New Sabine Jemeljanova Photo Shoot for Zoo Today (VIDEO)

One of the most fabulous Page 3 models around.

At Egotastic!, "SABINE JEMELJANOVA LINGERIE STRIPTEASE FOR TINGLES UP AND DOWN THE SPINE."

Candy and Chocolate Just in Time for Halloween

At Amazon, Selections in Candy and Chocolate.

Obama Fuels Flames of Anti-Cop Movement

Following-up from yesterday, "Rise Up October — March Against Police Brutality in New York City (VIDEO)."

From Michael Goodwin, at the New York Post:

At a White House discussion about improving the  relationship between police departments and  black Americans, President Obama declared that “the moment is here.”

He meant a chance for big change, and that’s the problem. The change he and his allies are achieving is like throwing gasoline on a raging fire.

Consider that at about the same time the nation’s first black president was speaking to police chiefs and prosecutors, a group called Black Lives Matter was denouncing police brutality in Times Square, real and imagined. In another sad coincidence of timing, they marched as the city was mourning the murder of NYPD Officer Randolph Holder, the fourth New York City cop killed in 11 months.

Officer Holder was black, as is his alleged killer, but that mattered not a whit to the protesters. One told Fox News that she hopes Holder’s family “realizes that his life is included in the ‘Black Lives Matter’ slogan.”

“We’re talking about black bodies being persecuted across the world,” she added.

This is nonsense on steroids, yet these are the president’s shock troops. Obama and confidante Valerie Jarrett earlier met with the radicals leading the Black Lives Matter movement and encouraged them to keep going, the group has said.

Obama, at last Thursday’s event, praised the group again while also claiming that “everybody understands that all lives matter.

Everybody wants strong, effective law enforcement. Everybody wants their kids to be safe when they are walking across the street. Nobody wants to see police officers who are doing their jobs fairly hurt. Everybody understands it’s a dangerous job.”

His saying so doesn’t make it true. The anti-police movement sweeping urban areas proves that many people actually don’t want strong law enforcement, and don’t have any respect for police work. Many, including those Obama met with, appear to hate all cops.

Yes, they hate them, and they want them dead --- exactly the opposite of Obama's mealy-mouthed words.

But keep reading.

The Highest Backside Air Ever (VIDEO)

It's Danny Way, busting at 25-foot backside air at a custom-built ramp in North San Diego. The highest ever, or so they say.

Via Thrasher Magazine:

VIDEO: Democrats Block 'Kate's Law' — Legislation Would Impose Mandatory Five-Year Sentence for Illegal Immigrants Convicted of Aggravated Felony After Already Being Deported

At Legal Insurrection, "Dems Block Kate’s Law But Effort to Pass Continues."

And here's Bill O'Reilly, who's been pushing for new legislation since Kathryn Steinle's murder. Sharyl Attkisson is interviewed:

WATCH: Rose Bertram, Hailey Clauson, Erin Heatherton, and Genevieve Morton Body Painting Session for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2015

Lovely video:

Tomi Lahren on 'The Blaze' (VIDEO)

Smart and smokin' as ever.

This lady picks herself up and hits the ground running.



And ICYMI, "Islamic 'Clock Boy' Ahmed Mohamed to Move to Qatar."

Reviews of Tonight's 'Homeland'

If you haven't watched it, then don't click this link, at WSJ, "‘Homeland’ Season 5, Episode 4: An Intelligence Expert Weighs In."

It was really good, that's for sure.

More at Variety, "‘Homeland’ Recap: Exit Wounds Abound in ‘Why Is This Night Different?’", and the New York Times, "'Homeland' Season 5, Episode 4 Recap: With One 'Da,' an Enemy Is Revealed."

Rise Up October — March Against Police Brutality in New York City (VIDEO)

Stay classy, progs.

Here's a slideshow, "Rise Up October anti-police brutality protest held in New York City."

And at Twitchy, "‘There’s your racial divide’: Greg Gutfeld notes the irony in New York anti-police rally."

Also at the New York Post, "Protesters flip off NYPD days after cop slay."

Today's cover: Quentin Tarantino rants at "stop police terror" rally https://t.co/ypCCXr4CPb pic.twitter.com/f8XXHWJ3uq

— New York Post (@nypost) October 25, 2015

Flashback: John Nagl, Knife Fights

Well, since special operations are increasingly in the news, here's a reminder of John Nagl's book from last November.

At Amazon, Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES," and Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Round Up..."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Democratic Socialism Explained."

VIDEO: Two F-35C Lightning II Aircraft Flex Their Sea Legs Aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69)

Via the U.S. Navy:

WATCH: New Video Purportedly Shows U.S.-Kurdish Raid Against Islamic State

I At Instapundit.

And a YouTube clip is here, "The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq released a video Sunday purportedly showing the joint raid of a prison by U.S. and Kurdish peshmerga forces in which they released 70 hostages held by the Islamic State group."

ADDED: The BBC has the video, which shows some different angles, "'Hostage rescue' footage of US-led raid on IS jail released."

Bernie Sanders Goes on Attack, Throws Jabs at Hillary Clinton in Iowa (VIDEO)

From Glenn Thrush, at Politico, via Memeorandum, "Bernie Sanders goes on the attack at Iowa Democratic dinner."

And at CNN, "Bernie Goes on the Attack."

Don't Miss Last Minute Halloween Deals

Sale ends October 30th, at Amazon, Halloween Deals on Kids Costumes and More.

Plus, pre-order, Goosebumps Retro Scream Collection: Limited Edition Tin.

Go Behind the Scenes with Playboy's Miss October 2015, Ana Cheri! (VIDEO)

Following-up from a couple of weeks ago, "Ana Cheri, Playboy's Miss October 2015."

And here's a new clip:



More at Bro Bible, "Miss October Ana Cheri is Looking Off-the-Charts H-O-T in Her New Playboy Pics." And at Egotastic!, "PLAYMATE OF THE MONTH ANA CHERI LOSES HER TOP, TRUST ME, SHE LOSES IT."

CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker Poll: Hillary Clinton Leads in Iowa, Gains in New Hampshire

Following-up, "CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker Poll: Donald Trump and Ben Carson Tied in Iowa (VIDEO)."

Here's the results for the Democrat field, "Clinton on top in Iowa, gains in New Hampshire":

Bolstered by Iowa Democratic caucus-goers who say she won the recent debate, Hillary Clinton now has an edge over Bernie Sanders in Iowa. She's up three points there, after re-allocating the supporters of Vice President Joe Biden. Those caucus-goers were then asked who'd they support if Biden decided not to run.

In Iowa, Sanders' backers remain very enthusiastic about his candidacy, while enthusiasm for Clinton is on the rise among hers: Fifty-eight percent of Clinton's first-choice Iowa voters are enthusiastically supporting her, up from 49 percent a month ago...

It's actually withing the margin of error in Iowa, so the Clinton camp shouldn't get too complacent. Clinton leads sanders 46-43 in the Hawkeye State.

But keep reading.

CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker Poll: Donald Trump and Ben Carson Tied in Iowa (VIDEO)

This is great.

The Republicans are actually having a race.

At CBS, "Trump, Carson lead GOP in Iowa; Trump keeps big lead in NH, SC":

The Republican nomination fight continues to be dominated by political newcomers Donald Trump and Ben Carson. In Iowa, Carson has moved up to tie Trump.

In South Carolina and New Hampshire, there is Donald Trump with a large lead, and then there is everyone else.

Trump's at 38 percent in New Hampshire. It's a runaway situation, which would give him enormous momentum.

More.

FLASHBACK: "The Political Establishment's Terrified by Donald Trump's 'Tangible American Nationalism'."

Think Kissinger Was the Heartless Grandmaster of Realpolitik? What About Obama?

Remember Ferguson's got the new Kissinger biography out, Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist.

And he's got a great commentary at the Los Angeles Times:

Most Americans still think of Barack Obama as a foreign policy idealist. That is certainly how he presents himself: Just replay the tape of his recent speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

Some argue, he said, "for a return to the rules that applied for most of human history … the belief that power is a zero-sum game; that might makes right; that strong states must impose their will on weaker ones; that the rights of individuals don't matter; and that in a time of rapid change, order must be imposed by force."

The president said he would much rather "work with other nations under the mantle of international norms and principles and law." He prefers "resolving disputes through international law, not the law of force."

Yet that speech ended oddly. Having berated both Russia and Iran for their misdeeds, Obama invited them to work with him to resolve the Syrian civil war. "Realism," he concluded, "dictates that compromise will be required to end the fighting and ultimately stamp out ISIL."

Wait — realism? Isn't that the hard-nosed — not to say amoral — approach to foreign policy commonly associated with Henry Kissinger?

Having spent much of the last decade writing a life of Kissinger, I no longer think of the former secretary of State as the heartless grandmaster of realpolitik. (That's a caricature.) But after reading countless critiques of his record, not least the late Christopher Hitchens' influential "Trial of Henry Kissinger," I also find myself asking another question: Where are the equivalent critiques of Obama?

Hitchens' case against Kissinger, which is as grandiloquent as it is thinly documented, can be summed up as follows: He was implicated in the killing of civilians through the bombing of Cambodia and North Vietnam. He failed to prevent massacres in Bangladesh and East Timor. He fomented a military coup in Chile. Also on Hitchens' charge sheet: the wiretapping of colleagues.

In history, no two cases are alike. The Cold War is over. The technology of the 2010s is a lot more sophisticated than the technology of the 1970s. Still, this president's record makes one itch to read "The Trial of Barack Obama."

Take the administration's enthusiastic use of drones, a key feature of Obama's shift from counterinsurgency to counter-terrorism. According to figures from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, drone strikes authorized by the Obama administration have killed 3,570 to 5,763 people in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan, of whom 400 to 912 were civilians and at least 82 were children.

And those are just the strikes by unmanned aircraft. The Oct. 3 attack on an Afghan hospital run by Doctors Without Borders is a reminder that U.S. pilots also stand accused of killing civilians, not only in Afghanistan but also (since August 2014) in Iraq and Syria. One estimate puts the civilian victims of the U.S.-led air war against Islamic State at 450.

This is a lawyerly administration, so it insists on the legality of its actions, even when drones kill U.S. citizens. But not everyone is convinced. In the words of Amnesty International, "U.S. drone strike policy appears to allow extrajudicial executions in violation of the right to life, virtually anywhere in the world."

Keep reading.

Russian Subs and Spy Ships Operating Near Vital Undersea Internet Cables, Raising U.S. Concerns

How do you say "Unexpectedly!" in Russian?

At the New York Times, "Russian Presence Near Undersea Cables Concerns U.S.":

WASHINGTON — Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of conflict.

The issue goes beyond old Cold War worries that the Russians would tap into the cables — a task American intelligence agencies also mastered decades ago. The alarm today is deeper: In times of tension or conflict, the ultimate Russian hack on the United States could involve severing the fiber-optic cables at some of their hardest-to-access locations to halt the instant communications on which the West’s governments, economies and citizens have grown dependent.

Inside the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence agencies, the assessments of Russia’s increasing activities are highly classified and not publicly discussed in detail. American officials are secretive about what they are doing to both monitor the activity and find ways to recover quickly if cables are cut. But more than half a dozen officials confirmed in broad terms that it had become the source of significant attention in the Pentagon.

“I’m worried every day about what the Russians may be doing,” said Rear Adm. Frederick J. Roegge, commander of the Navy’s submarine fleet in the Pacific, who would not answer questions about potential Russian plans for cutting the undersea cables.

Cmdr. William Marks, a Navy spokesman in Washington, said: “It would be a concern to hear any country was tampering with communication cables; however, due to the classified nature of submarine operations, we do not discuss specifics.”

In private, however, commanders and intelligence officials are far more direct. They report that from the North Sea to Northeast Asia and even in waters closer to American shores, they are monitoring significantly increased Russian activity along the known routes of the cables, which carry the lifeblood of global electronic communications and commerce.

Just last month, the Russian spy ship Yantar, equipped with two self-propelled deep-sea submersible craft, cruised slowly off the East Coast of the United States on its way to Cuba — where one major cable lands near the American naval station at Guantánamo Bay. It was monitored constantly by American spy satellites, ships and planes. Navy officials said the Yantar and the submersible vehicles it can drop off its decks have the capability to cut cables miles down in the sea...

Still more at that top link.

Hey Mr. President, This is How You Create Jobs

A great piece, from Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl Karcher Enterprises, at WSJ, "No Wonder Growth Has Been So Anemic":

Since the problem is too few jobs, it is important to understand who creates jobs. At my company, CKE Restaurants, for example, our franchisees are small business owners who furnish entry-level jobs and management careers every time they open a Carl’s Jr. or Hardee’s. Franchisees generally invest more than $1 million to permit, build and equip restaurants, creating jobs for architects, attorneys and construction workers.

After opening, each store creates about 25 permanent jobs within the restaurant as well as ancillary jobs maintaining, advertising and supplying food and paper products to it.

Our approximately 3,000 domestic restaurants (90% franchised) spend more than $1 billion on food and paper products a year. That creates jobs for everyone from the farmers who plant the seeds to the truck drivers who deliver the ingredients to our restaurants.

CKE also spends about $175 million a year on advertising, great for actors and workers at ad agencies, as well as radio and TV stations. We spend $150 million annually on capital improvements, remodeling restaurants, and purchasing new equipment. This spurs opportunities for construction workers, equipment manufacturers and more. Then there’s the roughly $100 million put toward annual maintenance. That means jobs for window washers, air conditioner repairmen and landscapers.

These workers in turn spend their incomes on food, clothing, housing, health care, education and entertainment—supporting even more jobs. The more restaurants the company builds, the more jobs and the more growth in local economies. Collectively with our franchisees, CKE provides employment for more than 70,000 Americans and supports jobs for tens of thousands of others outside the restaurants.

This engine of economic growth applies to every part of the economy. Whether Ford, Apple, Caterpillar, Wal-Mart or Coca-Cola, the web of job creation is the same. And so if a politician wants to help workers win a raise, he should help businesses add jobs by simplifying the tax code, enacting regulatory reform and replacing ObamaCare with something that works. Republican presidential candidates such as Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have offered specific plans on these subjects...

The New Very Sexy Push-Up

From Victoria's Secret, via Theo Spark.

U.S. Sees Beefed Up Mission in Iraq and Syria

So much for winding down those wars, Democrats.

At WSJ, "U.S. to Increase Raids Against Islamic State":

WASHINGTON—Defense Secretary Ash Carter signaled a new and more muscular policy in Iraq and Syria, saying the U.S. military would mount more raids and provide more active support to groups, including Kurdish fighters, who can counter Islamic State.

A day after a dramatic, joint rescue with Kurdish forces near Kirkuk resulted in the first American combat death in Iraq since 2011, Mr. Carter on Friday said there would be more such operations. He also said Americans should gird for a dangerous, complicated fight, but expressed confidence the U.S. would ultimately win.

President Barack Obama has been publicly cautious in his policy against Islamic State, repeatedly saying that American troops wouldn’t participate in combat missions as they battle the extremists across Iraq and Syria.

But while Mr. Carter expressed sorrow for the loss of Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler in Thursday’s raid, he indicated the beginning of a deeper, more assertive role for American forces there.

“There will be more raids,” Mr. Carter said at the Pentagon. American forces, he said, “will be in harm’s way, there’s no question about it, and I don’t want anybody to be under any illusions about that.”

The U.S. move is designed in part to blunt criticism of White House policy from Capitol Hill, where Mr. Carter and Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will appear next week.

The U.S.-led coalition’s campaign against Islamic State also has faced criticism from some allies, while Russia has expanded its engagement across the Middle East. On Friday Moscow announced an agreement with Jordan, a key U.S. ally, to coordinate military operations in Syria.

Some Iraqi Shiite politicians have invited Moscow to start airstrikes in Iraq as well, although U.S. officials insist they have been assured that Iraq’s leaders don't plan to pursue such plans.

The pledge to step up U.S. participation in military raids against Islamic State also comes as U.S. confidence in its Iraqi partners grows, particularly in Kurdish military units. Gen. Dunford, after visiting Iraq this past week, said it was time to begin to “open the aperture” in military operations there.

“To me, it’s all about capabilities,” he said Tuesday. “It may be as simple as methods and timing, and then it might be different ways of doing what we’re doing.”

Military officials didn’t spell out precisely how the U.S. role in Iraq would change. But Mr. Carter said there would be more operations like the one he authorized this week, in which U.S. special-operations forces teamed with Kurdish units known as Peshmerga to rescue Islamic State prisoners.

The plan, U.S. officials said, was to have the Kurdish forces lead the operation, with American forces providing airlift, airstrike support, intelligence and battlefield advice.

The operation took an unexpected turn, however, when Islamic State militants guarding the prison near Hawija, Iraq, fought back and the Kurdish force became pinned down.

Members of the American unit jumped off their helicopters and entered the fray, resulting in the death of Sgt. Wheeler.

In the end, the joint force didn’t find the Peshmerga captives they went in to get, but rescued 70 other prisoners who were to be executed, U.S. officials said, and killed 15 Islamic State fighters.,,

More.

Obama's Tragic Let 'em Out Fantasy

A most excellent analysis, from Heather Mac Donald, at the Wall Street Journal, "The president leads the charge to cut the prison population, but mass incarceration isn’t the problem. Rising crime is."

What Feminism Means in 2015

You can't make this stuff up.

At the Other McCain, "West Hollywood House of Horrors: Radical Lesbian Feminists From Hell."

We Live in a Society That Glamorizes Violence Against Women

So says hardline communist Emma Quangel, on Twitter.

Her evidence in point is Interview Magazine's provocative photo slideshow of Nicole Kidman, "Nicole KIDMAN by Steven Klein."

I must admit, the photos do allude to rape fantasies.

In any case, more Nicole Kidman photos here, "Even when laid totally bare, stripped of any apparatus, clothing, or even much of a character to hide behind—as she was, acting across from her then-husband Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999)—Nicole Kidman is utterly commanding, regal, even."

PREVIOUSLY: Flashback to June, "Emma Quangel, Feminist Who Outed Dylann Roof Manifesto, is Militant Communist Who Wants U.S. 'Eradicated'."

Close Account of Special Operations Rescue Mission in Iraq

This is good.

At McClatchy, "Kurds give account of raid that killed American special operator."

These Women Tried Boudoir Photography for the First Time (VIDEO)

At BuzzFeed, "Women Tried Boudoir Photography for the First Time and Loved Every Second of It."

Hurricane Patricia is Strongest Storm Ever Recorded (VIDEO)

Following-up from earlier, "Kristen Keogh Explains Hurricane Patricia (VIDEO)."

And here's more, from ABC News 10 San Diego, "Local geologist: Patricia is strongest storm ever recorded."

Charleston Law School Files Counterclaims Against Two Fired Tenured Professors

I didn't quite catch the full gist of this report, at the TaxProf Blog.

But then I found this, and it all made sense, at the Charleston Post and Courier, "Charleston School of Law faculty wants to return to founding principle."

'Super Like' with Erin Heatherton and Nina Agdal (VIDEO)

Two of my favorite babes.

Watch, "Tinder Presents Super Like - featuring Erin Heatherton and Nina Agdal."

Smokin' Charlotte McKinney in New Carl’s Jr./Call of Duty Commercial (VIDEO)

She's hot.

Watch, "Carl's Jr. & Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Commercial with Charlotte McKinney."

Delta Force Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler Identified as First American Killed in Iraq Since 2011 (VIDEO)

Following-up on my previous entry, "In the Mail: Sean Naylor's Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command."

Here's the report on Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, at CBS This Morning:

In the Mail: Sean Naylor's Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command

My copy came yesterday, and I'm already enjoying it --- particularly in light of the U.S. commando killed in yesterday's special operations rescue mission in Iraq.

At Amazon, Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command.

National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and Criminalization of a Generation

Boy, this "National Day of Protest" was a dud.

Just "dozens" were protesting in L.A. yesterday, according to ABC News 7 Los Angeles, "LA DEMONSTRATORS TAKE PART IN NATIONAL DAY OF PROTESTS AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY":

#NationalDayofProtest #PoliceBrutality #AllAroundTheWorldSameSong pic.twitter.com/FSWm7ajo8l

— Dee Barnes (@sistadbarnes) October 23, 2015

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Dozens took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles Thursday as part of what organizers have dubbed a National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.

It was a small group making plenty of noise, holding signs and shouting "enough is enough" at times.

"Someone has to speak out. Someone has to speak up for us," L.A. resident Channell Temple said...

Yeah, a small group of drug-addled losers.

Also at Twitchy, "Incredible shrinking #NationalDayOfProtest flies under radar; LA crowd fills several parking spaces."

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in Dead Heat in New Hampshire

A couple of new polls out show that Hillary Clinton has closed the polling gap with Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire. She was 11 points behind the socialist senator over the Labor Day weekend, but after a strong debate performance she's coming back in the Granite State, with polls showing her slightly ahead but within the margin of error: a statistical tie.

At the Boston Globe, "In N.H., a tight race between Clinton and Sanders."

Also at the Wall Street Journal, "Hillary Clinton Overtakes Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire, Poll Shows." Despite the headline, the poll also shows a statistical tie.

As always, we'll see. We'll see.

Kristen Keogh Explains Hurricane Patricia (VIDEO)

Watch, at ABC News 10 San Diego, "Hurricane Patricia explained."

Also at CNN, "Officials: Hurricane Patricia 'strongest hurricane..."

Bernie Talks About His Electability and Spirituality on Jimmy Kimmel Live (VIDEO)

He's interesting. Especially funny is his dig about "God forbid" Republicans should get elected.

Also interesting in how Jimmy Kimmel's no left wing nut job but gives Sanders a fair shake in any case.

Watch:

Watch: Adele's New Video 'Hello' is First Song Released in Three Years

At the Verge, "Watch the video for Adele's first new song in three years, 'Hello'."

Democrat National Committee Approves Black Lives Matter Town Hall (VIDEO)

I'm shaking my head at this one. It's just wow.

At MSNBC, "Black Lives Matter to host Democratic presidential town hall," and Mother Jones, "Black Lives Matter Just Officially Became Part of the Democratic Primary."

At Truth Revolt, "O'Reilly to Dems: Embracing #BlackLivesMatter is Like Embracing Neo-Nazis."

Islamic 'Clock Boy' Ahmed Mohamed to Move to Qatar

I guess he didn't love America so much after all.

A must-read piece from Robert Spencer, at Jihad Watch, "Clock boy Ahmed Mohamed meets Obama, decides to move to Qatar."

Plea Deal Near for Islamic State Wannabe Nicholas Teausant, Indicted for Wanting to Bomb the L.A. Subway System and Blow Up 'Zionist' Day Care Center

Yes, because the homegrown terror threat is the fiction of feverous right-wing imaginations.

At the Sacramento Bee, "Federal prosecutor seeks plea deal with Islamic State supporter from Lodi."

Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers.

Bill Whittle's Afterburner: 'How Hillary Clinton's Lawlessness Gets Ignored...'

Watch:



Hat Tip: iOTW Report.

Majority of College Students Favor Campus Speech Codes to Regulate Politically Incorrect Opinions

Just more proof that the left is becoming a real and threatening totalitarian movement in America.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Notable & Quotable: Unfree Speech on Campus":

To put some numbers behind that perception, The William F. Buckley Jr. Program at Yale recently commissioned a survey from McLaughlin & Associates about attitudes towards free speech on campus. Some 800 students at a variety of colleges across the country were surveyed. The results, though not surprising, are nevertheless alarming. By a margin of 51 percent to 36 percent, students favor their school having speech codes to regulate speech for students and faculty. Sixty-three percent favor requiring professors to employ “trigger warnings” to alert students to material that might be discomfiting. One-third of the students polled could not identify the First Amendment as the part of the Constitution that dealt with free speech. Thirty-five percent said that the First Amendment does not protect “hate speech,” while 30 percent of self-identified liberal students say the First Amendment is outdated. With the assault on free speech and the First Amendment proceeding apace in institutions once dedicated to robust intellectual debate, it is no wonder that there are more and more calls to criminalize speech that dissents from the party line on any number of issues, from climate change to race relations, to feminism and sex.

Hat Tip: Truth Revolt, "Poll: College Students Favor Speech Codes and Trigger Warnings."

Megyn Kelly Eviscerates Hillary Clinton as Smoking Gun Emails Revealed in Benghazi Testimony (VIDEO)

If all the nightly news broadcasts were like Megyn Kelly's, the world would be a better place.

This is a long clip, and it just keeps building emotionally right to the end. Patricia Smith, mother of Benghazi victim Sean Smith, just erupts with outrage in the final minute of the video. Extremely compelling:



More here, "'She Lies!': Mom of Benghazi Victim Blasts Hillary for Not Telling the Truth."

Wesleyan Student Government Slashes Budget for College Newspaper in 'Black Lives Matter' Controversy

Typical hateful leftists.

At the Hartford Courant, "Wesleyan Student Government, Dissatisfied With Campus Newspaper, Cuts Funding In Half."

And here's the so-called "controversial" op-ed, which wasn't very controversial. Indeed, the author, Bryan Stascavage, bent over backwards to be evenhanded. See, "Why Black Lives Matter Isn’t What You Think."

I saw this story weeks ago, at Legal Insurrection, "Attempt to defund Wesleyan Univ student paper for criticizing #BlackLivesMatter."

Air Force Flight Tests Unmanned Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base

There's video here, "Air Force Test-Launches Minuteman Missile from California."

And at Air Force Global Strike Command, "F.E. Warren tests Minuteman III missile with launch."

Also at Free Beacon, "Air Force Flight Tests Nuclear ICBM."

Plus, "U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet - 576th Flight Test Squadron."

Rod Stewart on the Making of 'Maggie May'

At WSJ, "Rod Stewart releases his 30th solo studio album, ‘Another Country,’ on Oct. 23. The 70-year-old singer and songwriter recalls recording ‘Maggie May,’ the 1971 hit that made him a star."

The new album's out tomorrow, Another Country.

Erin Heatherton, Rose Bertram, and Genevieve Morton Sexiest Moments for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (VIDEO)

Watch, "Sports Illustrated brings you the sexiest moments from the Swimsuit 2015 shoot in Saint John with Erin Heatherton, Rose Bertram, and Genevieve Morton."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Rejects Controversial Benjamin Netanyahu Holocaust Comments (VIDEO)

Hitler wanted to exterminate the Jews long before he ever met the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

Still, this story's a freakin' trip.

At the Independent UK, "Angela Merkel forced to clarify Germany was responsible for the Holocaust following Benjamin Netanyahu controversy."

Plus, via Ruptly, "Germany: Merkel rejects Netanyahu's Holocaust claims during joint presser."

And watch, from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

Belligerent #BlackLivesMatter Protesters Test City Leaders in Los Angeles (VIDEO)

Following-up from Tuesday, "Mayor Eric Garcetti Flees 'Chaotic' Town Hall Meeting After Being Swarmed by Angry #BlackLivesMatter Protesters."

And now there's more, at the Los Angeles Times, "L.A. leaders struggle with disruptive 'Black Lives Matter' protests."

Plus, video, "Protesters Mob L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti Over Escalating City Violence."

Heh, McDonald's is Doomed

Lolz.

I love McDonald's. I just never eat there any more.

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "IF McDONALD’S GOES UNDER IT WILL BE BECAUSE THEY FOLLOWED LIBERALS TO DISASTER..."

Donald Trump Crushing GOP Field in New Washington Post/ABC News Poll (VIDEO)

At WaPo, "Trump maintains lead in GOP presidential race; Carson second."

And at ABC News, "Donald Trump Leads in Expectations, Shows Strength on Attributes (POLL)":

Donald Trump leads the Republican presidential field in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, not only in vote preferences but in expectations as well -– a remarkable feat for the non-politician who’s surprised the GOP establishment with his staying power as well as his support.

Trump has leveled off with backing from 32 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who are registered to vote, easily enough to retain his frontrunner status. Fellow outsider Ben Carson follows with 22 percent, also flat this month after sharp summertime gains.

Notably, even more leaned Republicans -- 42 percent -- say they expect Trump to win the GOP nomination for president. And given a list of six potential nominees, 43 percent pick Trump as having the best chance to win the general election just more than a year from now.

Trump also fares well on many key attributes. Nearly half of leaned Republicans -- 47 percent -- view him as the strongest leader; 39 percent think he'd be best able to handle immigration; 32 percent feel he is closest to them on the issues; and 29 percent say he “best understands the problems of people like you.” In each case he leads the other top-five contenders for the nomination, Carson, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina.

Trump has weaknesses nonetheless. More view Carson as the most honest and trustworthy (33 percent vs. 21 percent for Trump), and Trump trails Bush in having the best experience (31 vs. 23 percent). While 19 percent say Trump has the best personality and temperament to serve effectively as president, that compares with a similar 24 percent for Carson....

In addition to his appeal to anti-immigration Republicans, Trump’s candidacy is very much bolstered by desire in the party for a political outsider. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents by 57-39 percent say they’re looking for someone from outside the political establishment rather than someone with political experience – drastically different from the 21-76 percent division on this issue among leaned Democrats. And Trump wins 41 percent support from registered leaned Republicans looking for an outsider, vs. 18 percent from those who prefer political experience.

Knife-Wielding Palestinian Girl: 'I Want to Stab a Jew'

Watch, at Truth Revolt, "This is what we're up against."

$20 off Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle for Kids Bundle

At Amazon, Shop Amazon - $20 off Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle for Kids Bundle.

Plus, from Joshua Muravchik, Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel.

Poll: Forty-Nine Percent of Democrats Have Favorable View of Socialism

And that's not all: Just 14 percent of Democrats "consider themselves to be capitalists."

Call it the Bernie Sanders effect.

At Hot Air, "Good news: 49% of Democrats have favorable opinion of socialism, 37% have favorable opinion of capitalism."

And following the links takes us to the YouGov poll, "Debate recap: Most Americans agree with Bernie about Hillary’s emails."

And just think, it wasn't too long ago that progs would piss their pants if you called Barack Hussein a socialist. Shoot, it's been a downhill ride to the Stalinist collective ever since Hussein took office.

Bashar al-Assad Visits Moscow to Discuss Syrian War With Vladimir Putin

Hey, Baracky, the Cold War is calling.

At the New York Times, "Assad Makes Unannounced Trip to Moscow to Discuss Syria With Putin."

ADDED: At CBS This Morning, "Syrian President Assad makes surprise visit to Russia."

New Report: GOP Party Insiders Talking About Derailing Trump (VIDEO)

At the Washington Examiner, "Trump takedown: Panicked establishment readies for war against GOP front-runner."

And at Megyn Kelly's, via Fox News:

Open Borders vs. Social Justice?

From Stephen Macedo, in Carol M. Swain, ed., Debating Immigration, "The Moral Dilemma of U.S. Immigration Policy: Open Borders Versus Social Justice?"



And from Ann Coulter, Adios, America: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country Into a Third World Hellhole.

Man-Hunting in the Hindu Kush (VIDEO)

Following up from my report over the weekend, "The Drone Papers (VIDEO)."

Remember, so-called progressive Democrats are supposed to be antiwar, but we're seeing the most aggressive clandestine military build-up around the world ever, using special operations and unmanned aerial drones, to wage unlimited war, with virtually no checks and balances on executive power. And like I said earlier, I'm no shrinking violent on the War on Terror. I'm just gobsmacked at the left's epic hypocrisy.

In any case, at the Intercept, "MANHUNTING IN THE HINDU KUSH: CIVILIAN CASUALTIES AND STRATEGIC FAILURES IN AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR."

Ryan Devereaux, the report's author, is interviewed at communist Amy Goodman's Democracy Now:

Jeff Sessions and Dave Brat: Memo to the GOP

At Roll Call, "Memo to GOP: Curb Immigration or Quit":

America is about to break every known immigration record. And yet you are unlikely to hear a word about it.

The Census Bureau projects that the foreign-born share of the U.S. population will soon eclipse the highest levels ever documented, and will continue surging to new record highs each year to come.

Yet activists and politicians who support unprecedented levels of immigration are never asked to explain how they believe such a policy will affect social stability, community cohesion or political assimilation.

They can simply cry out, “We must pass immigration reform!” without ever explaining what they believe “immigration reform” means.

Immigration reform should mean improvements to immigration policy to benefit Americans. But in Washington, immigration reform has devolved into a euphemism for legislation that opens America’s borders, floods her labor markets and gives corporations the legal right to import new foreign workers to replace their existing employees at lower pay.

Consider the giant special interests clamoring for the passage of the Senate’s 2013 “gang of eight” immigration bill: tech oligarchs represented by Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us, open borders groups such as La Raza and the globalist class embodied by the billionaire-run Partnership for a New American Economy.

For these and countless other interest groups who helped write the bill, it delivered spectacularly: the tech giants would receive double the number of low-wage H-1B workers to substitute for Americans. La Raza would receive the further opening of America’s borders (while Democratic politicians gain more political power). And the billionaire lobby would receive the largest supply of visas for new low-skilled immigrants in our history, transferring wealth and bargaining power from workers to their employers.

What would be the effect on schools? On hospitals? On police departments? On labor conditions? On poverty? What would the effect be on millions of past immigrants forced to compete for scarce jobs and meager wages against these new arrivals?
Few seemed to ask, or care.

This is not immigration reform. This is the dissolution of the nation state, of the principle that a government exists to serve its own people...

Keep reading (via Lonely Conservative).

Jeb Bush Continues to Lose Ground in Latest WSJ/NBC News Poll

Trump and Carson still lead the pack.

At WSJ, "Donald Trump and Ben Carson Gain Strength in Poll of Republicans":

Donald Trump and Ben Carson continue to broaden their appeal among Republican primary voters and have widened their lead over former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and many other more-experienced candidates, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.

Mr. Bush, once considered the GOP’s likely nominee, is also lagging behind his onetime protege, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is emerging as the leading contender to rally the party’s establishment wing against the rise of insurgent outsiders such as Messrs. Trump and Carson.

The new poll, conducted Oct. 15-18, underscores the durability—even the gathering strength—of anti-Washington candidates who had long been viewed as likely to be flash-in-the-pan political phenomena.

The poll also tested opinion on another aspect of the Republican Party’s internal struggles, the question of who will succeed Rep. John Boehner (R., Ohio) as House speaker. GOP primary voters in the survey said it was more important to find a successor who would stand up for principles rather than seek compromise, even if that meant less work would get done, by a 56% to 40% split.

Nearly two-thirds of Republicans said they would be “comfortable and positive” if Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) became speaker. Mr. Ryan so far has refused to take the job, but many Republicans see him as one of the few figures who could appeal both to establishment and insurgent wings of the party.

In the presidential competition, candidates with little political experience continue to rule. Mr. Trump, the reality-television celebrity and businessman, was the first choice of GOP primary voters, with 25% support, up from 21% in a late September Journal/NBC News poll.

Mr. Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, placed second in the new survey, with 22% support, a slight rise over last month despite controversy over statements he made that an observant Muslim shouldn’t be U.S. president.

Behind them was Mr. Rubio, who rose to 13% in the poll from 11% last month. He was the only other GOP candidate to draw double-digit support.

Mr. Bush, who led the field as recently as June, when he was first choice of 22% of GOP primary voters, drew 8% in the latest poll. That put him in the same league as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the antiestablishment conservative who entered the race as a long shot, and Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard executive who gained traction after the first two GOP debates, but hasn’t reached the top tier. Mr. Cruz had 9% support, and Mrs. Fiorina 7%.

Mr. Bush is losing among poll respondents such as Nicholas Montagnoli, a construction worker in California who prefers Messrs. Trump and Carson, and views their lack of political experience as an asset, not a liability.

“The circle [of people] that runs around staying in politics, they become so involved that they are not doing what they came to office to do anymore,” said Mr. Montagnoli, who said he couldn’t support Mr. Bush. “I think fresh people and nonpolitical people would do a lot better.”

More.

Eritrean Asylum Seeker 'Lynched' in Israel (VIDEO)

This is just a horrible, stomach-curdling story.

At the Los Angeles Times, "'One crime breeds another': Bus station shooting sparks a 'shocking lynching' in Israel."

And at the Times of Israel, "Soul-searching in Israel after mob beats Eritrean misidentified as terrorist":

The recent wave of terror attacks has led to fear and panic but the events in Beersheba Sunday night brought things to a whole new level.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The death of an Eritrean migrant who was shot and beaten by a mob that mistakenly believed he was a Palestinian attacker set off a round of soul-searching Monday amid the jittery atmosphere sweeping Israel in a wave of unrest.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the vigilantism. Some critics accused Israel’s leaders of fostering the charged climate, while others called for the swift prosecution of the crazed mob.

“It is a disgrace to Israeli society, and those that carried out this lynching need to be found and brought to justice,” said Yaakov Amidror, Netanyahu’s former national security adviser.

“Even if it was the terrorist himself, by the way, after he was shot, after he was neutralized and lying on the floor, you need to be an animal to torment him,” he told Israel Radio.

Eight Israelis have been killed in the past month in the attacks, mostly stabbings, on city streets. At least 42 Palestinians have been killed — including 20 identified as attackers; the rest died in clashes with Israeli forces.

Amid the seemingly random attacks, Israelis have stocked up on mace and pepper spray, and some public officials are openly carrying personal weapons and encouraging the public to do the same. Security has been increased, and especially in Jerusalem.

The violence has led to fear and sometimes outright panic...

Plus, more video at Reuters, "Eritrean mistaken for gunman killed in Israeli bus station attack."

Sweden Strains to Handle Massive Influx Muslim Migrants (VIDEO)

The video's at PBS News Hour, "Migrant-magnet Sweden strains to shelter unexpected influx." (Transcript.)

And see this devastating report at the Gatestone Institute, "Sweden Close to Collapse."

Why Washington's Middle East Pullback Makes Sense

From Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson, at Foreign Affairs, "The End of Pax Americana":

The Obama administration has clearly pulled back from the United States’ recent interventionism in the Middle East, notwithstanding the rise of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) and the U.S.-led air war against it. Critics pin the change on the administration’s aversion to U.S. activism in the region, its unwillingness to engage in major combat operations, or President Barack Obama’s alleged ideological preference for diminished global engagement. But the reality is that Washington’s post-9/11 interventions in the region—especially the one in Iraq—were anomalous and shaped false perceptions of a “new normal” of American intervention, both at home and in the region. The administration’s unwillingness to use ground forces in Iraq or Syria constitutes not so much a withdrawal as a correction—an attempt to restore the stability that had endured for several decades thanks to American restraint, not American aggressiveness.

It’s possible to argue that pulling back is less a choice than a necessity. Some realist observers claim that in a time of economic uncertainty and cuts to the U.S. military budget, an expansive U.S. policy in the region has simply become too costly. According to that view, the United States, like the United Kingdom before it, is the victim of its own “imperial overstretch.” Others argue that U.S. policy initiatives, especially the recent negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, have distanced Washington from its traditional Middle Eastern allies; in other words, the United States isn’t pulling back so much as pushing away.

In actuality, however, the main driver of the U.S. pullback is not what’s happening in Washington but what’s happening in the region. Political and economic developments in the Middle East have reduced the opportunities for effective American intervention to a vanishing point, and policymakers in Washington have been recognizing that and acting accordingly. Given this, the moderate U.S. pullback should be not reversed but rather continued, at least in the absence of a significant threat to core U.S. interests.

BACK TO NORMAL

Between World War II and the 9/11 attacks, the United States was the quin­tessential status quo power in the Middle East, undertaking military intervention in the region only in exceptional circumstances. Direct U.S. military involvement was nonexistent, minimal, or indirect in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the 1956 Suez crisis, the Six-Day War in 1967, the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. The 1982–84 U.S. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon was a notorious failure and gave rise to the “overwhelming force” doctrine, which precluded subsequent U.S. interventions until Saddam Hussein’s extraordinarily reckless invasion of Kuwait forced Washington’s hand in 1990.

Washington didn’t need a forward-leaning policy because U.S. interests largely coincided with those of its strategic allies and partners in the region and could be served through economic and diplomatic relations combined with a modest military presence. The United States and the Gulf Arab states shared a paramount need to maintain stable oil supplies and prices and, more broadly, political stability. Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the United States, Israel, and the Gulf Arab states have had the mutual objective of containing Iran. Beginning with the Camp David accords in 1978, American, Egyptian, and Israeli interests converged, and their trilateral relationship was reinforced by substantial U.S. aid to Egypt and Israel alike. And even after 9/11, the United States, Israel, and the Gulf Arab states had shared priorities in their fights against terrorism.

Over the past decade, however, several factors largely unrelated to Washington’s own policy agenda have weakened the bases for these alliances and partnerships...

Keep reading.

Germany Shows Signs of Strain from Mass of Refugees

At Der Spiegel, "'We're Under Water': Germany Shows Signs of Strain from Mass of Refugees":

The unceasing influx of refugees is creating tremendous uncertainty in Germany. Many towns and cities are calling for help and the government appears to be rudderless. Pressure is mounting for Chancellor Angela Merkel to act.

The road to the reception camp in Hesepe has become something of a refugees' avenue. Small groups of young men wander along the sidewalk. A family from Syria schleps a clutch of shopping bags towards the gate. A Sudanese man snakes along the road on his bicycle. Most people don't speak a word of German, just a little fragmentary English, but when they see locals, they offer a friendly wave and call out, "Hello!"

The main road "is like a pedestrian shopping zone," says one resident, "except without the stores." Red-brick houses with pretty gardens line both sides of the street, and Kathrin and Ralf Meyer are standing outside theirs. "It's gotten a bit too much for us," says the 31-year-old mother of three. "Too much noise, too many refugees, too much garbage."
Now the Meyers are planning to move out in November. They're sick of seeing asylum-seekers sit on their garden wall or rummage through their garbage cans for anything they can use. Though "you do feel sorry for them," says Ralf, who's handed out some clothes that his children have grown out of. "But there are just too many of them here now."

Hesepe, a village of 2,500 that comprises one district of the small town of Bramsche in the state of Lower Saxony, is now hosting some 4,000 asylum-seekers, making it a symbol of Germany's refugee crisis. Locals are still showing a great willingness to help, but the sheer number of refugees is testing them. The German states have reported some 409,000 new arrivals between Sept. 5 and Oct. 15 -- more than ever before in a comparable time period -- though it remains unclear how many of those include people who have been registered twice...

Astonishing, really.

As Pat Condell said recently, Germany's committing suicide to assuage its guilt from the Holocaust. It's not good.

Former English Defence League Leader Tommy Robinson Speaks at Massive PEGIDA Rally in Dresden (VIDEO)

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Tommy Robinson Speaks to 40,000 Strong Crowd at the Pegida Anti-Muslim Invader Rally in Germany."

And watch, via Ruptly:



PREVIOUSLY: "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West."

Mayor Eric Garcetti Flees 'Chaotic' Town Hall Meeting After Being Swarmed by Angry #BlackLivesMatter Protesters

I swear these people are animals. Even far-left Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti was frightened for his life.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Garcetti abruptly leaves South L.A. forum because of Black Lives Matter protesters."

Via Twitter.

Can Any Republican Defeat Ancient Socialist Crone Hillary Clinton?

From Kurt Schlichter, at Town Hall, "It’s pretty clear that Hillary is going to be the nominee of the Party of Elderly Socialist White People..."

Tory Voter in Tearful Question Time 'Now Supports Jeremy Corbyn' (VIDEO)

At the Independent UK, "Michelle Dorrell: Tory voter in tearful Question Time attack on government 'now supports Jeremy Corbyn'."

And watch, via BBC News:

U.S. and Japan Display Naval Forces in Show of Strength Off Tokyo Bay (VIDEO)

At USA Today, "U.S., Japanese naval forces stage show of strength."

And watch, via RT:



And, flashback from April, "U.S. and Japan Tighten Alliance in Face of Surging Threat from China."

NFL Network Airs Nude Bengals Players During Locker Room Interview

Heh, you'd think someone would have thought of this before going live, lol.

At the Hollywood Reporter.

Larry David's Bernie Sanders Impression (VIDEO)

At WSJ, "Watch Larry David’s Bernie Sanders Impression on ‘SNL’":

“Saturday Night Live” might have belonged to Tracy Morgan this week, but Larry David, the crotchety comedic mastermind from “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” nearly stole the show.

And watch, via CNN:

Television Networks Project Liberal Party Victory in Canada's National Elections

The Wall Street Journal's got an analysis, "Canada Networks Project Liberal Party Victory in National Elections":

OTTAWA—Canadian broadcast networks projected a victory for the centrist Liberal Party in national elections late Monday night.

Results from Atlantic Canada and early returns in vote-rich Ontario and Quebec gave an advantage to the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party campaigned on a track record of economic leadership, which he said put him in a better position to lead Canada out of its economic downturn.

But voters showed a strong desire for change, according to polls. Those same polls said before Monday’s vote that the favorite to win Monday’s election was relative newcomer Mr. Trudeau, 43 years old, who was tagged as “not ready to run” by the Harper campaign.

In the leadup to Monday’s election, voters expressed unease about their prospects, as Canada’s economy contracted in the first half of the year. While indicators point to a return to growth in the third quarter, Canada’s economy has still suffered the most of any advanced economy from the drop in prices for crude oil and other commodities.

That decline made it harder for Mr. Harper to run on the strength of his economic leadership. The country’s central bank has cut rates twice this year, and the Canadian dollar has weakened 20% versus the U.S. dollar since the start of the commodity-price rout.

Mr. Trudeau appealed to the 70%of voters who told pollsters they wanted a change. The son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Mr. Trudeau is a former high-school teacher who has never held a cabinet post or executive job.

He ran on a pledge to reduce income inequality and support the middle class, including by increasing tax rates for the top 1% of earners, and a plan to stimulate the economy with an infrastructure-spending plan of 60 billion Canadian dollars ($46 billion) over the 10 years, financed in part by deficits.

That plan contrasts with the approach of Mr. Harper, who sought to keep taxes low and promised to balance the budget.

Mr. Trudeau also signaled he aims to rebuild relations with Washington, which he and others have said are at a low ebb due to tensions over a slew of issues including the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline, which was championed by Mr. Harper. The Liberal Party says it supports the Keystone XL pipeline project and that it would create jobs and help Canada’s energy patch...

Andrew Coyne Resigns as Opinion Editor at National Post After Newspaper Rejects Election Column

Just saw this right now, at the Toronto Star, "Andrew Coyne leaves editor role over National Post’s election endorsement."

And on Twitter:

So anyway… I have resigned as editor of Editorials and Comment for the National Post, effective immediately. I will remain a columnist.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

2. Postmedia executives and I had a professional disagreement. Their view was that the publication of a column by the editorial page editor…

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

3. … dissenting from the Post’s endorsement of the Conservatives would have confused readers and embarrassed the paper.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

4. My view was that that was what I was paid to do as a columnist: give my honest opinion on issues of public interest.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

5. I don’t see public disagreement as confusing. I see it as honest. Readers, in my view, are adults & understand that adults can disagree.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

7. To be clear, the owners and managers of a newspaper have a perfect right to set the paper’s editorial line as they wish.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

8. Likewise they have a perfect right to decide who and what they wish to publish in their pages.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

9. Nobody has a God-given right to be published and the country will get along very well without me telling them how to vote.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

10. My concerns were and are merely a) that there should be no suggestion that I was personally endorsing or voting for the Conservatives.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

11. And b) that I could not do my job as a columnist if I was obliged to stay silent where these conflicted with those of management.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

12. While Postmedia’s intervention was unprecedented in my experience, I could not allow the precedent to stand.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

13. So to protect my reputation and to preserve my editorial freedom as a columnist, I felt it necessary to resign the editorial position.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

14. I think that’s all I need to say on the subject. If anyone’s still interested, I will be voting for the NDP candidate in my riding.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

15. The short-form reasoning: the Conservatives don’t deserve to be re-elected, and the Liberals don’t deserve a majority.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

*6. The confusion, if any, would have been to have left the impression that the paper’s views were mine, or that my views were the paper’s.

— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) October 19, 2015

Liberal Party's Justin Trudeau Will Be Canada's Next Prime Minister

At Toronto's Globe and Mail, "Trudeau Liberals to form new government..."

And at the CBC, ".@PeterMansbridge announces CBC projection that Justin Trudeau will be Canada's next PM..."

PREVIOUSLY: "Canada's Liberal Party Jumps Out to Early Lead as Polls Close in Atlantic Canada."

Canada's Liberal Party Jumps Out to Early Lead as Polls Close in Atlantic Canada

Hope and change up North, at Toronto's National Post, "Canadian election 2015: Liberals in early lead after landslide in Atlantic Canada."

Also at the live blog, "Canadian election 2015: Live news, photos and analysis."

Eurotunnel Forced to Suspend Services After Muslim 'Migrants' Storm Terminals and Platforms in France

At Atlas Shrugs, "Eurotunnel SUSPENDS Trains After Muslim Migrants STORM Tunnel."

Also at Telegraph UK, "Eurotunnel stops trains after hundreds of migrants storm terminal in France."

Well, you wouldn't want to be too critical of the Muslims trying to get into Britain, lest you come off as "racist."

Palestinian Leaders Have Created a Culture of Death That's Motivating the Latest Violent Terrorism

I think Jeffrey Goldberg's phrase, "the stabbing intifada," really captures it.

And here's more, from Tzipi Hotovely, at the Wall Street Journal, "Abbas: ‘We Welcome Every Drop of Blood Spilled in Jerusalem’":

The latest surge of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis has come in the immediate wake of explicit calls by the Palestinian leadership to “spill blood.” This well-orchestrated campaign of violence follows many years in which Palestinian children have been taught to idolize the murder of Jews as a sacred value and to regard their own death in this “jihad” as the pinnacle of their aspirations.

Such violence has deep roots. It goes back to the rampages at the behest of Haj Amin al-Husseini, a Muslim activist and at one point grand mufti of Jerusalem, in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. It continued with the fedayeen Palestinian militants in the 1950s and ’60s, and evolved into the terrorism of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Fatah under Yasser Arafat and now Mahmoud Abbas. Anyone who claims that Palestinian terror against Jews dates only to 1967, or is a response to Israeli settlements, should become more informed of the conflict’s history.

Yet the apathy shown by the international community to the death-culture fostered by Palestinian elites, and the unbalanced manner in which subsequent violence is often treated by the international media—as if there is any kind of symmetry between terrorists and their victims—is doing long-term, and possibly irrevocable, harm to generations of Palestinians.

A few recent examples underscore the depth of the problem.

Keep reading.

Bella Thorne on Instagram

At Hollywood Tuna, "Now that Bella Thorne is officially 18 and her Instagram is no longer an LAPD sting operation waiting to happen, I can do things like repost the bikini pictures she puts up there."

Well, yeah, considering Ms. Thorne used to be on the Disney Channel's "Shake It Up!"

But she's 18 now, so there you go.

Hot Shots Calendar 2016 (VIDEO)

Last year some of these babes got some folks in trouble, "'Hot Shots' Calendar Under Fire for Photo Shoot on U.S. Military Base."

But they're still going strong, apparently.

Watch, "Hot Shots Calendar 2016 - Behind the Scenes."

The Overwhelmingly Female Press Corps Covering Hillary Clinton's Campaign

That's so sexist, heh.

At Politico, "The women in the van."

Hat Tip: Glenn Reynolds, "ANNALS OF MEDIA SEXISM: Hillary Clinton attracts a rarity on the campaign trail — an overwhelmingly female press corps."

Why Israel Will Never Be Able to Separate from the Palestinians

From Caroline Glick, at FrontPage Magazine, "KERRY, ISRAELI ARABS AND THE SEPARATION DELUSION."

And her latest book is most timely, at Amazon, The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East.

Syria Broadens Offensive

At WSJ, "Syrian Regime, Backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, Expands Ground Offensive to Aleppo":

Syrian pro-regime forces backed by Russian airstrikes have expanded their ground offensive to the strategic city of Aleppo, one of the clearest signs yet of how Russia’s recent military intervention has emboldened President Bashar al-Assad and his loyalists.

In the bitterly fought multi-sided war, Aleppo is among the most coveted prizes. Losing partial control of the city, which was once Syria’s largest and its commercial capital, was an embarrassment to the regime. But with the backing of Russian warplanes, Iranian forces and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, Mr. Assad’s forces could now be in position to regain large parts of the city and the surrounding countryside.

“I suspect Assad always wanted to take back Aleppo because it is such an important city and retaking it has such strategic and symbolic importance,” said Emile Hokayem, a Middle East analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based military and security think tank. “And it would deny the rebels a foothold in any major city.”

The battle for Aleppo, launched on Friday, is an extension of two weeks of other ground offensives in the provinces of Hama, Latakia and Homs aided by Iranian forces and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Mr. Assad is attempting to retake territory once considered out of his control, showing a new confidence with his growing international support.

Since Friday, the regime has netted a number of villages on the southern outskirts of the city and thousands of civilians are fleeing fighting in the area. On Sunday, the regime captured one additional village and U.S.-backed rebels destroyed two regime tanks using American-supplied weapons as they tried to stem the regime’s progress.

The regime appears to be advancing westward toward the strategic highway linking Aleppo with the capital Damascus, rebels said.

In a rare move, the offensive is being led by regime-allied Iranian fighters, according to Ahmad al-Ahmad, a spokesman for the moderate Islamist rebel group Faylaq al-Sham, which is involved in the battles.

Aleppo is about 30 miles south of the Turkish border and has been the site of battles between the rebels and regime since 2012. The countryside north of the city was one of the first areas where rebels gained a territorial foothold in the war, giving them access to border crossing with Turkey and a key road from the border that served as an important supply line.

The city of Aleppo is now divided in two, with an array of rebel factions controlling the eastern half and the regime holding the western half.

In July, Mr. Assad conceded that his forces were stretched too thin and could no longer defend the entire country, adding that priorities needed to be set. The acknowledgment came after years of desertions and draft dodgers and more than half the country slipping out of his control.

But Moscow’s intervention has allowed Mr. Assad to modify his earlier objective. Russian airstrikes are supporting his efforts to hold on to the stronghold around Damascus and to preserve a strategic corridor along the Lebanese border.

They are also aiding regime attempts to regain full control over the central provinces of Homs and Hama and the western region on the Mediterranean coast.

But Aleppo “is outside of the bounds one would think would be the point of restabilization for the regime,” said Christopher Kozak, a research analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, a think tank...

Keep reading.

The Paranoid, Supremacist Roots of the Stabbing Intifada

From Jeffrey Goldberg, at the Atlantic:

Knife attacks on Jews in Jerusalem and elsewhere are not based on Palestinian frustration over settlements, but on something deeper.

*****

The current “stabbing Intifada” now taking place in Israel—a quasi-uprising in which young Palestinians have been trying, and occasionally succeeding, to kill Jews with knives—is prompted in good part by the same set of manipulated emotions that sparked the anti-Jewish riots of the 1920s: a deeply felt desire on the part of Palestinians to “protect” the Temple Mount from Jews.

When Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem in June of 1967 in response to a Jordanian attack, the first impulse of some Israelis was to assert Jewish rights atop the Mount. Between 1948, the year Israel achieved independence, and 1967, Jordan, then the occupying power in Jerusalem, banned Jews not only from the 35-acre Mount—which is known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, the noble sanctuary—but also from the Western Wall below. When paratroopers took the Old City, they raised the Israeli flag atop the Dome of the Rock, but the Israeli defense minister, Moshe Dayan, ordered it taken down, and soon after promised leaders of the Muslim Waqf, the trust that controlled the mosque and the shrine, that Israel would not interfere in its activities. Since then, successive Israeli governments have maintained the status quo established by Dayan.

There is another status quo associated with the Temple Mount, however, that has been showing signs of weakening. This is a religious status quo. The mainstream rabbinical view for many years has been that Jews should not walk atop the Mount for fear of treading on the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum of the Temple that, according to tradition, housed the Ark of the Covenant. The Holy of Holies is the room in which the Jewish high priest spoke the Tetragrammaton, the ineffable name of God, on Yom Kippur.

The exact location of the Holy of Holies is not known, and Muslim authorities have prevented archeologists from conducting any excavations on the Mount, in part out of fear that such explorations will uncover further evidence of a pre-Islamic Jewish presence. This mainstream rabbinical view concerning the Mount—that it should be the direction of Jewish prayer, rather than a place of Jewish prayer—has made the lives of Jerusalem’s temporal authorities easier, by keeping Muslim and Jewish worshippers separated.

In recent years, however, small groups of radical religious innovators who oppose the mainstream rabbinical view have sought to make the Mount, once again, a site of Jewish prayer. (Here is a New York Times Magazine story I wrote about these radical groups.) These activists have gained sympathizers among some far-right political figures in Israel, though the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not altered the separation-of-religions status quo.

Convincing Palestinians that the Israeli government is not trying to alter the status quo on the Mount has been difficult because many of  today’s Palestinian leaders, in the manner of the Palestinian leadership of the 1920s, actively market rumors that the Israeli government is seeking to establish atop the Mount a permanent Jewish presence.

The comments of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas—by general consensus the most moderate leader in the brief history of the Palestinian national movement—have been particularly harsh. Though Abbas has authorized Palestinian security services to work with their Israeli counterparts to combat extremist violence, his rhetoric has inflamed tensions. “Every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem is pure, every martyr will reach paradise, and every injured person will be rewarded by God,” he said last month, as rumors about the Temple Mount swirled. He went on to say that Jews “have no right to desecrate the mosque with their dirty feet.” Taleb Abu Arrar, an Israeli Arab member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, argued publicly that Jews “desecrate” the Temple Mount by their presence. (Fourteen years ago, Yasser Arafat, then the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told me that “Jewish authorities are forging history by saying the Temple stood on the Haram al-Sharif. Their temple was somewhere else.”)

Keep reading.

Israel Builds Temporary Security Walls Between Jewish and 'Palestinian' Neighbourhoods (VIDEO)

Postcards from the "Palestinian" peace process, via France 24:



Also, at Israel Matzav, "Breaking: Five Israelis wounded as two 'Palestinian' terrorists open fire in BeerSheva - UPDATED."