Las Vegas Police Release New Video of Jerad Miller Shooting

At the Las Vegas Sun, "Metro confirms police gunfire took out cop-killer: Assistant sheriff also confirms officer was wounded at Wal-Mart shootout":

In the video, it appears that Amanda Miller fires into her husband, then took her own life with a handgun.

But McMahill said further investigation – and corroboration from the Clark County Coroner’s Office – showed the fatal shot came from a Metro firearm.

“The male was shot, in fact, by police fire just prior to this incident,” McMahill said after the video was shown.

Three officers fired their weapons, and all are on leave pending Metro’s standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting.

The video shows Jerad and Amanda Miller on the floor in an aisle that appears to be an automotive section at the back of the store.

At one point, Jared Miller looks at his wife and puts his face down. Amanda Miller then takes her handgun, twists it around in her hand and begins to point it at her head. Metro cut the video at that point.

Asked if Jerad Miller was wearing a bulletproof vest — he is wearing a dark vest of some kind in the video — McMahill would not say.

Additionally, McMahill confirmed a Sun report that an officer involved in the firefight inside the Wal-Mart suffered a wound to the upper right thigh. The officer didn’t discover the wound until later in the day after he had gone home, and he sought hospital treatment on his own.

McMahill didn’t say whether the officer suffered a gunshot wound, was hit by shrapnel or other details about the officer’s wound.

“I simply don’t know … it’s part of our investigation,” he said.

More.

Also at KLAS-TV Las Vegas, "Metro Police interacted with Millers 3 times before shooting."

And at NBC News, "Police Fatally Shot Las Vegas Gunman Jerad Miller During Gunfight."

Eric Cantor Spent $168,000 at Steak Houses

Now this is telling.

From Katie Pavlich, Town Hall, "Cantor Spent $168,637 on Steak Houses, Brat Spent $122,793 on Entire Campaign."

Gives a whole new meaning to the term red meat conservative... pic.twitter.com/RkAzO5zlSN

— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 11, 2014

Stunned Unions Cry Foul After Court Strikes Down Tenure Rules

I'm not reading too much into this decision, out of Los Angeles Superior Court, striking down teacher tenure in California.

The case could be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, given that unions are regulated under national laws like the NLRA. So there's a long way to go before we'll have a true sense on the future of tenure. And I'll tell you, if it wasn't for tenure I could very well have been canned by now. Honestly, leftist ghouls have contacted my college probably a dozen times. No matter that it's mostly been lies, my college administration is oozing with literally demonic leftist ideologues who care nothing about student learning and all about raw power. And allegations of racism and sexism, like the left's boatload of lies I've dealt with, are the raw fuel that powers contemporary college administrators across the country. If you're a conservative professor, academic tenure probably isn't the first on your list of education reforms.

In any case, at Hot Air, "Wow: California judge strikes down tenure for public-school teachers as violating students’ right to quality education."

And at LAT, "Unions cry foul after California teacher tenure rules struck down":

Teacher unions are criticizing a judge's decision to overturn a California law that has long protected the state's public educators -- even ineffective ones -- through tenure and seniority.

In his ruling Tuesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu said the laws governing job security were unconstitutional because they harmed predominantly low-income, minority students by allowing incompetent instructors to remain in the classroom.

The protections "impose a real and appreciable impact on students' fundamental right to equality of education," he wrote. "The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience."

State and local teachers’ unions reacted swiftly, saying the ruling was misguided and that poor management was to blame for districts that fail to root out incompetent instructors.

"This is a sad day for public education," said Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers. No student should endure an ineffective teacher, she said, "but in focusing on these teachers who make up a fraction of the workforce, [Treu] strips the hundreds of thousands of teachers who are doing a good job of any right to a voice."

Students would benefit more, for example, if advocates focused on smaller classes and increasing the number of counselors, said Alex Caputo-Pearl, president-elect of United Teachers Los Angeles.

The verdict represents a major loss for teacher unions and an undiluted victory for the attorneys and families that brought the landmark case on behalf of a well-funded Silicon Valley group.

More.

I think the decision represents a larger attack on the unions, and that's a good think. Tenure protections don't have to be tied to union membership. It'll be a good thing if this case moves the needle toward weakening entrenched union power, especially in California where unions are the largest, most powerful organized interest in the state.

Cantormageddon: Political Earthquake Roundup the Morning After

At the clip, CBS News political director John Dickerson comments, and his piece at Slate, "Haunted House: Eric Cantor’s surprise defeat is a warning to all Republicans: Be very afraid."

And Media Matters takes CBS to task for not disclosing Frank Luntz's ties to Eric Cantor, "CBS News Doesn't Tell Viewers Its Pro-Eric Cantor Analyst Was Paid By His Campaign."

At the clip, Luntz admits, "We Republican pollster suck."



More:

* At WaPo, "Cantor internal poll claims 34-point lead over primary opponent Brat."

* Erick Erickson, at Fox News, "Why Cantor Lost."

* National Journal, "Eric Cantor's Pollster Tries to Explain Why His Survey Showed Cantor Up 34 Points."

* WaPo, "Chaos erupts at Cantor’s election night headquarters after his departure."

* Mickey Kaus, at the Daily Caller, "Notes on Cantormageddon."

* Politico, "For Barack Obama, Eric Cantor loss comes with a price."

* Big Government, "Lamar Alexander, Thad Cochran Brace for Falls After Cantor Crumbles?"

* Hot Air, "Did Cantor really lose because of immigration?"

* Los Angeles Times, "Eric Cantor upset: How Dave Brat pulled off a historic political coup."

* Wall Street Journal, "GOP Leadership Scramble: Five Lawmakers to Watch."

* Chris Cillizza, "The seismic political consequences of Eric Cantor’s stunning loss."

* John Judis, at TNR, "Dave Brat and the Triumph of Rightwing Populism."

* Wall Street Journal, "David Brat’s Writings: Hitler’s Rise ‘Could All Happen Again’."

* USA Today, "House GOP grapples with Cantor's loss."

Officials Predicted Detainees in Bowe #Bergdahl Swap Would Rejoin Taliban

As Krauthammer noted earlier, it's lie after lie with this administration.

And now at WSJ, "Classified Assessment Says Two of the Men Would Return to Senior Positions":

WASHINGTON—Before the U.S. transferred five Afghan Taliban detainees to secure the freedom of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, American intelligence officials predicted that two of the men would return to senior positions with the militant group, according to U.S. officials.

The classified assessment, a consensus of spy agencies compiled during the prisoner-swap deliberations, said two others of the five were likely to assume active roles within the Taliban, while only one of the five released detainees was considered likely to end active participation in the group's effort to undermine the elected government of Afghanistan.

The existence of the assessment adds to the debate over the release of the five Taliban officials. It gives lawmakers who oppose the transfer ammunition that the move was ill-advised. Obama administration officials said there were larger strategic and political goals in play, most crucially clinching the freedom of the sole American prisoner of war, who was believed to be in danger.

Some administration officials also saw in the swap a chance to establish a precedent for reconciliation talks with the Taliban as the U.S. presence in Afghanistan winds down, and some argue the same five Taliban could have been released someday even without a prisoner-exchange agreement.

Some officials also thought the transfer could speed up the stalled effort to eventually close the Guantanamo prison, although angry lawmakers now are proposing even steeper restrictions on the administration's transfer authority.

The Pentagon and other government officials defended the decision to go forward with the exchange despite the intelligence community assessment, citing an agreement with the emirate of Qatar, which took in the detainees, that will allow the U.S. to monitor and track them.

Qatar also agreed to provide a "re-education program" designed to draw the detainees away from militancy, which some officials hope will help in the next year to ease some of the risk that the detainees will return to the battlefield.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the assurances the U.S. has received will substantially mitigate the threat posed by the release of the detainees. Adm. Kirby said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel wouldn't have signed off on the deal if it weren't in the best interest of the U.S.  "They re-enter the fight at their own peril," Adm. Kirby said...

Keep reading.

Pete Hoekstra, Former Chairman of House Intelligence Committee: 'Eric Cantor Probably Lost Touch With the People Back Home...'

Some awesome commentary from former GOP Representative Pete Hoekstra, at CNN.

Compare Hoekstra's commentary to former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's comments, where he says Cantor's defeat means that the Democrats will likely keep their Senate majority in November. Seriously, the dude's in another reality or something, and by the end of his comments Hoekstra's just shaking his head in disbelief.

Click that link above for the video.

And ICYMI, "Dana Bash on #VA07: 'You Can See I'm Speechless. It's Not Often That I'm Speechless. And I'm Not Alone In This Town...'"

Hillary Invites Us to Forget Her Record

From Bret Stephens, at WSJ, "Hillary by the Book."

Fall of Mosul: Strategic Disaster Assisted by Obama's Withdrawal From Iraq

At the Wall Street Journal, "The Fall of Mosul":

So much for al Qaeda being on a path to defeat, as President Obama used to be fond of boasting. On Tuesday fighters for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an al Qaeda affiliate known as ISIS, seized total control of the northern city of Mosul—with nearly two million people—after four days of fighting. Thousands of civilians have fled for their lives, including the governor of Nineveh province, who spoke of the "massive collapse" of the Iraqi army. This could also describe the state of U.S. policy in Iraq.

Since President Obama likes to describe everything he inherited from his predecessor as a "mess," it's worth remembering that when President Bush left office Iraq was largely at peace. Civilian casualties fell from an estimated 31,400 in 2006 to 4,700 in 2009. U.S. military casualties were negligible. Then CIA Director Michael Hayden said, with good reason, that "al Qaeda is on the verge of a strategic defeat in Iraq."

Fast forward through five years of the Administration's indifference, and Iraq is close to exceeding the kind of chaos that engulfed it before the U.S. surge. The city of Fallujah, taken from insurgents by the Marines at a cost of 95 dead and nearly 600 wounded in November 2004, fell again to al Qaeda in January. The Iraqi government has not been able to reclaim the entire city—just 40 miles from Baghdad. More than 1,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in May alone, according to the Iraq Body Count web site.

The collapse of the Iraqi army in Mosul and its inability to retake Fallujah reflect poorly on the competence of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose Shiite "State of Law" coalition won a plurality of seats in parliamentary elections in April and will likely win a third term later this year.

Mr. Maliki has an autocratic streak and has done little to reassure Iraq's Sunnis, which makes it easy for the Obama Administration to blame him for Iraq's troubles. His dalliance with the regime in Tehran—including a reported $195 million arms deal in February—doesn't add to his stature.

Yet groups such as ISIS are beyond the reach of political palliation. It is an illusion that a more pro-Sunni coloration to any democratically elected Iraqi government would have made much of a difference to the debacle in Mosul. Mr. Maliki may also be forgiven for being unable to control the terrorist spillover from the chaos in neighboring Syria, where ISIS first took hold. Whatever its failures, the Iraqi government doesn't have the luxury of pivoting away from its own neighborhood.

That can't be said for the Obama Administration. Its promise of a "diplomatic surge" in Iraq to follow the military surge of the preceding years never materialized as the U.S. washed its hands of the country. Mr. Obama's offer of a couple thousand troops beyond 2011 was so low that Mr. Maliki didn't think it was worth the domestic criticism it would engender. An American President more mindful of U.S. interests would have made Mr. Maliki an offer he couldn't refuse....

The Administration's policy of strategic neglect toward Iraq has created a situation where al Qaeda effectively controls territories stretching for hundreds of miles through Anbar Province and into Syria. It will likely become worse for Iraq as the Assad regime consolidates its gains in Syria and gives ISIS an incentive to seek its gains further east. It will also have consequences for the territorial integrity of Iraq, as the Kurds consider independence for their already autonomous and relatively prosperous region.

Still more.

And previously, "ISIS Takes Mosul as Iraq Security Forces Flee."

Leftists Spew Anti-Semitism in Response to Eric Cantor Loss in #VA07

At Twitchy, "Left pivots from ‘Tea Party is dead’ to ‘Tea Party hates Jews’ after Cantor loses."

Also at Expose Liberals, "Progressive bigots claim Eric Cantor lost because he’s Jewish," and Yid With Lid, "A Word to the Idiots Who Are Blaming Eric Cantor's Loss on Tea Party Jew Hatred":

.@BTiBeauty You know YOU'RE racist for raising the anti-Semitism card, right?
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 11, 2014

.@Redistrict Raising the anti-Semitism card? Stay classy dude.
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 11, 2014

I once read that when God created the world, sparks of his holiness were spread across the earth. Every time that a person makes the choice of performing a righteous act, one of those sparks is purified and sent back to heaven, through that process we become closer to God.

Liberal/Progressive government takes away that choice. It assumes that left to our own devices, we will do the wrong thing (or at least what they say is the wrong thing), government takes over the role of God, and steps in to control our decisions. Liberalism takes away our personal choice and gives it to the government, retarding our spiritual development and most importantly, the opportunity to get closer to our maker....

The Jewish picture of God is of a creator who instilled in us a personal responsibility to do the right thing, but he also provided us with the choice to accept that responsibility or not. Just like the tea party. There is no room in Jewish law for a government that forces us to do (their interpretation) of the right thing. There is also little room for a Government that does not include religion and morality in their consideration set before they make decisions.

It is Tea Party conservatism that best matches Jewish tradition. When it comes right down to it, tradition tells us those principals such as limited government, individual responsibility, and traditional morals are all Jewish principles.

New Leftist Power Elite Won't Tolerate Dissent

This is the way of the leftist world right now.

From Joel Kotkin, at the Daily Beast, "Watch What You Say, The New Liberal Power Elite Won’t Tolerate Dissent."

Noncompetes

I've never heard of this before, although they're banned in California except for limited circumstances. Interesting too. I can see the merits on both sides of the arguments.

At the New York Times, "Noncompete Clauses Increasingly Pop Up in Array of Jobs."

Hillary Clinton Walks Back 'Dead Broke' Comments in Diane Sawyer Interview

At the New York Post, "Hillary Clinton backpedals on ‘dead broke’ comments."

And at Legal Insurrection, "2001 was Hillary’s Year of Great Fortune, not of being “dead broke”."

The "first campaign gaffe of 2016"? Not sure, but she's sure walking it back, at the clip:



PREVIOUSLY: "Hillary Clinton Takes to the Road."

'Chaos in the Marble Halls...' — #VA07

At Twitchy, "‘Chaos in the marble halls’: In wake of Eric Cantor loss, Congress goes into full freak-out mode."

LIGHTS ARE ON ALL OVER CAP, leadership aides/members in the building, chaos in the marble halls....
— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 11, 2014

READ: Cantor loss throws Congress into disarray http://t.co/oJVqPlbyUz

— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 11, 2014

The Endless Invasion of America

From Patrick Buchanan, at VDare:

For 10 days, Americans have argued over the wisdom of trading five Taliban senior commanders for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

President Obama handed the Taliban a victory, critics contend, and imperiled U.S. troops in Afghanistan when the five return to the battlefield. Moreover, he has inspired the Haqqani network and other Islamists to capture more Americans to trade.

But which represents the greater long-term threat to the safety and security of our people and nation: sending those five Taliban leaders to Doha, and perhaps back to Afghanistan, or releasing into the U.S. population last year 36,000 criminal illegal aliens with 88,000 convictions among them?

According to a May report of the Center for Immigration Studies, of the 36,000 criminal aliens who, while awaiting deportation, were set free by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 193 had been convicted of homicide, 426 of sexual assault, 303 of kidnaping, 1,075 of aggravated assault, 1,160 for stolen vehicles, 9,187 for possession or use of dangerous drugs, and 16,070 for driving drunk or drugged.

Those 36,000 criminal aliens are roughly equivalent to three-and-a-half divisions of felons and social misfits released into our midst. [ICE Document Details 36,000 Criminal Alien Releases in 2013, by Jessica Vaughan, CIS, May 2014.]

And this does not include the 68,000 illegal aliens against whom ICE declined to press criminal charges last year, but turned loose.  How goes the Third World invasion of the United States?

More.

Eric Cantor Defeat by Tea Party Shakes Republican Politics to Its Core

Heh, perhaps the major dailies should have a contest for most dramatic headline.

I nominate this piece at the Los Angeles Times.

Rachel Stevens Crowned FHM's Sexiest Woman of All Time

Well, sexiest of all time's a pretty high bar, so I'll let readers judge for themselves.

See, "Rachel Stevens is officially the sexiest woman of all time."



Also at London's Daily Mail, "Rachel Stevens strips off for sizzling photoshoot to celebrate being crowned FHM's Sexiest Woman of All Time (PHOTOS)."

Kate Upton Exclusive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Outtakes 2014

Via Theo Spark:

Dana Bash on #VA07: 'You Can See I'm Speechless. It's Not Often That I'm Speechless. And I'm Not Alone In This Town...'

Dana Bash is CNN's chief congressional correspondent. She earned a lot of creds with conservatives for her honest and dogged reporting on the Anthony Weiner scandal a few years back. She's definitely a journalistic insider on Capitol Hill, and she's genuine here in admitting she was completely flabbergasted yesterday at Majority Leader Eric Cantor's epic defeat.

What Happened to Muslim Immigrant Marine Deserter Wassef Ali Hassoun?

What a piece, from Michelle Malkin:

Islamist sympathizers inside our military walk away, and the Obama White House turns a blind eye. The Fort Hood jihad attack by Nidal Hasan, who invoked Hassoun in PowerPoint presentations to his military supervisors, is “workplace violence.” Gitmo recidivist Abu Sufian bin Qumu, lead suspect in the Benghazi attack, roams free despite the president’s promise to make “justice” his “biggest priority.”

Our commander in chief empties Gitmo of the worst of the worst jihadists and shrugs at the recidivists targeting American soldiers and civilians. And in a desperate attempt to deflect from the rising death toll of the Veterans Affairs book-cooking scandal, Obama gave Bob Bergdahl a Rose Garden stage to invoke Allah in Arabic.

If you're not “whipped up” into Category 5 disgust, you're not paying attention.

***

Previous coverage of Wassef Ali Hassoun.

VIDEO: Dave Brat Victory Speech — #VA07

Previous Eric Cantor earthquake blogging here and here.



More at WTVR CBS 6, "WATCH: David Brat victory speech."

Mark Levin on #VA07 Earthquake: 'People Are Tired of Centralized Government...'

A great interview, with Sean Hannity earlier:



Lots more at Memeorandum.

"Brat has accused the House majority leader of being a top cheerleader for 'amnesty' for immigrants in the U.S. illegally..."

Heh, that's the juicy quote from a WaPo piece last Friday, "Tea partier takes aim at Cantor in Va. primary."

And see Michael Patrick Leahy, at Big Government, "Cantor Primary Challenger David Brat: Anti-Amnesty Mailer 'Act of a Desperate Campaign'":

Eric Cantor's primary challenger David Brat ripped the Majority Leader as “the number one Republican supporter of amnesty” in a dramatic press conference steps away from a rival event by a liberal Democrat intended to paint Cantor as the face of GOP intransigence on immigration.

The day after Cantor portrayed himself as an anti-amnesty warrior in campaign literature, Brat accused Cantor of coordinating with Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), the Democrat holding the rival press conference, to provide him political cover in his moment of greatest need.

Cantor, Brat noted, had previously visited sites with Gutierrez in a pro-immigration reform tour. "You would have to be pretty gullible not to see a link there," Brat said.

The long-shot challenge from Brat has improbably gained national attention after Cantor was booed and heckled by a crowd of Tea Party activists at a recent Republican party event. Cantor has had to go on air with attack ads fact-checkers have criticized as misleading and adopt the language of anti-amnesty hawks in his mailers, clashing with his “making life work” rebranding effort.

Typically, party leaders are able to win reelection easily, especially in primaries, so the concerted efforts by Cantor are seen as deeply embarrassing for the Virginia Republican considered Speaker John Boehner's heir apparent.

"This is the act of a desperate campaign," Brat said about the mailer.

More.

BONUS: You gotta love it, at the leftist New Republic, "Immigration Reform Died With Eric Cantor's Shocking Loss to a Tea Party Challenger."

And at BuzzFeed, "Only President Obama Can Help Undocumented Immigrants Now, Advocates Say."

Eric Cantor's Concession Speech

Oh boy, Brat crushed Cantor nearly 56 to 44 percent.

Megyn Kelly is on right now with an early repeat Kelly File, where we'd normally be watching O'Reilly reruns.

I'll have more.

Here's Cantor at the clip, "Obviously, we came up short."

And at Politico, "CANTOR LOSES":

LIVE FROM CANTOR HQ: The Cantor team appears to have shut off the projector screen showing the primary tally.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 10, 2014

RICHMOND, Va. — It wasn’t enough that Eric Cantor spent $1 million in the weeks leading up to the election, when his primary opponent hardly had $100,000 in his campaign coffers.

It didn’t matter that the House majority leader, 51, branded Dave Brat a liberal hack, and himself as the guardian of the Republican creed. On Tuesday night, Cantor, who was swept into the majority leader’s suite in a tea party wave, was swept out by the same movement.

Cantor conceded the race around 8:25 p.m. — shortly after the Associated Press pronounced Cantor’s 13-year political career at least temporarily over. With nearly 98 percent of precincts reporting, Brat had 55 percent of the vote, while Cantor had 44 percent. People close to Cantor said internal polls showed him hovering near 60 percent in the runup to the race.

It’s one of the most stunning losses in modern House politics, and completely upends the GOP hierarchy in both Virginia and Washington. Cantor enjoyed a meteoric rise that took him from chief deputy whip, to minority whip to majority leader in the span of 13 years.  Cantor was seen by many as the next speaker of the House, biding his time until Ohio Rep. John Boehner wanted to retire.

But now, Cantor has just six months left in Congress. He is the second incumbent to lose this primary season: 91-year-old Texas Rep. Ralph Hall was the first.  The loss will ripple across Washington, too: from political consultants who worked for Cantor to his aides who decamped for K Street, there will be reverberations...

More.

Tea Party Challenger Takes Out House Majority Leader Eric Cantor

Wow.

I had no clue Cantor's seat was in jeopardy.

From Guy Benson, at Town Hall, "EARTHQUAKE: Eric Cantor Loses Primary to Unheralded, Under-funded Tea Party Challenger."

And at WaPo, "Eric Cantor succumbs to tea party challenger Tuesday":

In a stunning upset propelled by tea party activists, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was defeated in Tuesday’s congressional primary, with insurgent David Brat delivering an unpredicted and devastating loss to the second most powerful Republican in the House who has widely been touted as a future speaker.

The race called shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern by the Associated Press.

Brat’s victory gives the GOP a volatile outlook for the rest of the campaign season, with the party establishment struggling late Tuesday to grapple with the news and tea party conservatives relishing a surprising win.

“This is an earthquake,” said former Minnesota congressman Vin Weber, a friend of Cantor’s. “No one thought he’d lose.” But Brat, tapping into conservative anger over Cantor’s role in supporting efforts to reform federal immigration laws, found a way to combat Cantor’s significant financial edge.

Brat, an economics professor, simply failed to show up to D.C. meetings with powerful conservative agitators last month, citing upcoming finals. He only had $40,000 in the bank at the end of March, according to first quarter filings. Cantor had $2 million.

Despite those shortcomings, Brat has exposed discontent with Cantor in the solidly Republican, suburban Richmond 7th Congressional District by attacking the lawmaker on his votes to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown, as well as his support for some immigration reforms. At a May meeting of Republican activists in the district, Cantor was booed, and an ally he campaigned for was ousted as the local party chairman in favor of a tea party favorite.

Expect updates.

ADDED: At Twitchy, "‘Truly stunned’: Eric Cantor getting clobbered in Virginia; Dave Brat shows early lead; Update: Brat takes it."

Valerija Kelava for Lui Magazine June 2014

Oh là là!

At Egotastic!, "Valerija Kelava Shoot for Lui Magazine Looks and Smells Ever So Sextastic."

More at Fashion Copious, "'Essences' Valerija Kelava by Liz Collins for Lui June 2014."

And Lui Magazine makes you want to bone up on your French, heh.

Obama Paid Too High a Price for #Bergdahl Release, Poll Finds

Yesterday, the ghoulish idiot Steve M. at No More Mister scoffed at polling data finding a plurality of 43 percent saying the Bergdahl trade was the "wrong thing to do." As with any survey, the real juice is in the questions and question wording. And when Americans have been asked to rank the prisoner swap in terms of threats to American forces in the field, the results have been devastating for the White House. Recall the Fox News poll from last week, for example, "Poll: 84 Percent Say #Bergdahl Deal Will Encourage Terrorist Groups to Seize More Soldiers."

And notice how No More Mister conveniently ignores the Pew poll findings he's blogging, on the responses from military families, which I wrote about last night, "Poll: Veteran Households Slam #Bergdahl Swap as 'Wrong Thing to Do...'" Veteran households, to say nothing of active duty military personnel, are increasingly unhappy with this commander-in-chief; and recent polls have shown that most Americans have family members who once served or are currently serving in the military, and the gap among young and old in this demographic is more likely to hurt the Democrat Party in upcoming elections, not least of which in November, where some analysts expect the Bergdahl debacle to disadvantage leftist candidates at the margins.

In any case, No More Mister just happens to be one more loony manifestations of the far-left regressive disconnect from the American mainstream on the disastrous Bergdahl treason-terror exchange.

And now we have more evidence of this out today, at CBS News, "How do Americans view the Bergdahl swap?":

Views differ by political party: most Republicans disapprove of the deal, while just over half of Democrats approve. Among those who have served in the military, 55 percent disapprove of the prisoner swap.

Most Americans -- 56 percent -- say the U.S. paid too high a price to secure Bergdahl's release. Among veterans, that figure rises to 65 percent.

At the video clip Major Garrett stresses the 56 percent finding of too high a price paid by the president.

And the Obama White House sure isn't dismissing the numbers as if the controversy is a faux scandal a la Fox News. Indeed, Obama's thrown Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel under the bus. See Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "New WH spin on Taliban 5 swap: Hey, it was Hagel’s call":

Old and busted: The Taliban 5 swap was a demonstration of authority by a Commander in Chief who isn't afraid to act and make the final decision. New hotness: Hey, Chuck Hagel had the final call on the swap! As criticism mounts on Barack Obama over the decision to release five high-ranking and dangerous Taliban commanders in exchange for an American soldier, the White House shifted gears last night in its first briefing to the House — and attempted to shift blame as well...

Also at Legal Insurrection, "Taliban-Bergdahl swap unpopular, so … blame Hagel." (Via Memeorandum.)

Poll Shows Support for Illegal Alien Amnesty

At NYT, "Poll Shows Path to Citizenship Is Favored."

It's 62 percent in favor of a "path to citizenship," with 51 percent of Republicans as well. The poll was conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution, supposedly "nonpartisan" research organizations, but in the case Brookings for sure, reliably leftist.

Here's the survey, "What Americans Want From Immigration Reform in 2014."

The poll completely ignores border security.

So, whatever happens in Congress, they'll keep coming, like an invasion force:

Back From the Colonoscopy

I mentioned my procedure this morning.

The test itself is a cakewalk. It's the bowel-cleansing preparations that were a pain. But I'm clean, no polyps, and I won't have to have it done again for ten years.

I'm reading Instapundit, who's blogged about his colonoscopies quite a bit. Here's the search link, but see especially, "I'M HOME FROM HAVING A COLONOSCOPY":

A colonoscopy isn't just a diagnostic test — if they find polyps, they can remove them, making it virtually certain that you won't get colon cancer. If you skip that because of squeamishness, well, you're just an idiot. Luckily, I was clean and don't have to go back for five years. By then, they may have replaced them with swallowable cameras, with actual scoping only when there’s something that needs fixing. At any rate, though, there aren't many simple safe procedures that can absolutely prevent cancer, and this is one. Don't forego it because you're squeamish.

I'm not sure why folks would be squeamish with the procedure; it was easy. After I was taken into the pre-op area, the nurses had me sign the final forms, hooked up my blood pressure monitor and chest nodes, and inserted the IV. The test itself took 10 minutes at most. The nurses gave me mild drug which was like a relaxant. I had no side effects and went out for a nice breakfast with my wife immediately after.

As noted, the preparation is unpleasant, and from reading around yesterday, avoiding the prep is one of the reasons people have skipped this screening. Perhaps the newer procedures will be coming available soon, like the miniature camera pill that takes images while traveling through your bowel. Until then, I'd do this again tomorrow if I needed to screen against colon cancer.

ISIS Takes Mosul as Iraq Security Forces Flee

At the Other McCain, "Al-Qaeda on the Offensive in Iraq."

And at WSJ, "Militants Overrun Iraq's Second-Largest City as Government Forces Flee: Mosul Strike Is Serious Blow to Baghdad's Efforts to Control Widening Insurgency":

BAGHDAD—Al Qaeda-inspired militants seized control of Iraq's second-largest city on Tuesday in a brazen military operation that underscored the weakness of the Baghdad government across vast swaths of the country.

Hours after government forces fled Mosul in disarray following four days of fighting, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a nationwide "state of maximum preparedness" but didn't indicate whether government forces were mobilizing to retake the Iraqi city, 220 miles north of the capital Baghdad.

The capture of Mosul by rebels linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, is the latest evidence of the weakness and disorganization that have beset Iraq's security forces since the U.S. forces withdrew from the country in December 2011.  It also underlines the group's determination to establish an Islamic emirate encompassing the Iraqi-Syrian frontier, weaken the already fragile Iraqi state and expand the theater of the three-year-old civil war in neighboring Syria.

Residents of Mosul said they were shocked at the ease of the rebel takeover of government buildings, television stations and military installations where U.S.-supplied fighter airplanes, helicopters and other heavy weaponry are based.

"The whole of Mosul collapsed today. We've fled our homes and neighborhoods, and we're looking for God's mercy," said Mahmoud Al Taie, a dentist. "We are waiting to die."

Videos showed victorious insurgents waving black flags emblazoned with an Islamic script—the standard brandished by al Qaeda militants world-wide.

The Obama administration, responding to the fall of Mosul, said ISIS "is not only a threat to the stability of Iraq but a threat to the entire region."

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the group has drawn strength from the Syrian civil war, where it can acquire recruits, weapons and other resources for its fight in Iraq.

Jessica Lewis, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, said ISIS fighters won a notable victory in Mosul.

"ISIS is designing its campaign around the state that it believes it has already created," said Ms. Lewis, currently research director for the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C.

"I think that means that Iraq is going to start to look more like Syria. It's a gauge of the severity of the conflict and the trajectory that it's on. That's a very bad sign."

More.

RELATED: From Bruce Thornton, at FrontPage Magazine, "The Fruit of Obama’s Abandonment of Iraq,"  and David Webb, at Breitbart, "Precipitous Withdrawal Without a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) Has Consequences."

Activists Hijacking Feminism to Attack Israel at Women's Studies Association Meeting

Well, what else is new?

Still, astonishing leftist hatred. It continues to shock time after time.

From Phyllis Chesler, at Big Peace.

No More Colonoscopies?

Here's this, just as I go today for my first colonoscopy.

At WSJ, "New Ways to Screen for Colon Cancer No More Colonoscopies? Less-Invasive Methods Are Coming."

RELATED: At NYT, "Colon Cancer Screening Saves Lives." (Via Instapundit.)

Hillary Clinton Takes to the Road

If I've said it once I've said it a hundred times: There's no doubt Hillary Clinton is running for president. Her every move is political. Her every statement is measured against the political winds. Right now she's distancing herself from the White House on just about every single decision Obama has made, from Syria to Bergdahl, and that's not even getting into the domestic policy weeds.

My sense (and a bit of a hope) is that she'll be damaged goods in 2016, no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from the imploding Democrat Party brand. She could win the nomination, of course, and still be elected president, mostly as a result of GOP incompetence. But it's going to be extremely difficult for the Dems to extend their hold on the presidency for a third consecutive term, despite all the progressive "analyses" about "inevitable" demographic trends, or what have you. I expect the public to be tired of the Democrats after two terms of Obama. Hillary will be running against Democrat fatigue as much as she will the GOP nominee.

In any case, here's this from yesterday's front-page at the Los Angeles Times, "Hillary Clinton book tour could serve as dry run for a campaign":

She's traveled the country mixing weighty policy pronouncements with joking references to her hair. She's reflected on gender bias and offered career advice to young women, gushed about becoming a grandma and raked in a fortune in speaking fees on the lecture circuit.

After all that — and even having a shoe flung at her at a trash collectors' convention in Las Vegas — Hillary Rodham Clinton takes her flirtation with the 2016 presidential race to a new level this week, beginning a minutely orchestrated book tour that will whisk her coast to coast for a mix of book signings and carefully calibrated television interviews.

Since stepping down as secretary of State 16 months ago, Clinton has managed to effectively freeze out any Democratic competition for the presidential nomination, no small feat in a party with a history of upstarts and upsets — especially for someone who has yet to say whether she even plans to run.

Throughout, she's weathered a relentless degree of scrutiny, her daily travels exhaustively chronicled, her every utterance parsed for meaning. Even matters like her daughter Chelsea's pregnancy are put to the will-or-won't-she test.

"She's got the toughest job in American politics" being the prohibitive front-runner, said Stuart Spencer, a longtime Republican strategist who helped shepherd former California Gov. Ronald Reagan in a years-long trek from Sacramento to the White House. "And she's managed it just about as well as you can."

Clinton's months-long book tour, combined with other stops, appears unprecedented in the annals of both publishing and politics, bearing many of the trappings of a full-fledged presidential campaign. A strike team, to push back Clinton critics, has been stocked with family loyalists and others practiced in aggressive political communication. (Conservatives have set up a counter-operation to offer their interpretation of events recounted in Clinton's 600-plus-page memoir, "Hard Choices." An e-book, "Failed Choices," is being released to coincide with her travels.)

A busload of Clinton supporters, chartered by a friendly political action committee, will follow the non-candidate to events and seek to sign up new acolytes; one of her first book signings is scheduled for a Costco in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, the battleground portion of a battleground state. A Los Angeles stop is scheduled for June 19 at the Grove shopping center.

Her TV appearances, including a visit with the cheery crew on "Good Morning America" and a grilling on the less-amiable Fox News Channel, will allow Clinton a chance to spotlight two sides of her persona, warmth and toughness, in the same manner as the sneak previews doled out by her publisher: a gauzy Mother's Day tribute for Vogue magazine and her telling of the 2012 attack on U.S. diplomats in Benghazi, Libya, for Politico.

"It seems to me that the rollout of Hillary's book has been letter-perfect," Paul Begala, a campaign strategist who served in the White House under President Clinton and remains close to the family, said in an email. "Rather than wait for the inevitable leaks, Team Hillary has released select excerpts, both to satisfy the press and to build anticipation for the book's release."

Some suggest that it seems a bit too perfect...

Yeah, well. It's battlespace preparation.

But continue reading.

'This woman, Marie Larf [Harf], seems to be the White Susan Rice, except even dumber and more preposterous...'

At AoSHQ, "State Department Refuses to Say if Cash Payoff Was Part of Bergdahl Hostage Deal."



A paid liar, and dumb at that.

VA Halted Visits to Troubled Hospitals

At the Wall Street Journal, "Change Came as Growing Number of Facilities Had High Death Rates."

PREVIOUSLY: "Depraved Leftists Run Interference for Obama on #VeteransAdministration."

The International Crisis of Unaccompanied Migrant Children at U.S. Border

From the editors, at the Sacramento Bee.

RELATED: At KNXV-TV ABC15 Phoenix, "Transfer of undocumented kids sparks threat."

Is Obama Considering Surrendering to the Taliban?

I think the real question is "Has Obama already surrendered to the Taliban"?

But see Marc Thiessen, at the Washington Post:

Obama administration officials are arguing that the Taliban release was inevitable, because the war in Afghanistan is ending. But the coming withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan does not end the state of war between the United States and the Taliban. There are only three ways that state of war can end: 1) we reach a peace accord with the Taliban; 2) the Taliban surrenders; or 3) the United States surrenders.

The first two are not happening anytime soon. Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar declared the release of his five commanders a “great victory.” Enemy forces don’t tend to capitulate after a great victory. And a Taliban spokesman declared last week that the prisoner exchange “won’t help the peace process in any way, because we don’t believe in the peace process.”

So unless Obama capitulates, there is no reason under the laws of war why the president must release Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These detainees have been approved by the Obama administration for indefinite detention. The president’s authority to hold Taliban detainees indefinitely is not extinguished when U.S. forces withdraw. The only thing that would require the United States to hand over Taliban prisoners would be if Obama issues a declaration that we have no further conflict with the Taliban. That would end his authority under the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to continue holding Taliban prisoners...

Supreme Court Rules Against 'Aged Out' Illegal Immigrants

Heh, no "special consideration" for illegals whose parents failed to get a permanent visa before they turned 21.

Back of the line, sucka!

At USA Today, "Justices deny visa priority to children who turn 21."

Also at Scotus Blog, "Quick take: Court defers to agency on “aged-out” immigrants."

Krauthammer Destroys Endless White House Lies on Bowe #Bergdahl

It's just "lie after lie," and the "pretense" that this deal was something to celebrate is just "appalling."

And just compare Krauthammer's comments here to the meme Politico was spinning last week. The MSM propaganda is just terrible: "Charles Krauthammer backs Bowe Bergdahl deal."

Poll: Veteran Households Slam #Bergdahl Swap as 'Wrong Thing to Do...'

From the new USA Today/Pew Center poll, "USA TODAY poll: Obama mishandled Bergdahl exchange."

Also, "Public Has Doubts about Bergdahl Prisoner Exchange":

Veteran Households’ Views of Bergdahl Deal.

Households that include a military veteran take a more negative view of Bergdahl and the prisoner exchange than do households without a veteran.

Overall, 33% of the public says someone in their household has served in the U.S. military or the military reserves at some point. Among this group, 55% say the exchange of five Taliban prisoners was the wrong thing to do, compared with just 26% who say it was the right thing to do. Non-veteran households are evenly divided (37% right thing, 38% wrong thing).

Furthermore, veteran households are somewhat more likely to say they are angry with Bergdahl (23%) than sympathetic toward him (12%), though most (57%) say they hold neither feeling toward him.

And when it comes to U.S. responsibility toward Bergdahl, 37% of veteran households say the country was not obligated to do all it could to secure his release because he walked away from his post; 47% say the U.S. has a responsibility to do all it can to return an American captive soldier, no matter what the circumstances. Non-veteran households are more likely to back U.S. efforts to free captive soldiers, regardless of the circumstances (60%-26%).

The American public agrees that we should make every effort to bring the troops home. But the poll finds Americans especially critical of White House communications with the Congress.

It's especially telling how the military families view this, however. Remember the president's "icy" reception at West Point? The chill has yet to thaw.

More at Memeorandum.

Whoa! MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Not Buying #Bergdahl Spin from State Department's Marie Harf

Harf's a paid liar.

From Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "Andrea Mitchell not buying State Dept.’s spin on Bergdahl Swap."

Enjoy Bikinis

At Bananarama, "Bikinis Are the Only Way to Enjoy" (via Linkiest).

BONUS: At Egotastic, "Abbey Clancy Bikini Pictures."

Obama Administration Gave #Bergdahl Parents Exclusive Insider Access

The White House planned all along to use Bowe Berdahl's capture to empty Guantanamo.

At the Washington Times, "Bergdahl’s parents got rare access to insiders; data for sympathizer of Gitmo detainees":

Soon after Sgt. Bergdahl went missing in Afghanistan in June 2009, the Obama administration approved an outreach program that involved the Bergdahls traveling from their home in Hailey, Idaho, to the state’s National Guard headquarters in Boise.

There they were hooked into secure video conferences that included representatives of U.S. Central Command, which runs the war in Afghanistan, as well as with White House, State Department and intelligence officials.

Robert Bergdahl has expressed concern for prisoners at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. From that prison, the U.S. released five senior Taliban commanders May 31 in exchange for the 28-year-old Sgt. Bergdahl, who was held five years by the violent Haqqani Network, a Taliban ally.

Air Force Col. Timothy Marsano, Idaho’s National Guard spokesman, said the Bergdahls participated in video conferences quarterly — or perhaps as many as 20 — over the five years.

“Mr. and Mrs. Bergdahl were regularly informed about what was happening throughout the duration using video teleconferencing [with] various military and other government agencies,” Col. Marsano said. “There was a great effort to keep Mr. and Mrs. Bergdahl updated on developments.”

Keep reading.

More at Twitchy, "Bob Bergdahl now tweeting for more Guantanamo releases." And IJR, "Why Did Robert Bergdahl Stand Next to President Obama and Praise Allah for His Freed POW Son?"

PREVIOUSLY: "Robert Bergdahl's #Taliban Tweets: Allāhu Akbar!"

Steve Coburn Apology on 'Good Morning America'

Bit by the backlash, I guess.

Here's the rant from Saturday, "California Chrome Owner Steve Coburn: 'This Is the Coward's Way Out...'"

And now at ABC News, "California Chrome Co-Owner 'Ashamed' of Angry Rant After Belmont Loss."

And Robin Roberts has the interview, "California Chrome Co-Owner Apologizes."

Quebec City Prison Escape

Wow.

At Toronto's Globe and Mail, "Quebec on alert after second jailbreak with helicopter," and at the National Post, "Three inmates use a helicopter to escape from Quebec prison — similar to daring 2013 jailbreak."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Helicopter lands in prison yard, takes off with three inmates."

Saxby Chambliss and Dianne Feinstein on 'Face the Nation' — #BergdahlTreason

At WaPo, "Feinstein, Chambliss criticize White House over Bergdahl secrecy."

And videos, "Saxby Chambliss: Hard to 'validate' reports Bowe Bergdahl was tortured," and "Dianne Feinstein: Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap 'mixed bag at best'."

D-Day Veteran Jock Hutton, 89, Parachutes Into Normandy Again

At the Scottish Daily Record, "Scottish D-Day veteran Jock Hutton, 89, takes part in tandem parachute jump with Red Devils."

'I am glad that we got our guy back, however I do not feel it is right that we subject ourselves to these acts of terrorism...'

She got one heckuva round of applause at that response.

At Twitchy, "Did Miss Louisiana say it was a mistake for Obama to release five Taliban leaders from Gitmo? [video]."

Pakistan Taliban Attacks Karachi International Airport

Because we've got those terrorists on the run alright!

At WSJ, "Gunmen Attack Karachi Airport: Masked Men Attack With Guns, Grenades; At Least 23 People Killed."

KARACHI, Pakistan—Militants stormed Karachi's Jinnah International Airport late Sunday, exchanging fire with security forces and leaving at least 23 people dead, officials said.

Separately, gunmen and suicide bombers attacked pilgrims from the minority Shiite sect of Islam in the west of the country, killing at least 23 pilgrims.

The Pakistani Taliban, a group closely linked to al Qaeda and its militant allies, claimed responsibility for the airport attack. No responsibility was immediately claimed or assigned for the attack on the pilgrims, but the Pakistani Taliban frequently targets Shiites, who make up about 20% of Pakistan's population.

More.

Also at Pamela, "Jihadists disguised as police guards and wearing suicide vests kill 18 during five-hour siege at Pakistan’s largest international airport."

Battle to Establish an Islamic State Across Iraq and Syria

This is from far-left commentator Patrick Cockburn, brother to the "last Stalinist" Alexander Cockburn (who passed away in 2012), at the Independent UK, "In the war on terrorism, only al-Qa'ida thrives":

It has become increasingly obvious over the past year that al-Qa'ida type movements, notably Isis, Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, have come to dominate or can operate freely in a great swathe of territory across northern Iraq and northern Syria. This gives Isis a vast hinterland in which it can manoeuvre and fight on both sides of what is a largely nominal Syrian-Iraqi border. The prospect is always there for an even more explosive conflict: last week, Isis columns of vehicles penetrated deep into the city of Samarra in Iraq, coming within less than two miles of the golden-domed Shia al-Askari shrine, the blowing up of which by al-Qa'ida in Iraq in 2006 led to a savage intensification of the sectarian civil war in which tens of thousands of Sunni and Shia were butchered.

So long as the Syrian civil war continues, it benefits groups such as Isis, which wants to create its own state and not just get rid of Assad, because fanatical armed groups, with fighters prepared to be killed, always benefit from conflict. By the same token, moderates lose out or are marginalised as the situation becomes more and more militarised and Syrian public opinion counts for little.

And, "Isis special report: Jihadist group more extreme than al-Qa’ida in battle to establish Islamic state across Iraq and Syria."

Miss Pennsylvania Valerie Gatto

At Life News, "Miss Pennsylvania Valerie Gatto Was Conceived in Rape, Glad She Wasn't Aborted."

And from Kevin Williamson, at National Review, "Mother Courage: Miss Pennsylvania USA's Remarkable Mother":

There are many kinds of courage in the world, of which a mother’s courage is a very specific and demanding variety. Rape is a special kind of cruelty in that it transforms the life-giving act into an act of torture. To suffer the crime and yet cherish the life is an act of transcendence, a perfection of generosity rarely if ever equaled by the merely human.

Kate Beckinsale

At Egotastic!, "Kate Beckinsale My Hot Virgin in White."

Details Emerge of Bowe #Bergdahl's Captivity

Most of the news now is pro-administration propaganda, with the folks at the New York Times leading the way. William Jacobson reported earlier on the Old Gray Lady's editorial demonizing Republicans for rightly calling out the administration's perfidy and treason, "NY Times Editors Rush to Demonize Republicans over Sgt. Bergdahl."

And from today's edition, "As Bowe Bergdahl Heals, Details Emerge of His Captivity," and "Bergdahl Was in Unit Known for Its Troubles." (At Memeorandum.)

And here's the report from this morning's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, with both George and Martha Raddatz showing touching solidarity with the traitor Bergdahl.



PREVIOUSLY: "Bowe #Bergdahl Won't Speak to His Family."

#Rule5 Sunday

Last up we had "Jessica Simpson Friday #Rule5 Roundup."

So, picking up today, check it out at Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is extreme rain caused solely by someone driving a fossil fueled vehicle, you might just be a Warmist."

At 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Morning Mistress."

And from Blackmailers, "Big-Breasted Farrah Abraham Insists That She’s Not a Porn Star."

In a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World has the "Friday Pinup."

More at Daley Gator, "DALEYGATOR DALEYBABE CARRIE MINTER."

Odie has, "Goblins ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

The Hostages, "Big Boog Friday."

And from Proof Positive, "Tonight's FNB* is Amal Alamuddin!"

The Chive, "Every girl is working out for the weekend (38 Photos)."

At Knuckledraggin', "For old times sake."

And Dana Pico, "Rule 5 Blogging: The Women of Normandy!"

At Doubletroubletwo, "Random Hotties."

Plus, at Egotastic!, "Eva Green Topless Scene in 300 Rise of an Empire."

And from Goodstuff, "Gwyneth Paltrow's (Iron Man Chick) cleavage leads this gargantuan metablog."

BONUS: At Soylent, "Over-Nighty: Pearls."

Drop your links in the comments if I missed you.

5 Dead in Las Vegas Shooting

At the Las Vegas Sun, "Two officers, three others dead in shooting on Nellis Blvd."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Two police officers killed in 'ambush' at Las Vegas Walmart by pair of gunmen who then killed themselves":

Sheriff Gillespie confirms death of two LVMPD officers today, Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo. pic.twitter.com/sSuZlLA6Xc

— LVMPD (@LVMPD) June 8, 2014

Sources told KSNV the gunmen ran into the the Cici's armed with rifles and bullet-proof vests at 11.27 a.m.

The pair then shot the officers - one in the head - and then took their firearms and ammunition before fleeing to a nearby Walmart while repeatedly shouting about a revolution beginning, police said.

One of the cops died at the scene as the other was rushed to a nearby hospital and was pronounced dead while in emergency surgery, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The two suspects shot then shot dead a a civilian who is believed to have been carrying a concealed firearm and had opened fire on them as they ran into the Walmart, Deputy Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during an afternoon press conference.

There were 'literally a thousand' witnesses to the terrifying events, Mc Mahill added.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies (early edition)," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

And at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Operation Enduring Weakness."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

Hillary Wants to Be President Without Media Vetting

Of course.

A killer IBD editorial, via Instapundit, "WELL, IT WORKED FOR OBAMA."

Amid Open Borders Surge, Feds Shipping Hundreds of Illegal Alien Children to Arizona

At Pat Dollard, "Feds Say ‘No End In Sight’ to Policy of Dumping Illegal Alien Children In Arizona."

And Blazing Cat Fur, "This is What 'The Camp of the Saints' Looks Like."

Also at the Arizona Republic, "300 more immigrant children shipped to Arizona."

The thing is, administration policy is being touted as a de facto amnesty south of the border, and single mothers with children are swarming into the United States to take advantage.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Rumors of U.S. haven for families spur rise in illegal immigration":

Yoselin Ramos had long wanted to trek to the United States to escape the crushing poverty and rising violence in her hometown in Guatemala.

But it wasn't until the 24-year-old heard about a "new opportunity" that she packed a bag and left her home with her 3-year-old son, Yovani, for the treacherous journey north.

Ramos became part of an unprecedented surge of families crossing illegally into the U.S., drawn by reports circulating throughout Central America that parents with children are allowed to stay in the United States indefinitely, according to Guatemalan consular officials and parents who are making these trips. But these families, U.S. officials say, are getting only half the story.

The surge of single parents and children has surprised and overwhelmed border agents in the Southwest — particularly Texas — and flooded the Greyhound bus stations in Phoenix and Tucson over the last several months with hundreds of immigrant families dropped off there by U.S. immigration authorities who had nowhere else to put them.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, federal officials flew at least 400 migrants apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to Tucson to be processed, said Andy Adame, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Arizona.

From there, many were dropped off at bus stations with orders to appear before immigration authorities at their chosen destination within 15 days. "The Border Patrol does not have enough space in its processing facilities to handle a surge in illegal immigrants in south Texas," Adame said.

The unusual situation represents not a change in policy but an attempt to accommodate the unexpected numbers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said. Immigration authorities have recently opened shelters on military bases in Texas and California for the wave of children crossing the U.S. border in ever-greater volumes in recent months. Detention centers are available for adult immigrants. But there are no similar facilities for families, at least in the Southwest.

In 2008, immigration officials stopped placing parents traveling with their children at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, after allegations surfaced of human rights violations at the facility.

The fact that so many parents with children have been freed to travel within the U.S. has sent rumors flying through Central American nations that parents will not be detained in the U.S. if they arrive with a child — spurring even more families to launch the journey, according to immigrant advocates and Guatemalan consular officials in Phoenix who have been working to help find shelter for families stranded at bus stations.

More.

Bowe #Bergdahl Won't Speak to His Family

At WSJ, "U.S. Official: Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Has Declined to Speak to His Family: Doctors Moving Slowly on Treatment because of Swirling Controversy Over Prisoner Swap" (via Blazing Cat Fur and Memeorandum):

PARIS—Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has declined to speak to his family after five years in harsh captivity that included being held in a cage after one attempted escape, according to a U.S. official familiar with the Army soldier's recovery.

Doctors treating Sgt. Bergdahl at a U.S. military hospital in Germany are moving slowly because of the swirling controversy over the soldier's release, the U.S. official said.

While he spent five years in captivity after being captured by Afghan insurgents in 2009, Sgt. Bergdahl doesn't yet want to talk to his family on the phone, the official said.

Sgt. Bergdahl has likely been shielded from most of the backlash his release has generated in the U.S. Some former platoon soldiers have accused him of deserting his post and lawmakers from both parties have questioned the decision to trade America's lone prisoner of war in Afghanistan for five Taliban officials held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Local authorities canceled a homecoming celebration in his Idaho hometown because of the backlash. The celebration was canceled specifically because of threats made against the family, officials said.

The political furor, which has raged since the May 31 prisoner swap, continued through the weekend. What had at first blush seemed an uplifting story about a prisoner returning home after five years in captivity has instead become a major headache for the Obama administration, straining ties with lawmakers who felt they were kept in the dark about the prisoner swap and raising fears the freed Taliban detainees could return to the battlefield.

Speaking on CNN, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry defended the administration's decision to exchange Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five top Taliban detainees, saying it would have been "offensive and incomprehensible" to leave an American prisoner of war behind.

"To leave an American behind, in the hands of people that torture him, cut off his head, do any number of things, and we would consciously choose to do that? That's the other side of this equation," Mr. Kerry said on CNN's "State of the Union." "I don't think anybody would think that is the appropriate thing to do."

Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), speaking later on CNN, said he wouldn't have released the five Taliban detainees, saying they were evaluated during their time in Guantanamo as too great a risk and would put other American servicemen at risk. He said the Qatari government "is not renowned for its ability to keep things in security."

"I think we should do everything in our power to win the release of any American being held but not at the expense of the lives and well-being of their fellow servicemen and women," said Mr. McCain, who was himself a prisoner of war in Vietnam. "When we join the military, we know we take certain risks, and among those risks are wounding, death, imprisonment."

More.

Actually, I don't think he's so "shielded." I don't think he wants to be associated with his father right now, who looks like a freakin' imam.

More at NYT, "As Bowe Bergdahl Heals, Details Emerge of His Captivity."

Bowe #Bergdahl's Views Shifted After First Taste of War

At the Wall Street Journal, "Private Was Gung-Ho, but Soon Complained About Army's Strategy":

Bowe Bergdahl arrived in Afghanistan ready to kill.

Like many soldiers heading into a war zone for the first time, the 22-year-old Army private was eager to get into the fight. As he and his unit prepared for battle in late 2008, he approached his squad leader at their Alaska military base with a memorable question.

"The first thing he said was: 'Can I cut off the face of the first Taliban I kill and wear it like a mask?' " said Josh Korder, an Army soldier who said he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

The bravado didn't last. Then-Pfc. Bergdahl's view of America's war began to turn after his first big firefight on an Afghan mountainside in May 2009. A month later, after complaining about the Army's strategy, he disappeared from his post.

Now that Sgt. Bergdahl, 28, has been released after nearly five years in Taliban captivity—he was promoted during that time—some of his friends and fellow soldiers are speaking out on the question at the heart of the controversial prisoner exchange that freed him: Why did he vanish?  "I've been thinking about it since the day he left," said Mr. Korder. "Where'd Bergdahl go?"

Was he trying to switch sides? Did he want to leave the war behind and become a nomad? Was he betrayed by two Afghan police officers who Mr. Korder said mysteriously fled from the same outpost the day the soldier disappeared?

The answer rests with Sgt. Bergdahl in a U.S. military hospital bed where he is probably unaware of the political turmoil his release has created. A spokesman for his family declined to comment on Friday, as did the Army.

The Army and the soldiers who served with Sgt. Bergdahl have no doubt that he walked away from the tiny military outpost on June 30, 2009. A classified Army investigation concluded he voluntarily left the compound in eastern Afghanistan, but it stopped short of characterizing it as a desertion, said military officials familiar with the report.  Some soldiers who lived and fought with then-Pfc. Bergdahl described a man with conflicting and often contradictory views of the war.

Pfc. Bergdahl at one point complained to them that the Army's soft-edged "hearts and minds" counterinsurgency campaign wasn't the way to win the war. But he spent hours hanging out with Afghan police officers, studying the local language and praising their culture, they said.  He chafed for a time at not having more chances to attack the Taliban but appeared to respect the way Afghan insurgents fought.

Zach Barrow, a 27-year-old Army gunner who rode in the same truck as Pfc. Bergdahl, described his shift.

"It seemed like he was this die-hard, Rambo-esque soldier who wanted to kick a— and take names who then became this Peace Corps kind of guy who wanted to help the people," Mr. Barrow told The Wall Street Journal in his first interview about Sgt. Bergdahl.

Soldiers who trained with then-Pfc. Bergdahl described the arriving Army private from Idaho as a quiet loner who favored books on Buddhism over video games. He told friends he was named after Chick Bowdrie, the tough Texas Ranger in author Louis L'Amour's cowboy short stories.

Especially at first, Pfc. Bergdahl was eager to fight. In May 2009, shortly after he arrived in Afghanistan, he took part in a mission to rescue an Army unit stuck in the mountains after a roadside bomb had disabled one of its armored vehicles.

On the narrow mountain road, a vehicle in his convoy hit a roadside bomb, leaving his unit stuck in the middle of Taliban-dominated terrain for days. As the stranded soldiers grew anxious, waiting for commanders to come up with a plan, Pfc. Bergdahl fantasized about life in Afghanistan.

More.

Judge Jeanine Pirro Demands President Obama's Impeachment

No one tops Judge Jeanine's righteous indignation.

I love it.

Fresh Legs Stamp Out a Coronation — #BelmontStakes

Following-up from my last entry, "California Chrome Owner Steve Coburn: 'This Is the Coward's Way Out...'"

Here's the main story at the New York Times, "Belmont Stakes 2014: Tonalist Wins, Denying California Chrome the Triple Crown." (A commenter there indicates that previous Triple Crown winners faced fresh horses.)

Also, "Belmont Stakes: Tonalist Denies California Chrome the Triple Crown":

O.K. I’ll admit it, I just got goosebumps for the first time today. And I fully expect half the press box to shed a few tears if California Chrome does indeed win. Chrome’s loquacious co-owner just entered the owner’s box and stood up and tipped his cap to the crowd. It seemed as if the entire crowd turned around and started to chant, “Let’s Go Chrome!”

Now Frank Sinatra Jr. is singing “New York, New York” as the horses make their way to the racetrack. The buzz is palpable.

Bill Dwyre's got an analysis, at the Los Angeles Times, "Once again, a Triple Crown dream vanishes at the Belmont."

And see Steve Kallas, at CBS New York, "Chrome Winning Triple Crown Might Be Bad for Thoroughbred Racing."

California Chrome Owner Steve Coburn: 'This Is the Coward's Way Out...'

At USA Today, "California Chrome owner Steve Coburn flips out after Belmont Stakes."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "California Chrome co-owner calls Tonalist win 'coward's way out'."

From potential Triple Crown owner to sorest loser in a span of a few minutes #stayclassy
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) June 7, 2014

Has the Desperate Global Warming Crusade Reached its Waterloo?

From Steven Hayward, at the Weekly Standard, "Climate Cultists."

More Than Half Say They'd Abandon Their Cable Firm, If Only They Could

Well, if they keep doggin' us on sports programming, like the Dodgers Time-Warner Cable TV debacle, folks won't have any choice but to say screw it anyway.

Yep, at WaPo, "‘A soup of misery’: Over half of people say they’d abandon their cable company, if only they could."