China's Devaluation Jolts Global Markets

At the Wall Street Journal, "China’s Devaluation of Yuan Jolts Global Markets: Greece and Its Creditors Agree Terms for a Third Bailout, But Some Details Remain Unresolved."

Also, "China Moves to Devalue Yuan":

BEIJING—China’s central bank devalued its tightly controlled currency, causing its biggest one-day loss in two decades, as the world’s second-largest economy continues to sputter.

Chinese authorities said the change would help drive the currency toward more market-driven movements. The move also signaled the government’s growing worry about slow growth. A shift toward a weaker currency could help flagging exports at a time when many other efforts to boost the economy haven’t proven very effective.

China’s yuan has been on an upward track for a decade, during which the country’s economy grew to be the second largest in the world and the currency gained importance globally. The devaluation Tuesday was the most significant downward adjustment to the yuan since 1994, when as part of a break from Communist state planning, Beijing let the currency fall by one-third.

China sets a midpoint for the value of the yuan against the U.S. dollar. In daily trading, the yuan is allowed to move 2% above or below that midpoint, which is called the daily fixing. But the central bank sometimes ignores the daily moves, at times setting the fixing so that the yuan is stronger against the dollar a day after the market has indicated it should be weaker.

With Tuesday’s move, the fixing will now be based on how the yuan closes in the previous trading session. As a result, the yuan’s fixing was weakened by 1.9% Tuesday from the previous day, leaving it at 6.2298 to the U.S. dollar, compared with 6.1162 on Monday. The yuan dropped as much as 1.99% from its previous close to 6.3360 against the dollar in Shanghai and fell as much as 2.3% in Hong Kong in early trading.

The central bank said in a statement posted on its website that the yuan’s midpoint has diverged quite a bit from the market rate for a relatively long time and that it was time to make the midpoint more market-based.

“The PBOC has astutely combined a move to weaken the yuan with a shift to a more market-determined exchange rate,” said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University professor and former China head of the International Monetary Fund.

China’s leadership has been urging the IMF to declare the yuan an official reserve currency on par with the dollar, euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound—a move that could raise China’s influence on the world stage just as Beijing increasingly challenges Washington in global affairs.

To that end, the leadership has been resisting an outright devaluation of the currency despite the country’s plunging exports, for fears that a move like that could jeopardize the yuan’s chance of joining the elite group of currencies.

Rather, it chose to do so by giving what the longtime critics of China’s currency policy have long been clamoring for: Let the market play a bigger role in deciding the yuan’s value.

This is literally the highest stakes in the international political economy. The leading great power, the U.S., enjoys enormous privileges with the dollar as the world's reserve currency. Clearly, China would like to knock the U.S. off its pedestal. But the yuan's collapse is showing just how unstable the Chinese economy is.

More.

See also, "China Currency Devaluation Another Sign of Growth Worries":

In the U.S. movie “The Wizard of Oz,” a mythical figure purported to have great powers suddenly loses his mystique when he is revealed to be no more than an aging silver-haired man pulling levers of a clunky oversized contraption behind a curtain. There is something happening in China which has a Wizard of Oz quality to it right now.

Chinese authorities awed the world during the 2007-2009 global financial crisis when they kept their economy growing at superfast speeds even when the rest of the world was nearing economic collapse. It seemed to be confirmation, after years of growth rates that allowed China to leap past rivals and become the world’s second-largest economy, that the Middle Kingdom and its leaders were special. Now, as the growth rate slows, the levers aren’t working very well and the image is losing its aura.

Chinese authorities on Tuesday effectively devalued the yuan by 2%. As currency devaluations go this was small. In 1994 China let its currency fall by a third, helping to breathe new life into an export explosion. Officials said this latest move was meant to allow the carefully managed currency move more in line with market forces. Yet it looked like a new step – albeit a small one -- by officials to boost flagging economic growth. A weaker currency might help boost exports by making them cheaper. On Saturday the government reported that exports fell 8.3% in July from a year earlier.

While a weaker currency might help exports on the margin (and also annoy China’s trading rivals) it doesn’t fix China’s underlying economic problems. The country’s economy appears to be suffering from the depleting after-effects of not one but three asset booms – an investment boom in industrial capacity which is weighing on global goods prices, a real estate boom which may have stretched domestic banks and more recently a stock market bubble.

Adjustments from bubbles rarely go smoothly and they almost always sap some economic vitality. As the wizard says in the movie, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Nazi 'Comments' Attacking European Migrants Voted Up at London's Daily Mail

I guess this was some kind of "experiment," by the leftist parody account The DM Reporter on Twitter.

And of course, this "experiment" proves absolutely nothing, as comment threads are completely unrepresentative of anything except perhaps unreconstructed stupidity.

At Medium, "We Were Upvoted for Posting Nazi Propaganda about Migrants in the Daily Mail."

And as I argued previously, it's not just "far-right extremists" who're reacting badly against the migrant crisis. Remember, the communists are in charge in Greece, and they've thrown migrants in the camps.

Libyan Jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar Now Leads 'al-Qaeda in West Africa'

I thought we took this guy out with airstrikes earlier this year? I guess not.

At Long War Journal, "Mokhtar Belmokhtar now leads ‘Al Qaeda in West Africa’."

Fresno SkyLife Helicopter Almost Crashes Into Drone

Boy, what is with all the drones!

Here's the latest from ABC News 30 Fresno, "UPDATE: Drone almost hits Fresno SkyLife helicopter."

And this made it all the way to the national media, at CBS News This Morning, "Sharp rise in close calls between drones and planes."

Rap Drummer Kiran Gandhi Runs London Marathon Without Tampon

She's a drummer with the rap performer M.I.A. Her about page is here.

I first saw this story last weekend on Twitter, at People Magazine, "Woman Runs London Marathon Without a Tampon, Bleeds Freely to Raise Awareness."

I showed my mom and my sister, and they were both all *SMH*. Definitely bizarre.

More here, "Runner Defends Letting Period Bleed Freely at London Marathon: 'Women's Bodies Don't Exist for Public Consumption'."

There's an interview at Dazed, "Why I ran for 26 miles on my period."

But see especially James Delingpole, at the Spectator UK, "Free bleeding’ and the stupidly clever feminists who fell for it: A ludicrous hoax trend that almost makes me pity its enthusiasts":

This week, the story broke in a media starved of anything else to write in the silly season. Most outlets had nothing but praise for Kiran’s principled stance against panty pad-related oppression. ‘Bring on the menstruation revolution: “Donald Trump is going to bloody love it”’, crowed the Guardian. ‘26-year-old woman bleeds proudly through her first marathon,’ exulted Cosmo, having apparently mistaken her for someone who’d climbed Everest blindfolded, with a shark strapped to her back. Better still, perhaps, from Kiran’s point of view, the right-wing media wrinkled its nose in typical phallocentric disgust. ‘Latest feminist craze: free bleeding’, thundered the US website Infowars.

But the readers of these publications — not even the righteous, socially conscious ones — weren’t quite so sure. ‘I’m a girl and even I find that what this woman did is just gross,’ said one. ‘Get a grip love,’ said another. ‘I’m going to do a marathon on Viagra to highlight the fact that some people with penile dysfunction don’t have access to the diamond blue wonder drug,’ quipped an unhelpful male.

Then the sorry truth emerged. Poor Kiran, and the liberal outlets which had applauded her gesture, were the victims of a cruel hoax. It originated last year on a mildly notorious website called 4chan — an internet chatroom favoured by the kind of irreverent pranksters and cynical youths who take unseemly delight in countering the pieties of the ‘social justice warriors’ of the earnest new left.

Already, these hoaxers had enjoyed some success with an earlier campaign, designed to cause division within the new feminist movement by trying to pit girls with skinny, attractive fit bodies against less conventionally beautiful diehards. They invented a concept called ‘bikini bridge’ — the phenomenon where bikini bottoms are suspended between a slim woman’s hipbones causing a dangerously revealing gap. ‘If your girlfriend doesn’t have a bikini bridge, why are you with her?’ asked the caption to a fake advert showing a seductive skinny model. Sure enough, this major new threat to the sensitivities of women worried about their bodies received widespread coverage from the Sydney Morning Herald to the New York Daily News.

So in 2014 — inspired by some crazy idea they’d read somewhere on the internet — the pranksters decided to fake an even more ludicrous trend designed to discredit the radical feminist movement. ‘What is free bleeding? It consists of us womyn bleeding with no restriction … Being able to menstruate is something that is a [sic] undeniably female characteristic. How DARE they try and oppress it,’ read their working notes.

A few helpful tweets later from fake Twitter accounts and ‘free bleeding’ had become an urgent new cause of radical feminism. Eventually word got out among some women’s interest websites that they’d all been had: ‘Free bleeding is not a thing,’ warned one. But it appears the memo didn’t get through to everyone. Hence Kiran Gandhi’s marathon protest.

Does this mean we should all feel terribly outraged on behalf of Kiran? Well up to a point, I’d say. Stripped of its broader social context, her humiliation — even though it wasn’t deliberately inflicted on her personally — does seem a bit ugly and callous and deserving of our pity. But then you ask yourself: ‘Hang on, this girl has got a Harvard MBA, so she’s not exactly thick. Can she really not work out the logic of why it is that over the years we’ve developed certain conventions about the public display of bodily fluids and functions? Has she not considered that these might have been designed at least as much for the comfort of women as men?’

The bigger problem is this: even at Ivy League universities — indeed, perhaps especially at Ivy League universities, not to mention Oxford and Cambridge — the lunatic preoccupations of the radical feminists and social justice warriors, from ‘rape culture’ to ‘intersectionality’, have become so fashion-able and all-consuming that stupid has become the new clever.

Ronda Rousey's the Most Dangerous Woman on Earth (VIDEO)

Well, she's definitely dangerous.

Via Maxim:



PREVIOUSLY: "Ronda Rousey's Fear of Fighting," and "Ronda Rousey Makes Weight for #UFC190 Tonight!"

Trump Serious About Winning Iowa

Well, you think?

The purpose of entering into a campaign is to win. There may be other reasons, like making oneself attractive for a cabinet position in the new administration, but running for office is no walk in the park. It's for serious people. I've never doubted Trump means what he says when he says he's in it to win. Amazing that the media class still thinks he's playing games.

That said, here's Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, at the Washington Post, "An Iowa surprise: Donald Trump is actually trying to win":

DES MOINES — For five days, the royal-blue bus rumbled through miles of cornfields alongside a popular annual bicycle trek across Iowa. It showed up at a country music concert in Cherokee and at a bacon festival in Ottumwa.

And when the hulking vehicle with thick white block letters that spell “TRUMP” pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot in Fort Dodge this week, people flocked to it. It didn’t matter that Donald Trump wasn’t inside. The bus alone — with the “Make America Great Again!” slogan extending across its sides — created an irresistible oasis of celebrity politics amid a desert of minivans and shopping carts.

“One hundred people showing up for a staffer? I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Chuck Laudner, a longtime Iowa organizer who oversees Trump’s efforts here. “They kept saying the same thing: They want something different.”

For many Americans, the Trump presidential campaign amounts to a billionaire talking endlessly, and entertainingly, on television. But here in Iowa, it’s another story. Trump is trying to beat the politicians on their turf, building one of the most extensive organizations in the Republican field.

The groundwork laid by Trump’s sizable Iowa staff, with 10 paid operatives and growing, is the clearest sign yet that the unconventional candidate is looking beyond his summer media surge and attempting to win February’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.

This is becoming a cause of concern for rival campaigns.

“I see them as a major threat to all the other campaigns because of the aggressiveness of their ground game,” said Sam Clovis, an Iowa conservative who leads former Texas governor Rick Perry’s campaign.

“You cannot swing a dead cat in Iowa and not hit a Trump person,” Clovis continued. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. . . . Every event we go to — the Boone County Eisenhower Social, the Black Hawk County Lincoln ­Dinner, the boots-and-barbecue down in Denison — the Trump people are everywhere with literature and T-shirts and signing people up...

All well and good, but it's worth monitoring. There's more to winning the nomination than taking Iowa.

More at that top link.

Record-Breaking Snakehead Fish Caught with Bow and Arrow in Mattawoman Creek in Charles County, Maryland (VIDEO)

The Mattawoman Creek is a tributary to the Potomac River.

The fish set a new state record.

It's a big sucker.

Watch, at CBS News Baltimore, "Highly-Invasive Snakehead Fish Killed With Bow and Arrow in Charles County."

The Spy Satellite Secrets in Hillary's Emails

From John Schindler, at the Daily Beast, "These weren’t just ordinary secrets found in Clinton’s private server, but some of the most classified material the U.S. government has":

After months of denials and delaying actions, Hillary Clinton has decided to turn over her private email server to the Department of Justice. As this controversy has grown since the spring, Clinton and her campaign operatives have repeatedly denied that she had placed classified information in her personal email while serving as secretary of state during President Obama’s first term. (“I am confident that I never sent nor received any information that was classified at the time it was sent and received,” she said last month.) Her team also denied that she would ever hand over her server to investigators. Now both those assertions have been overturned.

Hillary Clinton has little choice but to hand over her server to authorities since it now appears increasingly likely that someone on her staff violated federal laws regarding the handling of classified materials. On August 11, after extensive investigation, the intelligence community’s inspector general reported to Congress that it had found several violations of security policy in Clinton’s personal emails.

Most seriously, the inspector general assessed that Clinton’s emails included information that was highly classified—yet mislabeled as unclassified. Worse, the information in question should have been classified up to the level of “TOP SECRET//SI//TK//NOFORN,” according to the inspector general’s report.

You may have seen acronym lists like these on declassified documents before—and glazed over them. This is the arcane language of the cleared cognoscenti, so let me explain what this means:

• TOP SECRET, as the name implies, is the highest official classification level in the U.S. government, defined as information whose unauthorized release “could cause exceptionally grave damage to national security or foreign relations.”

• SI refers to Special Intelligence, meaning it is information derived from intercepted communications, which is the business of the National Security Agency, America’s single biggest source of intelligence. They’re the guys who eavesdrop on phone calls, map who’s calling whom, and comb through emails. SI is a subset of what the intelligence community calls Sensitive Compartmented Information, or SCI. And these materials always require special handling and protection. They are to be kept in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, which is a special hardened room that is safe from both physical and electronic intrusion.

• TK refers to Talent Keyhole, which is an intelligence community caveat indicating that the classified material was obtained via satellite.

• NOFORN, as the name implies, means that the materials can only be shown to Americans, not to foreigners.

In short: Information at the “TOP SECRET//SI//TK//NOFORN” level is considered exceptionally highly classified and must be handled with great care under penalty of serious consequences for mishandling. Every person who is cleared and “read on” for access to such information signs reams of paperwork and receives detailed training about how it is to be handled, no exceptions—and what the consequences will be if the rules are not followed...

Keep reading.

Schindler writes the 20 Committtee blog.

Islamic State Suspected of Using Chemical Weapon, U.S. Says

Is anyone surprised?

At the Wall Street Journal, "Militants likely used mustard agent on Kurdish forces in Iraq, officials say":

WASHINGTON—Islamic State militants likely used mustard agent against Kurdish forces in Iraq this week, senior U.S. officials said Thursday, in the first indication the militant group has obtained banned chemicals.

The officials said Islamic State could have obtained the mustard agent in Syria, whose government admitted to having large quantities in 2013 when it agreed to give up its chemical-weapons arsenal.

The use of mustard agent would mark an upgrade in Islamic State’s battlefield capabilities, and a worrisome one given U.S. intelligence fears about hidden caches of chemical weapons in Syria, where Islamic State controls wide swaths of territory.

It raises new questions about the evolving threat posed by Islamic State and the ability of U.S. allies on the ground to combat it. Frontline Kurdish, Iraqi and moderate Syrian forces say they aren’t getting enough U.S. support now to counter Islamic State’s conventional capabilities.

Officials say these forces may need specialized equipment and training to help protect them against unconventional weapons if they become a fixture on the battlefield.

U.S. intelligence agencies thought Islamic State had at least a small supply of mustard agent even before this week’s clash with Iraqi Kurdish fighters, known as the Peshmerga, U.S. officials said. That intelligence assessment hadn’t been made public.

The attack in question took place late Wednesday, about 40 miles southwest of Erbil in northern Iraq. A German Defense Ministry spokesman said about 60 Peshmerga fighters, who help protect Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, were reported to have suffered injuries to their throats consistent with a chemical attack while fighting Islamic State.

Mustard agent, first employed as a weapon in World War I, can cause painful burns and blisters, immobilizing those affected by it, but it is usually deadly only if used in large quantities.

“These were apparently chemical weapons. What it was exactly we don’t know,” the German ministry spokesman said, adding that experts were on their way to the scene to conduct a fuller analysis. He said German personnel weren’t present at the scene of the attack.

The possibility that Islamic State obtained the agent in Syria “makes the most sense,” said one senior U.S. official. It is also possible that Islamic State obtained the mustard agent in Iraq, officials said, possibly from old stockpiles that belonged to Saddam Hussein and weren’t destroyed.

U.S. intelligence agencies are still investigating the source and how it could have been delivered this week on the battlefield, officials said.

Islamic State has taken control of territory in Syria close to where President Bashar al-Assad’s forces stored chemical weapons, including mustard agent. The regime said in 2013 that all of its mustard stockpiles had been destroyed, either by Syrian forces themselves or by international inspectors.

Inspectors, however, have subsequently said they weren’t able to verify claims by the Syrian government that it had burned hundreds of tons of mustard agent in earthen pits. U.S. intelligence agencies now say they believe Damascus hid some caches of deadly chemicals from the West, possibly including mustard.

Intelligence officials and chemical-weapons experts have expressed concerns in recent months that some of those banned chemicals could fall into the hands of Islamic State or other extremist groups.

U.S. intelligence agencies have also warned the White House that the Assad regime could use chemical agents it still has to defend its remaining strongholds if they come under siege...

Still more.

Street Skater Dave Snaddon

This is cool, at FHM:

Man Killed by Cedar Point Roller Coaster After Hopping Fence to Look for Dropped Cellphone

Oh man, what a way to go --- at an amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.

Not too smart either.

At the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, "Man struck, killed by Cedar Point roller coaster identified."

And at the Sandusky Register, "Man dead in accident at Cedar Point: Man entered restricted area and was struck by a train from the Raptor roller coaster":

An East Canton man was struck and killed by a roller coaster train after hopping a fence at Cedar Point Thursday evening to search for a phone he dropped while riding the Raptor.

James A. Young, 45, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Erie County coroner.

Young was at the park with friends, and had just finished riding the Raptor at about 5 p.m., when he decided to jump a fence and head into a restricted area underneath the coaster, according to Sandusky police Assistant Chief Phil Frost.

While Young was trying to retrieve a cell phone he dropped while on the ride, he was struck by a passing train, police said.

Officials continue to investigate the matter, and Frost said it has not yet been determined if Young was struck by the train itself, or by a person riding on the train.

Police declined to disclose specifics about Young's injuries...

More.

Plus, watch the police press conference, "Man dead after being struck by Raptor roller coaster at Cedar Point."

ADDED: At the Washington Post, "Teacher killed by Cedar Point roller coaster: ‘He’d just gotten a dream job’."

Rand Paul Goes on the Offensive Against Donald Trump

Rand Paul is doing poorly in the presidential race, really poorly.

He needs to do something to rekindle some support, so what better than to sock the man who's sucking all the oxygen out of the GOP tent?

Here's his new campaign video, "Rand Paul: "Telling It Like It Is'." (Via IJR, "One Candidate’s So Frustrated With Trump’s History of Democratic Support That He’s Taking to the Air.")

And see National Journal, "Rand Paul: Donald Trump Is a 'Bully' and an 'Empty Suit'."

Plus, from Robert Schlesinger, at U.S. News and World Report, "Grasping at Trump":

Is the 2016 GOP field starting to enter the second stage of dealing with Trump – moving from denial to anger? The latest signs include Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's new declaration of war against the reality TV star, but that move may say more about how the freshman legislator views his own campaign than it does about how Trump's competitors view his novel candidacy.

BONUS: At iOWNTHEWORLD Report, "Rand Paul – “Trump is Not a Conservative”."

Carly Fiorina on 'Hannity'

I just love to listen to her speak.

Watch: "Forina on Hillary's lies and rejecting the political class."

In Case You Missed Alex Morgan on Jimmy Kimmel's a Couple of Weeks Ago

Here it is.

Jimmy must be taking a vacation this week, because I caught this segment on Wednesday night.

Watch: "Alex Morgan on Winning the World Cup."

Jackie Johnson's Got Your End-of-the-Week Forecast

It's not quite the weekend yet, but no matter.

Any time's a good time for Jackie's forecasts.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Mexican Illegal Alien Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Gaona Charged with Murder in Maryland Stabbing Death

So, Maryland's in the news tonight a bit, heh.

From Emily Miller, at Fox News 5 DC, "EXCLUSIVE: Alleged illegal immigrant charged in Md. murder denied bond."

The dude had a fake passport.

Also at Twitchy, "Not PC: Emily Miller refers to alleged murderer with fake green card as ‘illegal alien’."

University of Maryland Law School Creates New Course in Social Justice: 'Freddie Gray's Baltimore' (VIDEO)

Well, everything's about "social justice" nowadays, isn't it?

At the Baltimore Sun, "Syllabus for law school's Freddie Gray course says unrest 'almost certainly not over'":

A new course at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law titled "Freddie Gray's Baltimore: Past, Present, and Moving Forward" aims a wide lens at the 25-year-old man's death and the "serious recent disturbances" that followed — which it says are "almost certainly not over" and require deep analysis.

"The course is not viewed by its organizers as an end in itself," reads the course overview, provided Wednesday by Professor Michael Greenberger. "Rather, it is intended to be a springboard for further and deeper academic teaching and writing efforts, clinical work, and student and faculty involvement in citizen and government efforts to reform law and policy in the subject matter areas" of "policing; criminal justice; housing; health care; education; poverty; and community development and joblessness."

Gray was arrested in April and suffered a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody. His death from the injury sparked demonstrations against police brutality across Baltimore. On the day of his funeral, rioting, looting and arson broke out.

"These events, which are almost certainly not over, have highlighted and/or uncovered serious on-going social and financial dislocations within the City," the syllabus reads.

Six Baltimore Police officers have been criminally charged in Gray's arrest and death; all have pleaded not guilty. The legal process leading to their trials is still in its early stages.

Greenberger, the course administrator, will be joined in teaching or planning the eight-week course by 12 other professors at the law school. The syllabus also lists Sherilynn Ifill, the president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, as another "tentative" organizer and teacher, of a class on the causes and implications of housing segregation.

The coursework will also be "supplemented by other academics, experts, and officeholders," though the syllabus does not identify those people.

Students, the syllabus reads, will be "apprised throughout the course of volunteer opportunities to work on the issues addressed in the course."

More.

Also at the Wall Street Journal, "Law School Launches ‘Freddie Gray’ Course."

And from the course description:

The idea for this course emanates from the recent disturbances in Baltimore arising from Freddie Gray’s arrest and his resulting death. These events have highlighted and/or uncovered serious on-going social and financial dislocations within the City. The course will examine the recent unrest itself and then examine the causes of, and possible solutions to, those dislocations, including an examination of problems in policing; criminal justice; housing; health care; education; poverty; and community development and joblessness.

The course is not viewed by its organizers as an end in itself. Rather, it is intended to be a springboard for further student and faculty involvement in citizen and government efforts to reform law and policy in the subject matter areas listed above. Students will be apprised throughout the course of volunteer opportunities to work on the issues addressed in the course.

And here's the statement from the university, "New Maryland Carey Law Course Examines Causes and Solutions to Baltimore’s Recent Civil Unrest":

In response to the recent disturbances in Baltimore following  the death of Freddie Gray, the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law is offering a new course titled, “Freddie Gray’s Baltimore: Past, Present, and Moving Forward.”

The eight-week course, which begins in September, will be taught by Maryland Carey Law faculty members as well as other academics, practicing professionals and elected officials.  It will be open to students from the law school and the University of Maryland School of Social Work.

The course will examine the unrest in Baltimore as well as its causes and possible solutions by focusing on social, economic and other issues, including policing practices, criminal justice, access to housing, health care, education, joblessness and community development.

“We see this course as an opportunity for our students to grapple with important issues in their backyard” said Dean Donald B. Tobin. “We want not only to educate our students but to inspire them to act on what they’ve learned and work with our neighbors in West Baltimore to strengthen our community and city.”

Throughout the course, students will be apprised of volunteer opportunities to work on the issues addressed in each session.

More.

I don't actually see the course syllabus anywhere, although so far I'm underwhelmed.

Paulina Porizkova: Getting Old Not the Greatest

Well, you're as young as you feel.

The older you get the more you have to put into it, which can be a drain.

On the other hand, the rewards can be off the charts.

At London's Daily Mail, "'My looks are so tied in to what I'm worth': 80s Supermodel and former Vogue cover girl Paulina Porizkova, 50, admits aging 'isn't the greatest thing'."

Porizkova's my first Sports Illustrated Rule 5 babe, here: "Rule 5 Saturday: Paulina Porizkova."

And she's looking no worse for the wear, on Twitter: "#50NoMakeup."

Swedish Supermodel Elsa Hosk on Becoming a Victoria's Secret Angel (VIDEO)

Looking ahead to the end-of-the-year babe-blogging bonanza from Victoria's Secret.

They go all out over there.

Watch: "Sizzling Supermodel Elsa Hosk on Becoming a Victoria’s Secret Angel."

BONUS: "Victoria's Secret stunner Elsa Hosk puckers up and embraces fellow Angel Martha Hunt at charity SoulCycle ride in NYC."

Islamic State Claims Responsibility as Baghdad Truck Bomber Kills Dozens (VIDEO)

At the Washington Post, "Blast in busy Baghdad market kills at least 60."

Some reports say as high as 67 were killed.

And watch, from Richard Engel, at MSNBC, "ISIS Claims Responsibility for Baghdad Attack."

How Our Society Became So Stupid

It's Bill Whittle's Afterburner, via Theo Spark, "The Great Unlearning":

High by the Beach

Just out from Lana Del Rey, off her fourth studio album.

And here's one reaction, at the Verge, "Watch Lana Del Rey blow up a helicopter in 'High By the Beach'":

More like 'die by the beach'.

Heh.

Watch: "Lana Del Rey - High By the Beach."

Also at Harper's, "WATCH LANA DEL REY'S NEW MUSIC VIDEO 'HIGH BY THE BEACH'."

P-32 Mountain Lion Killed Trying to Cross Interstate 5 Near Castaic

It's almost inevitable. The lions just aren't going to have enough living space when the come down by metropolitan Los Angeles. This P-32 guy is apparently the most-tracked Southern California puma ever. But he made one last crossing, and it was fatal.

I love these guys too. Sad.

At LAT, "Male puma known as P-32 is killed crossing 5 Freeway in Castaic":

Mountain Lion Famous for Crossing LA Freeways Is Killed Crossing a Freeway http://t.co/Du0Ww27ea1

— ECommerce News (@ECommerceNews1) August 13, 2015

The journey of a mountain lion that successfully crossed four highways came to an end early Monday when it was struck and killed by a vehicle as it tried to make another run across a major L.A. freeway.

The puma named P-32 is the only known male to venture out of the Santa Monica Mountains and wander north into other habitat areas, said Kate Kuykendall, a spokeswoman for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

P-32 was best known for dashing across the 101 Freeway near Thousand Oaks on April 3. He managed to cross Highway 23 near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and settled into a natural area in the Simi Hills. He had also crossed highways 118 and 126.

But P-32’s journey, deemed to be “a textbook case of successful dispersal," was cut short. The 21-month-old puma headed east and tried to cross the 5 Freeway between 4 and 6 a.m. when he was hit in Castaic.

“This case illustrates the challenges that mountain lions in this region face, particularly males,” wildlife ecologist Seth Riley said in a statement.

“P-32 conquered all kinds of freeways and highways to reach the Los Padres," he continued, "but it was probably another dominant male that made him leave the area and attempt one last crossing, which obviously was not successful.”

P-32 is the first male to be studied that successfully fled the mountains.

He is the 12th mountain lion killed on a freeway or road since researchers began studying the mountain lion population in 2002 to determine how they survive in the city...

Temperatures Soar in Southern California

Well, they're soaring in Northern California too, but I'm down here, lol.

I was going to go for that 5 mile walk again today, but my wife warned against it. We'll walk tonight after the Angels game.

Watch, from Jasmine Viel, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Scorching Temperatures Continue to Rise Throughout SoCal."

Islamic State's Murderous Culture of Jihadi Rape and Sex Slavery

At Blazing Cat Fur, linking to the New York Times, "ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape":

QADIYA, Iraq — In the moments before he raped the 12-year-old girl, the Islamic State fighter took the time to explain that what he was about to do was not a sin. Because the preteen girl practiced a religion other than Islam, the Quran not only gave him the right to rape her — it condoned and encouraged it, he insisted.

He bound her hands and gagged her. Then he knelt beside the bed and prostrated himself in prayer before getting on top of her.

When it was over, he knelt to pray again, bookending the rape with acts of religious devotion.

“I kept telling him it hurts — please stop,” said the girl, whose body is so small an adult could circle her waist with two hands. “He told me that according to Islam he is allowed to rape an unbeliever. He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to God,” she said in an interview alongside her family in a refugee camp here, to which she escaped after 11 months of captivity...

Keep reading.

#BlackLivesMatter Slams Hillary Clinton for 'Her Part in Perpetuating White Supremacist Violence' (VIDEO)

Oh boy.

It's really hard out there for a Democrat right now.

No one is safe on the left. No one. The Democrats have old white sexagenarians and septuagenarians leading the presidential primary field. Clinton and Sanders are being mercilessly mowed down like fresh recruits going up against machine-gun emplacements at the Somme. It's brutal.

From Ruby Cramer, at BuzzFeed, "The Activists, The Candidate, And The Media: Clinton’s First Black Lives Matter Moment":

"I didn't hear a reflection on her part in perpetuating white supremacist violence." pic.twitter.com/LV2RdHFx9D

— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) August 11, 2015

In a matter of months, Black Lives Matter has become a powerful enough force in Democratic politics that campaign staffers actually accommodated would-be protesters as both worked the media. But what do activists actually want from Clinton?

KEENE, N.H. — Standing beneath the hooded entrance to Keene Middle School, as rain hit the parking lot pavement early on Tuesday evening, the three activists exchanged a round of hugs, first with each other, then with the two videographers along to capture it all: another win for Black Lives Matter.

The small contingent, dressed in matching “Bulletproof” t-shirts, traveled from Massachusetts that morning with plans to stage a demonstration in the middle of a Hillary Clinton campaign event. As it turned out, the protest never happened. Instead, the group got 15 mostly private minutes with the candidate.

The activists — Daunasia Yancey, Julius Jones, and Vonds Dubuisson — declared the meeting a success. One, that is, for Black Lives Matter, not Clinton. Her answers, they told reporters afterward, had not been satisfying or sufficiently reflective.

Other Democrats, mostly Bernie Sanders, have already faced protests from Black Lives Matter on the campaign trail. The idea: to interrupt a candidate’s routine event or stump speech, and shift the conversation to questions about structural racism and police violence. This was Clinton’s first such encounter with the group whose name, often written as a one-word hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter, has become the powerful avatar of a broader social and racial justice movement.

And what played out in New Hampshire over a single three-hour period, from 3:15 to 6:15 p.m., encapsulated the complicated dynamic between campaign, movement, and media that the other candidates have struggled to navigate in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, under the watch of the national press corps, Clinton took her turn at trying, and failing, to meet the expectations of the activists who have become increasingly influential figures in the Democratic primary.

So much so that when Yancey, Jones, and Dubuisson arrived too late to get into the event, a forum on mental health and substance abuse, Clinton aides tried hurriedly to get the activists into the campaign function they wanted to attend only to interrupt — setting off an unlikely sequence of events, shaped as much by the participants on the ground as by the coverage happening about them, in real time, on Twitter.

By 6:15 p.m., the result of this frenetic rush to manage the arrival of the three Black Lives Matter activists was, ultimately, three dissatisfied Black Lives Matter activists.

The organizers “didn’t hear a response” from Clinton to their direct concerns, according to Yancey, the co-founder of the group’s Boston chapter and the organizer leading the group in Keene. Fifteen minutes later, she said, “our time was up.”

Yancey said she and the other activists asked Clinton questions about her role, and Bill Clinton’s, in 1990s drug and crime policy — and “in perpetuating white supremacist violence.” The activists declined to relay Clinton’s answers — but they did express their disappointment with the exchange on the whole. “I didn’t hear a reflection on her part in perpetuating white supremacist violence,” Yancey said.

“I think she gave the answer she wanted to give.”

Ouch.

Keep reading.

And you gotta love how #BlackLivesMatter activists show up late to the Hillary event, are locked out by security, and then cause an existential meltdown in the Clinton camp, with campaign operatives frightened to the quick by the inevitably forthcoming "racist" and "white supremacist" attacks had not those black shakedown artists gotten inside.

They're eating their own on the left. Sometimes you just gotta sit back and watch. It's like Pol Pot's taking over.

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

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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'."