Staff Sergeant Old School

Via This Ain't Hell..., "I’m With Staff Sergeant on #bringbackourgirls."

Donald Sterling Slams Magic Johnson, Cites HIV Status

Hey, considerable developments surrounding liberal Beverly Hills racist Donald Sterling.

He goes off on Magic. Man, talk about stop digging when you're in a hole.

At the Los Angeles Times:

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling lashed out at Magic Johnson during a CNN interview  broadcast Monday night, alluding to the NBA’s great’s HIV-positive diagnosis and saying, “I don’t think he’s a good example for the children of Los Angeles.”

Sterling’s comments came as he addressed racial remarks he made that prompted the NBA to ban him for life. In a recording released by TMZ two weeks ago, Sterling tells a female friend, V. Stiviano, not to associate with black people, including Johnson.

"What kind of guy goes to every city, has sex with every girl, then catches” HIV, Sterling told Anderson Cooper. “I think he should be ashamed of himself.”

Sterling also questioned whether Johnson has made a positive contribution to the African American community in Los Angeles. He then pointed to his own charitable work.

“Jews, when they get successful, they will help their people,” he said.

At one point Cooper asked if he apologized to Johnson.

"If I said anything wrong, I'm sorry," Sterling responded. "He's a good person. I mean, what am I going to say? Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don't think so. But I'll say it, he's great. But I don't think he's a good example for the children of Los Angeles."

Sterling apologized for what he said on the tape...

More.

And here it comes, "Gloria Allred slams Donald Sterling's 'pathetic' CNN interview."

RELATED: "Donald Sterling flatly denies harboring racist views," and "Wife would lose share of team if Donald Sterling is voted out, NBA says."

Harvard's Black Mass Cancelled

I called this evil over the weekend.

And Harvard must have agreed.

At the Boston Globe, "Harvard Black Mass, First Moved, Then Cancelled, May Have Happened in Chinese Restaurant."

And at Twitchy, "Satanic mass at Harvard canceled; Catholic event standing room only [pic]."

Black mass is canceled at Harvard but Catholic event is standing room only. See photo http://t.co/AhmgJgRvij pic.twitter.com/UZcMs7ylkT

— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) May 13, 2014

Gay #NFL Draftee Becomes Sacred Cow

At Power Line. (And follow the links there to the analysis at Hot Air.)

Also at Twitchy, "‘What a circus’: Miami Dolphins send player to ‘educational training’ following comments about Michael Sam."

If #DonJones had said "OMG" about #Tebow would he have been fined or suspended? NO! #LiberalTolerance #DoubleStandard #CommunistNFL #tcot

— Tweet Slinger (@TheTweetSlinger) May 12, 2014

And USA Today, "Dolphins' Don Jones fined for tweets about Michael Sam."

Why Won't the Obama Administration Identify Boko Haram as Islamic Terrorists?

This is exactly what Robert Stacy McCain was talking about the other day, "Boko Haram and the Jihad in Africa."

Here's the lead discussion from today's "The Five":

Video Shows Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolgirls — #BokoHaram

At London's Daily Mail, "Paraded by a blood-crazed fanatic, the terrified schoolgirl captives: Boko Haram release chilling videos of missing Nigerian girls as they reveal they have all been forced to convert to Islam."

Angelina Jolie Talks Tough on #BokoHaram — Tougher Than President Obama

Obama talks all "warm and fuzzy" about evil in the world.

Angelina Jolie says we must bring the perpetrators to justice.

At News Corp Australia, "Angelina Jolie: Nigerian schoolgirls’ kidnappers are evil."

And at Independent UK, "Angelina Jolie on Nigerian schoolgirl kidnapping: ‘It’s because of this culture of impunity’."

And at the video, "We have to start arresting people for this..."

The Closing of the Collegiate Mind

From Ruth Wisse, at the Wall Street Journal:

There was a time when people looking for intellectual debate turned away from politics to the university. Political backrooms bred slogans and bagmen; universities fostered educated discussion. But when students in the 1960s began occupying university property like the thugs of regimes America was fighting abroad, the venues gradually reversed. Open debate is now protected only in the polity: In universities, muggers prevail.

Assaults on intellectual and political freedom have been making headlines. Pressure from faculty egged on by Muslim groups induced Brandeis University last month not to grant Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the proponent of women's rights under Islam, an intended honorary degree at its convocation. This was a replay of 1994, when Brandeis faculty demanded that trustees rescind their decision to award an honorary degree to Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In each case, a faculty cabal joined by (let us charitably say) ignorant students promoted the value of repression over the values of America's liberal democracy.

Opponents of free speech have lately chalked up many such victories: New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly prevented from speaking at Brown University in November; a lecture by Charles Murray canceled by Azusa Pacific University in April; Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state and national-security adviser under the George W. Bush administration, harassed earlier this month into declining the invitation by Rutgers University to address this year's convocation.

Most painful to me was the Harvard scene several years ago when the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, celebrating its 50th anniversary, accepted a donation in honor of its former head tutor Martin Peretz, whose contributions to the university include the chair in Yiddish I have been privileged to hold. His enemies on campus generated a "party against Marty" that forced him to walk a gauntlet of jeering students for having allegedly offended Islam, while putting others on notice that they had best not be perceived guilty of association with him.

Universities have not only failed to stand up to those who limit debate, they have played a part in encouraging them. The modish commitment to so-called diversity replaces the ideal of guaranteed equal treatment of individuals with guaranteed group preferences in hiring and curricular offerings...

More.

So far my campus has been spared a roiling debate on leftists suppression, although the mere mention of a talk by Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist a few years back brought out the thought police --- and a "no" vote from the college administration on the grounds of "campus security." (So, yeah, we basically experienced the heckler's veto once in recent memory.) Recall back in 2006, Gilchrist was attacked at Columbia, rousted off the stage and beaten by a gang of leftist thugs. So it's been at least a decade of this kind of leftist fascism, which according to Wisse dates back the left's Vietnam-era generation.

RELATED: At Vassar, at least one faculty member called for a boycott of William Jacobson, who spoke recently against the BDS movement. See, "“One responded, actually calling for a boycott of Professor Jacobson”."



Video here: "Vassar College Wins (Update – Video added)."

No Dads in Google Mother's Day Doodle — #MothersDay2014

On Twitter:

Dear @Google, why is there No 'Dad' in your Mothers' Day pic⁉️ pic.twitter.com/IWIlAmKmBS
— CMOrtolani (@cmortolani) May 11, 2014

@cmortolani @Josh_Painter @google The #ObamaDemocrats don't like intact homes - they prefer dependency at any price.
— Middlepeople - David (@dmc2et) May 11, 2014

Word.

More: "The Next Step to Marxism? The Abolition of the Family."

#BokoHaram and the Return of the Nigerian Slave Trade

At Blazing Cat Fur.

Barack #Obama Shrinks in Face of Evil

From Michael Goodwin, at the New York Post, "Obama shrinks away in the face of evil":

As Barack Obama enters the twilight of his tenure, the ­debate over his legacy is ­beginning, but one conclusion already seems certain. It can best be described as “Honey, I shrunk the presidency.”

Not since Jimmy Carter was held hostage by Iran has the Oval Office seemed so inconsequential against the forces of international darkness. The mismatch is particularly striking because smallness has been Obama’s choice.

Although he is guilty of executive overreach at home, that bully behavior only sharpens the contrast with a foreign policy that is feeble when it is not comatose. The president’s estrangement from the demands of global leadership is giving a green light to tyrants and malevolent opportunists everywhere...

Keep reading.

Goodwin cites Obama's cowardly comments at Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation Dinner. There's the video and text:

We cannot eliminate evil from every heart, or hatred from every mind. But what we can do, and what we must do, is make sure our children and their children learn their history so that they might not repeat it. (Applause.) We can teach our children the hazards of tribalism. We can teach our children to speak out against the casual slur. We can teach them there is no “them,” there’s only “us.”

And Goodwin replies:

There you have it. We can teach our children warm and fuzzy things — assuming they and we are not killed by madmen first. In which case, there’s nothing we can do.

There’s nothing we can do?

Maybe in Barack Obama's America. But that's not my America. I refuse to stand on the sidelines while evil triumphs.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."



Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – It Made a Difference."

Why Tina Brown Must Cry

At Althouse, "You Won't Believe These Mockups of How Websites Today Would Have Reported the Monica Lewinsky Scandal."

The last one's not a mockup: "And that's why we have the websites we have, and Tina Brown must cry."

Eastern #Ukraine Votes in Independence Referendum

At the Wall Street Journal, "Pro-Russian Separatists Hold Referendum in Eastern Ukraine: Ukrainian Government in Kiev Says Vote Is Illegitimate":

DONETSK, Ukraine—Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine appeared to be on track to declare victory in a referendum Sunday that Kiev and the West say is illegal and riddled with irregularities.

The vote ratchets up tensions between the Kremlin, which may recognize the vote, and the nascent government in Kiev, which is struggling to regain control of the two provinces that it says Moscow is destabilizing through support of rebels.

Heavy turnout suggested that weeks of instability and violence in the region had helped turn simmering anger against Kiev into open defiance and separatism that polls showed barely existed earlier this year.

Separatist leaders said they opened more than 1,500 voting stations across one province alone. In the coastal city of Mariupol, the scene of deadly clashes last week between separatists and Ukrainian soldiers, thousands of people turned out to join lines that stretched for city blocks, with some residents bringing lawn chairs to rest their legs as they waited.

Amid an absence of electoral observers and a heavy presence of separatist gunmen patrolling the streets, the government in Kiev said the results of the vote are certain to be rigged.

One Donetsk electoral official, Mikhail Samolenko, said Sunday there were no real safeguards to keep people from voting several times, but that it didn't matter "because everyone is voting yes" for independence. Separatists said they may release results as early as this evening.

More.

Plus, Maria Bartiromo interviews Kori Schake of the Hoover Institution (video), who indicates that recent polls found that 70 percent of residents in the eastern region would vote to retain membership with Ukraine. No outside election observers are on the ground. It's a sham, rigged election, which only strengthens Putin's claims to territorial revisionism.

And at Euronews, "Ukraine: voters in Donetsk participate in disputed poll."

No More Excuses for Islamic Monsters — #BokoHaram

From Ralph Peters, at the New York Post, "Stop making excuses for Islamist extremist monsters."

And Peters interviewed on Fox News, "Hillary Clinton Refused to Put Boko Haram on Terror List."

The Obama administration's engaged in "deceit, deception, and outright lies."

Who knew?!!

The New #Fascism Rolls On

More on the Benham brothers, from Charles Cooke, at National Review.

Veterans' Benefits Live On Long After Bullets Stop

A great piece, at WSJ, "Still Paying for the Civil War":

WILKESBORO, N.C. — Each month, Irene Triplett collects $73.13 from the Department of Veterans Affairs, a pension payment for her father's military service—in the Civil War.

More than 3 million men fought and 530,000 men died in the conflict between North and South. Pvt. Mose Triplett joined the rebels, deserted on the road to Gettysburg, defected to the Union and married so late in life to a woman so young that their daughter Irene is today 84 years old—and the last child of any Civil War veteran still on the VA benefits rolls.

Ms. Triplett's pension, small as it is, stands as a reminder that war's bills don't stop coming when the guns fall silent. The VA is still paying benefits to 16 widows and children of veterans from the 1898 Spanish-American War.

The last U.S. World War I veteran died in 2011. But 4,038 widows, sons and daughters get monthly VA pension or other payments. The government's annual tab for surviving family from those long-ago wars comes to $16.5 million.

Spouses, parents and children of deceased veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan received $6.7 billion in the 2013 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Payments are based on financial need, any disabilities, and whether the veteran's death was tied to military service.

Those payments don't include the costs of fighting or caring for the veterans themselves. A Harvard University study last year projected the final bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would hit $4 trillion to $6 trillion in the coming decades.

Eric Shinseki, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, often cites President Abraham Lincoln's call, in his second inaugural address, for Americans "to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan."

"The promises of President Abraham Lincoln are being delivered, 150 years later, by President Barack Obama, " Secretary Shinseki said in a speech last fall. "And the same will be true 100 years from now—the promises of this president will be delivered by a future president, as yet unborn."

A declaration of war sets in motion expenditures that can span centuries, whether the veterans themselves were heroes, cowards or something in between...

RTWT.

Mose Triplett switched sides, joining the Union Army so he'd qualify for veterans' bennies after the war. And boy did he ever, lol.

Decaying Newfoundland Whale

At Toronto's National Post, "Decaying blue whale towed from Trout River and will be de-blubbered before the bones shipped to Toronto."

Boko Haram and the Jihad in Africa

At the Other McCain.

And First Street Journal, "Telling half the truth, the half-truth, and nothing but half the truth."

Also at Atlas Shrugs, "#BringBackOurBalls."

Hashtags don't save people.

End of Phoney War and Fall of France — #WorldWarII

The invasion of France began 74 years ago today.

At the World War II Database, "Invasion of France and the Low Countries: 10 May 1940 - 22 Jun 1940."

Counting Down the Obama Interregnum

From Peter Ferrara, at the American Spectator, "LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL: The passing of the Age of Obama":

Conservatives need to wake up and start thinking past the rapidly passing age of Obama. Increasingly likely every day is that voters this November will remove Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader. By electing a new Republican Senate majority, the voters will also render Barack Obama a lame duck, one of the lamest in history, as he will have no prayer of getting any of his legislative proposals — increasingly recognized as hard left — through Congress. (Despite his early national rhetoric, Obama doesn’t do bipartisanship.)

That new Republican Senate majority will also be a new check and balance on Obama’s appointment of federal judges, reversing the effect of the Reid rule change eliminating Republican judicial filibusters. That is especially crucial given that the five remaining Reagan/Bush appointees on the Court constitute the slimmest of majorities, with a couple of occasionally weak sisters among them. If just one of these five is replaced by another Elena Kagan or Sonia Sotomayor, the resulting shift from a Reagan majority on the Court to an Obama one would mean a longer-term Obama transformation of America.

Given the long-term cycles of American political history, Obama’s second midterm this year should be even worse for Democrats than the disastrous Obama first midterm in 2010. And the polls are bearing out that possibility.

The latest is a Pew/USA Today poll finding that 47 percent favor the Republican candidate for Congress in their district or state, while 43 percent favor the Democrat. That is a sharp turnaround from last October, when Democrats held a 6 point lead in the same generic midterm preference poll, 49 percent to 43 percent. The new Pew poll also finds a 16 point GOP lead among independent voters.

Moreover, the Pew poll finds that “65% would like to see the next President offer different policies and programs from the Obama Administration while 30 percent want Obama’s successor to offer similar policies,” as reported by Jason Riley in the May 5 Wall Street Journal.

In an April 27 Washington Post/ABC News poll, President Obama’s approval rating was down to an all-time low of 41 percent. That poll featured an 11 point Democratic advantage in the sample, which indicates further weakness in that Obama support, especially as compared to the 2010 midterm turnout rather than the 2012 turnout.

For context, in April 2010, President Obama’s job approval in that Washington Post/ABC News poll was 54 percent. In October 2010, just before the voters administered their first midterm beating to Democrats, Obama’s job approval was still 50 percent.

Similarly, the April Gallup poll showed an Obama approval rating of 43 percent, compared to an April 2010 Obama approval rating in that poll of 49 percent, and an early November 2010 approval rating of 44 percent. The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found Obama’s job approval at 44 percent, compared to a May 11, 2010 approval of 50 percent, and an October 30, 2010 approval of 45 percent. So consistently in all these polls, Obama was doing better in 2010 just before that year’s Democrat blowout than he is doing this year.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll also found only 42 percent approval of Obama’s handling of the economy, lower than the 44 percent in the October 2010 poll. Most damning of all, 53 percent in the 2014 poll say it is more important to have Republican congressional majorities to check Obama’s policies, compared to 39 percent who believe it is more important to have Democratic congressional majorities to support those policies.

Bottom line in that poll, 45 percent say they plan to vote for Democratic candidates for Congress this fall, compared to 44 percent who say they plan to vote for Republican congressional candidates. But in October 2010, the Washington Post/ABC News poll showed Democrats with a 5-point advantage on that question, just before voters granted Republicans a 63-seat gain in the House, and a 6 to 7 seat gain in the Senate (depending on how you count the November 2010 affirmation of Scott Brown’s special election pickup of Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat).

These polls above, and state by state polls, are consistent with a Republican pickup in this fall’s midterm of as many as 10 Senate seats, establishing a new 55 to 45 Republican Senate majority, and 20 more House seats. To maximize that victory, Republicans need to campaign on a pro-growth platform of specific reforms to get America booming again as under Reagan. But in designing those proposals, conservative and Republican candidates, think tanks, publications, and policy intellectuals need to think past what can possibly be compromised with President Obama, and take their case for populist, pro-growth reforms directly to the people.

That sounds awesome!

And it's also in line with what I've been saying all year: The Democrats are going to get hammered. It's gonna be a bloodbath.

More at the link.

White Guys: We Suck and We're Sorry

Idiots.

Via Pat Dollard, "White Guys: ‘We Suck And We’re Sorry’ – Outrageous New Video That Apologizes For Years of ‘White Privilege’."

White Privilege: A term created by fascists and used by cowards to manipulate morons. #tcot #p2 #uniteblue #teaparty #tgdn

— Patrick Dollard (@PatDollard) May 11, 2014

The Revolting Truth: The Debate is Over

And the science is settled, so STFU.

Via Daley Gator:

#Ukraine Separatists Prepare for Referendum

Do you support the People's Republic of Donetsk?

At WSJ, "Pro-Russian Separatists Prepare for Referendum in Eastern Ukraine: Election Officials in Donetsk Set Up Polling Stations to Gather Independence Votes on Sunday":

DONETSK, Ukraine—Pro-Russia separatists in two eastern regions prepared polling stations for a referendum on Sunday intended to seal their independence from Ukraine but denounced as illegal by Kiev and the West.

At an "electoral commission" in downtown Donetsk, activists glued paper flags of their self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic over the Ukrainian coat of arms on ballot boxes and sealed them before sending them to polling stations.

Election officials say they have more than 1,500 voting stations across Donetsk alone, and even intend to hold the vote in the port city of Mariupol, where fighting Friday left several dead as Kiev tried to stamp its control there.

The separatists would have little chance of winning a free and fair vote, as a majority here want close ties with Russia but to remain part of Ukraine, polls show.

Although Kiev and the West say they won't recognize the referendum's result, it could allow the separatists to declare a de-facto divorce from Ukraine. That could lead to a descent into international isolation akin to the Russian-backed breakaway statelets in Moldova and Georgia. For the Donetsk region, whose heavy industries are dependent on exports, an international pariah status could cause serious economic pain. Barring Crimea-style annexation by Russia, in which Moscow publicly has expressed no interest, Donetsk People's Republic could find itself with crimped export markets and unemployment problems. Asked about this, Roman Lyagin, Donetsk People's Republic's election chief, said that "it's better to live in isolation than under occupations."

Keep reading.

Why do I sense that Putin won't in fact stay uninvolved. Well, actually, I have an idea, but we'll see.

Added: From Masha Gessen, at the Washington Post, "After carving up Ukraine, where will Putin turn next?"

The Wisconsin Gestapo

From George Will, at the Washington Post, "Wis. prosecutors abuse the law for partisan ends" (with the headline snagged from Elizabeth Price Foley at Instapundit).

The piece excoriates the Wisconsin Democrats' now-curtailed "John Doe" campaign finance investigations, which had virtually no chance of obtaining convictions. Their purpose was pure intimidation:

Liberals inveighing against “dark money” in politics mean money contributed anonymously to finance political advocacy. Donors’ anonymity thwarts liberals’ efforts to injure the livelihoods of identifiable conservatives by punishing them for their political participation and thereby deterring others from participating...

RTWT.

Virginia Hot Air Balloon Catches Fire, Crashes: 1 Body Recovered, 2 Unaccounted

Remind me never to ride in one of these hot air balloons. I've never really liked them, but this story seals the deal.

At London's Daily Mail, "'Help me, help me, sweet Jesus, help. I'm going to die': Desperate hunt for hot air balloon that hit power lanes, burst into flames and VANISHED as burning passengers screamed out for help."

Daily Mail indicates one body has been recovered.

Here's a local report at WTVR Virginia, "People still missing after hot-air balloon accident in Doswell."

And a report at ABC News:

Rep. Louie Gohmert Compares Hateful Homosexuals to Nazis

The video is here (hat tip: Memeorandum).

And it sounds like Gohmert briefly mentions the Benham brothers' show cancellation, discussed at London's Daily Mail, "HGTV cancels home-flipping show before it even airs after twin hosts are exposed as anti-gay activists."

Sure, intolerant leftists are Nazis, but better to just describe them as murderous fascists to avoid going full Godwin.

The Left's 'Trigger' Totalitarianism

A great clip, at Reason, "Trigger Warnings, Campus Speech, and the Right to Not Be Offended."

This Bailey Loverin's a bleedin' airhead.



AP calls them "trauma warnings." Idiot progs are made of eggshells, heh: "TRAUMA WARNINGS MOVE FROM INTERNET TO IVORY TOWER."

Putin Is Trying to Take Over #Russia's Memories of WWII

From Julia Ioffe, at the New Republic:

This year, once again, the center of Moscow will be shut down as a military parade rumbles through Red Square and past a very serious Vladimir Putin. Ostensibly, it is to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the day when the Germans formally surrendered to the Soviets in Berlin. But the parade, now an annual affair, with its planes and its tanks and its trucks pulling intercontinental ballistic missiles through the city has become a cornerstone of Putinism, a way to bind the country with the only thing that its citizens still have in common.

This year, the day has become even more politicized. The orange and black ribbons that once held the medal commemorating victory in the war are now a symbol of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and of Putinists in Russia. There will be a victory parade in freshly annexed Crimea, too. Victory in the Great Patriotic War, as it’s known in Russia, has been used to justify the annexation of Crimea and to fight opposition to Putin at home. The war has somehow become Putin’s personal possession, the victory—his personal achievement.

This year, the holiday is even harder to celebrate for those that support neither Putin nor his foreign policy, but, unlike Putin, lived through it all. It is, after all, their memories of the war that make up the history of those bloody, hungry years; they are the bright and morbid pixels in the larger, increasingly manipulated picture.

Keep reading.

'Let’s hope the RNC sticks to its guns on this because we all remember the Candy Crowley debacle...'

Yes, we do.

From Elizabeth Price Foley, at Instapundit, "RNC Chair Reince Preibus has announced that the RNC is taking steps to demand greater balance in the 2016 presidential debates..."

Winning College-Application Letters on Economics and Finance — and Life and Love

At the New York Times, "Four Stand-Out College Essays About Money."

And read the essays, "Students and Money, in Their Own Words."

Which one's your favorite. They're all good, although I think Andy Duehren's by far the most accomplished writer.

Harvard's Black Mass

Just because you have the freedom to do something doesn't mean you should. And from what I'm reading, the purpose of this Black Mass is to perpetuate evil.

Here's the background at the Boston Globe, "Archdiocese assails plans for black mass by Harvard group."

And from Lisa Graas, "Satanic Temple conducting black mass at Harvard is actually atheist."

Satan! Fighting for your freedom to do evil since the Garden of Eden. Meet Satan, guest of atheists, @Harvard or not. pic.twitter.com/18h3ZUOE9q
— Lisa Graas (@CatholicLisa) May 9, 2014

Leave it to the atheists to pretend to be Satanists and claim that Catholics objecting to the mockery of Catholicism are "intolerant."
— Lisa Graas (@CatholicLisa) May 9, 2014

It takes a special kind of insanity to claim that Catholics who object to the mocking of Catholicism are "intolerant."
— Lisa Graas (@CatholicLisa) May 9, 2014

I'm intolerant of many things. Satan is definitely at the top of the list.
— Lisa Graas (@CatholicLisa) May 9, 2014

Illegal Immigrants Seek DREAM Center at Long Beach State

Here's the report, at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Building a DREAM Center: CSULB students seek resource center for the undocumented."

And from the letters to the editor yesterday, "Let’s provide college help to legal residents first":

Re “Building a DREAM Center: CSULB students seek resource center for the undocumented” (May 4):

It’s upsetting to read that $9 million is being given to undocumented-immigrant students attending colleges and universities in the California State University system and Cal State Long Beach.

The article mentioned how difficult it is to attend college by paying tuition and working part-time. That is everyone’s dilemma attending college. It is very expensive, and students have to work to pay for it.

Why not give the $9 million to those students who also dream of attending college and can’t afford it but are legal residents?

This is just another example of undocumented immigrants draining the system. This is not what our state tax dollars are for. These individuals are illegal residents; therefore they don’t have Social Security numbers and don’t pay their fair share of taxes.

— Betty Garcia, Lakewood

Well, you would think.

But you can't say stuff like that nowadays without being attacked as racist.

Boko Haram: When Will the West Wake Up?

From Ayaan Hirsi Ali, at WSJ, "Boko Haram and the Kidnapped Schoolgirls":

Since the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria last month, the meaning of Boko Haram—the name used by the terrorist group that seized the girls—has become more widely known. The translation from the Hausa language is usually given in English-language media as "Western Education Is Forbidden," though "Non-Muslim Teaching Is Forbidden" might be more accurate.

But little attention has been paid to the group's formal Arabic name: Jam'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-da'wa wal-Jihad. That roughly translates as "The Fellowship of the People of the Tradition for Preaching and Holy War." That's a lot less catchy than Boko Haram but significantly more revealing about the group and its mission. Far from being an aberration among Islamist terror groups, as some observers suggest, Boko Haram in its goals and methods is in fact all too representative.

The kidnapping of the schoolgirls throws into bold relief a central part of what the jihadists are about: the oppression of women. Boko Haram sincerely believes that girls are better off enslaved than educated. The terrorists' mission is no different from that of the Taliban assassin who shot and nearly killed 15-year-old Pakistani Malala Yousafzai—as she rode a school bus home in 2012—because she advocated girls' education. As I know from experience, nothing is more anathema to the jihadists than equal and educated women.

How to explain this phenomenon to baffled Westerners, who these days seem more eager to smear the critics of jihadism as "Islamophobes" than to stand up for women's most basic rights? Where are the Muslim college-student organizations denouncing Boko Haram? Where is the outrage during Friday prayers? These girls' lives deserve more than a Twitter hashtag protest...

Keep reading.

Also at the Toronto Sun, "Boko Haram are the dark side of Islam."

RELATED: "Islamist Militants Kill Hundreds of Civilians in Northeastern Nigeria."

Irina Shayk Covered Topless for Sports Illustrated in Hawaii

Looks like she's having fun.

At London's Daily Mail, "Irina Shayk rolls around topless in the sand with male model as she shoots for Sports Illustrated in Hawaii."

And uncovered topless at Drunken Stepfather, "IRINA SHAYK TOPLESS ON THE BEACH OF THE DAY." (Some of the shots have been deleted, but scroll down at the second link.)

Republican Senators Challenge Janet Yellen

I taught congressional oversight today, so this is interesting.

At NYT, "With Elections Nearing, Republican Senators Take On Yellen on Jobs":

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday sharply questioned Janet L. Yellen, chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, about the persistence of unemployment and the slow pace of the economic recovery during a hearing that highlighted the growing prominence of election-year considerations on Capitol Hill.

The hearing before the Senate Budget Committee flipped the standard script of congressional sessions in recent years with Ms. Yellen and her predecessor, Ben S. Bernanke. Generally, Democrats are the ones who fret about unemployment and the weak economy, while Republicans question whether the Fed will lose control of inflation or destabilize financial markets.

With the midterm elections approaching, however, Democrats are increasingly eager to claim credit for the progress of the economic recovery, while Republicans are emphasizing that the recovery remains weak and incomplete.

Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the committee, was particularly critical of the Fed’s performance, sharply questioning Ms. Yellen’s statement that the labor market was showing signs of progress.

“We’ve got fewer people working today than there were in 2007 and the population has increased by 15 million,” he said. “So how is this progress? Please tell me.”

When Ms. Yellen responded that things were getting better, but were still not good, Mr. Sessions suggested the Fed should not overstate the improvement. “From the point of view of working Americans, this is the slowest, most anemic recovery that we’ve seen, ever,” he said. “Whatever we’re doing, we need to get better at it.”

More.

Here's Sessions' opening statement, "Jeff Sessions: Fed Stimulus Has Failed American Workers."

And a brief Yellen clip here (love the accent, heh), "Yellen Details Economic Views to Senate Panel."

Stephen Hayes on Condi Rice Protests: 'It's really a pathetic statement about the state of higher learning in America today...'

He's really animated.

And remember, the radical left has brought about this state of affairs:



PREVIOUSLY: "#LiberalRacism: Condoleezza Rice Bullied Out of Rutgers Commencement."

Corona del Mar High School Cracks Down on NFL-Style 'Prom Draft'

Because it "objectifies" girls and exacerbates the school's culture of "entitlement."

Kinda like white privilege, I guess.

At the O.C. Register, "High school boys hold 'draft' to pick prom dates":

In a world where asking a date to prom has become more romantic than asking for a partner’s hand in marriage, one group of high school boys has gone the opposite direction.

For years, junior and senior boys at Corona del Mar High School have selected their dates for the formal dance through an NFL-style “Prom Draft.” The school’s principal is now condemning the tradition, saying it has the potential to objectify or judge those involved.

Though the draft is not affiliated with the school and secret for the most part, some of the draft results were broadcast on Twitter, with pictures of sport-coated teens making their selections. One tweet posted by the senior class Twitter account joked the day before Thursday’s draft that “Many drafters on the prowl tomorrow for #freeagents so dress nice ladies.”

A rule book sent out in a tweet notes that “sophomores can be drafted,” and some pictures show girls’ names printed on the back of jerseys. The Twitter account has since been deactivated, but several students continued to chatter about it on Twitter in the days following the draft.

Sophomore Jessie Harris was one of the girls included in the draft and said the negative coverage it generated on Tuesday was unnecessary.

“I am part of the draft and am friends with many girls in the draft and yes, in some instances girls can be picked by appearance,” she wrote to the Register. “It is all just a fun way to decide who you will be going to prom with. It is not meant to harm those who are picked and I do not believe that it does. It is not, was never, and will never ever be used to objectify the girls at our school.”

Wow. Even the chicks on campus dig it. But hey, never let a little teenage prom-date innovation get in the way of good old bureaucratic authoritarianism!

Wait, the nearby Estancia High School campus feminists took to the barricades to denounce the objectification. Oh the humanity!

At neighboring Estancia High School, also in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, a club dedicated to discussing women’s rights issues released a statement saying the draft was “insulting.”

“Prom should be about having a fun time with your peers and celebrating the end of a successful academic year,” wrote senior Emily Flores, co-president of the Feminists United club at Estancia. “These boys must be very confused about the time we live in if they think that being asked to prom is such a high honor.”

Remember, this is Newport-Mesa Unified School District, afflicted by de facto segregation, so it's about inequality and the white hegemonic patriarchy!

I think this post is gonna qualifies for National Offend a Feminist Week, lol! (Indeed, no doubt Emily Flores is lesbian, heh.)

More at LAT, "Prom draft: Newport Beach boys rented venue to pick dates."

'It's obvious that the far left has decided there are no longer constraints on what it can do to anyone who disagrees with it. How did this happen? Who let the dogs out?...'

Well Obama, of course.

The Obama White House unleashed the forces of far-left intolerance.

See Daniel Henninger, at the Wall Street Journal, "Obama Unleashes the Left."

RELATED: At Legal Insurrection, "Anti-Israel Vassar student group focuses on race of crowd at my speech."



Yeah, the SJP at Vassar also deny Israel's right to exist, "NYU's Students for Justice in Palestine: Israel's Existence is 'Flagrant Violation' of International Law."

An ominous cloud of leftist intolerance has descended on America's campuses.

And leftism is literally a murderous ideology.

House Votes to Hold Lois Lerner in Contempt of Congress

At Hot Air, "House votes 231-187 to hold Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress."

FLASHBACK: "Lois Lerner Pleads the Fifth: 'I Haven't Done Anything Wrong...'"

China and Vietnam Clash in South China Sea

The Philippines coast guard detained Chinese fishing boats as well.

At WSJ, "Vietnam, Philippines Incidents Raise Sea Tensions: Vessels Clash Over Chinese Oil Rig; Philippines Detains Fishermen Near Spratly Islands":

Strains between China and its neighbors burst to the surface in two parts of the South China Sea, taking the high-stakes struggle for control over the waters to new levels of friction.

Off Vietnam, dozens of Chinese military and civilian ships clashed with the Vietnamese coast guard, with Vietnamese officials complaining its vessels were repeatedly rammed. On the same day, Philippine police apprehended Chinese fishing vessels loaded with hundreds of sea turtles in disputed waters.

About 80 Chinese vessels moved into an area near the disputed Paracel Islands, where Hanoi has sought to prevent China from deploying a massive oil rig, said Rear Adm. Ngo Ngoc Thu, vice commander of the Vietnamese coast guard. He said the flotilla included seven military ships and that it was supported by aircraft.

He said the situation, which started brewing over the weekend, was "very tense" and said six Vietnamese officers had been injured in the standoff.

The confrontation—by far the most serious in recent years between the two neighbors—marked a significant escalation in Beijing's willingness to press its natural-resource claims, analysts said.

Theresa Fallon, a senior associate at the European Institute for Asian Studies, a Brussels-based think tank, said China's move represented the regional energy sector's "worst nightmare" and was bound to provoke Vietnam's anger.

"This is a huge rig—it's the size of a couple of football fields," Ms. Fallon said.

A senior administration official said the White House views the latest escalation as part of a pattern of behavior as China continues to try to advance its territorial claims. "We're obviously very concerned about it," the official said. "We have conveyed our concerns to the Chinese."

The standoff is "an unprecedented situation," said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. The sheer number of Chinese vessels that appeared to be involved was a clear indication of China's "resolve to make sure this rig can operate in these waters."

China's state councilor described the move as part of Chinese business's normal operations and asked Vietnam to stop interfering, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said at a daily briefing.

China's Defense Ministry didn't respond to a request to comment.

Well, if Japan gets involved I wouldn't expect the Obama administration to lift a finger. They haven't been too forthcoming in the Ukraine situation, that's for sure.

More.

Marisa Miller Trying on Bikinis

Very nice.

I miss Ms. Miller. Haven't been seeing her around as much lately.

At WWTDD, "Polaroids of Marisa Miller Testing Bikinis for SI."

Tillis Wins, Boosts Prospects for GOP Senate Control

From Fred Barnes, at the Weekly Standard, "Tillis Wins, Boosts GOP's 2014 Hopes."

Avoiding a runoff election, Tillis is well position for a formidable run against the incumbent Kay Hagan, and it turns out he was backed by the Republican establishment, especially Karl Rove. According to Barnes:

With unprecedented help from outside groups—American Crossroads, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Rifle Association—Tillis got 45 percent of the vote, defeating two major challengers and averting a potentially destructive runoff election.

Tea Party favorite Greg Brannon trailed with 27 percent of the vote. Charlotte preacher Mark Harris came in third with 18 percent, but his appealing style suggested he will be a major player in Republican politics. Kentucky senator Rand Paul came to North Carolina on Monday to campaign for Brannon. Given the outcome, that may have been a political mistake.  Harris was backed by Mike Huckabee, the former Republican presidential candidate.

But the support of Republican groups proved to be crucial.  American Crossroads ran three separate ads touting Tillis.  And rather than vote for Brannon, a doctor, many Tea Party activists appear to have voted for Tillis.

A key loser was Senate majority leader Harry Reid.  His political action committee broadcast ads in the primary attacking Tillis, hoping one of the lesser candidates would be easier for Hagan to beat. The ads by the Democratic leader appeared to have little or no impact.

And the Dems are desperate alright, like I reported earlier, "Politics of Desperation: #Democrats Out of the Gate Trashing Kay Hagen Opponent Thom Tillis."

A lot of folks are playing up the establishment/tea party split, but Tillis sounds pretty conservative to me, and he's damn well positioned to take out Hagan. So let it rip, I say.

More at Hot Air, "Palin: Stop gloating over last night’s primaries, establishment Republicans."

Politics of Desperation: #Democrats Out of the Gate Trashing Kay Hagen Opponent Thom Tillis

Well, that didn't take long.

Kay Hagan can't run on the issues, and she especially can't run on ObamaCare (in fact she can't run fast enough from it), so her campaign is out with talking points attacking the Republican Senate nominee Thom Tillis, "MEMO: THOM TILLIS’ TOP VULNERABILITIES" (at Memeorandum).

It's a laundry list of allegations and smears, and I'll leave it up to North Carolinian conservatives to debunk the junk.

It's just very telling how fast the left has gone on the attack, with so much at stake in November's Senate elections, and Hagan's precarious political position in particular. Face it, leftists are f-king desperate and they'll do anything to win. We're beyond mudslinging. Depraved Democrats are going to murder this guy's character. Indeed, they'd murder him if they could, to get him out of the way.

See the hack Democrat operative with a byline Greg Sargent, at WaPo, "47 percenter-ism is back!":

This video was taken in 2011, but even Tillis himself appeared to understand his remarks were controversial, noting that such views could “get me railroaded out of town.” The Hagan campaign is circulating the video today, but observers who have been paying close attention to the race have known for some time that Tillis, the state House speaker, has a more conservative record than is commonly appreciated, one Dems might utilize to their advantage.

Basically, they're trying to Romney-ize him, a morally despicable attack which reveals --- once again --- the left's utter inability to run a legitimate campaign on the issues. I mean, seriously. Hagan's so desperate she's sunk to lying about Tillis' alleged "support" for ObamaCare? Pretty sleazy, I know: "Vulnerable #Democrat Kay Hagan Falsely Accuses GOP Opponent of Supporting #ObamaCare."

I'll be keeping close tabs on this race. Stay tuned.

More.

Monica Lewinsky, Hillary Clinton and the Left's #WarOnWomen

Here's the Vanity Fair story leading all day yesterday at Memeorandum, "Exclusive: Monica Lewinsky Writes About Her Affair with President Clinton."

Haven't read it, although Michelle Malkin nails it at Twitchy, "#WarOnWomen: Vanity Fair ‘clears the decks’ for Hillary; haters attack Monica Lewinsky, blame GOP."

Wanna see #WaronWomen ? Just look at all the libs on Twitter trashing Monica Lewinsky right now as @VanityFair clears the deck for Hillary.

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) May 6, 2014

And don't miss this awesome discussion at Laura Ingraham's talking points memo from last night. Stay through especially until Monica Crowley's comments. She nails the left's utter hypocrisy. Like I always say, for the left's disgusting political thugs, it's hypocrisy all the way down.

'Any Blacks on your team in DC?'

In response to Arianna Huffington's white newsroom tweet the other day:

Great meeting with HuffPost's DC editors and reporters. Such a great team! @HuffPostPol @HuffPostDC @HuffPostHill pic.twitter.com/5qDCM8BhWM

— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) May 5, 2014

@ariannahuff @HuffPostPol @HuffPostDC @HuffPostHill Any Blacks on your team in DC?

— Dr Cornelius Castain (@ccastain) May 5, 2014

Via Twitchy, "Progressives of pallor alert! ‘#DiversityWin’ for HuffPo’s ‘so so so white’ meeting in DC [pic]."

Scumbag hypocrites. That's leftists in toto. Scumbag hypocrites.

Republican Thom Tillis Wins Senate Primary in North Carolina

Here's a little roundup from Twitter:

Thom Tillis wins #NCSEN without a runoff, bead of sweat forms on Dems' collective forehead.

— Patricia Murphy (@1PatriciaMurphy) May 7, 2014

Thom Tillis Wins GOP Nomination Outright in North Carolina Senate Race http://t.co/Is9bKNCNG1 via @alexis_levinson

— Roll Call Politics (@rollcallpols) May 7, 2014

'Big win for GOP establishment': AP calls North Carolina Republican Senate primary for Thom Tillis http://t.co/sOcXckdezG

— TwitchyTeam (@TwitchyTeam) May 7, 2014

North Carolina Senate Republican Candidate @ThomTillis Avoids Primary Run-Off http://t.co/018IXcxl1K pic.twitter.com/5f3yg4rCTt

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) May 7, 2014

Meet Thom Tillis: 13 things to know about Sen. Kay Hagan's new opponent -- http://t.co/2oPjK7IcGL

— Reid Wilson (@PostReid) May 7, 2014

It’s Tillis vs. Hagan in North Carolina, with the GOP candidate buoyed by mainstream forces http://t.co/8iuh9LpqPY via @davecatanese #NCSEN

— U.S. News (@usnews) May 7, 2014

Kay Hagan's toast. Sure, a lot remains to be seen, but I feel it in my bones. Hagan's toast.

The Left Controversializes #Benghazi: The Story They Really Don't Want to Hear

Sharyl Attkisson's been hammering relentlessly on the left's "controversializing" of the Benghazi scandal, where depraved progs have been shamelessly attempting to place investigating the death of four Americans (due to craven political cowardice) outside the mainstream of political reporting. So far, it's working only for morally bankrupt Obama buttlickers who hate America in the first place.

Watch:



And from Michael Walsh, at PJ Media, "Why Benghazi Matters."

And following the links takes us to Andrew McCarthy, "Advice for Benghazi Select Committee: Don’t Draft McCarthy":

Benghazi is not an ordinary scandal — it involves an act of war in which our ambassador, the representative of the United States in Libya, was murdered (along with three other Americans) under circumstances where security was appallingly inadequate for political reasons, and where the administration did not just lie about what happened but actually trumped up a prosecution that violated the First Amendment in order to bolster the lie.

Only in the Manhattan-Beltway corridor do people think Benghazi is a GOP concern driven by 2016 political considerations...

More.

College Conservatives Speak Out — #MyLiberalCampus

Just saw this a little while ago, at Weasel Zippers, "Student: UC Santa Barbara Prof Warns Ted Cruz-Teabaggers to Leave Class or Go Home In Body Bag."

What caught my attention, beyond the normal attention-grabbing stupidity, is the picture of Professor Otis Madison. I recognized him immediately. In my last year at UCSB I taught an upper division course in Black Politics (I've forgotten the catalog number, and apparently the course is no longer offered by the department). Thinking I might be doing more teaching along these lines, I attended the first day of classes of Professor Madison's Black Studies (or Black Politics) course, mainly to get a copy of the syllabus. To say the guy was bizarre is putting it mildly. At the beginning of the class the guy just stood there, looking around the lecture hall, for what seemed like five minutes. It was extremely uncomfortable. He then proceeded to go off on some typical anti-American rant, blabbering on about pervasive racism, or something. UCSB's one of the more "white" campuses, especially back then, but young students are leftist, and Madison seemed to have a willing audience. (Although a strong vocal minority over the years has consistently and repeatedly hammered Madison for his "hate whitey" program of leftist indoctrination, at RateMyProfessors.)

In any case, it doesn't surprise me at all to hear Alice Gilbert, UCSB's College Republican co-chair, describe Madison as issuing a brazen threat to conservatives students. Watch:

What's it REALLY like to be Republican on a liberal campus? CRs tell all on @FoxNews #FoxandFriends #MyLiberalCampus http://t.co/4TNdxcwhPE
— College Republicans (@CRNC) April 27, 2014

And see National Review, "More Than 350,000 People Engage with #MyLiberalCampus Hashtag."

Apparently, this effort is gaining a lot of attention, and it deserves it. America's campuses are the greatest repositories of intolerance in the country.

Britain's 'Skull Cracker' Released on Prison Furlough, Somehow Fails to Return, Prompting 'Full Review' of Prison System

Leftists never learn.

It's all about "compassion" and "being better" than those who've committed heinous crimes.

F-king asshats. How bloody stupid can you be?

At Telegraph UK, "'Skull Cracker' on the run prompts review of 'lax' prison system":

Escape of violent armed robber nicknamed the Skull Cracker prompts review of the prison system after Michael Wheatley fails to return from temporary release.

The decision to free a violent criminal nicknamed the Skull Cracker on day release will be reviewed amid ministers’ fears over a “lax” prison system.

Michael Wheatley, an armed robber who beat several of his victims, is still on the run.

Wheatley, 55, who was given 13 life sentences at the Old Bailey in 2002, did not return to HMP Standford Hill open prison on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, after he was allowed out on Saturday.

Wheatley raided 13 building societies and banks over 10 months in 2001 and 2002 while on parole from a previous 27-year sentence for other robberies.

He earned his nickname after pistol-whipping victims during the raids.

Jeremy Wright, the prisons minister, said there will be a “full review” of the case, looking at the decision to grant Wheatley temporary licence to leave prison.

The case raises concerns about the way day-release schemes have been operating, he said.

"We are not prepared to see public safety compromised, the system has been too lax up to now and we are changing that,” he said.
In future when prisoners are let out on temporary licence they will be tagged, subject to tougher risk assessments and tested in the community under strict conditions before being released.

"Temporary release can be an important tool in helping offenders reintegrate but it should not be an automatic right,” he said.

Yes, "help them integrate," because compassion!

Screw "public safety," the "skull cracker" has rights omg! Reintegrating offenders is job one!

#NOAFW: So, Women Like Beefcake Studmuffins. Who Knew?

I guess it took a whole lot of rigorous --- rigorous, mind you!! --- social scientific research to figure it out.

From Amanda Hess, at Slate, "Study Finds That Women Aren’t Run by Their Periods. Scientists Everywhere Are Confused":

What do women want? Over the past two decades, scientists have endeavored to answer this question by bringing women into their labs, asking about their sexual preferences, and then monitoring their menstrual cycles to try to extract clues from the ebb and flow of hormones in their mysterious female bodies. In recent years, these researchers have told us that the status of our monthly cycle on Election Day can influence our decision to favor Mitt Romney’s chiseled individualism or Barack Obama’s maternal health care policies, that our periods determine whether we feel like nesting with our partners tonight or heading out to proposition a stranger, and that our cycle urges us to swing with Tarzan at our most fertile and cuddle up with Clay Aiken when that month’s egg is out of the picture.

Blech! Clay Aiken?!!

You gotta love Ms. Amanda's take though:

The researchers suspect that the drive to chart women’s choices on their fertility calendars reflects our desire to understand human behavior via rudimentary evolutionary explanations: “More modern evolutionary approaches,” they write, “recognize that social learning and innovation are central human adaptations that are enabled by biological processes” and that ”the evolution of the human brain did not stop with these ancient sensory, perceptual, and motivational systems.” For one thing, women just don’t menstruate like they used to—while our ancestors spent the bulk of their adulthoods either pregnant or lactating, modern women in industrialized societies menstruate regularly throughout their lives, taking just a couple short breaks to have some kids. The rise of birth control has also radically disrupted any evolutionary influences. Other studies have found that women desire greater masculinity in their partners if they live in economies with low GDPs, “in which men’s work may involve manual labor jobs and male brawn,” while women in wealthier countries that “rely more on knowledge workers” are freer to prefer “better-looking men.”

In other words, a woman’s cultural conditioning is even more powerful than progesterone. Women’s endocrine processes have officially taken a back seat to our own mental and physical capacities to regulate our preferences and our cycles to better contribute to our societies.

"To better contribute to our societies."

That's precious!

Whatever. I just love that Tarzan reference, which I'm sure will pique Robert Stacy McCain's interest.

Here's the study, "What do women want? USC study reveals what scientists might have gotten wrong."

Check back for more from the frontlines of National Offend a Feminist Week!

Leftists Scream Epithets at Patriots Near Live Oak High School

Mexican-American leftists, from what I gather.

At Twitchy, "‘What’s wrong with these white people?’ American flag wavers near Calif. high school called ‘racist’."

And also at Fire Andrea Mitchell, "You are now racist if you hold American flags near Live Oak HS in Morgan Hill."

Stay classy, leftists.

Lucy Pinder Salutes National Offend a Feminist Week!

At Bob Belvedere's, "National Offend A Feminist Week 2014 (#NOAFW) Has Begun!"

And here's Monday's entry at the Other McCain, "Sex Roles: ‘Me Tarzan, You Jane’."

I don't see any lingerie shots of Professor Caroline Heldman, so Lucy Pinder will have to do. Recall, Ms. Lucy's tearful visage graced the cover of Nuts' final issue.

The Coming #Democrat 2014 'Shellacking'

President Obama confessed that his party took a "shellacking" in the 2010 midterm elections.

It's still six months out from November 2014, but two polls out today paint a grim picture for House and Senate Democrats. At Pew Research, conducted with USA Today, a new survey shows Republicans leading Democrats by four points in the generic ballot, 47 to 43 percent. The key finding for me, however, is how dramatic the parties have traded places since last October, at the time of the ObamaCare rollout. Back then Democrats were leading the generic ballot by far, holding a six-point lead (49 to 43 percent) over the Republicans. See, "Midterm Election Indicators Daunting for Democrats: No Improvement in Perceptions of Job Market" (at Memeorandum).

And here's the USA Today report, "Poll: For the midterms, a tilt to the GOP." And check the beautiful graphic at the link. In November 2010, the parties were tied at 44 percent in the generic ballot, and the GOP still went on to gain 63 seats in the House. And Republicans picked up 6 seats in the Senate that year, taking the nationwide popular vote 49.4 to 44 percent.

Susan Page of USA Today is interviewed by Jake Tapper at the Twitter link below, and she indicates that Republicans haven't had this kind of lead in the generic ballot for decades.

Yes. MT @jaketapper Are Democrats in for a ‘shellacking’ in 2014 midterms? #TheLead http://t.co/P1PzwiXMNU … #ObamaSucks #DEMS
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) May 5, 2014

And CNN's also out with a poll showing similar Democrat Party disadvantages, "CNN Poll: GOP advantage in midterms." Particularly noteworthy are the president's numbers, clearly a drag on Democrat prospects in the fall:

According to the poll, 43% of Americans say they approve of the job Obama is doing as president, with 55% giving him a thumbs down. The President's approval rating is unchanged from CNN's most recent survey, which was conducted in early March.

The President's approval ratings are hovering in the low to mid 40's in most non partisan national polling this year, slightly above where he stood in November and December, when he hit or matched his all-time low in many surveys....

While a majority of those questioned say the President is not a major factor in their vote this November, a quarter say they will be sending a message that they oppose Obama, with one in five saying their vote will be a message of support for the President.

"On the face of it, a majority saying that their vote is not based on their opinion of an unpopular president may sound like good news for Democrats," Holland said. "But President Obama has usually been the Democratic party's most reliable way to fire up the base, and this question suggests that Democrats won't turn out this year just because Obama asks them to. It's also worth noting that the current numbers are almost identical to 2010, when the President's party got shellacked in the midterms."

And Democrats, more than Republicans, appear to have more work ahead of them when it comes to firing up the base. Conventional wisdom dictates that the GOP has an advantage over the Democrats in midterm contests. White voters and older voters, key to the Republican base, tend to cast ballots in bigger percentages in midterms than younger voters and minorities, who are an important part of the Democrats' base.

Dana Bash, also interviewed with Jake Tapper at the link above, warns that there's simply too much that could happen on the Senate side to make any reliable predictions at this point. "Something big" could happen, like a Todd Akin, that could torpedo Republican hopes of recapturing the upper chamber. Commenters here, in previous posts, have also warned that the Republicans will probably snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and I'm not quick to blow off such sentiments. But barring a major campaign debacle that gives the Democrats unearned advantages in the fall media sound-bite cycle, I think "shellacking" won't be a strong enough term for the beating voters administer the Dems come fall.

More at Memeorandum.

Added: From Heather Ginsberg, at Town Hall, "65% of Americans Want Next President to Change Obama's Policies."

Utterly astounding numbers.

What Would America Fight For?

At the Economist, "The Weakened West":

“WHY is it that everybody is so eager to use military force?” America’s cerebral president betrayed a rare flash of frustration on April 28th when dealing with a question in Asia about his country’s “weakness”. Barack Obama said his administration was making steady, if unspectacular, progress. By blundering into wars, his critics would only harm America.

Mr Obama was channelling the mood of his people, worn out by the blood and treasure squandered in Iraq and Afghanistan. A survey last autumn by the Pew Research Centre suggests that 52% want the United States to “mind its own business internationally”, the highest figure in five decades of polling. But when America’s president speaks of due caution, the world hears reluctance—especially when it comes to the most basic issue for any superpower, its willingness to fight.

For America’s most exposed allies that is now in doubt...

A poisonous root

Admittedly, deterrence always has some element of doubt. Between the certainty that any president will defend America’s own territory and the strong belief that America would not fight Russia over Ukraine lies an infinite combination of possibilities. A lot depends on how each incident unfolds. But doubt has spread quickly in that middle ground—and it risks making the world a more dangerous, nastier place.

Already, regional powers are keener to dominate their neighbours. China is pressing its territorial claims more aggressively, Russia interfering more brazenly. In 2013 Asia outspent Europe on arms for the first time—a sign that countries calculate they will have to stand up for themselves. If Mr Obama cannot forge a deal with Iran, the nightmare of nuclear proliferation awaits the Middle East. Crucially, doubt feeds on itself. If next door is arming and the superpower may not send gunboats, then you had better arm, too. For every leader deploring Mr Putin’s tactics, another is studying how to copy them.

Such mind games in the badlands of eastern Ukraine and the South China Sea may feel far away from Toledo or Turin. But the West will also end up paying dearly for the fraying of the global order. International norms, such as freedom of navigation, will be weakened. Majorities will feel freer to abuse minorities, who in turn may flee. Global public goods, such as free trade and lower cross-border pollution, will be harder to sustain. Global institutions will be less pliable. Americans understandably chafe at the ingratitude of a world that freeloads on the economic, diplomatic and military might of the United States. But Americans themselves also enjoy the exorbitant privilege of operating in a system that, broadly, suits them...

Keep reading.

And ICYMI, from Charles Krauthammer, at WaPo, "Obama’s foreign policy of denial."

Leftist Publisher Lawrence & Wishart Issues Takedown Notice Against #Marxist Internet Archive

OMG this is rich.

As I started reading the piece I checked over at the Marxist Internet Archive, which posted an announcement that as of April 30th they were taking down their Marx collection, heh.

And the best part? The communists over at Crooked Timber are all up in a lather about it, bwhahaha!!! See, "Karlo Marx and Fredrich Engels / Came to the checkout at the 7-11."

Shoot, even the New York Times gets the irony, "Claiming a Copyright on Marx? How Uncomradely":

The Marxist Internet Archive, a website devoted to radical writers and thinkers, recently received an email: It must take down hundreds of works by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels or face legal consequences.

The warning didn’t come from a multinational media conglomerate but from a small, leftist publisher, Lawrence & Wishart, which asserted copyright ownership over the 50-volume, English-language edition of Marx’s and Engels’s writings.

To some, it was “uncomradely” that fellow radicals would deploy the capitalist tool of intellectual property law to keep Marx’s and Engels’s writings off the Internet. And it wasn’t lost on the archive’s supporters that the deadline for complying with the order came on the eve of May 1, International Workers’ Day.

“Marx and Engels belong to the working class of the world spiritually, they are that important,” said David Walters, one of the organizers of the Marxist archive. “I would think Marx would want the most prolific and free distribution of his ideas possible — he wasn’t in it for the money.”

Still, Mr. Walters said the archive respected the publisher’s copyright, which covers the translated works, not the German originals from the 19th century. On Wednesday, the archive removed the disputed writings with a note blaming the publisher and a bold headline: “File No Longer Available!”

The fight over online control of Marx’s works comes at a historical moment when his ideas have found a new relevance, whether because the financial crisis of 2008 shook people’s confidence in global capitalism or, with the passage of time, the Marx name has become less shackled to the legacy of the Soviet Union. The unlikely best seller by the French economist Thomas Piketty, “Capital in the 21st Century,” harks back to Marx’s work, examining historical trends toward inequality in wealth.

Despite this boomlet in interest, however, Lawrence & Wishart, located in East London, hardly expects to have an online hit on its hands, said Sally Davison, the publisher’s managing editor. The goal is to create a digital edition to sell to libraries in place of a print edition, which costs roughly $1,500 for the 50 volumes.

Lulz.

Even Marxist collectivists can't resist the filthy lucre when it suits them. Communism: the biggest scam in world history.

More at the link.

And really, the statement from Lawrence & Wishart is the kicker!

Over the last couple of days Lawrence & Wishart has been subject to campaign of online abuse because we have asked for our copyright on the scholarly edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels to be respected. The panic being spread to the effect that L&W is ‘claiming copyright’ for the entirety of Marx and Engels’ output is baseless and largely motivated by political sectarianism from groups and individuals who have never been friendly to L&W.

Because online Marxist trolls are so compassionate lol!