Sunday, July 14, 2013

Oakland Riots After #Zimmerman Not Guilty Verdict

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "No arrests in Oakland vandalism."


Across the bay in Oakland ... about 125 protesters gathered at Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall before marching through downtown, starting small fires and smashing windows at the Wells Fargo Bank at 12th Street and Broadway and at several locations, including the Dogwood Bar, the Oakland Tribune, the Foot Locker shoe store and the Sears store.

A BART police car parked outside the 12th Street BART Station had its windows smashed, and protesters spray-painted "F- the police" and "Kill Pigs" on the side of the vehicle.

About 11:30 p.m., Oakland police formed a skirmish line near their headquarters at 7th Street and Broadway and came face-to-face with protesters.

As Argus, the police helicopter, monitored from above, the crowd soon moved away from the intersection and headed east on 14th Street, stopping at a McDonald's restaurant shortly after midnight to burn several flags and to spray-paint "Kill Zimmerman" and "FTP," an anti-police epithet, on the side of Alameda County's Rene C. Davidson Courthouse.

The protesters then returned to Broadway and Telegraph Avenue by about 12:30 a.m., smashing more windows, setting more fires and throwing garbage cans at motorists before dispersing, police said. No arrests were made, and there were no reported injuries, said Officer Johnna Watson, an Oakland police spokeswoman.
Well, it's Oakland, so it's like completely unexpected, or something.

More at Memeorandum, and especially at Protein Wisdom.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

#Zimmerman Verdict Unleashes Social Media Avalanche

At the Los Angeles Times, "Zimmerman not guilty: Verdict sparks social media avalanche."

Here's one of my tweets that was retweeted over a couple of dozen times.



At lots at Twitchy, "‘Apoplectic’ Terry McMillan declares the verdict ‘was all about race’." And, "It’s ‘n*gga season’: Marlon Wayans tweets epic meltdown about ‘fat guck Zimmerman’." And check the "Zimmerman verdict" search.

More on the news at the New York Times, "Zimmerman Is Acquitted in Trayvon Martin Killing. " (At Memeorandum.)

And at Instapundit, "ZIMMERMAN VERDICT REACHED: Not Guilty. This is a prosecution that never should have been brought."

More on the reactions later, especially on MSNBC's meltdown, when I find some video.

George #Zimmerman Found NOT GUILTY in #TrayvonMartin Murder Trial

I should probably post something.

Unlike a lot of people, I make no claim to expertise on this case. All along I thought it was a racial carnival show that brought out the worst in America's left-wing politics, mass media, and black culture.

I had no doubt that Zimmerman would be acquitted, as I posted on Twitter moments before the verdict was read.




We're going to continue our long national debate on race and racism after this trial, simply because the racial grievance industry won't let it go. It's a victory for decency and rationalism, a rare one in our upside down world of political correctness and radical left-wing lies and deception. The leftist media comes out particularly poorly.

I'll be updating, but here's the Miami Herald, "George Zimmerman not guilty in murder of Trayvon Martin." And at London's Daily Mail, "George Zimmerman found NOT GUILTY of murder or manslaughter of Trayvon Martin."

More at Twitchy as well, on the calls for George Zimmerman's death, "Twitter lynch mob threatens to kill George Zimmerman."

'No Justice, No Peace — #Trayvon'

A photo from the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center, via Jacob Langston on Twitter.

A verdict could come any minute.

No Justice, No Peace photo 790240623_zps4809202e.jpg

Angry Protesters Await #Zimmerman Verdict

At LAT, "Tempers flare as crowd at courthouse waits for Zimmerman verdict":
As the six-woman jury continued their second day of deliberations Saturday, local authorities staffed the emergency operations center and sheriff’s deputies lingered at the edge of the courthouse lawn, where metal barricades had been erected.

“Shouting at each other -- it’s not going to do anything,” Campbell said.

As the white-haired man made his way through the crowd, a chorus of angry voices trailed him.

“Zimmerman’s a killer!”

“He’s a murderer!”

“You’re a racist!”

Eventually, half a dozen protesters surrounded the man with signs, chanting. One of the young women wore a T-shirt that said, “What if it were your son?” They talked about the O.J. Simpson case, one holding a sign that said, “The glove don’t fit.”

GRAPHIC: Who's who in the Trayvon Martin case

They tried to convince the white-haired man that he was wrong, but the man just shook his head.

“He has a right to self-defense,” he said of Zimmerman.

Tempers flared. Voices rose. But no one came to blows.

In the end, the old man walked away to talk to more Martin supporters, including a young black man wearing a T-shirt with Zimmerman’s face in the cross-hairs.




Homosexuals Protest FDA's Tainted Blood Ban

At Lonely Con, "What Could Go Wrong? Gay Men Want Ban Lifted On Blood Donations."

Lots could go wrong, like untold numbers of innocent people contracting AIDS.

And despite clear evidence that the blood supply becomes infected every year with HIV-tainted blood, a left-wing campaign of political correctness seeks to override public health safety and pooh-pooh the odds of infection. Homosexuals are simply pushing one more area of public life where they say efforts to protect the public have "stigmatized" the homosexual culture of depraved abandon and licentiousness. Oh the humanity!

Here's the New Yorker's extremely sympathetic (and stupid) report, "Breaking the Blood Ban":
Over the past fifteen years, the F.D.A. has reëxamined its policy on blood from M.S.M.s on several occasions. It continues to stand by it. The “FDA’s primary responsibility with regard to blood and blood products is to assure the safety of patients who receive these life-saving products,” Morgan Liscinsky, an F.D.A. spokeswoman, told me in an e-mail. She stressed the “much higher rates of transmissible diseases among some MSM than in the non-MSM general population.” Liscinsky did tell me that the F.D.A. is open to a discussion on the matter, though she employed some startling double negatives to make the point: “Although scientific evidence has not yet demonstrated that blood donated by MSM or a subgroup of these potential donors does not have a substantially increased rate of H.I.V. infection compared to currently accepted blood donors, FDA remains willing to consider new approaches to donor screening and testing.”

But there is good evidence to suggest that dropping the ban, and screening gay men who wish to give blood in the same way that people in other high-risk groups are screened, would pose almost no additional risk to the public. In fact, the evidence suggests that such a change in policy might actually save lives by increasing the amount of available blood.
I recommend showing this video to any person about to get a blood transfusion, informing them of the statistics on risk from homosexual infection. Let's see how well that goes over. Homos not only want to get in your face, they want to get in your bloodstream.



Or show them this one, featuring the homosexual organizer Ryan James Yezak and his homosexual freak supporters prancing in the background. Again, ask someone getting a transfusion, do you want blood from these people? How about that big black homosexual bitch in the background? You want that mf's blood?

 

And more at CBS, from Michelle Castillo (who looks like a damned tranny), "Activists hold first gay, bisexual blood drive to get FDA to change rules." The piece includes no voices of those supporting the ban, and nothing is offered to contradict the homo activist left's claims, despite the ample evidence.

Frankly, progressives don't care about public health. They're destroying every corner of American life, from your child's school to the blood supply. No citizen is safe from the freak homosexual takeover of American life.

Hey, man, we're going to be like the Castro nationwide in no time, mf's!

Cool Instagram Account for U.S. Department of the Interior

I love this.

At London's Daily Mail, "Inside story: Photographs from U.S. Department of the Interior's Instagram account reveal the stunningly diverse landscapes of the United States."




Weiner?! — Spitzer?!

Saw this just now on Twitter:


And at the magazine, "The Steamroller Returns."

Stranahan in Sanford

Check Lee Stranahan on Twitter and Instagraham.





Malala Yousafzai Addresses the United Nations

At the Telegraph UK, "Malala tells UN she will not be silenced by Taliban attack":
Malala Yousafzai has she will not be silenced by terrorist threats, in an address to the United Nations on her 16th birthday that was her first public speech since being shot by the Taliban.



“Let us pick up our books and pens,” said the Pakistani teenager, who was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as she left school last October.

“They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution.”

Malala, who has been recovering in Britain, delivered her address in New York in front of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to an auditorium packed with 1,000 students from around the world.

Her parents watched proudly as she assured her audience that she was “the same Malala”.

Wearing a loose-fitting pink shawl that had belonged to assassinated former Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto, she continued: “I am not against anyone. Nor am I here to speak against the Taliban or any other terrorist group. I am here to speak up for the right to education of every child.”

It was a typically impressive performance by a teen who earned the enmity of the Taliban in her home country for campaigning for girls’ rights to go to school. She said she was speaking for human rights activists across the world fighting for education, justice and equality.

“Here I stand not as one voice but speaking for those who have fought for the right to be treated with dignity, their right for equality of opportunity, and their right to be educated,” she said.

She called on governments to fight for the rights of women and children deprived of an education by child labour and forced marriages at early ages.

“The extremists were afraid of education,” she said. “That is why they’re blasting schools every day. Because they’re afraid of progress, afraid of change.

“If we want to achieve our goals, let us empower ourselves with a weapon of knowledge and shield ourselves with unity and togetherness.”

During a series of standing ovations, she said that the attempt on her life had only made her more resolute. “Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, courage and fervour was born,” she said.”I speak not for myself but for those without a voice.”

Unable to safely return to Pakistan, she started at a school in Birmingham in March after medical treatment there during which doctors mended parts of her skull with a titanium plate.
I think she should be condemning the Taliban. Let's hear it.

Don't be all "Imagine" on us, okay. You've got to stand up to evil, and you've experienced it like few others.

Also at the New York Times, "Malala Yousafzai, Girl Shot by Taliban, Makes Appeal at U.N."

University of California at Critical Juncture for Napolitano

I'm still processing the mindlessness of this appointment.

It's astounding. This lady fails upward.

At LAT, "Janet Napolitano would take UC helm at a critical time":
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will be assuming the presidency of the University of California's system as it emerges from several tough financial years and is under increased pressure from elected leaders to increase graduation rates and make greater use of technology.

"We're coming out of a recession so there's an opportunity to be strategic," said Timothy P. White, who was the president of UC Riverside before being named chancellor of the California State University system last year. "It's an absolutely fascinating and important time in higher education."

After years of raising tuitions in the face of increasingly heated student protests, including one in which UC Davis students and alumni were pepper sprayed, regents will keep undergraduate tuition the same for the second year in a row and are expected to approve hikes affecting only about 800 graduate students.

UC has an annual budget of $24 billion, 230,000 students, 191,000 faculty and staff members, five medical centers and three national laboratories.

The system is under pressure from Gov. Jerry Brown to increase graduation rates. He proposed, and then backed off of, tying future funding to improving graduation rates. About 60% of UC students who enter as freshmen graduate within four years and about 83% of them graduate within six, according to a UC report.

Napolitano, who will begin her term in September if her nomination is approved as expected next week, will also have to help steer the system through a potentially complicated technological transition. Brown has proposed increasing the number of online classes — something the public supports, according to polling, although many academics have been resistant.

"Technology is going to be one of her biggest challenges," White said.
Here's something that relates, "UC programs in lieu of affirmative action show limited success":
UC has struggled to enroll more blacks and Latinos since a state ban on race-based admissions, an issue central to a recent Supreme Court case.
Actually, the system's perverted the prohibition on affirmative action in a million ways, and they still can't make up for the abject failure of minorities at the K-12 level.

And see Heather Mac Donald, at City Journal, "Multiculti U."

It's messed up all around.

Yay Regents of the University of California! I'm sure Napolitano can turn things around (not). She'll be a fundraising whore and that's about it ---- although, maybe that's good.

New York's Hempstead Union Free School District Disciplines Employee Who Compiled Misspelled Summer Reading List

Well, it could happened anywhere, I guess.

At WSJ, "Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gypsy'? School Book List Fails Spell Check: Hempstead Summer Reading Recommendation Rife With Errors":
When the Hempstead Union Free School District put together a summer reading list this year, students and parents were introduced to some unfamiliar new titles.

Among them: "The Canterbury Tale," by Geoffrey Chaucer; "The Lovely Bone," by Alice Sebold; and, most notably, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gypsy."

School officials in the Long Island community said Thursday that they had disciplined an employee who made the dozens of spelling errors and typos in the 13-page list outlining recommended summer reading for students.

Alicia Figueras, the district's spokeswoman, said at a news conference that the district apologizes for what she called an isolated incident.

"I would like to announce that disciplinary action has been taken against the personnel who made the unfortunate clerical errors while compiling the list," she said.

The district declined to identify the employee, provide his or her title or say how he or she was disciplined.
RTWT.

Well all make typos, especially me.

But I think there's more to this story than the school district's letting on. But you'd need a FOIA request to get the full story out of these derps. Sheesh.

Welcome to the Hive Mind

This is great.



Riverside Couple Accused of Animal Cruelty, Gets Death Threats

Well, you're nothing these days unless you've got people threatening your ass.

At NBC News Los Angeles.



Well, It's a Slow Game After All

When folks compare sports, the oldest complaint about baseball is that it's often boring, with a lot of really lackadaisical, er, action.

Well, here's proof, at WSJ, "In America's Pastime, Baseball Players Pass a Lot of Time":
In any given year, roughly 70 million people will attend major-league baseball games. A lucky handful will be treated to something unforgettable: a no-hitter, a walk-off grand slam, a player stealing home. Many more fans will see towering home runs, late-inning rallies and diving catches. But there is one thing every single fan who buys a ticket is 100% guaranteed to see: a bunch of grown men standing in a field, doing absolutely nothing.


Baseball is remembered for its moments of action, and it is no secret that such moments are fleeting. But how much actual action takes place in a baseball game? We decided to find out.

By WSJ calculations, a baseball fan will see 17 minutes and 58 seconds of action over the course of a three-hour game. This is roughly the equivalent of a TED Talk, a Broadway intermission or the missing section of the Watergate tapes. A similar WSJ study on NFL games in January 2010 found that the average action time for a football game was 11 minutes. So MLB does pack more punch in a battle of the two biggest stop-and-start sports. By seven minutes.

The WSJ reached this number by taking the stopwatch to three different games and timing everything that happened. We then categorized the parts of the game that could fairly be considered "action" and averaged the results. The almost 18-minute average included balls in play, runner advancement attempts on stolen bases, wild pitches, pitches (balls, strikes, fouls and balls hit into play), trotting batters (on home runs, walks and hit-by-pitches), pickoff throws and even one fake-pickoff throw. This may be generous. If we'd cut the action definition down to just the time when everyone on the field is running around looking for something to do (balls in play and runner advancement attempts), we'd be down to 5:47.

We chose three very different games to get a fair sampling of variation. The first game was as close as we could find to an average game in terms of batters faced and length of game—a 3-2 Twins win over the Tigers on April 3 that clocked in at 3:01 for nine innings. (The average MLB game this season is three hours and three minutes, according to the firm Stats LLC.) Then, for balance, we decided to throw in a slugfest—the Indians 19-6 victory over the Astros from April 20 at 3:45 and a pitchers' duel, the Nationals 1-0 victory over the Reds on April 26 that lasted 2:08. The sample conveniently included both leagues and six different teams.

So where did all the time go? The missing 160 or so minutes? The answer: Huge chunks of inaction that absolutely dwarf everything else that goes on in the game...
Continue reading.

And baseball beats football for action? It's counterintuitive, no doubt.

Maria Sharapova for Porsche Design

Amazing!

At London's Daily Mail, "Life in the fast lane! Maria Sharapova flashes her long legs... as she poses on the hood of a bright red Porsche 911 Carrera."


KTVU Anchor Tori Campbell Read the names Off the Teleprompter and Didn't Bat An Eye

That's from London's Daily Mail, which picks up on the "Ho Lee Fuk" story.

See, "Outrage as news station is duped into reporting false and racist names for the Asiana crash pilots... as it emerges an NTSB INTERN was behind the prank."

Look, even X's Exene Cervenka's pissed:



More:



And check Memeorandum.

Van Nuys Tagger Hits $2.3 Million Lear Jet

Well, if you're gonna go for it, might was well go big!

At NBC News Los Angeles:



Jury Deliberations Continue in #Zimmerman Trial

At LAT, "Jury weighing George Zimmerman's fate adjourns for the night."

Plus, the lovely Judge Jeanine Pirro discusses the case, with Laura Ingraham on last night's O'Reilly Factor:



Jennifer Nicole Lee Topless in Miami

I've posted on this lady quite a bit.

Maybe she's upping the wow! factor.

At Egotastic!, "Jennifer Nicole Lee Bikini Pictures Falling Off to Beat the Heat."

Friday, July 12, 2013

Democracy Now!'s Barrett Brown Puff Piece Ignores Hacker's Threats Against the FBI

I watched this Democracy Now! segment last night, but the headline at the video alone indicates how Amy Goodman and crew ignored Barrett Brown's threats against FBI Agent Robert Smith.

You gotta love it, "Jailed for Sharing a Web Link? Prosecution of Barrett Brown Could Set Chilling Precedent."



And here's the title of the entire 20-minute segment, "Jailed Reporter Barrett Brown Faces 105 Years For Reporting on Hacked Private Intelligence Firms," available here and here.

And these people consider themselves real journalists? Shoot, they're almost right up there with KTVU San Francisco.

Seriously, Robert Stacy McCain did the key reporting on Barrett Brown's epic personal self-destruction. See, "‘Anonymous’ Spokesman Barrett Brown Arrested After Bizarre Video Meltdown," and "‘The Kook Who Knew Too Much’: Heroic Fantasy, Paranoia and Barrett Brown." Check the "Barrett Brown" search results as well. The FBI came down hard on him at precisely the time he posted a YouTube video making threats against Agent Smith. It's a little more complicated than "sharing a web link," no?

The fact is, the left's "reality-based community" lives in an un-reality make-believe world of fantasy and lies. The extreme romanticism surrounding the NSA surveillance scandal only explains part of this. Simply, anything that fits the leftist narrative will be pumped up unceasingly, with no corroboration of the facts. Confirmed low-level hacker and all-around idiot ass-wipe Barrett Brown gets pumped up there along with the likes of Daniel Ellsberg for really bringing it to the man! 

The lulz. Stop. They hurt.


Girls as Young as 13 Get Free 'Plan B' Contraceptives in New York City Schools

Actually, this isn't a new story.

Fox News reported on this last September, "NYC schools to dispense morning-after pill without notifying parents."

What's new is that this made the front-page of today's New York Times, "Ready Access to Plan B Pills in City Schools":

Plan B photo plan-b-abortion-in-a-pill-300x215_zps3b5fb81c.jpg
She was only 16, with big dreams — too young, she thought, to have a baby. Yet she had had sex without protection, and she could see those dreams evaporating. Terrified, she found her way to the basement of her school, Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, where the nurse’s office was tucked away.

First the nurse weighed her and checked her blood pressure. Then she relayed the information to a doctor and made sure it was all right to give the girl Plan B One-Step, the morning-after pill. The nurse checked to see if the girl’s parents had returned the opt-out form that was supposed to have gone home at the beginning of the year. They had not, so she was free to take the pill.

Taking a pill out of a locked cabinet, the nurse handed it over with a cup of water and waited for her to swallow it, the girl recalled. After that first time, the girl took Plan B at school two or three more times. She said her mother had not signed the opt-out form, because she had wanted to have sex and so had never given it to her. “My mom, she doesn’t even know they have this stuff,” the girl, a junior from Coney Island, said.

Last month, the Obama administration seemingly changed the landscape of access to emergency contraception across the country when, in a reversal, it agreed to allow the best-known pill, Plan B One-Step, to become available to all ages without a prescription. Until recently, only those 17 and older could buy it over the counter.

But New York City had long ago come to an accommodation with the idea that girls as young as 13 or 14 should have easy access to the pill.

Through a patchwork of nurses’ offices and independent clinics operating in schools, students can now get free emergency contraceptives like Plan B One-Step in more than 50 high school buildings, generally in neighborhoods with high teenage pregnancy rates. Girls needing the drug have been able to get it immediately under the supervision of doctors or nurse practitioners with prescribing ability. School clinics began dispensing the pills several years ago, and in the 2011-12 academic year alone, about 5,500 girls received them at school at least once, according to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

“Most teens go to school,” Deborah Kaplan, the department’s assistant commissioner for maternal, infant and reproductive health, said, explaining the city’s decision to make Plan B available in schools, as part of a bigger sex education campaign.

New York is not the only city to take Plan B right to teenagers; similar school-based health centers either prescribe or administer the contraceptives in Baltimore; Chicago; Oakland, Calif.; and all over Colorado, among other places. But New York’s ambitious push on Plan B is striking in light of its history with contraceptives in schools. Two decades ago, a decision to distribute condoms in schools without parental consent was one of several controversial moves that ultimately cost Schools Chancellor Joseph P. Fernandez his job.

Now, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has power over schools, and his administration can make such decisions without public debate. Even today, however, providing Plan B to minors remains a sensitive issue. In the 13 schools where the contraceptives are handed out by a school nurse after phone consultation with a doctor, parents must be notified of the program and given a chance to opt out, a provision that originated with a court ruling related to the condom protests in the early 1990s. (In 40 schools where an independent provider, which is typically a hospital or local health clinic, provides the pills, no parental consent is required.)

Across the United States, half of all school-based health clinics are prohibited from handing out any contraception, including condoms, by school, district or state regulations or laws, according to a survey by the School-Based Health Alliance, based in Washington.

Critics of the use of the pill have argued that it encourages sexual activity among teenagers and that parents ought to thus have a strong say in whether their children should have access to it. “Teens who are otherwise going to think twice about sex are going to say, ‘This is always going to be available to me,’ ” said Anna Higgins, director of the Center for Human Dignity of the Family Research Council.

“The moral and physical consequences to this premature sexual behavior are very real,” Ms. Higgins added, “and they need to be addressed by the person who knows the child and who loves the child best, which is the parent.”

Only 3 percent of parents in the 13 schools sign the opt-out form, according to the health department. Dr. Angela Diaz, director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, which runs clinics in three Manhattan high schools (where opt-out forms are not needed), said some parents tacitly condoned the program because it was so hard to talk to their children about sex.

“They wish that their kids would talk to them, but given the reality, they’re happy there is a place where they can be helped,” Dr. Diaz said.
That's basically just giving up your children to the state. The parents are giving up responsibility for their child's well-being to the schools, who don't care about the values or propriety of 13-year-old children having sexual intercourse. And of course, no doubt many young girls simply become pregnant, and thus you have children having children.

The regressive left loves all of this, of course. Indeed, access to all the sex enablers are part and parcel to the left's social justice program. You build generations of Democrats dependent on government. Who cares if you destroy untold numbers of lives in the process?

Sickening.

Still more at the link.

Horrific! Runners Gored at Pamplona Running of the Bulls 2013

Happens every summer, with gory results.

At London's Daily Mail, "Horrific scenes on the streets of Pamplona as three men are brutally gored in bloodiest day yet of this year’s Running of the Bulls."

Video c/o Blazing Cat Fur.



Captain 'Sum Ting Wong'

OMG, this is just way too much, via iOWNTHEWORLD, "‘Sum Ting Wong’ ‘Wi Tu Lo’ ‘Ho Lee Fuk’ and ‘Bang Ding Ow’."

ADDED: More information at Blazing Cat Fur, "Epic KTVU Fail: Anchor Reports Pilot Names Including ‘Sum Ting Wong’ and ‘Wi Tu Lo’."

Plus, Politico's Seung Min Kim is freakin' pissed off on Twitter: "BULLSHIT apology." More herehere, and here. I don't think she's done ranting. Definitely an epic racist fail at that network.

6:15pm PST: More weird all the time, but the NTSB confirms KTVU's claim of confirmation of the pilots' names. See, "NTSB statement on erroneous confirmation of crew names":
Earlier today, in response to an inquiry from a media outlet, a summer intern acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft.

#TrayvonMartin's Everything Is Free Sale! — #Zimmerman Has to Pay!

Hilarious!

Via Theo Spark.

Plus a #TrayvonMartin roundup here.

And more from Stranahan, "As Zimmerman Jurors Deliberate, Angry Protests Outside Courthouse."

 photo s_zps9c013294.jpg

Progs Stay Classy in Texas

Here's the background, at USA Today, "Texas Senate on track to pass tough abortion rules."

And at Life News, "Texas Senate Committee Passes Pro-Life Bill Banning Abortions After 20 Weeks."

And seen on Twitter:



Added:



More, from the Other McCain, "Texas Democrat Party Aborting Itself to Oblivion: No Life, No Future, No Hope."

Victoria's Secret Angels Barbara Palvin, Candice Swanepoel and Erin Heatherton

Some more lovelies while we're waiting.

At Londons' Daily Mail, "Victoria's Secret Angels Barbara Palvin, Candice Swanepoel and Erin Heatherton celebrate summer in sizzling new campaign shots."

Here's Some Alice Goodwin While We're Waiting for Verdict in #Zimmerman Trial

What the heck?



More at the link.

Uhuru Solidarity Movement for #TrayvonMartin

Via Lee Stanahan on Twitter.

And here's the communist idiots at Uhuru Solidarity, "No matter the verdict, the system is GUILTY!"

And scroll around at that link. These people are way the f-k out there.




Racist, Violence-Baiting @MSNBC Broadcasts #TrayvonMartin's Dead Body

Sully's Dish posts it, with glee I might add, via Memeorandum.

Everything's in place for race riots on the scale of the 1992 Rodney King explosion in Los Angeles.

Instapundit has more, "BUT OF COURSE: Occupy Sets Up Planning Site for Trayvon Martin Post-Verdict “Actions”."

And at Pajamas, "If Violence Follows the Zimmerman Verdict, is the Obama Administration to Blame?"

Trayvon Martin photo k-bigpic_zps194e603f.jpg

Edward Snowden Seeks Asylum in Russia

Why?

Well, for one thing he's stuck at that Moscow airport, which must suck goats balls.

See the Astute Bloggers, "SNOWDEN SEEKING 'POLITICAL ASYLUM' IN PUTIN'S RUSSIA."



And see WikiLeaks' statement, "Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport" (via Memeorandum).

More at the Guardian UK, "Edward Snowden renews Russia asylum bid in attempt to leave Moscow airport."

Pathological Liar Rachel Maddow Slurs GOP as Party of 'Aggrieved White People'

A little late to this party, but I listened to this entire segment and it's a hoot.

Via Weasel Zippers, "MSNBC’s Shrill Leftist Rachel Maddow: GOP Party of “Aggrieved White People”…"



And don't miss Jeff Goldstein, "BREAKING: Progressives call for immediate ouster of radio host Levin after he calls Democrats “the party of aggrieved Black and Hispanic people”."
It’s time to make the left pay by taking aggressive counteractions against their casual antifoundationalism — the very thing that allows them to condemn us while forgiving themselves under the totalitarian rationalization that the ends justify the minds, the high-mindedness of their agenda permitting the implementation of certain devious and unethical behavior so long as the Greater Good, as they determine it, is met.

We used to call this self-serving, cynical, self-righteous bullshit. Time to dust the idea back off and, well, pin that tail to the squealing donkeys.


Janet Napolitano to Head the University of California

I can't think of more total fail.

California, long the nation's basket case, is completely doomed now.

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security chief, to head UC" (at Memeorandum.)



Image: "The System Worked? Janet Napolitano Flip-Flops on Terror Threat; President Obama, Still Mum on Thwarted Attack, Will Take Golf Break to Address Nation."

Once Banned, Full-Nude Body Artist Paints in New York City, Even With Kids in Attendance

You can see the children checking it out. Small children.

If it was my 11-year-old I wouldn't care. It'd be a learning experience. But what about a 5-year-old? It's natural, right?

At the New York Post, "Body artist paints on nude models in broad daylight in Times Square."

New York Body Art photo 68261_10153006350280206_686076567_n_zpsb251a006.jpg
The peep show has come back to Times Square.

Provocative public body painter Andy Golub — who was tossed in 2011 for using nude models as his canvas — plied his craft again yesterday, this time with the city’s blessing.

“I’m a strong advocate of public art,” the Nyack painter said as he set up shop with two naked subjects on West 46th Street and Broadway, right in front of the busy American Eagle Outfitters flagship store, at around noon.

“No real law is being broken,” Golub said, adding that he’s “really glad” the city lifted a moratorium that allowed him to pursue his passion in public only after dusk.

“It’s not really about winning a battle on legality. It’s [about] the opportunity to use public streets. I try not to get too political. The art is the message,” Golub said.

Pat Condell Slams Braying, Sanctimonious Left-Wing Mobs Who Think They Know the Best for Everyone

Stupid, stupid left-wing idiots.

Pat Condell eviscerates them, via Blazing Cat Fur.



DARPA's 'Atlas' Robot

At the Verge, "DARPA unveils 6-foot-tall humanoid robot Atlas for researchers to program and pilot."



It's not quite Terminator, but it's not that far off either: Check out Atlas, a new, 6-foot, 2-inch-tall humanoid robot designed for a contest being held by US Defense Department. The 290-pounds machine is being called "one of the most advanced humanoid robots ever built," in no small part due to its 28 different hydraulic joints and freakishly good balance. Unveiled publicly for the first time earlier this week, it's the latest robot from Boston Dynamics, the company behind such internet robotic sensations as Petman (a robotic man) and AlphaDog (a robotic dog), both designed for the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). But unlike those previous robots, which were restricted to military and company usage, the keys to Atlas will be turned over to a few lucky civilians, so that they can program and pilot it using their own software.
Continue reading.

Lydia Loveless and the Machine

An interview at Interview:



Lydia Loveless is a spitfire. Since moving with her family from the farm in Coshocton, Ohio where she grew up, to the big city of Columbus, Ohio at 14 years old, Loveless has been on a path to spread her particular brand of country-punk music to the masses. Song has always been in her blood. Her father, a pastor, drummer, and later bar owner, surrounded Loveless with the sounds of New Wave artists like Devo and Talking Heads during her formative years. Upon moving to the big city, Loveless played in a band called Carson Drew with her father and siblings, and immersed herself in both punk and country music. She released her first album, The Only Man, in 2010, and its follow-up, the excellent Indestructible Machine a year later.

Indestructible Machine finds Loveless mixing traditional country themes of loving, leaving, and, of course, drink, with a visceral punk-rock energy; live, she comes off as something like Hank Williams crossed with Kathleen Hanna. Currently 22, Loveless is preparing an EP of new songs for the fall, with a new album to follow in spring 2014. We chatted with her in anticipation of her show at Hill Country in New York City tomorrow night...
Continue reading.

Britney Spears' Boys Debut in 'Ooh La La' Video

USA Today, "Britney Spears' boys are 'Ooh La La' stars."

Freddie Freeman Tops Yasiel Puig for Final NL All-Star Game Vote

At LAT, "Dodgers' Yasiel Puig finishes second in final vote for All-Star game."



Also, "Dodgers' Yasiel Puig feeling the pressure — of media attention."

Foreign Secretary William Hague Calls Labour MP Cathy Jamieson 'Stupid Woman'

Well she's a Labour MP, so duh.

At the Independent UK, "William Hague calls Labour MP Cathy Jamieson a 'stupid woman' during Prime Minister's Questions."



The Conservatives risk becoming embroiled in another misogyny row after William Hague was seen to mutter “stupid woman” at a female Labour MP during Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Foreign Secretary, who was sitting next to David Cameron at the time, was reacting to a question from Cathy Jamieson to the Prime Minister about a donation to the Conservative party.

Mr Hague was then seen to mutter “stupid woman” in response to Ms Jamieson’s question.

Ms Jamieson, the Labour MP for Kilmarnock and Loudon, had asked Mr Cameron: “Perhaps the Prime Minister could tell the House whether Mr Aidan Heavey's donations to the Conservative Party had any influence on the Foreign Secretary's intervention in his company's tax dispute“.

Mr Hague was spotted shaking his head, looking directly at Ms Jamieson and saying “stupid woman, stupid woman” as Mr Cameron responded: “The donations to the Conservative Party do not buy votes to our party conference, they don’t buy votes for our leader, they don't mean you can select candidates. That is the unhealthy relationship in British politics”.

The Conservative front bench was previously involved in a PMQs sexism row when, in 2011, David Cameron told Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Angel Eagle to “calm down dear”.
Oh brother. That a huge scandal. Huge!

Also at the Guardian UK, "Calls for William Hague to apologise for 'stupid woman' remark."

Greenpeace Activists Climb London's Shard Skyscraper to Protest Arctic Drilling

They're bloody anarchists.

And this is going to stop what, exactly?

At the BBC, "Greenpeace protesters reach summit of the Shard in London."

Mother Stabs Chinese Baby 90 Times

This is awful.

Some women aren't meant to be mothers, I guess.

Chinese Baby photo 2013072939baby_zps8707d1f0.jpg
At London's Daily Mail, "Baby stabbed 90 times with scissors by his Chinese mother after he bit her as she was breastfeeding him":

An eight-month-old boy is lucky to be alive after he was stabbed 90 times by his mother, mostly in the face, for biting her while she was breastfeeding.

Xiao Bao needed more than 100 stitches after the incident in Xuzhou, eastern China's Jiangsu Province.

The infant lives with his mother and two uncles, who make a living recycling rubbish. It was one of the uncles who discovered Xiao Bao lying in a pool of blood in the yard of their home and rushed him to hospital.
Continue reading.

So far there's no evidence the mother was suffering from mental illness, or so they say.

Whatever. Someone needs to protect that child. Sheesh.


Thursday, July 11, 2013

Democracy, Will of the Majority Lost in Supreme Court's Prop. 8 Travesty

As I've said previously, this is the thing the bugs me most on the outcome of Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

At the letters to the editor at the Los Angeles Times, "Letters: Democracy and Prop. 8":
Re "Prop. 8 case all about strategy," July 7

The case that ended up overturning Proposition 8 may have been "all about strategy," but it certainly was not about democracy.

By a one-vote majority, the Supreme Court effectively refused to hear the case and a lower court decision stood. Thus the votes of 7 million Californians who supported Proposition 8 were thrown out — a blow to democracy.

The federal district court ruling was decided by Judge Vaughn R. Walker, a gay man who should have recused himself because of his bias. Here, one vote negated those of 7 million Californians.

Instead, there should have been another proposition, and the people could have voted again.

So, while strategy won out in Proposition 8's demise, democracy and the will of the majority lost.

Tony Hillbruner
San Gabriel

Colorado Mudslide Washes Away Car

Wild.

At the Colorado Springs Gazette, "VIDEO: Flash flood brings black water down Waldo burn scar, sweeps away motorists."


New Kendra Wilkinson Bikini Pics

Looking good.

At London's Daily Mail, "Getting even more of a boost! Kendra Wilkinson enhances her already ample assets in a striped bikini as she holidays with husband and son."

Lada Gaga, Slimmed Down, Steps Out in New York With Revealing Little Skirt and Top

At London's Daily Mail, "That's one way to keep cool! Skinny Lady Gaga steps out in just her bra in balmy New York... then airs her boots out of the car window."

She looks a lot better --- she had ballooned big time there for awhile. But she had plastic surgery on her nose? See, "Does she nose something we don't? Lady Gaga sparks speculation she has had plastic surgery on her face."

Toddler Sorella Stoute Buys Austin Healey on eBay Using Dad's Smartphone

They sure start young with all the technology these days.

At the Independent UK, "Toddler buys Austin Healey vintage car on eBay using dad's smartphone."


Navy Completes First Unmanned Carrier Landing

At the Christian Science Monitor, "Drone carrier landing: Navy successfully completes unmanned carrier landing."



Horror! Florida Tranny (Who Still Has a Penis!) Offered (Forced Into!) Private Restroom After Student Complaint

Oh, the humanity!

It's horrible. Horrible!

The lady, umm, I mean the almost lady who's been taking hormone therapy for four years --- and who has not had gender reassignment surgery --- is upset about student complaints not wanting her or, umm, him, to pull out his schlong in the women's restroom.

And I'll tell you, the progs are outraged. Outrageously outraged!

At the communist front outfit Think Progress, "School Threatens to Kick Out Transgender Nursing Student For Using Bathroom."

Actually, it's not just about using the "bathroom." It's about the big goombah pulling out his pud in the ladies room, exposing his porker to ladies who would then be having their rights to privacy violated. But hey, queer, homo, trans, bi and all the other freaks get to the front of the line, mofo. Screw you hetero-normative supremacy apartheid crackas!

More at Memeorandum.



Body of Missing Menifee Boy Found

There's more recent video here. What struck me was the enormous resources that were poured into the search for the boy, only for his body to turn up on the family's property, buried in a shallow grave. The grief in the community is heart wrenching.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Buried body found in Menifee believed to be missing boy's," and "Relative of missing 11-year-old boy arrested after body found."

Also at the San Bernardino Press Enterprise, "HOMICIDE SUSPECT: No ID expected until July 12," and "MENIFEE: Somber mood prevails at candlelight vigil":



In a powerful display of grief and solidarity, hundreds gathered in Menifee on Wednesday, July 10 for a candlelight vigil in honor of Terry Dewayne Smith Jr.

The 11-year-old boy was reported missing on Sunday, triggering a massive search effort that eventually consituted over 1,000 people. Earlier Wednesday, the search was called off after unidentified human remains were discovered in the backyard of the house where Smith lived.

Police reported Wednesday afternoon that a 16-year-old family member was arrested on suspicion of murder.

House Republicans Cool to Gang of 8's Shamnesty Porkapalooza

As they well should be, at the New York Times, "Republicans in House Resist Overhaul for Immigration":



WASHINGTON — Meeting for the first time as a group to hash out their approach to immigration, House Republicans on Wednesday came down overwhelmingly against a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, putting in jeopardy the future of sweeping legislation that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Despite the resistance, Speaker John A. Boehner warned about the steep price of inaction, telling House Republicans that they would be in a weaker political position against a bipartisan Senate coalition and President Obama if they did nothing to answer the immigration measure passed by the Senate last month.

House Republicans huddled in a crucial two-and-a-half-hour session in the basement of the Capitol as their leaders tried to devise some response to the demand for immigration legislation, especially the Senate provision that would grant a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country. The bill also mandates tough border security provisions that must be in place before the immigrants can gain legal status.

The bottom line was clear: The Republican-controlled House does not plan to take up anything resembling the Senate bill, which many believe is bad policy and smacks of an amnesty strongly opposed by the conservatives who hold sway over much of the rank and file. The House also does not intend to move very quickly, and some Republicans are wary of passing any measure at all that could lead to negotiations with the Senate, talks that could add pressure to the House to consider a broader plan.

The Republicans met just hours after former President George W. Bush added his voice to the immigration debate during a naturalization ceremony at his new presidential center outside Dallas. His speech was a reminder to Republicans that he had long believed it necessary to overhaul the system in a way much as the Senate bill outlined.

“The laws governing the immigration system aren’t working,” Mr. Bush said. “The system is broken. We’re now in an important debate in reforming those laws. And that’s good.” Mr. Bush said he did not intend “to get involved in the politics or the specifics of policy. But I do hope there is a positive resolution to the debate, and I hope during the debate that we keep a benevolent spirit in mind and we understand the contributions that immigrants make to our country.”
Well, bless his heart, but I'm with the GOP rank-and-file on this one. That's Senate bill's a boondoggle.

FLASHBACK: "The Gang of 8's Shamnesty Porkapalooza."

Federal Reserve to Continue Easy-Money Policies

Neil Cavuto was going off yesterday on the Fed's corporate welfare handout to the financial sector, and today's Wall Street Journal indicates the easy money gravy train will continue.

See, "Fed Affirms Easy-Money Tilt: Bernanke Says Retreat From Bond Buying Separate From Decision on Raising Rates(via Google):
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sought to reassure jittery markets that while the central bank could start winding down its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program later this year, Fed officials aren't abandoning their broader commitment to easy-money policies.

"You can only conclude that highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future is what's needed in the U.S. economy," he said Wednesday at a conference held by the National Bureau of Economic Research, citing the high unemployment rate, low inflation and "quite restrictive" fiscal policy. He said he expects the Fed won't raise short-term rates for some time after the unemployment rate hits 6.5%, which would be more than a full percentage point lower than its current level.

The remarks Wednesday came a few hours after minutes of the Fed's June policy meeting showed officials deeply divided over when to start unwinding the bond-buying program. About half the officials walked into the meeting thinking the central bank might end the program altogether by the end of the year, the minutes showed.

As discussions proceeded over two days of talks, a number of officials worried about locking themselves into a position and some wanted more information about the economy before laying out a plan to start reducing the bond purchases. A few were concerned that inflation was getting so low that pulling back the program might be unwarranted.

The minutes also showed that Fed officials appear largely in agreement that their decision on the bond program is separate and distinct from their decision-making on raising short-term rates, which have hovered near zero since late 2008. "Many members indicated that decisions about the pace and composition of asset purchases were distinct from decisions about the appropriate level of the federal funds rate," and that rates were likely to stay low for a considerable time after the bond program ends, the minutes said.

The disagreement revealed in the minutes was met Wednesday with muted reaction from investors, perhaps showing that Fed officials' postmeeting remarks aimed at clarifying the central bank's thinking has been successful. U.S. stocks initially rebounded from slight losses after the 2 p.m. release of the minutes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 8.68 points, or 0.1%, at 15291.66. Government bond prices fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury climbing to 2.688%.

Michael Hanson, an economist with Bank of America BAC -1.20% Merrill Lynch, said he suspects the minutes overstate the real level of support to reduce and then stop the bond buying. The minutes may count the number of officials who adhere to a particular view, but that obscures the fact that key Fed officials such as Mr. Bernanke, Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen and New York Fed President William Dudley are still strongly committed to pressing forward with the program, and their views dominate the policy-making process.

The minutes show the slowdown in bond buying many analysts expect in September isn't yet a done deal, Mr. Hanson said. Other issues were also left unsettled, he noted, pointing to a lack of guidance about how a gradual reduction in purchases might take place.

In the news conference after the June meeting, Mr. Bernanke said he had been "deputized" by his colleagues to sketch out their expectations for the program. He said if the economy continues to improve as the Fed expects, the central bank could make the first reduction in its bond purchases later this year. If the economy continued to meet the Fed's expectations, reductions would continue and the program would wrap up by mid-2014, Mr. Bernanke said.

Mr. Bernanke on Wednesday repeated the message he and other Fed officials have tried to convey to markets since the volatility began: pulling back on bond-buying doesn't mean the Fed is going to move quickly or aggressively toward reining in its easy-money policies. He also held out the possibility that the Fed could keep the program going longer if inflation, now near 1%, doesn't return to the Fed's 2% target.
Sounds like he's having a hard time cutting the cord, actually. Read the whole thing at that top link.

Back From Diana West's Book Signing

It was a pleasure to meet Diana West at the book signing last night. She gave a stimulating talk and the crowd reception of her book was phenomenal.

I took exactly one photo, and it's expressively representative

And see Mark Tapson's review of the book, here. And the Amazon book page is, here.



Wednesday, July 10, 2013

An Evening With Diana West – July 10, 2013 – Luxe Hotel, Los Angeles

As this post goes live, I'm on the road to Diana West's book signing tonight in L.A., "EVENT: American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character – An Evening with Diana West – July 10, 2013."

It should be interesting. I'm reading the book now, an excellent read: American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation's Character.

And don't miss Ed Driscoll, "Interview: Diana West on the Cold War and American Betrayal."

I should be back online late tonight.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck's Final Appearance on 'The View'

She's joining Fox News, replacing Gretchen Carlson on "Fox & Friends." (Carlson is moving to her own show later in the day.)

London's Daily Mail reports, "Elisabeth Hasselbeck makes teary last appearance on The View after announcing abrupt departure to Fox News - and Joy Behar can't resist one last dig."



More video here.

And at Twitchy, "Actress Marina Sirtis thrilled ‘The View’ rid of Hasselbeck’s ‘hateful’ opinion," and "General Hospital actress Nancy Lee Grahn fires hate at Elisabeth Hasselbeck."

More, "Bam-tastic! Actress sneers at Malkin ‘cray crays’; Gutfeld slams with snicker-worthy tweet."

Also, "Fox News rolls out welcome mat for Elisabeth Hasselbeck."

New FDR Footage

At USA Today, "Newly found film footage shows FDR in wheelchair."


Well No, Actually, Conservatives Just Hate Obama-Democrat Legislation

Here's the left-wing stooge Jonathan Chait, at New York Magazine, "Conservatives Hate All Legislation Now."

Chait goes off on Rich Lowry and William Kristol, who published a joint comment yesterday, "Kill the Bill."

Blah, blah.

Yeah, kill it. Screw the Obama-Democrat socialist buttfreaks.

More at Memeorandum.

France Grants Political Asylum to Ukrainian FEMEN Leader

She's the one that cut down that huge cross in Kiev last summer. Man, was that over the top, or, well, topless.

FLASHBACK: "Topless FEMEN Activist Chainsaws Memorial Cross in Kiev, Ukraine (VIDEO)."



RELATED: At Blazing Cat Fur, "FEMEN Do Turkey."

Leftists Chant 'Free Jahar' as Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Arrives at Court

You'd think it was all a joke, but no.

At Pamela's, "LEFTIST-JIHADIST ALLIANCE: "‘FREE JAHAR’ CHANT AS BOSTON JIHAD BOMBING SUSPECT HEADS TO COURT."

Also at LAT, "Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his disgusting fangirls."



Added: At the Verge, "Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleads not guilty."

Zoo Model Daisy Watts Target Shooting

Enough Obama riot zombies for the moment.

Here's some Daisy Watts.


More on Twitter.

And at Egotastic!, "Melissa Debling and Daisy Watts Naughty Playtime."

I posted on this lady in May.

Obama Justice Department Organized #TrayvonMartin Race Riots

Pamela has it, "OBAMA'S DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ORGANIZED ANTI-ZIMMERMAN RACE RIOTS."

And at iOWNTHEWORLD, "Holder Inciting Violence/ Zimmerman Trial."

Zimmerman Trial photo wwzimmermanlo_zps6e8737fe.jpg

Adam Kokesh Arrested: So-Called Gun Rights Activist is Actually Anarcho-Communist Dirtbag

The media's calling the loser a "gun rights" activist, but Kokesh is about as far left as you can be.

For example, "Media Portrays Communist Front Group ‘Iraq Veterans Against the War’ Occupiers as America Lovin’ G.I. Joes…" And, "Help Wanted: Peace Mom Replacement."

But see the Washington Times, "Activist arrested after loading shotgun in Freedom Plaza." And the Washington Post, "Adam Kokesh charged with possessing hallucinogenic mushrooms."

Also at This Ain't Hell..., "Kokesh’s drug caper." (And check the archives there, which feature years of entries on Kokesh.)

ADDED: At the Other McCain, "Notorious Bush-Era Anti-War Protester Adam Kokesh Busted on Drug Charge."



The Men of Huffington Post

Or, the homosexual stud-muffins of Huffington Post.

They've got a calendar for that.

I just saw Arianna tweeting on this, but here's a glimpse from May:




The traditional American male is dead. Masculinity is dead. No wonder everyone's so jazzed about Helen Smith's book. I need to get a copy. The homosexualization of America is in full swing.

Forensic Expert Says Evidence Backs George Zimmerman's Story

At the Miami Herald:



SANFORD -- Medical evidence supports George Zimmerman’s claims that he was beaten and on the bottom of a scrum with Trayvon Martin when Zimmerman fatally shot the Miami Gardens teen, a forensic-pathology expert testified Tuesday.

“This is consistent with Mr. Zimmerman’s account that Mr. Martin was over him, leaning forward at the time he was shot,” defense witness Dr. Vincent Di Maio said in Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial.

Prosecutors accuse Zimmerman, 29, of profiling, pursuing and slaying Trayvon, 17, in a Sanford gated community on Feb 26, 2012. Zimmerman, a former neighborhood-watch coordinator, maintains that he shot the unarmed teen in self-defense after Trayvon punched him to the ground and bashed his head against a sidewalk. A 44-day gap between Trayvon’s killing and Zimmerman’s arrest led to marches and protests throughout Florida and elsewhere in the country.

On Tuesday, Di Maio, a former longtime San Antonio chief medical examiner and author of a textbook called Gunshot Wounds, turned his head toward jurors as he answered lawyers’ questions in a commanding voice.

The doctor’s findings, based on a review of Trayvon’s autopsy report, photographs and other evidence in the case, contradicted several witnesses who testified for the state, which rested its case last week. He also pointed out what he said were forensic flaws in the initial investigation.

Di Maio said he concluded:

•  DNA and other evidence from Trayvon’s hooded sweatshirt may have been compromised because crime-scene technicians improperly stored Trayvon’s wet clothes in plastic bags. Wet evidence should be allowed to dry out and be packaged in paper bags that allow it to “breathe,” Di Maio said.

•  Gunpowder markings on Trayvon’s body and sweatshirt indicated that the muzzle of Zimmerman’s gun was touching the sweatshirt and was two to four inches from Trayvon’s chest when Zimmerman pulled the trigger.

Dr. Shiping Bao, the associate medical examiner who conducted Trayvon’s autopsy, testified for the state last week that the gun could have been anywhere from a half-inch to four feet from Trayvon; prosecutor John Guy said in his opening argument that Zimmerman had pressed his gun into Trayvon’s chest.

“This is basic, you know, 101,” Di Maio said of the gunshot evidence.
Continue reading.

NTSB Investigators Raise Questions About Pilots

At WSJ, "NTSB Chief Says Cockpit Crew 'Required to Maintain a Safe Aircraft'":



Even before investigators have finished questioning the Asiana Airlines cockpit crew whose jet crashed in San Francisco, the National Transportation Safety Board ratcheted up signals that pilot error was the most likely culprit, prompting U.S. pilot-union leaders to issue an unusual public criticism of the board.

After providing new details Tuesday about the final minute of the flight—during which the plane was too low and not centered on the runway—NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman indicated that the jet's senior captain told investigators he believed automated safety systems would maintain the plane's speed and make the approach safe.

"He assumed the auto-throttles were maintaining speed," she said at a briefing.

"Let me be clear," Ms. Hersman added, "the crew is required to maintain a safe aircraft." In an apparent answer to critics who contend the safety board is rushing to judgment, she said "one of the very critical things that needs to be monitored on approach to landing is speed."

Ms. Hersman characterized her remarks as simple statements of fact, not conclusions. "We will not determine probable cause" at this early stage of the investigation, she said.

Still, her comments raised questions about the actions and performance of the three pilots who were in the cockpit of the Boeing BA +0.47% 777 as it crashed Saturday while attempting to land at San Francisco International Airport, hitting a sea wall and slamming onto the runway before bursting into flames. The crash killed two people and injured dozens.

The Air Line Pilots Association said it was "stunned by the amount of operational data" the board has released. Without the proper context and detailed analysis, according to the union, "prematurely releasing" such information "encourages wild speculation."

ALPA, among other things, called on the NTSB to determine if the pilots had adequate training to use onboard navigation aids for a visual approach, on a day when the primary ground-based landing aids for the strip had been turned off due to runway improvements. The union also urged the board to look at whether there were differences between what the pilots saw on their instruments, versus information subsequently downloaded from the plane's flight-data recorder.

Asked about the criticism from pilot groups, Ms. Hersman said the board's release of information has been "consistent" with its practices in past probes.
I doubt the union's going to be pleased no matter what the final investigation reports. Human error here is overwhelming. The situation is just asking for more regulation, and the public's not going to object.


'F--- Bill Clinton!' — Justin Bieber Disses Former President After Pissing in Restaurant Mop Bucket

He's an idiot, via Memeorandum.



Obviously, the Tomahawk Chop Wasn't Going to Go Over Too Well With the Native American Identity Group

For the life of me I can't see how the New York Mets thought this was going to work out. I mean, they couldn't find another day for the event when the Atlanta Braves weren't going to be the visiting team?

See the New York Times, "Mets Alter Event, Upsetting American Indian Group":
It has not been an easy season for the Mets, who are lurching toward the All-Star break with a losing record. Opposition has come in the form of hard-throwing pitchers, mounting injuries and marathon-length games, but the team suddenly finds itself facing heat from an unexpected source: an American Indian organization.

When the Mets approached the American Indian Community House, a New York-based nonprofit organization, in March about helping to organize a Native American Heritage Day, the proposal struck members of the group as a good opportunity to celebrate their involvement in the community. A date was selected — July 25 — and they began to plan pregame festivities that would include traditional dancing and singing outside Citi Field.

But there was a glitch, as far as the Mets were concerned: they were scheduled to host the Atlanta Braves that day. So in the past week, concerned that such activities might be interpreted by the Braves organization as a form of protest over its nickname, the Mets drastically reduced the day’s activities: no singing, no dancing. And now there won’t be any American Indians, either.

On Monday, the A.I.C.H. pulled out of the event, citing frustration with the Mets for thwarting months of planning. The team has removed the event from its online schedule of activities.

“Being a nonprofit in the city, we’re not in the business of making enemies,” said Kevin Tarrant, the deputy director of the A.I.C.H., which describes itself as an organization that aims to “cultivate awareness, understanding and respect” for thousands of American Indians who live in New York City. “This whole thing wasn’t even our idea. But it just feels like we’re being marginalized again within our own community.”

A Mets spokesman said the team “opted to forgo the group sale in this case as our multicultural days and nights are celebratory versus political in nature.”

The Mets host multicultural events throughout the season as a form of community outreach. During the first week of August, for example, the team will stage Irish Heritage Night and Taiwan Day.

Tarrant said his group originally hoped to hold the festivities in early June so that the game would coincide with an area powwow, a traditional American Indian gathering. But with the Mets on a road trip that week, the group suggested July 25 as another option. It was a 12:10 p.m. game, Tarrant said, which meant more children were likely to attend. Also, another powwow was planned for the following weekend in Queens.

That the Mets were scheduled to face the Braves that afternoon was coincidental, Tarrant said, though the group was not so naïve as to ignore the political overtones. Various groups have criticized the Braves for their use of American Indian imagery, in particular the team’s Tomahawk Chop chant.

“It wasn’t like we were planning to protest anything,” Tarrant said. “We just thought it would be great to show natives in a positive light — that we’re human beings, and we’re not from 300 years ago. We’re visible.” He added: “It was a win-win situation. We’d be supporting the Mets, the Braves and Major League Baseball.”
Right. What could possibly go wrong?

Maybe the Mets should have just forgotten about multi-culti outreach to the Indian identity goons. You just can't make these people happy.

Here's more from further down at the report, about how the group was going to exploit the game to promote "cultural awareness":
As for the game, the A.I.C.H. began to promote it in early April. In an e-mail to the Indian Country Today Media Network, the group pitched the event as a “great opportunity to educate the public about the stereotypes professional sports teams continue to promote through logos, mascots and fan traditions, such as the ‘tomahawk chop.’ ” But if Mets officials harbored concerns with that type of language over the coming months, they chose not to express them publicly.
After the Indian group pulled out of the event this Tarrant dude blamed it all of hundreds of years of racism. Isn't it always? Sheesh...


Ohio Kidnap Victims Speak Out

At USA Today, "Ohio kidnap victims break silence to say 'thank you'."

And at NBC News, "Cleveland kidnap victims' makeovers send a clear message: We're doing OK."

Anarchist Sabotage in Train Crash at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec?

Could be left-wing terrorism.

At Althouse, "Why did that train explode in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec?," and "'Police say there's evidence Canada train was tampered with'."

And at Blazing Cat Fur, "Megantic mystery: Looking for possible suspects in Quebec disaster? Try anti-oil anarchists."