Posts Tagged ‘Joe Biden’
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Unarmed At Time Of Boat “Shootout”
Thursday, 25 April 2013 08:43
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Three days ago we pointed out that while the story surrounding the alleged Boston Bombers had many gaping holes in it while it was being made up in process, following the filing of the official sworn FBI affidavit making things up out of thin air would become far more complicated. Sure enough, one specific section in the 11 page sworn testimony caught our attention: the one discussing the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev following the boat “shootout”. To wit:

We were thus surprised to find the first gaping hole in the government’s official version just 3 short days later. (Read more…) Because as it turns out, as per the WaPo, the proability of a “shootout” between the suspect and the Boston police was severly curtailed following the revelation that he had been unarmed the entire time he was hiding in the boat.

Although police feared he was heavily armed, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing had no firearms when he came under a barrage of police gunfire that struck the boat where he was hiding, according to multiple federal law enforcement officials.

 

Authorities said they were desperate to capture Dzhokhar Tsarnaev so he could be questioned. The FBI, however, declined to discuss what prompted the gunfire.

 

Other law enforcement officials said the shooting may have been prompted by the chaos of the moment and some action that led the officers to believe Tsarnaev had fired a weapon or was about to detonate explosives.

 

“They probably didn’t know whether he had a gun,” said one law enforcement official, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. “Hours earlier, he and his brother had killed a police officer, shot another officer and thrown explosives out of their cars as the police were chasing them. They couldn’t assume that he did not have a gun and more explosives.”

The FBI, having been happy to provide the testimony for probable cause, suddenly finds itself silent:

The FBI declined to discuss the exact sequence of events that led officers to open fire on Tsarnaev’s hiding place and whether the dozens of bullets that struck the boat caused any of his gunshot wounds.

One wonders then just how the story about the purported suicide attempt involving a shot into his own throat when he had no gun, will develop from here on out.

Finally, trust Joe Biden to put it all into perspective:

On Wednesday, Vice President Biden eulogized Sean Collier, the slain Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer, and denounced Tsarnaev and his dead brother as “two twisted, perverted, cowardly knockoff jihadis.”

Indeed, who needs an in depth investigation when you have a Gun Tzar, well-versed in all the facts months ahead of any official conclusion?

Oh well: when it comes to putting the heavy foot of the law down, the end always justifies the means. Now it was two suspected (still) bombers and “cowardly knockoff jihaids.” Who will it be tomorrow? Don’t worry – trust the government to know the difference.

    



 
Fisker – The New Solyndra: Obama Kept Pumping Taxpayer Cash As Company Was Failing
Wednesday, 24 April 2013 13:36
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It appears, once again, that the government’s inept approach to spending ‘other people’s money’ has blown up in their face. As HotAir.com reports, newly obtained documents show the Obama administration was warned as early as 2010 that electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. was not meeting milestones set up for a half-billion dollar government loan, nearly a year before U.S. (Read more…) officials froze the loan. Just as with Solyndra, Congress seemed convinced to spend billions of taxpayer money ‘investing’ in green-tech startups – only to lose everything. Simply put, in our humble opinion, the pattern is explained by the ‘monopoly money’ perspective we suspect these funds are viewed as in light of Bernanke’s inexorable funding of the government’s largesse. None other than the great Joe Biden reveled in the news in 2009 that Fisker would re-open a closed GM plant creating jobs, jobs, jobs; it never completed the task and never created one job. When the money isn’t yours, ‘investing’ public funds is oh so easy and it appears, with zero consequence for the decision makers – again.

 

Via HotAir.com,

Stop me if you’ve heard this before.  An administration walks into Congress and insists on billions of dollars to “invest” in green-tech startups, then loses its shirt on bad bets – even while knowing the bets were bad.  If that sounds like Solyndra, well, you’re right…

 

… Fisker Automotive, which continued to get millions in taxpayer funds even while failing to meet the conditions of its loan:

 

Newly obtained documents show the Obama administration was warned as early as 2010 that electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. was not meeting milestones set up for a half-billion dollar government loan, nearly a year before U.S. officials froze the loan after questions were raised about the company’s statements.

 

An Energy Department official said in a June 2010 email that Fisker’s bid to draw on the federal loan may be jeopardized for failure to meet goals established by the department.

 

Despite that warning, Fisker continued to receive money until June 2011, when the DOE halted further funding. The agency did so after Fisker presented new information that called into question whether key milestones — including the launch of the company’s signature, $100,000 Karma hybrid — had been achieved, according to a credit report prepared by the Energy Department.

 

Some may wonder what will happen to all of the American manufacturing jobs that the loans helped create.  On that score, we don’t need to worry … because all of that cash didn’t produce a single job anyway:

 

Vice President Joe Biden announced in late 2009 that Fisker would reopen a shuttered former General Motors factory in Wilmington, Del., to produce plug-in, electric hybrid vehicles. The plant was never completed and never produced any cars.

 

…

 

Once again, we see that “investing” only works when the investor is managing his own money, and not public funds.  How many millions of dollars have been lost because this administration couldn’t admit that it backed turkeys — and also admit that firms that can’t attract investors on its own are the worst possible bets in the first place? The biggest question that the White House should answer is the names of those who kept approving the cash disbursements to Fisker, Solyndra, and a host of others in its loser portfolio even after finding out that the companies were failing.

 

But this story is not over yet. As Reuters reports today, the CEO of the company is heading to Congress once again to explain that Fisker can be successful if the right “financial and stratgeic resources” are provided. We won’t hold our breath…

“After resolving initial launch challenges, the cars perform well and customers love them,” according to a copy of Henrik Fisker’s testimony to the panel. “Fisker still has the potential to build on these achievements if the company can secure financial and strategic resources.”

 

…

 

The House Oversight and Government Reform committee will focus on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to grant Fisker Automotive a $529 million loan in 2009.

The hearing comes as the automaker verges on collapse. Among the key questions is whether Fisker’s prospects were strong enough at the start to warrant the DOE’s backing, which helped trigger a flood of private financing for Fisker.

 

…

 

Forecasts in 2009 for the sale of hybrid and electric vehicles far outstripped subsequent demand.

 

“I’m not sure there is anything anyone can say or do to help Fisker,” said Theodore O’Neill, an analyst with Litchfield Hills Research LLC. “The company is adrift without Henrik.

“The supply chain is broken, so they can’t get parts on credit anymore, and while it is one of the most beautiful cars on the road, there is insufficient demand,” he added.

 

Lawmakers may raise questions about the relationship between the DOE and Fisker, which has been strained in recent months, people familiar with the matter have said.

    



 
Background Check Amendment Fails To Pass Senate, Gun Control In Tatters: Obama To Make Statement
Wednesday, 17 April 2013 16:11
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Following a full court press by the Obama administration, and specifically gun tzar Joe Biden, to legislate “stronger” gun law in the last several months ever since the Sandy Hook massacre, the initiative may have just suffered a terminal defeat following a failure to even pass a bipartisan background check amendment in the democrat-controlled Senate. CBS reports that “In a major setback for gun control advocates, the Senate Wednesday voted down a key amendment to the embattled Democratic gun bill, signaling the increasingly dim prospects of any meaningful legislative action aimed at strengthening America’s gun laws. The bipartisan Manchin-Toomey amendment, a background check expansion devised by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. (Read more…), Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and a handful of other lawmakers, earned only 54 votes, falling six votes short of the 60-vote threshold. Vice President Joe Biden, who led the Obama administration’s months-long lobbying effort on behalf of stronger gun laws, presided over the vote.”

The vote effectively kills any hope for a comprehensive law, and makes a mockery of Obama’s recent aggressive anti-gun initiative:

The failure of the Manchin-Toomey amendment, which was crafted over weeks of negotiation with the aim of attracting Republican support in both the Senate and, eventually, the House, could serve as the death knell for the larger piece of legislation, though it’s possible Reid will bring new amendments to the floor at a later date.

 

In the hours before the vote, Organizing for Action, an advocacy group that works on behalf of the president’s legislative agenda, urged voters to call their senators in support of expanded background checks. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent out similar emails, specifically targeting a group of Republican senators who had at one point appeared amenable to the Manchin-Toomey language. Meanwhile, a pro-gun group that had previously backed the ban pulled its support.

 

In the end, four Republicans voted in favor the Manchin-Toomey amendment, and four Democrats voted against it, excluding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who switched his vote from yea to nay for procedural reasons.

 

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of those who broke with the GOP ranks, delivered a vehement defense of the bipartisan amendment in debate over the bill, and disputed the argument, touted by his fellow Republicans, that it would strip Americans of their Second Amendment rights.

 

“For over three decades in Congress, I have built as strong a record as anyone in this body in defending the Second Amendment. I have consistently opposed the efforts of anti-gun activists to ban guns and ammunition, staunchly defending the Constitutional rights that Arizonans hold dear,” McCain said, continuing with a list citing his pro-gun credentials. But, he added, “Just as I have long defended the Second Amendment to the Constitution, I have also long believed that it is perfectly reasonable to use available tools to conduct limited background checks, as this amendment prescribes, to help ensure that felons and the mentally-ill do not obtain guns they should not possess.”

 

“In my view, such background checks are not overly burdensome or unconstitutional,” McCain said.

Obama will take the podium at 5:30 pm to speak about “commonsense measures to reduce gun violence” and justify this latest disappointment of an administration which should count its lucky stars, it has the labor force participation rate to fudge the unemployment rate with, and the Fed to ramp stocks higher, or else living in America today would be a very different thing if the full ugliness of reality was exposed for all to see.