'Fury'

I couldn't wait to see this movie. In fact, I thought it was in theaters on October 10th and ended up waiting another week to see it. It was definitely worth it.

Easily the best World War II movie since "Saving Private Ryan." And Brad Pitt delivers a scorching performance, shorn of leftist political correctness. Indeed, totalitarian progs will hate this film's realpolitik version of morality.

Kenneth Turan has a review, at the Los Angeles Times, "'Fury' treads on war movie expectations as Brad Pitt & Co. kill Nazis."

Sabato's Crystal Ball: Republicans Should Gain 5-8 Seats in the Senate

The latest from Larry's Sabato's election projection outfit, "2014: A Tale of Two Elections: New 2014 Senate and House Ratings."

Ebola Cruise Ship Denied Entry by Mexico

This is starting to look like a Hollywood production.

At the Washington Post, "Amid Ebola concerns, Mexico fails to grant access to cruise ship carrying Texas health worker." (Via Memeorandum.)

Nurse from Texas Health Presbyterian Blasts Ebola Response

Oh man, she's fired up!



Just wow.

More here, "Whistle-blower nurse: 'I feel lied to'," and "Nurse: Ebola gear left neck exposed."

No Reason to Panic About Ebola!

And certainly no reason to panic until after the midterms. The Democrats need to mitigate the political damage. That comes before public health.

Ebola Not Contagious Until After Nov. 4 Election, Says CDC http://t.co/03Q0h3jQlt #TCOT #Ebola pic.twitter.com/s6X4Bnov70

— The People's Cube (@ThePeoplesCube) October 16, 2014

And see Jonathan Last, at the Weekly Standard, "Six Reasons to Panic":

Not everyone is convinced that this Ebola isn’t airborne. Last month, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy published an article arguing that the current Ebola has “unclear modes of transmission” and that “there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients, which means that healthcare workers should be wearing respirators, not facemasks.”

Lovely.

More.

The Centers for Anything But Disease Control

From Michelle Malkin, at RCP:

So now the federal health bureaucrats in charge of controlling diseases and pandemics want more money to do their jobs. Hmph. Maybe if they hadn't been so busy squandering their massive government subsidies on everything but their core mission, we taxpayers might actually feel a twinge of sympathy.

At $7 billion, the Centers for Disease Control 2014 budget is nearly 200 percent bigger now than it was in 2000.

Those evil, stingy Republicans actually approved CDC funding increases in January larger than what President Obama requested.

What are we getting for this ever-increasing amount of money? Answer: A power-hungry busybody brigade of politicized blame-mongers.

Money, money, it's always the money. Yet, while Ebola and enterovirus D68 wreak havoc on our health system, the CDC has been busying itself with an ever-widening array of non-disease control campaigns, like these recent crusades:

--Mandatory motorcycle helmet laws. CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden appoints a 15-member "Community Preventive Services Task Force" to promote pet Nanny State projects. An obscure Obamacare rule -- Section 4003(b)(1) -- stealthily increased the task force's authority to study "any policies, programs, processes or activities designed to affect or otherwise affecting health at the population level." Last year, the meddling panel extended the agency's reach into transportation safety with a call to impose a federal universal motorcycle helmet law on the country. Is riding a Harley a disease? Why is this the CDC's business?

--Video games and TV violence. At Obama's behest, in the wake of high-profile school shootings, the CDC scored $10 million last year to study violent video games and media images, as well as to assess "existing strategies for preventing gun violence and identifying the most pressing research questions, with the greatest potential public health impact." Whatever that means. Why is this the CDC's business?

--Playground equipment. The CDC's "Injury Centers" (Did you know there are 13 of them?) have crafted a "national action plan" and funded countless studies to prevent boo-boos and accidents on the nation's playgrounds. Apparently, there aren't enough teachers, parents, local school districts, and county and state regulators to police the slides and seesaws. Why is this the CDC's business?

--"Social norming" in the schools. The CDC has funded studies and campaigns "promoting positive community norms" and "safe, stable, nurturing relationships (SSNRs)" in homes and schools. It's the mother of all government values clarifications programs. So bad attitudes are now a disease. Again, I ask: Why is this the CDC's business?

After every public health disaster, CDC bureaucrats play the money card while expanding their regulatory and research reach into anti-gun screeds, anti-smoking propaganda, anti-bullying lessons, gender inequity studies and unlimited behavior modification programs that treat individual vices -- personal lifestyle choices -- as germs to be eradicated.

Here's a reminder of what the CDC does with money that's supposed to go to real disease control...

Continue reading.

Ebola Outbreak: Response Ripples Across Nation

At the Wall Street Journal, "Officials Scramble to Limit Chance of Spreading Infection":

Concerns about the Dallas nurse who flew to Cleveland shortly before being diagnosed with Ebola rippled across the country Thursday, as officials tried to limit the chance of spreading infection by those who came into direct or indirect contact with her.

A handful of schools in Texas and Ohio closed their doors for disinfection. A group of Ohio nurses who flew from Dallas to Cleveland were put on leave, as was a Frontier Airlines flight crew who flew her back to Dallas. And eight people in the Cleveland and Akron area who spent significant time with the nurse, identified as Amber Joy Vinson, put themselves into voluntary quarantine.

Amid the tumult, the Texas Department of State Health Services on Thursday issued new rules barring dozens of health-care workers who treated Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., from taking public transportation and visiting public places.

Judge Clay Jenkins, the county’s highest elected official, said that although the directions restricting workers’ movements are binding, he’s confident that they will voluntary comply. “These are hometown healthcare heroes who are going to honor that,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, a Yale student who had traveled to Liberia and checked into a hospital with “Ebola-like symptoms” tested negative for the virus. The student’s symptoms and subsequent hospitalization on Wednesday night set off an urgent reaction among Connecticut health officials, prompting Gov. Dannel Malloy to invoke the state’s authority to quarantine and isolate patients with the virus or suspected of having the virus.

Despite the nationwide agitation, public health officials preached a message of calm. “Just because someone may have been exposed does not mean they are infected,” Dr. Chris Braden of the CDC said at an Ohio news conference.

Ms. Vinson, who helped treat Mr. Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas before he died Oct. 8, was in the Akron area visiting family and preparing for her wedding, local health and law-enforcement officials said. On Thursday, public health officials stressed Ms. Vinson was aware of her possible exposure and kept largely close quarters with family members and friends.

“She was being very distant,” said Summit County Health Commissioner Gene Nixon, adding that she refrained from hugging or kissing anyone.

Another public health official said a relative later reported that Ms. Vinson had appeared lethargic and unwell over the weekend.

Late Thursday night, Ms. Vinson’s family released a statement through Kent State University, where she attended and where several of her relatives work.

“Amber is a respected professional and has always had a strong passion for nursing,” said Lawrence Vinson, her uncle, in the statement. “She followed all of the protocols necessary when treating a patient in Dallas, and right now, she’s trusting in her doctors and nurses as she is now the patient.”

ADDED: "U.S. Ebola Response Is Slammed by Lawmakers: Obama Considers Appointing Czar After Bipartisan Criticism Mounts."

More Americans Support Ground Troops to Fight #ISIS

Boy, does this ever put Obama in a bind.

He's said repeatedly that he won't send ground troops back to Iraq (or into Syria), and more and more he's finding himself on the wrong side of public opinion. What a loser.

At NBC News, "More Americans Back U.S. Ground Troops in ISIS Fight."

5 Takeaways From the October WSJ/NBC News Poll

From Janet Hook, at WSJ:

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that Republicans enter the final three weeks of the midterm election campaign well-positioned to make gains in Congress. At the same time, the political environment is riddled with volatile elements that could produce surprises. Here are some main takeaways of the new poll.

And got to the full survey, "Republicans Hold Advantage as Midterms Near: Poll Shows Low Interest, Disillusionment Create Room for Surprises."

Polls Show Massive Repudiation of Democratic Party on Election Day

Voters are actually highly dissatisfied with the direction of American politics, but as the party controlling the White House and the Senate, the public is on the verge of dealing a massive repudiation to the Obama-Democrats on November 4th.

Here's ABC News, "Trouble Looms for Obama, Democrats with Election Day 2014 Approaching" (via Memeorandum):

Barack Obama and his political party are heading into the midterm elections in trouble. The president’s 40 percent job approval rating in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll is the lowest of his career – and the Democratic Party’s popularity is its weakest in polling back 30 years, with more than half of Americans seeing the party unfavorably for the first time.

The Republican Party is even more unpopular. But benefitting from their supporters’ greater likelihood of voting, GOP candidates nonetheless hold a 50-43 percent lead among likely voters for U.S. House seats in the Nov. 4 election.

These and other results are informed by an array of public concerns on issues from the economy to international terrorism to the Ebola virus, crashing into a long-running crisis of confidence in the nation’s political leadership. Almost two-thirds say the country is headed seriously off on the wrong track. Even more, three-quarters, are dissatisfied with the way the political system is working.

Scorn is widely cast: Among those who are dissatisfied with the political system, two-thirds say both sides are equally to blame, with the rest dividing evenly between Obama and his party, vs. the Republicans in Congress, as the chief culprits. But as a nearly six-year incumbent president, Obama – and by extension his party – are most at risk.

Beyond his overall rating, Obama is at career lows in approval for his handling of immigration, international affairs and terrorism (long his best issue) in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates. Approval of his handling of the conflict with Islamic State insurgents in Iraq and Syria has plummeted by percentage 15 points in the last two weeks, amid questions about the progress of the air campaign now under way.

Further, while Obama’s negative rating on handling the economy has eased, more Americans say they’ve gotten worse off rather than better off under his presidency; the plurality is “about the same” financially, for most not a happy outcome. Even with the recovery to date, 77 percent are worried about the economy’s future, and 57 percent say the country has been experiencing a long-term decline in living standards – all grim assessments as Election Day looms.

Such views can carry a punch. An analysis conducted for this report shows that presidential approval ratings (in data since 1946) and views that the country’s on the right track (since 1974) highly correlate with midterm gains or losses for the party in power. (The correlations are .68 and .65, respectively; 0 means no relationship and 1 is a perfect, positive fit.)

Moreover, an index of dissatisfaction, also produced for this study, finds that the public’s unease on a range of issues strongly predicts vote preferences; these wide-ranging concerns emerge as a key factor in the 2014 contest. In addition to persistent doubts about the economy, for instance, 71 percent express worry about a terrorist attack and 65 percent say they’re concerned about an Ebola epidemic – disquieting sentiments when confidence in the political system is so weak. (Details of the dissatisfaction index will be covered in a separate report tomorrow.)

History, for its part, offers the Democrats cold comfort. Obama’s approval rating matches George W. Bush’s heading into the 2006 midterms, when the Republicans lost 30 seats. The only postwar president numerically lower heading into a second midterm was Harry Truman, at 39 percent approval, in 1950; his Democrats lost 28 seats. While race-by-race assessments don’t suggest those kinds of losses this year, the comparison adds context to the GOP’s upper hand.

Such results also help explain why Obama is attending his first public campaign rally of 2014 only today, for Gov. Dan Malloy of Connecticut.

More.

Far-Left Ghoul Scott Lemieux: Killing Babies is a 'Positive Social Good'

Just wow.

Let's just kill more babies, as if we haven't killed enough already, with the left's pro-abortion genocide that's cut a murderous swath across America since the Supreme Court so egregiously ruled in 1973.

For as ghoulish at take you're likely to read, here's your go-to wannabe baby-killer Scotty Lemieux, at the regressive hate-site Leftists, Ghouls and Murder, "Abortion Rights Without Apology." (Via Memeorandum.)

Just read it at the link --- and be ready for the most shameless advocacy for the killing of society's most vulnerable, the unborn.

Leszek Kolakowski: The Man Who Killed Marxism

From Mark Michalski, at RealClearReligion, "The Man Who Killed Marxism":

In Main Currents of Marxism, Kolakowski wrote that "Marxism has been the greatest fantasy of our century." According to him, socialism signifies giving the solution which can never exist. "At present," the author pointed out, "Marxism neither interprets the world nor changes it; it is merely a repetition of slogans." And this is because the ruling elite does not represent the society's needs, but places empty ideology above anything else. Clearly the most important premise of the socialist rule is that it can be exercised by those who possess power. The system which exacts stern order and blind obedience may only triumph through violence, fear, and military coercion. At the same time this system generates only alienation, and stagnation. The sad story of our times is that the system which claims to embody the rights, privileges and welfare of the working class is the same system whose biggest enemy is its very citizens. Kolakowski jokes that socialism would be a splendid idea if only there were no people.

An astounding tome, Main Currents of Marxism: The Founders - The Golden Age - The Breakdown.

Accused College Rapists Have Rights, Too

From Judith Shulevitz, at the New Republic.

It's a great piece, so RTWT. The conclusion's killer:

What’s happening at universities represents an often necessary effort to recategorize once-acceptable behaviors as unacceptable. But the government, via Title IX, is effectively acting on the notion popularized in the 1970s and ’80s by Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon that male domination is so pervasive that women need special protection from the rigors of the law. Men, as a class, have more power than women, but American law rests on the principle that individuals have rights even when accused of doing bad things. And American liberalism has long rejected the notion that those rights may be curtailed even for a noble cause. “We need to take into account our obligations to due process not because we are soft on rapists and other exploiters of women,” says Halley, but because “the danger of holding an innocent person responsible is real.”

There's your radical feminism infecting the "real world."

The Indecent Mind of Andrea Dworkin

Another one from Robert Stacy McCain!

"All that is necessary to defeat feminism is to tell the truth about feminism." http://t.co/cnskNpDDEJ @AmPowerBlog pic.twitter.com/nmBwH9SeXu

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) October 12, 2014

The 'Government is Not Competent to Handle' the Ebola Virus and #ISIS Threat

Oh, well, here's that notorious right-wing whack job Susan Page, of USA Today, glibly circulating those widely ridiculed conservative fever-swamp talking points. You know, the ones where the White House is completely incapable of handling the various threats to basic American safety and security.

Yes, so go ahead and completely discount Ms. Page's comments. She's simply a FUBAR RWNJ. The truth is, the Obama administration has everything under control. It's all copacetic man.

Alison Lundergan Grimes Will Not Compromise Her Constitutional Right to Deny She Voted for President Barack Obama!

Because the Founders guaranteed the right to hide behind the "secret ballot" if you're a Kentucky Senate candidate who voted for President Obola.

She's seriously in contention for the worst candidate ever.

Truly mind-boggling.

From Mary Katharine Ham, at Hot Air, "Video: Alison Lundergan Grimes sticking with this whole my-vote-is-private shtick."

From Comedy to Farce

From Victor Davis Hanson, at Pajamas Media:

It was tragically comical that the commander in chief in just a few weeks could go from referring to ISIS as “jayvee” and a manageable problem to declaring it an existential threat, in the same manner he upgraded the Free Syrian Army from amateurs and a fantasy to our ground linchpin in the new air war. All that tragic comedy was a continuance of his previous untruths, such as the assurance that existing health plans and doctors would not change under the Affordable Care Act or that there was not a smidgeon of corruption at the IRS.

But lately the Obama confusion has descended into the territory not of tragedy or even tragic comedy, but rather of outright farce...

Keep reading.

Seattle Boots Columbus Day for 'Indigenous Peoples' Day'

I wrote on this earlier, and today's the day.

At NBC News:

Highway 73 Toll Road to Be Refinanced

I hate the toll roads. I avoid them like the plague, and I'm not the only one. Screw the transportation agency. They can suck on that debt until 2200 for all I care.

At LAT, "O.C. toll road to be refinanced again; drivers may be paying until 2050."

Go Navy!

Heh, just now on Twitter:

#239NavyBday RT @AdamBaldwin: #GoNavy! "For 239 Years, the @USNavy Has Stood the Watch!" - http://t.co/Cmrt8kvS0Y

— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) October 13, 2014

Penelope Cruz for Esquire Magazine November 2014

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have backed off from their attacks on Israel. That's good, especially since Ms. Penelope is one of the hottest of the hots.

See Egotastic, "Penelope Cruz Sweet Cleavage in Esquire Magazine November 2014."

Fire Rachel Maddow!

MSNBC's considering cancelling Ronan Farrow, which wouldn't be bad. But if you're going to can anyone it should be Rachel Maddow, the ultimate far-left hack whose show is a broken-record of GOP-bashing and tea party conspiracies. She's utterly ridiculous, and it shows in the ratings decline.

Here's the headline at Mediaite, "MSNBC Eyes Canceling Ronan Farrow Show Amidst Schedule Shakeup."

And see Ed Driscoll on the New York Times report on MSNBC's epic collapse, "MSNBC: ‘Dukakis After Dark’ Meets Groundhog Day."

@RogueStarGamez Biggest reason not to fear MSNBC? Nobody watches them. http://t.co/edwY7I2xDa @Int_Aristocrat @instapundit

— I Aim to Misbehave (@Aim2Misbhv) October 13, 2014

Richard Engel: #ISIS Hasn't Been Degraded at All

Of course not. Random pinpricks won't do jack.

Obama's national security policy continues to inspire no confidence whatsoever.



PREVIOUSLY: "Obama's Desultory Bombing Mission Won't Defeat #ISIS."

Fleet Week Air Show San Francisco (2014)

At Twitchy, "Amazing photos, videos of the Blue Angels in action from San Francisco’s Fleet Week."

PREVIOUSLY: "San Francisco Fleet Week."

One Killed, Two injured After Being Struck Amtrak Train at Gaviota State Beach

Just not smart.

Lots of trains rip through Santa Barbara County. And they were on the trestle with no escape.

At LAT, "Couples taking sunset picture hit by train; one dead, two injured."

Despite the Left's 'Tea Party Fear' Meme, Democrat Constituencies Most Scared of Ebola

If you look at the headlines at Memeorandum, you'd think the tea party was hunkering down in wilderness outbreak camps to guard against Ebola. Here's the headline at NYDN, for example, "Tea Party and fears of an Ebola outbreak go hand in hand."

But according to Pew Reports, it's traditional Democrat Party minority groups who're most likely to fear contracting Ebola. Here, "Blacks, Hispanics More Concerned about Exposure to Ebola."

And a summary at Big Government, "PEW: BLACKS, HISPANICS MORE WORRIED THAN WHITES ABOUT CONTRACTING EBOLA":

The poll, conducted Oct. 2-5, found that "nearly half of blacks (47%) and 39% of Hispanics say they are very or somewhat worried about being exposed to the Ebola virus," while "just 27% of whites are worried" about contracting Ebola.

In addition, "women (37%) are somewhat more concerned than men (27%) that they or someone in their family will be exposed to Ebola," and those with with lower levels of education are more worried about getting Ebola than college graduates.

Pew found that while 22% of college graduates are worried about getting Ebola, "34% of those with some college experience and 38% of those with no more than a high school diploma say they are worried."

It's not just fear of an "outbreak," as the NYDN piece suggests, but fear of personally contracting the disease that has Democrats most worried. So whenever you see depraved leftist spewing lies about tea party Ebola fear-mongering, tell them to go suck a discarded Liberian intravenous blood bag.

Republicans Seize on Terrorism as Campaign Issue, Debunking the Left's Narrative of Lies

The way the press criticizes any mention of the rash of beheadings, it serves only to infantilize the American electorate, and of course, protect the Obama White House. Censoring images of Americans being murdered by ISIS does nothing to protect the families. It does everything to protect the crumbling leftist narrative, which needs all the help it can get.

These are not "shocking" images and showing snippets of them in campaign ads is not disrespectful. The opposite Obama-Democrat meme is the big lie of the current campaign season.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Some Senate candidates seize on terrorism as campaign issue":

Far behind in the polls and in need of a bump, a Republican running for Senate in New Mexico recently turned to the image of the knife-wielding Islamic State militant who beheaded an American journalist, building a campaign advertisement that flashes on the horrific YouTube video.

The online spot, from the campaign of Allen Weh, a decorated Marine who served in Vietnam and later in Iraq, is perhaps the most brazen effort by Republicans to use the threat posed by the militants to gain traction with voters. But it is not the only one.

At a time when no single national issue is dominating midterm election campaigns, GOP candidates in several battleground states are seizing on public unease with President Obama's strategy for containing the terrorist group.

In Colorado and New Hampshire, Democratic senators are being badgered by TV ads showing gun-toting Islamic militants against a soundtrack of Obama's comments — including his remark in September that "we don't have a strategy" for the threat.

The attacks come amid voter unease with developments in the Middle East. During debates this week in North Carolina and Georgia, both key contests for control of the Senate, the U.S. response to the terrorists was the first question of the evening.

"The president has continued to fail and show a policy of peace through weakness," said Thom Tillis, the Republican speaker of the House in North Carolina who is trying to oust Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, during the debate in the military-heavy state. "This is a policy that needs to be on the ballot in November."

Also notice how the Times frames the issue as Republicans "struggling" and "grasping" for traction, when in fact public opinion polls have routinely found the public favoring more robust action to defeat the terrorists. Indeed, Obama's approval on national security has plunged to the low-30s in various surveys.

But hey, the leftist press will do anything to keep the flailing Democrat Party afloat. It's pretty pathetic.

Secret Transcripts Shed Light on J. Robert Oppenheimer's Communist Connections

At the New York Times, "Transcripts Kept Secret for 60 Years Bolster Defense of Oppenheimer’s Loyalty."

And after you finish that, see John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Spy? No. But a Communist Once? Yes."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

More at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Grim," and Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Roundup."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

My Bad! By Bad! Steve M. at No More Mister Is Not Bisexual — NTTAWWT!!

Well, I've got Steve M. trolling my comments section, telling me how "stupid" I am, for mistaking him with "Steven D" at Booman Tribune.

My bad! My bad! I wouldn't want to make stupid, dumb mistakes with the alphabet or anything, like this one, "Hey, 'No More Mister', It's 'Donald T. Sterling' Who Owns the #Clippers, LOL!"

So, to be absolutely clear (and he really wanted me to be absolutely clear, because, ahem, well tolerance), Steve M. is not bisexual, or homosexual, from what I gather --- not that there's anything wrong with that!!

No 'Troll Rights' on Twitter for Terrorist Jihadis

Heh, I guess the ISIS jihadis weren't pleased to find out they had no "troll rights" on Twitter.

At Breitbart, "TWITTER CEO: ISIS THREATENED TO ASSASSINATE ME FOR DELETING JIHADIST ACCOUNTS."

ISIS jihadists are just like leftist trolls, in that regard. They threaten to make your life miserable, if not kill you, if you deny they have a right to post at "public commenting systems." I mean really. Like Twitter and Blogger are "public commenting systems." But then, leftists like this smear conservatives as racist for standing up against jihad, so no surprise that Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is getting these death threats. Nothing --- nothing! --- is allowed to stand in the way of leftist-Islamist totalitarianism.

See also, "Imaginary ‘Rights’ You Don’t Have, You Sad and Disgusting Troll, Bill Schmalfeldt," and "The Definition of Cyberstalking."

RELATED: "Hi Donald Douglas: You Have a New Stalking Troll-Rights Follower Harasser @Repsac3 on Disqus."

Dow Erases Gains for the Year

Interesting stock market volatility this last week, perhaps a precursor of broader economic calamity? And we're barely out of the last recession, hmm.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Tumultuous Week Shatters Market Calm as Global Growth Fears Rattle Investors":

Global stocks tumbled on Friday, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average into negative territory for 2014 and shaking the confidence that many investors had clung to despite lackluster growth around the world.

A wave of selling in the final hour of trading on Friday left the Dow at 16544.10, down 115.15 points, or 0.7%. The blue-chip index fell 466 points, or 2.7%, for the week, its worst weekly performance since August.

The Dow rose or fell at least 1% on three separate days, a sign of the stomach-churning worries now spreading through global financial markets.

As big U.S. companies begin reporting third-quarter results, many investors fear that some firms will say weakening foreign markets and the strengthening U.S. dollar held down sales and could hurt future performance.

Another problem: Because stock-price valuations are high, many investors believe low interest rates and inflation, strong earnings and steady economic growth are needed to keep pushing stocks higher overall.

The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index fell 4.45% for the week, while the small-stock Russell 2000 index slumped 1.4% on Friday. It is down 13% from its March high.

This week’s most troubling news came largely from Europe, where surprisingly soft economic reports again raised the specter of recession. Germany announced unexpected weakness in manufacturing and exports.

Meanwhile, falling oil and industrial-metals prices are fueling fresh worries that China, a buyer of vast quantities of raw materials, might be slowing down more than previously thought.

“It is the dollar and exposure to foreign economies that are weighing on the market here right now,” said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, which oversees $4.5 billion.

Still, the Dow is down only 4.3% from its record in September. While many money managers worry that the volatility isn’t over, few expect a bear market, meaning a decline of 20% or more. So far in 2014, the Dow has slipped 0.2%...

More.

RELATED: "‘A Regular, Run of the Mill, Old Fashioned Normal Stock Market’."

Wendy Davis Starts Slow Walk-Back of Despicable Wheelchair Attack on Greg Abbott — UPDATE! Correction Appended!!

Check it out at Twitchy, "‘Tone deafness personified': Wendy Davis campaign begins soft backpedal on wheelchair ad."

The Davis campaign will be out with an apology on Monday, if not sooner.

Meanwhile, the hardened dead-soul leftists are defending the hate.

Congratulations, @WendyDavisTexas. Your "Look at the Cripple" ad gets the coveted @karoli endorsement: http://t.co/fZrjtht7LY
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) October 11, 2014

More at Treacher's Twitter feed.

And don't miss the "Faithful Bisexual" No More Mister, "A HARSH AD, BUT A VALID POINT."

Seriously, I have no words or these sad facsimiles of human life. Man.

CORRECTION: I confused "Steven D." with "Steve M." A thousand pardons! See, "My Bad! By Bad! Steve M. at No More Mister Is Not Bisexual — NTTAWWT!!"

LOL Logic from Heisenburger King

This is great, from Doug Ross, "THE LOGIC ZONE: Where No Democrats Dare to Tread."

The Capitalist Cure for Terrorism

From Hernando de Soto, at the Wall Street Journal, "Military might alone won’t defeat Islamic State and its ilk. The U.S. needs to promote economic empowerment."

An interesting piece, including a powerful argument about economic freedom and personal autonomy. I just don't think de Soto makes the connection to terrorism all that well. Islamists aren't primarily driven by poverty. They're driven by religious ideology. Wealthy or poor, contemporary Islam is about jihad, not greater economic empowerment.

Bwahaha! Cassandra Rules Gets Much-Deserved Tear Gas to the Face!! — #Ferguson #ShawShooting

I wish I could have seen it in person, lol!

That would have made a killer Vine, this stupid, disgusting racist bitch screaming in pain, mwahahaha!!

Here: "Super flattering right? I can open my eyes now. He got me at point blank range. Dead in my eyes. #ShawShooting."

She's obviously a bleedin' idiot and rank skankball. Here's the brain-addled (c-word) minutes before scoring a tear-gas cream pie in the face, lol!

Me. #FergusonOctober pic.twitter.com/yw7VgT3p9y

— Cassandra (@CassandraRules) October 11, 2014

San Francisco Fleet Week

I love this --- at Moscow by the Bay, lol!

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Fleet Week to open in S.F. with a roar," and "Fleet Week roars back with commission for newest assault ship."

Plus, from CBS News Bay Area, "Parade of Ships Makes It Way Under Golden Gate Bridge For Fleet Week," and "Sailors Crowd San Francisco Streets for Fleet Week Festivities."

#ISIS Black Flag Planted in Kobani

Horrible.

At IBD, "Obama's Feckless 'Strategy' Risks Kobani Slaughter."

Obama's Feckless 'Strategy' Risks Kobani Slaughter http://t.co/cvg7u6dsLI … via @IBDinvestors - pic.twitter.com/tBe7LwZkbS

— Daniel John Sobieski (@gerfingerpoken) October 11, 2014

Huntington Beach Asbestos Scourge Closes Schools, Angers Community

Yay!

Huntington Beach school kids exposed to cancer-causing agents! Way to go public bureaucrats!

I'm being sarcastic, lest anyone take offense. This is a freakin' nightmare.

At LAT, "Asbestos scare: Huntington Beach elementary school closed indefinitely."

Ebola Screening at New York's JFK Airport

Folks were kidding about the U.S. becoming the Ebola nation, but not so much now.

At NYT, "As U.S. Steps Up Fight, J.F.K. Begins Screening Passengers for Ebola."

Latinos Get Their Own National Park to Befoul with Dirty Diapers — #SanGabrielMountains

See Five Feet of Fury, "Finally: Latinos get a National Park of their very own that they can throw garbage around in."

And following the link, from Steve Sailer:

You know, it’s not really the Evil White Man who is throwing his muchachos’ disposable diapers in the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, as this 2012 Los Angeles Times article “An Alpine Creek that Reeks” (and accompanying reader comments) makes clear.

Well, Obama calls this outdoor diaper dumpster an "awesome natural wonder."

Figures.

He's using his "pen and phone" to help out the Hispanic Huggies demographic. What a dirtbag loser.

VIDEO: Black Thug Shoots Newlywed Soldier and Kills His Pregnant Wife, No Word from Leftist RACE-BAITERS!

Same --- and despicable --- as it ever was.

Via Clash Daily.

How Political Correctness Endangers Women

Well, PC totalitarianism endangers everyone.

But check out Bethany Mandel, at the Federalist:

Evil exists, which is unfortunate, but a reality nonetheless. And to acknowledge as much doesn’t blame either the victim or society at large. When women are harmed, it is not because a “rape culture” is embedded in our society. It’s because of the existence of evil. Denying the existence of evil does not erase it, just as denying the race of those responsible does not erase racism. It only serves to protect evil, allowing it to strike again. And that denial sets a frightening and dangerous precedent for any reporting, especially that of violent crime.

That quote doesn't quite do, ahem, justice, so RTWT.

And remember, the left's political correctness perpetuates crime, and THAT is evil.

Postcard from Britain: Immigration Is Hot Issue as Elections Approach

Well, better late than never, I guess.

At the New York Times, "As Elections Approach, a Desire To Roll Up the Welcome Mat":

LONDON — John O’Keefe, a neuroscientist at University College in London, brought pride to Britain last week when he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his discovery, in rats, of the brain’s “GPS” system. But Dr. O’Keefe, American-born, had some unwelcome criticism for his adopted country.

Britain’s efforts to restrict immigration have become “a very, very large obstacle” to hiring the best scientists, he said. “We should be thinking hard about making Britain a more welcoming place.”

That is precisely the opposite of the current mood in Britain, seven months before an election, where immigration, the economy and the health service are the hottest issues.

Before the elections in 2010, David Cameron, now prime minister, had vowed to reduce net migration to less than 100,000 a year by 2015, including migrants from within the European Union, which has a fundamental principle that all citizens may live and work in any member country. Home Secretary Theresa May wants to reduce the figure to tens of thousands.

But there is a long and awkward way to go. While the government has set targets, it has little control over the variables. In the year ended March 2014, the government reports, 265,000 non-European Union citizens moved to Britain, ending a steady decline since the recent peak of 334,000 in 2011. Net immigration to Britain from the European Union rose to 130,000 in the year through March, up from 75,000 two years ago.

Total net immigration in the year through March was 243,000. That is back up to the 10-year average of nearly a quarter of a million people, said Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch U.K., which advocates restrictions. “If allowed to continue,” he said, the population will increase by 12 million — two more Scotlands — in 20 years. “That’s huge,” he said, arguing that three-quarters of British voters “want to see it reduced.”

So immigration is a fertile topic for the right and for the nationalist U.K. Independence Party, which is squeezing Mr. Cameron, and it is so sensitive with voters that even the opposition Labour Party has little to say about it.

Thursday’s two by-elections were a warning shot for both parties. UKIP won the seat in Clacton-on-Sea by a large margin, as expected, after the legislator Douglas Carswell defected from the Tories to join Nigel Farage and UKIP. That was historic, because Mr. Carswell became UKIP’s first elected member of Parliament. But what really shook the ground was the by-election in Heywood and Middleton, near Manchester, when the UKIP candidate came within 617 votes of defeating the heavily favored Labour candidate in the Labour Party’s heartland.

By-elections are famous for protest votes that don’t usually carry over to the general election. But UKIP, an essentially English nationalist party, is making headway against both main parties on the issues of sharply reducing immigration and quitting the European Union... 

More at that top link.

Funny, but sometimes the journalistic standard of promoting balance is completely idiotic. Clearly, British elites --- uniformly pro-immigration, apparently --- just don't get it. Britain is Balkanized, crime-ridden, and rotting at the core from the progressive depravity of political correctness. The rank-and-file masses of traditional Britain have woken up to the poxy elite destruction of their once great nation. Ostensibly "right-wing" parties are making record gains, not just in Britain. The left will denounce these trends as "xenophobia" and "racism," but the fact is that basic decency and common sense are making a comeback. Such old-fashioned values scare the crap out of vile progressives. The traditional push-back is destroying the very platform of social destruction that is the essence of radical progressivism.

The Left: Destroying and Terrorizing America One Five-Year-Old Child at a Time

Another reason why radical leftism is the scourge of modern existence.

From Darleen Click, at Protein Wisdom, "School officials abuse 5 year old who drew something resembling a gun":

Bullying kids into believing there is no such thing as gender: Good Terrorizing kids about drawing guns or engaging in any fantasy play about weapons: Bad and needing psychiatric “help.”

Tar, feathers and a rail just doesn’t seem to enough to visit upon these child abusers.

Click through for the full report.

The Obamas Have Brought Nothing but Disease, Disgrace, and Deceit — And Then Some...

Going around on Twitter:

Alison Lundergan Grimes 'Disqualified Herself' by Refusing to Admit She Voted for Obama

Can't get away from Barack "Fart Face" Obama fast enough.

At Truth Revolt.

Bwahaha! Dems Can't Get Away from Obama: He's Like a Fart on an Elevator!

OMG this is freakin' hilarious --- and too true lol!!

Via People's Cube:

Dems move away from Obama but they have nowhere to run. He's like a fart in an elevator. http://t.co/ScentzI15A #TCOT pic.twitter.com/v5tn0qPc7J

— The People's Cube (@ThePeoplesCube) October 11, 2014

PREVIOUSLY: "Alison Lundergan Grimes Won't Say If She Voted for Obama."

Kay Hagan Missed Armed Services Committee Hearing to Attend Fundraiser (VIDEO)

Alas, she's not as vulnerable as I had hoped. But God willing she'll still be dumped out on her ass by election day.

At Free Beacon, "Hagan Confirms Attending NYC Fundraiser Over Islamic State Hearing."

Democratic Party's Turnout Problem

I noted the engagement gap the other day, which is going to hurt the idiot Dems, "Voter Engagement Lower Than in 2010 and 2006 Midterms."

And now here's this, at the Hill, "Turnout fears mount for Dems":

The Democratic Party's worst fears about the midterm election look to be coming true.

Polling in recent weeks suggests turnout on Election Day could be very low, even by the standards of recent midterms. That’s bad news for Democrats because core groups in the liberal base are more likely to stay home than are people in the demographic segments that lean Republican.

A Gallup poll last week found that voters are less engaged in this year's midterms than they were in 2010 and 2006. Only 33 percent of respondents said they were giving at least “some” thought to the upcoming midterms, compared to 46 percent in 2010 and 42 percent in 2006. Even more troubling for Democrats, Republicans held a 12-point advantage  when those paying “some” attention were broken down by party.

Historically, the core Democratic constituencies of young people, minorities and single women are more likely to skip voting in midterm elections. The current projections suggest that months of effort by the Democratic Party to engage those groups on issues such as the minimum wage and women's pay may have been in vain.



If the numbers hold, it could mean a rout for Democrats similar to the 2010 "shellacking" — President Obama’s description — that swept away their House majority.

"We cannot have 2010 turnout. If we have 2010 turnout among our key constituencies, we're going to have 2010 all over again. It's math," said Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher, who served as a pollster for President Obama's election campaigns.

More. (Via Memeorandum.)

Also from Martin "Not Dead" Longman, at the Washington Monthly, "If an Election Happens in the Forest and…" (Also via Memeorandum.)

America Is 'War on Women' Weary

From Kim Strassel, at WSJ:

Colorado Sen. Mark Udall has been called a lot of things, but the nickname highlighted during his Tuesday debate with Republican Cory Gardner deserves some meditation. “Mr. Udall,” said the female debate moderator, “your campaign has been so focused on women’s issues that you’ve been dubbed ‘Mark Uterus’ . . . Have you gone too far?”

Don’t tell Harry Reid , but the “war on women” theme is losing political altitude. Don’t tell the entire Democratic Party, in fact, which this year chose to elevate this attack—that Republicans are hostile to women—to the top of its political strategy. Mr. Reid spent most of the past year holding Senate show votes (on “equal” pay or the Violence Against Women Act) designed to give his candidates further political ammunition. Democrats by some estimates have already devoted as much as 60% of their $120 million in midterm TV advertising to the “war on women”—claiming Republican candidates are anti-birth-control, anti-women’s-health, anti-reproductive rights, anti-equal pay. Even Republicans at the height of anti-ObamaCare fervor were never so monomaniacal.

When a party throws $70 million at an issue, it will move the voter dial. Yet what’s remarkable is how little that dial is moving for Democrats compared with past elections. In Colorado, where Mr. Udall and his allies have beaten the “war on women” drum harder than any campaign, the most recent poll, from Quinnipiac, shows Mr. Gardner down by only three points among women. Colorado Republican Ken Buck, who failed in a Senate bid in 2010, lost women by 17 points.

New Fox News state polls show the same everywhere. Alaska Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan is losing women by five points. In Kentucky, GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell is down among women voters by two points—and he’s running against a Democratic woman. Republican Tom Cotton in Arkansas is outright tied among women against Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor.

Credit for these tight margins goes partly to the GOP, which after too many thrashings finally came into an election with a counter-strategy. The National Republican Senatorial Committee put a new premium on picking nominees talented enough to avoid saying stupid stuff. This was no small task, given the media’s obsessive focus in interviews and debates on social issues, and thus the endless potential for Republican error. Less than a month from Election Day, the GOP has yet to suffer a Todd Akin moment.

Republican candidates have also gone on offense. Mr. Gardner (as well as a half-dozen other GOP Senate candidates) flummoxed the left with his support for over-the-counter birth control. The position has helped inoculate him from Democratic assaults. Republicans still could—and should—do more to highlight Democratic extremism on social issues. Mr. Udall, for instance, recently refused to say he was opposed to sex-selective abortions, meaning he’s apparently not against terminating girl babies solely because they are girls. War on women?

Mr. Udall’s race offers another insight into the Democrats’ diminishing war-on-women returns. Women are open to a bit of fear-mongering about Republicans, but they are less sure about a Democrat who can’t talk about anything else...

Exactly. Look squirrel!

More at that top link.

Alison Lundergan Grimes Won't Say If She Voted for Obama

Via Legal Insurrection, "Alison Grimes: Stop asking me if I voted for Obama."

Abortion Barbie Goes There

See Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "The worst campaign ad ever?":

It’s simply stunning in its sheer desperation. It’s so bad that I’m writing this post at nearly 11 pm in Rome to make sure it goes up on the site tonight. This isn’t just a bad campaign ad — it may very well be the worst, most cynical campaign ad ever. And the award goes to Wendy Davis, who’s about to get trounced by Greg Abbott, and this shows why:

After getting justice for himself, Greg Abbott spent his career denying that same justice to other victims. WATCH: http://t.co/KpuBJdU5fa

— Wendy Davis (@WendyDavisTexas) October 10, 2014

RTWT.

And don't miss Twitchy, "‘Eff it, let’s go after the cripple’: You have to see Wendy Davis’ new attack ad [video]." Be sure to follow the links for additional posts.

A perfect representation of Democrat Party depravity. So, when will top party officials and office holders denounce Wendy Davis and her abject hatred for the disabled? I'm not holding my breath. This is a feature, not a bug.

Rosie Jones Returns to Zoo

Well, she's making the most of her modeling career, and good for her. The U.K.'s totalitarian feminists already succeeded in getting Nuts shut down. More power to Zoo.



PREVIOUSLY: "Rosie Jones' First-Ever Zoo 'Shoot."

News Generation Gap

A rhetorical question, via Nieman Lab:

Is there a news generation gap? http://t.co/xx5PaRTVhD pic.twitter.com/Ce9t5f5xVu

— Nieman Lab (@NiemanLab) October 9, 2014

Of course there's a news gap. I'm frankly surprised young people read news websites at all.

Here's the Left’s Secret Plan to Turn America Into Sweden

From James Pethokoukis, at AEI.

The Republican Party Remains the Natural Repository of the Values Espoused by Abraham Lincoln

From Richard Brookhiser, at the Wall Street Journal, "Freedom, Hard Work and the Party of Lincoln":

Every February, local Republican parties celebrate Lincoln’s birthday, complete with costumed re-enactors reciting the Gettysburg Address. It is one of the charming rituals of American politics, half playful, half earnest and all homemade.

Better than dressing up like Lincoln is thinking seriously about his ideas. Much of Lincoln’s career was consumed by issues that—thanks largely to him—are long gone: We will never again argue about slavery in Kansas. But his principles are forever relevant: his love of freedom; his belief in work as the means of self-fulfillment; his devotion to America’s founders and their great documents. The Republican Party, which he helped found and which backed him loyally through the Civil War, is the natural repository of his legacy.

Lincoln’s greatest achievement, along with preserving the Union, was extinguishing American slavery. He won the presidency in 1860 on a pledge to stop slavery from expanding into new territories; in January 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves of rebels; the 13th Amendment, approved by Congress in January 1865 with his support, abolished slavery nationwide. As a result of his efforts four million bondmen and -women were freed.

But Lincoln believed in freedom as a universal right, “applicable,” as he put it in 1859, “to all men and all times.” Lincoln thought liberty and tyranny were locked in an age-old struggle. He repeatedly linked slavery to older forms of despotism. “A king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation,” he said in his 1858 debates with Stephen Douglas, was animated by “the same tyrannical principle” as “one race of men . . . enslaving another race.” But Lincoln’s comparison applies equally to the modern metastasized state.

Lincoln understood the necessary limits of democratic government: The people could become their own oppressors if they endorsed tyranny. If a “man governs himself that is self-government,” he said in 1854, “but when he governs himself, and also governs another man, that is more than self-government—that is despotism.”

Lincoln’s faith in freedom was bound up with his views on work. Lincoln rose from frontier subsistence farming to the professional middle class by his own efforts. As a teenager he resented his father, Thomas Lincoln, for hiring him out as an unpaid laborer, as if he were a horse or a plow. As a young adult he tried a variety of jobs to support himself, from blacksmithing to surveying, until he finally taught himself the law. Lawyers could make good money in early-19th-century America, but it was never easy. Twice a year Lincoln traveled Illinois’ 8th judicial circuit (approximately the size of Connecticut) to earn fees from criminal cases and small claims. He also argued for railroads, the big businesses of the day....

Lincoln claimed to be preserving the Founders’ handiwork. Their principles were his; his solutions fulfilled their aims. In the Gettysburg Address, he called, not for a birth of new freedom, but “a new birth of freedom”—the Founders’ freedom, cleansed by removing the stain of slavery. For Lincoln the road to America’s future always began in its past...

RTWT.

Brianna Wu Goes Into Hiding — #GamerGate

Remember from last month, "FEMINIST BULLIES TEARING THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY APART."

It's Milo Yiannopoulos, and I agree with his commentary, for the most part. And then I see stuff like this and don't know what to think.

Can't keep up with everything:

8chan/#gamergate just doxxed me, posting all kinds of personal information about me. Guys, THIS is the war on industry women. Wake up.

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) October 11, 2014

And, here's the part of the night where I call the police. pic.twitter.com/uMByxBEtYz

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) October 11, 2014

The police just came by. Husband and I are going somewhere safe. Remember, #gamergate isn't about attacking women. pic.twitter.com/ZU6oEVxMGL

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) October 11, 2014

RELATED: FWIW, from Laurie Penney, "WHY WE’RE WINNING: SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS AND THE NEW CULTURE WAR."

And then back to Yiannopoulos, "HOW TO LOSE A PUBLIC RELATIONS BATTLE ON THE INTERNET."

Maybe Robert Stacy McCain can figure it out?!!

Bwahaha!! Jimmy Carter Relinquishes Title of Worst President Ever!

To Barack Hussein Obumbler, lol.

PAST PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER HANDS OVER HIS TROPHY 2 PRESIDENT OBAMA!! #tcot #ccot #pjnet pic.twitter.com/WqvDpk95F8

— DR. TWEET, Ph.D. (@Callisto1947) October 11, 2014

More at the Other McCain, "Obama’s Failed Presidency."

Charles Krauthammer: Obama's Sad Approval Numbers Drag Down the Democrats

From the one and only Krauthammer:

Fifty-Two Percent of Americans Say Republicans Will Win Control of the Senate

Yeah, well, it's not looking to good for the Ebola Democrats.

At Gallup, "Slim Majority in U.S. Expect Republicans to Win the Senate":

Partisans on both sides show signs of wishful thinking when assessing which party will win control of the U.S. House and Senate this fall. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats interviewed in the Sept. 25-30 survey say their own party will win the Senate -- not an unreasonable conjecture given that Democrats currently control the upper chamber and would need to lose a net of six seats to lose the majority. But the slight majority of Democrats, 51%, also believe their party will win in the House -- an outcome out of step with the Republican gains most pundits are expecting.

Likewise, despite the closeness of several races that Republicans must win if they are to gain control of the Senate, the vast majority of Republicans, 76%, are optimistic the Republicans will take the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, 87% of Republicans believe the Republican Party will control of the House, possibly reflecting their awareness that their party already has a firm hold on it.

The more objective predictions may be those made by political independents, which mirror the national averages. More than half of independents predict Republicans will win the Senate, and a solid majority -- 61% -- say Republicans will win the House.

Democrats Prepare for World Without Obama

Outstanding analysis, from Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Dems Prepare for World Without Obama":

A world without Obama is terra incognita for a Democratic Party that must prove it can win a victory without the aid of a boogeyman like George W. Bush or a hope-and-change messiah. Moreover, eight years of a largely failed presidency has altered the political landscape just as much as the changing demographics. Next month we will get the first indication whether Democrats are equipped to deal with that dilemma. If the polls that currently give the GOP an edge are any indication, they might not like the answer.

Heh, "hope-and-change messiah."

Ain't it the truth.

The Left Looks to Legalize Incest Between Consenting Adults

Heh, the next frontier in equality.

Shoot, let siblings get married. Why should your bigotry hinder other people's happiness? Indeed, hey, as long as it doesn't harm your marriage, what's to object?!!

At Truth Revolt, "HuffPo Gay Voices Asks 'Should Incest Between Consenting Adults Be Legalized?'"

RELATED: From David Harsanyi, at the Federalist, "I’m asking on what logical grounds can a person argue that gay marriage is okay but polygamy is not—or any other type of marriage?"

Malala Yousafzai Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Well, ahem, at least they picked someone who actually deserves it.

At the New York Times, "Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Children’s Rights Activists."

Voter Engagement Lower Than in 2010 and 2006 Midterms

It's gonna hurt the Dems.

At Gallup:

Usually, Republicans vote at higher rates than Democrats, and this is evident in higher scores for Republicans than for Democrats on the voter engagement questions, including this year. In fact, the Republican advantages on each of the three turnout measures at this point approach what Gallup measured in the strong GOP year of 2010 rather than in other midterm election years. As a result, even if overall turnout is depressed compared with prior years, Republicans appear poised to turn out in greater numbers than Democrats.

But be sure to RTWT.

2014's going to be different than previous elections, because voters don't expect polarization and government gridlock to end.

Fine by me. As long as the GOP shuts down the Obama-Dems, I'll be happy for a couple more years. Besides, I doubt 2016 will be a good year for the Democrats --- especially in foreign policy --- so Republicans can ride the 2014 momentum into the presidential election year. As the idiot Markos Moulitsas likes to say, crush 'em.

ICYMI, Don't Forget William Voegeli, 'The Pity Party: A Mean-Spirited Diatribe Against Liberal Compassion'

It's a good book.

Pre-order at Amazon.

Hold Obama and the Democrats Accountable for the Terrorist Threat

From David Horowitz, at FrontPage Mag:

Since 1945 Republicans have not won the popular vote unless national security was the primary issue. But security issues were virtually absent from the 2008 and 2012 elections. This gave victories to Barack Obama, the most anti-military president in American history. Fortunately, the prospects for 2016 are looking marginally better because Republicans are now actually focusing on the fact that an anti-military presidency has ominous consequences for the 300 million Americans whose safety is the primary responsibility of the commander-in-chief.

That said, there is much to be desired in the Republican message, which is tepid, diffuse and easily missed. When Politico wrote a story about the recent change in Republican strategy it was all about the shift away from the tax-cutting emphasis of recent years, rather than towards the national security issue.

So let me describe the reality we are actually facing, which is a necessary preface to the way the Republican Party should be framing its strategy and should be emphasizing the dangers of having a Democratic president like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton – or for that matter a Democratic Congress – leading us in wartime.

I will leave out of this wartime equation the threats from Russia and China, which Obama and the Democrats have done so much to foster. I will focus only on the threat posed by Islamic jihadists, who at this moment can easily penetrate the borders that Obama and the Democrats have done so much to wreck. And carry with them chemical and biological weapons, and – if Iran builds the bombs which Obama the Democrats have made almost inevitable – nuclear weapons as well.

This is easily the greatest terrorist threat in our history, far greater than what transpired before and after 9/11. ISIS, al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and other Islamic terrorist armies now control territory (and attendant resources) from Afghanistan through Iraq Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Somalia and other regions of Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Why has this happened? Because Obama and the Democrats have waged a ten-year war against the war on terror, against American military strength, against an American presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, and against the very idea that Islamic forces have declared war on us. For ten years Democrats have been determined to treat terrorists as individual criminals, arrest them and try them in American courts where they will have all the protections of the American legal system that they are seeking to destroy. So hostile has Obama been to the very notion of a “War on Terror” that he has purged the very term from the official government vocabulary and replaced it with “overseas contingency operations” which describes exactly nothing.

To create the power vacuum which Islamic jihadists have filled, Obama had to defy the advice of his Secretary of Defense and his intelligence advisers. He did this in part by absenting himself from nearly half his daily intelligence briefings, and in part by saying no to absolutely crucial measures that his military staff proposed for countering the threat from ISIS and other terrorist groups. Obama saw to it that America would relinquish its military base in Iraq (a country that strategically borders on Afghanistan, Syria and Iran) or to keep the 20,000 American troops stationed there as his Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff urged him to do.

Obama hated the Iraq War so much that he was willing to betray all the American soldiers who gave their lives to keep Iraq out of the clutches of Iran and safe from the terrorist threat. If Obama had just listened to the advice of his military staff, there would be no ISIS today. Obama’s deliberate, calculated surrender of Iraq (and soon Afghanistan) and failure to stop Syria’s Assad when he crossed Obama’s red line is the greatest and gravest dereliction of duty in the history of the American presidency.

And make no mistake, Obama was not alone. For ten years the Democrats have been sabotaging the war on terror, beginning with their disgraceful scorched earth campaign against President Bush and the War in Iraq and continuing with their full-throated cry for the abandonment of Iraq after Bush had won the peace and contained the terrorist threat. Their support for Obama’s appeasement of Iran and Hamas, his support for the Muslim Brotherhood, and his diplomatic assault on Israel, America’s only true ally in the Middle East, is not only a national disgrace but the heart of the crisis that is looming on the international horizon.

If Republicans fail to articulate the sources of this crisis, and specifically to indict Obama, Hillary and the Democrats for their betrayal of America’s interests and their failure to protect the American people then Republicans electoral prospects will be dim, and with them, their country’s future.

Leftists Having Second Thoughts on 'Affirmative Consent' Laws

From KC Johnson, at Minding the Campus, "Liberals Begin to Doubt the New Anti-Rape Laws."

Blood Moon

At WSJ, "Photos: Total Eclipse of the MoonLunar Eclipse Brings ‘Blood Moon’ and Shadows to Asia, Americas."

Photos: A total lunar eclipse brings a ‘blood moon’ and shadows to the night's sky: http://t.co/9qSBVhoGwJ pic.twitter.com/GdlPrsNAXh
— WSJ Photos (@WSJphotos) October 8, 2014

Dodgers Failures Go Right to the Top

From Bill Plaschke, at the Los Angeles Times, "There's enough blame to go around for this Dodgers debacle":

From ownership on down, the Dodgers failed their fans and themselves...changes, big changes, are surely coming...

— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) October 8, 2014

For the 26th consecutive Dodgers season, the World Series won't be coming to town, and something needs to be said, and those words need to intially be about Walter and the ownership group, for this massive failure begins with them.

Guggenheim [Baseball Management] shamelessly hid the Dodgers from their fans this summer with a money grab from Time Warner Cable that prevented the team from being on television in 70% of Los Angeles households. Yet, for all the riches of that $8.35-billion contract, they refused to allow the trading of prospects for one simple arm that could have saved the Dodgers in October.

An effective starting pitcher would have prevented Kershaw from throwing Tuesday on three days' rest in a game in which he wearily gave up Matt Adams' three-run home run on his 102nd pitch.

An effective middle reliever would have allowed Manager Don Mattingly to relieve Kershaw not only before Adam's home run, but also before Matt Carpenter's three-run double sank Kershaw in the seventh inning of the series opener.

The team with the richest payroll in baseball history turned out to be a beautifully detailed Cadillac without any tires, a $240-million clunker that couldn't even finish the first October lap.

The failure continues with the baseball people, and that means General Manager Ned Colletti, who sat on a couch in the clubhouse early Friday evening and winced.

"It's always hard when you don't win,'' he said. "It tears me up.''

Colletti will take most of the heat here for failure to work within his bosses' philosophical constraints to somehow put together a group of decent relief pitchers. He is the one who rested the bullpen's future in the veteran arms of former All-Star closers Brian Wilson, Brandon League and Chris Perez, yet only two of the three even made the postseason roster, and neither Wilson nor League were trustworthy enough to use.

"It wasn't our bullpen that cost us this series," Colletti said. "Could they have been better? Sure, but when you have left-handed Cardinal hitters doing what they do, that's unreal.''

More.

Mia Farrow Waved a Greased Palm in Chevron Ecuador Case

At IBD:

Mia Farrow's Greased Palm http://t.co/RYATeawbG4 #tcot #tlot

— IBDeditorials (@IBDeditorials) October 7, 2014

Rackets: Celebrities have weighed in on lefty causes since Jane Fonda climbed atop the North Vietnamese gun. But new revelations about Mia Farrow dipping her palm in Ecuadoran oil — and cash — pretty well show what's going on.

It would probably be bearable to hear the vapid, views of Hollywood's finest if it were just a matter of stupid people issuing their opinions.

But when opinions become far-left activist causes and would not even be issued were it not for Third World dictatorship cash, then something else is going on.

Call it greased palms. The candidate for scrutiny who stands out, but isn't alone, is Mia Farrow, whose talent agency took $188,000 from the government of Ecuador, a supposedly neutral party in the dirtiest shakedown of a corporation ever attempted, the $9.5 billion lawsuit by activist NGOs against Chevron, over pollution in Ecuador it had nothing to do with.

Farrow took the cash and joined a celebrity cavalcade of supporters to dip her hands in what was probably Ecuadorean state company oil, waving them around and blaming Chevron for the spill on camera.

It was money well spent for the now-exposed plaintiffs, which forced Chevron to spend untold millions to defend itself against false charges that were subsequently thrown out by a U.S. judge as 100% fraudulent.

Farrow, on her Twitter feed, has insisted that she was just presenting her views and taking her speaking fees.

But she certainly didn't disclose the cash she took as performed her stunt, and it was only by Washington Free Beacon's digging and coverage by the New York Post this week that brought this act to light...

And don't miss Twitchy, "Mia Farrow under fire for role in defrauding Chevron of billions."

Dana Loesch Slams 'Douchebag' Critics of School Choice Decision

She's hilarious!

.@DLoesch makes a statement about homeschooling in an address to douchebags: http://t.co/wl0gKr4dum #DailyDana

— Dana (@DanaTheBlaze) October 8, 2014

Barack Obola

Via Czar Zellum:

I'm Barack Obola and I approve this ebola. @TwitchyTeam pic.twitter.com/ySfmNbootF
— 1984 BARACKOLYPSENOW (@CzarZellem) October 8, 2014

'If the election was held today, the Republicans would control the U.S. Senate...'

Here's Bret Baier, for Fox News, on new polling out from Anderson Robbins Research and Shaw & Company:



More, "Fox News Polls: Senate battleground races trending GOP, Roberts up in Kansas."

Obama Ebola Bumper Stickers Appear Around Los Angeles

I haven't seen one of these yet, but you gotta love it.

At Truth Revolt.

Doe-Eyed Jen Psaki Can't Find Successes of Iraq Security Forces in Her Notes

From Pamela Geller, "VIDEO: Obama’s Foreign Policy Successes":

If there was ever a video that summed up Obama’s presidency in a minute or less, it’s this one.

Stock Market Volatility

At WSJ, from this morning, "U.S. Stocks Tumble on Global Growth Worries: Dow Industrials Post Biggest One-Day Decline Since End of July."

And then after today's closing bell, "U.S. Stocks Rally After Fed Minutes: FOMC Minutes Point to Caution on Interest Rates":

Financial markets gave investors a case of whiplash Wednesday, as stocks and bonds surged and the dollar fell on news that suggested the Federal Reserve may move more cautiously raising interest rates.

The rally, which took stocks to their biggest gains of the year on heavy trading, reversed a 273-point selloff Tuesday sparked by worries about an economic slowdown in Europe.

A day later, some of the same factors—the eurozone’s sluggish growth and the strong dollar—unexpectedly provided the fuel for a rally as the minutes from the Fed’s latest policy meeting in September showed more focus on slowing growth overseas and lessening inflation pressures.

In recent weeks, financial markets have seesawed on changing expectations for the timing of any interest-rate increase by the Fed. While most investors expect the Fed to hold off until June of next year, the chance that the central bank could move sooner has at times spooked investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 274.83 points, or 1.6%, to 16994.22, its largest point and percentage gain since December. The S&P 500 jumped 33.79 points, or 1.7%, to 1968.89, its strongest gain in nearly 12 months...

More.

Voter Anger, Anti-Incumbent Sentiment Portend Electoral Wave

It's an unusual environment this year. It's going to be an amazing election night, less than a month away now.

From Josh Kraushaar, at National Journal, "Bracing for a Political Wave":

This pervasive anti-Washington sentiment is a major reason why the Democrats' Senate majority is so tenuous. Incumbency is the party's bulwark, with strategists hoping that embattled senators will be able to utilize their well-defined brands to withstand a difficult environment. History would give them some comfort on that front. But 2014 is looking like it's no ordinary year. While Republican politicians bore the brunt of voter anger during the primaries, that same antipathy could cost Democrats in November.

VIDEO: Surveillance Camera Captures Mountain Lion on Top of Car in San Jose

I really don't want to bump into one of these big cats.

At KABC-TV Los Angeles, "SURVEILLANCE VIDEO CAPTURES MOUNTAIN LION ON SAN JOSE HOMEOWNER'S CAR."

Heteronormative Patriarchy is the Ultimate Slavery!

Another great piece, from Robert Stacy McCain, "What’s Up at Bryn Mawr?"

"Bryn Mawr, where lesbianism is certainly en vogue if not yet de rigueur." http://t.co/BwWhBRWp7z #feminism #tcot cc @ericowensdc

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) October 8, 2014

Kangaroo Fight!

Via CBS News This Morning:

Dallas Ebola Patient Thomas Duncan Has Died --- For Real This Time!

Or, for real at least, if we can trust ABC News:

JUST IN: Texas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan has died
— ABC News (@ABC) October 8, 2014

PREVIOUSLY: "Report: Thomas Duncan Has Died; First U.S. Ebola Patient, Lied About Exposure to Disease - UPDATED!!"

MORE: All the big media outlets are reporting:

#BREAKING: Texas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan dies: hospital spokesperson

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) October 8, 2014

Thomas Eric Duncan, the Texas Ebola patient, died this morning http://t.co/9Wb7rHCNgR

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 8, 2014

BREAKING: Texas Health reports death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan: http://t.co/DhDJOW5Sdm

— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) October 8, 2014

Thoughts with the family of Thomas Eric Duncan. May he rest in peace.

— Kate Snow (@tvkatesnow) October 8, 2014

Majority of Americans See Obama as Failure

At the Hill, "Poll: Most see Obama as a failure."

And the piece cited IBD:

Obama hits a new low in the IBD/TIPP Presidential Leadership Index, while 53% say he's failing as president http://t.co/3vWG5SUN95

— IBDeditorials (@IBDeditorials) October 7, 2014