This has been a terrible week for Democrats, because of the loose lips of an Obamacare architect who couldn't resist bragging to his fellow liberal elitists about he and the rest of the White House gang bamboozled Congress and the "stupid" American people. Even former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney thinks Jonathan Gruber is an ass. He's become such a liability Democrats are pretending they never heard of him. But they can't escape from their tar baby. * * * * Zero has made it clear he intends to do precisely the opposite of what Americans want him to do, which signals many more terrible weeks ahead for Democrats. Especially for Hillary Clinton. * * * * After secret negotiations, President Obama made a deal with China on "climate change." It's "historic," a "game changer," say most in the MSM. But Foreign Policy magazine wonders: "Why is Beijing downplaying the supposedly huge climate change deal? * * * * Zero also has been conducting secret negotiations with Iran. It speaks volumes about the parlous state our country is in that the president is more eager to deal with the mullahs than with Republicans. * * * * The runoff in the Louisiana senate race is becoming a laugher, an internal poll indicates. "Landrieu should save everyone a lot of money and just concede now," tweeted uber leftist Markos Moulitsas. * * * * President Obama plans to issue an executive order granting amnesty to about five million illegal immigrants by the end of next week, reported Fox News. The New York Times confirmed. This is actually good news, because it will unify Republicans in opposition to the president. House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, promised Thursday to fight it "tooth an nail."  And Americans will be royally peeved.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's clear goal is to re-establish as much of the Russian Empire (1721-1917) as he can. At its greatest extent, the Russian Empire included the territories of the old Soviet Union, most of Eastern Europe, Finland and Alaska (up to 1866). Mr. Putin knows the next U.S. president is unlikely to be as indecisive and reluctant to act as President Obama. He also faces falling demand for Russian oil and gas and unexpected price declines, which may cause him to run through Russia's considerable financial reserves. Accordingly, the pressure is on Mr. Putin to act quickly. The Russian economy is now little more than a petro-state, relying on oil and gas, which account for 68 percent of its total exports, and more than half of its government revenue. Much of Russia's manufacturing base evaporated after the end of the Soviet Union. The ruble has fallen more than 30 percent against the dollar since the beginning of this year. As a result, inflation is accelerating (more than 8 percent at the moment) as imports become more and more expensive. Thus Mr. Putin is both dangerous and vulnerable.  He must be contained.  Let's see how.

Democrats who thought last week couldn't have been worse learned Friday they were mistaken. The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether it is legal for the IRS to subsidize Obamacare policies purchased on Healthcare.gov, the federal exchange. The Obamacare statute restricts payment of subsidies to taxpayers who purchase insurance "through an Exchange established by the State," a three judge panel in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled July 22 in Halbig v. Burwell (Sylvia Burwell is secretary of Health and Human Services). That was a drafting error, Democrats said.

While Democrats were being sent to Siberia, Jack Wheeler is traveling in the Middle East, so I'm filling in on the HFR this week. Other stuff was going on in the world, but I'm focusing on you can guess what. All the bad candidates this year were Democrats. Democrat memes lost much of their potency. Democrats sounded like a party out of ideas, that has lost touch with the people, clings to power for no other reason than to use it to line their pockets. Did Democrats lose the Mandate of Heaven Tuesday? * * * * Many races were closer than they should have been because Democrats lavishly funded pseudo "Libertarian" candidates in key races. This tactic didn't work in Georgia or North Carolina, but is why Mark Begich can play Sore Loserman in Alaska, and it cost Ed Gillespie the senate seat in Virginia. If we don't do something about this, we could have big trouble in the purple states in 2016. My preferred solution - to draw and quarter the pseudo Libertarians, then boil them in oil - is, alas, impractical. * * * * Now that the midterms are over, presidential buzz begins in earnest. The first GOP presidential debate will be Sept. 16. Ugh! I have a mild preference for Scott Walker, but the possibility of an all nonwhite ticket intrigues me, if only because it would be so much fun to watch heads explode at CNN and MSNBC. * * * * The lame duck session will be an early, critical gut check for Republicans. They must try to block anything other than housekeeping measures needed to keep the government going until the new Congress convenes, because anything else Democrats try to do will be illegitimate.

Every Republican who took a senate seat from a Democrat Tuesday campaigned hard for repeal of Obamacare. Of the 60 Democrats in the senate who voted to impose Obamacare in 2009, 28 won’t be there in January, noted Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner.

For decades, psychologists and social scientists have looked for ways to improve our abilities; our mental health, success, well-being, and happiness. They have explored the possibility of raising IQ in individuals. They have sought to understand and transform unconscious processes - or change the external "stimuli" of a person's world for the better. For a time, it was also believed that raising self-esteem would support success and personal growth across the board. None of this has panned out very well. IQ seems to be fairly constant over an individual person's lifetime.  Unconscious processes are, well, unconscious. Criminals, it turns out, have very high self-esteem. But there is one quality that we can improve significantly, on purpose, as individuals, that leads to positive consequences across the spectrum of our life experiences.  It is...