Author Archives: Stephen VanDyke

Luke Rudkowski, a guy with a video camera and microphone and really pointed questions, recently went to a Herman Cain rally in Atlanta, Georgia and gauged how knowledgeable the rally of supporters are on his record as a Federal Reserve crony. The interview results were dismal, with most of the interviewees betraying their political ignorance by not even knowing whether the Federal Reserve is a public or private institution.

As one YouTube commenter so eloquently puts it: we are fucked we are fucked we are fucked.

Well, it’s probably not as bad as all that, but it does show that there is still a considerable gap in political knowledge in the public (thanks a shit ton, Fox News! et al). As always, onwards and upwards with the next education campaign: Herman Cain.

The White House has added a new government position tasked with dealing with unfavorable online media. I’m sure this is a wonderful job, as 90% of it would be spent trolling websites critical of the president and posting positive spin. Actually that sounds like a horrible job because, as TSA’s Blogger Bob has grown to learn: people will ultimately hate you personally for shilling online for those bad policies. And oh yeah, enjoy that spit in your coffee/food if they ever serve you in a restaurant.

Well Jesse Lee (photo) has gloriously attained this new position which supposedly transfers the responsibility of online apologist from the DNC headquarters to an even more insular place in the Obama administration, just a few feet from the oval office. Which is totally not a blatant violation of FEC campaign laws or anything, no way they’d do that (eye roll). I’m looking forward to prospect of this lackey having to recap all the online criticisms and then explain the strategy to respond to them “Sir, we should aggressively downvote karmanaut on reddit before people think maybe you really are naked and have a small penis.”

Anyways, the first volley has been fired, on twitter… and it’s dripping with creepy vibes:

Way to side with SkyNet there, Obama.

UPDATE: The news is getting thick with stories that the situation will quickly get complicated for the White House as many are suspecting that the Troll Czar (an affectionate pet name we think will stick) will smack into legal walls erected by the Hatch Act. Be vigilant. If you are reading this, you are the resistance.

This tense handshake/conversation between an Iowa voter and Newt shows that he is not only out of step with actually informed voters, but that he has been off the grid for so long that he’s forgotten that cameras are everywhere and these little off-the-cuff interviews will spread wide and far:

TRANSCRIPT:

IOWAN: What you just did to Paul Ryan is unforgivable.

GINGRICH: I didn’t do anything to Paul Ryan.

IOWAN: Yes, you did. You undercut him…. you’re an embarrassment to our party.

GINGRICH: I’m sorry you feel that way.

IOWAN: Why don’t you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself?

The republican media and talk radio has essentially turned their back on Gingrich over the Paul Ryan flap. That can’t be good for his prospects.

They’re dropping like flies, these also-ran GOP candidates for the 2012 presidential election. First Mike Huckabee announced he will re-up his contract with Fox News on Sunday, now Donald Trump has released this statement to the press:

After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency. This decision does not come easily or without regret; especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country. I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election. I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly. Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.

I want to personally thank the millions of Americans who have joined the various Trump grassroots movements and written me letters and e-mails encouraging me to run. My gratitude for your faith and trust in me could never be expressed properly in words. So, I make you this promise: that I will continue to voice my opinions loudly and help to shape our politician’s thoughts. My ability to bring important economic and foreign policy issues to the forefront of the national dialogue is perhaps my greatest asset and one of the most valuable services I can provide to this country. I will continue to push our President and the country’s policy makers to address the dire challenges arising from our unsustainable debt structure and increasing lack of global competitiveness. Issues, including getting tough on China and other countries that are methodically and systematically taking advantage of the United States, were seldom mentioned before I brought them to the forefront of the country’s conversation. They are now being debated vigorously. I will also continue to push for job creation, an initiative that should be this country’s top priority and something that I know a lot about. I will not shy away from expressing the opinions that so many of you share yet don’t have a medium through which to articulate.

I look forward to supporting the candidate who is the most qualified to help us tackle our country’s most important issues and am hopeful that, when this person emerges, he or she will have the courage to take on the challenges of the Office and be the agent of change that this country so desperately needs

Thank you and God Bless America!

Donald J. Trump

Word has it this had everything to do with NBC’s pending decision to replace Donald Trump on The Apprentice. Negotiations which went into the 11th hour over the weekend with network executives to broker a deal that will put $60 million in the Don’s pockets over the next three years if he renews. Expect a followup press announcement from NBC to be forthcoming, in the affirmative.

With his tongue firmly planted in his cheek of course. The Daily Show heaped some well deserved criticism on Fox News, the debate expectation game, Santorum (Google him, heh), Godfather Pizza guy, and of course Ron Paul stealing the show:

Can we get Stewart and Stephen Colbert to jointly moderate one of these presidential debates? I can only fathom the results of such a public dialog moderated by arguably the two most trusted media commentators in a generation.

It’s been almost two weeks since the news first broke, and now we figure everyone is up to speed at this point and formed their opinions (or conspiracies) on the matter. Well what better/worse way to gauge truth than a poll? It’s not like we can hook the president up to a lie detector (though that’s not such a terrible idea, maybe in the 2020 debates).

Answer truthfully, and tell us what we should believe in the comments.

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“V” Sounds like a typical libertarian here, haha:

V: Looks like the IRC got ganked hardcore while I was out. This piece indicates this was an abuse of op privileges and domain name ownership. Meanwhile, some news outlets are billing this as a “civil war” within Anon, without recognizing that backbiting is standard operating procedure.

I think every organization is prone to some navel-gazing from time to time. The problem is reliance on a centralized server or set of servers, which is proving to be an interesting sideshow in the drama of Anonymous’s daily mass gatherings that have multiple campaigns/operations underway at any given time.

Eyes on the prize, mentlegen.

As many as it takes until they have the right winner:

Meanwhile, Ron Paul just had an absolute blowout in a legit offline poll at a Tea Party meeting in Greenville, South Carolina following the debates getting 80% out of a little over 200 ballots cast. That’s a straw poll you can’t run over and over.

Hat tip to Dan McCall, Michael Maresco and several others who kept finding these polls as they popped up!

From the New York Times… uh, actually the comment section:

The most frustrating part about the administration’s ever-shifting account of the raid: If the first story they released was the true one, the SEALs (and the United States) would have been the definition “righteous” and “not-to-be-trifled-with” (dare I say, badass?).

If the first account the President conveyed were (something along the lines of), “The SEALs were shot at upon arriving at the compound. From then on, they took no chances. Knowing that Osama bin Laden utilized suicide bombers, they neutralized all threats, while ensuring the safety of the eight children living in the house,” he would have conveyed the message that no number of graphic photos could deliver.

Instead, the story the administration hastily delivered was straight out of a video game: there were men on the roof shooting at the arriving helicopter, there was armed resistance in every room, and there were human shields in front of every AK-47-wielding terrorist. Thankfully, the SEALs fought their way upstairs to the boss of the game, Osama bin Laden, who was obviously armed, because the boss of the game is always armed. Perhaps we’ve just seen so many movies that our gut reaction is to assume that’s how a raid against such a dangerous man must have gone. Whatever the source of that account, it was grossly incorrect.

So instead of sending a message of power and righteousness, by revising the story to sound continually more one-sided, the administration made the U.S. look at best untrustworthy, and at worst like we slaughtered a house full of unarmed people. No wonder so many in the Arab world refused to believe bin Laden was dead until AQ said it themselves.

It’s not that the administration lied to us – it’s that they were in such a rush to tell us what we wanted to hear, they forgot that we, and the rest of the world, only want to hear one story. Preferably, the truth.

There’s now a very visible effort underway to sell Obama as a reinvigorated and powerful, security-driven president in the midst of this bumbling escapade of half-truths and retractions is making the internet start to scream: PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!

What’s priceless is President Obama met on Friday with Navy SEALs, telling them “I came here for a simple reason: to say thank you on behalf of America.” And then he gave a really long speech on top of that, because that’s his thing, speechifying and stuff.

Commending the SEALS on killing bin Laden is akin to a re-election awards show (there was a Presidential Unit Citation, which seems cheap considering they are probably manufactured in mass quantities these days, along with those freedom medals). There is still no cash prize being mentioned, though we all know there was the small matter of a bounty of several million dollars once upon a time.

But the awards and congratulations are just sideshow to the real question of proof and truth, which is clearly in high demand and not being sated by government raid story v3.0 (now with built-in lie-fi).

Obama seems to be tone-deaf to the people’s demands (non-partisan, mind you, it’s only been less than a week), demands for some tangible proof, and demands for something more than a moving target story that has a growing stench of bullshit wafting from it.

Like I said, it’s evident he’s tone deaf to this: He’s still on his victory circuit, after all.

UPDATE: This guy has done an exhaustive breakdown of how we’ve Bin Had. All I can add is: yep.

The lone star state is on higher alert today after the news of Osama bin Laden’s death, upgrading visible police forces with assault rifles. Heather Fazio explains, “Texas State Troopers posted up at every entrance of the Capitol with M15s!! It’s a sad day for Liberty in Texas :(”

This lopsided show of force is nothing new in the Texas capitol, as lawmakers have been nervous dicks about their rights (over yours) even before the death announcement. From mid-April comes this affront to equality:

They might not be ready to allow average Texans to pack their concealed pistols in college campus buildings. But Texas senators seem to be preparing to change state law so they can carry their own handguns anywhere, even where the general public cannot.

On Tuesday, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee took the first step to advance a bill by state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston , that would allow legislators, statewide elected officials, some former legislators and some state employees to carry their concealed weapons in bars, churches and hospitals and at sporting events and other places they are currently prohibited — including businesses that post signs outside saying concealed handguns are prohibited.

Robert Butler, Director of the Liberty Learning Institute adds another layer of intrigue with related security-state legislation “Texas Republicans are ramming through crazy big government legislation this year. REAL ID and now southbound checkpoints just passed the Senate.”

“FYI – southbound checkpoints are inside Texas stopping cars traveling south a few miles from Mexico. They will be searching all southbound traffic for guns, drugs, and cash. Guns and cash are of course, legal to possess, but that won’t stop the confiscations.” Soon enough everyone’s a criminal, they just haven’t been caught yet. The security-state is still laden with fear.

Where’s the Texas Tea Party in all of this government twisting of security and liberty? Still out celebrating bin Laden’s death with a Koch-funded BBQ picnic anti-Obama rally in a park somewhere? Haha, send me email, idiots.

Doesn’t matter, because Texans of all stripes need to get fired up and mobilize against this affront unless they really like being bitches to their police state overlords.

photo source: Heather Fazio

Only thing missing is a beer hat.

H/T to Matt Welch

In my inbox this morning:

This month we have a new winner in the Townhall/HotAir GOP Presidential Straw Poll! Congratulations to Texas Rep. Ron Paul! Paul took the victory in the April Straw Poll, gaining 3.29 percentage points from the previous month when he finished second behind former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Palin dropped 4.72 percentage points to finish this month in second. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney actually lost support but moved from fourth place to third. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich fell from third to fifth behind former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

This big issue now in the presidential is certainly going to be the reactions and reverberations across the media and internet with the astounding news of Osama bin Laden’s death at the hands of the U.S. military (Obama, Commander in Chief). These guys fall all over each other at any opportunity to get their reactions in the press, and there’s no real shockers as we’re pretty sure they have been throroughly sanitized by press aides (Trump is thus-far untypically tight-lipped on this one):

Mitt Romney: “This is a great victory for lovers of freedom and justice everywhere. Congratulations to our intelligence community, our military and the president. My thoughts are with the families of Osama bin Laden’s many thousands of victims, and the brave servicemen and women who have laid down their lives in pursuit of this murderous terrorist.”

Mike Huckabee: “It is unusual to celebrate a death, but today Americans and decent people the world over cheer the news that madman, murderer and terrorist Osama Bin Laden is dead… It has taken a long time for this monster to be brought to justice. Welcome to hell, bin Laden. Let us all hope that his demise will serve notice to Islamic radicals the world over that the United States will be relentless is tracking down and terminating those who would inflict terror, mayhem and death on any of our citizens.”

Tim Pawlenty: “This is terrific news for freedom and justice. In the hours after the 9/11 attacks, President Bush promised that America would bring Osama bin Laden to justice — and we did. I want to congratulate America’s armed forces and President Obama for a job well done. Let history show that the perseverance of the US military and the American people never wavered. America will never shrink from the fight and ultimately those who seek to harm us face only defeat. Today, justice is done, but the fight against radical Islamic terrorism is not yet over.”

Sarah Palin: “Thank you, American men and women in uniform. You are America’s finest and we are all so proud. Thank you for fighting against terrorism.”

And of course Ron Paul is taking his time to give his response to the OBL death news, but we’re sure it’s going to be good, considering this widely overlooked/panned bill he introduced way back in the day:

Paul has offered legislation (H.R. 3216) to authorize Bush to issue letters of marquee and reprisal to those private citizens or entities that want to seize outside the geographic boundaries of the United States and its territories the person and property of Osama bin Laden, of any al Qaeda co-conspirator, and of any conspirator with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda who are responsible for the air piratical aggressions and depredations perpetrated upon the United States of America on September 11, 2001, or future attacks.

Paul offered this proposal back in October 2001, arguing that it would allow Congress to authorize the President to specifically target Bin Laden and his associates using non-government armed forces. Since it is nearly impossible for U.S. intelligence teams to get close to Bin Laden, the marque and reprisal approach creates an incentive for people in Afghanistan or elsewhere to turn him over to the [United States].

The upcoming May 5th GOP debates in Charleston will be interesting, to say the least, with so many uh “personalities” jockeying on the national stage at once. It’s definitely on our to-watch list just to see how excitable Sarah Palin will be about the new Obama birth certificate and whether Donald Trump’s permanently constipated look will falter if Ron Paul jabs him in the right spot. My money is on Huckabee trying to steal the show, because nobody ever talks about Huckabee before the debates.

So yeah, we at Hammer of Truth didn’t get our invitation to the balding prince and his trophy girlfriend getting nuptial-ed, so we’re not going to watch at all. We’re petty, we know.

Image ganked from reddit (I mean imgur-hur-hur), where you can get drunk while watching the wedding on your teevee, but that honestly sounds like a terrible waste of good alcohol.

UPDATE: Instead of pomp and circumstance, I will spend time fixing up our little shack of a website. Don’t thank the royals, thank the stupid media for ignoring actual news so they can interview a long procession of people with bad teeth and funny accents saying how wonderful it is that these rich people nobody elected have exquisite taste and let’s care. Heurpity derpt.

H/t to William Ferry of Bay Village for spotting this gem of mathematical fail by Cleveland’s lackluster executive:

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson says the city must cut its work force by 350 to 400 employees by the end of May as a result of planned cutbacks in state aid.

The mayor announced the cuts in an email sent this afternoon to news media outlets. He said in the email that under the two-year state budget proposed by Gov. John Kasich, the city will lose $35.7 million in state aid by the end of 2012.

“$35M divided by 400 workers equals $87,500.”

Jackson stated those city-paid workers will include full-time, part-time and seasonal employees.

Maybe he’s firing a bunch of really useless high-ups in the city administration, he hasn’t elaborated, but we think the math is just wonky here. See this graph: see more…

Yesterday, Ron Paul officially announced his exploratory committee in Des Moines, Iowa and sparked a media firestorm that has actually been refreshing. Four decades since the first rumbles of the Texas Congressman’s liberty rhetoric began to inspire his many faithful followers, credit for his hard work is beginning to pay off like a motherfucker for the libertarian movement. Paying off to the tune of $1.2m raised through LibertyPAC this quarter alone and a bustling cottage news industry dedicated to Ron Paul.

Paul is clearly not shy to the publicity, using the media’s increasing attention on his organizational successes to continually hammer the executive branch on important issues: the economy being choked like a bitch by both democrats and republicans; the growing foreign war machine stoked by the bodies of the poorest (again, by both democrats and republicans); the overbearing, yet comically incompetent police state (sped up to warp speed after 9/11); and about a thousand new bad ideas that are being cast into the regulatory books daily in the name of government progress.

The most clear reason that the media is finally beginning to take notice is his ever-growing base of supporters that trends young, first-time voters with a lot of energy, enthusiasm and free time to give to the campaign and liberty-causes. Paul has even threatened to knock Barack Obama’s tired golfer ass out of the spot of coolest, most hip president, saying “I think that Obama will not be able to hang on to that enthusiasm of the young people because of what’s happened in the last couple years.” For more on that, see: whatthehellhasobamadonesofar.com.

This enthusiasm was on display in the 2010 elections when his son Rand Paul was elected to the Senate, and a shit ton of Tea Party candidates raised hell and got elected (Yes, the original modern Tea Party, inspired by Ron Paul’s 2008 Revolution/EVOL campaign, but was warped by establishment republicans into a cartoon xenophobic hatred for all things “socialist muslim”).

I’m optimistic that the message is getting across because frankly: we libertards/paultards are too big of a group to ignore, and the media has recognized it and chosen to embrace it (traffic = eyeballs on ads). It will take a lot hard work and organizing of that libertarian youth and activism to keep the establishment from co-opting that movement again for a perverted corporate Tea Party v2.

stolen from here, libertarian llama from ages ago here

Your unfriendly airport gate-gropers and porno-scanner operators may soon be card-carrying union members of either the National Treasury Employees Union, or the American Federation of Government Employees. Both are high on the list of choices pre-made for the agency’s employees as they gear up on a proposed measure to unionize their little corner of the security theater erected after the September 11th attacks.

Rebuttals against the unionization of the TSA should self-evident (like namely, that there has been relatively ZERO clamor for it within the ranks of TSA screeners outside of media hype), but the Republicans can take the cake for this gem:

Republican leaders say public employees should not be allowed to bargain collectively, asserting that it pushes up costs for taxpayers and impedes management’s flexibility. What is more, they warn, letting airport screeners unionize could jeopardize national security if strikes and work slowdowns crippled airports and resulted in inadequate security checks.

If you’re gonna sell the downside of something, it really helps if the dystopian future you’re painting isn’t already a systemic problem. From within the same article, comes this juicy tale of misbehavior:

[I]n 2006, airport screeners in Toronto conducted a slowdown by inspecting every piece of luggage by hand, creating such a snarl that management let 250,000 passengers through with minimal or no screening — a move a government investigation later found was a major security breach.

Blue-shirt security theater plus unionization protection equals anyone’s guess, but I already know who will be the losers: air travelers.

LATER UPDATE BECAUSE WHY END ON A SOUR NOTE: This story on reddit perfectly illustrates how I expect my government workers (the people’s employees) to behave in close proximity to these unconstitutional practices. Stand up and have some balls, it’s the cool thing to do.

That’s what the TSA is honestly trying to say with their ridiculous groped by dopes policies, erecting a dichotomy of the illusion of security with the reality of a tyrannical security state. We’re starting to lose the plot in America of who’s protecting whom from what anymore… and it’s damn sickening.

I’ll fucking roundhouse kick a bitch in the face that gropes a kid. This is America you morons, start acting like it.

UPDATE: Even Canadians know what’s what, eh? NSFW language/rage in this video, so put on your headphones or something.

LATER UPDATE: On a morning television interview with ABC, the Drexels say they were threatened by the TSA before the groping, and is actually questioned on why oh why they would post the video (maybe are they trying to cash in and become famous? Innuendo, innuendo, innuendo). Hey genius, it’s called evidence… ABC’s journalists should know better than to ask such a pointless question.

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From Politico, comes this major announcement from Bruce Fein: “They actually need to defend constitutional prerogatives [...] There’s definitely been interest on the Hill. There’s at least two dozen who have been open to the idea that this is a serious constitutional crisis.”

Full text of document provided below:

ARTICLE OF IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

RESOLVED, That Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following article of impeachment to be exhibited to the Senate:

ARTICLE OF IMPEACHMENT EXHIBITED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE NAME OF ITSELF AND OF ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AGAINST BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT OF ITS IMPEACHMENT AGAINST HIM FOR HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS IN USURPING THE EXCLUSIVE PREROGATIVE OF CONGRESS TO COMMENCE WAR UNDER ARTICLE 1, SECTION 8, CLAUSE 11 OF THE CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I

In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has usurped the exclusive power of Congress to initiate war under Article I, section 8, clause 11 of the United States Constitution by unilaterally commencing war against the Republic of Libya on March 19, 2011, declaring that Congress is powerless to constrain his conduct of the war, and claiming authority in the future to commence war unilaterally to advance whatever he ordains is in the national interest. By so doing and declaring, Barack Hussein Obama has mocked the rule of law, endangered the very existence of the Republic and the liberties of the people, and perpetrated an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor as hereinafter elaborated. see more…

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