Anti-Semitism and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

I just had a flashback: My depraved stalker Walter James Casper is a vile anti-Semitic hate-monger, but you knew that.

Click through at the Twitter link.

The Radical Left Is Never Right About Israel http://t.co/Cf9uWjbZTz

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) April 22, 2014

And from Robert Fulford, at Toronto's National Post, "The BDS Smokescreen":

The people who defame Israel and wish to undermine its status in the world are not anti-Semites — or so they will tell you, every chance they get. Their denial of anti-Semitism is essential to their moral position. In their own view they are good progressives, therefore absolutely innocent of racial or religious discrimination. Their propaganda campaign, which they hope eventually will escalate into economic warfare, is intended merely to reshape Israel’s policies.

What they oppose, they want to assure us, is Israel’s position in the West Bank. Their increasingly loud and self-confident BDS movement (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) is not, as they tell it, a struggle against the Jews. They simply want to bring Israel into line with enlightened leftist opinion in Europe, the U.S. and Canada.

Scarlett Johansson, the film star, found herself the enemy of BDS in January, when she appeared in advertisements for SodaStream, an Israeli home carbonation device that eliminates cans and bottles. SodaStream’s offence is to have one of its factories in the West Bank, where it employs Palestinians who might otherwise have no work at all.

BDS adherents began denouncing Johansson as “the new face of apartheid.” They love applying that South African term to Israel, no matter how unjustified it is. Oxfam, for which Johansson had served as an ambassador in past years, decided to accept her resignation. Oxfam opposes all trade with Israeli settlements and has no place for dissenters among its associates. Johansson said she and Oxfam “have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.” Oxfam likes BDS. She doesn’t. She says she researched SodaStream and found it an ethical operation.

Like the great majority of Americans in the film industry, Johansson is a liberal Democrat. She took part in the last three presidential elections and raised money for Barack Obama. Unlike many who fall into that category, she also thinks for herself.

The May issue of Vanity Fair carries a cover story about Johansson. The author of the piece, Lili Anolik, asked her how she explains why she has been viciously criticized for the SodaStream ads. Johansson answered, “There’s a lot of anti-Semitism out there.” ...

My own belief is that the BDS people and their fellow travellers, whatever their background, are anti-Semites. They do all they can to stigmatize the Jewish state and reduce its ability to defend itself. They know that Israel is surrounded by neighbours who will never recognize its existence, much less sign a treaty developed in a “peace process” quarterbacked by Washington. The Palestinians and the Arab states who claim to support them are not hoping for a more generous Israel or a BDS-approved Israel or an Israel willing to hand over the West Bank. They are working for a day when Israel will be gone forever.

In order to satisfy this generation’s anti-Semites, Israel must meet standards that no other country in the world has ever met or ever will. At the United Nations Israel is condemned more often than all other countries combined.

It is, of course, an imperfect democracy, like Canada and all other free countries, and its human rights record could certainly be improved. But its treatment of Palestinians has never been even remotely comparable to China’s oppression of Tibetans or Saudi Arabia’s treatment of women, two among many outrageous practices that apparently never trouble the students who direct their anger at Israel.

In devising their purposes the BDS campaigners have never shown even the beginning of a sense of proportion. It’s remarkable that the world needs a 29-year-old movie star to point this out.

Israel is held to standards no other country is required to meet. It's disparate treatment, specifically against against the Jews. And it's derived from nothing but hatred of the Jews. It's racism straight up. It's also what my deranged hateful stalker Walter James Casper III is all about.

William Jacobson on the Mark Levin Show

Awesome!

At Legal Insurrection, "On The Mark Levin Show talking Israel and the boycotters."

California's Meb Keflezighi Wins Boston Marathon

The guy's from San Diego, it turns out.

At the Union-Tribune, "San Diegan wins Boston Marathon."

Wow: Marathon winner @RunMeb ran with names of those killed in the bombing on his bib pic.twitter.com/wkB8DXFFpz ht @SteveSaleeba
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) April 21, 2014

Also at the Boston Globe, "With 2014 Boston Marathon, Boston moves forward."

And at NBC Sports, "Meb Keflezighi stuns to win Boston Marathon (video)."

Ukraine Photos Link Russia to 'Green Men' in the East

Pretty interesting, at the New York Times, "Photos Link Masked Men in East Ukraine to Russia":

KIEV, Ukraine — For two weeks, the mysteriously well-armed, professional gunmen known as “green men” have seized Ukrainian government sites in town after town, igniting a brush fire of separatist unrest across eastern Ukraine. Strenuous denials from the Kremlin have closely followed each accusation by Ukrainian officials that the world was witnessing a stealthy invasion by Russian forces.

Now, photographs and descriptions from eastern Ukraine endorsed by the Obama administration on Sunday suggest that many of the green men are indeed Russian military and intelligence forces — equipped in the same fashion as Russian special operations troops involved in annexing the Crimea region in February. Some of the men photographed in Ukraine have been identified in other photos clearly taken among Russian troops in other settings...

More, "Ukraine Provides Evidence of Russian Military in Civil Unrest."

And see the latest at the Wall Street Journal, "Russia, U.S. Trade Charges of Violating Ukraine Deal: Vice President Biden Arrives in Kiev Amid Threats of New Sanctions on Moscow."

Plus, at the Independent UK, "Ukraine crisis: Interview with Irma Krat - the journalist and activist being held in Slovyansk: 'I came over here to give voice to people who have not been heard'."

And at the New Republic, "Which Former Soviet State Could Be the Next Ukraine?"

PREVIOUSLY: "Putin's Westward March."

NBC News Conducted Psychological Assessment of 'Meet the Press' Host David Gregory

Now this is something else, at WaPo, "As ‘Meet the Press’ struggles in the ratings, plenty of questions for host David Gregory." (At Memeorandum.)

I'm sure William Jacobson will get a load out of this, heh.

Amid slide in MTP ratings, NBC has commissioned a psychological profile of host @davidgregory, @farhip reports. http://t.co/G1PE3XScEx
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) April 21, 2014

More at Althouse, "What is NBC going to do about the post-Russert crashing ratings of 'Meet the Press'?"

Sharyl Attkisson: 'I didn't sense any resistance to doing stories that were perceived to be negative to the Bush administration...'

Of course not.

But hey, any criticism of the Democrat administration of President Barack Obama is completely out of line!

This is perhaps the most devastating indictment of the mainstream media I've heard throughout the Obama interregnum. Attkisson's says after 2009 there was a dramatic shift in press censorship at CBS News. This is precisely the news programming that's only going to air the accepted narrative, the administration's line. Attkisson was personally attacked by Democrats and left-wing bloggers, some of whom she argues, like Media Matters, were paid to take her down and banish her reporting from the public forum. Fast and Furious and green energy, for example, triggered enormous recriminations. That is, anything that could endanger the Emperor With No Clothes.

More from Ed Morrissey, "Attkisson: CBS News too “ideologically entrenched” to air stories critical of the Obama administration."

Also from Ed Driscoll, "Sharyl Attkisson: CBS Too ‘Ideologically Entrenched’," and "Attkisson: Media Matters ‘Used to Work With Me,’ Turned Once I Reported on Fast and Furious, Green Energy Cronyism":

Former CBS investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson revealed that the far-left watchdog “Media Matters for America” turned against her once she reported on stories unflattering to the Obama administration like the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal and green energy cronyism for CBS.

Attkisson made the remarks during a Sunday interview on the CNN media show Reliable Sources.

Media Matters has made a special case of attacking Attkisson, who ruffled many left-wing feathers when she resigned and said that her work for CBS had been stifled by liberals within the network. That is not an old charge, as former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg wrote in the best-selling book Bias, explaining how the truth was often distorted at the network because of political bias.

“Media Matters, by my understanding, is a far-left blog group that I think holds itself out to be sort of an independent media watchdog group,” Attkisson said. “And, yes, they clearly targeted me at some point. They used to work with me on stories, try to help me, you know, produce my stories and at some point–”

“That’s interesting,” said host Brian Stelter.

“Well, don’t they call you? They call journalists and they try to provide material and information,” she replied.

“Right, they are always emailing things, making us try to act outraged about something,” Stelter said.

“And I was certainly friendly with them as anybody,” Attkisson said. “Good information can come from any source. But when I persisted with Fast & Furious and some of the green energy stories that I was doing, I clearly at some point became a target. I don’t know if someone paid them to do it or they just took it on their own.”

More.

And Part II of Attkisson's interview, "Sharyl Attkisson takes on her critics."

Intellectuals Attacking Inequality Silent on the Decline of the Two-Parent Family

In my essay last night on the Marxist renaissance, I argued, "Real reform [of policies on inequality], indeed, must begin not at the level of the nation state but at the level of communities."

And moving down to an even more basic level of organization, consider the family. Leftists don't want to focus on those family and individual level factors, instead arguing that inequality is consequence of "structures" of racism, classism and disadvantage (or whatever else is in vogue these days).

But real success in eliminating inequality must focus on these lower levels of analysis.

From Robert Maranto and Michael Crouch, at the Wall Street Journal, "Ignoring an Inequality Culprit: Single-Parent Families":

Suppose a scientific conference on cancer prevention never addressed smoking, on the grounds that in a free society you can't change private behavior, and anyway, maybe the statistical relationships between smoking and cancer are really caused by some other third variable. Wouldn't some suspect that the scientists who raised these claims were driven by something—ideology, tobacco money—other than science?

Yet in the current discussions about increased inequality, few researchers, fewer reporters, and no one in the executive branch of government directly addresses what seems to be the strongest statistical correlate of inequality in the United States: the rise of single-parent families during the past half century.

The two-parent family has declined rapidly in recent decades. In 1960, more than 76% of African-Americans and nearly 97% of whites were born to married couples. Today the percentage is 30% for blacks and 70% for whites. The out-of-wedlock birthrate for Hispanics surpassed 50% in 2006. This trend, coupled with high divorce rates, means that roughly 25% of American children now live in single-parent homes, twice the percentage in Europe (12%). Roughly a third of American children live apart from their fathers.

Does it matter? Yes, it does. From economist Susan Mayer's 1997 book "What Money Can't Buy" to Charles Murray's "Coming Apart" in 2012, clear-eyed studies of the modern family affirm the conventional wisdom that two parents work better than one.

"Americans have always thought that growing up with only one parent is bad for children," Ms. Mayer wrote. "The rapid spread of single-parent families over the past generation does not seem to have altered this consensus much."

In an essay for the Institute for Family Studies last December, called "Even for Rich Kids, Marriage Matters," University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox reported that children in high-income households who experienced family breakups don't fare as well emotionally, psychologically, educationally or, in the end, economically as their two-parent-family peers.

Abuse, behavioral problems and psychological issues of all kinds, such as developmental behavior problems or concentration issues, are less common for children of married couples than for cohabiting or single parents, according to a 2003 Centers for Disease Control study of children's health. The causal pathways are about as clear as those from smoking to cancer.

More than 20% of children in single-parent families live in poverty long-term, compared with 2% of those raised in two-parent families, according to education-policy analyst Mitch Pearlstein's 2011 book "From Family Collapse to America's Decline." The poverty rate would be 25% lower if today's family structure resembled that of 1970, according to the 2009 report "Creating an Opportunity Society" from Brookings Institution analysts Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill. A 2006 article in the journal Demography by Penn State sociologist Molly Martin estimates that 41% of the economic inequality created between 1976-2000 was the result of changed family structure.

Earlier this year, a team of researchers led by Harvard economist Raj Chetty reported that communities with a high percentage of single-parent families are less likely to experience upward mobility. The researchers' report—"Where Is the Land of Opportunity?"—received considerable media attention. Yet mainstream news outlets tended to ignore the study's message about family structure, focusing instead on variables with far less statistical impact, such as residential segregation.

In the past four years, our two academic professional organizations—the American Political Science Association and the American Educational Research Association—have each dedicated annual meetings to inequality, with numerous papers and speeches denouncing free markets, the decline of unions, and "neoliberalism" generally as exacerbating economic inequality. Yet our searches of the groups' conference websites fail to turn up a single paper or panel addressing the effects of family change on inequality.

Why isn't this matter at the center of policy discussions? There are at least three reasons...

Well, those reasons aren't too hard to guess, but do read the rest.

Here's More on Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century

From Steven Erlanger, at the New York Times, "Taking On Adam Smith (and Karl Marx)."

And ICYMI, "The Misguided Resurgence of Marxist Collectivism."

The Misguided Resurgence of Marxist Collectivism

Last October, far-left columnist Michelle Goldberg published a paean to the current Marxist renaissance at the Tablet: "A Generation of Intellectuals Shaped by 2008 Crash Rescues Marx From History’s Dustbin."

I don't think it was the crash of '08 so much as eight years of George W. Bush that gave rise to a new generation of Marxist intellectuals and their shock-troop communist wannabes on the hardline left. And more than anything, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 --- the most radical president in American history --- provided the left with an American leader so steeped in hard-left ideology as to lift the spirits of even the most crestfallen Trotskyite revolutionary.

But that was over five years ago, and the promise of a new emancipatory progressivism --- if not the full realization of a renascent Marxian socio-economic state apparatus ---  appears to be fading amid the self-inflicting overreach of the Democrat Party, not to mention the return to earth of the "lightworker" and the attendant hopes for the Utopian collectivist transformation.

But leftists are nothing if not persistent.

Enter Ross Douthat and his extremely perceptive piece, at the New York Times, "Marx Rises Again" (via Memeorandum). Read it all at the link. Douthat's largely commenting on the lengthy essay at the Nation, from historian Timothy Shenk, "Thomas Piketty and Millennial Marxists on the Scourge of Inequality." (It's probably over 6,000 words long, although I waded through to the end in any case. Shenk's an overly sympathetic correspondent, for he's clearly excited at the prospect of decisive machinations against the evils of inequality, particularly against the reviled capitalists of the ostensibly rapacious and unjust top 1 percent.)

All the hubbub here is over the new book from the French scholar Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. It turns out Piketty's currently on a book tour stateside, and the New York Times has a gushing report, "Economist Receives Rock Star Treatment." And here's what's raising the hopes of the next generation of revolutionaries:

At the book’s center is Mr. Piketty’s contention — contrary to the influential theory developed by Simon Kuznets in the 1950s and ’60s — that mature capitalist economies do not inevitably evolve toward greater economic equality. Instead, Mr. Piketty contends, the data reveals a deeper historical tendency for the rate of return on capital to outstrip the overall rate of economic growth, leading to greater and greater concentrations of wealth at the very top.

Despite this inevitable-seeming drift toward “patrimonial capitalism” that his charts seemed to show, Mr. Piketty rejected any economic determinism. “It all depends on what the political system decides,” he said.

Such statements, along with Mr. Piketty’s proposal for a progressive wealth tax and income tax rates up to 80 percent, have aroused strong interest among those eager to recapture the momentum of the Occupy movement. The Nation ran a nearly 10,000-word cover article placing his book within a rising tide of neo-Marxist thought, while National Review Online dismissed it as confirmation of the left’s “dearest ‘Das Kapital’ fantasies.”

Here's the National Review piece, from James Pethokoukis, "The New Marxism, Part Two." (Also, "The New Marxism.")

Needless to say, Piketty's rising star rests on the obvious fact that he's given the badly ailing intellectual left new legs to stand on, so to speak. If the inequality of capitalism is not in fact a temporal phenomenon, but is instead a condition inherent and ineradicable to the long-term development of the capitalist order, then enemies of free markets can rekindle their centuries-long leveling campaign against the despised capitalist ruling classes. It's no surprise that prominent collectivists such as Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman have taken to harumphing Piketty's far-left bona fides (see Krugman's review at the New York Review, "Why We’re in a New Gilded Age"). Indeed, the academic radicals at Crooked Timber are positively giddy at the publication of Piketty's tome:

We’re hoping to have a proper book event on Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century in due course. That’s hard for those of us who have read it, because the book is so stimulating, so bursting with surprising facts and ideas [!!!], that there’s a lot to talk about.

The obvious problem, of which Douthat only partly addresses, is that as much as Piketty distances himself from orthodox Marxism and the practical program of state collectivism of the Soviet Union under Marxism-Leninism (apparently Piketty rejects the Marxist label, in favor of the more sober sounding title of "political economist"), the left's statist model has been tried many times before. No matter how you slice it, the various iterations of collectivist command economies do not outperform economies organized more toward the free movement of goods, capital, and people. The heavier the state's hand on the economy, the less economic dynamism of the state over time. Indeed, Sweden --- the classic example of the Scandinavian model of heavy taxation in furtherance of a robust, cradle-to-grave social safety net --- has relinquished much state power in favor of free market mechanisms and private-sector solutions. And don't even get me going about France, where Socialist President François Hollande's proposal for a 75 percent tax on the wealthy has Frenchmen "fleeing the country in despair."

But high taxes and wealth confiscation are the exact policy proposals offered in Capital in the Twenty-First Century. No matter. Leftists are persistent, if anything. Who cares if confiscatory policies have been tried even of late and failed? Forward to full communism!

So to summarize, Piketty's book, for all it's purported pathbreaking research and data-aggregation, just recycles tired old tropes of Marxist and socialist collectivism dating back hundreds of years. Frankly, scholars like this, and their eager-beaver acolytes and hangers-on, are the cross the rest of us have to bear. Leftists can invent new names and repackage old ideological paradigms, but the dead hand of Old Man Marx offers little for the real problems of inequality facing the advanced countries today. Real reform, indeed, must begin not at the level of the nation state but at the level of communities. The American welfare state today is shackling generations of the poor and putting out of reach the very economic mobility that has been the central promise of the American dream. Leftists only want to continue to destroy that dream. Piketty's work is just the latest weapon to be raised by the proletarian mobs against the reviled owners and producers of wealth and (inevitably) broadly shared prosperity.

Obama Autocomplete

Seen just now on Facebook, heh.



I think he's an "asshole" too, although maybe that's farther down in the search results.

Blake Lively #Rule5

She's fabulous.

I clicked on one of those link-bait ads with Blake Lively, and come to find no photos of her, and tweeted it. DANEgerus tweets back her Google image cache and I found this one, showing off her lovely legs.



Also, she's been the subject of divorce rumors, although only at really lowbrow gossip sites.

In any case, a sweetie (can click here for the full-size version).

Joan Jett at Harrah's Resort Southern California

Last night my wife and I caught Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, with opening band Night Ranger, at Harrah's Resort Southern California.

I tweeted a shot of our concert tickets.

I don't see a concert review yet, but she's as hot as ever, tight band, lots of energy and looking fabulous.

She was in the news earlier this week for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where she sang "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for Nirvana's introduction. See Hollywood Reporter, "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Nirvana Joined by Joan Jett, Lorde; Dave Grohl and Courtney Love Hug It Out." Also at Rolling Stone, "Nirvana Reunite With Lorde, Joan Jett on Vocals for Rock Hall of Fame," and "The Inside Story of Nirvana's One-Night-Only Reunion."



PHOTO CREDIT: Harrah's Resort on Facebook.

Kate Moss for Harper's Bazaar

Feels like I've been torturing readers overnight with retro homosexuals, so here's some lovely feminine hotness.

At the main page, "Kate Moss on Top."

Also, "SPRING FLING: No one does evening glamour like Kate Moss. Just bead it," and "COVER GIRL: KATE MOSS'S BAZAAR COVERS."

Obama Has No Plan in #Afghanistan and the War Against Al Qaeda

From Sebastian Gorka, at Big Peace.

Well, with no plan I think the rest of us can plan on the Taliban returning to power.

And, you know, that could be harsh.

L.A.'s P-22 Mountain Lion Exposed to Rat Poison

This story is such a downer.

I blogged this beautiful beast last October, "Mountain Lion P-22."

But now at LAT, "Household rat poison linked to death and disease in wildlife":

The mountain lion known as P-22 looked majestic just a few months ago, in a trail-camera photo shot against the backdrop of the Hollywood sign.

But when a remote camera in Griffith Park captured an image of the puma more recently, it showed a thinner and mangy animal. Scientists sedated him and drew blood samples. They found evidence of exposure to rat poisons.

Now, researchers say they suspect a link between the poisons and the mange, a parasitic skin disease that causes crusting and skin lesions and has contributed to the deaths of scores of bobcats and coyotes. A National Park Service biologist applied a topical treatment for mange and injected Vitamin K to offset the effects of poisoning.

The condition of California's famous cougar is likely to intensify the debate over the use of rat poisons in areas of the state where urban living collides with nature.

Keep reading.

And see the graphic on how large predators are poisoned.

Mange leads to death. The animal was captured and treated so he might survive, but it just seems like a bummer for such a majestic cat. But it's gonna happen when wildlife are so close to humans, and we have to control for pests.

More at the National Wildlife Federation, "Los Angeles Mountain Lion Survives Freeways, Now Threatened by Poison Exposure."

Twin Hipster Homosexuals

Kinda rockabilly, heh.

Via Ann Althouse, "How to be as unheterosexual as possible." (And don't miss the comments.)

Mary Jo Kopechne Was Unavailable for Comment

At Twitchy, "Today in the War on Women: OFA slaughters self-awareness in a single email [pic]."

'Don't come here with guns and expect the American people not to fire back...' — #BundyRanch

Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore bitch slaps leftist propaganda pimp Chris Hayes. Seriously. Why does this loser still even have a show? No, why is MSNBC still even an ongoing cable network? They're just a bunch of dirtball losers with low ratings. Pretty pathetic.

I saw Assemblywoman Fiore on Twitter last week.

The truth about the Bundy’s vs. BLM #BundyRanch http://t.co/QE8HRHyNwR

— Michele Fiore (@VoteFiore) April 14, 2014

And check this at Hot Air, "MSNBC host debates Michele Fiore on Bundy ranch. Does not fare well."

The lulz.

Captain Lee Jun-seok Fled Ship While Passengers Died

The South Korean ferry captain rushed to safety ahead of sinking passengers.

At NYT, "In Sad Twist on Proud Tradition, Captains Let Others Go Down With Ship":

Ever since the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, carrying its captain and many of the passengers with it, the notion that the captain goes down with his ship has been ingrained in popular culture.

But now, for the second time in just over two years, a sea captain — first in Italy and now in South Korea — has been among the first to flee a sinking vessel, placing his own life ahead of those of his terrified passengers.

A much-publicized photo from the latest accident shows the Korean captain being helped off his own ship, the Sewol, stepping off the deck to safety even as scores of his ferry passengers remained below where survivors believe they became trapped by rushing water and debris.

The behavior has earned the captain, Lee Jun-seok, 69, the nickname the “evil of the Sewol” among bloggers in South Korea. It also landed him in jail.

Maritime experts called the abandonment shocking — violating a proud international (and South Korean) tradition of stewardship based at least as much on accepted codes of behavior as by law.

“That guy’s an embarrassment to anybody who’s ever had command at sea,” said John B. Padgett III, a retired United States Navy rear admiral and former submarine captain.

His sentiments were echoed by Capt. William H. Doherty, who has commanded Navy and merchant ships and managed safety operations at a major cruise line. He called Mr. Lee’s decision to leave his 447 passengers “a disgrace,” and likened it to the desertion of the stricken Costa Concordia cruise ship off the Italian coast in 2012. “You can’t take responsibility, or say you do, for nearly 500 souls, and then be the first in the lifeboat,” he said.

Civil courts in the United States have long viewed captains as having an obligation to protect their passengers and ships, but the cases in South Korea and Italy seem likely to test the notion of criminal liability in disasters.

The captain of the Italian ship, Francesco Schettino, is on trial on manslaughter charges after the sinking of his ship left more than 30 people dead.

The death toll in the South Korean accident stood at 36 as of late Saturday, with 266 missing...

More.

'Elizabeth Warren is a liar and a Democrat, but I repeat myself...'

See Robert Stacy McCain, on Elizabeth Warren, "Cherokee Princess Fauxcohantas."

Also at Daley Gator, "REMEMBER KIDS, LIBERALS ARE FREE TO LIE. BUT IF YOU EXPOSE THEIR LIES, THEN YOU ARE A HATER!"

I hella blogged this story at the time. I particularly love how real Native Americans pissed all over the lying Elizabeth Warren. Here's Twila Barnes, for example, "No Pity for Warren."

So, yep. Democrats are epic liars. Racists too, but you already knew that.

Putin's Westward March

At WSJ, "Revisionist powers are rising as Obama and Europe fail to respond":

Diplomacy is useful when it prevents bad outcomes. The problem with diplomacy as practiced by President Obama is that it too often is a mask to disguise bad outcomes. The latest example is this week's agreement among Ukraine, Russia, the EU and the U.S. that claims to prevent war but largely advances Vladimir Putin's strategic objectives.

The government in Kiev is supposed to make political concessions to allow more autonomy in its eastern provinces in return for a military "de-escalation." But on the very day of the accord, Mr. Putin publicly reserved the right to invade Ukraine and refused to withdraw his troops massed at the border. On Friday the militants holding police stations and public offices in eastern Ukraine refused to stand down.

Even President Obama curbed his enthusiasm for the deal negotiated by Secretary of State John Kerry, saying at a Thursday press conference that Russia still had to follow through on its commitments. But what did Mr. Putin really commit to?

The Russian President denies that the militants have anything to do with Russia and says he's helpless to stop them. The accord says nothing about Ukraine's May 25 election, which Russia opposes and wants to subvert. His troops are still ready to invade if he pleases, and Mr. Putin made promises to the republic of Georgia before he invaded that country in 2008. For the first time on Thursday, Mr. Putin referred to Ukraine as part of "New Russia," a revanchist echo of the czarist era.

NATO Supreme Commander Philip Breedlove cut through the diplomatic haze with a public memo on Friday stating that, "What is happening in eastern Ukraine is a military operation that is well planned and organized" and "is being carried out at the direction of Russia."

The pro-Russian activists show all the earmarks of having had military training, the general wrote. Their weapons and equipment are mainly Russian army issue, which they carry with military discipline. Their use of tear gas and stun grenades in taking buildings showed training inconsistent with a spontaneously generated local militia.

Too bad Mr. Obama showed none of the same candor about these military facts. In his press conference the President never blamed Russia for the unrest in Ukraine or said Russian troops were on the ground. He never mentioned Crimea, which seems to have been banished from U.S. talking points now that Mr. Putin has annexed the peninsula. Instead Mr. Obama sounded like a pundit analyzing the possibilities of diplomacy, with more threats of further sanctions if Mr. Putin escalates.

All of this continues the pattern of Mr. Obama and Europe underestimating the Russian strongman. They pretend he is amenable to diplomacy or afraid of threats, but neither has deterred Mr. Putin from marching west. Even when Mr. Putin openly declares his goal by declaring eastern Ukraine to be part of historic Russia, Mr. Obama prefers to ignore it.

Continue reading.

More here, "Eastern Ukraine's Pro-Russian Activists Stand Fast: Rebels Say They Have No Intention of Leaving, Despite Geneva Agreement."

And at Instapundit, "WELL, WELL, WELL: U.S. ground troops going to Poland, defense minister says." Might be too little too late, but we'll see.

'The next time Democrats take to the national airwaves to dishonestly accuse Republicans of racial hatred, remember who the historical record up until this very day points to as the real bigots: The Democrat Party...'

Someone linked my post on the Democrat/KKK/Party history in the comments at the Los Angeles Times (or something, according to my SiteMeter).

Anyway, also at the comments there, an hilariously accurate but politically incorrect website on Democrat Party racism and bigotry right up to the current era:

The simple truth is that the Democrat Party's history during this century is one closely aligned to bigotry in a record stemming largely out of the liberal New Deal era up until the modern day. Bigots are at the center of the Democrat party's current leadership and role models. And in a striking display of hypocrisy, many of the same Democrats who dishonestly shout accusations of "bigotry" at conservatives are practicing bigots of the most disgusting and disreputable kind themselves.

PREVIOUSLY: "Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., Kansas Jewish Murder Suspect, Made Democrat Congressional Bid in 2006," and "The Democrat Party's Racial Regression."

Majority Leader Harry Reid Attacks #BundyRanch Patriots as 'Domestic Terrorists'

Really?

Really Harry Reid you sick Democrat Party coward?

At CNN, "Harry Reid defends ‘domestic terrorists’ comments." (Via Memeorandum.)

'I love being female, and I’m actually quite confident about being a woman, but the only time I even come close to feeling bad about myself is when major media outlets and elite feminists use their power to tell me there’s some major flaw with me being female...'

It's Mollie Hemingway, at the Federalist, "Why Are Feminists So Insecure?"

She's writing about Katty Kay and Claire Shipman's "The Confidence Gap," which I blogged here.

And see the Other McCain, "How @ClaireShipman Ironically Proves Phyllis Schlafly Right About the ‘Pay Gap’."

The Ku Klux Klan Party: #Democrats Hate Without End

Peter Gottschalk, at the Los Angeles Times, elaborates the point I've stressed since the Kansas Jewish Community Center murders: the Democrat/KKK/Party has been the home of eliminationist racist hatred from the Reconstruction era to present times.

See, "Kansas, the KKK and hate without end":

The news that a former grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan is suspected of shooting and killing three people near Jewish community centers in Kansas seems at first glance like a disparaged past flaring briefly into the present. Americans like to imagine that the KKK belongs to a long-gone South and anti-Semitism to a distant 20th century. Sadly, this better reflects a naive faith in the nation's history of religious tolerance than the realities experienced by many religious minorities. Although the KKK has evolved and its membership has dwindled, it remains part of an American [Democrat Party] legacy of religious intolerance.

A central tenet of U.S. nationalism rests on a notion of welcoming huddled masses, but the idea of American exceptionalism also runs deep. When Americans have imagined their country's uniqueness as defined racially, religiously or culturally, those outside those parameters are immediately suspect. Sadly, religion has often served as the catalyst for prejudice....

The KKK has manifested this dynamic [of Democrat eliminitionist racist hatred] since it emerged in the South in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. Targeting newly freed blacks in an effort to maintain white supremacy, the KKK terrorized the region. However, passage of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and, later, the institutionalized segregation of Jim Crow laws led to the Klan's rapid fading popularity.

The 20th century saw the return of a KKK that may have drawn inspiration from its past in the Reconstruction South and now sought prominence as a modern national organization. Further agitating already inflated fears of East European immigration in the 1920s, its leadership around the country seeded branches called "klaverns" (part of an invented vocabulary exalting Klan secrecy and exclusivity). Although blacks suffered again at the hands of the revived Klan, immigrants became new targets.

The Klan of the 1920s [endorsed by Democrat President Woodrow Wilson] successfully channeled such sentiments into a national organization that claimed 4 million members from the Carolinas to California. Societies boasting the KKK name emerged on American university campuses at a time when perhaps 40% of fraternities limited membership to "Aryans" and "Caucasians." Anaheim — future home of Disneyland — boasted such a public and political Klan presence that it was nicknamed "Klanheim." In 1925, the imperial wizard led tens of thousands of members in a parade down Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue.

The KKK's nativism welded racism to religious prejudice to create a powerful cudgel aimed at East European immigrants in general and Jews in particular.

This second generation of the Klan dissipated in a welter of infighting and scandals, even as most Americans rejected its message and ostracized its members. However, the civil rights movement of the 1960s spurred a third emergence. Never reaching the popularity of the previous incarnations, this one nevertheless wrought havoc, especially on black communities...

PREVIOUSLY: "Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., Kansas Jewish Murder Suspect, Made Democrat Congressional Bid in 2006," and "The Democrat Party's Racial Regression."

Rep. Stephen Lynch: #ObamaCare Will Bury the #Democrats

Look, it's gonna be a bloodbath (as I've been saying for months), which explains why at every new data release the president announces the "debate over" on ObamaCare.

At Legal Insurrection, "Dem Rep: Obamacare will bury us":

Obama is spiking the football over sign-up numbers, but Democrats on the ground see things differently when not spinning.

Steve Lynch is a Democratic Rep. from Massachusetts who doesn’t hesitate to buck the party line from a centrist point of view, and to speak openly about problems in the party and with party positions.

Lynch ran for Senate to fill John Kerry’s seat, but lost in the primary to now-Senator Ed Markey.

Lynch recently was interviewed by The Boston Herald about upcoming Obamacare problems and how devastating they will be for Democrats. That runs contrary to cut current news cycle Democratic spin that (allegedly) meeting sign up goals means electoral problems related to Obamacare are over...

Also from Ed Morrissey, "Maybe Democrats should be more worried about their own billionaire allies" (via Memeorandum).

Debbie Vincent, Transgender Animal Rights Extremist, Sentenced to Six Years for Europe-Wide Campaign of Terror

At London's Daily Mail, "Former soldier who became animal rights commander is jailed for six years over campaign of terror against animal testing company."

Here's a particularly grizzly account at the Times of Zambia, "Animal rights activist jailed for blackmail plot":

Debbie Vincent, a 52-year-old former soldier who underwent a sex change, was found guilty last month for her part in a conspiracy to blackmail British-based Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).

Vincent became the public face of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) after seven members of the group were jailed for a total of 50 years in 2009 for their role in the campaign.

Members of the group falsely accused HLS staff members of being paedophiles, sent them hoax bombs and sanitary towels claimed to be infected with AIDS, and caused criminal damage to their cars and homes.

In May 2009, activists dug up a grave in Switzerland and removed an urn containing the ashes of the mother of Daniel Vasella, the then-chairman of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, one of HLS' suppliers.

Sentencing Vincent at Winchester Crown Court in southeast England, judge Keith Cutler said: "It is difficult for a judge to calculate the repugnance felt by society to such appalling acts.

"Nothing at all could justify such attacks."

He added: "You express no shred of remorse or condemnation for the incidents of extreme terror and desecration which have been caused."

A group of Vincent's supporters held placards outside the court reading "No Excuse for Animal Abuse" and "Against Animal Testing and State Repression".

Vicious and violently depraved transgender leftists.

Meanwhile back in the states, Washington D.C. is recognizing "gender dysphoria" as a medical condition, so insurance companies (and taxpayers) will be forced to pick up the bill for transgender sexual reassignment surgery. Recall that last year the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that sex reassignment surgeries would be available through ObamaCare, so Americans can rest assured that we'll have an ample supply of Debbie Vincents in the pipeline.

'Instead of destroying our philosophical enemies in the war of individualism vs. statism, the establishment right trims its message, then trims it some more, desperately hoping to appease leftists and their media lapdogs...'

From Pamela Geller, at Atlas Shrugs, "What’s Wrong with the Right."

The Tragic Decline of American Foreign Policy

From Ian Bremmer, at the National Interest.

There's little there to which I object, although I don't really think the objective global balance of power is shifting away from the U.S.

Jews Ordered to Register in East #Ukraine?

An extremely troubling development if true, at Legal Insurrection, "Jews told to register in eastern Ukraine? Facts still murky."

But see Julia Ioffe, at the New Republic, "Ukraine Is Not Ordering Its Jews to Register."

Debunking the Left's Latest Blame-Righty Smear Campaign

Inveterate propaganda pimps and shameless liars.

At Michelle Malkin's, "Debunking the Blame Righty propagandists…again":

Here we go again. Liberal media outlets CNN and MSNBC have joined forces with the biased, numbers-cooking Southern Poverty Law Center and New America Foundation to foment renewed fear and hatred of conservative Americans.

Their latest talking point: “Right-wing” terrorists have caused more American deaths than Islamic jihadists since 9/11.

CNN ran with the “story” first. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow hopped on the bandwagon tonight and the Blame Righty echo chamber is whipping up another witch-hunt frenzy.

According to these divisive and demagogic fear-mongers, “right-wingers” have killed 34 people since 9/11 for “political reasons,” including the three innocent victims of last week’s Kansas City Jewish community center shootings, while jihadists have killed 21. MSNBC and CNN viewers are eating it all up with ghoulish enthusiasm. It’s the Obama DHS right-wing terrorism report all over again.

A closer look at the rigging of this latest phony factoid simply confirms the malevolent intention of so-called objective journalists to marginalize conservative political speech and dissent. And it confirms once again the corruption of purportedly objective “hate watch” groups, which are staffed and supported by progressives bent on criminalizing their opponents out of the public square.

Let’s start with the terror toll count date. Carving out the 2,997-person death toll from the 9/11 jihadist attacks is a rather convenient way to rig the scales, isn’t it? Only if we close our eyes and pretend away the bloodiest terrorist attack on American soil perpetrated by Islamic murderers is it possible to promote the Left’s moral equivalency on who our real enemies are.

Once you whitewash 9/11 out of your calculations, the rest of the smear job is easy-peasy. As usual, it involves dishonest inflating of “right-wing” incidents and dishonest deflating of left-wing and jihadist incidents.

The conservatives-are-worse-than-jihadists casualty data, for example, counts Holocaust Museum shooter James Von Brunn, who killed a heroic security guard, as a “right-winger.” As I’ve pointed out before, Von Brunn was neither “left” nor “right.” He was a rage-filled maniac and 9/11 truther who hated Fox News and Rupert Murdoch.

Also counted as “right-wing” in the CNN/MSNBC/SPLC data: Andrew Joseph Stack. He’s the lunatic who flew a small plane into an Austin, Texas, office complex that contained an Internal Revenue Service office in 2010. He injured several people and killed himself. Within minutes of the story breaking, a furious left-wing blogger at the popular Daily Kos website — where countless Democratic leaders have guest-posted — fumed: “Teabagger terrorist attack on IRS building.” The article immediately cast blame on the anti-tax Tea Party movement: “After months of threats on the United States government, and government institutions, the Anti-Government forces known as the teabaggers have struck with their first 911 (sic) inspired terrorist attack.” But as I reported at the time, Stack’s ranting suicide manifesto:

…targeted “puppet” George W. Bush, murderous health care insurers and the pharmaceutical industry.

The “manifesto” ended:

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

*****

The dishonesty of violence-politicizing leftists — once again forcing Americans of good will to defend themselves against conniving “hate watch” haters — is beyond sickening. It’s evil.

Read it all at that top link.

And yes, they're evil, to the core.

RELATED: "The Democrat Party's Racial Regression."

Never forget: the Democrats are the party of hate.

"Russia's diplomats warned the U.S. that it ought to learn how to spell a country's name before spreading 'spam' and offered their proofreading services to the State Department's press office..."

Remember Victoria Nuland's comment about Russian espionage being "pretty impressive statecraft"?

Well, here's more on that, from Kevin Rothrock, at the New Republic, "The U.S. Is Being Routed by Russia in the Information War Over Ukraine."

PREVIOUSLY: "U.S. Scurries to Shore Up Spying on #Russia."

Epic Blog-Traffic #Fail at Chuckles Johnson's Little @Green_Footballs

LOL!

Oh, how the once-mighty have fallen.

My post the other day, "Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., Kansas Jewish Murder Suspect, Made Democrat Congressional Bid in 2006," received lots of attention, and heavy linkage among the TCOT crowd, including an Instalanche.

My SiteMeter was rolling over pretty good, but not because of the Husky Ponytailed Loser Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, who happened to come across my post while trolling Instapundit.







I noticed the sad little Chuckles link on Monday.

As you can see, iOWNTHEWORLD was throwing a mini IOTW-alanche, and Fire Andrea Mitchell sent over a few hits as well. Ed Driscoll also linked, and even Barcepundit --- throughout the day --- threw more traffic than the late-great LGF.

You see there at #73 at the SiteMeter page? That's the lone blog hit Chuckles sent my way all day on Monday. I've literally seen two more hits from the Lizardoid loser since then, at most.

Seriously. Does anyone even read that blog anymore? I don't think so.

I'm not linking the stalking asshat, although for some lulz check out Diary of Daedalus, "Charles attacks Bloggers for mentioning Frazier Glenn Miller was a Democrat:

Nowhere in his rant, does Charles contradict the fact that Frazier Glenn Miller was a Democrat at one point. At the end he once again ... ties Ron Paul into this whole shooting to prove Miller was not a Democrat. Charles presents no evidence an[d] once again just flings poo...

Well, of course.

Fact is, Frazier Glenn Miller first ran for office as a Democrat and returned home to racist party of hate in 2006. And most important, Miller was a grand dragon of Ku Klux Klan, the home of the Democrat Party since Reconstruction. And further, ideologically, hardline Jew hatred is virtually exclusively found on the far-left of the spectrum, and thus it's no surprise that Miller found inspiration in the vile ravings of Democrat Max Blumenthal.

It's not a pretty picture, which explains why Chuckles just won't go there and instead had to settle for squealing about some non-existent "right-wing" racist threat.

20 More Killed in Nigeria as Islamist Attacks Continue

At the New York Times, "Nigeria: Teenagers Are Freed, but Militants Continue Attacks."

And at Jihad Watch, "Nigeria: Islamic jihadists murder 20 in rampage, fourth jihad attack in three days":

Not to worry. Obama Administration official Samantha Power is on the case, denouncing religion-inspired violence in…the Central African Republic and everywhere else that Muslims are victims. But not in Nigeria, where the Islamic jihadists can apparently act with complete impunity, secure in the knowledge that the Nigerian government can’t stop them and that no other force has the will to do so.

“Islamic extremists kill 20 Nigerians during rampage,” from the Associated Press, April 16...

More.

And a great discussion at the clip.

Evidence of #BLM Death and Destruction of Cliven Bundy Cattle — #BundyRanch

An ugly, ugly situation all around.

At 21st Century Wire, "EXCLUSIVE: Evidence of BLM’s Deadly Abuse of Animals Taken from Bundy Ranch."

And at Pat Dollard's, "WATCH: Apparent Federal Mass Grave of Bundy Cows Discovered."

Here's the clip, "Greta - Possible BLM mass cattle grave at the Bundy Ranch."

Bwahaha! Vulnerable Dem Mary Landrieu Hammered for Reenacting Senate Hearing in Campaign Advertisement

Thankfully, she's likely to be flushed out to sea in this November's GOP wave.

At Yid With Lid, "Mary Landrieu's Bogus Ad is Met With Media Distain."



F-king morons.

Ukraine Push East Falters as Militants Seize Army Vehicles

At the New York Times, "Ukraine Push Against Rebels Grinds to Halt":

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — A military operation that the Ukrainian government said would confront pro-Russian militants in the east of the country unraveled in disarray on Wednesday with the entire contingent of 21 armored vehicles that had separated into two columns surrendering or pulling back before nightfall. It was a glaring humiliation for the new government in Kiev.

Though gunshots were fired throughout the day, and continued sporadically through the evening in this town that is occupied by pro-Russian militants, it was unclear whether anybody had been wounded.

One of the armored columns stopped when a crowd of men drinking beer and women yelling taunts and insults gathered on the road before them, and later in the day its commander agreed to hand over the soldiers’ assault rifles to the very separatists they were sent to fight.

Another column from the same ostensibly elite unit, the 25th Dnipropetrovsk paratrooper brigade, surrendered not only its weapons but also the tracked and armored vehicles it had arrived in, letting militants park them as trophies, under a Russian flag, in a central square here.

More.

I think developments make that Max Boot piece from earlier look even more profound.

Failed HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Weighs Kansas Senate Run

Look, most MSM outlets were putting the nails in the coffin of Sebelius' political career last week.

And now she's considering a Senate bid from Kansas, where she served two terms as governor?

Hmm, even leftist Ed Kilgore suggests she'd be a "glutton for punishment."

But see the New York Times, "Sebelius Said to Weigh Run for Kansas Senate Seat":

WASHINGTON — In her darkest hour last fall, Kathleen Sebelius suffered one of the deepest cuts from an old family friend who accused her of “gross incompetence” over the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and demanded that she resign as secretary of health and human services. Now she is weighing revenge.

Ms. Sebelius is considering entreaties from Democrats who want her to run against that old friend, Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas.

Several Democrats said this week that Ms. Sebelius had been mentioned with growing frequency as someone who could wage a serious challenge to Mr. Roberts, 77, who is running for a fourth term and is considered vulnerable. One person who spoke directly to Ms. Sebelius said that she was thinking about it, but added that it was too soon to say how seriously she was taking the idea.

It was only last week, after all, that Ms. Sebelius, 65, said that she would step down from her cabinet job.

Even if Ms. Sebelius had not presided over the Department of Health and Human Services at a time of turmoil and self-inflicted distress — and while carrying out a law that inspires such anger on the right — her candidacy would be a tough sell in Kansas. Democrats have not held a Senate seat in the state since 1939. And even before the president’s popularity started to take a steep slide last year, he fared especially poorly in Kansas, winning only 38 percent of the vote there in 2012.

Well, "tough sell" is putting it mildly. The disastrous health law has put so many Americans in dangers that she'd practically be putting her life on the line out there. She's the signature face of the administration's biggest failure, that is, just after the administration's biggest failure, Barack Hussein.

Via Memeorandum.

Sofia Vergara for Women's Health Magazine

A lovely lady.

At London's Daily Mail, "'I have a great a**!': Sofia Vergara, 41, shows off her perfect figure in a seductive shoot for Women's Health."

Lourdes Torres-Manteufel Sues Douglas Phillips of Vision Forum Ministries

My god this is disgusting.

At the Other McCain, "‘Repeated Requests for Phillips to Stop Masturbating and Ejaculating on Her’."

And at WND, "Christian Giant Sued For 'Using Nanny as Sex Object'":

The former leader of a popular Christian ministry – who resigned from his position after confessing to an “inappropriate” relationship – is now the subject of a lawsuit that claims he “methodically groomed” and made unwanted sexual contact with a young woman after serving as an authority figure in her life for more than a decade.

Doug Phillips, a husband and father of eight children, had been a popular and controversial figure in the homeschooling movement and a leading advocate of “biblical patriarchy” before his resignation from Vision Forum Ministries and Boerne Christian Assembly, a Baptist church outside San Antonio, Texas, at which he had served as an elder and preached hundreds of sermons.

Phillips was also founder of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival and of the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches.

According to the teachings of the patriarchy movement, also known as the stay-at-home daughters or quiverfull movement, young women remain at home under the protection of their fathers. They’re generally expected not to work outside their home or go to college, and they’re taught to abide by strict gender roles in which men have authority over women.

‘A personal sex object’

Asked if she ever believed she loved Phillips, Torres, who was over the age of 21 at the time of the sexual contact, told WND, “Oh, yes, definitely.”

Torres said she met Phillips and his wife, Beall, at a homeschooling conference in November 1999 when Torres was 15 years old. Torres spent many hours in the Phillips home, cared for their children and helped run the family farm. She was invited on trips with the family to Hawaii, Virginia, Mexico, Florida and other states.

By 2007, according to the complaint, Phillips began “to pay special attention” to Torres, complementing her beauty and devotion to his family, giving her money, touching her, asking her personal questions about her thoughts and life plans and telling her he would take care of her.

By October of that year, the lawsuit states, Phillips invited Torres’ family to live with him as they were moving into a new home: “Phillips entered [Torres'] bedroom and without her consent began touching her breasts, stomach, back, neck, and waist.” Torres alleges she began to cry and ask Phillips to stop as he rubbed his genitals on her and “masturbated and ejaculated on her.” She claims the behavior continued, and Phillips told her he loved her and intended to marry her and “blatantly disregarded her requests” that he stop...

Read the complaint here.

Then check back over at the Other McCain for a discussion.

And for your added pleasure (or not), here's Amanda Marcotte's analysis of this depraved Christo-fascist godbag;

http://t.co/2kaIOkmIWf Friend of Duggar family accused of masturbating on a crying, protesting woman. Repeatedly.

— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) April 16, 2014

The Democrat Party's Racial Regression

Yep, I've been hammering the regressive leftists for years now.

From E.W. Jackson, at American Thinker, "The New Liberal Racism":

One hundred and fifty years after slavery, a new generation now claims ownership of the thoughts and behavior of Americans of African descent. These ersatz masters believe they deserve absolute fealty. Slave owners usually think themselves beneficent, but those who thirst for freedom have a different perspective.

We have largely rid ourselves of the old racism. It is time to rid ourselves of the new form. The burden is on the liberal elites in the Democrat Party and the media to end the paternalism and condescension with which they treat the black community, and renounce the hateful attempts to destroy black conservatives. They need to stop pointing the finger of racism at others and take a hard look at themselves. They are not the racial conscience of the country, but the cause of racial regression.

I have been calling for unity across racial and cultural lines for decades, reminding audiences of the last line of our Pledge of Allegiance - "one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all." It is time for Democrat elites to stop dividing us and start bringing us together in fulfillment of that pledge.

Actually, we haven't entirely eliminated the old Democrat racism of the Ku Klux Klan. The new racism Jackson's correctly identifies just piles on exponentially to the eliminationist white supremacy and anti-Semitism that resides historically at the base of the Democrat Party.

PREVIOUSLY: "Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., Kansas Jewish Murder Suspect, Made Democrat Congressional Bid in 2006," and "Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., #Democrat-KKK Suspect in Kansas Jewish Shooting, Indicted on Capital Murder Charges."

The West Is Emboldening Putin

From Max Boot, at Commentary:

U.S. and European leaders have made clear they are so paralyzed by fear of provoking Vladimir Putin that they dare not do more. Only if Putin went further and extended his aggression to the rest of Ukraine would the Russian dictator suffer more severe “repercussions.” Or so we were told by Secretary of State John Kerry and his European counterparts.

It is by now obvious that the West’s self-restraint—so reminiscent of similar self-restraint after Adolf Hitler’s military buildup, militarization of the Rhineland, Anschluss with Austria, and seizure of the Sudetenland—has not convinced Putin to exercise self-restraint in response. Instead he has, correctly, read the West’s non-response as an expression of weakness that he can exploit to make further territorial gains toward his ultimate dream of reestablishing the Russian Empire, of which Ukraine was a satrapy until 1991....

The only hope that Ukraine now has of emerging as a whole and democratic state aligned to the West is to see dramatic action on the part of the U.S. and Europe to demonstrate to the Kremlin that the cost of further aggression is too high to be borne. What would this mean in practice? Practical steps would extend from rushing military aid to Ukraine, to reversing the dangerous drawdown of U.S. military strength, to rushing U.S. army brigades to Poland and the Baltics, to expelling every Russian financial institution from access to the Western financial system and seizing the ill-gained loot that Putin and his cronies keep in Western banks.

Simply to lay out what a serious response from the West would look like is to make obvious how unlikely it is to be implemented by the feckless leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. Ukraine, I fear, has pretty much no chance of prevailing, because it is clear that the spirit of Neville Chamberlain, rather than that of Winston Churchill, is in charge of the Western response. The most that Ukraine can hope for is that Putin will choose not to annex its eastern territory outright, at least not yet, preferring for the time being to keep the region in an uproar to blackmail Kiev into remaining in the Russian orbit. (Nice country you have, he may be saying implicitly, in the fashion of movie gangsters, it would be a shame if anything happened to it.)

Alas the consequences of Western pusillanimity will be felt far outside Ukraine’s borders...

Nah. That's crazy neocon warmongering talk!

PREVIOUSLY: "Ukraine Mobilizes Against Russia-Backed Separatists."

The Implosion of First Look's 'The Intercept'

A genuine laugh riot.

At Gigaom, "If you want more news from First Look Media’s The Intercept, you’re going to have to wait."

Via Louise Mensch:

Oh boy, the implosion of First Look Media. The BTL comments here are hilarious, including #Greenwald's whine https://t.co/tMwzvWHWhK

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) April 15, 2014

Greenwald is justifying himself here at 12:37. FirstLook doesn't let you link to comments. https://t.co/tMwzvWHWhK Made of Fail

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) April 15, 2014

On a scale of Rob Zombie to Lady Stoneheart, just how dead is @Pierre's $250m @FirstLook? #Greenwald #Snowden https://t.co/tMwzvWHWhK

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) April 15, 2014

Comments on John Cook's "passover greetings from the editor" Intercept post are a bloodbath. Almost feel sorry for him.

— Paul Carr (@paulcarr) April 15, 2014

Cook admits he's deleting negative comments on his Intercept q&a. Transparency. pic.twitter.com/SCcRAgPolX

— Paul Carr (@paulcarr) April 14, 2014

Beginning to think karma deserves her reputation. @Guardian plunges to below 200k circulation, @FirstLook implodes. #TeamBond

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) April 15, 2014

First Look also states its hiring policy "Not white. Not male." What was Glenn's severance package? Oh.

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) April 15, 2014

The Slow Death of Free Speech

From Mark Steyn, "The 'Safe Space' is Where Cultures Go to Die."

Linking his new essay at the Spectator UK, "How the Left, here and abroad, is trying to shut down debate — from Islam and Israel to global warming and gay marriage":

I heard a lot of that kind of talk during my battles with the Canadian ‘human rights’ commissions a few years ago: of course, we all believe in free speech, but it’s a question of how you ‘strike the balance’, where you ‘draw the line’… which all sounds terribly reasonable and Canadian, and apparently Australian, too. But in reality the point of free speech is for the stuff that’s over the line, and strikingly unbalanced. If free speech is only for polite persons of mild temperament within government-policed parameters, it isn’t free at all. So screw that.

But I don’t really think that many people these days are genuinely interested in ‘striking the balance’; they’ve drawn the line and they’re increasingly unashamed about which side of it they stand. What all the above stories have in common, whether nominally about Israel, gay marriage, climate change, Islam, or even freedom of the press, is that one side has cheerfully swapped that apocryphal Voltaire quote about disagreeing with what you say but defending to the death your right to say it for the pithier Ring Lardner line: ‘“Shut up,” he explained.’

A generation ago, progressive opinion at least felt obliged to pay lip service to the Voltaire shtick. These days, nobody’s asking you to defend yourself to the death: a mildly supportive retweet would do. But even that’s further than most of those in the academy, the arts, the media are prepared to go. As Erin Ching, a student at 60-grand-a-year Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, put it in her college newspaper the other day: ‘What really bothered me is the whole idea that at a liberal arts college we need to be hearing a diversity of opinion.’ Yeah, who needs that? There speaks the voice of a generation: celebrate diversity by enforcing conformity...

Oh pshaw!

What'a all this talk about crushing free speech?!! Ayaan Hirsi Ali can come to Brandeis and speak whenever she wants, lol!

F-king morons.

'More crazy Moscow newspaper covers, please...'

Yes, please!

Via Nataliya Vasilyeva:

"We have everything! Except medicine, airplanes..." Russian paper advises readers to buy local. Good luck with that. pic.twitter.com/I5TGs2yYdS

— Laura Mills (@lauraphylmills) April 16, 2014

'X-Men: Days of Future Past'

Heh, what a wicked flick.

At LAT, "'X-Men: Days of Future Past': Wolverine center stage in final trailer."

About Those AC/DC Retirement Rumors...

At Billboard, "AC/DC Not on Cusp of Retirement: Sources":

Rumors of AC/DC's imminent demise appear to be exaggerated.

Reports surfaced Monday in the group's native Australia that the quintet was on the verge of announcing its retirement due to one band member's (presumably guitarist Malcolm Young's) serious illness. But insiders tell Billboard that there's no truth to the rumor, though the group's management and Columbia Records, its current label, have chosen not to comment on the matter...

Hmm. Expect updates.

Hopefully the boys will be able to keep on jammin'. And best wishes to Malcolm Young.

Background at London's Daily Mail, "AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young 'too sick to play live', according to friends," and the Orstrahyun, "RIP AC/DC: 1973 - 2014, UPDATES ON MALCOLM YOUNG."

Petra Nemcova in Thailand for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit

She's a beauty.

Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., #Democrat-KKK Suspect in Kansas Jewish Shooting, Indicted on Capital Murder Charges

At NYT, "Capital Murder Among Charges for Suspect in Kansas Shooting":

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — State prosecutors on Tuesday charged a 73-year-old white supremacist with murder in the killing of three people outside two Jewish community facilities on Sunday.

At a news conference in this Kansas City suburb, the authorities announced one count of capital murder and one count of premeditated first-degree murder had been filed against Frazier Glenn Miller of Aurora, Mo., who has for decades espoused anti-Semitic and racist beliefs.

If convicted, he would face life without parole, though prosecutors could choose to seek the death penalty.

“This is making sure justice is done,” said Stephen M. Howe, the district attorney for Johnson County, Kan. “This is not about retribution.”

Barry Grissom, the United States attorney for the District of Kansas, said that his office was pursuing federal hate crime charges and would present evidence to a grand jury soon. That, too, could qualify as a death penalty case, he said.

Hours later, Mr. Miller, a well-known Klansman, made a video appearance in Johnson County District Court from jail. He was brought to the camera room in a wheelchair, his hair plastered to his forehead, his thin arms poking out from a suicide prevention smock. Officials would not comment about his medical condition or cell arrangements.

At the brief court hearing, Mr. Miller responded to questions from Magistrate Judge Dan Vokins by saying that he understood the charges and that he could not afford his own lawyer.

Bond was set at $10 million, and another court appearance was scheduled for next week.

What prompted the shooting remained unanswered. Mr. Miller drove to Overland Park, the authorities said, armed with at least a shotgun and a handgun...

Really?

"What prompted the shooting remain unanswered," other than murderous Democrat Party hatred and white supremacy?

Those boys at NYT are on the case!

Ukraine Mobilizes Against Russia-Backed Separatists

At the Washington Post, "Ukrainian troops secure airfield as operations against pro-Russian militants begin."

And at the New York Times, "Tensions Boil Over on Camera in Ukraine’s East and West."

More, from Telegraph UK, "Eastern Ukraine: separatists storm government offices":

Ukraine pushes tanks toward a flashpoint eastern city to quash a separatist surge backed by Moscow.

Ukraine is “on the brink” of civil war as the government launched an “antiterrorist operation” against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.

In the first sign of a fightback against militias who have now seized key buildings in a dozen eastern cities, Kiev despatched special forces, combat aircraft and heavy armour to the area.

Russian state media claimed that up to 11 people had been killed during an attack on an airbase in Kramatorsk, but there was no immediate confirmation of casualties.

Amid fears that the fighting could push Ukraine and Russia into full-scale hostilities, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, accused Moscow of “deliberately” stirring the confrontation. He warned that it would damage relations for at least a decade.

“In recent days Russia has deliberately pushed Ukraine to the brink, and created a still greater risk of violent confrontation,” he said.

“Russia must choose whether it is open to diplomacy and de-escalation, and if it decides otherwise, we must be ready for a different state of relations with Russia in the next 10 years than in the last 20.”

Also at Euro News, "Ukrainian forces reassert control over an airfield in the east but locals put up a hostile front."

Hundreds Missing After South Korea Ferry Sinks

At LAT, "South Korea ferry sinks: 2 dead, 295 missing."

And ITN, "Two dead as ferry sinks off South Korea."

Canada's Annual East Coast Seal Hunt Begins

They're so cute too.

At Toronto's Globe and Mail, "East Coast seal hunt starts amid ongoing court case, trade challenge":

The annual East Coast seal hunt starts Monday against a backdrop of ongoing trade and court challenges in Europe and renewed claims from animal welfare groups that the 400-year-old industry is dead in the water.

Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of the Canadian wing of Humane Society International, said on Sunday that only 15 boats have signalled their intention to take part in the hunt, which typically focuses on harp seals off the northeast coast of Newfoundland.

With the market for seal products closed in the United States, most of Europe and Russia, the commercial hunt is a shadow of what it once was, largely surviving on subsidies from the Newfoundland and Labrador government in the past few years, Aldworth said.

“From a market perspective, the seal hunt is very much over,” she said in an interview, adding her group will return to the ice floes to document the slaughter. “Markets around the world have closed ... It’s an industry that’s limping along on credit and subsidies.”

However, the federal government has been steadfast in its support of the hunt, insisting it’s a humane, sustainable and an economically viable pursuit that is important to many coastal communities.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea admitted Sunday that those opposed to the hunt have been effective in shutting down international markets.

“They have been spreading misinformation about the Canadian seal hunt and Canadian seal products for as long as I’ve been in this position,” Shea said in an interview from Vancouver. “It’s grossly unfair. We’ve done a lot of work in ensuring that our Canadian seal hunt is humane.”

Every seal hunter must be trained on proper killing techniques before they are allowed to take part in the hunt, she said.

“I believe there’s great opportunity in the sealing industry,” Shea said, adding that Ottawa continues to invest in product development.

Meanwhile, the industry continues to push ahead with a court case in the European Union aimed at overturning a ban on seal products, and the federal government is appealing a recent World Trade Organization decision to uphold the ban.

The WTO concluded in November that while the ban undermines fair trade, the restrictions can be justified on “public moral concerns” for animal welfare.

Last month, Canada’s northern development minister said the WTO’s decision had set a dangerous precedent for future trade relations.

More at the Calgary Herald, "Annual East Coast seal hunt starts amid ongoing court case and trade challenge."