Monday, July 21, 2014

Reports: The Obamas in Escrow on $4.25 Million, 8,200-Square-Foot Home in Exclusive Rancho Mirage

You know, because economic inequality, or something.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Are the Obamas buying a home in Rancho Mirage?"



And at the San Bernardino Sun, "Did President Barack Obama buy a Rancho Mirage home?":
The home, a hilltop estate in Thunderbird Heights, has been on the market for about a year. Several real estate agents, speaking anonymously, said they heard secondhand that the president was looking to buy the 1993 remodeled home with seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

But those rumors have not yet been verified.

Just before the Fourth of July, the listing agent, Carl Blea of HOM Sotheby's, told The Desert Sun that he could not talk about the buyer's identity.

Then, last Tuesday, The Desert Sun asked The White House whether Obama bought the 3.29-acre property in Rancho Mirage. The White House would not confirm or deny the statement.
Rough life.

Amazing how the Obamas never make any pretense of adopting a lifestyle more in tune with those they claim to champion.

Female Anatomy Underwear

It's "The New Fashion," according to Robert Stacy McCain.

And Melissa Clouthier's got the sublime rejoinder:



Paulina Porizkova Looks Hot on the Beach in Mykonos

Get out!

This lady was my first Sports Illustrated swimsuit hottie back in what, 1984?

She's still got it going on.

At Egotastic!, "Paulina Porizkova Bikini Pictures on Grecian Holiday."

Israel, Hamas, and Moral Idiocy

From Peter Wehner, at Commentary:
To portray Hamas sympathetically and Israel as villainous is not simply irrational. It requires one to step through the looking glass, to hate the good and embrace the malevolent, and in doing so to enter a world characterized by at best moral confusion and at worst moral corruption.
Well, I'd just call it evil. But yeah, moral corruption works too.

RTWT.

PHOTOS, VIDEO: Train Carrying #MH17 Bodies Leaves Ukraine Crash Site to Return to Netherlands

London's Daily Mail reported last night on the "stench of death" as the bodies from the crash were loaded into a air-conditioned cattle cars. The stench was overwhelming as flies buzzed around the train cars. Astonishing callousness, "A chilling echo of Nazi death trains as MH17 victims begin the grimmest journey." (PHOTOS).

And thank heavens now the train is finally moving, heading back to the Netherlands, the home country of the majority of those who died.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Bodies From Malaysia Airlines Flight Begin Long Trip to Netherlands: Pro-Russian Rebels Agree to Hand Over Flight Data Recorders to Malaysian and Dutch Officials":


DONETSK, Ukraine—Negotiations over the rebel-held crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 began to bear fruit on Monday, as Malaysia's prime minister said rebels had agreed to hand over the aircraft's data recorders and to allow the transport of victims' bodies to the Netherlands.

Victims' remains were being transported by train from the pro-Russian territory of Torez, about 12 miles south of the crash site, to Kharkiv, Ukraine, a city with no fighting that is under government control. From there, they will be sent to the Netherlands, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in The Hague on Monday. It wasn't clear when the remains would arrive, Mr. Rutte said, and the train trip to Kharkiv alone could take "at least 10 to 12 hours," he said.

Rebel leader Alexander Borodai told a delegation from Malaysia in the regional capital of Donetsk on Monday that he planned to hand Flight 17's black boxes over to representatives of the Malaysian and Dutch governments in Ukraine.

The head of the Malaysian delegation, Col. Mohd Sakri, said an agreement had been reached for the rapid removal of bodies of the plane's passengers and crew, which would be transported first to the Netherlands. "We want to bring bodies as soon as possible to family members to let them identify them, to make proper funeral arrangements according to their religion," he said. Forty-three Malaysians died aboard Flight 17.

Once in the Netherlands, Dutch labs will carry out the necessary procedures for the positive identification of the victims irrespective of nationality, said Jos van Roo, the leader of the Dutch forensics team in Ukraine.

As new fighting broke out across the region between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatists, President Barack Obama strengthened his demand that Russian President Vladimir Putin compel the rebels to clear the way for investigators to access the crash site, which remains chaotic four days after the jet was downed.

The U.S. and Ukraine have said intelligence shows pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine used a missile system provided by Russia to shoot down Flight 17. But on Monday, Russia's Defense Ministry offered an alternative conclusion, saying Russian radar had spotted a second aircraft near the Malaysian Airlines jet shortly before the crash and that satellite imagery showed Ukraine had moved missile systems into the area before the incident.

Lt. Gen. Igor Makushev said it was likely the second aircraft was a Ukrainian fighter jet, but he didn't say who the ministry believed had fired the missile that brought Flight 17 down.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday passed a unanimous resolution condemning the downing of Flight 17 and calling for an independent international investigation into the incident.

Growing anger over the attack and the handling of the crash site has led some European leaders to join Mr. Obama in threatening broad new measures against Moscow. European foreign ministers were due to discuss stiffer sanctions in Brussels on Tuesday.

"Now's the time for President Putin and Russia to pivot away from the strategy that they've been taking and get serious about trying to resolve hostilities within Ukraine,"


Mr. Obama said in comments at the White House. Mr. Obama called for "immediate and full access to the crash site" and warned Russia that it would face additional sanctions if Mr. Putin does not act. He also said the blocking of access to the crash site by pro-Russian separatists "begs the question: What exactly are they trying to hide?"
More here.

Expect updates.

Walter James Casper 'Reaching Out' to Anti-Israel #ANSWER Communist 'CassandraRules'

Following up from my previous entry, "Los Angeles #Gaza Protesters Demand Extermination of Israel and Death to the Jews."

Just wanted to get on record how my racist, anti-Semitic hate-troll stalker is "reaching out" to the ANSWER communists I've been covering at the blog. Seriously. This dude is one messed up stalking troll:



She's not a good person, an America-bashing anti-Israel Jew-hater. Just Repsac's kind. Israel is no different from Nazi Germany. BDS much?



Bonus "Cassandra" tweeting an upside down American flag from the Anaheim anti-brutality protest:



And one of "Cassandra's" Anonymous pals, death-wishing Israeli Jews:



You can see why Repsac's "reaching out" to these demons. Sheesh.

Racist stalking hate-troll Walter James Casper III. One sick mofo, man.

Los Angeles #Gaza Protesters Demand Extermination of Israel and Death to the Jews

Commenting on the murderous anti-Israel protests in France last week, Caroline Glick writes:
Since the beginning of the year, anti-Jewish violence and intimidation in France has reached levels not seen since the Holocaust. And things have only gotten worse since Palestinian terrorists in Hebron kidnapped and murdered Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrah and Gil-Ad Shaer a month ago. Life for Jews in France is becoming increasingly untenable.

Anti-Jewish attacks run the gamut from shouting “Death to the Jews,” and “Finish Hitler’s Work,” to delivering bomb threats to Jewish kindergartens and businesses, to vandalizing Jewish businesses, institutions and other property, to physically assaulting Jews of all ages, as well as Jewish institutions.

On Sunday, violent mass assaults on Jewish targets commenced just as a two-hour-long fanatically pro-Palestinian march was dispersing. Nearly 200 Jewish worshipers were trapped inside of the Don Issac Avrabanel synagogue as assailants, riled up from the march, threw bricks at the synagogue and attacked its Jewish defenders with metal rods.

In the US, levels of violence against Jews by supporters of the Palestinians continue to rise. In San Francisco, pro-Palestinian protesters showed their solidarity with the Palestinian goal of genocide by, among other things, calling for Israel’s destruction while wearing white gloves with red paint on the fingers and palms...
And so it was in Los Angeles yesterday, where the Stalinist ANSWER cadres organized a march on the Israeli embassy, and here's "Cassandra" at the march, tweeting the Hamas slogan, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!":


Cowardly communist thug Michael Prsyner tweeted from the embassy:


As you can see at the video, the protest was accompanied by a massive police presence. I was unable to attend yesterday, but my future ANSWER coverage will always be at events with transparent security, which is obviously necessary to prevent the ANSWER cowards from committing crimes in the name of censoring honest coverage of their genocidal and racist campaigns.




More at the Mad Jewess, "Why Is The ‘Anti-War’, #FreePalestine, Pro #Hamas Crowd Almost ALWAYS Violent & Nasty??"

Well, their murderous thugs, for one thing.

UPDATE: Here's the screencap of "Cassandra" tweeting the Hamas slogan from the protest, since she's now bleating "libel much?" like a pig.

 photo 6d12fdd6-cb7b-4714-b904-18f7f37c2f1e_zpsff2dbbc8.png

And here's the report at Now the End Begins, on the Gaza protests in London and Paris, "THOUSANDS OF MUSLIM PROTESTERS STORM EUROPE CALLING FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL":
Tens of thousands protested in London Saturday afternoon against Israel’s military operations in Gaza, denouncing Israel as a terrorist state and castigating British Prime Minister David Cameron for backing Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas rocket fire.

Led by speakers on a podium, protesters holding placards and banners chanted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans. At one point, a woman on the podium shouted “from the river to the sea” — a call for the elimination of Israel — and protesters responded by yelling “Palestine will be free.”
The left's "Free Gaza" protests are nothing more than anti-Jew hate-fests delegitimizing Israel, literally calling for the Jews to be swept to the sea, to their deaths.

Your Legal Right to Takes Photos in Public --- of Just About Anything

From Glenn Reynolds, "On photography, cops need to get a clue":
It's legal in America to take pictures of public buildings — and pretty much everything and everyone else in public. That's something that law enforcement agencies routinely take advantage of in arguing that people have no "reasonable expectation of privacy" when they're out and about and being surveilled by the government.
That everyone else includes police officers, despite their protestations, and private citizens, like the ANSWER thugs who used criminal violence in an attempt to shut down "American Power."

More from Professor Reynolds at the link.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Pat Benatar at Harrah's Resort Southern California

My wife and I are heading out to see Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, with Rick Springfield opening, at Harrah's Rincon.

See, at Harrah's Resort homepage, "PAT BENATAR & NEIL GIRALDO + RICK SPRINGFIELD."



And at Rick Springfield's site, "Rick Springfield Announces Summer Tour with Pat Benatar."

Plus, "Hearbreaker" live, March 22, 2014.

I'll have more anti-amnesty and anti-communist blogging late tonight or in the morning.

Thanks for reading!

Hey, Leftists: You're Gonna Need a Bigger Collectivist Army to Shut Down 'American Power'!

I had cameras in my face pretty much all day yesterday, all except those couple of times that leftists stole my phone.

At times I was surrounded by literally dozens of these smelly bastards, but it's gonna take far larger leftist brigades to keep "American Power" down:


And Darleen Click notes the key point that ANSWER's leftist thugs are not talking about, from the comments on yesterday's report:
Were there no cops there? Forcefully grabbing your phone and throwing it away is assault plus theft (and if the phone is over $400 it is a felony).

They want to stop gang injunctions? Nothing like handing over the public streets to criminals there.
No, there weren't any cops at the Stoddard Park rally, although there were loads of police at the march on Disneyland. I would have finished the march had I not been detoured by ANSWER's cowardly violence. These Stalinist goons simply will not tolerate conservative media reporting the truth on their "KKKOP killer" protests.

VIDEO: CBS Los Angeles Covers #Anaheim Police Brutality March, Ignores Anarcho-Communist Infiltration

As long as the local media refuses to report accurately on these protesters, I'll be out there providing on-the-ground reports of the disgusting "anarcho-communist "freakazoids" who are the central organizers of these events.

Here's yesterday's report, "Cowardly #ANSWER Communists Violently Harass 'American Power' at Anaheim Police Brutality Protest!"

And here's the report at CBS News Los Angeles. Reporter Art Barron ignored the radical, anarcho-communist protesters, many of whom wore shirts and held signs calling for death to the Anaheim Police Department. Even worse, the back bloc anarchists are shown at the video without even a 10-second description or explanation of the real and violent ideological program.





I'll have more Anaheim coverage throughout the day.

PHOTOS: National Protests Against Surge of Illegal Aliens — #BorderInvasion #StopAmnesty

I'd planned to blog mostly about the anti-amnesty protests taking place around the country yesterday, but instead ending up with a chronicle of leftist cowardice I hadn't expected. ICYMI, "Cowardly #ANSWER Communists Violently Harass 'American Power' at Anaheim Police Brutality Protest!" That was something, man. Jonn Lilyea links with more information about treasonous coward Michael Prysner, "‘American Power’ blog at ANSWER protest in Anaheim."

In all, I attended three protests. Organizers had planned two days of demonstrations, called the "National Days of Protest against Immigration Reform Amnesty & the Illegal Immigration Surge." Warner Todd Huston has the background at Breitbart, "PROTESTS HELD ACROSS US AGAINST OBAMA'S DISASTROUS IMMIGRATION POLICIES."

And from around the country. See Legal Insurrection, "Reports from the “Immigration Surge” Protests."

And at WND, "AMERICANS PROTEST AMNESTY IN 319 CITIES Rallies strong despite 'media blackout' from CNN, CBS, NBC, Fox News."

More at the San Bernardino Sun, "Protesters decry immigrant ‘amnesty’ at rally in San Bernardino." And the Riverside Press-Enterprise, "ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: Protests in Murrieta, San Bernardino."

Also at CNN, "Protestors vent anger at 'alien invasion' of U.S. in 2-day nationwide protests."

In any case, I first stopped off at the overpass protest yesterday morning, at Ball Road and the 57 Fwy in Anaheim. There were a couple of dozen protesters. Some photos:




A second anti-amnesty protest was held in Irvine at the Yale Loop pedestrian overpass at the 405 Fwy:





I'll have more coverage throughout the day.

Responses to 'Cowardly #ANSWER Communists'

ICYMI, here's yesterday's report, "Cowardly #ANSWER Communists Violently Harass 'American Power' at Anaheim Police Brutality Protest!"

And some responses:



And this John Hernandez dude's a trip. I've been reading some of his blog posts. Click through at the embeds:




Saturday, July 19, 2014

Cowardly #ANSWER Communists Violently Harass 'American Power' at Anaheim Police Brutality Protest!

ANSWER Los Angeles held a rally and protest march against police brutality in Anaheim today, "Anaheim: July 19 March to End Police Terror."

The event was an anniversary follow-up to their city hall protest last July, "STAY IN THE STREETS! FROM THE RACIST POLICE TO THE RACIST 'JUSTICE' SYSTEM - STOP THE WAR ON BLACK & BROWN YOUTH!"

I covered last year's protest and blogged it, "Communists March Against Police Brutality in Anaheim!," and "Communists Protest Police Brutality in Anaheim — #JusticeForTrayvon."

So I was in Anaheim this morning to cover the anti-amnesty protests on Ball Road at the 57 Fwy, and I swung over to Stoddard Park, near Disneyland, to take a few photos and Vines at ANSWER's protest. I was unable to take as many as I would have liked. "Cassandra" and "Jordyan, who were out to the Murrieta Border Station protest a couple of weeks ago, sicced their La Raza racists and communist thugs on me, and I was dealing with that all day. (ICYMI, I blogged socialist slutbags "Cassandra" and "Jordyan" here: "#Murrieta Protesters @CassandraRules and @BeautifulChaosJ Spew Lies and Hatred, Not 'Civility'."




I asked "Jordyan" why she said she wasn't a leftist when I spoke to her in Murrieta? I continued, "You're here with the ANSWER communists? That's about as far left as you can get." She raised her hand to my face, ran off, and refused to correct her lies. That's always --- always! --- the way it is with leftists. They'll lie about their true ideological program, because they know they'll be repudiated by regular, patriotic Americans.




Here's "Cassandra" with communist loser "Iraq combat veteran" Michael Pryser:



Prysner's a coward. He served in Iraq as a grounds surveillance technician, and word is he saw no combat, and since then has allegedly misrepresented his war record and trumped up the military heroism of other soldiers as his own.

He obviously doesn't like being called out on it, which is why he tried to shut down my participation at a public rally by seizing my iPhone and throwing it in the street. Pretty typical for an intolerant leftist scumbag. These idiots simply cannot stand to have their activism and ideology exposed to the real light of public opinion and opprobrium. This Ain't Hell just destroys lying loser Prysner here, "Michael Prysner: true communist hero."



I ran out into the street to retrieve my phone, which was still in good working condition, amazingly. At the Vine below is mental midget and dead-end ANSWER stooge Douglas Kauffman. Next to him is the mother of Manuel Diaz. I gather her son was killed by Anaheim PD and she was one of the event's sponsors. Actually, I was not "antagonizing" anyone. I would have loved to hear her memorial to her son, but the commie stooges were blocking and tripping me as I tried to move over to listen to the speakers. She came up to me twice during the day, asking me to leave. I told her it was a public park and I just wanted to take some pictures and I'd be gone. She didn't like that idea and called me a "disruptive force."



All of the anarcho-idiots who got in my face to video refused to show their faces. I couldn't take photos or Vines, as I was surrounded by thugs who covered my iPhone. Cowards. Stupid, intolerant, childish cowards:



Honestly, this dude needed to go toke a few more fat ones. Couldn't get him out of my face. He smoked cigarettes continuously, of course blowing the smoke in my face. I couldn't wait to get home to shower. These people are no better than the diseased aliens coming over the border. A dirty hippie if there ever was one, and obviously a cartoon caricature who's actually a stooge:



Notice all the black bloc anarchists at the photos:

>

I repeatedly told this stooge he wasn't intimidating at all. He was a coward who wouldn't show his face. They're all teeny-tiny little losers who refuse to stand up for what the believe and be counted. They all hide behind "V for Vendetta" masks and black-bloc balaclavas. It'd be funny, although they were extremely annoying, since it was impossible to get around to take more photos. And notice the Aztlán open-borders Brownshirts as well. ANSWER's been in longtime coordination with them, the racist freaks.



Folks might remember that Victoria Taft photographed the chunky bitch getting in my face in Murrieta. She stayed back today, and I was barely able to take this photo. Pretty funny, lol:



I stepped away for about a half-hour or so to tweet the photos I'd taken, and when I was getting ready to go, the protest march began, so I decided to take a couple of Vines:





It's actually pretty hard to tweet in the broad daylight, and I was trying to keep up with the march as I was taking Vines. After the march turned from 9th Street onto Katella (a couple of blocks north of Disneyland), I ran up ahead for a better position. "Cassandra" and "Jordyan" thought their thugs had driven me away, lol! I love how "Jordyan" scurries like a rat up onto the sidewalk, and covers her face like the embarrassed liar she is:



You'll notice, though, that I sent this Vine after I retrieved my phone from over that big brick wall seen at the Vine. I was about to send it when one of the Aztlán goons --- who came running from behind as I was working the keypad --- grabbed the phone out of my hand. I ran forward as he kept running and grabbed him by the shirt. Just then he chucked the phone over the brick wall into one of the backyards abutting Katella Avenue. I should have known. My bad. This was the second time these fascists grabbed my device and threw it. Only this time I had to scale the damned wall, which wasn't easy. I scratched my arm on my first attempt. After I found my phone I walked back to my Odyssey and took a photo of the scratches. All in day's work, I guess:



I've been reporting on ANSWER Los Angeles for years now and these losers are obviously not pleased by the coverage. Normally, though, ANSWER protests are monitored by huge police contingents. These thugs would never be able to block my participation, at times violently, if police had been on hand. So, chalk it up as a lesson. Only cover these losers at events where police will be on the ground. Frankly, I was being assaulted and prevented from exercising my free speech rights at a public protest. It's not something I'd do if the shoe was on the other foot. I'd never physically assault and harass a leftist wanting to cover an anti-immigration rally, for example, because I'm not ashamed of what I'm doing and I'm not ashamed of the message that all-American patriots convey at our events. The same cannot be said for the ANSWER communists. They're paranoid and conspiratorial. Remember, these are people who call each other "comrade" at their organizing meetings, like genuine Marxist cadres (which is good for a laugh, seriously).

Mostly, though, these are simply not good people. They have no respect for the rights of others, which belies all the "civility" bullshit they spew, and all the "social justice" crap they're always yammering about. The L.A. ANSWER goons are career protesters with dead-end futures, shaking down the mindless left-wing rubes for the donations that keep this racket going. Unfortunately, the mainstream press routinely gives these freaks positive, credible media, which has the sad result of providing legitimacy for a far-left movement that is so communist they backed Moscow when it crushed the Prague Spring democracy movement in 1968. That's who we're talking about here. Not "progressive" activists but Che-wannabe murderers who would slit your mother's throat if she were to say one word in opposition. F-k these losers. The don't intimidate me. And they can expect lots more coverage like this going forward.

Israel Pushes Deeper Into Gaza

At the Los Angeles Times, "Israeli ground forces push deeper into Gaza Strip."

Ukraine Says Multiple Buk Missile Systems Moved to Russia — #MH17

At the Los Angeles Times:

Three Buk missile systems made their way from eastern Ukraine across the border into Russia on Friday, according to Ukrainian officials, including one lacking the missile they believe brought down a Malaysia Airlines jet the day before. “

Three missile launchers trespassed the Ukraine border on July 18,” Vitaly Nayda, Ukraine’s counterintelligence chief, told reporters in Kiev on Saturday afternoon.

The announcement came a day after a government advisor posted a video purportedly showing a single Buk system, with at least one missile missing, making the trip to Russia on a road in eastern Ukraine. The new disclosure suggests that the Russian government supplied multiple anti-aircraft systems to the separatists, which Nayda said were also used to bring down two Ukrainian military transport planes earlier in the week. The systems crossed the border at 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Friday, Nayda said.

If the Ukrainian government claims are confirmed, it would serve as strong evidence that Russia provided help to separatists to shoot down planes in eastern Ukraine.

Nayda added that, according to his country’s intelligence, Russian military officers accompanied the units on their move across the border.

“We documented negotiations between terrorists and got information from those conversations that three Russian personnel came with it,” he said. “There were Russian citizens operating the Buk-M1 and they came from territory of the Russian Federation.”
More.

Blistering Indictment of Obama Administration Open-Borders Subterfuge: Dems Facilitating Asymmetrical Warfare Against the U.S.

This is an utterly astonishing video, sent to me by Terri Hill.

Here, "Zack Taylor Interview-Security on the border between USA and Mexico."

More at the Washington Times, "Former Border Patrol agents call Senate’s immigration plan ‘a huge waste of resources’- Find criminal aliens, they say."

The Downing of #MH17

At the Wall Street Journal, "Putin is the one leader who quickly assigned blame for the disaster" (via Google):
The downing of MH17 should at the very least clear the fog around the conflict in eastern Ukraine. If not for President Putin, none of this would be happening. The conflict was conceived, funded and armed by Russia. The commander of the separatist forces is a Russian military intelligence officer. The leader of the separatist government in Donetsk is a resident of Moscow.

As Ukraine's popular new president launched an operation to liberate the east last month, the rebels acquired fancier new weaponry. Their ability to shoot down Ukrainian aircraft was remarkable for a supposedly ragtag force of mercenaries, locals and thugs. The Kremlin put advanced weapon systems in the hands of a band of outlaws—and it is ultimately responsible for how they use them.

This catastrophe brings to mind the Korean Air Lines plane shot down in 1983 by a Soviet military fighter, killing 269. President Reagan called the downing of KAL007 "an act of barbarism, born of a society which wantonly disregards individual rights and the value of human life and seeks constantly to expand and dominate others." It was a moral turning point in the Cold War.

Perhaps the downing of MH17 will be a similar turning point in our post-post Cold War era. The Ukrainian crisis has been dismissed too often as a faraway battle in which the West has little stake, and in any case Ukraine is within Russia's "sphere of influence."

The deaths of 298 innocents from many countries should put that to rest. The Kremlin's attack on an independent neighboring state presents the gravest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War. Russia has supported non-state insurgents with the express purpose of sowing chaos. It's notable that Mr. Putin was the one leader who didn't show restraint on Thursday. He blamed Ukraine as "the government on whose territory this occurred." The world should ask why he would be so quick to jump to conclusions.
RTWT at that top link.

U.S. Blames Pro-Putin Rebels for Missile Attack on Malaysia Airlines Jet in Ukraine — #MH17

At the Wall Street Journal, "West Accuses Ukrainian Separatists of Firing Missile That Downed Plane; Obama Faults Putin for Support":


WASHINGTON—The U.S. and its allies accused Russian-aided separatists of firing the missile that downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing 298 people, including a dual Dutch-American citizen, and demanded that Moscow end months of unrest in eastern Ukraine.

President Barack Obama, faulting Russian President Vladimir Putin's support for separatists, called on Friday for "an immediate cease-fire" in eastern Ukraine to allow for a thorough investigation of the crash by international authorities.

"It is not possible for these separatists to function the way they're functioning... without sophisticated equipment and sophisticated training—and that is coming from Russia," Mr. Obama said at a White House news conference.

At the crash site in a separatist-controlled part of eastern Ukraine, pro-Russia rebels fired briefly into the air before allowing the first international observers very limited access to the vast field of destruction.

Ukrainian officials have released what they say was evidence that the jetliner was shot down by separatists, including video of an antiaircraft system purportedly being moved, and intercepted phone calls said to be between separatists and Russian advisers. U.S. officials said they are examining some of the evidence offered by Ukraine.

Mr. Obama said Moscow would face new economic sanctions unless it backed a cease-fire and international probe of the crash site. His remarks came amid new indications that Europe, jolted by the tragedy, may be readying an expansion of sanctions as early as next week.

"This is a platform that gives us a lot of leeway to act on a new level," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, referring to a new framework for potential sanctions adopted by the European Union earlier this week.

Earlier Friday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, presented evidence of Russian aid to pro-Russia separatists.

Together, the developments pointed to a renewed, U.S.-led campaign against Moscow that puts Mr. Putin on notice that he is facing world-wide grief and anger over the crash and now must swiftly move to stabilize eastern Ukraine.

"If Mr. Putin makes a decision that we are not going to allow heavy armaments and the flow of fighters into Ukraine across the Ukrainian-Russian border, then it will stop," Mr. Obama said...
More.

Obama's full statement here, "The President Makes a Statement on Ukraine."

VIDEO: Staten Island Man Dies After Placed in NYPD Chokehold, Slammed to Ground

This is just ridiculously sad.

The man, choking, says repeatedly, "I can't breathe!" My eyes get teary listening to his cries.

At the New York Times, "Man’s Death After Chokehold Raises Old Issue for the Police":

The 350-pound man, about to be arrested on charges of illegally selling cigarettes, was arguing with the police. When an officer tried to handcuff him, the man pulled free. The officer immediately threw his arm around the man’s neck and pulled him to the ground, holding him in what appears, in a video, to be a chokehold. The man can be heard saying “I can’t breathe” over and over again as other officers swarm about.

Now, the death of the man, Eric Garner, 43, soon after the confrontation on Thursday on Staten Island, is being investigated by the police and prosecutors. At the center of the inquiry is the officer’s use of a chokehold — a dangerous maneuver that was banned by the New York Police Department more than 20 years ago but that the department cannot seem to be rid of.

“As defined in the department’s patrol guide, this would appear to have been a chokehold,” the police commissioner, William J. Bratton, said at a news conference in City Hall on Friday afternoon.
More.

And at New York Daily News, "Staten Island man dies after NYPD cop puts him in chokehold — SEE THE VIDEO."

A YouTube clip is here.