Baltimore Police to Beef Up Manpower to Fight Spike in Criminal Violence (VIDEO)

At CBS News 13 Baltimore, "Police Announce Increase In Manpower to Fight Violence Spike."

BONUS: At Progs Today, "Homicides in Baltimore Now Highest Since 1972."

Desperate Migrants Rush Channel Tunnel to England

This has been going on for days now.

At London's Daily Mail, "Calais' thin blue line: Helpless French police are over-run as hundreds more migrants storm Channel Tunnel declaring 'it's England or death' - so when will Cameron finally take action?" And, "Now it's batons and tear gas in the battle of Calais: French police finally take action to try to stem the flow as migrants storm the Channel Tunnel for a FOURTH night."

Also, "TWO-THOUSAND migrants storm the Channel Tunnel in one night as riot police battle for six hours in a desperate attempt to keep them out."

Still more, "Your summer holidays have gone up in smoke: New blow to British families caught up in Calais migrant chaos as striking ferry workers block roads with burning tyres."

Plus, watch at the Telegraph UK, "Migrants break through police line in Calais."

They're like animals.

Still more at Reuters, "Calais migrants prepared to risk lives to reach Britain's shores."

And see the New York Times, "Migrants in Calais Desperately Rush the Channel Tunnel to England, Night After Night":

CALAIS, France — The sun had barely set when a 23-year-old Eritrean woman who gave her name as Akbrat fell into step with dozens of other men and women and started scaling the fence surrounding the entrance to the French side of the Channel Tunnel.

The barbed wire cut her hands, but she did not feel the pain. The police seemed to be everywhere. She thought of her 5-year-old son back in Africa and ran, zigzag through the falling shadows, once almost colliding with an officer in a helmet.

Then she was alone. She slipped under the freight train and waited, clambering out just as it began moving.

But before she could hurl herself onto the train bed transporting trucks filled with Britain-bound produce, a French officer caught up with her, she recalled in an interview on Thursday. Blinded by tear gas, she stumbled and bruised her right ankle. After being ejected from the complex around the tunnel, it took her five hours to limp the nine miles back to the refugee camp of makeshift shelters that its 3,000 inhabitants call the “jungle.”

“You’re lucky you weren’t killed,” someone told her.

“I’m not lucky,” she responded. “I’ll be lucky when I’m in England.”

The desperate scene playing out each night and day in Calais, with migrants trying to vault fences or cut their way through them and climb onto trains or into trucks going across the Channel to England, is just one chapter in a painful drama playing out across Europe.

For many of the migrants who have been coming to the Continent from Africa, the Middle East and beyond, Calais, a mere 21 miles from the white cliffs of Dover, is their last stop. If they make it across to Britain, many believe they will have reached safety and a better life. Some are attracted to Britain because they speak some English, others because they see better job prospects there than on the Continent. A few even cite a strong pound.

Those who make it as far as this port city often express striking and implacable certainty about their right to go the rest of the way, having come so far.

Nursing her sprained ankle outside the tent she shares with a dozen of other men and women, Akbrat lamented the fact that she would have to rest for a few days before making another attempt. “I’ve crossed the sea and walked for many months,” she said. “I am not giving up now.”

Like others here, she declined to give her full name or have her photograph taken for fear of jeopardizing her chances of slipping across the border undetected.

Akbrat arrived in Calais five days ago. But she has spent much of her life as a refugee. When she was 13, her father was killed, a political assassination in Eritrea, she said. Her mother fled with her and her two sisters to Sudan. When her mother died seven months ago, Akbrat left her son with her aunt and began her own journey to Turkey and then across the Mediterranean to Greece. She hopes to bring her boy to Britain once she has papers and has found work, she said.

“I thought I would die on that boat,” she said. “Until I die, I will try to go to England.”

Still more.

And at the BBC, "Calais migrants crisis: Inside 'The Jungle' migrant camp."

New GDP Revisions Show the Worst Recovery in 70 Years Was Even Weaker

This should be the number one issue of the 2016 campaign. Republicans should bludgeon the Democrats to death with it.

At the Wall Street Journal, "The Six-Year Slough":

One measure of America’s lowered expectations is that so many economists cheered Thursday’s second quarter growth estimate of 2.3%. It’s a rebound from the first quarter slump! The consumer is resilient, net exports are up, the plow-horse marches on! All true, but those silver linings obscure the larger reality that six long years after the recession ended in June 2009 the American economy has become a slow-growth machine.

That’s the story underscored by the annual government revisions in historical GDP that accompanied the second-quarter report. The news, which most Americans have long felt in slow-growing wages, is that the worst expansion in 70 years has been even weaker than we thought.

The gnomes at the Bureau of Economic Analysis ran the numbers based on new data and analytical methods and downgraded the recovery since 2011 nearly across the board. From 2011 through 2014, the economy grew at a paltry annual rate of 2%, down from the previous estimate of 2.3%. This means the overall U.S. economy is smaller—with GDP slashed by $105 billion in 2013 and $71 billion in 2014 to $17.35 trillion.

Those numbers are abstractions, but another way to put it is that national income, corporate profits and personal income were all revised down. From 2011 through 2014, the average annual growth of real disposable personal income was slashed to 1.5% from 1.8%. That’s a giant cut in the standard of living.

Since the recession ended in June 2009, the economy has grown at an annual rate of about 2.1%. That’s 0.6-percentage points worse than even during the much-maligned George W. Bush expansion. Growth averaged more than 3% from 2003-2006, but the best growth during the Obama years has been 2.5% in 2010, and in both 2011 and 2013 it nearly slipped back into recession.

The nearby chart compares this expansion to the growth periods in the 1980s and 1990s, showing what might have been. Real GDP growth averaged 4.6% in the first six years of the Reagan expansion, and more than 3.6% a year in the first six years of the George H.W. Bush-Bill Clinton expansion (gaining speed after that). Had the current expansion been as robust as the average expansion since 1960, GDP would be some $1.89 trillion larger today, according to Congress’s Joint Economic Committee.

The slow-growth Obama era has given way to multiple explanations and excuses from the President’s economic advocates. They blame the hangover from the financial crisis (even six years later), foreign economic problems, the failure of government to spend and tax more, an aging population—anything but the policy differences between those previous eras and this one.

Leading lights on the left have even thrown up their hands to suggest we no longer really know what produces faster growth. Larry Summers calls it “secular stagnation,” as if it’s an illness we somehow caught. Others claim 2%-2.5% growth is about as good as we can now do, so get used to it—and keep interest rates at near-zero for as far as the eye can see.

This is a false counsel of despair, much as we heard similar advice in the malaise years of the 1970s. There’s no great mystery about why growth has been so slow. The natural dynamism of the U.S. economy has been swamped by waves of bad policies.

Unprecedented new regulation has hamstrung finance, health care, the coal and power industries, for-profit education, and so much more. Two of the biggest growth exceptions—tech and oil and gas—escaped this maw because drilling is regulated by the states and the FCC only got around to ensnaring the Internet in new rules this year.

Higher taxes—their anticipation and then the reality in 2013—slowed risk-taking and investment. Profits fell in the first quarter of 2013 thanks to the tax cliff, and growth for 2013 was a mere 1.5% after the latest revisions.

The Federal Reserve has tried to overcome all this with near-zero interest rates and bond-buying, and it has succeeded in raising asset prices that have further enriched those lucky enough to hold assets. But it hasn’t succeeded in lifting the economy out of its slow-growth trend, and the Fed’s own growth predictions have been revised down year after year...

Keep reading, and pay special attention to the comparative graphic on relative post-recession economic expansions. It's mind-boggling, the growth-killing collectivism of the current administration.

Charlotte McKinney's Day-to-Day Struggles

At London's Daily Mail, "'My buttons always break!' Model Charlotte McKinney bemoans the daily struggles of having big breasts - and admits her ample assets attract a lot of unwanted attention."

And watch, "Charlotte McKinney Explains 6 Things Women with Big Breasts Think are Bullshit."

GOP Support Grows for Hardline Planned Parenthood Strategy

Good.

At Politico:

Republicans are rallying behind a bare-knuckle strategy to strip Planned Parenthood’s government support via a must-pass fall spending bill, a momentum shift that dramatically increases the chances of a government shutdown fight this fall.

What started out as a push from socially conservative firebrands like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and 18 House members on Wednesday, is spreading to include more centrist members of the Senate GOP. On Thursday, Arizona Republican John McCain, who often tacks to the middle in the Senate, not only backed a plan to link Planned Parenthood defunding with spending legislation, he suggested the move was inevitable.

“It could invite a fight, but I think most Americans do not believe that their tax dollars should be used to fund the kind of grotesque procedures we’ve seen authenticated,” said McCain, who is trying to box out any primary challenge. “I would vote for a spending bill that defunded it, and that’s the way it’s going to be … it’s pretty obvious.”

Asked about eliminating the organization’s $528 million in government funding in a spending bill, Orrin Hatch of Utah, the chamber’s most senior senator replied: “It’s the right way to go.” Meanwhile, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) said dozens of House Republicans will back his threat — delivered in a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) — to shoot down any legislation that funds Planned Parenthood this fall.

“We have to find a way to fund the government without giving any more money to this” organization, Mulvaney said Wednesday evening.

The growing momentum comes as the anti-abortion Center for Medical Progress on Thursday released its fourth undercover video going after the women’s health organization, this time with recordings of a doctor discussing how to avoid the perception of “selling fetal parts across states.” The group says the video proves that Planned Parenthood is trafficking human fetal organs — and both parties expect more videos to come this summer. Planned Parenthood denies that it did anything illegal.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has scheduled a standalone vote on defunding the organization for next week, but it will fail amid Democratic resistance and may only temporarily satisfy the party’s right flank...

Still more. (Via Memeorandum.)

Emily Ratajkowski Deep Cleavage

At London's Daily Mail, "Braless Emily Ratajkowski showcases her ample cleavage in plunging red top and skinny jeans for raunchy Instagram snap."

CEO Who Gave Employees $70,000 Minimum Wage Faces Massive Backlash and Financial Ruin

Well, he's already being sued by his brother. At the Seattle Times, "Gravity Payments CEO, who set $70K minimum pay, sued by brother."

And now the dude's business is collapsing amid the onslaught of media fame and customer revolt.

It's practically a far-left workshop on how to kill a successful business.

At the New York Times, "A Company Copes With Backlash Against the Raise That Roared":

There are times when Dan Price feels as if he stumbled into the middle of the street with a flag and found himself at the head of a parade.

Three months ago, Mr. Price, 31, announced he was setting a new minimum salary of $70,000 at his Seattle credit card processing firm, Gravity Payments, and slashing his own million-dollar pay package to do it. He wasn’t thinking about the current political clamor over low wages or the growing gap between rich and poor, he said. He was just thinking of the 120 people who worked for him and, let’s be honest, a bit of free publicity. The idea struck him when a friend shared her worries about paying both her rent and student loans on a $40,000 salary. He realized a lot of his own employees earned that or less.

Yet almost overnight, a decision by one small-business man in the northwestern corner of the country became a swashbuckling blow against income inequality.

The move drew attention from around the world — including from some outspoken skeptics and conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, who smelled a socialist agenda — but most were enthusiastic. Talk show hosts lined up to interview Mr. Price. Job seekers by the thousands sent in résumés. He was called a “thought leader.” Harvard business professors flew out to conduct a case study. Third graders wrote him thank-you notes. Single women wanted to date him.

What few outsiders realized, however, was how much turmoil all the hoopla was causing at the company itself. To begin with, Gravity was simply unprepared for the onslaught of emails, Facebook posts and phone calls. The attention was thrilling, but it was also exhausting and distracting. And with so many eyes focused on the firm, some hoping to witness failure, the pressure has been intense.

More troubling, a few customers, dismayed by what they viewed as a political statement, withdrew their business. Others, anticipating a fee increase — despite repeated assurances to the contrary — also left. While dozens of new clients, inspired by Mr. Price’s announcement, were signing up, those accounts will not start paying off for at least another year. To handle the flood, he has already had to hire a dozen additional employees — now at a significantly higher cost — and is struggling to figure out whether more are needed without knowing for certain how long the bonanza will last.

Two of Mr. Price’s most valued employees quit, spurred in part by their view it was unfair to double the pay of some new hires while the longest-serving staff members got small or no raises. Some friends and associates in Seattle’s close-knit entrepreneurial network were also piqued that Mr. Price’s action made them look stingy in front of their own employees.

Then potentially the worst blow of all: Less than two weeks after the announcement, Mr. Price’s older brother and Gravity co-founder, Lucas Price, citing longstanding differences, filed a lawsuit that potentially threatened the company’s very existence. With legal bills quickly mounting and most of his own paycheck and last year’s $2.2 million in profits plowed into the salary increases, Dan Price said, “We don’t have a margin of error to pay those legal fees.”

As Mr. Price spoke in the Gravity conference room, he could see a handful of employees setting up beach chairs in the parking lot for an impromptu meeting. The office is in Ballard, a fast-gentrifying neighborhood of Seattle that reflects the wealth gap that Mr. Price says he wants to address. Downstairs is a yoga studio, and across the street is a coffee bar where customers can sip velvet soy lattes on Adirondack-style chairs. But around the corner, beneath the elevated roadway, a homeless woman silently appeals to drivers stopped at the red light with a cardboard sign: “Plz Help.”

In his own way, Mr. Price is trying to respond to that request.

“Income inequality has been racing in the wrong direction,” he said. “I want to fight for the idea that if someone is intelligent, hard-working and does a good job, then they are entitled to live a middle-class lifestyle.”

The reaction to his salary pledge has led him to think that if his business continues to prosper, his actions could have far-reaching consequences. “The cause has expanded,” he said. “Whether I like it or not, the stakes are higher.”

Corporate socialism doesn't work, obviously, to say nothing of state socialism.

Let this be a lesson to the collectivist left: More of these minimum wage disasters are coming down the pike. It's only a matter of time.

Still more.

ADDED: Now a Memeorandum thread.

Israel Braces for Violence, Hamas Rockets, After Palestinian Baby Killed in Firebombing

Background at Russia Today, "Palestinian toddler burns to death in suspected Jewish ‘price tag’ attack," and France 24, "West Bank Arson: Palestinian child dies in suspected jewish extremist attack."

And at the Times of Israel:

Ali Dawabsha buried, doctors try to save rest of family; Israel condemns alleged Jewish terrorists who set fire to home; Abbas blames Israeli support for settlers; world slams attack; IDF sends extra troops to West Bank.

And from the IDF, "We condemn all acts of terrorism. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims. We wish all a peaceful Shabbat."

And, "Terror Attack in the Duma Village."

Watch: "IDF Forces Airlift Palestinian Victim to Israeli Hospital."

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Won't Explain Difference Between Democrat Party and Radical Socialists

At Twitchy, "DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz can’t explain how she’s any different from a socialist."

It's not that she "can't explain" the difference. She won't explain the difference. She won't even try. She'd not only look like an idiot trying, she'd alienate the party's rank-and-file. The Democrats are a socialist party. Bernie Sanders is bringing out massive grassroots protests and rallies, and Hillary Clinton --- already way over on the left --- is being forced to the radical end of the spectrum.

It's the radical socialist Democrat Party against mainstream America these days. It's not Democrat vs. Republican, although Wasserman-Schultz desperately wants people to think so.

Watch: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz Doesn't Know What a Socialist Is."

Police Boats Ram Kayaks, Knocking Greenpeace Protesters Into the Water (VIDEO)

You have to listen through some of this Amy Goodman interview with Greenpeace Executive Director Annie Leonard, at the clip, "Police Remove Greenpeace Activists from Portland Bridge After They Forced Shell Ship Back to Port."

Scroll foward to about 2:00 minutes in. It's pretty funny, though. I thought the cops were gonna kill that kayaking Greenpeace mofo for a second, heh.

Plus, flashback to Greenpeace's 1970s-era communist foundations, at Free Republic, "Greenpeace Wages Redwar."

And ICYMI, "Shell Icebreaker Breaks Through Greenpeace Protesters Hanging from St. John's Bridge in Portland (VIDEO)."

Shell Icebreaker Breaks Through Greenpeace Protesters Hanging from St. John's Bridge in Portland (VIDEO)

At the Oregonian, "Shell Oil's MSV Fennica icebreaker passes through protestors and under St. Johns Bridge."



PREVIOUSLY: "Greenpeace Enviro-Radicals Block Shell Icebreaker in Portland, Oregon (VIDEO)."

Man Shoots Down $1,800 Drone Hovering Over His Sunbathing Daughter

Drones seem so cool, but then not so much.

At WDRB News 41 Louisville, "Hillview man arrested for shooting down drone; cites right to privacy" (via Memeorandum and Reason).

Thanks to Readers Who Bought Bruce Levine's, Fall of the House of Dixie — BUMPED!

Thanks to those who purchased Levine's excellent Civil War history through my Amazon links.

I don't blog for the money, as folks well know. But it's nice to see a few sales here and there through Amazon, and it's a lot of fun for me posting the links, because I love books so much.

Thanks again.

Here's the link: The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South.

And thanks to all my readers at American Power. I've still got about a month off until school starts up again, so I'll have some robust daily blogging until then for sure.

Remains of Colony Leaders Found at Jamestown, Virginia

What a trip.

At CBS Evening News, "Archaeologists find human remains in Jamestown, Va."

CBS Evening News Covers Release of Fourth Planned Parenthood Investigative Video

Hey, good for CBS!

Even if it's just a little coverage, millions of people tune in for the evening newscasts, even in this day and age of digital and cable news.



PREVIOUSLY: "Coast-to-Coast Protests Against Ghoulish Fetal Parts Harvester Planned Parenthood (VIDEO)."

Confederate Flags Placed at Ebenezer Baptist Church and Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site

It's MLK's former church, now a national historic monument.

Because the Confederate flag stands for racial reconciliation, or something.

At the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Cops: Video shows 2 men placing Confederate flags at Ebenezer":

Atlanta police said surveillance footage shows two men placing Confederate battle flags at two of Atlanta’s most notable landmarks early Thursday: Ebenezer Baptist Church and Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.

As investigators worked to identify the men and their motive, church and civic leaders decried the act as terrorism, vowing not to be threatened.

Police later Thursday released several black and white videos from Ebenezer’s surveillance cameras showing images of two men walking and placing flags at various spots...

The National Park Service also received a "threatening message" just days ago that mention the historic site, although authorities are not yet linking it to events overnight.

Also at CNN, "Confederate flags found at MLK's church," and AP, "Confederate Flags Placed Near MLK's Ga. Church."

And at Fox 5 News Atlanta, "Rev. Warnock on Confederate flags found at church."

I'm going to check over at Saberpoint to see if Stogie's renounced this act of "terrorism," to use the word of condemnation of church leaders.

Greenpeace Enviro-Radicals Block Shell Icebreaker in Portland, Oregon (VIDEO)

At Oregonian, "Greenpeace protest: Officials circle kayakers; St. Johns Bridge closed again (live updates)."

And at the now supposedly straight-news MSNBC, "Dangling Greenpeace Protesters Block Shell Icebreaker."

Related at Politico, "MSNBC cancels three shows amid transition."

Abby Huntsman and Krystal Ball will be leaving the network. Good while it lasted, I guess.

Andrea Tantaros Bikini Pic!

She's actually the smartest woman on Fox News, with perhaps the exception of Megyn Kelly.

I love Ms. Tantaros for her mind, although I'm not going to begrudge her a bikini or two.

At Twitchy, "‘Hot Diggity!’ Summer heat: Andrea Tantaros sparks sweat with this ‘smoking’ Instagram photo."

Hey Conservatives, What's Worth Conserving If It Ain't White?

So, that's what the whole "#Cuckservative" thing is all about?

And here Robert Stacy McCain was saying it was a leftist meme. I guess not.

At American Renaissance, "An Open Letter to Cuckservatives":

You aren’t just betraying your principles.

Dear Cuckservative,

You are not alone. Like you, Erick Erickson at RedState.com, Matt Lewis at the Daily Caller, Taylor Millard at Hot Air, the blogger Ace of Spades, and Jim Harper with the Cato Institute are all squirming under the lash of this new coinage. They are squirming because a single word–cuckservative–lays bare the rot at the heart of your movement: American conservatism can conserve nothing if it cannot conserve the nation’s founding stock. I’ll put it bluntly: Nothing you love will survive without white people.

Do you stand for limited government and a balanced budget? Count your black and Hispanic allies. Do you admire Thomas Jefferson? He was a slave-holder who will end up on the dung heap with the Confederate flag. Do you care about stable families and the rights of the unborn? Look up illegitimacy, divorce, and abortion rates for blacks and Hispanics. Do you cherish the stillness at dawn in Bryce Canyon? When the park service manages to get blacks and Hispanics to go camping they play boom-boxes until 1:00 a.m. Was Ronald Reagan your hero? He would not win a majority of today’s electorate.

Do you love Tchaikovsky? Count the non-whites in the concert hall. Do you yearn for neighborhoods where you can leave the keys in your car? There still are some; just don’t expect them to be “diverse.” Are hunting and firearms part of your heritage? Explain that to Barack Obama or Sonia Sotomayor. Are you a devout Christian? Muslim immigrants despise you and your faith. Do you support Israel? Mexicans, Haitians, Chinese, and Guatemalans don’t.

Your great festival – CPAC – is as white as a meeting of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. That’s because blacks and Hispanics and even Asians don’t share your dreams. You’ve heard the old joke: “What do you call the only black person at a conservative meeting? The keynote speaker.” Outreach doesn’t work. You can’t talk someone into loving what you love. Faith, patriotism, duty, and honor come from deeply cultural, religious, and ancestral sources you can’t reach.

Why do you evoke Martin Luther King when you call for a “colorblind” America? You know he wanted quotas for blacks. You evoke King because you think he’ll help you silence blacks and liberals. But it doesn’t work, does it? That’s because only whites–and Asians, when it suits them–even think in terms of “colorblindness.” Blacks and Hispanics will squeeze every unfair advantage out of you they can. At what point will they ever abandon their aggressive racial agenda? When they’re the majority just think how hard they’ll squeeze your grandchildren...

What a load of crap, and there's still more.

And this is the kind of conservatism Stogie at Saberpoint is all about? I don't know, but count me out brother, in any case. CPAC ain't all white, you cracker idiots. And true conservatism knows no color.

I really hate this moment of ideological purity we're having, but as folks can see I've taken my stand and it's not with the dolts of the racist Deutschephysik battalions.

Clinton Foundation Raked $600 Thousand from Swiss Offshore Banking Firm UBS — After Hillary Intervened in Criminal Case as Secretary of State

Hey, pay to play, the Clinton way.

At the Wall Street Journal, "UBS Deal Shows Clinton’s Complicated Ties":

Donations to family foundation increased after secretary of state’s involvement in tax case.

A few weeks after Hillary Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state in early 2009, she was summoned to Geneva by her Swiss counterpart to discuss an urgent matter. The Internal Revenue Service was suing UBS AG to get the identities of Americans with secret accounts.

If the case proceeded, Switzerland’s largest bank would face an impossible choice: Violate Swiss secrecy laws by handing over the names, or refuse and face criminal charges in U.S. federal court.

Within months, Mrs. Clinton announced a tentative legal settlement—an unusual intervention by the top U.S. diplomat. UBS ultimately turned over information on 4,450 accounts, a fraction of the 52,000 sought by the IRS, an outcome that drew criticism from some lawmakers who wanted a more extensive crackdown.

From that point on, UBS’s engagement with the Clinton family’s charitable organization increased. Total donations by UBS to the Clinton Foundation grew from less than $60,000 through 2008 to a cumulative total of about $600,000 by the end of 2014, according to the foundation and the bank.

The bank also joined the Clinton Foundation to launch entrepreneurship and inner-city loan programs, through which it lent $32 million. And it paid former president Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a series of question-and-answer sessions with UBS Wealth Management Chief Executive Bob McCann, making UBS his biggest single corporate source of speech income disclosed since he left the White House.

There is no evidence of any link between Mrs. Clinton’s involvement in the case and the bank’s donations to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, or its hiring of Mr. Clinton. But her involvement with UBS is a prime example of how the Clintons’ private and political activities overlap.

UBS is just one of a series of companies that engaged with both the Clinton family’s charitable organization and the State Department under Mrs. Clinton. And it is an unusual one: Unlike cases in which Mrs. Clinton went to bat for American companies seeking business abroad, such as General Electric Co. and Boeing Co., the UBS matter involved her helping solve a problem for a foreign bank—not a popular constituency among Democrats—and stepping into an area where government prosecutors had been taking the lead.

The flood of donations and speech income that followed exemplifies why the charity and its fundraising have been a running problem for the presidential campaign of Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. Republicans as well as some Democrats have raised questions about potential conflicts of interest.

“They’ve engaged in behavior to make people wonder: What was this about?” says Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, who is a Democrat. “Was there something other than deciding the merits of these cases?”

Critics also have hit the charity for accepting donations from foreign governments, which they say could pose problems for her if she is elected, potentially opening her to criticism that she is obligated to foreign donors.

The Clintons have said accepting donations posed no conflicts of interest and broke no rule or law. To address the criticism, the Clinton Foundation decided to release donation information more frequently, and the foundation said earlier this year that the first disclosure is expected by the end of July.

UBS officials deny any connection between the legal case and the foundation donations. “Any insinuation that any of our philanthropic or business initiatives stems from support received from any current or former government official is ludicrous and without merit,” a bank spokeswoman said. UBS said the speeches by Mr. Clinton and the donations were part of a program to respond to the 2008 economic downturn.

A Clinton campaign spokesman said Mrs. Clinton is proud of the foundation’s work and her record as secretary of state. “Any suggestion that she was driven by anything but what’s in America’s best interest would be false. Period,” he said. He referred questions about the UBS matter to the State Department.

A State Department spokesman said that “UBS was a topic of serious discussion, among other issues, in our bilateral relations at that time” with the Swiss government. A spokeswoman in the Swiss embassy in Washington said the government had no comment.

In a CNN interview last month, Bill Clinton was asked if any foundation donors ever sought anything from the State Department. “I don’t know,” he replied. “I know of no example. But I—you never know what people’s motives are.”

Classic Clinton Cash.

Keep reading.

Murder Suspect Adrian Jerry Gonzalez Appears in Court

At the Sacramento Bee, "Teen charged in killing of 8-year-old girl appears in court."

And at the Santa Cruz Sentinel, "Santa Cruz teen makes initial appearance in court in 8-year-old’s rape, homicide."

I'm still shocked by this murder. So callous. So casual. So evil. So leftist.

VIDEO: Walter Palmer Protesters in Bloomington, Minnesota

Raw video, from Ruptly:



PREVIOUSLY: "Dentist Walter Palmer Goes Into Hiding Amid Fanatical Outrage Over Cecil the Lion (VIDEO)."

Marxist Political Cartoonist Ted Rall Fired by Los Angeles Times

Folks throw around "Marxist" in political debate pretty often, as an epithet deployed to delegitimize radical leftists. But with Ted Rall, it's not just throwing it around. The dude's really a hardcore Marxist revolutionary.

See, "Cartoonist Ted Rall Calls for Communist Revolution: 'I Would Like to See a Completely Leftist Proletariat Dictatorship'." And see his book, The Anti-American Manifesto.

Well, no surprise, but it turns out Rall's a documented liar as well, evidenced by his blog post at the Los Angeles Times that was debunked by the LAPD. See, "Editor's Note A note to readers."

More at L.A. Observed, "Ted Rall dropped by LA Times over blog post about LAPD."

And the freak communist Rall is interviewed at the CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Cartoonist Ousted By Los Angeles Times Speaks Out."

BONUS: The dude's going batshit on Twitter, mewling and ranting about how he's going to get revenge against the Times. Man, not going out gracefully, that's for sure.

Coast-to-Coast Protests Against Ghoulish Fetal Parts Harvester Planned Parenthood (VIDEO)

At KEYT News 3 Santa Barbara, "Planned Parenthood Protests Follow Secretly Recorded Videos."

Plus, at Life News, "4th Video Catches Planned Parenthood VP Discussing How to Break the Law to Sell Aborted Babies."

Chrissy Teigen Strips Down for Women's Health UK

At London's Daily Mail, "Chrissy Teigen strips completely naked for new shoot as she admits she only works out in order to eat more and would love to get pregnant so she has an excuse to put on weight."

And at Egotastic!, "Chrissy leads parade of barely covered vixens for Women's Health U.K. magazine including Lucy Mecklenburgh, Kristy Gallacher and Chloe Madeley."

Dana Loesch on #TheKellyFile on Cecil the Lion

Watch: "Outrage Over Death of Cecil the Lion - Dana Loesch."

Dentist Walter Palmer Goes Into Hiding Amid Fanatical Outrage Over Cecil the Lion (VIDEO)

Hey, it's good folks are upset about Cecil the Lion, although I agree that leftists care more about African wildlife than they do about American unborn children. And that's sickening.

At CBS This Morning, "Lion-killing dentist closes practice as anger grows."

A glimpse at the fanatical outrage, at BuzzFeed, "People Are Flooding This Dentist’s Facebook After He Was Named As the Hunter Who Killed Cecil the Lion."

And check reporter Paul Blume, KMSP-TV FOX 9 Minneapolis, for more.

PREVIOUSLY: "Jimmy Kimmel on Cecil the Lion."

ADDED: At the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Killer of Cecil the Lion Finds Out That He Is a Target Now, of Internet Vigilantism."

F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter

Fearful.

At ABC 10 San Diego:

Germany Registers Sharp Increase in Attacks on Asylum Seekers

It's always ominous when ethnic minorities are singled out in Germany, for obvious reasons.

At Der Spiegel, "Is the Ugly German Back? Flames of Hate Haunt a Nation":

During the first six months of this year, right-wing extremists in Germany committed attacks against places housing asylum-seekers on an almost daily basis. Many refugees living in the country fear for their lives.

It's a Monday night in July and Samuel Osei is frightened to death. Two neo-Nazis have entered the concrete bloc apartment building where Osei is staying, on the edge of Greifswald, a city in eastern Germany. The two men are drunk and swearing. Osei, an asylum-seeker from Ghana, steps out on his balcony and tries to placate them. "I'm sorry," he calls out. But the right-wing extremists only grow more aggressive. They begin shouting. One of the two takes off his shirt and Osei recognizes a swastika on his chest.

The men storm into the building and begin pounding on the door to Osei's apartment. They then go down to the basement and remove the fuses, cutting off the power. Osei cowers in his room in the dark. He calls a friend who in turn alerts the police. The attackers have already left by the time officers...

Osei chokes up when he talks about that evening a week and a half ago. Traces of the attack are still visible -- the door is dented and its peephole shattered. "These guys wanted to put an end to something," he says.

Osei, who is 29, has been living in Germany for eight months. He's taking German lessons and earns his money by helping other refugees move. Osei likes Greifswald, which is located on the Baltic coast -- he especially likes the sea and the Old Town. He says most people in the city are friendly and helpful. At the same time, he's struggling with the animosity he has experienced at the hands of racists.

One of the men involved in the attack had already cursed at him on the street. His mailbox at the apartment was also vandalized several times. The Ghanaian also has photos of the two attackers and has given a statement to the police. The state Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which is responsible for monitoring extremists, including neo-Nazis, in Germany, has also opened an investigation. "It was mental torture," Osei says.

Germany these days is a nation split in two. On the one side is a populace that is showing greater solidarity with refugees than ever seen before. Initiatives have been created across the country to assist asylum-seekers in their everyday lives.

The other half of the country is extremely difficult to tolerate in some places. Racist violence is on the rise. The German Interior Ministry registered 173 instances of criminal right-wing offenses against accommodations for asylum-seekers during the first six months of this year, almost three times as many as during the same period the previous year...

Keep in mind that the swastika is banned in Germany, so I'm always skeptical of these reports on the rise of so-called "right-wing extremists" there. Frankly, Islamic anti-Semitism is a far larger threat. Not only that, no ideological group has the market cornered on anti-immigrant nativism. It's a nationwide (and continent-wide) problem, as folks in Southern Europe are now witnessing with the massive refugee crisis.

More.

Jimmy Kimmel on Cecil the Lion

Everyone was talking about this yesterday, among other things.

Watch: "Jimmy Kimmel on the Killing of Cecil the Lion."

New Britney Spears Bikini Pics!

She's keeping in shape too.

At London's Daily Mail, "PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Yoga's paying off! Britney Spears does the splits while showing off her flexibility on beach vacation in Hawaii."

Clumps, Lies, and Videotape

From Mark Steyn:

On Monday night I joined Sean Hannity at Fox News to discuss Planned Parenthood and Donald Trump.

Judging from Twitter commentary, many Americans are prepared to defend the harvesting of baby body parts by Cecile Richards and her staff. If so, shame on you. I wrote last week that no other country in the civilized world has a "Planned Parenthood": a billion-dollar abortion conglomerate. One Tweeter said so what? Abortion is only "three per cent" of what Planned Parenthood does. In fact, as I pointed out on the air, they perform a third of a million abortions a year, which is as many as France, Germany and Canada combined.

And, putting aside whether one is "pro-life" or "pro-choice", the nature of the abortions in those other countries is different: again, as I told Sean, in France abortion is legal up to 12 weeks; Italy, 13 weeks; Norway, 18 weeks, but it requires the approval of a government commission. Nowhere else in the western world takes 39-week-old "fetuses", delivers them sufficiently to preserve the commercially valuable parts and then crushes the non-sellable parts in order to preserve a technical denial of infanticide. That is a uniquely American evil, and Americans should be utterly ashamed of it. American liberals ought to understand that in far more left-wing societies (Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France) they do not do this - because it's not a left/right thing, it's a good/bad thing, and Planned Parenthood's abortion-industrial complex is on the wrong side of that divide...

It's a very bad thing, but then, leftists are very bad, particularly American leftists.

Keep reading.

Los Angeles Superior Court Issues Restraining Order Barring Release of New Planned Parenthood Videos

At the Sacramento Bee, "Court bars anti-abortion group from releasing new videos" (via Weasel Zippers):

LOS ANGELES - A temporary restraining order has been issued preventing an anti-abortion group from releasing any video of leaders of a California company that provides fetal tissue to researchers. The group is the same one that previously released three covertly shot videos of a Planned Parenthood leader discussing the sale of aborted fetuses for research.

The Los Angeles Superior Court order issued Tuesday prohibits the Center for Medical Progress from releasing any video of three high-ranking StemExpress officials taken at a restaurant in May. It appears to be the first legal action prohibiting the release of a video from the organization.

The Center for Medical Progress has released three surreptitiously recorded videos to date that have riled anti-abortion activists. The Senate is expected to vote before its August recess on a Republican effort to bar federal aid to Planned Parenthood in the aftermath of the videos' release.

In a statement Wednesday, center leader David Daleiden said StemExpress was using "meritless litigation" to cover up an "illegal baby parts trade."

"The Center for Medical Progress follows all applicable laws in the course of our investigative journalism work," he said.

StemExpress is a Placerville-based company started in 2010 that provides human tissue, blood and other specimens to researchers. Planned Parenthood is one of the company's providers of fetal tissue.

A company spokesman said StemExpress is "grateful its rights have been vindicated in a court of law."

More at that top link.

Hackers Trick Email Systems Into Wiring Them Large Sums

It's a jungle out there.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Cybercriminals are exploiting publicly available information and weaknesses in corporate email systems to trick small businesses into transferring large sums of money into fraudulent bank accounts."

15-Year-Old Adrian Jerry Gonzalez, Suspect in Madyson Middleton Murder, to Be Tried as Adult, Faces Life Sentence

Here's my previous reporting on this horrible, horrible story, "Teen 'Lured' 8-Year-Old Santa Cruz Girl Into Apartment Before Killing Her, Dumping Body in Recycling Bin (VIDEO)," and "Santa Cruz Leftists Shocked — Shocked! — by Vicious Murder of Innocent 8-Year-Old Madyson Middleton."

There's no death penalty for minors, of course, otherwise prosecutors certainly would have sought his execution.

Here's the latest, at ABC 7 News San Francisco, "TEEN CHARGED AS ADULT FOR SANTA CRUZ GIRL'S DEATH."

The lovely little Madyson was bound with duct tape, raped, strangled and stabbed to death.

More at SFist, "15-Year-Old Suspect Named, Charged as Adult In Rape and Murder Of Maddy Middleton."

And at the Santa Cruz Sentinel, "Santa Cruz teen charged as adult in brutal homicide of 8-year-old."

Santa Cruz Leftists Shocked — Shocked! — by Vicious Murder of Innocent 8-Year-Old Madyson Middleton

Santa Cruz, California, where Utopian citizens live in a vacation from reality year-round, until something like the heinous murder of this sweet little girl shocks their leftist "pacifist" sensibilities.

Believe me, crime will surge in California in the years ahead, with criminals being released from the prisons under Prop. 47, and even more so as the Obama administration rushes to empty the jails of so-called "non-violent" criminals nationwide.

Even leftist enclaves push back when their cherished retreats from reality get threatened.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Shock in Santa Cruz over girl's killing, boy's arrest: 'These are our babies'":

The Tannery Arts Center sprang from the utopian ideal of creating a sanctuary for artists and their families — one intended to shield painters and sculptors from Santa Cruz's rising rents, while providing a cocoon around the creative community's many children.

But the creative Eden could not keep out a parent's worst nightmare. Police on Tuesday arrested a 15-year-old neighbor of Madyson “Maddy” Middleton, saying the boy lured the 8-year-old girl into his family's apartment Sunday and killed her, then hid the body in a dumpster-sized recycling bin.

Many residents had held out hope that Maddy, a vivacious girl last seen riding a scooter Sunday afternoon, would be found alive. The discovery of her body Monday night was a stunning blow to many in the complex.

To learn on Tuesday that another resident was suspected in the killing was too much.

“We're just devastated. These are two of our kids, and one is dead and one has been taken away. And it's horrible. It's just horrible,” said resident Yasmina Porter, a dance professor at Cabrillo College. Her children, ages 11 and 13, played with both the victim and the suspect, she said.

“From the community's standpoint, we mostly feel like these are our babies,” Porter said. “This is the most horrible thing you can imagine.”

Authorities said they believe Maddy willingly went into the boy's apartment, where they were alone.

“She was 8 years old,” said Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel. “I think she had a reasonable amount of trust in him.”

Vogel said police were waiting for forensic results and did not give a cause of death.

Authorities did not identify the suspect because he is a minor. Shocked residents described him as “sweet” and said he was well-known for his prowess with a yo-yo.

Porter said the suspect was quiet and polite, and that his mother prepared food and invited neighbors over during holidays.

The eight-acre complex resembles a modern college campus — one especially welcoming for children who play, paint sidewalks with chalk and ride bicycles on its landscaped grounds.

It opened at the site of the historic Salz Tannery, which once supplied more than half of all saddle leather produced in California. The center's 100 housing units were completed in 2009, funded by the Santa Cruz Redevelopment Agency and a nonprofit developer.

Denise Kiser Shaw said she was taking a class Sunday afternoon and remembered seeing Maddy wearing a purple dress and riding the silver scooter.

“She was going back and forth on her scooter,” Shaw said. “She would peek into the door while we were working.”

By the end of the class, there was a commotion in the courtyard about the missing girl.

“We knew that there was something terribly wrong,” Shaw said. “It was like, it must be some stranger who grabbed her.”

Shaw called the complex an oasis for artists that “feels safe.”

“The children are out like little butterflies,” Shaw said. “It's a contained area … it's like, OK, you stay here in the courtyard and you ride around and you wait for your friend.”

Yeah, those leftist "safe spaces" aren't so safe after all.

Freakin' hippies. Idiots and leftist freakin' hippies.

Stil more.

PREVIOUSLY: "Teen 'Lured' 8-Year-Old Santa Cruz Girl Into Apartment Before Killing Her, Dumping Body in Recycling Bin (VIDEO)."

Body by Victoria's Secret Summer 2015

Like I've been saying, it's mid-summer and Victoria's Secret's going to be gearing up for its fall fashion show, which will be spectacular.

Watch, "Behind the Scenes of the Body by Victoria Shoot (July 2015)."

Planned Parenthood and the Price of Aborted Baby Parts

From Charles Krauthammer, at the Washington Post, "The price of fetal parts":

“Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you.”

— Barack Obama, address to Planned Parenthood, April 26, 2013

Planned Parenthood’s reaction to the release of a clandestinely recorded conversation about the sale of fetal body parts was highly revealing. After protesting that it did nothing illegal, it apologized for the “tone” of one of its senior directors.

Her remarks lacked compassion, admitted Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. As if Dr. Deborah Nucatola’s cold and casual discussion over salad and wine of how the fetal body can be crushed with forceps in a way that leaves valuable organs intact for sale is some kind of personal idiosyncrasy. On the contrary, it’s precisely the kind of psychic numbing that occurs when dealing daily with industrial scale destruction of the growing, thriving, recognizably human fetus.

This was again demonstrated by the release this week of a second video showing another official sporting that same tone, casual and even jocular, while haggling over the price of an embryonic liver. “If it’s still low, then we can bump it up,” she joked, “I want a Lamborghini.”

Abortion critics have long warned that the problem is not only the obvious — what abortion does to the fetus — but also what it does to us. It’s the same kind of desensitization that has occurred in the Netherlands with another mass exercise in life termination: assisted suicide. It began as a way to prevent the suffering of the terminally ill. It has now become so widespread and wanton that one-fifth of all Dutch assisted-suicide patients are euthanized without their explicit consent.

The Planned Parenthood revelations will have an effect. Perhaps not on government funding, given the Democratic Party’s unwavering support and the president wishing it divine guidance. Planned Parenthood might escape legal jeopardy as well, given the loophole in the law banning the sale of fetal parts that permits compensation for expenses (shipping and handling, as it were).

But these revelations will have an effect on public perceptions. Just as ultrasound altered feelings about abortion by showing the image, the movement, the vibrant living-ness of the developing infant in utero, so too, I suspect, will these Planned Parenthood revelations, by throwing open the door to the backroom of the clinic where that being is destroyed.

It’s an ugly scene. The issue is less the sale of body parts than how they are obtained. The nightmare for abortion advocates is a spreading consciousness of how exactly a healthy fetus is turned into a mass of marketable organs, how, in the words of a senior Planned Parenthood official, one might use “a less crunchy technique” — crush the head, spare the organs — “to get more whole specimens.”

The effect on the public is a two-step change in sensibilities. First, when ultrasound reveals how human the living fetus appears. Next, when people learn, as in these inadvertent admissions, what killing the fetus involves.

Remember. The advent of ultrasound has coincided with a remarkable phenomenon: Of all the major social issues, abortion is the only one that has not moved toward increasing liberalization. While the legalization of drugs, the redefinition of marriage and other assertions of individual autonomy have advanced, some with astonishing rapidity, abortion attitudes have remained largely static. The country remains evenly split...

Well, public support for homosexual "marriage" and licentiousness has already tanked since the Obergefell decision, and folks are having second thoughts about the legalization of marijuana. What's going to take is a change in leadership at the very top. We know that the left is moving into its Thermidorean phase. Now's the time to crush the death-worshiping regressives while their down.

Keep reading.

Bikini Scenery

At London's Daily Mail, "Babe watch! Brooke Burke, 43, shows off her toned body in a skimpy striped bikini while splashing around the Malibu surf."

And, "'Home away from home': Alessandra Ambrosio shows off her enviable figure in patterned monokini as she admires the scenery in Rio de Janeiro."

BONUS: At Egotastic!, "LISA OPIE BIKINI HOTNESS IN MIAMI."

Deals in Outdoor Toys & Games

At Amazon, Shop Outdoor Toys & Games - Soak Up Summer Event.

Plus, check out Mary Katharine Ham's new book, with Guy Benson, End of Discussion: How the Left's Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun).

'The truth is Planned Parenthood doesn’t want the truth to come out about their abortion business and will do whatever they have to in order to stop it...'

From Sarah Zagorski, at Life News, "Planned Parenthood Threatens TV Stations Demanding They Censor Shocking Undercover Videos."

And ICYMI, "Damage Control: Planned Parenthood Hires Crisis Communications Firm."

Pro-Life Forces Step Up Attacks on Planned Parenthood

Good.

At FOX 4 News - Dallas-Fort Worth:



Planned Parenthood hate publicity, so now more than ever grassroots protests will be very effective. Big grassroots protests.

American Charged with Planning Backpack Bomb Attack

At BCF, "A Florida man has been charged with planning to detonate a backpack bomb on a public beach in Key West in support of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant."

They're here.

As long as Democrats and leftists act like ostriches, then Americans can expect more deaths from Islamic jihad.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Sentenced to Death Over War Crimes

Muammar Gaddafi's son.

Fuck 'im.

At the Guardian UK, "Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam sentenced to death by court in Libya."

Plus, at Euronews, "Saif al-Islam Gaddafi: Libya's failed reformer," and "Libya: Rights groups slam death sentence for Gaddafi son."

Dreamy Ellie Goulding

At London's Daily Mail, "Ellie Goulding's outfit has us dreaming of autumn."

And that one time Robert Stacy McCain blogged Ellie Goulding, at the Other McCain, "Randomly: Movin’ On Up, Sign Wars,Half-Breeds and Diamonds to Sand."

Los Angeles in the Running for 2024 Olympics

At the Los Angeles Times, "Boston ends bid to host 2024 Olympics, giving Los Angeles an opportunity," and "U.S. Olympic Committee contacts Los Angeles about 2024 Summer Games."

Texas Reporter Confronts Woman Accused of Stealing His Identity (VIDEO)

At FOX 4 News - Dallas-Fort Worth, via Memeorandum, "FOX 4 reporter confronts woman accused of stealing his identity."

Donald Trump Says He'd Tap Sarah Palin for a Cabinet Post

She should be appointed Secretary of the Interior, to open up federal lands for oil exploration and development. Or perhaps Energy Secretary would be good as well.

At Politico:

Donald Trump has succeeded in alienating many of his fellow Republicans with his personal attacks, but if he does win in November 2016 and is forced to assemble a cabinet of GOP allies, he knows exactly whom he would call on: Sarah Palin.

When asked on Sarah Palin’s Mama Grizz Radio’s “The Palin Update” Monday whether he would seek the former Alaska governor’s advice as president or potentially appoint her to an executive-branch position, Trump said, “I’d love that.”

Also at the Hill, "Trump: 'I'd love' to have Sarah Palin in my administration."

In Addis Ababa, Megalomaniac Obama Tells African Leaders He'd Win a Third Term (VIDEO)

He's a narcissist and a megalomaniac who laughs at his own jokes, as if he's the center of the world. It's sickening.

Background at the New York Times, "‘Nobody Should Be President for Life,’ Obama Tells Africa."

2015 MCAS Air Show Miramar

It's a little more than a month away.

See, "2015 Miramar Air Show Schedule | MCAS Miramar Air Show."

Donald Trump Throws 'Adviser' Michael Cohen Under the Bus

At CNN, via Memeorandum, "Trump adviser Michael Cohen apologizes for rape comment."

Plus, "Trump on Michael Cohen: 'He's speaking for himself..."

And ICYMI, at the Other McCain, "A Cheap ‘Rape’ Smear on Trump."

BONUS: From Dylan Byers, at Politico, "Some thoughts on The Daily Beast vs. Donald Trump."

A Renegade Trawler, Hunted for 10,000 Miles by Vigilantes

An example of non-governmental actors at work.

Pretty fascinating.

At the New York Times, "For 110 days and across two seas and three oceans, crews stalked a fugitive fishing ship considered the world’s most notorious poacher":

A renegade trawler, hunted for 10,000 miles by vigilantes http://t.co/SMTVQkp50N pic.twitter.com/lnFX6IiwZr

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) July 29, 2015

ABOARD THE BOB BARKER, in the South Atlantic — As the Thunder, a trawler considered the world’s most notorious fish poacher, began sliding under the sea a couple of hundred miles south of Nigeria, three men scrambled aboard to gather evidence of its crimes.

In bumpy footage from their helmet cameras, they can be seen grabbing everything they can over the next 37 minutes — the captain’s logbooks, a laptop computer, charts and a slippery 200-pound fish. The video shows the fishing hold about a quarter full with catch and the Thunder’s engine room almost submerged in murky water. “There is no way to stop it sinking,” the men radioed back to the Bob Barker, which was waiting nearby. Soon after they climbed off, the Thunder vanished below.

It was an unexpected end to an extraordinary chase. For 110 days and more than 10,000 nautical miles across two seas and three oceans, the Bob Barker and a companion ship, both operated by the environmental organization Sea Shepherd, had trailed the trawler, with the three captains close enough to watch one another’s cigarette breaks and on-deck workout routines. In an epic game of cat-and-mouse, the ships maneuvered through an obstacle course of giant ice floes, endured a cyclone-like storm, faced clashes between opposing crews and nearly collided in what became the longest pursuit of an illegal fishing vessel in history.

Industrial-scale violators of fishing bans and protected areas are a main reason more than half of the world’s major fishing grounds have been depleted and by some estimates over 90 percent of the ocean’s large fish like marlin, tuna and swordfish have vanished. Interpol had issued a Purple Notice on the Thunder (the equivalent of adding it to a Most Wanted List, a status reserved for only four other ships in the world), but no government had been willing to dedicate the personnel and millions of dollars needed to go after it.

So Sea Shepherd did instead, stalking the fugitive 202-foot steel-sided ship from a desolate patch of ocean at the bottom of the Earth, deep in Antarctic waters, to any ports it neared, where its crews could alert the authorities. “The poachers thrive by staying in the shadows,” Peter Hammarstedt, captain of the Barker, said while trying to level his ship through battering waves. “Our plan was to put a spotlight on them that they couldn’t escape.”

The pursuit of the Thunder until its sinking in April, pieced together from radio transmissions, interviews, ship records and reporting on board the Bob Barker and its fellow ship, the Sam Simon, demonstrates the anything-goes nature of the high seas, where weak laws and a lack of policing allow both for persistent criminality and, at times, bold vigilantism.

Illegal fishing is a global business estimated at $10 billion in annual sales, and one that is thriving as improved technology has enabled fishing vessels to plunder the oceans with greater efficiency. While countries, with varying degrees of diligence, typically patrol their own coastlines, few ever do so in international waters, even though United Nations maritime regulations require them to hold vessels flying their flags accountable for illicit fishing.

That leaves room for organizations like Sea Shepherd, which describes itself as an eco-vigilante group, flies a variation of the Jolly Roger on its ships and often cites the motto, “It takes a pirate to catch a pirate.” In chasing the Thunder, Sea Shepherd’s goal was not just to protect a rapidly disappearing species of fish, its leaders said, but to show that flagrant violators of the law could be brought to justice...

Keep reading.

More #drylandsCA

At the Los Angeles Times.

"How many dry riverbeds do I have to walk before I stop feeling shocked?" #drylandsCA: http://t.co/gZWXhgkqLw pic.twitter.com/zFTtAJHqLe

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) July 28, 2015

The good news is that the El Niño system is genuinely expected to bring more rain and alleviate some of the drought. See, "July's record-breaking rainfall may not be over yet."

PREVIOUSLY: "#drylandsCA."

Teen 'Lured' 8-Year-Old Santa Cruz Girl Into Apartment Before Killing Her, Dumping Body in Recycling Bin (VIDEO)

That's the grim headline at KTLA 5 Los Angeles, at Memeorandum.

And here's CBS News San Francisco:

Damage Control: Planned Parenthood Hires Crisis Communications Firm

The left's abortion Holocaust industry leader, in damage control mode.

At Politico:

Planned Parenthood has hired high-profile Washington public relations firm SKDKnickerbocker as it scrambles to deal with the ongoing scandal and release of a third undercover video Tuesday showing a clinic’s staff handling fetal tissue after an abortion.

The additional PR firepower reflects the growing pressure on the women’s health organization amid building GOP calls to cut its $540 million in government funding. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) earlier this week called to halt Planned Parenthood’s federal funding while Congress investigates whether the organization broke a federal ban on profiting from fetal tissue donation. The Senate plans to hold a vote on a defunding amendment from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and others that is likely to fail.

SKDKnickerbocker is no newbie to working on Planned Parenthood issues. The Democratically aligned firm is run by well-connected operatives, including Anita Dunn and Hilary Rosen. It also worked with the group during the 2012 election cycle, according to SKDKnickerbocker’s website...

Well, Anita "Mao Tse" Dunn is no slouch at damage control, to say nothing of Hilary "Ann Romney Stay-at-Home Mom" Rosen.

More at Memeorandum.

EARLIER: "Grisly New Video Shows Doctor Harvesting Aborted Baby Parts for Planned Parenthood Black Market."

Kate Moss for Love Magazine

On Twitter, "Kate Moss by David Sims wears Balmain Fall/Winter 2015 Lace Body Look 10 styled by @kegrand for @THELOVEMAGAZINE."

More from photographer Katie Eleanor Grand, on Twitter.

And from Drunken Stepfather, "KATE MOSS FOR LOVE MAGAZINE OF THE DAY."

Charlotte McKinney: They're Real. And They're Spectacular (VIDEO)

Watch, at GQ, "Charlotte McKinney: The 5 Things I Say When I'm Asked If They're Real."

BONUS: At the link, "CHARLOTTE MCKINNEY TOPLESS ON INSTAGRAM! Blonde bombshells blonde bombshells!" Also at WWTDD, "Charlotte McKinney Topless on Instagram."

Britain's Lord Sewel Resigns House of Lords After Snorting Cocaine with Two Hookers (VIDEO)

He's a former Labour peer.

The story first broke at the Sun UK, "Lord Coke: Top peer’s drug binges with £200 prostitutes ... And he’s the the one in charge of standards."

More at Sky News, "Lord Sewel Steps Down From House of Lords."

And at Telegraph UK, "Lord Sewel resigns and faces police inquiry after 'snorting cocaine with prostitutes'."

Grisly New Video Shows Doctor Harvesting Aborted Baby Parts for Planned Parenthood Black Market

Good timing.

From The Center for Medical Progress, "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE #PPSellsBabyParts EX-CLINIC WORKER REVEALS PROFIT MOTIVE IN PLANNED PARENTHOOD BABY PARTS SALES, VP MEDICAL DIRECTOR PRICES BODY PARTS ..."

Also at Live Action, "BREAKING: New undercover video shows sorting of aborted baby parts at Planned Parenthood."

Conservatives Harden Opposition to the Export-Import Bank

I've gotta confess, this debate over the Ex-Im bank is completely esoteric. I mean, what does this bank even do? And I guess that's it. Total establishment cronyism.

At Foreign Policy, "Ahead of Friday Deadline, Conservatives Harden Opposition to the Export-Import Bank":

The fate of the Export-Import Bank, a key funding source for small businesses that want to do business abroad, and whose charter expired at the beginning of July, will soon be in the hands of the House of Representatives. Conservative lawmakers there are now preparing to buck their party’s mainstream in an attempt to kill something the White House and U.S. businesses say is necessary to stay competitive globally.

If this sounds familiar, it should.

A similar scenario played out in June, during the debate about fast track trade authority, something President Barack Obama and GOP leadership said was needed to push through trade bills like the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Conservative Republicans teamed up with some Democrats, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a close ally of the White House, to delay its passage. Obama ultimately got what he wanted when the renegade Democrats, boxed in by their leader, relented and voted for fast track.

This time, however, conservative members of the GOP and those affiliated with the Tea Party are on their own. Populist Democrats who initially rejected Obama on trade in this case support the bank, known as the Ex-Im. During a rare Sunday vote, senators voted 67 to 26 to attach the bank’s reauthorization to the highway bill, which faces a Friday deadline. The highway bill either has to pass by then, the House could vote on for a five-month extension, or some other compromise must be reached.

But that doesn’t mean Republicans can’t slow down the process. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wants the bank reauthorized. But House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday he would not bring the bill to the floor of the lower chamber. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, also has said he would not support the bill...

More.

Donald Trump Sells New York Penthouse for $21 Million

Twenty-one million doesn't go that far in presidential politics, so maybe this is just the beginning of an asset selloff for Trump. He's gonna need lots more liquid cash if he's going to contest the primaries all the way through next June.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Located on the 24th floor of the 32-story building, the 6,200-square-foot condo has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms."

RELATED: At Politico, "Donald Trump’s cash will only take him so far in 2016":

The Donald has pledged to self-fund his campaign, but his cash position isn’t even close to what he would need to make it to the White House.

Rising Costs Strike at German Competitiveness

At WSJ, "Companies grapple with labor expenditures that threaten growth, investment in Europe’s largest economy":

FRANKFURT—Spiraling German labor costs are starting to undermine the country’s famed competitiveness, threatening to hurt economic growth and investment in Europe’s largest economy.

Propelled by a healthy economy and record-low unemployment, labor costs here are rising fast, as the government has further tightened its grip on the labor market, driving up companies’ wage bills.

Official German data published this month showed that real wages in the first quarter rose at their fastest rate since late 1992, when wages in East Germany shot up following the country’s unification, and much faster than the eurozone as a whole.

German businesses say they are feeling the pinch, but in Berlin, politicians have ignored a trend economists and managers warn that, if left unchecked, will hit growth and employment levels.

“Rising labor costs is the most critical issue,” said Martin Kapp, the chief executive at machine-tool maker KAPP Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH, who said he expects increases in personnel expenses, which include wages as well as contributions to social insurance, retirement and health care, among other costs, to rise about 30% over the next 10 years...

Keep reading.

Cecile Richards Defends Planned Parenthood Selling Aborted Baby Body Parts, Calls Pro-Lifers Killers

From Steve Ertelt, at Life News.

I was going to post the video, but ABC News yanked the interview from its YouTube page. Which is strange, because it was up there on Sunday.

BONUS: From Mollie Hemingway, at the Federalist, "The 4 Most Embarrassing Things Cecile Richards Said In Defense of Planned Parenthood."

Ford Bets on Super-Duper Class of Pickups

I love the new Ford 150, from what I've seen on TV.

But they're more luxurious than I thought.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Auto Makers Double Down on Pricey Pickups."

How and Why to Kill the Iran Deal

From Caroline Glick, at the Jerusalem Post.

Khloé Kardashian Complex Cover Behind the Scenes

Here, "Behind the scenes of Khloé Kardashian's August/September 2015 cover for Complex."

Hat Tip: London's Daily Mail, "'You don't give me credit for my daily workouts!' Khloé Kardashian shuts down 'troll haters' by posting unretouched image from Complex spread."

Boy Scouts of America to Lift Ban on Homosexual Adults

Hey, gotta go with the flow, I guess.

At ABC 10 News, San Diego, "Boy Scouts board ends ban on gay scout leaders."

Also at CNN, "Jon Langbert, a former Boy Scout leader who is gay, says that the lifted ban on gay adult leaders does not go far enough."

Doesn't go far enough? You'll notice that the goal isn't so much to allow gays to participate in the Boy Scouts, but to once again banish altogether the role of religion out of American life, public and private.

This whole turn is horrendous. See, "The Same-Sex Marriage Bait-and-Switch."

Turkey Riles U.S. Ally in Fight Against Jihadists

At WSJ, "Kurdish Troops Fighting Islamic State in Syria Say Turkish Forces Shelled Them":

Kurdish fighters who are allied with Washington accused Turkey of shelling their positions in Syria, a sign of the difficulties Ankara and the U.S. face as they boost cooperation to fight Islamic State militants.

Monday’s accusation came from the Kurds’ People’s Defense Units, a Syrian group that has emerged as the most effective U.S. partner in the fight against the Islamist extremists. Its role has complicated matters for Turkey, which is worried about growing Kurdish influence along its border with Syria and an emboldened Kurdish minority seeking more autonomy at home.

Turkey said its forces were fired upon from unidentified sources across the Syrian border and that it responded with artillery. It said it was investigating claims that several Kurdish fighters were wounded but that the Syrian-Kurdish defense units, known as the YPG, “do not fall within the scope of Turkey’s war on terror.”

U.S. officials said Monday that they weren’t aware of any border attack but stood by Turkey’s right to defend itself.

The episode underscores the fragility of an agreement between the U.S. and Turkey for American jets to use Turkey’s air bases to strike Islamic State positions and help create a 60-mile-long buffer zone in Syria for moderate rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. The details have yet to be worked out. Meanwhile, Turkey itself has also begun launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets.

Turkey’s new more aggressive stance is sure to emerge on Tuesday in Brussels at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting, which Ankara called to discuss its security threats, including recent bouts of violence that have killed scores of Turkish civilians and security officials.

But as the U.S. tries to compartmentalize long-standing political differences between Turkey and Syrian Kurds, the two sides appear to have come into confrontation.

The YPG, which controls a swath of territory in northeast Syria along Turkey’s border, accused the Turkish army of hitting positions in the area with tank fire on Friday and injuring several villagers and four allied fighters from the Western-backed moderate Free Syrian Army rebel group. The Kurdish group said the Turkish military shelled the same village on Sunday and fired on a vehicle nearby.

“Instead of targeting Islamic State terrorists’ occupied positions, Turkish forces attack our defenders’ positions,” the YPG said. “We are telling the Turkish army to stop shooting at our fighters and their positions.”

Meanwhile, Ankara is also getting dragged deeper into a major regional conflict that it had sought to avoid, adding an additional layer of complexity to the patchwork of alliances—including Sunni rebel groups, jihadists, Kurdish militias and forces loyal to Mr. Assad—which are vying for influence along Turkey’s southern borderlands...

Keep reading.

California Democrats Proclaim 'Climate Change' Top Legislative Priority

Leftists are so stupid.

From Joel Kotkin, at the O.C. Register, "Putting climate change ahead of constituents."

Abigail Ratchford Pool Vixen

Watch, at Playboy's YouTube page, "Abigail Ratchford Proves She's The Ultimate Pool Vixen."

Naftali Bennett: Obama's Nuclear Deal with Iran is a 'Farce'

Via the BBC:

Palestinians in Hebron Stalk Hyena on the Highway, Corner It, and Then Stone It to Death (VIDEO)

Hey, it's all fun and games to chase down a hyena to stone it to death, right?

All from the "religion of peace" folks.

Remember, these people feel the same way about Jews.

Demonic.

At Bare Naked Islam, "HEBRON: Palestinian savages corner a hyena in the road with their cars and then have fun stoning him to death."

Mike Trout Hits Grand Slam Into 'Trout Net' in 13-7 Win Over Rangers at Angel Stadium (VIDEO)

Folks are starting to describe Mike Trout with words like "magical" and "historic."

He's still only 23-years-old.

At Bleacher Report, "Mike Trout Crushes Grand Slam, Ball Lands in Fan's 'Trout Net'."

And at the O.C. Register, "Angels star Mike Trout's grand slam caught in the 'Trout Net'":

ANAHEIM – Just when we all might think that Mike Trout’s heroics can’t possibly get any more spectacular, the Angels’ reigning AL MVP did something magical Sunday once again.

In the sixth inning of the Angels victory over the Texas Rangers, Trout blasted Spencer Patton’s 93 mph, down-and-in fastball into the Angel Stadium bleachers in right center field for a grand slam.

But this was a grand slam dunk, the home run landing in the 2-foot-diameter netted basket of the “Trout Net” sign held high by Angels fan Jonathan Plaza, who was standing in the second row of the stands in Section 240.

Trout’s grand slam, the third of his career, gave the Angels an six-run lead en route to a 13-7 victory. It was Trout’s second home run of his 4-for-4 day, and his league-leading 31st of the season.

Just before Trout came to the plate with the bases loaded, Plaza, 25, of Santa Ana, borrowed back his homemade net sign from the young fans standing in the row in front of him.

“I said, ‘Let me have it back because I have a hunch something’s going to happen,’” Plaza recalled. “Then Trout hit it. I saw the ball. It was going deep. I jumped up with the sign and I caught it.”

This was the first home run Plaza has ever caught, but not the first baseball Trout has been sending his way.

Plaza and his son, Alexander, who turns 4 in September, have made their Trout Net a ballpark fixture since this season’s home opener. That was the first day they came with their sign, a red-netted ring topped by the white letters “Trout Net,” with Trout’s number, “27,” and photos of a diving Trout around the rim.

Alexander first held up the sign at the opener and several other home games. Trout has spotted the sign and made a habit of trying to lob baseballs into the net during warmups. Right fielder Kole Calhoun has also taken aim at the Trout Net.

Earlier this season, Trout posted a photo of Alexander with the Trout Net and the message, “I see you out there bud!” on Instagram.

"Magical."

See what I mean?

More at that top link.

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Mike Trout's grand slam leads Angels in 13-7 win over the Rangers."

The Coming (and Hilarious) Democrat Implosion

From Kurt Schlichter, at Town Hall:

Republicans fear a repeat of 1992, with a squishy Bush at the head of the ticket watching helplessly as some populist businessman/novelty act hands the election to a Clinton. But Democrats should fear the far more likely repeat of 1968.

Ah, the 1968 convention … just thinking of it brings a smile to the face of every normal American. Let’s start with hordes of Chicago cops kicking the psychedelia out of dirty hippies. Footage of all-American flatfoots clocking VC-flag waving pinkos with nightsticks is more erotic than a hundred “Fifty Shades” books. Just thinking about it makes me want to light up a Marlboro and cuddle.

Then there was the fun and games inside the convention hall – nothing like blue stater on blue stater fratricide to quicken the pulse and put a spring in your step. That glorious intramural warfare led to a Republican president. It may well again in 2016.

Back in 1968, the Democrat Party was divided between liberals who loved America and liberals who hated everything about it. The situation is a little different now, with today’s Democrat Party divided between liberals who hate everything about America and liberals who really, really hate everything about it.

The delightful scene at Netroots where Martin O’Malley was forced to do penance before a jeering crowd of washed-out undergrads for the sin of saying “All lives matter” was a harbinger of the future. The Democrats are on the verge of being sucked into their own vortex of progressive insanity that will bar them from any chance to reach out of their psychotic echo chamber to normal Americans. It serves them right...

He's good!

More at that top link.