Kathleen Wynne: Canada's First Openly Homosexual Premier and Ontario's First Female Premier

Well, we have the first gay president already, so I guess Canada's catching up.

Via Joe. My. God and Memeorandum.

And at the Toronto Star, "Ontario Liberal leadership convention: Kathleen Wynne will be next premier."

PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons.

Women Sue Explicit 'Revenge Porn' Site After Jilted Lovers Anonymously Posted Revealing Pictures of Them

Well, it's a meat market out there.

At London's Daily Mail, "'Ex'-plicit 'revenge porn' site that allowed jilted lovers to anonymously post revealing pics of their former girlfriends is facing class-action suit."

Photos From the 40th Annual March for Life

From Matt Cassens, at St. Blogustine, "40th Annual March For Life In Pictures."

Long Lines, Ammunition Shortages at Orange County Gun Show

I visited the Orange County fairgrounds this morning.

Here's a report at NBC 4 Los Angeles, "Costa Mesa Gun Show Draws Long Lines, Demand for Ammunition." And see ABC News 7, "Costa Mesa gun show organizers: Ban talks boost business."

I arrived about 10:30am. The lines were long --- I heard people saying they waited an hour to get in --- but moved quickly by the time I got up there. And it was a diverse crowd, defying liberal stereotypes of California progressivism:

I would have loved a couple of beers at the beer gardens, but I was driving. Maybe next time. I'll make it a family affair and the wife can drive:

A banner for Crossroads of the West, the outfit that holds some of the big Southern California gun shows.

A man was showing off accessories. I have no clue the model of that gun, but it looked formidable:

My favorite shirt, which I tweeted from the fairgrounds:

Targets:

Lots of historical weapons and paraphernalia. Here's a "Gettysburg 1863" (a Colt .45, I think):

I'm not sure this gear from Imperial Germany and Nazi Germany was authentic:

Although this knockoff U.S. Army gear from WWII looks pretty cool:

These WWWII rifles were totally authentic. Remington and Winchester and lots more at a huge dealer's counter:

Lots of humorous signs available (and there were loads of anti-Obama stickers as well):

One of the ammunition dealers:

And this is the line for ammunition outside the exhibition halls. High demand:

Here's a couple of Smith & Wesson .45 caliber guns on the right, and that's a .40 caliber at the upper left. The dealer was Quantico Arms and Tactical Supply out of Oceanside, near Camp Pendleton:

They also had this Glock 10mm:

Heading out from the fairgrounds, here's the beautiful country barn. The fair holds cow milking demonstrations every July:

And here's some earlier reporting at the Los Angeles Times, "Security boosted for Orange County gun show," and "Ammunition shortage could draw crowds to O.C. gun show."

I felt reassured about American liberty while attending. Gun enthusiasts are salt-of-the-earth Americans, the kind the Democrat-Media-Complex rarely discusses, lest such patriots upset the progressive narrative.

UPDATE: Linked at Blazing Cat Fur. Thanks! And also at lgstarr, "Fabulous gun show photos."

Also picked up by BadBlue.

More linkage at Lonely Conservative, "No Matter the Issue, the Media Frames It on Their (And the Democrats') Terms." Thanks!

Still more! Bill Quick links at the Daily Pundit, "Screw Limp Dick Gun Control Marches." Thanks!

Hey, here's looking for a Memeorandum link out of this one!

Also, Doug Ross and Marooned in Marin link. Thanks.

Obama's Abuse of Power

At the Wall Street Journal:

President Obama has shown increasing contempt for the constitutional limits on his power, and the courts are finally awakening to the news. A unanimous panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that the President's non-recess recess appointments are illegal and an abuse of executive power.

On January 4, 2012, Mr. Obama bypassed the Senate's advice and consent power by naming three new members of the National Labor Relations Board and appointing Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Other Presidents have made recess appointments and we've supported that executive authority.

But here's the Obama kicker: He consciously made those "recess" appointments when the Senate wasn't in recess but was conducting pro-forma sessions precisely so Mr. Obama couldn't make a recess appointment. No President to our knowledge had ever tried that one, no doubt because it means the executive can decide on his own when a co-equal branch of government is in session.

In Noel Canning v. NLRB, a Washington state Pepsi bottler challenged a board decision on grounds that the recess appointments were invalid and that the NLRB thus lacked the three-member quorum required to conduct business. The D.C. Circuit agreed, while whistling a 98 mile-per-hour, chin-high fastball past the White House about the separation of powers.

In the 46-page opinion, the three-judge panel said that "not only logic and language, but also constitutional history" reject the President's afflatus. The Federalist Papers refer to recess appointments expiring at the end of the following session of Congress, the court explained, so it stands to reason that recess appointments were intended to be made only when the Senate is in a recess between sessions, not any time the Senators step out of the Capitol.

Continue reading.

And at Twitchy, "Lefty academic laments ‘neoconfederate judges’ who ruled NLRB appointments unconstitutional." That "lefty academic" is the asshole Scott Lemieux at LGM.

Lulz. Remember, these are the "serious" people. twitter.com/SonnyBunch/sta…
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) January 25, 2013

Yes, "serious" people --- and Marxist moral degenerates.

Twitter Shuts Down al-Shabaab's Account

Well, the Somalia jihadists were tweeting out photos of dead soldiers, which must have been too much for some folks.

At the New York Times, "Somalia: Twitter Shuts Rebels’ Account."

And at Guardian UK, "Twitter suspends al-Shabaab account."

A cached version is here. You can see some of the sarcastic responses to outrage over the dead French commando.

Networks Refuse to Correctly Identify Pro-Life Activists

I saw Susanne Malveaux's segment on CNN yesterday morning, and the chyron described the March for Life as "Abortion Opponents Protest Roe v. Wade," or thereabouts. And I'm thinking, "Wait. These people are about life. Why not identify them correctly?"

So, it was no surprise later when I saw this at NewsBusters, "‘March for … ?’ Nets Don’t Use ‘Life’ in Abortion Debate":

Thinking of learning a new language? Try English – broadcast media style. Specifically, try abortion-reporting speak – a tongue as notable for the words it doesn’t use as those it does.

This year’s annual March for Life, this Friday, Jan. 25th, marks the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. And, though you might think it would be difficult to talk about something called the March for Life without using the word “life,” the broadcast networks have shown the utility of abortion-reporting speak. In the past 10 years, 91 percent of ABC, NBC, and CBS anchor reports on the March for Life and Roe v. Wade failed to mention the word, “life.”

In 22 reports, “life” was used just twice.  The first came from NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell. O’Donnell said in a Jan. 22, 2003, “Today” segment when she introduced a “pro-life group.” The other came from CBS’ Russ Mitchell in a Jan. 22, 2007, “Early Show” report when he described a “march for life” marking the 34th Roe v. Wade anniversary.

The other 20 reports employed a variety of alternate descriptions for the March for Life and pro-life activists. The March and counter-demonstrations were rallies sponsored by both opponents and supporters of Roe v. Wade, according to NBC’s Brian Williams on Jan. 24, 2005 and his colleague Ann Curry on Jan. 22, 2007. The marchers were “opponents” (ABC’s Jake Tapper, Jan. 23, 2006), and “anti-abortion activists” (NBC’s Tom Brokaw, Jan. 22, 2003) rather than “pro-lifers” or “pro-life marchers,” as they self-describe.

The linguistic selections are far from unconscious. A recent interview by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell illustrated the “life” language prejudice pervading broadcast media. When Republican strategist Juleanna Glover identified herself as “deeply pro-life” in an interview, Mitchell interrupted, “Well, what I would call anti-abortion,” and added, “to use the term that I think is more value neutral.”

And the bias is institutionalized. Journalists should “Use anti-abortion instead of pro-life andabortion rights instead of pro-abortion or pro-choice,” according to The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook’s 44th edition. Instead of making the argument about life and death or choice and constraint, AP advocates for the flat, procedural term: abortion.

More here, "Marching for Life in the Face of a Pro-Abortion Media."

And here's the New York Times' report, where pro-life activists are called "abortion opponents." See, "40 Years After Roe v. Wade, Thousands March to Oppose Abortion." And that piece didn't make the front-page, despite hundreds of thousands of people rallying for life.

RELATED: At Twitchy, "Social media fills the role the MSM won’t as hundreds of thousands #MarchForLife in DC."

BONUS: "Ghoul: Touré says ‘thank God for abortion’."

Wayward Dolphin Dies in Toxic Gowanus Canal in New York

The animal was probably dying before making its way up the canal, but there's some deep irony here that the death happened in progressive, nanny-statist New York.

At the New York Post, "Dolphin stuck in Gowanus Canal dies."

More details at the Wall Street Journal, "Wayward dolphin dies in polluted New York canal":

The canal was named a Superfund site in 2010, meaning the government can force polluters to pay for its restoration. For more than a century before, coal yards, chemical factories and fuel refineries on the canal's banks discharged everything from tar to purple ink into the water, earning it the local nickname The Lavender Lake for its unnatural hue.

While the dolphin was churning up sediment and mud, it's unclear whether that contributed to its death, DiGiovanni said.

The dolphin, which appeared to be about 7 feet long, likely entered the canal from the Atlantic Ocean through the Lower and Upper New York Bays and then the Gowanus Bay, which leads to the canal. It's about 20 miles from the canal to open ocean.

Experts don't know why the dolphin wandered into the canal, but in general that can happen when one gets sick or disoriented, DiGiovanni said.

It's not uncommon for sea creatures to stray into city waters, though they don't often swim away alive.

'Let's Have Hearings in Chicago...'

A great segment with Newt Gingrich debating CNN's Piers Morgan.

But see Milton Wolf, "What Newt should have said to Piers Morgan."

Women in Combat

I've seen a lot of conservatives attacking the policy on Twitter, and prominent figures like Lt. Col. Allen West have spoken out publicly against the Pentagon's move. In my classes I've spoken to a number of veterans and current service personnel on the policy as well. Privacy issues remain a problem for those serving with opposite sex personnel, and comparative strength between men and women comes up. But mostly the consensus is that women should be able to serve in front-line combat. I think it's about time, although the service branches should be flexible in adapting to gender differences, going with what works and what is comfortable for those on the ground.

Deadly Riots Erupt Across Egypt on Anniversary of Revolution

At the New York Times:

CAIRO — Violence erupted across Egypt on Friday as tens of thousands of demonstrators filled Tahrir Square to mark the second anniversary of the country’s revolution with an outpouring of rage against the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood. At least seven protesters and two police officers were killed in clashes in Suez, the state news media said.

More than 250 people were injured in similar battles around government buildings across the country, including the Interior Ministry, the presidential palace and the state television building in the capital. The deaths reported in the city of Suez took place near the provincial government headquarters, which protesters set on fire. Muslim Brotherhood offices were ransacked or burned in at least three cities, including Ismailia, the Suez Canal town where the group was founded 85 years ago.

In the most striking episode, masked men attacked the offices of the Brotherhood’s Web site in Cairo, upending furniture, littering the floor with broken glass and papers and smashing computers. Several witnesses said the assailants came in a large group to the third floor, carrying pellet guns and acid to burn through the padlock, and left with computer hard drives.

“They said, ‘We are here to destroy this place,’ ” said Ragab Abdel Hamid, 36, a printer who works for a liberal organization in the same building and tried to contain the attack. “It was planned.” Unknown assailants had blasted the metal doors to the same office with a fire bomb just days before, leaving flame marks, and the gates had been refortified.

The violence — from Alexandria in the north to Aswan in the south — dramatized the deepening chasm of animosity and distrust dividing the Brotherhood from its opponents. Although the Islamists of the Brotherhood have dominated elections since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, another broad segment of the population harbors deep suspicions of the group’s conservative ideology, hierarchical structure and insular ethos.

Those doubts were only redoubled last month when President Mohamed Morsi, with the Brotherhood’s political party, temporarily overruled the authority of the judiciary in order to ensure that his Islamist allies could push through an Islamist-backed Constitution to referendum over the objections of other parties and the Coptic Church.

“Egyptians will never let the Muslim Brotherhood rule — over our dead bodies,” said Heba Samir, 36, catching her breath by the Nile after fleeing tear gas outside the state television building.

More at that top link, and also, "Street-Level Views of Protests in Cairo to Commemorate 2 Years of Revolution."

Kate Hudson for Ann Taylor

I just watched "Almost Famous" on cable a couple of weeks back and I couldn't have been more impressed with Kate Hudson. I haven't payed that much attention to her before. I won't make that mistake again.

See London's Daily Mail, "Now Kate Hudson reveals she is DESIGNING for Ann Taylor as she strikes a pose for fashion brand's latest campaign."

Facebook Envy

At the Chicago Tribune, "Study finds rampant envy on Facebook":

Witnessing friends' vacations, love lives and work successes on Facebook can cause envy and trigger feelings of misery and loneliness, according to German researchers.

A study conducted by two German universities found rampant envy on Facebook, the world's largest social network, which has more than 1 billion users.

The researchers found that 1 in 3 people felt worse after visiting the site and more dissatisfied with their lives, while people who browsed without contributing were affected the most.

"We were surprised by how many people have a negative experience from Facebook, with envy leaving them feeling lonely, frustrated or angry," researcher Hanna Krasnova from the Institute of Information Systems at Humboldt University in Berlin told Reuters.

"From our observations, some of these people will then leave Facebook or at least reduce their use of the site," Krasnova said, adding to speculation that Facebook could be reaching a saturation point in some markets.

I just don't care for it that much. Twitter's way more fun.

Employee at Stafford Hospital Suspended After Pacifier Found Taped to Sick Baby's Mouth

At the Sun UK, "Hospital taped dummy to sick baby’s mouth: Scandal as worker suspended":

A BABY struggling to breathe had a dummy TAPED into his mouth at a scandal-hit hospital.

The pacifier is believed to have been fixed to premature twin Mason Fellows in intensive care to stop him crying.

His mum Sarah — who gave birth to Mason and brother Reece 2½ months early — said: “I’m so angry. He could have suffocated.”

A worker at Stafford Hospital has been suspended while cops investigate.
Mason's grandmother spoke of her horror last night.

Diane Denny, 69, said: “I am furious. How can a human being do this to an innocent, defenceless baby? To my mind, this is nothing less than torture.

“I have been bed-bound by a stroke — but if I ever get my hands on the person who did this they would wish they were never born.”

Four-month-old Mason had been taken to scandal-plagued Stafford Hospital with breathing problems. He had only just returned home after being treated with twin Reece at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where mum Sarah, 28, had kept a bedside vigil.

Diane, from Cannock, Staffs, said: “Sarah was visiting Mason after the latest problems but when she arrived she found police and nurses surrounding his cot.

“The officer told her a member of staff had alerted them after seeing a dummy taped across Mason’s mouth.

Continue reading.

And here's the Sun's "Page 3" since we reading some UK news.

Palmdale Woman Accused of Torturing Her Kids

At the Los Angeles Times, "Woman accused of torturing her children":

Neighbors say they hadn't known children lived in Ingrid Brewer's home at all. The boy and girl, 8 and 7, ran away because 'they were tired of being tied up and beaten,' a sheriff's official says.

Neighbors of a Palmdale woman charged with assaulting and torturing two of her children said Thursday that they never even realized she had kids.

The siblings — a boy, 8, and girl, 7 — did not play outside and were rarely seen, said Cynthia Otero, who runs a day care center at a home opposite the house in the 39000 block of Clear View Court where Ingrid Brewer is alleged to have mistreated the youngsters.

Otero said that when she recently spotted the children getting out of a car, she thought Brewer, 50, "might be baby-sitting."

So neighbors in the suburban cul-de-sac were the more shocked when word spread that Brewer was arrested on suspicion of crimes against her children, she said. Brewer is being charged with eight felony counts, including torture, assault with a deadly weapon and cruelty to a child.

According to authorities, Brewer reported the children missing Jan. 15, prompting a search by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Palmdale Station. The youngsters were found hours later hiding under a blanket near a parked car on a street close to their home. They were without winter clothes in 20-degree weather, authorities said.

Sgt. Brian Hudson, a spokesman for the sheriff's Special Victims Bureau, said the children told investigators they ran away because Brewer deprived them of food, locked them in separate bedrooms when she went to work each day, bound their hands behind their backs with zip ties and beat them with electrical cords and a hammer. The youngsters also said that when they were locked in the bedrooms and needed to use the bathroom, they instead had to use wastebaskets, Hudson said.

They fled because "they were tired of being tied up and beaten," Hudson said.

Sounds like Democrat family values to me.

Astonishing Photos of Sharp-Toothed Leopard Seal Devouring Penguin in Icy Waters Off the Antarctic Peninsula

Absolutely amazing photography, at London's Daily Mail, "Swimming into jaws of death: Incredible photos capture penguin's final moments as it is engulfed by leopard seal's gaping mouth."

I first saw this piece earlier today on my iPhone. I couldn't stop looking that first photo, at the size of that seal compared the little penguin. Survival of the fittest.

Obama's Recess Appointments Struck Down by U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

It's a Beltway wonkish kind of buzz surrounding this decision today, out of the Federal Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit. The Fox News All-Stars, at the clip, are largely deconstructing what in fact happened rather than providing a larger analytical interpretation (although Bret Baier points out repeatedly how significant a decision this was). And then see the New York Times' report, "Court Rejects Recess Appointments to Labor Board":

WASHINGTON — In a ruling that called into question nearly two centuries of presidential “recess” appointments that bypass the Senate confirmation process, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday that President Obama violated the Constitution when he installed three officials on the National Labor Relations Board a year ago.

The ruling was a blow to the administration and a victory for Mr. Obama’s Republican critics – and a handful of liberal ones – who had accused Mr. Obama of improperly claiming that he could make the appointments under his executive powers. The administration had argued that the president could decide that senators were really on a lengthy recess even though the Senate considered itself to be meeting in “pro forma” sessions.

But the court went beyond the narrow dispute over pro forma sessions and issued a far more sweeping ruling than expected. Legal specialists said its reasoning would virtually eliminate the recess appointment power for all future presidents when it has become increasingly difficult for presidents to win Senate confirmation for their nominees. In recent years, senators have more frequently balked at consenting to executive appointments. President George W. Bush made about 170 such appointments, including John R. Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations and two appeals court judges, William H. Pryor Jr. and Charles W. Pickering Sr.

“If this opinion stands, I think it will fundamentally alter the balance between the Senate and the president by limiting the president’s ability to keep offices filled,” said John P. Elwood, who handled recess appointment issues for the Justice Department during the Bush administration. “This is certainly a red-letter day in presidential appointment power.

And more from John P. Elwood, at Volokh, "DC Circuit Strikes Down President Obama’s Recess Appointments."

Guns Across America

Photos at the People's Cube, "Olga Does Guns Across America Rally in Atlanta, Jan.19, 2013."

Dianne Feinstein's Personal Mission to Ban Guns

Well, Feinstein's bill is pretty much dead in the water, but her case is demonstrative of so much epic hypocrisy on the gun-grabbing left. See: "Dianne Feinstein's Concealed Carry Permit."

More at Jammie Wearing Fools, "Oh Well: Ban on So-Called ‘Assault Weapons’ Lacks Democrat Votes to Pass Senate."

VIDEO: French Airstrikes in Mali

Cool.

Via Telegraph UK, "Mali airstrikes footage released by French military":

Pro-Life March on Washington

At Life News, "March for Life Proves the Next Generation Pro-Life on Abortion."

And at Twitchy, "Pro-life Generation: Youth turn out in huge numbers to march for the unborn."

Also, "‘Pro life and pro gay’: Gay March for Life participants threaten liberal media narrative."

Anti-abortion protesters fill the mall. One sign reads "I'm pro-life and pro-gay." Others, "I regret my abortion" twitter.com/ndiblasio/stat…
— Natalie DiBlasio (@ndiblasio) January 25, 2013

And check Jill Stanek's for updates.

Arrest of Robert Pimentel, Former Elementary School Teacher, Revives Debate on Firing Criminal Educators

Update on this utterly obscene travesty of decency.

At the Wall Street Journal, "L.A. Arrest Revives Effort to Ease Firing of Teachers":

LOS ANGELES—The arrest of a Los Angeles teacher suspected of molesting 20 children is jump-starting demand for legislation that would make it easier to fire California teachers accused of abusing students and deny them lifetime medical and dental benefits.

Robert Pimentel, who was arrested Wednesday, is entitled to collect a pension and lifetime medical benefits because he resigned last March before officials could fire him, amid allegations that he had improperly touched a student, said Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy.

Prosecutors charged Mr. Pimentel with abusing 12 girls between 2002 and 2012, according to a criminal complaint. Mr. Pimentel began teaching at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School in 2007, but he worked for the district on and off since 1974.

At his arraignment in a Long Beach, Calif., courthouse Thursday, Mr. Pimentel pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is being held on $12 million bail.

Mr. Pimentel's lawyer, Richard Knickerbocker, said his client denies all the allegations and didn't molest any students. He said the police "were basically soliciting people to make complaints," and that Mr. Pimentel's actions were misinterpreted. Mr. Knickerbocker said, in one instance, after a student "did a very fine job, he hugged her and kissed her on the forehead and they take that as something that's nefarious."

The case is likely to reignite the debate over a proposed state law that would streamline the process for firing teachers and school administrators who have engaged in sex, violence or drug offenses with students. The bill doesn't specifically address pensions or benefits, but a local district has the power to suspend medical and dental benefits if a teacher is fired, Mr. Deasy said.

The bill was introduced last year by Democratic state Sen. Alex Padilla as SB 1530, but was killed in a committee.

Mr. Padilla reintroduced the bill in December as SB 10. It would allow school districts to suspend without pay teachers accused of egregious conduct, and would allow local school boards to make the final decision about dismissal—as opposed to a three-person committee that includes two teachers and a judge.

A former principal who the district says failed to report the alleged abuse when she was first made aware of allegations against Mr. Pimentel four years ago is also entitled to her pension and benefits because she resigned before she could be fired.

"They get their pensions and benefits for life, and that absolutely needs to be addressed in the law," Mr. Deasy said.

Yeah, it's great that the arrest "revives" the debate, but I doubt much will change as long as CTA has Sacramento's in its pocket. Remember from last year, "California bill on teachers accused of sex crimes fails."

More at London's Daily Mail, "California teacher 'sexually abused TWENTY elementary students and one adult'."

Fontana School District Police Get Semi-Automatic Weapons (VIDEO)

I reported on this story yesterday, and it was covered by CBS Evening News last night, "SoCal School District Gets Semi-Automatic Guns."

'Wrong Girl'

Via Theo Spark:

Shocking Creative Artists Agency Party at Sundance Film Festival

This does sound pretty tasteless, at LAT, "A bawdy CAA party at Sundance shocks guests, including clients":

PARK CITY, Utah — Parties at the Sundance Film Festival typically feature maverick filmmakers, the best in nouvelle cowboy cuisine and plentiful pours of high-end spirits and Utah microbrews.

But the bash thrown by Hollywood's powerful Creative Artists Agency on Sunday night took festival revelry in an unexpectedly bawdy direction, as Sundance guests mingled with lingerie-clad women pretending to snort prop cocaine, erotic dancers outfitted with sex toys and an Alice in Wonderland look-alike performing a simulated sex act on a man in a rabbit costume.

For decades, CAA has carefully maintained a reputation as Hollywood's most meticulous talent firm, but CAA's leave-nothing-to-chance attention to decorum vanished in that Bacchanalian blizzard on the snowy streets of this mountain resort.

Some CAA clients found the party so shocking that they said it made them embarrassed to be associated with the agency.

"I said to my agent, 'Is this how you want to brand yourself? Pole dancers? Really?'" said Oscar-nominated writer-director Naomi Foner, who was at the festival with her film, "Very Good Girls."

And Foner, who is the mother of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, said she didn't see the sex toys.

"I would have been much more verbal if I had seen that," said the 66-year-old screenwriter of "Running on Empty."

The performers were part of a Las Vegas troupe, the Act LV, which was hired by the Mint Agency, CAA's party planner for the evening.

"The performance by Simon Hammerstein's The Act LV was more explicit than intended," CAA said in a statement. "We regret if this created an uncomfortable setting for any of our guests."

The party planners and CAA had wanted to "wow the crowd," said Jordan Fogle, the chief executive of the Mint Agency, a Toronto-based marketing and events firm.

The Act LV is known for delivering lewd thrills that toe the line between performance art and impropriety.

"They [CAA executives] were a little bit concerned," Fogle said following the public relations backlash to the party. "It's not the image they want to portray — a slutty, trashy image. It's the antithesis of what they are as a brand."

Perhaps they doth protest too much.

But continue reading.

BONUS: At the New York Post, "Greedy celebs flock to Sundance for the swag." Yeah, swag. Like "prop" cocaine and Alice-in-Wonderland sex toys. You can't make this stuff up.

EXTRA: The Wall Street Journal actually talks about the films from the film festival, "Filmmakers in a Frisky Mood."

Bobby Jindal's Speech to RNC's Winter Meeting 2013 (VIDEO)

Lots of folks are paying attention to Jindal's speech, so I gave it a listen. He's both attractive and articulate, although it's not so much that he's presenting new ideas as it is the overall package he pulls together, and his willingness to pull no punches on some of the party's emerging shibboleths, especially the notion that the GOP needs to move to the center. His main themes are that the Republicans are the party of growth and that Washington, D.C., isn't the center of the American political universe. Probably the biggest challenge for the party going forward is being able to effectively articulate its vision, and thus be able to appeal to new generations of Americans.

The last ten minutes are very good if you're pressed for time, or just skim the transcript, from Charlie Spiering, at the Washington Examiner, "Full text: Bobby Jindal's dynamite speech to the Republican National Committee in Charlotte" (via Memeorandum).

PREVIOUSLY: "GOP Leaders Search for New Strategy."

Benjamin Millepied Will Be New Director of Paris Opera Ballet

An interesting piece at the New York Times, "Paris Opera Ballet Picks Outsider for New Director." I like this part:

Mr. Millepied will inherit one of the world’s greatest classical troupes. It has 150 dancers, a complex hierarchy of ranking and promotions and the sizable weight of history: the company is effectively an outgrowth of the very beginnings of ballet at the court of Louis XIV. Its dancers almost all come from the Paris Opera Ballet school, and they rarely leave to dance elsewhere once they have achieved a coveted position in the company.

They are also civil servants, with long-term contracts that run until their mandatory retirement, with pension, at 42. And with the notable exception of Ms. Lefèvre, directors tend to drop like flies at the Paris Opera. Even Rudolf Nureyev lasted only six stormy, if productive, years in the 1980s, while directors like John Taras and Violette Verdy managed just a few seasons.

The byzantine politics, scale and bureaucracy of the Paris Opera are worlds away from Mr. Millepied’s professional experience. He has long put together touring groups, and even at the peak of his dancing career was an indefatigable organizer of small choreographic projects and festivals with musicians and artists. He is a prolific choreographer who has created works for major companies (including American Ballet Theater, City Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet), and his public profile is high, thanks partly to his work on the Darren Aronofsky film “Black Swan” and his subsequent marriage to its star, Natalie Portman.

But his new company, the L.A. Dance Project, which made its debut in September in Los Angeles, is small and experimental in orientation. (Mr. Millepied said he planned to continue running the L.A. Dance Project until he began his new job, when he would move to Paris with Ms. Portman and their son. He said he hoped the company, which has a budget guaranteed for the next three years, would continue.)

“It is always a gamble,” Ms. Lefèvre said in a telephone interview. “I imagine people had something to say when I arrived. But he has a real artistic sensibility and an admirable curiosity. He will have to find his own way between innovation and the house traditions.”

Asked about making the transition from project-based director and choreographer to director of an institution as vast as the Paris Opera, Mr. Millepied smiled.

“I am not entirely a foreigner,” he said. “I did grow up in France, and even though I didn’t go to the school or dance with the Paris Opera Ballet, I absorbed similar ideas in my training. I understand the scale of a big company. I danced for one for almost 20 years. I think it’s an asset that I have absorbed other traditions and had other experiences in the U.S., which I can bring to the dancers here.” He added, “But of course I have a lot to learn about this company and its very remarkable and specific qualities.”

And speaking of Ms. Portman, see London's Daily Mail, "Is Natalie Portman quitting Hollywood? Actress's husband Benjamin Millepied accepts prestigious ballet job in Paris."

'California did the impossible,' Brown says in State of the State

At the Los Angeles Times:

SACRAMENTO — Seeking to reclaim the state's identity as an innovator and engine of growth, Gov. Jerry Brown declared in a sweeping State of the State address that "California did the impossible" in emerging from financial crisis poised to lead again.

Brown outlined a vision for the state Thursday in remarks that were equal parts history lesson, lecture and rhetorical flourish. It includes major investment in water and rail systems, more robust trade and an education structure free of regulations that crush creativity.

Invoking California's "spectacular history of bold pioneers meeting every failure with even greater success," he asked a joint session of the Legislature to overhaul the way schools are funded, build a controversial bullet train and aggressively expand healthcare to millions of needy residents.

Californians "have a rendezvous with our own destiny," he said, in an allusion to Franklin Roosevelt's famous Depression-era speech.

At the same time, he sounded the familiar theme that the state should not try to live beyond its means. Drawing on the Book of Genesis, he recounted Pharaoh's dreams of well-fed cows eaten by starving cows — a warning that famine can follow plenty.

"Fiscal discipline is not the enemy of our good intentions but the basis for realizing them," he told an Assembly chamber packed with legislators, state Supreme Court justices and other dignitaries who applauded throughout the 24-minute speech.

Brown plans to take his message to Washington, D.C., next month, when he will attend a meeting of the National Governors Assn., and to China in April, when he leads a state delegation to christen California's new trade office there.

The governor is at a high point in his long political career, presiding over a Capitol now entirely controlled by his Democratic Party and having convinced voters that higher taxes would restore the state's financial footing.

He will have more influence over lawmakers than any governor has had in years. He solved for them their most immediate problem: an out-of-whack budget that has constrained their ambitions and forced them to cut deeply into programs their constituents value.

But despite Brown's proclamations that California no longer has a deficit, the state faces long-term financial problems that could stymie his agenda.

There's video at that top link, and at C-SPAN, "Gov. Brown (D-CA) Delivers State of the State."

I think the governor's getting a little cocky, but we'll see. Maybe California's turning a corner. How much things might improve remains to be seen. But no doubt any improvement will be welcomed.

(I'm especially interested to see what happens in public education, however. Lord knows that sector has infinite room for improvement.)

GOP Leaders Search for New Strategy

At the Wall Street Journal, "Republican Leaders Search for New, Winning Strategy."

And then see the Washington Post, "Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal: GOP must stop being 'stupid party'," and "Bobby Jindal speaking truth to GOP power."

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blur to Headline Coachella

At the Los Angles Times, "Coachella 2013: Blur, Phoenix, Red Hot Chili Peppers to headline."

Held at the Empire Polo Grounds since its 1999 inception, Coachella has a reputation for presenting a heavily curated lineup that connects the dots among hitmakers, underground artists and those on the comeback trail, all within an unique desert setting that’s increasingly becoming more resort-like, with upscale options to match (at the highest end of the VIP configuration.

Israel's New Power Broker

At the New York Times, "The Making of Yair Lapid":

TEL AVIV — They pitched tents along Rothschild Boulevard and took to the streets in unprecedented numbers, hundreds of thousands demonstrating against the rising costs of gas, apartments, even cottage cheese.

Back on the genteel boulevard on Wednesday, many of those middle-class protesters from 2011 said they had taken their grievances to the ballot box the day before, helping to catapult Yair Lapid, a suave, handsome journalist-turned-populist-politician, into Israel’s newest power broker.

“He spoke out the strongest about how everything in this country is upside down,” said Elad Shoshan, 28, who works with computers and rents an apartment on a cheaper street off the boulevard.

Echoing his candidate’s mantra, Roni Klein, 52, an accountant, said, “My wife and I work, and still it is very hard for us to finish the month.”

Mr. Lapid’s new, centrist Yesh Atid party shocked the political establishment by winning 19 of Parliament’s 120 seats, becoming Israel’s second-largest faction and a crucial partner for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relatively poor showing left him scrambling to form a stable coalition.

While Mr. Netanyahu remains all but assured of serving a third term — Mr. Lapid said Wednesday that he would not unite with Arab lawmakers to stop him — Yesh Atid’s ascendance promises to shift the government’s focus to pocketbook concerns despite the pressing foreign policy issues Israel faces.

Mr. Lapid’s campaign hardly challenged Mr. Netanyahu’s policies on the Iranian nuclear threat, the tumult in the Arab world or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This was the first election in memory in which such existential security issues were not emphasized, as a growing majority of Israelis see them as too tough to tackle. Even Mr. Netanyahu barely spoke about Iran, his raison d’être.

Instead, voters and analysts alike said Mr. Lapid had captured the hearts of Israel’s silent majority with his personal charm and a positive, inclusive message that harnessed the everyday frustrations that fueled the huge social justice protests in 2011.

RTWT.

And see the Times of Israel, "Netanyahu offers Lapid Foreign or Finance Ministry."

Icy Death: David Cox Died After His Car Plunged Into Water on School Run

These winter car-crash deaths are too much.

At Mirror UK, "Horror on the school run: Dad drowns after BOTH family's cars crash into icy river":

His wife managed to swim to the bank with their daughter and son and the three of them tried valiantly to free him but he drowned.

A dad drowned yesterday after his car plunged into an icy river - moments before his wife's vehicle did the same.

Last night a neighbour told of her desperate bid to free trapped dad David Cox from his submerged car which crashed during the school run.

Victoria Bamber waded stomach high through the water to reach the stricken dad-of-two who had skidded off a snow covered road just minutes before his wife Ruth’s 4x4 crashed at the same spot, jamming his door shut.

Ruth, 39, managed to swim to the bank with their 11-year-old daughter Tess and son Ioan, nine.

The three of them tried valiantly to free him but he drowned.

Mum-of-three Victoria said the first she knew of the tragedy was when frantic Ioan banged on her door after running three quarters of a mile from the crash scene to his home to raise the alarm because there was no mobile phone signal in the area.

The 32-year-old added: “He was running down the lane shouting for help.

"He came banging on the door saying, ‘There’s been an accident, daddy is trapped’.

“He said that both cars had gone into the water.”

As she raced to the scene Victoria spotted Tess who was running towards the house, for a second time.

When she arrived at the crash site, both cars were in the water but she could only see one, which was wedged against the other, trapping David.

Continue reading.

New York Post: Hillary Clinton Explodes at Benghazi Hearing

The Post made some hay with Hillary's testimony.

See, "Feisty Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fires back at Congress in Benghazi hearing." And also a commentary from John Podhoretz, "Clinton’s exasperation can’t cover the fact that administration bumbled in pursuit of terrorists."

Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Bandeau

Some Candice Swanepoel overnight.

Obama's Spending Will Require Massive Tax Hikes on the Middle Class

It's harsh, but at some level I hope people really get socked and feel it. Maybe that's what it will take to wake people the f-k up.

At IBD, "Now They Tell Us: Obama's Tax Promises Were Bogus":

Remember all those mainstream news reports before the election about how President Obama's expansive spending plans would require massive tax hikes on everyone, not just millionaires and billionaires? Neither do we.

But somehow after the election, reporters are finally admitting that Obama's budget numbers simply don't add up and that new taxes on the middle class — including a European-style value added tax — are "inevitable."

New York Times columnist Eduardo Porter, for example, wrote this week that the $620 billion in tax hikes on the rich that Obama secured as part of the fiscal-cliff deal are "hardly enough to stabilize the nation's debt in the next 10 years, let alone deal with the long-term budget deficit."

Fortune senior editor-at-large Shawn Tully wrote last week how "steep deficits and mountainous debt will rise even after the new revenue is counted."

An article on CNBC's website in early January noted that the fiscal-cliff deal "merely masks the bleak long-term outlook for the country."

These stories go on to say that there's no way Obama can finance his ambitious plans without raising taxes on everyone.

The Financial Times ran a piece shortly after Obama signed the fiscal-cliff deal noting "that maintaining a basic welfare state . .. implies higher taxes for the middle class as well as for the rich."

Targeting The Middle

CNN reported that while "President Obama wants to balance spending cuts with tax increases ... experts say he can't do that without hitting the middle class."
That story quotes Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert Bixby saying that "it's hard to make the numbers work" if you exempt "the middle class from any pain."
Hmm.

As we recall, Obama endlessly promised the country that he could spend — sorry, "invest" — more on roads and education while cutting the deficit simply by trimming some fat out of government programs and asking "millionaires and billionaires to pay just a little bit more."

No one in the mainstream press seriously challenged Obama on this at the time, even though it was painfully obvious to anyone who looked at the budget forecasts that Obama was peddling fiscal snake oil.

Continue reading.

Here's that Eduardo Porter piece, from the New York Times, "Higher Taxes on Everyone Could Ease Spending Cuts."

I'm going to read around at some of those additional reports cited by IBD. The Obama campaign was one big lie after another. My favorite? "Al Qaeda has been decimated!"

Jihadists' Bid for Sharia in Mali

This is a great piece, running surprisingly at the New York Times' op-ed page, from Karima Bennoune, "The Taliban of Timbuktu":

BEFORE the recent French intervention in Mali began, 412,000 people had already left their homes in the country’s north, fleeing torture, summary executions, recruitment of child soldiers and sexual violence against women at the hands of fundamentalist militants. Late last year, in Algeria and southern Mali, I interviewed dozens of Malians from the north, including many who had recently fled. Their testimonies confirmed the horrors that radical Islamists, self-proclaimed warriors of God, have inflicted on their communities.

First, the fundamentalists banned music in a country with one of the richest musical traditions in the world. Last July, they stoned an unmarried couple for adultery. The woman, a mother of two, had been buried up to her waist in a hole before a group of men pelted her to death with rocks. And in October the Islamist occupiers began compiling lists of unmarried mothers.

Even holy places are not safe. These self-styled “defenders of the faith” demolished the tombs of local Sufi saints in the fabled city of Timbuktu. The armed groups also reportedly destroyed many churches in the north, where displaced members of the small Christian minority told me they had previously felt entirely accepted. Such Qaeda-style tactics, and the religious extremism that demands them, are completely alien to the mainstream of Malian Islam, which is known for its tradition of tolerance.

That openness is exactly what the jihadists seek to crush. “The fact that we are building a new country on the base of Shariah is just something the people living here will have to accept,” the Islamist police commissioner in the town of Gao said last August. Until military action began this month, local citizens were on their own in resisting the imposition of Shariah — and they fought back valiantly. A radio journalist was severely beaten by Islamist gunmen after speaking on the radio against amputations. Women marched through the streets of Timbuktu against Islamist diktats on veiling until gunfire ended their protest.

Continue reading.

And linked at the piece is this report from the United Nations Security Council, FWIW, "Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Mali."

On Assault Weapons Ban, Senate Democrats Must Reckon With Angry Gun-Owning Constituents

I doubt Senator Feinstein's got a snowball's chance of getting her gun-grabbing bill passed, and that's not even considering her own Democrat colleagues in the Senate. The House will shut down the legislative push to gut the Second Amendment. There'll be hell to pay if they don't.

Here's the clip below of Feinstein's press conference this morning, and see the New York Times, "Democrats in Senate Confront Doubts at Home on Gun Laws":

BECKLEY, W.Va. — Talk of stricter gun control has stirred up a lot of unease here, a place where hunters vie for top prize (a 26-inch LED television) in the Big Buck Photo Contest, and ads for a gun-simulator game ask, “Feel like shooting something today?”

But before Senator Joe Manchin III invited a group of 15 businessmen and community leaders to lunch last week to discuss the topic, he had only a vague idea of how anxious many of his supporters were.

“How many of you all believe that there is a movement to take away the Second Amendment?” he asked.

About half the hands in the room went up.

Despite his best attempts to reassure them — “I see no movement, no talk, no bills, no nothing” — they remained skeptical. “We give up our rights one piece at a time,” a banker named Charlie Houck told the senator.

If there is a path to new gun laws, it has to come through West Virginia and a dozen other states with Democratic senators like Mr. Manchin who are confronting galvanized constituencies that view any effort to tighten gun laws as an infringement.

As Congress considers what, if any, laws to change, Mr. Manchin has become a barometer among his colleagues, testing just how far they might be able to go without angering voters.

On Thursday a group of Democratic senators led by Dianne Feinstein of California plans to introduce a bill that would outlaw more than 100 different assault weapons, setting up what promises to be a fraught and divisive debate over gun control in Congress in the coming weeks. But a number of centrist lawmakers like Mr. Manchin have already thrown the measure’s fate into question, saying that all they are willing to support for now is a stronger background check system.

As a hunter with an A rating from the National Rifle Association, Mr. Manchin gave advocates for new weapons laws reason for optimism after he said last month that gun firepower and magazine capacity might need to be limited.

But now, Mr. Manchin, who affirmed his support for gun rights by running a campaign commercial in 2010 showing him firing a rifle into an environmental bill, says he is not so sure. One of his local offices has been picketed, and even some of his most thoughtful supporters are cautioning him that stronger background checks are about all the gun control they can stomach.

More at that top link, and at the Daily Caller, "Feinstein calls for banning more than 150 types of firearms during dramatic press conference" (via Memeorandum and Protein Wisdom).

I'll have more on this ...

Classic French Toast at Bravo Burgers

I had breakfast with my wife on Tuesday, when I was out running errands most of the day. Bravo Burgers serves a very delicious breakfast, with good coffee and a nice restaurant ambiance. And my wife loves it because she can get in and out of there in a half-an-hour and be back on the job. I recommend it!

Jessica Alba Joins Axis of Fedora!

Actually, it's not just Ms. Alba. It's a roster of fedora hotties.

At London's Daily Mail, "Felt fedora hats are this week's celebrity must-have: Kate Moss, Catherine Zeta Jones, Myleene Klass and Jessica Alba are just some of the headgear's famous fans."

Robert Stacy McCain, Bob Belvedere, and Da Tech Guy et al., have some hot competition.

Cyber-Terrorist Group WikiLeaks Alleges Working Relationship With the Late Criminal Hacker Aaron Swartz

At All Things Digital, "WikiLeaks Alleges Relationship With Web Activist Aaron Swartz."

RELATED: At London's Daily Mail, "Members of hacking group Anonymous jailed for denial of service attacks on Visa, MasterCard and PayPal websites."
Freakin' criminals, the lot of them.

Kitty Lea Baby Oil Screencaps

This is pretty amazing, at Egotastic!, "BY POPULAR DEMAND: Kitty Lea Slippery When Wet and Oiled Down (VIDEO)."

BONUS: "Kitty Lea Shows All But Her Kitty In Hot New Front Magazine Photoshoot (VIDEO)."

These are NSFW.

Oak Harbor Councilman Stomps Feets, Walks Out of Meeting in Protest of Veteran Packing Heat With Concealed Carry Permit

This is an example of democracy in action and in this case --- and note that Oak Harbor is on Whidbey Island off of far-left Seattle, Washington --- the idiot progressive councilman was rebuke, embarrassed, and stomped out like a child.

Via iOWNTHEWORLD, "Look at this sack of pansysh*t – Councilman walks out of meeting because a trained war veteran has a CCW."

And kudos to Mayor Scott Dudley for his conciliatory and constitutionally-sound comments at the rest of the meeting.

Muslims Protest Lego Over 'Racist' Star Wars Toy

You can't make this up.

At London's Daily Mail, "Lego accused of racism by Turkish community who say toy is based on a mosque."

More at Pamela's, "#MYJIHAD IN AUSTRIA: MUSLIMS DEFAME LEGO WITH ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM OVER STAR WARS TOY SET." And at BNI, "Oh, NOES! Outraged Muslims demand apology from 'LEGO' and threaten lawsuit for offending the wittle fweewings of Turkish Muslims."

New York's Gun Confiscation Agenda

Michelle's was on fire on last night's Hannity:

More here: "Assemblyman Lists Gun Confiscation Agenda of N.Y. Democrats."

The National Debt Is Unfair to the Next Generation

Commentary from the lovely Michelle Fields, via Instapundit:

Kate Upton Mercedes-Benz Controversy

Nah, that's not so controversial.

At the Hollywood Reporter, "Kate Upton's Steamy Mercedes-Benz Ad Draws Controversy."

Hat Tip: Theo Spark, "Kate Upton Washes the All-New Mercedes-Benz CLA in Slow Motion."

Mante Te'o's Hoax 'Girlfriend' Speaks Out

It's Diane O'Meara, in an interview with Anderson Cooper from last night:

And at London's Daily Mail, "'He's been stalking my Facebook and stealing my photos': Face behind Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend speaks out for first time - and slams 'hoaxer' over 'identity theft'."

Fontana School Police Add 'Military-Style' Rifles, Anti-Gun Board Member Freaks Out

Seriously, when police can't even arm themselves with top-level firepower, you know it's not about keeping "assault weapons" out of the hands of criminals, etc. It's about the complete and total unconstitutional disarming of society.

Unreal, at the Los Angeles Times, "Fontana school police are armed with semiautomatic rifles":

The recent purchase of the Colt rifles draws criticism and sparks an effort to ban such weapons on school campuses.

Police officers in the Fontana Unified School District were armed recently with semiautomatic rifles, drawing sharp criticism and sparking an effort to ban such weapons on school campuses.

The Colt military-style rifles, which cost about $1,000 each, are kept in safes when officers are on campus and will be used only in "extreme emergency cases" like the massacre in Newtown, Conn., Supt. Cali Olsen-Binks said.

The district purchased the rifles in October and received them in December, before the tragedy in Newtown, where a gunman killed 26 people — 20 of them children — at an elementary school. The shooting sparked debate on whether armed school guards could prevent these types of tragedies.

The purchase was not spurred by a specific event, Fontana Unified School District police Chief Billy Green said. The rifles are designed to increase shooting accuracy and provide the 14 officers with more effective power against assailants wearing body armor, Green said, adding that those capabilities are necessary for officers to stop a well-armed gunman.

"If you know of a better way to stop someone on campus that's killing children or staff members with a rifle, I'd like to hear it," he said. "I don't think it's best to send my people in to stop them with just handguns."

"I hope we would never have to use it," Green said. "But if we do, I'd like them to be prepared."

Several other school districts have similar weapons but policies differ on whether they are brought on campus or left in patrol car trunks or administration buildings.

Fontana school police bought the guns for about $14,000, which fell below the threshold that requires school board approval. School board members were not informed until after the purchase.

Board member Leticia Garcia said the police chief and superintendent should have alerted the five-member board and held a public hearing on the issue. She said arming officers with such weapons is a policy matter and should have been decided by the entire school district community, especially in light of the ongoing debate around the country.

Garcia, whose son attends Fontana High School, said she is working with local state legislators to draft a bill that would keep school police departments from taking these types of weapons onto campuses.

"We're turning our schools into a militarized zone," she said.

But the Fontana school superintendent said she believes it's a necessary evil to have the guns on campus to keep the 40,000-plus students and staff members safe. Officers have gone through training for the weapons, Olsen-Binks said.

"It balances providing that community-oriented openness at schools without compromising any kind of security for students and employees," she said.

More at that top link.

Pentagon to Open Combat Roles to Women

At the Wall Street Journal, "Combat Ban for Women to End":

The Pentagon is dropping the last vestiges of rules barring American women from serving in combat, paving the way for the largest expansion ever of their role on the front lines.

Women in the military already are allowed to serve on most Navy ships, as combat pilots and in hundreds of support jobs, including those in war zones. But they have been historically excluded from direct combat roles, by federal law in earlier times and more recently by military policy.

That will change Thursday when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta rescinds the 1994 Pentagon policy that bans women, who now make up about 14% of active-duty military personnel, from combat. The new measure will allow women to serve in combat roles—but, importantly, allow the military services to establish exceptions.

The change is an acknowledgment that women on modern battlefields already are in the fight—152 women have died in Iraq and Afghanistan—and that military rules need to be updated to reflect realities of the current-day war zones. At the same time, the shift establishes a process that could take years to complete.

The new policy should allow women to serve alongside infantry troops as battlefield medics, special-operations pilots and in other dangerous roles, officials said. But officials are divided about whether women will ultimately serve as infantry troops or in elite special-operations units. Some military officials, citing the difficulty of completing infantry training courses, believe that most women would be unable to meet the physical requirements.

Army Staff Sgt. Jennifer Hunt, who was injured in 2007 by a roadside bomb in Iraq, said in an interview Wednesday that the current ban on women in combat is "a legal fiction." She said women have long faced the same front-line dangers from militants and improvised explosive devises as men.

"Right before the IED went off, it didn't ask me how many push-ups or sit-ups I could do," said Ms. Hunt, one of the women who filed a lawsuit last year to challenge the ban. "Right now the women who are serving are being engaged in combat, so their physical restrictions aren't a barrier."

And see Ryan Smith, "The Reality That Awaits Women in Combat."

At the clip above, from a couple of weeks ago, is Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, an organization that opposes women serving in direct front-line combat.

Baby Dies After SUV Falls Through Thin Ice at Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota

Being from California, I just didn't understand this story at first. Did the SUV careen over the road? Did it go over the side of a bridge and crash down into the icy water? No. It turns out that people drive on the frozen lake, and in this case, the baby's father drove on the ice despite warnings from local law enforcement of very dangerous (thin ice) conditions.

At London's Daily Mail, "Baby girl drowns strapped in her car-seat after father's SUV plummets through known thin ice spot on frozen Minnesota lake."

God rest that poor baby's soul. I can't believe something like this is even possible.

I'm Sure Everything Will Be All Better With More Diversity Training and Seminars on Institutional Racism

From KARE 11 TV Minneapolis, "Washburn High School racial incident prompts discussions with parents."

MINNEAPOLIS - Hundreds packed the auditorium at Washburn High School Wednesday night for a community meeting after students allegedly hung a black-skinned baby doll by its neck in the school hallway two weeks ago.

"I was embarrassed, humiliated, outraged, angry that this would happen at our diverse and rich school," Principal Carl Markham-Cousins told the crowd.

She began the meeting that was designed for people to share their thoughts and concerns about what happened.

Students were allowed to talk first. Many spoke about how they loved their school and that the actions of a few did not represent the many.

Some students wanted an apology from those involved.

"Parents please talk to your kids and make sure that it doesn't happen again," said one student who stood up to the microphone.

The school says the four students involved were disciplined, but citing privacy laws, refused to be more specific.

"I have spoken with all of those students and all of those parents and I'll tell you right now, they are full of remorse," said Markham-Cousins.

Some parents in the audience wanted to know why they weren't notified of the incident right away, instead of getting a notice days later.

The school apologized saying it was gathering facts about what happened and did try to send an email but there were technical problems delaying the message.

A number of community members demanded more be taught about African-American history in the classroom, not just here but in the Minneapolis School District, something the superintendent says is already taking place.

"We've already began to look at our social studies standards to see where we can do a better job...in our schools," said Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson.

Right.

Let's beef up the social studies curriculum. That and a few diversity retreats ought to do it.

Idiots. Somebody needs to go out and kick some racist redneck ass. All the "social studies" training in the world won't do jack. My god. Lynching a black baby in effigy, and on Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday? Obviously President Barack Hussein's really bringing this country together.

Hillary Clinton 'Lost Her Cool When One Senator Pressed Her Closely to Account for the False Story That Had Been Put Out in the Days Following the Attack...'

I like the way Jonathan Tobin strikes it up at this essay, "“What Difference Does it Make?” Plenty":

As Seth noted earlier, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her long-awaited congressional testimony about Benghazi with excuses and an attempt to misdirect the public about what the administration knew about the incident and when it knew it. But while Clinton happily listened to fawning praise from the Democratic members of the Senate committee this morning, she lost her cool when one senator pressed her closely to account for the false story that had been put out in the days following the attack.

Senator Ron Johnson pointed out that accurate information about the assault that would have easily corrected the misconception, promoted by United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice and others, that the attack was merely a protest about a film rather than a terrorist attack was available at the time. Clinton not only refused to answer that question in a straightforward matter, but snapped, “What difference does it make?” about the whole matter of the false account. She then attempted to insinuate that there was still some doubt about the matter.

The answer to her question is clear. An administration that sought, for political purposes, to give the American people the idea that al-Qaeda had been “decimated” and was effectively out of commission had a clear motive during a presidential campaign to mislead the public about Benghazi. The fact that questions are still unanswered about this crime and that Clinton and President Obama seem more interested in burying this story along with the four Americans that died is an outrage that won’t be forgotten...

Indeed.

Continue reading.

BONUS: From James Taranto at WSJ, "'What Difference Does It Make?'":

Hillary Clinton is ending her tenure as secretary of state in fiery fashion. "You really get the sense that [Mrs.] Clinton barely managed to restrain herself from dropping an F-bomb there," remarks New York magazine's Dan Amira. He refers to an exchange between the secretary and Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing this morning.

No doubt.

Union Membership in U.S. Fell to 70-Year Low Last Year

At the New York Times, "Share of the Work Force in a Union Falls to a 97-Year Low, 11.3%":

The long decline in the number of American workers belonging to labor unions accelerated sharply last year, according to data reported on Wednesday, sending the unionization rate to its lowest level in close to a century.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the total number of union members fell by 400,000 last year, to 14.3 million, even though the nation’s overall employment rose by 2.4 million. The percentage of workers in unions fell to 11.3 percent, down from 11.8 percent in 2011, the bureau found in its annual report on union membership. That brought unionization to its lowest level since 1916, when it was 11.2 percent, according to a study by two Rutgers economists, Leo Troy and Neil Sheflin.

Labor specialists cited several reasons for the steep one-year decline in union membership. Among the factors were new laws that rolled back the power of unions in Wisconsin, Indiana and other states, the continued expansion by manufacturers like Boeing and Volkswagen in nonunion states and the growth of sectors like retail and restaurants, where unions have little presence.

“These numbers are very discouraging for labor unions,” said Gary N. Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. “It’s a time for unions to stop being clever about excuses for why membership is declining, and it’s time to figure out how to devise appeals to the workers out there.”

Labor unions have boasted of their political successes in helping re-elect President Obama and in helping Democrats pick up seats in Congress.

But the figures announced by the bureau point to grave problems for the future of organized labor. The portion of private sector workers in unions fell to just 6.6 percent last year, from 6.9 percent in 2011, causing some labor specialists to question whether private sector unions were sinking toward irrelevance. Private sector union membership peaked at around 35 percent in the 1950s.

Continue reading.

Also at Vodkapundit, "Feeling the Squeeze."

Elizabeth Scalia Responds to Mary Elizabeth Williams

Mary Elizabeth Williams, in an essay at Salon, attacked conservative pro-life activists as "diabolical" for appropriating the slogan "life" as the central symbol of the anti-abortion narrative. Yeah. I know. Being pro-life AND winning the debate is indeed diabolical if you're a leftist. But that's just the beginning of this morally inverted pro-abortion screed.

Elizabeth Scalia responds to Williams at The Anchoress, "“Abortion Ends Life? So What?” Here be Monsters. – UPDATED":

Williams is making precisely the utilitarian argument made by every totalitarian ideology that ever slaughtered people by the millions, because they were the wrong sorts of people, or were useless eaters, or they could not contribute to the advancement of society, or their quality of life just seemed too dubious to those who did not know and love them. Immediately after expressing concern that “liberals” might look like monsters, she utters the monster’s line: you have no rights except those I give you.

RTWT.

And click through at the post for Williams' essay. Diabolical is just about right.

What Difference Does It Make?

I am watching the testimony today on Capitol Hill, and it's objectively not the case that "Madame Secretary" is "wiping the floor with the Republicans who are trying to take her down." But then, as we saw yesterday, progressives can only win debates by successful doublespeak and historical revisionism. Here's Steve M's early attempts to get it done for the Hillary and Democrats on the Benghazi clusterf-k, "THE BREITBART/O'KEEFE-IZATION OF AMERICAN POLITICS, PART MCMLXXVII":

Now, sometimes these things never attain any more than shibboleth status -- they're secret codewords right-wingers use whenever they talk about a particular Antichrist of theirs. This will definitely attain that status -- years from now, when Hillary publishes her memoirs or announces a run for president, folks on winger message boards will write "What difference does it make?" and not even bother to put the phrase in context, because all the like-minded readers will just know.

But sometimes these things do more damage. Sometimes they really do color how a story is covered outside the right-wing bubble. Will that happen this time? Will the wingers be able to turn this decontextualized soundbite into a deceptive sign of Secretary Clinton's indifference?

This is an Andrew Breitbart/James O'Keefe tactic, but its use is not limited to O'Keefe and the carriers of the Breitbart torch -- this is a mainstream GOP tactic. The entire party and all its coat-holders are on board.

I can't believe how stupid this is. It won't be just the "deranged" right-wing Breitbart/O'Keefe-bots trotting out the "what difference does it make?" soundbite all night. Every single network will air it because it's a Michael Kinsley gaffe. Hillary amits that the White House didn't give a shit about the truth. Their goal was to deflect the public from the truth, and they did so for weeks. It makes all the difference in the world what version of events plays in the public mind. Nothing I've seen of Hillary's testimony discredits the criticism that the White House politicized its response to the attack. She even threw Ambassador Susan Rice under the bus. Hillary's covering her ass while spinning a bunch of transparency bullshit to evade the real truth of it all: the lives of our personnel were less important than getting this president reelected. And that's why the left has pooh-poohed this entire debacle since September 11. All of the administration's foreign and national security policies have been about amassing and retaining power. From appeasing the Muslim world to grandstanding on human rights to creating a kill list to liquidate those who would expose Barack Hussein's anti-terror hypocrisies, this administration has been a disaster for U.S. interests in the world and for the lives of Americans at home and abroad. That's what difference it makes. At least folks like the late Andrew Breitbart, and James O'Keefe who continues his work, have been willing to point it out.

More from Robert Stacy McCain, "Liberal Blogger: ‘How Dare You Smear Hillary by Quoting Her Accurately!’" (via Memeorandum).

PHOTOSHOP CREDIT: Geri Hendricks on Twitter.

PREVIOUSLY:

* "'I take responsibility ... I put my arms around the wives left to raise their children ...'"

* "John McCain Questions Hillary Clinton on Benghazi."

* "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Testimony Before House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee."

'I take responsibility ... I put my arms around the wives left to raise their children ...'

London's Daily Mail has a big write-up, "Tearful Hillary Clinton chokes up as she testifies before Congress over Benghazi attack that killed U.S. ambassador."

The House testimony just started, live at CNN.

I'll be updating...

PREVIOUSLY:

* "John McCain Questions Hillary Clinton on Benghazi."

* "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Testimony Before House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee."

Nigella Lawson Heats Up 'The Taste'!

I tweeted with glee last night, at 9:05pm, actually:

Watching @nigella_lawson on @thetasteabc right now. Oh là là!! #Food @rsmccain
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 23, 2013

And now here's this at London's Daily Mail, "Nigella Lawson unleashes her feminine charms while flirting her way through new US cookery show The Taste."

She's a hottie, as I posted previously, "Charles Saatchi Wife Nigella Lawson 'Has Seduced Millions of Television Viewers with Her Culinary skills' and 'Flirtatious Camera Manner'."

ADDED: Here's a little teaser Q&A with Nigella and Anthony Bourdain, at ABC's YouTube channel.

It's a great show. I'll be watching through the season. I love Nigella's accent. Very classy.