Hi there, !
Today Wed 11/20/2013 Tue 11/19/2013 Mon 11/18/2013 Sun 11/17/2013 Sat 11/16/2013 Fri 11/15/2013 Thu 11/14/2013 Archives
Rantburg
531689 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 69 articles and 180 comments as of 11:16.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion       
Hezbollah commander killed in Syria
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
10 19:46 Secret Asian Man [] 
11 21:23 Secret Asian Man [] 
6 19:40 Chuckles Slutch9020 [] 
3 16:17 Bobby [] 
6 14:20 Bright Pebbles [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
11 22:54 CrazyFool []
0 []
14 22:12 JosephMendiola [1]
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
3 14:02 g(r)omgoru []
0 []
0 []
0 []
2 09:16 Pappy []
0 []
0 []
0 []
Page 2: WoT Background
5 21:18 Bill Clinton [1]
5 19:55 Redneck Jim []
4 11:26 swksvolFF []
0 []
0 []
0 []
5 11:56 Uncle Phester [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 []
6 12:26 Pappy []
0 []
2 16:19 g(r)omgoru []
0 []
0 []
1 22:16 JosephMendiola [1]
0 []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
Page 3: Non-WoT
8 16:56 Anguper Hupomosing9418 []
16 21:21 Alaska Paul []
0 []
2 10:56 Frank G []
8 19:12 Airandee [1]
8 19:04 Pappy []
7 14:02 OldSpook []
5 15:00 James []
3 12:48 Shipman []
0 []
3 11:34 Redneck Jim []
1 02:27 Au Auric []
4 16:58 Abu Uluque [1]
Page 4: Opinion
2 19:16 JosephMendiola []
18 16:20 g(r)omgoru []
0 []
0 []
1 22:30 JosephMendiola [1]
Great White North
Rob Ford lawyer says council motions 'can be undone'
[CBC.CA] A bid by Toronto's city council to whittle down Mayor Rob Ford's powers via a series of special motions could be neutralized by the courts, according to the municipal lawyer hired by Ford.

"What can be done by city council can be undone by the court on an application to quash or an application for judicial review," George Rust-D'Eye told CBC News Network on Saturday.
"George Rusty Eye"? They made that up, didn't they?
Ford announced on Friday that he was retaining Rust-D'Eye, a veteran legal expert on municipal law, to advise him should Ford proceed with a court challenge against city council's efforts to curtail his influence on municipal affairs.

Rust-D'Eye's legal fees will be paid out of Ford's pocket.

Speaking with CBC News on Saturday, Rust-D'Eye said the City of Toronto has specific provisions that grant "special powers on the head of council," and that "one would expect that if he has special responsibilities, then he should also be able to exercise those responsibilities and not be hamstrung by city council."

Councillors have already voted on two motions to restrict Ford's powers. On Friday, a 39-3 vote stripped away his ability to hire or fire the deputy mayor and appoint members of his executive committee. Another motion passed 41-2 to remove his authority during emergency situations.

3rd motion expected Monday

A third motion expected on Monday would reduce the mayor's staff and office budget to that of a regular city councillor.

The city council strategy is to render Ford a mayor in name only.

Ford, who is embroiled in a crack cocaine scandal and recently made a crude sexual remark at a live presser, has said he will fight the motions. Rust-D'Eye will provide municipal advice to the mayor's personal lawyer, Dennis Morris.
Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...geez...imagine that...a place where political actions can be reversed...
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 11/17/2013 0:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Ford is fighting a losing battle, He WILL be thrown out, legal or not.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/17/2013 11:08 Comments || Top||

#3  No comment. With the churlish, rogues gallery of pols we must endure, saying anything about this poor bastid would be most hypocritical. Oh well, it just slipped out.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/17/2013 11:15 Comments || Top||

#4  ...a montage... <LINK>
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 11/17/2013 13:39 Comments || Top||

#5  "He's worse than dead, his brain is gone."

Whahhaha
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/17/2013 13:42 Comments || Top||

#6 
Opener - CBC News Toronto - Mayor Rob Ford... by IdolxMuzic
Posted by: Chuckles Slutch9020 || 11/17/2013 19:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Wisconsin Political Speech Raid
Subpoenas hit allies of Scott Walker as his re-election campaign looms.

[WSJ] Americans learned in the IRS political targeting scandal that government enforcement power can be used to stifle political speech. Something similar may be unfolding in Wisconsin, where a special prosecutor is targeting conservative groups that participated in the battle over Governor Scott Walker's union reforms.

In recent weeks, special prosecutor Francis Schmitz has hit dozens of conservative groups with subpoenas demanding documents related to the 2011 and 2012 campaigns to recall Governor Walker and state legislative leaders.

Copies of two subpoenas we've seen demand "all memoranda, email . . . correspondence, and communications" both internally and between the subpoena target and some 29 conservative groups, including Wisconsin and national nonprofits, political vendors and party committees. The groups include the League of American Voters, Wisconsin Family Action, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Americans for Prosperity--Wisconsin, American Crossroads, the Republican Governors Association, Friends of Scott Walker and the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...Mr. Schmitz seems to be something of a mystery...: <LINK>
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 11/17/2013 0:47 Comments || Top||

#2  ...here we go...: <LINK>
Posted by: Unle Phester || 11/17/2013 10:49 Comments || Top||

#3  ...not certain why this story intrigues me...

More info on the (now retired from the DOJ) Mr. Schmtz here: <LINK>

Also interesting that Mr. Schmitz seems to be especially interested in the spread of diseases (owing to similarity with ideas or information?): <LINK>

...hope Gov. Walker has a clean closet...

Posted by: Uncle Phester || 11/17/2013 11:05 Comments || Top||

#4  The left in Wisconsin may as well put on the brown shirts and jackboots now. They don't mean to compete in the political arena, they mean to silence their opponents by force (police raids) and threats of force (the gag orders on the subpoenas that isolate the recipient on pain of police action if they reveal the existence of the warrant).

Seems to me the way these processes are done, they would be unconstitutional because those affected (namely the donors) have no ability to hear the charges nor confront their accusers nor oppose what seem to be largely illegal search and seizure of personal information.

If this were the wild west, that Milwaukee mayor and his pet city attorney behind this abuse of the legal system would be swinging from trees for this (after conviction of course)
Posted by: OldSpook || 11/17/2013 13:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Uncle P, it doesn't matter if Walker has a clean closet - they can shovel plenty of dirt in there anyway.
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/17/2013 14:07 Comments || Top||

#6  The left tend to project. This probably means those behind the operation have very dirty closets...

Time for 'pubs to have a look.

I'll wager there's skeletons falling into Narnia.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/17/2013 14:20 Comments || Top||


Government
O'care Goal is to Enroll 80%
The Obama administration will consider the new federal insurance marketplace a success if 80 percent of users can buy health-care plans online, according to government and industry officials familiar with the project.
But one in five can't, as opposed to "won't". Isn't that about the number who were uninsured prior to the passage of the bloated monstrosity?
The goal for how many people should be able to make it through the insurance exchange is an internal target that administration officials have not made public. It acknowledges that as many as one in five Americans who try to use the Web site to buy insurance will be unable to do so.

The internal 80 percent target is the basis of a promise that has become an administration mantra in recent weeks: HealthCare.gov will "work smoothly for the vast majority of users" by the end of November.
Doesn't anybody in the Administration understand that most Americans know that's two weeks away? Has anybody told Champ?
The catchphrase was coined by former presidential management official Jeffrey Zients shortly after the White House assigned him to oversee the Web site's repairs, according to a government official with knowledge of the project who spoke anonymously about matters that are not public.
Former official? Retired, did he? No, apparently promoted to Repair Czar.
But Zients also said that "new bugs and other glitches will surface" in December and beyond that and will need to be fixed. Even if the site works well, he said, "that doesn't mean that the site will be sufficient for 100 percent of users or consumers to use for enrollment."
But Jeffrey, why is that? Too complicated for conservatives?
According to a government official familiar with the new target, the 20 percent who are unlikely to be able to enroll online are expected to fall into three groups: people whose family circumstances are so complicated that the inadequate Web site cannot determine their eligibility for subsidies to help pay for health plans; people uncomfortable buying insurance on a computer and those that have not yet received their ObamaComputer; and people who encounter technical problems on the Web site.
But the problems are gonna hamper waaaay less than the 20% of the users. The Obamanauts optimism never wanes!
When HHS in 2011 invited contractors to bid on the chance to build HealthCare.gov, the department's "statement of work" did not include requirements typical of many IT contracts in which interested companies must spell out how the system would perform, according to an industry representative close to the project. The agreement that CGI Federal, the company chosen as the main contractor, signed on Sept. 30, 2011, also did not contain specific performance criteria, success measures or response times.
Well, hardly any open-ended, no-bid, reward for campaign contributions has ... well, controls.
At a meeting late in the month at CGI Federal's offices in Herndon, White House presidential innovation fellows assigned to help repair the exchange presented estimates of how quickly people would need to get from one Web page to the next in order to reach the 80 percent goal, according to squealers a government official familiar with the discussion. They calculated that the system would need an error rate of less than 1 percent and a typical wait time of no more than 500 milliseconds -- half a second -- no matter what part of the Web site visitors were on.
So how long could it take to get from "trash" to those metrics? Two weeks? Two years? Two geologic epochs?
But there are still no concrete goals for the site's accuracy, including whether users are correctly informed whether they are eligible for federal help in paying for health plans or whether insurance companies are given correct information about their new customers.
Well, I am certainly going to lie to get my big subsidy, just like everyone else! It's gotta be easier and safer than cheating on your taxes!
Administration officials have talked publicly in recent days about one of the measures: a reduction in errors that freeze Web pages or otherwise hinder the ability to sign up for insurance. They have said the error rate has dropped from up to 6 percent a week ago to less than 1 percent now.
And if you can't believe Administration Officials, who can you believe?
On the other measure -- which assesses how quickly people can move through any part of HealthCare.gov -- one official said that the Web site has performed close to the half-second on most days.
Certainly, this official is as trustworthy as any of the others...
But the current load on the system is light because many people are staying away following the rollout problems. Even then, the official said, "swings from good performance to bad performance have been frequent."
Except no one knows how to measure the performance.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/17/2013 06:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NASA's program for Mooslims in Space has more of a chance for success than Obamacare enrollments at 80%.

Posted by: Tiny Elmineck5004 || 11/17/2013 10:24 Comments || Top||

#2  No one forces me to buy, I will not buy when I'm forced, no matter how "Essential" THEY say it is, Obama LIES and this is another.

I give NO money to thieves.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/17/2013 11:05 Comments || Top||

#3  well, they HAVE enrolled 80%....of 120,000. Success!
Posted by: Frank G || 11/17/2013 11:11 Comments || Top||

#4  When HHS in 2011 invited contractors to bid on the chance to build HealthCare.gov, the department's "statement of work" did not include requirements typical of many IT contracts in which interested companies must spell out how the system would perform, according to an industry representative close to the project.

SAMPLE Work Requirements

Here the Statement of Work (SOW) should include a description of the actual tasks which the project will require. This should include what tasks need to be completed in order for successful completion of this project/contract. As with all other portions of the SOW, every effort should be made to include as much detail as possible.

As part of the Website Redesign Project the vendor will be responsible for performing tasks throughout various stages of this project. The following is a list of these tasks which will result in the successful completion of this project:

Kickoff:
•Vendor will create and present detailed project plan including schedule, WBS, testing plan, implementation plan, training plan, and transition plan
•Vendor will present project plan to SCG for review and approval

Design Phase:
•Work with SCG to gather requirements and establish metrics
•Create site design based on collected requirements
•Develop site design proposal for SCG review and approval
•Present written status at weekly meeting

Build Phase:
•Vendor will complete all coding for approved site design
•Vendor will provide SCG with a detailed testing plan
•Vendor will include all content provided by SCG on redesigned web site
•Vendor will conduct testing in both their iLab as well as in a limited beta release
•Vendor will resolve any coding and site issues identified in testing
•Vendor will compile a testing report to present to SCG for review/approval
•Present written status at weekly meeting

Implementation Phase:
•Vendor will implement the newly redesigned web site on SCG servers
•Vendor will begin providing 24x7 web site support at this point forward until the end of the period of performance
•Present written status at weekly meeting

Training Phase:
•Vendor will provide training in accordance with approved training plan provided in the kickoff
•Present written status at weekly meeting

Project Handoff/Closure:
•Vendor will provide SCG with all documentation in accordance with the approved project plan
•Vendor will present project closure report to SCG for review and approval
•Vendor will complete the project requirements checklist showing that all project tasks have been completed
•Vendor will conclude 24x7 web support at 11:59pm on the final day of the period of performance
•Present written status at weekly meeting

Schedule/Milestones

This part of the Statement of Work should define the schedule of deliverables and milestones for this project. Since the SOW often accompanies the RFP for the project, it is imperative that all milestones, tasks, and schedule information are as accurate as possible since vendors will need to consider these items in their proposals.

The below list consists of the initial milestones identified for the Website Redesign Project:

RFP/SOW Release January 2, 20xx
Vendor Selection Review February 1-28, 20xx
Vendor Selection March 1, 20xx
Period of Performance Begins March 2, 20xx
Website Design Review August 31, 20xx
Website Implementation Review November 30, 20xx
Implementation Complete December 31, 20xx
Training Complete February 20, 20xx
Project Completion Review February 25, 20xx
Project Closure/Archives Complete March 3, 20xx
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/17/2013 11:24 Comments || Top||

#5  SNL SKIT: The O !

Posted by: Au Auric || 11/17/2013 12:37 Comments || Top||

#6  ...soon enough, I suspect that "success" will be re-defined as "getting the American people talking about it..."
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 11/17/2013 13:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Yeah, folks, sign up and get all your personal data hacked. Line up for a one way trip to the Muffin Monster identity shredder (no disrespect to the Monster, which is a great piece of equipment):



Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/17/2013 16:22 Comments || Top||

#8  80% at minus 10% for turning in late, and the best case scenario is a solid C-.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/17/2013 17:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Odd, I didn't see any cash fed into the machine, but something in the government is destroying plenty.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/17/2013 19:42 Comments || Top||

#10  I'll take 100 in Democrat size.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 11/17/2013 19:46 Comments || Top||


Holder Appeal
[FoxNews] AG Holder asks for appeal in Fast and Furious case holding him in contempt
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/17/2013 01:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perhaps this could this be connected to F&F ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/17/2013 12:12 Comments || Top||

#2  with a Borderlandbeat.com reference as well!
Posted by: Frank G || 11/17/2013 12:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Impeach his ass. HJolder is one disloyal, racist, lawbreaking motherf***er, and deserves prison time.
Posted by: OldSpook || 11/17/2013 14:00 Comments || Top||

#4  #3 Impeach his ass. Holder is one disloyal (but not to whom it counts), racist (in some circles, feature, not bug), lawbreaking motherf***er (ibid), and deserves prison time (the plate will be kept spinning until a Presidential pardon becomes useful).
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 11/17/2013 14:14 Comments || Top||

#5  True enough - lame duck Obama will throw pardons around like confetti if the GOP wins the house senate and presidency in 2016
Posted by: OldSpook || 11/17/2013 17:52 Comments || Top||

#6  The Trunks should make sure funds are provided for the refurbishing of the John Mitchell wing of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sorry, Eric, a white boy has already established the precedent, it's not racist.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/17/2013 18:41 Comments || Top||

#7  that courts shouldn’t get involved in trying to settle disputes

Hell, that's what courts do.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/17/2013 19:32 Comments || Top||

#8  True enough - lame duck Obama will throw pardons around like confetti...

Don't pardons have to have some degree of specificity? It's not like he can just hand out blanket pardons or get out of jail free cards.

And, if someone who's been pardoned gets placed under oath and then lies, doesn't the pardon get nullified?
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 11/17/2013 19:58 Comments || Top||

#9  It is like having three branches of government... By Decree! WhEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Posted by: newc || 11/17/2013 20:49 Comments || Top||

#10  SAM, I think that the president can only pardon someone who has been convicted. And possibly after the appeals have run out. Of course, that is a normal president, not Obama, who can do anything he wants to, because he won.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 11/17/2013 20:58 Comments || Top||

#11  RiV, thanks. Of course, silly me! Who am I to question the Dark Lord? ;-)
Posted by: Secret Asian Man || 11/17/2013 21:23 Comments || Top||


MarketWatch: 65% of ACA enrollees come from 5 states.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Success of Obamacare Comes in Two Colors, Red and Blue: Financial Times

Goes along with the story of "Obamacare Success"

Posted by: Au Auric || 11/17/2013 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Northern Mariana Islands ("MP")...? JOE M., time for an intervention / invasion...?

Posted by: Uncle Phester || 11/17/2013 0:54 Comments || Top||

#3  So they enrolled in the state's exchanges NOT the mega-flop federal site.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/17/2013 16:17 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
32[untagged]
13Arab Spring
4Govt of Pakistan
3al-Shabaab
3Ansar al-Sharia
2TTP
2Govt of Syria
2Jamaat-e-Islami
1Govt of Sudan
1Taliban
1Hamas
1Hezbollah
1Islamic State of Iraq
1al-Qaeda in Kenya
1Govt of Iran
1al-Qaeda in North Africa

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2013-11-17
  Hezbollah commander killed in Syria
Sat 2013-11-16
  Militias attack Libyan protesters, killing 31
Fri 2013-11-15
  Iraq Bombers Kill 43 as Millions Mark Shiite Holiday
Thu 2013-11-14
  Bomb blasts outside Karachi imambargahs wound 14
Wed 2013-11-13
  Syria Kurds Announce Transitional Autonomous Government
Tue 2013-11-12
  Gunmen gun down 'chief financier' of Haqqani network in Islamabad
Mon 2013-11-11
  Syria army retakes key base near Aleppo: State TV
Sun 2013-11-10
  Imambargah attacks leave three dead, spark outrage
Sat 2013-11-09
  Zawahiri Disbands Main Qaida Faction in Syria
Fri 2013-11-08
  'Mullah Radio' takes overTTP, terms talks 'waste of time'
Thu 2013-11-07
  Nigeria president seeks state of emergency extension
Wed 2013-11-06
  Mortar round hits Vatican embassy in Damascus
Tue 2013-11-05
  152 soldiers sentenced to die for mutiny in Bangladesh
Mon 2013-11-04
  Blast inside Quetta seminary leaves two injured
Sun 2013-11-03
  Gunmen kill 30 in suspected Islamist attack on Nigerian wedding convoy

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
3.238.235.181
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (19)    WoT Background (27)    Non-WoT (13)    Opinion (5)    (0)