Fear of a Bourbon Shortage Puts Enthusiasts Over a Barrel

I think the fears are overblown.

Interesting piece, in any case.

At WSJ, "Whiskey Lovers Stock Basement Bunkers; Searching for Elmer T. Lee."

Scores of Children Among 130 Dead in Taliban Attack on Pakistan School

The Taliban are warming up for retaking Afghanistan as President Obama declares an end to combat operations in that country.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Massacred in their classroom: More than 100 children killed as Taliban gunmen storm Pakistani school."

And at LAT, "Gunmen wearing uniforms of security forces, some strapped with suicide vests, go from classroom to classroom, firing at children as some students cower under their desks."

Democrats Divided on Their Path to 2016

From Karen Tumulty, at the Washington Post:

In the six weeks since their repudiation in the midterms, Democrats have seen the opening of fissures within their once-disciplined ranks, marking the start of an internal struggle between now and the 2016 election over the ideological identity and tactical direction of the party.

The tension — shown in high relief during the messy final days of the congressional session — is in some ways a mirror image of the stresses within the Republican Party, which has been divided between its tea party and establishment factions in recent years.

In the case of both parties, the argument pits the more populist, purist elements of the base against the more pragmatic center.

For Democrats, “it is a conflict that was looking for an occasion,” said William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who was a policy adviser to former President Bill Clinton. “The election provided the occasion.”

Having lost big in November, two wings within the party have been trading recriminations over which was more to blame while jostling for position to be the face of the Democrats going into 2016.

They are personified by former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, the presumptive presidential front-runner by virtue of her stature and fame, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the anti-Wall Street clarion favored by many on the left to challenge Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

If the loss of the Senate intensified strains within the party, the $1.1 trillion spending bill that passed Saturday night raised two issues that acted as matches to gasoline. One was a provision rolling back portions of the 2010 financial regulatory law known as the Dodd-Frank Act. The other loosened campaign donation limits, allowing the wealthy to give three times the current maximum to the national political parties. That means even more clout for rich donors and the interests they represent.

In both instances, the question was not whether Democrats supported the individual provisions — they generally do not. It was whether individual members considered them so egregious as to merit blowing up a wide-ranging deal to which Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) had been a party and for which President Obama was personally lobbying.

“What we saw over the last couple of days is an example of a debate that is probably going to go on for a while in the party,” said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Reid.

Proponents of the legislation argued that they had succeeded in preventing even more provisions weakening Dodd-Frank from being inserted in the bill. And at any rate, they said, the legislation was far better than anything Democrats could expect should they allow the debate to continue into next year, when Republicans will be in control of the House and Senate.

But Warren urged her colleagues to hold the line, particularly against the banks whose political influence she accused her own party of abetting.

“Enough is enough with Wall Street insiders getting key position after key position and the kind of cronyism we have seen in the executive branch,” she said in a fiery speech on the Senate floor. “Enough is enough with Citigroup passing eleventh-hour deregulatory provisions that nobody takes ownership over but that everybody comes to regret. Enough is enough.”

So strident was her opposition that it drew comparison with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who had led the charge against the bill from the right based on opposition to Obama’s immigration policies.

Democratic leaders denied any symmetry.

Cross your fingers in the hopes that Fauxcahontas runs. She'll get a national vetting the likes of which was denied to the voters of Massachusetts. And of course, Hillary Clinton actually losing the Democrat nomination for a second time would be priceless. Heh.

Businesses Won't Serve Homosexuals on Non-Existent Right to Same-Sex Marriage

Well, some business folks are standing up for basic decency --- that is, the basic decency not to be bullied by the homosexual ayatollahs.

At NYT, "Can’t Have Your Cake, Gays Are Told, and a Rights Battle Rises":

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Jack Phillips is a baker whose evangelical Protestant faith informs his business. There are no Halloween treats in his bakery — he does not see devils and witches as a laughing matter. He will not make erotic-themed pastries — they offend his sense of morality. And he declines cake orders for same-sex weddings because he believes Christianity teaches that homosexuality is wrong.

Mr. Phillips, whose refusal two years ago to make a cake for a gay male couple has led to a court battle now getting underway, is one of a small number of wedding vendors across the country who are emerging as the unlikely face of faith-based resistance to same-sex marriage.

The refusals by the religious merchants — bakers, florists and photographers, for example — have been taking place for several years. But now local governments are taking an increasingly hard line on the issue, as legislative debates over whether to protect religious shop owners are overtaken by administrative efforts to punish them...

There it is: "punish them" for sticking to their constitutionally protected religious beliefs.

Once again, the radical left nihilists are destroying the fabric of good will and decency in this country.

More.

How Real is 'Homeland'?

This is great, at the Daily Beast:

CIA Agents: How Real Is 'Homeland?' http://t.co/Wad5yMHYx5 pic.twitter.com/OJJTUH9eeX

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) December 15, 2014

I See Charles C. Johnson's Struck a Nerve

Seen on Twitter:

Fuck @ChuckCJohnson and everything he stands for. http://t.co/bWC3UoZRWL

— Michael Mirasol (@flipcritic) December 15, 2014

Politico also had a write up as well.

'There are no lone wolves in the jihad war...'

From Pamela Geller, at Atlas Shrugs, "DEFENDING THE WEST: The Islamic propaganda offensive; Exclusive: Pamela Geller declares, ‘There are no lone wolves in the jihad war’":

Islamic supremacists and their leftwing lapddpgs didn’t even wait for the bodies to be counted in the latest jihad slaughter in Sydney before the propaganda putsch began — “fear of reprisals” (which never happen), “islamophobia” and “backlash-o-phobia.”

I wrote this column this past weekend — before a Muslim terrorist in Sydney, Australia  stormed a popular Chocolate shop/cafe. It rings truer still now, in the wake of the Sydney jihad bloodshed.

RTWT.

Plus, "Photos: LOOK at the Faces of the Victims of #SydneySeige Jihad Terrorist."

Sydney Hostage Siege

Memeorandum has a huge roundup.

And at the link, from the New York Times, "Sydney Hostage Siege Ends With Gunman and 2 Captives Dead as Police Storm Cafe."

And see Andrew Bolt, at Sydney's Daily Telegraph, "Sydney hostages forced to hold Islamic flag," and "Hostage taker with Islamic flag gives Wendy Bacon a pleasant vision of a green future."

More, "Gunman and two hostages killed."



Plus, see James Taranto on the left's wet response down in Sydney, "‘He Must Have Loved Ones, Too’: Pathological altruism in Sydney."

Washington's Disfunction Is the New Normal

Hey, fine by me.

I'm looking for Republican control of the both the executive and the legislature in 2017. Then we can finally begin to reverse the collectivist damage suffered during the Obama interregnum.

From Dan Balz, at the Washington Post, "In Washington, political dysfunction and grim outlooks are the new normal":

The November elections brought significant changes to Washington and to many states. What they did not produce was any greater sense of optimism on the part of the public about the state of American politics. If anything, they produced the opposite.

A new report from the Pew Research Center lays out the evidence in clear and unrelenting detail. The survey of attitudes at the close of the year offers a reminder to political leaders, and especially prospective presidential candidates, that among their biggest challenges ahead will be finding ways to begin to restore faith and confidence in the political system.

Four in 5 Americans say the country is more politically divided than in the past. Although that is no worse than it was two years ago, it is far gloomier than it used to be. Scroll back to the early days of President Obama’s tenure in the White House, and the differences between then and now are particularly stark.

During George W. Bush’s second term as president, a period of rancor and division because of the Iraq war, almost 7 in 10 Americans said the country was more divided than it had been.

After Obama’s election in 2008, there was a brief thaw in attitudes. At that moment, as many people said the country was not more divided than in the past as said it was, hardly a consensus that the country was heading toward a period of greater unity, but at least a sign of optimism.

That disappeared quickly. Today, perceptions of political division are even more negative than during the worst days under Bush, and there is minimal confidence that things will change for the better anytime soon.

Just 1 in 5 surveyed by Pew say they think the country will be less divided in five years than it is today. More than a third say the country will be even more divided, and the rest say it will be no different.

Seven in 10 say the failure of Republicans and Democrats to work together over the next two years will hurt the country a lot; another 16 percent say it will hurt some. And more than 4 in 5 say it will hurt them personally...

More.

Johnny Football's Deflating Debut

Heh.

This is something else.

At WSJ, "Johnny Manziel’s Starting Debut for Cleveland Ends With a 30-0 Loss to Cincinnati."

Hawaiian Surfer Garrett MacNamara Returns to Nazaré for Giant Waves

At NBC News:

Death Wishes Pour In for Dick Cheney

From the ever so classy progs, via Twitchy:

'Curl up and die': Death wishes pour in for Dick Cheney after MTP appearance http://t.co/ysscGTtBsH

— TwitchyTeam (@TwitchyTeam) December 14, 2014

Mexico's Child Laborers

LAT's been running a very compelling series on Mexico's economy --- and its transnational economic interdependence with the U.S., which hasn't always been a force for good.

Here, "Children harvest crops and sacrifice dreams in Mexico's fields."

Beauty and Small-Town American Exceptionalism

From Salena Zito, at RCP, "Hardworking, Small-town American Exceptionalism":

BEDFORD, Pa. - Michael Corle's exhausting work ethic, coupled with devotion to family and heritage, unites the edgy energy of the young with the values and traditions of rural ancestors.

He's a throwback to our entrepreneurial past, with a vision that exists in the moment.

Corle is a designer, father, teacher and proprietor of Locality, a gallery with a distinctive mix of contemporary art and more primitive pieces that he intentionally does not refinish or repurpose. “I want to preserve their authenticity, so the drawer that is worn because of years of being open and shut by constant use, retains that part of its history,” he said, explaining his genuine passion to retain the remnants of a past life.

Corle loves flaws: “(The) telltale signs of use, the natural aging of things, that kind of providence and hand-of-time is really unique.”

A descendant of German and Scots-Irish farmers who settled here in the late 1750s, he is married to Jade, a Pittsburgh native of black, Italian and Polish background; partners in life, work and family, they met while attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1999.

In 2007 they left the city life they loved in Pittsburgh and moved into the century-old home where Corle's father was born — literally in the living room — to create a destination where emerging or established artists from Central and Western Pennsylvania could showcase their craft.

On a brilliant Sunday afternoon their storefront window is a mix of kitschy old-time Christmas decorations that look like they came straight from Ozzie and Harriet's attic, all draped over a stunning primitive cabinet.

Inside, their children — Matthias, 5; Halina, 4; Eden, 2 — are dressed in their Christmas best, sitting on the planked hardwood floor and drawing pictures as customers from Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and the Bedford area barter over artworks.

They often hold workshops at the gallery and at local schools. “What we wanted to do was to bring in all that we loved about Pittsburgh, its feel and vibe. ... We look at the concept of the community of an urban village,” Corle said.

Bedford has a lazy buzz to it that is hard to describe and even harder to resist. You just sort of want to be here to see what happens next, except that it is moving at a snail's pace; it is as uniquely American as going to New York City, just with the opposite velocity.

Small locally owned stores line the main thoroughfare of the town of 2,000. An alpaca-wool shop, two homemade-candy shops, an antiques arcade converted from an old five-and-dime, a free-trade shop, several taverns and a theater crowd the streets where George Washington once headquartered to plot his next move against the Western Pennsylvania farmers rising against the federal government at the height of the Whiskey Rebellion.

There is even the required commemorative plaque announcing that Washington slept here...

Beautiful. All-American.

But shush. Don't spread the word too far. The socialist destroyers of the collectivist left will swarm on Bedford like a plague of locusts should they catch word of such beauty and hard work.

More.

Dick Cheney's Answer of the Year

Via William Kristol, "2014 Answer of the Year."

The Flight from Reason on Campus

From James Ceasar, at the Weekly Standard:

The university is often said to be the first place in our society to look for the truth. Unfortunately, it is now one of the last places to find it.

Events surrounding a recent Rolling Stone article that chronicles an account of a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity make clear how little the critical spirit operates today on our nation’s campuses. The story, which Rolling Stone no longer supports, begged to be treated with skepticism. Appearing in a magazine that trades in sensationalism—last year it put a glamour photo of the Boston marathon bomber on its cover—the narrative is so pat and faithful to a formula that common sense dictated caution. And most readers, one suspects, did feel at least a tinge of suspicion. Yet opinion leaders and campus activists across the nation quickly embraced the story as gospel truth, with some looking to convert it into a national movement to stem sexual violence.

At the epicenter of this event is the University of Virginia, where I have taught for over three decades. Jefferson’s campus became the site of rallies, demonstrations, constant social network exchanges, and endless meetings at all levels. A discourse or rhetoric began to develop that alternated expressions of rage with pleas for compassion. Apologies were issued all the way from the university’s Board of Visitors down to informal groups gathered on the campus grounds.

To be in the midst of an occurrence of this kind is to appreciate just how powerful is the force of the crowd. What took place resembled nothing so much as the behavior of a gentle mob, postmodern style. Anyone who expressed reserve about the article or who dared to apply the adjective “alleged” to the acts described faced the charge of being indifferent to sexual violence and rape. The penalty was to be written out of the community. Best, one observer cautioned, not to poke the beast.

Like many such crowds, this one sought its own victims to punish. Strangely, retribution against the seven alleged perpetrators was treated as less important than one might have thought, for this result would have placed the onus in the affair on these individuals and their criminal acts. From the moment of the first mass rally, speakers from the faculty and student body left no doubt that they were in search of much bigger game. Moving in a reverse pyramid from the specific to the more abstract, they decried the fraternity system, privilege (the “money-fraternity complex”), and the rape culture of the South, including Thomas Jefferson for his relations with Sally Hemings. The charges went higher and higher up the ladder of generality until the sex crime committed at UVA became a confirmation of the basic theory of privileged Western male oppression that is so widely subscribed to in the disciplines of cultural studies. The theoretical or ideological dimension that began to take hold, which relies on class profiling, accorded with the subtext of the Rolling Stone article that is directed less against sexual violence per se—of which Charlottesville has tragically suffered more than enough in recent years—than against sexual violence perpetrated by males belonging to society’s “upper tier.”

The abandonment of a critical spirit on our campuses is as much a failure of moral courage as of intellectual blindness. Every adult, if not every student, knows what happened at Duke eight years ago, where, under pressure from the same kind of academic crowd behavior, members of the men’s lacrosse team were tainted and criminally prosecuted for rape, under charges that ultimately proved baseless. Every professor in media studies and public opinion is fully aware of the spectacular hoaxes of modern journalism, from the gripping accounts of urban poverty by Janet Cooke in the Washington Post to the multiple fabrications of Stephen Glass in the New Republic. And scholars of literature and history cannot be ignorant of the psychology of false accusation, from the biblical story of Potiphar’s wife down to the rape charges by Tawana Brawley, cynically perpetuated by Al Sharpton. Yet, in the climate of the moment, none of the perspective that these teachers could have offered, even if they had wished to do so, was ever brought to bear. A crowd does not listen, particularly when it is convinced it is on the side of the angels...

More.

Senate Passes $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill

At LAT, "Senate approves $1.1-trillion spending bill after deadline battle":

Capping a week of high drama that exposed divisions in both parties and raised the specter of another government shutdown, the U.S. Senate gave final approval late Saturday to a $1.1-trillion spending bill that funds most government operations through next fall.

After Democrats beat back an effort by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to strip funding for President Obama's new immigration actions, senators voted 56-40 to send the spending bill to Obama's desk.

A procedural battle that pit Ted Cruz against many of his GOP colleagues required a rare weekend Senate session to resolve, and gave Democrats an opening to try to confirm a package of controversial Obama nominations that might otherwise have languished.

Earlier in the week, it was House Democrats who sought to derail the appropriations deal in protest of provisions that would undo components of the Dodd-Frank financial law...

More.

Also at Memeorandum.

Another Major Stormfront Barrels Toward Southern California

I love it.

At LAT, "Rain forecast for Monday as third Alaskan storm takes aim at L.A."

Plus, more video from the last storm:

Elizabeth Warren’s Government Shutdown

It's hard to find a more revolting Democrat dirtbag than Elizabeth Warren, and they've got a deep bench, so that's saying something.

From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary:

The specter of a potential government shutdown is haunting Washington today. But it isn’t Ted Cruz and what the liberal mainstream media considers his gang of Tea Party obstructionists who are the principle threat to the passage of the so-called Cromnibus bill that will avert the possibility of a repeat of the 2013 standoff. Instead it is the darling of the liberal media, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is seeking to derail the compromise forged by House Speaker John Boehner and Democrats. Warren is calling on liberals to vote against the deal because among its provisions are measures raising the limits on campaign contributions and scaling back some of the onerous regulations on banks and Wall Street firms in the Dodd-Frank bill that have caused such havoc. But don’t expect the same media that labeled Cruz an arsonist to speak ill of Warren’s efforts to thwart efforts to keep the government funded.

Cruz has been loudly and frequently criticized both by liberals and some conservatives for deciding that his efforts to thwart the implementation of ObamaCare took precedence over the need to keep the government funded. Even those who sympathized him on the substance of this issue thought he was unreasonable in his insistence that voting for a compromise-funding bill made Republicans complicit with measures they opposed. The notion that principle ought to trump political reality and the necessity to avoid a standoff that could lead to a government shutdown (for which President Obama and his supporters were just as responsible as anything Cruz and the Tea Partiers did) was viewed as a disruptive approach that interfered with the responsibility of both parties to govern rather than to merely expound their views.

But the question today is why are those who were so quick to tag Cruz as a scourge of good government for his opposition to often messy yet necessary compromises to bills that require bipartisan support not putting the same label on Warren.

The reasons for this are fairly obvious. Most of the press clearly sympathizes with Warren’s rabble rousing on behalf of ineffective campaign-finance laws as well as a regulatory regime that has caused as much trouble as the problems it was supposed to solve. Warren’s rhetoric denouncing the rich and Wall Street is catnip for a press corps that shares her political point of view. By contrast, few in the media sympathized with Cruz’s last stand against ObamaCare, something that most in the president’s press cheering section viewed as a reactionary position that deserved the opprobrium they hurled at it.

Yet Warren’s attacks on the spending bill are no less extreme than anything Cruz was saying in 2013 or even now as he has ineffectively sought to rally conservatives to oppose the Cromnibus. Her claim that the Dodd-Frank changes were slipped into the bill in the middle of the night are false since they were negotiated with Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Mikulski, who is every bit the liberal that Warren claims to be. So is the notion that they are the product of a right-wing conspiracy is flatly false since, as the Washington Post notes, Democrats like Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Rep. Nita Lowey voted for them in a stand-in alone vote last year.

She's a lying "Fauxcahontas" scumbag. That's why the leftist press lover her.

Keep reading.

Also at Politico, "Lindsey Graham: Elizabeth Warren’s ‘the problem’."

Saturday Rule 5

Here's an encore photo and paean to our Second Amendment friends of the opposite sex, especially Dana Loesch and her new book, Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America.