Germany's Violent Backlash Against Third-World Asylum Seekers

Well, about the existential European migration crisis.

At the New York Times, "Violent Backlash Against Migrants in Germany as Asylum-Seekers Pour In":

FREITAL, Germany — Even as Germany has been trying to accommodate a swelling stream of newcomers, the most anywhere in Europe, it is also experiencing a persistent pattern of violence against migrants, raising concerns about escalating far-right opposition.

Rights activists who monitor the treatment of refugees say while they are seeing an increase in hate crimes across Europe, particularly targeting Roma or asylum-seekers from Europe’s poorest countries, nowhere have they seen mass demonstrations or attacks on housing for refugees like those in Germany.

“We’ve seen many bad news stories from Germany, but not that many from other countries — not in the sense of calling it a growing trend,” said Thorfinnur Omarsson, a spokesman for the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, based in Brussels.

In the first half of this year alone, more than 179,000 people applied for asylum in Germany, a country of about 80 million. That is an increase of 132 percent over the same period in 2014, with Syrians the largest group, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said.

During the same period, the Interior Ministry recorded 202 attacks on housing for asylum-seekers, including attempts to render shelters uninhabitable through arson, attacks with stones or other vandalism. In addition, a group called Courage Against the Right cites 48 attacks on individuals, based on local police records.

Some of the episodes, such as the arson attacks in the Bavarian town of Vorra and in the eastern town of Tröglitz, have received widespread attention. But there have been many others, including one in Lunzenau in Saxony on July 29, when vandals broke into and deliberately flooded an empty shelter for 50 asylum-seekers by opening the taps in the bathrooms.

That same night, in nearby Dresden, a group of 50 people staged a demonstration against a tent city, hastily set up by the state to temporarily shelter hundreds of asylum-seekers. The Courage Against the Right group has counted 89 such demonstrations this year, many organized by local groups with names like Freital Defends Itself that have sprung up in cities and towns where empty office buildings and hotels have been converted into hostels for new arrivals.

Germany has also witnessed record numbers of people volunteering their time, clothing and money to help the newcomers, and the German government, both nationally and on the state level, has strongly denounced the attacks.

Still, the persistence of such attacks has human rights groups and security officials worried about the wider implications...

The "wider implications"? Well, one implication is that it's not just the "right wing" that's fomenting a backlash against the migrants. European economies across the board are struggling to absorb the refugees, and the Communists in Greece are putting migrants in concentration camps.

The fact is the crisis doesn't break down into neat "right-left" stereotypes. The Nazis are banned in Germany. Until European governments decide to control their borders, national residents all across the political spectrum will see increasing costs and threats to their security. It's out of control.

And previously, "Latest on Europe's Migrant Crisis (VIDEO)," and "Alongside Doctors Without Borders in the Mediterranean."

Deals in Top-Brand Jewelry

At Amazon, Shop Fashion - Extra 50% Off Select Jewelry.

Plus, from James McPherson, The War That Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters.

The #BlackLivesMatter' Movement Doesn't Really Care About 'Lives'

They care about power --- and demonization of "white racists."

From Andrew Klavan:

Migrant Crisis Raises Existential Questions for Europe

Well, Europe has a lot of existential questions, but yeah, this migrant thing is out of control and very dangerous.

From Timothy Spangler, at the O.C. Register, "Migrant surge raises existential questions for Europe":

This week saw further waves of migrants arriving illegally on European shores. On the Greek island of Kos, more than 2,000 Syrians and Afghans were rounded up from makeshift camps and relocated to a sports stadium, where questions about their treatment were soon raised by aid workers.

In a single day, the Italian coast guard rescued approximately 1,500 migrants from unseaworthy boats attempting to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa, and many others were still lost at sea. Meanwhile, angry migrants in the Spanish seaside town of Salou clashed with police after a Senegalese man jumped to his death as officers raided his apartment.

With each new illegal arrival on European soil, awkward questions are raised about the ability of European politicians to address the migration crisis fully and effectively.

Despite the cataclysmic Greek financial crisis, the near-bankrupt country still makes an appealing destination for thousands of migrants. As police on Kos this week collected individuals from several camps strewn across the island into a stadium for processing, complaints of maltreatment were raised due to the excessive heat and lack of adequate food and water.

Kos sits just off the coast from Turkey, making it a prime target for illegal crossings. Since the beginning of the year, more than 120,000 migrants have illegally entered Greece. Approximately 1.6 million Syrians who fled their civil war are now in Turkey, with many of them eyeing Kos as the easiest point of entry into Europe. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has candidly admitted that, while battling the financial crisis, his country lacks the financial resources to do more to address the migration crisis.

Further west, the Mediterranean remains a deadly front line between European authorities and waves of migrants in North Africa. More than 2,000 migrants have died this year attempting the sea crossing. Human traffickers in Libya have profited from smuggling approximately 100,000 men, women and children across the Mediterranean during the same period.

Members of the Italian military have worked diligently to rescue as many migrants as possible. Despite the widely reported casualty numbers, boats crammed to bursting continue to attempt the high-risk voyage.

Even when migrants make landfall in Europe, countries such as Spain, alongside Italy and Greece, must cope with undocumented migrants unable to work legally who must support themselves through illegal activities. In Salou this week, police targeted the homes of several people believed to be associated with the selling of fake luxury goods to tourists in the resort town south of Barcelona. When officers entered the apartment of a Senegalese suspect, he immediately jumped to his death to avoid arrest.

Protests soon broke out on the streets of Salou, with 100 migrants clashing with officers, leading to injuries on both sides. With the tourist season along the Catalan coast in full swing, at least one tourist was also injured in these clashes.

Unfortunately, despite the mounting human costs of illegal migration into Europe, many European politicians, as well as countless learned observers in the mainstream media, continue to dismiss the crisis as scaremongering by far-right politicians with ulterior motives...

Yeah. "Scaremongering." That's all they've got, despicable leftists. Meanwhile, people are dying. And all left-wing governments can do is lock them up in containment (concentration) camps? Not good. Not good at all.

Still more.

And ICYMI, "Latest on Europe's Migrant Crisis (VIDEO)," and "Alongside Doctors Without Borders in the Mediterranean."

Alongside Doctors Without Borders in the Mediterranean

They're coming from everywhere. Afganistan refugees even made it Greece this week.

At Der Spiegel, "Mediterranean Desperation: Saving Lives at the World's Most Dangerous Border":

Doctors Without Borders is the only major humanitarian organization actively rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean. So far, it has saved more than 10,000 people. But in the world's biggest crisis region, timing is everything.

The call comes in at 10:15 a.m. on the fourth day at sea, just as the ship's captain says it looks like it'll be a quiet day. A refugee boat has been spotted at 33 degrees 05 minutes north latitude and 12 degrees 27 minutes east longitude, 17 nautical miles off the coast of Sabratha, Libya. It could be a rubber dinghy, with space for around 100 people. Or it might be a wooden boat, with up to 800 people on board. The captain hits the throttle, pushing the MY Phoenix to full speed.

It's the law of the sea: With every passing hour, the children on board the refugee boat get weaker, more women faint, the men below decks inhale more toxic gasoline fumes, the inflatable dinghies lose air and the wooden boats take on more water. Every hour increases the danger of the boats springing a leak or simply sinking.
And the rescue workers won't reach the troubled vessel for another three hours.

On board the MY Phoenix, preparations begin. There's Regina Catrambone, an Italian woman who founded the "Migrant Offshore Aid Station," or MOAS for short. There's also the emergency relief coordinator Will Turner from Great Britain and the American nurse Mary Jo Frawley, both of whom work for the aid organization Doctors Without Borders. These three people are the heart of the mission, but of course they are not alone. With them are a captain from Spain, a drone pilot from Austria and a rescue specialist from Malta. Altogether, there are 18 of them, patrollingg the waters between Sicily, Malta and Libya -- an area almost the size of Germany. They wait, sometimes for a call from Rome, other times for a dot to appear on the horizon.

The 40-meter-long MY Phoenix was a fishing trawler before it was retro-fitted as a research vessel. Now, in its third life, it sails on behalf of humanity with one simple goal: to save lives where no one else does. It is a floating refugee camp, equipped with an infirmary full of pain medication alongside drugs to combat seasickness and scabies. It also has an ample supply of baby food and oxygen, a cooler with vaccines and 50 body bags in two sizes: one for adults and one for children.

The Mediterranean has become a crisis region, one where more than 2,000 people have died this year already -- more than have lost their lives in attacks in Afghanistan. But of course that figure is misleading. It reflects only the number of recorded deaths. Who knows how many people have drowned without a trace?

Nevertheless, no aid agencies are active in the region. They all wait on shore for the survivors to arrive. The business of saving lives is left to those who are the least prepared: navies and merchant vessels. Meanwhile, more and more refugees are embarking on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean -- 188,000 so far this year.

It's hard to believe that a crisis area of this magnitude is empty of aid workers -- unthinkable, Doctors Without Borders thought, or, as their founders call them, Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF. It is the biggest, best organized medical relief organization in the world. An army of survival. They are professionals for natural catastrophes and civil wars, and they are engaged in the fight against HIV, Ebola and measles. With a budget of €1.066 billion ($1.16 billion) in 2014, MSF's 2,769 international employees and 31,000 local helpers undertook some 8.3 million treatments...

More.

Natalie Portman's New Love

Natalie Portman helped launch Rule 5 blogging way back in 2008. See, "Natalie Portman Gets Results!"

And Ms. Portman made the cover of July's Harper's Bazaar, "The actress on fashion, family, directing her first movie, and learning to live on the bright side."

Brown Bear Goes for Swim in La Cañada Pool

La Cañada's up by Pasadena. It's hotter than hell up there, and lots of mountains.

Watch, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Bear Takes Dip In Pool of La Cañada Flintridge Home."

Groundhog With Head Stuck in a Can is Rescued by Police

Heh.

Watch, at Euronews, "Groundhog with head stuck in can rescued by police."

What Caused the Civil War?

Well, the Stogie/Donald debates have fizzled out by now, and Stogie's announced that I'm his "enemy." But man, I've freakin' never seen someone go off the rails so rapidly.

My old friend turned into a loon and conspiracy whack job. Sad.

Anyways, the debate's never gonna be settled, obviously. But as it goes on, Marxists and radical libertarians will no doubt be growing tinfoil out of their ears.

Watch, at Prager University, "Colonel Ty Seidule, Professor of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point, settles the debate":

The Democrats' Great Betrayal on Iraq

At FrontPage Magazine:

Editor's note: GOP presidential primary candidate Jeb Bush is once again boldly telling the truth about the Iraq War and putting the focus on those who sabotaged it: President Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. In recent remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Bush not only highlighted the Democrats' indefensible abandonment of a once-stabilized Iraq, but explained how this disastrous decision gave rise to a new, formidable terror threat: The Islamic State. In light of Bush's statements, Frontpage is publishing David Horowitz's introduction to his book "The Black Book of the American Left, Vol. III: The Great Betrayal," which lays out the true history of the Iraq War and the Democrats' policy of defeat. Read the introduction below.

*****

The Great Betrayal is the third volume of my collected writings that make up The Black Book of the American Left. Its chapters focus on events beginning with the Islamic attacks of 9/11 and culminating in the Iraq War. They describe what can now be seen as a tragic turn in our nation’s history that has already profoundly and adversely affected its future.

The effort to remove the Saddam regime in Iraq by force was initially supported by both major political parties. But in only the third month of fighting the Democratic Party turned against the war it had authorized for reasons unrelated to events on the battle- field or changes in policy. This political division over the war fractured the home front with crippling implications for the war effort itself and, beyond that, America’s efforts to curtail the terrorist activities of other regimes in the Middle East, most pointedly Syria and Iran. The internal divisions were greater than any the nation had experienced since the Civil War, and the betrayal by the Democrats of a war policy they had supported was without precedent in the history of America’s wars overseas.

The internal divisions at the end of the Vietnam War were not at all commensurate with those over Iraq. The 1972 McGovern presidential campaign, which called for an American retreat from Vietnam, was launched after ten years of fighting with no result, when both parties had already conceded the war could not be won. The conflict between the two major parties was over how to end the war and over what the war had become, not—as in Iraq—over whether the war was illegal and immoral to begin with and should never have been fought. The Democrats’ opposition to a war they had authorized, represented a betrayal of the nation and its men and women in arms that has no equivalent in American history.

The domestic divisions over both wars were initiated by a radical left whose agendas went far beyond the conflicts themselves. In the decades that followed their efforts to bring the Vietnam War to an ignoble end, the left had made ever deeper inroads into the Democratic Party until, in 2008, the party nominated a senator from its anti-war ranks who became the 44th president of the United States. Of far greater significance than the successful candidacy of one anti-war spokesman, however, was the path the entire Democratic Party took in first abandoning a war its leaders had approved, and then conducting a five-year campaign against the war while it was still in progress.

I have written two previous books about this defection and its destructive consequences. The first, Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam And the American Left (2004), documented the emergence of the post-9/11 anti-war movement, its tacit alliance with the jihadist enemy and its malign influence on the Democratic Party’s fateful turn. The second, Party of Defeat: How Democrats and Radicals Undermined America's War on Terror Before and After 9-11 (2008), was written with Ben Johnson and focused on the sabotage of the war effort by leaders of the Democratic Party, by progressive activists and by a left-leaning national media. This chorus of opposition took advantage of American missteps to conduct a no-holds- barred propaganda campaign worthy of an enemy, even going so far as to leak classified information that destroyed vital national secu-rity programs and put all Americans at risk. Political opponents of the war attacked the moral character of the commander-in-chief and the mission both parties had endorsed. This assault on America’s role in the war dealt a devastating blow to American power and influence from which they have yet to recover.

It is customary and natural for human beings to identify with the communities they inhabit, and on whose health and security their lives depend. This is the foundation of all patriotic sentiment. But once individuals become possessed by the idea that political power can be “transformative” and create a fundamentally different human environment, they develop an allegiance to the idea itself and to the parties and entities in which they see it embodied. Such individuals come to feel alienated from the societies they live in but are determined to replace, and finally to see their own country as an enemy because it is the enemy of their progressive dreams. This is how generations of leftists came to identify with the Communist adversary and its cold war against the democracies of the West. When the Communist empire collapsed, I was curious to see whether this progressive reflex would survive the fall. Lacking the real world instantiation of their dreams Soviet Russia had provided, would progressives continue to volunteer as frontier guards for America’s enemies, even the most reprehensible among them? The answer was not long in coming.

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, liberating hundreds of millions of captive people from their Soviet prison. The following August, Iraq’s sadistic dictator ordered his armies into Kuwait and erased that sovereign nation from the political map. Unlike the Soviet rulers who paid lip service to progressive ideals, Saddam Hussein was a self-identified fascist who did not pretend to advance the cause of “social justice” or liberal values. Even by 20th-century standards, Saddam was an exceptionally cruel and bloody tyrant. But he was also an enemy of the United States, and that proved enough to persuade progressives to lend him a helping hand. When America organized an international coalition to reverse Iraq’s aggression, the progressive left opposed the action as though America rather than the Saddam regime were at fault.

At the time, the only reason there were no large protests against the war over Kuwait was because progressives were freshly demoralized by the Soviet debacle and still in disarray. But their mood changed over the course of the next decade. As the millennium approached, leftists began to regroup, organizing a series of large and violent demonstrations against “globalization,” the term with which they re-labeled their old nemesis “international capitalism.” When Islamic fanatics attacked New York and Washing- ton in 2001, leaders of the globalization protests re-positioned their agendas to focus on the new American “imperialism” in Afghanistan and then Iraq. Eventually, millions of leftists at home and abroad participated in protests to prevent America and the coalition it led from removing Saddam Hussein. Without overtly supporting the Saddam regime as they had the Kremlin, progressives resumed their role as frontier guards for the enemies of the United States...

Michelle Malkin Slams Environmental Protection Agency on Animas River Contamination

Michelle was unusually fired up yesterday.

At Twitchy, "‘Make it stop!’ Michelle Malkin pounds EPA for unwelcome response to river contamination."

Only on rare occasions that I spell this out, but it's necessary. Fuck you @epa #environmentalpollutionagency ==> https://t.co/lksq2Vs75P

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) August 12, 2015

Plus, watch, at RT America, "RAW: Aerial view of wastewater contaminated Animas River."

And at Blazing Cat Fur, "WATCH EPA Chief Finally Apologize (Not Really) for Toxic Colorado River Spill." Be sure to click through for the Ezra Levant commentary at the video.

Eagle Takes Out Drone

It's like a war on drones, including animal armies, heh.

At CNN, "Eagle knocks drone out of sky."

Progressive Policies Drive More Californians Into Poverty, Especially Blacks and Hispanics

California's a far-left Democrat Party state, and apparently the disenfranchised poor are down with that.

Keep in mind who's really doing well amid that the state's economic recovery: the Silicon Valley types (in West L.A., the O.C., and San Diego too), and the Burbank-Hollywood entertainment industry, i.e., affluent leftists not dependent on welfare state transfer programs.

From Joel Kotkin, at the O.C. Register, "Progressive policies drive more into poverty":

Across the nation, progressives increasingly look at California as a model state. This tendency has increased as climate change has emerged as the Democratic Party’s driving issue. To them, California’s recovery from a very tough recession is proof positive that you can impose ever greater regulation on everything from housing to electricity and still have a thriving economy.

And to be sure, the state has finally recovered the jobs lost in the 2007-09 recession, largely a result of a boom in values of stocks and high- end real estate. Things, however, have not been so rosy in key blue-collar fields, such as construction, which is still more than 200,000 jobs below prerecession levels, or manufacturing, where the state has lost over one-third of its employment since 2000. Homelessness, which one would think should be in decline during a strong economy, is on the rise in Orange County and even more so in Los Angeles.

The dirty secret here is that a large proportion of Californians, roughly one-third, or some 3.2 million households, as found by a recent United Way study, find it increasingly difficult to keep their heads above water. The United Way study, surprisingly, has drawn relatively little interest from a media that usually enjoys highlighting disparities, particularly racial gaps. Perhaps this reflects a need to maintain an illusion of blue state success. If Republican Pete Wilson were still governor, I suspect we might have heard much more about this study.

State of Poverty

The United Way study – “Struggling to Get By” – delves well beyond even the recent Census Bureau analysis, which, by factoring in housing costs, already established California as the state with the highest percentage of poor people, at roughly one in four. United Way expanded this percentage by calculating what the charitable organization called the “Real Cost Budget,” which includes not only rent but also costs for child care, medical, health and transportation.

By United Way’s calculation, roughly one in three Californians can barely make ends meet, despite the state’s relatively generous transfer payments, subsidies and general assistance. Latinos and African Americans, as one might expect, fare worse, but roughly one-in-five non-Hispanic whites and 28 percent of Asians also are deemed struggling.

Roughly half of Latino households fall into this condition of poverty or near-poverty, as do a similar share of African American households. Those who do worst generally are poorly educated single mothers and their children. Poverty and near-poverty are greatest among Latinos, who also are bearing the majority of children. It is hard to imagine a more urgent wake-up call.

Not surprisingly, many of the foreign-born, the source of much of California’s population growth in recent decades, have fared poorly. Only 25 percent of households headed by native-born Californians fall below the United Way “Real Cost Budget” line for economic distress, but it’s 45 percent for those headed by the foreign-born, and nearly 60 percent for families headed by a noncitizen. The highest percentage is among Latino households headed by a noncitizen – a staggering 80 percent fall below the minimal level...

Keep reading.

Interesting thing about Kotkin is that he's a former leftist, or so they say.

Hat Tip: VDare, "The Collapse of California."

Courtroom Sketch Artist Jane Rosenberg Draws Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady

And hilarity ensues.

At LAT, "Courtroom artist defends her unintentionally hilarious sketch of Tom Brady."

Courtnie Quinlan Page 3

Hmm... I think she's new to Page 3.

RT'd by Alison Webster, on Twitter, "Stunning @CourtnieQ is today's Page 3 online. 😍 Shot by @Page3photog."

BONUS: On Vimeo, "Courtnie Quinlan and Rheanna Duffield — Behind the Scenes with Chris Conway Photography."

Alexandra Tyler, Playboy's Miss April 2015, Wants to Show You Her Instagram (VIDEO)

Maybe I should be on Instagram, heh.

Watch: "Alexandra Tyler, Miss April 2015, Show You my Instagram — Playboy."

Seattle Bernie Sanders 'Black Lives Matter' Protester Interview on MSNBC: 'Blacks are in a state of emergency...'

Race-baiter Tamron Hall's got the interview.

The protester, Marissa Johnson, apparently took a lot of flak for shutting down Sanders.

Watch: "Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was upstaged at his rally in Seattle by “Black Lives Matter” protesters for not taking action to save black lives, they say. Co-Founder of the Seattle chapter Marissa Johnson explains on NewsNation."

Carly Fiorina Emerges as GOP Weapon Against 'War on Women' Charge

I have to admit, I'm fascinated just listening to her talk.

At the New York Times, "Fiorina Emerges From Pack After Trump Remarks":

This week, Donald J. Trump said that listening to Carly Fiorina, the only woman competing for the Republican presidential nomination, gave him “a massive headache.”

It was music to Mrs. Fiorina’s ears.

For months, the former Hewlett-Packard executive has tried to gain traction by pointedly attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton. But Mrs. Fiorina’s candidacy did not start to sizzle until her performance at last week’s second-tier Republican debate, where viewers realized that as the sole woman in a 17-candidate primary field, she was singularly qualified to stand up to Mr. Trump.

It is not a role Mrs. Fiorina necessarily wants to emphasize. “I don’t spend very much of my campaign time talking or thinking about Donald Trump,” she said in an interview Wednesday. But it is one she has embraced with the same fervor that she has employed against Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic Party front-runner.

It is not a role Mrs. Fiorina necessarily wants to emphasize. “I don’t spend very much of my campaign time talking or thinking about Donald Trump,” she said in an interview Wednesday. But it is one she has embraced with the same fervor that she has employed against Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic Party front-runner.

“Women understood” that Mr. Trump’s attack the day after the debate on the Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, making a reference to bleeding that many people thought was an allusion to menstruation, was sexist, Mrs. Fiorina told a visibly squeamish Jake Tapper of CNN. “I’ve had lots of men imply that I was unfit for decision-making because maybe I was having my period. So I’ll say it, O.K?”

In a crowded Republican field, Mrs. Fiorina has delivered the most forceful and succinct denunciation of Mr. Trump’s comments, which sent a shudder through a party concerned that it would reinforce perceptions that it was increasingly out of touch with female voters.

Now, many Republicans, preparing to potentially confront Mrs. Clinton in a general election, are looking anew at Mrs. Fiorina, who rose from being a secretary to running the giant technology company HP, as the party’s weapon to counter the perception that it is waging a “war on women.”

“People feel Carly has clearly demonstrated she is a very powerful operator, has a lot of strengths of conviction and is willing to take Hillary — and now even Trump — on very directly,” said Katie Packer Gage, a political strategist who focuses on helping Republicans connect with women.

Asked whether she was willing to play the role of telegenic poster girl of the Republican presidential field, Mrs. Fiorina said, “I know Hillary Clinton wants to paint the entire Republican Party with the broad brush of Donald Trump’s comments, but it’s not clear to me that Donald Trump is a Republican.”

Keep reading.

It's been pointed out, on Twitter, if I remember correctly, that Fiorina's soft on Islamic jihad, that she's praised Islam as a great civilization. I vaguely remember something like that from some time ago. Recall, I didn't support her in the California Senate race in 2010. Of late, she's spoken quite forcefully on how we must destroy Islamic State, and she's criticized the administration. I'd like to hear more from her on these topics. She's a fabulous candidate.

Until then, see Tabitha Korol, at Gates of Vienna, "A Mythical, Deceptive Tale by Carly Fiorina."

Donald Trump on Obama Administration's Iran Nuclear Deal: 'We're Going to Have a Nuclear Holocaust...'

Yeah, that's what all the regional powers are worried about.

Here's more of Donald Trump's interview with Sean Hannity, at Fox News, "Trump on Iran: 'They will know I am not playing games'."

Rare White Humpback Whale Spotted Off Australia's Gold Coast (VIDEO)

He's a celebrity down there, it turns out.

At the Brisbane Times, "White whale spotted off Gold Coast may be Migaloo."

Kylie Jenner Bikini Pics!

Dang, this young lady's got some curves!

At London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE PICTURES: Just like Kim! Kylie Jenner shows off her curvaceous derriere in purple bikini as she continues birthday festivities with pals in Mexico."

Fisherman Hooks Drone Flying Over Crystal Pier in San Diego (VIDEO)

Now that is wild!

At Gizmodo, "Watch a Fisherman Catch a Drone in Flight."

Watch: "Drone Fisherman."

Mayor Eric Garcetti Releases 20,000 'Shade Balls' Into Los Angeles Reservoir on Monday (VIDEO)

I imagine there are kookier things.

At LAT, "Shade balls in the L.A. Reservoir," and "Q&A Millions of shade balls helping protect California's precious water."

And watch, at CBS Evening News, "To fight drought, Los Angeles turns to 'shade balls'":

Los Angeles dumped 96 million plastic balls into a reservoir as a way to combat the drought. The balls protect the water and slow the rate of evaporation, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.

Swedish Prosecutors to Drop Sexual Assault Investigation Against Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange

The statute of limitations has done run out, heh.

And the freak Assange is still holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

The fucker's gonna skate like a bird now.

At the BBC, "Julian Assange case: Sweden to drop sex assault inquiry."

Also at Euronews, "Sweden to drop sex assault investigations into Wikileaks founder."

Fellow Inmate Kills Notorious Member of 'San Quentin Six' During Riot at Folsom State Prison (VIDEO)

Man, this is hardcore!

Now that's some Folsom Prison Blues!

At the Sacramento Bee, "Notorious member of 'San Quentin Six' killed in New Folsom prison riot."

Female Suspect Still at Large After Falling from Bay Bridge While Evading Police in Stolen Car Chase (VIDEO)

This is actually kind of hilarious. Sometimes you gotta give it up for the gangstas, heh.

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Stolen car suspect falls off Bay Bridge evading police":

The bizarre getaway — reminiscent of a scene from “Mission: Impossible” — unfolded shortly after 2 a.m. when CHP officers heading west on the bridge saw a Nissan Maxima spin out and crash on the eastbound side of the span.

The officers turned around, found the Nissan abandonedand saw three women walking east on the bicycle path adjacent to the bridge.

One of the women, believed to be the driver, began climbing onto the rail and “exhibited erratic behavior,” leading the officers to believe she would jump, CHP officials said. She had on a black dress and no shoes.

One of the officers grabbed her to try to pull her back over the railing. But she struggled, and after a minute and a half, “she pulled out of his grip and fell into the water below,” CHP officials said.

The woman, who is in her mid-20s, splashed in the water about 70 feet below, in between the new bridge and the old eastern span, authorities said.

Some motorists reported seeing a woman, soaking wet, standing on the north side of the bridge near the toll plaza trying to flag down traffic...

Reports say she's still at large, lol.

Progressive Education: 13-Year-Old Deaf Student Raped as Part of Riverside Public School 'Sex Club'

This is horrible!

Here's the school's website, on the State of California server, "California School for the Deaf."

This is rape culture. Leftist progressive rape culture, where allegedly hundreds of "sex acts" were performed by children.

At ABC News 7 Los Angeles, "DEAF STUDENT ALLEGEDLY RAPED AS PART OF RIVERSIDE SCHOOL SEX CLUB":

WEST LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Phobias, nightmares and acting out. That's how baffled parents described the behavior of their once joyful 13-year-old boy. He is deaf and could not explain. Then came the call from his school.

"My son was raped. He was forced to participate in oral sex," his mother Geneva White-Sosanya said.

She and her husband Tunde Sosanya have filed a lawsuit claiming negligence.

They had enrolled their son at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, an institution that brings special-needs students from across the state to live on campus. Supervisors used computerized surveillance to help monitor students, especially at night.

"My son was bullied. He was forced. He was drug from his bed at night and this happened while the randomized computer checks were in place," said the distraught mother.

The parents were especially disturbed by how long the school waited to notify them of the attack. They were contacted three months after it happened and had not been present to comfort him when he was questioned by investigators. The school told the parents that seven other students were also involved.

"Gut wrenching," the boy's father Tunde Sosanya said. "I was with my wife when we got that news. My wife broke down crying."

Because the state operates the school, the California Highway Patrol and Child Protective Services were called to conduct a criminal investigation into what the Sosanya's attorney says was a sex club.

The alleged ringleader was a 15-year-old student named in the lawsuit as "John Roe." Investigators said they were unable to obtain enough evidence to press charges. They reported some acts may have been consensual, a finding rejected by the couple's lawyer.

"The issue about consent or not? These kids are 13, 14, 15-year-old boys. There is no consent," attorney Candice Klein-Pereira says.

The suit portrays "John Roe" as the classic bully.

"He would threaten them and then tell them, 'If you don't say it was consensual, I am going to say that you are the one who did that, you are the one who is performing these acts, that you are the one who is doing this," Klein-Pereira said.

It has been a nightmare for the West Los Angeles couple who adopted their son as a baby, knowing he was deaf.

"He was a gift to us. We adopted him at seven days old," Tunde Sosanya said.

Among their questions now: were other vulnerable special-needs children victimized?

"This investigation has uncovered hundreds and I am not even exaggerating -- hundreds of different sexual acts between these boys. So if the school is allowing this many events to take place, where is the protection?" asked Klein-Pereira...

Still more.

The case for home schooling is looking better all time, man.

Bwahaha! #Ferguson Protesters Charged with Assault, Damaging Car, After Blocking Traffic on I-70 (VIDEO)

Following-up from Monday, "Protesters Shut Down Interstate 70 in St. Louis."

Here's the video, "Protestors block Interstate 70 in St. Louis #Ferguson #MoralMonday Action."

At at St. Louis Magazine, "Car Plows Through Ferguson Protesters; Protesters Charged With Assaulting Driver, Damaging Car."

Added Bonus: They're lesbians.

On Monday, protesters commemorating the anniversary of the Michael Brown shooting shut down Interstate 70 during rush hour, forming a human chain across the roadway. Undeterred, a woman in an SUV pushed her car through the crowd, knocking protesters aside.

Now, charges have been filed, but not against the driver—against two of the protesters.

Brittany Ferrell, 26, and Alexis Templeton, 21, prominent protesters who founded the group Millennial Activists United, were arrested yesterday in Clayton. Ferrell has been charged with first-degree property damage, first-degree trespass, and peace disturbance. Templeton has been charged with third-degree assault, first-degree trespass, and peace disturbance.

“The charges stem from the efforts of the defendants to block traffic on Interstate 70," says County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch. "Templeton is accused of punching the victim as our victim attempted to drive past the defendant. The victim suffered an eye injury as a result. Ferrell kicked the victim’s car as she passed causing nearly $5000.00 in damage.”

They're hate criminals, lol.

More.

And idiot leftist are shocked that Ferrell and Templeton were charged, and not the driver. Heh, from the numbskulls at Daily Kos, "Angry driver plows into protesters on I-70, police file charges against protesters for SUV damage":

This video has been gnawing at me since the moment I saw it being livestreamed on YouTube by St. Louis American. During the livestream of the I-70 highway shutdown by Black Lives Matter protesters, an angry driver plowed directly into a line of protesters. The video bothered me on a number of fronts and made me question whether a St. Louis police officer might have even given the go-ahead for the SUV driver to run directly into the protesters. If you watch the video, you can see the driver motioning to a police officer, who comes over and has a very brief conversation with her. We don't have any idea what was said, but you can clearly see in the video that from the moment the police officer began to walk away, the driver of the SUV began to drive directly into the protesters. The officer even looks back and sees the SUV driving into the line of people. More protesters gathered and stood in front of the SUV and then the driver punched the gas, pushing protesters to the side and dragging a "Ferguson is everywhere" box sign with it. A few protesters can be seen banging on the car to get the driver to stop.

I watched with a mix of horror, anger and relief. Horrified that the driver had willfully driven into a group of people. Anger that the officer actually looked back at the vehicle, saw it plowing into the people and kept walking away. Relief nobody was seriously injured...

Oh, the horror! Bwahaha!!

At Least 13 Dead as Massive Explosion Rocks Chinese Port City of Tianjin

Here's the Guardian UK, "Explosions in Chinese city of Tianjin kill at least 13 and injure hundreds."

Also at Zero Hedge, "Massive Explosion Rocks Chinese Port City, Martial Law Declared (13 Dead, 400 Hospitalized)."

This clip shows the most spectacular angle of the blast. You can practically feel it exploding out of your screen, "Caught on camera Massive gas station nuke like explosion Tianjin."

More at Russia Today, "RAW: Massive blasts worth tons of TNT rock Tianjin, China."

BREAKING! New CNN Iowa Poll: #DonaldTrump Tops GOP Field at 22 Percent; Seen as Best on the Issues

And there's a John King video at the link, breaking down the poll.

At CNN, "CNN / ORC Poll: Trump tops in Iowa as Scott Walker drops."

CNN/ORC Poll: @realDonaldTrump tops in Iowa http://t.co/VjguyZpLkq pic.twitter.com/bXe1rLywaW

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 12, 2015

PREVIOUSLY: "Wham!! New Echelon Insights Poll Has Donald Trump at 29 Percent, Soaring Over GOP Field!"

Heartbreaking Look at Mothers Who Lost Sons to Islamic State

And Obama claimed Islamic State wasn't the way of the future. I guess the sons of these mothers never got the message.

From Julia Ioffe, at the Huffington Post, "Mothers of ISIS: Their children abandoned them to join the worst terror organization on earth. Now all they have is each other."

Emily Ratajkowski Wears Glasses, Mini-Dress, and Knee-High Boots as She Steps Out in London

Ah, to be young again.

At London's Daily Mail, "Serious specs appeal! Emily Ratajkowski teams chic reading glasses with sexy thigh high boots as she steps out in London," and "Emily Ratajkowski flashes hint of toned tum in a cropped white tee as she and co-star Zac Efron head to Paris to promote We Are Your Friends."

Officially in need of glasses! What kind should I get?! @SamsungMobileUS #galaxylife pic.twitter.com/vAgNodj0I6

— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) August 3, 2015

And some video, from AP, "Zac Efron and Emily Ratajkowski talk about the importance of friendship in finding one's path in life at the London premiere of their latest film, 'We Are Your Friends'."

Latest on Europe's Migrant Crisis (VIDEO)

Man, people will risk everything to get to Europe.

They should come to the U.S. It's not like we don't let everyone in anyways.

At the BBC, "European migrant crisis: Italy navy rescues 50 from dinghy."



And on Greece, at London's Daily Mail, "'There will be bloodshed': Stark warning from Greek mayor after Kos police use batons and fire extinguishers to break up 1,500 strong refugee protest at football stadium."

Not so welcoming over there, I guess.

More, at the Express UK, "PICTURED: Syrian migrants pose for SELFIE after landing on Greek island of Kos."

Wham!! New Echelon Insights Poll Has Donald Trump at 29 Percent, Soaring Over GOP Field!

I don't like online polling. There's been a huge debate among political scientists over the validity and efficacy of the new online surveys.

I don't like them, and my distrust of online surveys was confirmed by the massive cluster of YouGov's polling of the British general election, which badly failed to predict the decisive victory for the Conservatives.

I like Kristen Soltis Anderson, however. She's got a must-read new book out, The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials Are Leading America (And How Republicans Can Keep Up). She's smart and not prone to ridiculous spin.

So that makes this worth a look, at Hot Air, "Echelon Insights post-debate poll: Trump 29, Carson 10, Fiorina 9, Rubio 9, Bush 9."

Holy survey 'splosion Batman!

Alternate headline: “Blogger to start gaming out President Trump’s possible VP nominees.”

On the one hand, as noted by my pal Karl, this poll was conducted using Google Consumer Surveys. If you’re wary of online polls, especially ones like this that attempt to “infer” important demographic data about respondents based on their browsing history and IP, then discount these results accordingly. On the other hand, Echelon Insights is operated by Kristen Soltis Anderson and Patrick Ruffini, two of the right’s brighter lights in political data crunching. They wouldn’t have published this poll if they didn’t have good statistical reasons to think it’s accurate, I’m sure.

Pop the champagne, Trump fans. And make sure it’s only the finest champagne. The classiest...

Keep reading.

And go straight to the survey, "New Poll: Trump Leads Post-Debate; Fiorina, Rubio, Carson, and Cruz Rise."

WATCH: New Video Released of 'Biggest Shark Ever Filmed'

It's from underwater photographer Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, on Facebook.

And at NBC.

Amazing:

Northern California Jerusalem Fire Jumps Into Napa County (VIDEO)

Temperatures are expected to soar well past 100 degrees up near Sacramento. That's not good for firefighters.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Northern California wildfire jumps into Napa County; 150 homes evacuated."

And watch, via KCRA Sacramento, "Fast-moving Jerusalem Fire grows to 12,000 acres."

Top Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Rookie Solveig Hansen

She's a Danish sweetie, on Twitter.

And on video:



BONUS: "Solveig Swimsuit Photos, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2015."

Ralkina Jones: 'I don't want to die in your cell...' (VIDEO)

And then she died.

At the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, "'I don't want to die in your cell:' Police release video of Ralkina Jones taken prior to death."

And the New York Daily News, "Cleveland woman found dead in jail tells prison officers 'I don't want to die in your cell' hours earlier in video."

She was charged with alleged assault, but she had all kinds of medical conditions.

Where Fox News Consumers Fit on the Ideological Spectrum

This is pretty cool, from Pew Research. Click through to take a closer look, with the distribution of conservative Fox viewers superimposed against the total viewing audience. It's cool.

GOP debate put Fox News in the spotlight. A profile of its audience: http://t.co/NK9CVQejaS pic.twitter.com/5ohTojqjYw

— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) August 12, 2015

BONUS: At the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Handling of Donald Trump Puts Fox News on the Spot."

Magical Thinking and the Real Power of Hiroshima

From Jeffrey Lewis, at Foreign Policy, "A few thoughts on the psychological effect and utility of nuclear weapons":

HIROSHIMA, Japan — I am in Hiroshima, as is my usual practice in August. I am a member of the governor of Hiroshima prefecture’s Roundtable on Nuclear Disarmament. Each year, the city and prefecture mark the bombing with both a high-level dialogue about the state of things and public events about our nuclear predicament.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the bombings, which feels like a big moment to take stock of where we are, how we’ve gotten here, and where we’re headed.

Hiroshima is a better place to do that thinking than Washington, D.C. The weather isn’t particularly nice in either place, but Washington’s August is doubly marred with nakedly ideological polemics on the bombing. You’ll hear that the bombings ended the war and saved millions of American lives, or that President Harry Truman knew the war was over and was just trying to frighten the Soviets, a move that starts the Cold War. I don’t think the historical evidence supports either view or even the stark duality both views presume, but what is really galling about these arguments is that the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are reduced to the role of mere extras at their own murders.

I find a visit to Hiroshima deeply centering. It offers a chance to think again about the history of the bombing and to put the people who suffered most back at the center of the story.

It is easy to argue about the bombings with hindsight. We know the bombs worked and that they inflicted terrible suffering on the people of Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. Our entire modern debate about whether the bombings were intended to end the war or frighten the Soviets is premised on our contemporary conviction that nuclear weapons are awesome in the traditional sense of that word.

But Robert Oppenheimer and others didn’t know that. They were not sure, in advance, that a nuclear explosion would inspire awe. If you look back through the documents, you can see scientists worrying about picking a target to show the bomb’s best effect. There is even a dark passage where Kyoto is discussed as a target because the highly educated population would be better positioned to grasp that this bomb was different. “From the psychological point of view,” the document notes, “there is the advantage that Kyoto is an intellectual center for Japan and the people there are more apt to appreciate the significance of such a weapon as the gadget.” Consider that Oppenheimer’s first question to Gen. Leslie Groves after the bombing was whether it had occurred after sundown. He was still worried the locals wouldn’t be able to tell it was not a run-of-the-mill bombing unless the big fireball turned night into day. Groves explained that a night bombing hadn’t been feasible. The locals still noticed.

Our modern conviction that nuclear weapons are different only came later. While the construction of the norm against nuclear weapons, I think pride of place goes to John Hersey’s Hiroshima. Originally published as a series of articles in the New Yorker, it was eventually published by Alfred A. Knopf press. The fact that I was assigned this text repeatedly in high school and college probably explains my choice of careers. I have a slim 1946 first edition that is one of my prize possessions.

The creation of this norm was slow and contested. In the 1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles worried very much about a growing taboo against nuclear weapons use. They worried the taboo would deny the United States a weapon that they believed was essential to meeting defense commitments around the world.

Over time, we’ve come to see nuclear weapons as Hersey saw them, as the ultimate expression of material and spiritual evil of total war. The bomb has come to represent the ability of our civilization to destroy itself and our nagging fear that our political and social institutions are inadequate to save us from the abyss.

This norm, really this fear, helps explain why nuclear weapons have not been used again in anger in the intervening 70 years. One might point to deterrence, but nor have we used the bomb against states with no nuclear weapons. Even Eisenhower hesitated in response to suggestions nuclear weapons night help relieve French forces trapped by the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu.

The implication of this norm, of course, is that we can’t actually use nuclear weapons. It’s hard, for example, to imagine dropping a nuclear bomb on the Iraqis we claimed to be liberating from Saddam Hussein. That’s certainly what Air Force Gen. Chuck Horner, who ran the air war during the 1991 Gulf War, concluded. Asked by an interviewer whether he considered using nuclear weapons, he responded, “You could use nuclear weapons but for what targets? The nuclear weapon’s only good against cities; it’s not any good against troops in the desert. I mean it takes too many of ’em, so the problem you have is, you have a war where if you kill a lot of people, particularly women and children, you lose the war no matter what happens on the battlefield.” Nor, obviously, did the United States use nuclear weapons in 2003.

I once had the opportunity to ask a four-star general a pointed question: Are there any targets that the United States cannot destroy without nuclear weapons? I got an interesting response, one that I found a bit convoluted and that involved a nearby chair as a metaphor. He said something like, “Take this chair — there are a lot of ways I can destroy the chair as a chair, but does destroying the chair have the unique psychological effect of using a nuclear weapon?” I wasn’t quite sure I was as intimidated by our ability to nuke the chair, or even the whole dining room at Restaurant Nora, but I took that to be a “no.” There are no such targets...

That's a little soppy for me, although he's absolutely right about the norm against nuclear use. No rational state will use nuclear weapons today. That's one reason why you want keep them out of the hands of state leaders in, say, Pyongyang and Tehran.

Still more at that top link.

And ICYMI, "The Defeat of Japan Was Anything but Inevitable. Dropping the Bomb Was the Right Thing to Do."

WATCH: Center for Medical Progress Releases 6th Planned Parenthood Investigative Video

At Life News, "6th Shocking Video Catches Planned Parenthood Selling Aborted Babies Without Patient Consent."

And watch: "Human Capital - Episode 2: Inside the Planned Parenthood Supply Site."

Fortunately, this one's not a graphic video. I couldn't even watch the last one, which shows "technicians" using tweezers to sort baby parts from a huge tray of human remains. Ghastly.

Also at Memeorandum.

BONUS: From Amy Otto, at the Federalist, "How Pro-Choice Women Undermine Feminism."

Donald Trump Interview on 'Hannity' (VIDEO)

He's more confident than ever, and always hilarious.



Plus, more of the interview, "Can Donald Trump stimulate the American economy?," and "Donald Trump lays out plans for immigration, health reform."

Top Secret' Emails Found: Hillary Clinton to Turn Over Private Server to FBI

She's been lying for a year, and it's been drip, drip, drip with the release of the emails. Call me skeptical that anything will change, although it must be said that Hillary's taking a beating in public opinion. And that makes me happy.

At McClatchy, "‘Top Secret’ emails found as Clinton probe expands to key aides":

WASHINGTON - As pressure builds on Hillary Clinton to explain her official use of personal email while serving as secretary of state, she faced new complications Tuesday. It was disclosed her top aides are being drawn into a burgeoning federal inquiry and that two emails on her private account have been classified as “Top Secret.”

The inspector general for the Intelligence Community notified senior members of Congress that two of four classified emails discovered on the server Clinton maintained at her New York home contained material deemed to be in one of the highest security classifications - more sensitive than previously known.

The notice came as the State Department inspector general’s office acknowledged that it is reviewing the use of “personal communications hardware and software” by Clinton’s former top aides after requests from Congress.

“We will follow the facts wherever they lead, to include former aides and associates, as appropriate,” said Douglas Welty, a spokesman for the State Department’s inspector general.

Despite the acknowledgment, the State Department inspector general’s office has left numerous unanswered questions, including exactly who and what is being investigated. The office initially declined to comment and referred questions to the Intelligence Community inspector general’s office, which said it is not currently involved in any inquiry into aides and is being denied full access to aides’ emails by the State Department. Clinton, herself, is not a target.

The expanding inquiry threatens to further erode Clinton’s standing as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Since her reliance on private email was revealed in March, polls in crucial swing states show that increasing numbers of voters say Clinton is not honest and trustworthy, in part, because of her use of private emails.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, wants Clinton and her aides to “come clean and cough up” information about their personal email use.

“Both the State Department and Intelligence Community inspectors general should be looking into the staff use of the Clinton private server for official State Department business. This means giving both inspectors general access and custody of all emails that haven’t already been deleted,” said Grassley of Iowa. “From what is publicly known, it appears that the investigation thus far has focused so much on the former secretary of state, that it’s gotten lost that high-level staff apparently also used this server too.”

Keep reading. (Via Elizabeth Price Foley, at Instapundit.)

For #BlackLives Matter, White Progressives Are Still White Supremacists

Race hatred, i.e., hatred of white people, is at the core of #BlackLivesMatter.

At Twitchy, "White progressives trying to help minorities #FeelTheBern put in their place with #NotAnAlly hashtag." (Via Michelle Malkin, "This is what it looks like when the IED of left-wing identity politics blows up in white progressives'.")

And from black activist Dominique Hazzard, on Facebook:

Folks are asking “What about Hillary?

1) Some people, like me, actually like *Bernie Sanders* and want to vote for him for President. But the Bernie that’s been on display for months just won’t do. We a better Bernie and that’s why we push.

2) Sure, Hillary is a very strategic target. (In general, not for this tactic cause she got the ill security).

But….. WHY would Hillary feel the need to be a better advocate for ending structural racism and white supremacy when Bernie Sanders, her MORE RADICAL opponent, can get away with a) cancelling meetings with black freedom movement organizers b) explicitly stating that the focus of his campaign is seniors and poor white people, as if black votes and lives don’t matter c) deflecting questions about racism and turning them into answers about socio-economic class at every turn d) not publicly releasing a racial justice platform???? If I were her, I sure wouldn’t feel the need to out-radical my radical opponent. Not at all.

'Emin advanced her career with media-friendly drunken antics, and by cozying up to power players, rather than making worthwhile art. She made a name for herself by behaving as a kind of pandering clown for the glitterati, a predictable freak show for our would-be ruling class, feeding into the establishment’s most precious clichés...'

This is interesting, at the Remodern Review, "The Doublethink Strategy of the Cultural Elitists":

If you don’t understand the desired outcome, the actions make no sense.

One of the most controversial and least talented artists of the global art scene routinely receives the full force of establishment institutional support, including from a supposedly conservative government.

Tracey Emin is a notorious figure in England. She is an icon of the Conceptual Art movement that has done so much to destroy the credibility of elitist culture for anyone who has a life outside of the Postmodern cocoon.

Emin’s an artist who can’t draw; naturally the powers that be named her Professor of Drawing at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of the Arts.

*****

Once you realize the arrogant ruling class believes tearing down the traditions and standards of Western civilization will cement their grasp on unaccountable power, the promotion of Emin as the pinnacle of artistic achievement becomes understandable. Hyping soulless, unskilled art has a toxic, weakening effect on society as a whole. Conceptual art is a tool of oppression.

RTWT.

Via Instapundit.

GRAPHIC: Islamic State Land Mines Blow Up Kneeling Hostages in New Method of Jihad Barbarity (VIDEO)

At Victory Girls, "New Method of Execution for ISIS Fighters: Kneel Before Bombs Buried in The Ground."

And this is extremely graphic. You can see the land mines blowing the bodies to chunks, "ISIS Blows Up Hostages - Graphic Video."

Hillary Clinton's Gotta #FeeltheBern! Vermont Senator Surges in New Hampshire, 44-37 Percent

Heh, this is getting fun.

At the Boston Herald, "Bernie Sanders surges ahead of Hillary Clinton in N.H., 44-37: N.H. Democrats lukewarm to her tough image":

Boston Herald front page -- August 12, 2015 pic.twitter.com/mWJyP9cxTn

— Boston Herald (@bostonherald) August 12, 2015

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has rocketed past longtime front-runner Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, a stunning turn in a race once considered a lock for the former secretary of state, a new Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll shows.

Sanders leads Clinton 44-37 percent among likely Democratic primary voters, the first time the heavily favored Clinton has trailed in the 2016 primary campaign, according to the poll of 442 Granite-Staters.

Vice President Joe Biden got 9 percent support in the test primary match-up. The other announced Democrats in the race, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and former Virginia Gov. Jim Webb, barely register at 1 percent or below.

The live interview phone poll was conducted Aug. 7-10 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.

Clinton is still viewed overwhelmingly by voters as the likely Democratic nominee, but the results suggest she faces an unexpectedly difficult fight to prevent an embarrassing opening loss in the first-in-the-nation primary.

The Franklin Pierce/Herald poll shows that most New Hampshire Democrats are lukewarm to Clinton, despite her campaign’s concerted effort to soften her image and connect with voters.

Just 35 percent of likely primary voters say they are “excited” about Clinton’s campaign, according to the poll. And 51 percent of voters say that while they could support her, they aren’t enthusiastic about her White House bid.

And while 80 percent of likely Granite State Democrats view her favorably, just 38 percent of those say they have a “very” favorable impression.

Sanders’ rise has been meteoric. The socialist senator trailed Clinton by a 44-8 margin in a Franklin Pierce/Herald poll in March.

More than half of New Hampshire’s likely Democratic primary voters say they view Sanders “very” favorably, an indication of the excitement the Vermont senator has generated among his mostly liberal supporters.

But while Sanders has surged ahead in New Hampshire, he does face what appears to be an electability problem, even among his staunch supporters.

Just 11 percent of likely Democratic voters picked him over Clinton to win the nomination, while 65 percent said she would emerge as the party’s general election candidate...

Out for My Walk Yesterday

Better late than never, I guess.

I'm going to make an effort to get back in shape.

I walked about 4 or 5 miles. Very nice.

That's probably a heron, not an egret. I wasn't sure.

Is that an egret? Don't know if they come in gray? Beautiful. #Irvine pic.twitter.com/TTfIhtLxvd

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 11, 2015

She's sticking her head up now. #Irvine. pic.twitter.com/NWC5Pwu3Tf

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 11, 2015

Nice little pond in the flood channel. The ducks can chill. #Irvine. pic.twitter.com/zNVajmdold

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 11, 2015

Stopping for a break at Culver and Irvine Blvd. #Irvine. pic.twitter.com/GEblzU7bzf

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 11, 2015

Ben Affleck's Got Moobs!

My youngest son's always joking about men with boobs -- "moobs" -- so I was cracking up when I showed him these shots of Ben Affeck. Man, this dude's got massive moobs, lol.

At London's Daily Mail, "Ben Affleck's ex-nanny pictured posing with Tom Brady's Super Bowl rings on private jet to Las Vegas with duo."

Feminism’s Attack on Human Nature

At the Other McCain, "Feminism’s Attack on ‘Institutionalized, Normative Heterosexuality’."

And get your copy of Sex Trouble: Essays on Radical Feminism and the War Against Human Nature.

Robert's working on the second edition. It's gonna be good.

The West Bank's Other Violent Extremists

You had the stabbing death at the gay rights parade, as well as the arson bombing attack that killed a Palestinian baby.

I had a couple of posts, "Israel Braces for Violence, Hamas Rockets, After Palestinian Baby Killed in Firebombing," and "Meir Ettinger, Grandson of Meir Kahane, is Held in Israel."

So, FWIW, here's a look back to Daniel Byman and Natan Sachs's piece from the September/October 2012 issue of Foreign Affairs, "The Rise of Settler Terrorism":

Late this past June, a group of Israeli settlers in the West Bank defaced and burned a mosque in the small West Bank village of Jabaa. Graffiti sprayed by the vandals warned of a "war" over the planned evacuation, ordered by the Israeli Supreme Court, of a handful of houses illegally built on private Palestinian land near the Israeli settlement of Beit El. The torching of the mosque was the fourth such attack in 18 months and part of a wider trend of routine violence committed by radical settlers against innocent Palestinians, Israeli security personnel, and mainstream settler leaders -- all aimed at intimidating perceived enemies of the settlement project.

This violence has not always plagued the settler community. Although many paint all Israeli settlers as extremists, conflating them with the often-justified criticism of Israeli government policy in the West Bank, the vast majority of them oppose attacks against Palestinian civilians or the Israeli state. In the past, Israeli authorities and the settler leadership often worked together to prevent such assaults and keep radicalism at bay. Yet in recent years, the settler movement has experienced a profound breakdown in discipline, with extremists now beyond the reach of either Israeli law enforcement or the discipline of settler leaders.

Nothing justifies violence by extremists of any variety. But to be stopped, it must be understood. The rise in settler radicalism stems from several key factors: the growth of the settler population over the past generation, the diversification of religious and ideological strands among it, and the sense of betrayal felt by settlers following Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Israel, through the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and other security agencies, must now assert control over groups that no longer respect the state or the traditional settler leadership. Yet just as radical settlers pose an increasing threat, mainstream Israeli society has become more apathetic than ever about the fate of the Palestinians. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians remain deadlocked, and even their meaningful resumption, let alone success, seems unlikely in the near future. The Israeli government thus feels little political or diplomatic pressure to confront the extremists.

But with the peace process frozen, what happens under Israeli control matters more, not less. With Israel likely to govern parts of the West Bank for some time, it can no longer shirk its obligations -- to protect not only its own citizens but Palestinian civilians as well -- by claiming that a two-state solution is on the horizon and that the Palestinians will soon assume full responsibility over themselves. And if Israel wants to preserve the possibility of a negotiated peace, it must address this problem before it is too late. Whenever extremist settlers destroy Palestinian property or deface a mosque, they strengthen Palestinian radicals at the expense of moderates, undermining support for an agreement and delaying a possible accord. Meanwhile, each time Israeli leaders cave in to the demands of radical settlers, it vindicates their tactics and encourages ever more brazen behavior, deepening the government's paralysis. In other words, Israeli violence in the West Bank both undermines the ability of Israel to implement a potential deal with the Palestinians and raises questions about whether it can enforce its own laws at home.

Recently, Israeli leaders have begun to recognize the problem. Following extremist vandalism against the IDF and mainstream settler leaders over the past year, some Israeli generals and government ministers began to label radical settlers as terrorists. Now, the Israeli government should translate that bold rhetoric into decisive action. To begin with, it should officially designate the perpetrators of violence as terrorists and disrupt their activities more aggressively. Security agencies should then enforce Israeli law, prosecuting violent settlers as they would terrorists, Palestinian or Israeli. And to slow the tide of radicalism, Israeli leaders must denounce extremists and shun their representatives, placing particular pressure on religious leaders who incite violence. Meanwhile, the United States and other countries seeking to revive the peace talks must encourage Israel to take these steps before things worsen. Washington should itself consider designating violent radical settlers as terrorists and should push Israel to crack down on them. Settler extremism tarnishes Israel's name and imperils its future. Friends of Israel, the Israeli government, and even those who support the settlements in the West Bank should fight back against this dangerous phenomenon...

Keep reading.

RELATED: At the New York Times, "Soul-Searching in Israel After Bias Attacks on Gays and Arabs."

A French Couple's Love for the American West Ends in Death in the Desert. Their Son Got Lucky.

Not sure what the couple was thinking, but obviously it's not too bright to go hiking at White Sands National Monument, a freakin' boiling summer desert in New Mexico, at 1:00 in the afternoon in 100 degree heat.

But hey, they loved the place.

At least they sacrificed for their kid.

At the New York Times, "A French Couple’s Love for the American West Ends in Tragedy":

PARIS — The family from France was so enthralled by their last visit to the American West that they started planning another almost immediately. On Facebook, they posted pictures of the vast blue skies, the rugged ocher canyons and the endless strips of asphalt that had captivated them.

This year, David and Ornella Steiner, a couple from a quiet town near Reims, about 100 miles east of Paris, returned, starting in Seattle before heading to Santa Fe. A picture posted on Aug. 2 on Mr. Steiner’s Facebook profile showed the vivid electric blue water of a natural pool in Yellowstone Park.

But it was at the White Sands National Monument of New Mexico, a region where beautiful landscapes can conceal dangers quick to surprise even the most prepared visitor, that the Steiners’ new trip took a terrible turn. Last week, the couple was found dead in the desert, apparently from heat-related exhaustion during a hike. Their 9-year-old son, Enzo, was the only one to survive, found alive by park rangers who believe his parents sacrificed water to save him.

The French Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the boy arrived in France over the weekend with his grandmother, who had flown to Albuquerque to bring him home.

Kim Duntze, who worked with Ms. Steiner at the Reims town hall, said in a telephone interview that news of the couple’s death had shocked her co-workers, who all knew about the trip because Ms. Steiner had been planning it for over a year and had discussed it frequently at the office.

“They had fallen in love with the area,” Ms. Duntze said. “It was their dream project.”

The bodies of Mr. Steiner, 42, and his wife Ornella, 51, were found by park rangers last week during a routine patrol. Sheriff Benny House of Otero County told The Alamogordo Daily News on Saturday that two empty 20-ounce water bottles were found with the bodies but that the boy told investigators the bottles were full when the family started the hike.

“The father and mother would take one drink while they made the child take two swallows of water,” Sheriff House said. “It might have been why the child fared so well due to his smaller stature, plus he probably consumed more water than they did.”

Still more.

Natasha Oakley

At London's Daily Mail, "Flaunting the body which made her an Instagram sensation! Natasha Oakley leaves little to the imagination as she hits the beach in monochrome bikini."

And check her out on Instagram.

WATCH: Police Release Surveillance Video in Tyrone Harris Shooting

At the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Surveillance video shows man with gun before he was shot by police during Ferguson protests, authorities say."

#FeeltheBern in Los Angeles: Bernie Sanders Draws 27,000 in Campaign Rally at Sports Arena (VIDEO)

Well, I'm obviously getting a kick out of this, heh.

At Gateway Pundit, "Bernie Sanders Draws FIVE TIMES As Many at Monday Rally as Hillary’s Largest Crowd" (via Memeorandum).



More at the Los Angeles Times, "Why a huge Los Angeles crowd turned out for Bernie Sanders."

PREVIOUSLY: "Bernie Sanders Draws 28,000 People at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon," and "Bernie Sanders Draws 15,000 People at University of Washington."

Orphans of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Appeal to Barack Obama to Exonerate Mother Posthumously

It's Michael Meeropol and Robert Meeropol, writing at the New York Times, "The Meeropol Brothers: Exonerate Our Mother, Ethel Rosenberg." (Via Memeorandum.)

The Rosenbergs were hardline communists, both Julius and Ethel.

Naturally, hard-left historian and nutjob Erik Loomis, at Lawyers, Guns, and Money, makes the absurd claim that the execution of the Rosenbergs was "one of the greatest injustices of the Cold War."

Loomis is a communist who wrote his dissertation on homosexual lumberjacks, so naturally he'd be taking Stalin's side in the debate. Freakin' loser.

So, see John Schindler, at 20 Committee, "The Rosenbergs and Espionage Denial":

More than six decades after they were executed for spying on behalf of the Soviet Union, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg continue to inspire polemics. Their case had ample drama, embellished by the fact that the doomed couple were the only Americans executed for espionage by the United States during the Cold War. That they left behind two orphaned sons made the case poignant.

They were convicted during the Korean War, which took the lives of over 50,000 Americans who died to stem Soviet aggression, which provided an explanation why the government did not seek leniency, especially because the Rosenbergs had assisted the Soviet nuclear weapons program with their espionage. Moreover, it was obvious that Federal prosecutors wanted Ethel’s cooperation — Julius was the Soviets’ big fish and the government’s case against his wife was weaker than against him — but Ethel, a hardline Communist, rejected that, even when she could have saved her own life for her children’s sake.

Although the Rosenbergs had defenders who pleaded that they were innocent, or at least severely misunderstood, most of them fell silent when the National Security Agency twenty years ago declassified its VENONA project, a top secret code-breaking effort that revealed numerous 1940’s secrets of Soviet espionage against the United States. The unveiling of VENONA, one of the great triumphs of American intelligence, also revealed why Federal prosecutors were so confident in their prosecution of especially Julius Rosenberg. VENONA transcripts made clear that Julius, who appeared in the messages under the Soviet covernames LIBERAL and ANTENNA, wasn’t just a Stalinist true-believer but an important agent of the Soviet secret police who gave Moscow every American secret he could get his hands on.

For all but the most determined denialists, that Julius Rosenberg was a Soviet spy was proved conclusively by VENONA — the ace in the hole for the Feds that they possessed in 1953 but could not show to the jury at the Rosenbergs’ trial, because it was so highly classified. Julius was every bit the traitor that the government said he was, and he had betrayed nuclear secrets to Stalin.

Now the case is back in the news, with Michael and David [Robert] Meeropol, the Rosenberg’s orphaned sons, appealing to President Obama in today’s New York Times to exonerate their mother who, they claim, was unfairly convicted of espionage. Specifically, they want the Obama administration to right what they see as the wrongs of so many decades ago.

“Our mother was not a spy,” the Meeropols flatly state, demanding that President Obama “acknowledge that Ethel Rosenberg was wrongly convicted and executed.” Their case for this is based on the recently released grand jury transcript of David Greenglass, who was the Meeropol’s uncle. Greenglass, Ethel’s brother, was himself a Soviet spy who served almost ten years in Federal prison for betraying atomic secrets to Moscow. One of the most sordid aspects of this sordid case is that Greenglass saved his own skin, and that of his wife, by fingering his own sister.

The newly released grand jury testimony leaves little doubt that Greenglass embellished matters over the decades and his story changed with time (he died last year); he was never an especially reliable witness. On the basis of this the Meeropols protest that their mother was innocent, and to “prove” that they highlight evidence from various sources in a slipshod manner. Although I understand that the Meeropols need to believe that their mother wasn’t a spy for Stalin, the facts to not dear that wish out.

VENONA made very clear what Ethel was up to. I’ve worked with VENONA materials for years, including intercepts never released to the public, and I thereby shut the door on denialism regarding Alger Hiss, another one of Stalin’s spies inside the U.S. government that many on the left simply refused to accept was a traitor, although his guilt was firmly established by VENONA.

Several VENONA messages reveal important facts about Ethel Rosenberg. Number 1657, sent from the KGB’s New York residency to the Center (i.e, HQ) in Moscow on 27 November 1944, is worth citing in detail (for the original see here)...

Keep reading.

Pentagon Report: Taliban Jihadists 'Breached Walls' of Camp Integrity in Latest Kabul Attack

Following-up from Sunday, "Scores Dead in Wave of Suicide Attacks in Afghanistan."

Looks like a pretty extreme deterioration of security over there.

At Twitchy, "Pentagon reports that insurgents made it inside Camp Integrity, Kabul during Friday’s attack."

Bernie Sanders Draws 28,000 People at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon

Damn, he's packing 'em in like a rock star.

At the Portland Oregonian, "Bernie Sanders speaks to packed crowd at Portland's Moda Center."

And at KOIN News 6 Portland:



PREVIOUSLY: "Bernie Sanders Draws 15,000 People at University of Washington."