he’s getting a cut of their money, under the table ?
Not personally, but the SEIU helps him politically. Although Michelle Obama once had a patronage job from a hospital.
http://www.seiu.org/seiuhealthcare/index.php?via=footer-popular
http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/ameliahamilton/the-seiu-is-deploying-for-democrat-party-candidate
Who is the biggest spender for democrats in 2012 apart from the Democratic Party? It’s not a PAC. It’s not a superPAC. It’s the SEIU, which has disclosed donations of nearly $70 million to democrats this year.
I was told that O’Drama was for the people.
Or something.
He’s for certain big unions.
Sammy Finkelman (92657d) — 1/18/2014 @ 4:26 pmThe quote from the Freedom works website is:
When the SEIU talks, people listen. Or they’d better, so the union thinks:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/seiu-could-sever-ties-with-california-democratic-party.html
Sammy Finkelman (92657d) — 1/18/2014 @ 4:29 pmWhen hospitals get more money, they can pay their workers more, and more important, hire more dues paying members.
Sammy Finkelman (92657d) — 1/18/2014 @ 4:31 pmAfter seeing what was done to Maria Conchita Alonso for appearing in an ad with a Tea Party candidate, I’ve changed my mind, a little, about Robin Abcarian.
True believer or hack, either way she cannot deviate from the party line even to the slightest acknowledgment of Patterico’s points. If she does, she will lose her party card. Then what will become of her? Where will she go? What will she do? Even if her faith is not in the herd, her fate is.
nk (dbc370) — 1/19/2014 @ 7:25 amHere’s the Donnely/Alonso ad. It’s good, you’ll like it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_vLWXC6kj0
nk (dbc370) — 1/19/2014 @ 7:29 amEven if her faith is not in the herd, her fate is.
So true. Herd mentality is at the heart of the Democratic party. It’s not a place for individual thought, but after innumerable threads here, I would say the same about the Republican party (however, perhaps not to the same degree). The old guard rigidity and
Dana (9a8f57) — 1/19/2014 @ 7:49 amreluctancefear of supporting Tea Party candidates has a similar ring to it.the Running Man,seems to have one of the instruction manuals for this fair dystopia,
narciso (3fec35) — 1/19/2014 @ 7:53 amThe ad was okay. From what I’ve read, it’s Maria Conchita Alonso’s perceived negative portrayal of Hispanics that has offended so many: a chihuahua, its name being Tequila, her comment regarding O’Donnelly’s large testicles, and immigration – as well as deviating from the herd.
“We really cannot have her in the show, unfortunately,” show producer Eliana Lopez explained to KPIX. “Of course she has the right to say whatever she wants. But we’re in the middle of the Mission [District]. Doing what she is doing is against what we believe.”
Here is this morning’s interview with her:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/19/maria-conchita-alonso-vagina-monologues-booted-me-for-fighting-communism/
Dana (9a8f57) — 1/19/2014 @ 7:56 am‘You can havea Model T, in any color, as long as it’s black’ Kimberlin’s scratchpad gathered that much.
narciso (3fec35) — 1/19/2014 @ 8:13 amIt’s always refreshing when a person in the entertainment industry isn’t a typical, blah-blah, phony-baloney liberal.
As for not finding it refreshing when Hollywood do-gooders are typical phony-baloney liberals, I wouldn’t be as irritated with them — with those who excoriate people like Alonso — if they themselves often were willing to walk the walk and talk the talk. If they were willing to live in a setting where illegal immigration is rampant, to immerse themselves in the socio-cultural trends that, for example, are pervasive in nations like Mexico. But too many of them instead live in a bubble, buy and reside in homes that are in a bubble, send their precious children to schools that exist in a bubble, pursue leisure-time activities surrounded by a bubble, travel and genuflect in a big bubble.
Bah.
Let them eat cake.
Mark (9f2747) — 1/19/2014 @ 9:36 am