http://ninetymilesfromtyranny.blogspot.com/2013/01/rule-5-girls-with-guns.html
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Three German soldiers in body armor and gas masks demonstrate operating a 2cm Becker-Flugzeugkanone, an anti-aircraft gun, Western Front, circa 1918
See A Supermoon In The Sky This Weekend
This Sunday at 7 a.m. ET, the moon will reach its annual perigee, its closest point to Earth for all of 2013. Thirty-two minutes after that, the moon will turn full. This celestial combination will bring about the biggest full moon of the year, a so-called supermoon.This supermoon won't be quite as super as the one we saw on March 19th, 2011, when the moon was only 221,565 miles from Earth, the closest it had been in 20 years. Sunday's supermoon will be a bit more distant at 221,824 miles away. (That's a difference of 259 miles, to save you the calculation.)
The supermoon of 2011 passed without apocalypse, but a few ships ended up stranded thanks to low tide and the moon's particularly strong pull when close. This year's supermoon will cause ocean tides to be higher and lower than usual.
Strange Things You Likely Didn't Know ???
Strange Things You Likely
Didn't Know ???
Didn't Know ???
A rat can last longer without water than a camel.Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and
down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2" by 3-1/2".During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur," a small red car can be seen
in the distance (and Heston's wearing a watch).On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily!
(That explains a few mysteries....)Sherlock Holmes NEVER said, "Elementary, my dear Watson."Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per
side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange,
purple and silver.Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space
because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.Weatherman Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald.If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will
instantly go mad and sting itself to death. (Who was the sadist who
discovered this??)Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down
so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in
the USA."The original name for butterfly was flutterby.The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which
stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player
for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet.By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot
sink into quicksand.Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a
piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin
look-alike contest.An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman
to take more than three steps backwards while dancing!The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book
most often stolen from public libraries.The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.Bats always turn left when exiting a cave!Thanks to Deborah for submitting this!!And another via email --this comes by Suzie T....In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb"The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.Men can read smaller print then women can; women can hear better.It is impossible to lick your elbow.The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: AlaskaThe average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius CaesarIf a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?A. Their birthplace.Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?A. One thousandQ. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. HoneyIn Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the "honeymoon".In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them, "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down."It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.
6 Insane Coincidences You Won't Believe Actually Happened
We're not going to bullshit you. Look hard enough, and you can find "amazing" coincidences anywhere. With a whole universe to work with, sometimes the stars are going to align just right.
But, even cynical types like us have to admit that sometimes this stuff can get downright creepy.
#6.
A Terrifyingly Accurate Prediction by Edgar Allan Poe
In 1838, future horror-god Edgar Allan Poe released a book called The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, his only full novel. The book was such a bomb that Poe eventually agreed with his critics that it was "a very silly book" (yet still good enough to inspire heavyweights like Jules Verne and Herman Melville to write Moby Dick and An Antarctic Mystery--yes, Poe was a badass).
PIMP.
Where it Gets Weird:
Poe did a Blair Witch thing with his novel, which claimed to be based on true events. This turned out to be a half-truth: The real life events simply had not happened yet.
One scene in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket visits a whaling ship lost at sea, taking with it all but four crewmen. Out of food, the men drew lots to see who would be eaten, the unfortunate decision landing on a young cabin boy named Richard Parker.
Forty-six years later, there was an actual disaster at sea involving the Mignonette. It became famous due to the legal consequences of some gruesome events on board, specifically the way the men drew lots and decided to eat their cabin boy...
Where it Gets Even Weirder:
...who was named Richard Parker.
Richard Parker: aged 17 years.
The bizarre story was discovered decades later by Nigel Parker, a distant cousin of the Richard Parker who got eaten. You can only imagine what the fuck went through his mind when he stumbled upon the connection.
Hell, this was us!
And that would go down as the freakiest unintentional prediction of future events in a work of fiction, if it were not completely blown away by...
#5.
Morgan Robertson Writes About the Titanic... 14 Years Early
A hundred years before James Cameron turned douchebaggery into an art form at the Oscars, American author Morgan Robertson wrote a shitty book called Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan, about the sinking of an "unsinkable" ocean liner. When you see the cover, you figure you're pretty clearly looking at a fictionalized version of the Titanic story.
No surprise there; it's a story that's been told over and over (there were 13 Titanic movies before Cameron's, including one by the Nazis) but Robertson's book was first.
Where it Gets Weird:
He was so eager to be first, apparently, that he didn't bother to wait for the Titanic to actually sink before writing about it. The Wreck of the Titan was published in 1898, 14 years before RMS Titanic was even finished being [cheaply] built.
The similarities between Robertson's work and the Titanic disaster are so astounding that one has to imagine if White Star Line built Titanic to Robertson's specs as a dare. The Titan was described as "the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men," "equal to that of a first class hotel," and, of course, "unsinkable".
Both ships were British-owned steel vessels, both around 800 feet long and sank after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, in April, "around midnight." Sound like enough to keep you up at night? Maybe that's why Robertson republished the book in 1912 just in case enough people didn't know that he wrote it.
And you thought this guy was an ass.
Where it Gets Even Weirder:
While the novel does bear some curious coincidences with the Titanic disaster, there are quite a few things that Robertson got flat wrong. For one, the Titanic did not crash into an iceberg "400 miles from Newfoundland" at 25 knots. It crashed into an iceberg 400 miles from Newfoundland at 22.5 knots.
Wait, what the fuck? That's one hell of a lucky guess!
What 41.1 million square miles looks like.
But maybe the weirdest thing about Titan were points that had nothing to do with the story, but check out after numerous inquires and expeditions to the Titanic wreck site.
For one, both the Titan and the Titanic had too few lifeboats to accommodate every passenger on board; the Titan carrying "as few as the law allowed." While Robertson decided to be generous and include four lifeboats more on his ship than Titanic, it's an odd point to bring up when you consider that lifeboats had nothing to do with the fucking story. When Titan hit the iceberg (starboard bow, naturally), the ship sank immediately, making the point made about lifeboats inconsequential. Why the fuck mention this?!
It'd be like HAL 9000 addressing the danger posed by O-rings at low temperature decades before the Challenger disaster.
#4.
The Civil War Keeps Finding Wilmer McLean
When the American Civil War erupted in 1861, Wilmer McLean of Virginia was too old and "whatever" for warfighting. Unfortunately, he also happened to live smack dab on the road between Washington, DC and Richmond, VA, the respective capitals of the Union and Confederacy.
The first battle of the Civil War pretty much happened at this guy's place. The Battle of Bull Run, broke out on July 21, 1861 near Manassas, Virginia--McLean's hometown. Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard needed a building to serve as headquarters for his staff and many initials, and when he saw Wilmer McLean's cozy house, he figured "what the fuck..." and camped there.
Major war foul.
This immediately subjected the building to artillery fire, and one cannonball somehow found its way down the poor bastard's chimney. The entire building should have gone up like the Death Star, yet miraculously no one was hurt.
Where it Gets Weird:
But, hey, an insane amount of fighting occurred along that road. A lot of people between Richmond and DC could say a battle happened on their front lawn. And, after this narrow escape with the Reaper in his very own home, McLean figured that moving his family out of No Man's Land would be a smart bet.
However, the man took so long to skip town that when 1862 rolled around, a battle nearly twice as large and four times as bloody exploded just outside his front door again--the Second Battle of Bull Run. After dodging this second bullet the size of Civil War battlefield, McLean finally sold and moved his family as far away as he could afford.
Where it Gets Even Weirder:
When Wilmer settled on a cottage in Clover Hill, Virginia, the town that later changed its name to Appomattox Court House. By 1865, Robert E. Lee's "invincible" Army of North Virginia was too busy having the ever-loving shit kicked out of it by General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army to defend Richmond. So after abandoning their capital, Lee's sorry-excuse-for-an-army was chased by Grant all across Virginia to... fucking Appomattox Court House.
The armies of the Civil War, taking the battle to wherever Wilmer happened to be that day.
On April 9, 1865, General Lee officially surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. The site for his surrender: the parlor of Wilmer McLean's new home.
Once the two armies left (and helped themselves to some furniture as souvenirs), the now-bankrupt McLean remarked: "The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor," which is probably the classiest way a man can handle the single most shit-luck in American history.
Should've just moved to Gettysburg.
Russell Brand shatters hypnosis of mainstream media with hilarious, high-IQ domination of dumbfounded MSNBC hosts
(NaturalNews) I had never heard of Russell Brand until recently, but he's about to become a household name across America thanks to his delusion-busting performance as a guest on MSNBC's Morning Joe program where he "ripped them all a new one" according to comments posted on YouTube.Allow me to explain: MSNBC is a news show with a huge budget and almost no viewers. It is hosted by what can only be called a "band of retards" who have absolutely nothing useful to say... ever!
Today they made the mistake of inviting a guest on their show (Russell Brand) whose IQ exceeds the sum of all the other IQs of everybody else in the room. Brand proceeded to cleverly smash through their boring senseless chatter, take over the news reporting without using a teleprompter, profile the secret sexual fantasies of the female host, and mock them all without them even realizing they were being mocked.
"This is a hotbed of neurosis and psychosis... I'm grateful to be here," Brand says to the other three hosts at one point, and they have zero reaction seemingly because they don't understand the multi-syllabic words he's using.
Watching this collision of one high-IQ individual with a band of "teevee tards" was a lot like watching Alex Jones and Piers Morgan... but funnier. Brand even managed to explain to MSNBC's viewers (most of whom probably had no ability to grasp what he was saying) how the mainstream media manipulates the words of people in order to construct a particular agenda. He said that mass media was an operation in changing information "so it suits a particular agenda" and that MSM viewers were being manipulated.
In response, all three MSNBC co-hosts could come up with nothing better than to talk about Brand's chest hair, or his fashion boots, or claiming they couldn't understand him because he was talking in a British dialect. It was almost exactly like watching the movie Idiocracy by Mike Judge, specifically the courtroom scene.
Brand, meanwhile, continued to pummel the hosts with one quip after another, slamming home insightful, even philosophical observations about how stupid the media is and what a bunch of stooges the MSNBC reporters were. Watch it yourself at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADJhErmJuoQ
Russell Brand made these reporters look as dumbfounded and clueless as Alex Jones made Piers Morgan appear in their now-famous CNN encounter. It was one of the most refreshing things I've seen in recent memory. More! More!
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/040843_Russell_Brand_MSNBC_video_interview.html#ixzz2WwzDMzvc
Friday, June 21, 2013
Don't Be A But Head
The Eagle
Plot summary
In the year 140 AD, 20 years after the Ninth Legion disappeared in the north of Britain, Marcus Flavius Aquila, a young Roman centurion, arrives in Britain to serve at his first post as a garrison commander. Marcus's father disappeared with the eagle standard of the ill-fated legion, and Marcus hopes to redeem his family's honor by bravely serving in Britain. Shortly afterward, only Marcus's alertness and decisiveness save the garrison from being overrun by Celtic tribesmen. He is decorated for his bravery but honorably discharged due to a severe leg injury.
Living at his uncle's estate near Calleva (modern Silchester) in southern Britain, Marcus has to cope with his military career having been cut short and his father's name still being held in disrepute. Heeding rumours that the eagle standard has been seen in the north of Britain, Aquila decides to recover it. During a fight to the death for entertainment, a Briton (Esca) is defeated by an opponent after refusing to fight back, but Marcus persuades the crowd to spare the man's life. Despite the warnings of his uncle and his fellow Romans, who believe that no Roman can survive north of Hadrian's Wall, he travels north into the territory of the Picts, accompanied only by his slave Esca. The son of a deceased Brigantes chieftain, Esca detests Rome and what it stands for but also considers himself bound to his master, who saved his life during an amphitheater show.
The two flee south in an effort to reach Hadrian's Wall, with the Seal People in hot pursuit. Marcus, slowed by his old battle wound, orders Esca to take the eagle back to Roman territory and even grants the reluctant slave his freedom. Freed, Esca still refuses to abandon his friend and instead heads out to look for help. He returns with the survivors of the Ninth legion just as the Seal People catch up with them. The legionaries, wishing to redeem themselves, accept Aquila as their commander and prepare to defend the eagle standard. As an example to those who would betray their people, the Seal Prince kills his young son in front of Esca, Marcus, and the legionaries. He then orders his warriors to attack. A battle ensues, in which the Seal Prince and all his warriors are killed, along with most of the Ninth Legion soldiers. After burying the fallen legionaries – including Guern – Marcus, Esca, and the few survivors of the Ninth return to Roman territory, where Aquila delivers the eagle to the astonished governor in Londinium. There is some talk of the Ninth legion being reformed with Marcus its commander. But when Marcus and Esca wonder what they will do next, Marcus leaves the decision to Esca.
The Ninth Legion
The above picture is of tile-stamps left behind by the Ninth legion and later found in Britain by archaeologists, physical evidence of the Ninth’s existence.
Roman Ninth Legion did actually exist, and its disappearance continues to interest historians. The wall which separated Roman territory from unsettled territory was built in 122 A.D., and the Ninth Legion was “last mentioned in 108-109”. A new group (the Sixth Victrix) took their place in 122 A.D., which would mean “presumably, the Ninth is no longer there…the Ninth has disappeared from the army lists by 170 at the latest.” The Ninth Legion’s activity is puzzling, considering that they were last recorded in 109, were replaced in 122, then completely disappeared before 170. There are inscriptions of survivors, which would seem to show that the whole legion was not destroyed. Usually a fresh group of soldiers were brought in to restore the legion. However, the Ninth was removed from the Lists completely. One theory is that because the Ninth was removed even though it had not been completely wiped out, then the Ninth must have disgraced itself in some way. (Stanier, 310)
Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers says Obama should be tried for war crimes
"I don't think he's let anybody down," Ayers added, pointing to how during the 2008 presidential campaign then-Senator Obama consistently declared himself to be a "middle-of-the-road, pragmatic politician." Ayers also described his favorable opinion of Obama's personality and the fact that he is "interested" and spends a lot of time reading.
Stone pointed out that Ayers views presidents like Lyndon B. Johnson, Nixon, and Bush "with disdain" for their "terrorist" actions, and then asked whether Obama is on that same level for his executive use of drone strikes abroad.
"Of course," Ayers replied.
"Do you think Barack Obama should be put on trial for war crimes?" Stone asked.
"Absolutely," the activist answered. "Every president in this century should be on trial for war crimes. Every one of them goes into an office dripping with blood."
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama's alleged contacts with Ayers became a source of controversy, with the Republican ticket focusing a great deal on Ayers' past association with the violent Weather Underground organization during the Vietnam War. Though the media found no serious connection between Ayers and Obama, many conservative outlets took the tenuous connection to be a demonstration of the president's "radical" beliefs.
The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 2013. Ten key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown
The last few weeks have been among the worst of Barack Obama’s time in office, recalling earlier periods of turmoil for the president in 2010 and 2011, when his ratings also plummeted. In 2013, the situation is significantly worse for the White House, with the Obama administration engulfed in a series of major scandals (IRS persecution of conservative groups, the Benghazi debacle, and the Justice Department seizure of journalists’ phone records) that are not only eroding trust in government but also in the office of the president itself. This is undoubtedly a period of steep decline for the Obama presidency, whose imperial-style big government approach is being increasingly questioned not only by American voters, but also by formerly subservient sections of the liberal-dominated mainstream media. In contrast to his first term, Barack Obama is finding himself less and less shielded by the press, and far more vulnerable to public criticism.With good reason, Americans don’t feel optimistic about their country’s future with President Obama at the helm. According to the RealClear Politics polling average, less than one in three Americans believe the United States is heading in the right direction. A new Economist/YouGov poll has the president’s job approval rating at just 46 percent, with 49 percent of Americans disapproving. Strikingly, 35 percent of Americans “strongly disapprove” of the president’s job performance, 15 points higher than the number who “strongly approve.” A mere 31 percent of Americans surveyed by YouGov believe the United States is “generally headed in the right direction.”
In addition to damaging scandals, which have raised major questions over the integrity and judgment of the Obama administration, there remain deep-seated concerns over the US economy and the enormous national debt, widespread opposition to the president’s health care reforms, and significant fears over national security. Barack Obama’s second term could not have started more badly for the “hope and change” president, who, with three and a half years in office remaining, looks more and more like a lame duck. Here are ten key reasons why the Obama presidency is in trouble, with the outlook exceedingly grim for the White House.
1. The American public is losing trust in Obama
A recent Quinnipiac survey found that less than half of Americans (49 percent) now view their president as “honest and trustworthy.” According to Quinnipiac, the series of recent scandals have begun to significantly dent the president’s standing with the American people, with his approval rating standing at just 45 percent. The IRS targeting of conservative groups has been particularly damaging, with 76 percent of voters supporting the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the scandal, and a series of Congressional hearings putting the Obama administration on the spot. Another survey, by NBC News/The Wall Street Journal, reveals a great deal of public concern over the “overall honesty and integrity of the Obama administration,” with more than half of Americans agreeing that recent scandals have “raised doubts” about the government’s trustworthiness. 41 percent of Americans believe that President Obama himself is “totally” or “mainly” responsible for the government’s handling of Benghazi – just 19 percent believe he bears no responsibility. On the IRS issue, only 24 percent say the president is not responsible in any way, while a third of Americans think he is largely culpable.
2. The Obama presidency is imperial in style and outlook
Leading conservative talk radio host Mark Levin was absolutely right when he blasted Barack Obama on Fox News back in January as “an imperial president.” It would be hard to find a US president in recent times who has behaved in a more arrogant fashion than President Obama, and that includes Richard Nixon. The Obama White House is routinely disdainful of criticism, sneeringly dismissive of Congressional opposition, nasty and brutish towards dissenting voices in the media, and completely lacking in humility. Even veteran reporters such as Bob Woodward, one of two journalists who broke the Watergate scandal, have found themselves on the sharp end of the White House’s boot after publishing unflattering stories. Woodward was warned earlier this year by a senior White House official that he would “regret” his remarks about the president’s handling of the sequester issue. At the same time the Obama presidency exudes a shameless “let them eat cake” mentality, abundantly on display with the president’s lavish vacations and golfing expeditions while millions of American families have struggled to pay their mortgage and stay afloat against the backdrop in recent years of the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.
3. Most Americans are still worried about the economy
Economic concerns are the top priority for Americans according to Gallup. In a recent poll, 86 percent of Americans agreed that “creating more jobs” and “helping the economy grow” are the top two priorities. “Making government work more efficiently” came third, at 81 percent. Despite a slight uptick in economic growth, and improving housing prices in some markets, the United States still has deep-seated economic problems. Most Americans are still nervous about the economy. According to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, just 46 percent of Americans approve of the job Barack Obama is doing in handling the economy. 64 percent of Americans are “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the state of the US economy today. Only 32 percent believe the economy will get better in the next 12 months. 58 percent of Americans still think the country is in an economic recession.
Strong job creation and robust economic growth are being significantly hampered in the United States by declining economic freedom, including rising tax rates, the growing burden of government regulation, and a rising dependency culture. Unemployment still remains at 7.5 percent, with nearly 12 million Americans out of work. 47 million Americans are living on food stamps (the highest figure in American history), and a staggering 128 million Americans are now dependent upon government programmes. A full economic recovery still remains far away. According to the Federal Reserve, Americans have rebuilt less than half of the wealth lost to the recession. As The Washington Post reported: “The research from the St. Louis Fed shows that households had accumulated net worth totaling $66 trillion at the end of last year. After adjusting for inflation and population growth, the bank found that number amounted to only 45 percent of the wealth that Americans had during the peak of the boom in 2007.”
4. America’s level of debt is frightening
America’s economic problems are compounded by its huge debt problem. Barack Obama continues to lead the United States down the path of European Union-style decline, with incredible levels of public debt, currently standing at $16.85 trillion, a per person debt of $53,000. President Obama has done nothing to confront the vast entitlement programmes that are a yoke around the necks of future generations of American taxpayers, while taking an axe to defense spending, resulting in politically driven cuts that undermine America’s national security while doing nothing to reduce the country’s debt burden. As he made clear in his Inauguration address in January, President Obama remains committed to a big spending, big government vision, and one that will force the United States down the road to economic ruin unless it is reversed.
5. Obamacare is hugely expensive and increasingly unpopular
A key liability that will further expand America’s debt mountain is Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act), the Obama administration’s hugely ambitious and expensive health care reform initiative that threatens to dramatically increase the cost of healthcare for ordinary Americans as well as businesses, when it goes into effect next year. Forbes Magazine reports that in California Obamacare is expected to increase individual health insurance premiums by 64 to 146 percent. The latest Congressional Budget Office estimate puts a $1.85 trillion price tag on Obamacare in its first 10 years. A clear majority of Americans oppose Obamacare. The latest CNN/ORC International poll shows 54 percent opposing the law. A Reason/Rupe poll found that a mere 32 percent support it. An April poll by the Kaiser Foundation, and reported by Politico, revealed that “just 35 percent of Americans view Obamacare ‘very’ or somewhat’ favorably, down 8 points since Election Day.” Opposition in the business community is also high, especially among small businesses, the bedrock of the US economy. Gallup finds that 48 percent of small business owners say the Affordable Care Act is bad for business – just nine percent say it will be good for business. As Obamacare rolls in, opposition to its implementation will only grow. If the Republicans retake the Senate in 2014, expect Congress to launch a major effort to repeal it.
6. Independents are rapidly withdrawing support for Obama
As Gallup polling has consistently shown, America is ideologically a conservative nation, with conservatives outnumbering liberals by a nearly two to one margin. Strikingly, as Gallup has found, more than 50 percent of Americans view Obama as more liberal than themselves, with just 27 percent of voters declaring that they share the same ideology as the president. Despite a clear advantage in terms of ideology, the Republicans have struggled to win over sufficient numbers of “moderates” (roughly a third of US voters) in the last two presidential elections, many of whom identify themselves as “Independents.” There are signs, however, that support for Obama among Independents is dramatically falling. According to the recent Quinnipiac survey, 57 percent of Independent voters give Obama a negative rating, up from 48 percent on May 1st. 56 percent of Independents do not believe the president is “honest and trustworthy.” By a 45 percent to 35 percent margin, Independents believe that Republicans in Congress are doing a better job than President Obama on handling the economy.
7. The liberal media is less deferential to Obama in his second term
The Washington Post, standard bearer of the liberal establishment in the US capital, has labeled the IRS scandal a “horror story” for the Obama administration. Even The New York Times, the de facto inflight newspaper of Air Force One, recently carried a headline on its front page declaring: “Onset of Woes Casts Pall Over Obama's Policy Aspirations.” The liberal mainstream media closed ranks behind Barack Obama for most of his first term in office, and relentlessly pummeled his presidential election opponent Mitt Romney ahead of the November 2012 vote, in a shameless display of bias towards their favoured candidate. The big liberal newspapers and the major television networks, NBC, ABC and CBS, have been less willing to bat for Obama in his second term as public opinion has begun to turn against the White House. Clearly, there are some things even the most liberal columnists are finding hard to defend, such as the ruthless targeting of political opponents. Meanwhile, MSNBC, President Obama’s biggest flag-waver on cable news, has seen its ratings plummet in recent months, with Fox News further building its dominance of the ratings.
8. The Benghazi scandal has been extremely damaging
Much as the Obama administration tries to downplay the significance of the Benghazi scandal, it refuses to go away, with 46 percent of Americans believing “the administration deliberately misled the American people about the events surrounding the death of the American Ambassador to Libya” according to Quinnipiac. Like the IRS scandal, the Benghazi debacle has undermined trust and confidence in the Obama presidency. 58 percent of Americans in the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey agree that that the State Department’s handling of the Benghazi attack raises doubts “about the overall honesty and integrity of the Obama administration.”
In the aftermath of the barbaric killing of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans on September 11, 2012 at the hands of al-Qaeda linked Islamist militants, the Obama administration tried to pass off the brutal attack as a spontaneous response to an anti-Islamic video that hardly anyone has seen. Undoubtedly worried that the killings would upset the White House’s carefully crafted narrative in the lead up to the 2012 election that al-Qaeda was in retreat, administration officials sought to downplay the broader significance of the attack in the run up to the presidential vote, a strategy that succeeded in the short term, but has since imploded in the face of sustained Congressional scrutiny. Not only has Benghazi damaged the president, it also hurt former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s image too. As former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan noted in The Wall Street Journal: “Will this story ever be completely told? Maybe not. But it’s not going to go away either. It’s a prime example of the stupidity of all-politics-all-the-time. You make some bad moves for political reasons. And then you suffer politically because you make bad moves.”
9. Obama’s national security strategy is weak and confusing
President Obama’s recent address to the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington has to go down as one of the most weak-kneed speeches by a US Commander-in-Chief in modern times. His call for a winding down of the global war against Islamist terror was naïve in the extreme, and sent completely the wrong signal to America’s enemies at a time when al-Qaeda is strengthening its presence in parts of the Middle East as well as North, West and East Africa. His declaration (once again) that the detention facility at Guantanamo should be shut down was hopelessly unrealistic in the face of concerted Congressional opposition as well as a humiliating exercise in pandering to international condemnation in Europe and the Muslim world. His Guantanamo policy is deeply out of touch as well with American public opinion. US polls have consistently shown strong support for keeping the camp in operation. This is hardly a strategy that will endear President Obama to an American public that feels less safe today than it did in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
10. Obama is “leading from behind” on the world stage
American foreign policy has become even more weak and incoherent in President Obama’s second term. On the world stage the United States has not been this powerless and disengaged since the days of Jimmy Carter. “Leading from behind” is no longer just a mantra for the Obama administration – it has become its philosopher’s stone. Washington’s leadership on the Syria crisis is non-existent, with the White House content to farm out its foreign policy to Moscow and the United Nations. On Afghanistan, Obama’s position is one of retreat and a handover of power back to the Taliban. Iran is barely mentioned by the president, as Tehran’s nuclear ambitions march on. Meanwhile key allies such as Britain are treated with contempt and lectured to on European policy as though it were a schoolboy being reprimanded for speaking out of turn, while the Special Relationship and the transatlantic alliance continue to be eroded. At home and abroad, the Obama presidency is weakening America, while undercutting the strength and ability of the world's only superpower to lead internationally.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100220493/the-stunning-decline-of-barack-obama-2013-ten-key-reasons-why-the-obama-presidency-is-in-meltdown/