U.S. Spies on Millions of Drivers

You know, who isn't being spied on nowadays?

And cars? Our cars are being surveilled? Okay, but did anyone even know about this?

At WSJ, "DEA Uses License-Plate Readers to Build Database for Federal, Local Authorities":

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department has been building a national database to track in real time the movement of vehicles around the U.S., a secret domestic intelligence-gathering program that scans and stores hundreds of millions of records about motorists, according to current and former officials and government documents.

The primary goal of the license-plate tracking program, run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, is to seize cars, cash and other assets to combat drug trafficking, according to one government document. But the database’s use has expanded to hunt for vehicles associated with numerous other potential crimes, from kidnappings to killings to rape suspects, say people familiar with the matter.

Officials have publicly said that they track vehicles near the border with Mexico to help fight drug cartels. What hasn’t been previously disclosed is that the DEA has spent years working to expand the database “throughout the United States,’’ according to one email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Many state and local law-enforcement agencies are accessing the database for a variety of investigations, according to people familiar with the program, putting a wealth of information in the hands of local officials who can track vehicles in real time on major roadways.

The database raises new questions about privacy and the scope of government surveillance. The existence of the program and its expansion were described in interviews with current and former government officials, and in documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through a Freedom of Information Act request and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. It is unclear if any court oversees or approves the intelligence-gathering.

A spokesman for Justice Department, which includes the DEA, said the program complies with federal law. “It is not new that the DEA uses the license-plate reader program to arrest criminals and stop the flow of drugs in areas of high trafficking intensity,’’ the spokesman said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the government’s use of license-plate readers “raises significant privacy concerns. The fact that this intrusive technology is potentially being used to expand the reach of the government’s asset-forfeiture efforts is of even greater concern.’’

The senator called for “additional accountability’’ and said Americans shouldn’t have to fear ”their locations and movements are constantly being tracked and stored in a massive government database.’’

The DEA program collects data about vehicle movements, including time, direction and location, from high-tech cameras placed strategically on major highways. Many devices also record visual images of drivers and passengers, which are sometimes clear enough for investigators to confirm identities, according to DEA documents and people familiar with the program.

The documents show that the DEA also uses license-plate readers operated by state, local and federal law-enforcement agencies to feed into its own network and create a far-reaching, constantly updating database of electronic eyes scanning traffic on the roads to steer police toward suspects.

The law-enforcement scanners are different from those used to collect tolls.

By 2011, the DEA had about 100 cameras feeding into the database, the documents show. On Interstate 95 in New Jersey, license-plate readers feed data to the DEA—giving law-enforcement personnel around the country the ability to search for a suspect vehicle on one of the country’s busiest highways. One undated internal document shows the program also gathers data from license-plate readers in Florida and Georgia.

“Any database that collects detailed location information about Americans not suspected of crimes raises very serious privacy questions,’’ said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the ACLU. “It’s unconscionable that technology with such far-reaching potential would be deployed in such secrecy. People might disagree about exactly how we should use such powerful surveillance technologies, but it should be democratically decided, it shouldn’t be done in secret.’’

License-plate readers are already used in the U.S. by companies to collect debts and repossess vehicles, and by local police departments to solve crimes.

In 2010, the DEA said in internal documents that the database aided in the seizure of 98 kilograms of cocaine, 8,336 kilograms of marijuana and the collection of $866,380. It also has been connected to the Amber Alert system, to help authorities find abducted children, according to people familiar with the program.

One email written in 2010 said the primary purpose of the program was asset forfeiture—a controversial practice in which law-enforcement agencies seize cars, cash and other valuables from suspected criminals. The practice is increasingly coming under attack because of instances when law-enforcement officers take such assets without evidence of a crime.

More.

And related, at Reason, "Cops Are Still Robbers."

Anderson Cooper Talks to Timothy Mannix, Massachusetts Fisherman Injured When Storm Surge Crashed Into His Home

I was watching this last night. Mr. Mannix got stitches and his "nose was broken in half-a-dozen places."

Harsh.

At CNN: "Fisherman taken to ER after battling storm surge."

Two Weeks After Zuckerberg Said 'Je Suis Charlie,' Facebook Begins Censoring Images of Prophet Muhammad

Well, he's a classic Silicon Valley prog. Totally politically correct.

So this is no surprise.

At WaPo:

Only two weeks after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a strongly worded #JeSuisCharlie statement on the importance of free speech, Facebook has agreed to censor images of the prophet Muhammad in Turkey — including the very type of image that precipitated the Charlie Hebdo attack.

It’s an illustration, perhaps, of how extremely complicated and nuanced issues of online speech really are. It’s also conclusive proof of what many tech critics said of Zuckerberg’s free-speech declaration at the time: Sweeping promises are all well and good, but Facebook’s record doesn’t entirely back it up.

Just this December, Facebook agreed to censor the page of Russia’s leading Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, at the request of Russian Internet regulators. (It is a sign, the Post’s Michael Birnbaum wrote from Moscow, of “new limits on Facebook’s ability to serve as a platform for political opposition movements.”) Critics have previously accused the site of taking down pages tied to dissidents in Syria and China; the International Campaign for Tibet is currently circulating a petition against alleged Facebook censorship, which has been signed more than 20,000 times...

Keep reading.

Keeping the California 'Pacific Surfliner' Running on Time

At LAT, "Little-known agency keeps commuter rail network on track":

The 351-mile rail corridor that runs along the coast between San Diego, Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo is the second-busiest intercity route in the nation.

Its annual passenger load of 7.4 million is surpassed only by that of the northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., which handles more than 11.4 million a year.

But keeping those trains running on time — and safely, as they occasionally share tracks with freight traffic — is a constant challenge. The job has fallen to a little-known regional authority known as the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency.

During the last 25 years, the agency has helped synchronize schedules so passengers do not have to wait long to make connections. Maintenance and construction are better coordinated to keep trains running without significant delay.

It also tries to foster good relationships among the region's half-dozen railroads so riders can better navigate a complicated network crowded with freight and passenger trains.

Rail projects to accommodate more trains are underway, and the agency is starting to address track and scheduling issues along the popular route between Los Angeles and San Diego.

"I'm all for anything that integrates travel and fares," said Anthony Kemp, an English professor at USC who regularly rides the Metrolink commuter line from his east San Gabriel Valley home in Claremont to the campus near downtown L.A.

Kemp, who is from England, gave the agency good marks but said there is room for even more improvements. For example, European passenger railroads have long had convenient schedules and transit passes, such as the Oyster Pass in London, that allow riders to go from trains to buses to subways without buying a ticket for each boarding.

"That would be absolutely great to have that here," he said...

More.

New York Officials Defend Decision to Shut Down New York City

Hmm...

The storm wasn't as bad as folks has expected, although I don't take the "worst blizzard in history" prognostications too seriously. Someone's got an invested interest in climate hysteria.

At NYT, "Leaders in New York and New Jersey Defend Shutdown for a Blizzard That Wasn’t":

It was an unprecedented step for what became, in New York City, a common storm: For the first time in its 110-year history, the subway system was shut down because of snow.

Transit workers, caught off guard by the shutdown that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Monday, scrambled to grind the network to a halt within hours.

Residents moved quickly to find places to stay, if they were expected at work the next day, or hustle home before service was curtailed and roads were closed.

And Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose residents rely upon the transit system by the millions, heard the news at roughly the time the public did.

“We found out,” Mr. de Blasio said on Tuesday, “just as it was being announced.”

The storm largely spared the city, instead battering eastern Long Island and much of New England, where Nantucket lost power and Scituate, Mass., flooded.

And on Tuesday, local and state officials were left to defend one of the most consequential decisions elected leaders can make: effectively closing a city, in light of an uncertain forecast.

With travel bans instituted across the region, residents had little choice but to heed the warnings to stay put. Even as roads reopened and trains creaked back to life early Tuesday, there would be no normal business day, even though most parts of the city received less than 10 inches of snow, not the two to three feet that had been predicted.

The weather laid bare the civic and political high-wire act of the modern snowstorm — pocked with doomsayer proclamations and sporadic lapses in communication.

At the episode’s heart is the sort of damned-if-you-do decision that has bedeviled politicians for decades: Play it safe with closings, all but guaranteeing sweeping economic losses, or try to ride out the storm?

“I would much rather be in a situation where we say we got lucky than one where we didn’t get lucky and somebody died,” Mr. Cuomo said.

Briefings and interviews with officials suggest that recent challenges — including Hurricane Sandy, a snowstorm in Buffalo and public spats between top local leaders and forecasters — have left decision-makers even more risk-averse.

As the storm approached, a sort of one-upmanship theater had visited the local political stage: Mr. Cuomo’s announcement about the subway shutdown came hours after the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority suggested a full shutdown was unlikely. New Jersey Transit riders were told on Monday afternoon not to expect rail service until Thursday...

More.

Kayslee Collins for Playboy Plus

She's a beauty.

At Egotastic!, "Kayslee Collins Outright Hot for Playboy Playmate Spread."

I must say, I've gained newfound respect for Jonathan Chait: Leftist 'language police' destroying liberalism. Heh, thank you.

You gotta read this piece from Jonathan Chait, at New York Magazine, "Not a Very P.C. Thing to Say: How the language police are perverting liberalism." (Via Memeorandum.)

It's particularly good for its extensive and choice selection of crushing leftist p.c. attacks on ideological opponents, to say nothing of the intra-leftist policing that's scaring away many self-identified progressives from participating in contemporary political debates.

But the proof of this piece is in the outraged (if not unhinged) response it's generated from the very leftist types most likely to embody hardcore p.c. intolerance.

For example, Alex "Ping-Pong Balls" Pareene, with an hilarious, heaping lack of self-awareness, responds with a purportedly snarky piece at Gawker, "Punch-Drunk Jonathan Chait Takes On the Entire Internet." (Also at Memeorandum.)

There's a lot of inside baseball in "Ping-Pong" Pareene's response, but the bottom line is to validate Chait's argument by nicely illustrating that today's uber p.c. left operates in a rarefied world of epistemic closure on steroids. You simply CANNOT get on the wrong side of radical leftists. You will be destroyed, even if you deign to identify with them.

In sum, contemporary p.c. leftism is a sick, psychotically self-contained movement of ideological hatred and intolerance of difference. Chait simply bored down to the core, causing a catastrophic meltdown among the faithful.

Hmm. *makes shuffling noise with copy of new york magazine* You know, honey, I'm beginning to think this Jonathan Chait fellow is a dumbass.
— Jeb Lund (@Mobute) January 27, 2015

I can't wait till the tribunal executes Jon Chait for word crimes
— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) January 27, 2015

This Chait piece is so gloriously bad and self-refuting that it's actually a great joy to read.
— Jonathan Shainin (@jonathanshainin) January 27, 2015

@jaredbkeller @originalgriz @markberman the funny thing is that Chait is actually trying to police speech himself
— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) January 27, 2015

If chait had talked to literally 1 person to his left he might have figured out that nobody calls it "p.c." anymore
— Alison Herman (@aherman2006) January 27, 2015

jonathan chait literally believes that the falsity of this argument goes without saying pic.twitter.com/nfO48IF8z8
— Melvin Spacecraft (@LOLY2K) January 27, 2015

Wow everything sure is white today! Oh yeah there’s a blizzard too! Sorry I was just reading this Chait feature...
— Rusty Foster (@rustyk5) January 27, 2015

Finally finished the Chait column and it seems like the point is that the radical left is just as authoritarian as the radical right
— Shane (@shaneferro) January 27, 2015

This rant against political correctness was stale when Rush Limbaugh made his career on it dude. This shit was tired in the 90s.
— Rusty Foster (@rustyk5) January 27, 2015

will reading that Jonathan Chait piece make me want to punch things y/n
— Karen K. Ho (@karenkho) January 27, 2015

And yet nobody's managed to make YOU shut up have they bro
— Tom Scocca (@tomscocca) January 27, 2015

People are hating on Jonathan Chait's dumb opinions with renewed vigor today. Maybe there are such things as blizzard miracles
— Dan Massoglia (@jujueyeball) January 27, 2015

I'm as critical of some of this stuff as anyone, but sorry, this is ridiculous & half-baked. http://t.co/lEI1aDghO3
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) January 27, 2015

U.S. Busts Russian Spy Ring in New York

At WSJ, "U.S. Charges Russian Banker in Spy Case: Prosecutors Also Accuse Two Handlers in Ring to Glean Economic Intelligence."

And at Time, "Sloppy Russian ‘Spymasters’ Burn a Deep Cover Operative in New York":

Monday was a bad day for Evgeny “Zhenya” Buryakov, the alleged spy arrested in the Bronx for his role as a deep cover case officer in a Russian ring targeting female university students, business consultants and the operations of the bank at which Buryakov worked. But it was an even worse day for his alleged spymasters, two Russian officials operating under diplomatic immunity who come across as sloppy, bureaucratic buffoons in the Justice department complaint detailing the alleged conspiracy.

Buryakov nominally faces up to 20 years in prison on two charges of acting as a foreign agent. But practically speaking he will only have to cool his heels in a U.S. jail for a few weeks or months until officials in Moscow find a suitable American operative to arrest and trade for him. Thereafter, he’ll likely return to Moscow, and given what appears to be fairly entrepreneurial work as a deep cover agent in New York, he can probably expect to thrive in the public or private sector there.

His two bosses, on the other hand, broke basic tradecraft rules and exposed Buryakov’s work, as well as other intelligence efforts by the Russian espionage services, according to the complaint. Both have already left the U.S. for other assignments. And while the days of banishment to Siberia for failed spy-handlers are long gone, the two at least face a grim professional future of pushing paper in the bowels of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service in Moscow...

More.

Doe-Eyed Jen Psaki Denies Obama Administation Traded al-Qaeda Jihadist Ali Saleh Al-Marri

Jamie Kirchick has the background, at the Daily Beast, "Exclusive: Freed Al Qaeda Agent Was Part of Proposed Swap for Jailed Americans."

But the ever-innocent Jen Psaki spins her way out of a definitive answer.

Watch: "State Dept. Spox Jen Psaki Dodges on Whether Obama Admin Traded Al Marri to Yemen."

The United States of 'American Sniper'

A great piece, from Rorke Denver, at WSJ.

American Muslim Group Attacks 'American Sniper', Demands Eastwood and Cooper Denounce Fictional 'Islamophobia'

From Pamela Geller, at Breitbart.

Victoria's Secret Superbowl Commercial 2015

Via Theo Spark:

Sharyl Attkisson: White House Hiding Photos of Obama on Night of #Benghazi Attack

A great segment, from December (via DC Clothesline).



And buy her book, Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington.

The Left is Still looking for a Modern 'Rape Culture' Poster Child

From Ashe Schow, at the Washington Examiner:

The term “rape culture” entered the English lexicon in the mid-1970s, but has never really found a poster child, a name that could be pointed to as an example of this supposed epidemic of sexual violence toward women on college campuses.

Liz Seccuro should be the best example of this, although hers was a gang rape by a stranger who (20 years later) would go to prison for his act of violence. Since rape culture has come to more generally refer to a new, blurry definition of rape that involves he-said/she-said situations, non-strangers and usually alcohol, Seccuro’s case does not fit.

But today’s activists have needed someone that proves police and school officials still don’t do anything about sexual assault accusations, even after decades of information campaigns. Even better if the alleged rape was perpetrated by white athletes or fraternity members who came from wealthy families.

And they have so far failed to find their poster child.

Activists thought they had her in Crystal Mangum in 2006. She was a young working mother and student (the media portrayed her as) who claimed she was gang raped by multiple (in some iterations of her tale as many as 20) members of the Duke lacrosse team. Her story turned out to be a complete lie, yet rape activists at the time claimed that her story was indicative of a very real problem.

But the activists needed a sensational, but true, story to trumpet. They had to wait years for the Duke backlash to settle down, but in 2010, they thought they had their premier victim.

That year, National Public Radio and the Center for Public Integrity produced a report claiming sexual assault was as prevalent on college campuses as underage drinking and as ignored as the lone guitar player on the quad. The report told the story of Laura Dunn, who alleged she was raped by two friends after she drank too much at a party. A year and a half after the incident, Dunn reported the assault. A philosophy professor had discussed rape in class, prompting Dunn to come forward.

Since the alleged assault was reported so long after the incident, the university had no evidence to go on other than he-said/she-said. So Dunn turned to the Department of Education, which also found there was not enough evidence to show an assault happened or that the university handled her case improperly.

Despite Dunn’s story differing between what she told NPR and the Department of Education and the fact that she continued to see the alleged attackers after the incident, Dunn’s story was used as the basis for the Obama administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter that prompted the current hysteria surrounding campus sexual assault. Dunn has been on TV and at White House events involved campus sexual assault, but because the details of her story (the long time to report, continuing to hang out with her alleged attackers and her differing accounts of what one of the men said to her at a party after she reported) keep her from being that quintessential poster child.

So the activists kept looking and thought they found a heroine in Emma Sulkowicz. But Sulkowicz isn’t the best example either. Columbia University found the student she accused “not responsible” for sexual assault. And only after the university failed to find the verdict she wanted, after she told her story to the media and began carrying a mattress around campus and after people began asking why she hadn’t gone to the police did Sulkowicz file a police report. But the police don’t appear to be pursuing the case (Sulkowicz might say its because of police bias, others might say there was no evidence outside of he-said/she-said).

Having Sulkowicz as a spokesperson for campus sexual assault is kind of like having Al Gore as the spokesperson for global warming: They tell people what needs to be done to solve a problem but don’t take their own advice.

Sulkowicz is no longer pursuing charges against the man she accused of raping her. She finds time to go to the State of the Union address and tell her story again and again to major media outlets and MTV and promote her college art project (carrying around the mattress) but won’t do what needs to be done to get the man she accused, who is, according to her, a rapist, off the streets and away from other potential victims.

Finally, the activists thought they had the perfect story. Young college girl? Check. Brutal gang rape (similar to Crystal Mangum and Liz Seccuro)? Check. White fraternity members? Check. A university indifferent to such a horrific tale? Check, check and check.

Also, she had a name that was easy to remember and easy to name a law after: Jackie...

Hmm... Jackie?

You know where this is going, but keep reading anyway, lol.

'Couldn't Get It Right'

Listened to the Climax Blues Band while out to pick up my young son this afternoon, on the Sound L.A.

Down Under
Men At Work
3:56 PM

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
AC/DC
3:52 PM

Jet Airliner
Steve Miller Band
3:39 PM

If You Wanna Get to Heaven
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
3:36 PM

Proud Mary
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3:33 PM

The Boys Are Back In Town
Thin Lizzy
3:29 PM

Working for the Weekend
Loverboy
3:25 PM

Couldn't Get It Right
Climax Blues Band
3:22

Millions Brace as Massive Winter Storm Hits East Coast

Huge coverage at the Weather Channel, "Winter Storm Juno Forecast: Northeast Snowstorm Ramping Up; Blizzard Conditions Expected in 7 States" (via Memeorandum).

And at the Boston Globe, "Baker declares state of emergency, statewide travel ban: Boston public schools to be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, Mayor Walsh says."

And at CNN, "Officials plead with residents amid blizzard preparations."

Added: From London's Daily Mail, "'Worst snowstorm in history' shuts down the East Coast: Thirty five million hunker down as five states declare emergencies, troops are deployed and New Yorkers rush home before 11pm curfew."

Humans Hit Hard by California's New Chicken-Coop Law, Especially the Poor

More on California's anti-human animal welfare law that's causing a shortage of eggs.

At the Wall Street Journal, "California’s Scrambled Eggs":

California has a way of living up to the worst regulatory expectations, as grocery shoppers across the country are discovering. The state’s latest animal-rights march is levying a punishing new food tax on the nation’s poor.

Egg prices are soaring in California, where the USDA says the average price for a dozen jumbo eggs is $3.16, up from $1.18 a dozen a year ago, and in some parts of the state it’s more than $5. The Iowa State University Egg Industry Center says retail egg prices in California are 66% higher than in other parts of the West. National wholesale egg prices also climbed nearly 35% over the 2014 holiday period, before retreating.

The cause of these price gyrations is an initiative passed by California voters in 2008 that required the state’s poultry farmers to house their hens in significantly larger cages. The state legislature realized this would put home-state farmers at a disadvantage, so in 2010 it compounded the problem by requiring that eggs imported from other states come from farms meeting the same cage standards, effective Jan. 1, 2015.

The new standards require cages almost twice the size of the industry norm, with estimated costs to comply of up to $40 a hen. That’s about $2 million for a farm with 50,000 chickens. Some farmers are passing the costs on to consumers, while others are culling their flocks by half for each cage.

Government statistics show that the number of egg-laying chickens in California has fallen 23% in two years. Many farmers outside the state are choosing not to sell eggs to California, leaving egg brokers scouring the country for cage-compliant eggs and paying top dollar to meet demand in a state that has imported more than four billion eggs a year.

This comes when egg demand is growing, in part because soaring meat prices have caused Americans to turn to other foods. Per capita consumption is expected to reach more than 260 eggs this year, the highest since 1983, according to the USDA. The poorest consumers have been hit hardest by the price spike because eggs have traditionally been a cheap source of protein.

California’s cage law is part of the nationwide animal-rights effort to raise the costs of animal food production in the name of more, well, humane treatment. Groups like the Humane Society of the United States failed to get Congress to pass national chicken-cage standards, so they turned to California to set what they hoped would be a de facto national standard because of the size of its market.

There’s a strong argument that this violates the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, which bars states from discriminating against interstate trade...

Still more.

And previously, "California Faces Egg Shortage as Far-Left Animal Welfare Law Takes Effect," and "Prices for Wholesale Eggs Expected to Rise 10 to 40 Percent in 2015 as California Animal Welfare Law Kicks In."

Miss Beverly Hills Chanelle Riggan Wardrobe Malfunction at Miss California USA Pageant

Looks like she's about to slip and fall, and don't ask me how her bikini top flies into the air.

But hey, she caught herself and kept on going like a pro.

Video at TMZ, "Miss USA Contestant -- My Bikini Can't Take The Pressure."

Former Fox Station Employee Commits Suicide Outside News Corp. Headquarters in New York

Now this is just sad.

At WSJ, "Former Fox Station Employee Shoots Himself Outside Manhattan Office Building":

A former employee of a Fox television station in Texas shot himself outside the front doors of a Midtown Manhattan office building shortly before 9 a.m. Monday, a law-enforcement official said.

The building houses 21st Century Fox Inc., owner of the station, and News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal.

He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, police said.

The man, Phillip Perea, 41 years old, of Irving, Texas, shot himself once in the chest outside of 1211 Avenue of the Americas, the official said. Mr. Perea had previously worked for a Fox station in Austin, Texas, police said.

Mr. Perea had also been handing out fliers, which criticized his employer for having “ended my career,” moments before he shot himself, the official said...

Via Memeorandum.

More at CBS News New York, "Police: Ex-Fox Producer Kills Himself Outside News Corp. Building."

Obama's Casual Sacrifice of America's Security and Moral Standing in the Middle East

From Noah Rothman, at Hot Air:

In President Barack Obama’s penultimate State of the Union address last Tuesday, there was no reference to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. This was the first time since 2011 and the eruption of the brutal Syrian civil war that Obama had not mentioned, or even obliquely alluded to, the Syrian dictator’s crimes against humanity.

This was no accident. Little more than one year after the President of the United States addressed the American people in a prime time address aimed at shoring up support for a humanitarian intervention in a war in which Assad had deployed weapons of mass destruction against civilian populations, America’s regional doctrine has evolved dramatically.

“The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way,” read a White House statement in 2011. “For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.” Obama later insisted extemporaneously that “Assad must go,” and set his now infamous “red line” for military action in Syria.

For the sake of political expediency, Obama backed off both his “red line” and his insistence that Assad must be removed. The president did not want to invite scorn by taking a necessary course of action that was nevertheless opposed by a majority of the public. Today, 220,000 lives later and following the precedent-setting use of chemical weapons, the White House has essentially conceded that Assad must stay...

Keep reading.

Chilling Drone Footage Shows Sheer Scale of Auschwitz Death Camp (VIDEO)

Here: "Auschwitz 70th anniversary: Drone footage shows scale of camp."

And at the Irish Independent, "Chilling drone footage captures Auschwitz ahead of 70th anniversary of liberation."

Taylor Swift, Lean and Leggy, Romps in the Surf in Hawaii

She looks great.

At London's Daily Mail, "PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Swift hits all the right notes in a retro polka dot swimsuit as she soaks up the sun in Hawaii."

Naomi Watts Trips Over Emma Stone's Dress at SAG Awards

Heh.

Watch, at E!, "Oops! Naomi Watts Trips on Emma Stone's Dress."

That Emma Stone's a riot.

At Fox News, "Naomi Watts trips on stage at the SAG Awards":

Stone’s reaction to the ordeal was priceless — the 26-year-old’s red lips formed one of the widest-mouthed O’s we’ve seen as she said the word “sorry.”

India's Narendra Modi Gives Big F.U. to Obama Administration Demands for Climate Change Agreement

Heh.

You gotta love it. Remember Modi was barred from traveling to the U.S. before he became prime minister. Those slights are not easily overcome. Besides, New Delhi obviously couldn't give a shit about giving even the appearance of cooperation on climate change, unlike China, which pocketed unilateral concessions from the administration. O's 0-2 with the big Asian emitters, lol.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Narendra Modi dismisses calls for India to match China's climate goal":

The United States and India sought to put a contentious history behind them Sunday by declaring a new partnership on climate change, security and economic issues, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi rejected calls for India to match China’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As President Obama opened a three-day visit to New Delhi aimed at underscoring the two democracies’ shared ideals, Modi’s blunt dismissal of a sweeping climate agreement reflected the limits of Washington’s assiduous courtship of the popular new prime minister.

Even as Obama announced “a breakthrough understanding” that could clear the way for U.S. companies to build nuclear power plants in India — potentially reducing India’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels — Modi said he felt “no pressure” from any other country to curtail the South Asian nation’s carbon emissions.

Instead, the U.S. said it would cooperate with India in clean-energy initiatives such as expanding solar power, reducing the most toxic greenhouse gases and making air-conditioners more efficient — without demanding that it slow the rapid growth of its coal industry.

“India is a sovereign country,” Modi said during a joint news conference with Obama. “There is no pressure on us from any country or any person, but there is pressure when we think about the future generations and what kind of world we want to give them.”

It was a rare discordant note at the start of a largely ceremonial visit that the Obama administration hoped would demonstrate U.S. commitment to improving ties with India and would energize a strategic “pivot” to Asia.

The countries renewed a 10-year defense partnership and agreed to expand that collaboration. Modi said the countries would “pursue co-development and co-production of specific advanced defense projects.”

The meeting between the two leaders was rich in atmospherics, with Obama and Modi sharing a warm hug at the foot of the Air Force One stairs moments after the plane landed in New Delhi.

After a summit at the White House in September, this visit — coming sooner than many U.S. and Indian officials had expected — was seen as a signal that both countries want to move past years of often difficult relations.

On Monday, Obama is scheduled to be the first U.S. president to attend India’s annual Republic Day celebration, where he would be Modi’s chief guest at an hours-long parade.

Many U.S. and Indian officials saw Modi’s invitation to Obama as a sign that the Indian leader bore no ill will from a decade-long visa ban imposed by the State Department over his failure to stop religious pogroms in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat, where he had served as chief executive.

Both leaders cited progress on an agreement to provide nuclear power to India for civilian use that has been stalled since a pact in 2005. U.S. officials said negotiators from both countries had resolved issues that had blocked implementation of the agreement — accounting for the nuclear material produced by U.S. companies and liability in case of an accident.

“Today we achieved a breakthrough on two issues that were holding up our ability to advance our civil-nuclear cooperation, and we’re committed to moving toward full implementation,” Obama said. “This is an important step that shows how we can work together to elevate our relationship.”...

The nuclear agreement is just one in a series of steps India must take to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Over the next year Obama hopes to help negotiate a global action plan to rein in runaway climate change, but a meaningful agreement would call for a major commitment from India, the world’s No. 3 emitter of greenhouse gases.

Pressure on India increased after the U.S. persuaded China, the No. 2 polluter, to agree in November to cap carbon emissions by 2030.

But as India embarks on a major phase of industrialization, many in Modi’s government believe that building heavily polluting coal power plants, which provide electricity at far cheaper rates than solar and wind power, is the most practical way to speed provision of electricity to the 300 million Indians who lack it.

Modi swept into power in May promising to revitalize India’s slowing economic growth. Since then, Indian authorities have tried to crack down on environmental groups such as Greenpeace that have campaigned against massive coal projects, accusing them of acting against India’s national interests.

But Indian officials have also raised coal taxes to generate money for clean-energy projects and announced plans to boost solar power capacity fivefold to 100,000 megawatts by 2022.

To support that goal, Obama administration officials announced expanded cooperation on green technology, including up to $1 billion in financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank for clean-energy projects...

Republican Party Faces Its Palin Problem

Palin's Iowa speech on Saturday was disjointed, to say the least. It made me confident that she'll never run for president, and will in fact hang out on the sidelines, firing up the crowd for the home team. I'm good with that. 2016 is shaping up to be an interesting year for the GOP. Scott Walker was very strong, for example. Confident. It's going to be interesting.

In any case, here's Byron York on the "Palin Problem":

DES MOINES — As a chance to evaluate possible 2016 Republican presidential candidates, the Freedom Summit here in Des Moines was a solid success. Several potential candidates — Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and a few others — left the 10-hour political marathon with their prospects undeniably enhanced.

All that was good news for Republicans. But at the same time, more than a few GOP loyalists came away shaking their heads at the performance of a party star, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whose long, rambling, and at times barely coherent speech left some wondering what role she should play in Republican politics as the 2016 race begins in earnest.

Palin made news when she arrived in Iowa saying she is seriously considering a run for president. In an interview with ABC the day before coming to Iowa, Palin answered "of course" when asked if she is interested in running in 2016. Then, when she arrived at a Des Moines hotel late Friday evening, she told the Washington Post, "Who wouldn't be interested?" Asked to clarify, Palin told the paper, "You can absolutely say that I am seriously interested."

The news, given big play on the Drudge Report, heightened the anticipation of Palin's speech to the Freedom Summit. After all, there were still memories in the crowd of her rousing speech at the 2008 Republican convention. But when Palin took the stage, it was clear this would be no inspiring effort.

First, Palin embarked on an extended stream-of-consciousness complaint about media coverage of her decision to run in a half-marathon race in Storm Lake, Iowa in 2011. She then moved on to grumbling about coverage of a recent photo of her with a supporter who had made a sign saying "Fuc_ you Michael Moore" in reaction to the left-wing moviemaker's criticism of the film "American Sniper." Then it was on to Palin's objections about the social media ruckus over a picture of her six-year-old son Trig standing on the family's Labrador Retriever.

It was all quite petty, and yet the complaining took half of Palin's allotted time. She then proceeded to blow through her time limit with a free-association ramble on Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the energy industry, her daughter Bristol, Margaret Thatcher, middle-class economics — "the man can only ride ya when your back is bent" — women in politics, and much more. It would be hard to say that Palin's 35-minute talk had a theme, but she did hint that she is interested in running, although there are no indications she has taken any actual steps in that direction.

"Long and disjointed," said one social conservative activist when asked for reaction. "A weird speech," said another conservative activist. "Terrible. Didn't make any sense."

"There was a certain coarseness to her that wasn't there before," said yet another social conservative who noted that some in the crowd were uncomfortable with Palin declarations like, "Screw the left in Hollywood!" (It's not that they like the left in Hollywood — just the opposite — but the crudeness of Palin's expressions turned them off.)

"I know she is popular, but it is hard to take her seriously given that performance," said Sam Clovis, the conservative Iowa college professor, radio commentator, and sometime political candidate. "Palin was a sad story Saturday. With every speech she gives, she gets worse and worse. If one were playing a political cliche drinking game, no one would have been sober after the first 15 minutes of an interminable ramble. It was really painful."

"I think she has a role in the conservative movement and in the party," Clovis continued, "but she needs to get serious about what it is she can contribute and accomplish."...

Syriza and Europe's Collectivist 'Social Responsibility'

Here's how the radical left views the radical left's victory in Greece.

From far-left political scientist Marianna Fotaki, at Informed Comment, "Greece move left would Give Europe Chance to Rediscover Social Responsibility":

The European Union should not be afraid of the leftist opposition party Syriza winning the Greek election, but see it as a chance to rediscover its founding principle – the social dimension that created it and without which it cannot survive.

Greece’s entire economy accounts for three per cent of the euro zone’s output but its national debt totals €360 billion or 175 per cent of the country’s GDP and poses a continuous threat to its survival.

While the crippling debt cannot realistically be paid back in full, the troika of the EU, European Central Bank, and the [International Monetary Fund or] IMF insist that the drastic cuts in public spending must continue.

But if Syriza is successful – as the polls suggest – it promises to renegotiate the terms of the bailout and ask for substantial debt forgiveness, which could change the terms of the debate about the future of the European project.

It would also mean the important, but as yet, unaddressed question of who should bear the costs and risks of the monetary union within and between the euro zone countries is likely to become the centrepiece of such negotiations.

The immense social cost of the austerity policies demanded by the troika has put in question the political and social objectives of an ‘ever closer union’ proclaimed in the EU founding documents.

Formally established through the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the European Economic Community between France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries tied closely the economies of erstwhile foes, rendering the possibility of another disastrous war unaffordable. Yet the ultimate goal of integration was to bring about ‘the constant improvements of the living and working conditions of their peoples’.

The European project has been exceptionally successful in achieving peaceful collaboration and prosperity by progressively extending these stated benefits to an increasing number of member countries, with the EU now being the world’s largest economy.

Since the economic crisis of 2007, however, GDP per capita and gross disposable household incomes have declined across the EU and have not yet returned to their pre-crisis levels in many countries. Unemployment is at record high levels, with Greece and Spain topping the numbers of long-term unemployed youth.

There are also deep inequalities within the euro zone. Strong economies that are major exporters have benefitted from free trade and the fixed exchange rate mechanism protecting their goods from price fluctuations, but the euro has hurt the least competitive economies by depriving them of a currency flexibility that could have been used to respond to the crisis.

Without substantial transfers between weaker and stronger economies, which accounts for only 1.13 per cent of the EU’s budget at present, there is no effective mechanism for risk sharing among the member states and for addressing the consequences of the crisis in the euro zone.

But the EU was founded on the premise of solidarity and not as a free trade zone only. Economic growth was regarded as a means for achieving desirable political and social goals through the process of painstaking institution building.

With 500 million citizens and a combined GDP of €12.9 trillion in 2012 shared among its 27 members the EU is better placed than ever to live up to its founding principles. The member states that benefitted from the common currency should lead in offering meaningful support rather than decimating their weaker members in a time of crisis by forcing austerity measures upon them.

This is not denying the responsibility for reckless borrowing resting with the successive Greek governments and their supporters. However, the logic of a collective punishment of the most vulnerable groups of the population must be rejected...

A perfect summation of radical far-left ideology. Imagine that. This time, at the international level. Still the same, though. Redistribution from those with more to those with less, screw personal responsibility. For the left, Syriza's win isn't about optimizing opportunities to cut ties to Brussels and the economic engines of Europe (especially Germany), but rather to cling tighter and suck harder at the teat of continental collectivism.

Another example of how right and left "fringe parties" differ radically in their ideological tendencies.

Lowlife leftists are scum-sucking dirtbags.

Still more.

The Greek Warning

At WSJ, "Radical parties rise when mainstream parties tolerate stagnation":

The exit polls Sunday night suggested that Greece’s far-left Syriza party will score a major victory in the weekend’s parliamentary election. The fallout for Europe will take time to sort out, but the warning should be clear enough about the political consequences of economic stagnation.

With Syriza poised to capture around 35% of the vote barely four years after it rose to national prominence, its leader, Alexis Tsipras, will have the first chance to form a new government. Mr. Tsipras is a former civil engineer who once favored Greece leaving the eurozone. He has tempered that demand as he sought power, but at a minimum he will try to renegotiate Greece’s bailouts with the troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

A Greek euro exit isn’t likely, at least not immediately or intentionally. Some on the left favor the idea, but polls show most Greeks don’t. They know a return to the drachma would mean a crushing devaluation with catastrophic results for the average Greek’s standard of living.

The Syriza victory is nonetheless a rebuke to European leaders. Greeks believe, not unreasonably, that the conditions imposed by the troika have been disastrous. The 2010 and 2012 bailouts came with draconian fiscal tightening, in the usual IMF fashion, with too little attention to promoting pro-growth reforms. The result has been falling wages and pensions and rising taxes, with no growth in return for the pain.

Those results cost the incumbent center-right New Democracy party led by soon-to-be-former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. His chief failing was a lack of conviction and skill in implementing reforms to labor markets, business regulations and a crackdown on corruption that would have promoted growth.

Instead he chose to meet the troika’s fiscal targets through the growth-killing combination of much higher taxes and deep but unevenly applied spending cuts. As one example: Greeks now pay a 23% value-added tax, while the eurozone average is 20.8%. Ireland also has a high VAT rate but it has a 12.5% corporate tax rate to attract capital. That‘s an example for Greece to follow...

Keep reading.

And see WSJ's main article, "Leftists Sweep to Power in Greece" (via Memeorandum):

With nearly all votes counted, opposition party Syriza was on track to win about half the seats in Parliament. In the wee hours of the morning, it clinched a coalition deal with a small right-wing party also opposed to Europe’s economic policy to give the two a clear majority.

“Today the Greek people have written history,” Syriza’s young leader and likely new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, said in his victory speech late Sunday. “The Greek people have given a clear, indisputable mandate for Greece to leave behind austerity.”

A Syriza victory marks an astonishing upset of Europe’s political order, which decades ago settled into an orthodox centrism while many in Syriza describe themselves as Marxists. It emboldens the challenges of other radical parties, from the right-wing National Front in France to the newly formed left-wing Podemos party in Spain, and it sets Greece on a collision course with Germany and its other eurozone rescuers.

This is what's absolutely fascinating to me: It's a parliamentary system with proportional representation, which facilitates the electoral fortunes of what would normally be fringe parties. And Syriza's forming a government with a "small right-wing party also opposed to Europe’s economic policy..."

That's the populism that MSM hacks keep warning about.

The rough equivalent to that "small right-wing party" in Greece" is France's National Front under Marine Le Pen, which will vie for the presidency in 2017. These are extremely momentous times in Europe. And the onus will be on the so-called mainstream parties to reform political systems and restore robust economic growth with low unemployment. The difference between right and the left, however --- and this is huge --- is that radical leftist parties repudiate the war on terror and they encourage the political power of radical Islamists. Francois Holland took something like 90 percent of the Muslim vote when he was elected to office in 2012. And thus, while both right and left are billed as populists, the actual policy differences (and consequences) of their respective governing regimes are enormous. Ms. Le Pen is committed to pulling up the drawbridge on French immigration, and that entails working to eliminate the E.U.'s open borders regulations allowing the free flow of goods and people across Europe. The effect of these has been to allow terrorists to roam free and organize the jihad conquest. The left parties will facilitate that development rather than fight it. And on other issues as well, far-left parties will welcome the further evisceration of traditional culture and atheistic malevolence.

These are far from insignificant issues to ponder as Europe grapples with the impact of Greece's monumental election.

Double Blow to Germany's Leadership

At the Wall Street Journal, "Victory Shuffles European Politics":

BERLIN—For five years, Europe’s common-currency bloc has squabbled over whether the solution to its economic crisis lies in slimming the state and deregulating markets, or in more expansionary fiscal and monetary policies.

The battle lines just got messier, the way out even less clear.

Since the start of the eurozone’s debt crisis, the bloc’s wealthier countries—led by Germany—have largely prevailed in pushing economic overhauls, not stimulus, as the main way to nurse indebted nations to financial health. Now, eurozone voters are in open revolt against such fiscal strictures, while the European Central Bank just overthrew German monetary orthodoxy.

Sunday’s historic victory for the radical left-wing Syriza party in Greece’s elections is likely to embolden populist movements in other eurozone countries, including Spain, France and Italy, which reject German-sponsored austerity.

Their growth on both the left and right of Europe’s political spectrum suggests the breadth and complexity of voter discontent. Spain’s far-left Podemos party has surged in opinion polls, and elections are due late this year. France’s far-right National Front is roiling the country’s establishment with attacks on austerity as well as immigration. Italy’s populist, euroskeptic Five Star Movement wants to renegotiate the national debt.

Greece is the most extreme example of the fraying of support for the mainstream center-right and center-left parties that have dominated Western European politics for decades. The antiestablishment surge comes amid the Continent’s longest economic slump since the Great Depression.

Meanwhile the ECB’s decision on Thursday to buy eurozone government bonds and other assets to stimulate growth and inflation broke with Germany’s deeply held belief that central banks shouldn’t print money to buy public debt.

The ECB used to back Germany loudly on the benefits of austerity, before suggesting last fall that the eurozone overall had become too austere and that Germany should spend more. Lately, ECB head Mario Draghi has avoided provoking Berlin on fiscal policy while also antagonizing it with his bond-buying program.

The bank and Berlin agree on one thing: the need for market-friendly overhauls to make eurozone economies more flexible. Yet those overhauls are harder than ever to sell to voters.

The three-way standoff between Germany, the ECB, and angry voters in Southern Europe is likely to resonate throughout 2015 in the eurozone, which lags behind the rest of the world in recovering from the global financial crisis...

More.

Jubilation in Central Athens as Thousands of Syriza Supporters Celebrate Landmark Victory

Via Euronews:

New Jersey High School Student Slams 62-Year-Old Teacher to Floor Over Cellphone

It's something that I would never do (confiscating a phone), since a student's phone is private property. But that said, this is absolutely over the top.

At the Paterson Record/Herald News, "Paterson freshman charged with assault after classroom attack on teacher."

Here's the video, "STUDENT SLAMS TEACHER FOR TAKING HIS PHONE AWAY" (via Weasel Zippers).

Note that's a black student. He'd be right at home with the Ferguson looting mobs.

Boko Haram Murders More than 200 as John Kerry Arrives in Nigeria

The Obama administration continues to demonstrate resolve in (not) fighting global Islamic jihad.

At Twitchy, "Boko Haram kills hundreds as John Kerry meets with Nigeria’s presidential candidates."

And video at Reuters, "Kerry arrives in Nigeria for talks."

Frankly, the Nigerian government is so corrupt it's almost as bad as Boko Haram. The administration of course won't lift a finger to fix that problem, so the terrorists won't be eliminated any time soon.

Added: At the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Boko Haram Attacks Major Nigerian City in a Sustained Assault."

Car Driving with Dashboard Camera Captures Vehicles Just Ahead Taking Direct Hit in Mariupol Shelling

All the glass flying is the giveaway. The people in the vehicles ahead were shredded instantaneously.



PREVIOUSLY: "War Exploding Anew in Ukraine."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Cartoons."



And see Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – O-Flate-Gate," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: William Warren.

Sunday Rule 5

A needed break from all the leftist hatred and destruction.

At Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is extreme rain caused by Other People driving fossil fueled vehicles, you might just be a Warmist."

More at the Other McCain, "Rule 5 Monday: Midnight Snack."

See also Dana Pico, "Rule 5 Blogging: Women in Combat in History."

90 Miles From Tyranny, "Morning Mistress."

And from Ms. EBL, "There is no deflation problem with this Charlotte McKinney Super Bowl ad…"

Also at the Last Tradition, "Rule 5 Sunday - Charlotte McKinney."

More, at Knuckledraggin', "Rockin' Those Stripes."

Now over at Gator Doug's, "THE DALEYBABE,"and "IRREVERENT ROUNDUP."

A View From the Beach, "Rule 5 Saturday - January's Tweet of the Month - January Jones."

Also, at Goodstuff's, "GOODSTUFFs BLOGGING MAGAZINE W/ZOE SALDANA (174th Issue)."

More at Odie's, "Monica Lewinski ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

At Egotastic!, "Hitomi Tanaka, Phoenix Marie, Samantha Saint at Adult Entertainment Expo in Vegas."

And at Drunken Stepfather, "KELLY BROOK IS A DOUGHY AT THE GYM OF THE DAY."

Proof Positive, "Here. Something to take your mind off Tom Brady's balls for a week..."

And see iOTW REPORT, "Stupid, stupid man sidelined from dream Super Bowl job after posting image of security credential to Facebook."

Drop your links in the comments if I've missed your Rule 5.

Until then...

PHOTO: Tessa Fowler.

Mark McMorris Nails Men's Slopestyle at X-Games 2015 Aspen

Just a brilliant run.

Utterly spectacular, for the win.

Islamic State Wants Something 'More Brutal Than the World Trade Center...' (VIDEO)

NBC's Richard Engel repots, "Man Who Escaped ISIS: They Want to Plan an Attack ‘More Brutal’ than 9/11."

Hat Tip: Aleister, at Legal Insurrection, "Former ISIS Prisoner: 'They Want Something Worse Than 9/11'."

'If 'American Sniper' Was About a Turncoat Transsexual..."

"...Then Hollywood Would Love It," argues Doug Giles, at Clash Daily:

Two well known lovelies in Hollywood went in full, Anti-American-Doofus-Mode, this past week over American Sniper; a movie that celebrates our military, patriotism, Christianity and killing terrorists, via a sniper who could bust a jihadist’s noggin at well over one click.

Hollywood hates that type of tale and you can tell they do by how rarely such a film like that tumbles from Tinseltown.

Indeed, in today’s sassy milieu, Hollywood hails only as a military “hero” someone who turns against our armed forces, steals our secrets and sells them to an albino Australian, then gets a sex change and starts going by the name “Chelsea” instead of Bradley.  Heck, if that be the case, then Hollywood’s all over that script and championing that flick like it’s sliced bread and Christmas.  Yum, yum. But a movie that celebrates traditional values and sacrificial soldier work for God and country … nah… screw that.

The two dudes, as you know, who decided to show their true colors by slamming American Sniper and are currently reeling from the massive negative and national backlash are Michael Moore and Seth Rogen.

Moore tweeted out that Americans are “invaders” and snipers are “cowards who shoot people in the back.”  Since that infamous tweet, he’s been tripping over his gelatinous backside trying to explain away what we all clearly understood; namely; that he doesn’t respect our military and he thinks Chris Kyle was a coward.  By the way, I don’t recall Moore ever saying similar, disparaging things about his beloved Cuba or Che or Fidel. Which is telling, eh?

Rogen, similarly took to Twitter and hit the stupid button by comparing American Sniper to a Nazi propaganda film.  He too, has been trying awkwardly and unsuccessfully to dance his way out of that ill-fated tweet by blaming others for misinterpreting him.  Poor, little Seth … no one understands you.

After Americans collectively shat on them, both of these weasels started saying how they really liked the movie and how Bradley Cooper was amazing; but you know what? … we didn’t hear any of that praise until our country told you two clowns to kiss off.  It was then and only then that we saw you blowhards blow kisses in the American Sniper’s direction.

When Moore laid into American Sniper via his tweet, I immediately contacted my buddy, Green Beret Sniper Bryan Sikes, asking him what he thought about Michael Moore’s  calling American Sniper, Chris Kyle, a coward.  Bryan’s response was nothing short of epic.  Check it out…

More.

President Obama's 'Successful' Counterterrorism Strategy in Yemen in Limbo

From Thomas Joscelyn and Bill Roggio, at Long War Journal.

And the White House took a shellacking on its national security policies this morning on "Meet the Press." See, "John McCain: U.S. approach to counterterrorism is 'delusional'," and "As global crises emerge, is the U.S. playing catch-up? (PANEL DISCUSSION)."

'Blitzkrieg Bop'

Listened to the Ramones on the radio while out for some errands earlier, at the Sound L.A.

Lido Shuffle
Boz Scaggs
12:35 PM

Back In Black
AC/DC
12:31 PM

Blitzkrieg Bop
Ramones
12:29 PM

Ohio
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
12:26 PM

Couldn't Get It Right
Climax Blues Band
12:23 PM

Games People Play
The Alan Parsons Project
12:13 PM

Evil Ways
Santana
12:10 PM

It Can Happen
Yes
12:04 PM

Let's Go
The Cars
12:00 PM

Also, Marky Ramone is on tour promoting his new book, Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone.

He was interview at KCAL-9 this weekend. Watch: "Punk Rock Icon Marky Ramone Releases New Memoir."

Radical Syriza Party, Under Greek 'Che Guevara' Alexis Tsipras, Set to Sieze Power in Athens

They're not my cup of tea, obviously.

The party's leader, Alexis Tsipras, zoomed around on motorcycles as a Communist youth activist in his early days. The Greek 'Che Guevara," or so they say.

Still, I can't discount Syriza's anti-EU agenda. The unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels are snuffing out popular democracy across the continent.

At the Guardian UK, "Syriza wins Greek election as Samaras congratulates Tsipras – live updates."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Eurozone braced for 'catastrophe' as Greek PM concedes defeat in crucial election with radical left-wing anti-austerity party on brink of historic victory."

Obama Will Not Attend 70th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation

And this is a surprise?

At Free Beacon.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will represent the U.S. at the ceremonies. A token gesture, if that.

Sarah Palin at Iowa Freedom Summit: 'Screw the Hollywood Left'

At the Hill, "Palin: 'Screw the Hollywood left'."

Watch, at C-SPAN: "Iowa Freedom Summit, Sarah Palin."

Skate Legends Inspire at El Gato Classic in Palm Springs

At the Palm Springs Desert Sun, "Skater legends inspire locals at El Gato Classic."

And at Blue Tile Obsession, "El Gato Classic / Legends Jam":

I was awestruck today. The El Gato Classic Legends Jam was insane. At one point, there were so many Hester Series and Gold Cup series skateboarders in attendance that I was literally the only mortal on the deck. Just a few: El Gato, Malba, Salba, Olson, Caballero, Hosoi, Jim Gray, Lonny Hiramoto, Scott Foss, Eric Grisham, Jami Godfrey, Steve Hirsch, Freddi DeSota, Lance Mountain, Pineapple Saladino, Doug Marker, Billy Ruff, Mike McGill, Hackett, Wally Inouye, Doug Marker, Kyle Jensen, George McClellan, Alan Gelfand, Allen Losi, Scott Dunlap, Brad Bowman, George Orton, John Lucero, Marty Grimes, Robin Logan, Chuck Hults, Jim Muir, Tony Hawk, Jeff Tatum and others. There was more amazing skateboarding going on than I could take in at one sitting. I was impressed with something that really stood out to me. When Scott Dunlap threw a huge double trucker in the deep end, his head would drop down just like I could see in old photographs of him. When Hackett slashed frontside, his body would twist up… When Scott Foss rode, we all rode with him. Each legend still retains all that made him what he is. The style has remained. There is more mileage but the originality and raw natural talent remains. Impressive.

Also, "El Gato Classic / Vert Demo."

More photos on Twitter at "El Gato Classic" and "#ElGatoClassic."

X-Games Big Air Final 2015 Aspen

Pretty wicked.

Results: "America's Navy Snowboard Big Air Final."

California Faces Egg Shortage as Far-Left Animal Welfare Law Takes Effect

Well, no one saw this coming, or anything.

Eggs will settle in anywhere from 10 to 40 percent higher "than they are right now." Happy chickens though!

At CBS News Sacramento, "New California Egg Law Prompts Egg Shortage Concerns as Suppliers Alter Facilities."

Insane Ferguson Looting Video

When law enforcement is completely absent, anarchy reigns. And there is no moral force powerful enough to restrain the literally primitive black animals scavenging for grub at Dellwood Market.

Via Aleister, at Legal Insurrection, "New #Ferguson Video Released: Looters Invade Market Because #Justice," and Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "Police release insane Ferguson looting video, are criticized for transparency":

This closed-circuit security camera footage is absolutely amazing. In a video recently released by local police in Missouri, at least 180 looters are shown pillaging a market in the city of Dellwood, a town neighboring Ferguson that was subject to violent riots in the wake of a grand jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown.

The images of the violent property destruction showcased in that video are positively astonishing...

War Exploding Anew in Ukraine

Yes, and no doubt our Commander-in-Chief is looking to go golfing.

Either that, or GloZell is due to drop off some Fruit Loops at the White House.

At the New York Times, "War Is Exploding Anew in Ukraine; Rebels Vow More":

DONETSK, Ukraine — Unexpectedly, at the height of the Ukrainian winter, war has exploded anew on a half-dozen battered fronts across eastern Ukraine, accompanied by increasing evidence that Russian troops and Russian equipment have been pouring into the region again.

A shaky cease-fire has all but vanished, with rebel leaders vowing fresh attacks. Civilians are being hit by deadly mortars at bus stops. Tanks are rumbling down snowy roads in rebel-held areas with soldiers in unmarked green uniforms sitting on their turrets, waving at bystanders — a disquieting echo of the “little green men” whose appearance in Crimea opened this stubborn conflict in the spring.

The renewed fighting has dashed any hopes of reinvigorating a cease-fire signed in September and honored more in name than in fact since then. It has also put to rest the notion that Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, would be so staggered by the twin blows of Western sanctions and a collapse in oil prices that he would forsake the separatists in order to foster better relations with the West.

Instead, blaming the upsurge in violence on the Ukrainians and the rise in civilian deaths on “those who issue such criminal orders,” as he did on Friday in Moscow, Mr. Putin is apparently doubling down, rather than backing down, in a conflict that is now the bloodiest in Europe since the Balkan wars.

With the appearance in recent weeks of what NATO calls sophisticated Russian weapons systems, newly emboldened separatist leaders have abandoned all talk of a cease-fire. One of the top leaders of the Russian-backed rebels said Friday that his soldiers were “on the offensive” in several sectors, capitalizing on their capture of the Donetsk airport the day before.

“We will attack” until the Ukrainian Army is driven from the border of the Donetsk region, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic rebel group, said in comments carried by Russian news agencies.

“On our side, we won’t make an effort to talk about a cease-fire,” Mr. Zakharchenko said. “Now we’re going to watch how Kiev reacts. Kiev doesn’t understand that we can attack in three directions at once.”

For long-suffering residents of Donetsk, who have lived with constant shelling, chronic electricity failures and, since September, a cutoff of pensions and other government support payments from Kiev, the resumption of military action came as little surprise.

“It was pure illusion that peace could be achieved now,” said Enrique Menendez, a former advertising agency owner who now runs a humanitarian relief operation in eastern Ukraine. “None of the sides has yet achieved its goals. The only real surprise is that the fighting started in the winter instead of the spring.”...

More.

Gloomy Outlook Among the Young in Athens as Greek Election Approaches

A video at Euronews.

The economy remains in the tank, although I'll be surprised if Greek youth are much happier once the communists come to power.

At the Christian Science Monitor, "Greek leftists set for big win. Now comes the hard part: swaying Europe."

Judge Jeanine Pirro: 'We Should Have Leaders Like Chris Kyle...'

A great segment. She's perking up like a happy warrior!

Watch: "Judge Jeanine Blasts Michael Moore - Chris Kyle Wore Big Boots Neither You Nor Your Friends Could Fill."

PREVIOUSLY: "Obama's 'Not American, not African-American, not any-American, he embodies nothing that places him in the historic stream of people who have defined this country...'"

'This summer, it is offering an activist lawyer’s training seminar, with an agenda that includes combating boycotts of Israeli products and defending Israeli soldiers against charges of war crimes...'

"It" would be Shurat HaDin, the Israeli legal firm of audacious legal campaigner Nitsana Darshan-Leitner.

Heh, you gotta love this lady's chutzpah.

At the New York Times, "Crusading for Israel in a Way Some Say Is Misguided."

Misguided? Shoot, I'm tickled pink by the awesome Ms. Darshan-Leitner.

'As with any cult, once the mythology of the cult begins falling apart, instead of saying, oh, we were wrong, they get more and more fanatical...'

So true.

At Moonbattery, "MIT Meteorologist Richard Lindzen Calls Global Warming a Cult."

Skier Henrik Harlaut Knocked Out Cold at Winter X Games 2015 Aspen

Watch, at TMZ Sports, "X Games Aspen -- Skier Henrik Harlaut KO'ed ... After SCARY Wipeout!! (VIDEO)."

Charlotte McKinney

At Fox News Sports, "Charlotte McKinney Is the New Kate Upton."

Also at TMZ Sports, "Charlotte McKinney -- 'I Really Do Eat Carl's Jr, But ...'"

And at Esquire, "THE WOMEN WE LOVE OF INSTAGRAM: CHARLOTTE MCKINNEY."

ADDED: At Free Beacon, "FREE CHARLOTTE MCKINNEY: Naked bikini model's Super Bowl ad dubbed 'too hot for TV'."

Governor Scott Walker at Iowa Freedom Summit (VIDEO)

The dude with perhaps the greatest contemporary record of destroying despicable progressives.

Watch at C-SPAN, "Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) at the Iowa Freedom Summit."

At the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal, "'Go big and go bold' Scott Walker tells Iowa GOP summit":

Des Moines, Iowa — A day after rejecting a proposed Kenosha casino and two days after making his toughest comments yet on fighting terrorism, Gov. Scott Walker told Iowa Republicans the country needs leaders who are willing to break out fresh ideas.

"We weren't afraid to go big and go bold," Walker told some 1,200 people at the Iowa Freedom Summit.

"Maybe that's why I won the race for governor three times in the last four years. Three times, mind you, in a state that hasn't gone Republican for president since I was in high school more than 30 years ago... If you're not afraid to go big and go bold, you can actually get results. You can applaud for that. And if you get the job done, the voters will actually stand up with you."

And applaud they did. Walker — one of several potential presidential candidates who spoke Saturday — received hearty responses as he talked about putting restrictions on abortion, approving a voter ID law, giving people the right to carry concealed weapons and tightly limiting collective bargaining for public workers.

"I'm going to come back many more times in the future," he said.

Shit just got real.

OK, now it gets real, here comes Scott Walker #freedomsummit

— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) January 24, 2015

El Gato Classic Skateboarding Competition in Palm Springs

It's this weekend.

Here's the website and here's the announcement video.

And at the Palm Springs Desert Sun, "Skater legends inspire locals at El Gato Classic":

Palm Springs Skate Park had the air of an amped up high school reunion Friday night, because that high school would’ve been attended by skateboarding legends of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.

Brought together by Palm Desert local Eddie “El Gato” Elguera for his first-ever El Gato Skateboard Classic Competition this weekend, household names like Tony Hawk, Alan Gelfand and Brad Bowman could be seen at the park throughout the day.

A “Revolutionary Era of Skateboarding” art and photo show kicked off the skateboard contest series created by the two-time World Champion skateboarder Elguera, featuring the work of photographer Jim Cassimus of SkateBoarder magazine fame and drawing a crowd of hundreds between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

“These guys, they love being here because skateboarding is a community,” said Elguera, Red Bull in hand. “I could be at a bowl and some 8-year-old comes up and we have something in common.”

Not far off was Dale Smith, the coach who helped work out several of Elguera’s classic vert tricks like “Elguerial” — a cutting-edge “fakie flip” when it was pulled off in May 1979.

Surrounding the legends were skateboarding paintings, drawings and Cassimus’ photos from the classic Gold Cup Series age of the sport.

“I haven’t seen some of these guys since I photographed them 25 years ago, and they come up and I hardly recognize them,” Cassimus said. “Hopefully these photos of the pioneers of modern skateboarding will show kids the history of the sport before they were born.”...

More.

And classic photos from the old days, "Hester Series / Gold Cup / El Gato Classic."

Winston Churchill Death 50-Year Anniversary (VIDEO)

Video via Telegraph UK, "How the UK honoured its wartime leader."

Some 350 million around the globe tuned in to watch Winston Churchill’s funeral when it took place 50 years ago in 1965.

On January 15, 1965, Winston Churchill suffered a severe stroke. The long-retired former Prime Minister was now 90 years old. He died nine days later on the morning of Sunday January 24 at his home in London.

Following his death, by decree of the Queen, his body lay in state for three days at Westminster Hall. It was only the second time that the Monarch had bestowed a state funeral on a Prime Minister.

Some 300,000 people visited Westminster Hall to pay their respects to the man who led Britain’s defence against the Third Reich during the Second World War.

On January 30 1965, Churchill's funeral was held. The state funeral service was the largest in world history up to that point in time, with representatives from 112 nations.

Silent crowds lined the streets to watch the gun carriage bearing his coffin make its way from Westminster to St Paul's Cathedral accompanied by representatives from all the services.

In Europe 350 million people, including 25 million in Britain, watched the funeral on television.

As his coffin passed down the Thames from Town Pier to Festival Pier on the Havengore, dockers lowered their crane jibs in a salute.
The coffin was taken to Waterloo Station to be loaded onto a specially prepared and painted carriage - part of a funeral train - to take the body to Bladon, near Woodstock.

He was buried in the family plot at St Martin's Church, not far from his birthplace at Blenheim Palace.

And, at Wikipedia, "We Shall Fight on the Beaches":

Turning once again, and this time more generally, to the question of invasion, I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long centuries of which we boast when an absolute guarantee against invasion, still less against serious raids, could have been given to our people. In the days of Napoleon, of which I was speaking just now, the same wind which would have carried his transports across the Channel might have driven away the blockading fleet. There was always the chance, and it is that chance which has excited and befooled the imaginations of many Continental tyrants. Many are the tales that are told. We are assured that novel methods will be adopted, and when we see the originality of malice, the ingenuity of aggression, which our enemy displays, we may certainly prepare ourselves for every kind of novel stratagem and every kind of brutal and treacherous manœuvre. I think that no idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered and viewed with a searching, but at the same time, I hope, with a steady eye. We must never forget the solid assurances of sea power and those which belong to air power if it can be locally exercised.

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government – every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

Still more, from William Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection, "No more finest hours."

Well, sadly so.

Obama Administration Pushes to Tax '529' College Saving Accounts

Tax, tax, tax your life away.

The American left's insatiable demands for more revenue are bankrupting America and eviscerating the middle class.

From Megan McArdle, at Bloomberg, "Uncle Sam Is Coming After Your Savings":

Earlier in the week, I discussed the Obama administration's proposal to tax earnings on so-called 529 college savings plans, part of a package of tax hikes that will pay for new programs such as his proposal to make the first two years of community college free. This has been touted as a plan to hike taxes on the rich to help the middle class, but in fact it's more of a plan to redistribute money from the upper middle class to the lower middle class.

As I noted then, this proposal is not going anywhere, not just because Republican congressmen will block it, but because it would be very unpopular with affluent blue-state voters who currently vote for Democrats. About the only people I saw defending this particular idea were blue-state singles who haven't yet confronted the monstrous expense of shepherding their progeny into the new mandarin class to which they belong.

Everyone else seems to be somewhere between confused and aghast. One comment in particular struck me, as I saw it several times on social media and in writings: "How would you feel if they did this to Roth IRAs?"

Why did I find that particular question a compelling topic for a column? Because it's a question we may have to ask ourselves. As I observed when I first wrote about the plan, the very fact that we are discussing taxation of educational savings -- redistributing educational subsidies downward -- indicates that the administration has started scraping the bottom of the barrel when seeking out money to fund new programs. Why target a tax benefit that goes to a lot of your supporters (and donors), that tickles one of the sweetest spots in American politics (subsidizing higher education), and that will hit a lot of people who make less than the $250,000 a year that has become the administration's de facto definition of "rich"?

Presumably, because you're running out of other places to get the money...

Yeah, that's the problem with socialism. Eventually you run out of "other people's money."

President Obama Pushes Pre-K and 'Free' College Because He's Got Jack for K-12

Heh.

From Amy Otto, at the Federalist:

The escalation of nationalized education standards, the push for preschool teachers to have more degrees, and the Obama administration’s overall push for more school before and after K-12 is a way to avoid solving the real problem. When their party’s largest donors are the Service Employees International Union, National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers, Democrats have millions of reasons to avoid addressing the challenges of our K-12 education system...

Word.