The Other America

From VDH, at the O.C. Register (via Blazing Cat Fur):

Germany’s first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, supposedly once said that there was “a special providence for drunkards, fools and the United States of America.”

Apparently, late 19th century observers could not quite explain how the U.S. thrived when, by logic, it should not. That paradox has never been more true than today.

The U.S. government now owes more than $18 trillion in long-term debt. Even after recent income tax hikes for the very wealthy and huge cuts in the defense budget, the Obama administration will still run an annual budget deficit of nearly $500 billion.

No government official dares to trim Social Security or Medicare. Everyone knows that both programs are fiscally unsustainable.

More than 11 million undocumented immigrants are residing in the U.S. as federal immigration law is reduced to a bothersome irritant. A record 92 million American citizens ages 16 and older are not working.

Red-state and blue-state animosities reveal a nation more divided than at any time since the 1960s – or perhaps the pre-Civil War 1850s.

The permanent bureaucracy is awash in serial scandals. The IRS, VA, GSA, NSA, ICE and Secret Service have all deservedly lost the public trust.

Congress suffers from overwhelming public disapproval. President Obama’s approval rating hovers just above 40 percent.

Our new foreign policy could be characterized as managed decline. Three defense secretaries have retired or resigned under Obama. Two of them, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, wrote memoirs in which they blasted the administration. From Russia to the Pacific to the Middle East, the world seems to be descending into the law of the jungle as the U.S. withdraws from its role as a global overseer of the postwar order.

The Michael Brown shooting illustrates seeming racial divides not seen in 50 years. Al Sharpton once was seen as a social arsonist and tax delinquent. Now he appears to be the White House’s most influential adviser on racial matters.

Student-loan debt exceeds $1 trillion. Six years of college has become the new normal. More than a third of the students who enter college never graduate.

In such a depressing American landscape, why is the United States doing pretty well?

Put simply, millions of quiet, determined Americans get up every morning and tune out the incompetence of their government. Instead, these quiet Americans simply go to work, pursue their own talents, excel at what they do and seek to take care of their families.

The result of their singular expertise is that, even in America’s current illness, the nation soars above the global competition.
Only in America can you find the sort of innovation, talent, legal framework and can-do attitude needed to invent and refine hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling. Just a few hundred thousand scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, oil riggers and skilled craftsman have revived the once-ossified oil industry for 320 million Americans.

The United States is not running out of fuels – as was predicted over the past 20 years. It instead has become the largest gas-and-oil producer in the world.

The epitaph for Silicon Valley is written each year. Its tech industry is copied the world over. Yet, seemingly each year a new American technical innovation sweeps the world.

Neither drought, nor cumbersome regulations, nor unfair trade practices have stalled American agriculture. U.S. farms – where less than 2 percent of the population resides – have never turned out so much safe, nutritious and cheap food that is feeding the world and earning America hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign exchange.

The U.S. military – in which fewer than 1 in 100 Americans serves – is facing record cuts. The Navy will have fewer ships than the American fleet of World War I. The Air Force and the Marine Corps are shrinking. Yet superb American forces continue to ensure that the United States and its allies remain safe. Neither Vladimir Putin’s Russia, nor the communist Chinese hierarchy, nor the Iranian theocrats are quite ready to take on the U.S. military.

America is not saved by our elected officials, bureaucrats, celebrities and partisan activists. Instead, just a few million hardworking Americans in key areas – a natural meritocracy of all races, classes and backgrounds – ignore the daily hype and chaos, remain innovative and productive, and dazzle the world.

Stocks Tumble After Weak Oil Forecast

At WSJ, "How Crude Oil’s Global Collapse Unfolded: Tracing the Plunge In Oil Prices Back to Texas":

Since the 1970s, Nigeria has sent a steady stream of high-quality crude oil to North American refineries. As recently as 2010, tankers delivered a million barrels a day.

Then came the U.S. energy boom. By July of this year, oil imports from Nigeria had fallen to zero.

Displaced by surging U.S. oil production, millions of barrels of Nigerian crude now head to India, Indonesia and China. But Middle Eastern nations are trying to entice the same buyers. This has set up a battle for market share that could reshape the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and fundamentally change the global market for oil.

On Friday, crude prices dropped to their lowest level in five years after the International Energy Agency cut its forecast for global oil demand for the fifth time in six months. That signaled to investors that the world economy would struggle in the coming year, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling by 315.51 points, or 1.8%, to 17280.83. That’s the Dow’s biggest weekly percentage loss in three years.

Since June, the IEA has cut its demand forecast for 2015 by 800,000 barrels, while it says U.S. oil output will rise next year by 1.3 million barrels a day.

The drop in global oil prices from over $110 a barrel to under $62 on Friday has been portrayed as a showdown between Saudi Arabia and the U.S., two of the world’s biggest oil producers. But the reality is more complex, involving Libyan rebels and Indonesian cabdrivers as well as Texas roughnecks and Middle Eastern oil ministers. It reflects both the surging supply of crude and the crumbling demand for oil.

And the oil-price plunge may not end soon. Bank of America Merrill Lynch says U.S. oil prices could drop to $50 in 2015.

The roots of the price collapse go back to 2008 near Cotulla, Texas, a tiny town between San Antonio and the Mexican border. This was where the first well was drilled into the Eagle Ford Shale. At the time, the U.S. pumped about 4.7 million barrels a day of crude oil.

In 2009 and 2010, the global economy improved, demand for oil increased and crude prices rose, creating a large incentive to find new supplies. In Cotulla and elsewhere, U.S. drillers answered the call. “There was, for lack of a better term, an arms race for oil, and we found a ton of oil,” says Dean Hazelcorn, an oil trader at Coquest in Dallas.


Today, two hundred drilling rigs blanket South Texas, steering metal bits deep underground into the rock. Once drilled and hydraulically fractured, these wells yield large volumes of high-quality oil; at the moment, the U.S. is producing 8.9 million barrels a day, thanks to the Eagle Ford and other new oil fields.

Americans aren’t pumping more gasoline or otherwise using up all that new crude, and under U.S. laws dating back to the 1970s, it has been almost impossible to export.

As a result, American refineries snapped up inexpensive crude from Texas and North Dakota, using it to replace oil from Nigeria, Algeria, Angola and Brazil, and almost every other oil-producing nation except Canada.

OPEC sent the U.S. 180.6 million barrels in August 2008, a month before the first Eagle Ford well; in September 2014, it shipped about half that, 87 million barrels. That is about 100 fewer tankers of crude arriving in U.S. ports. They went elsewhere.

For a long time, it seemed like the world’s growing appetite for oil would soak up all the displaced crude. By 2011 prices began to hover between $90 and $100 a barrel and mostly stayed in that range.

But earlier this year, another trend began to come into focus, catching Wall Street energy analysts and other market watchers by surprise. In March, many analysts predicted global demand for crude oil would grow by 1.4 million barrels a day in 2014, to 92.7 million barrels a day.

That prediction proved wildly optimistic...

More.

Feminists Try to Save the 'Rape Culture' Narrative

Good luck with that.

At the Other McCain, "As UVA Rape Story Falls Apart; Feminists Try to Save ‘Rape Culture’ Narrative."

ZoNation: Hands Up, Can't Breathe

Via Theo Spark:

Total Control with Joy Corrigan

At Maxim, "Joy Corrigan Can’t Sit Still."

Elizabeth Warren's 'Festival of Hypocrisy'

Here's Charles Krauthammer on Senator Warren's grandstanding for the 2016 presidential primaries.

Camarillo Springs Mudslides

More from the big "Pineapple Express" that tore through the Southland today.

At CBS News Los Angeles:

Bill Whittle's Firewall: The New Barbarism

He the best!

Orange County's Catherine Keefe, an Obama Supporter, Slams ObamaCare as 'Hurting My Family...'

A great personal essay, and eminently depresssing.

From Ms. Keefe, at the Washington Post, "I’m an Obama supporter. But Obamacare has hurt my family":

What Obamacare hasn’t eliminated is worry: We’re deeply concerned about our ability to get quality medical care from doctors we trust. The day may soon come when we can’t afford the plans our doctors accept, or we’ll have to wait hours to seen. Will the best doctors flock to a cash-only model? How long can a good doctor be satisfied with the $39.75 the insurance company paid her for my annual check up a few months ago?

We had thought that our work and businesses had paid us enough to live on in these older years — but we’re discovering we didn’t account for such dramatic increases in health care costs. Medical expenses already gobble up 20 percent of our income. In 2015, if we keep the same plans, our premiums will rise $95 a month. We have no choice to opt out of the required pediatric dentistry or maternity coverage we’ll never use, so we’ll eventually have to settle for less generous policies, with higher deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. My husband isn’t required by law to insure his one employee, though he feels it’s the right thing to do. As costs continue to rise, we may have to direct him to buy his own health insurance at his own cost.

We’ve already started the dance of enrollment all over again and are having a hard time finding partners. As I write this, the “Find a Provider” link on the Covered California website offers 2014 health providers, but not 2015, even though we’re shopping for 2015 insurance policies. Ditto Blue Shield. Administrators at our medical group won’t say yet if they’ll remain with Blue Shield. At least this year, we think we know the steps to the dance. Let the music begin.

A bleedin' nightmare. ObamaCare has objectively made healthcare in American worse.

But RTWT.

'I Am the Walrus'

From last night, while picking up my son from work, at the Sound L.A.

Peace of Mind
Boston
5:55 PM

Hitch a Ride
Boston
5:51 PM

Shake It Up
The Cars
5:41 PM

You're All I've Got Tonight
The Cars
5:37 PM

Dangerous Type
The Cars
5:33 PM

I Am the Walrus
The Beatles
5:21 PM

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
The Beatles
5:19 PM

Come Together
The Beatles
5:15 PM

Runnin' Down a Dream
Tom Petty
5:10 PM

Free Fallin'
Tom Petty
5:05 PM

REFUGEE
TOM PETTY
5:01 PM

Non-employment: The Vanishing Male Worker

This is kinda sad.

At NYT, "The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind":

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Frank Walsh still pays dues to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, but more than four years have passed since his name was called at the union hall where the few available jobs are distributed. Mr. Walsh, his wife and two children live on her part-time income and a small inheritance from his mother, which is running out.

Sitting in the food court at a mall near his Maryland home, he sees that some of the restaurants are hiring. He says he can’t wait much longer to find a job. But he’s not ready yet.

“I’d work for them, but they’re only willing to pay $10 an hour,” he said, pointing at a Chick-fil-A that probably pays most of its workers less than that. “I’m 49 with two kids — $10 just isn’t going to cut it.”

Working, in America, is in decline. The share of prime-age men — those 25 to 54 years old — who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s, to 16 percent. More recently, since the turn of the century, the share of women without paying jobs has been rising, too. The United States, which had one of the highest employment rates among developed nations as recently as 2000, has fallen toward the bottom of the list.

As the economy slowly recovers from the Great Recession, many of those men and women are eager to find work and willing to make large sacrifices to do so. Many others, however, are choosing not to work, according to a New York Times/CBS News/Kaiser Family Foundation poll that provides a detailed look at the lives of the 30 million Americans 25 to 54 who are without jobs.

Many men, in particular, have decided that low-wage work will not improve their lives, in part because deep changes in American society have made it easier for them to live without working. These changes include the availability of federal disability benefits; the decline of marriage, which means fewer men provide for children; and the rise of the Internet, which has reduced the isolation of unemployment.

At the same time, it has become harder for men to find higher-paying jobs. Foreign competition and technological advances have eliminated many of the jobs in which high school graduates like Mr. Walsh once could earn $40 an hour, or more. The poll found that 85 percent of prime-age men without jobs do not have bachelor’s degrees. And 34 percent said they had criminal records, making it hard to find any work.

The resulting absence of millions of potential workers has serious consequences not just for the men and their families but for the nation as a whole. A smaller work force is likely to lead to a slower-growing economy, and will leave a smaller share of the population to cover the cost of government, even as a larger share seeks help.

“They’re not working, because it’s not paying them enough to work,” said Alan B. Krueger, a leading labor economist and a professor at Princeton. “And that means the economy is going to be smaller than it otherwise would be.”

Keep reading.

Storm Slams Southern California

It's the so-called "Pineapple Express."

Whatever it's called, it's putting a serious dent in the California drought.

At LAT, "Live updates: Southland storm brings heavy rain, rockslides, flood warnings."

Plus, "Mudslides batter Southern California residents who suffered through fires," and "L.A. storm: Walkway falls on car; roof collapses."

Also at ABC7 Los Angeles ,"HEAVY RAIN PROMPTS FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR LA REGION."

The Left's War Against Justice and Peace

From David Horowitz, at FrontPage Magazine:

When rioters and “protesters” defend criminals and attack the police it is not a protest. It is an attack. When radicals and rioters defend the guilty and attempt to prosecute the innocent, it is not a protest. It is an attack. When they make race an issue when it is clearly not an issue, it is an attack. When whites are regarded as guilty before the fact and blacks guiltless even after the facts show they are guilty, it is not a protest; it is an attack. It is a calculated attack and the target is America, is us.

“No Justice, No Peace!” is the cry of modern lynch mobs. It means “Our Justice, Or Else” – or else we will burn your city down. Or else we will burn your system down. This is the agenda of the left in the streets and of their supporters in the White House and the Democratic Party:

“We are going to fundamentally transform the United States of America: your system of justice, your system of governance and your system of laws. If we can’t do that, we are going to burn it down.”

Conservatives need to stop dropping their jaws when progressives say “My mind is made up don’t confuse me with the facts” – and mean it. Conservatives need to recognize that the only facts that matter to progressives are the ones that justify their attacks. The mobs who have occupied our streets are not protesting injustice. They are a lynch mob demanding their due. They want officers of the law handcuffed and hung, and criminals (aka “political prisoners”) set free. They want honest juries disbanded, and racist judgments the rule.

Understand that our president and his chief civil rights officer, who are encouraging the “protests,” are racists, as is the Democratic Party which exerts monopoly control over every major inner city in America. Why else would Obama and Holder look to Al Sharpton, who is certainly the nation’s most prominent racist, as their chief adviser on race relations?

Al Sharpton is author of the fundamental transformation of the civil rights movement into a racial lynch mob, which took place decades ago. It probably began with the teenager Tawana Brawley, who accused white cops of raping her because she was afraid of being beaten by her mother when she failed to come home. Sharpton led the charge, whose self-appointed posses ruined these officers’ careers and lives. The progressive phrase of the day was: “Even if Tawana Brawley was lying, she was telling the truth.” (Because white men regularly raped black women – a bigger lie than Brawley’s own tall tale.)

Sharpton has made his career as a slanderer of whites in too many cases to list. Think only of the innocent Duke LaCrosse players whose careers and reputations he and his minions destroyed for a year while defending their criminal accuser who was black. Think of Paula Deen, who voted for Obama and gave millions of her self-made fortune to poor black children, but was falsely and successfully framed as a racist by Sharpton and Co., until her multi-million dollar empire lay in ruins. Nor are apologies ever necessary for black lynchers like Sharpton. There are probably more cases like this of whites who have been destroyed by black racists than there are of blacks being shot for being black by law enforcement officers. And there are surely a lot more cases of blacks being shot for being black by other blacks...

More.

Oh My! White Millennials Abandon Obama!

Now that's some hope and change!

At Gallup, "Obama Loses Support Among White Millennials":

President Barack Obama's job approval rating in 2014 among white 18- to 29-year-olds is 34%, three points higher than among whites aged 30 and older. This is the narrowest approval gap between the president's previously strong support base of white millennials and older white Americans since Obama took office.

Just look at this as a key barometer of how The One has alienated white America. If you can't keep the hipster Millenials, who can you keep?

More.

America's Worst Homosexual Power Couple

From Jamie Kirchick, at the Daily Beast, "The Rise and Fall of Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge, America’s Worst Gay Power Couple":

Contrary to the popular narrative, TNR did not “die” last week. Its demise as a thoughtful journal of liberal (in the classical sense of the word) thought was foreordained the day Hughes purchased the magazine. And the signs that he would destroy The New Republic as we knew it were clear for anyone willing to take off their ideological blinders. For behind the seemingly accomplished, smart, and creative prodigy that supposedly is Chris Hughes lies a deeply insecure man with few accomplishments to his name and a heavy burden to prove his self, not to mention net, worth. Hughes’s wealth and status owe little to his ingenuity as a supposed Facebook “co-founder” but rather his luck at being in the right place at the right time...

Heh.

RTWT.

Enhanced Interrogations Saved Lives

At the Wall Street Journal, "Ex-CIA Directors: Interrogations Saved Lives."

And ICYMI, "Andrea Tantaros is Awesome!"

LeBron James Puts Arm Around Duchess of Cambridge, Breaks Royal Protocol

At Telegraph UK, "Kate's reaction to LeBron James' royal protocol error" (VIDEO).

And the Los Angeles Times, "What did LeBron James do wrong while posing with the royal couple?"

People don't get it's not OK for LeBron James to slide his hand down Kate's waist not b/c she's a princess, but b/c she's a woman #feminism

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) December 9, 2014

Would it be OK for #LeBron to get all feely on another woman who didn't invite it, but Kate should suck it up because she's royal? WTF?

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) December 9, 2014

#LeBron doing *this* is not OK, not because Kate's a princess, but because she's a woman. #feminism pic.twitter.com/Pct1sY9kJY

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) December 9, 2014

Democrats Lost the South via Culture War and Elitism

They're such stuck up, contemptuous assholes.

From Timothy Carney, at the Washington Examiner.

The Death of OPEC

At Astute Bloggers, "$50 Per Barrel Oil Is Coming: 'OPEC No Longer Exists In Any Meaningful Sense'."

Andrea Tantaros is Awesome!

Ms. Tantaros' response to the left's CIA torture report is so dead on it's practically the last word you need to hear on the despicable Democrat traitors.

And this of course explains why the hate-addled, treasonous fever swamp progs have gone ballistic, at Memeorandum.

Here's the clip, on YouTube.

And here she is on Twitter, reporting on the left's predictably depraved attacks:

I can always tell when I'm hitting a nerve and some truth bc the lefty front groups send mass emails out for people to tweet me mean things.

— Andrea Tantaros (@AndreaTantaros) December 10, 2014

Americans will die bc of this memo while US becomes intel pariah. Progressives are children. They should never be trusted w natl security.

— Andrea Tantaros (@AndreaTantaros) December 10, 2014

Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7

On sale, at Amazon, Shop Amazon - Save $25 on the all-new Fire HD 7.

How the Nation is Failing Today's Troops and Veterans

At the Military Times, "America's Military: A Force Adrift":

For many of the war-weary troops who deployed to combat zones over and over again for 13 years, the end of an era of war in Iraq and Afghanistan is good news.

But for Marine Sgt. Zack Cantu and other service members, it's a total morale killer. For many of them, particularly the young grunts and others in combat arms specialties, it's the realization that they may never go into battle for their country and their comrades.

"Most people in [the Marine Corps] are in because of the wars," said the 25-year-old Cantu, a former infantryman at Camp Pendleton, California. Cantu has retrained as a telephone system and computer repairer, a specialty more likely to survive as the service downsizes.

"Now, everyone's coming to the realization, 'It's probably not going to happen for me,'" he said.

The wars against America's enemies gave troops like Cantu a noble purpose. Their training had focus, their sacrifices were appreciated by a largely grateful nation. That gratitude was reflected from the White House to the citizen in the street, all of whom heaped praise upon military members for their service.

Congress lavished generous pay increases and expanded benefits on them while spending deeply to provide the gear and weapons they needed. Recruiters raced to grow the size of the services, and society vowed to never again undervalue the 1 percent of the country who stepped forward to keep them safe.

Today, however, that gratitude seems to be dwindling. The services have weathered several years of deep cuts in funding and tens of thousands of troops have been unceremoniously given the boot. Many still in uniform and seeking to retire from the military fear the same fate, as those cuts are not yet complete.

A Military Times survey of 2,300 active-duty troops found morale indicators on the decline in nearly every aspect of military life. Troops report significantly lower overall job satisfaction, diminished respect for their superiors, and a declining interest in re-enlistment now compared to just five years ago.

Today's service members say they feel underpaid, under-equipped and under-appreciated, the survey data show. After 13 years of war, the all-volunteer military is entering an era fraught with uncertainty and a growing sense that the force has been left adrift.

One trend to emerge from the annual Military Times survey is "that the mission mattered more to the military than to the civilian," said Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University who studies the military. "For the civilian world, it might have been easier to psychologically move on and say, 'Well, we are cutting our losses.' But the military feels very differently. Those losses have names and faces attached to [them]."

Keep reading.

U.S. Losing Global Influence

On Obama's watch.

At IBD, "Obama Blamed for Decline In U.S. Global Leadership: Poll."

It's Almost Showtime!

Tonight's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show!

ObamaCare’s Casualty List

At WSJ, "Three elections later, the law continues to be a political catastrophe for Democrats":

Mary Landrieu ’s defeat in Saturday’s Louisiana Senate runoff was no surprise, but that doesn’t mean it should be ignored as inevitable. Ms. Landrieu was a widely liked three-term incumbent, and her GOP foe was hardly a juggernaut, yet she lost by 14 points after Washington Democrats all but wrote her off. Think of Ms. Landrieu as one more Democrat who has sacrificed her career to ObamaCare.

It’s hard to find another vote in modern history that has laid waste to so many political careers. Sixty Democrats cast the deciding 60th vote for the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010, but come January only 30 will be left in the Senate. That’s an extraordinary political turnover in merely three elections, the largest in the post-Watergate era. As it happens, the law has been nearly as politically catastrophic for Democrats as Watergate was for Republicans.

Three of the ObamaCare 60 died in office, while 19 declined to run for re-election. Some of the retirees left for reasons such as becoming Secretary of State ( John Kerry ), but others left because their own re-election prospects were hardly stellar. Think Chris Dodd of Connecticut in 2010 or Virginia’s Jim Webb in 2012. At least Democrats succeeded them.

Yet no fewer than eight of the retirees handed their seats to Republicans: They include Ben Nelson, of Cornhusker Kickback fame, who deprived his state of the pleasure of returning him to private life in 2010. After five terms, Jay Rockefeller was increasingly out of step with West Virginia, not least on ObamaCare. Max Baucus (Montana), Tim Johnson (S.D.) and Byron Dorgan (N.D.) would have had rough rides had they tried to stick around.

When they got the chance, voters dumped eight ObamaCare incumbents who dared to seek re-election. In addition to Ms. Landrieu, four are moderate-in-name-only Democrats who went along with President Obama ’s lurch to the left: Mark Begich (Alaska), Kay Hagan (North Carolina), Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor (Arkansas).

But conventional liberals like Russ Feingold (Wisconsin) and Mark Udall (Colorado) also lost in states Mr. Obama carried twice. In Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter left the GOP to vote for ObamaCare after Republican Pat Toomey announced he’d run against him in a primary. Specter, since deceased, lost the Democratic primary to Joe Sestak, who lost to Mr. Toomey in two degrees of ObamaCare separation.

Mr. Obama told Democrats at a March 2010 pep rally that he knew they faced “a tough vote” but was “actually confident” that “it will end up being the smart thing to do politically because I believe that good policy is good politics.” That month, New York Senator Chuck Schumer claimed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “by November those who voted for health care will find it an asset, those who voted against it will find it a liability.”

Mr. Schumer has since recanted, calling ObamaCare a disaster for the party of government. Nancy Pelosi said his remarks were “beyond comprehension,” which for liberals like her happens to be true. Their goal is to expand the entitlement state whether the public likes it or not, figuring that sooner or later enmity will subside and new programs will acquire a constituency. So it has always been in the Entitlement Age—until ObamaCare...

More.

RELATED: At Politico, "The Dems' Final Insult: Landrieu Crushed."

Bolstered by GOP Electoral Wins, Oil, Gas and Coal Lobbyists Plan Fresh Push Against Climate Rules

At WaPo, "Fossil-fuel lobbyists, bolstered by GOP wins, work to curb environmental rules":

Oil, gas and coal interests that spent millions to help elect Republicans this year are moving to take advantage of expanded GOP power in Washington and state capitals to thwart Obama administration environmental rules.

Industry lobbyists made their pitch in private meetings last week with dozens of state legislators at a summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an industry-financed conservative state policy group.

The lobbyists and legislators considered several model bills to be introduced across the country next year, designed to give states more power to block or delay new Obama administration environmental standards, including new limits on power-plant emissions.

The industry’s strategy aims to combat a renewed push by President Obama to carve out climate change as a top priority for his final two years in office. The White House has vowed to continue using executive authority to enact more environmental limits, and the issue is shaping up to be a major flash point heading into the 2016 presidential election.

With support from industry lobbyists, many Republicans are planning to make the Environmental Protection Agency a primary political target, presenting it as a symbol of the kind of big-government philosophy they think can unify social and economic conservatives in opposition...

More.

Obama Launches 'Profanity-Laced' Tirades Against the Media (VIDEO)

From Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Compton: Obama goes on profanity-laced tirades against the media that loves him."

Fewer Law School Graduates Pass California Bar Exam

Apparently, legal academics want to know why, but the entire piece avoids one explanation: it's likely more under-qualified minorities took the exam than in previous years.

At LAT, "Fewer law school graduates pass bar exam in California":

For the first time in nearly a decade, most law school graduates who took the summer California bar exam failed, adding to the pressure on law schools already dealing with plummeting enrollments, complaints about student debt and declining job prospects.

The 48.6% pass rate in California is a drop of nearly 7 percentage points from the previous year; nearly 8,500 people took the test in July. The last time the passage rate dipped below half was in 2005.

Many other states showed similar declines this year. It's unclear why the recent passage rates are so low, but they fell by at least 5 percentage points in 20 states.

The decrease in the number of law school graduates who pass the bar could make it more difficult for schools to attract applicants. As a result, administrators might have to offer further incentives to prospective attorneys, experts say.

Some schools have reduced tuition and increased scholarships, and some have cut staff. Still others are offering dual degrees in an effort to help graduates find jobs.

"Law school deans are in a particularly difficult situation these days," said Derek Muller, a professor at Pepperdine University who writes on the business of law.

The bar exam is offered twice a year, in July and February. The number of people who take the July test is traditionally far greater than in February. About 45% of test-takers passed the California bar in February.

Many academics say the drop isn't a concern — at least not yet. "We live in a sound-bite society, but one year does not make a trend," said Gilbert A. Holmes, dean of the University of La Verne College of Law...

More.

Rolling Stone's 'Rape Fantasies'

Via Instapundit, "Street Artist Sabo Blasts Lena Dunham, Bill Clinton in Fake Rolling Stone Covers."

And at American Digest, "Advance look at the cover of Rolling Stone's 'Rape Fantasies' Issue."

Los Angeles Fire May Have Been Arson

An update, at the Los Angeles Times, "Downtown fire may have been intentionally set":

Los Angeles fire officials said they are “inclined” to believe a fire that engulfed a massive residential development project downtown was intentionally set.

But until arson investigators can enter the wreckage, it’s impossible to determine the cause, which could take several days.

“Certainly one of the things we lean toward is 'was it intentionally set?'" LAFD Deputy Chief Joseph Castro said at a news conference Monday afternoon...

More.

PREVIOUSLY: "Massive Fire in Downtown Los Angeles Possibly Torched by Far-Left Radicals."

ADDED: "L.A. fire: Damage to 110 Freeway estimated at $1.5 million, at least."

Massive Fire in Downtown Los Angeles Possibly Torched by Far-Left Radicals

Here's the fire, at LAT, "L.A. fire: Huge blaze engulfs tower, melts signs, bursts windows."

And see Gateway Pundit, "BREAKING: TWO MASSIVE FIRES IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES! May Be Arson."

I hope everyone has Injustice and Revolution insurance because #LosAngeles is on fire #LAfire pic.twitter.com/d0Nc0QYXvo

— JAGO (@AirJago) December 8, 2014

Just driving through the #LAfire apocalypse. https://t.co/0DM70u3U42

— JAGO (@AirJago) December 8, 2014

Max Blumenthal 'gets his point across about the Jewish state being fundamentally evil with a couple of propaganda paragraphs that might as well have been published on Stormfront...'

From David Steinberg, at Pajamas Media, "NY Times Publishes Op-Ed by Anti-Semite Max Blumenthal."

Wild. Man.

Notre Dame's 'White Privilege Seminar' Designed to 'Disrupt Personal, Institutional, and Worldwide Systems of Oppression...'

It's not really an academic class. It's a training seminar for radical, race-mongering activists.

At the College Fix, "NOTRE DAME ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’ CLASS PROMISES ‘PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION’."

Rolling Stone Roundup on the Fallout

In no particular order.

At JustOneMinute, "If You Were An Early Reader of the WaPo UVA Rape Expose..."

And from Megan McArdle, "Rolling Stone's Rape Story Fails Victims."

Richard Bradley, "Aftermath." (A list of those who need to come clean and apologize for the hoax.)

At the New York Times, "Rolling Stone Cites Doubts on Its Story of University of Virginia Rape":

Sabrina Rubin Erdely "could not be reached for comment."

Also at BuzzFeed, "Rolling Stone Quietly Changes Its Rape Story Apology."

Plus, from Twitchy, "Feminist refuses to abandon the sinking ship Rolling Stone rape story."

From Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "WaPo media critic: Fire everyone associated with Rolling Stone’s UVa rape story."

And Glenn Reynolds on Politico's "fake but accurate" piece, "THE INEVITABLE “FAKE BUT ACCURATE” SPIN: “Ultimately, though, from where I sit in Charlottesville, to let fact checking define the narrative would be a huge mistake”."

73 Years After Pearl Harbor, Sacrifices Continue

Today's the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

At the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, "73 years after Pearl Harbor, the sacrifices for country continue":

On Saturday, flags flew at half-staff throughout Franklin County in honor of a newly fallen soldier -- Army Spc. Joseph "Joey" Riley of Grove City, Ohio. The death of the paratrooper and grandson of a World War II veteran -- who had been a popular local football player before he joined the Army 2 1/2 years ago, -- was a reminder that on this 73rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, brave U.S. service members are still putting their lives in jeopardy overseas...

More.

Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC Race-Mongering Hack: Arson and Looting 'Not Necessarily Violence...'

She's a bleeding idiot:



PREVIOUSLY: "With No Conception of the Importance of Property Rights to Liberty, Leftists Shocked at Condemnations of Ferguson Arson and Looting as 'Violent Protests'."

Berkeley Michael Brown Protest Turns Violent

Dirtbags, losers, and poseurs.

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Police use tear gas on Berkeley protesters."

Update: Police use tear gas on Berkeley protesters, six arrested after rowdy night http://t.co/ayvO9KgBqs pic.twitter.com/pnOQCSXasj

— SFGate (@SFGate) December 7, 2014

Also at the Los Angeles Time, "Berkeley protest ends in vandalism, clashes with police."

GOP Challenger Bill Cassidy Defeats Democrat Incumbent Mary Landrieu in #LASen

This is big.

Sen. Mary Landrieu’s defeat to Rep. Bill Cassidy gives GOP ninth pickup this cycle http://t.co/UUhkCP1lhm pic.twitter.com/I9AeXBuD3B

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 7, 2014

Good evening. Senator Landrieu has lost re-election in #LASen

— AoSHQ Decision Desk (@AoSHQDD) December 7, 2014

Wow this is a slaughter.

— AoSHQ Decision Desk (@AoSHQDD) December 7, 2014

Nothing from Orleans parish yet mind you, but this is total devastation. Think the elevator from The Shining.

— AoSHQ Decision Desk (@AoSHQDD) December 7, 2014

Orleans now coming in.

— AoSHQ Decision Desk (@AoSHQDD) December 7, 2014

And with it, the gap closes a little bit. Cassidy 170822 Landrieu 123100

— AoSHQ Decision Desk (@AoSHQDD) December 7, 2014

Why we had the parishes to watch- When we planned tonight we assumed a closer race. Typically, you can gauge the race with those three.

— AoSHQ Decision Desk (@AoSHQDD) December 7, 2014

But in a race of total destruction like this, just enjoy the map : )

— AoSHQ Decision Desk (@AoSHQDD) December 7, 2014

And Cassidy crosses the 100k margin.

— AoSHQ Decision Desk (@AoSHQDD) December 7, 2014

'It is hard to read an article like this and avoid the conclusion that we live in a culture that hates women, just hates us...'

This is pretty mind boggling, from Chloe Angyal, a "senior columnist at Feministing, with a Ph.D. in pop culture," praising Sabrina Rubin Erdely's rape hoax story at Rolling Stone.

At RCP, "MSNBC Panelist: "We Live In A Culture That Hates Women (VIDEO)."

I'll be on @MHPshow tomorrow. I'll stand by what I said last week: we live in a culture that hates women. Hates us, hurts us, silences us.

— Chloe Angyal, PhD (@ChloeAngyal) December 7, 2014

.@ChloeAngyal You're clearly not too bright.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 7, 2014

.@ChloeAngyal "I've got a Ph.D. in pop culture." Well, that really says it all, doesn't it?

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 7, 2014

It takes utter defeat a long time to sink in on the left. And especially in this woman's case. She's obviously special.

With No Conception of the Importance of Property Rights to Liberty, Leftists Shocked at Condemnations of Ferguson Arson and Looting as 'Violent Protests'

It's not just the far-left nutjobs at MSNBC who justify the anarchy in Ferguson as "social justice."

See the New York Times, "Police Killings Reveal Chasms Between Races":

FERGUSON, Mo. — In the decade that Ashley Bernaugh, who is white, has been with her black husband, her family in Indiana has been so smitten with him that she teases them that they love him more than her.

So Ms. Bernaugh was somewhat surprised by her family’s reaction after Darren Wilson, a white police officer here, killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. Forced into more frank discussions about race with her family than ever before, Ms. Bernaugh, 29, said her relatives seemed more outraged by the demonstrations than the killing, which she saw as an injustice.

“They don’t understand it’s as prevalent as it is,” Ms. Bernaugh said, referring to racial discrimination. “It’s just disappointing to think that your family wants to pigeonhole a whole race of people, buy into the rhetoric that, ‘Oh, these are violent protests.’ ”

It is as if Ms. Bernaugh, a nonprofit organizer living in the St. Louis suburb of Florissant, is straddling two worlds. In one, her black mother-in-law is patting her on the back, saying she is proud of her for speaking out against Mr. Brown’s killing. In the other, her white family and friends are telling her to quiet down because “you don’t know the whole picture.”

Isn't that just perfect?!!

Continue reading.

Chinese Beverly Hills

At LAT, "HOW ARCADIA IS REMAKING ITSELF AS A MAGNET FOR CHINESE MONEY":

Most Los Angeles architects are lucky if they complete two or three houses by their early 30s.

Thirty-one-year-old Philip Chan, who runs a firm in Arcadia called PDS Studio, has already seen more than 75 of his residential designs built across the San Gabriel Valley.

He's still not the best-known designer in Arcadia. That title belongs to Robert Tong, 54, founder of the equally prolific firm Sanyao International.

A growing architectural rivalry between the two men is a key part of a construction wave that is radically remaking Arcadia. Blocks that were once sleepy, with single-story ranch houses from the 1940s set comfortably back from the street, are now lined with bloated villas pushed near the front of their lots as if clamoring for attention.

Chan and Tong, whose names are featured in San Gabriel Valley real estate listings as prominently as Frank Gehry's is on the Westside, tailor their showy Mediterranean-style houses to appeal to wealthy Chinese buyers, many looking to park some of their money here or to enroll their children in American schools.

In the last year alone, more than 90 houses have sold for more than $2.5 million in Arcadia, a city of 56,000 that sits just east of Pasadena at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Prices in Arcadia are up more than 39% from their peak in 2007 before the housing downturn. The city, now 60% Asian, has become more expensive than Calabasas, the suburban enclave that is home to Justin Bieber and the Kardashians. It's become known as the "Chinese Beverly Hills."

What's happening in Arcadia is less about big new houses and startling sales figures than how new patterns of immigration are transforming the architecture of Southern California. New arrivals from China are not victims of change, as they were when Southern California's original Chinatown was razed in the 1930s to make way for Union Station.

This time around they're the ones with the economic power. The architectural landscape is being remade not to displace them but as a magnet for their money...

Interesting.

Keep reading.

Sabrina Rubin Erdely Still Has Rolling Stone Hoax Story Pinned to the Top of Her Twitter Feed

She does indeed --- and she hasn't tweeted for a week.

She's in some deep sh*t.

Rolling Stone contributing editor @SabrinaRErdely still has false #UVA rape story pinned on her Twitter account… pic.twitter.com/a3WvWJLpHI

— Mike Liberation (@mikeliberation) December 6, 2014

Downfall of the Social Justice Warriors

Heh.

On Twitter:

The parallels between the downfall of the SJW "reign of rape terror" (culminating in the RS fraud) and that of Robespierre are delicious.

— Josh Smith (@ThisIsJoshSmith) December 7, 2014

Hayley-Marie Coppin

Some Rule 5 for the evening, at Egotastic!, "Hayley-Marie Coppin in Pink Lingerie."

Police Kill White Male Suspect in Hollywood

At LAT, "Police shoot and kill man they say had knife in crowded Hollywood intersection popular with tourists."

Only a "white male," so forget about protests. Only #BlackLivesMatter. http://t.co/jmyoXp7yOA

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 6, 2014

Sheikhs vs. Shale: The New Economics of Oil

At the Economist:

THE official charter of OPEC states that the group’s goal is “the stabilisation of prices in international oil markets”. It has not been doing a very good job. In June the price of a barrel of oil, then almost $115, began to slide; it now stands close to $70.

This near-40% plunge is thanks partly to the sluggish world economy, which is consuming less oil than markets had anticipated, and partly to OPEC itself, which has produced more than markets expected. But the main culprits are the oilmen of North Dakota and Texas. Over the past four years, as the price hovered around $110 a barrel, they have set about extracting oil from shale formations previously considered unviable. Their manic drilling—they have completed perhaps 20,000 new wells since 2010, more than ten times Saudi Arabia’s tally—has boosted America’s oil production by a third, to nearly 9m barrels a day (b/d). That is just 1m b/d short of Saudi Arabia’s output. The contest between the shalemen and the sheikhs has tipped the world from a shortage of oil to a surplus...

Keep reading.

Erik Wemple on Rolling Stone's UVA Rape Story Debacle

A nice piece -- and a forthright excoriation of leftist media bias rarely seen in the mainstream press.

Heads should roll at Rolling Stone.

At WaPo, "Rolling Stone's disastrous U-Va. story: A case of real media bias."

American Hostage Luke Somers Killed During Rescue Attempt in Yemen

Well at least they tried to rescue the poor f-ker.

Damn.

At WSJ, "Luke Somers Raid in Yemen: How It Went Wrong; Hostages Were Mortally Wounded After Militants Were Alerted to Rescue Attempt."

More at Memeorandum.

Plus, at CNN, "American hostage killed in rescue mission."

'The New York City protests are being coordinated by hardcore far-left activists...'

Bill O'Reilly nails it.

From last night's Talking Points Memo, "Who Is Organizing the Racial Protests Breaking Out Across America? (VIDEO)."

PREVIOUSLY: "Video: New York Streets Flooded with Race-Mongering, Communist-Backed Protesters."

Nigella Lawsom Makes Saucy Return to 'The Taste'

She looked great!

At London's Daily Mail, "'I had no idea so much décolletage was on display - mortified!' Nigella Lawson makes a VERY saucy return to The Taste thanks to her low-cut dress."

One last thing: I had no idea quite so much décolletage was on display; mortified. On top of everything else

— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) December 5, 2014

How to Finally Kill #ObamaCare

A great piece from Randy Barnett, at USA Today.

This is some freakin' serious stuff.

CNN's Erin Burnett Chirps About How Far-Left 'Die-In' at New York's Macy's is 'Funny' (VIDEO)

It's not funny at all.

It's criminal trespass and disturbing the peace, at minimum. These idiot commies should be prosecuted. But the clueless Erin Burnett thinks it's freakin' hilarious!

She should be taken out at flogged, the worthless scumbag.

Victoria's Secret Exotic Traveler

Coming up next week!

'CBS Evening News' Covers Rolling Stone Rape Story Debacle

Here's the segment, "Rolling Stone backs away from U.Va rape story."

A pretty lame report, actually. It downplays the leftist lies that lead to hoaxes like this, and pumps up the meme that fewer women will report rapes because they'll be "attacked" as liars.

Well, thank the idiot hate-mongering leftists for that.

New York Racial Violence Protesters Lay Siege on Apple Store

Different day. Same bullshit moral bankruptcy.

.@USATODAY Moral reprobates and leftist idiots. But I repeat myself.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 6, 2014

Protesters storm the Apple store on Fifth Avenue and stage "die-in" http://t.co/yrnrPBRR92 pic.twitter.com/uJg67mCzsM

— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) December 6, 2014

On the Way Out, Mary Landrieu's Fighting Dirty, Peddling Lies and Racial Animosity

Well, she's a Democrat. They're dirty disgusting liars and political hacks.

From John Fund, at National Review, "Landrieu’s Ugly Exit."

Also at RCP, "Louisiana Senate Runoff: Cassidy Up 20 Points."

Social Justice Kills

Via Twitter:

Because #SocialJustice hurts everyone. pic.twitter.com/mUVP8ycGX7

— StacyFace (@StacyOnTheRight) November 28, 2014

Orion Flight Test

At NASA, "NASA’s New Orion Spacecraft Completes First Spaceflight Test."

Also at NYT, "First Flight Test Is Successful for NASA’s Orion Spacecraft."



More video, "Liftoff of Orion"; "Orion Splashdown"; and "Orion From the Recovery Ship."

Yesterday's Best of Music 2014 Link was Bad

Sorry about that.

I appreciate the readers who've purchased items through American Power's Amazon shopping links. I don't pimp for dollars much around here, but I appreciate the cash earned through the Amazon sales program. Thanks again.

There's still time for Cyber Week shopping too!

Rolling Stone Apologizes for UVA Rape Story

This is not a good week for the rape-hysteria industry, to say the least.

Check Ashe Schow, who's been all over this:

Talk about a Friday news dumb, @RollingStone: http://t.co/cMndKwx1oZ

— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) December 5, 2014

“One of my biggest fears... is that people will be unwilling to believe survivors in the future” http://t.co/qlkAeTTrHR cc: @AsheSchow

— CamEdwards (@CamEdwards) December 5, 2014

FLASHBACK: "If false, Rolling Stone story could set rape victims back decades” http://t.co/IwFMkOSONI

— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) December 5, 2014

Don't become a fucking reporter if you're not willing to let the facts get in the way of a great story.

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) December 5, 2014

Also, worth noting that the Rolling Stone fauxpology puts the blame entirely on “Jackie" and none of it on itself. Because why not?

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) December 5, 2014

Rolling Stone editor says trust in gang-rape accuser “misplaced” http://t.co/kh7g21OnP0

— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) December 5, 2014

This was not a good week for real victims of rape

— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) December 5, 2014

@AsheSchow This is what happens when you have journalists who think it's more important to push an agenda than checking facts

— Yeyo (@facerealitynow) December 5, 2014

FIFY RT @AmandaMarcotte: Oops. My bad. Sorry about accusing everyone of being rape truthers. That was childish & incorrect.

— F. Bill McMorris (@FBillMcMorris) December 5, 2014

Really, this is something else. Just wow. Virtually every "rape" meme spouted on the left is easily and furiously debunked. And then the hysterical rape "epidemic" mongers spout about how actually checking facts and debunking false leftist narratives is "rape denialism."

The left as a movement continues its historic descent into conspiracies, hysteria, and irrelevance. Man, it's been a rough six years for the so-called "coalition of the ascendant."

Video: New York Streets Flooded with Race-Mongering, Communist-Backed Protesters

Remember, at base this is a revolutionary communist movement. I'll never let this point slide.

Via CBS News New York, protesters hoisting signs from the Revolutionary Communist Party. And of course the Asian woman interviewed is wearing the obligatory Arafat keffiyeh, signifying the "revolutionary" struggle for "Palestinian" liberation. They're all a bunch of idiots and poseurs:

'Peak Oil' Debunked, Again

Love!

At the Wall Street Journal, "The world relearns that supply responds to necessity and price":

It has been 216 years since Thomas Malthus gave birth to the idea that mankind’s appetite for natural resources would outstrip nature’s capacity to supply them. There have since been regular warnings that the world is running out of soybeans, helium, chocolate, tunsgsten, you name it—and that population growth has become unsustainable. The warnings create a political or social panic for a while, only to be proved wrong.

The latest reckoning with reality is the end of the obsession with “peak oil,” which for years had serious people proclaiming that we were entering an era of permanent fossil fuels scarcity. It didn’t work out that way.

That’s a central lesson from this year’s dramatic fall in the price of oil, which reached $69.49 a barrel of Brent crude on Thursday from a June high of $112.12. As recently as early November, when oil hovered at $80, OPEC officials warned they would intervene to hold the price at $70. But Saudi officials conspicuously refused to support an output cut at last week’s OPEC meeting, and Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi has made clear that he’d be comfortable with lower prices.

The short-term Saudi calculation is to drive oil prices down to squeeze their geopolitical adversaries and higher-cost producers. That goes especially for their adversaries across the Persian Gulf in Iran, which depends on oil exports for over 40% of its revenues, and where the regime had designed its budget based on $100 oil.

The Saudis also hope to slow the explosive growth of U.S. production, which, thanks to the tapping of domestic shale resources through the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, has risen to some nine million barrels a day from five million in 2008. By some estimates, the price of oil needs to be as high as $90 a barrel for oil extracted from “tight” deposits such as shale, though oil market research firm IHS believes most tight oil wells have a break-even cost of between $50 and $69 dollars a barrel.

But even if the Saudi move slows U.S. drilling, the International Energy Agency forecasts that U.S. production will still surpass Saudi Arabia’s output of 9.7 million barrels a day, and overtake Russia’s 10.3 million, perhaps sometime next year. This would make America the world’s largest oil producer, which it was from the dawn of the oil age through 1974. Thanks to the fracking boom, the U.S. surpassed Russia as the world’s largest natural-gas producer in 2013.

All this is a useful reminder, as IHS’s Daniel Yergin told us the other day, that “technology responds to need and to price.” It was the same story in the 1970s, when the world responded to OPEC’s embargoes by exploiting new resources in Alaska and the North Sea, and again in the 1980s and 1990s, when offshore drilling became technologically feasible and economically profitable at ever-greater depths. And expect more from where that came, as the frackers continue to figure out how to drive down costs, and if new shale deposits in places such as Mexico, Ukraine and Argentina start to be exploited...

More.

Activists Seek 'New Civil Rights Movement' After Police Killings

Well, this is a big surprise.

At LAT, "Police killings prompt activists to seek 'new civil rights movement'":

The chants are angry, but simple: "I can't breathe!" "Hands up, don't shoot!" "Black lives matter!" They have echoed from the American heartland to the coasts in the wake of two recent grand jury decisions that cleared white policemen in the deaths of unarmed black men.

Now, activists are counting on the rage behind those words to spur a movement that would force the country to confront the interlocked issues of race and policing and press the government to automatically take control of cases of alleged police abuse.

"They're asking for something simple. They want to be treated the same," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said of protesters Thursday as he sought to calm a city where many were seething over a grand jury's decision not to indict Daniel Pantaleo, a white officer, in the death of Eric Garner.

Largely peaceful demonstrations broke out in New York soon after Wednesday's announcement of the Staten Island grand jury's decision. Protesters blocked major roads and gathered at landmark sites, including Times Square and Grand Central Terminal. Police made 83 arrests, mainly for minor offenses.

More large demonstrations erupted Thursday night in New York and throughout the nation, including in Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh and Chicago. As night fell in New York, helicopters thundered over lower Manhattan while protesters gathered in Foley Square, near the courthouse and police headquarters.

"It was a murder on video and there was no justice," said Mickey Thomas, a 21-year-old Hunter College student. "I definitely think we've had enough. I feel like there is a new civil rights movement."

Ida Dupont, a Pace University sociology professor specializing in criminology, said she too thought the Garner incident was an "open and shut case" with the video.

"It was so ridiculous to me that I had to be here today to show my outrage," Dupont said.

"I've been talking to my students about it," she said. "All the young people know something is seriously wrong."

Unfortunately, at base this is a revolutionary communist movement, which just ain't gonna fly after six years of the Obamunist!

It's Time to Hold the Protesters Accountable

From Ron Christie, at the Daily Beast:

Peaceful protest is fine. But burning, rioting, and looting are disgraceful—and they make for real-life victims we somehow never hear about.

As Americans gathered last week to give thanks, I remained perplexed by the destructive reaction by thousands who protested the decision of a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, not to indict a police officer for using lawful but deadly force to stop a teenager from assaulting him. Note that I did not indicate the race of the police officer or his assailant; physical and DNA evidence supported the claim that the teen had assaulted the officer and struggled for his gun. After charging at the officer, the teen was sadly but subsequently killed by the officer who feared for his life.

Agitators in the grievance and race-hustling industry—primarily embodied by Al Sharpton—were quick to portray the events in Ferguson as a modern-day Selma or Birmingham following the verdict. Last Sunday, Sharpton claimed the fight for justice was not over for Michael Brown, noting: “You won the first round, Mr. Prosecutor, but don’t take your gloves off. Justice will come to Ferguson.”

Never mind that the 12 jurors heard hours of testimony, studied DNA and forensic reports, and deliberated for several months before rendering their verdict. Justice was never the true goal of Sharpton and his ilk—instead they successfully constructed the false narrative that a white police officer executed a black teenager—a gentle giant—in cold blood.

And yet, what of the justice for those in Ferguson whose lives have been destroyed by the felonious activities of those who rioted, pillaged, and brought shame upon themselves for their wickedness? Just after the grand jury decision was announced, Louis Head, Brown’s stepfather, shouted “burn the bitch down” and other expletives. Rioting, shoplifting, and violent confrontation with the police took place shortly thereafter. Head, Sharpton, and thousands of protesters represent the worst of Ferguson—those seeking to advance a political agenda that America is an evil and racist country while accepting no personal responsibility for the violence and destruction they helped unleash.

More than 25 structures in Ferguson were burned, damaged, or destroyed in the wake of senseless mayhem following the grand jury verdict. Who will pay for the damage sustained by Sam Chow, an immigrant to United States 11 years ago who opened a restaurant in Ferguson in 2009 that sustained major damage in the riots? The pictures of destruction to Chow’s business are as heartbreaking as they are senseless.

Same with Natalie DuBose, an entrepreneur who opened Natalie’s Cakes and More in Ferguson after saving money following bake sales to start her own business. After the riots, her business was completely destroyed. While she is getting back on her feet through the generosity of strangers who have contributed more than $250,000, a more pointed question must be asked in the aftermath of Ferguson: Why do predominately black mobs get a free pass to riot and steal in response to a political outcome they disagree with?

Newark, Baltimore, and Philadelphia are just a handful of cities in the Northeast that have never fully recovered from damage sustained in riots in the late 1960s. Same with South Central Los Angeles in the aftermath of the verdict in which motorist Rodney King was beaten by police who were initially acquitted of charges in 1992. Rioting and looting ensued shortly after the verdict and racial tensions were tense across the United States for years to follow.

The case in Ferguson differs from King’s in that King never punched or charged police officers in their confrontation. Evidence led the grand jury not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in his use of force with Michael Brown as the facts indicated Brown had initiated and escalated physical contact with an armed police officer. The administration of justice dictated that the officer not be charged, given the lack of evidence to sustain a conviction at trial.

And yet, the temptation to stick with the narrative that Brown’s death is the new civil-rights struggle for justice in the 21st century is undercut by the substitution of facts to fit a political narrative for those seeking moral clarity. Where is the outrage of Sharpton regarding the death of Zemir Begic? You’ve never heard of Begic? The young immigrant who fled violence in Bosnia was driving home with his fiancée 20 miles away from Ferguson when a pack of black teens beat him to death with hammers early Sunday evening. Moral clarity would dictate that civil-rights and other civic leaders would speak out against such a senseless act of violence. The silence is deafening...

More.

Racial Protests Spread Across Country

At the Wall Street Journal, "Protests Spread Across Country Day After Eric Garner Grand-Jury Decision: Thousands of Demonstrators Gather in Lower Manhattan."

Also, "Social Media Help Fuel Protests After New York Officer Not Indicted Over Death of Eric Garner: Demonstrations in Wake of Grand-Jury Decision Are Echoed in Washington, Atlanta, Other Cities."

Franklin Foer, Leon Wieseltier Out at the New Republic

Mediagazer has the news of the big shakeup at the New Republic.

But don't miss this take from John Podhoretz, at Commentary, "You’ll Never Guess What Happened to This Magazine! Click Here for More!"

'What Breitbart News found after an investigation that lasted more than a month is that the details of Dunham's rape claim cannot be verified and that those details point to an innocent man who has had to hide his Facebook page and hire an attorney...'

This is just bizarre, at Big Journalism, "'LIKE HOLOCAUST DENIALISM': SLATE WRITER SLAMS BREITBART OVER DUNHAM INVESTIGATIVE PIECE."

Also, "INVESTIGATION: LENA DUNHAM ‘RAPED BY A REPUBLICAN’ STORY IN BESTSELLER COLLAPSES UNDER SCRUTINY."

Killing My Own Kid

This is awesome.

At Hot Air, "Video: The freaky deaky 'killing my own kid' prank."

The Global Shakeout from Plunging Oil

From Daniel Yergin, at the Wall Street Journal, "New supply—rather than demand—is dominating the market, and OPEC has been caught by surprise":

The decision by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countrieson Thursday not to cut production reflects a profound shift in the world oil market. The demand for oil—by China and other emerging economies—is no longer the dominant factor. Instead, the surge in U.S. oil production, bolstered by additional new supply from Canada, is decisive. This surge is on a scale that most oil exporters had not anticipated. The turmoil in prices, with spasmodic plunges over the past few days, will likely continue.

Since 2008—when fear of “peak oil,” after which global output would supposedly decline, was the dominant motif—U.S. oil production has risen 80%, to nine million barrels daily. The U.S. increase alone is greater than the output of every OPEC country except Saudi Arabia.

The world has experienced sudden supply gushers before. In the early 1930s, a flood of oil from East Texas drove prices down to 10 cents a barrel—and desperate gas station owners offered chickens as premiums to bring in customers. In the late 1950s, the rapidly swelling flow of Mideast oil led to price cuts that triggered the formation of OPEC.

And in the first half of the 1980s, a surge in oil from the North Sea, Alaska’s North Slope and Mexico caused prices to plunge to $10 a barrel. That posed a much greater crisis for OPEC than today: Over those same years, global demand fell by more than two million barrels a day owing to a deep recession, greater conservation and the switch to coal from oil for electricity generation. This time world oil demand is still growing, but weakly.

For the past three years, oil prices hovered around $100 a barrel as disruptions in Libya, South Sudan and elsewhere, and sanctions on Iranian exports, eerily balanced out the production increases from the U.S. and Canada. But the slower global economic growth that became apparent a few months ago was accompanied by weaker demand for oil, just when Libya suddenly quadrupled output to almost a million barrels a day. The result: Prices weakened in September and then tumbled.

OPEC’s decision last week reflects the conviction of its “have” nations—the Persian Gulf countries, with very large financial reserves—that cutting output would mean losing market share, particularly to Iran and to what they see as Iran-dominated Iraq. Instead, they have adopted a strategy of leaving it to the market for now; OPEC is waiting, in the words of Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, for the oil market “to stabilize itself eventually.”

It is now clear that the new U.S. production is more resilient than anticipated. There has been a widespread view that at around $85 or $90 a barrel extracting “tight” oil from shale would no longer be economical. However, a new IHS analysis based on individual well data finds that 80% of new tight-oil production in 2015 would be economic between $50 and $69 a barrel. And companies will continue to improve technology and drive down costs...

Still more.

PREVIOUSLY: "Energy Quakes as OPEC Stands Pat."

Victoria's Secret Brought Its Annual Spectacular to London for First Time on Tuesday

A Wall Street Journal video, "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Hits London."

Also at Victoria's Secret, "VS Live: Before the Fashion Show Promo":

The 2014 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show airs Tuesday, December 9 at 10/9c, on CBS, but you can get the excitement started an hour earlier by streaming our live pre-show coverage with the Angels and special guests. It all starts at 9/8C. In the meantime, watch this mash-up of some of our favorite moments from previous years.

Charles Krauthammer: New York's Eric Garner Decision 'Totally Incomprehensible'

From the incomparable Dr. Krauthammer, on yesterday's Special Report All-Star panel:

Israel in Trouble

Via Theo Spark, "A World Without Israel: Is Our Ally in Trouble?"

Fabulous Nina Agdal in Lingerie

Via Egotastic!, "Nina Agdal Fills Out a Bra and Other Fine Things to Ogle."

Japanese Unearth Remains, and Their Nation’s Past, on Guadalcanal

At the New York Times:

GUADALCANAL, Solomon Islands — Using a trowel to dig into the shadowy floor of the rain forest, pausing only to wipe away sweat and malaria-carrying mosquitoes, Atsushi Maeda holds up what he has traveled so far, to this South Pacific island, to find: a human bone, turned orange-brown with age.

Mr. Maeda, 21, was looking for the remains of missing Japanese soldiers at the site of one of World War II’s most ferocious battles. Others have done this work before him, mostly aging veterans or bereaved relatives. But he was with a group of mostly university students and young professionals, nearly all of them under 40 and without a direct connection to the soldiers killed here.

They had come to honor their countrymen, many of whom were no older than they are when they fell on the battlefield. The group was also searching for answers. “These young men who died here believed they were defending their family and loved ones,” said Mr. Maeda, a university junior in religious studies. “We need to rediscover their sacrifices and learn from them.”

As the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, there has been a surge in interest among young Japanese about the disastrous war that their nation has long tried to forget.

It is a phenomenon that crosses political lines, encompassing progressives who preach the futility of war as well as conservatives who question the historical record of Japan’s wartime atrocities. What these young people have in common is an urgent sense that they learned too little about the war, both from school, where classes focus on earlier Japanese history, and from tight-lipped family members, who prefer not to revisit a painful time.

Driving this nationwide pursuit into the past has been China’s hostility toward Japan over control of disputed East China Sea islands, known in China as the Diaoyu and in Japan as the Senkaku. Despite recent diplomatic maneuvering to ease tensions, anxiety about China’s rise remains strong in Japan.

“For the first time since 1945, Japan is facing a small but real possibility of conflict,” said Yurie Chiba, a magazine editor who organizes talks by veterans, has written about the new interest in World War II and argues that Japan must never go to war again. “This makes people want to learn more about those who fought in the war, to rediscover how horrible war can be.”

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The Cost of a False Narrative of Oppression

From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary:

At a different moment in time, the decision of a Staten Island grand jury not to an indict a white police officer for using a choke hold on Eric Garner, an African-American who later died after being taken into custody, would not be much more than a local news item in New York. But coming as it did on the heels of the much-publicized decision of another grand jury in St. Louis County, Missouri not to indict another white cop in the shooting death of another black man, teenager Michael Brown, the Staten Island deliberations were immediately dragooned into service by mainstream media talking heads, African-American leaders, and President Obama to reinforce a narrative of oppression of blacks by white police.


Though each of these two decisions appear to stand on their own as being reasonable interpretations of the law, together they appear to justify the upsurge in demonstrations around the country protesting police behavior and asserting that blacks are being systematically victimized. But whatever one may think of these rulings or of the police, those who are hyping this story need not only to think carefully whether the story they are telling is true but also whether the net effects of their campaign against the police will hurt minorities far more than it help them.

The facts in the Staten Island case seem to be as straightforward as the Ferguson, Missouri incident were muddled. The confrontation was caught on a video taken by a cell phone and showed that a chokehold was employed. The New York City Police Department has banned chokeholds for use but they are not illegal. The grand jury clearly believed that the tragic result was not the result of a crime but observers may well wonder about the use of excessive force or why an unarmed man resisting arrest for a petty crime wound up dying in this manner.

But no more than in the Ferguson incident, the facts in that case are not really the point of the protests, the president’s statement, or what is being said about the case on the cable news networks. As awful as each of these stories may be, the willingness of the media to seize on every instance in which a white police officer kills a black civilian in order to make a point about race says more about the need of the left to fuel fears about racism for political advantage than a true flaw in the justice system or American society...

And that's a profoundly sad statement on the priorities of far-left politics in America.

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Walter James Casper Gets His Guy Fawkes Mask On!

Whoa!

Guy Fawkes is too well fed!

Reppy, man, you gotta lay off those major food binge-runs over to Mastic Sports Deli!