The First Post of the New Year

So it is.

Welcome to the poorhouse, America:

Racing against the clock, the White House reached agreement with congressional Republicans late Monday on a deal to prevent across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts to government programs from taking effect at midnight, according to administration and Senate Democratic officials.

You do know that this fiscal cliff means fewer air traffic controllers, FBI agents, winter heating subsidies? Sure you do. You voted for it. Ignore the people who see this supposed deal as they would a rabid dog. What would they know, right? The unaccomplished liar on whom 1.4 billion dollars was spent knows better than them or even you. Let this man drive you off the cliff. and blame someone else (as he has often done) You voted for it. You own it. He inevitably will.

Related: Guess what Obama owns, as well as a pay raise for his friends:

The United States begins 2013 in uncharted economic waters; America has never been here before. 

Consider, for example, these seven “firsts” for the U.S. economy:

1. All-time record annual average gas price: In 2012, the average cost of a gallon of gas eclipsed the previous record by nine cents, bringing the annual average to $3.60. 

2. All-time record food stamp participation: As of last month, for the first time in American history, 47,710,324 individuals -- roughly one out of every seven people living in the United States -- now receive food stamps.

3. All-time high youth unemployment: In the last four years, average youth unemployment eclipsed the previous record rising to 17.5% -- the highest ever in recorded U.S. history.

4. All-time high number of Americans no longer in the labor force: Never before in U.S. history have so many been sidelined from the workforce. Today, a record 88,921,000 Americans are no longer a part of the U.S. labor force.

5. All-time record number of Americans collecting disability: Medical advancements and technological innovations have increased life expectancy and made workplaces safer. Still, the number of Americans collecting Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) has skyrocketed in the last four years. Today, a record 8,827,795 individuals collect a disability check averaging $1,130.34 a month.

6. All-time record number of Americans living in poverty: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a record 46.2 million people in America are living in poverty, the highest number in the 53 years that the Census Bureau has collected the figure.

7. All-time record U.S. debt: The last four years have exploded the U.S. debt to levels never seen before in American history. Presently, the United States is $16,400,000,000,000 in debt.

Oh, what’s this?

The FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies – but not the White House – made major changes in talking points that led to the Obama administration’s confusing explanations of the attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, a Senate report concluded Monday.

Oh, so that’s the reason why for two weeks Obama lied about a Youtube video being the culprit, going to Vegas, not mentioning the word “terrorism” and then letting Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton take the fall. It’s never his fault.

Well, he never built anything so how can one believe his incompetence or malevolence is to blame for the death of four Americans? And even dead, Lincoln is still better than him so that hagiography can stop.

John Sheardown, a Canadian immigration official involved in the “Canadian Caper” in which six Americans were hidden and then smuggled out of post-revolutionary Iran, has died:

John Sheardown, a Canadian immigration officer who helped shelter and smuggle six American diplomats out of Iran in 1980, has died, his son said Monday. He was 88.

Sheardown had Alzheimer's and suffered from colon and prostate cancer, said Robin Sheardown, who described his father as his best friend. John Sheardown died Sunday night at a hospital in Ottawa, Canada.

"He was a very humble man and a real Canadian hero," his son told CNN.

John Sheardown played a key role in what has become known as the "Canadian Caper," a covert operation by the Canadian government and the CIA to rescue six American diplomats who eluded capture during the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran

Theresa Spense is a greedy fatso with a martyr complex:

On First Nations Chief Theresa Spence's 20th day of her politically motivated hunger strike, Canadians and politicians answered her plea for solidarity for her cause to secure a meeting between First Nations leaders, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and the Governor General.

The Attawapiskat chief sent Friday a public plea to make Sunday a day of solidarity, asking Canadians to stage protests across the country and petitioning politicians to meet with her in Ottawa, both at 2 p.m.

Attawapiskat chief 'willing to die' to force Harper meeting.

You can run to the Ottawa River but you can’t run away from the truth.

The likelihood of Kim Jong-Un abandoning Juche or just not being a ruthless tyrant is rather nil:

In his speech, Kim celebrated North Korea's controversial launch last month of a long-range rocket that put a satellite in orbit. Condemned by the United Nations, the move was widely considered to be a test of ballistic missile technology.

The launch was "a great event which inspired all the service personnel and people with confidence in sure victory and courage and clearly showed that Korea does what it is determined to do," Kim said, according to a transcript of his speech published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

He linked the launch of the rocket to his call to revamp the nation's poverty-stricken economy, which relies heavily on trade with its key ally, China.

"Let us bring about a radical turn in the building of an economic giant with the same spirit and mettle as were displayed in conquering space," Kim said, stressing the need to improve the standard of living of the country's malnourished population.

He didn't however provide details on what kind of measures would be introduced to increase industrial and agricultural output.

Related: I'll believe it when I see it:

A bill on protecting "stateless children" from North Korea was sent to President Barack Obama's desk Tuesday for his signature after both chambers of Congress passed it.

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the bill, entitled "An Act to develop a strategy for assisting stateless children from North Korea, and for other purposes."

The bill, also dubbed "North Korean Child Welfare Act of 2012,"notes that hundreds of thousands of North Korean children suffer from malnutrition in the communist nation.

It also says many North Korean children become orphaned or stateless in neighboring nations, mainly China.

A steady number of North Koreans flee their hunger-stricken nation with their children. Concerns grow that those children are being left without proper care.

The bill, approved by the Senate last week, instructs the Secretary of State to prioritize the growing problem of North Korean children who live in precarious conditions in countries outside of North Korea.

It calls for the secretary to "advocate for the best interests of these children, including, when possible, facilitating immediate protection for those living outside North Korea through family reunification or, if appropriate and eligible in individual cases, domestic or international adoption."

It also demands that the secretary designate a representative to regularly brief Congress on the U.S. government's efforts to protect North Korean children.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), the author of the bill, described the congressional move as an "important step in helping some of the world's most endangered children."

 "It is little wonder that tens of thousands - mostly women - flee to China, seeking just a modicum of freedom. For many, it is a last resort; it is a final chance to avoid starvation and unspeakable oppression," Royce said in a statement. "Sadly, many don't survive the ordeal, leaving behind children."

Last year, he proposed the "North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011."

Remember- the Republican war on women is so heartless that it attempts to protect North Korean women and their stateless children. The monsters!

Oh, will you look at that:

Foreign telecommunications companies, including China-based Huawei, have helped Iran collect incredibly detailed data on its citizens' telephone and Internet use, Reuters reported.

According to an investigative report, a partner of Huawei offered to sell the "Huawei-developed 'Lawful Interception Solution'" to MobinNet, Iran's first wireless broadband provider. The system could monitor real-time communications between subscribers, giving Iran a powerful tool to snoop on potential dissidents.

Huawei gave a PowerPoint presentation to MobiNet on a system designed to analyze data traveling across the Internet, Reuters also reported. The system utilized deep packet inspection, or DPI, which is a tool Internet service providers use to protect against cyberattacks, but which can also be used to block sites, track users and reconstruct emails.

Huawei denies ever selling such technology to MobinNet. MobinNet did indeed obtain Huawei DPI equipment, but it is unclear how MobinNet obtained it, Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Islamists are equal-opportunity murderers:

An explosion on Sunday at a building belonging to a Coptic church in western Libya killed two Egyptian men and wounded two others, a military spokesman said.

Attackers threw a homemade bomb at an administration building belonging to the Egyptian Coptic church in Dafniya, close to the western city of Misrata, said Ibrahim Rajab of Misrata military council.

The Egyptian consul in the city, Tareq Dahrouj, said he had visited the church and the building where the two church workers were killed early on Sunday.

"The explosion seems like it was very strong and I have started making my investigations with Misrata officials," he said.

Libya has small communities of Egyptians, Greeks and Italians who account for most of the Christian minority in the predominantly Islamic country.

 **

A car bomb exploded on Sunday near a convoy of buses taking Pakistani Shia pilgrims to Iran, killing 20 people and wounding 24, officials said, the latest attack on the minority sect.

Related: one pope is apparently a huge problem for most but imagine a whole population of crazy, crazy people. Think about that when a literate German pontiff prays for world peace. You know, something sensible.

Quote of the day:

“Women can run for the presidency as long as they have no chance of winning. They can just do that for fun.”

Just like Sarah Palin, right, mud-slinging liberals? Silly liberals! The things you say!

Celebrity Apartheid Week- it matters because not one of the elitist celebrities whose exorbitant salaries pay for not only their luxurious lifestyles but well-armed protection will ever surrender that just to be like Joe and Sally Average American whom they think they are better than. It really is time to let these vapid little haters know that their opinions are as valid as lint and that THEY work for their audiences whose fickle attentions can change in a snap. Basically what he said.

Chris Hadfield says hi from space.

 

(With thanks to all)