Candice Swanepoel at St. Barth's

Candice Swanepoel, for Maxim, "Candice Swanepoel Is the Best Thing About St. Barth's (VIDEO)."

Chaos! All U.S. Personnel Leave Yemen as Country Descends Into Bloody Anarchy

You know, because the "tide of war is receding," and all that.

At the Los Angeles Times, "U.S. forces leave Yemen amid concerns it is safe haven for terror groups":

All remaining U.S. government personnel withdrew from Yemen over the weekend as fighting erupted near the last safe haven for American special forces there and an Iran-backed militia took control of key locations in the country’s third-largest city.

About 100 American special operations troops evacuated Al Anad airbase in the southern part of Yemen on Saturday, as Al Qaeda militants fought house-to-house in a nearby town. The withdrawal comes a month after the U.S. embassy in the capital of Sana was vacated, after months of Shiite rebels clashing with government forces there.

“Due to the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the U.S. government has temporarily relocated its remaining personnel out of Yemen,” State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement.

The U.S. departure from Yemen as it further descends into chaos is likely to hobble the American counterterrorism campaign against two potent extremist groups, the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The Islamic State militants who control large swaths of Iraq and Syria are extending their reach into both North Africa and Yemen, where intelligence officials are concerned they can take advantage of the lawlessness to expand their influence and recruit fighters, as they have elsewhere. And AQAP, the most resourceful and dogged of Al Qaeda's affiliates, has repeatedly used Yemen to plot and stage attacks against the West.

The U.S. plans to continue to fly armed drones over Yemen and strike at leaders of cells plotting to attack Western targets, officials said. But without Americans on the ground and no friendly local intelligence service to turn to for help, the U.S. will have much less information about the location of militant leaders.

More.

'If it weren't for Bibi...'

Heh.

This is totes awesome, at Twitchy, "In epic rant, Weekly Standard editor Lee Smith points out all that would’ve happened ‘if it weren’t for Bibi’."

Mob Launches Anti-Semitic Attack on Stamford Hill Synagogue: 'Kill the Jews!' (VIDEO)

About those no-go zones, this time in Britain.

Watch, at Legal Insurrection, "Mob shouting “Kill the Jews” attacks London Synagogue."

Funeral of Flatbush Tragedy Victims Begins (VIDEO)

At Arutz Sheva‎, "Funeral for Sassoon family begins in Brooklyn, New York. Bodies to be transported for burial in Jerusalem."

Also, "Dov Hikind Relates to Flatbush Tragedy."

And at CBS News New York, "FDNY: 7 Children Killed In Brooklyn House Fire Caused By Malfunctioning Hot Plate."

Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, Calls for 'Death to America'

At the Times of Israel, "Khamenei calls ‘Death to America’ as Kerry hails progress on nuke deal."


Hat Tip: ChristiChat on Twitter.

Islamic State Beheads Three Kurdish Peshmerga Soldiers

Religion of peace.

Watch, at BNI, "Islamic State (ISIS) savages behead three Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers."

'Behead Them in Their Own Homes': Islamic State Publishes U.S. Military Kill List

Well, of course it's still foolish to pretend ISIS is a threat to the homeland.

Nah. That's racist.

At RWN, "ISIS publishes ‘kill list’ online of 100 US military members."



Image Credit: BNI, "Islamic State (ISIS) hackers call for jihad against individual American military personnel."

'Racist' Catalog Withdrawn at the University of North Georgia

Well, yes, that's racist.

Can't show white men outrunning a black man and a woman.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "University Withdraws Catalogue Showing White Men Outracing a Woman & Black Man."

And the race-baiting leftists are just eating this up! At the depraved far-left hate-site Raw Story, "Joyful white guys finish ahead of struggling woman and black man in this university’s catalog."

Rahm Emanuel Facing Tough Reelection

Yeah, he's facing a tough challenge from the left.

Gotta watch out for those Obamacrat corporate dollars, the f-king loser.

At LAT, "Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia, Chicago mayoral candidate, seeks California dollars":

“We are on the cusp of a major statement to be made to the rest of the country -- that we won’t tolerate the types of cronyism and corporate welfare that have come to exemplify the reign of Rahm Emanuel,” Garcia said.

Hostility toward Emanuel, a former congressman who was President Obama’s first chief of staff, drove much of the crowd’s enthusiasm.

“He just takes the money from the poor and gives it to the rich,” said Dorothy Reik, president of Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Video c/o Diogenes' Middle Finger, "Godfather or Tiny Dancer? Is Rahm Emanuel in Trouble in Chicago Mayoral Race? You Bet."

And at NYT, "Chicago Mayor's Race Is Cast as a Test of Liberalism."

Sunday Cartoons

At Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."



Also at Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Round Up..."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Wheeler Peace Dealer."

Netanyahu's Victory and Obama's Response

From Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker:

The main issue with which the U.S. administration is concerned is that of a Palestinian state. President Barack Obama appears to be more concerned with maintaining this stance than in offering congratulations to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Other political leaders, British Minister David Cameron, Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Francois Hollande, the prime ministers of Australia, Netherlands, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and India, and the foreign affairs head of the European Union, quickly made the customary polite remarks to the Israeli leader. Prime Minister Cameron had twittered that he looked forward to working with the government of Israel, one of Britain’s closest friends.

The White House appeared less enthusiastic and certainly less personally cordial. The formal cold statement issued after the belated phone conversation between the U.S. and Israeli leaders stated they agreed “to continue consultations on a range of regional issues, including the difficult path forward to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

However, much more pointed were the remarks of Obama and his spokespeople that the U.S. was reassessing its approach to Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. One can imagine that reassessment will entail a number of factors, including UN resolutions on a Palestinian state, and the attempt of the Palestinian Authority to bring charges of war crimes against Israel to the International Criminal Court. One issue will certainly be that of the Israeli settlements, that, in the words of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in spring 2010, were a “deeply moving signal” that harmed the bilateral relationship, and that Obama considers illegal.

The lack of warmth of the U.S. leader to his Israeli counterpart has long been evident, but it must be disregarded in the effort to achieve a lasting peace. Differences inevitably arise between allied nations, and the current issue of a nuclear Iran is a pressing and controversial one on which Obama and Netanyahu differ. But for 40 years, U.S. policy in the Middle East has been based on shaping an Israel-Arab peace agreement resulting from a process of negotiations between the two parties, not from unilateral actions. For Obama to support a UN Resolution calling for a Palestinian state would be to transform what has been a bipartisan U.S. policy into a one party point of view.

In the interests of peace as well as harmonious US-Israeli relations it is essential that Obama rethink his immediate response to Netanyahu’s victory. Obama had already injected himself into the Israeli electoral campaign if only indirectly as a result of the work of Democratic Party operatives. Netanyahu was perhaps excessive in his rhetoric that complained of the foreign-funded effort to topple his party. Yet he was correct that a group, led by a former national organizer for Obama, had set up the electoral V15 organization and boasted they were doing a job of getting out the anti-Netanyahu vote with over 15,000 volunteers throughout Israel.

More.

America Must Pummel Islamic State

From Colin Dueck and Roger Zakheim, at the National Interest, "Unleashed: America Must Pummel ISIS":

The rise of ISIS, together with its demonstrated brutality, have triggered a sea-change in American popular attitudes, at least on this particular issue. One Quinnipiac poll from March 4 found that 62 percent of all Americans now support the use of U.S. ground troops versus ISIS, as against only 30 percent who oppose. So a two-to-one majority of U.S. public opinion today supports not only the use of force, but the use of American ground troops against the Islamic State. The majorities supporting U.S. airstrikes are even more overwhelming.

One suspects that President Obama, his core supporters, and many of his inner circle find this fierce and unexpected response from the U.S. public toward ISIS rather terrifying. Isn't this the sort of characteristically American, "cowboy" foreign policy reaction Obama was elected to suppress?

Well, yes—and he's doing his best to suppress it. That's what the restrictions on the proposed use of force authorization are supposed to do.

Obama says that his goal is to "degrade, and ultimately destroy ISIS," because Americans insist that he say so. But as so often internationally, his actions have hardly matched his words. As former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made clear, the policy tools Obama has so far authorized against ISIS in no way match the goal of that group's destruction.

There has been a limited U.S. campaign against ISIS for several months now. It has helped to blunt the group's advance. But in terms of seriously rolling back or destroying ISIS, realistically there is no such prospect on the horizon given current U.S. policies. A key U.S. ally, Jordan, in particular is in grave danger.

Most congressional Republicans would like to see U.S. efforts against ISIS escalated, so that the terror state is rolled back rather than simply contained. And they are honest enough to admit this will require more U.S. troops on the ground.

Obama has actually already placed over 2,000 American troops on the ground since this crisis began last year, including Special Operations troops, to help train and advise Iraqi government forces in their fight against ISIS.

But judging by his actions, the fixed point in Obama's thinking is not so much the destruction of ISIS, as the avoidance of another American ground war in the region. And in fact he says as much. He wants to be given credit for believing in the long-term destruction of ISIS. He wants to avoid another ground war, and he wants credit for that too, especially with his political base. He wants congressional Republican approval for whatever language he puts forward. Yet, he simultaneously wants to be able to accuse those same Republicans of favoring the dreaded "boots on the ground”—even though there are already U.S. boots on the ground in Iraq by his own orders.

In other words the president's main objection to robust Republican criticism of his proposed use of force is, in effect, that such criticism is insufficiently disingenuous, as well as politically inconvenient for him.

Not exactly Abraham Lincoln.

But how should Republicans respond? What would an effective American strategy against ISIS look like?

Great piece. Keep reading.

California Won't Run Out of Water

No, but the left will exploit the drought, lie and distort the facts, in order to secure more power over the people of California.

From Tony Barboza, at LAT, "No, California won't run out of water in a year."

Video Shows Death of Mexican Wrestler Perro Aguayo Jr. (GRAPHIC)

Here's the story at the Los Angeles Times, "Pro wrestler Perro Aguayo Jr. dies during match with Rey Mysterio."

Seems like YouTube is not censoring these clips, although most of them don't show the moment when Aguayo had his lights knocked out. But clearly, he died instantaneously.

Watch: "MUERTE DEL PERRO AGUAYO JR (MOMENTO EXACTO)."

Another video is edited to begin a fraction of a second after Aguayo takes the hit, but you can tell how he's knocked completely unconscious on impact from the blow: "Décès de Perro Aguayo Jr, son dernier combat à Tijuana."

More at Deadspin, "Mexican Wrestling Star Perro Aguayo Jr. Dies After In-Ring Accident."

I dispute that he died from the whiplash from the ropes. He was knocked cold and fell into the ropes unconscious. I think media reports are making look like it was an after-accident involving the ropes. I don't think so.

Uninsured Choose to Pay ObamaCare Tax Penalty Rather Than Cave to Aggressive Democrat Sign-Up Push

At WSJ, "Many Uninsured Choose Penalty Over Enrollment Offer Under Health Law":

WASHINGTON—A special enrollment period to obtain health insurance for millions of uninsured people who owe a tax penalty under the Affordable Care Act is off to a slow start.

The health law requires most Americans to have insurance or pay a fine at tax time. The open enrollment period under the health law ended Feb. 15, but the Obama administration said it would allow people who discover they owe a fine to sign up for coverage through April, at the end of the tax season.

Major tax-preparation firms say many customers are paying the penalty and not getting health insurance. It is still early, since the special enrollment period launched Sunday, but research also suggests that many people who lack health insurance will pay the penalty and not get covered this year.

Only 12% of uninsured people would buy policies if informed of the penalty, according to a survey of 3,000 adults polled through Feb. 24 by McKinsey & Co.’s Center for U.S. Health System Reform.

At H&R Block Inc., “our analysis indicates that a significant percentage of taxpayers whose household members were not covered for at least a portion of 2014 are opting” to pay the penalty, said Mark Ciaramitaro, a vice president of health-care enrollment services at the tax-preparation firm.

Richard Gonzalez, 59 years old, of Navarre, Fla., found out he will pay a $250 penalty for going without insurance. The retired employee of United Parcel Service Inc. said he won’t take advantage of the special enrollment period because it is cheaper for him to pay out-of-pocket for health care than to buy insurance on the exchange. He said he shopped on the exchange but would have to pay $400 a month for a plan with a $6,000 deductible.

“I think it’s wrong I have to pay the penalty,” said Mr. Gonzalez. “But it beats paying more than $10,000 a year.”

Keep reading.

'Tide of War Receding' as Hundreds Slaughtered in Islamic State Suicide Bombings in Yemen

From Katie Pavlich, at Town Hall, "Yemen Disaster Gets Much Worse: Hundreds Slaughtered in Dual ISIS Suicide Bombings."

And at BNI, "YEMEN: “Heads, legs and arms of dead people were scattered all over the floor of the mosque, blood is running like a river” after multiple suicide bombings."

Muslim Madness: Obama's NCAA Brackets Completed – He Has Jihadists Winning

Via iOWNTHEWORLD Report.

Do the Democrats and Israel Have a Future Together?

Well, no, obviously.

According to the New York Times, racist, eliminationist groups like Student for Justice in Palestine are the future of the Democrat Party -- and this has longtime Jewish supporters of the Democrats extremely worried.

See, "Do the Democrats and Israel Have a Future Together?":

While a deepening polarization among American Jews about Netanyahu puts Obama’s potential successor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a politically uncomfortable position, it is the transformation of Israel into a partisan issue that fills Democratic Jewish officials with dread. Clinton’s advisers can always take solace knowing that the Democratic base will vote for a Democratic candidate no matter what. But Jewish Democrats worry about the prospect of keeping liberal support for Israel a viable long-term position for a party base that is overwhelmingly non-Jewish and increasingly critical of the country.

After all, many younger Americans know Israel only as a nuclear-armed force that is the dominant power in its region. On college campuses, pro-Palestinian groups like Students for Justice in Palestine have long framed the Israeli occupation as the civil rights issue of our time. A Pew Research Center poll over the summer showed that 29 percent of voters under the age of 30 blamed Israel more than Hamas for the war in Gaza, while only 21 percent blamed Hamas more. African-Americans and Hispanics were also more likely to blame Israel.

This trend has clearly frightened the Jewish establishment....

Rude Rosie Jones

Hey, more power to Zoo for keeping the Page 3 flame blazing in Britain.