What’s news today?
We have lots to talk about today, so let’s get to it.
Remember, during the campaign this was touted as one of Obama’s crowning achievements. I’m shocked by this new development. OK, not really.
From DetroitNews
“The Obama administration said Wednesday it will sell 200 million shares— or 40 percent of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. — back to the automaker and announced plans to completely exit the Detroit automaker by March 2014.
The Detroit automaker said it will purchase 200 million shares of GM stock held by Treasury for $5.5 billion — or $27.50 per share — nearly $2 above the stock’s closing price on Tuesday. GM shares jumped sharply on the news and were up 7.5 percent to $27.36, or $1.90, early afternoon in very heavy trading.”
Well that doesn’t sound bad. But wait, what do those numbers really mean to taxpayers?
ZeroHedge explains.
“A few days after divesting its stake in the firm that started it all, AIG, and at a profit at that (ignoring that the risk has merely been onboarded by the Fed whose DV01 is now $2+ billion as a result), the US Treasury continues to divest of all its bailout stake, this time proceeding to GM, where the channel stuffing firm just announced it would buyback 200MM shares from the US government at a price of $27.50. More importantly, the “Treasury said it intends to sell its other remaining 300.1 million shares through various means in an orderly fashion
within the next 12-15 months, subject to market conditions. Treasury intends to begin its disposition of those 300.1 million common shares as soon as January 2013 pursuant to a pre-arranged written trading plan. The manner, amount, and timing of the sales under the plan are dependent upon a number of factors.” Assuming a price in the $27.50 range, this implies a nearly 50% loss on the government’s breakeven price of $54. So much for the “profit” spin. One hopes all those Union votes were well worth the now booked $40+
billion cost to all taxpayers.”
________________________________________________
This one? Well it’s about time.
But not everyone is on board.
From Breitbart
“Prominent conservative leaders, including former attorney general Edwin Meese III, Ken Blackwell of the Conservative Action Project, Brent Bozell of ForAmerica, Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, David Bossie of Citizens United, Gary Bauer of American Values, Jim Backlin of the Christian Coalition of America, Richard Viguerie of ConservativeHQ.com, Al Regnery of the Paul Revere Project, and Andy Roth of the Club for Growth, among a myriad of others, scheduled a press conference this afternoon to denounce Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” tax increase for addressing the fiscal cliff. Some are accusing Grover Norquist of giving cover to the establishment to facilitate this cave-in and hand President Barack Obama a liberal victory.
The group released a statement this afternoon:
As leaders of broad based American citizen groups we call upon Republican House Members to vote no on Speaker Boehner’s Tax Hike known as “Plan B.” This tax increase bill is just like the tax increase proposal Nancy Pelosi offered last year on May 23rd. Speaker Boehner, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and too many Members of the Republican conference have forgotten that the problem in Washington is too much spending and not too little taxation. When the American people voted to return the Republican majority in the House last month we sent you to cut spending. Instead, you are now voting on the Pelosi plan to increase taxes next year. We urge Members of the House to vote no on the procedural rule to stop the Pelosi/Boehner tax plan from coming to the House floor for a vote.
Boehner’s plan would concede that marginal tax rates need to go up on those earning more than $1 million per year. The biggest job-creators in our economy would get hit with a crushing tax burden in a weak economy.”
________________________________________________
Well you’ve all seen the Benghazi whitewash report by now. Apparently, the buck now stops at middle management, and not anyone important.
From theAP
“Four State Department officials resigned under pressure Wednesday, less than a day after a damning report blamed management failures for a lack of security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, where militants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans on Sept. 11.”
“Obama administration officials said those who had stepped down included Eric Boswell, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security; Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security; and Raymond Maxwell, the deputy assistant secretary of state who oversees the Maghreb nations of Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss personnel matters publicly.”
Above their pay grade I guess.
________________________________________________
This next one is not surprising. What is surprising is just how far off most Democrats, and the media, are with what the people think, and want to see come from this tragedy. Here’s a hint, it’s not gun control.
From RassmussenReports
“The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Americans believe more action to treat mental health issues will do the most to prevent incidents like last Friday’s school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-seven percent (27%) think stricter gun control laws will do the most to prevent such shootings, while 15% put the emphasis on limits on violent movies and video games. Ten percent (10%) are undecided.”
And from Gallup
“Americans are most likely to say that an increased police presence at schools, increased government spending on mental health screening and treatment, and decreased depiction of gun violence in entertainment venues would be effective in preventing mass shootings at schools. Americans rate the potential effectiveness of a ban on assault and semi-automatic guns as fourth on a list of six actions Gallup asked about.”
“Democrats substantially more likely to see assault gun ban as effective.”
Yeah, because it works so well in Chicago right?
_________________________________________________
Wandering Views 
AJ
I would not call the Assistant Secretary for DS middle management — an AS would be a “senior official”. It’s this level that would see the incoming requests and determine what to do and when to inform UnderSecretarys and the Secretary. In some Bureaus it would be a Deputy Assistant Secretary that would make a call on informing an Assistant Secretary of day to day issues. To me the report was pretty damning, but I guess since it didn’t call for a public lynching it won’t satisfy ya’ll.
LikeLike
In a poll by the Times-News, the respondants voted 51% for, 40% against a ban on assault weapons.
Polls like this are usually influenced by the intensity of opinion.
LikeLike
49% against. But I didn’t have to correct that, did I?
LikeLike
My biggest problem with the ban on assault weapons which I truly do believe the average person doesn’t really need and I don’t have one because of that belief, is that it is a slippery slope. First the government bans these, then they ban something else, then they raise taxes again and then before we know it we are living in a feudal state. Mostly I don’t trust our govenment. In the past 15 or so years I haven’t seen any reason to trust them. (OK, so my father just spoke to all of you)
LikeLike
This is an interesting article about money and happiness:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324024004578171444161023374.html
LikeLike
Agenda 21 has Glenn Beck’s name in big print, with Harriet Parke in small letters. But it’s obvious that Parke is the primary author. A female was writing the book. It’s a good book, I just notice a woman’s hands all over it.
LikeLike
Sure CB,
And was it also those mid-level/senior staff folks who ordered Susan Rice to lie to the American people, or did she just do that on her own? Did these same people also make the President of the US lie to the UN? These are the scapegoats, nothing more. The real culprits, ignored by this report, and the sheeple in the media, get a pass. But hey, maybe one day we’ll get some real leadership who is willing to admit that the buck stops at them. Barry and Hillary are way to cowardly for something like that.
http://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2012/12/18/benghazis-back-sort-of/?singlepage=true
“Okay, so now we know — hardly anything.
The elephant is still very much in the room. Who told Susan Rice to lie about these events and why did they do it? And why did the president lie about Benghazi subsequently to everyone from the United Nations General Assembly to David Letterman, assuming you think he told the truth about it at his initial press conference on the subject in the first place, which I certainly don’t?
Perhaps Candy Crowley will do some in-depth investigation and find this out for us. Well, we all know she won’t, but somebody should. Who that will be is also unclear, given the current state of investigative reporting in our country and the current intellectual and moral level of our Congress.”
LikeLike
All that stuff’s sickening, but his phony, non-existent tears at the press conference the other day were vomit-inducing. What an awful human person.
LikeLike
50% loss? Well hey, doesn’t that mean, by presidential accounting, that there was also a 50% gain? 🙄
LikeLike
why is Susan Rice and HC,and Mr. Obama not stepping down for their failure to protect, the American People?
LikeLike
Wait Susan Rice was the one who told Bill Clinton that he should not trust Sudan, which end with 9-11. So the Dem are going to protect her.
HC is the most cheated on woman in the World because of Bill Clinton, so the Dem are going to protect her.
An Mr. Obama is their god.
LikeLike
Real AJ – you can not hold Mrs. Rice and Mr. Obama accountable for their comments. If you do, you are a bigot.
LikeLike
Re-tweeted by Religion News Service on Twitter this morning:
“Newt Gringrich reverses on same-sex unions. Maybe the world is really gonna end tomorrow”
LikeLike
Chas, that is why when you asked if it was Glenn Beck’s Agenda 21, I said it was his and hers. Obviously, he endorsed it but she wrote it.
LikeLike
AJ
Susan Rice did not lie — that’s been done and done. You all want a scandal. BTW, Secretary Clinton has already accepted responsibility publicly. There’s not an elephant in the room so much as a dead horse.
Roy
Really? Failure to protect the American people? 1 diplomat and 3 USG employees were killed — that’s bad yes, but the American people. That’s overwrought.
And to both of you — sure did not see you guys clamoring for investigations of 9/11 (which your side blamed on Clinton and still apparently do) or of the failure to find WMD or of torture.
On Assault weapons — I don’t think a ban would really work at this point as there are so many of these weapons on the street, What do I think we should do is enhance tech so that the owner of the gun is the only one who can unlock it. Would be interested in thoughts on that.
LikeLike
We never torture anyone. Even Sadam’s on General believe they had WMD that is why when we capture them, they had brand new chemcial gear from France.
LikeLike
When you consider how Bill Clinton worked on stopping the communcation between the CIA, Military, Police… Which help to lead to 9-11
LikeLike
Susan Rice did lie openly and HC did not take responsibility, if she did she would have step down right a way.. But since she has eyes on the White House, the Dem and the Media and the left will protect her at all cost.
LikeLike
#17, that was the Jamie Gorelic wall between the FBI and CIA.
LikeLike
” What do I think we should do is enhance tech so that the owner of the gun is the only one who can unlock it. Would be interested in thoughts on that.”
I think that is a good idea.
LikeLike
KBells,
The tech is already available for gun lockboxes and safes, as well as individual firearms. And a very good idea.
http://www.biometric-security-devices.com/biometric-gun-lock.html
“To avoid confusion, it’s important to realize that a biometric trigger lock is actually one that goes right on the gun, locking the trigger so the gun cannot be fired.
A biometric gun safe is different, offering an actual safe where guns can be kept and locked up for safety purposes.
Both options are excellent ones if you want to keep your gun secure. In many cases, it’s nice to have both a gun safe and a gun lock, since this provides you with a double layer of security.”
LikeLike
When polled, Americans do support gun control. See the polls here:
http://pollingreport.com/guns.htm
Support for background checks and barring felons and those with mental health issues from purchasing guns was nearly ubiquitous in the 90s. Support for requiring gun owners to register their guns with the government was in the 70s. Bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines was around 60%.
In the CBS poll respondents were just asked whether gun control laws should be more strict, less strict or about the same as they are now. Numbers:
All: 57% more strict, 9% less strict, 30% kept as they are.
Republicans: 38% more strict, 14% less strict, 41% kept as they are.
Democrats: 78% more strict, 5% less strict, 14% kept as they are.
Independents: 48% more strict, 11% less strict, 37% kept as they are.
ABC just asked “do you favor or support stricter gun laws”. 54% favor vs. 43% that oppose.
LikeLike
“background checks and barring felons and those with mental health issues from purchasing guns” seems like a good idea but those are the folks who will steal other people’s guns. The gun locks seem like the best idea and maybe should be required if you have a felon or someone with mental heath issues or children in the house.
LikeLike