Or a re-recession depending on how you want to phrase it.

(Zero Hedge) — There may be those among the less than brainwashed lemmingerati out there who have noticed what, as we have pointed out for the past month when reporting on the various manufacturing and regional Fed indices, has been an epic collapse in the appropriate data series. As John Lohman so kindly demonstrates, the two month implosion has been beyond epic, and while certainly the biggest drop in the past decade, may also be the all time worst ever.

To the point of this post: the last time we had an economic contraction of this magnitude was back in February of 2008, which was two months into the most acute recession in post-depression history. We are confident that once the groupthink wraps its head around the fact that the auto production based renaissance is not coming, and the economy officially tumbles into the commode of Ben Bernanke’s fiat dungeon, the NBER will determine (with an appropriate 12-18 month delay), that the current recession started in April of 2011.

TSA: Terrorizing civilians and protecting terrorists.

(The Hill) — The Transportation Security Administration on Monday denied a report that airport screeners in Florida asked a 95-year-old woman in a wheelchair to remove her adult diaper.

“We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally, according to proper procedure and did not require this passenger to remove an adult diaper,” TSA spokesman Kawika Riley told The Hill.

The elderly woman, who suffers from leukemia and was on her way to an assisted living facility in Michigan, was reportedly detained for 45 minutes by security last weekend.

According to Jean Weber, the woman’s daughter and travel companion, screeners said they felt something “suspicious” on her leg during an initial pat-down and took the elderly woman into a private room before asking Weber to remove her adult incontinence diaper.

According to TSA, various options were presented to the passenger and her daughter during the private screening. The agency refused to discuss further details of the case, but maintained that security officers followed protocol.

“TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner,” the agency said.

“If this is your procedure, which I do understand, I also feel that your procedure needs to be changed,” Weber said of TSA on CNN Sunday. According to Weber, TSA agents allowed the two women to find a bathroom in order to remove the diaper.

“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber told the Northwest Florida Daily News.

The incident, which took place at the Northwest Florida Regional Airport last weekend, is the latest in a series of cases that have prompted outrage over TSA security screening procedures.

The agency changed its rules regarding screening children under 12 last week after reports that TSA officers patted down a 6-year-old and an 8-month-old, triggering similar protests from the public and members of Congress.

See TSA detains 95-year-old wheelchair-bound woman for 45 minutes, asks her to remove her adult diaper

Olbermann claims the Yankees are run by right-wing fascists in 3 … 2 … 1.

(JPost) — IDF sources claimed Monday night that new intelligence information obtained by Israel in recent days shows that participants of the flotilla planning to break Israel’s sea blockade over the Gaza Strip later this week plan to kill IDF soldiers who board their ships.

According to the information obtained by the IDF, some of the participants have prepared a number of sacks with sulfur, which they plan to pour on the soldiers as they board the vessels.

“This is a chemical weapon and if poured on a soldier it can paralyze him,” an IDF source told The Jerusalem Post Monday night. “If the sulfur is then lit on fire, the soldier will light up like a torch.”

The information was obtained from closed meetings held by participants on the ships during which some voiced their intention to “murder Israeli soldiers,” according to the IDF.

Also, despite earlier predictions that members of the Turkish organization IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation would not participate in the flotilla, it now appears that some members will sail with the ships alongside other radical Islamic activists.

The second Perry signs the bill the Obama regime will sick its lawyers on Texas.

(Politico) — The Texas Legislature approved a bill Monday that would both compel the state to push the Obama administration to convert Texas’s Medicaid program into a block grant and defund abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

The omnibus health bill also includes a number of other controversial provisions, including plans to save $400 million over the next year by increasing the use of Medicaid managed care.

The legislation now goes to the desk of Gov. Rick Perry, who has been generally supportive of both the Medicaid reforms as well as anti-abortion language.

On the Planned Parenthood provision, Nashed said, “The governor continues to champion the protection of unborn life in Texas, recently signing House Bill 15, which requires a woman to have a sonogram before electing to have an abortion to ensure she is fully informed before making such an impactful decision.”

Is this really the job of the US State Department?

(CNS News) — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that the State Department played an instrumental role in “sealing the deal” for pop-rock star Lady Gaga to perform at a gay pride rally in Rome, Italy.

Clinton specifically pointed to a letter that David Thorne, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, sent to Lady Gaga urging her to participate in the event.

“And then there is the work that our embassy team in Rome has been doing,” Clinton said. “Two weeks ago they played an instrumental role in bringing Lady Gaga to Italy for a Euro Pride concert.

“Now as many of you know Lady Gaga is Italian American and a strong supporter of LGBT rights,” said Clinton. “And the organizers of the Euro Pride event desperately wanted her to perform and a letter to her from Ambassador Thorne was instrumental in sealing the deal.”

Death fatwas in 3. . . 2. . . 1.

CAIRO (AFP) — Egyptian tycoon and politician Naguib Sawiris has come under fire for posting a picture of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Islamic dress, sparking a torrent of condemnation on social networking sites.

Several lawyers have filed complaints to the public prosecutor accusing Sawiris of “insulting Islam”, a judicial source said, with calls on Facebook and Twitter to boycott his Mobinil telephone operator.

The magnate, a Christian, had posted a picture on his Twitter account of Disney character Mickey Mouse wearing a traditional Arabic robe and sporting a thick beard, next to a Minnie Mouse donning a niqab, or full face veil.

The posting prompted a flood of comments slamming Sawiris — who founded the liberal Free Egyptians party after an uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February — accusing him of disrespect.

Sawiris has since apologised on his Twitter page, saying: “I apologise for any who don’t take this as a joke, I just thought it was a funny picture no disrespect meant! Assef!! (sorry)”.

No charges pending on Obama.

(WSJ) — The Chicago retrial of Rod Blagojevich did not go so well for the former Illinois governor.

A jury today convicted Blagojevich of trying to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat and other corruption charges.

Blagojevich was convicted on 17 of 20 counts. The jury found him not guilty on one count and deadlocked on two other counts.

The jury panel deliberated for nine days, a long stretch that had some pundits predicting that the jury might be deadlocked on many of the charges, as they were during the first trial.

The verdict is certain to raise questions about the wisdom of Blagojevich taking the stand to testify on his own behalf, a risky move for any defendant.

On the stand last month, Blagojevich denied wrongdoing and told jurors his intent was to use the Obama seat as leverage to pass legislation that would have benefited Illinois residents.

Blagojevich was arrested in 2008 and removed from office by the state legislature the following year. The jury in the first trial was unable to reach a verdict on 20 of 21 counts but found the former governor guilty of one count of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a charge which carries a possible five-year sentence.

More judicial activism.

(AJC) — A federal judge in Atlanta on Monday put on hold some of the most controversial parts of Georgia’s new anti-illegal immigration law pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the measure’s constitutionality.

In a 45-page ruling issued Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash preliminarily enjoined the state from enforcing two provisions in the law that were supposed to go in effect Friday.

One of those provisions would empower police to investigate the immigration status of suspects who they believe have committed state or federal crimes and who cannot produce identification, such as a driver’s license, or provide other information that could help police identify them. The other would punish people who -– while committing another offense — knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants or encourage them to come here.

The judge said in his ruling that the civil and immigrant rights groups who are suing to block the law have shown they are likely to succeed with their arguments that these provisions are preempted by federal law. Republican state Attorney General Sam Olens issued a statement Monday, saying his office would appeal the judge’s decision on these two parts of the law.

Keep reading…

It’s good to be queen.

(WHD) — First Lady Michelle Obama’s trip to South Africa and Botswana last week cost taxpayers well over half a million dollars, possibly in the range of $700,000 or $800,000, according to an analysis by White House Dossier.

Many of the trip’s expenses cannot be obtained with specificity, including the cost of local transportation for the first lady, Secret Service protection, the care and feeding of staffers, and pre-trip advance work done by administration officials in South Africa.

But it is possible to estimate some of these costs and put a price tag on one of the major expenses — her transportation to and from southern Africa and her trips between cities there.

Only if you’re one of the Obamabots who has been given a full frontal lobotomy.

(Politico) — Remember when Joe Biden told Barack Obama that signing the health care bill was a “big f—— deal”? More than a year later, the president does.

Obama uses Biden’s impromptu line — sans the dirty word — in his latest video pitch to his supporters. In it, he says his vice president will join him at a dinner with four donors who contribute at least $5.

“We’re setting another place at the table for Joe Biden, who wants to join us,” Obama says in the video released Monday by the campaign. “So this isn’t so much dinner with Barack anymore as it is dinner with Barack and Joe.”

Smiling, Obama adds, “To use one of his favorite expressions, that’s a big deal.”

(LA Times) — With California’s new fiscal year starting Friday and no compromise with the GOP on a budget in sight, Gov. Jerry Brown’s chief spokesman called Sacramento Republicans “basically moronic” for failing to strike an agreement.

Brown wants a fall election on taxes and to extend vehicle and sales tax hikes that will otherwise expire by Friday. Republicans are demanding pension, regulatory and spending policy concessions in exchange for such an election. They have balked at extending taxes.

“The Republicans in Sacramento are basically moronic. But we’re hopeful that they can realize we’re on an unsustainable trajectory here, one that is not fiscally responsible and one for which they are at least partially responsible,” Gil Duran, Brown’s press secretary, said in an interview with KPCC.

He forgot “racist.”

(RCP) — “I always find it very interesting that people talk all about their from Christianity and all these other religions that teach love. All that teach taking care of the poor. All of which talk about doing for the least of these. Yet, they continue to heap burden upon burden upon people who can stand it the least,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said today.

“You can not possibly square with the word ‘fairness’ giving $200,000 tax cut to a billionaire at the same time you raise benefits for Medicare on people with fixed income by $6,000 a year. That is immoral. That is un-American,” Clyburn also said.

How a guy who was turned into fish food in May is “pushing Islamophobia” I have no idea.

(CNS) — The Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is accusing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich — along with deceased al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden — of “pushing Islamaphobia” in the United States.

A new report—“Same Hate, New Target: Islamaphobia and Its Impact in the United States, January 2009-December 2010” — published by CAIR and the Center for Race and Gender at the University of California at Berkeley listed “individuals, institutions and groups” that CAIR argues were “at the center of pushing Islamophobia in America during the period covered” by the report. Among those listed were Newt Gingrich — and Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

At a June 23 Washington, D.C. press conference discussing the report, CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor said: “Finally, Newt Gingrich, as [CAIR National Executive Director] Nihad [Awad] mentioned, consistently comparing Muslims to Nazis — this is somebody who has the status of the former Speaker of the House. So, this is not a fringe individual. This is someone who has gravitas, shall we say, who’s pushing Islamophobia.”

The report quotes Gingrich from an Aug. 16, 2010 appearance on the show Fox & Friends, saying, “Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.”

Expect the unexpected.

(Bloomberg) — Consumer spending unexpectedly stagnated in May as employment prospects dimmed and rising inflation caused Americans to cut back.

Purchases were little changed, the weakest outcome since June 2010, after a revised 0.3 percent gain the prior month that was smaller than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 0.1 percent gain. Prices excluding food and energy rose more than forecast.

Trusting his Orwellian instincts.

WASHINGTON — Alarmed by a shortage of primary care doctors, Obama administration officials are recruiting a team of “mystery shoppers” to pose as patients, call doctors’ offices and request appointments to see how difficult it is for people to get care when they need it.

The administration says the survey will address a “critical public policy problem”: the increasing shortage of primary care doctors, including specialists in internal medicine and family practice. It will also try to discover whether doctors are accepting patients with private insurance while turning away those in government health programs that pay lower reimbursement rates.

Federal officials predict that more than 30 million Americans will gain coverage under the health care law passed last year. “These newly insured Americans will need to seek out new primary care physicians, further exacerbating the already growing problem” of a shortage of such physicians in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a description of the project prepared for the White House.

Plans for the survey have riled many doctors because the secret shoppers will not identify themselves as working for the government.

“I don’t like the idea of the government snooping,” said Dr. Raymond Scalettar, an internist in Washington. “It’s a pernicious practice — Big Brother tactics, which should be opposed.”

According to government documents obtained from Obama administration officials, the mystery shoppers will call medical practices and ask if doctors are accepting new patients and, if so, how long the wait would be. The government is eager to know whether doctors give different answers to callers depending on whether they have public insurance, like Medicaid, or private insurance, like Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Dr. George J. Petruncio, a family doctor in Turnersville, N.J., said: “This is not a way to build trust in government. Why should I trust someone who does not correctly identify himself?”

Dr. Stephen C. Albrecht, a family doctor in Olympia, Wash., said: “If federal officials are worried about access to care, they could help us. They don’t have to spy on us.”

Dr. Robert L. Hogue, a family physician in Brownwood, Tex., asked: “Is this a good use of tax money? Probably not. Everybody with a brain knows we do not have enough doctors.”

In response to the drumbeat of criticism, a federal health official said doctors need not worry because the data would be kept confidential. “Reports will present aggregate data, and individuals will not be identified,” said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss the plan before its final approval by the White House.

Christian J. Stenrud, a Health and Human Services spokesman, said: “Access to primary care is a priority for the administration. This study is an effort to better understand the problem and make sure we are doing everything we can to support primary care physicians, especially in communities where the need is greatest.”

Keep reading. . .

Coming from the same government we shower with billions of dollars in aid every year.

(PressTV) — Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Yehiya al-Gamal has blamed the United States and Israel for being engaged in efforts to incite a religious strife to weaken the African country.

“The US and Israel are behind the religious sedition in Egypt [as] they realize this is the only way to break up the country,” said al-Gamal in televised remarks, quoted in a report by MENA news agency.

“Israel is trying to do this because Egypt is the most important power in the region,” he emphasized.

Egypt is entangled with sectarian strife in the country following a historic revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

Sectarian clashes between Coptic Christians and Saudi-inspired radical Salafists in the capital Cairo claimed 12 lives and injured 100 more in March.

(Chron) — Homeland Security officials misled the public and Congress last year in an effort to downplay a wave of immigration case dismissals in Houston and other cities amid accusations that they had created a “back-door amnesty,” newly released records show.

The records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, include a series of internal memos from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s chief counsel in Houston dated last August ordering attorneys to review all new, incoming cases and thousands already pending on the immigration court docket and to file paperwork to dismiss any that did not meet the agency’s “top priorities.” (Read the documents provided by the federal officials in response to a FOIA request here.)

The secretive review process resulted in the dismissal of hundreds of cases in Houston, most of them involving illegal immigrants who had lived in the United States for years without committing serious crimes.

A string of emails shows the dismissals had the blessings of top attorneys at ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C., last summer and that other ICE legal offices across the country were encouraged to consider measures to better use the agency’s limited resources to target dangerous criminals.

The records also document for the first time that the agency quietly rescinded the Houston memo on Aug. 25 — the day the Houston Chronicle broke the story on the dismissals — amid allegations from conservatives that the Obama administration had created a stealth amnesty program for illegal immigrants.

Keep reading…

Still barely a peep out of the Bush-era anti-war left.

Washington (CNSNews.com) — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that even after President Barack Obama withdraws 33,000 soldiers from Afghanistan by September 2012, there will still be “twice as many” U.S. troops in the country as there were when he took office.

“When the president became president, there were waiting on his desk requests for additional troops,” testified Clinton. “At the time president Obama was inaugurated, there were, give or take, about 30,000-plus American troops [in Afghanistan] and there was no doubt that our attention had shifted to Iraq in the preceding years and that in Iraq there had been a negotiated agreement with the Iraqi government by our government, the Bush administration, as to when our troops would come out.

“With Afghanistan there was nothing, there was an open-ended commitment. There was evidence of our losing to the Taliban, so he (Obama) not only put in the surge, he put in an additional 38,000 troops,” Clinton said. “So I think when all is said and done, we will still have more than twice as many troops [in Afghanistan] as when he took office in January of 2009.”

According to Clinton, after the Obama troop withdrawal is completed, about 60,000 U.S. soldiers will remain in Afghanistan because she mentioned that there were about 30,000 there when Obama took office.