U.S-Iraq Distrust Hinders Fight Against al-Qaeda

Obama's abandonment of Iraq is playing out, as I mentioned yesterday, "Al-Qaeda in Iraq Resurgent."

And now here comes this, at the Los Angeles Times, "Distrust hinders U.S.-Iraq fight against resurgent Al Qaeda militants":

WASHINGTON — With insurgents linked to Al Qaeda battling for control of two major Iraqi cities, long-standing suspicion between the Obama administration and the government in Baghdad is hindering joint efforts against a common foe.

Sunni Muslim militants have gained control of territory in western Iraq's Anbar province in recent weeks, and intense fighting has broken out in two of Anbar's main cities, Fallouja and Ramadi, that were the sites of crucial battles during the Iraq war. On Friday, militants waving the Al Qaeda flag blew up key government buildings in Fallouja.

The Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has rushed reinforcements into the region. More than 8,000 Iraqis died in the fighting last year, according to United Nations figures, making it the bloodiest year since 2008. But in one sign of the gap between Washington and Baghdad, Maliki's government recently halted secret U.S. surveillance flights by unarmed drones.

Across the border in Syria, militant groups are playing an increasingly large role in the insurgency against President Bashar Assad. Among the most prominent militant groups on both sides of the border is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The group has roots in Iraq, but the civil war in Syria has provided fresh supplies of money, weapons and fighters. Under the leadership of Abu Bakr Baghdadi, it seeks to create an Islamic caliphate including the territory of both Syria and Iraq.

As some ISIS militants were fighting government forces in western Iraq on Friday, others were battling other Syrian rebel groups trying to limit their reach near Aleppo, in western Syria.

Some current and former U.S. officials say they believe the White House is still weighing how deeply it wants to be involved in containing the militants, but several former officials are urging it to waste no time in stepping up its efforts.

"It was bad enough when this contagion was just inside Syria, but now it's spreading, and that's a whole lot worse," said Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq from 2007 to '09. Nothing could be more worrisome, he said, than the militant groups' plan to expand their grip on territory, giving them a base from which they could plot long-range operations.

Continue reading.

And more at the Washington Post, "Rebels battle al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters across northern Syria."

Blackadder Libel: The Left's Typically Depraved Attack on Britain's Education Secretary Michael Gove

I had to look up "Blackadder," not being British and all.

Although I do have some knowledge of the origins of World War I, not to mention the left's nihilistic antiwar hatred of anything resembling patriotic memory. Thus this debate over the comments made by British Education Secretary Michael Gove are completely predictable.

The background's at London's Daily Mail, "Michael Gove blasts 'Blackadder myths' about the First World War spread by television sit-coms and left-wing academics":

Left-wing myths about the First World War peddled by Blackadder belittle Britain and clear Germany of blame, Michael Gove says today.

The Education Secretary criticises historians and TV programmes that denigrate patriotism and courage by depicting the war as a ‘misbegotten shambles’.

As Britain prepares to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the war, Mr Gove claims only undergraduate cynics would say the soldiers were foolish to fight.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Mr Gove says he has little time for the view of the Department for Culture and the Foreign Office that the commemorations should not lay fault at Germany’s door.

The Education Secretary says the conflict was a ‘just war’ to combat aggression by a German elite bent on domination.

‘The First World War may have been a uniquely horrific war, but it was also plainly a just war,’ he says. ‘The ruthless social Darwinism of the German elites, the pitiless approach they took to occupation, their aggressively expansionist war aims and their scorn for the international order all made resistance more than justified.’

Gove's comments are uncontroversial and smack dab within the historical consensus on both the origins of the war and the counterfactual expectations had Britain not fought in 1914. But leftists are so bloody blinkered with hatred that any historical just-war affirmation is shot down with stupid faux righteousness.

There's more on this at the Independent UK, "Cambridge history professor hits back at Michael Gove's 'ignorant attack'":

The battlefield hostilities may have officially terminated 96 years ago but the argument over the rights and wrongs of the First World War show little sign having been settled. Today, one of Britain’s most eminent historians hit back at what he described as an “ignorant attack” by Education Secretary Michael Gove on his analysis of the conflict.

Writing in the Daily Mail yesterday Mr Gove accused Professor Sir Richard Evans of failing to acknowledge the debt owed to the soldiers that were killed in the Great War claiming he had previously dismissed attempts to honour their sacrifice as “narrow tub-thumping jingoism”.

Sir Richard, Regius Professor of History and President of Wolfson College Cambridge, suggested the criticism stemmed from his vocal opposition to the Education Secretary’s ill-fated attempts to reform the way history is taught in schools.

Professor Evans told The Independent: “I never said that at all. I said his proposals for the National Curriculum were narrow tub-thumping jingoism and there is some relationship between that.”  In his article Mr Gove claimed that the centenary of the start of the war which is being marked this year should not be seen “through the fictional prism” of Oh! What a Lovely War and Black Adder which characterised the four years of fighting which cost 16m lives and resulted in 20m wounded as a “series of catastrophic mistakes perpetrated by an out-of-touch elite”. “Even to this day there are left-wing academics all too happy to feed these myths,” he wrote.

However, Professor Evans accused Mr Gove of oversimplification.  “How can you possibly claim that Britain was fighting for democracy and liberal values when the main ally was Tsarist Russia? That was a despotism that put Germany in the shade and sponsored pogroms in 1903-6.”

He said that unlike Germany where male suffrage was universal – 40 per cent of those British troops fighting in the war did not have the vote until 1918. “The Kaiser was not like Hitler, he was not a dictator. He could never make his mind up and changed his mind every five minutes. The largest political party in Germany in 1914 were the Social Democrats,” he said. “Germany was a very divided country in 1914 and becomes more so as time goes on. It is not Nazi Germany,” he added.

Professor Evans agreed with Mr Gove that the debate about the war is too much shaped by popular culture. “I think the Government has got it about right. I think the Department for Culture Media and Sport has made money available for groups and institutions to mark the war in any way they see fit. That is the right thing to do. I don’t think anyone should try and impose their political view on the public. The kind of debate we are having now is the right thing to do.”

Professor Gary Sheffield of the University of Wolverhampton, who was praised by Mr Gove for his recent study of Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force whose Western Front offensives cost nearly one million British lives, said it was not a question of ideology.

“Mr Gove’s politics and mine are pretty different but the view he has put forward is right. What he was wrong about however is that there is a left-right split – there isn’t,” he said.

“The publicity that has been kicking off around the centenary has reflected the Black Adder point of view although he (Mr Gove) is wrong to single it out – it is satire not documentary.”

Professor Sheffield said mainstream historians had been revising their opinions of the conflict over the past three decades overturning the “bad war” theory which had taken hold in the 1930s.

“The war was fought for defensive reasons and Europe would have been a very dark place if Germany had not been defeated. Imperial Germany wasn’t as bad as Nazi Germany but it was bad enough,” he said. “We don’t want this year to be a jingoistic carnival of celebration but rather a sober understanding that what Britain was fighting for was important. It was a war against aggression,” he added.

I disagree with Professor Sheffield on the so called left/right split. The popular culture is already screwed. And should the grade school curriculum be polluted with blather about how the war was a waste of lives, a "misbegotten shambles," then the left's antiwar meme will be indoctrinating generations of British youth.

Here's Gove's initial piece that brought forth the leftist spew, "Why does the Left insist on belittling true British heroes? MICHAEL GOVE asks damning question as the anniversary of the First World War approaches." And more typical antiwar bilge, at the far left New Statesman, "Michael Gove defends deaths of 37 million people as 'just'."

Boeing Vote Deals Blow to Southland Hopes for 777x Project

I was thinking about this earlier, "Boeing Machinists Accept 777x Contract."

See LAT, "Boeing union's vote is a blow to Southern California":

The 777X & its composite wing will be built in Puget Sound area as a result of tonight’s vote. Boeing statement: http://t.co/vOM0EclS6w

— Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) January 4, 2014

The labor dispute drew attention of Southern California lawmakers still reeling from Boeing's decision in September that it would close the C-17 Globemaster III cargo jet plant in Long Beach in 2015. The plant was talked about being a potential home for the 777X program.

"Obviously, California would have loved to bring the 777X program home," said Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), chairman of the Assembly's Select Committee on Aerospace. "But we'll continue to reach out to Boeing to try and bring manufacturing jobs to Long Beach."

#FULLCOMMUNISM: 'Rolling Stone’s five economic reforms sure sound like Marxism...'

This is freakin' hilarious.

At Twitchy, "‘This cannot possibly be real’: Rolling Stone’s five economic reforms sure sound like Marxism."

More from Nick Gillespie, "Rolling Stone's Sad "5 Economic Reforms Millennials Should Be Fighting For'." (At Memeorandum.)

Rolling Stone blows.

— S.M (@redsteeze) January 4, 2014

You know what else really blows? Communists.

— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) January 4, 2014

.@AdamBaldwin The writer blows. He doesn't realize Obama blows. He also rides a unicorn that blows rainbow toots out of it's hind end.

— ★♥ Harriet Baldwin (@HarrietBaldwin) January 4, 2014

Depraved Melissa Harris-Perry Sheds Crocodile Tears in On-Air Romney Apology to Save Her Job

I remember her whooping it up during the segment last week. At no time did she rein in her panel and say, "Hey, this discussion is going in a way that's derogatory and unhealthy." She could have apologized at that moment and moved on, and thus would have prevented this whole blowup that may still cost her her job.

At London's Daily Mail, "Melissa Harris-Perry makes tearful apology after joke that made Mitt Romney's adopted black grandson the butt of a series of jokes."

And from Ed Morrissey, "Video: Melissa Harris-Perry’s tearful apology to Romney and other adoptive families":

BuzzFeed’s Dorsey Shaw notes that Mitt Romney is scheduled to appear on Fox News Sunday, and suggests that he will respond to Harris-Perry at that time. I’d be surprised, though, if the normally-gracious Romney has anything more to say about it than an acceptance of this apology today. This is the kind of moment most people would do best to rise above, rather than slug it out with their families in the crossfire.

Captain Ed argues it's time to move on, and perhaps it is, although, as broached above, I think Dan Riehl nails it, "She Lies! Original Video Indicates Melissa Harris-Perry’s Tearful Apology Is Bogus":

In today’s tearful apology MSNBC host Melissa Harris Perry claims she “identified with” the Romney family picture that her show went on to mock. She also claims that she intended to say “positive and celebratory” things about it, not make it the butt of a joke.

That’s obviously false – in fact, as she admits, the very title of a segment she was basically setting up was “Look back in laughter.” That alone suggests she is simply spinning to get out of trouble, now.

And speaking of crying, I won't be when Harris-Perry gets canned.

Alabama Mom Michelle Pritchett Attacks Oklahoma Fans at Sugar Bowl

At the Blaze, "‘I’D DO IT AGAIN’: MOM WHO LEAPED OVER BLEACHERS TO ATTACK ENEMY FOOTBALL FANS DEFENDS HER WILD ACTIONS."

She told Yellowhammer News: “It started off being friendly, just us going back and forth about the game … But what ended up happening had nothing to do with the game. It escalated. When they said something to my son, I told them to shut their mouths. They were telling my son to come down there and ‘do something about it.’ I said, ‘no, that’s not going to happen. This crap needs to stop.’”

Pritchett said her son is 16, and they “crossed the line” when they started “taunting” him.

“The security people had already gotten on to those guys for throwing bottles at people,” she added. “When they escorted me out, the security guard told them there was no reason to be pressing charges on me because those guys were out of control the whole game. I defended my son. If they had kicked those boys out to begin with, it wouldn’t have happened the way it did.”

I'd defend my kid too, but perhaps she could have gotten security over there, in the fuckers' faces. Mighta been able to stay for the whole game.

Also at London's Daily Mail, "'I'd do it again if I had to': Alabama fan mom unapologetic following viral video of her DIVING over crowd to attack Oklahoma students at Sugar Bowl game."

Why Snowden Won't (and Shouldn't) Get Clemency

From Fred Kaplan, at Slate, "He went too far to be considered just a whistleblower" (via Louise Mensch):

I regard Daniel Ellsberg as an American patriot. I was one of the first columnists to write that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper should be fired for lying to Congress. On June 7, two days after the first news stories based on Edward Snowden’s leaks, I wrote a column airing (and endorsing) the concerns of Brian Jenkins, a leading counterterrorism expert, that the government’s massive surveillance program had created “the foundation of a very oppressive state.”

And yet I firmly disagree with the New York Times’ Jan. 1 editorial (“Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower”), calling on President Obama to grant Snowden “some form of clemency” for the “great service” he has done for his country.

It is true that Snowden’s revelations about the National Security Agency’s surveillance of American citizens—far vaster than any outsider had suspected, in some cases vaster than the agency’s overseers on the secret FISA court had permitted—have triggered a valuable debate, leading possibly to much-needed reforms.

If that were all that Snowden had done, if his stolen trove of beyond-top-secret documents had dealt only with the NSA’s domestic surveillance, then some form of leniency might be worth discussing.

But Snowden did much more than that. The documents that he gave the Washington Post’s Barton Gellman and the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald have, so far, furnished stories about the NSA’s interception of email traffic, mobile phone calls, and radio transmissions of Taliban fighters in Pakistan’s northwest territories; about an operation to gauge the loyalties of CIA recruits in Pakistan; about NSA email intercepts to assist intelligence assessments of what’s going on inside Iran; about NSA surveillance of cellphone calls “worldwide,” an effort that (in the Post’s words) “allows it to look for unknown associates of known intelligence targets by tracking people whose movements intersect.” In his first interview with the South China Morning Post, Snowden revealed that the NSA routinely hacks into hundreds of computers in China and Hong Kong.

These operations have nothing to do with domestic surveillance or even spying on allies. They are not illegal, improper, or (in the context of 21st-century international politics) immoral. Exposing such operations has nothing to do with “whistle-blowing.”

Many have likened Snowden’s actions to Daniel Ellsberg’s leaking of the Pentagon Papers. (Ellsberg himself has made the comparison.) But the Pentagon Papers were historical documents on how the United States got involved in the Vietnam War. Ellsberg leaked them (after first taking them to several senators, who wanted nothing to do with them) in the hopes that their revelations would inspire pressure to end the war. It’s worth noting that he did not leak several volumes of the Papers dealing with ongoing peace talks. Nor did he leak anything about tactical operations. Nor did he go to North Vietnam and praise its leaders (as Snowden did in Russia).

The New Yorker’s Amy Davidson, who has called on Obama to “pardon” Snowden, cited Jimmy Carter’s pardoning of Vietnam-era draft dodgers as “a useful parallel when thinking about Snowden’s legal situation.” This suggestion is mind-boggling on several levels. Among other things, Snowden signed an oath, as a condition of his employment as an NSA contractor, not to disclose classified information, and knew the penalties for violating the oath. The young men who evaded the draft, either by fleeing to Canada or serving jail terms, did so in order to avoid taking an oath to fight a war that they opposed—a war that was over, and widely reviled, by the time that Carter pardoned them.

There are no such extenuating circumstances favoring forgiveness of Snowden. The Times editorial paints an incomplete picture when it claims that he “stole a trove of highly classified documents after he became disillusioned with the agency’s voraciousness.” In fact, as Snowden himself told the South China Morning Post, he took his job as an NSA contractor, with Booz Allen Hamilton, because he knew that his position would grant him “access to lists of machines all over the world [that] the NSA hacked.” He stayed there for just three months, enough to do what he came to do.

Mark Hosenball and Warren Strobel of Reuters later reported, in an eye-opening scoop, that Snowden gained access to his cache of documents by persuading 20 to 25 of his fellow employees to give him their logins and passwords, saying he needed the information to help him do his job as systems administrator. (Most of these former colleagues were subsequently fired.)

Is a clear picture emerging of why Snowden’s prospects for clemency resemble the proverbial snowball’s chance in hell? He gets himself placed at the NSA’s signals intelligence center in Hawaii for the sole purpose of pilfering extremely classified documents. (How many is unclear: I’ve heard estimates ranging from “tens of thousands” to 1.1 million.)  He gains access to many of them by lying to his fellow workers (and turning them into unwitting accomplices). Then he flees to Hong Kong (a protectorate of China, especially when it comes to foreign policy) and, from there, to Russia.

This isn’t quite what it would have seemed in Cold War times...

A great piece of writing. Basically, Snowden's a very bad man. Far from a patriot, he's deserving of a long stint behind bars, if not the death penalty (a point on which I vehemently disagree with Kaplan).

Continue reading.

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.