The Mandate Lives, Subject Only To Its Demise

The Times manages to keep a straight face while telling us that

Health Mandate Won’t Be Delayed, Sebelius Says

Yeah, yeah, I bet she did, too. To the text!

WASHINGTON — Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said Wednesday that the Obama administration would not extend the deadline for people to sign up for health insurance or delay the requirement for most Americans to have coverage.

And she declined to say whether the administration was still committed to its original goal of enrolling seven million people in private coverage through federal and state exchanges by March 31.

Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, Ms. Sebelius said categorically that the administration would not delay the “individual mandate,” under which most Americans must have insurance or pay a tax penalty. In addition, she said that officials would not extend the six-month open enrollment period, scheduled to end on March 31.

Right. As the WSJ recently reported (but not the Times), the new rules allow pretty much anyone who wants to opt out to claim a hardship exemption. Per the hardship exemption form the easiest claim for a beleaguered middle-class, middle-income non-complier is probably

(3) You received a shut-off notice from a utility.

The required documentation is:

Copy of shut-off notice from a utility company

No need to shiver in the dark. I have received a few of these disconnect letters over the many years. Forget to pay a few bills, maybe take a vacation a month later, and eventually the tone of their letters changes from peppy to snippy. At which point, memory suitably jogged, I pay them. To quote a great leader, ooops.

So anybody with a bit pf a planning horizon can easily pick up a disconnect letter or two. A claim of domestic violence requires no documentation at all, but I would not suggest putting that allegation in any kind of official document unless it were true.

And people who had other insurance cancelled can simply assert that they consider the new alternatives unaffordable.

This next bit is poignant:

However, a few Democrats also expressed disappointment and frustration at the way the health law was being carried out. “So much of the original promise of the Affordable Care Act has been undermined by faulty implementation that has sometimes been indifferent to local concerns,” said Representative Lloyd Doggett, Democrat of Texas.

“At best,” Mr. Doggett said, “less than 10 percent of exchange-eligible Texans have selected a plan. In other words, more than 90 percent of the people whom we wrote this law to get exchange coverage have not been covered.” In parts of the state, he said, it is nearly impossible for consumers to obtain “in-person assistance” in selecting a health care plan.

Do keep in mind, Democrats oppose Voter ID laws because they think their constituents won't be able to figure out how to comply by getting a photo ID. Yet they were expected to navigate the HealthCare.fail / Medicaid maze? Maybe the Dems were on to something here...

Comments

[Jeff Dobbs]

“At best,” Mr. Doggett said, “less than 10 percent of exchange-eligible Texans have selected a plan. In other words, more than 90 percent of the people whom we wrote this law to get exchange coverage have not been covered.”

According to Obama that's because Rick Perry didn't expand Medicaid and your constituents are still paying for cable and phone service.

[rse]

I am working on something from the Club of Budapest that is implicated in the global ed reforms. I just came across some language on how to get the desired breakthrough that pushed a cut in military and defense expenditures and no longer letting the privileged few have so much. Transfer to the bulk of the population that has so many needs.

It does sound precisely like what bo and valjar are currently pursuing. Obamacare, XO on overtime, food stamp fraud, student loans as means of paying living expenses in 20s far beyond what minimum wage provides. Sure explains what Arne is really pushing on schools as well.

Truly hates the ability of internet to allow common minded people to seek each other's compny instead of a more 'diverse' dialogue.

Check. Check. Check.

[GMax]

Politico is hoot, remember these are Democrats with LOTS of democrat officeholders and their staff on speed dial:

Democrats can’t even agree whether Obamacare was the reason for their crushing loss in a Florida special election Tuesday.

Now picture how their messaging plan for the health care law is shaping up for 2014

Republican lobbyist David Jolly’s victory over Democrat Alex Sink has many Democrats privately worried and publicly split about how to talk about Obamacare.

A few Democrats are advocating a drastic rhetorical shift to the left, by criticizing their own party for not going far enough when it passed the law in 2010.

Other Democrats plan to sharply criticize the Affordable Care Act when running for re-election.

Many plan to stick to the simple message that Obamacare is flawed and needs to be fixed —a tactic that plainly didn’t work for Sink

My only real quibble, once I stopped giggling and wiped the tears from my eyes, is that the only Democrats that will advocate even more leftism, is ones with a true death wish and the closet communists from blue prog plantations... The checks and perks are too good for the rest of the mooks...

[GMax]

And quoting Lloyd Dogpoop this early in the AM is out of bounds, TM.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

GMax-- your highlights expose the deer in the headlights Dem Pols who are flailing for any way to keep their House/senate seat in '14 and hold onto that filthy public lucre. The 'policy' fight amongst the Dem PROs, is between the typical Dem Libs (the Hillary wing) and the full on socialist Progs (Obummer's crew) the Dem Moderates are gone. I think the Progs will win out eventually, but not by 11/14. I think the muddled message will continue through November, the few remaining Dem Moderates will be culled to virtual extinction, alot of Libs in contested districts go down, and the Progs will dominate DC Dems starting in '15. This will push Hildabeast Left .... way left in the primaries.

[GMax]

Obamacare = Hillarycare 2.0

Hillary is no moderate, she agrees with Zero on damn near anything that matters.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

I disagree with that-- HildaBeast caters to her big money patrons, Banks, Hollywood and gays. They are all liberals, but money liberals. The Obummer Progs want to rape Hillary's patrons... like all big money types. The Obummer Progs demand things Hildabeast won't do. 2008 was a real fight amongst the Dems, and HildaBeast's rich old white Libs lost to Obummer's Progs. That fight continues to this day.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

NYC is a window to the Lib-Prog fight. Look at Warren Wilheim trashing Mayor Bloomie and picking fights with Andy Cuomo. That fight is going on all across the country amongst the Dems, Libs v. Commie Progs, to own the party. I think it's a Death Match.

[clarice]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/12/3-numbers-in-the-nbc-wall-street-journal-poll-that-should-worry-democrats/

[GMax]

Well if you think Lenin is a kinder gentler Stalin, then you might see a distinction. I don't, and I stand by my observation.

[Jane]

Democrats oppose Voter ID laws because they think their constituents won't be able to figure out how to comply by getting a photo ID. Yet they were expected to navigate the HealthCare.fail / Medicaid maze?

I gotta remember this.

[jimmyk]

I think it's a Death Match.

I think it's more like a giant "good cop bad cop" game where people like Cuomo and Hillary pretend to be the moderates, while in reality being only a hair's breadth to the right of Barry and Mayor Bane.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Who owns the Progs? who owns the Clintons? They are very different groups, with very different agendas, so what the Progs and the Clintons will do are very different.
NYC charters and pre-K funding are 2 current examples. Nationally, the Clintons are going with "Fix ObummerCare", the Progs are saying chuck ObummerCare and impose singlepayer by fiat. Very different pitch for votes, and very different as to what they would actually do.

[Ignatz]

More suited to htis thread than the last;
White House suddenly decides sequester doesn't apply to Barrycare subsidies.
Hmmm, what has changed lately that might make this change necessary? Have people eleigible for subsidies suddenly needed $560 million more than they did before? No that hasn't changed at all.
Hmmmm...what could it be?
Perhaps the fact the knuckleheads haven't signed up leading to almost certainly massive insurance company losses and a staggering impending rise in premiums?
Might be on to something there.

[Danube on iPad]

None of the clowns yammering about "fixing" this horribly failed law has said a word about how they intend to do so.

[Danube on iPad]

Trey Gowdy en fuego: http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/03/13/trey-gowdys-epic-floor-speech-sends-shockwaves-through-nation

[GMax]

If the ship sinks to the bottom of the ocean, does it matter if you used a drill or a hatchet to breach the hull deep? Result is exactly the same. Economy = Hull

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Ignatz-- very important point. Starting May-June the BigGovExchangeCare insurers will go to the State Insurance Commissioners for rate increases. They will make application for massive rate increases to cover ExchangeCare losses. Will the State Commishes grant those? Will Insurers try to spread the pain by uping Group rates to subsidize Individual plan losses? Soon after that the renewal offers to group customers go out-- will they be limited to ObummerCare compliant plans only, despite Obummer unilaterally delaying the employer mandate? The Dems will try to do anythng possible to kick this disaster down the road post November.

[Ignatz]

--I disagree with that-- HildaBeast caters to her big money patrons, Banks, Hollywood and gays. They are all liberals, but money liberals. The Obummer Progs want to rape Hillary's patrons... like all big money types. --

I think this is a serious misreading of the situation.
Big money patrons are not even slightly opposed to being raped so long as they continue to be patrons and Barry's progs are not seriously opposed to big money patrons so long as they also get the payoff.

Their common enemy unites them and they all recognize socialism is never what it claims but always involves a system of nonmeritorious patronage and cronyism.

[Danube on iPad]

If only the UK gave raises to NHS workers, women would no longer be giving birth in hallways and broom closets; heart patients would no longer die while waiting for a transplant; people of a certain age would no longer be denied treatment on those grounds; and etc. it is the eternal cry of the socialist: this would all work fine if only we spent more money on it.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

The SEIU and public unions own the Progs, big money Libs own the Clintons. SEIU/Public Unions want $$$$ transfered from all of the Big Money to the unions. SEIU/Public unions want to eliminate the middleman (i.e. the rich cronies) and confiscate the wealth. Very different from the Clintons.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

The Big Money-Prog Dem cooperation is purely tactical, their respective strategic objectives are very different.

[Neo]

The DOJ is opening a criminal investigation of an ignition switch problem related to early 2000 GM cars.

I have to ask .. can the 2001-2007 GM be subject to criminal prosecution ?

According to the terms of TARP, the result of the reorganization is not subject to review by the courts. The liabilities of 2001-2007 GM have be quantified by the TARP settlement (however lousy it is).

DOJ has no say at this point regarding a new civil settlement. That can only be done by Barack Obama.

But does that also apply to criminal activity that might generate a "fine" or legal fees ?

Given the President's position, does DOJ have a conflict-of-interest ?

Did the government know they might sue GM (the NTSB, a government agency, knew about the problem in 2007) when they sold securities of the new GM to on the stock market ? This might be fraud .. like what DOJ is prosecuting now with Wall Street firms who sold tainted securities to clients, but this would be fraud by the government.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

GM- at minimum, what the 'Fed Government' knew about the ignition investigation at the time the Treasury sold off Fed shares could be inside trading info. Who goes to jail for that?

[Ignatz]

Nice speech by Gowdy, but if congressmen had standing if they felt a law was not being faithfully executed how would the courts and the executive branch not be constantly caught up in innumerable lawsuits?
I assume Gowdy has addressed this in some way, but would there have been a way to prevent say a Nan Pelosi congress from incessant mischief...beyond her already incessant mischief that is.

[clarice]

Neo--what excellent points!

[Jim Eagle]

Neo,

I thought I heard on the radio this am that GM knew about this in 2001. Is that correct?

[Jeff Dobbs]

Oh, BTW...

Happy Birthday Wonderboy!

[Jim Eagle]

Yeah! A big shout out to the ND Marching Band's own Wonderboy:)

[Jim Eagle]

Uh, oh

Vlad the Hammer is looking for a nail and its The Ukraine. Russian military massing on the border with Ukraine.

[Account Deleted]

Doesn't Putin know the President is armed with a phone and a pen?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Putin uses the military? what a fool, he's already lost, soft power dominates the world now. Ask John 'Mr. Potato Head' Kerry.

[Or the Popes in Brussels?]

Heh, how many divisions does Merkel have?

[henry]

Soft power would work if the JEF didn't turn our big stick into a twig.

[Porchlight]

Doggett is my Rep and a total prog. I was honestly surprised to see this coming from him. Something is afoot.

[Danube on iPad]

It's well settled that no individual congressman has standing to sue the president over the performance of his duties. I think Gowdy et al. are proceeding on the assumption that if a congressional majority voted to sue him standing would be conferred. I don't know, but I doubt it. In any event, no vote will be taken in the senate.

[Jane]

I assume Gowdy has addressed this in some way, but would there have been a way to prevent say a Nan Pelosi congress from incessant mischief...beyond her already incessant mischief that is.

Loser pays - personally. Or maybe just "Pelosi pays in all cases regardless of who brings them".

[lyle]

Needs a little editing:

“So much of the original promise of the Affordable Care Act has been undermined by faulty implementation that has sometimes been indifferent to local concerns illegal rewriting of the law by a sleazy, corrupt administration making brazenly cynical political calculations,” said Representative Lloyd Dogshit, Democrat of Texas.

[narciso]

the commenters on the sidebar to that Carlos Slim's piece, are choice, lord love a water fowl.

the difference between Hillary and Obamacare,
are of degree not kind, as Elizabeth McCaughey
who discovered the 'death panels' this time around would tell you.

Rest assured Rove say 'there's nothing (much)
to see in the Jolly special election,

[narciso]

Missing the point, seems to be a thing:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/373231/congress-time-its-personal-kevin-d-williamson

he really doesn't see the real point of the thing.

[Jim Eagle]

Missing MH370 may have crashed in the Indian Ocean: Pentagon official

The missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 may have crashed in the Indian Ocean according to a report from US news agency ABC.

The report quoted an unnamed senior Pentagon offical, who said the USS Kidd is being moved there to begin operations.

The official, who said there were indications that the plane flew four or five hours after dropping off from the radar, added that it would take another 24 hours before the ship reaches its destination.

This development comes hours after Malaysian officials widened its search to include the Andaman sea after days of fruitless efforts.

[So who do we bet on - our DoD or the Malay's MoD?]

[Threadkiller]

http://gowdy.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hr4138billsummary.pdf

[Ignatz]

Sorry guys, but Stacey Kiebler got married.
OTOH she married a guy who looks like Gilbert Gottfried and appears to be a good bit shorter than her so I guess there's hope for any short, jugheaded simians out there.

[matt]

Don't you realize that they are all in it together? Tammany went high tech. The rich buy the law they want, exempting themselves from it in order to rape the public treasury. It is a matter of degrees of corruption. The white togas are marginally better that the Leftist 3 card monty game.

It's the vig. They get their 10 or 20 or now 30% and the poor schmuck on the street gets the shaft.

I paid $4.17/gallon for Super in California this morning at a time when petroleum product prices should be coming down.

Instead, the market is so artificially distorted that everyone at the top gets theirs while the middle class takes it on the chin. One of the reasons that oil is at $100+/bbl is that the oil oligarchs know perfectly well that the dollar and most other currencies are debased by our friendly Treasury and Fed.

They are still spending close to $85 billion/ month in funny money as I recall.

The ultra-rich rich buy their justice and the narrative and anything that disagrees with that narrative is considered deranged in the lapdog media.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

ObummerCare was devised by the Clintonites in Congress and their BigGovInsurer cronies. Obummer stayed out of the legislation, except for his bottomline-- the Medicaid expansion. The Medicaid expansion was the payoff to SEIU hospital workers, Obummer won't touch one dime of that promised payoff. The Clintonites are happy to keep the BigGovInsurer cronies in the games, so long as they keep paying, and the Clintonites stay in power by capturing new serf constituents. Obummer is in a hurry to bankrupt the BigGovInsurers and nationalize healthcare asap. These are degrees of how Left the respective Dems are, but to the Big Money cronies, they are important degrees. For example, the Dem Progs see Venezuela as a how to book, the Clintonites see venezuela as a cautionary tale.

[Tom Maguire]

Doesn't Putin know the President is armed with a phone and a pen?

And that pen is mightier than a sword, although how it matches up with Soviet tanks is less clear.

[narciso]

Lets dispense that the Congress had anything to do with this 'pinhead puzzlebox' it was Creamer and the Apollo alliance's wishlist,

[narciso]

the Western track would seem to the most likely toward the Indian Sea, exactly where,
who knows.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

You Guys-- again with the saber rattling? David Ignatius says in his WaPo column that Putin has blown it by alienating the EU and China. tanks may make up for physical deficiancies (putin is kind of dwarfish-- right ;) but what can tanks do when you've alienated the Davos Crowd? putin's lost to the Sun God already... Kerry and Ignatius say so.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

deficiencies-- I should use Preview.

[Threadkiller]

...how it matches up with Soviet tanks is less clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3cYHQhjbzk

[Ignatz]

That eastern Ukraine will go the way of the Crimea seems likely.
Will he go for Kiev? Seems very unlikely, especially given the Georgia example.

We know he is rightly obsessed with Russian demographics. What better, quicker way to make more Russians than annexing any areas lot's of ethnic Russians live?

[narciso]

It's in the czarist tradition, Catherina, annexed most of it, in 1787, it took another generation to firmly consolidate Ukraine, under Alexander's rule, with a treaty, after
the last bout with the Turks,

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Two weeks ago I voted that Vlad wouldn't use tanks to grab Ukraine proper, instead he would continue to use economic blackmail to get his way. The Ethnic Russia demographic is an interesting point. I am beginning to be convinvced that Vlad may well roll tanks to grab several million Ethnic Russians and annex their territory--- Novy Russia. The Ukraines and Tartars can stay as invited guests in NovyRussia, or leave. Vlad may be that audacious, besides who's gonna stop him?

[narciso]

I think he'll go for the whole blintz

http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-24-russia-mobilizes-near-the-border/

[narciso]

mind arson, of the worst kind;

http://thefederalist.com/2014/03/13/five-things-neil-degrasse-tysons-cosmos-gets-wrong/

[James D.]

TK, I was expecting your YouTube link to be a clip from "Bambi vs. Godzilla" - not an actual "PenCannon"...

[Threadkiller]

http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/03/report-washington-dc-unprepared-for.html?m=1

[Thomas Collins]

Narciso, I agree. The only acceptable state of affairs for Putin, in my view, is a Ukraine that points east and is securely within the Latest Version of the Russian Empire's Orbit. If the EU wants to bail out Russian banks, that'll be OK with Putin. But whether Putin ends up stopping the troops a couple of miles outside of Crimea, after eastern Ukraine has been occupied, or after Kiev has fallen, is simply a matter of what it takes for the Ukes to prostrate themselves before the Kremlin. I know I've been saying this for awhile, and I hope I'm wrong, but that's the way I think KGB Val rolls.

[Thomas Collins]

And as for those commentators who keep chirping that we have Val right where we want him to be, well, I have more respect for the judgment of Sandra Fluke, Lena Dunham, Sheila Jackson Lee and 404Care PajamaBoy.

[lyle]

but that's the way I think KGB Val rolls.

New JOM stylebook entry for the Iranian Rodent?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

ThomC-- but ... but... 'soft power'!!

[Account Deleted]

TC,

Going for Kiev would be wasteful. After he has Donetsk (coal and steel) and control of sea access to ship wheat (rail through EUtopia just won't cut it) there isn't much point to further encroachment. He doesn't want his steel mills brought up to ISO-Non-competitive standards, even on the EUnuch dime.

If he takes western Ukraine, he would have to feed the people(unless he opted for the Uncle Joe path). Why bother?

[Beasts of England]

Can you get utilities without a photo ID? I honestly don't remember, but I don't think you can. So, how do people without a photo ID get utilities so that they can have a shut-off notice?

[Thomas Collins]

I was thinking of Putin, lyle. But I suppose it could apply to the former Ariel Capital czarina, too. I think of Jarrett as The Hammer. I think Obama is not willing to pound nails, but I think Jarrett takes pleasure in it.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Not to mention ethnic Ukraine guerilla war against occupying russian paratroopers. Grabbing the eastern Ethnic Russian Ukraine, and continued economic intimidation of the ethnic Ukraines to keep them as a vassal state may be the optimal solution for Vlad. How does he get that? a plebiscite amongst the eastern Ukraines to join Novy Russia, or roll tanks annex eastern Ukraine and be welcomed with garlands of spring flowers from happy ethnic russian maidens?

[Jeff Dobbs]

Rick:
Doesn't Putin know the President is armed with a phone and a pen?

And a behind from which he leads.

[Thomas Collins]

Rick, I agree that Putin is going to be able to get what he wants without going through the trouble of going to Kiev. But if Putin decides otherwise, I wouldn't think anything that Barry "There Will Be Costs" Obama will stop Putin.

NK, the naive nature of the soft power advocates amazes me. They don't seem to understand that soft power without hard power to back it up invites contempt. On the other hand, it's easy to be polite to the other side when the other side realizes that crossing lines red and otherwise results in the application of hard power.

[Beasts of England]

What the heck is the deal with the (alleged) Searchlight Pederast and the Koch brothers? He's yet again on the Senate floor castigating these libertarian job creators. Truly bizarre.

And the brothers are obviously better people than me. I couldn't listen to that jackass continuously disparage me. Not sure what I'd do, but with their money, I might be dumping a few hundred million to help every single rep senate candidate in the land.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

BOE-- instead the Kochs just gave $100M to NY Presby Hosp to provide care and medical research in the Blue Hell that is NYC.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

ThomC-- the Progs know that 'soft power' is NO power. That is why they want to limit USA to soft power, they hate the USA, they want it to be powerless to shape world affairs.

[Account Deleted]

Hit,

I believe the President has lost the map to his behind and doesn't dare drop pen or phone to make a personal search.

TC,

If we examine the behavior of the Ali Babas in Libya, the mullahs in Tehran, the generals in Egypt, the Palis in Gaza, Assad in Syria and Putin wherever the hell he wants to be, I believe we must place 'soft power' on the Illusions/Delusions shelf next to the SkyDragon and Tinkerbell.

[Old Lurker]

NK, did I hear on the radio on my drive yesterday through your area that some of the unions are protesting NY Presby taking the money?

[Thomas Collins]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/world/europe/ukraine.html?_r=0

Now Angie Merkel is lecturing Putin about not being so 19th or 20th century. Don't Angie and the rest of the western "leaders" realize that the only thing Putin doesn't like about the 19th and 20th centuries is that the Russians weren't able to establish a Genghis Khan like global empire?

[narciso]

He probably wouldn't go for Kiev, he doesn't have to, but look where troops are moving north from the Crimea, west from that Oblast
in the previous Interpreter link.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

OL-- why yes, yes they did. SEIU1199 and some public union thugs did a bullhorn rally outside the Koch's 5th Ave Coop building on Monday.

[Bori]

I have given up in trying to determine what Vlad wants as he will get it anyhow.

The talk about how freezing the assets of the Oligarchs or even arresting them will help. Has it occurred to them that this is exactly what Putin wants?

Rather than have them who have made all this money because of their ties to Russia, invest in EU or other places, repatriate the money in Russia. Speaking of which;

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/77af8ed2-aab0-11e3-9fd6-00144feab7de.html#axzz2vrquq542

[narciso]

this gives the line up of forces,

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/03/china-warns-west-against-russia-sanctions-as-obama-warns-russia/

[Old Lurker]

Unbelievable.

The Kochs give $100M to a local hospital and the prog thugs protest.

The more I read my Viking books, they smarter I think they were.

[narciso]

It's rather clear what Sochi bear wants.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

everything?

[narciso]

What we're dealing with generally speaking is what Ayn Rand dubbed the 'aristocracy of pull' what De Tocqueville, warned about in other terms almost two hundred years ago,

[Account Deleted]

Certainly not everything. Just the land and water abutting his.

[Beasts of England]

NK / OL: I read about their donation and the resulting protests. Sometimes I lack the words to truly express my befuddlement at the looney left and its sympathizers. This is one of those cases.

[Jim Eagle]

OT, but more frightening than Malaysia Air or The Ukraine:

Police Shutdow Major Carriageway in UK to Look For Man's Penis

[Sue]

Son of a gun!

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

OL/BOE-- in truth, I think the Harry Pederast (alleged) and SEIU anti-Koch stuff is Schumer driven. My guess is that the Kochs refuse to pay tribute to Schumer (vehemently refuse) directly or indirectly, so if they refuse to become cronies of Schumer, Schumer prefers that they leave NY.

[narciso]

Probably comes from Soros, who seems to hold all the puppet strings.

[daddy]

From an ABC story we get this from Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein:

pictures of three large objects floating in the South China Sea posted Wednesday on a Chinese government website were not debris from the missing plane.

"A Malaysian maritime enforcement agency surveillance plane was dispatched this morning to investigate potential debris shown on Chinese satellite images. We deployed assets, but found nothing. We have contacted the Chinese Embassy who notified us this afternoon the images were released by mistake and did not show any debris from MH370," he said.

Beats me what's going on.

[narciso]

Liz Alvarez gets a clue or two, but that's all that is alloted, per chocolate ration;

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2014/03/alex-sink-could-not-outrun-tsunami-of.html#more

[Beasts of England]

Interesting angle, NK. I wouldn't be surprised.

[Jim Eagle]

It looks like my kooky theory about stealing MH370 and taking it somewhere else has been picked up by US Counter-Terrorism and is being actively looked at now:)

Hijacked and hidden? US counter-terrorism officials fear plane could have been captured....

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Speaking of Upchuck Schumer. I bet he sees the Dems losing the senate as manna. He would become the minority leader (most of the remaining dems are Progs), and go into full time fundraising for the DSCC PAC to retake the Senate in '16. His ego and power avarice would both be fed by the Dems losing the Senate in '14.

[jimmyk]

Beats me what's going on.

If only more of the so-called experts would say that instead of looking foolish. There was a guy on Megyn last night who was almost triumphant, saying that the Chinese would NEVER release the pictures if they hadn't already verified it was the plane, and it was EXACTLY where the plane was supposed to be, and so on. He was so sure this was the end of the story.

[polly]

Well, Jib, I am consumed (as much as I can be while actually living a life!) with what on earth has happened to that plane.

[jimmyk]

JiB, the kooky part was only that it went to Iran, which was too far. It could have made it to Sri Lanka or the Maldives, but I don't think it could have landed anywhere safely and unreported.

[Bori]

BoE,

The hospital did not need the money, ergo, they want to tell the Koch bros. where they should send their largesse.

You see they did not build that or earn that $$$ and should be told where to spend it.

[Jane]

He was so sure this was the end of the story.

I completely believed him too.

Now being past the horror stage, it's almost like a movie. But the poor families. It has to suck to be them

[Thomas Collins@mccarter.com]

OK, what the hay, I'll become a wild speculator about the Malay Air 777. Daddy, MT and other members of the JOM Aviation Task Force, is there anything about a 777 that would make it unusable as a device to drop an atomic device on some unsuspecting area?

I know, totally wild and implausible, but, at this point, no more implausible than that supposed letter from a supposed oil rig worker claiming to see the plane burning and crashing.

[Thomas Collins@mccarter.com]

If the Malay Air 777 Mystery is not solved in a couple of weeks, I think more theories will have been generated on what happened than have been generated in over 50 years on JFK's assassination.