Five Observations About Jeb Bush Running for President

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

In an utterly unsurprising development this week, Jeb Bush announced that he’s “actively exploring” a 2016 Presidential run.

Allow me to offer some perspective for the GOP Elites and others suffering from the fevered delusions that Jeb Bush might someday serve as President, in this universe or any other.

1. This is one situation where an open primary benefits conservatives: I contend that Democrats will turn out in droves — like there was an announcement for free government cheese at the mall — to vote against the Bush name. Heck, you and I have heard it for years: debate any policy position with a progressive and, no matter the facts, logic, history, and reason you muster — the inevitable result is what some call Bush Tourette’s Syndrome (i.e., “But- but- but- Bush!). This sad disease is sure to manifest itself in the primaries and amplify Democrat turnout like nothing we’ve seen since the dead walked the streets of Chicago in 1960 to cast ballots for John F. Kennedy.

2. Jeb Bush’s support for Amnesty is wildly unpopular among a huge majority of Americans: 88% of Republicans, 66% of independents and even 50% of Democrats believe that the border should be locked down before any Amnesty efforts are undertaken.

3. Bush’s support for a nationalized education curriculum (also known as “Common Core”) is generally despised. Only 34% of U.S. adults with children of elementary or secondary school support the federal takeover of educational standards.

4. Should Bush secure the nomination (which, if it occurs, we can thank John Boehner’s newly uncorked personal campaign contribution limits in the CRomnibus), I believe we’ll see the first viable third-party candidate since 1992. Reince Priebus, Karl Rove and the rest of the GOP Oligarchs should know that the Republican Party will be torn asunder by a Bush nomination. Guaranteed. A third party will result and the GOP will go the way of the Whigs — deservedly so.

5. BONUS: Jeb’s formula for victory:

Jeb Bush has no chance of winning the presidency — zero, none — and anyone who tells him otherwise is lying or a paid political operative. Or, more likely, both.
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Posted in-full courtesy of Doug Ross, blogger and cartoonist at Doug Ross @ Journal. Please visit his website for more updates, and check out his novella “Hard-Boiled” at Amazon.com

GOP Will Have Largest House Majority Since Before FDR

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Credit - Townhall.com

Credit – Townhall.com

On Wednesday, the Associated Press called the outstanding race for congress in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional district. Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ), a former aide to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and her successor in office, was narrowly defeated by Republican Martha McSally.

With McSally’s victory, the 2014 midterm elections have officially concluded. At the start of the 114th Congress, Republicans will enjoy their largest majority in the House of Representatives since prior to the Great Depression and the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt with 247 members. The last time the GOP enjoyed that large of a majority was the 71st Congress in 1929 and 1930.

In the Senate, the GOP will be in an almost equally unparalleled position of power.

“Republicans will control 54 out of 100 seats,” The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake noted. “That’s tied for their fourth-highest number of seats since that same 1929-30 Congress, but the larger three were majorities of 55 seats — i.e. only one more seat.”

Combined with the GOP’s dominance at the state legislative level (Republicans control 56 percent of seats in the legislatures, the highest number since 1920), and the party’s control of 31 of 50 gubernatorial mansions, the Republican Party will be in the strongest position it has seen since prior to the popularization of Democratic progressivism.

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Time to Lift the Antiquated Ban on Crude Exports

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Photo: Charlie Neuman/U-T San Diego

Photo: Charlie Neuman/U-T San Diego

Gasoline prices continue to drop across the country with the national average falling to $2.50 per gallon.

Are low prices good or bad for the prospects for lifting the ban to export crude oil? The reality is it shouldn’t matter because energy free trade will benefit the United States in both the near term and the long run. That’s why Congress should lift the ban regardless.

One of the primary concerns among skeptics of lifting the crude export ban is the effect that increased oil exports might have on domestic gas prices.

Several studies have projected that lifting the ban would actually decrease gas prices both in the United States and globally. Because oil is a globally traded commodity and refiners are equipped to handle different qualities of crude oil, an open market for shipping crude would better match global refining capabilities. Despite the fact that all signs point to lower fuel prices in the U.S., the skepticism remains.

The federal ban on exporting crude oil has been in place since the 1970s to fight potential fuel shortages caused by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) oil embargo. Rep. Joe Barton, R–Texas, recently introduced a bill to lift the still-in-place ban on crude oil exports.

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Despite Oil Prices Plummeting, S&P Not Downgrading Alaska, Yet

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Photo credit: roger4336

Photo credit: roger4336

Alaska has built up layers of budgetary reserves that allow it to absorb one or two years of large operating deficits — just outside of our outlook time horizon –at its current rating level. But in order for it to avert credit quality deterioration, we believe the state must make material progress in reducing the deficit in its fiscal 2016 budget.

Although the rapid decline in oil prices exacerbates Alaska’s existing fiscal budget deficit, whether it will weaken the state’s credit quality will depend on the state’s budgetary response. For fiscal 2015, the state assumed oil prices would average $105.06 per barrel, giving rise to about 495,900 barrels
per day of production on Alaska’s North Slope. Based on more recent price and production information, the state has revised its estimates to $76 per barrel and 509,500 barrels per day for fiscal 2015.

The state’s assumptions regarding oil prices and production are integral to its budget condition because oil-related revenues made up 88% of its estimated revenue for the 2014 fiscal year and 79% of fiscal 2015. At enactment, the state’s budgeted general fund expenditures for fiscal 2015 exceeded its unrestricted revenues by $1.4 billion. Weaker oil prices and production resulted in an updated budget gap of $3.5 billion, equal to 57% of general fund expenditures. For most states, an operating deficit of this magnitude would likely result in immediate negative rating consequences. In Alaska’s case, however, extraordinarily large budget reserves effectively buy the state time to deal with its structural misalignment.

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German Researchers Discover Flaw Allows Anyone to Listen to Cell Calls

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Credit - REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Credit – REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

German researchers have discovered security flaws that could let hackers, spies and criminals listen to private phone calls and intercept text messages on a potentially massive scale – even when cellular networks are using the most advanced encryption now available.

The flaws, to be reported at a hacker conference in Hamburg this month, are the latest evidence of widespread insecurity on SS7, the global network that allows the world’s cellular carriers to route calls, texts and other services to each other. Experts say it’s increasingly clear that SS7, first designed in the 1980s, is riddled with serious vulnerabilities that undermine the privacy of the world’s billions of cellular customers.

The flaws discovered by the German researchers are actually functions built into SS7 for other purposes – such as keeping calls connected as users speed down highways, switching from cell tower to cell tower – that hackers can repurpose for surveillance because of the lax security on the network.

Those skilled at the myriad functions built into SS7 can locate callers anywhere in the world, listen to calls as they happen or record hundreds of encrypted calls and texts at a time for later decryption. There also is potential to defraud users and cellular carriers by using SS7 functions, the researchers say.

These vulnerabilities continue to exist even as cellular carriers invest billions of dollars to upgrade to advanced 3G technology aimed, in part, at securing communications against unauthorized eavesdropping. But even as individual carriers harden their systems, they still must communicate with each other over SS7, leaving them open to any of thousands of companies worldwide with access to the network. That means that a single carrier in Congo or Kazakhstan, for example, could be used to hack into cellular networks in the United States, Europe or anywhere else.

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Father Delivers Message to His Burned Alive Daughter's Killer

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Credit - Fox News

Credit – Fox News

“The Real Story” updated us this afternoon on the continuing investigation into the murder of a 19-year-old Mississippi woman who was burned alive.

Jessica Chambers’ father, Ben, vowed that whoever killed his daughter would be brought to justice.

“To the person that done this: They’re coming for you. They’re working day and night, day and night, away from their own families,” he said, calling for the killer to eventually be kept in solitary confinement.

Chambers said he never knew of his daughter having any enemies. He also said he is relying on faith to get him through this difficult time.

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Univ of Michigan Dept. Chair: I Hate Republicans and You Should Too

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Credit - National Review

Credit – National Review

A University of Michigan department chairwoman has published an article titled, “It’s Okay To Hate Republicans,” which will probably make all of her conservative students feel really comfortable and totally certain that they’re being graded fairly.

“I hate Republicans,” communications department chairwoman and professor Susan J. Douglas boldly declares in the opening of the piece. “I can’t stand the thought of having to spend the next two years watching Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Ted Cruz, Darrell Issa or any of the legions of other blowhards denying climate change, thwarting immigration reform or championing fetal ‘personhood.’”

She writes that although the fact that her “tendency is to blame the Republicans . . . may seem biased,” historical and psychological research back her up, and so it’s basically actually a fact that Republicans are bad!

Douglas said that in the 1970s she did work for a Republican, Rhode Island’s senate minority leader Fred Lippitt, but she hates them all now because Lippitt was a “brand of Republican” who no longer exists in that he was “fiscally conservative but progressive about women’s rights, racial justice and environmental preservation.”

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Sony Cancels Release of 'The Interview'; FBI Links North Korea to Cyberattack on the Company

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Credit - Sony Pictures

Credit – Sony Pictures

LOS ANGELES – The FBI has connected North Korea to the Sony Pictures cyberattack, a federal law enforcement source told Fox News Wednesday, hours after the company announced it had scrapped the Dec. 25 release of “The Interview” after a number of major movie chains said they would not show the film.

The administration reportedly will call out North Korea on its role on Thursday.

However, the source also told Fox the hacking attack did not necessarily come from inside the borders of North Korea.

Until Wednesday, the Obama administration had been saying it was not immediately clear who might have been responsible for the computer break-in. North Korea has publicly denied it was involved.

In canceling he Christmas day release, Sony released a statement saying, “In light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film The Interview, we have decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release. We respect and understand our partners’ decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theater-goers.”

Later, a Sony spokesman said the company had no further release plans for the film, Variety reported.

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Malkin: Jeb Bush is Chamber of Commerce's Waterboy

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Credit - Townhall.com

Credit – Townhall.com

Allow me to unite America’s left, right and center in just three words: No, Jeb, No.

Former GOP Florida governor Jeb Bush made the obvious official this week when he announced on Facebook that he’s “actively exploring” a 2016 White House run. Of course, he’s running. That’s what inveterate politicians do.

Well, I hate to break it to Jeb Inc. There’s no popular groundswell for Bush Part III. None, zip, nada. Independents, progressives and conservatives are all weary of the entrenched bipartisan dynasties that rule Washington and ruin America. Only in the hallowed bubble of D.C. and New York City elites does a Jeb Bush presidential bid make any sense.

Jeb’s indulgent (and ultimately doomed) enterprise has three privileged constituencies: Big Business, Big Government and Big Media. This iron triumvirate explains how the failed campaigns of so-called “pragmatic,” “thoughtful” and “moooooderate” liberal Republican candidates such as John McCain, Jon Huntsman and Bob Dole ever got off the ground. The “Reasonable Republican,” anointed and enabled by the statist Big Three, serves as a useful tool for bashing conservatives and marginalizing conservatism.

For Republicans who argue that Jeb is the most “electable” choice, I ask: What planet are you on? After two disastrous terms of Barack Obama’s Hope and Change Theater, the last thing the Republican Party needs is an establishment poster child for Washington business as usual. I mean, really? A third Bush who’s been working for his dad, his dad’s friends or the government since 1980?

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WATCH – Raw Video of Sharyl Attkisson’s Interview With the Man Who Waterboarded the 9/11 Mastermind

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Credit - Daily Signal

Credit – Daily Signal

The man who waterboarded 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is standing by the CIA’s controversial enhanced interrogation program, saying the intelligence agency and its agents “had to do our duty.”

In an interview with Daily Signal senior independent contributor Sharyl Attkisson, James Mitchell, a former Air Force psychologist, shared his thoughts on the controversial Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program. Mitchell has faced threats since Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, released the report last week.

“We had to do our duty,” he told Attkisson of the enhanced interrogation techniques used on terror suspects. “We were trying to save American lives. The point is that we had just been hit after 9/11 in an attack where they tried to decapitate us.”

Mitchell is one of the men who waterboarded Mohammed and terror suspect Abu Zubaydah. The psychologist assisted the CIA in developing the controversial enhanced interrogation program.

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation, conducted by Democrats, concluded that the CIA did not glean any new information through the interrogation techniques that saved American lives. Mitchell, who has been waterboarded himself, disagreed.

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