Bundy Ranch, the Federal Government, and the Nevada Water Tipping Point — #BundyRanch

You might have seen the furor over Bundy Ranch on Twitter.

And now from Monica Morrill, at American Thinker:

#Obama will not be outdone by #putin #BundyRanch #tcot #militia pic.twitter.com/9BQgDizyqM
— Mike Gacek (@GaceMike) April 12, 2014

Many Americans have been watching with great consternation the ongoing struggle between the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Marshals against Cliven Bundy and his family. There are no signs of either side relinquishing its position. Many onlookers have been informed that this dispute is over protecting the desert tortoise. But it is nothing of the sort. In fact, the reality of the dispute goes far underneath what is being talked about. The more appropriate source of the dispute is ground water as well as surface water – this is a war over water.

Cliven Bundy and his family claim that they can trace their family ownership back to around the 1870s on their current property in Clark County. This is well before any federal offices such as the EPA, BLM, or water management were created. This corresponds with the Homestead rights that were established during the Lincoln administration in 1862 to entice people to settle the western frontier and expand the U.S. agricultural enterprises. This 19th-century policy was meant to encourage and support settlement by families like the Bundys. Now, over 150 years later, what seemed to be borderless country surrounding small-town Bunkerville in Nevada is an inhospitable petri dish for the experiments of growing federal regulations.

The Bundy Ranch “VO” is now the last large cattle ranch standing in Clark County. According to an anonymous source who has lived in Nevada for thirty-five years, the other major ranches in Clark County have been driven out of existence for one reason or another by the BLM and the Feds. It is claimed that the BLM are masquerading as conservationists, using their federal power to wield the final blow to reclaim the settlement rights they once honored to settlers like the Bundys...

And see Dana Loesch, "The Real Story Behind The Bundy Ranch Harassment":

By now you’re familiar with the standoff between the federal government, i.e. the Bureau of Land Management, and 67 year-old rancher Cliven Bundy. (If not, check the backstory and my radio interview with him here.) The BLM asserts their power through the expressed desire to protect the endangered desert tortoise, a tortoise so “endangered” that their population can no longer be contained by the refuge constructed for them so the government is closing it and euthanizing over a thousand tortoises. The tortoises, the excuse that BLM has given for violating claims to easements and running all but one lone rancher out of southern Nevada, is doing fine. In fact, the tortoise has lived in harmony with cattle in the Gold Butte, Clark County Nevada for over a hundred years, or as long as Cliven Bundy’s family has lived on the land as ranchers. In fact, the real threat to it is urbanization, not cattle.

A tortoise isn’t the reason why BLM is harassing a 67 year-old rancher. They want his land...

More at iOWNTHEWORLD, "Feds to Stand Down at Bundy Ranch."

And at Twitchy, "Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh arrives in Nevada with questions as #BundyRanch standoff ends."

Still more, FWIW, at ABC News, "Nevada Cattle Rancher Wins ‘Range War’ With Feds" (via Memeorandum).

BREAKING: Dozens of police/swat in stand-off like situation w protestors. Protestors now have rifles and guns highly visible. No violence.

— Matt Finn FNC (@MattFinnFNC) April 12, 2014

@foxnews #BundyRanch pic.twitter.com/cClavHDwrs

— Matt Finn FNC (@MattFinnFNC) April 12, 2014

This is a photo of PATRIOTS! #BundyRanch pic.twitter.com/7LI4gUOx52

— Jeremy Daugherty (@JDOGanonymous) April 12, 2014

Feds Issue Statement On #BundyRanch Surrender Indicating Law Enforcement Told Them To Back Off Over Fear Of Violence http://t.co/AmrVkBCSaE

— Patrick Dollard (@PatDollard) April 12, 2014

#BundyRanch Another good pic of #BLM & #protesters pic.twitter.com/ozURTSrWxf

— Mike Gacek (@GaceMike) April 12, 2014

#BundyCattle has been released! #BundyRanchLIVE - Dual Video Coverage #BundyRanch... http://t.co/ymJu9O8YvD

— Wayne Dupree ★彡 (@WayneDupreeShow) April 12, 2014

Bundy gets 500 head of cattle back. pic.twitter.com/9eR5B6UIUr

— Stephen Wilson (@GR8_2B_alive) April 12, 2014

#BundyRanch Love how all the libbies are super bummed that freedom and liberty won today. They are really angry & hateful trolls. We won!

— KJoy (@Kjoyfully1) April 12, 2014

Bwahaha!! Rachel Maddow Not So Pleased With Kathleen Sebelius Resignation

Via NRSC, you gotta love it. Maddow's circling the drain and her viewers are brain-dead anti-American assholes.

Rachel Maddow is very upset that Sebelius resigned yesterday. http://t.co/367qbMvB7D

— NRSC (@NRSC) April 11, 2014

'Proud Democrat' Racist @Mailman105 Tweets Racist Hatred to Smokin' Conservative Michelle Malkin

From the tolerant leftist files.

Tweeted by a "Proud Democrat" ==> https://t.co/qkp5E8UFn8 pic.twitter.com/JhcDv3IVUT
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) April 12, 2014

Classic, typical Democrat scumbag. These idiots are a dime a dozen.

Democrats, and the New York Times, Looking Ahead to 2016

I guess it takes a little edge off the 2014 pain.

The New York Times looks ahead, "Tough Tests Looming in 2016 Raise Stakes for G.O.P. in Midterm Elections."

November's gonna be a Democrat bloodbath. I'll worry about 2016 later. Two years and seven months is a very long time in politics.

Fifty-Four Percent Majority Disapproves of #ObamaCare

I guess the respondents at Gallup don't read Voxsplainer Ezra Klein, "Americans Remain Negative Toward Healthcare Law":

PRINCETON, NJ -- With the open enrollment period for obtaining health insurance through a federal government exchange now over, Americans' views on the broader healthcare law remain more negative than positive. Currently, 43% approve and 54% disapprove of the law, commonly known as "Obamacare." The approval figure is a bit higher than Gallup's estimates since last November, but disapproval is essentially unchanged.

Well, if the law's been working better, and website all "fixed," seems we'd be seeing some improvement in those numbers. Not yet, though. Not yet. And given Pew's findings yesterday of 8-1 Republican voter disapproval of the law, it's going to be tough sledding for the idiot Democrats come fall.

Conservative Firepower Has Senate #Democrats Playing Defense

I love this, especially the Koch-sponsored ads from Americans for Prosperity.

At the New York Times, "Big GOP Donors Stir Senate Runs":

Democrats in races that will help determine control of the Senate are rapidly burning through their campaign cash, whittling away their financial advantage over Republican opponents as they fend off attacks from conservative groups, according to figures released through Friday.

The spending on both sides underscores the critical role that outside conservative groups are playing as Republicans try to retake the Senate. In state after state, organizations like Americans for Prosperity, the nonprofit linked to the conservative billionaires David H. and Charles G. Koch, have kept Democrats on the defensive with a barrage of negative ads while establishment-backed Republican candidates raise money and navigate their way through primaries.

In Alaska, the Democratic incumbent, Senator Mark Begich, spent about as much money as he raised during the first three months of the year, while Dan Sullivan, a Republican candidate and former state attorney general, increased his fund-raising and substantially narrowed Mr. Begich’s advantage in cash on hand.

In Montana, Senator John Walsh, a Democrat, spent almost three-quarters of the money he raised since January, ending with about $700,000. Representative Bruce Braley of Iowa, the likely Democratic nominee for Senate, spent over 60 percent of the cash he raised.

Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, spent only about a third of what she collected through the end of March. But last month, Ms. Landrieu reserved $2.7 million of advertising time, according to strategists tracking both parties’ television spending, which will cut deeply into the $7.5 million she reported at the beginning of April.

“The spending totals so far show that a lot of Democratic candidates find themselves on the run,” said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Democratic strategists say their candidates have faced a historic early onslaught of outside spending — about $33 million in all, most of it from Koch-linked groups — without squandering their coffers and while staying, for the most part, ahead of or even with their Republican rivals in the polls.

In the five battleground races where both candidates have reported their totals — Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana and North Carolina — Democrats reported a combined $25.2 million in cash on hand, compared with $12.1 million for Republicans. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had $22 million, compared with $15.9 million for the Republican committee...

The funniest thing is how Democrats are actually outraising Republicans, all the while demonizing the Koch brothers (and in some case, taking their money).

And boy, NYT's sure got it out for the Kochs. Wouldn't want to help tilt a few of those toss-up states into the Democrat column, or anything. Nah.

Dropbox, Unfazed by 'Drop-Dropbox' Campaign, Not Dropping Condi Rice

At Instapundit, "STANDING UP TO THE RACIST BULLIES OF THE LEFT: Dropbox Unswayed By Anti-Condi #DropDropbox Campaign."

Speaking of racist bullies, leftist idiot Tom Hilton is co-blogging at No More Mister Nice Blog, the asshole. He's all down with the thugish campaign against Mozilla, and comes up with the one of the dumbest arguments I've heard on why Eich was an epic homophobic hater in '08 but Obama not so much. (Pay no mind to the crown of sunshine floating above the Lightworker's head, of course.)

Yep, racist bullies and totalitarian thugs. Never cave to these losers, lol.

'CBS Has Just Declared War on the Heatland of America...'

At Mashable, "Limbaugh on Colbert: CBS Has Declared War on the Heartland of America."

Watch it: "Rush Limbaugh Attacks CBS for Hiring Stephen Colbert to Replace David Letterman."

And at NYT, "Colbert Will Host ‘Late Show,’ Playing Himself for a Change."

Sharyl Attkisson on the O'Reilly Factor

Via Legal Insurrection, "The incurious media when it comes to Obama admin scandals."

I knew this was about Attkisson before I even clicked the linked headline at my sidebar. She's an awesome lady.

5 Students Among 10 Dead in Northern California Crash

At the Los Angeles Times, "Bus crash: What caused FedEx driver to veer, cause fiery collision?":

WILLOWS, Calif. -- Investigators combing through the wreckage of the fiery Northern California crash that killed 10 people, including five high school students, said they do not yet know what caused the driver of a FedEx truck to veer across a freeway median and hit the students' bus head-on.

California Highway Patrol Lt. Scott Fredrick said it remained unclear whether the FedEx driver – who officials said was among those killed – had fallen asleep, if his freight truck had some type of mechanical failure or if it was involved in separate collision that preceded the fiery crash.

Fredrick said CHP investigators were being assisted by the National Transportation Safety Board, which sent a team that arrived about 10 a.m. Friday. Investigators would use “sophisticated surveying and mapping equipment,” along with 3-D diagramming, to reconstruct what led up to the crash, he said.

Fredrick said investigators would also consider roadway and weather conditions at the time. But he and others cautioned it could take up to six months for the CHP to complete its report.

More.

White House Retweets Lame Ezra Klein Tweet Stroking Sebelius Retirement

Idiots.

At the Weekly Standard, "WH RT: 'Kathleen Sebelius Is Resigning Because 'Obamacare Has Won'."

At Twitchy, "‘An embarrassment’: White House embraces Voxsplaining in shameless lapdog-stroking retweet."

If a liar RTs a lie... RT @WhiteHouse: RT @ezraklein: Kathleen Sebelius is resigning because Obamacare has won http://t.co/2H73CMXjKQ

— Voting Female (@VotingFemale) April 11, 2014

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges Dons Hijab for Meeting with Somalian Islamists

Islamization of America.

At D.C. Clothesline, "Sharia Submission: Minneapolis Mayor Proudly Wears Hijab When Meeting Somali Muslims."



Hat Tip: Debra Burlingame.

President Nominates Sylvia Mathews Burwell to Lead Health and Human Services

She's a bureaucratic barnacle.

At the New York Times, "Obama Names Health Pick, Veteran of Fiscal Battles":

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Friday that he was nominating his budget director, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, as the administration tries to move beyond its early stumbles in carrying out Mr. Obama’s health law.

If confirmed by the Senate, Ms. Burwell would succeed Kathleen Sebelius, whose five-year tenure was marred by the disastrous rollout of the federal insurance marketplace that is a centerpiece of the law. Ms. Sebelius’s legacy, though, may well depend on whether Ms. Burwell and her successors can elevate public opinion of the law to a level matching programs like Medicare.

More.

PREVIOUSLY: "Obama Announces Sebelius Resignation."

Obama Announces Sebelius Resignation

At WaPo, "Kathleen Sebelius steps down as HHS secretary; OMB director will take her place."

And at Twitchy, "‘Can’t breathe’: Sebelius’ ‘perfect’ farewell ‘glitch’ is comedy gold [video, Photoshop]."

One last miscue for #Sebelius -- "unfortunately a page is missing" in binder with farewell remarks

— Ed Henry (@edhenryTV) April 11, 2014

Perfect! @Sebelius is missing a page of her farewell speech! Too Much!!

— Jim Hoft (@gatewaypundit) April 11, 2014

Glenn Greenwald Back in the U.S.

Well, I guess the feds didn't nab 'em after all.

At Puff Ho, "Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras Successfully Return to the United States."

Back in the USA: @ggreenwald & @laurapoitras honored with Polk Awards http://t.co/Ndl8ztGkrf pic.twitter.com/ZTx24gurtN
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 11, 2014

Also at Mashable, "WikiLeaks Live Tweets Glenn Greenwald's Flight to US."

Communists and rabid anti-Semites. Greenwald's biggest backers.

Republicans More Likely to See #ObamaCare as 'Very Important' to Their Vote

It's interesting how leftists are spinning the Sebelius resignation as a "victory" for #ObamaCare.

But GOP voters are more riled up this year, so they'll turn out in much higher numbers in November's election. They disapprove of the law by a roughly eight-to-one margin.

See Pew Research, "More Republicans See Health Care Stance as ‘Very Important’ to Midterm Vote: Views of ACA Little Changed Following Enrollment Surge":

In looking ahead to this fall’s elections, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to view a candidate’s position on the Affordable Care Act as very important to their vote. A new national survey finds that 64% of Republican registered voters say a candidate’s stance on the health care law will be very important in their voting decision, compared with 52% of Democrats and 45% of independents.

The new national survey by the Pew Research Center and USA TODAY, conducted April 3-6 among 1,010 adults, finds more continue to disapprove (50%) than approve (37%) of the 2010 health care law. Last month, the balance of opinion was similar – 53% disapproved of the law, while 41% approved.

Six-in-ten (60%) voters who oppose the health care law say that a candidate’s stance on the health care law will be very important to their vote, compared with about half (48%) of voters who support the law.

Don't swallow the left's bullshit. The law remains a massive cluster-k. Democrats are going to be crushed at the polls. The writing's on the wall.

'The Second Amendment as Ordinary Constitutional Law'

A quick but fascinating read, from Glenn Reynolds, at Instapundit, "MY LATEST LAW REVIEW ARTICLE..."

Click through at the link.

Woman Throws Shoe at Hillary Clinton During Las Vegas Speech

At iOWNTHEWORLD, "Woman Arrested After Throwing Shoe at Hillary Clinton During Speech."

Nigerian Child Bride Kills Husband and His Three Friends by Lacing Meal with Rat Poison

She was just 14, but did what she had to do to be free.

At Atlas Shrugs, "Child bride forced into marriage poisons groom and three of his friends in Nigeria."

Glenn Greenwald to Return to U.S. to Accept Polk Journalism Award

Well, it's certainly something I've been waiting for. I can't say it wouldn't be amusing to see Greenwald taken into custody.

From Michael Calderone, at Puff Ho, "Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras Returning to U.S. For First Time Since Snowden Revelations" (via Mediagazer):

NEW YORK -- Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, two American journalists who have been at the forefront of reporting on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, will return to the United States on Friday for the first time since revelations of worldwide surveillance broke.

Greenwald and Poitras, currently in Berlin, will attend Friday’s Polk Awards ceremony in New York City. The two journalists are sharing the prestigious journalism award with The Guardian’s Ewen MacAskill and with Barton Gellman, who has led The Washington Post’s reporting on the NSA documents. Greenwald and Poitras interviewed Snowden last June in Hong Kong as he first revealed himself.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Greenwald said he’s motivated to return because “certain factions in the U.S. government have deliberately intensified the threatening climate for journalists.”

“It’s just the principle that I shouldn’t allow those tactics to stop me from returning to my own country,” Greenwald said.

Greenwald suggested government officials and members of Congress have used the language of criminalization as a tactic to chill investigative journalism.

In January, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper suggested that journalists reporting on the NSA documents were acting as Snowden’s “accomplices.” The following month, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, claimed that Greenwald was selling stolen goods by reporting stories on the NSA documents with news organizations around the world. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) has called for Greenwald to be prosecuted.

Greenwald said the government has not informed his legal counsel whether or not he could face any potential charges, or if he's been named in any grand jury investigation tied to the NSA disclosures.

Also at the Daily Dot, "NSA reporters Greenwald and Poitras to brave U.S. return Friday." And at NYT, "Polk Award for Snowden Coverage Draws 2 to U.S."

L.A. County Sheriff Deputies Kill Aspiring Producer by Mistake in Hostage Case

My friend Lamby tweeted:

This is beyond horrible. Did you see this @AmPowerBlog? http://t.co/JWPgeR2D6k

— Bossy & Proud of It (@lamblock) April 11, 2014

And here's more at LAT, "L.A. County deputies fatally shoot man by mistake."

Sebelius Resigns

At WSJ, "Kathleen Sebelius to Resign Health Post: Move Comes After Health Sign-ups Hit 7.5 Million."

And from Susan Page, at USA Today, "First Take: Sebelius exits, battered and blamed":

WASHINGTON -- In the end, Kathleen Sebelius was able to resign as secretary of Health and Human Services during a high point, when the administration had just announced that 7.5 million Americans had signed up for insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

But that moment came only after six months of battering and blame over the botched roll-out of the healthcare.gov website. The enduring image of her five-year tenure as head of the huge agency is likely to be as the silver-haired woman sitting alone at a congressional hearing table, peering over reading glasses as she faced what often seemed to be an inquisition.

Even when President Obama held a victory rally of sorts last week in the Rose Garden, announcing that sign-ups had edged over the original goal of seven million, Sebelius was assigned a front-row seat but wasn't called to join in the camera shot or thanked by name in the president's remarks.

Fairly or not, some in the administration hold her responsible for an IT debacle that has dented Obama's legacy, raised questions about his competence and put Democratic candidates in peril in November. A USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll released Thursday showed the danger ahead: A majority of Americans now say the Affordable Care Act will be "very important" in their decision who to support in the midterm congressional elections. Those motivated voters disapprove of Obamacare by 2-1.

More.

Here's that poll, "Poll: Health law's campaign clout bad news for Democrats."

And at Twitchy, "‘What took so long?’ Kathleen Sebelius resigning as head of HHS."

#BREAKING: @AP reporting that #HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to resign #fnpolitics #breakingnews #foxnews pic.twitter.com/SLFcJtRc1Q

— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) April 10, 2014

Health And Human Services Secretary Resigning After Troubled Obamacare Rollout http://t.co/8Cwok5WqVD pic.twitter.com/wFIyaHBbJd

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) April 10, 2014

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Here's What I Would Have Said at Brandeis

She's got an op-ed up at WSJ, "We need to make our universities temples not of dogmatic orthodoxy, but of truly critical thinking":

On Tuesday, after protests by students, faculty and outside groups, Brandeis University revoked its invitation to Ayaan Hirsi Ali to receive an honorary degree at its commencement ceremonies in May. The protesters accused Ms. Hirsi Ali, an advocate for the rights of women and girls, of being "Islamophobic." Here is an abridged version of the remarks she planned to deliver.

One year ago, the city and suburbs of Boston were still in mourning. Families who only weeks earlier had children and siblings to hug were left with only photographs and memories. Still others were hovering over bedsides, watching as young men, women, and children endured painful surgeries and permanent disfiguration. All because two brothers, radicalized by jihadist websites, decided to place homemade bombs in backpacks near the finish line of one of the most prominent events in American sports, the Boston Marathon.

All of you in the Class of 2014 will never forget that day and the days that followed. You will never forget when you heard the news, where you were, or what you were doing. And when you return here, 10, 15 or 25 years from now, you will be reminded of it. The bombs exploded just 10 miles from this campus.

I read an article recently that said many adults don't remember much from before the age of 8. That means some of your earliest childhood memories may well be of that September morning simply known as "9/11."

You deserve better memories than 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombing. And you are not the only ones. In Syria, at least 120,000 people have been killed, not simply in battle, but in wholesale massacres, in a civil war that is increasingly waged across a sectarian divide. Violence is escalating in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Libya, in Egypt. And far more than was the case when you were born, organized violence in the world today is disproportionately concentrated in the Muslim world.

Another striking feature of the countries I have just named, and of the Middle East generally, is that violence against women is also increasing. In Saudi Arabia, there has been a noticeable rise in the practice of female genital mutilation. In Egypt, 99% of women report being sexually harassed and up to 80 sexual assaults occur in a single day.

Especially troubling is the way the status of women as second-class citizens is being cemented in legislation. In Iraq, a law is being proposed that lowers to 9 the legal age at which a girl can be forced into marriage. That same law would give a husband the right to deny his wife permission to leave the house.

Sadly, the list could go on. I hope I speak for many when I say that this is not the world that my generation meant to bequeath yours. When you were born, the West was jubilant, having defeated Soviet communism. An international coalition had forced Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. The next mission for American armed forces would be famine relief in my homeland of Somalia. There was no Department of Homeland Security, and few Americans talked about terrorism.

Two decades ago, not even the bleakest pessimist would have anticipated all that has gone wrong in the part of world where I grew up. After so many victories for feminism in the West, no one would have predicted that women's basic human rights would actually be reduced in so many countries as the 20th century gave way to the 21st.

Today, however, I am going to predict a better future, because I believe that the pendulum has swung almost as far as it possibly can in the wrong direction...

Keep reading.

And ICYMI, from Neo-Neocon, at Leg Insurrection, "Brandeis failure: Supporting women’s rights matters most when it’s politically difficult."

PREVIOUSLY: "Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Banished at #Brandeis."

With Eye on Midterms, Obama Pushes Women's Equity

From Alexis Simendinger, at RealClearPolitics.

It's a scam. The so-called pay gap disappears when you break it down using the ceteris paribus assumption.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Banished at #Brandeis

At WSJ, "The university yanks an honorary degree for Ayaan Hirsi Ali" (via Google):

Ms. Hirsi Ali is a well known controversialist and lives under death threats because she does not conceal her convictions, especially about the ties between violence and fundamentalist Islamism. If Ms. Hirsi Ali's critics support the practices she has either experienced or dedicated her life to erasing, such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation, honor killings, or Shariah Law, then they should say so.

Brandeis, a school founded after World War II to defend non-sectarian religious liberty, might also ask if its "core values" now include intolerance and the illiberal suppression of ideas. Our answer would be yes.

RTWT.

More from John Podhoretz, at Commentary, "The Shame of Brandeis."

And William Kristol is especially pissed off, at the Weekly Standard, "A Note to Supporters of Brandeis," and "Ayaan Hirsi Ali Speaks."

A must read, via Memeorandum.

PREVIOUSLY: "Brandeis University Withdraws Honorary Degree for Ayaan Hirsi Ali."

Leftist Grievance Industry and Anti-Authority Culture Damaging the Country

A great talking points memo from Bill O'Reilly's Monday show, "The grievance industry takes on momentum":



I covered both O'Reilly's main examples here, the Dartmouth occupation and the Isla Vista Riot --- both of which are fundamentally derived from the Democrat Party's grievance agenda of perpetual inequality demonization.

BONUS: The Other McCain on Dartmouth, "‘Diversity’ Debacle at Dartmouth: ‘Transformative Justice,’ Really?"

New York Police Officer Dies From Fire Injuries

At NYT, "Police Policy on Fires Is Questioned Amid Grief at Death of a New York Officer":

From the outside, there were few signs of a serious high-rise fire. No smoke pouring from windows, no commotion outside the Brooklyn apartment building on Sunday as two New York City police officers rushed inside, grabbing an elevator for the 13th floor.

But as the officers rode up, flames were already churning in the narrow, confined hallway. And when the elevator doors slid open, smoke fell upon them like an avalanche.

The officers radioed for help. Then they collapsed in the choking blackness.

On Wednesday, one of the officers, Dennis Guerra, died of severe smoke inhalation. His partner that day, Officer Rosa Rodriguez, was in critical condition, clinging to life.

For the Police Department, it was a sudden and stunning blow: the first death of an officer from fire in the line of duty in nearly three decades, and the first time one had been killed on the job in more than two years.

A 16-year-old charged with starting the blaze told detectives that he lit a mattress in the hallway because he was “bored,” the police said. He now faces charges that could include murder as the police force presses for the stiffest possible punishment.

I'm sure some great philosopher somewhere said "boredom kills."

It sure did in New York.

Oh, the suspect, Marcell Dockery, 16 years-old, is black. Folks at the NYPD want that f-cker to do some hard time in prison on a murder conviction. But hey, best not mention the racial dimension of the killing or anything. Might rile some tender leftist politically-correct sensitivities.

More at that top link.

Technology's Man Problem? Not So Fast

From Charlotte Allen, at LAT, "Technology's feminist problem."

Tax Day is Coming

My wife and I are having our taxes done this afternoon, so this is appropriate.

From Reason.tv:

Got Feminism?

It's all lulz.

At Twitchy, "‘Deny at your peril, patriarchy!’ Don’t miss this gut-busting mockery of ridiculous feminist signs [pics]."

They are? RT @trutherbot: pic.twitter.com/bkZ1H8q3Iz

— Heather (@hboulware) April 9, 2014

House Oversight Committee Recommends Contempt Charges Against Former IRS Operative Lois Lerner

I love this.

But what took so long? The lady's a criminal thug.

From Katie Pavlich, at Town Hall, "BREAKING: House Ways and Means Committee Votes to Refer Lois Lerner For Criminal Charges."

Also at the Brenner Brief, "House Oversight files Lois Lerner contempt resolution."

And back to Katie Pavlich, "BREAKING: Emails Show Lois Lerner Fed True the Vote Tax Information to Democrat Elijah Cummings" (via Memeorandum).

Still more, at Politico, "GOP says IRS’ Lois Lerner targeted Crossroads."

FLASHBACK: Dear Leader promising to get to the bottom of it all last May. This IRS conduct "is inexcusable." Okay, sure brother.

Correcting DeMint's Historical Confusion

Well, lefties are having a field day with this, "Jim DeMint Asserts The Federal Government Played No Role In Freeing the Slaves." (More at Google.)

But I think Peter Wehner makes some very useful comments, at Commentary:

So why call attention to these matters? In part, I think, because it’s important for conservatives to undo some of the confusion that DeMint created. But there’s another, somewhat deeper point to be made about the danger of approaching history and politics through an overly ideological lens. In this case Senator DeMint, a fierce critic of the federal government, has reinterpreted history in order to make it fit into his particular narrative. He seems so eager to refuse to give credit to the federal government for anything that he insists it didn’t play a role in the abolition of slavery. And that’s where he made perhaps his biggest error.

I worry, too, that some on the right invoke the Constitution without really understanding it and its history. For example, many conservatives who profess reverence for the Constitution are vocal and reflexive critics of compromise per se – despite the fact that the Constitution was itself a product of an enormous set of compromises.

But RTWT.

The federal government wasn't particularly large back in the 19th century in any case. Much of conservative reaction to the expansion of government is particularly critical of the post-1930s period in particular, for example, Barry Goldwater, in "Conscience of a Conservative." But I'm neoconservative, and while I can't stand the big government state socialism of the Obama administration and the regressive left, I'm not such a "small g" conservative to reject the many useful roles government plays in our lives. It's a complicated matter, but I think Wehner makes some interesting points. And shame on DeMint for botching basic facts about our founding and black liberation from slavery.

Twitter Redesign Looks a Lot Like Facebook

Well, they gotta cash in somehow, and Zuckerberg sure proved it can be done.

At the Verge.

Twitter’s redesign looks a lot like Facebook http://t.co/f1ary94hVC pic.twitter.com/elzlfzTxwh
— The Verge (@verge) April 9, 2014

Brooklyn Decker on 'CBS This Morning'

I would just prefer to see her in a bikini, lol.

Scapegoating the Koch brothers

I'm surprised the editors at LAT even published this letter, much less at the top of the letters section. From yesterday's paper, "Letters: Scapegoating the Koch brothers":

Re "In campaigns, Democrats target Kochs," April 4.

So the mudslinging begins.

Billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch are no more guilty of buying influence or pushing a partisan agenda than are George Soros, big labor, the Hollywood elites or any number of others who wish to advance the Democratic Party's agenda.

In any case, why are the Democrats so worried about the Koch brothers? Is their collective memory so short that they've forgotten that President Obama raised and spent more than $1 billion in the 2012 election, and that he has twice eschewed public financing because of the restrictions it would impose on his own fundraising efforts?

W. Adrian Sauvageot
Tustin

More.

Is the Neo-Isolationist Moment Already Over?

From the always awesome Walter Russell Mead:

As the domestic political debate over these crises heats up, we are seeing a classic American pattern in action. America’s success abroad breeds stupidity and hubris in U.S. foreign policy. This hubris and stupidity leads to bad choices and magical thinking. We begin to believe, for example, that the world can become safer and more democratic even as we scale back our involvement. These bad choices and bad ideas then lead to huge global challenges. Those challenges ultimately spark smarter, more purposeful American engagement, usually after we’ve tried a few unsuccessful gambits first. That engagement finally leads to American success, which leads back again to American stupidity and hubris. And so on.

RTWT.

#Medicare Boondoggle: Small Chunk of Doctors Reap Windfall Share of Payments

At WSJ, "Small Slice of Doctors Account for Big Chunk of Medicare Costs: Top 1% of Medical Providers Accounted for 14% of Billing, Federal Data Show":

A tiny sliver of doctors and other medical providers accounted for an outsize portion of Medicare's 2012 costs, according to an analysis of federal data that lays out details of physicians' billings.

The top 1% of 825,000 individual medical providers accounted for 14% of the $77 billion in billing recorded in the data.

The long-awaited data reveal for the first time how individual medical providers treat America's seniors—and, in some cases, may enrich themselves in the process. Still, there are gaps in the records released by the U.S. about physicians' practice patterns, and doctors' groups said the release of such data leaves innocent physicians open to unfair criticism.

Medicare paid 344 physicians and other health providers more than $3 million each in 2012. Collectively, the 1,000 highest-paid Medicare doctors received $3.05 billion in payments.

One-third of those top-earning providers are ophthalmologists, and one in 10 are radiation oncologists. Both specialties were singled out in a late 2013 report by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services urging greater scrutiny of doctors who consistently receive large Medicare payments.

More.

The Los Angeles Times has this as well, with mind-boggling payment numbers, "Release of Medicare doctor payments shows some huge payouts":

Ending decades of secrecy, Medicare is showing what the giant healthcare program for seniors pays individual doctors, and the figures reveal that more than a dozen physicians received in excess of $10 million each in 2012.

The Obama administration is releasing a detailed account Wednesday of $77 billion in government payouts to more than 880,000 healthcare providers nationwide that year. The release of payment records involving doctors has been legally blocked since 1979, but recent court rulings removed those obstacles. No personal information on patients is disclosed.

The two highest-paid doctors listed in the Medicare data are already under government review because of suspected improper billing. They include an ophthalmologist in the retiree haven of West Palm Beach, Fla., who topped the list by taking in more than $26 million to treat fewer than 900 patients. That is 61 times the average Medicare payout of $430,000 for an ophthalmologist.

A Florida cardiologist received $23 million in Medicare payments in 2012, nearly 80 times the average amount for that specialty. One California doctor was in the top 10 nationwide: a Newport Beach oncologist who was paid $11 million that year.

The overwhelming majority of doctors billed the government very modest amounts. Overall, 2% of healthcare providers accounted for 23% of the Medicare fees, the federal data show.

Medicare officials said disclosing physician payment data marks an unprecedented opportunity to make the nation's healthcare system more transparent for consumers and accountable to taxpayers. Many consumer advocates and employers applauded the move.

Yes, and officials warn against drawing untoward conclusions. Right, we wouldn't want to do that. F-king morons.

More at Memeoandum.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Rocks Nude Cover of Rolling Stone

I can dig it.

Get a load of that Declaration of Independence tattoo, lol.

At Rolling Stone, "Julia Louis-Dreyfus Is Naked on the New Cover of Rolling Stone."



Added: I should have caught that, but "John Hancock didn't sign the Constitution." Probably paying too much attention to Julia's derriere, heh.

Brandeis University Withdraws Honorary Degree for Ayaan Hirsi Ali

A woman with perhaps the world's most compelling story of escape from radical Islam, now feeling the brunt of the leftist correct thought-enforcers.

From Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Brandeis withdraws honorary degree offer to Ayaan Hirsi Ali":

Brandeis University originally invited Ayaan Hirsi Ali to receive an honorary degree at its spring commencement, and created a storm of controversy on its campus. It has now withdrawn that offer, and may have created a storm of controversy outside of its campus as well. The former Dutch parliamentarian has long spoken out against the excesses of Islam, from her own painful personal experience to the radicalism that fuels terrorism and war. Apparently, Brandeis just figured this out, which raises a number of questions...

Keep reading.

Also at Protein Wisdom, "The totalitarian Left has embraced Islamism, let no one dissent." (via Memeorandum).

Arthur Smith, Composer of 'Dueling Banjos', Dies at 93

"Deliverance" came out in 1972 and I was too young to see it at the time. It's been awhile now, but I watched is sometime back on cable. I can see why it got an "R" rating.

At NYT, "Arthur Smith Dies at 93; Wrote ‘Dueling Banjos’":

Arthur Smith, a country musician known for the hit “Guitar Boogie” and for “Feuding Banjos,” a bluegrass tune that became “Dueling Banjos” in the film “Deliverance,” died on Thursday at his home in Charlotte, N.C. He was 93.

His death was confirmed by his son Clay.

A nimble guitarist and banjo-player, Mr. Smith was a virtuoso with an approachable manner. Inspired by Broadway show tunes, the gospel tradition and jazz artists like Django Reinhardt as well as by country music, he became popular playing on Southern radio stations as a teenager.

“Guitar Boogie,” an instrumental with a deft solo released in the late 1940s, was his first major hit, recorded when he was 24 and serving in the Navy. The song, a precursor to the rock ’n’ roll of the coming decades, has been covered by musicians like Les Paul, Chuck Berry and Alvino Rey.

Mr. Smith recorded the call-and-response banjo song “Feuding Banjos” with Don Reno in 1955. Another version of it appeared as a deceptively amiable musical duel in “Deliverance,” the 1972 film starring John Voight and Burt Reynolds.

Mr. Smith was not credited as the writer and filed suit against Warner Brothers after a version of the song reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart in 1973. The studio offered a $15,000 settlement, Clay Smith said in an interview, but Mr. Smith wanted to go to trial. The judge ruled in his favor.

“He recouped all past royalties and all future royalties, and the credit was changed” to show he had written the song, Clay Smith said. He added that the song has since been used in many commercials advertising, among other things, the Mini Cooper and Mobil and Mitsubishi products.

Arthur Smith was born on April 1, 1921, in Clinton, S.C. His father, a mill worker, taught music and played in a band. Arthur grew up in Kershaw, S.C., and was playing cornet with his father’s band by the time he was 11. By 14 he had a radio show in Kershaw, and by 15 he had made his first record, for RCA Victor.

More.

#Ukraine Moves to Assert Control in East

At WSJ, "Ukraine Moves to Assert Control: Russia Warns That Use of Force Could Plunge Country into Civil War":

Ukrainian police took back a government building from pro-Russian separatists in one volatile eastern city Tuesday, but armed men dug in behind reinforced barricades in other cities, warning against an assault even as some disarray began to show.

Russia warned Ukraine's new government that the use of force to dislodge demonstrators who had taken over buildings in eastern Ukraine, where many ethnic Russians live, could plunge the country into civil war.

As the secessionists appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow said they should be allowed to participate in talks next week with Russia, Ukraine, the U.S. and the European Union aimed at calming the crisis.

Ukrainian officials and others have accused Russia of instigating the protests, which began Sunday in the industrial cities of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk. They have suggested that Russia is trying to orchestrate a takeover similar to its incursion into and annexation of Crimea last month.

Secretary of State John Kerry amplified the criticism, telling members of a Senate committee that Russian special forces and intelligence agents have been key catalysts behind the unrest, calling the maneuvers as "ham-handed as they are transparent."

"Quite simply, what we see from Russia is an illegal and illegitimate effort to destabilize a sovereign state and create a contrived crisis with paid operatives across an international boundary," Mr. Kerry said in Washington.

Ukraine's Interior Ministry said more forces were being sent to eastern regions to subdue the separatists and guard against further unrest.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov described an "antiterrorist" operation in Kharkiv early Tuesday that resulted in the arrest of around 70 separatists who had control of the regional administration building.

According to his account: roughly 200 pro-Russian agitators had barricaded themselves inside overnight and threw stun grenades and fired pellet guns at police and national guard officers surrounding the building.

The protesters then set fire to a wing of the building and smashed windows. After the fire was contained, special forces stormed the building, made the arrests and seized a cache of weapons.

"The night in Kharkiv was endlessly long," Mr. Avakov said. "The boorish, brutal, ordered and generously paid pro-Russian aggression of the 'protesters' was off the charts."

In Luhansk, armed men who have occupied the security-service building since Sunday were holding 60 people and have mined the building, the security service said.

In a video apparently made inside the building and posted online, a man in a balaclava demands a referendum on the region's status as three men holding automatic weapons stand behind him.

The man says the people inside are all locals and include veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, border guards and "representatives of peaceful professions." He also warned against any attempt to storm the building.

Keep reading.

Jessica Davies in Sexy Black Lingerie

At Egotastic!, "Jessica Davies Shows Her British Love Mounds."

And ICYMI, "Jessica Davies Bouncing."

'Deltopia' Riot at UC Santa Barbara's Isla Vista Community

The Isla Vista community has the reputation as the biggest, rowdiest party town in the country. The year my wife and I moved down to UCSB, 1992, Halloween fell on a Saturday, and the County Sheriff and UCSB authorities blocked off the streets to prevent an imminent riot. But they can't stop everything, especially when these parties are launched without permits from the county. Often times people are killed when they get too drunk and fall over the cliffs onto the rocky beach below.

At LAT, "Amid party debris, calm returns to student enclave after riot":

ISLA VISTA, Calif. — The scene Monday on Del Playa Drive was a curious, uniquely Isla Vista mix: part laid-back beach vibe, part riot aftermath.

Beach towels fluttered over cliffside balconies as UC Santa Barbara students enjoyed spring weather. Dumpsters overflowed with beer boxes and red cups.

"I was in the riot," one young woman said nonchalantly to her friend as they rode beach cruisers.

"I got hit by a tear gas grenade," a male student told his friends as they carried an inflatable pool over their heads.

They were talking about Deltopia, a social media-fueled street party that spun out of control Saturday night, leaving a sheriff's deputy seriously injured and more than 100 people arrested.

The eruption of violence was nothing new for unincorporated Isla Vista, a densely packed, student-dominated community where the average age is 23 and officials have struggled for decades to curb sporadic bouts of Bacchanalia.

"We've been dealing with this issue one way or another for the last 45 years," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. "There's been problems and challenges in Isla Vista that don't exist elsewhere in the country."

Last year, authorities received 440 calls during Deltopia, and a visiting student from Cal State Poly San Luis Obispo was found dead in the surf after falling off the cliff.

The estimated 22,000 residents of Isla Vista, 60% of whom are UC Santa Barbara students, often blame incidents on outsiders. But the campus' student president sent an email to students Monday saying that they need to take responsibility.

"Yes, it is true that much of the crime that happens is connected to out-of-towners, but who invites these people into our town?" Jonathan Abboud wrote. "We do. It is perfectly OK to celebrate holidays such as Deltopia, but we must consider that inviting our seven best friends from high school does tend to contribute to the problem."

Like the area's raucous Halloween celebrations, Deltopias are not organized events as much as calls to come and party, now trumpeted on social media.

"We have asked over and over if [backers] want to come forward and take responsibility" for getting permits, County Supervisor Doreen Farr said Monday. "And nobody has been willing to do that...

Also, "Spring break party riot near UC Santa Barbara spurs calls for change."

ADDED: Also at Blackmailers Don't Shoot, "Shocker: Gathering of Drunk, Half-Naked College Students Ends in Disaster."

Constituents Outraged at Irvine Councilman Larry Agran Proposal for 'Friendship City' in Communist Vietnam

Yeah, and this from a Democrat who ran for his party's 1992 presidential nomination.

Heh.

Remember, the O.C. is home to the largest number of Vietnam refugees in the country.

Gotta love that Democrat Party ethnic sensitivity, lol.

At LAT, "As anger builds, Irvine official drops plan to bond city with Vietnam":

John Duong, who lives in Irvine and heads the city’s Finance Commission, said he was “floored” that a veteran politician like Agran would make such a proposal.

“I don’t think he understands our sentiments and emotional scars,” Duong said. “Why bring back painful memories for people who value freedom?”

Well, obviously Democrats don't truly value freedom. Shoot, Communist Vietnam is right up there with Cuba as the cool spot for leftist happy campers!

Shoot, they can't wait for Americans to adopt the Cuban healthcare system! At National Journal, "Sen. Tom Harkin Visits Cuba, Is Pretty Impressed With Its Public Health System." Makes sense: Castro loves ObamaCare!

Damned Communists, sheesh!

Obama to Force Government Contractors to Reveal Salary Breakdowns by Sex and Race in Equal Pay Drive

Well, it's not like Dear Leader's diktats are a surprise anymore or anything.

A Blazing Cat Fur.

Strange though, notes Instapundit, "Once you impose the ‘ceteris paribus’ condition, the alleged 23% gender pay gap starts to quickly evaporate."

Well, O' Great One! prolly didn't do so well in economics, although we'll never know with those Columbia academic transcripts nailed down tighter than the gold at New York's Federal Reserve Bank, lol.

Communist Party USA Pledges to Help Obama in November: 'We've Got Your Back...'

Hey, you gotta love it!

At WND, "Communists to Obama: We've got your back."

And at Frugal Café Blog Zone, "Communist Party Loves Obama, Says Will Help Rescue Democrat Party from Crash-and-Burn Elections."

'The idea that America is a rape culture is a particularly vicious big lie, because it brands all men as rapists or rape facilitators..'

Well, yeah, that's exactly what the radical feminists set out to do. Brand all men are "rapists or rape facilitators...'

At the Other McCain, "#RapeCulture as Propaganda."

Roots of Totalitarian Liberalism

Again, it's "leftism," but lots of folks on the right have caved to the left's mangling of the meaning of "liberal."

That said, a nice piece, from Scott Johnson, at Power Line:

With the cashiering of Brendan Eich as Mozilla’s chief executive officer last week, we are struggling to understand what we have just seen. There is an important book that remains to be written about the totalitarian imperative at the heart of liberalism, and the insight into the nature of the larger forces at work is one of the many reasons Eich’s forced departure strikes a nerve. It is a revealing moment. This is where we are headed...

Keep reading.

Silicon Valley's Trust Problem

From Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today, "Silicon Valley Scares Americans":

Silicon Valley has a trust problem, and it's growing. Some of this is the result of National Security Agency spying — and the tech community's cooperation with same — and some of it is based on other things tech leaders are doing. But the worst of it is based on who our tech overlords have become.

The NSA spying has already done harm enough. As Glenn Derene warned in Popular Mechanics when the story first broke, fear of NSA spying is giving a boost to offshore competitors, as companies and users seek hardware and software without back doors and compromised security standards. Some foreign customers feel betrayed by Google, Facebook, and other tech giants.

But even at home, the tech community is hurting. According to a study by Harris Interactive last week, people are actually reducing their Internet usage because of the Edward Snowden revelations and general fears about privacy. The study found that 47% say they have changed their behavior online, and 26% say they're doing less online shopping. Among younger users, aged 18 to 34, the online shopping number was 33%...

More (via Instapundit).

Homophobe Hypocrisy! Sam Yagan, OkCupid Co-Founder and CEO, Funded Anti-Gay Campaign!

At Uncrunched, "THE HYPOCRISY OF SAM YAGAN & OKCUPID." Hat Tip: Instapundit.

This Yagan should be out. He gave to former far-right Utah Congressman Chris Cannon. According to Uncrunched, "Cannon has a special kind of hate for gays."



Left-wing hypocrites. Boy, we should see a firestorm of protest over this guy. Hmmm.

ADDED: From Ironic Surrealism, "BACKLASH! Over 30K (& Counting) Condemn Mozilla on Their Fascist Purge of Brendan Eich on Their Own Website Mozilla.Org [Screenshot] - OKCupid Co-Founder/Match.Com CEO Donated to AntiGay Candidate."

#Democrats Blast Breitbart Nancy Pelosi Posters

C'mon, you think they'd expect anything less from Breitbart?!!

At Politico (via Memeorandum):

Democrats are slamming an ad campaign from Breitbart to promote its new California coverage that features a graphic illustration of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s face on a scantily clad woman’s body in a suggestive position.

“To say the least, the Breitbart News ad is foul, offensive, and disrespectful to all women,” Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “It is a disgusting new low and would be reprehensible against any woman – regardless of party.”

The conservative news outlet launched its California coverage Monday with an ad campaign featuring a series of image illustrations, including the Pelosi one, which appeared to combine her image with one of pop star Miley Cyrus’s infamous Video Music Awards performance, and a graphic of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s head on the torso of a woman with exposed breasts, save for carefully placed Breitbart logos.

The ads made a splash online, with several commentators noting on Twitter that the image of the House Democratic leader especially crossed a line...

Check out the entire graphic at Feministing, "This has got to be a new low, even for the conservative media."

And at LAT, "Conservative California website quickly stirs controversy." Well, duh.

Welcome to the Liberal Leftist Gulag

From Kevin Williamson, at National Review (with strike-through leftist for liberal), at National Review, "The Liberal Leftist Gulag":

The word “liberal” has taken a beating over the last few days: A Mozilla executive was hounded out of his position at the firm he co-founded by left-wing campaigners resolved to punish him for having made a donation to a successful California ballot initiative that defined marriage in traditional terms; Adam Weinstein, whose downwardly mobile credibility has taken him from ABC to Gawker, called for literally imprisoning people with the wrong views about global warming, writing, “Those malcontents must be punished and stopped”; Mr. Weinstein himself was simply forwarding a dumbed-down-enough-for-Gawker version of the arguments of philosophy professor Lawrence Torcello; Katherine Timpf, a reporter for Campus Reform, faced a human barricade to keep her from asking questions of those attending a feminist leadership conference, whose organizers informed her that the group was “inclusive” and therefore she was “not welcome here”; Charles Murray, one of the most important social scientists of his generation, was denounced as a “known white supremacist” by Texas Democrats for holding heterodox views about education policy; national Democrats spent the week arguing for the anti-free-speech side of a landmark First Amendment case and the anti-religious-freedom side of a case involving the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; Lois Lerner, the Left’s best friend at the IRS, faces contempt charges related to her role in the Democrats’ coopting the IRS as a weapon against their political enemies; Harry Reid, a liberal champion of campaign-finance reform, was caught channeling tens of thousands of dollars to his granddaughter while conspicuously omitting her surname, which is also his surname, from official documents, cloaking the transaction, while one of his California colleagues, a liberal champion of gun control, was indicted on charges of running guns to an organized-crime syndicate.

The convocation of clowns on the left screeched with one semi-literate and inchoate voice when my colleague Jonah Goldberg, borrowing the precise words of one of their own, titled a book Liberal Fascism. Most of them didn’t read it, but the ones who did apparently took what was intended as criticism and read it as a blueprint for political action.

Welcome to the Liberal Leftist Gulag...

More

They're not "liberal." They're ideological leftists, and they're driven by hatred and a diabolical lust for power. See, "The Left Isn't Pro-Gay — It's Pro-Power."

Tammy Bruce: Persecution of Brendan Eich 'Not What Civil Rights Movements About...'

Tammy Bruce is lesbian and libertarian. She's done battle with the left for decades and knows whereof she speaks.

At Twitchy, "‘Bastion of intolerance and punishment’: Tammy Bruce shreds Mozilla for caving to ‘gay gestapo’."

Gay civil rights movement began to make sure people weren't punished for who they were. Now look what you've become #gaygestapo @mozilla


— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) April 3, 2014

Afghan Elections Point to Runoff, Waning Karzai Influence (Warmer Relations with U.S.?)

At WSJ, "Candidate Viewed as President's Choice Appears to Trail Far Behind":

Surreal pic. "@AFP: Afghan women queue outside a polling station in Herat to vote in the presidential elections. pic.twitter.com/NIAO5UfZZB”

— Kathleen McKinley (@KatMcKinley) April 5, 2014

KABUL—Former World Bank executive Ashraf Ghani and opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah appeared to be the two front-runners in Afghanistan's presidential election, sidelining a candidate viewed as President Hamid Karzai's favorite, according to partial results tallied by news organizations and one candidate.

A victory for Mr. Abdullah or Mr. Ghani could significantly reduce the influence of Mr. Karzai, who has ruled Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S. invasion. Both candidates say they will sign the bilateral security agreement, which is needed to maintain American aid and a limited U.S. military presence in Afghanistan once the international coalition's current mandate expires in December. Mr. Karzai has infuriated Washington by refusing to complete the deal.

The Wall Street Journal tallied partial election results from visits to roughly 100 polling stations, out of more than 20,000 nationwide, in the capital Kabul and the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif in the north, Kandahar in the south, and Gardez and Jalalabad in the east. At nearly all these stations, Messrs. Ghani and Abdullah were the clear leaders, according to counts posted by local poll supervisors. Mr. Karzai's former foreign minister, Zalmai Rassoul, trailed far behind.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Mr. Ghani or Mr. Abdullah managed to garner the absolute majority needed to avoid a runoff between the top two finishers. Diplomats, campaign insiders and election observers predicted a runoff sometime in late May or early June.

Afghanistan's Pajhwok news agency, which collated its information from Kabul and several other provinces, projected 42.1% for Mr. Ghani and 40.7% for Mr. Abdullah. Their sample was heavily weighted in Kabul. A separate tally compiled by Mr. Ghani's observers and posted on his campaign website predicted 53% for him and 35% for Mr. Abdullah, based on 10% of results.

Official final results aren't expected for weeks to allow time for fraud complaints to be resolved. While reports of ballot-stuffing came in from all over the country, the election appeared cleaner than the 2009 presidential election, when more than one million votes had to be disqualified, domestic and foreign observers said...

More. And again, I'm amazed at the gendered vote. Women really exercised their rights.

When Tara Dublin Got Off Work Yesterday...

I was wondering how she'd respond to the McCain treatment, and she didn't let us down!

.@rsmccain Wait until this lady gets off work and checks her mentions, lol! She's going implode, heh.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) April 6, 2014

I'm just getting out of work & apparently some obtuse anti-#LGBT chode decided to write a hate blog about me. Righteous. #wtf

— Tara Dublin (@taradublinrocks) April 7, 2014

Here's the entry at Urban Dictionary for "chode":

1. Chode:
A penis wider than it is long
My boyfriend wanted a hand-job but i couldn't get a good grip because he had a chode.

Whoa! A vile skanky bitch!

. @suzy_rice @AmPowerBlog Hey, you two get a room, have a great hate fuck, leave me out of your narrow views of the world. #BLOCKED

— Tara Dublin (@taradublinrocks) April 6, 2014

"Chodes" and "hate fuck." Man, she's a scuzzy, foul-mouthed lefty whack job, lol!

The Left Isn't Pro-Gay — It's Pro-Power

From Daniel Greenfield, at Frontpage Magazine:

Libertarians and liberal Republicans have been proposing a truce on social issues in order to be able to concentrate on fiscal issues, but there is no such thing as a truce on any issue with the left.

Brendan Eich offered the left a truce on gay marriage. He talked about tolerance and diversity and he got his head handed to him. His forced departure from the Mozilla Foundation, which is behind the Firefox browser, should be a wake up call to anyone on the right who still thinks that social issues can be taken off the table and that we can all agree to disagree.

Those on the right who insist that conservatism should be reduced to fiscal issues imagine that the culture war is a fight that the right picked with the left. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The left does not care about gay marriage. In most left-wing regimes, homosexuality was persecuted. It was illegal in the USSR. Gay men were locked up in Cuba and are still targeted in China. Nicolas Maduro, the current hero of the left, openly uses homophobic language without any criticism from his Western admirers. It goes without saying that homosexuality is criminalized throughout the Muslim world.

Engels viewed homosexuality as a perversion born out of the bourgeois way of life that would be eliminated under socialism. The Revolutionary Communist Party of the United States stated that homosexuality “is a product of the decay of capitalism” and vowed that once the revolution took place, a “struggle will be waged to eliminate it and reform homosexuals.”

The left’s shift on this issue, as on many issues, was purely tactical. The left’s leading lights were racists who jumped into civil rights. They were sexists who became feminists. They were advocates for the working class who despised the idea of working for a living.

The culture war does not emerge from the left’s deeply held beliefs. Its leaders could care less about the things that they pretend to care about. It emerges instead from the need to maintain a constant state of domestic conflict.

You can’t have a truce when the other side wants a war.

Did the activists who claimed Eich’s scalp care about him or his $1,000 donation to defend marriage? They’re already forgetting his name and moving on to the next target. Eich just happened to make a good target. The Mozilla Foundation is shaky, its board was insecure, and once an online dating company cynically came out with a publicity stunt to keep the news cycle churning, the scalp of the man behind Javascript was claimed. If he had hung on for another few days, the whole thing would have gone away.

Next week it will be someone else. And then the week after that.

Opting out of the conflict means standing by while men like Eich are torn down, not because they did anything wrong, but because destroying them allows the left to feel the thrill of its power over people.

Every gang needs to hurt and terrorize people in order to feel its power. Unlike a Chicago street gang which goes in for an honest mugging or beating, the online activists of the left do their dirty work in this way. Afterward there is no blood and there are no bruises, but lives are destroyed and its social justice activists chortle to themselves coming off an adrenaline high before going after someone else.

The purpose of these purges is not to make the country more tolerant, but to make it more afraid. The message of the Eich purge is not, “accept gay marriage,” it’s “don’t question us.” As many have pointed out, Eich had the same view of gay marriage at the time he made that donation as Obama and Hillary.

But Eich wasn’t “us.” He wasn’t a member of the club...

More.

As I always say, the left is all about power, and they'll literally destroy anyone who stands in their way. I know this first hand because I've been standing tall against these demons for years. The culture war never ends because the left relies on long worn-out cultural tropes like "white racism" to bash dissenters and force them in line. And to do this they rely almost exclusively on lies. Hatred and lies --- and violence when they have the chance to inflict it. I had so many people after 2008 tell me about how they supported homosexual issues, that they were all libertarian and some such bull, that after awhile I just blew these people off. Now a lot of them are coming back on the scene and saying, "My god, wtf just happened?!!" Welcome to the left's relentless wars of fake equality. All they want is mass conformity to grease their slide to tyranny. The backlash against Mozilla's hate is building. Bummer for 'em. Leftists are going to get it this week even better than they give.

Blacklisted at Mozilla

The Wall Street Journal editorial board weighs in, "Brendan Eich's case is another reason to rethink campaign disclosure laws" (via Google):

The resignation under pressure late last week by Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich for opposing gay marriage is a disturbing episode for corporate governance as well as for the traditional tolerance of other points of view in American life. Some of our liberal friends have been dismissing our warnings about the politics of personal vilification emerging on the left, but here is a case study.

Mr. Eich is a well known technologist who invented JavaScript and in 1998 helped to start Mozilla, which makes the popular Firefox Web browser. The 52-year-old became CEO two weeks ago, whereupon it emerged thanks to California's campaign-finance disclosure laws that he had donated $1,000 to support Proposition 8. That was the 2008 ballot initiative that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. Voters approved it but the judiciary struck it down.

Nothing we've read suggests that Mr. Eich has exhibited any personal bias in the workplace. And he affirmed that he would not change Mozilla's policy of providing the same health benefits to same-sex couples as married heterosexuals. He apologized to anyone who was hurt by his personal beliefs, but he declined to renounce them.

The Mozilla board denies that it pressured him to leave, but Mitchell Baker, executive chairwoman of the Mozilla Foundation, said in a statement that "Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard." Translation: If you work for Mozilla, Ms. Baker does not have your back.

Mr. Eich's views on marriage are no different than those held by President Obama as recently as 2012, or by Hillary Clinton until last year. The new political censors presumably gave those Democrats a pass because they assumed they were hiding their real convictions until it became politically advantageous to express them. But Mr. Eich is being drummed out of Silicon Valley for having the courage to stick to his.

Mr. Eich's treatment is another reason to rethink our views on campaign-finance disclosure laws. Years ago we supported reform that would deregulate campaign donation laws in return for immediate online disclosure.

But Justice Clarence Thomas made us think with his concurring opinion in 2010 in Citizens United that dissented on disclosure...

More.

Well, getting to the end of the editorial I'm reminded of James Taranto's piece on this from a couple of days ago, "Justice Thomas Was Right: Citizens United and the defenestration of Brendan Eich."

Read the whole thing at the link. What struck me when I first read it was Taranto's long quotation from Thomas' concurring opinion, where he dissented from the majority (8-1) on campaign disclosures:

Some opponents of Proposition 8 compiled this information [to attack Proposition 8 supporters] and created Web sites with maps showing the locations of homes or businesses of Proposition 8 supporters. Many supporters (or their customers) suffered property damage, or threats of physical violence or death, as a result. They cited these incidents in a complaint they filed after the 2008 election, seeking to invalidate California's mandatory disclosure laws. Supporters recounted being told: "Consider yourself lucky. If I had a gun I would have gunned you down along with each and every other supporter," or, "we have plans for you and your friends." Proposition 8 opponents also allegedly harassed the measure's supporters by defacing or damaging their property. Two religious organizations supporting Proposition 8 reportedly received through the mail envelopes containing a white powdery substance.

Those accounts are consistent with media reports describing Proposition 8-related retaliation. The director of the nonprofit California Musical Theater gave $1,000 to support the initiative; he was forced to resign after artists complained to his employer. The director of the Los Angeles Film Festival was forced to resign after giving $1,500 because opponents threatened to boycott and picket the next festival. And a woman who had managed her popular, family-owned restaurant for 26 years was forced to resign after she gave $100, because "throngs of [angry] protesters" repeatedly arrived at the restaurant and "shout[ed] 'shame on you' at customers." The police even had to "arriv[e] in riot gear one night to quell the angry mob" at the restaurant. Some supporters of Proposition 8 engaged in similar tactics; one real estate businessman in San Diego who had donated to a group opposing Proposition 8 "received a letter from the Prop. 8 Executive Committee threatening to publish his company's name if he didn't also donate to the 'Yes on 8' campaign."

The success of such intimidation tactics has apparently spawned a cottage industry that uses forcibly disclosed donor information to pre-empt citizens' exercise of their First Amendment rights. Before the 2008 Presidential election, a "newly formed nonprofit group . . . plann[ed] to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions." Its leader, "who described his effort as 'going for the jugular,' " detailed the group's plan to send a "warning letter . . . alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives."

These instances of retaliation sufficiently demonstrate why this Court should invalidate mandatory disclosure and reporting requirements. But amici [friends of the court] present evidence of yet another reason to do so--the threat of retaliation from elected officials. As amici's submissions make clear, this threat extends far beyond a single ballot proposition in California. For example, a candidate challenging an incumbent state attorney general [in West Virginia] reported that some members of the State's business community feared donating to his campaign because they did not want to cross the incumbent; in his words, " 'I go to so many people and hear the same thing: "I sure hope you beat [the incumbent], but I can't afford to have my name on your records. He might come after me next." ' "

Here's the decision.

I blogged all about this at the time. I had a couple of emails from people whose businesses were targeted simply because they supported the initiative. This is the kind of intimidation that was rife during Jim Crow, that if you got "uppity" your home would be burned down and you and your family would be lynched. When I raised these very facts to Tara Dublin, particularly regarding the leftist hate spewed at black people in Los Angeles, she blew her wig. Literally. She started spewing hatred and profanity and bragging about how she was going to block all the "homophobes." Regressive leftists are just not smart. They will bowl you over with emotion, however, the strongest of which is diabolical hatred.

Homosexual Extremist John Aravosis Goes Full Godwin on Fox Sunday's Media Buzz with Howard Kurtz

According to Godwin's Law, when political argument devolves to making Nazi analogies, the proponents of the analogy have lost the debate. I'm actually critical of Godwin's Law to the extent that it removes legitimate comparisons from debate, but when you invoke the Holocaust to attack someone who supported a ballot proposition that passed with nearly 53 percent of the vote, you're seriously a sick nutjob.

At Gateway Pundit, "Outrageous! Gay Activist Compares Brendan Eich & Gay Marriage Opponents to Holocaust Deniers (Video)."

Remember, "'Without question and without exaggeration, the 'gay rights movement' is the angriest, most ruthless, most controlling, most intolerant of all the ideological enterprises in the country. Now, everyone knows it...'"

And they're proving it everyday, "Gay Rights Thought-Enforcer Tara Dublin Can't Handle the Truth."

Newt Gingrich on 'This Week': Mozilla Persecution the 'Most Open, Blatant Example of the New Fascism...'

Here's Gingrich on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos":



And boy, it's been quite a weekend. See, "Gay Rights Thought-Enforcer Tara Dublin Can't Handle the Truth," and "Grocery Owner Chauncy Childs Donates to 'Gay Suicide Prevention Group' in Bid to Appease Homosexual Torquemadas."

And Robert Stacy McCain aggregates some of it, with commentary, "If @TaraDublinRocks Didn’t Exist, Would @AmPowerBlog Have to Invent Her?"

And lots more:

* "Like Most Leftist Groups, the LGBT Crowd Are Wolves in Sheeps' Clothing."

* "Charles Krauthammer: The Left's Attack on Brendan Eich Was Totalitarian — #UninstallFirefox."

* "Celebrate Conformity!"

* "'Without question and without exaggeration, the 'gay rights movement' is the angriest, most ruthless, most controlling, most intolerant of all the ideological enterprises in the country. Now, everyone knows it...'"

* "The Left Legitimizes Despicable Tactics."

* "Why Firefox Is Blocked — #UninstallFirefox."

* "'If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out...'."