#Weinergate! — Rep. Anthony Weiner Retains Legal Counsel!

At The Other McCain: "BREAKING: Weiner Lawyers Up!"

And linked there is Politico, "Anthony Weiner hires attorney in Twitter incident" (via Memeorandum):

New York Rep. Anthony Weiner has retained an attorney to advise him “what civil or criminal actions should be taken” after a lewd picture was sent from his Twitter account.

Weiner, who has represented part of New York City since 1998, says online hacking led to a close-up shot of a man’s underwear being sent from his official Twitter account Saturday night.

Dave Arnold, a spokesman for Weiner, said the Congressman’s staff is “loathe to treat” this incident as more than a prank “but we are relying on professional advice.”

“At a time when the GOP is playing games with the debt limit, a member of the Supreme Court is refusing to recuse himself from matters he has a financial interest in, and middle class incomes are stagnant, many want to change the subject,” Weiner said in a statement emailed to POLITICO by his office. “I don’t. This was a prank, and a silly one. I’m focused on my work.”

Weiner’s office did not answer specific questions about the photograph, whether he has contacted authorities or the Seattle woman who received the photograph. He has said that his Facebook was hacked and if his Twitter had the same password, that too could be vulnerable.

Also, check the #Weinergate hashtag on Twitter, where the essential coverage has been developing.

Image Credit: The People's Cube.

ADDED: At Daily Caller, "Weiner spokesman: ‘We’ve retained counsel to explore’ possible ‘civil or criminal actions’."

More: Mediaite has video from Weiner's CNN interview today: "CNN First To Track Down Rep. Anthony Weiner For TV Comment On Twitter Scandal." And Dana Bash's report at CNN, "Liberal congressman involved in Twitter controversy over lewd photo."

Winding Down, 'Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time' — The Beatles, 'White Album', at No. 35

Well, it's been years since I posted this, but definitely a favorite. I wonder of old ace commenter Kreiz is still reading along?

See The Sound L.A., "No. 35: Beatles | White Album (Side 1)."

I'm traveling to Temecula for barbecue with old friends. I should be online late this afternoon for blogging ...

Meanwhile, grab a beer and log on to The Sound L.A. for some classic album rock. It's kickin'.

A roundup of the countdown is here: "'Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time' — Lynyrd Skynyrd, 'Pronounced', at No. 42."

Thers at Whiskey Fire, Genetic Mutant and Trig Truther, 'There's all sorts of lines here I wouldn't have crossed'

Look, the guy says he's a genetic mutant:

I (and both of my children) have a genetic illness that has the potential to cause a lot of suffering and illness. It causes lung and liver disease that sometimes necessitates lung and/or liver transplants which are very pricey endeavors. Where do we draw the line for acceptable and unacceptable genetic differences? How perfect is perfect enough? And what unintended consequences will arise from our pursuit of a perfection that is after all culturally defined and shifting in some cases? How long will it take us to move from eliminating disease to choosing eye colors, heights and IQs? The elimination of disease in humanity is objectively a wonderful goal. The trouble of course is that people are so much more beautifully complex and composed of so much more good stuff than their diseases.

And that's after arguing that parent's of potential Downs children should have abortions.

Dick.

And about those lines being crossed? Genetic Mutant Thers lies, says "I Don't Care But...," and then slaps down some classic Trig-trutherism:

I honestly don't care one way or another ... But ... if the picture of Palin up at Sullivan's site right now really is from 3 weeks before the kid's birth, it's just not her kid, because no way is she that pregnant in that picture.

And Genetic Mutant Thers on the WeinerGate scandal:

If Weiner is a swine or not -- he may be. But the sheer joy taken in finding and punishing someone not at all in the public eye, and then dropping nukes on them, based upon circumstantial speculation, unweighed against anything resembling the public good except sheer partisan scalp-hunting, is creepy as hell.

I have no trouble myself with partisan scalp-hunting, but there's all sorts of lines here I wouldn't have crossed.

The American right started a war based on lies, and is currently lying about climate change. I find revolting their ideological goals and methods, and their bullshit about their bullshit defenses of their ideological goals and defenses. Other than that, the less I know about Vitter's or Giuliani's dicks, the happier I am.

Right. Lines that shouldn't be crossed.

Like the lines crossed in exploiting a Downs baby to destroy Sarah Palin's family.

Progressives. Suck. Dick.

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "The Curious Case of the Weiner-Following (And Weiner-Followed) Teenage Girl." Plus, from Roy 'Bikini Burlesque' Edroso, "WANK SQUAD."

Toronto's Globe and Mail Goes Inside Hamas

Literally.

See, "Inside Hamas: An Inside Look at What Drives Palestinian Militants" (via Blazing Cat Fur).

This is another one of those resources where you'll want to sit back with a cup of coffee. There's both articles and video reports. The Globe's Patrick Martin really did get inside Hamas. Militarized squalor. Amazing reporting.

Start here: "Hamas: Agents of terror, partners in peace, or both?"

Martin is sympathetic but un-appeasing. I keep thinking what it would be like to have essentially a terrorist state in your backyard, recruiting and training a whole generation of young Palestinians that want to kill my family. Partners for peace? Well, folks know where I stand on that?

On Twitter, Gennette Nicole Was One of Many

Followed by Rep. Anthony Weiner.

And two "follows" equal a "DM".

At Gateway Pundit, "Gennette Was Not Alone… Weiner’s Twitter Friends Include Pages of Young Lucious Fans."

And at Ace of Spades, "Update: Number One "Suspect" In Hacking Says No Police Have Contacted Him In 'Hacking' Case."

Also, at The Other McCain, "@JoanWalsh Blames @AndrewBreitbart and #tcot Bloggers for #WeinerGate Story." Plus, at Daily Kos, "Breitbart's #TwitterHoax - How It Went Down (updated w/ smoking gun)." Really aggressive reaction. I'm gonna check around Twitter and update in a bit ...

Memorial Day 2011

At Michelle's: "Memorial Day 2011: Honoring the fallen." (Via Director Blue.)

And at Gallup, "U.S. Military Personnel, Veterans Give Obama Lower Marks." (Via Memeorandum.)

Ann Althouse Says it's Unfair to Compare Scott Lemieux to Spencer Ackerman: 'I'm trying to punish LGM'

See: "Scott Lemieux's Spencer Ackerman moment." And from the comments there:

LG&M is nothing but the repository of smug, snotty, too-clever-by-half leftist egocentric academics--as is, in the main, the crowd who regularly comments there. If one ever wanted a prime example of "Group-think" one could do far worse than peruse the archives and comments sections for, oh, say, as long as the blog has been in existence. Crooked Timber, Part II.

Ouch.

Check the whole thread. I asked Ann to clarify why she thought the comparison unfair:

Sorry, you got the link, but I won't give the explanation, because I'm trying to punish LGM. You'll have to be satisfied by the link and the fact that I am not stating the criticism of what you said.

I see I got myself into a paradox.

This comment's a riot as well.

My original entry is here: "Professor Scott Lemieux: Lone Pro-Life Wacko More Threatening to Americans Than Phony, Unconstitutional Global War on Terror, or Something."

(Revised @ 6:40am PDT)

Summer Movies, Male Bodies

Interesting piece, and funny.

At Los Angeles Times, "Ripped Ideals: Muscular Summer Action Heroes Have Swaggered Back Into Style, But What Do They Say to Male Audiences?" It's long. This quote goes with the video, and I'm looking forward to Captain America, so what the heck?

In the World War II-era comic book Captain America, a weak and sickly young man named Steve Rogers is injected with an experimental serum designed to build a super-soldier. In the movie “Captain America: The First Avenger,” directed by Joe Johnston and due in theaters July 22, dozens of tiny needles inject the serum into Rogers’ major muscle groups, and then he enters a pod where “vita rays” stimulate his growth. On paper and on screen, the result is the same: Rogers emerges as a picture of physical perfection, a gleaming, rippling, flag-wearing, Nazi-killing machine.

“The transformation is absolutely key to understanding Steve Rogers as a character,” said Johnston. “He is essentially Everyman, a 98-pound weakling who is chosen for the rebirth program not for his physical attributes but because of who he is as a human being, with his sense of justice and compassion. It’s crucial that we know and love Steve as the kid who’s been bullied and rejected all his life so we’ll appreciate and relate to who he is as Captain America.”

Evans, the actor playing Captain America, has the kind of square-jawed good looks that lend themselves to roles as prom kings and superheroes — he’s best known for playing the football star in the spoof “Not Another Teen Movie” and the Human Torch in the “Fantastic Four” films.

To achieve the dramatic transformation “Captain America” required, Johnston relied on a combination of techniques, including shrinking Evans’ body with CGI and using a smaller actor as a body double for the “weakling” stage. For the “after” scenes, Evans did push-ups in between takes to pump up the broad new chest he’d built for the role.

For any real-life 98-pound weaklings — or even for the average 5-foot-9, 194.7-pound American male — all this physical perfection can potentially create the kind of body insecurity that was once considered the exclusive province of women.

“Men are increasingly getting the message that their muscles are important, that appearance matters too,” said Katharine Phillips, co-author of “The Adonis Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession” and professor of psychiatry and human behavior of the Alpert Medical School at Brown University. “Men want to be bigger and want on average 15 more pounds of muscle than they have.”

Oh brother. Overthink that much?

Rep. Anthony Weiner Was Direct Messaging a High School Girl?

And it's not even in question form at Verum Serum, and that was on Saturday. And don't miss those screencaps. (More here.) And at Verum Serum yesterday: "Weiner-gate Update: He Also Followed a Pornstar and Told Her He Liked Her Blog." (Sheesh. Click through. That's getting NSFW-ish.)

Well, New York Post is keeping up with things, "Weiner goes to great lengths: Under siege - but gal blames stalker":

Despite the quiet holiday weekend, Capitol Hill was buzzing about what quickly became known as Weinergate.

Some DC wonks were skeptical of Weiner's hacking story and questioned the lack of a police report about a crime as serious as Internet identity theft, a Washington insider said.

The uncertainty was also fed by Weiner's decision to quickly delete the posted photo -- and every other photo connected to the account.

Actually, Big Government's way ahead on this, "Suspected Weinergate Hacker Denies Posting from Congressman’s Account," and "Gennette Nicole on Pic Tweeted from Rep. Weiner’s Account."

BONUS: Gennette Cordova is back on Twitter, and promises to restore her Facebook presence as well. And ICYMI, from Jonah Goldberg, "I suspect that this will not end well ..."

Reflecting on Endeavour's Great Journey

From Ralph Vartabedian, at Los Angeles Times:

Spare parts were collecting dust in warehouses in Bell, Downey and Palmdale when the urgent call came from NASA: the nation needed another space shuttle.

It was the unusual beginning of the orbiter Endeavour, which will streak across the California coastline at hypersonic velocity one last time Wednesday, carrying its six astronauts and two decades of the nation's human space flight history.

When it was christened in Palmdale in 1991, it was the newest and most capable of the fleet, fawned over by astronauts for its advanced flight electronics, sinuous skins and, eventually, the first toilet that actually worked.
"It was a real clean bird," said Robert "Hoot" Gibson, the Navy aviator who flew Endeavour the year it entered service in 1992. "We didn't have any issues with that machine."

But it began its life amid a political scheme to circumvent opponents by squirreling away spare parts in the hope they would someday amount to a real spacecraft.

When the Challenger was lost in an explosion in 1986, the spare-parts plan was vindicated and they suddenly became the starting point for keeping the shuttle program alive.

And now the ship will come back home a museum piece in the county where it was built, destined for a display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The last shuttle flight is scheduled to launch July 8, after decisions by the Bush and Obama administrations to end the program.

More at the link above.

Seems weird the program's winding down and America's got nothing big planned to replace it.

RELATED: "After Columbia: why we must still boldly go" [from 2003].

Also, a NASA Twitpic.

New York's LGBT Community Center Caves to 'Queers Against Israeli Apartheid'

Update from my report in March: "Queers for Palestine Party to End Apartheid!"

From the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, "STATEMENT ON DECISION TO ALLOW SPACE USE BY OUTSIDE QUEER IDENTIFIED GROUP."

And from the anti-Israel side, Queers for an Open LGBT Center, "QUEER VICTORY! Today's action is still on!" And The Cahokian, "Rightwinger now calls NYC Gay Center 'an anti-Israeli nest'."

But see Phyllis Chesler, at FrontPage Mag, "NYC Queers for Jihad":

Last Friday, May 26, 2011, “Queers Against Israeli Apartheid” exercised their hard-won right to hold their meetings at New York City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Center. Their right to hate and to be grossly misinformed was, as usual, presented as a free speech right and as yet another victim-driven Intifada (uprising).

This meeting followed the long campaign to vilify City University Trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld for daring to dissent from Tony Kushner’s anti-Israel views; Kushner, who happens to be both gay and Jewish, is nevertheless being given an honorary doctorate this week. These two events are intimately connected to each other and have been further empowered by President Obama’s shameful and dangerous actions towards the Jewish State.

We have all seen black and white footage of people dancing the night away, even as the crematoria or the machetes did their deadly work somewhere off camera. We understand that people elsewhere continue eating, having babies, buying first homes, going on vacations, even as genocidal wars rage on camera, even as tornadoes, nuclear plant meltdowns, and savage flash floods destroy whole communities elsewhere, also on camera.

Right now, in my little neck of the planet, Manhattan, the weather has turned gloriously sunny and summery; people are enjoying this respite from the unending rains and freezing winter weather. As people amble through leafy city streets, the world is preparing to slaughter the Jews again. As if the Muslim Brotherhood and the Gama’a al-Islamiyya in Egypt were not enough, a new swastika-flying Nazi party has emerged in Egypt—Egypt, Israel’s friendly neighbor; Egypt, which on Saturday opened the Rafah crossing to admit even more weapons and terrorist fighters into Gaza in the unending Arab war against the Jews; Egypt, where many are demanding an end to the cold peace treaty with Israel.

Some say that President Obama might be touring Europe in order to gain European allies to help him pressure Israel into accepting the “pre-1967” Auschwitz borders.

Here at home in America, we continue to enjoy Gazan Intifadas on our campuses. For example, the people are getting ready to party in the streets when, on June 3, 2011, City University of New York gives playwright Tony Kushner his honorary doctorate. In my view, they are feting Kushner, not so much for his art but rather for his celebrity and for his obsessively harsh views of Israel. The playwright has not led any campaigns against genocide in Sudan or against real gender and religious apartheid in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Like the “Queers Against Apartheid,” Kushner also scapegoats Israel for the crimes of the Arab and Muslim worlds.

The LGBT “queers” had threatened to storm or “surge” into the Center if they did not receive official approval for their group meeting.

“Surging” and “storming,” Arab street mob behavior, is a vision and a tactic that has been recommended by none other than journalist Tom Friedman, long adopted by international “Free Gaza” activists; it reminds me of Nazi Brownshirt behavior. Think Kristallnacht. Civilians and men in uniform breaking Jewish shop windows, breaking Jewish bones, burning Jewish books, eventually burning millions of living Jews.

But, you must understand: The German Nazis felt “victimized.” They had lost World War I and were humiliated because they should have been triumphant; they had also been unfairly economically penalized. Kushner and his supporters claim that the genuine dissent of one CUNY trustee, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, somehow “victimized” their views because their views are supposed to triumph, not Wiesenfeld’s. His pro-Israel view is not supposed to exist and, in their view, is not protected by academic or free speech rights. Only the anti-Israel views deserve such protection.

One thousand six hundred and eighty people signed a petition to the Center on behalf of “Queers for Palestine.” Like Tony Kushner and his CUNY supporters, the aggressors first claim victimhood and protest the denial of their free speech rights; then, they “surge” forward as a mob (on petitions, on the Internet, on the streets, on other battlefields), to either murder Jews or to honor those Jews who hate Israel, and to silence gay Jews who are pro-Israel ...

More at the post, and then:

Now, in the light of what has happened, Lucas, a major financial supporter of the center, has withdrawn from it. His letter is brief, dignified, and to the point. I will give him the closing words. He writes:

Dear supporters of the state of Israel-

I just learned that tonight the Gay Center of NYC will be hosting the first meeting of the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. This organization stands for boycotts, divestments and sanctions of the Jewish state. In other words, it stands for boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Jewish men, women, children, and Holocaust survivors living in Israel.

I am a proud gay man and a proud Jewish man, but I have made my choice. I ask you to boycott, divest and sanction the LGBT Center of NYC. Today Jewish people in Israel are in incomparably greater danger than the gay people in America will ever be. This is a difficult choice and I am asking you to make the same choice.

Alienate yourself from NYC LGBT Center. Stand with Israel, stand with Israeli Jews, and defend their right to exist, their right to defend themselves, not to let the world exterminate them again.

And even if all the gay groups will condemn this letter, I will not change my mind.

Michael Lucas

Adam Kokesh Body Slammed!

Awesome.

Too bad Medea Benjamin wasn't slammed as well.

See, "Jefferson Memorial Dance Arrests Poorly Handled":

Poorly handled by the demonstrators, that is ...

Disgruntled Student Sues Her Law School Over 'False' Employment Statistics After Taking Out $150,000 in School Loans

And it's a $50 million class action lawsuit. I guess she needs the money. At The Tax Prof's Blog, "Grad Files $50m Class Action v. Law School for Misrepresenting Placement Data." Her name's Anna Alaburda. She's working as a "document reviewer," whatever that is. Also, at ABA Journal:

Filed by attorney Brian Procel of Miller Barondess, the suit seeks class action status and compensatory damages of $50 million for a claimed class of some 2,300 TJSL attendees.

Beth Kransberger, who serves as the law school's associate dean for student affairs, tells the legal publication there was no misrepresentation and says TJSL followed guidelines set by the American Bar Association when reporting its employment statistics..

"We've always been accurate in what we report, and we've always followed the system given to us by the ABA," she says. "This lawsuit is very much about a larger debate. This is part of the debate about whether it's practical to pursue a graduate degree in these difficult economic times."

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

Are You Reading Theo Spark?

You should be!

Lovely blogging over there:

* "Bedtime Totty ..."

* "Pic Dump ..."

* "Video: Bentley Supersports Convertible Ice Speed Record 2011 - 205.48 mph"

* "Lest we forget - Memorial Day 2011 ... from Rico."

* "Happy Memorial Day (Alan Caruba)."

BONUS: At Maggie's Farm, "Bruce’s Eye-Openers (Yawn)."

'Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time' — Lynyrd Skynyrd, 'Pronounced', at No. 42

Listened again to The Sound L.A. while out to the skatepark with my son. I caught "No. 42: Lynyrd Skynyrd | Pronounced (Side 2)," but check the homepage for updates. The station is just rockin' the vinyl!

The live clip's long, so fast forward to 5:00 and the boys start jammin' the guitars. And that Confederate battle flag is one hella touch, and for a BBC performance in 1975! British heads exploding?!!

PREVIOUSLY: "The Sound L.A., 'Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time' — J.T.'s 'Sweet Baby James' at No. 83," and "More From 'The Top 100 Albums of All Time' — David Bowie 'Ziggy Stardust' at No. 79."

Rookie Loses Indy 500 With Crash on Last Turn

The report's at New York Times.

And we'll see how long this video lasts on YouTube, but for now, pretty spectacular:

PREVIOUSLY: "Danica Patrick's Last Indy 500 [VIDEO]."

At the Vans Skatepark Café...

You can get a lot of reading done while your kid knocks himself out (not literally, let's hope):

And outside Lucky Strike Lanes, adjacent to the parking lot as you're walking in, you can enjoy huge pictures of beautiful women bowling:

Thus progressive asshats like Scott Eric Kaufman should just GTF away. ASFLs.

P.S. I'm borrowing the café blogging concept from Althouse: "At the Picnic Café..."

PREVIOUSLY: "Vans Skatepark — The Block in Orange."

Anthony Weiner Scandal Now Links Porn Star Ginger Lee — And #WeinerGate Victim Gennette Cordova Speaks Out!

This calls for a fresh post. I expected to update from my my post linking Datech Guy, but this story is too big now. Upon getting home from another trip to Vans Skatepark, I headed over to William Jacobson's and he asks, "Have the facts about Weiner's tweet been exposed yet?" That's one of those questions in which you respond with a question, like, "Are you sitting down?"

Seriously.

I checked Dan Riehl on Twitter, and he links to The Prudence Paine Papers, who has a bombshell: "Porn Star Says Weiner Sent Her a Private Message." Check the link. That's gone viral big time. And lots more at Memeorandum as well, for example, at New York Daily News, "Statement from Gennette Cordova, student who was sent lewd Twitter photo from Rep. Weiner's account":

I am a 21-year-old college student from Seattle. I have never met Congressman Weiner, though I am a fan. I go to school in Bellingham where I spend all of my time; I've never been to New York or to DC. The point I am trying to make is that, contrary to the impression that I apparently gave from my tweet, I am not his girlfriend. Nor am I the wife, girlfriend or mistress of Barack Obama, Ray Allen or Cristiano Ronaldo, despite the fact that I have made similar assertions about them via Twitter.

There have never been any inappropriate exchanges between Anthony Weiner and myself, including the tweet/picture in question, which had apparently been deleted before it reached me. I cannot answer the questions that I do not have the answers to. I am not sure whether or not this letter will alleviate any future harassment. I also do not have a clear understanding as to how or why exactly I am involved in this fiasco. I do know that my life has been seriously impacted by speculation and faulty allegations. My reputation has been called into question by those who lack the character to report the facts.

Well, I doubt that's going to be helpful. Epic idiot Tommy Christopher responds at Mediaite, "Alleged Recipient Of Alleged Rep. Weiner Photo Gennette Nicole Issues Statement." This is pathetic:

Since the story broke, a pile of circumstantial evidence and rampant speculation,throughout the blogosphere, have all but decimated the presumption of innocence due the Congressman, while details that could be exculpatory have been largely ignored or dismissed.

Some conservative blogs, which I will not link to, have taken to dissecting the tweets of underage girls who followed Rep. Weiner, without redacting their user information (as we did), and without mentioning that these girls were being harassed by the Twitter user who first, and last, noticed Weiner’s tweet in real time. These girls deserve to be left alone, not drawn into a controversy in which they are not even direct parties.

Right.

Also, at CBS News, "Rep. Weiner: I did not send Twitter crotch pic." And Washington Post, "Rep. Weiner says lewd Twitter photo was sent by hacker."

Now at NYT, "Congressman Says Hacker Sent Lewd Photo Using His Name."

Added (10:25 PDT): At Ace of Spades, "One Coin In The Fountain: Jonah Goldberg Breaks Establishment Embargo On WeinerGate."

Danica Patrick's Last Indy 500

According to Los Angeles Times, "Danica Patrick is at a crossroads on the eve of the Indy 500."

How will the Izod IndyCar Series get along without her if she bolts for NASCAR stock-car racing next year, as is widely expected?

"I don't believe I can answer that," Patrick said. "I don't know. Whether I go or whether I stay, I don't think I'm capable of answering whether or not the IndyCar series would be better or worse. I'm not sure."

Another uncertainty is whether Sunday's race, the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500, will be Patrick's last at the Brickyard. But this much is sure: No race means more to Patrick than this one.

Also: "Indianapolis 500 winner: Dan Wheldon." and "Danica Patrick Runs Out of Gas After Leading At Indy 500."

'Every Baby Is a Little Miracle'

ICYMI, be sure to read my end-of-semester report. This message came through in class meetings, without prompting. With rare exception, abortion was just not cool. And the ones who were down with it were Soros-types poisoned by left-wing blogs and NPR:

Via LaShawn Barber and Legal Insurrection.

Peter Ingemi on #Weinergate

See Datech Guy's Blog, "Hey MSM any old Twit(erer) understands what Rep Weiner’s numbers mean." (Via Instapundit.)

And what the heck? See also Bryan Preston, at The Tattler, "Weinergate: Or, don’t believe in twitter coincidences."

Check here for updates ...

Added: I met Peter at CPAC and haven't had a chance to post his pic:

Sarah Palin Rides Harley-Davidson at Rolling Thunder!

She's crusin' a hog, with some help from the Rolling Thunder bikers. See NYT, "For Palin, a Short Ride With Lots of Rumbling." (Added: A Memeorandum thread.)

Also at Daily Caller, "Palin rides Harley and fuels 2012 suspicion."

VIDEO: Via Gateway Pundit, "ROLLING THUNDER… SARAH PALIN Rides Hog Into DC."

Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'Turncoat Nation'

Via Right Klik:

RELATED: Victor Davis Hanson, How The Obama Administration Threatens Our National Security.

FLASHBACK: Whittle's original series, "What We Believe."

Leonardo DiCaprio and Blake Lively!

Must be rough.

Leo splits with Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli and is now dating Blake Lively?

Well, I guess they're trying to keep hush hush about it. See, London's Daily Mail, "What romance? Leonardo DiCaprio and rumoured new flame Blake Lively attempt a low profile on French leg of holiday" (via WeSmirch).

Also: "Pics! Leonardo DiCaprio & Blake Lively Leave Their Hotel In France Separately!", and "PIC: Blake Lively, Leo DiCaprio Exit French Hotel Separately."

PHOTO: From last October: "Blake Lively Rule 5."

RELATED ROUNDUP: At Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup."

Caroline Glick: 'American Jewish Organizations and Obama'

At Big Peace:

President Obama’s speech on the Middle East at the State Department last week, his icy glares at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office last Friday, his address before the AIPAC conference on Sunday, and his subsequent press briefings have all made clear that he is not sympathetically inclined toward Israel, nor does he consider Israel an ally worth defending.

Obama’s advocacy of the 1949 armistice lines as a starting point for negotiations demonstrate his lack of support for Israel’s right to defensible borders. His non-response to the Hamas-Fatah unity deal demonstrates that there is nothing the Palestinians can do that will make him accept the reality that their commitment to Israel’s destruction, rather than Israel’s continued control over Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, is the reason there is no peace between them and Israel.

Word.

The full essay at the link.

IMAGE CREDIT: Israel Matzav, "Why American Jewish Organizations are Defending Obama."

Samantha Power: 'Interventionista!'

The woman is repulsive.

The National Interest piece, by Jacob Heilbrunn, is here: "Samantha and Her Subjects."

And Peter Berger has a critical review at The American Interest: "Samantha and the Lone Sheriff."

Heilbrunn criticizes Power on a number of counts—for being selective in her choices of outrageous atrocities (no mention in the book of the genocidal actions of Stalin and Mao), for giving undue respect to endorsement of interventions by the United Nations, for painting too rosy a picture of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Brazilian diplomat murdered while on a UN mission in Iraq (he is the subject of another book by Power, Chasing the Flame, 2008). But he criticizes her mainly for “providing an ideological smokescreen for the use of American military power in dubious circumstances”. Heilbrunn savors the irony of Power having opposed George W. Bush’s intervention in Iraq and now justifying Obama’s in Libya. In defending the latter action, she (as well as Obama himself) sounds very much like Bush defending the invasion of Iraq. She insists on an important difference: Bush, though he tried, failed to get a UN endorsement; Obama acted with such an endorsement, thus seemingly in accord with the liberal creed of “multilateralism”.

RELATED: See a more friendly albeit obstreperous interventionista: GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD.

Scott Eric Kaufman ASFL!!

BWAHAHA!!!

Only the dolts at LGM would fall for Scott Eric Kaufman's witless dodge, "Busted!"

And since Scott's a member in good standing of the left's Israel-bashing ASFL cadres, I'll spell it out for the idiots: It's not SEK's deployment of f**king profanity, but his AWARDING students college credit for vulgar language, which for the assignment in question replaced anything remotely requiring hard thinking. In other words, that's sh*tty instruction, if folks catch my drift.

That said, might as well post some Kate Upton, which will no doubt cause tantrums among the mentally challenged LGM commentariat, folks who make Spongebob and Patrick look like committee-members for a prestigious national science competition. I quit commenting over there after Robert Farley dipped into his trove of underage pop star porn (for a smear job), which is typical for progressives. It's all cool with lefties: "The Sexual Revolution and Children: How the Left Took Things Too Far." Yep. There's clue on SEK's obsession with professors who post women in bikinis. Project much? Need to blow off some guilt and shame? Well, it's hard out there for a lowlife postmodern academic ASFL.

RELATED: To facilitate head explosion at the retardo-nihilist LGM/Sadly commentariat: "Kate Upton Sports Illustrated Photoshoot — It's Friday Rule 5," and "Kate Upton Sports Illustrated Bodypaint Video — Phenomenal Rule 5 Encore!"

Political Scientist Michael McFaul Tapped as Ambassador to Russia

A professor of political science at Stanford University and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. McFaul had an obligatory essay back in 1992, widely assigned on graduate syllabi: "A Tale of Two Worlds: Core and Periphery in the Post-Cold War Era." This is quite an accomplishment for him. At New York Times: "Policy Adviser to Become U.S. Ambassador to Russia":

WASHINGTON — President Obama has decided to send the architect of his so-called Russia reset policy to Moscow as the next United States ambassador there, seeking to further bolster an improved relationship as both countries head into a potentially volatile election season.

Mr. Obama plans to nominate Michael McFaul, his top White House adviser on Russia policy, for the post, according to administration officials who declined to be identified before the formal announcement. Mr. Obama told the Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, of his choice during a meeting in France last week, officials said.

In selecting Mr. McFaul, Mr. Obama is breaking with recent tradition in Moscow, where all but one of eight American ambassadors over the last 30 years have been career diplomats. But in choosing someone from his own inner circle, Mr. Obama underscored his determination to keep Russian-American relations a centerpiece of his foreign policy after his early push to reset the relationship following years of growing tension.

“Mike, as the guy who really helped the president establish the reset, is the perfect person to go to Moscow to make sure there’s no lapse in momentum in the relationship,” one of the administration officials said ...

Although not a diplomat, Mr. McFaul, 47, is widely considered one of the foremost American voices on Russia, with deep contacts in Moscow. He was a Rhodes scholar who first traveled to the Soviet Union in 1983 and lived there at several points over the next decade. A Stanford University professor and Hoover Institution fellow, he is the author or editor of more than 20 books, establishing a reputation as a vocal advocate of Russian democracy and sharp critic of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin’s crackdown on dissent.

Mr. McFaul’s friendly ties with neoconservatives at times have generated suspicions among his fellow Democrats, but since joining the White House he has also occasionally been at odds with fellow democracy advocates who have been critical of the reset policy.

He's a good guy. Amazing Obama's not sending some ACORN communist to Mosow.

Michele Bachmann May Struggle in Palin's Shadow

From Maeve Reston, at Los Angeles Times:

Reporting from Pleasant Valley, Iowa

In Iowa's conservative circles, Michele Bachmann's name seemed to be on everyone's lips last week.

With a GOP presidential field that has left voters wanting more, the provocative "tea party" favorite arrived Friday seemingly well positioned to snap up supporters of 2008 Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee after he declined to run for 2012. Her visit here to attend several GOP fundraisers and private meetings with activists generated a flurry of speculation that the Minnesota congresswoman would enter the race earlier than expected.

But Bachmann's visit also showed how her ambitions have been complicated by another charismatic firebrand from the right: Sarah Palin.

Over cocktails at the Polk County GOP fundraiser Thursday, much of the party gossip had shifted to deciphering Palin's latest moves — including reports that she has purchased an Arizona home that could serve as a 2012 base, and her bus tour beginning Sunday in the Washington, D.C., area. The attention came at the expense of Bachmann, who had been scheduled to appear but was kept in Washington by House votes.

Even before the latest Palin boomlet, interviews with voters across Iowa suggested that despite their starkly different backgrounds and resumes, Bachmann may labor in Palin's shadow whether the former Alaska governor ends up running or not.

RTWT.

PHOTO: "Michele Bachmann at David Horowitz West Coast Retreat in Palos Verdes, April 2, 2011."

Kate Upton Sports Illustrated Bodypaint Video — Phenomenal Rule 5 Encore!

Previously: "Kate Upton Sports Illustrated Photoshoot — It's Friday Rule 5."

An encore:

And thanks to Proof for the linkage at Proof-Positive and Say Anything.

Bob Belvedere has a Rule 5 Saturday entry. And William Teach, "If All You See…"

And more for Robert Stacy McCain, since I'm building up some reciprocal linkage credits this weekend. (And here's an interesting roundup on Anthony Weiner's Internet scrubbing operation. So far only the New York Post has run anything on this, and even that piece was a joke.)

Inaccurate Statements by Congressman Anthony Weiner's Office on Coed Tweet Scandal

Dan Riehl updates, at Big Government, "Rep. Weiner Spokesperson Lies to ‘New York Post’."

Also, more from Moe Lane, "#Weinergate Update: Coed Being Scrubbed From Google," and here and at Memeorandum.

Plus, "Did N.Y. Congressman Send Penis Photo to Student?"

PHOTO CREDIT: Gennette Nicole on Twitpic.

Vans Skatepark — The Block in Orange

I was out most of the day yesterday with my son, pictured with the red shorts and white t-shirt:

The skatepark hosted a Thrasher Magazine/Pro-Tec skate jam last weekend, "Pro-Tec Pool Party (Masters) 2011." Also, "Highlights From the 2011 Pro-Tec Pool Party." I don't see mention of Tony Alva at the links, although he's on the wall up in the visitors' gallery:

Also, a poster with the combi-pool pictured. It's a replica of the Upland Skatepark's original combi from the late 1970s:

I'm amazed at the memories I have when visiting the skateparks. And it's weird to think I'm taking my own kid to skate, and he's just as obsessed with it as I was when I was his age. We're going again today.

More From 'The Top 100 Albums of All Time' — David Bowie 'Ziggy Stardust' at No. 79

"Star."

Heard it yesterday while out to the skatepark, "No. 79: David Bowie | Ziggy Stardust (Side 2)":

PREVIOUSLY: "The Sound L.A., 'Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time' — J.T.'s 'Sweet Baby James' at No. 83'."

The Sound L.A., 'Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time' — J.T.'s 'Sweet Baby James' at No. 83

For the holiday weekend, at The Sound L.A.: "The Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time." Pretty interesting. David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" came in a No. 88.

I was out for a bit and heard "No. 83: James Taylor | Sweet Baby James (Side 1)," including, "Oh, Susannah":

As this post goes live, "No. 81: Elton John | Madman Across the Water (Side 1)", is on the turntable. It's happening all weekend and you can listen from your laptop.

(And this reminds me of my good friend Tony from Down Under, who posts his weekly Sunday Night Music entries over at P.A. Pundits International. Enjoy the music, Tony!)

Robert Stacy McCain: 'Pacifism and Historical Ignorance'

An excellent post.

I promised McCain I'd throw him some traffic this weekend. He links to a Victor Davis Hanson essay, on which I'll have more later. Meanwhile, I'm snagging this video, a Legal Insurrection upload:

RELATED: From Evan Sayet, at FrontPage Mag, "Why Jews Support the Democratic Party."

More on all of this tonight ...

Representative Anthony Weiner Twitter Underwear Scandal! — UPDATED!

The Twitter timeline looks pretty incriminating, via Joe Brooks.

And at Big Government, "Weinergate: Congressman Claims “Facebook Hacked” As Lewd Photo Hits Twitter" (via Memeorandum).

That's gotta be the most idiotic stunt ever, the more so for a Member of Congress.

Commentary at Sister Toldjah, "Did Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) mistakenly Tweet a photo of his … um …", and Doug Ross, "Anthony's Weiner Makes Underwhelming Twitter Debut":

Anthony's Weiner needs to resign from Congress immediately. It's the ethical thing to do. He won't, of course, because he's a shameless, power-hungry, Marxist hack like his mentor Chuck Schumer. He won't resign because it would be the ethical thing to do.

Weiner's Twitter feed is here.

Added: Don Surber has more:

Victim or Bret Favre wannabe?

Either way, the photo was hardly impressive.

And Lee Stranahan rounds up additional tweets from Representative Weiner: "Rep. Anthony Weiner Selectively Edits Himself."

UPDATE: Robert Stacy McCain has a beautiful roundup with updates: "Weiner’s Wiener? UPDATE: Who Is ‘Gennette Nicole’? UPDATE: Questions Piling Up" And Doug Ross has an epic post, "Photos: Anthony Weiner's Self-Proclaimed Girlfriend is a 21-Year Old Coed, only 25 Years Younger Than the Married Congressman." Also, Dan Riehl at Big Government, "Weinergate: Why Would Rep Weiner Care What Time It Was In Seattle?"

And lamestream outlets aren't reporting, although Weiner's wiener's fit for the tabloids. At New York Post, "Undies in a twist over 'Weiner wiener': Twitter pic a hack job, he says."

Blue Angels Low Altitude

Background is here: "Blue Angels Commander Steps Down After Stunt." (Via Google.)

And Theo's news roundup with video: "Blues commander relieved of duty," and "Change of command for the Blue Angels."

And at Neptunux Lex, "Going Out Gracefully."

And at New York Times, "Adding Thrills When Flying Upside Down Just Isn’t Enough."

BONUS: Also at Theo's, a really inspired "pic dump" over there as well this morning.

ROBAMA!! President Uses Autopen to Sign Patriot Act Extension

Glenn Reynolds disapproves (as does Jonathan Turley at the clip).

And see NYT, "Making Legislative History, With Nod From Obama and Stroke of an Autopen":

WASHINGTON — Generations of children learned the basics of the American legislative process from a “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoon, in which “Bill” sings, “If he signs me, then I’ll be a law.”

But now, apparently for the first time in United States history, a bill has been signed into law by autopen, at the direction of President Obama, who is in Europe on a weeklong trip.

Congress on Thursday passed legislation extending the Patriot Act for four years. With the existing terror-fighting authorities set to expire at midnight Thursday, the White House concluded that a mechanical signature would have to do.

With that, Mr. Obama turned the autopen, a machine that reproduces signatures and is ubiquitous in government and business for routine transactions — letters, photos, promotional materials — into the ultimate stand-in.

He and his lawyers also found a way around a routine but costly tradition, in which White House staff members fly, unsigned legislation in hand, to wherever the president happens to be.

That tradition dates back decades.

Well, ROBAMA wouldn't want to preserve tradition, especially something traditional dealing with the Constitution. No surprise here at all.

BONUS FAIL: Asshat No More Mr. Nice Guy cries foul, but comes up short anyway. That said, Xeni Jardin concludes with the appropriate skepticism.

Henry Kissinger Interview at Time

An extremely interesting discussion. Kissinger's in the news for his new book on China, but the interview is wide ranging. And there's video. Time's Belinda Luscombe asks Kissinger, "Is the U.S. not a member of the International Criminal Court because former Secretaries of State like yourself might face prosecution?", and the transcript is strangely truncated:

The reason we are not a member of the international court is that the work is left to prosecutors who are drawn from a variety of countries who very often cannot understand what the issues are. I do not favor the International Criminal Court, but not even remotely out of fear for myself.

At the video clip, Kissinger indicates that the ICC has "started a process where some American officials are reluctant to travel abroad for fear that somebody will launch some sort of indictment against them ..." Yeah, and Israeli officials as well. In 2009 a British court issued an arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni, former Israeli foreign minister, to stand trial on war crimes charges. It's "lawfare" against the international systems' great power and their allies.

Student Activism at AIPAC

The video is especially interesting after 6:00 minutes.

And Barbara Efraim touched base with me yesterday, the first chance she's had since getting back from AIPAC in D.C. I already posted Barbara's recent commentary piece at The Daily Bruin, but she wanted to give me a heads up on this comment at the article:

Equating Noam Chomsky – a world-renowned public intellectual, linguist, writer, and emeritus professor at one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world – to some marginal, goblin-like hate-monger as Horowitz is just plain foolish.

What “threat” of Sharia Law do you speak of? What Israeli “democracy” do you speak of? Your rhetoric is tired and ineffective.

Appeasement of Ratko Mladic Was Dress Rehearsal for Left's Antiwar Politics Since 9/11

An outstanding piece, from Ben Cohen, at Pajamas Media, "The Appeasers of Ratko Mladic: The UN appeasers of butchers Mladic and Slobodan Milosevic today demonize Jews, the West, and support Muslim dictatorships."

'I'd hit that so hard she'd sing the aaa-aaa chorus of The Immigrant Song'

That's Ace, apparently clarifying some earlier vague statements regarding Christina Hendricks.

Folks might recall that Ace digs Zeppelin. I'm occasionally reminded of it while listening to The Sound L.A.:

P.S. Ace like big rock sounds and big breasts, and isn't shy about it -- in contrast to Scott "ASFL" Kaufman, who hates beautiful women.

RELATED RULE 5: At TOM: "Christina Hendricks Talks About Her Breasts: ‘They’re So Obviously Real …" (That's an encore link, so look forward to some additional TOM linkage later ... I'm trolling the dude for some traffic.)

John Hawkins: 'Liberalism in 120 Seconds: Why They Really Hate Israel'

At Right Wing News:

Oops. John mentions Arab anti-Semitism. Let's see how long this one lasts on YouTube. Sheesh.

Professor Scott Lemieux: Lone Pro-Life Wacko More Threatening to Americans Than Phony, Unconstitutional Global War on Terror, or Something

Scott Lemieux's Spencer Ackerman moment.

No doubt this kinda stuff got Lemieux booted from Hunter College. He's now flailing away at The College of Saint Rose. Yeah, they've probably got some social justice types who like such filth. Shoot, Lemieux's far left-wing fanaticism might even look good for the tenure review committee.

Anyway, check Lawyers, Guns and Murder:

Backround at Reuters: "Wisconsin man charged with plan to attack abortion clinic." The suspect's a nut-job. But in the sick progressive mindset, someone like this is even more dangerous than the September 11 attackers or the likes of Khalid Shaikh Muhammad. See: "The troubled mind of a would-be abortion doctor assassin."

RELATED: Lemieux's got a piece on the Goodwin Liu filibuster fiasco, "Let My Judges Go!"

The piece is getting ripped in the comments:

Where the heck was your similar article when the Democrats deep-sixed a bunch of George W. Bush's nominees!? You Progressives are really something else. The one-sided reporting makes this article complete garbage.

And:

It is totally ridiculous to try to portray Liu as anything other than the radical left extremist that he has shown himself to be by his writings. Not to mention the fact that he has absolutely no judicial experience.

Perhaps Obama should consider nominating people who are not guaranteed to be activist judges who believe that they can interpret the Constitution any way they like.

Progressives only hate the filibuster when it messes up their side. Just ask George W. Bush appointees Miguel Estrada, Priscilla Owens, etc. Democrat filibusters at the time were unprecedented. Lemieux is an America-hating hack. He's lucky to have landed a post with a bunch of liberation theologists, or whatever.

Poliwood: 2011 Cannes Film Festival — Anti-Semitic or Simply Boring?

With Roger L. Simon and Lionel Chetwynd:

Also, a Steven Crowder clip at Barking Moonbat.

'America in the World' — The Last Speech by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

The text is available from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs).

And at Wall Street Journal, "The Gates Farewell Warning: America can be a superpower or a welfare state, but not both":

Robert Gates, who steps down next month after four-plus years at the Pentagon, is making his retirement lap a tutorial on America's defense spending and security needs. His message is welcome, especially on Memorial Day, and even if he couldn't always heed it in his time as Secretary of Defense.

In a series of farewell speeches, Mr. Gates has warned against cuts to weapon programs and troop levels that would make America vulnerable in "a complex and unpredictable security environment," as he said Sunday at Notre Dame. On Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Gates noted that the U.S. went on "a procurement holiday" in the 1990s, when the Clinton Administration decided to cash in the Cold War peace dividend. The past decade showed that history (and war) didn't end in 1989.

"It is vitally important to protect the military modernization accounts," he said, and push ahead with new capabilities, from an air refueling tanker fleet to ballistic missile submarines.

More at the link at top. The statistics on "entitlement overstretch" are staggering.

The Lessons of Netanyahu's Triumph

From Caroline Glick, at Jerusalem Post:

In the coming weeks and months, the threats to Israel will surely only increase. And with these escalating threats will come also the escalating need for strong and certain leadership.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was hoping to avoid his clash with US President Barack Obama this week in Washington.

Four days before his showdown at the White House with the American leader, Netanyahu addressed the Knesset. His speech was the most dovish he had ever given. In it, he set out the parameters of the land concessions he is willing to make to the Palestinians, in the event they ever decide that they are interested in negotiating a final peace.

Among other things, Netanyahu spoke for the first time about “settlement blocs,” and so signaled that he would be willing to evacuate the more isolated Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. He also spoke of a longterm military presence in the Jordan Valley rather than Israeli sovereignty along the militarily vital plain.

Both strategically and ideologically, Netanyahu’s speech constituted a massive concession to Obama. The premier had good reason to believe that his speech would preempt any US demand for further Israeli concessions during his visit to Washington.

Alas, it was not to be. Instead of welcoming Netanyahu’s unprecedented concessions, Obama dismissed them as insufficient as he blindsided Netanyahu last Thursday with his speech at the State Department. There, just hours before Netanyahu was scheduled to fly off to meet him in the Oval Office, Obama adopted the Palestinian negotiating position by calling for Israel to accept that future negotiations will be based on the indefensible – indeed suicidal – 1949 armistice lines.

So, just as he was about to board his plane, Netanyahu realized that his mission in the US capital had changed ...

Read it all.

Sarah Palin Releases Video Ahead of Bus Tour

Via New York Times:

Background at Los Angeles Times, "Sarah Palin to launch bus trip through U.S":

Reporting from Washington— In the clearest indication to date that she is seriously considering a presidential run, Sarah Palin plans to launch a nationwide bus tour Sunday from Washington.

"Gov. Palin and the SarahPAC team will begin a trip through our nation's rich historical sites, starting from Washington, D.C., and going up through New England," said a statement posted Thursday on Palin's political action committee website. "The 'One Nation Tour' is part of our new campaign to educate and energize Americans about our nation's founding principles, in order to promote the fundamental restoration of America."

The website RealClearPolitics, which first reported the story, said the tour could last several weeks and would be divided into separate geographical stretches, according to unnamed sources close to the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee.

The first stop will be at the Rolling Thunder Memorial Day weekend motorcycle rally in Washington. A New England tour would seem to suggest a visit to New Hampshire, which hosts the first 2012 presidential primary.

Palin said as recently as last week that she was still considering a run, but refused to offer any clues as to her timetable for making a decision. Her website said the tour was being funded through her PAC.

Also, from Chris Cillizza, "Fast Fix: Is Sarah Palin back? (VIDEO)."

NewsBusted: '7-year-old caught with heroin'

Via Theo Spark:

Kate Upton Sports Illustrated Photoshoot — It's Friday Rule 5

I'm gonna bug the hell out of the progressive PC ASFLs this weekend, so here's getting off to an early start. Besides, I don't see Blazing Cat Fur's Friday entry (last week's is here).

Also, a huge shout out to Bruce at Maggie's Farm, who's been doing fantastic work with the news-link roundups. Also, at The Other McCain: "Christina Hendricks Talks About Her Breasts: ‘They’re So Obviously Real …’"

Leading off is Pirate's Cove with his latest in "you must be a warmist" series. Plus, nearly NSFW at Theo's.

And don't miss Bob Belvedere's fabulous Rule 5 entry: " A Little Hump Day Rule 5: Lorrie-Menconi."

Anyway, here's some link around action: Astute Bloggers, Bob Belvedere, CSPT, Dan Collins, Eye of Polyphemus, Gator Doug, Irish Cicero, Left Coast Rebel, Mind-Numbed Robot, Legal Insurrection, Lonely Conservative, PA Pundits International, PACNW Righty, Pirate's Cove, Proof Positive, Saberpoint, Snooper, WyBlog, The Western Experience, and Zion's Trumpet.

Plus, top it off with with American Perspective, Maggie's Notebook and Zilla of the Resistance.

Let me know if I need to add your blog to the roundup.

It's Hard Out There for a Slang Expert

I guess JBW's bailed out on AmPow, or, well, at least since I dissed him as the "SpongeBob of 'Sophisticated' Political Analysis."

Hey, nah. My bad. JBW's cool — or at least not a 24/7 ASFL (and you gotta love this Photoshop!). Not only that, he keeps me honest on the slang, so I'm sending this out to my homie James B. "Sweet Tits" Webb. At Wall Street Journal, "As Slang Changes More Rapidly, Expert Has to Watch His Language":

BERKELEY, Calif. — Tom Dalzell was thrilled last month when he came across a weird new verb: "rickroll."

Then he went online and saw that "rickrolling"—the Internet prank that involves sending someone a link to the music video for Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up"—has been around for four years. That's an eon in the world of slang, enough time to render a term stale.

For most people, being late to a language trend isn't a problem. But Mr. Dalzell, a 59-year-old union leader by day and slang expert after hours, is now in the process of updating the New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. And as informal language evolves faster than ever, Mr. Dalzell is finding it trickier to keep up.

"Yesterday's cutting-edge is today's ho-hum," he says.

The problem: Slang is born when groups outside the mainstream invent their own language—verbal code that can quickly lose its punch once others catch on. That process used to take a while. But now that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter let people post messages for anyone to see, slang gets exposed much more quickly.

"It's really shortened the shelf life," says Mr. Dalzell, who is considered to be a real "big noise," or a very important person, among word whizzes like Jesse Sheidlower, editor-at-large at the Oxford English Dictionary.

More at the link.

COME BACK JAMESSSSS!!!!!!!

End of Spring 2011 at Long Beach City College

Folks following the flame wars with the ASFL progressives will have noticed that variations of the "shitty community college" slur is routinely deployed as if that's some kind of an epic put-down. The only people who ever say such things are leftists. But of course the two-year colleges serve the constituencies progressives purportedly claim to champion, so the attacks once more show the monumental hypocrisy of the Democrat-Socialist ASFLs.

That's LBCC President Eloy Oakley at the clip. And I got a tickle out of a card a student gave me during the last week of classes, where she writes:

I had a great time in class. I was always tired from work but your personality made the class fun, and refreshing ...

She's a very nice young woman, a legal immigrant from Mexico who supports strict border enforcement. I don't think she'd approve of students dropping f-bombs, or their professors who award them for it.

A lot more happened this semester, including a student who ended her pregnancy at the beginning of classes and was miserable for the remainder of the term. During discussions we talk a lot about the right to privacy and questions of choice, when covering civil liberties, etc., so that must have been rough. And it turned out that another one of my students had just had a baby, so her child was just a couple of month old when school started. She talked about her son all the time. And she was so happy. It was enriching and invigorating. I worked with both students very closely. The range of life satisfaction was like day and night, or, well, life and death, unfortunately.

More later ...

Brazen Big Media Lies on Israel

From Melanie Phillips, "The Brazenness of the Lie Just Makes You Gasp."

A sample:

So just how do America’s media finest manage to write the exact opposite of the truth? Why, by interviewing Israel’s finest from the media and intelligentsia, and treating as authoritative their views – which basically consist of little more than ‘Bibi is a menace because he is not left-wing, and all not-left-wing people are right-wing and thus an interruption to the natural order of things’.

That’s the prism through which the western media and intelligentsia generally refract so much of their reporting, not to mention their opinions. The western intelligentsia basically has its head stuck firmly up its own fundament. Small wonder the west is being led up the garden path and off the edge of that cliff.

Proposed Santa Monica Ballot Measure Could Ban Circumcision

My wife hadn't heard of the San Francisco ballot measure to ban the practice, so when we were watching the news last night she had to laugh: "So next we'll be having back-alley circumcisions?" Well, yeah. And she continued: "No grown man remembers being circumcised as a baby, but an 18 year-old will never forget." Ouch.

At KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Santa Monica Ballot Measure Wants to Ban Circumcision."

Egypt to Open Border-Crossing into Hamas-Controlled Gaza

See Boston Herald, "Open Border to Trouble":

While the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were debating the shape of a future two-state solution, the Egyptian government was exercising its own options in the region.

Tomorrow Egypt will open its only crossing into Hamas-controlled Gaza — a crossing that under the “cold peace” it has observed with Israel had remained closed since the Hamas take-over four years ago.

Of course, Gazans had improvised over those years, making their way into Egypt and back home again by way of a series of illegal tunnels — but not so illegal that Hamas didn’t attempt to collect taxes on goods coming into Gaza at their checkpoints...

Israel’s very real fear is over the possible flow of weapons and/or militants into Gaza, putting residents of southern Israel in further danger of ever more powerful rockets coming over the border from Gaza — not a pretty side of the Arab Spring.

RELATED: At ABC News, "Israel Struggles to Stop Weapons Smuggling at Sea."

Soquel Students Suspended for Wearing Plain White T-Shirts Deemed Offensive Signals of 'White Supremacy'

These kinds of stories are basically a daily occurrence nowadays. Saberpoint has a report: "Soquel High School Students Suspended for Wearing White T Shirts (They're Signs of "'hite Supremacy')":

Personally, I am at a loss as to how a white t shirt can endanger anyone's safety. It is absurd that a school principal could suspend students for such a lame-ass reason, in effect, acting as judge, jury and executioner. It seems he has punished these students for "thought crimes," even though he doesn't know for sure what they were thinking. He punished them "just in case" they might do something wrong in the future, and that greatly offends my sense of justice.

Mine too.