Dow Jones Tanks

At the Wall Street Journal, "Dow Sinks 353.87":

Stocks fell to their biggest-one day slide of the year as anxiety mounted over the potential for the Federal Reserve to pull back its stimulus efforts. Investors also fretted about a slowdown in the Chinese economy.

Worries about the Fed rattled across other markets, with gold dropping and yields on Treasury bonds marching to nearly two-year highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 353.87 points, or 2.3%, to 14758.32, the biggest percentage drop since November 2012 for the blue chips and the largest point drop since November 2011.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost 40.74 points, or 2.5%, to 1588.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 78.57 points, or 2.3%, to 3364.63.

Stocks began their decline at the opening bell, extending losses first kicked off after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated Wednesday that the central bank could start winding down its $85-billion-a-month asset-purchase program later this year.

Traders said the selling Thursday was being led by short-term investors such as hedge funds and accelerated when the S&P 500 broke through the 1600 level. Some pointed to a single account selling a large number of futures contracts during the afternoon as fueling the decline. Others pointed to heavier-than-usual volume in exchange-traded funds as reflecting aggressive trading by hedge funds.

"Every fast-money [investor] wants out, and we're not seeing any [longer-term] funds saying 'we're buying this dip,' " said Matthew Cheslock, a trader with brokerage firm Virtu Financial.

Despite the upbeat view for the economy, the prospect of the Fed curtailing the bond-buying efforts that have helped the Dow and S&P 500 hit records this year has sent jitters through the market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, reached 2.419%, its highest since August 2011.

Home builders were slammed over concerns that rising bond yields would translate into higher financing rates for buyers. PulteGroup, PHM -9.10% D.R. Horton DHI -9.09% and Lennar LEN -7.69% slumped. All 10 of the S&P 500's sectors fell more than 2%, and every Dow industrial traded in the red.

Gold was hit hard, as its appeal as a hedge against inflation and currency weakness faded. Gold slid 6.4%, to settle at $1,285.90 a troy ounce, dipping below $1,300 for the first time since September 2010.

Continue reading.

Also at LAT, "Fed's mixed messages roil markets," and Business Week, "Gold Walloped (Along With Pretty Much Everything Else)."

Some Quick Afternoon Rule 5

At Egotastic!, "Sofia Vergara Cleavetastic Red Carpet Performance Brings Hope to Mankind."

And a video from TMZ, "Kate Upton — SUPER TOPLESS ... On a Horse." And, "Kate Upton’s Bustiest Moments."

More later...

About Those 32 Revealing Photos of New York City in the 1970s

Louise Mensch tweets:

Buzzfeed calls these photos of #NYC in the 70s "stunning". I say thank God for Reagan and the Republicans #tcot http://t.co/bsUzanJ5YZ

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) June 20, 2013

Deaf Three-Year-Old Grayson Clamp Hears for First Time

I love this story.

I tweeted it here, here, and here.

Saw it this morning at CBS News, "Deaf boy with auditory brain stem implant stunned after hearing dad for first time."

UPDATE: At NBC News, "Deaf boy, 3, hears father's voice for the first time":

Grayson was born without cochlear nerves, the “bridge” that carries auditory information from the inner ear to the brain. He’s now the among the first children in the U.S. to receive an auditory brainstem implant in a surgery done at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., led by UNC head and neck surgeon Dr. Craig Buchman.

The device is already being used in adults, but is now being tested in children at UNC as part of an FDA-approved trial. It’s similar to a cochlear implant, but instead of sending electrical stimulation to the cochlea, the electrodes are placed on the brainstem itself. Brain surgery is required to implant the device.

"Our hope is, because we're putting it into a young child, that their brain is plastic enough that they'll be able to take the information and run with it," Buchman told NBCNews.com.

Buchman says Grayson was a great candidate for the implant because other than his hearing, he's a healthy kid. Plus, Buchman adds, "he has great parents who were completely committed to the process -- the entire surgical process, the educational process. We really wanted to provide it to a child who had all the potential to do great."

And so far, Grayson really is doing great, his father says.

“Never one time did he show any fear about that new sensation,” says Clamp. He and his wife, Nicole, adopted Grayson in 2010; the couple also has a biological son, Ethan, who is 2. “It was a lot more excitement. And he’s really curious to begin with.” And he’s discovered a new love: music.

“He claps his hands, he bobs his head. At his daycare, they have a stereo, and he loves to run over and turn it on,” Clamp says.

Grayson is now working with a speech therapist, and has started babbling. He also tries to mimic the mouth movements of people when they’re talking to him. But he still has a "massive amount" of work ahead of him, Buchman cautions. "He needs intensive speech therapy -- in his mind, he has to convert this new signal into something he current knows as, basically, signs," Buchman says.

Teen Feminists Face Hate Campaign of Their Own Imagination

No one denies that women face difficulties in modern life, but achieving full equality isn't one of them.

A few anecdotal examples of idiot boys saying mean things and acting like untrained children is not evidence of a "hate campaign" against women.

But see Jinan Younis, at Guardian UK, "What happened when I started a feminist society at school."

Also, from Jill Filipovic, "Serena Williams, like the rest of us, lives in a woman-hating world."

We live in a political and cultural climate that is hostile to women and still toxic for rape victims. Just listen to Rush Limbaugh.

Disagreeing with women is sexism.

Okay. Got it.

Should We Use Airpower to Attack Syria?

I say no, because as noted I don't trust the alternative to Assad.

But Max Boot has an interesting piece up at Commentary, "A Poor Argument Against Syria Intervention":

The argument against this is essentially Realpolitik on steroids: the notion that both Assad and the rebels are bad news and we should just let them fight it out indefinitely, providing only enough aid to fuel the conflict but not enough to allow the rebels to win. That is a deeply amoral argument—it suggests that we should allow thousands more Syrians to be slaughtered every month—and its strategic rationale is, at the very least, questionable. Given the progress Assad is making on the ground, absent more American aid the government could very well win this war—and that in turn would represent a big victory for Iran. Conversely, if Assad were to fall, that would be a big blow for Iran.

Do we have cause to be concerned about what kind of government will take over after Assad’s downfall? Of course. But, as suggested above, our best bet to shape the post-Assad Syria would be to help the moderate rebel factions now. Otherwise the Islamist extremists will be in control should Assad be toppled—and even if he stays in power the extremists might continue to exercise sway over a significant chunk of Syrian territory, as they do today.

Nah.

That was the argument 18 months ago. I think we're going to be helping al Nusra terrorists gain power by intervening.

RELATED: At the Guardian UK, "Syrian war widens Sunni-Shia schism as foreign jihadis join fight for shrines."

And from Barry Rubin, "Brothers in Arms: The Muslim Brotherhood Takes Over the (Sunni) Arab World," and "New Moderates! Syrian Rebels, Iranian President, and the Taliban!"

British Leftists Push to Block Travel Visa for Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer for EDL Rally in Woolwich

The anti-speech thugs are kicking things up in Britain.

At Atlas Shrugs, "Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer to Speak at EDL Rally in Woolwich, Campaigners Call For UK Entry Ban."

Face of Southern Cooking is a Southern Cracker? Paula Deen Admits to Using Racial Slur

At Hollywood Gossip, "Paula Deen Admits Using Racial Slurs, Denies Being Racist":

The 66-year-old Food Network star and restaurant owner was peppered with questions about her racial attitudes and actions in a May 17 deposition.

Lisa Jackson, a former manager of Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House, is suing Deen and her brother, Bubba Hiers, who own the restaurant.

Jackson claims that she was sexually harassed by Paula Deen and worked in a hostile environment rife with innuendo and rampant n-word use.

A transcript of the deposition shows Deen being asked if she has used racial slurs.

"Yes, of course," Paula replied, although she added: "It's been a very long time."

Asked to give an example, Deen recalled the time she worked as a bank teller in southwest Georgia in the 1980s and was held at gunpoint by a robber.

The gunman was black, Deen told the attorney, and she thought she used the slur when talking about him. "Probably in telling my husband," she said.

Deen said she may have also used racial slurs when recalling conversations between employees at her restaurants, but couldn't recall any specifics.

"But that's just not a word that we use as time has gone on," Deen said.

That's not "racist." That's normal. People use off-color language all the time, and she says it was a long time ago. Looks like a disgruntled employee shakedown scam to me.

Damn leftists. Sheesh.

Dash Cam Captures Journalist Michael Hastings' Final Ride

This is kinda freaky, a commentary on today's techno/social media ubiquity. And clearly, Hastings' wasn't fit to be driving at 4:25am. Look at that ball of fire at the end there.

Via R.S. McCain, "Michael Hastings ‘Was Hauling Irish Ass’."

PREVIOUSLY: "Remembering Journalist Michael Hastings."

'World War Z' May Rise From the Dead

Looks pretty cool.

At the Los Angeles Times, "'World War Z' could rise from the dead."

Also at the Verge, "'World War Z' review: Brad Pitt’s zombie thriller is a scary summer surprise: Buckle up and get ready for a ride."

Silicon Valley and #NSA Joined at the Hip

At the New York Times, "Web’s Reach Binds N.S.A. and Silicon Valley Leaders":

WASHINGTON — When Max Kelly, the chief security officer for Facebook, left the social media company in 2010, he did not go to Google, Twitter or a similar Silicon Valley concern. Instead the man who was responsible for protecting the personal information of Facebook’s more than one billion users from outside attacks went to work for another giant institution that manages and analyzes large pools of data: the National Security Agency.

Mr. Kelly’s move to the spy agency, which has not previously been reported, underscores the increasingly deep connections between Silicon Valley and the agency and the degree to which they are now in the same business. Both hunt for ways to collect, analyze and exploit large pools of data about millions of Americans.

The only difference is that the N.S.A. does it for intelligence, and Silicon Valley does it to make money.

The disclosure of the spy agency’s program called Prism, which is said to collect the e-mails and other Web activity of foreigners using major Internet companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook, has prompted the companies to deny that the agency has direct access to their computers, even as they acknowledge complying with secret N.S.A. court orders for specific data.

Yet technology experts and former intelligence officials say the convergence between Silicon Valley and the N.S.A. and the rise of data mining — both as an industry and as a crucial intelligence tool — have created a more complex reality.

Silicon Valley has what the spy agency wants: vast amounts of private data and the most sophisticated software available to analyze it. The agency in turn is one of Silicon Valley’s largest customers for what is known as data analytics, one of the valley’s fastest-growing markets. To get their hands on the latest software technology to manipulate and take advantage of large volumes of data, United States intelligence agencies invest in Silicon Valley start-ups, award classified contracts and recruit technology experts like Mr. Kelly.

“We are all in these Big Data business models,” said Ray Wang, a technology analyst and chief executive of Constellation Research, based in San Francisco. “There are a lot of connections now because the data scientists and the folks who are building these systems have a lot of common interests.”

Continue reading.

Remembering James Gandolfini

At the New York Post, "'Sopranos' star James Gandolfini dead of heart attack in Italy at 51."

And, "‘Reserved’: Gandolfini mourned at Holsten's ice-cream parlor where last ‘Sopranos’ scene was shot."

Plus, at US Weekly, "James Gandolfini Dead: Details on His Shocking Death, Final Day."

Plus, at US Weekly, "James Gandolfini Dead: Details on His Shocking Death, Final Day."

And at the Hollywood Reporter, "HBO: James Gandolfini Was a ‘Special Man’ and a ‘Great Talent’."

And, "James Gandolfini Remembered: 10 Definitive Tony Soprano Moments (Video)."

The Data-Collection Debate We Need to Have Is Not About Civil Liberties

A great piece from Reuel Marc Gerecht, at the Weekly Standard, "The Costs and Benefits of the NSA":

According to Glenn Greenwald, the left-wing American columnist of the Guardian newspaper, Snowden first realized how unpleasant the U.S. government could be when he read the cable traffic of CIA case officers attempting to recruit a foreign banker in Geneva by getting the poor man drunk and arrested, to set up an opportunity to bond with him. Note to the reading public and Mr. Greenwald: This makes no sense. CIA operatives don’t want to get their recruits into legal and professional jeopardy; they want to nurture their prospective agents’ careers and self-confidence.

It should be obvious by now that Snowden is a serious flake. But the American government and its contractors—even the CIA and the NSA—are chock full of flakes .  .  . along with responsible, Constitution-loving liberals and conservatives who would be loath to allow the U.S. government to spy on their fellow citizens, let alone their own relatives and friends. It is endlessly amusing how many liberals and libertarians seem to believe that the employees of the CIA, NSA, and other shadowy organizations are hatched in hawkish communities far from the world that liberals and libertarians inhabit. Certainly, good people can do bad things if put into a corrupt system.

But journalists in Washington, who rub shoulders every day with national-security types, surely know that America isn’t that far gone. Civil liberties after 12 years of the global war on terrorism are actually as strongly protected in America as they were in 1999, when Bill Clinton was treating terrorism as crime and his minions were debating the morality of assassinating Osama bin Laden. The same is true in France and Great Britain, liberal democracies that have the finest, but also the most intrusive, counterterrorism forces in the West. Surveillance in these countries is intimate—the French internal-security service, the DST, and British domestic intelligence, MI5, bug and monitor their countrymen in ways that remain unthinkable in the United States. Yet the political elites and the societies of both countries have become much more sensitive to, and protective of, personal freedom as their internal security forces have grown more aggressive.

It’s an odd and, for those attached to Friedrich Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, disconcerting development: The massive American government, born of the welfare state and war, hasn’t yet gone down the slippery fascist slope. Liberal welfare imperatives may be bankrupting the country, but they have not produced a decline of most (noneconomic) civil liberties. Just the opposite. American liberalism’s focus on individual privacy and choice has, so far, effectively checked the creed’s collectivism. America’s national-security state, which Greenwald believes has already become a leviathan, is, for the most part, rather pathetic.

As much as the conspiratorial left and right would like to believe that big super-secret bureaucracies like the NSA are easily capable of violating our constitutional rights, the truth is surely the other way round: Civil liberties are much more likely to be in danger when smaller organizations—the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the CIA, or the Secret Service—with specific, highly selective targeting requirements, abuse their surveillance authority or, in the case of Langley with its drones, their war-related authority. And it’s doubtful that the national-security institutions since 9/11 have engaged in practices that fundamentally challenge anyone’s constitutional rights—the possible big exceptions would be the FBI’s counterterrorist practices against militant Muslim Americans that have occasionally tiptoed close to entrapment and the bureau’s extensive use of national-security letters that can allow curious minds to wander freely through the personal lives of targeted individuals. If the government sensibly gives the Secret Service the capacity to intercept cellular telephone calls as a means to protect preemptively American VIPs, its officers may well monitor the salacious conversations of Washington celebrities or sexually adventurous co-eds at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Adults are always required to ensure that such practices don’t become anything more than bad-boy behavior. All organizations run amok unless adults are present.

The huge high-tech intelligence bureaucracies, like smaller outfits such as the operations and technology directorates within the CIA, are extremely difficult for senior government officials to manipulate and abuse because of the many overlapping and checking authorities in these institutions. Unlike the IRS, intelligence agencies are not designed to interact with the citizenry, nor do they have or want prosecutorial power. The intelligence agencies grow uneasy, sometimes even too cautious, when foreign threats develop a domestic dimension.

Read it all.

Afghanistan: Obama Surrenders

From Robert Spencer, at FrontPage Magazine:

“The Afghan War is coming to an end,” said Barack Obama on May 23, but it is not ending well. NBC News reported Tuesday that “U.S. and Taliban representatives will meet soon for the first time to begin what are expected to be long and complex negotiations for a peaceful settlement to the war in Afghanistan.” The U.S. entered Afghanistan to topple the Taliban from power and end their influence in the country. In light of that, these talks in themselves constitute an admission of failure. But these talks are far from the first of those.

In an incident emblematic of American policy failure in Afghanistan, American and Afghan officials in Afghanistan’s Farah province were holding an inauguration ceremony last August for new recruits to a village police force. As part of the ceremony, the new policemen were given weapons that they would use for training. As soon as one of the recruits, Mohammad Ismail, received his, he turned it on the American soldiers who were present, murdering two.

Such attacks epitomize just how foolish and wrongheaded our national adventure in Afghanistan has been. In that instance, Farah’s provincial police chief, Agha Noor Kemtoz, explained: “As soon as they gave the weapon to Ismail to begin training, suddenly he took the gun and opened fire toward the U.S. soldiers.” Ismail had just joined the Afghan Local Police force the Sunday before his attack. Nonetheless, according to the Associated Press, “the NATO-led coalition has said such attacks are anomalies stemming from personal disputes.”

In the intervening months, NATO has not grown more honest or forthright about the genuine cause of these green-on-blue attacks, which have continued. They have gone even farther in other attempts at face-saving, claiming that the attackers are not part of the Afghan jihad against NATO forces. According to ABC News, “officials have said most of the attacks are motivated not by support for the Taliban, but for ‘private reasons’ including grievances against local Afghan commanders, ethnic feuds, and depression. Senior U.S. officials have insisted the attacks don’t indicate a high level of Taliban infiltration into the army.”

Continue reading.

Ireland's Clare Daly Slams Childish 'Slobbering' Over President Obama's Two-Day Visit to Northern Ireland

She's a socialist parliamentarian from the Republic of Ireland, and obviously a freak.

I just like that bit about "slobbering" over the Presidential Derp Obama. I can relate to that...

More at the Hill, "Irish parliamentarians spar over 'war criminal' Obama's summit visit."

Serena Williams Steubenville Controversy

Lee Stranahan has it, "Serena Williams: Attacked For Asking Common Sense Questions On Steubenville."

And at ABC News yesterday:

And a tremendous amount of coverage at Google, especially on the apology.

Men's Wearhouse Fires Founder George Zimmer

The Men's Wearhouse was big in Fresno back in the late-1980s, when I started at Fresno State. George Zimmer reminds me of that time of my life especially. It's only been more recently that I've shopped there, and my oldest boy rents his formalwear there as well. Good bargains and good service, overall. It's not exactly clear why Zimmer's out, however.

At the New York Times, "Dumping the Face, and Founder, of Men’s Wearhouse."

It seems that George A. Zimmer is no longer suited for Men’s Wearhouse.

The clothing retailer announced on Wednesday that it had fired Mr. Zimmer, who started the company in 1973, as executive chairman. For three decades, he had starred in its commercials, telling customers, “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.”

A disagreement between Mr. Zimmer and the board appeared to be the reason for the sudden dismissal, though it was not immediately clear what that disagreement was. Some analysts suggested that the conflict might be over the company’s efforts to appeal to younger customers, which could have been hampered by Mr. Zimmer’s continued presence in ads.

“Over the past several months I have expressed my concerns to the board about the direction the company is currently heading,” Mr. Zimmer said in a statement provided to CNBC. “Instead of fostering the kind of dialogue in the board room that has in part contributed to our success, the board has inappropriately chosen to silence my concerns through termination as an executive officer.”

The company gave no reason for Mr. Zimmer’s dismissal in its statement. A spokesman for the company declined to comment.

Showing just how abrupt the decision was, Mr. Zimmer’s firing was announced the same day as a scheduled shareholders’ meeting, which has been postponed “to renominate the existing slate of directors without Mr. Zimmer,” the company said Wednesday. The board released a statement Wednesday saying it “fully supports C.E.O. Doug Ewert and his management team.”

The company has more than 1,100 stores nationally, under the flagship Men’s Wearhouse brand along with Moores and K&G. The stores primarily sell suits and rent tuxedos.

Financially, it has been performing solidly, with sales increasing 5.1 percent in the quarter ended May 4 to $616.5 million. Sales for 2012 were $2.5 billion, up 4.4 percent, with profits rising to $2.55 a share from $2.30 a share.

Mr. Zimmer, 64, had been easing out of a leadership role at the company recently.

“He had been managing a transition, I thought, very effectively the last two years,” said Richard Jaffe, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus. In 2011, Men’s Wearhouse promoted Mr. Ewert to succeed Mr. Zimmer as chief executive, and recently hired the designer Joseph Abboud as creative director along with a new chief financial officer. Perhaps Mr. Zimmer “was reluctant to give up the reins,” he said.

Well, London's Daily Mail said something about how Zimmer became eccentric, about how he brought Deepak Chopra to the board in 2004. Yeah, Deepak Chopra, that avatar of men's fashion sense, or something.

See, "Founder of Men's Wearhouse - famous for his slogan 'You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it' - is FIRED abruptly 40 years after setting up the chain."

Obama's 'Running Biggest Terrorist Operation That Exists...'

Wow, Obama's even getting thrashed by the most hardened America-hater, Noam Chomsky:

And Chomsky's also at the Guardian UK, "NSA surveillance is an attack on American citizens, says Noam Chomsky."

'Secure the Border, Period...'

I've been watching baseball all afternoon, the Dodgers at the Yankees, and now the Mariners at the Angels.

So I missed this Michelle Malkin live appearance on Hannity's tonight. She looks great.

And earlier, "The Amnesty Mob vs. America."

The Amnesty Mob vs. America

From Michelle Malkin:

You can try to put “conservative” lipstick on the lawless amnesty mob. In the end, however, it’s still a lawless mob. The big government/big business alliance to protect illegal immigration got a lot of mileage using foolish Republicans Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan as front men. But the true colors of the open-borders grievance-mongers always show through.

After America said no to a pork-filled security-undermining amnesty bill in 2007, the No Illegal Alien Left Behind lobbyists changed their overtly thuggish tactics. They put down their upside-down American flags, stopped wearing their commie Che Guevara T-shirts and cloaked their radical reconquista aspirations in the less divisive rhetoric of “reform” and “opportunity.”

It was all just an act, of course. Inevitably, the mask has slipped. Over the weekend, illegal alien protesters descended on the private residence of Kansas Secretary of State and immigration enforcement lawyer Kris Kobach. As Twitchy.com reported on Saturday, 300 amnesty activists marched into Kobach’s neighborhood and barged up his driveway and right onto his doorstep. It’s how the Alinskyite “community organizers” roll.

Shouting into a bullhorn and waving their fists from his front porch, the property rights-invaders dubbed Kobach “King of Hate” for his work representing border security activists and federal customs enforcement agents who are fighting the systemic sabotage of immigration law. Thankfully, Kobach, his wife and their four young daughters were not home at the time. (See The Right Scoop for interview with Kobach on Hannity.)

But the aggrieved amnesty demanders are not done yet. And Kobach is not the only one in their crosshairs.

After tea party activist turned Kansas state representative Amanda Grosserode condemned the mob action publicly on Facebook, racist insults and threats littered her page. Roberto Medina Ramirez wrote: “I’ll give her something to be disgusted about!” Doris Lynn Crouse Gent chimed in: “OMG! Maybe her drive should be next.” Matt S. Bashaw echoed the call: “Maybe her house should be next.” Facebook user Jude Robinson also ranted on Grosserode’s page: “Since Kobach steals taxpayer money spreading hate around the country, he deserves what he gets.”

Dennis Paul Romero left this message for Grosserode: “(N)azi kkk and she is proud of it.” A user writing as “Paul-says Fckmarkzuck” left death threats under Romero’s comment: “Gotta start killing all the Nazis. Politicans (sic), bankers, and priests. Cops, lawyers, and Judges. ASAP.” The same user added: “Just another b*tch that needs to die off already.” (Note: Many of these comments have now been deleted. Trying to cover their tracks.)

Continue reading.

They're freaks.

Alice Walker, Anti-Semitism, and BDS

Jonathan Tobin has an absolutely essential essay, "Alice Walker’s Undisguised Jew Hatred":

Any movement that treats one nation differently than any other and denies it—as BDS advocates do of Israel—the same right to exist and to self-defense that are not in question elsewhere is advocating prejudice. That’s why BDS, which advocates economic war against Israel and routinely calls for its destruction, is a form of anti-Semitism. But one needn’t resort to such arguments when it comes to Walker.

Alice Walker’s hatred of Jews, Judaism and Israel is so open and so vicious that there is no way even for those who are unsympathetic to Zionism to avoid the conclusion that the author is an anti-Semite. That’s why it is incumbent on those who have embraced her in the past as well as those institutions, like the 92nd Street Y, that have welcomed her as an honored guest and voice of reason to condemn her statements in an unqualified manner and to apologize for their role in promoting her crackpot theories. More to the point, she is an example of exactly why BDS advocates do not deserve to be treated as legitimate voices that deserve a place at the table either in the Jewish community or in public discussions of the Middle East.

And even that's being charitable.

Still, a great essay that should be read in full.

RELATED: "Alicia Keys Urged to Cancel 4th of July Concert in Israel."

James Gandolfini Has Died

This is just breaking:

Actor James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano on HBO's "The Sopranos," has died at age 51, HBO has confirmed.
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 19, 2013

Man, he checked out early.

I'm 51. Gulp.
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 19, 2013

I'll post some of the obituaries later...

The New York Times has an obit, "James Gandolfini, ‘Sopranos’ Star, Dies."

Also a Memeorandum thread now...

Dana Loesch Speech at Audit Abolish the IRS Rally on Capitol Hill

Man, I've never seen her quite this fired up.

And photos at Instapundit.

And at Town Hall, "Thousands of Tea Partiers Pack Capitol For 'Audit the IRS' Rally."

Obama Barely Clears 4,000 in Attendance at 2013 Berlin Speech

He's beaten down and abused, no longer the glorious redeem of 2008.

At the Weekly Standard, "Berlin Speech: 200,000 for Obama in 2008; Only 6,000 Today."

Six-thousand was the estimated turnout. Folks are reporting around 4,000 now, the washed up hack. See also, the Atlantic, "Berlin Looks a Lot Different to Obama in 2013 Than It Did in 2008." (At Memeorandum.)

'Why I Got My CCW Permit and Why You Should Too'

This is an essay from Mr. Mac at the Survivalist:

Over the last few months I have given it quite a bit of thought. Am I really that concerned about crime…we live in a pretty low-incident area. Was I on some ego trip? Was I trying to prove my masculinity? All of these may have had some minor influence, but, as I probed, I found that there were other, more significant motivations that sprung more from who I am as a man, and reflected certain core values that comprise my person. I’d like to put those down on paper.

1) I am both disturbed and frustrated by much of what I see in this country’s politics these days, and am often left wondering how to properly respond. It occurs to me that, as just one man, I have very little impact on this nation, just one voice out of 280,000 million. Yet, this country means a great deal to me. I lost my father to the Korean Conflict, all my uncles served in WWII, and I have studied and understand what unique and precious rights are afforded the citizens of this country I am privileged to live in.

Additionally, I hold as a strong value the opinion that every man and woman has the God-given right to be responsible for his or her own personal safety, that no one is obligated to be a victim, and that this right is not a privilege bestowed on me by some governmental entity. I also believe that, if a person of good character is willing to do the work necessary and takes the responsibility, then that person has the basic right to carry a defensive weapon. However, it seems that there are those in this country who disagree with me, who fear that I, and others like me, are a danger to society; that this freedom which is so basic to natural law and so thoroughly entrenched in the Constitution, must be taken from us.

These usurpers are even now furiously working to legislate that right out of existence. Mistakenly believing that this issue is “guns”, they feel quite comfortable trampling on my freedom. And so, it is to the anti-gun fascist, those who would deny me my rights as a free man and an American citizen that I am responding. It is in the spirit of those American’s before me who cried out “give me liberty, or give me death,” “damn the torpedoes,” and “let’s roll” that I acted. As a political statement, as an act of patriotism, as my way of hoisting the flag, and my finger, in enraged defiance of those despots who say I can’t, I got my permit to carry a gun; it was my patriotic duty.

That's an amazing essay that taps into the exact feelings I was having early this year when the gun control debate was peaking.

But read it all at the link (via Instapundit).

Latest Trend? Women Stripping Down for Group Photo Shots

This was even featured on GMA this morning (not my favorite, but my wife was watching ABC).

At the New York Post, "The latest girl-power trend? Getting naked in front of the camera for a sexy group photo shoot."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "The brides-to-be stripping off to pose nude with their girlfriends in risque 'boudoir bachelorette party' shoots."

Daniel Ellsberg and Glenn Greenwald on Piers Morgan Tonight

I caught some of this last night:

Russell Brand Slams Host Mika Brzezinski on 'Morning Joe'

This exchange has been getting a lot of attention.

Time to Worry About Fourth Amendment Rights?

ZoNation:

Remembering Journalist Michael Hastings

Well, I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but this is the guy who shived Gen. Stanley McChrystal. And for that, the dude's now a martyr to the leftist antiwar stab-the-troops-in-the-back cause.

At KTLA Los Angeles, "Journalist Michael Hastings Dies in Fiery Hollywood Crash."

Also at Rolling Stone, "Michael Hastings, 'Rolling Stone' Contributor, Dead at 33," and Foreign Policy, "Michael Hastings, 1980-2013."

And a flashback to 2010, at the Other McCain, "Gen. McChrystal Relieved of Command."

In the great scheme of things, Michael Hastings may have cost the U.S. clear victory in Afghanistan. See Kimberly Kagan, at the Weekly Standard, "A Winnable War."

And from my report, "Pentagon Clears Gen. Stanley McChrystal After Rolling Stone Hit Job":

What a tragedy. Progressives stabbed McCrystal in the back. Progressives stabbed the people of Afghanistan in the back. Progressives stabbed our uniformed men and women in the back. And they're currently destroying our nation from within and without. As Andrew  [Breitbart] said to the Trumka-Obama hordes in Madison: "Go to Hell."

Steve Gleason Accepts Apologies

At ESPN.

And at CNN, "Fired radio host admits he'd be offended by segment mocking ill player."

Marquese Scott

This guy is freakin' unreal, via my youngest son's YouTube playlist:

Dude From Greencastle, Indiana, Could Do Time for Bald Eagle Possession

Maybe he wasn't "saving" it.

Just capturing it, in fact.

At the Indianapolis Star, "Police seize bald eagle from Greencastle man."

The dude, Jeff Henry, posted all kinds of videos to his YouTube page, which is why he got busted, no doubt. See, "Bald Eagle Chick in rehab."

Hey, About That Hispanic Assimilation...

I think the view's a little different from the belly of the beast in Southern California.

This last couple of years I've been seeing more students than ever with English language difficulties at my college, and out and about around town it's like little Guadalajara everywhere you go.

In any case, FWIW, from the pro-amnesty editorial page at the Wall Street Journal, "America's Assimilating Hispanics."

RELATED: I'd say Samuel Huntington's "The Hispanic Challenge" is holding up pretty well, actually.

And the best of all is Victor Davis Hanson, "California at Twilight" (via Instapundit):

California has changed not due to race but due to culture, most prominently because the recent generation of immigrants from Latin America did not — as in the past, for the most part — come legally in manageable numbers and integrate under the host’s assimilationist paradigm. Instead, in the last three decades huge arrivals of illegal aliens from Mexico and Latin America saw Democrats as the party of multiculturalism, separatism, entitlements, open borders, non-enforcement of immigration laws, and eventually plentiful state employment.

Given the numbers, the multicultural paradigm of the salad bowl that focused on “diversity” rather than unity, and the massive new government assistance, how could the old American tonic of assimilation, intermarriage, and integration keep up with the new influxes? It could not.

RTWT.

BONUS: At Legal Insurrection, "O border fence, border fence! wherefore art thou border fence?"

Six-in-Ten Americans Oppose Arming Syrian Rebels

One of the key findings from the Pew Research poll out yesterday, "Public Remains Opposed to Arming Syrian Rebels: Six-in-Ten Say Opposition May Be No Better than Current Government."

The public is wise about this.

See the outstanding analysis from Rajan Menon, at the National Interest, "Obama's Confusing Syria Calculus":

The best forces fighting Assad are the radical Islamists, organized in such groups as Jabhat al-Nusra and Harakat Ahrar al-Sham. The Saudis and Qataris would be pleased to see them take power in Syria. They are backing them partly because Syria’s civil war is also a conflict between the Sunni Gulf monarchies and Shia Iran; each has Syrian proxies. But the United States should have no use for these groups and others of their ilk. Indeed, among the reasons the Obama administration wants to supply the resistance is to change the balance of forces within the opposition between the hard line Islamists and other groups, who are said to be secular, moderate, democratic and other good things besides. But sending arms into the complicated, confusing Syrian battlefield requires (or certainly should) that there be a high degree of confidence that the weapons will only get into the hands of those deemed to be good guys, and will stay there. The mechanisms by which this can be ensured are unclear.

Well, it can't be ensured.

We'd be essentially arming al Qaeda (through the al Nusra Front). Assad's extremely bad. But why back America's sworn enemies to oust him? It's bad choices all around in Syria.

Charles Saatchi Admits to Throat-Choking Assault of Wife Nigella Lawson

He was "cautioned for assault," but not charged with a crime.

That dude needs to be throttled is what it is.

At Mirror UK, "Nigella Lawson photos: Charles Saatchi reveals why he accepted police caution but makes no public apology."

PREVIOUSLY: "Nigella Lawson Attacked by Husband Charles Saatchi at Scott's Restaurant in Mayfair," and "BNP Leader Nick Griffin is One Sick Bastard."

Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage

Dr. Helen Smith, wife to Glenn Reynolds, is interviewed at the Wall Street Journal's Digital Network, via Instapundit.

The "Insta-Wife," as Glenn often calls her, has a new book, Men on Strike: Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream - and Why It Matters.

'The libertarian critique provides an essential check on the surveillance state. But liberty cannot survive unless a free society can be defended...'

A very thoughtful piece, from Cathy Young, at RCP, "No Simple Answers on Security and Freedom":

We need federal legislation that provides strong penalties for any misuse of data obtained through national security programs. We also need more public accountability and public debate on these issues—which is why NSA leaker Edward Snowden, whatever his motives and morals, has performed a valuable service.

The libertarian critique provides an essential check on the surveillance state. But liberty cannot survive unless a free society can be defended. And, if libertarians downplay the threat posed by our enemies, they undercut their credibility in opposing the threat posed by the intrusive state.

The key there on Snowden is "whatever his motives and morals," because obviously those attributes are deeply in doubt.

Via Instapundit.

'I’ve had dogs run out at me on bikes before and you sort of get a feel for the distance the speed you’re going, but it was pretty tight...'

A dude up in Canada, Tim Bartlett, gets chased by a wolf while riding his motorcycle, and takes photos.

At the Washington Post, "Banff motorcyclist pursued by ‘massive’ grey wolf along stretch of B.C. highway, takes pictures" (via Althouse).

No Shouting: Navy to End Official Communications Using All Capital Letters

You gotta love this.

The Navy's getting hip to the era of social media and will end (although not 100 percent) official communications that use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS exclusively.

At the Wall Street Journal, "NOW HEAR THIS: NAVY ABANDONS ALL CAPS: Official Communications, Long Written Large, Can Use Mixed Case; No Shouting":

MESSAGES SENT WITHIN THE U.S. NAVY NO LONGER HAVE TO BE WRITTEN OUT IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Since the 19th century, all official Navy communications have been written that way, a legacy of primitive technology combined with the service's love of tradition.

But in the modern age, young sailors more accustomed to texting on their phones consider TYPING IN ALL CAPS akin to shouting. Typographers, meanwhile, have long maintained that all-caps text is hard on the eyes.

So the Navy, amid a modernization of its communications system, decided it would make its official messages more readable—and potentially less rude.

In an April order delivered in all capital letters, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command announced sailors were "AUTHORIZED TO USE STANDARD, MIXED-CASE CHARACTERS IN THE BODY OF NAVY ORGANIZATIONAL MESSAGES."

It noted, however, that sailors shouldn't go crazy. Standard mixed-case sentences were only appropriate for the body of the text.

"RECOMMEND CONTINUE TO USE UPPER CASE IN LINES BEFORE REMARKS," the order said.

Because of legacy systems that use the old all-caps Teletype language, the Navy could only make the shift after adopting a new messaging system it is moving to this year. The system has the added benefit of using fewer computer servers and costing $15 million less a year to operate.

The Navy was not unconcerned about the tender feelings of young sailors.

"If an ancillary benefit is that sailors reading message traffic no longer feel they're being screamed at…that is a good thing too," said a Navy official. The official insisted the move was not an example of the service going soft.

Vice Adm. Herbert F. Leary wrote in June 1942 to Adm. Chester Nimitz after the latter's victory at the Battle of Midway: "ALL HANDS HERE WATCH GRAND SHOW NEAR MIDWAY AND SEND ADMIRING BEST WISHES AND CONGRATULATIONS X KEEP EM SINKING." It might not have looked as jubilant if Adm. Leary had written instead, "keep em sinking."

The Navy acknowledges not everyone is happy with the change. "Some of the fleets were stuck in their ways and really wanted to keep the all-caps," said James McCarty, the Naval messaging program manager at Fleet Cyber command. "But it was inevitable. It had to happen."

Some senior officers believe once the ALL CAPS disappear, any number of strange characters might enter Navy orders, such as @, % or even—gasp—emoticons.

Mr. McCarty says he doesn't think emoticons will appear in official Navy communications. "Someone could put a smiley face or a heart in there. It may very well happen," he said. "But it would be the last thing that person ever does."

More at the link.

Americans Want #Snowden Criminally Prosecuted

At USA Today, "Snowden should be prosecuted for NSA leaks":

In a USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll, most Americans say the NSA leaker should be prosecuted, but two-thirds don't like the idea the U.S. government is collecting their own communication records.

WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans say the person responsible for leaking top-secret documents about U.S. surveillance of phone and Internet records should be criminally prosecuted, a new USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll finds, even as views are closely divided about the wisdom of the programs themselves.

The poll, taken Wednesday through Sunday, shows a nation riven by cross-currents about the unauthorized disclosures by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, of sweeping surveillance programs that can collect information about millions of Americans and foreigners.

By 54%-38%, those surveyed say he should be prosecuted. Most Americans say the programs have helped prevent terrorist attacks, by 53%-41%, a point pressed by top administration officials including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

There is an almost even split on the most fundamental question. By 48%-47%, Americans divide over whether they approve or disapprove of the programs as part of the effort to fight terrorism. By another narrow margin, 49%-44%, they say the release of classified information serves rather than harms the public interest.

The mix of views, some of them conflicting, underscores the complications of public opinion on the issue. Previous polls have shown divergent results when asked about the programs. That may help explain why both President Obama and Snowden publicly were making their arguments for and against the programs in interviews published and aired Monday.

"The more people learn about this, it could affect their final judgment on whether the government was right or wrong to do what it's been doing," says Michael Dimmock, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. "What I think you're seeing in a lot of the surveys is that the public isn't particularly happy about this program, particularly in the realm of civil liberties and privacy, but a lot of people are willing to give the government a certain amount of leeway in fighting against. terrorism."

Well, he's a traitor.

I'll have more ...

The New American Enemies List

From Victor Davis Hanson, at Pajamas Media:

The vast majority of the annual shooting homicides are committed by inner-city and minority youths below the age of 30. Handguns are involved in 80% of all murders. Rifles and shotguns account for less than 10% of homicides.

No matter; the National Rifle Association is now blamed for generic gun violence, especially the mass shootings at schools, even though usually no one knows of any proposed gun law — barring outright confiscation of previously purchased firearms, bullets, and clips — that would have prevented the shooters at Sandy Hook and Columbine. Gun merchants are blamed by the president while in Mexico for selling lethal semi-automatic weapons to drug cartels. But so far, the only identifiable purveyor of illegal weaponry is the president’s own attorney general, whose subordinates in the Fast and Furious operation sold hundreds of guns illegally to Mexican drug lords.

Suggestions to encourage greater incarceration of the mentally unstable, to jawbone Hollywood about its profitable (and gratuitous) gun violence, to regulate extremely violent — and extremely well-selling — video games usually fall on deaf liberal ears. In short, the stereotyped camouflaged, weekend gun enthusiast is not the problem that leads to Columbine, or the nearly 532 murders last year in Chicago. But because we can’t or won’t address the causes of the latter, we go after the former. He is not the unhinged sort that shoots a Gabby Giffords or innocents in an Aurora, Colorado, theater; but somehow is the supposed red-neck yokel that a journalist like ABC’s Brian Ross assumes does.

If the Department of Homeland Security, as is rumored, really did wish to stockpile hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition, then why did it begin such repository buying right in the middle of a hysterical national debate about limiting access to various rifles and semi-automatic weapons? Was it not to create a climate of fear and panic buying that has emptied America’s shelves of the most popular types of ammunition? If the homicide rate in Philadelphia and Chicago is any indication, murderers still have plenty of access to bullets. Those who want to target practice or shoot a varmint on their property do not.

The CIA and FBI knew of the suspicious activity of the Boston bombers, of Major Hasan, and of Anwar al-Awlaki. And they did nothing to preempt their violence. The FBI is said to be carefully avoiding monitoring mosques, although all of the above terrorists were known by many fellow Muslim worshipers to be either disturbed or extremist or both. In contrast, the NSA monitors, we are told, nearly everyone’s communications rather than focusing on Middle Eastern male Muslims, even though Middle Eastern male Muslims have been involved in the vast majority of post-9/11 terrorist plots. The NSA is the electronic version of the TSA, which feels it is noble and liberal to stop an octogenarian in a wheel chair for special frisking as proper compensation for every focused look at a West Bank resident or Pakistani visitor on his way into the United States.

The words “Tea Party” and “patriot” in a non-profit’s name would more likely earn a negative appraisal from the IRS than would “Islam” or “Muslim.” One wonders how Lois Lerner’s IRS division would treat a hypothetical “Sarah Palin Foundation” versus “The Dr. Zawahiri Charity.”

Continue reading.

Bwahaha!! Poor Widdle Wepsac3 Whines Hilariously: 'I'm the Victim! It's Me, I'm the Victim!'

OMG, this is the best.

Racist harassment troll Walter James Casper (the whiny little bitch) is now claiming he's the victim of harassment. Yeah, that oughta work. The lulz. They hurt. You can't make this stuff up. STOP. ROTFLMFAO!

I must be a really bad harasser, because Widdle Wepsac3, who now keeps a wee widdle clock counter at his harassment blog, completely missed me allegedly harassing him on Twitter. I gotta up my game, BHAHAHAHA!!

Wait! Wait!

He writes at his stupid troll rights blog, "43 days without a single obsessive attack from Dishonest Don..."

BWAHAHAHA!! Time to get back to school, loser. Math is hard! OMG that's hilarious. Such a dork.

Maybe subtract about ten days off of that, dork loser dirtbag. Folks know what you're all about: a sick harassment troll who needs some help:

@AmPowerBlog Oh, that twerp again. He started attacking me back during the Kimberlin stuff, IIRC.
— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) June 5, 2013

Yeah, that twerp again. I replied:

.@rsmccain Figures. He's a troll rights harasser of the first order!
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 5, 2013

ICYMI, the background's here, "Disgusting Troll Rights Harassment Blogger Continues Lying About Years-Long Campaign of Intimidation."

Widdle Whiny Wepsac3 wrote a widdle whiny post saying that old "Dishonest Don" is a bad, bad man. Meany old Donald is stalking Widdle Weppy! BWHAHAHA!

Not.

Everyone in their right mind knows that racist Walter James Casper III is one of the worst Internet trolls of all time. As Zilla wrote in 2011:

I almost feel sorry for that guy. Oh and if he's reading this, he should know that he may not comment at my blog unless he registers as a known troll & pays the toll.

Ha! Widdle Walter Weppy, the "known troll." That's perfect!

He stalks people all around online, attacks and torments them, AND THEN keeps a record of every single comment he makes --- because he knows he'll be banned like the ultimate asshole! It's true, it's true! He's got a comment blog called the "Immoderate Monk," which is a repository of all of Widdle Weppy Walter's deleted comments. Or it used to be, until he couldn't keep up with getting banned wherever he went on the Internet! OMG! BWAHAHAHA!!

Stop it! I'm busting a side here.

And he's the victim?!!

No, sorry. He's not. He's a projecting pathological liar who's the ringleader of a group of leftists trolls who tried to get me fired back in 2009. If this were Maryland he'd be criminally liable for stalking and harassment under that state's laws, just like his brother-from-another mother Bill Schmalfeldt.

And did I mention Widdle Whiny Walter Weppy is a buttfreak loser who even stalked Tania Gail all the way to her YouTube page? She told me that she warned Weppy she was gonna kick his ass. He's scared of her. Poor Weppy! The whiny little bitch! OMG I'm rolling on this! Tania's gonna kick his ass!

Anyway, I gotta stop laughing.

Robert Stacy McCain has more, and boy it hits really close to home for the racist troll rights harasser Walter James Casper III.

See, "Has Bill Schmalfeldt Forgotten?":

Persistently ignoring the wrongs he has committed, he makes accusations of wrongdoing against others as justifying further sadistic harassment of his chosen enemies.

Yes, because he's a victim!

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

BNP Leader Nick Griffin is One Sick Bastard

Pretty astonishing, really.

At the Mirror UK, "Nigella Lawson 'attacked': BNP leader Nick Griffin tweets sick joke about shocking pictures."

If I had the opportunity to squeeze Nigella Lawson, her throat wouldn't be my first choice.
— Nick Griffin MEP (@nickgriffinmep) June 17, 2013

More at GQ (UK), "Nick Griffin is a horrendous human being."

It's just beyond politics for me. I'm disgusted by idiot piggish men.

RELATED: At the Guardian UK, "Nigella Lawson pictures: if it's a 'playful tiff', what does a serious one look like?"

PREVIOUSLY: "Nigella Lawson Attacked by Husband Charles Saatchi at Scott's Restaurant in Mayfair."

Mirror Pond Pale Ale

I'm impressed.

My mom brought some Mirror Pond Pale Ale for #FathersDay. Tasty. #Beer. pic.twitter.com/OEvTKlGepZ
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 17, 2013

'In light of NSA leaks, the government has compromised its moral capital...'

From Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today, "Government compromises our trust":

It looked bad last week, but it looks much, much worse now. The federal government has been spying and lying. The only comfort is that, apparently, it's been largely incompetent at both: Nobody believes the lies, and the spying wasn't even able to catch the Tsarnaev brothers.

Not long ago, the Director of National Intelligence assured us that the federal government does not "wittingly" spy on Americans. That has turned out to be a lie. As Fred Kaplan writes in Slate, "We as a nation are being asked to let the National Security Agency continue doing the intrusive things it's been doing on the premise that congressional oversight will rein in abuses. But it's hard to have meaningful oversight when an official in charge of the program lies so blatantly in one of the rare open hearings on the subject. " And the spying turns out to go even further than we thought we knew last week.

Over the weekend, the Associated Press reported that the spying goes well beyond the Prism program reported by whistleblower Edward Snowden. As AP notes, "while Prism has attracted the recent attention, the program actually is a relatively small part of a much more expansive and intrusive eavesdropping effort. . . . documents show it is one of the major sources for what ends up in the president's daily briefing." From the descriptions available, it appears that the NSA basically just copies everything going over the Internet, and can look at it either in real time or later.

Meanwhile, according to a report from CNET, the National Security Administration has admitted, despite earlier denials, that it's listening to American phone calls without warrants...

Continue reading (via Memeorandum).

Brazil Protests

Via Instapundit, "CHANGE: Protests build in Brazil as discontent spreads."

Yes, Publishing #NSA Secrets Is a Crime

From Marc Thiessen, at the Washington Post:

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) sparked a firestorm last week with his suggestion that Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian reporter who exposed the National Security Agency’s terrorist surveillance activities, ought to be arrested before he can publish more U.S. secrets.

Greenwald responded that King wanted to prosecute him for “the crime of doing journalism.” Wrong. Greenwald’s crime is violating 18 USC § 798, which makes it a criminal act to publish classified information revealing government cryptography or communications intelligence.

The law is absolutely clear. It states: “Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information— (1) concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government; or (2) concerning the design, construction, use, maintenance, or repair of any device, apparatus, or appliance used or prepared or planned for use by the United States or any foreign government for cryptographic or communication intelligence purposes; or (3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or (4) obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes— Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.”

Note that emphasis, which I added: The law specifically states that publishing, not just divulging, such information is a federal crime. Greenwald clearly violated this law (as did The Post, for that matter, when it published classified details of the NSA’s PRISM program).

As a matter of prosecutorial discretion, the Justice Department may choose not to charge The Post or Greenwald for these criminal acts. But it is neither outrageous nor incorrect for Peter King to state that they are criminal acts. Nor is it unreasonable for a federal lawmaker to argue that federal law should be enforced.

Continue reading.

I'm sure Greenwald's getting a good laugh out of this, but still, the law's the law. Maybe he should come back to the U.S. and take his chances?

'He messed with the wrong witch...'

This story's something else, at London's Daily Mail, "Texas mother-of-six Dorothy Baker punches carjacker in the face and then RUNS HIM OVER."

Phenomenal New Kelly Brook Sunbathing Pics From Cancun

I saw the cover of today's Sun on Twitter last night:

TODAY'S front page of THE SUN pic.twitter.com/8a9rVab4iW

— The Sun Newspaper (@TheSunNewspaper) June 17, 2013

But boy, I wasn't quite ready for this, man. See, "Kelly Mex waves."

London's Daily Mail did a whole lot of pixelating, "There's nothing she won't do for an all over tan! Kelly Brook goes topless as she soaks up the sun in Mexico."

And Egotastic!, well, not so much, "Kelly Brook Bikini Pictures! Full Frontal Cancun Heaping Goodness!"

Why Johnathon Carrington Fears Georgetown University

This beautiful young man was valedictorian at his D.C. high school, Dunbar High, and he's afraid that as well as he's done, he could struggle when he starts at the university in the fall.

I read this story earlier on my iPhone. It's not just kids like this. I'm sure just about any decent kid who's done well in school is going to have some issues, but I can't help thinking about my students in Long Beach, many of whom have no clue what it takes to really excel at the university level.

At the Washington Post, "Graduates from low-performing D.C. schools face tough college road" (via Memeorandum):

Johnathon Carrington grew up on the sixth floor of a low-income D.C. apartment complex, a building most recently in the news for a drive-by shooting that injured 13.

His parents told him early on that education could be his escape, and Carrington took them at their word. He graduated Friday as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and against all odds is headed to Georgetown University.

But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are his parents. What if Dunbar — where truancy is chronic and fewer than one-third of students are proficient in reading — didn’t prepare him for the rigors of college? What if he isn’t ready?

“I don’t think I’m going to fail everything,” Carrington said. “But I think I’m going to be a bit behind.”

It’s a valid concern. Past valedictorians of low-performing District high schools say their own transitions to college were eye-opening and at times ego-shattering, filled with revelations that — despite taking their public schools’ most difficult classes and acing them — they were not equipped to excel at the nation’s top colleges.

When these students arrived on campuses filled with students from high-flying suburban public schools and posh privates, they found a world vastly different from the one they knew in their urban high schools.

For Sache Collier, it meant writing her first research paper. For Darryl Robinson, it meant realizing that professors expected original ideas, not just regurgitated facts. For Angelica Wardell, who grew up going to school almost exclusively with African American students, it meant taking classes with whites and Asians.

And for many top D.C. graduates, it meant discarding the idea that school is easy...

Continue reading.

This last semester I had a woman email me after final grades were posted trying to argue that she deserved an "A-" for the class. She hadn't done well at all, but just being there counted for something, it turns out (and my paper assignment is a gimme, so she mistakenly thought that her grade on that was representative and should put her over the top). I'm not sure exactly where students get that mentality, although I know there's a lot of social promotion and grade inflation. It's sad too, since I've dumbed down my examinations after years of saying to myself that I wouldn't. And this young lady still couldn't pass my exams. But hey, she deserved an "A-" because she simply said she'd learned a lot. Wow. I gotta get out of this business soon.

Sharyl Attkisson Discusses Computer Privacy Breach on 'CBS This Morning'

The background is here, "Forensic Analysis Confirms Sharyl Attkisson Computer Hacked."

Added: At I'm 41, "Sharyl Attkisson on O’Reilly: I Know Who Hacked Into My Computers – (June 17, 2013)."

Catching Up on the Guardian's #Snowden Reporting

There's a lot of news today, and good bet none of it's hurting the Guardian's bottom line.

From the main edition this morning, "GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at G20 summits."

Also, "Edward Snowden says US government has destroyed his chance of a fair trial," and "Edward Snowden Q&A: Dick Cheney traitor charge is 'the highest honor'."

I'll have more...

Belfast Teenager Hannah Nelson Upstages President Obama at G-8 Summit

Good for her.

At Metro UK, "G8: Schoolgirl Hannah Nelson steals show before Barack Obama speech."

Megyn Kelly, Michelle Malkin Slam Idiot CBS News Anchor Scott Pelley

At Liberty Unyielding, "CBS News’s Scott Pelley ludicrously asserts Fox News has 200K to 300K viewers."

Also at Deadline, "‘CBS Evening News’ Anchor Scott Pelley On Making Mistakes And Why Cable News Doesn’t Matter As Much As We Think."

And here's Megyn and Michelle, which I saw live this morning:

Everybody's Laughing at Miss Utah Marissa Powell

And the Other McCain has it.

See, "If We ‘Create Education Better,’ People Might Learn the Wage Gap Is a Myth."

Actually, I was pulling for the eventual winner Miss Connecticut. And Politico has that, "Miss USA Erin Brady talks SCOTUS ruling to take crown."

And LAT snarks on it, "Miss Utah flub steals spotlight from Miss USA winner Erin Brady."

Bonus bikinis for you here:

Nicole Neal for Front Magazine

Via Twitter:

I think I have should have shares in @OceanBeachIbiza the amount of times I'm been there this year 😂 pic.twitter.com/aAMi4x4M4i

— Nicole Neal (@MissNicoleNeal) June 13, 2013

And at Front, "IT’S A BIRD! IT’S A PLANE! IT’S FRONT 182!"

Also at Egotastic!, "Nicole Neal Supergirl Pictures Continue to Fly In."

Idiot Pam Spaulding Shuts Down 'House Blend' After Nine Years of Inane, Homo-Obsessed Rantings

Epic fail-blogger Pam Spaulding has thrown in the towel. The whiny LBGT bitch couldn't even make it after Jane Hamsher generously took her under her wings, providing free hosting and support.

And now Spaulding just blabbers on like a beached whale about how impossible it would be for her to continue. Cry me a freakin' river.

See, "Goodbye Pam’s House Blend: after nine years, closing the coffeehouse July 1."

Disgusting Troll Rights Harassment Blogger Continues Lying About Years-Long Campaign of Intimidation

Walter James Casper III is an ultimate hate troll and a liar.

After launching an attack blog close to five years ago ("American Nihilist") he assembled a team of hard left online stalkers to foment a campaign of intimidation and harassment. This included Casper personally allowing my workplace contact information to be posted at his blog, with exhortations for radicals to contact my employer in attempts so harass, interfere with, and terminate my employment at the college. Casper himself was told to cease and desist from commenting at this blog Apr 23, 2010. He himself announced that he would never abide by my wishes as long as I was writing about him. That is, he claimed a "right" to comment on someone else's blog without permission. The courts in Maryland have just ruled that Kimberlin-associated harassment troll Bill Schmalfeldt is prohibited from contacting blogger John Hoge in any form of communication, online or in person. Walter James Casper III is essentially a brother-from-another-mother to Bill Schmalfeldt. For some deranged reason he continues to claim that he has a right to comment on this blog. But as John Hoge has shown, once a person has demanded an antagonist to cease and desist continued communications are subject to criminal liability.

On April 23, 2010, I wrote, "Repsac3 Banned from American Power":

I rarely ban radical leftist commentators from American Power. Mostly, I'll moderate or disable comments if I don't feel like dealing with their stupidity (James B. Webb is a case in point). Mostly, I have fun with them for the sheer hilarity of it, and for the epistemological heuristic utility of obliterating the mindless left-wing/socialist ideological claptrap. And as we see time and again, leftists never seriously engage on point, but rather demonize, ridicule, and attack as racist as part of their ongoing program of intolerance and radical totalitarianism. I will continue to debunk and deflect all of this, since that's what I do. And I'll also continue the periodic back-and-forth blog wars as long as there's some fun or learning in it. But Repsac3's nothing more than the devil's frontman, and I've had enough. He's welcomed here no longer.

Obsessed hate troll Repsac3 then immediately wrote a blog post announcing:

As long as Donald Douglas is posting a public blog that accepts comments, I'm going to continue to comment on what he posts, whenever and wherever I choose.

And to this day he continues to claim a right to comment on this blog. He is an ultimate troll-rights harassment freak.

Harassment laws vary by state, but harassment is universally defined as continued unwanted communications and contacts "after the harasser has been told to cease." I wrote about this in February 2012, "Intent to Annoy and the Fascist Hate-Blogging Campaign of Walter James Casper III."

Hate-blogger and troll rights harasser Walter James Casper III has been told repeatedly and unequivocally to stop commenting at this blog; to stop contacting me personally by email; and to stop contacting my employer through his blog's postings with the intent to cause the termination of my employment.

Repsac3 continues to run his hate-blog even after virtually all his hate-henchmen have been beaten back and exposed as homosexuals, perverts, and criminal harassers.

Repsac3 is a loser. He and Bill Schmalfeldt are perfect no neckline fat-ass brothers-from-different-mothers.

Get a life asshole.

You are banned and your continued harassment is criminally prohibited.

Janet Napolitano Denies Existence of 'Orwellian State'

At Daley Gator, "Janet Napolitano: You have nothing to fear over the government spying on you?"

Budget-Strapped University of California Squanders Millions on Mindless Diversity Programs

From Heather Mac Donald, at City Journal, "Multiculti U.":

It’s impossible to overstate the extent to which the diversity ideology has encroached upon UC’s collective psyche and mission. No administrator, no regent, no academic dean or chair can open his mouth for long without professing fealty to diversity. It is the one constant in every university endeavor; it impinges on hiring, distorts the curriculum, and sucks up vast amounts of faculty time and taxpayer resources. The university’s budget problems have not touched it. In September 2012, for instance, as the university system faced the threat of another $250 million in state funding cuts on top of the $1 billion lost since 2007, UC San Diego hired its first vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion. This new diversocrat would pull in a starting salary of $250,000, plus a relocation allowance of $60,000, a temporary housing allowance of $13,500, and the reimbursement of all moving expenses. (A pricey but appropriately “diverse” female-owned executive search firm had found this latest diversity accretion.) In May 2011, UCLA named a professional bureaucrat with a master’s degree in student-affairs administration as its first assistant dean for “campus climate,” tasked with “maintaining the campus as a safe, welcoming, respectful place,” in the words of UCLA’s assistant vice chancellor and dean of students. In December 2010, UC San Francisco appointed its first vice chancellor of diversity and outreach—with a starting salary of $270,000—to create a “diverse and inclusive environment,” announced UC San Francisco chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann. Each of these new posts is wildly redundant with the armies of diversity functionaries already larding UC’s bloated bureaucracy.

RTWT.

Black Sabbath Tops Album Charts With '13'

At Telegraph UK, "Black Sabbath score first number one in 43 years":

They have waited nearly half a century for their big comeback but rock band Black Sabbath have shown musical “craft” can still beat “manufactured” pop.

The band has broken the record for the longest gap between number ones in the UK charts, as their album 13 reached the top this weekend.

It is their first studio album in 35 years, reaching number one an unprecedented 43 years after their last hit.

Ozzy Osbourne, the band’s singer now known for his reality TV show, has hailed the unexpected success and hinted it was an indictment of the industry today.

Saying the band “know our craft”, he condemned modern music as “all manufactured b------“.

“I'm in shock,” he said. “The success of this album has blown me off my feet. We've never had a record climb the charts so fast."

Continue reading.

Also at WaPo, "Black Sabbath to release new album, embark on world tour."

And at Rolling Stone, "Album Review: Black Sabbath, '13'."

The Other McCain Has Now Banned Bill Schmalfeldt From Posting

That's at Hogewash, "Is #BillSchmalfeldt Appealing?"

And linked there is R.S. McCain, "Imaginary ‘Rights’ You Don’t Have, You Sad and Disgusting Troll, Bill Schmalfeldt."

Yeah, don't let those f-kers use your own comments to harass you.

Asshole leftist trolls.

PREVIOUSLY: "Freedom to Blog Update: June 15, 2013."

Nigella Lawson Attacked by Husband Charles Saatchi at Scott's Restaurant in Mayfair

Here's the report at the Mirror UK, "Nigella Lawson 'attacked' by husband: See shocking pictures of Charles Saatchi repeatedly squeezing TV chef's throat."

She is the nicest lady. I can't believe she was even with a man like that. She obviously doesn't need him. More here, "Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi: Fan fury at shock pictures of terrifying meal bust-up."

And at Metro UK, "Nigella Lawson ‘moves out over Charles Saatchi attack’."

Plus, at London's Daily Mail, "The torment of Nigella: Police probe after husband 'attacks' her in restaurant."

And at Telegraph UK, "Nigella 'assault’ sparks domestic violence debate."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Also at Reaganite, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES," and Theo Spark, "Happy Father's Day."

And at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies."

Plus, at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Don’t Be Evil."

Cartoon Credit: William Warren.