Rule 5 Sunday

Well, enough Hillary blogging for now.

Here's some breastastic bazonga blogging, featuring Lissy Cunningham.



Now over at Gator Doug's, "THE DALEYBABE MELANIE RILEY."

More at Regular Right Guy, "Chelsea Clinton: ELLE: Rule 5."

And from Ms. EBL, "Airport Security Steals Alyssa Milano's Breast Milk."

At Knuckledraggin', "Titties."

Also at Odie's, "Old Barns ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

From AWD, "IF LOVING ALISON KRAUSS IS WRONG, AWD DOESN’T WANT TO BE RIGHT!"

From Dana Pico, "Rule 5 Blogging: If it ain’t rainin’, it ain’t trainin’!"

Also at the Last Tradition, "Rule 5 Sunday - Anais Pouliot."

And at Drunken Stepfather, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY."

At Egotastic!, "READER FINDS: Kelly Brook Purported Nekkid Selfie, Chloe Sevigny Topless, Charlotte McKinney Crazy Hot Funbags, and Much Much More…"

A View from the Beach, "Rule 5 Saturday - Some Hollywood Cheesecake with Alison Brie."

Proof Positive, "Friday Night Babe: Simone Holtznagel!"

Goodstuff's, "GOODSTUFFs BLOGGING MAGAZINE (185th Issue)."

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

And from the Hostages, "Big Boob Friday™."

Crazy Uncle Bubba has, "A little bit of Mother Nature."

PCP has, "Flowing Curves of Beauty."

Now, over at Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is a horrid and evil gas grill, you might just be a Warmist."

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

Until then...

Hillary Clinton's Announcement Video

Here it is, via the Clinton campaign page.

Also at WSJ, "Hillary Clinton Launches Campaign for President."

And Telegraph UK, "'It's official: Hillary's running for president' - campaign for 2016 Democrat nomination launched: live."

BFD, as they say in flyover country.



PREVIOUSLY: "So 1990s: Clinton Campaign Announces Hillary's 2016 Presidential Bid by Email."

So 1990s: Clinton Campaign Announces Hillary's 2016 Presidential Bid by Email

I think I'll die of boredom.

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Second shot: Hillary Clinton running again for president."

It's official: Hillary's running for president http://t.co/MAiPzSvrgg #HillarysBigAnnouncement #Hillary2016 pic.twitter.com/rzAmaEz6l7

— SFGate (@SFGate) April 12, 2015

And at the Washington Post, "Hillary Clinton launches presidential bid."

The New York Times Accuses Republicans of 'Racist Insurrection' Against Obama

Seriously.

The race card's pretty much been played out by this point, but then, that's all leftists have left these days. Pathetic.

At the New York Times, "A New Phase in Anti-Obama Attacks."

And at Gateway Pundit, "NY Times Accuses GOP of Racist ‘Insurrection’ Against Obama" (via Memeorandum).

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



More at U.S. Freedom Army, "Another liberal who ignores laws she doesn't like," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Lonely Con, "Speaking of Media Bias…"

Still more at Theo's, "Hillary: Please STFU and go way...", and Maggie's Farm, "Work Sucks! Tax the One Percent!"

Cartoon Credit: A.F. Branco.

'Media Matters would clearly prefer that Clinton be coronated as the Democratic nominee in “historic” fashion, given its ties to Clinton fanboy and perennial drama queen David Brock, who gets paid a lot of money to professionally adore Hillary Clinton...'

Well, about that uncontested Democrat primary in 2016.

Heh.

At Free Beacon, "Media Matters: Contested Primary Would Be Bad for Hillary." (Via Instapundit.)

Top 20% of Earners Pay 84% of Income Tax

Well, my wife and I paid our fair share. Thankfully we got a nice tax return this year. We're in the top 20 percent as well, although that's not as impressive as it sounds.

At WSJ, "And the bottom 20%? They get paid by Uncle Sam. We compare tax burdens as Tax Day approaches."

The Earned Income Tax Credit is the main reason folks at the bottom quintile get paid by Uncle Sam.

New Hurdles for Hillary Clinton in 2016

There's talk that former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley will enter the Democrat primaries against Hillary Clinton. It's a good thing too. It's going to be pretty strange if Clinton runs unchallenged next year. She'd essentially be running for the nomination like an incumbent president, although it remains to be seen if she'll be able to generate a commensurate level of enthusiasm.

In any case, more on the story at the Los Angeles Times, "Hillary Clinton will be a commanding front-runner facing high expectations":

Hillary Rodham Clinton will enter the 2016 Democratic presidential race — finally, officially — as the most commanding front-runner in generations. Yet her path to the White House will not be easy, much less assured.

For every advantage she carries an offsetting burden, along with the weight of exceedingly high expectations.

Clinton is beloved and widely admired. She is also loathed and widely criticized.

She boasts an unprecedented resume — former first lady, New York senator, secretary of State — and enjoys universal name recognition after more than two decades of near-constant presence on the national stage. That familiarity, however, will make it exceedingly difficult for Clinton to present herself as someone fresh and different — qualities voters often crave, especially at the tail end of a two-term presidency.

After more than a year of speculation and anticipation, Clinton is expected to formally launch her campaign Sunday with a video announcement, followed by a trip to Iowa, which is set to begin the presidential balloting next winter.

She's loathed alright.

At the New York Post, for example. And be sure to click through for the brutal excoriation from Michael Goodwin.

Hillary Clinton’s presidential plan is growing stale http://t.co/K70Om6cWVi pic.twitter.com/3KP1g8jJOF

— New York Post (@nypost) April 12, 2015

Proxy War in Yemen: Saudi Arabia and Iran Vie for Regional Supremacy

At Der Spiegel, "Saudia Arabia and Iran Fighting Proxy War in Yemen":

A Saudi Arabia-led coalition continues to bombard Yemen in an effort to stop the advance of an Iran-backed Shiite militia there. The conflict is becoming a proxy war for regional supremacy. The risks to the House of Saud are great.

On recent evenings, as Western foreign ministers negotiated fervently with the Iranian leadership in Lausanne, Switzerland, two young women in the Yemeni capital of Saana spent their time gazing fearfully into the darkening night sky. Nina Aqlan, a well-known civil rights activist, and her friend Ranim were on the lookout for Saudi Arabian fighter jets. Ranim was staying with Aqlan because her own apartment stands next to the headquarters of the Political Security Organization, Yemen's domestic intelligence agency. The building is considered a potential target for the Saudis and their allies.

"In the beginning, we thought they might bomb us for one or two nights. But it keeps getting worse!" says Ranim. In the background, the thump of the anti-aircraft batteries can be heard, occasionally interrupted by the thundering explosions of bomb detonations. Sometimes, the attacks last from early evening to midnight, they say over a Skype connection that repeatedly crashes. At other times, the bombing begins later and only ends at dawn.
The nightly strikes come as a Saudi Arabia-led, largely Sunni coalition consisting of nine countries seeks to push back Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. Coalition jets have struck military bases and intelligence agency headquarters, but also a cement factory, a dairy and a refugee camp. By Thursday, the death toll from the bombings, which began one week ago, had risen to over 90. "What kind of war is this?" Aqlan asks angrily. "Why is it being fought?"

There isn't a direct connection between the hostilities and the surprisingly comprehensive deal reached between the West and Iran on the country's nuclear program on Thursday night. But aside from Israel, no country views the pact with as much skepticism as Saudi Arabia. Indeed, following similar developments in Syria and Iraq, the conflict in Yemen is increasingly looking like a proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran. The two capitals are blatantly wrestling over supremacy in the region. Either Saudi Arabia, the traditional Western ally that is watching nervously as the United States slowly pulls back. Or Iran, which has been expanding its power in the region of late and which has just taken an historic step toward rapprochement with the US and its allies.

Keep reading.

Britain's Trident Nuclear Deterrent Explained

A big political debate on Britain's nuclear deterrence, at Telegraph UK, "General Election 2015: How each party compares on Trident":

Britain's nuclear deterrent system, Trident, comes up for renewal next year. Parties are at odds over whether to carry on with four Vanguard-class submarines, which have been patrolling the seas since 1984.

With rising diplomatic tensions between Russia and the West and the rise of Islamic State, the world stage remains remarkably tense. The Conservatives have now warned that Labour would leave the country "open to nuclear blackmail by rogue states" because Ed Miliband is “so desperate for power” he is willing to “barter Britain's national security". So, where do the parties stand on Trident?

Keep reading.

Plus video, "What is Trident? Britain's nuclear deterrent explained."

Dana Loesch on the Cover of Guns & Ammo

Dana mentioned the Guns & Ammo cover earlier this week, "An Announcement Ahead of NRAAM."

She's only the second woman to be featured on the cover. Back in 1961 (the year I was born), Officer Jeanne E. Bray was featured. I'd say 54 years is much too long between women's covers.

Also at Twitchy, "Dana Loesch unveiled as first woman on cover of ‘Guns & Ammo’ since 1961."

And buy Dana's book, Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America.

Steely Dan Didn't Even Bother to Engage Coachella's Younger Audience

Indeed, the band was practically trolling the young whippersnappers with "Reelin' in the Years."

At LAT, "Coachella 2015: Who exactly was Steely Dan trying to reel in?"

PREVIOUSLY: "AC/DC to Let Loose on Whole New Generation."

Drunk Crazy Woman Runs Across I-15 in High Heels as Bystanders Scream 'You're Going to Get Killed!'

Her car stalled on Interstate 15 in San Diego. Cars come barreling down the freeway as bystanders try to warn of the danger. A couple of near misses as cars swerve to avoid slowing traffic.

I don't think people realize who dangerous that is. And even more so when you're drunk, like this lady who just walks in and out of the road like she's at the supermarket.

At ABC 10 San Diego, "Drunken woman wanders onto I-15 freeway," and "WATCH: Drunken woman wanders onto I-15 freeway."

More at ABC 7 San Francisco, including shots of the woman getting arrested, "CAUGHT ON CAMERA: WOMAN STUMBLES ACROSS SAN DIEGO HIGHWAY."

Emma Kuziara (Emma K) for Zoo Today

Watch, "Emma K is sexier than ever in here amazing strip shoot!"

And on Instagram, "If you haven't already, go grab @zoo_today now to see my NEW shoot!"

Islamic State Murders Egyptian Soldier and Another Captive

I don't consider these "executions." An execution implies the victim is a criminal suspect, charged by a court of law, and tried according to some basic principles of due process. That's obviously not the case with the murders by Islamic State.

At the Jerusalem Post, "ISIS affiliate in Sinai claims execution of Egyptian solider, beheading of captive."

And watch, at Bare Naked Islam, "Islamic State (ISIS) in Sinai Peninsula executes Egyptian soldier and beheads a civilian in latest video."

Angry Lion Photo Taken Just Before He Attacked

Just spectacular. And totally amazing.

Remind me not to get in the gun sights of an angry lion!

At London's Daily Mail, "Let us prey: Fearless photographer captures image of hungry lion moments before the jungle king prepares to pounce."

Photographer gets attacked by a lion while taking these photos. Worth it. http://t.co/705PnhWMyb pic.twitter.com/bb3qQijDMe

— Melissa Keizer (@KeizGoesBoom) April 11, 2015

Pastor at #WalterScott Funeral Launches Scathing Attack on 'Racist' South Carolina Officer Michael Slager

Well, I must say, it didn't look good. Almost no one is standing up to defend Officer Slager, not insignificantly fellow police officers.

At London's Daily Mail, "'Walter Scott's death was motivated by racial discrimination': Pastor at funeral of unarmed black man shot in the back five times launches scathing attack on South Carolina cop who killed him."

Gwyneth Paltrow Pledges to Live on $29 Food Stamp Budget for One Week

I like Gwyneth. She's my favorite loopy lefist, heh.

At London's Daily Mail, "Gwyneth Paltrow vows to live on just $29 worth of food for a week as part of a charity challenge - but is already under fire from critics for her 1,000 calorie-per-day menu."

And at Twitchy:

'Grandstanding limousine liberal’: Gwyneth Paltrow vows to live on SNAP budget http://t.co/KRhbTLX7Fv

— TwitchyTeam (@TwitchyTeam) April 11, 2015

Another Reminder That the #BlackLivesMatter Movement is Actually a Revolutionary Communist Program

Marylin Zuniga, the Philadelphia teacher who had her students write "get well cards" to Mumia Abu-Jamal, tweeted a shout out to "comrade" Johanna Fernandez, who is a Professor of History at Baruch College.

Professor Fernandez is the coordinator for Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal, an organization that proclaims a "revolutionary practice" in solidarity with political prisoners.

And according to the professor, in an essay at the Huffington Post:

The Fraternal Order of Police [of Philadelphia] knows that there is danger in the widespread discovery of Mumia by today's powerful generation of young black and brown activists. Indeed, their serious engagement with the political analysis, challenges, and lessons of struggle waged by black radicals last time -- a significant number of whom are political prisoners today -- would be a beautifully dangerous thing. It would catapult the Black Lives Matter movement, and our nation, closer to revolution. And for the leading black prophetic voice of our time, that would mean freedom, indeed.

So, again, we have it from radical activists at the roots of the movement: #BlackLivesMatter is about fomenting the communist revolution, the overthrow of the capitalist system in the U.S.

I've reported this fact numerous times, for example, "The Revolutionary Communist Roots of #BlackLivesMatter."

Deranged Leftist Commits Suicide on Capitol Hill: 'Tax the One Percent!'

Well, this time it was a suicide. Next time it will be murder. That's where we're heading with the far-left's murderous collectivist ideological agitation.

At the Right Scoop, "BREAKING! Man commits suicide on U.S. Capitol lawn, had ‘Tax the One Percent’ sign."

And at CNN, "Shooting at U.S. Capitol was a suicide, police say."

Reports - Man holding a sign "Tax the one %" kills himself in front of the Capitol. Building is on lockdown. Our stringer is on his way
— Ruptly Newsroom (@RuptlyNewsroom) April 11, 2015

The Obama Administration Sows Injustice in Campus Rape Cases

First read the Other McCain, "A Coven of Liars: Sabrina Rubin Erdley, Emily Renda and Catherine Lhamon."

Catherine Lhamon is the Obama administration's Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education.

She defends the lower burden of proof in campus rape cases at the Wall Street Journal, "In Campus Rape Tribunals, Some Men See Injustice."

The Rolling Stone rape hoax was simply a product of the Obama administration's ideological and tyrannical rape culture hysteria and agenda. It's pretty despicable. Lives are being ruined. This is what the left does.

UPDATE: Linked at Instapundit. Thanks!

New Wall Street Tycoon Backs Ted Cruz

Well, that oughta shake up the race a bit. Money is the mother milk of politics, as they say.

It's a new era these days, with super-pacs and all.

At the New York Times, "Hedge-Fund Magnate Robert Mercer Emerges as a Generous Backer of Cruz."

GOP to Hammer Hillary Clinton with Web Ads Starting Sunday

At the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Republicans will launch anti-Hillary Clinton ads on Sunday as she makes her candidacy official."

And watch, "Stop Hillary."

Marie Harf Facebook Feud With Her Mom's Friend Over Daily Caller Article

At Truth Revolt.

Hillary Clinton’s Campaign and the Coming Culture Wars

From Peter Wehner, at Commentary:

As the Clinton campaign is about to begin, then, here’s a prediction: She, her team, and her party will obsess on cultural issues and attempt to divide the nation around them to a degree we have never quite seen before. She’ll do this both because she is a liberal woman and because she has very little to say on economic and foreign policy matters. Mrs. Clinton will go into this election believing the “culture wars” to be the best and safest political ground for her. She will portray Republicans as engaged in a “war on women” in such a way that past efforts will look like a walk in the park. The distortions, mob mentality, and smear campaign that characterized the reaction of the left to the Indiana version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (the federal version of which Bill Clinton signed into law) will be amplified by a factor of a hundred. If Hillary Clinton could talk about contraception, abortion, evolution, same sex marriage, and equal pay for equal work every day between now and November 2016, she would.

'Unfriended'

I should see this.

I've been studying technology, social media, and youth culture --- to get a better handle on the generation of kids I teach.

More on that later.

This flick looks trippy.

At NYT, "In ‘Unfriended,’ Horror Unfolds on a Desktop Screen":

A Google search or an iMessage may seem an unlikely source of dramatic tension for a movie. But the new horror thriller “Unfriended,” opening April 17, takes these routine actions in our daily digital lives and turns them into moments of fear and dread. It’s one in a recent spate of horror movies playing out on computer screens that might be likened to the found-footage horror genre that “The Blair Witch Project” started in 1999. But now the frights rely on an active Skype account and a strong Wi-Fi signal.

While dramas like “Disconnect” (2013) and “Men, Women & Children” (2014) have grappled with how technology is changing our lives (and how those changes can be portrayed on a big screen), it may be the horror genre that best examines the intimate and unsettling nature of technology and how we construct our online selves.

“We don’t think about it that much, but our computers and our digital lives are full of secrets,” Nelson Greaves, the writer of “Unfriended,” said by phone from Los Angeles. “You type in a password to get onto the computer. You type in another password to get onto your email. Because of those passwords, we feel like these are safe spaces. And so we behave in these spaces ways that we don’t anywhere else.”

“Unfriended” takes place in real time on the desktop of a teenage girl, Blaire (Shelley Hennig). Her screen becomes the audience’s movie screen. We see her searches, her iMessage chats with her boyfriend, her group Skype session with friends and the mysterious Facebook messages she begins to receive from the account of a girl who had committed suicide a year earlier, after a humiliating video of her was anonymously posted and circulated online. It’s a story of cyberbullying and cyberstalking in which cruel online actions of the past can come back to haunt the characters.

“I’m a very shy person and try to live my own little life,” the film’s director, Levan Gabriadze, said in a phone interview. “But with the Internet, suddenly everybody becomes public and everybody is under the spotlight. Every mistake you make is documented and stays there. It really is a tough space to be, because the Internet doesn’t forget.”

One of the producers, Timur Bekmambetov (“Night Watch,” “Wanted”), harbored the idea of making a movie on a computer screen for more than a decade. He said he thought a movie set on a desktop was a fresh way of getting at a character’s internal thoughts.

Sounds amazingly realistic.

More.

New Jersey Teacher Suspended After Class Sends 'Get Well Cards' to Cop Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal

*SMH*

At CBS News New York, "N.J. Teacher Suspended For Having Students Write To Convicted Cop Killer."

Also, at Newark's Star-Ledger, "N.J. teacher suspended over third-graders' 'get well' letters to convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal." And at Philly Mag, "Philly Students Send Get-Well Cards to Mumia Abu-Jamal."

AC/DC to Let Loose on Whole New Generation

AC/DC's headlining Coachella tonight and next Friday. My son's going next weekend, but he won't catch AC/DC's performance, the idiot lol.

Maybe some of the other young whippersnappers there will.

At LAT, "Brian Johnson, AC/DC all set to shake the Coachella kids up":

After 40 years of hard-rock superstardom, there aren't many things AC/DC has yet to try.

Headlining the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, as the veteran Australian band will do when the annual blowout kicks off Friday in Indio, is one of them.

But if Brian Johnson was nervous about performing at a festival known for its adventurous talent and youthful crowd, the 67-year-old singer didn't show it this week at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills — perhaps because he'd just received some reassuring words from Paul McCartney, who played Coachella in 2009.

"I ran into him downstairs this morning," Johnson said Tuesday over tea with his band mates Angus Young and Cliff Williams. "He goes, 'Brian, you get on that stage and I'm telling you, you see all these kids looking for the hip-hop acts. Then they see you, and they're like, 'Who's he? Oh, yeah — me dad talks of him.' " Johnson laughed in his raspy growl. "But he said it's great because you're doing your thing, and eventually all the kids go, 'He's cool, this dude!'

"It kind of takes you right back to the start, when you had to win over an audience," the singer added. "I'm excited."

As it happens, the crowd won't be the only X factor for AC/DC at Coachella, which after its run this weekend at the Empire Polo Club is set to repeat April 17-19. The band's Friday night set — the opening date of a world tour scheduled through fall — will also feature two additions to the band in guitarist Stevie Young (Angus' nephew) and drummer Chris Slade.

Or new-ish additions, let's call them. Both men have played in AC/DC before, Young in the late '80s and Slade in the early '90s. But now both appear to have permanent gigs following a tumultuous 2014 in which founding guitarist Malcolm Young, Angus' older brother, was forced to leave the group as a result of dementia and longtime drummer Phil Rudd lost his spot after he was arrested in New Zealand on charges of drug possession and threatening to kill. (An additional murder-for-hire charge was dropped due to insufficient evidence.)

The dramatic events — which came just as AC/DC was preparing to release its latest album, November's typically solid "Rock or Bust" — rattled the band, said Angus Young, who called the experience a "roller coaster."

Yet AC/DC has weathered turmoil before, most famously when its original lead singer, Bon Scott, died of alcohol poisoning in 1980. Months later, the group recruited Johnson and put out "Back in Black," still its biggest album ever. Moving past these latest troubles was never in question, Johnson said.

"You pick yourself up, dust yourself down and just keep going," said the frontman, instantly recognizable in his trademark black T-shirt and flat cap. "You live on, and you have a wonderful memory of them always with you, but you're not going to stop doing what you do. Otherwise, you die inside, you know? And we would die — I would, if I didn't do what I was doing. There'd be nothing." He paused as though suddenly aware of how serious he sounded. Then he laughed.

"I'd just be another guy looking for a hobby."

More.

Here's That Dove Video in Which Women Choose if They're 'Beautiful' or 'Average'

Everyone's beautiful.

Beauty's skin deep, blah blah.

Not sure why anyone at Dove thought this was a good idea.

At Ad Week, "Dove's Latest Film Makes Women Choose If They Are 'Beautiful' or 'Average': But is the concept overly simplified?"

And watch: "Dove Choose Beautiful | Women all over the world make a choice."

Hat Tip: Memeorandum.

Bloomberg Falls for Fake Nancy Reagan Hillary Clinton Endorsement

You can read the cached version here, "Nancy Reagan Gives Her Endorsement to ... Hillary Clinton."

And at Memeorandum, "RETRACTED: Nancy Reagan Gives Her Endorsement to ... Hillary Clinton?"

The piece is completely pulled.

More at Politico, "Bloomberg falls for fake Nancy Reagan report."

Clothing Optional, Lipstick Required: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for Violet Grey

She's lovely:

Here: "The British supermodel opens up about her beauty habits, career ambitions and going nude for art."

John Thomas Booker, Jr. — Islamic State Wannabe — Charged in Kansas Military Bomb Plot

At USA Today, "Feds charge Kansas man with Fort Riley bomb plot."

If Barack Obama had a son he'd look like ISIS terrorist John Thomas Booker. #FortRiley #tcot #usmc #oathkeepers #p2 pic.twitter.com/42HjXLOJ3n

— BARACKOLYPSE OBOLA (@CzarofFreedom) April 10, 2015

Gunnery Sgt. Brian Jacklin Awarded the Navy Cross

At the O.C. Register, "Valor is 'what these Marines are all about,' officer says of those who earned Navy Cross, Bronze Star":

CAMP PENDLETON – Gunnery Sgt. Brian Jacklin still remembers being vastly outnumbered and surrounded by the enemy in a small village in the volatile Helmand Province of western Afghanistan.

He and his team of nine special operations Marines had taken heavy fire for hours from outside a compound. His captain and a sergeant had been hit and were bleeding out. Jacklin saw blowing out the wall as the only way to evacuate his wounded comrades and get his team to a landing zone and an arriving copter.

“I asked the guys, ‘Does anyone have a problem with blowing out the wall to get out of here?’” Jacklin recalled. “They all said ‘I’m in, just do it.’ There was no hesitation when I gave the order. I told them, ‘If you get hit on your way out just keep going and we’ll figure it out afterward.’”

After the wounded and his team were evacuated, Jacklin stayed behind providing intelligence and personal fire to the assisting SEAL Team 3 and local Afghan forces.

Jacklin, 32, a critical skills operator with 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, on Thursday was awarded the Navy Cross – the nation’s second-highest award for valor.

“With his decisive actions, bold initiative and complete dedication to duty, Jacklin reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service,” his citation reads.

He was decorated by Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman, commander of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, during a ceremony at Camp Pendleton. Jacklin received his medal for heroic actions during a 48-hour standoff with the enemy while he was part of a team conducting village stability operations in Afghanistan’s volatile Upper Gereshk Valley in June 2012.

During the ceremony, five of Jacklin’s team members – all critical skill operators – also were honored with the Bronze Star with combat “V” device for their role in the battle. They included Gunnery Sgt. William Simpson IV, Staff Sgt. Christopher Buckminster, Staff Sgt. Hafeez Hussein, Sgt. William Hall and Sgt. David Harris.

“These six extraordinary Marines are being recognized for their gallantry and valor,” Osterman said. “It always takes a team to make it work. This epitomizes the team concept and what these Marines are all about.”

Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez Hits Three Home Runs Against Padres

Sweet.

At LAT, "Adrian Gonzalez is riding a home-run wave as Dodgers head to Arizona," and "Believe it or not: Adrian Gonzalez says he's no home run hitter."

Hillary Clinton to Declare Sunday

The epic anticlimax.

At the Guardian UK, "Exclusive: Hillary Clinton to launch 2016 campaign on Sunday en route to Iowa" (at Memeorandum).

Charles Krauthammer — Iranian Nuclear Talks: Anatomy of a Disaster

At the Washington Post, "The Iran deal: Anatomy of a disaster":

“Negotiations . . . to prevent an Iranian capability to develop a nuclear arsenal are ending with an agreement that concedes this very capability . . . ”

— Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, the Wall Street Journal, April 8

It was but a year and a half ago that Barack Obama endorsed the objective of abolition when he said that Iran’s heavily fortified Fordow nuclear facility, its plutonium-producing heavy-water reactor and its advanced centrifuges were all unnecessary for a civilian nuclear program. The logic was clear: Since Iran was claiming to be pursuing an exclusively civilian program, these would have to go.

Yet under the deal Obama is now trying to sell, not one of these is to be dismantled. Indeed, Iran’s entire nuclear infrastructure is kept intact, just frozen or repurposed for the length of the deal (about a decade). Thus Fordow’s centrifuges will keep spinning. They will now be fed xenon, zinc and germanium instead of uranium. But that means they remain ready at any time to revert from the world’s most heavily (indeed comically) fortified medical isotope facility to a bomb-making factory.

And upon the expiration of the deal, conceded Obama Monday on NPR, Iran’s breakout time to a nuclear bomb will be “almost down to zero,” i.e., it will be able to produce nuclear weapons at will and without delay.

And then there’s cheating. Not to worry, says Obama. We have guarantees of compliance: “unprecedented inspections” and “snapback” sanctions.

The inspection promises are a farce. We haven’t even held the Iranians to their current obligation to come clean with the International Atomic Energy Agency on their previous nuclear activities. The IAEA charges Iran with stonewalling on 11 of 12 issues.

As veteran nuclear expert David Albright points out, that makes future verification impossible — how can you determine what’s been illegally changed or added if you have no baseline? Worse, there’s been no mention of the only verification regime with real teeth — at-will, unannounced visits to any facility, declared or undeclared. The joint European-Iranian statement spoke only of “enhanced access through agreed procedures,” which doesn’t remotely suggest anywhere/anytime inspections. And on Thursday, Iran’s supreme leader ruled out any “extraordinary supervision measures.”

The IAEA hasn’t been allowed to see the Parchin weaponization facility in 10 years. And the massive Fordow complex was disclosed not by the IAEA but by Iranian dissidents...

Keep reading.

Let's be honest: The frantic administration push for an Iran deal hasn't been about arms control or nuclear non-proliferation. It's been about Obama's legacy. And nothing --- not even the security of the free world --- will be allowed to stand in the way of that.

Universities Failing Students in Every Respect

From VDH, at National Review, "The Modern University Is Failing Students in Every Respect":

A bachelor’s degree is no longer proof that any graduate can read critically or write effectively. National college-entrance-test scores have generally declined the last few years, and grading standards have as well.

Too often, universities emulate greenhouses where fragile adults are coddled as if they were hothouse orchids. Hypersensitive students are warned about “micro-aggressions” that in the real world would be imperceptible.

Apprehensive professors are sometimes supposed to offer “trigger warnings” that assume students are delicate Victorians who cannot handle landmark authors such as Joseph Conrad or Mark Twain.

“Safe spaces” are designated areas where traumatized students can be shielded from supposedly hurtful or unwelcome language that should not exist in a just and fair world...

More.

Laptop of the Future

This is pretty good.

I'm on a cheap Acer Chromebook, which is all I need. I do word processing on my son's MacBook or at the office on my dinosaur Dell PC.

But the new MacBook is wicked. Get the kinks worked out and you'll be in laptop heaven.

From Joanna Stern, at WSJ, "Apple MacBook Review: The Laptop of the Future Isn’t Ready for the Present."

Be sure to watch the video as well. She's funny.

Technology and Social Media Trends Among American Teenagers

An extremely interesting survey from Pew Research, "Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015."

And see especially this part, "Mobile Access Shifts Social Media Use and Other Online Activities."

Also at WaPo, "Teens aren’t fleeing Facebook as quickly as we thought."

Authorities Release Dash Cam Video of Moments Before Fatal Shooting of Walter Scott

At WIS-TV Columbia, S.C. (via Memeorandum), "Authorities release dash cam footage from Michael Slager's patrol car before fatal shooting."

He ran. Walter Scott ran from the scene of his traffic stop. It doesn't justify being shot in the back, but it does raise the question that if Scott would have just cooperated with Officer Slager, he almost certainly would still be alive.

Watch at CNN:



ADDED: "Witness: Cop and Walter Scott struggled on ground."

The Reservoir Is Nearly Empty

Yeah, Jerry Brown's cranial reservoir. The idiot.

Yup, we are living the "California Dream" here... Ramirez' new cartoon explains it ... pic.twitter.com/E5TWUcJg2f
— Mark Larson (@marklarsonradio) April 9, 2015

Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America

I love the title of Dick and Liz Cheney's forthcoming book, being published by Threshold Editions.

Here's the press release, "THRESHOLD EDITIONS TO PUBLISH NEW BOOK BY FORMER VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY AND LIZ CHENEY."

And at Amazon, Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America.

Heh, the epic title of a neocon manifesto. Leftist heads are going to explode.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the Death Penalty

I expressed my opinion on this earlier. It really doesn't matter to me what happens to Tsarnaev, although if there's a good candidate for capital punishment, it's him.

But see the Boston Globe editorial, "Spare Dzhokhar Tsarnaev the death penalty."

Also, from Kevin Cullen, "Are we going to kill Dzhokhar Tsarnaev or not?"

The Inconvenient Truth About the California Drought

I've been over this: Sure, California is experiencing record shortfalls of rain. However, the state's environmental policies have extremely exacerbated the situation, to the point where many analysts consider this a man-made crisis.

The problem, of course, is that the Democrats got us into this mess and they've got no clue about how to get us out. Thus, mass suffering among the populace, especially among minorities and the poor.

At iOWNTHEWORLD Report, "The most important question might be the one that is not being asked: WHY is there a water shortage?"



Image Credit: The People's Cube.

Lester Holt Interview with Feidin Santana, Bystander Who Recorded Shooting of Walter Scott (VIDEO)

The shooting death of Mr. Scott is an abomination, but the larger media coverage --- and the availability of eyewitness video --- is a very good thing. It's going to set a high bar for the radical #BlackLivesMatter movement. If you claim police brutality, you're going to have near incontrovertible evidence.

At NBC News (via Memeorandum), "Feidin Santana, Who Recorded Police Shooting 0f Walter Scott, Speaks Out."




Also, "Bystander Considered Erasing Footage of Cop Shooting."

Wounded Dude Gets Dragged to Safety During Yemen Fighting (VIDEO)

Can't say this looks like fun.

Watch, via Reuters, "Wounded, under fire, dragged to safety, in embattled Yemen."

Also, at the Los Angeles Times, "Yemen rebels advance near key gas terminal; capital hit by new strikes":

The conflict in Yemen, already the Arab world’s poorest country, has triggered a humanitarian disaster, with food, water, medical supplies and electricity running short in many areas. Civilian casualties are mounting; at least 643 civilians have been killed and more than 2,200 wounded, according to the United Nations.

The Saudi-led airstrikes have so far failed to dislodge the Houthis from Aden, the southern port city that is Yemen’s main commercial hub. Fierce street-to-street fighting, some of it with heavy weapons such as field artillery, continued Thursday in central districts, with explosions reverberating across the city.

More at al-Jazeera, "Intense fighting reported in Yemen's Aden."

Sofía Vergara for Vanity Fair May 2015

See, "Sofía Vergara Poses for Annie Leibovitz on the May 2015 Cover."

Hat Tip: L.A. Times, "Sofia Vergara confirms what we've suspected all along: They're huge."

A Verdict in Boston — #Tsarnaev

At the Wall Street Journal, "In sentencing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, remember the Richards family":

As terrorist attacks go, the Boston Marathon bombing was not especially major: In scale, it barely compares to last week’s massacre of Christians at a university in Kenya or December’s school massacre in Peshawar. But that’s all the more reason to take terrorism more seriously than we often do today. We remain a nation living under the shadow of a threat that even the Marathon bombings, with all their carnage, only faintly made visible.

We hope the Boston jurors bear that in mind as they deliberate on a sentence that will be a statement of justice—and of resolve.

Death penalty or no death penalty? That is the question. The editors don't say, but is there anyone more worthy? I'm not the biggest fan of capital punishment, but this guy Tsarnaev's a poster boy if there ever was one.

'Do not be deceived. People who are willing to lie about rape will lie about anything...'

From Robert Stacy McCain, "Why Facts Matter."

Suspected Drug Tunnel Discovered Near Tijuana Airport

Pretty amazing, especially the audacity of it.

At ABC News 10 San Diego, "Border tunnel discovered near Tijuana airport."

Kill Obama's Iran Deal

From William Kristol, at the Weekly Standard, "Special Editorial: Kill the Deal":

Commentators have exposed how bad the Iran deal is in various ways; the point, however, is to kill it.

Why? Because the deal can't be fixed. Even if sanctions relief were somewhat more gradual, even if the number of centrifuges were somewhat lower, even if the inspections regime were somewhat more robust—the basic facts would remain: Iran gets to keep its nuclear infrastructure, including the most sensitive parts of it. The sanctions come off. And the inspectors can be kicked out. So Iran, a state-sponsor of terror, an enemy of the United States, an aggressive jihadist power, a regime dedicated to the destruction of Israel, will become a threshold nuclear weapons state...

Keep reading.

Mother Who Gave Birth to Her Own Brother and Sister

Pretty strange.

Very strange, in fact.

At London's Daily Mail, "Mother who gave birth to her own brother and sister: An extraordinary story raising profound questions about surrogacy and the future of the family."

Russian Company Sells Advertising Space on Women's Breasts

Heh.

The Russians got game.

At the People's Cube, "Marketing Genius in Russia: Mammary Space Available."

Be sure to scroll down to the "Many-Titted Empress Comrade Hillary," lol.

What does 'feminist' even mean at this point?

From Katherine Timpf, at National Review.

The Left is now linking fracking with feminism. True story: http://t.co/L2FoW7eBxH pic.twitter.com/9eNEi3mEON

— National Review (@NRO) April 9, 2015

University of Virginia Fraternity Phi Kappa Psi to Sue Rolling Stone

Following up from earlier, "UVA's Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity Will Slap Rolling Stone With 'all available legal action...'"

Law Professor Jonathan Turley is interviewed at this segment from CBS This Morning:

Let Them Bake Cake

From Mark Steyn:

Denver's Azucar Bakery Wins Right to Refuse to Make Anti-Gay Cakes.

So in the age of flour power the state can compel you to make certain kinds of cakes but relieve you of the obligation to make certain other kinds of cakes. In our brave new gâteaupia, it will all eventually wind up at the Supreme Court, at which America's Masterchef Anthony Kennedy will decide precisely which half-baked state-mandated menu items on the cake stand of American liberty are constitutional and which are not.

And, if a few Indiana pizzerias have to be put out of business along the way, well, as the Commies used to say, you can't make a gay wedding cake without breaking a few eggs...

Keep reading.

The Trouble with Black Power Revisionism

A great historical review of black power militancy, from Randall Kennedy, at the Boston Review, "Protesting Too Much."

Few, If Any, Consequences for Those Perpetuating Rape Hoaxes

Yeah, and no consequences especially for the "rape culture" mastermind, Professor Caroline Heldman.

See Ashe Schow, at the Washington Examiner, "Few, if any, consequences for those involved in perpetuating rape hoaxes."

Because the #WalterScott Shooting Is Totes Like #MichaelBrown and #Ferguson

Totes.

@StCyrlyMe2 @allinwithchris NO CPR ..similarities in pics..no remorse ,,don't try 2 save them #WalterScott #MikeBrown pic.twitter.com/Dwzf9MvCq1

— Nancy Mitchell (@NancyWonderful) April 9, 2015

How Charlotte McKinney Maintains Her Bombshell Figure

All natural.

At People, "DWTS Cast-Off Charlotte McKinney: What I Eat in a Day."



BONUS: At Puff Ho, "Charlotte McKinney Channels Kate Upton In New Topless Shoot."

One Big Ass Mistake America!

I love this!

I Saw This Guy On The Road & Asked Him 2 Pullover!! #tcot #ccot #pjnet @TrucksHorsesDog @Stonewall_77 @LodiSilverado pic.twitter.com/sd7BPw81G3

— DR. TWEET, Ph.D. (@Callisto1947) April 9, 2015

Bob Schieffer to Retire

He's a lefty, but an old fashioned guy that I admire a lot.

At CBS, "'Face the Nation' host Bob Schieffer to retire this summer."

Sad to see CBSNEWS Bob Schieffer step aside. One of the very few grownups left... pic.twitter.com/ISGEDFsGkV
— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) April 9, 2015

More, "Bob and Pat Schieffer minutes after announcing his retirement at #TCU."

Teachers Sue to Join Union Without Paying for Political Activities

That sounds pretty awesome to me. Frankly, I wouldn't quit my union as it stands. The tenure guarantees and legal resources protect me against the crazed leftists who do not tolerate dissenting views. They hate me on campus, a fact that I relish every chance I get. I love to spout my conservatives views in their faces at every opportunity. Leftists can't stand fact-based analysis and genuine reality based thinking. Just smiling at these people while passing in the hallways, as they avoid my gaze, makes my day.

Leftist wear their ideological hatred on their sleeves. I wear my glee with a smile like a happy warrior in their faces.

In any case, we'll see where this goes, at LAT:

An advocacy group has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop teachers unions in California from using member dues for political purposes unless individual instructors provide their permission.

The effort, if successful, could weaken the influence of these unions by limiting their spending.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court by StudentsFirst, a Sacramento-based organization that has opposed candidates and measures backed by teachers unions nationwide, while also working to pass laws that curtail union power.

In the suit, four teachers, including two from the Los Angeles Unified School District, assert that union rules and state laws violate their 1st Amendment rights to free speech because they cannot belong to the union unless they allow a portion of their dues to be spent on political activity. The teachers claim they should be able to join without subsidizing viewpoints they may oppose.

“As part of protecting the right to free speech,” the 1st Amendment does not permit forcing an individual “to subsidize speech by a third party that he or she does not wish to support,” the suit states.

The defendants are the two largest teachers unions in the country as well as the two largest in California. Also being sued are two union locals where three of the teachers work, including United Teachers Los Angeles. The suit also names the superintendents of L.A. Unified, West Contra Costa Unified and Arcadia Unified school districts.

Union leaders characterized the legal action as an attempt to limit what labor can accomplish against well-funded business interests and other opponents by cutting off funding.

“This lawsuit is attempting to use the 1st Amendment to stifle speech, not enhance it,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement...

Screw Randi Weingarten, the freakin' scuzzy bitch. What a joke of a "leader."

100-Year-Old Man in New Jersey Killed Wife with Ax Before Committing Suicide

Man, that's harsh.

At the New York Times, "New Jersey Centenarian Killed Wife With Ax Before Committing Suicide, Police Say."

Libertarians and Conservatives Stay Silent in Silicon Valley

Well, California's a one-party state at this point. Expressing contrary political views puts you in personal and professional danger.

At National Journal, "The Secret Republicans of Silicon Valley."

'No Justice! No Peace' — Leftists Protest Walter Scott Press Conference (VIDEO)

There's two video.

One from Telegraph UK, "Protesters interrupt Walter Scott shooting briefing."

And at CNN, "Protesters interrupt North Charleston mayor."

I don't see what's the big deal. Looks like it's going to be a slam dunk conviction, given the video. But see the Los Angeles Times, "South Carolina police shooting defense: What the video doesn't show."

Emily Ratajkowski for Jonathan Leder's Limited Edition Photobook

People Magazine should be naming Emily Ratajkowski the "Sexiest Woman Alive"?

My god this woman's a freakin' fantastic.

At C-Heads Magazine‎, "Emily Ratajkowski stars for Jonathan Leder's Limited Edition Photobook":

What happens when two super talents collaborate together? A wonderful photobook for your bookshelf. Jonathan Leder released an Artist Edition Limited Edition Photobook starring an original Polaroid Series of bombshell Emily Ratajkowski. She´s the girl of everyone´s dreams. And we are sure she knows it.

State Regulators to Urge Informants to 'Rat Out' Water Wasters in California's Democrat-Induced Drought (VIDEO)

The Democrats brought on this so-called drought, with their devastating environmental policies going back to the 1970s.

And now government bureaucrats are urging residents to become informants and "rat out" water-wasting scofflaws to the state's enforcement regime. We're quickly becoming a replica of the Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin, where every Soviet citizen had "the moral duty to inform the organs of power about all known instances of the theft of state and socialist property."

At CBS News San Francisco:



Here's the plan from the State Water Board, at the Los Angeles Times, "Some communities may have to cut water use by 35%, regulators say."

This is all about control, and those hardest hit will be minorities and the poor. Because regressive Democrat Party compassion!

Video: Mischa Barton Sues Her Mom for Stolen Earnings, Exploitation

It's not often folks sue their parents.

Watch, at ABC News, "Mischa Barton Sues Mother for Exploitation, Withholding Earnings."

Dick Cheney: Obama the 'Worst President We've Ever Had...'

The Obama administration is "one of the most radical regimes we've had in history," former Vice President Dick Cheney tells Hugh Hewitt.

Listen: "Dick Cheney: Obama 'The Worst President We Have Ever Had'."

HUGH HEWITT: Is he naïve, Mr. Vice President? Or does he have a far-reaching vision that only he entertains of a realigned Middle East that somehow it all works out in the end?

DICK CHENEY: I don’t know, Hugh. I vacillate between the various theories I’ve heard, but you know, if you had somebody as president who wanted to take America down, who wanted to fundamentally weaken our position in the world and reduce our capacity to influence events, turn our back on our allies and encourage our adversaries, it would look exactly like what Barack Obama’s doing. I think his actions are constituted in my mind those of the worst president we’ve ever had.

Russian Military Aircraft Near U.S. Shores Signals Moscow's Challenge to the West

Yeah, this definitely trips me out.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Intent of Russian military aircraft near U.S. shores remains unclear":

The air is frigid and the wind is howling as Air Force Col. Frank Flores lifts a pair of foot-long binoculars and studies a hazy dot about 50 miles west across the Bering Strait.

"That's the mainland there," he shouts above the gusts.

It's Siberia, part of Russia, on the Asian mainland.

Named for an old mining camp, Tin City is a tiny Air Force installation atop an ice-shrouded coastal mountain 50 miles below the Arctic Circle, far from any road or even trees. The Pentagon took over the remote site decades ago and built a long-range radar station to help detect a surprise attack from the Soviet Union.

At least from this frozen perch, America's closest point to Vladimir Putin's Russia, the Cold War is turning warm again.

U.S. F-22 fighter jets scrambled about 10 times last year — twice as often as in 2013 — to monitor and photograph Russian Tu-95 "Bear" bombers and MiG-31 fighter jets that flew over the Bering Sea without communicating with U.S. air controllers or turning on radio transponders, which emit identifying signals.

The Russian flights are in international airspace, and it's unclear whether they are testing U.S. defenses, patrolling the area or simply projecting a newly assertive Moscow's global power.

"They're obviously messaging us," said Flores, a former Olympic swimmer who is in charge of Tin City and 14 other radar stations scattered along the vast Alaskan coast. "We still don't know their intent."

U.S. officials view the bombers — which have been detected as far south as 50 miles off California's northern coast — as deliberately provocative. They are a sign of the deteriorating ties between Moscow and the West since Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in March of last year and its military intervention to support separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Similar Russian flights in Europe have irked leaders in Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Norway and elsewhere. In January, British authorities were forced to reroute commercial aircraft after Russian bombers flew over the English Channel with their transponders off.

In all, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization says its jets scrambled to monitor Russian warplanes around Europe more than 100 times last year, about three times as many as in 2013. Russian air patrols outside its borders were at their highest level since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, NATO said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement in November, as tensions heightened over Ukraine, that Russia's strategic bombers would resume patrols in both the Atlantic and the Pacific.

"In the current situation we have to maintain military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific, as well as the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico," he said...

Also at the Hill, "Admiral: Putin's military 'far more capable' than what Soviet Union had."

The Iran Deal and Its Consequences

From those notorious (not) neocons, Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, at WSJ, "Mixing shrewd diplomacy with defiance of U.N. resolutions, Iran has turned the negotiation on its head":

The announced framework for an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program has the potential to generate a seminal national debate. Advocates exult over the nuclear constraints it would impose on Iran. Critics question the verifiability of these constraints and their longer-term impact on regional and world stability. The historic significance of the agreement and indeed its sustainability depend on whether these emotions, valid by themselves, can be reconciled.

Debate regarding technical details of the deal has thus far inhibited the soul-searching necessary regarding its deeper implications. For 20 years, three presidents of both major parties proclaimed that an Iranian nuclear weapon was contrary to American and global interests—and that they were prepared to use force to prevent it. Yet negotiations that began 12 years ago as an international effort to prevent an Iranian capability to develop a nuclear arsenal are ending with an agreement that concedes this very capability, albeit short of its full capacity in the first 10 years.

Mixing shrewd diplomacy with open defiance of U.N. resolutions, Iran has gradually turned the negotiation on its head. Iran’s centrifuges have multiplied from about 100 at the beginning of the negotiation to almost 20,000 today. The threat of war now constrains the West more than Iran. While Iran treated the mere fact of its willingness to negotiate as a concession, the West has felt compelled to break every deadlock with a new proposal. In the process, the Iranian program has reached a point officially described as being within two to three months of building a nuclear weapon. Under the proposed agreement, for 10 years Iran will never be further than one year from a nuclear weapon and, after a decade, will be significantly closer...

Oh joy.

And that's Obama's foreign policy legacy to boot. Making the U.S. and its allies less safe.

Who'd have thunk it?!!

Keep reading.

Biggest Storm in Nearly Two Months Hits San Francisco Bay Area

At ABC News 7 San Francisco, "SORELY NEEDED RAIN ROLLS THROUGH BAY AREA."

We also had a little bit of rain in Southern California. My son called out to me in the evening last night, "Dad, it's raining!"

They're Back: The Neocons and Iran

From Jacob Heilbrunn, at the Los Angeles Times, "The neocons: They're back, and on Iran, they're uncompromising as ever":

If nothing succeeds like failure, then the neoconservatives who championed democracy promotion and regime change against Saddam Hussein are very successful indeed. After the Iraq war went south, the reputations of leading neocons such as former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz came into disrepute. But as the Obama administration has worked toward its controversial nuclear deal with Iran, the neocons have once again become the dominant voice on foreign policy in the Republican Party.

Writing in National Review on the eve of the agreement, the historian Victor Davis Hanson declared, "Our dishonor in Lausanne, as with Munich, may avoid a confrontation in the present, but our shame will guarantee a war in the near future."

Over the last few decades, the neocons, who are mostly based at think tanks and magazines in Washington, have come to constitute a kind of military-intellectual complex. Their credo is as sweeping as it is simple: No compromise is ever possible with America's foreign enemies. Instead, they are championing a liberation doctrine that allows them to present bombing and invading other countries at will as an act of supreme moral virtue.

Exhibit A is Iran. Just as they argued that Saddam Hussein was on the verge of obtaining a nuclear bomb, so leading neocons are rehearsing the same arguments about Tehran. They say the U.S. has no choice but to go on the attack before Iran explodes a nuclear bomb and becomes a regional superpower with the ability to destroy Israel.

"The United States could do a thorough job of destruction, but Israel alone can do what's necessary," John Bolton, ambassador to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration, recently wrote in the New York Times. "Such action should be combined with vigorous American support for Iran's opposition, aimed at regime change in Tehran."

Similarly, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who studied under Harvey Mansfield, a neoconservative government professor at Harvard University, is pushing the GOP toward a more hawkish stand. In March, Cotton circulated a letter designed to torpedo the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran and in a speech at the Heritage Foundation said Congress should be "offering to transfer advanced weapons like surplus B-52 bombers and 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs to Israel."

If the neocons are well-represented in Congress, they also have the ear of some leading potential GOP presidential candidates...

It's like six degrees of separation for Heilbrunn. Sheesh. Most of the folks he mentions aren't even remotely considered "neocon." John Bolton, for example, repudiated the neocon label repeatedly in the years following the Iraq war, and especially around the time he served as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. And Tom Cotton's a neocon because he took a class with a neocon? Well, most young college students should be communists by that standard, given the far-left colonization of the academy by America's ideological enemies.

Keep reading, for what it's worth.

Seriously. Heilbrunn even goes so far as to smear über isolationist Rand Paul by the dreaded "n-word." The horrors!

South Carolina Policeman Charged With Murder in Shooting of Unarmed Black Man (VIDEO)

This is horrible.

At the New York Times, "South Carolina Officer Is Charged With Murder in Black Man's Death."



And here's the Charleston Post and Courier's clip, "Walter Scott shooting."

Also at Memeorandum.

Vicious Chris Matthews Rant Against the 'Piggish Money People' Behind the Neocons

Whoa.

That's going right up there to the line for the big MSNBC anchor. The network's Jew-hatred just cannot be contained!

At Twitchy, "Chris Matthews rants against ‘piggish money people’ who favor pro-Israel democracies."

And watch: "Matthews Blasts 'These God Damn Ads' Attacking Rand by Rotten Hawkish Right-Wing Front Groups."

Just another day of business from the party of racist hatred and anti-Semitism.

Scottish Leaders' Debate: SNP's Nicola Sturgeon Offers to Help Make Ed Miliband Prime Minister

Ms. Sturgeon, of the Scottish National Party, would form a coalition with Labor, elevating leader Ed Miliband to the premiere's office.

At Telegraph UK, "Scottish leaders debate - as it happened."



Also at the Belfast Telegraph, "SNP's Nicola Sturgeon calls for pact with Labour to oust Cameron."

America's Accelerating Decay

From Dennis Prager, at National Review, "The steepening decline is evident in the family, in education, in morality, in art":

As one who loves America — not only because I am American, but even more so because I know (not believe, know) that the American experiment in forming a decent society has been the most successful in history — I write the following words in sadness: With few exceptions, every aspect of American life is in decline.

“Decay” is the word.

The Decline of the Family: Nearly half (48 percent) of American children are born to a mother who is not married. Forty-three percent of American children live without a father in the home. About 50 percent of Americans over 18 are married, compared with 72 percent in 1960. Americans are having so few children that the fertility rate fell to a record low 62.9 births per 1,000 women in 2013. And in an increasing number of states, there are now more deaths than births.

The Decline of Education: Compared with nearly all of American history, the average American school teaches much less about important subjects such as American history, English grammar, literature, music, and art. Instead schools are teaching much more about “social justice,” environmentalism, and sex. Any of us who receive e-mail from large numbers of Americans can attest to the deteriorating education — including among those who attended college — in written English. In sophisticated commentary on websites as well as in e-mail, one encounters the most basic errors: “it’s” instead of “its”; “their” instead of “there”; “then” instead of “than”; etc.

Most universities have become secular seminaries for the dissemination of leftism. Moreover, aside from indoctrination, students usually learn little. One can earn a B.A. in English at UCLA, for example, without having read a single Shakespeare play. To the extent that American history is taught, beginning in high school and often earlier, American history is presented as the history of an immoral nation characterized by slavery, racism, colonialism, imperialism, economic exploitation, and militarism — not of a country that, more than any other, has been the beacon of freedom to mankind, and the country that has spent more treasure and spilled more blood to liberate other peoples than any other nation.

The End of Male and Female: Whatever one’s position on same-sex marriage, one must acknowledge that at the core of the argument for this redefinition of marriage is that gender doesn’t matter. Marriage is marriage and gender means nothing, the argument goes. So, too, whether children are raised by mother and father or two mothers or two fathers doesn’t matter. A father has nothing unique to offer a child that a mother can’t provide and vice versa.

Why? Because — for the first time in recorded history — gender is regarded as meaningless. Indeed, increasingly gender doesn’t even exist; it’s merely a social construct imposed on children by parents and society based on the biological happenstance of their genitalia. When signing up for Facebook, one is offered nearly 60 options under “gender.” In various high schools across the country, boys are elected homecoming queen. A woman was recently kicked out of Planet Fitness for objecting to a man in the women’s locker room. She was accused of intolerance because the man said he felt that he was a woman.

The End of Right and Wrong: At least two generations of American young people have been taught that moral categories are nothing more than personal (or societal) preferences. Recently, an incredulous professor of philosophy wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times titled “Why Our Children Don’t Think There Are Moral Facts.” In it he noted, “Without fail, every value claim is labeled an opinion” (italics in original). This extends to assessing the most glaring of evils. Since the Nazis thought killing Jews was right, there is no way to know for sure whether it was wrong; it’s the Nazis’ opinion against that of the Jews and anyone else who objects. I have heard this sentiment from American high-school students — including many Jewish ones — for 30 years.

The End of Religion: There are no moral truths because there is no longer a religious basis for morality. More than the Enlightenment, it was the Bible — especially the Hebrew Bible (which was one reason America’s Christians were different from most European Christians) that guided the Founders’ and other Americans’ values. Not any more. Instead of being guided by a code higher than themselves, Americans are taught to rely on their feelings to determine how to behave. Instead of being given moral guidance, children are asked, “How do you feel about it?”

The End of Beauty...

More.

Abigail Ratchford Washing the Mini Cooper

Via Theo Spark.

Lane Bryant Launches Plus Size 'No Angels' Campaign, Trolling Victoria's Secret

At USA Today, "Lane Bryant jabs Victoria's Secret with #ImNoAngel campaign."

And watch, at ABC News, "No 'Angels:' Lane Bryant Challenges Victoria's Secret in New Campaign."

Michelle Fields is a Sweet Bunny

She's so nice.

Happy happy Easter! pic.twitter.com/ao5f5ngaaP

— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) April 5, 2015

Russian Nuclear Sub Catches Fire

Watch: "Russian nuclear submarine ablaze at shipyard in Severodvinsk."

Also, "Russian nuclear submarine catches fire, but no weapons and reactor off."

I'm reminded of the Kursk, at NYT, "'None of Us Can Get Out' Kursk Sailor Wrote."

Obama Goes Off on 'Less Than Loving Christians' at Prayer Breakfast

He's such an asshole.

At Truth Revolt, "Obama Slams 'Less Than Loving' Christians At Easter Prayer Breakfast":

Says nothing about Kenya university attacks against Christians.

Watch: "Obama Does Not Mention Kenya Attacks, Instead Criticize Christians at Easter Prayer Breakfast."

Calling Obama's Bluff on Climate Change

From Steven Hayward, at WSJ, "The president is threatening to bypass Congress and sign an international treaty. Here’s how to box him in":

From immigration to Internet regulation, there is scarcely an issue on which President Obama has not pushed the limits of executive power to achieve his ideological goals. The Republican Congress has been able only to react to these usurpations, often floundering, as seen in the recent debacle over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Is there a way the GOP Congress can get ahead of Mr. Obama?

This question is especially salient with respect to climate change, as Mr. Obama has indicated that he intends, at the next United Nations climate-change summit to be held this November in Paris, to bypass Congress once again and settle on a “politically binding” climate agreement that he would implement through executive action. This is very different from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which was regarded as a formal treaty that would have required Senate ratification to take effect. President Clinton never submitted Kyoto to the Senate for a vote: His own council of economic advisers told him it was an economic nonstarter.

This episode is relevant today. Before Vice President Al Gore embarked for Kyoto, the Senate voted 95-0 for a resolution warning the Clinton administration not to sign an asymmetrical deal that would disproportionately harm the U.S. economy. But that is exactly what Mr. Gore bought back from negotiations. Note that those voting for the resolution included climate-change true believers such as Barbara Boxer and John Kerry.

The basic international economics of greenhouse-gas reduction hasn’t changed in 20 years, and any new U.N. agreement is sure to be Kyoto revisited. Today’s Senate Democrats are so far gone into climate-change hysteria that they would never vote for the kind of resolution that passed in 1997. But GOP legislators might have other options to constrain Mr. Obama’s diplomacy...

More.

Turkey Lifts Twitter Block on Leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Front

I blogged about this earlier, "Turkish Prosecutor Dies During Siege by Leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Front."

Make no mistake, this is what the American left will do soon enough. Radical leftists will resort to revolutionary violence to achieve their ends. The hammer-and-sickle pictured is no different from those waved by Barack Obama supporters back in 2008. It's coming to America.

At London's Daily Mail, "Turkey lifts block on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube after the sites agree to remove images of prosecutor who died after being taken hostage."

And earlier at the Guardian UK, "Turkey bans Twitter in bid to block 'propaganda' pictures of kidnapping."

New Poll Shows Majority of Americans Support Religious Freedom

From Dana Loesch:

A new poll released by WPA Opinion Research on behalf of the Family Research Councill shows that the vast majority of Americans support religious liberty in the workplace. Last week saw Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) signing Indiana's "Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” infuriating liberals zealots whom alleged his legislation encouraged discrimination against gays. It's safe to assume these delusional liberal "activists" neglected to even read the bill before taking an extremist stance against it. Yes, these are very the same left wing activists whom accuse Republicans of intolerance.

Unsurprisingly the Obama administration, fueled by Democratic dissolution, is once again executing their big government agenda, stripping away freedoms -- the very same freedoms protected by the Constitution. Last week we witnessed a family restaurant in Indiana, Memories Pizza, threatened and forced into foreclosure after exercising their rights to freedom of religion. Memories Pizza, a family owned restaurant in Indiana, is just one example of several businesses publicly shamed for exercising their American rights. Accusing Memories Pizza employees as homophobic is as outrageous as it is inaccurate. Crystal O’Connor, owner of Memories Pizza attempted to clarify the misunderstanding of his business decisions:

“The news took it totally out of proportion. They lied about it. We said that we would serve anyone that walked in that door, even gays…”But we would not condone a wedding… That’s against our religious beliefs.”

The owners of Memories Pizza are not alone, other companies such as Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A have been targeted by liberal media for discriminating against customers based on their sexual preference.

According to the latest research, these business owners don't stand alone. In a survey of 800 registered voters 81% "agree government should leave people free to follow their own beliefs about marriage as well as live their daily lives at work and the way they run their businesses." Furthermore, 80% of non-religious Americans strongly support freedom to practice one's beliefs.

More.

And see John Nolte, at Big Journalism, "Sorry, Media: Polls Show Majorities Side with Indiana's Christian Pizzeria."

Cited there is the Marist Poll, "Tolerance for Religious Rights."

Once again, here's the reviled Democrat left pushing unpopular mandates to crush the freedom and liberties of Americans in the mainstream. The left can only prevail with lies and coercion. That's it.