From TechDirt comes this intrusion from unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats that believe THEY own your privacy (reformatted, emphasis mine):

To Enforce Emissions Standards, State Governments Are Looking To Ride Shotgun In Constituents’ Vehicles

Californians may find their cars being converted to government informants at some point in the future, thanks to the state’s push to curb emissions. As always, a trip to the land of Unintended Consequences begins at the Port of Good Intentions. Cleaner air and vehicles will come at a cost, and that cost may include an extensive collection of driving data. (via Cato).  The On Board Diagnostics computer systems on all of our late-model cars now collect a wide range of information mostly related to a car’s emissions. When something is amiss, your dashboard flashes with a “check engine” light and you head to a repair shop to fix it. The goal is to assure cars aren’t polluting the air.  But now the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is proposing regulations(for a May board hearing) requiring manufacturers to significantly expand the kind of information on-board computer software collects about our driving habits.

The software could track miles per gallon, driving distances, how often one stops and starts the car, and how fast one drives. Newer cars already tell us most of this information on those nifty trip computers in the dashboard. The difference, of course, is the regulations would require our cars to also tell government officials the information.

And if you play chess and think out a few moves, you can see where this COULD go.  Especially when you start linking in such “benign” sustainability Government programs like the EPA  HUD / DOT Sustainable Communities Initiative.

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Here it is from the Free Beacon:

Pentagon: Islamic State Burning Hostage Alive ‘Not The Act of a Winner’

The Islamic State released a barbaric video of the Jordanian pilot that was being held prisoner and was used as bargaining chip, burned alive. Rear Adm. John Kirby held a press conference to address the situation and how the United States plans to respond. Kirby said that the plan was to degrade and destroy IS capabilities and continue to put them on the defensive. When asked about the seriousness of the murders, Kirby couldn’t put it into words.

“I can’t–there’s no way I could possibly figure out how to justify it in your brain because it’s so twisted,” Kirby said. “These aren’t the acts of a winner. They’re not winning.”

I would have expected more from the Pentagon representative – seriously “…acts of a winner”?  When one engages in military action against an enemy (and make no mistake

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Yep – the Obama picture is from the video clip where he announced that under his regime, electricity prices will necessarily soar.  Yep – I am not surprised at that headline in the UL yesterday (reformatted, emphasis mine):

New plants on way, power needs still unmet

Three new power plants — two in Connecticut and one in southeastern Massachusetts — will add more than 1,000 megawatts to the New England power grid by 2018, thanks largely to rising prices in the regional energy market, the operator of the New England power grid announced on Wednesday. But that still won’t be enough to address a predicted supply shortage in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to ISO-New England.

Heck, I would NOT be very surprised if, however, that “predicted supply shortage” (and unexpectedly, as Glen Reynolds writes all the time) spill up to NH.  Dave Soloman continues:

The grid operator needs to know well ahead of time how much power will be available from power plants in the six-state region, whatever the fuel source. So every year it holds what is called a forward capacity auction to see who is willing to commit to producing electricity three years down the road.  The results of last year’s auction, for delivery of power in 2017, set off alarms.

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Senator David Pierce was the only Senator who voted against SB 116 on the Judiciary Committee.  His excuses were lackluster and void of facts.

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The National Prayer Breakfast is a yearly event held in Washington, D.C., on the first Thursday of February each year.  On Feb. 5, at the National Prayer Breakfast, our President spoke on the current rampage being perpetuated by ISIS.  This “organization” as Obama likes to call it, is the group responsible for the recent burning of a Jordanian pilot in Syria.  The world is currently being besieged by radical Islam.  Radical Islam (NOT an “organization”) holds nothing but hatred for the Western way of life, with a special hatred for Jews and Christians.

So, while Jordan’s King Abdullah (who cancelled plans to attend the breakfast because he was dealing with RADICAL ISLAM), was fighting TERRORISM, our President was continuing his role as apologist for these animals.  He does this a lot lately – and one portion of his speech was totally beyond the pale.

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In the unofficial transcript of Senator David Pierce’s comments opposing SB 116 – Constitutional Carry – on Thursday, January 29, the Senator said: “And there was one gentleman in particular, I didn’t get his name, he was standing on the left side of the audience, he went into Article 2-a of the NH constitution that says that “all persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state… He didn’t say it but, what he was going to say, you know, but what he was advocating for is a very strict reading of that and he’s saying that “All persons means all persons.”

That “gentleman” is Ian Underwood who readers of Granite Grok and 2 Amendment folks know well.  After reading the unofficial transcript, Ian has responded in a piece he has entitled “SB 116 for Idiots”, reprinted in its entirety below:

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Even as Obama crows about the deficit (annual) being cut in half (like that’s supposed to be hard, given he started at over a Trillion), the National Debt keeps going up. And that debt requires debt servicing – and that is real money too.

Currently, the government’s interest costs are around $200 billion a year, a sum that’s low due to the era of low interest rates. Forecasters at the White House and Congressional Budget Office believe interest rates will gradually rise, and when that happens, the interest costs of the U.S. government are set to soar, from just over $200 billion to nearly $800 billion a year by decade’s end.

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