Aging Baby Boomers Bring Drug Habits Into Middle Age

Great.

And to think, it's easier all the time now use gateway drugs, what with all the marijuana legalization going down across the country. Now we see baby boomers continuing to destroy their lives with drugs, and we've got whole generations of youth lining up behind them, throwing it all away.

At WSJ, "Older adults are abusing drugs, getting arrested for drug offenses and dying from drug overdoses at increasingly higher rates":

UPLAND, Calif.—From the time he was a young man coming of age in the 1970s, Mike Massey could have served as a poster child for his generation, the baby boomers. He grew his hair long to the dismay of his father, surfed, played in rock bands and says he regularly got high on marijuana and cocaine.

The wild times receded as he grew older. In his 30s, he stopped using drugs altogether, rose into executive positions with the plumbers and pipe fitters union, bought a house in this Los Angeles suburb and started a family. But at age 50, Mr. Massey injured his knee running. He took Vicodin for the pain but soon started using pills heavily, mixing the opioids with alcohol, he said.

“It reminded me of getting high and getting loaded,” said Mr. Massey, now 58 years old, who went into recovery and stopped using drugs and alcohol in 2013. “Your mind never forgets that.”

Today, the story of this balding, middle-aged executive continues to reflect that of his generation.

Older adults are abusing drugs, getting arrested for drug offenses and dying from drug overdoses at increasingly higher rates. These surges have come as the 76 million baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, reach late middle age. Facing the pains and losses connected to aging, boomers, who as youths used drugs at the highest rates of any generation, are once again—or still—turning to drugs.

The trend has U.S. health officials worried. The sharp increase in overdose deaths among older adults in particular is “very concerning,” said Wilson Compton, deputy director for the federal government’s National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The rate of death by accidental drug overdose for people aged 45 through 64 increased 11-fold between 1990, when no baby boomers were in the age group, and 2010, when the age group was filled with baby boomers, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mortality data. That multiple of increase was greater than for any other age group in that time span.

The surge has pushed the accidental overdose rate for these late middle age adults higher than that of 25- to 44-year-olds for the first time. More than 12,000 boomers died of accidental drug overdoses in 2013, the most recent data available. That is more than the number that died that year from either car accidents or influenza and pneumonia, according to the CDC.

“Generally, we thought of older individuals of not having a risk for drug abuse and drug addiction,” Dr. Compton said. “As the baby boomers have aged and brought their habits with them into middle age, and now into older adult groups, we are seeing marked increases in overdose deaths.”

Experts say the drug problem among the elderly has been caused by the confluence of two key factors: a generation with a predilection for mind-altering substances growing older in an era of widespread opioid painkiller abuse. Pain pills follow marijuana as the most popular ways for aging boomers to get high, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which conducts an annual national survey on drug use. Opioid painkillers also are the drug most often involved in overdoses, followed by antianxiety drugs, cocaine and heroin.

Wall Street Journal interviews with dozens of older drug users and recovering addicts revealed an array of personal stories behind the trend. Some had used drugs their entire lives and never slowed down. Others had used drugs when they were younger, then returned to them later in life after a divorce, death in the family or job loss.

“If you have a trigger, and your youth is caught up in that Woodstock mentality, you’re going to revert back,” said Jamie Huysman, 60, clinical adviser to the senior program at Caron Treatment Centers, a residential drug treatment organization that plans to break ground this summer on a $10 million medical center in Pennsylvania catering to older adults. “We were pretty conditioned that we could be rebellious, that we could take drugs, and so this is how we respond today.”

Drug-rehabilitation programs are grappling with how to handle the boom in older patients. More than 5.7 million people over the age of 50 will need substance-abuse treatment by the year 2020, according to estimates from government researchers. Meanwhile, hospitals have seen a sharp increase in the number of older adults admitted for drug-related health problems, government statistics show.

“We’re still in the process of figuring out: How do we ensure we have a strong workforce that can address this, and the appropriate settings to address this?” said Peter Delany, director of the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality at the Department of Health and Human Services...

More.

The Riot Ideology in Ferguson

At the Other McCain.

#Ferguson ;) pic.twitter.com/Z1up86izZn

— Anonymous (@occupythemob) March 17, 2015

Hillary Clinton Barface

Via iOWNTHEWORLD Report.

And at WaPo, "Hillary Clinton's image is worse than at any point since 2008."

Police Deny Officers Beat #Ferguson Suspect; Photographer Confirms Jeffrey Williams 'Hanging Around' at Protest

Jeffrey Williams is a piece of leftist scum, and his lawyer sucks big black donkey balls.

At LAT, "Police deny claims that officers beat Ferguson shooting suspect":

A man accused of shooting and wounding two police officers during a protest outside the Ferguson Police Department last week - while possibly aiming for someone else in a crowd of demonstrators - was arraigned Monday, according to the St. Louis County prosecutor's office.

Jeffrey Williams, 20, is charged with two counts of first-degree assault, one count of shooting from a car and three counts of armed criminal action. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Online court records showed Williams entered no plea.

Late in the day, defense attorney Jerryl Christmas suggested that police had used excessive force during the arrest. Christmas told the Associated Press that Williams had bruises on his back, shoulders and face and a knot on his head. A pastor who visited Williams in jail made similar allegations, and Williams' mug shot appeared to show at least one red mark on his cheek.

Authorities denied wrongdoing.

“The St. Louis County Police Department calls these allegations completely false,” St. Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman said in an email to the Los Angeles Times, adding that “the arrest team had an overwhelming presence and Williams did not resist whatsoever.”

Williams' interview with detectives shortly after his arrest was recorded on video, and a nurse deemed him fit for confinement, Schellman said.

Williams, who lives near Ferguson, was arrested over the weekend and confessed to firing the shots at the protest early Thursday, officials said Sunday.

Williams told investigators he'd had an argument with someone at the demonstration and hadn't intended to shoot the officers, according to St. Louis County Prosecuting Atty. Robert McCulloch, but officials said they hadn't confirmed that claim. 

A photographer for the St. Louis American newspaper confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that Williams was at the scene earlier in the evening, hanging toward the back of the crowd.

And at the St. Louis American, "Police arrest 20-year-old North County man in connection to police shooting in Ferguson":

St. Louis American photojournalist Lawrence Bryant, who has worked almost every protest since August 9, said he noticed Williams "hanging around" at the protest on Wednesday - specifically as a new face he had never seen before.

"I always notice new faces," Bryant said, "because I wonder what they are there for."

'Wheels Starting to Come Off' Putin Leadership

Watch Julia Ioffe, at CNN.

Plus, at Telegraph UK, "Vladimir Putin reappears in public for first time in 10 days."

And at NYT, "Putin Returns After Curious Absence and Shrugs Off Rumors."

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) Says #Ferguson Protesters 'Despise' Cop-Shooting Suspect for Damage to 'Movement'

Yeah, well, opening fire on the police doesn't go over too well in public opinion.

At the Hill, "Missouri rep: Protesters 'despise' man arrested in Ferguson shootings."

#Ferguson Leftists Excoriate WaPo's Jonathan Capehart for Admitting 'Hands Up Don't Shoot' Was Despicable Lie

Well, at least Capehart was willing to come out on the side of honesty and decency. His leftist attackers, not so much.

At Sooper Mexican, "Ferguson Movement Turns on Liberal Columnist for Admitting ‘Hands Up Don’t Shoot’ Was a Lie."

Hillary Clinton Changes Story on Email Scandal

Dirtbags. Scum-sucking money-grubbing no good dirtbags. Always have been.

From Thomas Lifson, at the American Thinker, "Team Hillary changes its story on e-mail deletions."

And following the links, at the Wall Street Journal, "Hillary Clinton Spokesman: We Did Read Each Email."

Well for crying out loud, make up your freakin' minds.

Family of Jeffrey Williams Confirms Cop-Shooting Suspect 'Had Taken Part' in #Ferguson Protests

Of course he "had taken part" in the protests.

Photos show him on the ground in Ferguson. And now the family confirms he was a "demonstrator."

At the New York Times, "Man Accused of Shooting Police Officers in Ferguson Appears in Court":

FERGUSON, Mo. — The 20-year-old man accused of shooting two police officers last week outside police headquarters here made his first court appearance Monday morning.

The man, Jeffrey L. Williams, made no statements during a brief appearance before a St. Louis County judge, who set his next court date for March 31, according to the local news media.

Mr. Williams had told investigators he had been at a demonstration the night of the shooting, had gotten into a dispute with some people who were there and shot at them, but he said he missed and struck the police officers instead, the authorities said. Both officers were treated at a hospital and have been released.

“After Michael Brown, he was out there protesting,” an uncle, Mark Mooney, 35, said, referring to the black teenager who was shot and killed by a white Ferguson officer in August. “He had his shirt on. He had his signs up. After that, when things died down, he died down with it.”

Relatives and friends of Mr. Williams said he had taken part in demonstrations but said he was not a protest leader or organizer. They said he lived with his pregnant girlfriend in an apartment in the brick complex where he was arrested Saturday night, about four miles from the police station. He made money by placing bets on the basketball and football video games he played with others, relatives said.

Prosecutors expressed doubts about Mr. Williams’s description of the shooting, and said it remained unclear if he was aiming at others or was targeting the officers. He was unemployed and had had several run-ins with the law, and was on probation at the time of the shooting for receiving stolen property, officials said.

Mr. Williams admitted his involvement to investigators, acknowledged firing the shots from inside a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am and faces first-degree assault and other charges, according to court documents and the authorities.

The two officers — one from the county police and the other from the nearby Webster Groves department — were shot Thursday shortly after midnight as they stood shoulder to shoulder as part of a protective line facing demonstrators at the police station. The demonstration followed an announcement that the Ferguson police chief, Thomas Jackson, was resigning. Mr. Jackson became the latest senior city administrator to step down after a Justice Department report accused the city of using its municipal court and police force as moneymaking tools that routinely violated constitutional rights and disproportionately targeted black residents.

Others dispute the idea that Williams was involved in the protests at the time of the shooting, and claim in fact that others may have been responsible for the shots that hit policemen. I'm sure they're jonesin' to see the mofo walk, but clearly there's no doubt that Williams was a regular participant in the protests, although he wasn't a central organizer or leader of the movement.

Leftists saying otherwise can just STFU. They're going to lie and obfuscate, because that's what they do. The Ferguson protests have been radical and violent, renouncing Martin Luther King's model of non-violence and civil disobedience. The movement is a revolutionary collectivist initiative to break down U.S. hierarchies of inequality. They've repeatedly expressed their radical ideological tendencies throughout.

It is not just about indictments. It is about eradicating entire systems whose foundation lie in private property, violence + incarceration.
— Sharmin Ultra (@sharminultraa) January 6, 2015

UPDATE: NYT changed its story, although the title at the URL remains the same as the original. Here's the updated story, "Lawyer Doubts Suspect’s Role in Ferguson Shootings."

And here's a screencap of the original text, via leftist Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times:

Kate Hudson Bikini Pics

At Egotastic!, "Kate Hudson Wears a Bikini In Malibu."

PREVIOUSLY: "Kate Hudson in Tank Top and Daisy Dukes in Sunny Los Angeles."

Feminists Are Satan's Craven Slaves

Do not listen to them, says Robert Stacy McCain, "Feminist Wonders: Why Do Christofascist Godbags Keep ‘Dehumanizing’ Hillary?"

This isn't a recent photo Melissa McEwan, BTW. http://t.co/TLAX5kReeG @KurtSchlichter @instapundit @KevinNR pic.twitter.com/X9pxcWzr2Q

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) March 16, 2015

Putin Says Russia Was Ready to Activate Nuclear Arsenal Over Crimea

Well, that's one hella reentry after being missing for week.

At LAT, "In film, Putin justifies Russia's seizure of Crimea last year":

Russia was prepared to activate its nuclear arsenal a year ago when its troops secured the Crimean peninsula and eventually annexed it to the Russian Federation, President Vladimir Putin said in a broadcast aired Sunday.

In the documentary-cum-reenactment timed to Monday's anniversary of a referendum in which Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine, the film, “Crimea: Path to the Motherland,” features Putin justifying Moscow's seizure of the Black Sea territory as necessary to protect Russians and military bases from what he described as a nationalist junta that had taken power in Kiev.

Putin accused the United States of masterminding the three-month uprising in the Ukrainian capital that ended with the ouster of Kremlin-allied President Viktor Yanukovich, who has since taken refuge in Russia. He said the “beneficiaries of the armed coup” planned to kill Yanukovich, prompting Putin to personally order Russian military intervention to protect the political ally and save Crimea from attack by Ukrainian nationalists.

Although the documentary was clearly prerecorded, it served to project a vibrant and defiant image of the Russian president, who hasn't been seen in public for more than a week, spurring rumors that he is sick or has been deposed in a palace coup.

The Kremlin website on Sunday also carried a message of condolence from Putin on the death of Russian writer Valentin Rasputin, adding to the impression that he is on top of state affairs.

The documentary covered the year since the March 16, 2014, referendum in which 97% of voters among Crimea's 2 million residents were said to have supported secession. Two days later, Putin issued a decree annexing the peninsula, which is home to Russia's Black Sea fleet and Soviet-era air bases.

The film was a montage of images of Russian paratroopers coming to the rescue of Crimeans, Putin’s observations on his obligation to protect Russians outside his country and reenacted clashes between Ukrainian nationalists and the police and security forces defeated by the popular uprising in Kiev.

Masked Ukrainian zealots were depicted in the reenacted segments hunting Russians with attack dogs and barbed-wire-wrapped truncheons. Fiery scenes of torched police vehicles and black-clad rightists attacking law enforcement cast the overthrow of Yanukovich as a violent, Western-inspired coup d’etat, and the Russian minority in Crimea and eastern Ukraine as the targets of fascist death squads.

The United States, along with Poland and Lithuania, “facilitated the armed coup” by training the nationalists, Putin said...

More.

And at NPR, "Kremlin Says Putin Is Fine, Just Fine."

Carly Fiorina Plans to Excoriate Hillary Clinton, and Her Competition is Grateful for It

At National Journal, "Playing the Heavy":

Hundreds of conservative and evangelical activists had been listening politely and applauding on cue as Carly Fiorina talked about God, and opportunity, and work ethic. For many of those attending the Iowa Freedom Summit, it was the first time they'd heard her speak. For some, it was the first time they'd heard of her at all.

Then, more than 10 minutes into the speech, she mentioned Hillary Clinton.

"Like Hillary Clinton, I too have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe," said Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard. "But unlike her, I've actually accomplished something. You see, Mrs. Clinton, flying is not an accomplishment; it is an activity."

The audience roared and was suddenly engaged, hanging on her words as she criticized Clinton on one issue after another. And when she landed on Benghazi—"Unlike Hillary Clinton, I know what difference it makes that our American ambassador and three other brave Americans were killed in a deliberate terrorist attack"—the crowd surged to its feet with a standing ovation.

"That's the first time I've ever seen her in person, and, frankly, I was moved by the speech. That takes a lot," says Sam Clovis, a former conservative radio host and tea-party favorite in Iowa. "It was the perfect speech on the perfect topic at the perfect place at the perfect time given in the perfect manner."

Fiorina, the only Republican woman actively considering a run for the White House, is taking on Clinton more forcefully and directly than any other GOP contender. It's a deliberate strategy meant to make headlines, differentiate her from the pack, and elevate her position on the national stage. And in the process, it's winning her friends, as Fiorina assumes an attack role that many Republican strategists think male GOP candidates need to avoid...

Keep reading.

This sounds pretty packaged and slickly marketed, and it's apparently working for her. But what's her game? Recall that Ms. Fiorina ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, and was defeated handily by Barbara Boxer. She's never held elective office. I imagine she's got even less of a chance to win the 2016 GOP nomination than Michele Bachmann had in 2012. Perhaps she's looking to do well in a primary or two to position herself as a legitimate running mate for the eventual nominee. A woman would certainly be a nice touch, and Fiorina's smart. She wouldn't generate the kind of attacks that hit Sarah Palin in 2008, although leftists are so evil I can imagine the most horrific smears on the former CEO even now. (Health issues? Say vicious attacks on her as a cancer survivor? Put nothing past the diabolical left.)

In any case, we'll see.

Federal Immigration Agents Raid Suspected Fake Schools

Well, our entire immigration system's a fraud at this point, so there you go.

At WSJ, "Foreigners on U.S. student visas allegedly paid millions but didn’t take classes":

LOS ANGELES—Amid a widening crackdown on immigration fraud, federal agents on Wednesday raided a network of schools alleged to be part of a scheme to collect millions of dollars from foreigners who came to the U.S. on student visas but never studied.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested three individuals who ran four schools in the Los Angeles area alleged to serve as a front for the purported scheme.

Hee Sun Shim, 51 years old, was arrested at his Beverly Hills home, and his alleged associates, Hyung Chan Moon and Eun Young Choi, were arrested in their offices near downtown Los Angeles.

They were taken into custody and charged in Los Angeles federal court with conspiracy to commit visa fraud, money laundering and of other immigration offenses, U.S. authorities said. They weren’t immediately available for comment and their attorneys weren’t known.

Wednesday’s action was the latest in a series targeting visa fraud nationwide.

“It’s a priority for us,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of HSI in Los Angeles. “It is something that can be exploited by types who want to do harm to the country.”

He added that authorities haven’t seen any evidence in this case that suspected terrorists used the alleged scheme to enter the country.

The main school in the alleged scam is Prodee University, located in Los Angeles’s Koreatown neighborhood. It is affiliated with three other schools: Walter Jay M.D. Institute and American College of Forensic Studies in Los Angeles and Likie Fashion and Technology College in nearby Alhambra.

Catering primarily to Korean and Chinese nationals, the schools enrolled 1,500 students, the government said, most of whom live outside of Los Angeles, including in Texas, Nevada and Hawaii. They generated as much as $6 million a year in purported tuition payments, authorities said.

Sham colleges across the U.S. are believed to attract thousands of foreigners who pay fees, some of them with the promise of an education they don’t receive and others with assurance that no classes need be taken.

“It’s never clear to what extent the students are victimized or are in on the scheme,” said Barmak Nassirian, policy analysis director at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

The crackdown comes at a time when U.S. colleges and universities are attracting a record number of foreign students—about one million currently...

Police Shootings in #Ferguson Entirely Predictable — Anonymous Agitation! And Eric Holder Agitation!

From Matthew Hennessey, at City Journal, "Springtime for Chaos in Ferguson":

#Ferguson 's got some 'splainin' to do!! RT @P4R4L3G4L: @ProgPoker So much for the "not one of the regulars" lie pic.twitter.com/eaOXXhCEmW

— ProgPoker (@ProgPoker) March 16, 2015

Prosecutors...said Jeffrey Williams had attended the demonstration the evening of the shooting and previous rallies. http://t.co/KvOCmZB2B6

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 16, 2015

Shortly before shots rang out at Wednesday night’s protest outside the Ferguson Police Department, injuring two officers and reviving fears of return to last year’s social unrest, the Twitter account of Operation Ferguson posted an ominous warning: “This will not end well tonight.” Whoever composed the Tweet was right. Exactly how they knew is an open question.

The Operation Ferguson Twitter account has 70,000 followers. It is run by Anonymous, the mysterious band of online vigilantes and mask-wearing anarchists that allies itself periodically with far-left causes from the Occupy movement to Julian Assange’s Wikileaks. To read the stream of anti-police invective on Operation Ferguson’s timeline is to get a sense of Anonymous’s goals in Ferguson—and beyond. A pair of cellphone photos of cops in riot gear is captioned “punk ass terrorists.” A picture of a young African-American facing off with the police is accompanied by text: “You’ve been killing kids like me for decades. You can’t stop the revolution.” Yet another tweet reads: “protestors have taken streets to usher in the last days of the brutal regime. Same thing happened in #Egypt. #BlackLivesMatter”

During last year’s protests in Ferguson, Anonymous pledged to protect demonstrators from “abuse and harassment” at the hands of police. Hackers affiliated with the group crashed Ferguson City Hall’s e-mail server and, using a favored tactic, threatened St. Louis County Police Department Chief Jon Belmar by posting his home address, telephone number, and photos of his family. “I’ve said all along that we cannot sustain this forever without problems,” Belmar told the media late Wednesday after the shooting. “We were very close to what happened in New York”—a reference to the assassination of two NYPD officers last December.

Anonymous is not the only far-left group that has tried to turn Ferguson into the American Bastille. As the Daily Beast and the Blaze reported last year, well-known Communist agitators flooded into town following the death of Michael Brown with the goal of keeping emotions high and the revolution roiling. But the most-effective left-wing activist in Ferguson has got to be Eric Holder’s Justice Department.

Last week, the DOJ released a report clearing Officer Darren Wilson of misconduct in Brown’s death—the left’s initial justification for its war on Ferguson’s cops. But by dismantling the myth that Wilson had murdered Brown in cold blood, Holder risked undermining the agitators’ casus belli. So he went the extra step of accusing Ferguson’s police and courts of widespread and systemic racism. The report charged that the financially strapped city thought of its black citizens as not much more than a revenue stream. In a press conference, Holder decried last year’s riots, claiming that “violence is never justified,” before going on brazenly to justify the violence: “[S]een in this context—amid a highly toxic environment, defined by mistrust and resentment, stoked by years of bad feelings, and spurred by illegal and misguided practices—it is not difficult to imagine how a single tragic incident set off the city of Ferguson like a powder keg.”

Holder’s claim is that while Darren Wilson didn’t murder Michael Brown, in a way, the entire system did. This type of racial grievance-fueling is like a shot of straight adrenaline to the agitators of Anonymous and their fellow travelers on the professional far left...

Keep reading.

And see Caleb Howe, at Truth Revolt, "'Yes, He Is A Demonstrator': Police Announce Arrest Of Ferguson Cop Shooting Suspect."

#Ferguson Leftists Desperate to Distance Themselves from Cop-Shooting Mofo Jeffrey Williams

From Derek Hunter, at the Daily Caller, "Protesters, Media Try to Distance Ferguson Shooting Suspect From Protests":

The arrest of Jeffery Williams, 20, for the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, has set off a rush to distance the protesters from the would-be cop killer.

Was Williams a “regular” attendee of protests, a casual participant, or not involved at all? There is a lot riding on the answer to that question.

In spite of the riots after the grand jury found no evidence to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, the protests have been portrayed as “largely peaceful.” If a member of those protests tried to assassinate two police officers on the day the chief of police of that embattled city resigned, it would harm that carefully cultivated image.

The “hands up, don’t shoot” protests successfully avoided association with Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who made statements on social media in solidarity with them before assassinating two New York City police officers in December. A second protester shooting police officers would make the “peaceful movement” argument a tougher case to make.

As such, protest leaders and reporters scrambled to contain the narrative and shift attention back to the report the Justice Department released claiming racism is rampant in the Ferguson Police Department.

Well, Williams has some significant ties to the protests, whether he was a "regular" or not. Indeed, he might have been a regular looter more than a protester, which tells you something. See Sooper Mexican, "BREAKING: Punk Arrested for Ferguson Police Shooting Said He LOOTED Over Mike Brown Shooting on FB."

Ferguson Protesters STOMP on American Flag and DESTROY IT in Front of Police Dept

At Sooper Mexican, "It’s really funny how Ferguson protest defenders keep telling us that they’re not all that bad and they’re just Americans like the rest of us. But then they do things like loot and burn down businesses, shoot at cops, and now, stomp on and destroy an American flag."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Lonely Con, "Saturday Funnies," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Roundup..."

More at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Salvage Operation."

'Karl Marx was the foremost hater and most incessant whiner in the history of Western Civilization...'

From Gary North, Marx's Religion of Revolution: Regeneration Through Chaos:

Karl Marx was the foremost hater and most incessant whiner in the history of Western Civilization. He was a spoiled, overeducated brat who never grew up; he just grew more shrill as he grew older. His lifelong hatred and whining have led to the deaths (so far) of perhaps a hundred million people, depending on how many people perished under Mao's tyranny. We will probably never know.

St. Louis County Police Announce Arrest of BLACK MOFO SUSPECT in Officer Shootings

At Gateway Pundit, "MUGSHOT -->>> FERGUSON POLICE SHOOTER ARRESTED ‘Jeffrey Williams’ a REGULAR PROTESTER (VIDEO)."



Also at Hot Air, "Arrest made in attempted assassination of Ferguson police officers."

Kelly Brook Ready for Primetime!

Heh, she's been ready.

At the New York Post:

British bombshell Kelly Brook is ready for American primetime http://t.co/JJCAC1GUbn pic.twitter.com/IcuPiBp5yF

— New York Post (@nypost) March 15, 2015

BWAHAHA! More Democrats Dissing, Bailing on Obama!

Heh, you gotta love it.

At NYT, "More Democrats Are Going Their Own Way, and That's Away From Obama":

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans may be singularly focused on unraveling President Obama’s executive orders and actions, but when it comes to what is left of his viable policy agenda on Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama’s biggest problems are now often with Democrats.

The administration’s most pressing goal, expansive trade legislation, is adamantly opposed by scores of Democrats in the House and Senate even as most Republicans support it. Mr. Obama’s formal request for congressional authorization to fight the Islamic State is deeply imperiled, in no small measure because Senate Democrats find it wanting.

The president’s dismissal of the role of Congress in approving any nuclear agreement with Iran was facing a potential veto override before Republicans scrambled the political dynamic by sending a letter directly to the Iranian leadership. But if international negotiators reach an accord this month, Democrats’ concerns are all but certain to roar back.

Efforts to change a national security program that sweeps up Americans’ phone call data and other records have also stalled over disagreements with Democrats, even though both parties seek changes to the program.

Democrats may be unified on most of the policies that Mr. Obama called “middle-class economics” in his State of the Union address — which he has little chance of advancing with Republicans in control of Congress — but these other potential achievements may be imperiled.

“Over all, on economic issues, we pretty much walk in lock step,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Senate Democrat. But for issues on which Mr. Obama lacks a consensus with congressional Democrats, “he needs an amalgam,” Mr. Schumer said.

Administration officials note that Republicans, given their own infighting and other challenges, have failed to drive a wedge among Democrats on issues such as funding to keep the government open and the president’s veto of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Mr. Obama’s “willingness to put forward ideas that some in his party disagree with isn’t a sign of weakness,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. “In fact, it’s a sign of strength and evidence that he’ll work with anyone on either side of the aisle to keep the country safe and expand opportunity for the middle class.”

In some ways, Mr. Obama faces a predictable challenge. He is grabbing for goals at the sunset of his presidency, relying on a Congress controlled by a deeply hostile Republican Party and Democrats who are more concerned with protecting their own interests.

“He’s trying to create a legacy,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. “They’re trying to survive.”

At the same time, Mr. Obama is wrestling with issues that have historically divided Democrats, like trade and national security. “I don’t think it’s a function of his last two years in office,” said Senator Angus King, independent of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats. “I think it’s a function of the issues. I try to take it an issue at a time. That’s one of the advantages of where I am.”...

More.

Via Memeornandum.

Why Our Pansy-Assed Prep-School Diplomats Fail Against Putin and Islamic State

From Ralph Peters, at the New York Post, "Why our prep-school diplomats fail against Putin and ISIS":

Why do our “best and brightest” fail when faced with a man like Putin? Or with charismatic fanatics? Or Iranian negotiators? Why do they misread our enemies so consistently, from Hitler and Stalin to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliph?

The answer is straightforward:

Social insularity: Our leaders know fellow insiders around the world; our enemies know everyone else.

The mandarin’s distaste for physicality: We are led through blood-smeared times by those who’ve never suffered a bloody nose.
And last but not least, bad educations in our very best schools: Our leadership has been educated in chaste political theory, while our enemies know, firsthand, the stuff of life.

Above all, there is arrogance based upon privilege. For revolving-door leaders in the U.S. and Europe, if you didn’t go to the right prep school and elite university, you couldn’t possibly be capable of comprehending, let alone changing, the world. It’s the old social “Not our kind, dahhhling…” attitude transferred to government.

That educational insularity is corrosive and potentially catastrophic: Our “best” universities prepare students to sustain the current system, instilling vague hopes of managing petty reforms.

But dramatic, revolutionary change in geopolitics never comes from insiders. It’s the outsiders who change the world. In the 21st century, our government suffers from the sclerosis of insider thinking that constantly reinforces itself and rejects conflicting evidence. The result is that we are being whipped by savages.

Of course, the insiders can’t accept so abhorrent a prospect as their own fallibility. So when new blood does enter — through those same “elite” institutions — it’s channeled into the same old calcium-clogged arteries. And we get generals with Ivy League Ph.D.s writing military doctrine that adheres cringingly to politically correct truisms and leaves out the very factors, such as the power of religion or ethnic hatred, that prove decisive. Or a usually astute commentator on Eastern European affairs who dismisses Vladimir Putin as a mere chinovnik, a petty bureaucrat, since Putin was only a lieutenant colonel in the KGB when the Soviet Union collapsed and didn’t go to a Swiss prep school like John Kerry.

That analyst overlooked the fact that Hitler had been a mere lance corporal. Stalin was a failed seminarian. Lenin was a destitute syphilitic. Ho Chi Minh washed dishes in the basement of a Paris Hotel. And when the French Revolution erupted, Napoleon was a junior artillery officer.

And sophisticated Germans assumed they could use Hitler and then dismiss him, while other Europeans mocked him. Stalin’s fellow Bolsheviks underestimated him, until it was too late and their fates were sealed. The French didn’t notice Ho. And Napoleon shocked even his own lethargic family. The “man on horseback” is often the man from nowhere, and the members of the club ignore the torches in the streets until the club burns down around them.

Put another way: We are led by men and women educated to believe in the irresistible authority of their own words. When they encounter others who use words solely to deflect and defraud, or, worse, when their opposite numbers ignore words completely and revel in ferocious violence, our best and brightest go into an intellectual stall and keep repeating the same empty phrases (in increasingly tortured tones):

“Violence never solves anything.” “There’s no military solution.” “War is never the answer.” “Only a negotiated solution can resolve this crisis.” “It isn’t about religion.”

Or the latest and lamest: “We need to have strategic patience,” and “Terrorists need jobs.”

Every one of those statements is, demonstrably, nonsense most — or all — of the time. But the end result of very expensive educations is a Manchurian Candidate effect that kicks in whenever the core convictions of the old regime are questioned. So we find ourselves with leaders who would rather defend platitudes than defend their country.

And negotiations become the opium of the chattering classes...

Ralph is the best.

Keep reading.

Hat Tip: Astute Bloggers.

Paris Kosher Supermarket Where Four Jews Were Murdered in Charlie Hebdo Attacks Reopened Sunday (VIDEO)

Via Ruptly:

Crazy Emily Ratajkowski Outtakes

Ms. Emily in palm fronds is to die for, lol.

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, "Fun outtakes from Emily Ratajkowski's SI Swimsuit 2015 shoot in Kauai."

Bethany Lily

At Zoo Today, "Bethany Lily's insanely booby shoot! Remember the day you first saw Lucy Pinder, Joey Fisher or Stacey Poole? May we introduce 32G Bethany Lily. Remember the name..."

'This is what happens when you let people who think that *capitalism* is a dirty word run economic policy...'

Heh, from Moe Lane, "The fascinating thing about these stories of Seattle restaurant closings…"

BONUS: At Legal Insurrection, "Seattle Restaurants Struggle With New Minimum Wage," and Hot Air, "Seattle eateries closing as $15 minimum wage approaches."

Fashion Icons Dolce and Gabbana Strongly Oppose Homosexual Marriage, Homosexual Parenting, and Surrogacy

Hmm, all's not well in homosexual hegemony land.

From Terresa Monroe-Hamilton, at RWN, "Legendary Gay Designers Strongly Oppose Gay Marriage, Gay Parenting and Surrogacy."

And the obligatory left-wing hissy fit meltdown, at the Guardian UK, "Elton John and leading LGBT groups call for Dolce & Gabbana boycott."

Long Range Strike-Bomber

At Defense News, "Shrouded in Mystery, New Bomber Makes Waves.

And CNN, "New US stealth bomber shrouded in mystery."



BONUS: "Is U.S. Air Force superiority under threat?"

Obama Staff Behind Leaks in Hillary Clinton Email Scandal

Delicious!

At the New York Post, "Obama adviser behind leak of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal."

The slingshot's a nice touch, lol.

Wealthy Members of the Tech Industry Insist on Secrecy

Whopping double standards from folks like Mark Zuckerberg, who want you to reveal increasingly large amounts of personal data while safeguarding their own like it's national security.

At the New York Times, "For Tech Titans, Sharing Has Its Limits."

The Death of Free Speech on Campus

Leftists are the problem, and they won't be forgiven.

From Pat Condell:

Britain Losing Military Clout, Worrying Allies

At the Washington Post, "U.K.’s shrinking military clout worries U.S.":

LONDON — With Europe facing its shakiest security environment in a generation, Britain has slipped into a familiar role: Washington’s tough-talking wingman.

British leaders have led the rhetorical charge against the twin menaces of Russia and the Islamic State while browbeating reluctant European governments to wake up to the reality of a newly unstable continent.

But behind the flinty facade lies an unmistakable erosion in British power, one that has reduced Washington’s indispensable ally to a position that U.K. officials, military leaders and analysts acknowledge could leave the United States without a credible partner in taking on the greatest threats to global ­security.

Britain’s diminished military capacity is a product of years of stringent austerity policies that show no sign of easing.

Despite a too-close-to-call election in less than two months, neither major party has stepped up to shield the military from further cuts, reflecting a public weary of foreign interventions after campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya that are widely seen as failures.

In the two conflicts that most directly imperil Europe today, Britain has been largely ­invisible.

Its contribution to the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State is “strikingly modest,” according to a recent parliamentary report. And as Russia has eviscerated Ukraine over the past year, Britain has often been a bystander while others have tried to stanch the bleeding.

The British withdrawal from world affairs could soon accelerate, with budget cuts likely to take an even greater bite out of an already withered military.

A report issued this week by a respected British think tank, the Royal United Services Institute, found that Britain’s regular army could shrink to just 50,000 troops by 2019 – about half the number of the amount when the decade began and just a fraction of the figure from the height of the Cold War.

“The concern is that we’re going to fall from being a significant player to a bit-part player,” Dannatt said. “The U.K. isn’t of much use to the U.S. if we don’t have a worthwhile military force behind us. Anybody can talk tough. But if you don’t back it up, everyone just laughs at you.”

U.S. officials, normally unwilling to criticize their most stalwart ally, have been unusually open about their apprehension in recent days.

Last week, Gen. Ray Odierno, the U.S. Army chief of staff, said that he was “very concerned” about U.K. defense cuts and that they could result in British troops fighting within American ranks rather than alongside them in any future conflict.

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told the BBC that she was alarmed by the “gap between the collective security needs that we all have and the resources we are bringing to bear.”

Although Power did not single out Britain for criticism, taking aim instead at Europe as a whole, she focused her comments on a NATO target for members to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense.

The long-standing goal is met by only four members from the 28-nation alliance: the United States, Estonia, Greece and ­Britain...

More.

Royal Air Force Flyover at St. Paul's Cathedral Honors Afghanistan War Veterans

Video via Telegraph UK.

Plus, at London's Daily Mail, "The Royals honour Britain's Afghan war heroes: Kate and William lead tributes to the 453 men and women who died fighting the Taliban at St Paul's memorial service."

Magical Leftist Thinking

From Andrew Klavan:

Leftist Cop-Hate

From Heather Mac Donald, at the New York Post, "Fueling cop-hate: How politicians fan the flames":

Government-fueled cop hatred has claimed more victims. Two St. Louis-area police officers were shot Wednesday night during a protest outside the Ferguson, Mo., police department, one in the face, the other in the shoulder.

Both are expected to survive, unlike the two New York City police officers assassinated in December.

Such violence is the sadly predictable outcome of the lies about the police that government officials and the media have stoked for the last year.

US Attorney General Eric Holder has done all he can to keep tensions at a boiling point in Ferguson.

This, though his own Justice Department demolished the hoax that a pacific Michael Brown was killed in cold blood by Police Officer Darren Wilson in August.

The Justice report on the Brown shooting, released last week, demolished every myth around the shooting.

It confirmed virtually everything Office Wilson had testified to, including that Brown had attacked Wilson, tried to grab his gun, then charged at Wilson after the officer exited his car.

The iconic “Hands up, don’t shoot” slogan? Most certainly a fiction.

The report explained why Brown lay for four hours in the street before being taken away: “Kill the cops”-screaming protesters kept barging in on the crime-scene investigation, while gunfire rang around the perimeter. The detectives had to constantly put their work on hold while waiting for more backup.

The Brown report should have forced a massive reconsideration of the virulent anti-law-enforcement campaign that sprang up in the wake of the shooting.

Instead, Holder paved the way for the report’s marginalization by calling, a few days before its release, for a lower standard of proof for civil-rights cases.

Implication: Only an artificially high standard of proof prevented Justice from prosecuting Wilson.

This implication was utterly false. Wilson couldn’t be convicted under any standard of proof, since there is no credible evidence against him.
Yet the media ran with this “burden of proof” angle and buried the report almost as soon as it was released.

Meanwhile, in a stunning bait-and-switch, Holder presented a new report to justify last year’s riots and the ongoing anti-police campaign.
That report claimed that the Ferguson Police Department engages in a “pattern or practice” of violating blacks’ civil rights.

Where the Brown report was measured and thorough, this second report was disingenuous and agenda-driven.

Its most disturbing allegations consisted of anecdotes of apparently unconstitutional stops and arrests by officers acting boorishly toward suspects.

If those anecdotes are true and represent standard procedure in the Ferguson PD, then Ferguson’s force is abysmally trained, with little understanding of the Constitution and a great need for a refresher in courtesy and respect.

But after the evisceration of the Brown hoax, it‘s folly to take stories against the police at face value. Yet there’s no indication that the Justice lawyers double-checked any victim accounts.

Moreover, though the report calls such apparently bad stops “frequent,” it makes no attempt to quantify them in relation to the overall number of stops and arrests, and so establish a “pattern or practice” of civil-rights violations.

The rest of the report goes downhill from there. Its alleged statistical proof of race-based stops and arrests wouldn’t earn its authors a D in Statistics 101, since it lacks a valid benchmark for its stop and arrest data.

That benchmark would include, at a bare minimum, crime rates...

Still more.

Dodge Hasn't Been Able to Make Enough Hellcats to Meet Consumer Demand

This is way cool.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Hellcats? Dodge makes 'em fast, but not fast enough":

Electric cars? Plug-ins? Hybrids? Hydrogen fuel cells?

Nah. The hottest thing in the automotive world may still be raw horsepower.

Dodge has told its dealer network to stop taking orders for the 2015 Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcats, a pair of 700+-horsepower throwbacks that, the company says, it cannot make fast enough.

"Due to unprecedented demand for the 2015 Dodge Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcats, we are temporarily restricting orders while we validate current orders that are in the system," a company spokesperson said Friday.

First unveiled last May, the Hellcats push 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque out of a 6.2 liter V-8 engine. These sleds are said to get from zero to 60 in 3.6 seconds, leaving a trail of hot rubber in their wake.

The base MSRP is $59,995.

Did Dodge underestimate consumer demand? Or fail to anticipate the impact of falling gas prices?

Maybe. The Hellcats get about 13 miles to the gallon in city driving, and a mere 21 on the highway.

Dodge announced last fall that it had received more than 5,000 pre-orders for the 2015 vehicles.

Shortly after, as the vehicles began shipping to dealerships, reports began appearing in the automotive press that demand for the Hellcats was so strong that dealers were getting premiums of up to $10,000 per vehicle over the sticker price.

Current reports suggest the total number of Hellcats ordered may be as high as 9,000. Dodge would not comment on the number sold, or the number on order.

Could a President Hillary Clinton Be Trusted on Email Security?

Another astonishing letter to the editor, at the Los Angeles Times:

To the editor: Let's put aside the rather remarkable ruse that Hillary Rodham Clinton did not want to carry two email devices when she was secretary of State and therefore used a private account for conducting government businesses. After all, most smartphones can be programmed to handle multiple email addresses. ("Hillary Clinton tries to end controversy over private email account," March 10)

Rather, let's consider Clinton's contention that she used her personal email server for convenience. Otherwise put, the United States secretary of State breached security protocols with tens of thousands of emails for four years for her personal convenience.

What security breaches would arise for her convenience if she were president?

Mark S. Greenfield
Los Angeles

Fossil Fuels Will Save the World (Really)

From Matt Ridley, at WSJ.

Thoroughly Depressing Video of a Man Trying to Exercise His Right to Freedom of Speech

That's BFH's headline.

Actually, I get a kick out of these kinds of things. It's happened to me. Leftists cannot tolerate views that deviate from the collectivist party line. Plain and simple. You will literally be attacked for attempting to exercise your rights. I was attacked last summer while attempting to cover the Anaheim police brutality protests sponsored by ANSWER LA.

And watch this guy at the video attempting to express his opinions on the left's holocaust of abortion.

Criminal leftist thugs. At iOWNTHEWORLD Report.

14 STUDENTS ACCUSED IN VENICE HIGH SCHOOL SEXUAL ASSAULTS (VIDEO)

Horrible story.

At ABC-7 News Los Angeles:

#LAPD Update: 10th Venice HS Subject Arrested for Sex Crimes after turning himself in @LAPDPacific @LASchoolPolice http://t.co/YhSRKub8EQ

— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) March 14, 2015

VENICE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Fourteen students are accused in the sexual assaults of two underage girls at Venice High School.

The investigation began on Tuesday when police were notified by school administrators regarding a possible sexual assault.

Police located two victims, both students at Venice High School under the age of 17. The victims were subjected to a series of sexual assaults both on and off campus.

"They were able to identify 14 subjects that we believe are responsible for these sexual assaults and unlawful sex acts," said LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith during a news conference.

The alleged incidents occurred between December 2013 to March 2015. Smith said some of the sexual acts were forced, and others were consensual with individuals who were too young to give consent.

Eight students were arrested at the school on Friday morning, and one student was arrested off campus. A 10th person surrendered to authorities and was also arrested.

Still more.

The Compulsory Approval Doctrine of the Homosexual Rights Movement

I think I got this discussion going the other night when I tweeted out this piece from USA Today, "Celebs slam Catholic school teacher's frank comments about homosexuals."

Celebs slam Catholic school teacher's frank comments about homosexuals. http://t.co/MWYcvVHSMo @RSMcCain

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 13, 2015

And now see Robert Stacy McCain, "Patricia Jannuzzi Is Right":

“We need healthy families with a mother and a father for the sake of the children and humanity,” wrote Patricia Januzzi, in a Facebook post in which she warned that same-sex marriage is part of an “agenda” that aims toward the “slow extinction” of Western civilization.

Ms. Januzzi is a teacher at Immaculata High School, a private Catholic school in New Jersey. While I am not Catholic, I am sufficiently acquainted with their doctrines on marriage and the family to conclude that Ms. Januzzi said nothing in her rant with which the Pope would disagree. And having spent the past several months researching radical feminism, I can say with absolute certainty that the “agenda” is exactly what Ms. Januzzi says it is. But the 21st-Century Thought Police can’t let the truth be spoken:

SOMERVILLE, N.J. — An anti-gay rant by a religion teacher at a Catholic high school in New Jersey is drawing the ire of alumni across the country, including a former Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member and New-Jersey-raised Susan Sarandon. On her now-deleted Facebook profile earlier this week, the veteran private Catholic school teacher said gays or gay activists “want to reengineer western civ (sic) into a slow extinction” as part of their “agenda.”

“We need healthy families with a mother and a father for the sake of the children and humanity!!!!!” wrote Immaculata High School teacher Patricia Jannuzzi, adding that the argument that gays are protected under the 14th Amendment is “bologna.” . . .

Let me interrupt here to quote more of Ms. Januzzi’s post. She was reacting emotionally to a story (“Crass: Gay Activist Tweets THIS To Ben Carson Following CNN Interview”) that she linked on her Facebook page, and her point was not very clearly made. She said gay activists, after using the “born that way” argument to gain status under the 14th Amendment “equal protection” clause, will then “argue everyone should be able to choose” homosexuality. Anyone familiar with feminist theory knows that radical lesbians have never accepted the “born that way” argument, instead advocating lesbianism as a “challenge to male supremacy and its basic institution of heterosexuality,” to quote Professor Sheila Jeffreys. This feminist perspective was celebrated in a 1973 song by Alix Dobkin, “Every Woman Can Be a Lesbian.”

The radical “choice” view of sexuality advocated by lesbian feminists is seldom heard from gay males, who usually describe their homosexual desires as an uncontrollable urge. However, one finds across the spectrum of the LGBT rainbow a unanimous consensus on what we might call the Compulsory Approval Doctrine:

No one can ever be permitted to express a personal aversion or moral objection to homosexual behavior.

Disapproval is synonymous with “hate,” according to gay activists, and the cultural consequence of the Compulsory Approval Doctrine is to stigmatize heterosexuality as an expression of prejudice. Many gay people have convinced themselves that the “straight” person’s rejection of homosexual behavior is implicit proof of homophobia — an irrational fear — so that all heterosexuals are basically viewed as ignorant bigots afflicted with neurotic sexual repression. And if you dare cite religious injunctions against homosexuality, you thereby prove that you are certainly a hater. Quod erat demonstrandum.

The Compulsory Approval Doctrine of the gay-rights movement is exemplified by the thug mob reaction to Mrs. Januzzi...

RTWT.

Countdown to the End of Obama's Anti-Israel Presidency

Israel hatred continues to grow at the key plank of the Democrat Party.

From Caroline Glick, "Israel’s next 22 months":

The next 22 months until President Barack Obama leaves office promise to be the most challenging period in the history of US-Israel relations.

Now unfettered by electoral concerns, over the past week Obama exposed his ill-intentions toward Israel in two different ways.

First, the Justice Department leaked its intention to indict Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez on corruption charges. Menendez is the ranking Democratic member, and the former chairman, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is also the most outspoken Democratic critic of Obama’s policy of appeasing the Iranian regime.

As former US federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote this week at PJMedia, “It is perfectly reasonable to believe that Menendez may be guilty of corruption offenses and that his political opposition on Iran is factoring into the administration’s decision to charge him. Put it another way, if Menendez were running interference for Obama on the Iran deal, rather than trying to scupper it, I believe he would not be charged.”

The Menendez prosecution tells us that Obama wishes to leave office after having vastly diminished support for Israel among Democrats. And he will not hesitate to use strong-arm tactics against his fellow Democrats to achieve his goal.

We already experienced Obama’s efforts in this sphere in the lead-up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before the joint houses of Congress on March 3 with his campaign to pressure Democratic lawmakers to boycott Netanyahu’s address.

Now, with his move against Menendez, Obama made clear that support for Israel – even in the form of opposition to the nuclear armament of Iran – will be personally and politically costly for Democrats.

The long-term implications of Obama’s moves to transform US support for Israel into a partisan issue cannot by wished away. It is possible that his successor as the head of the Democratic Party will hold a more sympathetic view of Israel. But it is also possible that the architecture of Democratic fund-raising and grassroots support that Obama has been building for the past six years will survive his presidency and that as a consequence, Democrats will have incentives to oppose Israel.

The reason Obama is so keen to transform Israel into a partisan issue was made clear by the second move he made last week.

Last Thursday, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice announced that the NSC’s Middle East Coordinator Phil Gordon was stepping down and being replaced by serial Israel-basher Robert Malley.

Malley, who served as an NSC junior staffer during the Clinton administration, rose to prominence in late 2000 when, following the failed Camp David peace summit in July 2000 and the outbreak of the Palestinian terror war, Malley co-authored an op-ed in The New York Times blaming Israel and then-prime minister Ehud Barak for the failure of the negotiations.

What was most remarkable at the time about Malley’s positions was that they completely contradicted Bill Clinton’s expressed views. Clinton placed the blame for the failure of the talks squarely on then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s shoulders.

Not only did Arafat reject Barak’s unprecedented offer of Palestinian statehood and sovereignty over all of Gaza, most of Judea and Samaria and parts of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount, he refused to make a counter-offer. And then two months later, he opened the Palestinian terror war.

As Jonathan Tobin explained in Commentary this week, through his writings and public statements, Malley has legitimized Palestinian rejection of Israel’s right to exist. Malley thinks it is perfectly reasonable that the Palestinians refuse to concede their demand for free immigration of millions of foreign Arabs to the Jewish state in the framework of their concocted “right of return,” even though the clear goal of that demand is to destroy Israel. As Tobin noted, Malley believes that Palestinian terrorism against Israel is “understandable if not necessarily commendable.”

During Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, then-senator Obama listed Malley as a member of his foreign policy team. When pro-Israel groups criticized his appointment, Obama fired Malley.

But after his 2012 reelection, no longer fearing the ramifications of embracing an openly anti-Israel adviser, one who had documented contacts with Hamas terrorists and has expressed support for recognizing the terror group, Obama appointed Malley to serve as his senior adviser for Iraq-Iran-Syria and the Gulf states. Still facing the 2014 congressional elections, Obama pledged that Malley would have no involvement in issues related to Israel and the Palestinians. But then last week, he appointed him to direct the NSC’s policy in relation to the entire Middle East, including Israel.

The deeper significance of Malley’s appointment is that it demonstrates that Obama’s goal in his remaining time in office is to realign US Middle East policy away from Israel. With his Middle East policy led by a man who thinks the Palestinian goal of destroying Israel is legitimate, Obama can be expected to expand his practice of placing all the blame for the absence of peace between Israel and the Palestinians solely on Israel’s shoulders.

Malley’s appointment indicates that there is nothing Israel can do to stem the tsunami of American pressure it is about to suffer. Electing a left-wing government to replace Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will make no difference.

Just as Malley was willing to blame Barak – a leader who went to Camp David as the head of a minority coalition, whose positions on territorial withdrawals were rejected by a wide majority of Israelis – for the absence of peace, so we can assume that he, and his boss, will blame Israel for the absence of peace over the next 22 months, regardless of who stands at the head of the next government.

In this vein we can expect the administration to expand the anti-Israel positions it has already taken...

So hateful.

Continue.

Top Democrats Alarmed About Clinton's Readiness for Campaign

Delicious!

At the Washington Post, "Some top Democrats are alarmed about Clinton's readiness for a campaign":

Senior Democrats are increasingly worried that Hillary Rodham Clinton is not ready to run for president, fearing that the clumsy and insular handling of the nine-day fracas over her private e-mails was a warning sign about the campaign expected to launch next month.

Few Democrats believe that the revelations about her un­or­tho­dox e-mail practices as secretary of state are a substantive issue that would damage Clinton with voters, and many said she performed adequately in a Tuesday news conference defending herself.

But in interviews Wednesday with The Washington Post, current and former Democratic officeholders and operatives from across the country raised serious questions about her and her political team’s strength and readiness for a 2016 presidential campaign.

“She’s tried to put the day of reckoning off, but it’s come now, and I don’t think she can stand another couple of weeks of this without her structure in place,” said Jim Hodges, a former governor of South Carolina.

Some Democrats said Clinton’s initial refusal to provide answers in the growing e-mail controversy smacked of arrogance and a worrisome bunker mentality — and that the controversy was a self-inflicted wound.

“Had this story been responded to in two or three days instead of in eight days, it would not be as big,” said Robert Gibbs, a former White House press secretary under President Obama. “They are the ones who put air in this balloon in a way that was not necessary at all. . . . It’s clear they lack an apparatus. She’s a candidate without a campaign.”

A Clinton spokesman did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Last week, supporters in Congress and others were willing to go on cable television to defend Clinton on the e-mails but were puzzled when her aides did not provide talking points or other information that might help them, according to Clinton allies. “A lot of people were flying blind,” said one Democratic ally who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment candidly. Requests for information “were met with dead silence” from Clinton’s team, this person said. “This shows they have a long way to go until their organization is ready for prime time.”

Some of Clinton’s longtime allies in the Senate and House leadership did receive guidance from the Clinton camp, although their aides were frustrated that they had to proactively reach out to Clinton aides to get it...

More.

Andrea Tantaros: Eric Holder is the 'Attorney General for the Criminal, by the Criminal, and of the Criminal...' (VIDEO)

Hat Tip: Memeorandum.

Chrissy Teigen Photo Shoot ln Miami

At Egotastic!, "Chrissy Teigen Candids! Model Caught Topless in Miami Waters."

After Stoking Racial Hatred, Eric Holder Blames 'Damn Punk' for #Ferguson Police Shooting (VIDEO)

Great headline, via Gateway Pundit.

Islamic State Video Shows Israeli Arab Murdered by Child Jihadi

Another child murderer. They sure start them out young over there.

Watch at BNI, "Latest Islamic State (ISIS) video features a child executing an Israeli Arab, accused of spying for Israel."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Islamic State Video Purports to Show Israeli Arab Slain by Child":

A new Islamic State video purports to show a child executing an Israeli Arab man accused of spying for Israel.

The more than 13-minute video was released on YouTube by the Islamic State’s propaganda arm, Al Furqan Media. It depicts a lengthy confession by a man who identified himself as Mohammed Said Ismail Musallam from Jerusalem, followed by scenes that show a child holding and firing a handgun edited together with others that appear to show the prisoner being shot in the head.

Emmanuel Nachshon, the spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, said his government was investigating the authenticity of the video. Israel’s intelligence agency didn’t comment.

Though Islamic State has long expressed enmity toward Israel, Mr. Musallam’s slaying, if confirmed, would mark the first time the Iraq and Syria-based extremist group has been known to have killed an Israeli citizen.

Last month, Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an interview with a man claiming to be Mr. Musallam’s father, Said Musallam, and he said his son wasn’t a spy. The senior Mr. Musallam, who lives in East Jerusalem, said his son had traveled to Islamic State-held territory last fall and had asked for money beforehand on the pretense that he would be studying at a college near Tel Aviv, according to the article.

“He left that morning and the next day, I tried to call him and the telephone was turned off,” Mr. Musallam’s father was quoted as saying. “I thought that maybe he was busy. After a week we got an email that he wanted to be a martyr and he was giving up everything in his life and his family.”

The newspaper quoted the father saying that he later learned that Mr. Musallam had been jailed for trying to escape to Turkey.

The video adds a new twist to Israeli politics only a week before hotly contested general elections, in which hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has campaigned on a platform of protecting the country from Islamists. Israel has largely stayed out of the conflict. But similar videos from Islamic State have drawn Jordan, Egypt, Britain and the U.S. deeper into the battle.

Tuesday’s video wasn’t the first appearing to show a child killer. Another released by the group in January purported to show a Kazakh child shooting two accused Kazakh spies in the back of the head.

The purported use of a child executioner adds a twist to a propaganda campaign that has repeatedly employed shock tactics to both attract potential recruits and frighten enemies.

Islamic State has released footage showing hostages and accused apostates and traitors shot with handguns and automatic weapons and public crucifixions. Others have been thrown from rooftops, stoned to death, burned alive or decapitated. It is all packaged with Hollywood-quality production values and action-movie flourishes.

The latest video featured a dramatic rendering by the prisoner, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, recounting and acting out his own story in a drawn-out confession. He describes himself as former firefighter in Jerusalem, is shown acting out his Israeli intelligence recruitment, training, deployment and subsequent capture as audio of his confession plays in the background.

More at LAT, "Family of slain Palestinian mourns, denies Islamic State's spy charge."

Deadly Reality: Investigators Worry That Producers' Search for Thrills Could Be Undermining Safety

At LAT, "As deaths rise on reality TV, film sets, many blame need to get 'dramatic footage'":

Unscripted action adventure shows have become a staple of the entertainment industry, and the helicopter collision that claimed 10 lives this week on a set in Argentina underscored the risks in reality television.

Nearly one-third of all fatalities on film and TV shoots over the last five years have involved reality shows, according to a Los Angeles Times review of U.S. government data. There were 20 deaths related to motion picture and television production for the five years that ended in December 2014, double the number of fatalities during the previous five-year period.

The increase occurred as workplace fatalities in the private sector overall declined 4%, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles injury data from coroner's reports, workers' compensation claims and other sources.

Deaths have occurred on soundstages and location shoots, on big-budget Hollywood blockbusters as well as small independent productions, the records show.

But reality TV shows — especially ones that highlight danger — have added risks, industry safety experts say, because producers need dramatic footage to compete for viewers in an increasingly crowded field.

In this atmosphere, safety can take a back seat to ratings, said Angela Plasschaert, a Los Angeles-based risk management consultant who works with film producers and insurance companies to assess risks and develop safety programs.

"The attitude is, 'Do what you've got to do, but don't get in the way,'" she said of some of her clients.

The cause of Monday's crash in Argentina — the deadliest yet in connection with a reality TV show — is under investigation. It occurred when two helicopters collided in midair during the filming of the series "Dropped" for French TV, in which participants are abandoned in the wilderness and must find their way back to civilization.

Helicopters were also involved in two of the worst U.S. filming accidents in recent decades — a 2013 crash in Acton for a reality TV show that killed three people, and the 1982 "Twilight Zone: The Movie" crash near Santa Clarita that killed actor Vic Morrow and two children.

Safety investigators say Hollywood producers often fail to take proper precautions.

"It's truly remarkable to me that production companies can use ultra-advanced technology to make spectacular films but too often they won't spend the modest resources necessary to make sure their workers are not injured or killed on the job," said David Michaels, assistant secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration...

More.

University of Oklahoma Expels Students for Constitutionally Protected Speech

Yep.

The First Amendment protect your racist views.

At Instapundit, "F.I.R.E.: University of Oklahoma Expels Students for Constitutionally Protected Speech. 'The university’s actions also present serious due process concerns'."

And hey, it's microaggressions all the way on the University of Oklahoma. See LAT, "University of Oklahoma minorities say 'casual racism' permeates their lives":

Every black person on campus knows another black student who left because of that isolation and the casual racism that grows in its place.

"People ask you, 'Can you teach me to twerk?'" Kadira said.

Mirelsie Velazquez, a Latina professor in the university's College of Education, came to Norman in August. She said she's often the only person of color in classes or walking around town.

With the release of the video, Velazquez said she's able to put faces and voices to the feeling she gets as a person of color standing in front of a room of white faces.

"As we stand there teaching, not just at Oklahoma, and then you think about how these students behave in private time, you wonder how do they view me and my community?" Velazquez said.

"It's hard to enter spaces and now be constantly thinking about how you're thought of."

It's hard out there!

Rachel Maddow: Hillary Clinton Email Scandal is Just 'Real Nonsense'

The lying hack d-bag is all put out by the Hillary Clinton email scandal, national security be damned. To say nothing of honesty, integrity and basic human decency.

At American Glob, "Rachel Maddow Not Sure if Media Will Be Able to Treat Hillary Clinton Fairly."

Owners of the Orange County Register Resign

This newspaper's going down. I drive past on the way home every day, and I think about it.

At LAT, "O.C. Register owners quit: Aaron Kushner, Eric Spitz resign executive duties."

Lily Aldridge: Behind the Tanlines

Plus Chrissy Teigen and more:

It's Time for Liam Neeson to Find a New Type of Movie Role

I've been thinking the same thing myself.

From Kyle Smith, at the New York Post, "Why Liam Neeson needs to close up that can of whoop-ass":

Neeson’s work ethic is admirable, if not astonishing — more than 25 major film roles since 2000, and I’m not counting all the drive-bys, like his portrayal of Good Cop/Bad Cop in “The Lego Movie.” But just as his wise old mentor act (Zeus, Aslan, Qui-Gon Jinn) started to become a bore, so too did his shoot-’em-up thrillers.

Neeson's also a Second Amendment hypocrite, which especially bugs me.

The Iranian Regime Remains in Power Through Torture and Murder of Its Domestic Critics

From Douglas Feith, at WSJ, "The Fatal Flaw in Obama’s Dealings With Iran":

The Iranian regime is theocratic and revolutionary. It came to power in 1979 on a wave of extremist religious ideology and remains committed to exporting its revolution. Its leaders despise liberalism and democracy. They particularly hate Western respect for the rights of women and homosexuals. The regime remains in power through torture and murder of its domestic critics. It makes frequent use of public executions—the numbers have increased lately even though President Hasan Rouhani is commonly called a reformer.

Abroad, the Iranian regime acts as a rogue. Its agents and terrorist proxies have committed bombings and other murders in countries including France, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Iraq. A U.S. court convicted Iranian agents of plotting in 2011 to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. by bombing a Washington, D.C., restaurant. Iranian officials foment hatred of the U.S. and Israel and call for the annihilation of both.

Iranian leaders have a long record of shameless dishonesty. Their aid to the tyrannical Assad regime has been massive since the Syrian civil war began, but they routinely deny it. And they make a practice of lying to United Nations weapons inspectors. Commenting on how the inspectors have repeatedly been surprised by what Iran hides, Olli Heinonen, former deputy director-general of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, told this newspaper in 2013, “If there is no undeclared installation today . . . it will be the first time in 20 years that Iran doesn’t have one.”

Iran is a bad actor, and history teaches that constraining bad actors through arms control and peace accords is a losing bet. The arms-control approach is to invite bad actors to sign legal agreements. This produces signing ceremonies, where political leaders can act as if there’s nobody here but us peaceable, law-abiding global citizens. The deal makers get to celebrate their accords at least until the bad actors inevitably violate them.

Nazi Germany violated the Versailles Treaty. The Soviet Union violated the Biological Weapons Convention, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, various nuclear-arms treaties and other international agreements. The Palestine Liberation Organization violated the Oslo Accords. North Korea violated the Agreed Framework.

Patterns emerge from this history. When leaders of democratic countries extract promises of good behavior from bad-actor regimes, those democratic leaders reap political rewards. They are hailed as peacemakers. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was cheered when he returned from Munich in 1938 with “peace in our time.” These leaders have a stake in their deals looking good. When those deals are violated, the “peacemakers” often challenge the evidence. If the evidence is clear, they dismiss the violations as unimportant. When the importance is undeniable, they argue that there aren’t any good options for confronting the violators.

In the end, the bad actors often pay little or nothing for their transgressions. And even if the costs are substantial, they are bearable. Just ask Russia’s Vladimir Putin, or Syria’s Bashar Assad or North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

The Obama administration has wedded itself to a cooperative policy toward Iran. The White House rejects the coercive approach as not viable. But if Iran violates its deal with us, won’t our response have to be coercive? President Obama insists that his policy is the only realistic one. In doing so, he is showing either that he is naïve and uninformed about the relevant history or that he no longer considers an Iranian nuclear weapon “unacceptable.”

Working Class Americans Downbeat on Economy, Blame Obama

As I always say, the GOP has a huge opening on the economy.

At IBD, "Working Class Gives Up On Obama, Fears Job Losses":

In what could be a significant opening for the Republican Party, working-class Americans have largely abandoned President Obama and rejected his economic policies as they continue to suffer from the historically weak economic recovery, a new analysis of IBD/TIPP Poll data finds.

By wide margins, this group is more likely than any other income class to say the country is headed in the wrong direction, the economy is getting worse, and they fear losing their jobs.

Just 36% approve of the job that Obama is doing, compared with 43% overall, and vast majorities say his policies haven't helped the middle class.

Over the past two months, IBD has asked people to identify themselves as upper class, upper-middle class, middle class, working class or lower class.

The average income for self-described working class families was just over $50,700 a year, close to the national median household income. Those calling themselves middle class had an average income of $70,800, and the average for upper-middle class was close to $100,000...

More.

The Best Chromebook Money Can Buy

If you like Google Chrome, and you haven't yet tried a Chromebook, you'll perhaps find this of interest.

At TechCrunch, "Meet Google’s New Chromebook Pixel."

I'm sure it's nice, but honestly I don't like the new Chromebook keyboards, which I'm using on the new Acer Chromebook I bought in January. I especially dislike the lack of a CAPSLOCK key, which used to be on my previous Acer Chromebook. Don't know why anyone would remove that. It's surprising how often I click over there to use, only to find that it's gone.

Other than that, I recommend these machines quite enthusiastically.

Shop Amazon: Super Google Chromebook Pixel (4G LTE) Touch Screen 12.85" 2560x1700 3:2 LCD i5-3427U 4GB DDR3 64GB SSD 3.4lbs Ultraportable.

The Road from Westphalia

Jessica Mathews reviews Henry Kissinger, World Order, and Bret Stephens, America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Social Disorder, at the New York Review of Books.

Islamic State: Is It Islamic? And Why It Matters

Robert Spencer spoke last night in the O.C.: "ACT for America (Mission Viejo Chapter): Robert Spencer, Director of Jihad Watch."

He's always good, but this time around it was just him, without the usual additional panelists he's appeared with at previous events.

He signed copies of his latest book, Arab Winter Comes to America: The Truth About the War We're In.

A great book!

Check back for more blogging later.

Suge Knight Surveillance Video from Fatal Compton Hit-and-Run

At LAT, "Surveillance video shows deadly Suge Knight incident in Compton."

Watch, at CNN: "Video of Suge Knight's fatal hit-and-run released."

'There's a war going on between the executive and legislative branches...'

Heh. I guess Dems are all in a lather about the Republicans' warning to Iran.

See Byron York, "A war of Obama's making." (At Memeorandum.)

PREVIOUSLY: "GOP Senators Issue Warning on Iran Nuclear Deal."