Joshua Redman

Jazz Crimes

CMS, Tavener Seem to Have Violated Federal Rules in Falsely Certifying Healthcare.gov As "Secure"

It appears that CMS violated federal guidelines regarding security certification. Federal rules require that website be certified as secure before being permitted to go live. 

For reasons that I trust are obvious. 

But Healthcare.gov was never tested, and the White House and CMS were being warned by IT people that it was insecure. 

So what Tavener did is sign an "interim" security certification, with a directive to... test for security after the site already certified as secure was live.

 AND THEN THERE'S THIS:

Chief IT Officer Fired By Obama Might Have Been Terminated For Refusing to Sign False Certification of Healthcare.gov's Security

Tony Trenkle, the Obamacare official in charge of HealthCare.gov security efforts announced his resignation Wednesday, effective next week. 

CBS News has learned that Trenkle, the Chief Information Officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), was originally supposed to sign off on security for the glitch-ridden website before its Oct. 1 launch, but didn't. Instead, the authorization on September 27 was given by Trenkle's boss, CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner. 

As CBS News reported Monday, security assessments fell behind and the website never had the required top-to-bottom tests.

New Ms. Marvel is more like "Ms. Muslim"

Once again, Marvel is shoving the Religion of Peace down our throats, with the latest stunt being the introduction of a new teenaged protagonist taking up Carol Danvers's former moniker:

With most superheroes, when you take away the colorful costume, mask and cape, what you find underneath is a white man. But not always. In February, as part of a continuing effort to diversify its offerings, Marvel Comics will begin a series whose lead character, Kamala Khan, is a teenage Muslim girl living in Jersey City.

No exploding planet, death of a relative or irradiated spider led to Kamala’s creation. Her genesis began more mundanely, in a conversation between Sana Amanat and Steve Wacker, two editors at Marvel. “I was telling him some crazy anecdote about my childhood, growing up as a Muslim-American,” Ms. Amanat said. “He found it hilarious.” Ms. Amanat and Mr. Wacker noted the dearth of female superhero series and, even more so, of comics with cultural specificity.

When they told G. Willow Wilson, an author, comic book writer and convert to Islam, about their idea, she was eager to come on board as the series’ writer. “Any time you do something like this, it is a bit of a risk,” Ms. Wilson said. “You’re trying to bring the audience on board and they are used to seeing something else in the pages of a comic book.”

I wonder if this is the kind of diversity Kelly Sue deConnick was saying she wanted to see when she was interviewed by USA Today last month? And not an Armenian, Portuguese, Columbian or Danish heroine anywhere. Some "diversity" alright.

Kamala will face struggles outside her own head, including conflicts close to home. “Her brother is extremely conservative,” Ms. Amanat said. “Her mom is paranoid that she’s going to touch a boy and get pregnant. Her father wants her to concentrate on her studies and become a doctor.” Next to those challenges, fighting supervillains may be a respite.

The creative team is braced for all possible reactions. “I do expect some negativity,” Ms. Amanat said, “not only from people who are anti-Muslim, but people who are Muslim and might want the character portrayed in a particular light.”

But “this is not evangelism,” Ms. Wilson said. “It was really important for me to portray Kamala as someone who is struggling with her faith.” The series, Ms. Wilson said, would deal with how familial and religious edicts mesh with super-heroics, which can require rules to be broken.

It's clear that despite any claim she makes to the contrary, this series is going to be defined almost entirely by the lead's religious background, yet no chance they'll ever reference any verses from the Koran, not even these ones about women. Nor is there any chance Khan will ever offer any help to 9-11 Families, or try to prevent attacks by monsters like Nidal Hasan and Naser Abdo, or even use her power to defend targets of honor murders. And even then, Muslims might not be impressed either, because the lead character may not wear a hijab, for example. I have a hunch there's no chance we'd see a character like Northstar turn up, so long as he's still depicted as gay, because for many Muslims, that's an abomination.

Wilson is the same writer who attacked Holland for taking security steps to prevent terrorist attacks, spoke disrespectfully of apostates, among others, and even interviewed an Islamofascist from Egypt named Ali Gomaa, who himself wrote an anti-Israel screed in the WSJ.

The NYT goes on to say:

...the quest for cultural diversity in comics is not always successful. The market can be unwelcoming to new characters and attempts at inclusion can seem like tokenism when not handled well. Then there are the firestorms: In September at DC Comics, the writers of Batwoman, announced that they were leaving the series because of editorial interference, including an edict that would prohibit the lesbian title character from marrying. Dan DiDio, the co-publisher of DC Comics, said the decision was about keeping true to the mission of the Batman characters, who have sacrificed their self-interests for the greater good. They “shouldn’t have happy personal lives,” Mr. DiDio told fans at the Baltimore Comic-Con.

The alleged quest for diversity is not successful, if at all, because it's become so predictable and selective. At this point, the protagonists will either be gay, as in the case of the new Batwoman, or in the case of the new teenage Ms. Marvel, Muslim, yet the former mindset is unlikely to turn up alongside the latter, lest it offend adherents of Islam.

In 2011, when Marvel announced that Miles Morales, a black Hispanic teenager, would take on the alter ego of Spider-Man as part of an alternative take on the character, there was an uproar by those who thought that Peter Parker, white and angst-ridden, had been replaced. (He wasn’t. Miles is part of a separate series that offers fresh takes on Marvel characters.)

Oh, that's funny. After all these years, the Ultimate line's offerings are pretty stale.

The most important fan assessment, though, comes later and is easier to quantify. “Fans respond with their dollars,” said Axel Alonso, the editor in chief of Marvel Entertainment, who thinks Miles has helped bring new readers to comics. “When you see Spider-Man strip down his mask and he looks like you, you are more inspired to pick up that book.” The September issue of Miles’s series sold around 32,000 copies. The more traditional version sold around 80,000 copies, though Peter Parker is seemingly dead and Doctor Octopus is acting as Spider-Man.

Does the NYT's writers realize those are laughably abysmal numbers for sales? As for that claim that a protagonist who looks like the reader will persuade them to read the book, that only tells more about Alonso, who must think minorities don't care about good writing. No wonder Ultimate Spider-Man sells so low, and regular Spidey isn't far behind.

The biggest error with stories like a Muslim Ms. Marvel is that they don't reflect reality where it helps. And it's pretty apparent that this new series will be nothing more than a political statement, which only makes it more worthless.

Famous Quotes, have the other 80% learned anything?

"If you like your health insurance you can keep your health insurance, period."

“"If you’re one of the 80 percent of Americans who is insured or covered through an employer  there is no change for you except for an increase in benefits.”

Well, actually….

ARE YOU ALL READY?

Iowa Imam Argues Sexual Abuse Charges Violate His Religious Freedom

The Des Moines Register reported, via Religion of Peace:

An attorney for a Des Moines Islamic leader charged with sexual abuse and exploitation is asking a judge to drop two of the charges, arguing that they violate the man’s religious freedom.

In a motion to dismiss filed last week in Polk County District Court, Des Moines defense attorney Angela Campbell argued that Nermin Spahic, 40, had never met the two women who accused him of sexual abuse before the day of a religious ceremony that led to his arrest. The motion also says that Spahic never claimed to offer “mental health services” or counseling.

Spahic faces one count of third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. He was arrested in August after a 42-year-old woman and her 18-year-old daughter told police that Spahic sexually assaulted them during a religious ceremony.

Iowa law spells out that counselors and therapists are barred from “sexual conduct” with patients. But because Spahic never had a formal relationship with the two women, using his religious position to charge him should be unconstitutional, Campbell argued in the motion.

“The ceremony he was performing was not psychotherapy, nor was it counseling,” the motion said. “The sexual exploitation charges are therefore necessarily based on his religious identity and the religious nature of his relationships to the accusers.”

Police make judgement call, 3 year old boy dies in house fire as a result

myfoxny:

Police stun stepdad trying to save son from fire

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The family of a 3-year-old killed in a northern Missouri house fire says it is outraged after police used a stun gun on the boy's stepfather as he tried to run back in and save the child.

Riley Miller died early Oct. 31 in the Mississippi River town of Louisiana. A city police officer fired his stun gun at Ryan Miller as he tried to re-enter his burning home, which was destroyed.

Grandmother Lori Miller says she witnessed two officers use the stun gun three times, twice after Ryan Miller had been handcuffed.

Miller suffered chest burns and was later released from the city jail without being charged.

The family says it is considering legal action against the city.

City Administrator Bob Jenne called the police response a "judgment call."

Luc Ferry, French Philosopher and Former Minister of Education: Radical Islam Is The Equivalent of Nazism in the 1930's

From Vlad:

For Luc Ferry, radical Islam is the equivalent of Nazism of the 30ies. 

This is what Luc Ferry affirms on 4. November (in a French TV interview). The former minister reacts to the murder in Mali of 2 French Journalists of Radio France International. (RFI) 

L’ancien ministre de l’Education nationale prend soin de faire la distinction avec la religion musulmane. Mais Luc Ferry compare l’idéologie hitlérienne et les fondamentalistes islamistes : 

The former Minister of Education is careful to make the distinction with islam. But Luc Ferry compares Hitler’s ideology with the one of fundamental islamists. 

“The problem is the fight against something which represents today somewhat the equivalent of Nazism of times past. Of course, I do not mean the religion of muslims”. 

To justify this paralell, the philosopher lists following elements of comparaison: 

“It’s comparable with anti-semitism, a kind of absolute contempt of individuals, of people, of human life. In its kind it is as cruel as the Nazism of the 30ies could be. 

It is at the same time antisemitism and communotarianism, it has contempt for the individual. Once more, I am speaking of fundamentalist islamists, of course I do not mean the religion of muslims. The koran is a very beautiful text, I am not speaking of that.” 

Luc Ferry, prophetically, indicates that this could possibly lead to a 3rd World War. 

“It’s a little like the third world war, we have to take it like this. It’s a global problem, it’s very serious.

BONUS INFIDEL QUESTION OF THE DAY:

 Why Did so Many Wanted Nazis Convert to Islam?

Brunner is, in fact, only the best known of a number of Nazi officials who participated in the construction of of the Islamic regimes and who died in those lands after converting to Islam.

File Under : BLUNDERZRUS

Maybe they can scarf some new AL SAUD NUKES AS WELL

Free Beacon:

Putin to Visit Egypt in Bid to Restore Military Ties

BY: Bill Gertz

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Egypt later this month as part of a push by Moscow to replace the United States as the Egyptian military’s main patron.

The visit will take place after the Obama administration last month angered Egypt’s military by cutting deliveries of U.S. military arms and aid at a time when the military-dominated interim government is engaged in battles against Islamist terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula, and an insurgent Muslim Brotherhood opposed to the ouster of President Mohammad Morsi last summer.

According to U.S. officials, Putin will visit Cairo where he is expected to announce a major arms sales package as part of efforts to build closer military relations.

Egyptian diplomats visited Moscow last week to discuss the Putin visit to Cairo. News reports from the Egyptian capital said that Russia will resume arms sales, including advanced weaponry, following a cutoff of U.S. arms last month.

It would be the first time since the 1970s that Moscow will regain the foothold it lost in its close ties to Egypt when Egyptian President Anwar al Sadat expelled Soviet military advisers and ended purchases of Russian arms.

A complete ALLY GIVEAWAY, because, well just because.

Anyway, who wouldn’t rather have a religious mobocracy run by the Ikwhan.

1948-1973, Egypt a Soviet Ally : 4 wars

1973 - 2013 Egypt a US Ally : 0 wars

Otherwise no problem

This Week On The Gathering Storm

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, hosted by WC and Always On Watch.

The show broadcasts live for 30 minutes every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

Our scheduled guest this week is IQ al Rassooli.

The call-in number is 646-915-9870. Callers welcome!

Listen to the November 8, 2013 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:

"Nuclear weapons made in Pakistan on behalf of Saudi Arabia are now sitting ready for delivery”

BBC

Worried about an Israeli attack because of Iranian nukes igniting a regional war?

Worried that our inaction, confusion, support for the Muslim Brotherhood, amateurism and ignorance are creating a dangerous vacuum?

Worried we might be about to make a bad deal with Iran?

Worried if there is a war, the destruction of Abqaiq might quadruple the price at the pump?

Fine, now worry about this, from the BBC:

Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects, and believes it could obtain atomic bombs at will, a variety of sources have told BBC Newsnight.

While the kingdom’s quest has often been set in the context of countering Iran’s atomic programme, it is now possible that the Saudis might be able to deploy such devices more quickly than the Islamic republic.

Earlier this year, a senior Nato decision maker told me that he had seen intelligence reporting that nuclear weapons made in Pakistan on behalf of Saudi Arabia are now sitting ready for delivery.

Last month Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence, told a conference in Sweden that if Iran got the bomb, “the Saudis will not wait one month. They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring.”

Since 2009, when King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia warned visiting US special envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross that if Iran crossed the threshold, “we will get nuclear weapons”, the kingdom has sent the Americans numerous signals of its intentions.

Gary Samore, until March 2013 President Barack Obama’s counter-proliferation adviser, has told Newsnight:

"I do think that the Saudis believe that they have some understanding with Pakistan that, in extremis, they would have claim to acquire nuclear weapons from Pakistan."

Obama High School Friend: Barry Soetoro “Portrayed Himself as a Foreigner”

From Freedom Outpost:

James Manning recently interviewed a high school friend of Barack Obama, who claims to have known him back in the 1970s as Barry Soetoro. Mia Marie Pope says that Obama identified himself as a foreigner and a crack-smoking homosexual. 

Ms. Pope was born in 1962, in California, and moved with her family to Hawaii when she was still an infant. Pope claims that she did not meet or see Barry Soetoro until about 1977. She said that she, Barry and other kids would hang out at the beach at Waikiki. 

Mia Marie Pope says that Barry Soetoro "always portrayed himself as a foreign student." 

While Soetoro was a little older than her and didn't always run around with the circle of friends that she had, Pope says that he "very much was in sort of the 'gay community,'" which she says that even back then was "thriving." 

"We knew Barry as, just common knowledge, that girls were never anything that he was ever interested in, and as a young teenager….as a young girl…..it was clear to me that Barry was strictly into men," Pope said. 

She also indicated that she had no desires for him and said that they didn't get along, largely in part to the fact that he was "a pathological liar, even back then." 

Pope said that Soetoro's lies were "egotistical" and always to "boost himself." She referenced Barry "bumming cigarettes," and said that as soon as someone would give him a cigarette, he would instantly turn and walk away, after he had gotten what he wanted. 

In Pope's words, "He seemed to be incapable or genuine about anything." Ms. Pope said that Barry Soetoro was always "getting with these older white men." 

She recognized that he was one that had cocaine, which she said was "newsworthy" in the groups she hung out in. They then began to believe it was Soetoro's engagements (ie. Homosexual acts) with these older white men is how he "procured" cocaine. 

"In other words, he was having sex with these older white guys, and that's how he was getting his cocaine to be able to freebase," she told Manning. Mia Pope also said that she actually saw Obama dress up as a transvestite. 

She remarked that it was during the era of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Tim Curry, that this took place. 

When asked by Manning why she came forward, and others were not, she said that because she it is a Christian and deeply concerned about her country. She says that if Barack Obama was doing a "good job" today, then she would not worry about his past. She wondered when Obama first came on the scene if he had, in fact, "changed his ways." Apparently, according to Pope, he had not. 

Pope said that she didn't care about his homosexuality or the fact that he used drugs in the past, but was concerned about who he was as an adult. Pope says that her willingness to come forward has taken courage, and she believes it is "righteous" to speak out against Barack Obama. 

GO READ THE WHOLE THING.

These Orwellian Times

George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm: "Some animals are more equal than others."

We are now living in that Orwellian world.

From Bunkerville:

Sebelius Exempts Health Exchanges from Anti-Fraud Standards

In an October 30 letter, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius revealed that the Obama administration has determined that programs created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are not federal health care plans. This decision, which flies in the face of common sense, exempts the Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) and state-based and federally facilitated Marketplaces from laws banning kickbacks and various forms of semi-legal fraud perpetrated by pharmaceutical companies and other interested parties....

While the writer of the post I am quoting had the intentions to portray the Healthcare industry as - greedy and corrupt, the usual meme, the intention is missed entirely. The intention is to devastate Hospitals and physicians reimbursements. The Cleveland clinic has recently indicated it would not accept Obamacare patients and for good reason. They will lose money. The end game is bankruptcy forced on it by the regime. No Hospital or physician’s group will be able to survive on the miniscule payments that will be negotiated. So it is Katy bar the door as our healthcare system becomes the wild west. Unregulated, lawless, and corrupt. Negotiating contracts and sending patients to those who could care less about the quality of service, just give them a few bucks. Drugs? Same thing. It’s pay to play on steroids the Chicago way. Our lives simply of little value. The end game? A Single Payer system that they so crave. They will implement the very evil they rail against....

Chuck Hagel’s Speech on the role of the American Defense in the 21st Century

Maybe it’s me, but this is insanity:

In the 21st century, the United States must continue to be a force for, and an important symbol of, humanity, freedom, and progress for all mankind.  We must also make a far better effort to understand how the world sees us, and why.  We must listen more.  We must listen more.

Got that, Marines?

How about you submariners beneath the arctic ice?

And you guys patrolling Quandahar? Are you listening more?

America’s role in the world should reflect the hope and promise of our country, and possibilities for all mankind, tempered with a wisdom that has been the hallmark of our national character.  That means pursuing a principled and engaged realism that employs diplomatic, economic, and security tools – as well as our values – to advance our security and our prosperity. 

Where do we begin?

How about:

In  this century we face many challenges, but we wish to be viewed in this way

DON’T FUCK WITH US. YOU WILL HAVE CHOSEN POORLY

We have many interests. We have political, military and commercial interests.

NOTICE THEM.

We would like to leave you alone.

Please make this possible.

We’d rather be concerned with things here.

One Maritime Strategist analyzes this:

In his speech Secretary Hagel says “We must not fall prey to the false notion of American decline.  That is a false choice and far too simple an explanation.  We remain the world’s only global leader.  However, the insidious disease of hubris can undo America’s great strengths.  We also must not fall prey to hubris.” 

In my opinion it would be hubris if we as a nation can’t admit that American decline exists. Indeed it requires hubris to ignore the reasons why.

The first reason America is in decline is because elected national leadership is dysfunctional by every single definition applicable. This is not a problem that can be directed to any single political party, this is a shared burden of failure across the board. On one hand we see figures like Senator John McCain lament endlessly how supposedly outraged he is the Department of Defense can’t even audit itself, while on the other side Congress hasn’t passed a single budget on time since 2005. Good governance begins with consistency and reducing as much as possible uncertainty, and yet national political leaders haven’t been able to provide either consistency or certainty in government. Today, the DoD is once again operating under a continuing resolution, built on top of budget disruption from the previous two fiscal years (both of which also required long term continuing resolution), and lets not ignore that sequestration isn’t simply a budget cut, but more intrusively it prevents the DoD from making important budget adjustments to adapt to funding cuts. The budgets of most agencies in the United States are based on funny numbers pulled out of thin air as a result of annual Congressional mismanagement of their responsibilities, and the expectation that any agency can audit itself today contradicts the very purpose of a budget in the first place.

The responsible party for this mess is primarily Congress, but two Presidents in a row have demonstrated a remarkably inept level of leadership in addressing the problem, even when they are in the majorities.

Data.healthcare.gov views of Market Premium Estimated Rates TODAY, 11-7?

Powered by Socrata

There are two main shopping spreadsheets of ESTIMATED RATES (remember, my rate is somewhere between 200%, and 1000% of this number), whose data are extracted for viewing thru the lens of the Obamacare web process of pages.

One spreadsheet, QSHOP Medical Landscape appears to be single parent families, couples, and child alone.

Powered by Socrata

The other, QSHOP Individual Medical landscape appears to be individuals, and families.

Therefore both page views should be totaled for an accurate picture. Today is the first time I have noticed both numbers changing. I will also begin tracking both.

So when Kathleen Sebelius told the Senate yesterday, that the web site was responding quickly, based on these number, it is both easy to understand WHY, and easy to see how disingenuous AT BEST the answer is. The number of shoppers is increasing, but if they convert 5% (an optimistic number) of shoppers per day to enrollees, they need 780,000 views. They have 11,000.  I will continue to watch this.

Amazon - 153,000,000 shoppers per day. And they are the 11th busiest site in the world.

Sangam

Charles Lloyd, Zakir Hussain, and Eric Harland.