Bill Bellichick Baited Pete Carroll's Play-Calling Clusterfuck

That's the hypothesis at the Washington Post, a possibility that occurred to me almost immediately after the interception. Carroll must have been rushed. He must have thought he could catch the Patriots off-guard with a pass play. It's the 64 million dollar question.

See, "Bill Belichick made a sneaky-smart decision that might have contributed to fateful play call by Pete Carroll":

Pete Carroll’s confounding last-minute play call Sunday night will be dissected, debated and mocked for as long they play Super Bowls. It might have been prodded by a sneaky-brilliant decision by Bill Belichick.

With 1 minute, 6 seconds seconds left and the Seahawks down by four points, Marshawn Lynch rumbled to the 1-yard line on first down. The Patriots possessed two timeouts, and the Seahawks had one left. The clock ticked down, and at first it appeared odd for Belichick not to exhaust one of his timeouts. With the Seahawks on the doorstep, New England needed to conserve seconds for a desperation drive in response.

Belichick’s choice to not use a timeout, though, made life more difficult for the Seahawks by complicating their play-calling options. It may have even convinced them to throw their ill-fated pass on second down.

Imagine Belichick had called a timeout in hopes of saving seconds for Tom Brady. The Seahawks would have had enough time to hand off the ball three times without fear of the clock running out, particularly because they had a timeout of their own.

But with Belichick allowing the clock to tick, Seattle’s calculus became more complex, especially as they used almost the entire play clock...

Interesting.

Keep reading.

There's going to be a lot of theorizing about this, and I do mean theory. See the New York Times, "Game Theory Says Pete Carroll’s Call at Goal Line Is Defensible."

Awesome Emily Rossum

An interview with Ms. Rossum, at the Hollywood Reporter, "'Shameless' Postmortem: Emmy Rossum on Fiona's 'Desperate Attempt' at Stability."

And at Egotastic!, "The reason God invented the Boob Tube Roundup really was to showcase the splendid bare peaches of Emmy Awesome on her Showtime original Shameless."

Ross Douthat on the Left's Post-Post Racial Political Correctness

Douthat's got some interesting and considerably astute observations on the left's recent blow-up over over Jonathan Chait's essay on regressive leftist P.C. culture.

See, "Does Political Correctness Work?", and "Our Loud, Proud Left":

FOR the last week, liberal journalists have been furiously debating whether a new political correctness has swept over the American left. The instigator of this argument was New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait, normally a scourge of Republicans, whose essay on what he dubbed “the new P.C.” critiqued left-wing activists for their zeal to play language cop, shout down arguments and shut down debate outright.

It will surprise absolutely nobody that I think the phenomenon that Chait describes is real. But I come not to judge but to explain — because whether you like or loathe the “P.C.” label, the rise of a more assertive cultural left is clearly one of the defining features of the later Obama years. This assertiveness is palpable among younger activists, on campus and online; it’s visible in controversy after controversy, from Ferguson to campus rape. And it’s interesting to think about exactly where it’s coming from.

The first source, probably, is disappointment with other forms of left-wing politics. A decade ago, the left’s energy was focused on Iraq; in President Obama’s first term, it was divided between his quest for a new New Deal and Occupy Wall Street’s free-form radicalism. But now the antiwar movement is moribund, Occupy has gone the way of the Yippies and it’s been years since the White House proposed a new tax or spending plan that wasn’t D.O.A.

What’s more, despite all the books sold by Thomas Piketty, the paths forward for progressive economic policy are mostly blocked — and not only by a well-entrenched Republican Party, but by liberalism’s ongoing inability to raise the taxes required to pay for the welfare state we already have. Since a long, slow, grinding battle over how to pay for those commitments is unlikely to fire anyone’s imagination, it’s not surprising that cultural causes — race, sex, identity — suddenly seem vastly more appealing.

The second wellspring is a more specific sort of disillusionment. Call it post-post-racialism: a hangover after the heady experience of electing America’s first black president; a frustration with the persistence of racial divides, even in an age of elite African-American achievement; and a sense of outrage over particular tragedies (Trayvon Martin, Ferguson) that seem to lay injustice bare.

Post-post-racial sentiment is connected to economic disappointments, because minorities have fared particularly poorly in the Great Recession’s aftermath...

Three Ways to 'Do Something' About Poverty

A great commentary, from Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today.

RELATED: At Forbes, "How Hair Braiding Explains What's Gone Wrong With America's Economy."

Fox's Shepard Smith Slams Leftist Anti-Vaxxers: 'You're Science Deniers!' (VIDEO)

Via Memeorandum:



Also at the Hill, "CDC warns of ‘large outbreak’ of measles."

And remember, "Affluent Leftists Dominate the Ranks of Anti-Vaxxers, Overwhelmingly Voted for Obama."

The Emerging Republican Advantage

Are you ready for a morning long-read?

Here's John Judis, a National Journal, "The idea of an enduring Democratic majority was a mirage. How the GOP gained an edge in American politics—and why it’s likely to last."

Interesting, considering that Judis is one of the main proponents of the "emerging Democrat majority" thesis, which obviously came crashing down in 2014.

Noah Rothman has more, "John Judis: About that “emerging Democratic majority’ thing… yeah…"

Regressive leftists are looking at years, if not decades, in the political wilderness.

'Roaring Success'— Super Bowl Television Review

The O.C. Register decided to put a television review on the front-page, which seems a bit more, er, normal than the L.A. Times' domestic violence PSA above the fold this morning.

See Michael Hewitt, "Late-game heroics remind us Super Bowl not just about commercials, halftime show (those were good too)":

The biggest TV show of the year delivered on all fronts Sunday: laughs, tears, controversy, music, dance – and a heck of a football game.

Nothing in American culture is quite like the Super Bowl, an unofficial national holiday that about one-third of the country celebrates by watching four-plus hours of television together.

Super Bowl XLIX proved worthy of the attention, thanks mostly to the seesaw battle between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, won by New England, 28-24, and a nearly flawless performance by NBC Sports.

So many years we spend Monday morning talking about the commercials or the halftime show, but much postgame chatter this year will be about New England rookie Malcolm Butler’s game-saving goal-line interception or Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse’s improbable catch seconds earlier. Both plays were perfectly captured by NBC’s cameras, allowing us to drop our jaws again and again with the replays.

The visual image that will stick the longest may well be NBC’s sideline reporter Michele Tafoya chasing after Butler to score a post-game interview, as the unlikely hero ran off, seemingly overwhelmed by the moment.

Keep reading.

NFL's 'No More' Domestic Violence Super Bowl Ad

Here's Mary MaNamara's front-page story at today's Los Angeles Times, "Most important thing on TV this year could be this Super Bowl PSA."

I guess domestic violence is more important than Pete Carroll's play calling.

Here's the ad: "NO MORE's Official Super Bowl Ad: 60 Second."

Katy Perry Rocks Super Bowl 2015 — #SB49

One helluva spectacle.

She's a consummate professional. A very enjoyable performance.

At LAT, "Super Bowl 2015: Katy Perry packs it all into halftime show":

When you have a song called “Roar,” you put a lion in your concert. When you have a song called “Firework,” you arrange for some pyrotechnics.

And when you’re playing the Super Bowl halftime show, as Katy Perry did Sunday night, you bring every other bit of spectacle you can think of — whether it’s mentioned in one of your songs or not.

Headlining the biggest gig in pop, Perry crammed a full-scale production into her 12 1/2 minutes on (and above) the field of the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., beginning with her entrance astride a gold lion about three stories tall and ending with a regal wave from the moving platform that made the 30-year-old singer look like a shooting star.

But Perry, who appeared to be singing live, also brought real vocal power to her performance as well as the surprising dash of humility required to give over a sizable portion of her time to her special guest, Missy Elliott.

In all, it was the kind of pop extravaganza that even the NFL’s crusty classic-rock contingent could love...

More.

Sacramento Reports Cards Now Grade Students on 'Being Sensitive to Others...'

Because "being sensitive" is now more important than knowing how to read.

And if you don't believe that, just remember that two-thirds of all American students are "below proficient" in reading skills (and one-third are "below basic").

At the Sacramento Bee, "Grit and gratitude join reading, writing and arithmetic on report cards" (via EAG News).

Here's That Incredible Jermaine Kearse Bobbling Catch in #SB49

With Seattle's running game, after Kearse's catch I thought it was over.

But, ah, no.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Vows Revenge for Beheadings — #KenjiGoto

This is like, "Whoa!"

At the New York Times, "Departing From Country’s Pacifism, Japanese Premier Vows Revenge for Killings":

TOKYO — When Islamic State militants posted a video over the weekend showing the grisly killing of a Japanese journalist, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacted with outrage, promising “to make the terrorists pay the price.”

Such vows of retribution may be common in the West when leaders face extremist violence, but they have been unheard of in confrontation-averse Japan — until now. The prime minister’s call for revenge after the killings of the journalist, Kenji Goto, and another hostage, Haruna Yukawa, raised eyebrows even in the military establishment, adding to a growing awareness here that the crisis could be a watershed for this long pacifist country.

“Japan has not seen this Western-style expression in its diplomacy before,” Akihisa Nagashima, a former vice minister of defense, wrote on Twitter. “Does he intend to give Japan the capability to back up his words?”

As the 12-day hostage crisis came to a grim conclusion with the killing of Mr. Goto, the world has suddenly begun to look like a much more dangerous place to a peaceful and prosperous nation that had long seen itself as immune to the sorts of violence faced by the United States and its Western allies...

More.

The Alarming Thing About Climate Alarmism

This guy's great. See Bjorn Lomborg, at WSJ:

It is an indisputable fact that carbon emissions are rising—and faster than most scientists predicted. But many climate-change alarmists seem to claim that all climate change is worse than expected. This ignores that much of the data are actually encouraging. The latest study from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that in the previous 15 years temperatures had risen 0.09 degrees Fahrenheit. The average of all models expected 0.8 degrees. So we’re seeing about 90% less temperature rise than expected.

Facts like this are important because a one-sided focus on worst-case stories is a poor foundation for sound policies. Yes, Arctic sea ice is melting faster than the models expected. But models also predicted that Antarctic sea ice would decrease, yet it is increasing. Yes, sea levels are rising, but the rise is not accelerating—if anything, two recent papers, one by Chinese scientists published in the January 2014 issue of Global and Planetary Change, and the other by U.S. scientists published in the May 2013 issue of Coastal Engineering, have shown a small decline in the rate of sea-level increase.

We are often being told that we’re seeing more and more droughts, but a study published last March in the journal Nature actually shows a decrease in the world’s surface that has been afflicted by droughts since 1982.

Hurricanes are likewise used as an example of the “ever worse” trope. If we look at the U.S., where we have the best statistics, damage costs from hurricanes are increasing—but only because there are more people, with more-expensive property, living near coastlines. If we adjust for population and wealth, hurricane damage during the period 1900-2013 decreased slightly.

At the U.N. climate conference in Lima, Peru, in December, attendees were told that their countries should cut carbon emissions to avoid future damage from storms like typhoon Hagupit, which hit the Philippines during the conference, killing at least 21 people and forcing more than a million into shelters. Yet the trend for landfalling typhoons around the Philippines has actually declined since 1950, according to a study published in 2012 by the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate. Again, we’re told that things are worse than ever, but the facts don’t support this.

This is important because if we want to help the poor people who are most threatened by natural disasters, we have to recognize that it is less about cutting carbon emissions than it is about pulling them out of poverty...

Right.

But climate change leftists don't care about pulling people out of poverty. All they care about is increasing government power to "save" the environment.

Keep reading.

Amazing Finish Marks a Super Bowl for the Ages

I had no real rooting interest in either of these teams, but, as much as I admire them, I've had a lingering grudge against the Patriots since the 2001 AFC divisional playoff game against the Raiders.

So, I'm torn between the awe of a phenomenal game and the head-shaking dejection of the Seattle loss. Weird that.

In any case, here's Mitch Albom, at the Detroit Free Press:

GLENDALE, Ariz. – And then it broke. The magic bubble that Seattle had been living under, the immortal elixir, the string of amazing finishes, the incredible touch of Russell Wilson and decision making of Pete Carroll — it all ended in a blink, the most unlikely of plays, a forced pass by Wilson to Ricardo Lockette with just 20 seconds left that was snatched at the goal line by New England's Malcolm Butler.

And suddenly, the Patriots were Super Bowl champions. It happened so fast, I'm not sure the Patriots believed it themselves. Tom Brady, still reeling from watching a ridiculous circus catch by Seattle's Jermaine Kearse moments earlier — one that looked like the final dagger to the Pats' hopes — suddenly threw his hands in the air and screamed. So did every New England fan.

And so, for that matter, did every Seattle fan. Because a team with Marshawn Lynch in the backfield, a team that only needs one yard to score a championship-winning touchdown, should not be knifing a pass into coverage in the most crowded part of the field.

But the Seahawks did. And they paid for it. Final score: 28-24.

Champ, dethroned.

In an incredible finish to an incredible Super Bowl, it was a bad call and a bad pass that left the biggest mark. And if, upon hearing the names Lockette and Butler, you said, "Who?" well, you're not alone.

But it was that kind of Super Bowl. These two teams, the best in the business, were so adept at taking away each other's strength, it left the stage vacant for the second-tier guys.

Or in some cases, the end of the bench...

More.

And I think Mike DiGiovanna nails it here:

Feel like I just watched the NFL version of the #Royals-#Athletics wild-card game. Wow.

— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) February 2, 2015

Return to Glory: Patriots Defeat Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX

Such an amazing game. Seriously incredible.

At the Boston Globe, "Patriots rally to beat Seahawks in Super Bowl":

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The last time the New England Patriots played a Super Bowl in the Arizona desert, it was a most unlikely hero that made the play of the game, a play that broke the Patriots’ backs.

This time the Patriots returned to the desert for Super Bowl XLIX, and it was again a most unlikely hero that made the play of the game, this time the play that delivered Lombardi Trophy No. 4 to New England.

The Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-24, to reclaim the title of NFL champions thanks to an interception in the end zone by undrafted rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler.

Facing second-and-goal from the 1, the Seahawks made the stunning decision to pass rather than hand it off to power back Marshawn Lynch. Russell Wilson threw right into traffic, and Butler, who a little more than a year ago was playing for West Alabama, stepped in front of Ricardo Lockette for the play of his young career.

The Patriots become the sixth franchise in NFL history to win at least four Super Bowls, joining the Steelers, Cowboys, Giants, Packers, and 49ers.

The Patriots are also the first team to come back from a 10-point, second-half deficit in the Super Bowl to win.

The game-winning touchdown came with 2:02 to play, a 3-yard Tom Brady-to-Julian Edelman strike, Brady looking to his most-trusted receiver when it mattered most. Edelman finished the game with nine receptions for 102 yards and a TD.

Brady, the first quarterback to start six Super Bowls and chosen as the game’s most valuable player (for the third time), set a slew of records: his 37 completions (he was 37 for 50 for 328 yards, 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions) are a Super Bowl record, his 13 Super Bowl touchdown passes put him past his childhood idol, Joe Montana (11), and he became the first quarterback in league history with 50 touchdowns in his postseason career...

Well, I still can't believe the finish.

See Mike Vaccaro, at the New York Post, "Pete Carroll threw away Super Bowl with one awful decision."

I'll have more on Pete Carroll. What really was he thinking?

Super Bowl Caps Off Tough Year for NFL

Norah O'Donnell interviews James Brown, on "Face the Nation":

Super Bowl Blowouts No Longer the Norm

Well, it's 7-7 late in the second half, so thus far Super Bowl XLIX is confirming the new norm.

At the New York Times, "Super Bowls Are Getting More Interesting":

Any football fans old enough to remember the 1980s are old enough to remember the idea that Super Bowls were lousy football games. Blowouts were the norm for much of the 1980s and 1990s, with scores like 38-9, 46-10, 55-10 and 52-17.

But blowouts are now the exception. Even after last year’s 43-8 romp by the Seahawks over the Broncos, five of the last seven — and 10 of the last 17 — Super Bowls have been decided by a touchdown or less.

It’s not just based on what is happening during the games, either. Heading into the Super Bowl, the matchups have looked more competitive in recent years than in the past. Justin Wolfers has noted that this year’s game, between the Seahawks and the Patriots, is one of the few without a clear favorite according to oddsmakers (and oddsmakers have an impressive track record).

The point spread set by many bookies is 1 point, in favor of the Patriots. (Some other prediction markets list the Seahawks as a slight favorite.) Only two other Super Bowls — Dolphins-Redskins, in 1973; and 49ers-Bengals, in 1982 — have had such narrow spreads. This year’s game is also the seventh in a row with a spread of a touchdown or less.

What explains the trend?...

What do you think? More at the link.

Quick Super Bowl XLIX Rule 5

I like Seattle, so check out the Seattle Sea Gals for some Rule 5 goodness.

Ms. EBL gets in the spirit, "Cheerleaders of Super Bowl XLIX."

So does Wirecutter, "And let the games begin!"

At Odie's, "Happy Super Bowl Sunday Woodsterman Style."

And at AWD, "SUPER BOWL SUNDAY: WHO’S YOUR PICK TO WIN?"



More at Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Patriotic Pinup," and "If All You See……is horrible pizza which makes people fat which makes climate change worse, you might just be a Warmist."

Also at 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Morning Mistress."

And at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Johanna Lundback."

PCP has, "Flowing Curves of Beauty."

At Proof Positive, "Super Bowl of Babes."

Crazy Uncle Bubba has, "Buenas babetastic!"

At Egotastic!, "Hailey Clauson Sextastic Supreme Modeling Beach Wear That You’d Like to See Come Off."

More at Reaganite, "'Miss Colombia' Paulina Vega Stuns Judges, is Duly Crowned 'Miss Universe 2014'."

See more at the Other McCain, "Rule 5 Sunday: Shake It Off."

At iOTW Report, "The Super Bowl Will Have More Security Than Benghazi."

A View From the Beach, "Superbowl XLIX Live Blog (with hotties)."

And from the Hostages, "A Naval Aviation Superbowl."

At Drunken Stepfather, "LUCI FORD DOES THE SUPER BOWL OF THE DAY."

More at Daley Gator, "MY SUPER SUNDAY PREDICTIONS," and "THE DALEYBABE XIMENA DUQUE."

From Dana Pico, "Rule 5 Blogging: Basic Combat Training."

As usual, drop your Rule 5 links in the comments if you're not included.

Until then...

Hostage's 'Apparent' Beheading by #ISIS Stirs Anger in Japan — #KenjiGoto

Well, you think?

At NYT:

TOKYO — Japan reacted with sorrow and outrage on Sunday to the posting by the Islamic State of a video purporting to show the grisly killing of the journalist Kenji Goto, bringing an end to a hostage standoff that has horrified this usually tranquil nation.

Gripped by anger and disbelief, Japan has so far shown support for the strong line taken by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who did not meet the hostage takers’ initial demands on Jan. 20 for a $200 million ransom, pledging not to yield to terrorism. Mr. Abe strongly condemned the murder claim made in the video released early Sunday, saying Japan “will cooperate with the international community and make the terrorists pay the price.”

“I’m outraged by the despicable terrorist act, and I will never forgive the terrorists,” Mr. Abe told reporters on Sunday at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo.

For now, the Japanese public seems to be united in grief and a desire to show support for Mr. Abe and other leaders. However, political analysts have said that as the shock wears off, there will be more questioning of how Mr. Abe’s government handled the crisis, which began with the appearance online of a video from the militant group threatening the lives of two Japanese hostages, Mr. Goto and Haruna Yukawa. In that first video, the group called the country’s pledge of $200 million to help shore up the government of Iraq and to assist refugees in Turkey, Syria and Lebanon a “foolish decision” and called for a ransom of the same amount.

The group dropped the ransom demand after releasing a video online days later showing the decapitated body of Mr. Yukawa, a 42-year-old adventurer. The militants changed tack, offering to swap Mr. Goto for Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman on death row in Jordan for a deadly bombing there 10 years ago. This seemed to offer hope that a way would be found to secure Mr. Goto’s release.

Those hopes came crashing down over the weekend, when another video appeared showing Mr. Goto kneeling in an orange jumpsuit in what appeared to be a dry riverbed. Next to him stood a masked militant who spoke while waving a knife, which he then apparently used to cut off Mr. Goto’s head.

While the video had yet to be confirmed as authentic on Sunday, the top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said the government had no reason to believe it was not real. He said Japan had had no contact with the militants, suggesting that the nation was relying almost entirely on Jordan to handle the fate of the hostages. During the 10-day hostage standoff, Japan said it was trying to establish communication with the militants via local tribal and religious leaders, but apparently to no avail.

The gruesome images helped feed an outpouring of sympathy for Mr. Goto, 47, a veteran journalist who entered Islamic State-held territory in Syria in late October in a doomed effort to rescue Mr. Yukawa, who had been captured in August, according to Mr. Goto’s mother. Local television stations showed clips from Mr. Goto’s reports out of Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones, where he often reported on the plight of children and other noncombatants.

“My son’s final act was to go to Syria to help a fellow Japanese,” Mr. Goto’s mother, Junko Ishido, said Sunday. “Please understand his kindness and courage.”...

After all this time, why everyone keeps saying the "apparent" beheading is beyond me. There's pretty much nothing "apparent" about it.

But keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Islamic State Hostage Kenji Goto Mourned by Family and Friends."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Cartoons."



Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies."

Lonely Con has "Saturday Funnies." As well as Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up..."

And see Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – His Kingdom Come."

Cartoon Credit: William Warren.

Swastikas Painted on U.C. Davis Jewish Fraternity House: Leftist BDS Anti-Semitism Suspected (VIDEO)

Well, good thing it's not far right-wing neo-Nazis or anything.

At Brietbart, "After Israel Boycott Vote, Swastikas Hit Jewish Fraternity at UC Davis," and the Times of Israel, "Jewish fraternity in California defaced with swastikas."



Also at the Sacramento Bee, "Swastikas sprayed on Jewish fraternity building near UC Davis campus," and "Swastika painted onto UC Davis Jewish Fraternity."

RELATED: "Anti-Semitism and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions."

UPDATE: Linked by Darleen Click at Protein Wisdom. Thanks!

Plus, now a Memeorandum thread.

Roundup of Theo's Totties

Some babe blogging from Theo Spark.

* "Bedtime Totty..."



Also:

* "Sunday Totty..."

* "Saturday Night is Bath Night..."

* "Teatime Totty..."

* "Saturday Totty..."

Angie Harmon Behind the Scenes for Red Earth Trading Company — #AngieHarmonxRedEarth

I just love this lady.



More Angie Harmon here. She's a huge football fan, obviously.

What Deflation? NFL's Best Are Pumped and Ready to Go

From Sam Farmer, at the Los Angeles Times, "This Super Bowl has plenty of talking points":

Maybe Marshawn Lynch got it right.

Perhaps the stubbornly silent Seattle Seahawks running back, who donned sunglasses, pulled his ball cap low and frustrated reporters by saying next to nothing all week, actually made an astute statement about Sunday's matchup with the New England Patriots at University of Phoenix Stadium.

After all, these Super Bowl XLIX story lines speak for themselves:

• The Seahawks are looking to become the first franchise to repeat as Super Bowl champions in a decade. The last team to do it? The Patriots, in 2003 and '04.

• This game pits two of the NFL's brilliant defensive coaches, Seattle's Pete Carroll and New England's Bill Belichick. At least publicly, the two reside at the opposite ends of the enthusiasm spectrum, with Carroll ready to jump out of his skin, and Belichick receding into his hoodie.

But there's more. Carroll coached the Patriots from 1997 to '99, before his tremendous run at USC. He was fired in New England, and the man who replaced him was Belichick.

This week, Carroll said Patriots owner Robert Kraft "really was a good partner to work with back in the day. He gave me an opportunity that I will always be grateful for. He also sent me out the door too, and I remember that."

• Sunday's game will be played on the same field where the 2007 Patriots saw their perfect season go poof. They brought an 18-0 record into that game against the New York Giants, and left trying to come to grips with a shocking 17-14 defeat.

"I think over the years we've gotten some tough losses, and obviously we made it in '07 and '11, those were challenging games," said New England quarterback Tom Brady, referring to consecutive Super Bowl losses to the Giants. "They came down to the wire and we lost.

"I don't think those things discouraged me at all. They just reemphasized how hard and challenging it is to get to this point, and how challenging it is to win this game."

• Here's to unheralded quarterbacks. Seattle's Russell Wilson was a third-round pick, and Brady was a sixth-round afterthought. Now, Brady is about to start his sixth Super Bowl — more than any other quarterback in NFL history — and is one ring away from tying San Francisco's Joe Montana, his boyhood idol, and Pittsburgh's Terry Bradshaw with four.

"He's the best," Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said of Brady. "That's my opinion. Everybody has an opinion. I think he's the best, and I'm glad he's my teammate."

Should they wind up lifting back-to-back Lombardi Trophies, the Seahawks will have knocked off two of the greatest passers in league history on the biggest stage: Peyton Manning and Brady.

• While the Seahawks sing the praises of the 12th Man — the legions of fans who make Seattle games locomotive loud when opposing offenses are on the field — the Patriots spent the week trying to avoid talk about another 12: the minimum 121/2 pounds to which a football must be properly inflated.

The NFL is investigating whether New England played with improperly deflated footballs — ones easier to throw and catch — in its 45-7 blowout of Indianapolis in the AFC championship game...

Still more.

'I'm with the terrorists' — 8-Year Old Boy Questioned by French After Remarks on #ParisAttacks

I don't think 8-years-old is too young to be indoctrinated. The ISIS kid who executed the two hostages was about 12 or so. They start 'em young these days.

But still, maybe this is a little heavy handed.

At WSJ, "French Police Question 8-Year-Old Over Remarks on Terror Attacks: Probe Into Child’s Comments Spurs Debate Over France’s Efforts to Crack Down on Extremism":

PARIS—French police have questioned an 8-year-old boy after he allegedly made comments in support of terrorists, part of a controversial crackdown on extremist propaganda in the wake of this month’s deadly attacks in the capital.

Police in the French city of Nice said Thursday that they have questioned a boy and his father to determine how the boy picked up what they describe as “alarming statements” in support of the gunmen who killed 12 people in a terrorist attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Jan. 7.

“I’m with the terrorists,” the boy—identified only as Ahmed—said in class discussions, according to Sefen Guez Guez, a lawyer for the family. He says the boy didn’t understand the meaning of the word “terrorist” and described the decision to refer him to police as “total insanity.”

The father and son weren’t held by police.

The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the boy’s alleged remarks, which police say is continuing, underscores the challenge France faces in balancing free speech with combating terrorism. Last fall, the government increased penalties for condoning or inciting terrorism by moving the provision from a less-enforced press law into the national penal code to stem terrorist recruitment in France.

The attack on Charlie Hebdo, and another two days later at a kosher grocery in Paris, have pushed the government to heighten its efforts—which free-speech advocates have criticized as being too heavy-handed at times. Between the Jan. 7 assault on the magazine and Jan. 26, prosecutors opened 144 criminal cases on charges of supporting or inciting terrorism, which have so far led to 16 prison sentences, the French justice ministry said. Including instances where suspects have also been charged with other crimes, such as drunken driving, the number rises to 234 cases.

French stand-up comedian Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala has been ordered to stand trial next month on criminal charges of being an apologist for terrorism, after he appeared to liken himself to Amedy Coulibaly, one of the gunmen in the Paris attacks. “I feel like Charlie Coulibaly,” the comedian posted to his Facebook page days afterward.

“My client’s comments aren’t, by far, an endorsement of terrorism,” Jacques Verdier, Mr. M’Bala M’Bala’s lawyer has said, adding that his client had been “harassed by French authorities.”

In another instance, 34-year-old Kamal Belaidi was sentenced to a four-year jail term on charges including drunken driving and for praising the killing of the three police officers in the Paris terror attack and shouting “Allahu akbar” at the scene of a car accident in the northern French town of Valenciennes, local prosecutors said.

Schools have been a particular battleground.

More.

Islamic State Hostage Kenji Goto Mourned by Family and Friends

At the Japan Times:

A video posted online early Sunday morning that shows what appears to be the beheaded corpse of Islamic State group hostage Kenji Goto has left his family and friends speechless and in anguish.

Goto’s 78-year-old mother, Junko Ishido, was barely able to speak as she read from a prepared statement to express her grief.

“Kenji has passed away. I am at a loss for words, facing such a regretful death,” she said late Sunday morning at her home in Koganei, western Tokyo. “The only thing I can do now is to shed tears of deep sorrow.”

She added, however, that she believes such feelings of pain should not lead to a chain of hatred.

“I strongly hope we can hand down Kenji’s wish of creating a society without war and saving children’s lives from war and poverty,” she said, referring to the work of the 47-year-old freelance journalist.

Goto’s older brother, Junichi Goto, 55, told NHK that he appreciated all the efforts made to rescue his sibling, including those of the Japanese government, the people of Japan and others all over the world.

“As a brother, I had hoped Kenji would come back safe and thank everyone himself, so this is extremely regrettable,” he said.

“I am proud of the work he has done in the past, but I think the action he took this time was indiscreet,” he added.

Junichi Goto said although he was preparing for the worst, he had hoped the negotiations would somehow work out and his brother would come back alive.

“The Islamic State group has been showing off its power and expanding its influence by taking away the lives of my brother and many other people,” he said. “Such actions are anti-social and unacceptable.”

Shoichi Yukawa, the 74-year-old father of Haruna Yukawa, 42, who was being held with Goto, told reporters Sunday morning he feels sorry for Goto’s death.

“I have heard that Mr. Goto went to save my son. I feel deeply sorry for his family,” he said. “Mr. Goto is a very respectable person. I feel so regrettable that I can think of nothing else to say.”

Yukawa is believed have been executed on or before Jan. 24.

Freelance photojournalist Naomi Toyoda, who worked with Goto in Jordan in 1996, was overcome with grief because he had been trying to save his friend since the hostage crisis began on Jan. 20.”It’s devastating,” Toyoda said Sunday. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t rescue him.”

Toyoda, who had earlier released two statements through the Japan Visual Journalist Association pleading for Goto’s release in English, Arabic and Japanese, said he is angry at both the Islamic State groupand the Japanese government.

“Tell me, what has the government been doing after all this time? Can it swear that it did its absolute utmost to negotiate with (the captors)? Did it really mean it when it said it will save him? I’m angry, disappointed and exasperated.”...

Poor bastard.

Keep reading.

'Straight Outta Compton' — Real Life Imitates Art as Suge Knight Charged with Murder in Fatal Hit-and-Run

Here's TMZ with a follow-up, "Suge Knight -- Arrested for Murder in Hit and Run (UPDATE)."

And at LAT, "Suge Knight's arrest foreshadowed in 'Straight Outta Compton' scene":

On a film set in Leimert Park, an actor playing rap mogul Suge Knight angrily peeled out of a parking lot in a Jeep. The film, "Straight Outta Compton," tells the origin story of N.W.A and its famed members, including Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.

The fictional reenactment on the set late last fall took on eerie overtones this week after Suge Knight's arrest on suspicion of homicide. Police allege he ran over two men with his truck, killing one, Thursday following an altercation in connection with the film.

Knight's character has only a minor role in the film, with the parking lot scene depicting a pivotal, early '90s moment in Dr. Dre's business relationship with Knight, one of rap's most feared players.

Dr. Dre and Ice Cube are both producers on the Universal Pictures film, but Knight was not involved, director F. Gary Gray said during the shoot in September. When asked if the former record label exec had ever visited the set as many former associates and N.W.A group members had, the otherwise talkative Gray gave one flat answer: "No."

The history between Knight and Dr. Dre (a.k.a. Andre Romelle Young) is one of success and tragedy. Dre and Knight co-founded Death Row Records after N.W.A's demise in the early '90s.

The label launched such rap luminaries as Snoop and later signed Tupac Shakur, as well as mainstream chart topper MC Hammer.

Dr. Dre became one of the most respected producers in hip hop because of much of the work he did in that time period.

But Death Row also became the center of controversy, as Knight had numerous run-ins with the law over his business tactics. In 1996, he was sent to prison for nearly five years after the brutal beating of a rival of rapper Shakur's at a Las Vegas hotel; the beating occurred just hours before Shakur suffered fatal gunshot wounds.

Dr. Dre left Death Row in 1996, going on to break artists such as Eminem and 50 Cent, and eventually founded the multimillion-dollar headphones company Beats by Dre. Death Row Records went bankrupt, and Knight lost relevance for most in the music industry...

More.

Vaccine Critics Turn Defensive Over Measles

More on the emerging measles epidemic. Thanks progs!

At NYT:

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Their children have been sent home from school. Their families are barred from birthday parties and neighborhood play dates. Online, people call them negligent and criminal. And as officials in 14 states grapple to contain a spreading measles outbreak that began near here at Disneyland, the parents at the heart of America’s anti-vaccine movement are being blamed for incubating an otherwise preventable public-health crisis.

Measles anxiety rippled thousands of miles beyond its center on Friday as officials scrambled to try to contain a wider spread of the highly contagious disease — which America declared vanquished 15 years ago, before a statistically significant number of parents started refusing to vaccinate their children.

In recent days, new measles cases popped up in Nebraska and Minnesota, New York and Marin County in California. Officials around the country reported rising numbers of patients who were seeking shots, as well as some pediatricians who were accepting nonvaccinated families but were debating changing their policies. The White House urged parents to listen to the science that supports inoculations.

In Arizona, health officials warned that 1,000 people could have been exposed to measles and urged anyone displaying symptoms to avoid this weekend’s Super Bowl events in the Phoenix area. In a small planned community where one family became ill after visiting Disneyland, store windows were lined with measles alerts, and a sign on the Pinal County office building warned: “Stop! Measles is in our county!” and asked people with symptoms to wear masks before entering.

But here in California, anti-vaccine parents whose children have endured bouts of whooping cough and chickenpox largely defended their choice to raise their children on natural foods, essential oils and no vaccinations.

“There is absolutely no reason to get the shot,” said Crystal McDonald, whose 16-year-old daughter was one of 66 students sent home from Palm Desert High School for the next two weeks because they did not have full measles immunizations.

After researching the issue and reading information from a national anti-vaccine group, Ms. McDonald said she and her husband, a chiropractor, decided to raise their four children without vaccines. She said they ate well and had never been to the doctor, and she insisted that her daughter was healthier than many classmates. But when the school sent her home with a letter, Ms. McDonald’s daughter was so concerned about missing two weeks of Advanced Placement classes that she suggested simply getting a measles inoculation.

“I said, ‘No, absolutely not,’ “ Ms. McDonald said. “I said, ‘I’d rather you miss an entire semester than you get the shot.’ “

The anti-vaccine movement can largely be traced to a 1998 report in a medical journal that suggested a link between vaccines and autism but was later proved fraudulent and retracted. Today, the waves of parents who shun vaccines include some who still believe in the link and some, like the Amish, who have religious objections to vaccines. Then there is a particular subculture of largely wealthy and well-educated families, many living in palmy enclaves around Los Angeles and San Francisco, who are trying to carve out “all-natural” lives for their children...

Granola-crunching, 'Whole Foods' leftists, the lot of them. Fucking morons.

More.

PREVIOUSLY: "Anti-Vaccine Parents Boost Measles Comeback," and "Affluent Leftists Dominate the Ranks of Anti-Vaxxers, Overwhelmingly Voted for Obama."

Democrat Tulsi Gabbard: 'You have to know who your enemy is in order to defeat them...'

She's been speaking out a lot on these issues, especially the importance of honesty in identifying our enemies. Maybe she'll be switching parties. The Democrats are the party of appeasement and such cowardice doesn't seem like her style.

Via the Daily Signal, "Why Won’t Obama Use the Words ‘Islamic Extremism’? Watch What This Democrat Says."

Kurdish Peshmerga Assault on ISIS-Held Ground Near Mosul

Via My Pet Jawa.

Liz Kaszynski

She's one of Lockheed Martin's aerial photographers, via Theo Spark.

The Truth About No-Go Zones

Ezra Levant speaks with Mark Steyn (via iOTW Report).

Shaima al-Sabbagh

I was thumbing through my hard-copy of Time and saw a photo of this woman seconds after being shot in the head. A beautiful woman.

So I Googled her.

See the Mirror UK, "Shaima al-Sabbagh: Heartbreaking picture shows moments of panic after leading Egyptian female protester dies after being 'shot by police'."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Mourners gather to bury mother, 32, gunned down by Cairo police during demonstration as death toll rises to 11 on anniversary of Arab Spring."

Scott Walker Surging in Iowa Poll as Jeb Bush Struggles

Heh.

This is the best news on the GOP nomination front I've seen yet.

At Bloomberg:

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is surging, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is an also-ran and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is dominating in a new poll of Iowans likely to vote in the nation's first presidential nominating contest.

The Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, taken Monday through Thursday, shows Walker leading a wide-open Republican race with 15 percent, up from just 4 percent in the same poll in October. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was at 14 percent and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, stood at 10 percent.

Bush trailed with 8 percent and increasingly is viewed negatively by likely Republican caucus-goers. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is in even worse shape, with support from just 4 percent. More troubling for Christie: He's viewed unfavorably by 54 percent, among the highest negative ratings in the potential field. At 9 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson pulls more support than either Bush or Christie...

More.

Statement by President Barack Obama on the Death of Kenji Goto

Well, at least they got the word "terrorist" in there.

Via Politico:

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 31, 2015

Statement by the President on the Death of Kenji Goto

The United States condemns the heinous murder of Japanese citizen and journalist
Kenji Goto by the terrorist group ISIL. Through his reporting, Mr. Goto courageously
sought to convey the plight of the Syrian people to the outside world. Our thoughts are
with Mr. Goto’s family and loved ones, and we stand today in solidarity with Prime
Minister Abe and the Japanese people in denouncing this barbaric act. We applaud
Japan’s steadfast commitment to advancing peace and prosperity in the Middle East
and globally, including its generous assistance for innocent people affected by the
conflicts in the region. Standing together with a broad coalition of allies and partners,
the United States will continue taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy
ISIL.

PREVIOUSLY: "Islamic State Beheads Japanese Hostage Kenji Goto."

White House Idiots NOW Worried About Harsh Blow of #ObamaCare Tax on Uninsured

Now they're worried.

Sheesh.

At the New York Times, "White House Seeks to Limit Health Law’s Tax Troubles":

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act say they worry that the tax-filing season will generate new anger as uninsured consumers learn that they must pay tax penalties and as many people struggle with complex forms needed to justify tax credits they received in 2014 to pay for health insurance.

The White House has already granted some exemptions and is considering more to avoid a political firestorm.

Mark J. Mazur, the assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy, said up to six million taxpayers would have to “pay a fee this year because they made a choice not to obtain health care coverage that they could have afforded.”

But Christine Speidel, a tax lawyer at Vermont Legal Aid, said: “A lot of people do not feel that health insurance plans in the marketplace were affordable to them, even with subsidies. Some went without coverage and will therefore be subject to penalties.”

The penalties, approaching 1 percent of income for some households, are supposed to be paid with income taxes due April 15. In addition, officials said, many people with subsidized coverage purchased through the new public insurance exchanges will need to repay some of the subsidies because they received more than they were entitled to.

More than 6.5 million people had insurance through the exchanges at some point last year, and 85 percent of them qualified for financial assistance, in the form of tax credits, to lower their premiums. Most people chose to have the subsidies paid in advance, based on their projected income for 2014. If their actual income was higher — because they received a raise or found a new job — they will be entitled to a smaller subsidy and must repay the difference, subject to certain limits.

“If the advanced premium tax credit amount is too high, the taxpayer could have an unwelcome surprise and owe money,” said Nina E. Olson, the national taxpayer advocate at the Internal Revenue Service.

Many people awarded insurance subsidies for 2014 did not realize that the amount would be reviewed and recalculated at tax time in 2015.

Consumers are sure to have questions, but cannot expect much help from the tax agency, where officials said customer service had been curtailed because of budget cuts.

The 2015 filing season could be the most difficult in decades, officials said. Ms. Olson said new paperwork resulting from the Affordable Care Act would probably exacerbate problems with customer service, which “has reached unacceptably low levels and is getting worse.”

“The I.R.S. is unlikely to answer even half the telephone calls it receives,” she added. “Taxpayers who manage to get through are expected to wait on hold for 30 minutes on average and considerably longer at peak times.”

Maybe Obama will waive the whole dang thing in time for the 2016 election, heh.

More (via Memeorandum).

Lily Aldridge Super Bowl Party: We get 'like HUNDREDS of chicken wings, chips and salsa, and Coronas...'

That's my kind of woman!

At GQ, "The GQ+A: Model Lily Aldridge on the Hottest Super Bowl of All Time."

Plus, Brian Kilmeade had a sweet interview yesterday at Fox News, "Lily Aldridge talks Victoria's Secret Super Bowl ads."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Behati Prinsloo and Lily Aldridge attend Leather and Laces Super Bowl party."

She's a smokin' hot babe!

Oliver North Slams Obama as 'Acting Like a Petulant Child...'

This is great.

From Megyn Kelly's show last night.

Watch: "Deadly Fighting Between Hezbollah and Israel."

Iran — Unafraid and Undeterred

From Carolyn Glick:

Israel’s reported strike January 18 on a joint Iranian-Hezbollah convoy driving on the Syrian Golan Heights was one of the most strategically significant events to have occurred in Israel’s neighborhood in recent months. Its significance lies both in what it accomplished operationally and what it exposed.

From what's been published to date about the identities of those killed in the strike, it is clear that in one fell swoop the air force decapitated the Iranian and Hezbollah operational command in Syria.

The head of Hezbollah’s operations in Syria, the head of its liaison with Iran, and Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hezbollah’s longtime operational commander Imad Mughniyeh who was killed by Israel in Damascus in 2008, were killed. The younger Mughniyeh reportedly served as commander of Hezbollah forces along the Syrian-Israeli border.

According to a report by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Shimon Shapira, a Hezbollah expert from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the Iranian losses included three generals. Brig.- Gen. Mohammed Alladadi was the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps liaison officer to Hezbollah and to Syrian intelligence. He was also in charge of weapons shipments from Iran to Hezbollah. Gen. Ali Tabatabai was the IRGC commander in the Golan Heights and, according to Shapira, an additional general, known only as Assadi, “was, in all likelihood, the commander of Iranian expeditionary forces in Lebanon.”

The fact that the men were willing to risk exposure by traveling together along the border with Israel indicates how critical the front is for the regime in Tehran. It also indicates that in all likelihood, they were planning an imminent attack against Israel.

According to Ehud Yaari, Channel 2’s Arab Affairs commentator, Iran and Hezbollah seek to widen Hezbollah’s front against Israel from Lebanon to Syria. They wish to establish missile bases on the northern Hermon, and are expanding Hezbollah’s strategic depth from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley to the outskirts of Damascus.

On Wednesday night, Yaari reported that the Syrian military has ceased to function south of Damascus. In areas not held by the al-Qaida-aligned Nusra Front and other regime opponents, the IRGC and Hezbollah have taken control, using the Syrian militia they have trained since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

The effectiveness of Hezbollah’s control of its expanded front was on display on Wednesday morning. Almost at the same time that Hezbollah forces shot at least five advanced Kornet antitank missiles at an IDF convoy along Mount Dov, killing two soldiers and wounding seven, Hezbollah forces on the Golan shot off mortars at the Hermon area.

While these forces are effective, they are also vulnerable. Yaari noted that today, three-quarters of Hezbollah’s total forces are fighting in Syria. Their twofold task is to defend the Assad regime and to build the Iranian-controlled front against Israel along the Golan Heights. Most of the forces are in known, unfortified, above ground positions, vulnerable to Israeli air strikes...

Keep reading.

And see Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Is Iran Preparing for a Two-Front War Against Israel?"

The Far-Left, Obama-Coddling Media Gives Jeb Bush the 'High School Bully' Treatment

This is the same treatment the Obama-coddlers gave Mitt Romney.

So pathetic.

At Legal Insurrection, "Leave it to the media to get me to defend Jeb Bush." (Via Memeorandum.)

Althouse is not impressed, "The cruelty that is Jeb Bush." And see Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Boston Globe: Hey, Jeb was a bully and pot-smoker in high school!" (at Memeorandum):

In 2012, the national news media that couldn’t be bothered to look up the college records or classmates of a first-term Senate backbencher running for President suddenly found the high-school life of teenage Mitt Romney utterly fascinating. The media painted him as a rich-snob bully, a meme that continued even after the source admitted he was passing along third-hand hearsay, and after the family of the high-school prank victim ripped news outlets for exploiting the story about the now-deceased young man, and called the narrative “factually inaccurate.” Romney ended up in the ridiculous position of being a man in his sixties apologizing for pranks in his teens, but the aftereffects lingered … not coincidentally, during the summer when Team Obama conducted a massive character assassination campaign against the Republican nominee.

Well, Republicans aren't just running against the Democrat nominee. They've got to topple the entire MSM media complex as well.

More of the same, exactly.

Measles Outbreak Fears Plague the Super Bowl

A race against the clock.

At ABC News, "Super Bowl Alert: Race to Contain Measles Outbreak at the Super Bowl."

PREVIOUSLY: "California Measles Outbreak: 107 Cases, Latest in Affluent Far-Left Marin County."

Mitt Romney, Foreseeing Third Defeat, Decides Not to Run in 2016

More on Mitt Romney, at the New York Times, "Support Waning, Romney Decides Against 2016 Bid."

The moneyed power-brokers were bailing out on him. Indeed, they took him at his word he wasn't running again and glommed onto Jeb Bush's emerging campaign.

Again, I think it's good Mitt bowed out, although the prospect of a Bush/Clinton general election battle in 2016 gives me the creeps.

VIDEO: Eddie Elguera, Tony Hawk, and Christian Hosoi, et al., at 'El Gato Classic'

This is phenomenal.

Tony Hawk especially is shredding like it was yesterday. Amazing.



Plus, at Thrasher, "The El Gato Classic."

Santa Monica's 'Vidiots' Movie Rental Store to Close

I'm surprised it's still open, heh.

At LAT, "Vidiots movie rental store in Santa Monica is closing after 30 years":

The shelves at the Vidiots movie rental store are covered with dozens of messages scribbled by filmmakers on the covers of faded VHS and DVD containers. Notes from "Chinatown" writer Robert Towne, reclusive "Thin Red Line" director Terrence Malick and others praise the Santa Monica store's brainy staff and the mammoth film selection that has made it famous among film buffs worldwide.

One message, from Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, stands out now: "What would life be like without Vidiots?"

Its patrons and fans will soon find out. Vidiots is closing in April after years of struggling to survive the onslaught of Internet rentals, streaming services and online piracy.

Rentals have dropped 24% in the last six months and are down 60% from the store's peak years in the early 2000s, co-owner Cathy Tauber said.

The store tried being a nonprofit, soliciting donations and hosting in-store events with directors. It even auctioned off a lunch with actress Laura Dern and a pitch meeting with an executive producer of the TV series "Homeland" to raise funds.

Tauber said the store also considered launching an online crowdfunding campaign but thought that it wouldn't be a long-term fix.

"We are just bleeding money. We just can't do that anymore," she said. "We didn't want to do something and end up right back where we were in six months."

Video rental stores have been suffering for years after reaching a peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s as DVDs took off, said Mark Fisher, chief executive of the Entertainment Merchants Assn.

There were about 20,000 locations that got at least 50% of their revenue from renting films in 1999 compared with the 3,900 independent and supermarket outlets that rented discs in the U.S. in 2013, he said. An explosion in movie rental kiosks like Redbox, which has more than 35,000 locations in the U.S., has also hurt stores such as Vidiots.

The stores that survive have found ways to supplement their revenue with other retail sales, Fisher said.

One chain in the Midwest, Family Video, owns and develops the land it is on and has actually expanded locations in recent years by integrating a pizza chain into its stores, according to a report from the Entertainment Merchants Assn.

But independent stores like Vidiots have struggled to find a model that works...

Strange.

I saw some lady renting videos out of one of the Redbox machines are Ralph's the other day. Seems like so last century, despite the automation.

More.

Israel Yinon, Renowned Conductor, Dies After Collapsing Onstage in Lucerne, Switzerland

You never know when you're going to go.

In this case, at least he died with his conducting boots on, doing what he loved to do. RIP.

At the Times of Israel, "Renowned Israeli conductor dies on stage during concert," and London's Daily Mail, "Internationally renowned conductor drops dead in front of screaming audience and musicians during a symphony in Switzerland."

Amedy Coulibaly Made GoPro Video of Attack at Hyper Cacher Market in Porte de la Vincennes, France - #ParisAttacks

Jake Tapper reports, at CNN, "French Terrorist Taped Rampage in Kosher Grocery Store with Chest Mounted GoPro."

California Measles Outbreak: 107 Cases, Latest in Affluent Far-Left Marin County

If your child is unvaccinated, not only are you reducing scientific herd immunity, you're putting your child at risk of catastrophic illness or even death.

Leftists are anti-science that way, though. Vile crackpots and Utopian ideologues, frankly.

At LAT, "Measles outbreak grows to 107 cases, latest in Marin County."

PREVIOUSLY: "Affluent Leftists Dominate the Ranks of Anti-Vaxxers, Overwhelmingly Voted for Obama."

Live Audio from Mitt Romney's Call to Supporters

There's a lot of fresh, talented faces in the GOP field. A bid for the nomination was gonna be no Sunday stroll.

It's better Romney's not running, mainly so that the GOP can present a fresh, more diverse face to the electorate in 2016.

Listen to Romney's call to supporters, at CNN, "Romney: It's for the best that I step aside."

Plus, at Hugh Hewitt's, "The Romney Statement: Not Running" (via Memeorandum).

Still more, at Bloomberg (via Memeorandum), "New Iowa Poll: Romney Would Have Faced Many Campaign Hurdles," and "How Mitt Romney Made His Decision Not to Run."

Let's Stick Together

I can't resist, heh.

Some Bryan Ferry:

Super Bowl Tickets Selling for More Than $10,000 on StubHub (VIDEO)

Hey, if you've got the money...

At CBS News This Morning, "Inside StubHub's Super Bowl Ticket Operation."

When Bread Bags Weren't Funny

From Megan McArdle, at Bloomberg:

Last week, in her State of the Union response, Joni Ernst mentioned going to school with bread bags on her feet to protect her shoes. These sorts of remembrances of poor but honest childhoods used to be a staple among politicians -- that's why you've heard so much about Abe Lincoln's beginnings in a log cabin. But the bread bags triggered a lot of hilarity on Twitter, which in turn triggered this powerful meditation from Peggy Noonan on how rich we have become. So rich that we have forgotten things that are well within living memory:

I liked what Ernst said because it was real. And it reminded me of the old days.

There are a lot of Americans, and most of them seem to be on social media, who do not know some essentials about their country, but this is the way it was in America once, only 40 and 50 years ago:

America had less then. Americans had less.

If you were from a family that was barely or not quite getting by, you really had one pair of shoes. If your family was doing OK you had one pair of shoes for school and also a pair of what were called Sunday shoes -- black leather or patent leather shoes. If you were really comfortable you had a pair of shoes for school, Sunday shoes, a pair of play shoes and even boots, which where I spent my childhood (Brooklyn, and Massapequa, Long Island) were called galoshes or rubbers. At a certain point everyone had to have sneakers for gym, but if you didn’t have sneakers you could share a pair with a friend, trading them in the hall before class.

If you had just one pair of shoes, which was the case in my family, you had trouble when it rained or snowed. How to deal with it?

You used the plastic bags that bread came in. Or you used plastic bags that other items came in. Or you used Saran Wrap if you had it, wrapping your shoes and socks in it. Or you let your shoes and socks get all wet, which we also did.

I am a few years younger than Noonan, but I grew up in a very different world -- one where a number of my grammar school classmates were living in public housing or on food stamps, but everyone had more than one pair of shoes. In rural areas, like the one where Joni Ernst grew up, this lingered longer. But all along, Americans got richer and things got cheaper -- especially when global markets opened up. Payless will sell you a pair of child's shoes for $15, which is two hours of work even at minimum wage...

Keep reading.

My dad was born in 1913, in Jim Crow Missouri. He faced a lot of hardship in life, to say nothing of racism. Stories like Joni Ernst's were a staple of the dinner table around my house growing up. Thriftiness wasn't just some noble virtue, it was a way of life. And we weren't bad off at all. My dad drove a Mercedes. It's just once you do things a certain way, you don't change when things get better for you.

And yes, we are an extremely affluent society these days. Even the poorest Americans have access to the kind of basic commodities that the poor of the developing world can only dream about.

Amazing.

'A Muslim allowed a topless Jew to sit on his camel. And we say we can't live side by side?...'

Heh, at Truth Revolt, "Chelsea Handler Goes Topless....Again."

Those Star of David doilies are the best!

Germaine Greer Slams 'Trannies' as 'Delusional' — No 'Such Thing' as 'Transphobia'

Heh, at Kathy Shaidle's, "Germaine Greer calls trannies ‘delusional’ — Plus: 3D printing to create vaginas?":

Greer was uncompromising in her rhetoric, condemning from the beginning of her speech the “pressure on women to be clean, sweet, perfumed and submissive” and later suggested that trans women do not know what it is to “have a big, hairy, smelly vagina”. Greer was robust in her championing of the woman as an autonomous person and was anxious not to be diverted into what she described as “side issues”.

Keep reading.

This was Greer during her appearance at the Cambridge Union Society.

Apparently, the talk didn't go over too well with the trans community.

At the Independent UK, "Germaine Greer 'should not be invited back' to Cambridge University after appearing to deny the existence of transphobia":

Germaine Greer’s views on transwomen have long been the subject of controversy.

In the Nineties, at her Cambridge college of Newnham, the famed feminist attempted to block the appointment of transgender colleague Rachel Padman to a fellowship. Her opposition, she claimed, was not down to her gender identity but instead the method of her appointment to the college.

In 2012, she was glitter-bombed at a book signing in New Zealand by LGBT activist group Queer Avengers for comments she made in a column in 2009. She wrote that transwomen “seem to us ghastly parodies” and claimed the idea of being trans was a “delusion”.

Greer faced similar protests ahead of her address at Cambridge Union Society this week. A counter-event was staged against what one student called Greer’s “hate speech” by student activist group CUSU LGBT+. And it turns out her talk contained as much potentially inflammatory material as they predicted.

Speaking about her Newnham college opposition, the Cambridge Student quoted her as telling the Union: “I didn’t know there was such a thing [as transphobia]. Arachnaphobia, yes. Transphobia, no.”

She went on to suggest that trans women are not women because they do not know what it is like “to have a big, hairy, smelly vagina”.

Elsewhere, she argued that allowing individuals to undergo surgical procedures during transitioning was “unethical” because they “remove healthy tissue and create lifelong dependence on medicine”.

Greer continued that she hoped there would be more opportunities for people to exist within their own orientations and sexualities in the future without reliance on medical assistance.

“To invite Germaine Greer back to speak in Cambridge condones her transmisogny,” CUSU LGBT+ said.

But-Heads! Mindless Leftist Zombies Lurking in the Shadows!

I had to giggle out loud a couple of times.

At Theo Spark's, "Andrew Klavan: Attack of the But-Heads!"

Return of Eliminationist Anti-Semitism in Europe is Return to the Norm

Once again, from the awesome Charles Krauthammer, "Do we really mean ‘never again’?":

Amid the ritual expressions of regret and the pledges of “never again” on Tuesday’s 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a bitter irony was noted: Anti-Semitism has returned to Europe. With a vengeance.

It has become routine. If the kosher-grocery massacre in Paris hadn’t happened in conjunction with Charlie Hebdo, how much worldwide notice would it have received? As little as did the murder of a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse. As little as did the terror attack that killed four at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.

The rise of European anti-Semitism is, in reality, just a return to the norm. For a millennium, virulent Jew-hatred — persecution, expulsions, massacres — was the norm in Europe until the shame of the Holocaust created a temporary anomaly wherein anti-Semitism became socially unacceptable.

The hiatus is over. Jew-hatred is back, recapitulating the past with impressive zeal. Italians protesting Gaza handed out leaflets calling for a boycott of Jewish merchants. As in the 1930s. A widely popular French comedian has introduced a variant of the Nazi salute. In Berlin, Gaza brought out a mob chanting, “Jew, Jew, cowardly pig, come out and fight alone!” Berlin, mind you.

European anti-Semitism is not a Jewish problem, however. It’s a European problem, a stain, a disease of which Europe is congenitally unable to rid itself.

From the Jewish point of view, European anti-Semitism is a sideshow. The story of European Jewry is over. It died at Auschwitz. Europe’s place as the center and fulcrum of the Jewish world has been inherited by Israel. Not only is it the first independent Jewish commonwealth in 2,000 years. It is, also for the first time in 2,000 years, the largest Jewish community on the planet.

The threat to the Jewish future lies not in Europe but in the Muslim Middle East, today the heart of global anti-Semitism, a veritable factory of anti-Jewish literature, films, blood libels and calls for violence, indeed for another genocide.

The founding charter of Hamas calls not just for the eradication of Israel but for the killing of Jews everywhere. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah welcomes Jewish emigration to Israel — because it makes the killing easier: “If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.’’ And, of course, Iran openly declares as its sacred mission the annihilation of Israel...

These are just plain facts, spoken plainly.

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Pat Condell: Jews in Europe Report Surge in Anti-Semitism."

VIDEO: Katy Perry Super Bowl Press Conference

Highlights here, via the NFL:



Watch the full clip here, "Katy Perry's Pepsi Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show Press Conference."

Video Shows Kristiana Coignard Allegedly Wielding Knife Before Killed by Police

It's hard to see anything in the surveillance video, but the woman does lunge at one of the officers, apparently just after she'd pulled a butcher's knife out of her knapsack.

At LAT, "Video shows girl pull knife on Texas police before they shoot her."

And the full police video is here: "Video of Longview Police Department Lobby on night teen was fatally shot by officers." (The kill shot is just after 11:00 minutes. )

Hayat Boumeddiene, Jihad Wife in #ParisAttacks, Fled France with Help of Syria Terror Network

Seriously.

Jihadists literally can flow in and out of Europe like a summer breeze.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Underground Terror Network Said to Benefit Would-Be Jihadists in Europe: Officials Say Wife of Paris Gunman Used Resources to Reach Islamic State Territory in Syria":

PARIS—When a young Frenchwoman showed up early this month at an Islamic State border checkpoint in northern Syria, the extremists controlling that arid expanse were expecting her.

They waved her right through and let her bodyguards accompany her, according to Western counterterrorism officials.

The militants had been told to give Hayat Boumeddiene special treatment by the network of chaperones who had arranged her travel. The reason would soon be clear: The same day she crossed the border, her husband, Amedy Coulibaly, unleashed his terror spree in Paris, and she became the most-wanted woman in France.

No charges have been filed but authorities are eager to question Ms. Boumeddiene. “She is the prize—a high-value asset—because she knows a lot about the preparation of the attack,” said a counterterrorism official.

Her journey from the gritty suburbs of Paris to the Syrian border followed a circuitous route that—much like an underground railroad—allowed her to slip away covertly.

Islamic State’s ability to provide safe harbor to friends and family removes potential obstacles for would-be attackers in the West. They no longer need to be part of a terror group’s rank-and-file to benefit from its resources, according to Western counterterrorism officials and people close to militant networks.

There isn’t any evidence Mr. Coulibaly took orders from Islamic State, although he pledged his allegiance in a video that circulated online after his death.

But he didn’t act in isolation either. Instead, he tapped into a grass-roots network that grew along with al Qaeda and has begun to reconfigure around Islamic State. “It’s a new operating mode. The logic is different,” said Daniel Fellous, a French lawyer specializing in terror cases.

Years before Mr. Coulibaly took to the streets of Paris armed with AK-47s—killing four hostages at a kosher grocery and a policewoman—the people suspected of shepherding his wife to Syria were cutting their teeth on a narrower mission: recruiting and sending French nationals to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to court documents.

French authorities thought they had dismantled the network.

In July 2014, a French court convicted nine members on charges of assisting an Afghan jihadist network suspected of planning terrorist attacks. Some, however, were released due to time served while awaiting trial. And some group members had logistical expertise that French police now suspect was put to use in helping Mr. Coulibaly.

Phone taps, interrogations and other documents compiled as part of that trial and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal portray a homegrown network that spread tentacles across continents.

It included Yassine Bouzid, who navigated Alpine byways to reach Italy’s Adriatic coast; Zahir Chouket, whose myriad contacts in Turkey could move people through to Afghanistan; and Mohamed Belhoucine, a lanky computer programmer who went by the handle “oussama911.”

During the trial, Mr. Bouzid acknowleged helping militants reach Afghanistan. For a while, he said, he viewed jihad as similar to the brigades of international volunteers during Spain’s civil war in the 1930s, but would have never supported attacks on civilians.

Police recently questioned him in connection to Mr. Coulibaly’s attacks, according to Mr. Fellous, who represents Mr. Bouzid. No charges have been brought against him, Mr. Fellous said.

Mr. Chouket was convicted in absentia and remains on the run. Police updated an existing arrest warrant to include suspicions he was involved in Ms. Boumeddiene’s escape. His legal representation is unknown.

Mr. Belhoucine dropped out of one of France’s top engineering schools because—as he wrote in a letter contained in the court documents—“multidisciplinary teaching doesn’t correspond to my professional ambitions.”

According to the court documents, Mr. Belhoucine fielded emails from Afghanistan, reporting on the status of French militants bearing nicknames like “Call of Duty 4,” based on the warfare videogame. “I was in charge of passing on messages from the men on the front,” he told police...

Still more.

Pitbull-Dachshund Mix

A wiener dog with a bite pounds-per-square-inch that would crush your throat.

Heh.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "‘I Can’t Stop Looking At This Pit Bull-Dachshund Mix’."

Economic Growth Slows to 2.6 Percent in Fourth Quarter

Click through especially for the graph on quarterly GDP since 2000. The fourth quarter of 2008 was almost negative 9 percent. Man, talk about a crash.

Here, "U.S. Economic Growth Slows to 2.6% in Fourth Quarter: GDP Underscores Obstacles Facing Recovery as Troubles Mount Abroad."

Anti-Vaccine Parents Boost Measles Comeback

From the editors, at USA Today:

The outbreak of measles that started at California's Disneyland last month and spread to 10 other states demonstrates how misinformation, misguided celebrities and lax state laws can have tragic consequences.

In the 1960s, measles killed about 450 people a year and disabled many more. By 2000, it was virtually eliminated in the United States, thanks to almost universal use of an effective vaccine. But last year, the U.S. saw 644 cases of measles and now, less than a month into 2015, more than 70 cases have been linked to the Disneyland outbreak.

The numbers might sound small, but they are the outgrowth of a frightening trend, as more parents have fallen under the influence of an anti-vaccine movement. The movement has been fueled by irresponsible celebrities who've spread word of a British study, now thoroughly debunked, that suggested the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine might be linked to autism.

When vaccination rates are very high — as they still are in the U.S. as a whole — everyone is protected by what's known as "herd immunity." It protects the most vulnerable, including a small number of children who for medical reasons should not be vaccinated, infants too young for their first shots, and rare individuals on whom the vaccine doesn't work.

But when individuals selfishly refuse to vaccinate their children, seeking a free ride on the rest of the herd, immunity breaks down and innocents are put at risk...

Selfish indeed.

Selfish, anti-science leftists. See, "Affluent Leftists Dominate the Ranks of Anti-Vaxxers, Overwhelmingly Voted for Obama."