President too busy to attend Justice Scalia's funeral

Yeah, Barry won't be going tomorrow when they put Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the ground tomorrow. Wonder why?

I'd bet a lot on that one.

My industry is under attack -- again

Having failed to destroy the temping business with Obamacare, the Obama administration is trying again, this time through the National Labor Relations Board:

A federal labor board voted Thursday to redefine the employee-employer relationship granting new bargaining powers to workers caught up in an economy increasingly reliant on subcontractors, franchisees and temporary staffing agencies.
The decision by the National Labor Relations Board could upend the traditional arms-length relationship that has prevailed between corporate titans such as McDonald’s and its neighborhood fast-food franchises. And it comes as concerns are growing about a generation of new Internet-fueled business such as Uber and Lyft that depend heavily on independent contractors.

 The NLRB's own press release sounds pretty dry, but

In a 3-2 decision involving Browning-Ferris Industries of California, the National Labor Relations Board refined its standard for determining joint-employer status. The revised standard is designed “to better effectuate the purposes of the Act in the current economic landscape.” With more than 2.87 million of the nation’s workers employed through temporary agencies in August 2014, the Board held that its previous joint employer standard has failed to keep pace with changes in the workplace and economic circumstances.

In the decision, the Board applies long-established principles to find that two or more entities are joint employers of a single workforce if (1) they are both employers within the meaning of the common law; and (2) they share or codetermine those matters governing the essential terms and conditions of employment. In evaluating whether an employer possesses sufficient control over employees to qualify as a joint employer, the Board will – among other factors -- consider whether an employer has exercised control over terms and conditions of employment indirectly through an intermediary, or whether it has reserved the authority to do so.

The temporary attorney industry can expect massive upheaval from this. This would make the law firms that the agencies I work for contract with liable for the labor practices of the agencies. What does that mean? Well, since the law firms have no control over the labor practices of the agencies, it means at least one thing: the law firms will quit using agencies, which are one of the great facilitators that make my industry workable. Without agencies, temps will have to register with every law firm that uses temps, and keep track of when those firms need temps. We'll likely get paid a higher hourly rate, but my experience has been that the firms that hire temps directly tend to not do overtime -- they just hire more temps. Overtime, already hard to find, might disappear.

The other downside is that, if law firms continue using temp agencies, they will be targets of unionization efforts of the agency work force, since that is the intent of this decision. Previously, if a union were able to successfully organize at one agency, firms would be free to simply not hire temps through that union shop. Now, the union can force into negotiations any law firm that utilizes a temp agency the union is attempting to unionize. The firm won't have a choice but to negotiate with the union if it continues to use temp agencies, since the unions will be beating on the doors of all temp agencies, not just one or two.

Of course, this isn't anywhere near the first time Obama and the NLRB have acted to further union interests at the expense of employees and businesses. The Hill, a usually reliable lefty publication, provides a pretty good summary of how the Obama NLRB has been relentlessly, and often illegally, pro-union, which is not what the government agency is supposed to do. I can't bring myself to go into it, and The Hill does a surprisingly good job, so you can read it there.  Ultimately, this is just one more case where Obama and his minions pursue ideological policies -- in this case, pro-unionism -- at the expense of the economy and everyday people whose attempts to find work are now burdened by this ruling. Fuck you, Barry. Fuck you.

I'm sure this doesn't mean bad shit is on the horizon

I am totes sure the Marines are not doing this because they think shit is going to hell in a handbasket. No way:

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- At the northwestern tip of this massive base, hundreds of Marines spent the last 10 days preparing for full-scale war. It's the first time in more than a decade they are training for this type of combat, all aligned with new guidance from the commandant.
Gen. Joseph Dunford expects all Marine units to be "physically and mentally ready" to deploy anywhere, at any time, he said in planning guidance released last month. But instead of having every platoon, company and battalion involved in constant training for everything, he has outlined broad responsibilities for each of the three Marine Expeditionary Forces. Commanders and Marines can now focus on core competencies related to specific operations they might be involved in. This rebalance will help address shortfalls in personnel, equipment and training in nondeployed units, he said.
It's also the first exercise of its size in more than a decade. More than 1,800 Marines and sailors were involved in the training, which simulated the deployment of more than 50,000 U.S. troops. The countries in the exercise are fictional, and no one mentioned a specific threat, even though talk of "anti-access area denial" conjures images of Russia and China.

Maybe they were just overdue for an exercise like this. Maybe they did this because this is what they do - prepare for war. Personally, I consider that the most likely explanation. After all, they didn't have to train to go to war in a big way recently because they were actually doing it.. Pretty much the entire Marine Corps rotated through Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times. The 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment was referred to for a time as the "No war 2-4" because they didn't deploy for -- Oh my God! -- 3 years.

On the other hand, maybe they're doing this because Marine leadership isn't confident that Barry's foreign policy is reducing the odds that Marines will have to go someplace soon. That couldn't be it, could it?

The bear is loose my ass

Apparently, it is a favorite phrase of President Obama's to utter as he goes on his pointless trips to various food vendors. He apparently loves to say "The bear is loose!"  I don't think he realizes how stupid that makes him look, given the current world environment. But he does it anyway:

WASHINGTON (AP) — "The bear is loose!"
Those were President Barack Obama's words as he ditched his motorcade and left the White House on foot, favoring the fresh air in a walk toward the Interior Department.

As President Obamaa drinks beer in Colorado and eats Mexican in DC and grabs a burger in Delaware while Russian special forces disguised as pro-Russian separatists shoot down airlines, it seems pretty fucking clear who the bear is, and it ain't Barry:

Cracow — According to the July 11 Washington Post, aides to President Obama are using a Twitter account with the moniker #TheBearIsLoose to drum up trade for the president’s current magical mystery tour. Here, along the banks of the Vistula River, with the immediate neighborhood getting more ominous by the week, the notion that the Bear is loose has a different connotation: The Bear is indeed loose, once again, and has been making a lot of trouble, first in Crimea, then in Donetsk and Luhansk and other parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, while continuing to threaten the Baltic democracies and occupy Transnistria in Moldova. The Bear is Vladimir Putin’s Russia on the prowl, not the beer-swigging Barack Obama, “connecting” with the citizenry.

Never mind that Obama is getting jacked up globally by Russia (and pretty much anybody else who feels like taking a shot at the U.S.). This "bear" horseshit is embarrassing. Russian strongman Vladimir Putin isn't worried about hashtags. He's too busy making Barry his bitch:

One can trace a line from any global hotspot to Russia and its authoritarian ruler. Iran? Russia has assisted its nuclear program for decades. Syria? Russia is Bashar Assad’s arms dealer. Iraq? Russia is sending men and materiel to the central government. Afghanistan? Putin muscled nearby Kyrgyzstan intoclosing our air base there, crucial for transport, resupply, and reconnaissance in the war against the Taliban. The contretemps between the United States and Germany is the result of Edward Snowden’s breach of national security. Where is Snowden? In Russia, where he has just asked to have his visa renewed. I wonder if Vladimir Putin will say yes.

Look, I can't find the reference, but somebody smarter than me tweeted out that "the bear is loose, and it just ate Crimea," or words to that effect. Face it, Barry ain't the bear. The bear is a badass animal, and that ain't Barry. Putin, maybe. And Barry not only isn't the bear, he isn't ready for the bear. Unlike Ronald Reagan, for instance, in 1984:

How's that reset button working for you?

Great editorial cartoon from Nate Beeler:

Hillary should be in there somewhere, seems to me. Hat tip to Hot Air.

I have to do this post - really

As Allahpundit notes over at Hot Air, you really have to post this today because, well, because. Barry went to the funeral for Nelson Mandela and apparently raised the ire of Michelle O. by getting chummy with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who is a not-bad looking blonde. Don't take my word for it: a picture is worth a thousand words:

They took a selfie with British Prime Minister David Cameron while Michelle apparently stewed. Later, she still looks a little ticked:

Then, in this series, you can see that she is pissed, pissed and pissed:

She apparently scooted into Barry's seat while he went to speak at the funeral, because when he came back, she was between him and the Danish hottie. Look, I don't know what happened, I don't know if Michelle was pissed or just always looks pissed, but she certainly moved her ass between Barry and the blonde. Every picture tells a story, don't it?:

Damn, y'all, when the AP calls a liberal Democrat a liar . . .

. . . you know that chump is lying. Turns out the Associated Press didn't think too much of the truth factor in Barry's speech trying to convince the American people of, um, something. As the AP notes, the president didn't bother to actually support his statements with something like, you know, evidence:

A look at his remarks to the nation, seeking support for a military strike against Syria, and how they compare with the facts as publicly known:OBAMA: "We know the Assad regime was responsible.... The facts cannot be denied."THE FACTS: The Obama administration has not laid out proof Assad was behind the attack.The administration has cited satellite imagery and communications intercepts, backed by social media and intelligence reports from sources in Syria, as the basis for blaming the Assad government. But the only evidence the administration has made public is a collection of videos it has verified of the victims. The videos do not demonstrate who launched the attacks.Administration officials have not shared the satellite imagery they say shows rockets and artillery fire leaving government-held areas and landing in 12 rebel-held neighborhoods outside Damascus where chemical attacks were reported. Nor have they shared transcripts of the Syrian officials allegedly warning units to ready gas masks or discussing how to handle U.N. investigators after it happened.The White House has declined to explain where it came up with the figure of at least 1,429 dead, including 400 children — a figure far higher than estimates by nongovernmental agencies such as the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has counted only victims identified by name, with a current total of 502. In his remarks, Obama more generally accused Assad's forces of gassing to death "over 1,000 people, including hundreds of children."

 I guess Barry didn't really have too much wind left in the "we have to attack Syria" sails after the last couple days when Russia's Putin basically made Barry his prison bitch. As Reuters reports, once Barry agreed that the Russians had a great idea on how to deal with Syria, the Russians promptly said "not so fast":

Russia is not keen at this stage for a binding U.N. Security Council resolution that would provide a framework to control Syria's chemical weapons' stocks, France's foreign minister said after talks with his Russian counterpart on Tuesday.

Basically, Russia just saved their Syrian buddies from having to do anything about their chemical weapons while simultaneously making Barry look like a blundering fool who will do anything to avoid doing anything about Syria. Which is what Barry is. So they feel no need to actually make anything enforceable. (To the extent the UN is actually capable of enforcing anything.) I think that puts us at status quo. Syria remains free to do whatever it wants, and Barry will occasionally chest-thump and suggest that "you better not make me mad." Brilliant strategy.

If you've lost ABC . . .

. . . probably no one will notice, since they have only slightly more viewers than CNN, or Australian rules football on ESPN 14, or where ever they air that now (great stuff, BTW), but ABC has an "imagined letter" from Barry to George W. Bush, apologizing for being a dickwad:

And now for the purpose of this letter (I know you are rolling your eyes and saying, "just get to the point," but you know me: I can be a little long-winded at times): I wanted to say I am sorry.I am sorry that, as a United States senator and presidential candidate, I was critical of you about so many things I now, myself, am doing.

I am sorry about saying Guantanamo would be closed immediately and it was a blight on America. It is still wide open for business.

I am sorry for criticizing you and your administration for intrusions on American's privacy and invasions into personal liberties. My NSA took what you did and put it on steroids.

I am sorry for criticizing the way you waged the war on terror. I have personally approved a number of drone strikes and actually have said it is OK to kill an American on foreign soil without due process. I know you are probably saying, "Aren't you the expert on the Constitution?" but, as you know, being president is hard work.

Go read the whole thing, which is pretty astounding if you consider that it is ABC News, which stands for All Barry Cocksuckers. Maybe that is finally changing as it becomes more and more apparent that the emperor has no clothes and, more important in the American context, that the son of a bitch thinks he's emperor.