Where Are My Keys?

Good Heavens..

 

Good for you, Rush..

The radio giant threatens to sue the DCCC:

Radio host Rush Limbaugh has threatened to sue the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) for defamation, The Daily Caller has learned.

Limbaugh retained the services of lawyer Patty Glaser and demanded that the DCCC “preserve all records in anticipation of a lawsuit for defamation and interference” after the Democratic Party group led a campaign against Limbaugh based on out-of-context statements the host made about sexual assault. Limbaugh’s legal team delivered a letter to DCCC representatives Monday informing them of the legal threat. Limbaugh has also demanded a public retraction and apology.

The Limbaugh team is currently proceeding from the standpoint of litigating and has not yet made a decision as to whether the DCCC could make any concessions at this point to prevent the lawsuit.

The DCCC “has intentionally disseminated demonstrably false statements concerning Rush Limbaugh in a concerted effort to harm Mr. Limbaugh, and with reckless disregard for the resulting impact to small businesses across America that choose to advertise on his radio program” according to the GlaserWeil law firm’s letter to the DCCC, which was obtained by TheDC. “Mr. Limbaugh clearly, unambiguously, and emphatically condemned the notion that ‘no’ means ‘yes.’”

“Let’s be clear: Rush Limbaugh is advocating for the tolerance of rape” the DCCC stated in a September fundraising email after Limbaugh mocked Ohio State’s new mandatory sexual consent guidelines.

A Liberal hero suggest one "punch back twice as hard".  Limbaugh seems to be doing just that.  He has deep pockets, time, and what appears to be a winnable case, so why not file suit?

There's the added side bonus of the DCCC having to toss money that could otherwise be put to better use (maybe helping to find better candidates than the ones they offered up in the last election) than having to defend themselves.

A win-win for Republicans.

Great observations from VDH on Election Day..

Every bit of this piece is fantastic, and pulling out various snippets for you to read would be nearly impossible to do.  So I'll tease you with the open, and ask that you read the whole thing:

Here is the problem with the old-style Obama strategy of slicing and dicing the electorate into aggrieved minorities and then gluing them back together to achieve a 51% majority. On almost every issue in this election that they should be running on, they simply cannot. And on those that they are running on, they probably should not be.

Let me explain.

About that new Democrat ad..

The one where they blame Republicans for Ebola coming and spreading in the United States.  Nick Gillespie has a great rebuttal:

The report notes that "Pandemic Preparedness funding through the GHP account totaled $50 million, a decrease of $22.5 million (-31%) below FY14." Let's stipulate two things. First, $50 million is both a lot of money and not a lot of money in terms of federal spending. I doubt anyone seriously thinks that spending more in the year to come would have stopped Ebola outbreaks that began in fiscal 2014. Second, the requested decrease is in President Obama's budget. Is he a Republican now?

...

Then there's the National Institutes of Health (NIH), whose role in developing new medicines and interventions has been supposedly destroyed by cuts over the years, right? According to its budget documents, the NIH got about $23 billion in fiscal 2002 (George W. Bush's first budget year), a figure that rose to $30.2 billion in 2009 (his last budget year) before peaking at $31 billion in 2010. It dipped a bit from then and came to $30.1 billion in 2014, which is about the same amount the NIH requested in President Obama's 2015 budget plan.

You can argue that the United States needs to be constantly and massively increasing its spending on everything and that every time spending doesn't go up in a lockstep fashion (and faster than inflation, as it did throughout the Bush years) that you're killing people. You can also argue that the topline budget figures for various agencies don't matter, but then you're really talking about the ways in which bureaucracies, especially in the budget sector, misallocate resources. The one thing you really can't do is say that the federal government, which is not actually controlled by the Republicans (just saying), has been slashing its spending on anything.

...

The sequestration argument is a loser, too, as the chart above made by Mercatus Center economist and Reason columnist Veronique de Rugy shows.

If we were living on such thin ice that the difference between sequestration (the president's idea, just saying) and non-sequestration is the difference between life and death or Ebola and health, we're screwed anyway.

I can understand why Democrats are trying to turn the Ebola outbreak here and abroad into a campaign issue. But that sort of gambit is more likely to draw attention to the failure and incompetency of public health bureaucrats here and abroad. That's probably not good for Democrats, given that the run the White House and the agencies in question.

Read the whole thing.

A candidate I can get behind..

Former ASU quarterback, Republican, and hosts an ATF party:

Republican Congressional hopeful Andrew Walter throws a fundraiser with a bang.

He held an event called Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms at the Scottsdale Gun Club Friday night.

Walter is a former Arizona State University quarterback now running for District 9 in the United States Congress.

"This fundraiser is definitely unique and that's kind of what we were going for," Walter said. "Politics don't always have to be bland or dry."

For a donation to the campaign of $250 to $1,000, supporters can shoot anything from a Glock to an automatic weapon.

"What's more all-American than guns, cigars," said supporter Allison Quinn. "What a great way to get people together, shoot some guns, smoke some cigars, and support the man that we want in Congress."

Walter only took a quick break from the shooting to discuss politics.

"The price for food, the price for gas, college, health care -- these are all going in the wrong direction," he said. "And wages are either stagnant or down, so we need economic freedom and that's really what my campaign is all about."

Go for it, California!

You shouldn't stop at only $.o15 per mile, go big, and show the rest of us how awesome you are! 

The California Legislature is looking at a voluntary program that would tax motorists for every mile they drive.

KCAL9’s Bobby Kaple reports that Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, introduced a bill to test out the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax because the state’s gas tax was no longer bringing in the revenue it used to due to people driving more fuel efficient vehicles.

The program is modeled after ones in Oregon and Washington.

“We want to do as Washington and Oregon have done in a much bigger state with much longer commutes…to make sure that we find out whether it would work, whether the public would like it or not,” DeSaulnier said.

It’s unknown how much the tax would be, but Oregon currently charges its volunteers 1.5 cents per mile.

“All of those things would be determined. We would let the agency determine that because this would be a voluntary program,” DeSaulnier said.

Southland commuters were not thrilled about the idea of a VMT tax.

“I bought a hybrid…one, because of my drive. I’m very opposed. I drive to Brentwood every day from Burbank, and I am already paying more than I should be,” Carmen Smith said.

“So if we go on vacation and I drive up to Mammoth, that’s 600 miles. We’re being taxed on vacations?” Kim Robinson said.

It shouldn't be voluntary, either.  Make it mandatory, and have residents send in photos of their odometers at the beginning of each month, and just to be safe, have their milage recorded when you get your emissions done.  Get every penny you "deserve" from taxpayers, Golden State!

GREAT political ad..

 

Technology finds a way..

3D printer used to reconstruct a baby's skull:

In order to treat Gabriel, physicians at Stony Brook University decided to try a completely new kind of operation – one that would cut down on the time the infant spent in the operating room.

Through a collaboration with Medical Modeling Inc. in Golden, Colo., Dr. Michael Egnor and Dr. Elliot Duboys were able to virtually plan the entire surgery beforehand.  Additionally, the company created 3D printed before-and-after models of Gabriel’s skull for the surgeons, so they could accurately predict how the operation’s results would look.

“The first thing we do, after we make a diagnosis, is a CT scan of the baby’s head… and we sent the CT image to [Medical Modeling],” Egnor, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, told FoxNews.com. “Using a computer program, they simulated the baby’s skull with the symmetry and dimensions it should have.  Then the company manufactured these templates and sent them to us, so we had the exact measurements.”

Knowing exactly how the skull should look after the procedure, 6-month-old Gabriel was brought in for surgery and placed him under anesthesia.  In order to get to the deformed bone, the surgeons made an incision across the top of Gabriel’s forehead, exposing the entire front of the skull and eye sockets.

Through the use of a special saw, the surgeons removed four pieces of deformed bone and made special cuts in the skull to help reshape and restructure the baby’s head.  In an attempt to make the remodeling more precise, Egnor and Duboys utilized the 3D printed templates provided by Medical Modeling, which helped to highlight where the surgeons needed to make their incisions.

“They sent us cutting templates, which were pieces of 3D modeling that we were able to place on the child’s skull during surgery,” Duboys, associate professor of surgery  at Stony Brook Medicine, told FoxNews.com. “And then we just traced where the cuts should be on the skull, almost like a stencil… And then we know where to cut.”

 

Mad Genuis in New England?

Why Belichick is tops in his game:

Ahead of their playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts last weekend, the New England Patriots signed to their practice squad someone named Reggie Dunn.

Dunn is an undrafted, unheralded wide receiver. But he also is roughly the same height, weight and speed as Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton, who had scorched the Kansas City Chiefs with 13 catches for 224 yards and two touchdowns in the wild-card round.

As a practice-squad Patriot, Dunn was charged with imitating Hilton, giving New England's defense a head start. Apparently it worked: In a 43-22 win over the Colts, the Patriots held Hilton to four catches for 104 yards.

The Dunn hiring illustrates a little-known scheme that Patriots coach Bill Belichick employs for slowing down opponents: He clones them, stacking his practice squad with replicas of some of the NFL's most dangerous players.

"I don't know where he finds these guys," said former Dallas Cowboys executive Gil Brandt. "Every week, they bring in someone. Same height, same speed. It's like they practice against your twin brother."

To prepare for Sunday's AFC Championship Game in Denver against the Broncos, the Patriots in recent weeks signed to their practice squad 6-foot-3-Greg Orton, a doppelgänger for 6-foot-3 Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas.

"It's something Bill does," said Patriots safety Duron Harmon. "To (practice against) a guy with the same height, weight, speed, it helps a lot."

Read the whole thing.

Well done, Spike TV..

Great ad for their Star Wars Marathon this Friday: