Kathyrn Steinle's Murder Scrambles (and Inflames) the Debate on Illegal Immigration

A surprisingly good piece, from yesterday's Los Angeles Times, "San Francisco slaying upends immigration debate in 2016 presidential race":

The immigration debate in the 2016 presidential campaign unfolded along familiar lines: Republicans called for greater border security and Democrats called for expanded rights for those in the country illegally.

All that changed one blue-sky day at Pier 14 on San Francisco's world-famous Embarcadero. A 32-year-old woman was killed July 1 while strolling with her father near the Bay Bridge, allegedly by an immigrant with a lengthy rap sheet who was back in the country despite repeated deportations.

The death of Kathryn Steinle scrambled the political equation overnight, throwing immigration reform advocates on the defensive, fueling the anger of hard-liners and causing even supporters of San Francisco's liberal politics to pause and consider its status as a "sanctuary city" that generally refuses to turn over immigrants to federal law enforcement officials.

Democrats, notably Hillary Rodham Clinton, sought to strike a delicate balance, continuing to embrace a liberal immigration policy that is a top priority for their base while acknowledging that something went terribly awry in San Francisco. Republicans seized upon the tragedy as visceral proof of their contention that the Obama administration's failure to secure the border has left Americans unsafe.

The topic is fraught for the GOP, which needs to improve its standing with Latinos — a crucial and fast-growing bloc of voters — who have been alienated in the past by harsh rhetoric about immigrants living in this country illegally. At the same time, it also offers an opportunity to make inroads with moderate voters who may support the legalization of some immigrants but cannot fathom how a man with the suspect's record was ever freed to wander this city's streets.

"It's a powder keg," said Republican consultant Rob Stutzman. "People who are very sympathetic to 'Dreamers,' to people being treated fairly, are confounded by why the hell we can't keep criminals either in prison or the other side of the border." (Dreamers refer to people brought to the country illegally as minors.)

There's considerable finger-pointing over who bears responsibility for the release of Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, the felon who has been charged with killing Steinle. But political discourse — in the nation's capital, on talk radio and cable television, and on the campaign trail — has mostly focused on what responsibility San Francisco's status as a sanctuary city bears in the tragedy.

Several Republican candidates called for the federal government to punish the more than 200 jurisdictions that have declared themselves sanctuaries, which were created in part so that immigrants could cooperate with law enforcement without fear they would be deported.

Describing Steinle as a "precious young woman" who was failed by the system, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said that certain federal funds should be denied to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities.

"If it's an act of defiance against the federal government, then they shouldn't take federal law enforcement money," Bush told reporters Thursday after visiting an online firm in San Francisco.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said that, if elected, he would reverse President Obama's executive orders that allow some who are in the country illegally to remain here, while former Texas Gov. Rick Perry called for using either executive order or congressional action to force sanctuary cities to provide immigration officials access to their prisons and holding facilities.

Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced legislation that would require state and local agencies to notify immigration authorities when they arrest and detain anyone in the country illegally. Federal prison officials would also be required to give precedence to transfer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement over state and local authorities. Agencies that do not comply would forfeit some federal funding.

The House of Representatives voted Thursday, largely along party lines, to approve similar legislation.

Donald Trump, the businessman who kicked off his presidential bid last month with rhetoric labeling Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers, has seen his standing in the polls rise as he has hammered the issue. He has also been among the most vocal about Steinle's killing.

"This man, or this animal, that shot that wonderful, that beautiful woman in San Francisco, this guy was pushed back by Mexico," Trump told CNN this month. "Mexico pushes back people across the border that are criminals, that are drug dealers."

Some Republicans fear that Trump's inflammatory words are hijacking what could have been a productive dialogue about immigration policy.

"There could have been a very nice, thoughtful discussion," said Hector Barajas, a GOP operative in Sacramento who recently acquired half a dozen piñatas that look like Trump. "Now what it has become is a sideshow."

On the Democratic side, Clinton voiced support for the concept of sanctuary cities while blaming San Francisco officials for not cooperating with the federal government.

"Here's a case where we've deported, we've deported, we've deported," she said on CNN. "He ends back up in our country, and I think the city made a mistake."

The following day, her campaign released a statement reiterating the candidate's support for sanctuary cities and comprehensive immigration reform.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley appeared to criticize Clinton's stance but did not mention her by name.

"Local governments should not be blamed for the federal government's inability to fix our broken immigration system, nor should they be held responsible for doing the federal government's job," he said.

Homeless at the time of his arrest, Lopez-Sanchez pleaded not guilty to murder in the shooting and is being held in lieu of $5-million bail. He is a seven-time felon who has been deported to his native Mexico five times.

When Lopez-Sanchez, 52, finished serving a federal prison sentence in March, he was turned over to San Francisco on a 20-year-old bench warrant for a $20 marijuana sale. Prosecutors declined to file charges.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked to be notified prior to his release, but city officials did not comply because Lopez-Sanchez did not meet their criteria, set in 2013, for turning over people to immigration officials. He was freed.

In a jailhouse interview with KGO-TV, Lopez-Sanchez admitted to accidentally shooting a gun he found. He also said "he knew San Francisco was a sanctuary city where he would not be pursued by immigration officials," according to KGO...

Still more.

RELATED: From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Sanctuary Cities Show Why Immigration Won't Help Dems in 2016."

John Russell 'Rusty' Houser

The "Hate Watch" blog (of the SPLC) posted an entry at the Medium site, "Lafayette Theater Shooter Fan of Hitler, Neo-Nazis, and Anti-government Conspiracies."

From just skimming it, this dude Houser definitely looks more the stereotypical "far-right extremist" than Dylann Roof ever did, but when you're dealing with the radical left, facts don't matter. All you have to do is find a couple of social media posts, or a photo with the Confederate flag, and poof! You've got your poster boy for the "contemporary radical right."

Of course, people like this are literally lone wolf losers, exactly the opposite of the so-called "lone wolf" jihadists who're radicalized by Islamic State and al-Qaeda hate-preachers like the now-dead Anwar al-Awlaki. They're part of a real movement of global jihad with millions of adherents. The Lafayette shooter not so much.

American society, from the White House to the mainstream media to college classrooms across the land, is now increasingly infected with cultural Marxism, and so you'll never get accurate coverage of the nature of extremist threats in the country today. No mainstream conservative, for example, embraces anything even remotely resembling the pro-Nazi rants of a guy like Houser. Meanwhile, mainstream leftists hail all kinds of historical figures from 20th century Communism as icons of movement progressivism. These are just facts. And that's the harsh reality mainstream and traditional Americans face in this country, as normal values have been rebranded as deviant and where murderous leftist and Islamist ideologies are simply redefined in meaningless terms like "workplace violence" and so forth.

Oh, and this Houser dude had serious mental illness, but that will be discounted by the radical left ghouls as they demonize conservatives and exploit the murders to hammer down their hateful, gun-grabbing extremist agenda.

In any case, see the New York Times (FWIW), "Lafayette Shooting Adds Another Angry Face in the Gunmen’s Gallery":

LAFAYETTE, La. — It was about 20 minutes into the 7 p.m. showing of “Trainwreck” when moviegoers heard a couple of pops, like a sound effect glitch. But when the sounds rang out again it became horribly clear that this was something else entirely.

“From the reflection of the movie, the light, you could see his gun shining,” said Lucas Knepper, who was seated in the same mostly empty row as the man in the short-sleeve, button-down shirt who had begun firing at the 20 or so people in the theater. “And then you could see the flash coming from the chamber.”

Soon two young women lay fatally shot, nine other people were wounded, and with that, on Thursday night, Lafayette, which boasts of being the happiest city in the country, joined Chattanooga, Tenn.; Charleston, S.C.; Aurora, Colo.; Newtown, Conn., and so many others on the long list of cities scarred by gun violence. The gunman, John Russell Houser, became the latest figure in a gallery of angry men with weapons who walked into a movie theater, a church, a school or a workplace and shattered the lives of people there.

Accounts from acquaintances, law enforcement officials and court records portrayed Mr. Houser, 59, of Phenix City, Ala., who also took his own life, as a man with a diffuse collection of troubles and grievances — personal, political and social — who had a particular anger for women, liberals, the government and a changing world.

Because he had been accused of both domestic violence and soliciting arson, though never successfully prosecuted, he was denied a permit to carry a concealed pistol. His family repeatedly described him as violent and mentally ill; his mental health had been called into question going back decades, and he spent time in a hospital receiving psychiatric care. He vandalized the house he was evicted from last year, and tampered with the gas lines in a way that could have caused a fire or explosion.

Given his history, he should not have been allowed to own a gun, said Sheriff Heath D. Taylor of Russell County, where Mr. Houser lived.

President Obama has said repeatedly that each mass shooting cries out for stricter controls to keep mentally ill people and criminals from obtaining guns, but the issue has not resonated on the campaign trail.

The police identified the women Mr. Houser killed as Jillian E. Johnson, 33, who owned, with her husband, two stores that sell toys, jewelry and printed goods, and played in a bluegrass band; and Mayci Breaux, 21, recently a student at Louisiana State University at Eunice, who was soon to start radiology school at Lafayette General Hospital...

This Houser dude was a sick fucker, and I mean that in every sense of the word. And leftists are just as sick in exploiting the murderer's mental illness to score heinous political points.

God bless the families of these two wonderful women lost in this evil rampage. It was not "senseless violence." It was sick, evil murder the kind leftists just love. Call it what it is.

More at Memeorandum.

Change! Most Say Race Relations Worse After Years of Obama-Democrats, New Poll Finds

Change you can believe in.

At the New York Times, "Poll Finds Most in U.S. Hold Dim View of Race Relations":

My favorite part about the Obama era is all the racial healing.

— jon gabriel (@exjon) November 24, 2014

Seven years ago, in the gauzy afterglow of a stirring election night in Chicago, commentators dared ask whether the United States had finally begun to heal its divisions over race and atone for the original sin of slavery by electing its first black president. It has not. Not even close.

A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted last week reveals that nearly six in 10 Americans, including heavy majorities of both whites and blacks, think race relations are generally bad, and that nearly four in 10 think the situation is getting worse. By comparison, two-thirds of Americans surveyed shortly after President Obama took office said they believed that race relations were generally good.

The swings in attitude have been particularly striking among African-Americans. During Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign, nearly 60 percent of blacks said race relations were generally bad, but that number was cut in half shortly after he won. It has now soared to 68 percent, the highest level of discontent among blacks during the Obama years and close to the numbers recorded in the aftermath of the riots that followed the 1992 acquittal of Los Angeles police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King.

Only a fifth of those surveyed said they thought race relations were improving, while about 40 percent of both blacks and whites said they were staying essentially the same....

The nationwide telephone poll of 1,205 people, which focused on racial concerns, was conducted from July 14 to July 19, at the midpoint of a year that has seen as much race-related strife and violence as perhaps any since the desegregation battles of the 1960s. It came one month after the massacre of nine black worshipers at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C., apparently by a white supremacist, and after a yearlong series of shootings and harassment of blacks by white police officers that were captured by smartphone cameras.

The Charleston shootings, which took place during Bible study on June 17, generated a national outpouring of outrage and grief. The suspect’s embrace of the Confederate battle flag in Internet photographs prompted South Carolina’s Republican governor, Nikki R. Haley, and its Republican-controlled legislature to order the flag’s removal from the grounds of the State House in Columbia.

But despite the perception that the shootings inspired a moment of empathy and reconciliation, the poll suggests that attitudes toward the flag remain deeply divided between whites and blacks, and not just in the South.

When asked how they regarded the battle flag, 57 percent of whites said they considered it mostly an emblem of Southern pride, while 68 percent of blacks said they saw it more as a symbol of racism. The view that the flag represents heritage more than bigotry was shared by 65 percent of white Southerners, including three-fourths of white Southern men.

About four in 10 whites, and one in 10 blacks, said they disapproved of the decision to lower the flag in Columbia, while 52 percent of whites and 81 percent of blacks favored it. Nearly half of white Southerners disagreed with the decision. Four in 10 blacks said they would be less likely to shop with a retailer who sold Confederate flags and merchandise, but only 17 percent of whites said so.

“The Confederate flag is a part of history that should not just be thrown out the door,” said Mary Nordtome, 66, a white retired rancher from Fort Sumner, N.M., in a follow-up interview. “It really hurts me that we have to be so politically correct in everything.” She added, “Hate groups have distorted what the Confederate flag means and the history we should not forget.”

Mindy Zhu, a 19-year-old college student from Queens who is Asian, said the crusade against the Confederate flag, regardless of its meaning, posed a threat to free speech. “As soon as you start taking away a symbol for something, then you start taking away other people’s freedom,” she said.

In the aftermath of the Charleston shootings, many Americans were deeply moved when relatives of five of the victims told the suspect in the killings, Dylann Roof, at a court hearing that their faith directed them to forgive him. The poll found that about half of those surveyed, including 49 percent of whites and 41 percent of blacks, could not have brought themselves to do the same...

A bare majority agreed with Governor Haley's decision to remove the flag from state grounds --- even after those big majorities saying the flag represents a symbol of heritage. I think that's actually a sign of racial healing and acceptance: that a majority of Americans, despite a symbolic view of the Confederate flag, agreed that it's the right thing to do, removing it from public grounds. (Very similar to CNN's earlier findings on the exact same thing.)

Still more.

For leftists, of course, it doesn't stop there for this insane political correctness. I mean, now Connecticut Democrats are dropping the name of party founders Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson from their annual state fundraising dinner. See Rick Moran, at Pajamas, "Connecticut Dems Drop Jefferson, Jackson Names from Fundraising Dinner." You can't fit everything down the memory hole, although no doubt leftists will keep trying. (Via Memorandum.)

House of Dixie

Blogging's been light.

My sister was hospitalized on Sunday with a hideous MSRA infection. I drove up to L.A. yesterday to visit. She's going to be fine, and in fact she went home last night. Had me worried there for a minute, though, especially since she went to the ER straight from the airport, after just landing from attending a wedding in Ohio.

In any case, on the way home I stopped by Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena. The only thing I don't like about Vroman's is that it's too far away, heh.

Their current events section is spectacular. I could spend hundreds of dollars in one outing if I lost all restraint.

As it is I picked up just one book, Bruce Levine's The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South.

I've been reading up on the Civil Wall pretty much all summer now. And I've been shopping for books, both new and used, to augment my collection of Civil War history.

This Levine volume is fantastic, certainly one of the most exciting tomes yet. Chapter One, "The House of Dixie," is a tour de force of the antebellum South. Slavery is without a doubt the central institution in the region's politics, culture, economy, and history. Levine weaves his account with a deep social analysis backed by data to indicate the brutal financial hegemony of the Southern plantation elite.

A small percentage of the Confederacy's population, the planter elite was propped up by an ideology of anti-black racism that was almost universally endorsed among Southerners. Indeed, landless whites, and those who never owned slaves, were nevertheless some of the most vital human elements sustaining slave society. A great many, if not the majority, acutely identified with planter economic interests, and were encouraged by Southern aristocrats to strive toward joining their ranks in slave ownership. Even those who never owned slaves reinforced the system by serving as the Southern regime's Praetorian guard, the "rural patrols" who captured slaves wandering off the plantations without travel passes. These "common whites" held aspirations to "someday cross into" the "charmed circle" of the slaveholding masters. Slavery was the very core of the region's identity. Moreover, the nearly three-quarters of the non-slaveholding population had gained the suffrage by the mid-19th century, and they voted their interests in keeping the planter aristocracy in political power.

To deny the centrality of slavery to the South's identity is willful blindness. And to deny the core importance of slavery to the origins and outbreak of the war is outright dishonesty and debauchery.

The slave system was perpetuated by totalitarian politics and the reign of political violence. It was not uncommon for cotton-picking slaves to pick 500-600 pounds a day. Such a huge cornucopia would be impossible with wage laborers alone, who would simply walk off the job rather than be driven to the length of their endurance to pick so much. How was it possible to reap so much product? Well, through violence. Political violence at the end of a bullwhip. Frederick Law Olmsted, a landscape architect, journalist, and social critic back in the day, toured the region on horseback, and here's Levine's account of the role of violence Olmstead witnessed firsthand:

The northern traveler Frederick Law Olmsted witnessed this form of what masters called "slave management" in action one day. He was touring a plantation on horseback in the company of its overseer. As the two men rode along, they saw a black girl apparently trying to avoid her assigned tasks. The overseer promptly dismounted and "struck her thirty or forty blows across the shoulder with his tough, flexible, "raw-hide" whip, Olmstead recorded. "At every stroke the girl cringed and exclaimed, 'Yes sir!' or 'Ah sir!' or "Please sir!'" Unsatisfied that the young woman had yet learned her lesson, the overseer made her pull up her dress and lie down on the ground facing skyward. He then "continue to flog her with the raw-hide, across her naked loins and thighs, with as much strength as before." As he beat her, she lay "writhing, groveling, and screaming, 'Oh don't, sir! Oh, please stop master! Please sir! Please sir! Oh, that's enough, master! Oh, Lord! Oh master! Oh, God, master do stop! Oh God master! Oh God master!'"

It's no mystery that murderous violence, backed by state laws, kept the slave power afloat. Slavery wasn't incidental to the system. It was the key institution and it became the basis for the country's sectional crisis.

Of this there should be no dispute. But there is. There's dispute among Marxists and radical libertarians who attack Abraham Lincoln and the Union North as invaders and imperialists.

I've been over this many times. Neither North nor South elevated blacks to the status of whites in 19th century America. The key difference is white Northerners despised slavery. It upset their system of free labor, and owning humans demeaned those who proclaimed cosmological universal natural rights. As sectionalism heated up Northerners were right to fear the South's slave power efforts to expand slavery to the territories and eventually to the Northern states themselves.

This is why Northerners stood firm against the expansion of slavery. And President Lincoln refused to allow secession seeing it as a bid to make permanent a hegemonic, expansionist slaveholding power across the Southern territory of United States.

Stogie hates these facts, and if you push too hard on slavery and Southern white supremacy, he'll threaten you.

Indeed, he considers anyone who disagrees with his slave-backing views an "enemy." He attacked me as an enemy a while ago, and now he's at it again in a blog post, See, "Enemies: Max Boot and Jeff Jacoby Vomit Hatred Towards the South; Time to Ditch the GOP?"

Yeah, so everyone is an enemy who's not down with the totalitarian violence of the Southern plantation slave regime. It's not about "heritage." The debate's about basic human values. And supporters of the Confederacy who refuse to acknowledge the totality of the system, the violence and anti-black hatred, have none.

Here's the full link to Levine's book, which is a must-read: The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution That Transformed the South.

Taking Down Ta-Nehisi Coates

I'm gaining a lot of respect for Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, who is also a regular columnist at Politico.

Here's his review of Ta-Nehisi Coates' new book, "The Toxic Worldview of Ta-Nehisi Coates."

Read it all at the link. (Via Memeorandum.)

I'm not running out to get a copy, although I expect I'll read it soon enough. I'm a firm believer of not hammering a book until I've read it, although I've read enough of Coates' writing to have a pretty good heads up.

If you're interested, FWIW, at Amazon, Between the World and Me.

Connecticut Professor Tried to Dissuade Student from Building Pistol-Firing Drone

It's a pretty wicked drone, actually.

And it's not like no one's ever heard of armed drones, or anything.

At the Hartford Courant, "CCSU Professor To 18-Year-Old: Making Gun-Firing Drone A 'Terrible Idea'."

Laura Wilkerson, Whose Son Was Killed by Illegal Alien, Thanks Donald Trump During Congressional Testimony

At the Wall Street Journal, "Mother of Man Killed by Illegal Immigrant Thanks Donald Trump."

And watch: "Laura Wilkerson on Donald Trump, 'Whether you love him or you don’t, I felt heard' (C-SPAN)."

Crush Planned Parenthood

From Kirsten Powers, at USA Today, "Caught in stomach-turning video, all it can apologize for is the tone":

Planned Parenthood head Cecile Richards apologized last week for the uncompassionate tone her senior director of medical research, Deborah Nucatola, used to explain the process by which she harvests aborted body parts to be provided for medical research.

Nucatola had been caught on an undercover video talking to anti-abortion activists posing as representatives of a biological tissue procurement company. The abortion doctor said, “I’d say a lot of people want liver,” and “a lot of people want intact hearts these days.” Explaining how she could perform later-term abortions to aid the harvesting of such intact organs, she said, “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”

A second undercover video released Tuesday shows another Planned Parenthood official talking about using a “less crunchy” way to perform abortions while preserving salable fetal tissue.

This is stomach-turning stuff. But the problem here is not one of tone. It’s the crushing. It’s the organ harvesting of  fetuses that abortion-rights activists want us to believe have no more moral value than a fingernail. It’s the lie that these are not human beings worthy of protection. There is no nice way to talk about this. As my friend and former Obama White House staffer Michael Wear tweeted, “It should bother us as a society that we have use for aborted human organs, but not the baby that provides them.”

Richards worked to discredit the video by complaining it was “heavily edited.” But the nearly three-hour unedited video — a nauseating journey through the inner workings of the abortion industry — was posted at the same time as the edited video. Richards intoned menacingly that the video was “secretly recorded.” So what? When Mitt Romney was caught by “secret video” making his 47% remarks, the means of attaining the information was not the focus of the story...

Yeah, so what? Leftists love "secret recordings" when they make conservatives and Republicans look bad. When leftists and Democrats look bad, not so much.

Still more.

Why Hillary's Not Hitting Trump Too Hard

From Amy Chozick, at the New York Times, "Today in Politics: Hillary Clinton Weighs Using Donald Trump Against His Party":

Good Tuesday morning from Washington. Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio is expected to join the ever-growing field for the Republican nomination, a field that, despite its numbers, has been increasingly overshadowed by Donald J. Trump. Such a development, however, suits at least one other candidate just fine.

As Mr. Trump surges in the polls and Republican leaders call for him to drop out of the race after his comments about Senator John McCain’s war record, there is one candidate who hopes Mr. Trump continues to thrive: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Mrs. Clinton has denounced Mr. Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants, but she has mostly avoided responding directly to him, instead trying to position him as the unbridled subconscious of the Republican Party who says in direct (and offensive) terms what his party rivals have been saying in veiled and polite ways for years.

“It’s not enough to use language of respect if you refuse to support policies of respect,” Mrs. Clinton said.

On Saturday in Arkansas, Mrs. Clinton referred to Mr. Trump as “the Republican front-runner.” Of his rivals, she said, “The sad truth is, if you look at many of their policies, it can be hard to tell the difference.” ...

More. (Via Ms. Chozick on Twitter.)

Congressional Republicans Weigh Votes to Strip Federal Funding from Planned Parenthood

Obama would never sign legislation stripping funding from this Nazi-like industrial abortion mill.

Remember, he's President Infanticide.

Still, the fanatical pro-aborts are freakin'.

At Politico, "Congress bears down on Planned Parenthood after second video":

Congress’ planned crackdown on Planned Parenthood is looking increasingly real.

Republican leaders are weighing a series of votes to defund Planned Parenthood — possibly beginning before the August recess — after the release of a second undercover sting video allegedly showing one of the abortion rights group’s officials discussing the sale of fetal organs.

The anti-Planned Parenthood drive extends to the House and Senate: The No. 2 Republican in each chamber said he expects votes to cut off federal funding for the group soon.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters Tuesday he’s anticipating amendments to strip the money over the course of the fall government funding debate. That’s in addition to a spate of Hill hearings he said are aimed at learning “the facts … and what’s truly is going on.”

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said he expects lawmakers to offer a Planned Parenthood amendment to the highway bill, a major piece of must-pass legislation that’s slated for consideration beginning this week. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is vying for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination, is personally eyeing such a strategy.

And some top Republicans expect GOP lawmakers to try to attach similar amendments to nearly any measure that crosses the Senate floor. Senate Republican Conference Committee Chairman John Thune of South Dakota, for example, said lawmakers will “offer amendments to whatever vehicles are coming across the Senate floor to deal with that: Defund it or deal with it in some other fashion.”

Planned Parenthood came under fire last week after an anti-abortion group released footage of an executive casually talking over lunch about doctors collecting fetal organs for biomedical companies during abortions — and allegedly about how much money could be earned through sales of fetal tissue.

On Tuesday, the same anti-abortion activists from the Center for Medical Progress released another undercover video depicting a different executive talking about the acceptable cost of such tissue, joking that she wants a Lamborghini as payment.
Planned Parenthood officials have said they do not profit off of fetal organs and have lambasted the videos as a smear campaign aimed at hurting the women’s health organization that also performs abortions.

The defunding threats come as pro-abortion rights group CREDO Mobile — which claims to be the largest corporate donor to Planned Parenthood — launched a campaign, imploring activists to contact Hill Democrats to support the organization more vocally...

Good luck with that.

I have a feeling the majority of congressional Dems will leave PP dangling in the wind. The politics of this whole thing are definitely not tilting leftward, and there's lots more videos to come.

Well played, Center for Medical Progress. Well played.

Still more at the link.

Cajon Pass Drivers Who Ran for Their Lives Frustrated by North Fire Towing Fees

I've heard different reports, and the Los Angeles Times indicates that some towing companies waived fees as a public service. See, "Cajon Pass fire victims outraged about towing fees: 'I didn't do anything illegal'."

But watch this report at CBS News Los Angeles: "Despite Volunteer Effort, Tow Truck Firms Hoping to 'Cash In' on Cajon Pass Fire."

Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 31 in Turkish Border Town

At the Wall Street Journal, "Attack is near embattled Syrian town of Kobani":

ISTANBUL—Turkey’s government blamed Islamic State for a suicide bombing in a Kurdish border town that killed at least 31 people, one of the worst cases of spillover violence from the four-year-old war in neighboring Syria.

The attacker targeted a cultural center in the town of Suruc where some 300 members of socialist youth groups from across the country were meeting Monday to prepare rebuilding projects in the Syrian city of Kobani, just across the border. Authorities said they suspect a suicide bomber on foot waded into a crowd and detonated explosives, shattering windows and leaving limbs scattered in the yard. More than 100 people were wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the deadliest attack along the border in more than two years. But if Islamic State was behind it, it would be the group’s first known suicide bombing in Turkey.

The Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani was the site of a major victory for Kurdish militia forces over Islamic State in January after a four-month battle. The Syrian Kurdish forces went on to push the extremist fighters from other parts of northern Syria more recently—raising the possibility that the attack in Suruc was retaliation for those Kurdish advances.

The bombing may also have been a response to an intensified Turkish crackdown on Islamic State in recent weeks, a government official in Ankara said. Authorities have arrested scores of suspected members of the group in raids across the country, stepping up ongoing raids. Officials have tightened border controls to try to stem the flow of foreign fighters, deporting about 1,500 mostly Western visitors to Turkey as allies increased intelligence sharing.

“Initial findings point to a suicide bomber and Daesh,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, referring to Islamic State by its Arabic acronym. Speaking after an extraordinary security meeting on the attack, he said terrorist organizations were trying to sabotage Turkey and derail a stable democracy in the region.

Suruc has emerged as a major staging ground for Kurds and their supporters seeking to cross into Kobani.

“They were targeted by anti-democratic forces that don’t want Kobani to be rebuilt,” said Idres Nassan Hassan, a Kurdish official in Kobani. “Those who carried out this attack are part of the terrorists that we are fighting.”

Thousands of people across Turkey protested the bombing, with some marching against Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

But others criticized the government and Mr. Davutoglu’s party, repeating oft-heard accusations that they support or tolerate Islamic State for the greater goal of ousting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The prime minister vehemently rejected the charge.

Turkey’s government said it was tightening security along its 565-mile border with Syria after the bombing. Ankara’s effort to clamp down on supporters may trigger more strikes by terrorists going forward, another Turkish official said.

“We are aware of ISIS capabilities inside Turkey,” the official said. “Turkey is seriously prioritizing this issue to bring it under control.”

Still more.

Also, "Turkey Says One Suspect Identified in Suicide Bombing."

'Before you decide to go to war on the Internet, first consider the fate of Max Read...'

Following-up up on "Nick Denton's Gawker Removes Gay-Shaming Post About Condé Nast CFO."

GamerGate's not my bailiwick, although it's interesting as hell.

So don't miss this excellent entry from the indubitable Robert Stacy McCain, at the Other McCain, "Congratulations, ‘Dishonest Fascists’ — #GamerGate Destroys Max Read":

“Never underestimate your enemy,” is a maxim of military strategy. Before you decide to go to war on the Internet, first consider the fate of Max Read, who was riding high as editor of Gawker until he decided that insulting #GamerGate was a smart move. He chose poorly.

Custer at Little Bighorn, the French at Dien Bien Phu — military history offers many parallels to Max Read’s fateful miscalculation, but perhaps the best would be Gen. John Sedgwick. On May 9, 1864, Sedgwick was directing the placement of Union artillery near Spotsylvania, Virginia. Annoyed that his men were ducking to avoid fire from Confederate sharpshooters a thousand yards away, he said: “Why are you dodging like this? They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” A moment later, Sedgwick was killed by a bullet from one of the Confederates whose marksmanship he had disparaged. Hubris, meet nemesis.

The resignation Monday of Max Read as editor-in-chief of Gawker, along with his executive editor Tommy Craggs, will not likely be interpreted by major media as a vindication of #GamerGate, because most of the media share the same shallow prejudice that led Read to declare his disdain for #GamerGate as “a small, contemptible crusade . . . of dedicated anti-feminist internet trolls.” Well, he who laughs last, et cetera...

Keep reading.

Plus, a pretty good inside scoop at the New York Observer, "Is Gawker Destroying Itself From the Inside? Let’s Hope So."

And from Gabriel Sherman, at New York Magazine, "Nick Denton had been at odds with Executive Editor Tommy Craggs over company's long-term direction, with Denton telling Craggs that Gawker was 'too mean'." (Via Mediagazer.)

BONUS: From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "THE DAY GAWKER TORE ITSELF APART, from Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast, who also formerly worked for Condé Nast, whose CFO’s life was upended by Gawker last week..."

WATCH: New Video Shows Baltimore Riots Erupt While Police Told to 'Hold the Line' and 'Do Not Chase' — #FreddyGray

Yeah, the video comes out months later. Like it was some secret.

Remember, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake wanted to create "safe space" zones for black thugs to destroy the city.

Via CNN:



FLASHBACK: "Baltimore in Flames."

Militant French Ferry Workers Light Tires to Block Channel Tunnel Terminal (VIDEO)

At the Independent UK, "Calais strikes: French ferry workers block access to Channel Tunnel terminal."

And watch, at Reuters, "Striking ferry workers set fires to block Chunnel."

New Victoria's Secret Model Barbara Di Creddo for Vanity Fair Italia July 2015

We're getting into the fall season, which means Victoria's Secret will start pumping out lingerie videos in preparation for the December fashion show.

So, Ms. Di Creddo's one of the new kids on the block. She's nice.

At Egotastic!, "BARBARA DI CREDDO IN VANITY FAIR ITALY."

And also at Dreaming of Dior, "'The Island That Is' - Barbara Di Creddo for Vanity Fair Italia July 2015."

Cool Chameleon Like to Pop Bubbles

Reason number umpteenth million why we love the Internet.

At ABC News San Francisco, "WATCH: This chameleon is super excited to pop bubbles."

And on YouTube, "This clever chameleon just can't get enough of popping bubbles."

Refugio State Beach Reopens Two Months After Oil Spill (VIDEO)

The oil spill was just about two month ago. See, "Santa Barbara Refugio Oil Spill is Bleak Reminder of 1969 Environmental Disaster."

And now Refugio's back open, via KEYT Santa Barbara:

No Apologies: Darla Neugebauer, Owner of Marcy's Diner, Screams at Toddler to Stop Bawling (VIDEO)

WTF, the damned kid was screaming for an hour?!!

Talk about some divine patience that most people do not have.

And the entitled parents can just STFU. My wife and I would have had our own baby out of the restaurant in minutes. If the kid doesn't stop crying we'll take our dinner to go, thank you. It's not acceptable to upset everyone else's meal with a spoiled, screaming brat. And people are outraged as Ms. Neugebauer? Sorry, go get a life people. You and your screaming princesses.

At the Portland Press-Herald (careful the auto-play video ads), "Owner of Portland diner defends yelling at screaming child":

The Marcy's Diner proprietor says the girl was disrupting her customers' dining experience.

You think?



Great advertising for the establishment. Rational people are no doubt swarming the place, slapping down 25 percent tips.

Rev Up Your Engines with April Rose

I used to post quite a bit on April Rose when she was doing videos for Maxim. I wondered what happened to her, since she hasn't been featured at Maxim's YouTube page lately.

Well, mystery solved. Turns out she's graduated to Playboy, heh.

Maybe she'll be a Playboy Playmate of the Month pretty soon!

Watch: "Rev Up Your Engines and Get Ready to Race With April Rose."

Report: Mohammod Abdulazeez 'Did Internet Searches on Martyrdom' Ahead of #Chattanooga Shootings

Do these idiots in the press have enough "evidence" to start calling this guy an Islamic jihadist?

This is ridiculous. It's like Chinese water torture or something.

Previously, "Mohammod Abdulazeez Surfed Anwar al-Awlaki Videos in Lead-Up to #ChattanoogaShootings."

And now at CNN:

Chattanooga gunman did Internet searches on martyrdom in days before rampage, source says. http://t.co/jRamEN99YS

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 21, 2015

The Right Lays Off Gaffe-Prone Donald Trump

It's all playing out in real time.

I think the Wall Street Journal announced Trump's obituary prematurely, although what goes up must come down, as they say.

In any case, Noah Rothman's a little perturbed, heh, in an otherwise perceptive essay.

See, "The GOP Entertainment Wing’s Flight of Fancy."

The Right Lays Off Gaffe-Prone Donald Trump, Abetting a Political Sideshow: https://t.co/hlMrcfe6qQ via @NoahCRothman @Commentary #TRUMP

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 21, 2015

Father of Kathryn Steinle, Victim of #Democrat Sanctuary City Murder, Testifies Before Congress (VIDEO)

Mr. Jim Steinle's prepared statement is here.



And from ABC 7 News San Francisco:

#KateSteinle's dad is sitting front + center at hearing. Family met @SenFeinstein yesterday to share their concerns. pic.twitter.com/MUJ0w36DmQ

— Chris Nguyen ABC7 (@ChrisNguyenTV) July 21, 2015

In her remarks, @SenFeinstein said #KateSteinle's family is "resolute + concerned about doing the right thing" #DC pic.twitter.com/7eyfr8lESb

— Chris Nguyen ABC7 (@ChrisNguyenTV) July 21, 2015

Jim Steinle will be the 5th person to testify this AM; wife of fallen @SacSheriff Dep. Danny Oliver was 1st to address cmte. #KateSteinle

— Chris Nguyen ABC7 (@ChrisNguyenTV) July 21, 2015

Jim Steinle: “All children are special in their own way. Kate was special in the way she connected with people.” http://t.co/VFCHYJVssL

— ABC7 News (@abc7newsBayArea) July 21, 2015

Jim Steinle: “Everywhere that Kate went throughout the world she shined the light of a good citizen.” WATCH LIVE: http://t.co/VFCHYJVssL

— ABC7 News (@abc7newsBayArea) July 21, 2015

Jim Steinle: “On many levels the U.S. has suffered a self-inflicted wound in the murder of our daughter.” WATCH LIVE: http://t.co/VFCHYJVssL

— ABC7 News (@abc7newsBayArea) July 21, 2015

#NOW: Jim Steinle says he'd be proud to see Kate's name assoc. w/ legislation that helps take undocumented immigrant felons off the streets.

— Chris Nguyen ABC7 (@ChrisNguyenTV) July 21, 2015

Jim Steinle of Pleasanton, father of slain Kate, to Senate Committee: "If Kate's Law saves 1 daughter,1 son..Kate's death won't be in vain.'

— Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) July 21, 2015

During Jim Steinle's testimony, family members seated behind him could be seen holding hands, and gripping each other closely. #KateSteinle

— Chris Nguyen ABC7 (@ChrisNguyenTV) July 21, 2015

Powerful testimonies before the Senate Judiciary Cmte. this AM. Nearly every seat in the room is taken. #KateSteinle pic.twitter.com/gVrBBqvHYn

— Chris Nguyen ABC7 (@ChrisNguyenTV) July 21, 2015

Dr. Mary Gatter Haggles Over Abortion Baby-Parts, Wants Lamborghini, in New Investigative Video

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the political action committee behind America's abortion holocaust, is feverishly pumping out pro-abort propaganda, working especially to destroy the credibility of the activists behind the investigation of the left's illegal abortion baby-parts market.

And it's easy to see why.

The Center for Medical Progress is out with a new and devastating video.

Twitchy reports, "Planned Parenthood HAGGLES over baby body parts; This brutal point says it all. And what it says is horrifying," and "MONSTERS part 2: Butchery HAGGLING? This 2nd shocking Planned Parenthood video will make you sick."

Plus, "Why is Lamborghini trending? Just when you thought Planned Parenthood couldn’t get more depraved … ; Update: Screenshot."

Watch these leftist ghouls at the video: "Second Planned Parenthood Senior Executive Haggles Over Baby Parts Prices, Changes Abortion Methods."

Also at the Federalist, "Second Video of Planned Parenthood’s Baby Organ Trafficking Scheme Surfaces."

California Black Lawmakers Urge Fort Bragg Name Change

Okay, here we go.

Taking down the Confederate flag won't be enough. The left is insatiable. It's like "1984."

At the Sacramento Bee:

The California Legislative Black Caucus has joined the nascent campaign to rename the small coastal community of Fort Bragg in Mendocino County.

In a letter Thursday, eight members of the caucus urged Mayor Dave Turner to “engage your community in a serious re-examination of the historical implications of your city’s name and come to the conclusion that now is the time to end your ties to such a disgraced and treasonous figure in our nation’s history.”

Fort Bragg was originally a 19th-century Army outpost named for officer Braxton Bragg, who later became a high-ranking general and adviser to Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis, as well as the owner of more than 100 slaves.

Questions over whether the town would be forced to rebrand itself recently emerged after the introduction of Senate Bill 539, which would prohibit public entities in California from bearing the name of Confederate leaders.

Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, amended the bill this week to explicitly exclude cities, but not before asking Fort Bragg officials to consider a voluntary name change. So far, residents have expressed little interest in the idea.

It's a Democrat majority in Sacramento, so no doubt leftists will get this through and move on to the next memory-hole target.

Remember the controversy over the Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Long Beach? Well, leftists are turning up the pressure. See, "Activists demand renaming of Robert E. Lee Elementary in Long Beach."

The Real Reason Our Troops at Chattanooga Were Unarmed is Absolutely Infuriating

From Kurt Schlichter, at IJR:

Service members on base and outside at remote recruiting sites are not being deprived of weapons just because of short-sighted directives. It’s much worse than that. They have no access to guns to protect themselves – though in most states the civilians they pass in the streets off-post can legally and easily carry concealed – because senior military leaders are more terrified of career-ending “incidents” than the safety of their troops.

It’s a disgrace, but it’s only another example of the moral rot within the leadership of our Armed Forces that began before the Obama era but which now, under his poisonous leadership, threatens to destroy the greatest military in human history...

That's almost depressing.

But keep reading.

Rick Perry on 'Meet the Press': 'We're Seeing the Real Donald Trump Now'

From Sunday morning;



My dream ticket is Perry/Fiorina, which I imagine is about as likely as Trump winning the nomination.

Alternative Routes After Interstate 10 Closure

Folks are going to be racking up a lot of extra miles to make it to Phoenix, or back.

At ABC 15 News Phoenix, "Detour options between Arizona and California."

Plus, "Heavy rains collapse I-10 bridge in California."

Des Moines Register Calls for Donald Trump to Drop Out of Presidential Race

It's not like the establishment in Des Moines is neutral, or anything. You know, Trump might spoil the party for the first-in-the-nation folks over there. Can't have that.

See, "Editorial: Trump should pull the plug on his bloviating side show":

It's time for Donald Trump to drop out of the race for president of the United States.

People who run for public office typically perform a great public service, regardless of whether they win on Election Day. That's particularly true of presidential candidates, most of whom must devote two years of their lives to hard-fought campaigns that involve staggering personal and financial sacrifices, all in an effort to serve their country.

And then there's Trump.

In the five weeks since he announced his campaign to seek the GOP nomination for president, Trump has been more focused on promoting himself, and his brand, than in addressing the problems facing the nation. If he were merely a self-absorbed, B-list celebrity, his unchecked ego could be tolerated as a source of mild amusement. But he now wants to become president, which means that he aspires to be the leader of the free world and the keeper of our nuclear launch codes.

That is problematic, because Trump, by every indication, seems wholly unqualified to sit in the White House. If he had not already disqualified himself through his attempts to demonize immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, he certainly did so by questioning the war record of John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona.

Keep reading.

And let the voters sort it all out.

Mohammod Abdulazeez Surfed Anwar al-Awlaki Videos in Lead-Up to #ChattanoogaShootings

According to the New York Times, Abdulazeez "had viewed material connected to Anwar al-Awlaki" at some point before the Chattanooga attacks.

Of course, the Times still won't call out the suspect for his Islamic jihad, instead dismissing the attacks as the result of "mental illness" and "drug abuse." He was "alienated" from the United States, blah blah. Sounds like the same excuses the press gave for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is now on death row at Colorado's Supermax Prison.

Leftists and the media enablers are the handmaidens of Islamic terrorism.

See, FWIW, "In Chattanooga, a Young Man in a Downward Spiral."

A Time to Confront Our Enemies at Home

From David Horowitz and Daniel Greenfield, at FrontPage Magazine:

The killing of five unarmed military servicemen at two military recruiting centers is an omen and a warning: The “war on terror” has come home.

Thanks to Obama’s retreat from Iraq and the Middle East, the jihad waged by Islamic terrorists is now being fought on American soil, instead of on a battlefront in Fallujah and Anbar. Thanks to the borders Obama has destroyed and the tens of thousands of legal immigrants the White House has decided to import from terrorist regions, the enemy is among us. Thanks to Obama’s denial that we are at war at all, the Islamic jihad is now being waged in Chattanooga and Fort Hood, the fly over country that liberals and progressives have always despised.

This is not the first time that a military recruiting office in the South was attacked by a Muslim terrorist. In 2009 – Obama’s first year in office - Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad opened fire on a military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas, under orders from Al Qaeda in Yemen, and killed Private William Long.

It was the shot that should have been heard around the country but wasn’t, because America’s Commander-in-Chief told us that Muhammad was a lone crazed assassin, not a vanguard Islamic soldier. According to Obama, there was no war with Islamic fanatics. The fanatic himself rejected the lie.  "This is not the first attack, and won't be the last," Muhammad warned. “I'm just one Muhammad. There are millions of Muhammads out there. And I hope and pray the next one will be more deadlier than Muhammad Atta!”

The next one—the attack this time-- was certainly deadlier than his. Mohammad Youssduf Adulazeer’s attack in Chattanooga copied Muhammad’s tactic of opening fire from a car on a recruiting center before driving on to the next target. In 2009 Abdulhakim Muhammad was not charged with terrorism. The Commander-in-Chief called him “a lone gunman” and a pliant media dutifully dismissed his military mission as a product of personal depression and mental instability rather than an act of service to Allah’s war.

Barack Obama’s first year in office was also the year of the Fort Hood massacre, when a self-declared Islamist warrior, shouting “Allahu Ahkbar,” gunned down 13 American soldiers - also unarmed by order of their government. The Obama administration officially labeled his act of war “workplace violence” and refused to identify the enemy or take steps to defend his targets.

Four unarmed Marines and an unarmed sailor died this week because of the refusal of our Commander-in-Chief to learn from the 2009 attacks or prepare for the next. Instead he covered it up with psychobabble, and continued to deny our servicemen the weapons that could have saved their lives. Obama’s strategy in this war to destroy us, target by target, is to lull Americans into believing that there is no war, that Islamic terrorists are “not Islamic,” and that “the future must not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam.” The result of Obama’s denial is that the war has come home and we are fighting blind in our own country with our hands tied behind our backs...

Keep reading.

John McCain Wants Donald Trump to Apologize to Veterans (VIDEO)

At 24 percent, the big question now is whether Trump has peaked.

ABC News 10 San Diego:

#Angels Get Seven Runs in 2nd Inning in 11-1 Rout of #RedSox in Anaheim

Another one of those high-scoring days for the Angels.

At Los Angeles Times, "Angels power their way to 11-1 win over Red Sox in first game of doubleheader":

The Angels scored seven runs in a span of eight pitches in the second inning en route to an 11-1 blowout of the Boston Red Sox in the first game of a doubleheader in Angel Stadium on Monday.

All-Star left-hander Hector Santiago survived a 31-pitch first inning and made it through five laborious innings, allowing one run and eight hits, walking one and equaling his career-high with 10 strikeouts to improve to 7-4 with a 2.30 earned-run average, third-best in the American League.

Santiago threw 114 pitches, 77 for strikes, and worked his way out of two jams, striking out David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez with two on to end the first inning and whiffing Ryan Hanigan and Mookie Betts with the bases loaded to end the fourth.

Santiago has 108 strikeouts and 35 walks and has held opponents to a .153 average (11 for 72) with runners in scoring position this season.

Erick Aybar sparked the second-inning rally with a single to left field off Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez and took second on C.J. Cron’s one-out walk. Chris Iannetta singled to left to score Aybar.

Daniel Robertson followed with a first-pitch, run-scoring double over the head of Ramirez, the Boston left fielder who misplayed the ball badly. Johnny Giavotella hit a first-pitch, two-run single to center, and Kole Calhoun hit a first-pitch, two-run homer to right-center for a 6-0 lead.

Mike Trout’s two-pitch at-bat resulted in a line-out to third base, but Albert Pujols drove a 1-and-0 pitch over the wall in left-center for his 27th homer of the season and 547th of his career, moving the Angels slugger to within one of Mike Schmidt for 15th place on baseball’s all-time list.

The homer, which gave the Angels a 7-0 lead, was also Pujols’ 1,136th extra-base hit, tying him for 12th place with Ty Cobb on the all-time list.

The Red Sox snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak to start their four-game series in Anaheim when David Ortiz and Pablo Sandoval singled in the top of the fourth, and Mike Napoli hit an RBI single to center to make it 7-1.

But Sandoval’s fielding error at third base paved the way for the Angels to score four unearned runs off reliever Noe Ramirez in the bottom of the fourth. Aybar hit an RBI single and David Freese crushed a three-run homer to center that traveled an estimated 452 feet, the second-longest of his career.

The Angels, who have won 14 of 17 games and are 10-3 in July, can complete a four-game sweep of the Red Sox with a win in the second game Monday night.

Liziane Soares

At Egotastic!, "LIZIANE SOARES BLONDE BOMBSHELL TANLINES."

More.

Donald Trump Surges to 24 Percent Support in New Poll, Smashing #GOP Presidential Field

Trump's support declined a bit on the last day of the survey, so the report suggests Trump's numbers could be dropping. Perhaps. It's going to be a blip in any case. He'll be surging again in the weeks ahead, simply because he's busting the chops of the entire political establishment. People like that. Regular people, not the D.C. permanent political class and the far-left coastal elites.

At WaPo, "Poll: Trump surges to big lead in GOP presidential race."

And from Elizabeth Price Foley, at Instapundit, "Trump punches back twice as hard, which is kind of fun to watch. No wonder the GOP Establishment hates him as much as the Democrats."


More at Memorandum, especially the idiot Josh Marshall, "Nope. Trump's Latest Outrage Will Not Sink Him One Bit."

And on Twitter, "Rush: Donald Trump Tells Establishment To 'Go to Hell'."

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Hailey Clauson on High School, Kissing, and More

Watch: "Hailey Clauson's 50 seconds and a kiss."

PREVIOUSLY: "Hailey Clauson Swimsuit Body Paint," and "Uncovered Hailey Clauson."

Just Finished Bruce Catton's, The Coming Fury

I've been catching up on my Civil War history in light of the Stogie/Donald debates.

A few weeks back I started hitting up nearby used bookstores to augment my library. I'm reading about two or three books at a time, lol. But I did finish the Bruce Catton paperback last night. He was a great historian. Once I got going I decided not to put it down. The book flows like a novel. Really amazing book. It easily debunks the Marxist and radical libertarian narrative that Stogie's been pushing, and it's honest about the role of slavery in the origins of the Civil War.

It's out of print --- Catton died in 1978 --- but here's the Amazon link in any case, The Coming Fury (The Centennial History of the Civil War, Vol. 1).

Man Armed with AR-15 Stands Guard at Virginia Military Recruiting Offices (VIDEO)

This is getting to be a thing.

At Fox 5 in Washington D.C., "Man with AR-15 Stands at Recruiting Center in Virginia":

You don't need a permit to openly carry guns in Virginia. “The police already came by and checked me out, cleared my guns, doing their duty,” said the man. “It was all good.”

Poll Shows Support for Homosexual Marriage Tanking After Supreme Court's Obergefell Ruling

This is counterintuitive.

You'd think a threshold's been crossed, and public acceptance of homosexual nuptials would increase.

But no. What's happening is the over-the-top football-spiking of the left's depraved homos is simply turning people off. Indeed, I've been predicting that support for homosexual marriage would decline as the homosexual ayatollahs, emboldened by judicial fiat, started to violently impose their hateful agenda on the rest of America. Combine that with the numerous examples of threats to religious liberty, and it's clear that same-sex licentiousness will continue to be a hot-button issue in politics and elections going forward.

At USA Today, "Poll shows slight dip in gay marriage support since Supreme Court ruling":

NEW YORK (AP) — The Supreme Court's ruling last month legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide has left Americans sharply divided, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that suggests support for gay unions may be down slightly from earlier this year.

The poll also found a near-even split over whether local officials with religious objections should be required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, with 47 percent saying that should be the case and 49 percent say they should be exempt.

Overall, if there's a conflict, a majority of those questioned think religious liberties should win out over gay rights, according to the poll. While 39 percent said it's more important for the government to protect gay rights, 56 percent said protection of religious liberties should take precedence.

The poll was conducted July 9 to July 13, less than three weeks after the Supreme Court ruled states cannot ban same-sex marriage.

According to the poll, 42 percent support same-sex marriage and 40 percent oppose it. The percentage saying they favor legal same-sex marriage in their state was down slightly from the 48 percent who said so in an April poll. In January, 44 percent were in favor.

Asked specifically about the Supreme Court ruling, 39 percent said they approve and 41 percent said they disapprove.

"What the Supreme Court did is jeopardize our religious freedoms," said Michael Boehm, 61, an industrial controls engineer from the Detroit area who describes himself as a conservative-leaning independent.

"You're going to see a conflict between civil law and people who want to live their lives according to their faiths," Boehm said...

Only 42 percent support homosexual marriage? That's not a "slight decline." That's an almost 20 percent drop off from the widely touted Gallup poll that had support for homo unions at 60 percent.

Hmm, you think the Supreme Court stepped in and derailed a political contest raging across the country at the state level? No wonder conservative support for the Court is collapsing.

Hat Tip: The Daily Signal, "Poll: 59% Believe Businesses Should Be Able to Decline Gay Weddings."

Ku Klux Klan Rallies for Confederate Flag in South Carolina (VIDEO)

Stogie keeps posting photos of Southern blacks hoisting the Confederate flag.

To each his own, I guess. Some blacks were down with slavery, feared being free men. That's the tradition they're upholding.

And remember, Stogie threatened to block me if I pressed him about why the Klan proudly boosts the Confederate banner. Cowardly.

Drones Disrupt Aerial Firefight Drops Over Cajon Pass North Fire (VIDEO)

At the Riverside Press-Enterprise, "DRONES: Unmanned aircraft briefly hinders fire fight":

For the pilots who fight fire from the sky, it’s getting to the point of being ridiculous.

An hour after Friday’s inferno erupted in the Cajon Pass, a drone was seen spying on the flurry of activity as flames incinerated trapped vehicles on Interstate 15 and frightened motorists fled for their lives. Authorities immediately grounded firefighting aircraft.

It marked at least the fourth time since late June that a drone was spotted in the vicinity of pilots bombing an Inland Southern California wildfire with retardant or water. Each time the incident halted an aerial attack and may have allowed flames to spread farther, and more rapidly, than they would have, officials said.

“I wish I had an answer for the fix to all of this,” said a frustrated Mike Eaton, aviation officer for the San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests, in a telephone interview Saturday. “I don’t know if the public just doesn’t understand or if they are just not paying attention.”

In any event, many operators aren’t getting the point that their remotely controlled flying devices pose a danger to manned airplanes and helicopters. Or they don’t believe it...

More.

Judge Jeanine Pirro Hammers Cowardly Obama Administration's Craven Response to #ChattanoogaShootings

Just drop dead over the target, at usual.

Iran's Defense Minister Forbids International Military Site Inspections

Well, this is a big surprise.

At the Times of Israel, "Iran defense chief forbids international inspections of military sites":

Iran’s defense minister on Monday said Tehran would not allow international inspectors to enter the Islamic Republic’s military sites, in comments that appear at odds with the terms of a landmark nuclear deal struck with world powers last week.

Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan also said the nuclear deal does not limit its missile development, which he maintained Tehran would “resolutely” pursue.

The comments came on the heels of Iran’s Foreign Ministry saying the UN could not ban Iranian ballistic missile development under the deal and a top military commander rejecting the UN’s adoption of the groundbreaking accord earlier in the day.

Taken together, the comments shed doubt on Tehran’s willingness to keep to some of the concessions agreed to in the pact, which has been touted in the West as the best way to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and was endorsed unanimously in the United Nations Security Council Monday...

There are no verification guarantees in the Obama Iran pact. Indeed, the agreement isn't even about reigning in Iran's nukes. It's about establishing an Obama "peace" legacy and cementing Iranian hegemony in the Mideast to counterbalance Israeli power.

Bernie Sanders Supporters Wear Robin Hood Caps at Netroots Nation in Phoenix

Because Sanders is proposing a "Robin Hood Tax," of course.

From Chris Cillizza, on Twitter, "The 1 pic that tells you everything you need to know about Bernie Sanders."

Chillary Clinton

We could get this lady as president, sigh.

Watch: "Can't.. stop.. watching."

Anaheim Angels Deploy Helicopter to Help Dry Playing Field Ahead of Today's Double-Header

At the Angels' Twitter feed, "Pulling out all the stops to prepare the field for today's doubleheader #AtTheBigA."

And from Mike DiGiovanna, "Heard #Angels had helicopter over OF this morning to help dry grass."

Heh, watch this Vine, "There is a helicopter in the outfield..."

And ICYMI, from yesterday's Los Angeles Times, "Angels' home game against Boston Red Sox is rained out, and that's rare."

Interstate 10 Closed After Bridge Collapses (VIDEO)

At the Palm Springs Desert Sun, "I-10 closed at collapsed bridge in Desert Center":

A bridge collapse east of the Coachella Valley late Sunday afternoon forced the closure of Interstate 10 – the main roadway between Southern California and Phoenix – injuring one man and stranding hundreds of motorists backed up for miles.

The Tex Wash bridge, built on the eastbound I-10 in 1967, was listed as functionally obsolete in the 2013 National Bridge Inventory released last year. Essentially, the bridge was listed as no longer adequate for its task, though it was not listed as having known structural problems that needed to be fixed.

A black truck was driving east on I-10 when the bridge crumpled beneath it about 4:45 p.m. Bystanders used straps from their cars to tie the truck to a guardrail and prevent it from washing away in the running water below. The passenger was able to get out but the driver had to be rescued. Firefighters went into rapidly rising water with asphalt and debris falling around them to pull the driver out by 7 p.m...

More.

Also at LAT, "Unusually strong July rains offer a preview of a robust El Niño."

Executive Editor Tommy Craggs and Editor-in-Chief Max Read Resign from Gawker; Craggs Says Advertisers Threatened to Pull Out Over Gay Escort Story

At the Hollywood Reporter, "Gawker Editor-In-Chief Resigns After Controversial Post Gets Take Down." (Via Mediagazer.)

Also at the Wrap, "Gawker Executive Editor and Editor-in-Chief Both Resign After Gay Porn Story Fiasco

."In memos sent to staff and management, Craggs and Read said an unprecedented breach of the firewall between Gawker’s business and editorial side had occurred, and they could no longer operate at the company.

“On Friday a post was deleted from Gawker over the strenuous objections of Tommy and myself, as well as the entire staff of executive editors,” Read wrote in a memo to Gawker’s partnership group. “That this post was deleted at all is an absolute surrender of Gawker’s claim to ‘radical transparency'; that non-editorial business executives were given a vote in the decision to remove it is an unacceptable and unprecedented breach of the editorial firewall, and turns Gawker’s claim to be the world’s largest independent media company into, essentially, a joke.”

That's a huge aggregation at Mediagazer, for good reason.

And ICYMI, at the Other McCain, "Web Site Everybody Hates Reminds Everybody Why We Hate Them," and "The #GamerGate vs. Gawker War."

PREVIOUSLY: "Nick Denton's Gawker Removes Gay-Shaming Post About Condé Nast CFO."

Donald Trump's Self-Immolation Arrived Slightly Ahead of Schedule

At the Wall Street Journal, America's open-borders newspaper of record on the right, "Trump and His Apologists":

It came slightly ahead of schedule, but Donald Trump’s inevitable self-immolation arrived on the weekend when he assailed John McCain’s war record. The question now is how long his political and media apologists on the right will keep pretending he’s a serious candidate.

Speaking at a forum in Iowa, Mr. Trump declared that Senator McCain was “not a war hero,” adding that “he’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Mr. McCain spent more than five years in a Vietnamese prison camp, was tortured to the point of lifelong disability, and yet refused an offer to be released before all of his fellow prisoners. Mr. Trump had a more relaxed war due to military deferments. The Trump dump drew immediate condemnations from most GOP candidates and others, but the political apprentice refused to apologize.

His campaign instead released a statement that compounded the felony. “I am not a fan [sic] John McCain because he has done so little for our Veterans,” the statement said. “He is yet another all talk, no action politician who spends too much time on television and not enough time doing his job and helping the Vets. He is also allowing our military to decrease substantially in size and strength, something which should never be allowed to happen.”

Coming from a reality TV star, this too-much-time-on-television line is hilarious. Mr. McCain doesn’t need our defense on Mr. Trump’s other insults, but they are notable because anyone with a cursory knowledge of politics knows they’re false. They show that Mr. Trump has barely a passing acquaintance with America’s current policy debates.

The summer Trump polling spurt has nonetheless been instructive in exposing a growing problem on the political right. All too many conservatives, including some magazine editors, have been willing to overlook his hucksterism as he’s risen in the polls. They pretend that he deserves respect because he’s giving voice to some deep disquiet or anger in the American electorate.

But America has rarely lacked for demagogues willing to exploit public discontents. William Jennings Bryan won three Democratic presidential nominations running against eastern elites. In 1948 Henry Wallace ran as a Soviet sympathizer while Strom Thurmond won 39 electoral votes running as a segregationist. Either one would have been a disaster as President.

As a standard-bearer for conservative ideas, Mr. Trump would likewise be a catastrophe...

Perhaps so, but as Selena Zito pointed out, most of what's going on right now, this deep rumbling of populism, isn't about Donald Trump at all, and it won't go away once Trump's driven from the race.

Continue reading, in any case.

And see Donald Trump's op-ed, at USA Today, "I don't need to be lectured — McCain has abandoned our veterans."

Democrats O'Malley and Sanders Booed Off the State at Netroots Nation in Phoenix (VIDEO)

Truly bizarre.

Folks on Twitter were comparing the excoriation of O'Malley and Sanders to the Soviet show trials of the 1930s. Actually, I wonder if they realize just how close that comparison hits home. Damn.

At Progs Today, "#BlackLivesMatter Activists Take Over Stage at Progressive Netroots Nation Conference."

And at Twitchy, "Pass the popcorn: #BlackLivesMatter protesters take over Netroots panel [photos, video]," and "Illegal alien moderator of Netroots Nation explains chaos: ‘We cannot silence women of color’."

Lily Aldridge for L'Officiel Netherlands

At Glossy Newsstand.

And Supermodels Online.

morgen in de winkels: het trendnummer van L'OFFICIEL NL voor maar €2,00!! What's inside? -> http://t.co/kr7si7ZY0e pic.twitter.com/0O6oZIRVr6

— L'OfficielNL (@lofficielnl) July 14, 2015

Rained Out in Anaheim for the First Time Since 1995

Well, this is interesting.

You could see how hard it was raining on ESPN. Some brave fans were just hanging out sopping wet. Heh, ridiculous

At the O.C. Register, "Angels rained out at home for the first time in 20 years":

ANAHEIM – Mike Scioscia, the longest tenured manager in the majors, has seen plenty, but he hadn’t seen this.

The Angels had a home game postponed by rain on Sunday night, the first time since June 16, 1995, five years before Scioscia took over.

The teams will play a split-admission doubleheader on Monday, with the first game at 2 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m. It will be the first doubleheader at Angel Stadium since 2003, when they made up a game that had been rained out in Kansas City.

The last time the Angels made up a home rainout with a doubleheader was Aug. 5, 1988, against the Chicago White Sox.

The rare July storm delayed the 5 p.m. start of the game for about 2 ½ hours before it finally called. The grounds crew had spent about 45 minutes in the outfield, but they couldn’t clear enough of the standing water.

“Unfortunately you never really know how your drainage system works until you get enough water,” Scioscia said. “There is so much standing water in that outfield it has nowhere to go… The field was unplayable with no way to remedy it.”

Both teams will simply move Sunday’s scheduled starters to Monday’s first game, with Hector Santiago starting for the Angels against Boston’s Eduardo Rodriguez...

More.

Donald Trump Says He Won't Apologize for John McCain Comments

Here's Trump's interview on this morning's "This Week" at ABC News, "Donald Trump Says He Does Not Owe John McCain an Apology."

And it's been the lead story at Memeorandum all day.

See Politico, "TRUMP: NO APOLOGY! -- ‘TRUMP IS TOAST ... Boom to bust’: Luntz sees onslaught by veterans if no apology – HILLARY on Trump and GOP field: ‘can be hard to tell the difference’."

Perhaps he is toast, but it should be up to the voters to decide, not the leftist media elite.

.@RyanLizza Why Ryan? You want to deny Trump a voice. That's elitist and undemocratic. @seanspicer

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 19, 2015

More from Sharyl Attkisson, "Fact Check: The Washington Post on Donald Trump and John McCain."

Record-Breaking Rain Drenches San Diego

The Padres are in rain delay --- the exact situation I was fearing for last night's #RedSox at #Angels game!

At Gas Lamp Ball, "Padres-Rockies in a rain delay."

And from the Padres on Twitter, "The #Padres trail 1-0 in the top of the 5th. The rain is really coming down now," and "We don't always have rain delays but when we do things get weird..."

Also at the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Thunderstorms Jar San Diego Awake":

Drought-stricken San Diego received record rainfall on Saturday from Tropical Storm Dolores, whose unexpectedly tough punch also caused power outages, street flooding, a brush fire, downed trees and dozens of accidents on local freeways.

By 5 p.m. Saturday, San Diego's Lindbergh Field had recorded 1.03 inches of rain, which is more precipitation than the city had received during the entire month of July dating back to 1902. San Diego averages only 0.02 inch of precipitation in July.

The onslaught was even bigger near Miramar Marine Corp Air Station, which got 1.55 inches, and Kearny Mesa, which got 1.44 inches. Ramona Airport recorded 1.18 inches. In Tierrasanta, a microburst of wind toppled several pine trees, including one that hit a carport and house.

"It was like there was a bull's eye on the area from Camp Pendleton over to Ramona and Poway and down to Santee and Chula Vista and over to the coast," said Brett Albright, a forecaster for the National Weather Service. "This kind of system can produce sporadically heavy rain. But the cells kept forming and coming ashore. This won't do anything for the drought, but it will reduce the risk of wildfires for the next week or two."

More.

Report: University of Virginia Associate Dean Nicole Eramo 'Vouchsafed' for Bogus, Retracted Rolling Stone Story, 'A Rape on Campus'

This is big.

At the Hollywood Reporter, "Rolling Stone Argues University of Virginia Vouched for Discredited Rape Story."

Via Robert Stacy McCain, at the Other McCain, "‘Rape Culture’ or ‘Libel Culture’? Lawyers for Rolling Stone Blame the Victim":

This is dynamite, my friends. What Rolling Stone is saying is that officials at UVA — specifically including Emily Renda — were responsible for the “flawed or false” story that Jackie told Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

Renda had included an account of Jackie’s claim (identifying her as “Jenna”) in Renda’s June 2014 testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee...

The left's demonic ideological house of cards is collapsing, and it's ugly.

Keep reading.

Donald Trump Surfs the Wave of America's Populism of Frustration

From Selena Zito, at the Pittsburgh Tribune, "Reflecting populism born of frustration":

There is a disturbance in American politics. But no one in the political class seems to be pinpointing the correct source.

Donald Trump gets all of the credit for it from journalists, pundits and academics. They could not be more wrong.

They are looking only at the surface, seeing the response to his harangues as an affirmation of the man. If they looked beyond the cartoonish image of Trump, they would understand that the true disturbance is the frustration of Americans, not the bluster of one man.

The same goes for the surge by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont against Hillary Clinton on the Democrats' side. Clinton's other competitors — Virginia's Jim Webb, a former U.S. senator and Navy secretary, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley — are running deliberate campaigns, but they don't reflect the fire and unrest of voters on the center-left.

It is always remarkable to witness experts not understanding the field in which they are experts; even more remarkable, they still do not recognize the frustration of the masses, despite the unsettling wave elections of 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2014 that vividly affirmed populist movements against both political parties' establishments.

Americans are just tired of it all. Tired of no one speaking honestly to them, tired of being told they cannot speak honestly.

Think about this: For two administrations, Democrats, Republicans and independents effectively have been told to hold their tongues. During the Bush administration, you were unpatriotic if you criticized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; during the Obama administration, you're a racist if you criticize the president or his policies.

And don't even think about expressing your values if those are outside the elite's standard of everyone deserving equality and fairness (unless, of course, you disagree with that elitist viewpoint, in which case hatred and character destruction are your reward).

This column has reported endlessly on the unnamed populist movement afoot in this country, one bridging both sides of the political aisle and uniting Americans against the establishment.

People look at government with an anger and a frustration which Washington does not understand.

In a span of a few days last week, Americans witnessed Washington's glaring failure with disbelief...

She's an extremely perceptive commentator.

Keep reading.

Arizona Released 260 Illegal Alien Criminal Offenders in 2013 (VIDEO)

These sanctuary policies need to stay in the news right through November 2016.

The Dems will be hit hard.

At ABC News 10 Phoenix: