Video: Michigan Union members coming unglued

The situation in Michigan is beginning to dominate the news cycle. The State House is in the process of approving right-to-work legislation and the unions are not happy. Of course, what do thugs on the left do when they're not happy? Well, they curse and assault people. First up is this video of Steven Crowder getting physically attacked by union members who can't overcome their own cognitive dissonance.

We may be watching the 2011 Union debate in Wisconsin ratcheted up a notch in Michigan in 2013.

Via Before it's News:



Check this guy out. Yes, that would be considered a far-away look in his eyes.

When sanity becomes a distant memory.

Via WZ:

The United Gaults of America

Unfortunately, this kind of reality was totally predictable and totally avoidable. Nonetheless, the miscreant Obamautomatons wouldn't listen. Now, reality is smacking them in the face and they still don't get it. We are beginning to see where the road of an organized labor mentality leads.

The Hostess baking company told its Baking union employees that if there was a strike, plants would be closed. The union members went on strike anyway.

The very predictable result?

You guessed it.

"We should be treated with respeck."



Last week, Applebee's CEO Zane Tankel indicated that all of his full-time employees may have to go to part-time because of Obamacare. Layoffs are also a possibility.



Let's not forget Papa John's. The CEO and founder, John Schnatter said he will pass the additional costs of Obamacare onto the customers and will likely do things similar to what Tankel seems to be preparing to do if sales drop.

Here is a news report from before the election about Schnatter's plans if Obamacare is enacted:



These business owners and CEO's are not colluding; these are natural reactions to insane policies and laws.

I don't blame them one bit.

h/t GWP

Profiles in Courage and Fear: Scott Walker vs. John Boehner

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has weathered quite the storm and he's done so as a gubernatorial freshman who's actually been elected twice in his first term. When he won the first time, he did so while riding a wave of Tea Party support. He shockingly proceeded to do what most politicians do not; he did what he said he was going to do, despite an evil, Union-backed, Democratic Party attack machine's thuggish threats and behavior.

In less than one term as Governor, Scott Walker has all but changed the entire political landscape nationally, from one state. He did so with leadership; he's governed not out of fear or a need to get re-elected. He's governed based on the platform he ran on. Most important, he understands what's at stake and he is governing, logically, based on that understanding. When the union thugs came into town, Walker's fight or flight response was revealed; he chose to fight and it paid off. His state has now officially set the standard for other states. In essence, Wisconsin - behind a first term Governor - is leading the nation.

Contrast Walker with the most powerful Republican Party member - based on position - in the country right now. Speaker of the House John Boehner has been in Congress ever since being elected to it in 1990. He was there during the 1994 'Contract with America.' He knows what it's like to be swept into power by a conservative movement. Boehner was there when an angry conservative American base put the Republicans in the majority. He was also the Speaker in 2006, when a fiscally irresponsible Republican Congress got the boot.

Comparing the Governor of a state with the Speaker of the House may seem like comparing apples and oranges but it's not when you're comparing the ability to lead.

Whether it's the debt ceiling debate or the Fast and Furious scandal, Boehner has become part of an establishment whose members make decisions based nearly entirely on political calculations instead of on principle; it is an establishment whose members have each others' backs instead of the backs of their bosses - the voters. The result? As Speaker, Boehner has presided over a House of Representatives - which is ultimately responsible for how much taxpayer money is spent - that has watched the national debt increase under the 112th Congress more than in all of the previous 111 Congresses combined.

Meanwhile, Scott Walker is now reaping the benefits - in his very first term - of tough decisions. He is already touting a budget surplus.

Walker has fought the unions... and won.

Boehner too, is faced with an ominous fight that, at least to this point, he seems reticent to engage in. It is a fight against lawlessness, wickedness, and corruption; it is Watergate with murder; it is Fast and Furious; and it implicates the heads of several top agencies and departments. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and perhaps even the White House itself all have their hands in this cookie jar.

Boehner must know how deep the scandal goes but it has become increasingly apparent that he is the one who is holding back Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa from issuing the contempt citation to Eric Holder for the Attorney General's refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena. For months, Boehner attempted to portray himself as supportive of Issa's efforts and that rumors the Speaker was inhibiting those efforts were false.

We now know they were not.

During Walker's recall election victory speech, he spoke about future generations.  Here is the full quote (begins at the 1:30 mark):

...throughout our history... there have been men and women of courage who stood up and decided it was more important to look out for the future of their children and their grandchildren than their own political futures.

Don't just pay attention to what he says but also the way he says it.



Contrast that with John Boehner's most recent victory speech. It came on November 3, 2010. With the gift of hindsight, it's easier to see that the emotion Boehner seemed to be exhibiting most was fear. As Speaker, he has not sufficiently led and on election night, 2010 his fight or flight response was revealed.



About one month after that speech, Boehner spoke with Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes and again, spoke words similar to those of Walker, excerpted above. He spoke of wanting to preserve the American dream for our children and grandchildren. Again, however, it's how he says it that is most revealing.

Boehner's fight or flight response is shown to be the opposite of Walker's.

Video: Wisconsin Democrat Cries, is a Child in Adult body

Just in case you were wondering why Democrats the country over do everything they can to win, including bussing people in from other states in a recall election, this guy has the answer. As it became apparent that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was going to survive his recall election, this Democrat saw the "end of Democracy" from behind his tears.

Child in adult body.

Via The Blaze:



For some reason, that reminded me of this clip from Occupy Toronto last year:

Chicago Way hits Long Island; cops allegedly demoted for voting Republican

Earlier today, I posted the story about the Democratic Party in Wisconsin identifying registered Democrats - by name - who haven't voted in the last two elections and asking registered Democrats to put pressure on them to vote in the upcoming recall election in that state.

Now this.

Via New York Post:

Six Long Island cops claim their commissioner is putting politics before the badge.

The Long Beach crime fighters say they’ve been targeted by the seaside town’s Democratic machine for supporting GOP candidates in local elections last year.


Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney, a longtime Democrat, demoted the cops, cut their overtime, switched them to midnight tours and even filed false internal charges against them for “political payback,” the veteran officers claim in a $39 million lawsuit.

“It’s just the way politics work in this town,” Tangney allegedly told one of the officers while demoting him.

Officers James Canner, 44; Karl Hayes, 42; James McCormack, 55; John Radin, 53; Benjamin Tayne, 47; and Jose Miguez, 39, claim they turned to their union for help, but that then-president Stefan Chernaski, another Democrat, ignored them.

More 'tolerance' from the left.

h/t WZ

1963 Video: What is Communism?

This should get your hackles up. It is a 15 minute film from 1963, narrated by Herbert A. Philbrick, a former FBI agent at the time who burrowed into the underbelly of communism for nine years until he retired.

A must-watch.



Part 2

Video: Baptist Preacher uses decapitation metaphor against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

Perhaps Ted Nugent should call the Secret Service's tip line and direct them to Springfield, IL, the site of an appearance by Wisconsin's Governor, Scott Walker. Not far from where Walker was, there was a union rally where members were being whipped up into a frenzy by the likes of Rev. T. Ray McJunkins and William McNary.

An allegory is a visual symbol representing an abstract idea. The allegory used by McJunkins was so abstract that, one could argue, Scott Walker was being compared to a Philistine (Palestinian) and union members to Jews. Here, he exhorts the union thugs to compare Scott Walker to Goliath and themselves to David, who decapitated Goliath.

Yes, David was Jewish and for what it's worth, Walker has been the underdog in this fight; he's had to go up against the Obama-backed unions. How is Walker compared to Goliath?

These people are insane. That's how.



Via EAGNews, h/t Free Republic:

Video: Stimulus Dollars went to foreign companies, workers

The only thing that could have made this worse is if stimulus dollars were actually sent to Korea to fund Korean businesses and workers. In this case, the dollars stayed here but were used to fund foreign companies and workers on American soil. If there's anything positive to glean from this CBS News segment by Sharyl Attkisson, it's that unions affected by the move are exposed to one of the many things wrong with the Obama administration.

The spokesman for one of the unions impacted by all of this, Mark Mangione, is representing some very angry members, many of whom likely voted for Obama.



h/t Weasel Zippers

Video: Occupy's Hibernating Months about to end?

As the Occupy Wall Street movement was kicking off last September, Van Jones referred to it as an "American Autumn," in an attempt to liken the movement to the "Arab Spring." The movement essentially went dormant as its stench, rampant crime, bad public perception, and winter months all bore down on it. Well, it's coming back this spring and the tactics are going to be changed to reflect a more local focus.

Via The Blaze:

It’s Springtime for Occupy!  That means the brilliant cast of characters that brought you the noxious, multimillion dollar expense to the taxpayer are back for a second round.  Two of The Blaze’s favorite leaders of civic unrest, arch-liberal sociologist Frances Fox Piven and SEIU labor organizer Stephen Lerner discussed  how Occupy Wall Street will pivot to a far more local, intimate occupation this spring after being evicted from their public squatting grounds with rubber bullets and crews in post apocalyptic hazmat suits.  In an in-depth interview with Democracynow.org, Piven and Learner lay out five integral steps that Occupy will be taking this spring to keep a pulse going.

Here is a look at the Occupy movement's playbook:

Video: Meet Jose Peoples; he got paid $60 to Protest

It's really a shame that things this despicable transpire without any real consequence. Here, Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields approaches OWS protesters protesters for hire outside the CPAC conference. The guy who gives her the most time is Jose Peoples. He tells Fields that everyone was paid $60 by the local union to show up. Peoples didn't know who or what he was protesting, just that he was given three Andrew Jacksons and told to show up.

Via Breitbart:

OWS Planning to Shut Down all Major West Coast Ports Today

Back on December 1st, Van Jones tweeted an article that called on all OWS protesters to join in the attempt to shut down all major ports on the west coast on December 12th.

Last week, I contacted the office of House Judiciary Committee chairman, Lamar Smith (R-TX) to request that someone on his committee ask Attorney General Eric Holder what the latter was planning to do about the proposed shutdown scheduled to take place today. That question was never asked of Holder during the December 8th hearing.

Now, whether this planned shutdown amounts to anything has yet to be seen. In fact, OWS enthusiasm has actually been waning of late so it's quite possible that there will be no significant disruption. Then again, it's not like these plans have been unavailable for public consumption so there really should be no shutdown.

Besides, there's another interesting twist to the story. Apparently, the Longshoremen aren't all that interested in OWS shutting down their ports...or are they?

Here is an excerpt from the Workers World website via Michelle Malkin:

Battle lines have formed as the West Coast Occupy movements, from San Diego to Alaska, flex their collective muscle against the federally coordinated, brutal attacks targeting the pro-Occupy Wall Street movements across the country. They are organizing for blockades of West Coast ports on Dec. 12 in San Diego; Los Angeles/Long Beach; Port Hueneme, Calif. (central coast); Oakland; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Tacoma, Wash.; and possibly more. Solidarity actions have been called by OWS in New York and inland locations, as well. 

The pro-OWS movement is aligning itself with labor and the working class, as the West Coast Occupy movements organize to support the struggle of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in Longview, Wash. Longshore workers there are waging a ferocious battle against transnational EGT, controlled by Bunge Ltd., of the grain cartel that controls most of the world’s trade in food products. EGT is trying to break the ILWU in an attempt to drive down wages and destroy the union. (Read “Longshore workers call for anti-racist unity in their ranks” at www.workers.org/2011/us/ilwu_0922) 

The West Coast Occupy movements are also aligning with the struggle of port truckers, who are fighting for the right to organize for union representation. Twenty-six of them were fired in Los Angeles for wearing Teamster jackets to work. Occupy LA and Long Beach are targeting SSA, an anti-union port terminal operator, majority owned by Goldman Sachs, the notorious Wall Street investment bank. Teamster president, Jimmy Hoffa Jr., has publicly expressed support for the Occupy movement.

Today is the day. Stay tuned.

Much more HERE.

Video: Is Journal-Sentinel Interview Herman Cain's 'Rick Perry' Moment?

Two unfortunate and noteworthy gaffes from Herman Cain here. In much the same way that Rick Perry's gaffe in last week's debate was made worse because of his reputation for not doing well in debates, the way Cain seemed to draw a blank in response to a question about Libya was made worse because of his reputation for not having a firm grasp on foreign policy issues. In this exchange with Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporters, Cain has two painful moments. The first comes right off the bat when he's asked whether public sector employees should have the right to collectively bargain. He actually answered, "yes." Frankly, it doesn't matter what was said after that. The fight in Wisconsin showed that the issue of public sector unions is a very sensitive one for the conservative base that Cain needs passionately in his camp to secure the nomination.

As for the Libya question, I got the sense in watching this that it wasn't so much about Cain not having an opinion about how Obama handled the removal of Gadhafi as it was a matter of his wanting to be overly careful about how he expressed his opinion. At the beginning, one is left to conclude one of two things. Either Cain is exhausted and the sexual harassment allegations are wearing on him OR he doesn't have a coherent position on Libya. Toward the end of this clip, he does lay out some issues of concern but he avoids associating the rebels there with either the Muslim Brotherhood or al-Qaeda. Cain knows of these entities quite well, which leads me to believe he decided to be too safe with his answers instead of saying what he believed.

When pressed about what he would have done vs. how Obama handled it, Cain could have drawn a clear line of distinction by saying that the removal of Gadhafi led to the planting of an al-Qaeda flag atop the Benghazi courthouse. Instead, he came across as ignorant or unwilling to express a strong view.

This was not good.



Here is the entire interview:



h/t Hot Air

Audio: White House Continues to Look Foolish with Hoffa Responses

Yesterday, it was DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and White House press secretary Jay Carney who looked completely and utterly foolish when it came to their refusal to denounce the words of Teamsters president James Hoffa, Jr. In the context of standards Democrats and the White House themselves set in the wake of the Giffords shooting, their refusal to denounce Hoffa's comments actually sets a new standard for hypocrisy. Here is White House communications director Daniel Pfeiffer giving it the old college try with WMAL radio in Washington, D.C.

Like Wasserman-Schultz and Carney, Pfeiffer falls flat on his face.



h/t RCP

Video: Jay Carney Asked about Hoffa's Comments, Looks Foolish

Perhaps nothing so demonstrably illustrates the disparity between Barack Obama's words in the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting than his silence in response to the words of Teamsters president James Hoffa, Jr. at a Labor Day rally in Detroit. Not only did Obama have kind words for Hoffa on the same stage but in the hours and days after Hoffa exhorted the crowd to 'take these son of a bit***s out,' the president and the DNC Chair have both remained silent on the issue. This prompted ABC's Jake Tapper to ask White House press secretary Jay Carney about the double standard. As a result, Carney looks patently foolish and Tapper was obviously agitated.

Wow.



h/t Weasel Zippers

Videos: DNC Chair on Civil Discourse Then and Now

The tale of two Debbie Wasserman Schultzes. First up, in the days after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot, the current DNC Chair went on the air with far left ideologue Tavis Smiley and said that it was time for the president to have a 'conversation about civility.' It was a politicized statement because Giffords was a Democrat. This was right in the midst of an absurd left wing narrative that said the likes of Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh were responsible.



Now, fast forward to one day after James Hoffa exhorted a union crowd to view themselves as Obama's 'army' and 'take these son of a bit***s out.' When asked direct questions about the DNC's reaction to Hoffa's comments, Wasserman-Schultz refused to answer.

Via Fox Nation:



h/t GWP

White House Stance on Hoffa's Speech: No Comment

Community Organizers can equivocate and bask in the black lights (race-baiter alert) of plausible deniability but sooner or later, a Community Organizer who becomes President of the United States will have to come out into the sunlight. Consider Barack Obama's non-reaction to Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. calling on a crowd of leftists to 'take these son of a bit***s out' as the quintessential example. When asked to renounce Hoffa's comments, which were said in Detroit during a rally at which Obama himself spoke, the administration declined. This can be nothing other than tacit approval.

Via ABC News:

Despite President Obama’s repeated claims to change the tone in Washington, the White House had no comment this afternoon after Teamsters Union leader James Hoffa, speaking at an event before President Obama, said of Tea Party activists that, come November, Democrats should “take these sons of bitches out.”

Warming up the crowd before President Obama’s Labor Day speech in Detroit this afternoon, Hoffa warned the largely union crowd that the Tea Party was waging a “war on workers.”

“We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war,” Hoffa told thousands of workers gathered for the annual event organized by the Detroit Labor Council.

“President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march…Everybody here’s got a vote…Let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong,” he concluded.

h/t to Weasel Zippers for providing a nice juxtaposition via Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama himself when allegedly heated rhetoric prompted them both to call for civility. First, here's Pelosi in 2009:



Here's the now silent president back in January of 2011 at the Tucson memorial for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords:



h/t GWP

Video: Biden Calls Tea Party 'Barbarians'

Attempts on the part of the White House to deny that Joe Biden called the Tea Party 'terrorists' were weak because of the number of independent reports to the contrary. This video basically confirms Biden did say it. First, in Detroit with Obama, Jimmy Hoffa Jr. tells a union crowd that they are Barack Obama's 'army' and that they need to 'take these son of a bit***s out.' Then, on the same day, while in Cincinnati, Vice President Joe Biden tells a similar crowd that they are involved in a 'war' and that the 'barbarians are at the gate.' By 'barbarians,' Biden was referring to the Tea Party. The speeches of Hoffa and Biden were so similar in tone that one can only conclude that the tone and message were both sanctioned by the White House; there's only one guy higher on the totem pole than Biden, which leads to another question.

Why has Obama been so conspicuously silent when it comes to the extreme rhetoric from both his party and his administration? Answer: he's endorsing it. The good news? These guys are losing.

Via Hapblog:

Video: Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. at Obama Rally calls for Taking these 'Son of a Bit***s Out'

If there's one thing that's been conspicuously absent when it comes to the over-the-top rhetoric coming from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) lately, it's been Obama's refusal to denounce it. His refusal to denounce the words of Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. in Detroit may be even more conspicuous because.... Obama was there. About an hour prior to Obama speaking to an angry crowd in Detroit (a crowd angry as a result of continually voting Democrat), Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. exhorted the crowd to 'take these son of bit***s out' before Obama would take the stage. Hoffa also shouted out to Obama that 'this is your army.'

Via Hapblog:

Video: Good Guys win another one in Wisconsin

This battle took place in New Berlin, WI. Just to set this up, the guys in the red shirts are the Unionistas who showed up en masse at a school board meeting to protest changes to the school district's handbook. However, the red shirts ran into a taxpayer buzz saw they weren't expecting. Stick with the entire video because you will find yourself pumping your fist at the end. This may be a small battle in the larger war against teachers unions in particular and public sector unions in general but it does clearly demonstrate that when taxpayers show support for government officials who want to do the right thing, those government officials appreciate that support.

Via Verum Serum:

Psssst. Scott Walker's Cuts in Wisconsin are Working

At this point, anyone on the left that continues to attack Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is one of two things: a lemming or someone so completely prideful that they're unwilling to admit the truth. Walker's plan is working. The public sector is being forced to balance its books in Wisconsin and it is doing so successfully. The best part? There was no substantial cut in services. In fact, some schools have actually - are you sitting down - decided to look at meritocracy and paying teachers based on performance in order to make up the difference.

Christian Schneider at NRO has more. Check out the reaction of Walker's Democrat opponent in the last election, Tom Barrett, who is also Milwaukee's mayor:

Recently, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted that under Walker’s plan to require greater health-care and pension contributions from government employees, the City of Milwaukee actually comes out $11 million ahead — contravening Mayor Tom Barrett’s March prediction that Walker’s budget “just makes our structural deficit explode.” Barrett, who lost to Walker in the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, refuses to give the governor any credit for helping him balance his city’s books, instead complaining that Walker’s plan to curb collective bargaining went too far.

How about that meritocracy idea?

Yet many governments are putting the collective-bargaining rollback to good use. In suburban Milwaukee, the Brown Deer school district is implementing a plan to allow performance pay for its best teachers. “No Wisconsin public-school district has ever had the opportunity in any of our lifetimes to even think about these things,” said Brown Deer Public Schools finance director Emily Koczela in an interview with a local television station. “We’re looking at understanding what effective teaching is, how to measure it in the children’s point of view, and how to reward teachers that consistently turn in a performance that’s better than the norm,” added Koczela.

One of the arguments against Obamacare and health insurance reform was that we should allow open markets across state lines. Here is that idea being applied to a school district. Go figure, making insurance companies compete for business.

In Appleton, the collective-bargaining reforms allowed the school district there to save $3 million by bidding for health care on the open market. Previously, the district had been required to purchase health insurance from WEA Trust, which is affiliated with the state’s largest teachers’ union. When the Appleton School District put their health-insurance contract up for bid, WEA Trust magically lowered their rates, saying they would match any competitor’s price — a sign they had been fleecing local taxpayers for years.

As Schneider points out, this is all being done through the right kind of 'shared sacrifice.'

Read it all.