Hillary Clinton's Obsessively Stage-Managed Campaign Events (VIDEO)

Shoot, it's not even a campaign. It's a holding pattern.

Watch, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, "Halperin, Heilemann Poke Fun at Clinton's Obsessively Stage Managed Events."

They're the authors of Double Down: Game Change 2012.

Holly Williams Update on Greek Authorities Sabotaging Refugee Boats at Sea (VIDEO)

The Greek government is "investigating." But they won't confirm if it was their personnel who attacked refugee boats last week.

Watch, "Migrants attacked at sea: Migrants attempting the perilous crossing to Europe must now also risk harassment and sabotage. Holly Williams has the latest."

Russia's Land Grab in the Arctic

Boy, Russia's make land grabs, and power grabs, all over the place, heh.

At Foreign Policy, "Searching for Leads in the Opening Arctic: Disappearing ice, Russia’s newest land grab, and a new great game at the top of the world":

The Arctic is opening. Can the U.S. play in a new arena? http://t.co/ZpzQR6kdz0 pic.twitter.com/6rq1I37Fey

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) September 14, 2015

ABOARD THE COAST GUARD CUTTER HEALY, IN THE ARCTIC–When you plow into a 4-foot-thick chunk of sea ice at 3 knots, even in a 16,000-ton state-of-the-art icebreaker like the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy, it’s hard not to notice. The whole ship shudders and seems to lurch sideways. Metal cabinets rattle. Californians swear it sounds and feels just like an earthquake, with deep rumbling booms and tremors. Others say it’s like hitting turbulence on a jetliner, the shivering and rattling accompanied by the overdrive whine of 30,000 horsepower. If you’re down in the galley, right on the waterline, what you hear is the nerve-wracking scraping of shattered ice along the side. Five stories up, on top of the bridge, you feel the bump of the collision over the strain of the engines pushing the ship through a sea of drifting white, blue, and dirty gray ice.

That’s when there is ice. But thanks to rising global temperatures, especially acute in the Arctic, there’s less of it now than there used to be. And that creates its own problems for a ship that seeks out the stuff.

“I just wish there was more ice. It’d be good training for this crew,” said Chief Warrant Officer Tim “Tugboat” Tully, the Healy’s bosun. The 85-person crew could use it. This month, they attempted something the ship had never done before: smashing through solid ice to the North Pole itself, unaccompanied by any other vessels. The July trip would have been an ideal time to get the crew used to plowing through some heavy stuff, but the ice was patchy much of the trip. We steamed north through the Bering Strait, passed the Diomede Islands, and got near the northwest tip of Alaska before we spotted our first chunks of ice in mid-July. “Ten years ago, this was heavy going,” the bosun said.

The Arctic is melting. Summer sea ice that used to cover the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait isn’t there, where it used to be. Summer ice coverage in the Arctic hit a record low in 2012; this past March, it registered an all-time winter low. As the ice recedes, something new is popping up in its place: oil rigs and commercial ships. Whatever the debate about climate change looks like in Washington, it’s sadly clear up here. At least for part of the year, thanks to rising temperatures, a once-closed ocean is now open for business.

That doesn’t mean it’s always easy sailing. Less ice is more ice, the Alaskan natives say: As ice melts, it opens things up just enough to get you into trouble.Less ice is more ice, the Alaskan natives say: As ice melts, it opens things up just enough to get you into trouble. That’s as true for native whalers and seal hunters as it is for specialized drilling rigs that are starting to head north for a few months each year. Polar seas are not like other oceans. You need a survival suit just to work on deck, even in the summertime. “Man overboard” drills in freezing water have a uniquely sickening undertone; the ship’s pipe’s intonation “Man has been in water for six minutes” becomes a virtual epitaph. Communications and navigation equipment that works fine at other latitudes doesn’t near the pole. And, even if there’s less ice than there used to be, there’s still plenty of it bobbing and knocking and crashing around; what sank the Titanic is constantly looming out of the fog, posing a mortal danger to ships that aren’t ice-hardened.

“Everybody thinks you can do up here what you can do in the Lower 48, and it’s just not so. It’s a whole different environment,” says Capt. Jason Hamilton, 44, a 22-year Coast Guard veteran who just took over command of the Healy, one of two operational icebreakers the United States has. The other, the heavy icebreaker Polar Star, operates in Antarctica.

As the Arctic melts, it is birthing a new global battleground, with huge economic, environmental, and geopolitical implications for the United States. Oil companies are moving north, even though cheap crude makes pricey Arctic drilling a tough sell for now. Shipping companies are eagerly eying a fresh northern route that can trim thousands of miles off voyages between Asia and Europe. Russia, which has a fleet of six nuclear-powered heavy icebreakers, with 11 more planned or under construction, is revamping scores of Cold War-era military bases inside the Arctic Circle. Moscow, eight years after planting a symbolic flag on the seabed at the North Pole, just handed the United Nations an expansive claim to almost half a million square miles of Arctic seabed potentially rich in oil, natural gas, and minerals. The United States would be hard-pressed to make a similar claim, since it has never ratified the Law of the Sea treaty, which codifies international maritime law. And China, which isn’t even an Arctic nation, is busy dipping its toe into the icy waters — launching its very own icebreaker, currently building a second, and for the first time sending navy ships into Alaskan waters...

Pretty fascinating, no matter what your take is on climate change.

Keep reading.

Bernie Sanders' Socialist Agenda Would Expand Government to the Tune of $18 Trillion (VIDEO)

Now that's impressive!

At the video, MSNBC's Chris Hayes is getting a woody!

At the Wall Street Journal, "Price Tag of Bernie Sanders’s Proposals: $18 Trillion":

WASHINGTON—Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose liberal call to action has propelled his long-shot presidential campaign, is proposing an array of new programs that would amount to the largest peacetime expansion of government in modern American history.

In all, he backs at least $18 trillion in new spending over a decade, according to a tally by The Wall Street Journal, a sum that alarms conservatives and gives even many Democrats pause. Mr. Sanders sees the money as going to essential government services at a time of increasing strain on the middle class.

His agenda includes an estimated $15 trillion for a government-run health-care program that covers every American, plus large sums to rebuild roads and bridges, expand Social Security and make tuition free at public colleges.

To pay for it, Mr. Sanders, a Vermont independent running for the Democratic nomination, has so far detailed tax increases that could bring in as much as $6.5 trillion over 10 years, according to his staff.

A campaign aide said additional tax proposals would be offered to offset the cost of some, and possibly all, of his health program. A Democratic proposal for such a “single-payer” health plan, now in Congress, would be funded in part through a new payroll tax on employers and workers, with the trade-off being that employers would no longer have to pay for or arrange their workers’ insurance.

Mr. Sanders declined a request for an interview. His campaign referred questions to Warren Gunnels, his policy director, who said the programs would address an array of problems. “Sen. Sanders’s agenda does cost money,” he said. “If you look at the problems that are out there, it’s very reasonable.”

Calling himself a democratic socialist, Mr. Sanders has long stood to the left of the Democratic Party, and at first he was dismissed as little more than a liberal gadfly to the party’s front-runner, Hillary Clinton. But he is ahead of or tied with the former secretary of state in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and he has gained in national polling. He stands as her most serious challenger for the Democratic nomination.

Mr. Sanders has filled arenas with thousands of supporters, where he thunders an unabashedly liberal agenda to tackle pervasive economic inequality through more government services, higher taxes on the wealthy and new constraints on banks and corporations...

Still more.

Donald Trump Supporters Line-Up 10 Hours for Dallas Campaign Event (VIDEO)

Gary Tuchman interviews Trump supporters who lined up for 10 hours in Dallas, at CNN, "Why are people waiting 10 hours to see and hear Trump?"

At at Fox News 10 Phoenix, "Donald Trump Dallas Rally FULL Speech."

And at Fox New 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, "Trump rally expected to draw huge crowds," and "Crowds arrive at AAC for Trump rally."

Jackie Johnson's Got Your Tuesday Weather Forecast

Watch, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Jackie Johnson's Weather Forecast (Sept. 14)."

It could rain today.

More here, "Southern California Preps as Weakened Cyclone Brings Rain."

Tony Abbott Makes Outgoing Speech as Australian Prime Minister (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Ousted in Liberal Party Revolt (VIDEO)."

Now, at CNN, "Tony Abbott makes final speech as Australian PM."

Also at ABC News Australia, "Tony Abbott addresses media for the last time as prime minister," and "Former Liberal Party leader John Howard pays tribute to outgoing prime minister Tony Abbott and congratulates new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull."

REO Speedwagon Guitarist Gary Richrath Has Died

Just saw this right now, at the New York Times on Twitter, "Gary Richrath, Guitarist and Songwriter for REO Speedwagon, Dies at 65."

Also at USA Today, "REO Speedwagon guitarist Gary Richrath dies."

I blogged REO in 2013, "'So if you're tired of the same old story...'"

Hillary Clinton Flack David Brock's 'Majestic' Hair (VIDEO)

This is a riot.

From Mary Katharine Ham, at Hot Air, "Video: David Brock and his hair get serious blowback from Scarborough on ‘Morning Joe’":

The extent to which this man is willing to flack for the Clintons is amazing, operatic in its denial, majestic in its sheer devotion. Almost as majestic as Brock’s hair, which let’s face it, gets more spectacular every time I see it...

Click through for the video, heh.

Wall Street's Latest Panic: Trump Could Win

Of course he could win, heh.

Interesting though that Wall Streeters would be panicking at a Trump win. For all his bluster, he's much more likely to be a friend of markets than the Democrats, especially Bernie Sanders, with all his diatribes against "billionaires."

At Politico, "With Bush and Clinton taking their lumps, financial executives face populist critics in both parties":

NEW YORK — Wall Street is growing increasingly terrified that Donald Trump — once viewed as an amusing summertime distraction — could actually win the Republican nomination for president.

The real estate billionaire, who took another populist shot on Sunday by ripping into lavish executive pay, continues to rise in the polls. Would-be Wall Street saviors like Jeb Bush are languishing in single digits. The belief that Trump's candidacy would quickly fade is now evaporating in a wave of fear.

“I held four lunches for investors in August and at the first one everyone assumed Trump would implode,” said Byron Wien, vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Partners and a senior figure on Wall Street. “By the fourth one everyone was taking him very seriously. He taps into frustrations that are very real and he is a master manipulator of the media.”

The CEO of one large Wall Street firm, who declined to be identified by name criticizing the GOP front-runner, said the assumption in the financial industry remains that something will eventually knock Trump off and send voters toward a more establishment candidate. But that assumption is no longer held with strong conviction. And a dozen Wall Street executives interviewed for this article could not say what might dent Trump's appeal or when it might happen.

"I don't know anyone who is a Donald Trump supporter. I don’t know anyone who knows anyone who is a Donald Trump supporter. They are like this huge mystery group,” the CEO said. "So it's a combination of shock and bewilderment. No one really knows why this is happening. But my own belief is that the laws of gravity will apply and those who are prepared to run the marathon will benefit when Trump drops out at mile 22. Right now people think Trump is pretty hilarious but the longer it goes on the more frightening it gets."

Well, as they say, don't hold your breath.

Keep reading (via Memeorandum).

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Ousted in Liberal Party Revolt (VIDEO)

Wow, this was out of the blue.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Malcolm Turnbull Ousts Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott":

CANBERRA, Australia—The party coup to install Malcolm Turnbull as Australia’s fourth prime minister in just over two years has exposed deep unease about the resource-dependent country’s sharply slowing economy and a political system that lets small groups of politicians oust elected leaders.

The 60-year-old former investment banker unseated Tony Abbott as leader of the ruling Liberal-National coalition government late Monday in a party rebellion, as voter surveys pointed to defeat for the ruling Liberal-National coalition at federal elections due next year.

He now faces many of the same challenges as his predecessor, first among them how to revive an economy in which a recession may be imminent after 24 years of avoiding one. Australia’s economy expanded just 0.2% in the second quarter from the first, the slowest pace in four years, as China’s slowing economy translates into less construction of skyscrapers, bridges and railways—hurting demand for raw materials like iron ore.

“We need to have in this country…an economic vision, a leadership that explains the great challenges and opportunities that we face, that describes the way in which we can handle those challenges, seize those opportunities, and does so in a manner that the Australian people,” Mr. Turnbull said.

The latest ouster caps nearly a decade of instability in Australian politics that has splintered both major political parties.

The Liberal-National coalition came to office in a landslide election victory in September 2013, in part because of voter discontent over the leadership contests that roiled the former center-left Labor government. Former Labor leader Kevin Rudd was ousted by his own party in 2010 and succeeded by Julia Gillard, before being returned to power by his colleagues three years later amid dwindling voter support for Ms. Gillard.

Some conservative party elders spoke out against the latest leadership challenge, saying it risked inflaming political divisions within the party and repeating the tumult of Labor rule.

“This act by Malcolm Turnbull is one of gross disloyalty and extreme egotism,” said Jeff Kennett, a former state leader and conservative party elder, on Australian television. “He is without a doubt the Kevin Rudd of the Liberal Party. He has consistently proved himself not to be a team player, but one who pursues self interest.”

Mr. Turnbull said he was mounting the challenge because Mr. Abbott hadn’t been able to provide effective leadership and persuade skeptical voters to accept the overhaul of taxation and rigid labor laws that could unlock growth in the 1.6 trillion Australian dollar (US$1.1 trillion) economy.

But he said he wasn’t expecting to hold snap elections—instead giving voters time to adjust to changes—and wouldn’t shift course on climate policies already agreed by the party ahead of global climate talks in Paris in December...

Still more (and be sure to check that cool graphic on the Liberal Party's "stability to volatility").

Also at the Guardian UK, "Australian leader Tony Abbott ousted by Malcolm Turnbull after party vote," and "Liberal leadership spill: Malcolm Turnbull ousts Tony Abbott to become Australia's 29th prime minister – politics live."

Professor Ethan Schmidt Fatally Shot at Delta State University in Mississippi (VIDEO)

Not only is this horrible news, it's frightening.

I pride myself on keeping open office hours --- with my office door literally wide open --- so, unfortunately, anyone could walk right in and start firing.

At ABC News 13 Houston, "PROFESSOR DEAD AFTER SHOOTING AT DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY IN MISSISSIPPI."

Also, watch at CNN, "Delta State University professor Ethan Schmidt killed."

More, from WLBT News 3 Jackson, Mississippi, "Dr. Shannon Lamb is officially a suspect in DSU shooting":

CLEVELAND, MS (Mississippi News Now) - Forty-five year old Dr. Shannon Lamb has been upgraded from person of interest to suspect in the murder of DSU history professor Ethan Schmidt.

Lamb is also the suspect in the murder of Amy Prentiss in Gautier this morning. MHP says they believe Lamb is driving a black Dodge Avenger with Mississippi tag # STF 015.

Lamb is a Geography teacher at the university. He joined Delta State in 2009 and just recently received his doctorate in 2014.

Prior to working for Delta State, Lamb taught geography at Mississippi Valley State University (2006-2009.)

He was also previously a math teacher at Riverside High School in Avon, MS (2006-2009), Murrah High School in Jackson, MS (2005-2006), and Greenville-Weston High School in Greenville, MS (2003-2005).

Schmidt was shot and killed in his office. According to the Delta State’s website, Schmidt was an Assistant Professor of American History.

He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas in 2007. Before coming to Delta State, Schmidt taught for six years at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX .

Commissioner of Higher Education Dr. Glenn Boyce issued the following statement on Schmidt's death:

“The Board of Trustees and I are extremely saddened by the passing of Delta State University professor Ethan Schmidt. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. We commend the Delta State University police and leadership for the quick response to the situation and their efforts to keep students, faculty and staff safe. We would also like to thank the other law enforcement agencies who have responded for their immediate and ongoing assistance to the university. We are in constant communication with the campus and are working with campus officials to provide assistance where needed.”

Delta State says that all classes are canceled for the remainder of the day and night...

Also, "Victim in Gautier murder identified as Amy Prentiss."

Still more at the Mississippi Press, "UPDATED: Gautier police identify victim in shooting, suspect vows he will `not go to jail'."

Israeli Forces Storm Al-Aqsa Terror Mosque (VIDEO)

At the Los Angeles Times, "20 Palestinians hurt in clashes with Israeli police at Al Aqsa holy site":

Clashes broke out Sunday morning between Israeli police and Palestinians at the Al Aqsa mosque compound, leaving more than 20 Palestinians injured and damaging the windows and carpet of the mosque, according to police and Palestinian officials.

The violence occurred after Israeli police allowed Jewish worshipers and tourists to visit the hilltop compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, revered by Muslims as their third holiest site after Mecca and Medina and by Jews as the site of their ancient temple.

Palestinians were preparing to disrupt attempts by the Jewish visitors to hold prayers at the compound to mark the impending Jewish New Year, which began at sunset Sunday. Israeli policies allow Jews to visit the area outside the mosque during specific hours, but forbid them to pray there.

Police had recently shut down the mosque to Muslim worshipers, mainly women, during the Jewish visiting hours to prevent confrontations.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves inside the mosque early Sunday and threw rocks and firecrackers at police. He said police did not enter the mosque but removed barricades around the building.

There also were reports of a Jewish man in a prayer shawl being attacked nearby.

Police released video showing lit firecrackers and other objects being thrown by Palestinians inside the mosque at the officers outside, with some exploding within the holy site. The Jerusalem police website said pipe bombs were seized near the entrance to the mosque.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said 20 Palestinians were injured, none seriously. No arrests were reported...

Still more.

Plus, at the Times of Israel, "Abbas decries Israel’s ‘attack’ on al-Aqsa mosque."

Well of course he's going to complain. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is the leading Palestinian terrorist organization, a tool of both Fatah and the PLO. Next he'll be running to the United Nations about human rights abuses, or something.

More video here, "State of Palestine: Israeli security forces raid Al-Aqsa Mosque for second day running."

Russia Shipping Tanks Into Syria (VIDEO)

From Michael Totten, at World Affairs Journal, "Russia Moves Into Syria":

Russia is shipping massive quantities of offensive weapons, materiel and soldiers to Syria....

The only thing surprising about this is that it took so long...

More at Memeorandum,

And at the New York Times, "Russian Flights Over Iraq and Iran Escalate Tension With U.S." (At Memeorandum.)

And watch, at RT, "Are you Syrious? ‘Putin admits Russia’s aiding Syrian army in war’ – western media claim."

Novak Djokovic Wins U.S. Open 2015

The match was scheduled for 1:00pm Pacific, and I wasn't planning on watching because the Angels were up against the Astros at 12:30pm, and this home stand had tremendous playoff implications.

So later I'm tooling around on my remote channel guide and I see that ESPN was switching Sunday Night Baseball over to ESPN2 because of rain delay at Flushing Meadows, so I'm like great! Time for some tennis!

In any case, at the New York Times, "Novak Djokovic Defeats Roger Federer to Win U.S. Open."

And he's interviewed at CBS This Morning, "Novak Djokovic on second U.S. Open and 10th Grand Slam win."

America's Legal Order Begins to Fray — #FergusonEffect

Remember, here's the trend, "Ferguson Effect: Murder Rates Rise Sharply in Urban Areas Across the U.S."

From Heather Mac Donald, at WSJ, "Amid the escalation of violent crime are signs of a breakdown of basic respect for law enforcement":

After two decades of the most remarkable crime drop in U.S. history, law enforcement has come to this: “I’m deliberately not getting involved in things I would have in the 1990s and 2000s,” an emergency-services officer in New York City tells me. “I won’t get out of my car for a reasonable-suspicion stop; I will if there’s a violent felony committed in my presence.”

A virulent antipolice campaign over the past year—initially fueled by a since-discredited narrative about a police shooting in Ferguson, Mo.—has made police officers reluctant to do their jobs. The Black Lives Matter movement proclaims that the police are a lethal threat to blacks and that the criminal-justice system is pervaded by racial bias. The media amplify that message on an almost daily basis. Officers now worry about becoming the latest racist cop of the week, losing their job or being indicted if a good-faith encounter with a suspect goes awry or is merely distorted by an incomplete cellphone video.

With police so discouraged, violent crime has surged in at least 35 American cities this year. The alarming murder increase prompted an emergency meeting of the Major Cities Chiefs Association last month. Homicides were up 76% in Milwaukee, 60% in St. Louis, and 56% in Baltimore through mid-August, compared with the same period in 2014; murder was up 47% in Minneapolis and 36% in Houston through mid-July.

But something more fundamental than even public safety may be at stake. There are signs that the legal order itself is breaking down in urban areas. “There’s a total lack of respect out there for the police,” says a female sergeant in New York. “The perps feel more empowered to carry guns because they know that we are running scared.”

The lawful use of police power is being met by hostility and violence, often ignored by the press. In Cincinnati, a small riot broke out in late July when the police arrived at a drive-by shooting scene, where a 4-year-old girl had been shot in the head and critically injured. Bystanders loudly cursed at officers who had started arresting suspects at the scene on outstanding warrants, according to a witness I spoke with.

During anticop demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo., last month, 18-year-old Tyrone Harris opened fire at police officers, according to law-enforcement officials, and was shot and wounded by police in response. A crowd pelted the cops with frozen water bottles and rocks, wounding three officers, while destroying three police cars and damaging businesses, Ferguson police said. “We’re ready for what? We’re ready for war,” some protesters reportedly chanted.

In Birmingham, Ala., an officer was beaten unconscious with his own gun last month by a suspect in a car stop. There was gloating on social media. “Pistol whipped his ass to sleep,” read one Twitter post. The officer later said that he had refrained from using force to defend himself for fear of a media backlash.

Officers are being challenged in their most basic efforts to render aid. A New York cop in the Bronx tells me that he was trying to extricate a woman pinned under an overturned car in July when a bystander stuck his cellphone camera into the officer’s face, trying to bait him into an argument. “You can’t tell me what to do,” the bystander replied when asked to move to the sidewalk, the cop reports. “A few years ago, I would have taken police action,” he says. “Now I know it won’t end well for me or the police department.”

Supervisors may roll up to an incident where trash and other projectiles are being thrown at officers and tell the cops to get into their cars and leave. “What does that do to the general public?” wonders a New York detective. “Every time we pass up on an arrest because we don’t want a situation to blow up, we’ve made the next cop’s job all the harder.”

That's actually kind of depressing.

More at the link.

One Person Dead as 'Incredibly Fast' Valley Fire Scorches Hundred of Homes (VIDEO)

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Valley Fire grows to 61,000 acres."

Also at the Los Angeles Times, "Hundreds of homes and structures destroyed; blaze not yet contained in any area."

Evelyn Taft's Got Your Monday Forecast

Hmm... Looks like she's expecting.

Watch, "Evelyn Taft's Weather Forecast (Sept. 14)."

Blue-Collar Support, Not Ideology, Underlies Donald Trump's Spectacular Rise

The Democrats have been bleeding blue-collar support, and dangerously so. And thus Donald Trump's huge backing among that demographic's gotta be a major fear for the post-Obama Dems heading into 2016.

From Ronald Brownstein, at National Journal, "The Billionaire Candidate and His Blue-Collar Following."

There's no sweet pullout quotes at the piece.

Just read it all at that link.

One point, though, is important: Brownstein notes that it's not likely that Trump's support will fade any time soon, and thus his challengers in the Republican field are going to have to find a way to "eclipse" him. But as long as Trump sticks with the issues that have driven his surge thus far, it's not likely that we'll be seeing a political eclipse in the short term. As noted above, however, the longer term fear's going to be with the Democrats. If Trump wins the nomination he's got the potential to strip white working class voters from the Democrat coalition once and for all. And that could be murderous to the left's electoral hopes, since much of the Democrats' so-called "coalition of the ascendant" just doesn't vote in numbers anywhere near those of traditional white constituencies.

But we'll see. We'll see.

Timothy Snyder's 'The Next Genocide' is Crackpot Leftist Hysteria That's Better Off Ignored

I posted last week, "Edward Rothstein Reviews Timothy Snyder's Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning."

The review is here, via Google, "The Frying Pan and the Fire."

Rothstein says Snyder's work was basically magisterial, but then wrote this about the author's final chapter:

The Holocaust, like no other act or example of human evil, has inspired legions of lessons and “warnings,” as if they were required to justify the attention. The enshrinement of “tolerance” is only the most egregious example, but the Holocaust didn’t take place because of intolerance, and it would not have been prevented by tolerance. Why the compulsion to make comparisons with other atrocities? It would be like concluding a history of World War II by emphasizing that there were other deadly wars too, and we should all learn to be peaceful creatures. Somehow, in the case of the Holocaust, this approach has become conventional. Why the persistent straining at homily? Is there an element of shame involved? And why is the Holocaust so relentlessly invoked in irrelevant situations? Is that, too, some form of self-exoneration or alibi?

I wondered about some of this when encountering Mr. Snyder’s last chapter, “Our World.” He writes: “The planet is changing in ways that might make Hitlerian descriptions of life, space and time more plausible.” He suggests that now, as then, there is a sense of imminent apocalypse. Just as the Jew disrupted the global ecology for Hitler, something has now “diverted nature from its proper course.” And it may well cause a similar series of events. What is the contemporary threat? Climate change. And the irony, Mr. Snyder suggests, is that it could again place Jews in a precarious position. Mr. Snyder points out that the Holocaust proved the need for a strong nation-states, and Israel’s existence is essential for Jewish survival. But, he argues, “the continuing desertification of the Middle East might generate both regional conflict and the demand for scapegoats” (the Jews of Israel, of course). And the irony is that “some of Israel’s American political allies”—the Christian Right, if I understand correctly—“tend to deny the reality of climate change,” which, along with many other peculiarities, makes apocalypse more likely.

After reading this chapter and seeing its ritualistic homilies and sweeping comparisons, I became concerned that somehow I had been wrong about the intelligence, vision and insight that had characterized the rest of the book. But no, I am not wrong. Just skip the warning.

In other words, just skip the hysterical warning about the coming climate change apocalypse. It's truly bizarre, and Snyder's seriously mucking up his scholarly reputation.

I mean, he's really invested in this. See his op-ed at the New York Times, "The Next Genocide."

The guy's nuts.

More from William Teach, at Right Wing News, "NY Times: Climate Deniers Have “an intellectual stance that is uncomfortably close to Hitler’s”."

Anastasia Ashley for Maxim

I blogged this lady in July, "Surf's Up with Anastasia Ashley."

And here she is for Maxim:

Charlotte Proudman Lashes Out Against 'Misogynistic Sexism' After Complemented for Her LinkedIn Proflie by Alexander Carter-Silk

This is an old story by now.

The background's at the Guardian UK, "Barrister hits out over sexist comment on her LinkedIn photo by legal expert."

But I wanted to throw a link to Robert Stacy McCain, at the Other McCain, where you always get the unvarnished truth about radical feminism. See, "Objectified by the Male Gaze - UPDATE: Allegedly Heterosexual?"

BONUS: There's video at Sky News, "Lawyer Accused of Misogynistic Behavior on LinkedIn," and "Charlotte Proudman Interview - LinkedIn Sexism Row."

America Can — And Must — Do More to Help Europe's Migrants. Really?

I don't know?

I'm sure we can take some, but we should be careful not to take too many. As Andrea Tantaros has warned, it'd be national suicide.

But see Julia Ioffe, at Foreign Policy, "Je Suis Refugee":

The reason I’m writing this in English — and that I have a column in Foreign Policy at all — is that 25 years ago, on April 28, 1990, my family arrived in the United States as refugees from the Soviet Union. It is a day the four of us mark every year because it was the beginning of a new, free, and prosperous life. Had it not been for the American Jews lobbying Congress and the White House on our behalf for years, had it not been for the Jackson-Vanik amendment, had it not been for the fact that the geopolitical struggle against the USSR was hitched up to its humanitarian ramifications, had it not been for Mikhail Gorbachev wanting to put a human face on socialism, I would be writing this in Russian. More likely, I probably wouldn’t be writing this at all.

I think often about April 28, 1990, and the two years my parents spent waiting in lines at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. It’s a moment that splits my life in two. What would my life have been like if not for all those political forces — and my parents’ foresight and dedication — that snapped my 7-year-old self on a radically different course?

I don’t know that my life would have been terrible, but I know that I would not have reconnected with my family’s Jewish heritage. I would not have gotten to follow my passion for history with some of the world’s leading scholars at Princeton. I would have a lot more health issues, and I would also probably be divorced with a couple of kids, living in a country that is increasingly hostile not only to its neighbors but to its own citizens. If I would’ve been anything like the friends and family we left behind, I would probably be scrambling for an exit — to Israel, Latvia, anywhere where the walls aren’t closing in like they are in Moscow.

Sometimes, my American life still feels like a dream and an accident. And in the course of it, I’ve come across many people whose lives are accidents, too — accidents far starker and more implausible than mine.

One of my closest friends is the son of a man who, at the age of six, was whisked out of prewar Prague by Sir Nicholas Winton as part of the Kindertransport that saved so many and yet so very few Jewish children. A friend from high school recently posted the desperate letters her German-Jewish grandfather sent to the United States, hoping someone would sponsor him as a relative, trying to escape the swelling sense of danger that was slowly squeezing him of oxygen. One of the first friends I made at college was a Bosnian Muslim refugee. We spoke sometimes of the sheer wonder that the two of us, two refugee kids randomly plucked from a bad place and planted in a good place, should end up at such an elite institution. Last fall, I attended the wedding of a friend, the granddaughter of Armenian refugees from the genocide, and a Bosnian refugee who had escaped Banja Luka on his own as a teenager.

All of these people’s lives in America are accidents of history and politics. Had war not come to Banja Luka or Prague or Berlin, had there not been rumors in 1988 that there would be pogroms in Moscow to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of the christening of Rus, we would’ve lived on in those places. Some of us would have been born as other people, sure, but we would’ve found a certain blinkered happiness in things because we would not have known an alternative life...

Hmm... Very moving, but it's not Jewish refugees by the tens of thousands --- even hundreds of thousands --- now flooding Europe's borders, and soon our as well. It's Muslim refugees, and if folks think they've got "no-go zones" in Europe now, just wait until after this latest wave of migration plays out.

It's a warning for the United States, that's for sure. Even warmhearted stories like Ms. Ioffe's can't mask the dangers of untrammeled migration flows to the U.S. Think of Kathyn Steinle, and then imagine Charlie Hebdo-style attacks on top of that. That's what's awaiting the U.S. if we succumb to suicidal compassion and open our borders to the Third World hordes.

Still more at the link.

Eastern European Nations Protest Massive Flood of Third World 'Refugees' (VIDEO)

All's not well with the migrant crisis in Europe, especially in Eastern and Central European countries.

Here's video, at Ruptly, "Czech Republic: Thousands rally against EU refugee policy," and "Poland: Thousands of nationalists rally against refugees in Warsaw."

At the New York Times, "Eastern Bloc’s Resistance to Refugees Highlights Europe’s Cultural and Political Divisions":

WARSAW — Even though the former Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe have been asked to accept just a tiny fraction of the refugees that Germany and other nations are taking, their fierce resistance now stands as the main impediment to a unified European response to the crisis.

Poland’s new president, Andrzej Duda, has complained about “dictates” from the European Union to accept migrants flowing onto the Continent from the Middle East and Africa.

Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, says his country will accept only Christian refugees as it would be “false solidarity” to force Muslims to settle in a country without a single mosque. Viktor Orban, Hungary’s hard-line prime minister, calls the influx a “rebellion by illegal migrants” and pledges a new crackdown this week.

The discord has further unsettled a union already shaky from struggles over the euro and the Greek financial crisis and now facing a historic influx of people attracted by Europe’s relative peace and prosperity.

When representatives of the European Union nations meet on Monday to take up a proposal for allocating refugees among them, Central and Eastern European nations are likely to be the most vocal opponents. Their stance — reflecting a mix of powerful far-right movements, nationalism, racial and religious prejudices as well as economic arguments that they are less able to afford to take in outsiders than their wealthier neighbors — is the latest evidence of the stubborn cultural and political divides that persist between East and West.

When joining the European Union — as the former Communist countries have done since 2004 — nations are asked to pledge support to a raft of so-called European values, including open markets, transparent government, respect for an independent media, open borders, cultural diversity, protection of minorities and a rejection of xenophobia.

But the reality is that the former Communist states have proved sluggish in actually absorbing many of these values and practicing them. Oligarchs, cronyism and endemic corruption remain a part of daily life in many of the countries, freedom of the press is in decline while rising nationalism and populist political movements have stirred anti-immigrant tensions.

“People must remember that Poland has been transitioning from communism for only 25 years,” Lech Walesa, who led that country’s independence movement, said in an interview. “Our salaries and houses are still smaller than those in the West. Many people here don’t believe that they have anything to share with migrants. Especially that they see that migrants are often well-dressed, sometimes better than many Poles.”

Few migrants, in fact, are particularly interested in settling in Eastern Europe, preferring to head to Germany or Scandinavia, where social welfare benefits are higher, employment opportunities greater and immigrant communities better established. In that sense, migrants are aligned with leaders in Eastern and Central European capitals, who frequently argue that the 28-member bloc should focus first on securing its borders and figuring out a way to end the war in Syria before talking about mandatory quotas for accepting refugees...

More.

Photo Credit: London's Daily Mail, "Eastern Europeans complain about the new migrants: 'Go Home!'"

Baby Clothing, Gear, and More — 20-to-60% Off

At Amazon, Shop - September Baby Sale.

Plus, ICYMI, from Mary Mary Katharine Ham and Guy Benson, End of Discussion: How the Left's Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun).

The Third World on the Move — Germany Adds Border Controls to Stem the 'Migrant' Invasion (VIDEO)

John Derbyshire's got a must-read post at VDare, "The Third World Is On The Move. This Will Get WAY Worse Before It Gets Better."

And you know, they're coming to America. Andrea Tantaros tweeted the other day, "Taking Islamic refugees would be suicide. It's an easy way for ISIS to infiltrate US, & where does it end? We have enough immigration probs."

Well, in any case, humanitarian Germany, where the "migrants" were just welcomed with "open arms," has established "temporary" border controls to stem the invasion. At the Telegraph UK, "German border controls mark sudden shift in refugee policy":

Germany announces emergency border protections after weeks of leading Europe's response to the migrant crisis.

Germany’s announcement on Sunday that it was instituting emergency border protections marks a sudden shift in its response to the refugee crisis.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was hailed as a saviour after her government said last month it expected to take in 800,000 refugees and asylum seekers this year alone.

Germany also became the EU first country to suspend the so-called Dublin protocol, which mandates that refugees seek asylum in the first European country they enter, by declaring last month that all Syrian refugees could remain in Germany regardless of the country through which they entered...

Keep reading.

Butte Mountain Fire Continues to Burn Out of Control (VIDEO)

At the Sacramento Bee, "Thousands flee ‘mass destruction’ as Valley, Butte, Rough fires widen," and "Update: California emergency chief says fires ‘spreading faster’ than they have in 30 years."

Plus, watch at KCRA News 3 Sacramento, "Butte Fire keeps destroying homes, disrupting lives," and "Butte Fire proves its unpredictability, burns out of control."

PREVIOUSLY: "Gov. Gerry Brown Declares State of Emergency as Butte Mountain Fire Rages in Northern California (VIDEO)."

Bill Ayers, Unrepentant Weather Underground Terrorist, Endorses Socialist Bernie Sanders for President

Here's the unrepentant terrorist at his blog, "My Friend Bert Garskoff feels the Bern":

Sanders promulgates democratic socialist (not socialist, I think) ideas and programs. It is a good thing that these progressive ideas are injected by Sanders as inoculation for  the otherwise neoliberal dogma of Hilary’s campaign

Certainly among the Sanders supporters there are many who will flock like liberal sheep to Hilary once the Bern burns out. However, I believe that among the Sanders supporters there are thousands who are dissatisfied, who are disgruntled, but who do not have a coherent left analysis, who therefore are open to our ideas as they weren’t before they got involved in the Sanders surge. These seekers will be open (certainly many of them) to ideas from the Left of Sanders

We must think as organizers. Yes, demonstrate, fight in the streets but spend some time and energy going to places where the Sanders campaign has gathered a crowd or a meeting but go not to disrupt, disrupting there would show how true we are to our knowledge, to our anger, to our need to show “them” us. But, what does this do? Doesn’t it drive away people, many of them young people who don’t (yet) have our understandings?

So I think that we should jump in the water. After all, the anti-war multitudes of the 60s and 70s were only disgruntled, dissatisfied people and without a coherent left analysis, yet we jumped in. Why? Because a movement can only be built on motion. Motion is people open, people leaving their normal placid acceptance if only a little, if only briefly. So, things swirled. Liberal anti-war marches. My collective would go, stand alongside the marchers with paper Viet Cong flags and pins, encouraging people to wear the flags. We gave maybe a thousand away. A good left action. We also had leaflets with our analysis of the war on Vietnam. Many people took those. Good. Better than if we had stayed home.

So, why don’t we joined [sic] a Sanders local campaign or go to a mass rally?

Great. Let's put Vietcong pins on Bernie Sanders supporters, or better yet, the Sanders campaign can hand out ISIS flags at campaign rallies.

Still more.

Not only are the Democrats a Marixist collectivist party, hardline left-wing terrorists suck at the teat of the Democrat Party bosom. Bill Ayers was long ago rehabilitated by a terror-loving collectivist media, all too ready to welcome unrepentant fugitives into the Democrat-Media-Complex fold.

This is what's coming in November 2016: a bolder, aggressive leftist socialism, finally prepared to abandon the stealth socialism of the Obama interregnum.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also, at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

More at Lonely Con, "Saturday Funnies," and Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: IBD.

Oh My! Donald Trump Surges to 40 Percent in Latest New Hampshire Poll (VIDEO)

From CBS News, via Memeorandum, "Battleground Tracker: Trump leads GOP field in IA, NH, SC."

Also, at YouGov, "Sanders up big in New Hampshire and Iowa; Carson trails Trump." (At Memeorandum.)

Forty percent in New Hampshire is simply astounding. It's still early, but man.



And ICYMI, from last week, "The Political Establishment's Terrified by Donald Trump's 'Tangible American Nationalism'."

Downey Carjacking Suspect Final Video Moments Before Killed by Deputies

Bizarre.

The dude knew he was going out in a hail of gunfire.

What a waste.

But then, these mofo Mexican criminals ought not to be carjacking. Freakin' Democrat Party values.

At ABC News 7 Los Angeles, "CHRIS & PITTS HOSTAGE RECORDED FINAL VIDEO OF ARMED CHASE SUSPECT."

PREVIOUSLY: "Carjacker Shot and Killed by Deputies at Chris & Pitts Restaurant in Downey (VIDEO)."

Besieged Leftist San Francisco Mom Raises Insufferable Eco-Monster Teenager; Lives to Regret It

Look, my 19-year-old son has taken on a lot of far-left positions, and Lord knows he wasn't raised that way. So, imagine the horror of this Jewish progressive San Francisco mom who's raised an eco-monster.

From Darleen Click, at Protein Wisdom, "Mother raises insufferable prick, is confused":

If you can make it through the whole exercise in Ha ha, my kid is off to college and I’m not sorry, isn’t that funny? narcissism, you’ll find the only males mentioned are the 100 lb bully Cory and his best friend.

Where is dad? Or grandpa?

Where was the required influence of an adult man who would have pulled this little asswipe aside and told him to knock-off the totalitarian nonsense or get knocked into next week — “Don’t ever, ever let me catch you treating your mom this way again.”

More at the link, and be sure to click through to the essay by the "besieged San Francisco mom."

I can't stand eco-leftist monsters. I had an insufferable student last semester in my World Politics class. She could have been a satanic antagonist right out of Michael Walsh's The Devil's Pleasure Palace, seriously.

Kristen Keogh's Got Your Beautiful Sunday Beach Weather Forecast

Actually, if you're like me, the weather's back to it's beautiful prime in Southern California.

Still hot, but total beach weather. So, grab your bathing suit and a couple of beers and head out for some recreation. It's going to be a wonderful day.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

Topless Femen Protesters Dragged Off Stage at Islamic Conference in France (VIDEO)

The Femen protesters are pretty psycho, actually.

But you gotta give it up for 'em sometimes, especially when they disrupt the radical Islamists.

At Gateway Pundit, "WATCH=> Muslims Drag, Beat and Kick Topless Femen Protesters Off Stage." (Via Memeorandum.)

And of course, given that these are fucking Muslim goons, they kick the shit out of the Femen women.

I've never seen that in all my Femen posting.

Watch, "Topless FEMEN disrupt Muslim conference in France, get kicked."

Poll: Socialist Bernie Sanders Surges in Iowa and New Hampshire (VIDEO)

At CBS News, via Memeorandum, "Battleground Tracker: Sanders Surges in IA, NH; Clinton up in SC."

The numbers in New Hampshire show an utter blowout, with Sanders up 22 percent over Clinton 52-30. I don't expect a lot of change in the polling, personally. In fact, I expect Clinton to keep struggling, mostly in terms of enthusiasm, but also because of her corruption.

And watch the discussion at Face the Nation, "New CBS Poll: Sanders leading Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire."

Also at YouGov, "The Methodology of the 2016 YouGov/CBS News Battleground Tracker" (at Memeorandum). Again, it's an Internet poll, which aren't my favorite, but haven't been too bad so far, so there's that.

Survivor of Charleston Massacre Tells Lester Holt About the Moment Dylann Roof Opened Fire During Bible Study (VIDEO)

Watch, at NBC News, "Dylann Roof Told Survivor: ‘I’m Going To Leave You Here to Tell the Story’."

But hey, let's wave that Confederate flag in her face!

New Dana Loesch Advertisement for the National Rifle Association (VIDEO)

Here's Dana on Twitter, "As a mom, I want to do #WhateverItTakes to protect myself and my family."



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

Tens of Thousands Demonstrate in Europe in 'Day of Action in Solidarity With' Refugees (VIDEO)

At WSJ, "Tens of Thousands Demonstrate in Europe in Support of Refugees":

Wave of sympathy contrasts with protest in Warsaw against plan to take in migrants.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators in Europe rallied on Saturday to express sympathy toward migrants seeking refuge in the region amid the largest migration of displaced people since the end of World War II.

About 30,000 people converged in Copenhagen, according to city police, carrying banners such as “Refugees Welcome.” The rally, as well as smaller gatherings in other Danish cities, was calm and peaceful, police said.

In Hamburg, Germany, more than 24,000 people demonstrated against xenophobia and racism, said a spokeswoman for the city’s police. She said they were mostly peaceful but police briefly used water cannons after some stones and firecrackers were thrown.

Demonstrators also marched in London to pressure the British government to take in more refugees. Among those in attendance was Jeremy Corbyn, just hours after being elected as leader of the U.K.’s opposition Labour Party.

The rallies further highlight the political rift created by the exploding migrant crisis in Europe. The hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge this summer have left Europe divided between nations on transit routes on one side and those countries migrants see as preferred destinations on the other.

The president of Hungary, one such transit route, defended his country’s tough migrant policy on Saturday.

“These migrants don’t come from the war zone, but from camps in Syria’s neighboring countries Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, where they were in safety” and thus didn’t flee for fear of their lives, but for wanting a better life, Viktor Orban told German tabloid Bild in an interview. “Personally, I can understand this, but there is no fundamental right to a better life. There’s only a right to security and human dignity.”

Earlier this month, Hungary’s premier courted controversy by saying the country’s borders must be defended as Europe’s identity was rooted in Christianity, while most of the migrants arriving on the continent were Muslims.

Europe is struggling to handle its largest flow of migrants since the aftermath of World War II. Why is the crisis happening now? The WSJ's Niki Blasina explains.

Mr. Orban’s tough stance drew criticism from Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann.

“To put refugees on trains in the belief they would go elsewhere reminds me of the darkest time on our continent,” Mr. Faymann told weekly magazine Der Spiegel in an interview, in a reference to Nazi Germany. Mr. Orban “acts irresponsibly when declaring everyone a migrant for economic reasons. He consciously uses a policy of deterrence,” he said.

In the Polish capital, about 7,000 people led by fringe nationalist groups protested on Saturday against the government’s plan to take in more than 2,200 refugees over the next two years.

“It’s a war of two civilizations,” said one of the Warsaw rally’s leaders...

Still more.

Cooling Off with Amanda Cerny, Gemma Lee Farrell, Bryiana Noelle, Kennedy Summers, and Shelby Chesnes (VIDEO)

Watch: "Playboy Playmates Cooling Off by Taking a Splash."

Illegal Immigrants Lose ObamaCare Coverage

As well they should. At the Hill, "400,000 immigrants lose Obamacare coverage."

Those "400,000 immigrants" are mostly illegal immigrants, who were supposed to resolve their citizenship status within 95 days of the law's window taking effect, but the criminals obviously didn't want to come forward, and thus are being thrown off Obama's illegal alien healthcare dole.

Bar Refaeli for At Magazine

It's an Israeli magazine, published in Hebrew (as far as I can tell).

She's tweeted a shot here, "No make-up No filter No retouch. Just Me out tomorrow atmagazine."

And at Egotastic!, "BAR REFAELI SEXTASTIC IN LINGERIE."

Jeremy Corbyn, Newly-Elected Labour Leader, Sings 'Red Flag' with Supporters in London Pub (VIDEO)

At the Independent UK, "Jeremy Corbyn celebrates election as Labour leader by singing The Red Flag at victory party."

He was "on the brink" of tears.

Tony Blair had the party spurn "The Red Flag" during his time in office, but it's resurrected now, in a big way:

The People's Flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our martyred dead,
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts' blood dyed its every fold.
Chorus:
So raise the scarlet standard high.
Beneath its folds we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here.
Look round, the Frenchman loves its blaze,
The sturdy German chants its praise,
In Moscow's vaults its hymns were sung
Chicago swells the surging throng.
(chorus)
It waved above our infant might,
When all ahead seemed dark as night;
It witnessed many a deed and vow,
We must not change its colour now.
(chorus)
It well recalls the triumphs past,
It gives the hope of peace at last;
The banner bright, the symbol plain,
Of human right and human gain.
(chorus)
It suits today the weak and base,
Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place
To cringe before the rich man's frown,
And haul the sacred emblem down.
(chorus)
With head uncovered swear we all
To bear it onward till we fall;
Come dungeons dark or gallows grim,
This song shall be our parting hymn.
(chorus)

PREVIOUSLY: "Death of New Labour as Jeremy Corbyn's Socialist Party Begins Period of Civil War Following Crushing Victory."

Techmeme on Its 10th Birthday

A pretty interesting post, from Gabe Rivera, who owns Techmeme, "Ten Years Later, This Is How Techmeme Has Avoided Click-Bait, Auto-Play Ads, and More."

The Return of the Sex Wars

A very interesting piece, from Emily Bazelon, at the New York Times.

I tweeted it to Robert Stacy McCain. He loved it:

@AmPowerBlog Feminists don't really care about preventing rape. Feminists care about demonizing males. @instapundit @CHSommers @AsheSchow

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) September 13, 2015

Emily Ratajkowski Flashes at TargetStyle NYFW Event

At London's Daily Mail, "Emily Ratajkowski flashes her cleavage in a plunging pantsuit with sheer lace trousers as she leads the glamour at TargetStyle NYFW event."

And at Drunken Stepfather, "THE TITS FROM BLURRED LINES DRESSED LIKE A STRIPPER FOR TARGET OF THE DAY."

Democrats Call for Admitting 200,000 Migrants Into the U.S.

And they want at least 100,000 to be Syrian.

See Director Blue, "72 DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS: We Must Allow 130,000 Syrians and ISIS Terrorists Into the U.S."

You know, that's only slight hyperbole about the ISIS terrorists. The FBI has no clue how to screen all of these so-called "refugees." See Twitchy, "FBI still maintains it has no means of vetting 10000 'extensively screened' Syrian refugees."

Amber Lee's Got Your Sunday Forecast

It's cooled down a bit, mercifully so.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Death of New Labour as Jeremy Corbyn's Socialist Party Begins Period of Civil War Following Crushing Victory

Well, I called Corbyn a "Communist," but then you have to make it to socialism on the dialectical path to full communism, so I guess it's a wash.

Here's the dramatic headline at the Telegraph UK's live blog from earlier today, "Death of New Labour as Jeremy Corbyn's socialist party begins a period of civil war."

Unlike Scott Walker, Donald Trump 'Just Gets Right Out There' with His Racism (VIDEO)

Well, at least in Britain you've got a hard-left that's genuinely interesting.

Here in the states we've got leftists who are caricatures of far left-wing caricatures. It's not funny in the least.

At Truth Revolt, "Progressive Editor: 'Subtly Racist' Walker Losing 'Explicitly Racist' Voters To Trump":

"Donald Trump has taken out a bullhorn and said the things that Walker used to say with a dog whistle. I mean you'll notice when you played the clip of his speech, all of these things he bragged about doing in Wisconsin have this subtle racial subtext, and that's no accident. Walker's political rise comes out of the right-wing talk radio sphere right around the suburbs of Milwaukee and there's a lot of very explicit racism there. And that's been a part of his campaign in a low-key way, he's appealed to racism among voters. Donald Trump just gets right out there with it."

All assertions. No facts. But then, this is the postmodern "satanic" left. Truth is light. Leftists love darkness. Hence, they just spew a bunch of evil shit, targets and bystanders be damned.

Watch: "MSNBC Guest: Trump Stole Explicitly Racist Voters From Subtly Racist Scott Walker."

Satan Cast Out of the Hill of Heaven

I'm getting through Michael Walsh's The Devil's Pleasure Palace: The Cult of Critical Theory and the Subversion of the West.

It's a quite forcefully argued book, rooted in deep literary learning of German Romantic and Early Romantic opera, which is used to embed the "critical theory" of the Frankfurt School in its "satanic" foundations.

Walsh literally takes no prisoners with his analysis, as one of the reviewers indicates at the Amazon page.

I just noticed last night that Walsh has included a bunch of prints of classical artwork to illustrate the book. Below is Gustave Doré's illustration for John Milton's Paradise Lost" -- "Satan is cast out the hill of Heaven and is cast in Hell's canyons."

And Walsh writes at the caption, "The Paradise that has been irrevocably lost is not ours but Satan's. No wonder those who advocate the satanic position fight for it so fiercely." 

Those advocating for "the satanic position" are leftists, as Walsh points out time and time again.

Earlier Michael Walsh blogging is here.

Gov. Gerry Brown Declares State of Emergency as Butte Mountain Fire Rages in Northern California (VIDEO)

At the Amador Ledger, "Governor Brown delcares a State of Emergency in Amador and Calaveras counties," and "CalFire Butte Mountain Fire Update - 6:43 a.m. Friday, Sept. 11."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Brown declares state of emergency in 65,000-acre Gold Country fire."

More at USA Today, "'Explosive' fire forces evacuations in Northern Calif."

Plus, watch at KCRA News 3 Sacramento, "Firefighters making progress in ravaging Butte Fire," and "Devastating Butte Fire rips through Calaveras County homes."

Low Voter Turnout Weakens Latino Political Power

Well, so much for the left's "coalition of the ascendant."

At LAT, "The Latino vote is growing -- but it could be much bigger":

By all accounts, the Central Valley is a place where Latino candidates should win elections.

Latino political activism here dates back to the farmworker movement of the 1960s. In one congressional district that stretches up through the valley from Kern County to Fresno County, nearly 3 out of 4 residents are Latino.

Yet Latino candidates' election losses have piled up here in recent years — in large part because Latinos aren’t turning out to vote.

For all the talk of the growing Latino electorate and the pivotal role it is expected to play in the 2016 presidential race, there is another often overlooked demographic reality: Latinos, along with Asian Americans, remain dramatically underrepresented in most U.S. elections.

Half a century after passage of the Voting Rights Act, which ended legal barriers to voting for blacks across the South, blacks and whites now vote at roughly equal rates, especially in presidential elections. But Latinos and Asians lag far behind in all races, even when noncitizen immigrants are accounted for.

As a result, the U.S. electorate may be less reflective of the nation’s ethnic and racial diversity today than it was in the 1950s, when the country was 90% white, according to political scientist Bernard Fraga of Indiana University, who studies minority voting trends.

In the 2014 midterm election, only 27% of eligible Latinos voted, compared with 46% of whites and 41% of African Americans, according to U.S. census data.

While the Latino vote is big and growing -- 40 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in 2030, up from about 25 million in 2014 -- it’s nowhere near as big as it could be.

“There’s more Latinos and more eligible Latino voters in the United States than ever before,” Fraga said. “They should have even greater voting strength than they do. They should be even more of a force in politics. But a lot of them aren’t turning out to vote.”

Understanding why Latinos aren’t voting at a higher rate is an urgent question for candidates and parties who depend on Latino votes to win.

Democrats say they will need a big Latino turnout to carry swing states such as Nevada, Colorado and probably Florida in the 2016 presidential race. In next year’s Senate race in California, U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana) will depend on Latino votes in her race against state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris.

But there are many hurdles to improving turnout.

Keep reading.

Maybe Democrats should get to work mobilizing legal Latinos, instead of opening the floodgates for illegal Mexican murderers and rapists?

Uncovered Samantha Hoopes

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:



Previous Samantha Hoopes blogging here.

Rainbow Over World Trade Center, September 10, 2015

The hand of God.

At USA Today, "Photos: Rainbow appears from World Trade Center on eve of 9/11."

Day before the 14th anniversary of 9/11, a rainbow emerged from 1 World Trade Center Photo:Sturner #NeverForget911 pic.twitter.com/UkwfCKzJjL

— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) September 11, 2015

And, of course, karma on September 11, "At least 107 dead in crane collapse in Mecca's Grand Mosque."

Communist Jeremy Corbyn Elected Leader of Britain's Labour Party

Although not unexpected, this is really big new for Britain.

At One America News, "Marx Admirer Corbyn Elected UK Opposition Labour Leader."

Corbyn's indeed a "Marx admirer."

Shoot, he's a freakin' Marxist. See the Express UK, "Labour despair as Corbyn refuses to deny being Marxist."

Well, he was elected in a landslide vote today as the next leader of British Labour. See the Guardian UK, via Memeorandum, "Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour leadership race in stunning victory - live updates," and at the New York Times, "With Jeremy Corbyn Elected as New Leader, Britain's Labour Party Takes a Hard Left Turn."

If you're not already, you should be following Louise Mensch on Twitter, who's the absolutely essential source on all things British politics. She's got a post up at her blog as well, "Corbyn and Why Labour Lose."

And then check this don't-miss essay from Robert Colvile, at Politico, "Quasi-Communist Corbyn":

Now aged 66, Corbyn was first elected to parliament in 1983. That year, Labour stood on a far-left platform promising unilateral nuclear disarmament and the nationalization of swathes of British industry. It was described by one of its own MPs as “the longest suicide note in history.”

Over the next decade, Labour embarked on a gruelling march back toward the center ground. That reached its apogee in 1994, when Tony Blair rebranded the party as “New Labour” and declared it the natural home of the aspiring middle class. His MPs shaved off their beards, stopped singing “The Red Flag,” revoked their symbolic commitment to “the common ownership of the means of production” and promised not to raise taxes. The result was three landslide victories.

A handful of MPs, however, kept both their beards and their beliefs — chief among them Jeremy Corbyn. And where Miliband promised in 2010 to “turn the page” on New Labour, Corbyn wants to go back and tear out the entire chapter.

The result is a policy platform which makes Hillary Clinton look like Grover Norquist. Corbyn would nationalize the railways, most of the energy companies and at least one of the banks. He would abandon austerity, raise taxes on the rich and force the Bank of England to print money to pay for houses, railways and wind farms. He would return schools to state control (undoing Britain’s version of the charter school program, set up under Blair). He would slash defense spending and abolish Britain’s nuclear deterrent. He might bring in a “maximum wage” to cap executive pay, or reopen the coal mines, or withdraw from NATO.

Then there are his views on foreign policy. Corbyn is one of those Europeans who blames the West for the bulk of the world’s evils — and who therefore believes that anyone who hates America or Britain or Israel probably has something going for them. He befriends Venezuela, Bolivia, Russia, Iran, Palestine, Hamas, Hezbollah. He blames the Ukraine crisis on NATO. He befriended Sinn Féin, the IRA’s political wing, even as it was blowing up British civilians. He opposed the Falklands, Kosovo, the first Gulf War and the invasion of Afghanistan — and, of course, Iraq. He was recently asked if there were any circumstances under which he would deploy British troops abroad. “I am sure there are some,” he replied. “But I can’t think of them at the moment.”

What does all this mean for Labour’s future? Some people have argued that Corbyn will need to make some accommodation with his enemies. He has, indeed, spoken of the need for unity and inclusiveness. But at the same time, he is not a man who compromises on his beliefs. His first wife went five years without a date — his evenings were devoted to party meetings or photocopying at headquarters. His second left him because he insisted on sending their son to the (appalling) school allotted to him by the state.

He is also not alone. A central plank of his platform is that the party needs “real democracy” — which means MPs doing what they are told by members, as in the old days. Some of his allies, meanwhile, have talked darkly of the need to de-select MPs who fail to fall into line. His opponents fear that even if Corbyn loses the next election (or is turfed out before then), he will use his control of the party machine to wrench their party irrevocably to the left...

That leadership style, where MPs do "what they are told" by party members, is the "vanguard" party model that Vladimir Lenin deployed as the Bolshevik Party took power in Russia in 1917.

Make no mistake. Corbyn's a communist. He's the real dyed-in-the-wool (red) thing.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

New Scores Show Wider Ethnic Gap in California

These are the new Common Core results, and the gap between Asian and black students is astronomical --- and that's after Asian results declined from the previous testing regime.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Achievement gaps widen for California's black and Latino students."

The Obama White House Won't Say Whether U.S. Is Winning the War Against the Islamic State

Progress in the war on terror, 14 years after the September 11 attacks.

The news isn't encouraging, to say the least.

Watch, at Free Beacon.

RELATED: From Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Fourteen years after 9/11, plenty of readers expressed their unhappiness in our earlier anniversary thread with US policy for the War on Terror, and for good reason."

Europe's Indifference to Syria's Refugees

Well, indifference, and "identity politics."

From Caroline Glick, at the Jerusalem Post:

The war in Syria broke out nearly five years ago.

Hundreds of thousands have already been killed in the conflict. Ten million people – nearly half of Syria’s pre-war population – have been displaced. For the past four years, millions of Syrians have been living in refugee camps in neighboring states – first and foremost in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

Most of the refugees now arriving in Europe are coming from these camps, rather than directly from Syria. Rather than help them either resettle in the lands to which they fled, or take action on the ground in Syria to enable them to return to their homes, the Europeans largely ignored them.

Part of the reason Europe has ignored Syria, of course, is indifference. So long as it’s happening “over there,” the Europeans really couldn’t care less.

But indifference alone does not explain how Europe has been taken by surprise by a humanitarian disaster of the magnitude now unfolding at its borders.

Identity politics have played a key role in shaping Europe’s failed Middle East politics – in Syria and throughout the increasingly destabilized Islamic world.

Identity politics distinguish between various groups based on how they fall on a spectrum of “oppression.”

Western nations, led by Europe and the US, are all classified as “oppressors,” due to their “imperialist” past.

The Islamic world writ large is classified as “oppressed.”

All groups that receive “oppressed” status are immune from judgment, much less resistance from those who fall on the side of the “oppressors.”

Given this taxonomy, Europeans along with the sectors of American society that have embraced identity policies are incapable of recognizing, much less taking action against, radical Islamists.

Those who are oppressed by the “oppressed” of the Islamic world – the Yazidis, Christians and Kurds, for instance – can receive no sustained protection from their jihadist oppressors by the “Muslim-oppressing” West.

The immunity identity politics confers on “oppressed” population groups adheres even when those groups themselves engage in oppression...

More.

Hellraiser Jorgie Porter

She's FHM's new cover girl, on Twitter.

And watch, "FHM Sexy Shorts Presents: Raising Hell with Jorgie Porter."

Hungary Prime Minister Warns of 'Far-Reaching Consequences' in EU's Refugee-Sharing Plan (VIDEO)

At the Wall Street Journal, "Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban Pushes Back Against EU Migrant Sharing Plan":

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday warned the European Union not to impose a plan for sharing migrants across the bloc onto his government, ahead of a key meeting of EU ministers to discuss the issue on Monday.

EU officials have said they hope the bloc will give the proposal, which would see 120,000 asylum seekers distributed among the bloc’s member states, political backing on Monday. Trying to raise the stakes, European Council President Donald Tusk warned he will summon leaders to Brussels later this month if Monday’s meeting fails.

Although Hungary could benefit from the plan, by seeing asylum seekers who have registered in the country moved elsewhere, Mr. Orban warned of “far-reaching consequences” if the EU pushed ahead with the plan on Monday without his backing.

“It’s not possible to make decisions without the elected national leaders,” Mr. Orban said in a news conference in Budapest.

The European Commission, the bloc’s executive, put forward its proposals on Wednesday in a bid to stem the biggest migration crisis facing the region since the aftermath of World War II. Under its plan, 54,000 people who have arrived and registered in Hungary, would be sent to other EU countries.

The plan needs approval from a majority of national governments, meaning it cannot be vetoed by Hungary alone. Top EU officials have said if the proposal wins political backing on Monday, it should be formally signed off in October.

Speaking in Cyprus on Friday, Mr. Tusk—who organizes and chairs EU leaders’ meetings—said that if ministers fail to agree on Monday, “I will have to call an emergency meeting of the European Council still in September.”

If the decision is passed on to EU leaders, the plan would need the backing of all heads of government, including Mr. Orban. It would also delay the implementation of the proposal.

For his part, Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said his country wouldn't support the EU plan because the priority should be “to gain control over the outer border of the European Union.”

In the first eight months of 2015, Hungary registered 170,000 people who crossed its border illegally on their way from countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Many have come through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia to Hungary in hopes of reaching more affluent and asylum friendly states in the EU, notably Germany.

Diplomats in Brussels say Hungary also argues that the redistribution plan will end up attracting more migrants to the EU. They note that since many of the asylum seekers arriving in Hungary quickly leave the country, there may be little incentive for Hungary to sign up to the plan.

If Hungary doesn't participate, the diplomats said, Germany has said it would be happy to take Budapest’s quota—meaning people who have arrived in Germany could be moved to other EU countries like France or Belgium. A spokesman for the German interior ministry didn't comment...

Still more.

Carjacker Shot and Killed by Deputies at Chris & Pitts Restaurant in Downey (VIDEO)

This story garnered international coverage, at the Guardian UK, "Police shoot man dead after he takes hostages in Los Angeles restaurant."

Quite dramatic.

And watch, at CBS New 2 Los Angeles, "Carjacking Pursuit Suspect Fatally Shot by Deputies During Hostage Situation in Downey."