2-Year-Old Colorado Girl Tests Positive for Marijuana After Falling Into Stupor

Yes, things are really off to a smokin' start.

At BPR, "First week of legalized sales, Colorado toddler tests positive for pot."



And in related news, at NewsBusters, "MSNBC’s Touré Neblett Insists He’s Living Proof Marijuana Doesn’t Harm Intelligence." (Prompted by the David Brooks dope-smoking admission this week, to which Jeffrey Goldberg has responded, "I, Like David Brooks, Have Smoked Marijuana, via Memeorandum.)

Maria Menounos Bikini Hotness in Cabo San Lucas

She's beautiful.

At Egotastic!, "Maria Menounos Bikini Pictures Bring Smoking Hotness from South of the Border."

BONUS: "Maria Menounos Pays Off Her Bikini Bet!"

Degrees of Value: Making College Pay Off

Glenn Reynolds has the weekend essay at the Wall Street Journal, "For Too Many Americans, College Today Isn't Worth It."

RTWT.

It's basically an excerpt from Reynolds' new book, The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education From Itself.

Auburn-Alabama: Inside the Greatest Play in College Football

I was watching this game and blogged it, "VIDEO: #Auburn Beats #Alabama with Spectacular Final-Seconds 100-Yard TD Return."

And it's celebrated at the Wall Street Journal, "Behind College Football's Most Amazing Play":

Alabama kicker Adam Griffith lined up for a field goal. Auburn return man Chris Davis waited in the end zone with almost no time left on the clock. Over the next few seconds, the kick left Griffith's foot and landed in Davis's arms, producing maybe the most remarkable finish in college-football history. It also set up the Auburn Tigers' surprise appearance in Monday night's Bowl Championship Series title game against the No. 1 Florida State Seminoles.

The miraculous play, however, wasn't so much about divine intervention as it was the result of strategic creativity, calculated risk and hidden talent—with timely luck and unlikely characters intermingling at just the right moment. A careful review of game film and interviews with people involved show that Auburn wouldn't have won and Alabama wouldn't have lost if not for two audacious coaching decisions. One almost worked. The other one did.

On Nov. 30, as the game clock ticked down in the fourth quarter with the score tied at 28, Auburn had already exceeded expectations. Alabama, the two-time defending national champion, was a 10-point favorite on the road. It had been ranked No. 1 in the country since the preseason. In the previous Iron Bowl rivalry game a year before, the Crimson Tide had embarrassed the Tigers, a 49-0 win that cost Auburn coach Gene Chizik his job and led to the hiring of first-year coach Gus Malzahn.

This season, Auburn fans were still soaking up their last game at Jordan-Hare Stadium, which had ended in astonishing fashion. Trailing by a point with 36 seconds to go, the Tigers lobbed a 73-yard pass that was deflected and still resulted in a game-winning touchdown. By the next morning, the play was known as "The Prayer at Jordan-Hare."

Continue reading.

Boeing Machinists Accept 777x Contract

I think folks got smart up there. Close vote though.

At the Seattle Times, "Machinists say yes, secure 777X for Everett."

'Everything starts with Karl Marx and ends with the Democrats...'

Click on this Twitter dude and enlarge. A fabulous diagram.

Antarctic Warming Scientists Risked Lives of Paying Tourists on Chartered Russian Vessel That Couldn't Break Ice

You know, because leftist are truly thoughtful and caring people.

It turns out that the Australasian Antarctic Expedition leaders chartered a Finnish-built research vessel that couldn't break ice. They did it with full knowledge that the Antarctic is the most inhospitable destination on earth. Worse, expedition leaders sold tourist spots for the mission as if these were summer holidays, charging $8,000 per head to defray the costs of a mission they could not afford. In other words, to cut costs the AAE crew risked the lives of dozens of civilians on a research excursion of dubious scientific value. This is so morally indefensible it's almost astonishing, but then again, these are leftists we're talking about, so there you go.

Andrew Bolt has the story, "Something’s cracking, and it’s not the ice around the warmists’ ship":

Pierre Gosselin wonders whether this expedition was doomed by wishful thinking and cost-cutting:

The first error expedition leaders made was under-estimating the prevailing sea ice conditions at Mawson Station, their destination. The scientists seemed to be convinced that Antarctica was a warmer place today than it had been 100 years earlier, and thus perhaps they could expect less sea ice there. This in turn would allow them to charter a lighter, cheaper vessel.

This seems to be the case judging by their choice of seafaring vessel. They chartered a Russian vessel MS Akademik Shokalskiy, an ice-strengthened ship built in Finland in 1982. According to Wikipedia the ship has two passenger decks, with dining rooms, a bar, a library, and a sauna, and accommodates 54 passengers and a crew of up to 30. Though it is ice-reinforced, it is not an ice-breaker. This is a rather surprising selection for an expedition to Antarctica, especially in view that the AAE website itself expected to travel through areas that even icebreakers at times are unable to penetrate, as we are now vividly witnessing. Perhaps the price for chartering the Russian vessel was too good to pass up.

What made the expedition even more dubious is that Turney and his team brought on paying tourists in what appears to have been an attempt to help defer the expedition’s costs and to be a source of cheap labor. According to the AAE website, the expedition was costed at US$1.5 million, which included the charter of the Akademik Shokalskiy to access the remote locations. “The site berths on board are available for purchase.” Prices start at $8000!

The expedition brought with it 4 journalists, 26 paying tourists.

Here it seems that the obvious risks and hazards of bringing tourists to the world’s harshest environment in a budget-priced vessel unable to handle ice-breaking may have been brushed aside, or at least played down. Was this reckless on the part of the expedition? That Antarctica is a harsh environment was in fact known to expedition leader Chris Turney: Bild online here quotes Turney: “In the Antarctic the conditions are so extreme that you can never make forecasts.” Is this an environment you’d want to bring unfamiliar tourists in – on a vessel that cannot even break ice?

Read it all at the link (via Instapundit).

Enough of the Homos: Time for Some Hot, Sexy Women!

Whenever I've had it with too much of the homo-psychos, I cruise over to Angry White Dude to have a good laugh, "WHAT GAYS SHOULD LEARN FROM THE DUCK DYNASTY DEBACLE":

[T]he overwhelming number of Americans don’t care one little damn where you stick your unit. AWD has said since the inception of this blog that I don’t care if you sleep with snakes. PETA might but I don’t give a damn. Not my business until you make it my business. Start telling me that I have to accept this or must agree with that and there’s where the trouble starts. I don’t force my heterosexual, supa-sexy lifestyle on you in any way so leave me the hell out of your gay reindeer games.

Homosexuals might also take note that the vast majority of normal Americans are tired of being told we’re the ones with the problem when we don’t accept aberrant behavior. More and more who sat idly on the sidelines while political correct rules were being forced upon them are starting to stand up and speak out! Just look at the Chik-fil-A buycott a few years ago. Or the Duck Dynasty debacle. Heterosexuals are still the vast majority and a whole hell of a lot of us are for traditional marriage and believe in traditional American values. A&E backed down not because they aren’t a bunch of wacko leftists in Nueva Jork. They did so because they were going to lose millions of traditional American viewers who would take with them their traditional American dollars!

More at that top link.

And here's some hot feminine loveliness, at Egotastic!, "Alice Goodwin Goodness for 2014 Time Keeping."

'In any case, we have to stop letting rich people pretend they privately own what nature provided everyone...'

Wow.

This is truly bizarre, from someone named J.A. Myerson, at Rolling Stone, "Five Economic Reforms Millennials Should Be Fighting For."

Via Kat McKinley on Twitter.

I've read many stupid things in my life, but this may be the most stupid thing ever. Ever. http://t.co/Q758D9ikfh via @charlescwcooke

— Kathleen McKinley (@KatMcKinley) January 4, 2014

@EdMorrissey @KatMcKinley As @charlescwcooke notes: pic.twitter.com/KpRxZcA8uo

— Just Karl (@justkarl) January 4, 2014

The End of Men

From Hanna Rosin, at Time, "Men Are Obsolete" (via Instapundit).

And if Rosen's not clear enough, there's always Radical Wind, "PIV is always rape, ok?" ("PIV" = "Penis-In-Vagina.")

Also at Twitchy, "‘Was she dropped on her head?’ Feminist shrieks about sexual intercourse; Mockery ensues."

ADDED: From Robert Stacy McCain, "Mental Illness and Radical Feminism."

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Resurgent

Americans are so tired of war that there'll be little public concern over these developments. But the return of al-Qaeda in Iraq signals that the forces of global jihad are well on their way to dominating large portions of the Middle East as the U.S. presence wanes and our regional influence crumbles. This is specifically a result of the Obama administration's foreign policy, and it's going to come back a bite the U.S. and our allies for years to come.

At the Washington Post, "Al-Qaeda force captures Fallujah amid rise in violence in Iraq." And at the New York Times, "Qaeda-Aligned Militants in Iraq Claim Falluja as Independent State."

And here's the analysis from Jessica Lewis of the Institute for the Study of War, "Al-Qaeda in Iraq Resurgent," and "Al-Qaeda in Iraq Resurgent, Part II."

What Next for Homosexual Rights?

It's the vile specimen Sally Kohn, at the Daily Beast, "What’s Next for Gay Rights in 2014?":

The year 2013 was a banner one for gay marriage—but some LGBT activists are asking whether the movement is headed down the path to true equality and liberation.

“On one level, our movement has been a staggering, if controversial, success; yet on another level, gay and lesbian people remain profoundly stigmatized, struggling against the same crises—in health, violence, discrimination and social services—that have plagued us for decades.”

These words were written not in 2013 but in 1995, in Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation, a seminal text by prominent activist and intellectual Urvashi Vaid.But the words ring true today.  Here we are, ending what some are calling “the greatest year in gay rights”—and yeah, it’s been a big year from the unprecedented legal breakthroughs, especially in marriage equality, to the cultural markers of more and more celebrities and sports figures coming out of the closet. And yet it’s not just that declaring victory in the culture war, or even in skirmishes, feels premature—as though minimizing the enduring and infectious influence of the right-wing backlash. Even more, with 2013 over, we should ask whether all the achievements so far—and the path on which the LGBT movement is headed—indeed add up to true equality and liberation...

There's more at the link, but seriously, these perverts will never be happy --- the homosexual rights movement won't be complete until we're all doing daily rim-station romps and getting more homo than Gene Hackman singing "We Are Family" in the "Birdcage" --- and you'll be forced to like it. Resistance is futile.



MORE: Joking aside, the program Kohn advocates is the full-blown homo-liberation revolution that leftists can only dream about. From the article above, "BEYOND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: A NEW STRATEGIC VISION FOR ALL OUR FAMILIES & RELATIONSHIPS."

Of course the agenda goes far beyond dismantling the heteronormative patriarchy and the redistribution of economic resources from the "oppressors" to the "oppressed" --- queers, the transgendered, people of color, illegals, drug addicts, criminals, and the poor. It is, in other words, the destruction of society's institutions of regeneration and stability. Grant this agenda and you'll be pulling off the Marxist goal of total obliteration of the family unit in furtherance of the complete violent demolition of bourgeois society. This is what's next for homosexual rights? They will bury you. Sally Kohn just pulls the mask right off.

Hezbollah Upgrades Missile Threat to Israel

At WSJ, "Components Said to Have Already Been Moved to Lebanon from Syria" (via Google):

U.S. officials believe members of Hezbollah, the militant group backed by Iran, are smuggling advanced guided-missile systems into Lebanon from Syria piece by piece to evade a secretive Israeli air campaign designed to stop them.

The moves illustrate how both Hezbollah and Israel are using Syria's civil war as cover for what increasingly is seen as a complex and high-stakes race to prepare for another potential conflict—their own—in ways that could alter the region's military balance.

Some components of a powerful antiship missile system have already been moved to Lebanon, according to previously undisclosed intelligence, while other systems that could target Israeli aircraft, ships and bases are being stored in expanded weapons depots under Hezbollah control in Syria, say current and former U.S. officials.

Such guided weapons would be a major step up from the "dumb" rockets and missiles Hezbollah now has stockpiled, and could sharply increase the group's ability to deter Israel in any potential new battle, officials say.

The movements appear to serve two purposes.

Iran wants to upgrade Hezbollah's arsenal to deter future Israeli strikes—either on Lebanon or on Iran's nuclear program, U.S. and Israeli officials say. In addition, these officials said they believe the transfers were meant to induce Hezbollah to commit to protect Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as supply lines used by both his regime and Hezbollah...

More at the top link, and at CSM, "Beirut car bomb: Sunni payback for Hezbollah's help to Assad?"

During a Meal, a Starfish's Stomach Comes Out of Its Mouth and Grabs Hold of What It's Eating

Pretty trippy.

'Cover Band' and 'Annette's Got the Hits'

So, yeah, I'm tooling around finding more cool stuff.

Enjoy some Redd Kross.


I'm not sure exactly, but "Cover Band" was probably first written by Greg Hetson, a founding member of Red Cross (the original spelling before they were forced to change it) and then later the Circle Jerks. "Live Fast, Die Young" is the same song with different lyrics, which always tripped me out back in the day.

'Rock Lobster'

I was just tooling around on YouTube and came across this classic clip of the B-52's doing "Rock Lobster." It's posted at the Rhino Records page and I don't ever recall seeing this footage before. The band members here are the youngest I've seen them.

The music is genius. It frankly took me awhile to warm up to it, back in the day. But when Fred Schneider screams "let's rock!" you can't help but jam to the sounds. A four-string guitar too, lol. Freakin' weirdos.

Rachael Sacks, New York College Student Whose Essay, 'I'm Not Going to Pretend That I'm Poor to Be Accepted by You', Now Mad That Media Overlooked Her Lesbianism

She's precious --- and entitled.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Most entertaining hate-object of 2014 already located!":

"Reporters were able to find my home on Google Earth yet they were unable to see my sexuality blatantly listed for the public to see?" she wrote.

In October, Sacks, a 20-year-old student at The New School's Eugene Lang College in New York, became known on the Internet for her post titled "I'm Not Going To Pretend That I'm Poor To Be Accepted By You." In it, she recounted how a cashier at a grocery store by her West Village apartment was rude to her because she was carrying a shopping bag from a Mulberry sample sale.

"I'm not one of those people who try to be poor to relate to people," Sacks wrote in her Thought Catalog submission. "I think that's honestly really disgusting behavior, it's as if you're saying that you have to make yourself into something you think is beneath you to get others to like you."

More.

Additional evidence that homosexuals and lesbians are really disgusting specimens.

Radical Leftist Punter Claims He Was Fired From Vikings for Supporting Homosexual Marriage

At Pat Dollard.

More at USA Today, "Former Vikings punter says he lost job due to stance on gay marriage."

Tom Morello, Guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, Plays the Kennedy Center Honors

You gotta love it.

From Adam White, at the Weekly Standard, "Radical Chic at the Kennedy Center":

One trusts that the Kennedy Center Honors' organizers and audience were completely ignorant of Morello's body of work when they invited him to perform, even if it's not the first time that Morello's graced the Kennedy Center's stage. (Last time, he managed to out-activist an entire Woody Guthrie tribute show, interrupting "This Land Is Your Land" to hector the audience with the usual revolutionary bromides.) ....

Still, the scene of President and Mrs. Obama cheering Morello's fret work among the rest of the assembled celebrities, echoes Tom Wolfe's Radical Chic: "Shootouts, revolutions, pictures in Life magazine of policemen grabbing Black Panthers like they were Viet Cong—somehow it all runs together in the head with the whole thing of how beautiful they are. Sharp as a blade."

RTWT.

A classic.

Charles Krauthammer Slams Obama's Structural Unemployment as "The New Normal"

I just tweeted this out earlier, and now at Town Hall, "Krauthammer on Obama: 'The Great Irony...He Has Created the Greatest Inequality'."

It's kinda sad too. The Europeanization of America.

'Throw the Bums Out' Sentiment Won't Help Democrats in November

The piece, from Mark Barabak, at the Los Angeles Times, forgets that it's the president's party that normally loses seats in the midterm. Say all you want about the historically low approval of Congress, it's the Democrats who'll be running on the ClusterCare fiasco. In the House the betting money's on how many seats the GOP might take, and in the Senate, Republicans need just 6 seats to win back the majority. (And with Dems defending 20 seats out of 33 seats in play, the odds are already stacked against them. As Hotline on Call wrote late last year, "Thirteen of the 15 seats most likely to switch are Democratic-held.")

Here's Barabak, in any case, "A keep-the-bums-in mood may prevail in midterm election":

Polls show an unprecedented level of contempt for Congress, but voters still dislike members of the other party most, suggesting any partisan shift in November's election will be modest.

After a highly contentious, hugely unproductive session, members of the most unpopular Congress in history will face voters this year and, very likely, win reelection in overwhelming numbers.

It is a paradox of these discontented times. Participants in a Cincinnati focus group led by Democratic pollster Peter Hart expressed their feelings toward lawmakers by drawing tombstones and broken hearts. Public opinion surveys show contempt for Congress reaching unprecedented levels.

But as much as they dislike their own representatives, Democrats and Republicans hold members of the opposite party in even lower regard.

"Republicans blame liberals and big government and Obama," said Stuart Rothenberg, who analyzes races for his nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. "Democrats are upset because they think the tea party won't allow anything to get done — Republicans are too extreme."

That selective outrage works against the sort of throw-the-bums-out election that would produce wholesale, across-the-board upheaval in the House. After several elections that produced considerable turnover, including Republicans' 63-seat gain in 2010, the likeliest outcome in 2014 is a comparatively modest partisan shift.

Democrats need to win 17 seats to regain control of the House, which they lost in 2010, the first midterm election under President Obama. That is not a huge number by historical standards but one that could prove insurmountable given the head winds Democrats face with the botched rollout of Obama's signature healthcare program, his middling standing in polls and voters' tendency, in off-year elections, to punish the party in the White House.

More significantly, there are far fewer takeover targets, since the number of competitive House seats has plummeted. Two decades ago, there were 99 crossover seats — that is, House districts that voted for one party for president and the other for Congress. Today there are 26, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which tracks elections nationwide.

Put another way, 93% of Republican House members represent districts carried by Republican Mitt Romney in 2012 and 96% of Democrats represent districts won by Democrat Obama, according to Cook. That partisan sorting leaves exceedingly few seats up for grabs....

The chance for a partisan shift is much greater in the Senate, where candidates are forced to run statewide rather than hunkering in the partisan strongholds of the House.

Republicans, who need six seats to take control, start the new year with an advantage, at least on paper. Of 35 races, 21 are for Senate seats held by Democrats. All but a handful of the most competitive are in states carried by Romney, including Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Montana and West Virginia. The latter two have open seats, as does Georgia, where Democrats are eyeing a rare pickup opportunity with Michelle Nunn, the daughter of retired four-term Sen. Sam Nunn.

Video c/o Robert Stacy McCain, "New Ads Target Senators: ‘It’s Time to Be Honest: ObamaCare Doesn’t Work’."

Glenn Greenwald Goes Ballistic on WaPo's Ruth Marcus

I caught this live a couple of hours ago.

Greenwald just goes off on this lady.

The 2008 column of Ruth Marcus I referenced- arguing against prosecution of torturers & criminal FBI agents - is here http://t.co/DRSjNiW5Jm

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 2, 2014

And here's Marcus' piece from earlier this week, the catalyst for this exchange, "Edward Snowden, the insufferable whistleblower."

Choom Gang Colorado!

All these stoned out losers at the clip: It's better than the "third coming" of Christ!

And see Hot Air, "Legal marijuana, day two: Colorado basically just one big Choom Gang now."

Michigan Woman Dies as Family in Iran Watches Over the Internet

Unbelievably sad story.

I'd like to know more about why she was beaten. Some kind of honor killing?

At London's Daily Mail, "Family of Iranian woman 'beaten to death by her boyfriend' watch her die in American hospital via the internet."

Bwahaha!! Butt-Ugly Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to 'Combat Tea Party Republican Intransigence' in 2014

At TPNN, "DNC Chief Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s New Year’s Resolution: ‘To Combat Tea Party Republican Intransigence’":

In a Wednesday article from Politico detailing various political figures’ New Year’s resolutions, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz made a promise to fight back against “Tea Party Republican intransigence.”

This is a familiar tune that never seems to get old for Democrats, but is a fiction to which they appear steadfastly committed.

Wasserman-Schultz stated,

“In my view, to combat the paralysis caused by tea party Republican intransigence, we need to elect Democrats up and down the ballot and ensure Democrats hold the Senate and take back the House. As we head into an election year, it is within the power of each and every voter to end the gridlock that has plagued our legislative process. In 2014, let’s resolve to end obstructionism and push for a more constructive dialogue with each other… Let’s talk to one another and try to find common ground, even when it seems difficult. The single most important way that we can all resolve to do better in 2014 is to vote — and vote for candidates who are willing to work together, put aside ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ attitudes and get things done.”

We hear this same, tired phrasing over and over again from Democrats. They posture as if it is the patriotic duty of elected conservatives to pass laws regardless of how bad for America they might be. We elect people to the legislative branch of government to deliberate and make decisions, not to rubber-stamp every hair-brained piece of awful legislation to pass through the House and Senate.

More at the link.

Democrats are vile people. And butt-ugly trolls. Eww!

Oregon Mother: I Can't Afford #ObamaCare For Myself, 1-Year-Old Son

At KOIN 6 News Portland:

PORTLAND, Ore. (CBS Seattle/AP) — One Oregon mother says that she is unable to afford health insurance for her and her 18-month-old son because it’s too expensive.

Kate Holly, 33, tells KOIN-TV that she originally championed President Barack Obama’s signature health care law because she thought it would help people in her situation.

“I’ve been a cheerleader for the Affordable Care Act since I heard about it and I assumed that it was designed for people in my situation,” Holly, a freelance yoga instructor, told KOIN. “I was planning on using the Affordable Care Act and I had done the online calculator in advance to make sure I was going to be able to afford it.”

Holly’s husband works for a non-profit organization that pays for his health care, but the couple is unable to afford to have her and their son covered under his plan. And she’s been told their combined income is too much to qualify for a subsidized health care plan under Cover Oregon.

“It wasn’t until I started the process and got an agent that I started hearing from them I wasn’t going to qualify for subsidies because I qualify on my husband’s insurance,” she told KOIN.

Holly is hoping things work out but she doesn’t know if she will have health care for her and her son.

“I guess I’m hoping that I will find out there’s a way around this, but I don’t know yet,” Holly told KOIN.

Basically, she's screwed. We'll be hearing more and more stories like this throughout the year, which is why Democrats are perpetually screwed. It's gonna be a bloodbath in November. I can't wait.

Still more at the link.

'Reckless' Ellie Goulding Poses Topless for Marie Claire

She's a beauty.

At London's Daily Mail, "'I'm not squeaky clean': Ellie Goulding shows off her daring side as she poses topless and reveals she has been 'reckless'."

'Affordable' Care Act

At Twitchy, "‘Well played!’ Ted Cruz slays again with ‘affordable’ Obamacare snark-truth [pic]."

Mayor Bill de Blasio's Inauguration Hammers Outgoing Mike Bloomberg

At the New York Post, "Bloomberg blasted at de Blasio swearing in."

Yeah, and the lowest of the low, at Twitchy, "At Bill de Blasio’s mayoral inauguration, invocation speaker says NYC is a ‘plantation’."

Democrats Can't Count on Economy to Save Them

At the Hill, "Dems can't count on economy to save them in midterm elections":

President Obama and Democrats might not be able to rely on the economic recovery to bolster their chances in November’s midterm elections.

Even though there has been a raft of positive economic news recently, experts in crucial battleground states caution that other issues, notably ObamaCare, could loom even larger than the economy.

They also add that congressional races, whether for the House or Senate, could swing as easily on local priorities as on broader questions of the national economy. And in some cases, the local economic story is different from the emerging national trend.
For the GOP to wrest control of the Senate, the party needs to pick up six seats.

In Arkansas, where Republicans fancy their chances of ousting incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor, the unemployment rate has edged up over the past 12 months and, at 7.5 percent, is now above the national average.

In Louisiana, where Sen. Mary Landrieu is the Democrat under threat, unemployment has also ticked up year-on-year — but only to 6.3 percent, a figure that is relatively healthy, at least in comparison to the country at large.

A mirror image of that situation is found in North Carolina, a battleground, where the GOP is seeking to topple Sen. Kay Hagan (D). Unemployment has dropped more precipitously in the Tar Heel State than anywhere else in the country, falling a full two percentage points between November 2012 and November 2013. Yet it still remains high, at 7.4 percent.

“I think there is a general sense that the state could be doing better, but I’m not sure the U.S. Senate race is going to be a referendum on the state economy,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C. “Healthcare will be huge, and the real question for me is how much does the election end up being a referendum on each party’s brand?”

Democrats would, of course, hope that a rising economy nationally would help their brand. The national unemployment rate is now 7 percent, which is a significant decrease from 7.8 percent a year ago. At the same time, unemployment remains elevated in historical terms, and much of the drop in the unemployment rate has come from people leaving the workforce.

Still, in late December, the official estimate of economic growth in the third quarter of 2013 was revised upwards, to an annualized rate of 4.1 percent.

Well, Democrats might be helped by a stronger economy, but they can't escape ObamaCare, which promises ever more "shocking" delays and exceptions throughout the year. Sucks to be a Democrat.

Obama's Philosophy Seeks to Destroy Life, Liberty, Property — and the Pursuit of Happiness

An amazing piece, from Harry Binswanger, at Forbes, "Obama to Americans: You Don't Deserve to Be Free":

Obama’s real antagonist is Ayn Rand, who made the case that reason is man’s basic means of survival and coercion is anti-reason. Force initiated against free, innocent men is directed at stopping them from acting on their own thinking. It makes them, under threat of fines and imprisonment, act as the government demands rather than as they think their self-interest requires. That’s the whole point of threatening force: to make people act against their own judgment.

The radical, uncompromised, laissez-faire capitalism that Obama pretends was in place in 2008 is exactly what morality demands. Because, as Ayn Rand wrote in 1961: “No man has the right to initiate the use of physical force against others. . . . To claim the right to initiate the use of physical force against another man–the right to compel his agreement by the threat of physical destruction–is to evict oneself automatically from the realm of rights, of morality and of the intellect.”

Obama and his fellow statists have indeed evicted themselves from that realm.

RTWT.

Yuval Levin and the Great Debate in American Politics

Judy Woodruff interviews Yuval Levin, discussing his new book, The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left.

He's very thoughtful. And he seems genuinely nice. I've been reading his writings for sometime, especially on healthcare.

Democrat Party Deception is Destroying the Republic

From Senator Tom Coburn, at the Wall Street Journal, "The Year Washington Fled Reality":

The culture that Mr. Obama campaigned against, the old kind of politics, teaches politicians that repetition and "message discipline"—never straying from using the same slogans and talking points—can create reality, regardless of the facts. Message discipline works if the goal is to win an election or achieve a short-term political goal. But saying that something is true doesn't make it so. When a misleading message ultimately clashes with reality, the result is dissonance and conflict. In a republic, deception is destructive. Without truth there can be no trust. Without trust there can be no consent. And without consent we invite paralysis, if not chaos....

The coming year presents an opportunity to Americans who hope for better. Despite Washington's dysfunction, "We the People" still call the shots and can demand a course correction. In 2014, here's a message worth considering: If you don't like the rulers you have, you don't have to keep them.

Hannah Davis for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit

It won't be long now until the 2014 issue is out.

Meanwhile, enjoy some Hannah Davis.

Inadvertent Comedy From the ASA, or, an Ecofeminist Does Milk

A good read, kinda highbrow, from Roger Kimball, at PJ Media.

Kimball plugs Glenn Reynolds' new book, TheNew School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself.

Reynolds makes the economist Herb Stein’s observation a centerpiece of his book. Repellent pseudo-intellectual horrors like “Toward a Feminist Postcolonial Milk Studies” cannot go on forever; therefore, they won’t. This ruin of taxpayer money, to say nothing of the intellectual sanity of students and teachers, is too egregious to continue. It will not continue. “Toward a Feminist Postcolonial Milk Studies” is just one of many, many signs that the house of intellect in this country has become a sort of Augean Stables, full of malodorous waste and bovine mooing. It awaits its Hercules to perform a much needed lustration. The assembled cattle may not know it, but Glenn Reynolds shows that his advent is nigh.

I hope that's right, but we'll see.

Fossil Fuels to Power Retrieval of Trapped Climate Scientists

An hilarious editorial, at the Wall Street Journal, "Carbon to the Rescue" (via Google):

Reporting on the environmental movement has always required a certain sense of humor. And now we have an expedition launched in part to study the melting of Antarctic ice sheets that has been trapped since Christmas in ice so thick that rescue attempts have failed to reach the frozen vessel.

In an earlier age, explorers who so badly underestimated the expanse of polar ice would surely have perished. But the 74 passengers and crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy are thriving. An expedition spokesman reports that, "Surprisingly, all the passengers seem to be considering it the adventure of a lifetime."

And why not? The rich abundance of our carbon-based economy has not only provided the means to sustain their lives, but even to post a cheerful sing-along on Youtube. And the helicopters and ships that participate in the next rescue attempt won't be powered by renewable-energy credits.

Take off! second team gone. Looking good. #spiritofmawson Alok Jha https://t.co/wdrtEYbKPq

— Chris Turney (@ProfChrisTurney) January 2, 2014

#ObamaCare Disaster Faces New Test

It's not a new test, really. It's the same death spiral people have been talking about all along.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Health Law's Uneasy Launch: Affordable Care Act Faces Next Hurdles (at Google):

Nearly four years after President Barack Obama signed his health initiative into law, the Affordable Care Act is officially reshaping America's $2.75 trillion health-care system.

A survivor of bare-knuckle political fights, a U.S. Supreme Court challenge and a technologically disastrous rollout, the law now faces a fundamental test: Can its mix of government subsidies and market-based competition extend health insurance to millions of people whose medical conditions, income level or personal choice left them without it?

So far, there are some troubling signs. A high proportion of people signing up for new plans are older or have existing health problems—and not enough younger, healthier people may be joining the plans to balance them out and make the plans profitable.

Early glitches in HealthCare.gov, the federal marketplace serving 36 states, as well as in some state marketplaces likely deterred younger customers, said insurers and actuaries. Less-healthy shoppers were more likely to persist and sign up, they said.

If the trend continues as 2014 enrollment closes at the end of March, insurers in the new marketplaces "will think twice about losing money" and withdraw plans, said Jim O'Connor, an actuary at Milliman Inc. Provisions of the law aim to limit insurers' risk by redistributing money to those with less-healthy customers, but it isn't yet clear how effective they will be.

Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the law's rollout, said the law "is making health insurance more affordable for young adults." Officials aren't yet able to provide demographic breakdowns of marketplace enrollees, she said.

Julie Bataille, communications director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told reporters this week that as of Jan. 1, "millions of Americans will have health insurance, many for the first time."

Meantime, some previously insured consumers are vexed that deductibles under the new policies are higher than under prior plans, which can make doctors' visits and procedures more expensive than they anticipated.

Moreover, 25 states have refused to expand Medicaid, the state-federal health plan for low-income people. The expansion was envisioned under the law as a backstop for the poorest uninsured, who now have few options in those states.

The array of challenges has hurt Mr. Obama's standing and public support of the law, which polls show dropped to a new low in late December.

Boosted by repairs to the online exchanges, 2.1 million people used them to obtain private insurance through Dec. 24, the deadline for picking coverage effective Jan. 1 in most states, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.

The number represents a surge since Nov. 30, when the nationwide figure was about 365,000, but it falls short of a September estimate by the administration that some 3.3 million people would sign up for private plans by year's end.

Well, not even that last part about 2.1 million is true. Just one more lie the administration's foisted on a compliant sheeple. See Philip Klein, "No, 2.1 million haven't enrolled in Obamacare plans."

And until it's repealed, ObamaCare will continue to drag down the quality of healthcare in America. WaPo has that, "With new year, Medicaid takes on a broader health-care role."

Hilarious! Angry Voices Now Calling for Melissa Harris-Perry's Termination

I say let the market work.

The idiot Harris-Perry'll be out of there before you know it.

Still, you gotta love CNN fanning the flames, via Nice Deb, "CNN: Some People Are Demanding That Host Melissa Harris-Perry Be Fired (Video)."

New Year's Day Roundup

I'm holding off on my New Year's essay (not sure what I have to say).

In the meanwhile, there's some good blogging going down.

Check Robert Stacy McCain, "Holiday Tradition, Texas-Style," and "In The Mailbox, 01.01.14."

And Pat Austin, "Doolittle Raider Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole Accepts Spirit of Independence Award."

Also from the Mad Jewess, "CONservatives Are Quiet as Militant Mary’s Marry at Rose Bowl Gay Pride Parade."

And at Director Blue, "Larwyn's Linx: Where Do We Go From Here America? Will There Be Anything Left?"

At Marooned in Marin, "Obama Approval Rating Lowest Since Nixon at Same Time In Presidency."

More at Maggie's Farm, "Weds. morning links."

And Maggie's Notebook, "2014 Arrives – Coburn Say 2013 May Be One Of Our Worst: Congress Do Your Job – Debate, Pass INDIVIDUAL Appropriations Bills," and "McAfee’s “Malicious Defamation on Innocent Websites:” NaturalNews Paid McAfee $32K to Clear Website Reputation – “Gangs of Online Paid Trolls”."

And the Tea Party News Network, "Hypocrite: Anti-Gun Bloomberg Enters Civilian Life Surrounded by Armed Guards."

Also at Blackmailer's Don't Shoot, "Camille Paglia and Her Problems."

Over at Egotastic!, "99 Celebrity Bikini Butts to Celebrate the New Year."

At Twitchy, "At Bill de Blasio’s mayoral inauguration, invocation speaker says NYC is a ‘plantation’."

See Blazing as well, "The Islamic takeover of the U.S. is gaining ground."

At the Chive, "I like girls because squishy (45 Photos)."

And Bro-Bible, "Iowa Player Pulls the Derpiest Play of the Day By Dropping the Ball Before Entering the Endzone."

Still more at Power Line, "THE NEW YORK TIMES MISLEADS ON ECONOMICS, TOO."

From Lonely Con, "Pastor at DiBlasio Inauguration Calls NYC a ‘Plantation’."

Proof Positive has "Predictions for 2014."

And at Right Wing News, "Rose Parade Subverted to Promote Gay Agenda."

More from Reagan Girl, "Pushing Back Against Perversity."

And at Flopping Aces, "Hillary Clinton – The Principal Enemy."

Also from Weasel Zippers, "Climate Change Loons Move the Goal Posts: No Significant Global Warming Until 2100…"

Plus at Minority Report, "Majority of Americans Still in the Dark About Incandescent Light Bulb Phase-Out."

At Daley Gator, "RAISING A GENERATION OF BROWNSHIRTS?"

And finally, at Truth Revolt, "It Begins: Michael Moore Calls for Conversion of Obamacare to Single-Payer."

It's a North Korean New Year!

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Happy New Year From Kim Jong-Un 'Should another war break out on this land, it will result in a deadly nuclear catastrophe and the United States will never be safe'."

And no second thoughts about deep-sixing Uncle Jang Song, it turns out, at NBC, "North Korea's Kim Jong Un says elimination of 'factionalist filth' strengthened nation," and Telegaph UK, "North Korean leader Kim Jong-un boasts of removal of 'filth' after execution of uncle":

Kim Jong-un claims in his New Year address that North Korea has been made stronger by the elimination of 'factional filth', the purge and execution of his once powerful uncle."

Butthole Bangers on Parade: In-Your-Face Homosexuals Defile Tournament of Roses

I don't think Robin Abcarian gets it --- and that's pretty surprising, considering how well the Duck Dynasty deal turned out for the GLAAD ayatollahs.

Here's her piece, "Relax. Rose Parade gay marriage float is not the apocalypse":

Breaking: Sky still intact after gay wedding on Rose Parade float. Mazel Tov to the grooms! pic.twitter.com/ueUdY4vVRu
— Robin Abcarian (@robinabcarian) January 1, 2014

A commenter named Angela Wingenroth, who identified herself as a stay-at-home mother, vowed not to allow her daughters to watch the parade:

"We don't care what the states say about it -- God is clear that this isn't right and I will NOT have this SHOVED DOWN MY CHILDREN’S THROATS!! The intolerance is theirs. They will not accept peoples' objections to their lifestyle -- you HAVE to accept that it's not just ok, but GOOD or you're a bigot! If they want to get ‘married,’ that's their choice, but my kids don't need to see it.”

Putting aside the twisted logic of accusing someone of intolerance because they are intolerant of your intolerance, I think I can put Wingenroth’s fears to rest.

As it turns out, the gay marriage float, sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is not a “featured float” with microphones. Most people who see it in person will only hear the Indigo Girls song “Power of Two” emanating from its speakers.

As for the actual wedding ceremony? It will be on camera for just 15 seconds, when the float passes in front of the KTLA-TV cameras, at precisely 9:44:50 a.m. Pacific time.

At that moment, Aubrey Loots, 42, and Danny Leclair, 45, who own a chain of Los Angeles hair salons, will be joined in holy matrimony by the Rev. Alfreda “Freda” Lanoix. A lesbian couple, Sharon Raphael and Mina Meyer, who have been together for 42 years and married in California in 2008, will serve as witnesses.

In other words, Ms. Wingenroth, blink and you and your daughters will miss the wedding.

Again, Duck Dynasty shows it's not "twisted logic." Millions of Americans are tired of in-your-face homosexuality. And they're tired of being harassed as "bigots" if they dare express their disagreement with such objectively depraved behavior.

And notice something else here: The Los Angeles Times makes sure to announce how the homosexual wedding went off without a hitch, with a photo of the lucky homos getting married, "Same-sex wedding occurs without incident on Rose Parade float." But the truly big story is how many leftist protesters were arrested while demonstrating against Sea World's parade float. Twitchy has that, "PETA protests Sea World float at Rose Bowl Parade; 17 arrested." I guess that doesn't fit with the left's "radical right-wing" narrative, or something. Pathetic.

PETA tweets fotos of arrest after protesting SeaWorld RoseParade float http://t.co/zdktSoL01w @sarahbatcha #blackfish pic.twitter.com/mPIooJkE4K
— OrcaSOS (@OrcaSOS) January 1, 2014

Bwahaha! 'Palestinian' Ambassador Blown to Smithereens in 'Freak' Explosion at Prague Embassy

Yes, because everyone needs a few extra explosive devices at foreign diplomatic embassies

It serves the f-ker right.

Here's the New York Times, "Palestinian Diplomat in Prague Is Dead After Explosion."

And I tweeted earlier. Screw the bitch:

Karma's a bitch: Palestinian ambassador to Czech Republic killed by exploding contents of old safe. http://t.co/C6BnRasQ2M

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 1, 2014

The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic was killed in an explosion at his Prague residence on Wednesday after a safe blew up as he was trying to open it.

Jamal al-Jamal, 56, suffered severe head, chest and stomach wounds in the incident. He was taken to Prague military hospital but later died from his injuries. An unidentified 52-year-old woman was also treated in hospital for shock and smoke inhalation.

There was no definitive explanation for the cause of the blast but early indications suggested it may have been an accident. Czech police said there was no evidence that the ambassador had been the victim of terrorism while Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, insisted no foul play was involved.

He said the safe had not been opened in at least 30 years when Mr al-Jamal - who had been in his post for less than three months - tried to open it.

"The ambassador decided to open it. After he opened it, apparently something happened inside (the safe) and went off," AP quoted Mr Malki as saying.

It is believed Mr al-Jamal had been taking the safe from the embassy's old building to its new complex in the Suchdol neighbourhood in northern Prague...

The embassy as terrorist compound. Yes, you might have a couple of work accidents here and there, mofos.

Jahi McMath Family Fights for Life

From Michelle Malkin, "The gifts of Jahi":

New Year’s Day should be a time of fresh beginnings and forward motion. But for the family of 13-year-old Jahi McMath, the holiday season has been suspended in a cloud of unfathomable pain and suffering: A routine tonsillectomy gone wrong. A beautiful child declared “brain dead.” Lawyers, TV cameras, tears.

The McMaths are fighting for life. On Monday, they won a court order that prevents Children’s Hospital of Oakland from pulling the plug on Jahi until Jan. 7. Her relatives have been attacked as “publicity hounds” for doing everything possible to raise awareness about the young girl’s tragic case. They’ve been criticized as troublemakers for challenging powerful hospital officials. They’ve been labeled “selfish” and ignorant because they are praying for a miracle.

Why, many observers ask, don’t they just “accept reality” and let go?

As the mother of a 13-year-old girl, I would have done everything Jahi’s mom has done to this point. Everything. Here’s reality: Children’s Hospital faces serious malpractice questions about its care of Jahi. Hospital execs have a glaring conflict of interest in wielding power over her life support. According to relatives, medical officials callously referred to Jahi as “dead, dead, dead” and dismissed the child as a “body.”

The McMath family refused to be rushed or pushed around. They demanded respect for their loved one. I say more power to them.

There are plenty of reasons to question the medical establishment’s handling of catastrophic cases involving brain injury and “brain death.” In 2008, doctors were dead certain that 21-year-old Zack Dunlop was legally deceased after a horrible ATV accident. Tests showed there was no blood flow to his brain. His hospital issued a death notice. Authorities prepared to harvest his organs. But family members were not convinced. A cousin who happened to be a nurse tested Zack’s reflexes on his own one last time as the hospital swooped in. The “brain dead” “body” responded. Forty-eight days later, the supposedly impossible happened: “Brain dead” Zack Dunlop walked out of the hospital and lived to tell about his miraculous recovery on the Today Show.

The immense pressure Jahi’s family faces to give up and give in reminded me of another child written off by medical and government officials: Haleigh Poutre. She’s the miracle child who was nearly beaten to death by her barbaric stepfather. Hooked to a ventilator in a comatose state, she was then nearly condemned to death by Massachusetts medical experts and the state’s criminally negligent child welfare bureaucracy, which hastily declared her to be in a hopeless vegetative state and wanted to pull the plug on her life.

The “experts” were wrong. Haleigh breathed on her own; a caring team of therapists nursed her back to health. Soon, she was brushing her hair and feeding herself. She lived to testify against her abusive stepfather, now behind bars. Her survival is a stark warning against blind, yielding trust in Big Nanny and Big Medicine.

We don’t know what God has planned for Jahi. But I do know this: America has become a throwaway culture where everything and everyone — from utensils to diapers to cameras to babies — is disposable. Elites sneer at the sanctity of life. The Terri Schiavo case brought out the worst, most dehumanizing impulses of American medical ethics debates. And from the attacks I’ve seen on the McMath family, little has changed.

Watch the video. Jahi's mother says her daughter is responsive.

For 2014, Tweet Less, Read More

Good advice.

From Frank Bruni, at the New York Times:

Lately there’s been a bit of academic attention to our etiquette online, which is where so many of us spend more and more of our time. It rightly notes how much rudeness makes its way onto message boards and into Facebook threads, how quickly the back-and-forth on websites turns nasty.

That happens in part because the exchanges are disembodied: We don’t have to face whomever we’re lashing out at. But it’s also because they’re impulsive. Their timbre conforms to their tempo. Both are coarse.

Conversely, there was talk this year about the benefits of an activity that’s in some ways the antithesis of texting and tweeting with their rat-tat-tat rhythm. That activity is the reading of fiction. According to some researchers, people who settle into it are more empathetic — more attuned to what those around them think and feel — than people who don’t.

I buy that, and not from a vantage point of cultural snobbery or because I’m a Luddite. Trust me, I watch inexcusable amounts of television, much of it proudly lowbrow. I consume most of my newspapers and magazines online and almost all of my books on an iPad, and I depend gratefully on email and instant messaging to maintain friendships that might otherwise have fallen by the wayside.

But I’d bet big on real reading, fiction or nonfiction, as a prompt for empathy and a whole lot more: coolheadedness, maybe even open-mindedness, definitely deliberation. It doesn’t just yank you outside of yourself, making you consider other viewpoints without allowing for the incessant interjection and exaltation of your own. It slackens the pace. Forces a pause.

I'd argue especially for young people to put down their mobile devices and start reading. And I say that as the father of a 17-year-old. Bruni's making an argument to improve civility by increasing reflection, which reading actualizes. Reading is something for me that takes more effort than just about anything else. I can watch TV and blog without stressing the lack of concentration, but picking up a book forces me to turn off the electronics. It's nice to do it. I'm currently reading Mark Helprin's "Soldier of the Great War," a fairly epic novel which I'm not in a hurry to finish. (Years ago I used to pressure myself to finish novels with great speed; shoot, I'd never not finish a book I once started. Now, I just don't worry and enjoy it.)

In any case, more at that top link. Certainly, social media captures too much of our attention and drives too much of our outrage. It's something to think about.

Terror-Lawyer Lynne Stewart Released from Federal Prison

I saw the headline "compassionate release" earlier today, but I didn't know they were talking about left-wing terrorist attorney Lynne Stewart.

Shameful. She should rot in jail.

At the New York Times, "Judge Orders Release of Dying Lawyer Convicted of Aiding Terrorism":

A federal judge in Manhattan ordered a “compassionate release” on Tuesday for Lynne F. Stewart, the former defense lawyer convicted of assisting terrorism who is dying from cancer in a federal prison in Texas.

Ms. Stewart, 74, who was convicted in 2005, sought release in 2013 under a Bureau of Prisons program for terminally ill inmates, but did so without the bureau’s support. The judge, John G. Koeltl of United States District Court, rejected the request in August, but indicated that he would look favorably upon such action if the Bureau of Prisons itself made such a motion....

Ms. Stewart, in a 12-page handwritten letter to the judge during the summer, said she did not want to die in prison, “a strange and loveless place,” as she put it. “I want to be where all is familiar — in a word, home.”

Judge Koeltl’s order says that Ms. Stewart shall be released “as soon as her medical condition permits, the release plan is implemented, and travel arrangements can be made.”

This woman is vile. Screw her.

See Sharon Chadha, at FrontPage Magazine, "Lynne Stewart, Jihadi Lawyer." And Michelle Malkin, "No Tears for Lynne Stewart":

The jihadists’ favorite American lawyer, Lynne Stewart, reportedly has stage-4 breast cancer. Her radical friends — ranging from the “Party for Socialism and Liberation” and “Workers World” to Pete Seeger, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal — want her freed from jail. There’s only one decent response to the Lynne Stewart Fan Club’s criminal-coddling demand:

No, hell, no....

This case remains a shining example of just how dangerous it is for America to give foreign-born jihadists the full panoply of American constitutional rights and all the attendant benefits of a civilian trial. Stewart’s treacherous collaboration with the Blind Sheik endangered — and cost — innocent lives.

Stewart remains unrepentant. She called 9/11 an “armed struggle.” Upon her initial sentencing, she boasted that she could serve the term “standing on her head.” After she was convicted of aiding and abetting Rahman, she told an interviewer she “would do it again.”

Now she wants mercy, medical comforts and freedom? No, hell, no. This messenger gal for murderous barbarians made her prison bed. Die in it.

2013: The Year Defiance of the State Became Cool

Well, to a point.

Too many libertarians are anarcho-nihilists, with no conception of legitimate security needs of the state. They form a civil liberties cult, elevating people like Aaron Swartz and Edward Snowden to hero status, and evincing a virtual sickness, according to Robert Stacy McCain, "a psychological complex we might call Post-Republican Anti-War Syndrome."

With that caveat, here's Reason, "The year saw many Americans rally behind rebels, explicitly siding with them over the government, in opposition to the powers-that-be":

Flipping the bird to the state doesn't guarantee universal acclaim. It certainly doesn't ensure personal safety. But more than at any time in recent memory, defying governments and their laws has a constituency—a large one—that sees such action as necessary and even heroic.

RTWT.

#LiberalismIn4Words

A great hash-tag, on Twitter.

And at Twitchy, "Rep. Steve Stockman, others hijack #LiberalismIn4Words":

#LiberalismIn4Words Dissent is not tolerated.

— Rep. Steve Stockman (@StockmanSenate) December 31, 2013

2013: The Year of Mainstreaming Homosexual Depravity

At AmericaBlog, "2013 LGBT year in review: A great year for gay homosexual rights."

And from ABC News, "A Game-Changing Year for Gay Homosexual Rights, From the Supreme Court to the Soccer Field."



Same-sex fast food via Dr. Marty Fox, on Twitter.

Dr. Kate Stone, Transgender Cambridge Academic, Gored by Giant Stag

She's paralyzed.

At Telegraph UK, "Cambridge University academic 'fighting for life' after being gored by giant stag":

Kate Stone, 44, suffers life-threatening injuries in 'the most unlucky freak accident ever', after the stag appeared to single out the 6ft academic who was the tallest of the group.

And see London's Daily Mail, "Transgender Cambridge academic seriously ill after being gored through the neck by a STAG during holiday in the Highlands."

'A few years ago, when the company went to London, some of them were able to go to the factory and meet their maker...'

An interesting quotation, about dancers for New York's City Ballet, who have their point shoes custom-made by a London shoe company. And occasionally, they visit the factory to "meet their maker."

At NYT, "At City Ballet, Footwear Is Almost as Important as Feet."

A photo-slideshow at the link. David H. Koch, of the left's reviled billion Koch brothers, is a benefactor of the company.

London's St. James's Church in Piccadilly Builds 'Apartheid Wall' to Demonize Israel

This is something else. Bloody outrageous, you might say.

From Jack Engelhard, at the Washington Times, "London's St. James Church chooses Hitler as its savior, sparks outrage":

NEW YORK, December 29, 2013 —  Maybe it is time for British Jews to start packing again. Surely there are millions of Muslims ready to replace them.

Hundreds of churches and synagogues throughout Britain and the rest of Europe are already being supplanted by mosques.

This certainly ought to gladden the leadership at St. James Church, Piccadilly. They chose Christmas to prove their loyalty to Palestinian Arab terrorists, whose godfather will always be Adolf Hitler. To scorn the Jewish State, they have festively replicated the “wall” (Israel’s security fence) on Church grounds to symbolize Palestinian “suffering” and Israeli “occupation.”

In fact, the “wall” is a chain fence that only touches Bethlehem from where Muslim terrorists emerged.

Thousands of Israelis were murdered before the barrier went up.

That does not concern this particular Anglican Church, which was designed and built by Christopher Wren in the late 1600s. So it is famed and historic and sits in the heart of London. Worshippers and passersby are able to rejoice and fill their hearts, once again, with baseless hatred.

The Jew Jesus, would He approve this message of loathing against His kin?

The extravaganza will run until January 5. The replica, we are told, is as large as the Church itself and features anti-Israel images and slogans.

Britain’s finest singers have been assembled to joyfully denounce Israel.

The party includes dancing, as there was dancing in Gaza and Ramallah when New York’s Twin Towers were taken down.

St. James apparently does not object to Christians being ethnically cleansed out of existence by Palestinians in total control of Bethlehem. Why worry?

Nor do Christians being murdered in Egypt and elsewhere throughout the Muslim world trouble St. James. Why be concerned?

Within the region, only in Israel are all religions welcomed and protected. This obviously goes blithely without notice at St. James...

Keep reading.

And see Melanie Phillips, "A church of hate: An open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby":

Israel is currently the victim of a mind-bending campaign of demonisation and delegitimisation based on falsehoods, libels and gross distortions. Your church, Archbishop, has now become part of this sinister and wicked attempt to exterminate a country by reversing truth and lies in the minds of decent people.

You surely do not need me to tell you that this anti-Israel bigotry in your church – going far beyond St James’s, Piccadilly – is infused by a revival of the ancient Christian calumny that the Jews have forfeited God’s love and all the promises he made to them on account of their refusal to believe in Jesus, as a result of which they were to be considered in league with the devil.

This terrible doctrine of ‘supersessionism’, which was responsible for centuries of Christian persecution and mass murder of the Jews, has become resurgent in recent years through the influence of Palestinian Christians who have attempted to rewrite the Bible as a lexicon of hate to further the cause of Palestinianism. To that end, they have attempted to airbrush the Jews out of their own history, while seeking to appropriate the Christian story itself by depicting Palestinians as suffering the torments of Jesus. Cashing in on this trend, Mahmoud Abbas ludicrously referred in his own Christmas message to Jesus – the Jew from Judea ­– as a Palestinian.

The influence upon your Church, Archbishop, of this virulent cocktail of ancient theological bigotry and exterminatory Palestinianism cannot be exaggerated.

In a climate in which every Jewish communal or religious event, every Jewish school and institution in Britain has to be guarded against attack, and in which there is a direct correlation between the emotive lies told about Israel and attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions, for one of your churches to lend itself to such incitement is simply obscene.

The ‘wall’ is of course a stunt. But the damage it has done to the Church of England is immense. Because what it does is put the Church on the side of lies and hatred against truth and justice. It has put the Church of England on the side of evil.

The only purpose of Israel’s security barrier is to save life and prevent mass murder. The only purpose of the St James’s Church ‘Bethlehem Unwrapped’ stunt is to stir up hatred.

To stay silent is to make the rest of the Church an accessory to this obscenity. I therefore trust that you will take all necessary steps to counter the calumny promulgated by St James’s and prevent the stain upon the wider Church from now spreading.

RTWT.

And at Blazing Cat Fur, "An open letter to St. James’s Church at Christmas," and Israel Matzav, "London's Saint James Church promotes Christian torment in 'Palestine'."

Here's the website for the St. James's Church. Let them know how you feel.

The Top Washington Story of 2013?

What's your pick?

I say the Snowden NSA leaks and the disastrous ObamaCare rollout. A year's a long time in the frame of the daily news cycle.

But see WSJ, "Review & Vote: 2013′s Top Washington Stories."

The 25 Essential Reads of 2013

It's mostly long reads, of which I rarely have the time. (Or, I rarely take the time.)

At the Verge, "The best online writing of 2013":

Each week we round up some of the best writing on the web in order to cut through the flood and highlight the best original online reporting, interviews, and writing. 2013 saw fantastic coverage of the NSA leaks, Silicon Valley’s larger aspirations to change the world, DNA testing, and much more, and many publications continued pushing the boundaries of movement, video, illustration, and design. And so as 2013 draws to a close, we’re taking a look back at the stories, profiles, and characters that stayed with us: we’ve narrowed it down to 25 essential reads from Grantland, Mother Jones, domus, The London Review of Books, The Awl, Fast Company, and many more.

Well, get reading!

Animal-Rights Activists Bully Dying Italian Girl

I saw this piece when I was looking over there for Eli Lake's report on NYT's bogus Benghazi whitewash.

At the Daily Beast (now at Memeorandum).

And at the Sydney Morning Herald, "'I would have been dead at nine': Caterina Simonsen in hospital after backlash over defence of animal testing":

An Italian woman who received death threats after declaring in an internet posting that she owed her life to medicines developed from testing on laboratory mice has been admitted to hospital with a severe lung infection.

Caterina Simonsen, 25, last week appeared on Italian national television to answer abuse from animal rights militants who took exception to her Facebook post in which she defended the use of testing on animals for medical purposes.

In that post on December 21, she uploaded a photo of herself with a message: "I am 25 thanks to genuine research that includes experiments on animals.

"Without research, I would have been dead at nine. You have gifted me a future."

Ms Simonsen, who is studying to be a veterinarian at the University of Bologna and has several dogs, suffers from four rare genetic disorders and cannot breathe without the aid of oxygen tubes.

Since she made the controversial comments on social media, she claims to have received more than 30 "death wishes" and 500 abusive messages on her Facebook page.

Continue reading.

Stay classy progs.

FLASHBACK: "The Progressive War on Science and Reason":

"Of all of today's political philosophies, progressivism stands as the most pressing problem for science. Progressives, not conservatives, are the ones most likely to replace scientific research with unscientific ideology."

Britney Spears Lip-Syncing Two-Year Residency Concerts at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood

Here's the story at the New York Daily News, "Britney Spears caught lip-syncing during 'Britney: Piece of Me' residency shows in Las Vegas, despite management denials."

And her problems don't stop there.

At LAT, "Review: Britney Spears offers just a 'Piece of Me' in Las Vegas":

Wow… perfect audience for the 1st #PieceOfMe show! That was AMAZING! I <3 you Vegas!!! pic.twitter.com/7w0mGIH3BJ

— Britney Spears (@britneyspears) December 28, 2013

Scheduled to run through 2015, with Spears playing approximately 50 shows a year at the 4,600-seat Axis, “Piece of Me” represents a potential pivot point for the singer and the state of entertainment on the Las Vegas Strip.

For Spears, 32, the steady gig promises a path out of the turmoil and disappointment that have surrounded her since 2007, when she attacked a paparazzo’s car with an umbrella after shaving her head at a Tarzana salon.

Though Spears’ personal life appears to have stabilized, her career is still hurting: This month her album “Britney Jean” opened with the lowest sales of the singer’s 15-year career; it sits at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, well behind records by Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus, both of whom showed up Friday night as a sign of respect to a trailblazer.

Filling the Axis, the thinking seems to go, might restore some of Spears’ luster without her having to engage in direct competition with her younger successors.

Las Vegas, meanwhile, stands the chance to further dismantle its reputation as a home for has-beens. Successful casino shows by the likes of Celine Dion and Elton John have advanced that effort, but with its jackhammering dance beats and recent-vintage radio hits, “Piece of Me” bridges the gap between those old-school extravaganzas and the superstar DJ sets that have increasingly come to define the city’s night life.

In terms of show-business strategy, it seems to make sense. Yet as a concert experience Spears’ opening-night performance came up awfully short....

Whatever the scale of the number though, the singer’s presence felt so diminished -- her dancing a tentative shadow of what it used to be, her vocals apparently lip-synced for the majority of the show -- as if to make the production’s title seem a taunt.

That was never more true than in the song “Piece of Me,” which on 2007’s “Blackout” -- perhaps Spears’ best album, released right in the thick of her public meltdown -- arrived like a searing indictment of the tabloid surveillance state. On record the track still stings, yet here it flat-lined, with none of the intensity, energy or strut that made Spears such a focal point of mainstream pop.

RTWT.

Well, maybe she's right for Vegas after all. A lot of performers have wound down their careers on the Strip.

Melissa Harris-Perry, Despicable @MSNBC Wretch, Apologizes for Racist Attack on Romney Grandchild

I knew this was coming. The only question was how long it would take her to apologize, and yet, she still botched it. Only a disgusting left-wing reprobate would launch a hash-tag while apologizing for a despicable racist attack on a baby.

Here's the apology, "An apology from Melissa Harris-Perry" via (Memeorandum).

Her tweets are embedded there, along with the selfish hashtag.

More at Twitchy, "‘Height of conceit!’ Pathetic Melissa Harris-Perry slammed for ludicrous hashtag-apology to Romneys," and "‘Lunatic!’ Melissa Harris-Perry ‘apologizes’ to Romneys (with self-serving hashtag); Do you buy it?"

She still literally doesn't think she actually did anything wrong. #MHPapology
— S.M (@redsteeze) December 31, 2013

Side note, who the heck uses a hashtag for an apology? #MHPapology
— Amy Lutz (@amylutz4) December 31, 2013

Also, "Romney grandson-mocking racist progressives of pallor at MSNBC in a truth-boom nutshell," and "Katie Pavlich crushes Lamont Hill’s Romney grandson-mocking defense with shattering point."

Keira Knightley for British Harper's Bazaar

She's a classy woman.

At Harpers, "KEIRA KNIGHTLEY IS OUR FEBRUARY COVER STAR":T

The dearth of women in film is partly what makes her consider directing, she says – because things will only change when more women are in positions of genuine power. "Hollywood has a really long way to go. I don’t think that anybody can deny that, really, and I think as much as you are getting more women playing lead roles… they’re still pretty few and far between." After 20 years of experience (she started acting at the age of 7), Knightly wonders whether she might move behind the camera, and gain more control. "As I get older I get more interested by it… There is a lot of 'You do what you’re told' [as an actor]. After watching it and being part of it for so long, you start going, 'I wonder if there is a journey to the other side.' I don’t know if there is, but I’m interested in seeing people who have done it."

Hmm, more Hollywood hypocrisy, it turns out.