Donald Trump Announces Tax-Cutting Plan (VIDEO)

Following-up from earlier, "Trump Plan Cuts Taxes for Millions."

This is starting to sound even more bold and significant than I thought.

At CBS Evening News, "Trump announces tax plan: Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has unveiled his new tax plan. Major Garrett has the details."

St. Louis Cardinals Outfielder Stephen Piscotty Knocked Out in Collision with Teammate Peter Bourjos (VIDEO)

Here's a YouTube clip, "Cardinals player Stephen Piscotty knocked out by a collision!"

And at Fox Sports, "Cardinals rookie OF carted off field after violent collision."

More at the Post-Dispatch, "After win, Cards encouraged by news on Piscotty."

Mozart for Meditation

Classical music from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, at Amazon.

Plus, Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 / Coriolan Overture CD.

This reminds me of Michael Walsh's book, The Devil's Pleasure Palace: The Cult of Critical Theory and the Subversion of the West.

Jackie Johnson's Got Your Sizzling Weather

She's got your forecast, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles.

It's heating up, "Jackie Johnson's Weather Forecast (Sept. 28)."

Angels Acquire Dodgers Starter Mat Latos

He signed with the Angels organization today.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Angels sign Dodgers castoff Mat Latos.

I have no clue about this guy, but the Angels need pitching, and bad.

Cause Animale Nord, French 'Animal Rights' Group, Steals Homeless Man's Puppy in Act of Merciless Cruelty (VIDEO)

It doesn't matter what the issue is, hideous far-left ghouls will claim their ideology of "compassion" trumps all, and thus they're the ones to decide if a homeless panhandler gets to have a puppy or not.

Again, this is not some fringe outlier incident. This is the ideological left in action.

Just downright mean and hateful.

At PuffHo, "Public Outcry After Animal Rights Group Confiscates Homeless Man's Puppy."

Trump Plan Cuts Taxes for Millions

Millions! Millions could get tax cuts!

Reaganesque.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Middle class, businesses get break, but overseas profits would face a one-time 10% levy":

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump unveiled an ambitious tax plan Monday that he says would eliminate income taxes for millions of households, lower the tax rate on all businesses to 15% and change tax treatment of companies’ overseas earnings.

Under the Trump plan, no federal income tax would be levied against individuals earning less than $25,000 and married couples earning less than $50,000. The Trump campaign estimates that would reduce taxes to zero for 31 million households that currently pay at least some income tax. The highest individual income-tax rate would be 25%, compared with the current 39.6% rate.

Many middle-income households would have a lower tax rate under Mr. Trump’s proposal, but because high-income households generally pay income tax at much higher rates, his proposed across-the-board rate cut could have a positive impact on them, too. For example, an analysis of Jeb Bush’s plan—taxing individuals’ incomes at no more than 28%—by the business-backed Tax Foundation found that the biggest percentage winners in after-tax income would be the top 1% of earners.

Mr. Trump’s plan appears designed to help him, as the GOP front-runner, cement his standing as a populist—though that message is complicated by the fact that the billionaire, like other Republican leaders, would eliminate the estate tax.

“My plan will bring sanity, common sense and simplification to our country’s catastrophic tax code,” Mr. Trump said in an interview. “It will create jobs and incentives of all kinds while simultaneously growing the economy.”

But Mr. Trump will face a challenge in convincing skeptics that his aggressive tax cuts can be implemented without adding to the federal deficit.

To pay for the proposed tax benefits, the Trump plan would eliminate or reduce deductions and loopholes to high-income taxpayers, and would curb some deductions and other breaks for middle-class taxpayers by capping the level of individual deductions, a politically dicey proposition. Mr. Trump also would end the “carried interest” tax break, which allows many investment-fund managers to pay lower taxes on much of their compensation.

A significant revenue gain would come from a one-time tax on overseas profits that could encourage U.S. multinational corporations to return an estimated $2.1 trillion in cash now sitting offshore, largely to avoid U.S. taxes. His proposal would impose a mandatory 10% tax on all of that money, even if the money stays overseas, but allow a few years for the tax to be paid. The Trump campaign estimates that many companies would choose to bring their money back home, boosting jobs and investment in the U.S...

More, plus the unhinged leftist reaction at Memeorandum.

Plus, at Politico, "Trump: My tax plan is 'going to cost me a fortune'" (at Memeorandum).

Alexis Ren for Surfing Magazine

At Ms. Ren's website, "SURFING MAGAZINE'S SWIMSUIT ISSUE - MEET THE GIRLS: ALEXIS REN."

Also on Instagram.

Tex Mex Bacon Thick Burger 'Border War' Video

Via Theo Spark, "Carl's Jr. Tex Mex Bacon Thickburger "Borderball" Commercial."

Eniko Mihalik Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call (VIDEO)

Hey, you gotta love the swimsuit casting call.

At Sports Illustrated:

Tinder Decries L.A. Billboard Warning Users to Get Tested for STDs (VIDEO)

Heh, Robert Stacy McCain called it already, "‘Hit-It-and-Quit-It on Tinder’."

They want that billboard to come down.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Tinder demands removal of L.A. billboard that tells dating app users to get STD test":

Tinder has sent a cease and desist letter to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation after a billboard went up in Los Angeles last week that draws a link between dating apps and a growing rate of sexually transmitted diseases.

The foundation said the billboard's purpose is to raise awareness about the increasing STD rate and to encourage dating-app users to get regular screenings or a “free STD check.” The billboard features silhouettes of people and the words “Tinder, Chlamydia, Grindr, Gonorrhea.”

“In many ways, location-based mobile dating apps are becoming a digital bathhouse for millennials wherein the next sexual encounter can literally just be a few feet away—as well as the next STD,” Whitney Engeran-Cordova, the foundation’s public health division director, said in a statement.

“While these sexual encounters are often intentionally brief or even anonymous, sexually transmitted diseases can have lasting effects on an individual’s personal health and can certainly create epidemics in communities at large,” the statement continued.

But Tinder, a location-based dating app, has fired back, saying the ad wrongly associates the app with venereal disease.

“These unprovoked and wholly unsubstantiated accusations are made to irreparably damage Tinder’s reputation in an attempt to encourage others to take an HIV test by your organization,” Tinder attorney Jonathan Reichman said in a letter to the foundation.

The foundation responded that it would not remove the billboard. It also referenced a Vanity Fair article that attributed a boom in casual hookups to the emergence of dating apps like Tinder...

Hey, we've got you covered at AmPow. The Vanity Fair piece is here, "The Tinder Hookup Culture and the End of Dating."

Yep, goodbye dating and hello STDs!

There's still more at the Times, heh.

Asians to Be Top Immigrant Group by 2065

Look, we've had a huge surge of immigration over the last two decades, at least. It doesn't bother me, as long as people come legally and they learn to speak English. But no doubt we're reaching a tipping point. Irvine is a major ethnic enclave, especially for Asians. I don't love Chinese and Korean (or Japanese) drivers, but it's not the end of the world. The 99 Ranch Market is just across the way, so when I get coffee in the morning at the 7/11 just next door, sometimes, between the Asians and the Mexican day-laborers, there's hardly anyone speaking English. I just say hello, and hopefully they'll say hello back. If not, they're probably just off the boat.

In any case, USA Today has the general trends, "U.S. foreign-born population nears high."

And at the Los Angeles, "Asians to surpass Latinos as largest immigrant group in U.S., study finds":

Asians are likely to surpass Latinos as the nation's largest immigrant group shortly after the middle of the century as the wave of new arrivals from Latin America slows but trans-Pacific migration continues apace, according to a new study of census data.

The surge of immigration that has reshaped the American population over the last half century will transform the country for several decades to come, the projections indicate. Immigrants and their children are likely to make up 88% of the country's population growth over the next 50 years, according to the study by the Pew Research Center, which has tracked the effects of immigration on the country's population for the last several decades.

The foreign-born, who made up just 5% of the nation's population in 1965, when Congress completely rewrote the country's immigration laws, make up 14% today, the study found. They are projected to be 18% of the population by 2065.

Increasingly, that population growth will involve Asians. Unlike the Latino population, which mostly shares a common language, Spanish, and many cultural traits, the census category of Asian takes in a vast array of ethnic and language groups, including Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Indians and Pakistanis.

Already, Asian Americans make up about 6% of the nation's population, up from just 1% in 1965. By the middle of the century they will total 14%, the projections say.

Asians are expected to constitute 36% of the immigrant population by 2055, surpassing Latinos, who by then will be 34% of immigrants, the study indicates. Since many Latinos are third- or fourth-generation Americans, they will remain a larger share of the total population, close to one-quarter of all Americans by midcentury.

Currently, Americans have a more positive view of Asian immigrants than of Latinos, according to a survey Pew did along with the population projections.

Nearly half of American adults, 47%, said immigrants from Asia have had a mostly positive effect on American society. Only 26% said the same about immigrants from Latin America, with 37% saying they thought the effects of Latin American immigration had been mostly negative. Immigrants from the Middle East fared worse in public opinion, with just 20% saying their effect on the country has been mostly positive, and 39% saying their impact has been mostly negative.

The survey found that 59% of Americans said immigrants, overall, were not learning English in a reasonable amount of time...

Yeah, like I was saying, it'd be better if all these newcomers would learn the language, sheesh.

But keep reading.

Republican Discontent Isn't Easing Up

At the Wall Street Journal, "GOP Discontent That Helped Sink John Boehner Isn’t Easing Up":

WASHINGTON—The tug-of-war within the Republican Party that helped end Rep. John Boehner’s career is likely to intensify this year both on Capitol Hill and in the tumultuous GOP presidential race.

The House speaker’s announcement Friday that he would leave Congress on Oct. 30 isn’t expected to mollify either the House’s most conservative faction, which is determined to take an unyielding stance in the face of fiscal deadlines, or dissatisfied GOP primary voters rooting for outsiders who have pledged to uproot Washington politics. The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows political novices Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina leading the GOP race.

On Capitol Hill, tension is mounting between Republicans hoping to notch incremental progress in dealing with a Democratic president and hard-liners who say they would be willing to shutter the government. That struggle will play out both in House GOP leadership elections over the next few weeks and as lawmakers tackle several deadline-driven issues this winter, including a longer-term budget deal and the need to raise the federal borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling.

Mr. Boehner’s resignation will ease the most pressing problem facing Congress: the expiration of the government’s current funding on Sept. 30. Lawmakers are expected this week to pass a stopgap spending bill keeping the government funded through Dec. 11.

He could also help his successor by pushing through other bills that could pass only with the help of Democrats, such as raising the debt ceiling or reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, moves that would be unpopular with some in the House GOP but seen as necessary by others. Mr. Boehner, who leaves office Oct. 30, indicated Sunday he might do so. “I don’t want to leave my successor a dirty barn,” he said on CBS . “I want to clean the barn up a little bit before the next person gets there.”

Any issues left hanging after Mr. Boehner’s departure will pose an even greater problem for his successor, likely Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.). The new speaker will take the gavel at a time when the most popular Republican presidential candidates are echoing the criticisms of congressional GOP leaders that poisoned Mr. Boehner’s reputation and strategy with many Republican voters.

Keep reading.

Anne-Marie Slaughter on CBS 'This Morning'

Actually, CBS should be having Ms. Slaughter's husband on, Professor Andrew Moravcsik, who's out with a new piece at the Atlantic about stay-home dads (or almost stay-home dads, and how they help their wives' careers).

See, "Why I Put My Wife’s Career First." And note that he's a privileged Princeton professor, who's basically got his own European welfare state beneath him, including the personal wealth to afford a private nanny. The program he's proposing is totally unrealistic for most regular husbands in the United States. But ahh, that's progressivism for you.

Now, to Ms. Slaughter, who's got a new book out tomorrow, Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family.

Keurig K130 Brewing System

At Amazon, Brews one 8-ounce cup in under three minutes, Single-use water reservoir - Mug sensor - No accidental spills, No glass pots to clean, break or crack - Easy cleaning and maintenance - No coffee grounds or wet, messy filters.

Plus, The Original Donut Shop Regular, Keurig K-Cups, 72 Count.

And for your coffee reading companionship, James Jones, From Here to Eternity.

Excitement Builds in American League West Wild Card Race

At Sports Illustrated, "Astros close gap with Rangers to set up exciting finish to AL West, wild card."

Watch, "9/27/15: Keuchel's gem leads Astros to series win."

And the Angels remain 1/2 game back in the hunt. And they'll be in Arlington October 1-4 to close the season, a series with obvious playoff implications.

The Lovely Evelyn Taft's Forecast

She's really showing.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Evelyn Taft's Weather Forecast (Sept. 28)."

Life on Mars?

NASA's expected to make a major announcement. Is there evidence of water on Mars?

At CBS News This Morning, "Mars mystery solved? NASA to reveal major discovery."

And at the Guardian UK, "Water on Mars? The buildup to Nasa's 'mystery solved' announcement – live."

Dana Loesch's Birthday Today, and She's Standing Strong

Another day, another batch of death threats for Dana Loesch --- this time including a blood-spattering snuff video.

See the Blaze, "Anti-Gun Advocate Reimagines Dana Loesch’s NRA Ad With Shocking, Sick Ending — but He Surely Didn’t Expect TheBlaze TV Host to Respond Like This."

It's Dana's birthday today, so please go ahead and tweet her some birthday wishes. She's a good lady.

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

Lenin and Stalin Look-Alikes

Shoot, these guys would go over well right here in the U.S. of A.!

At the Wall Street Journal, "In Moscow, Lenin and Stalin Look-Alikes Jostle for Tourists’ Cash":

MOSCOW—In the shadow of the Kremlin, Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin clashed over how to divvy up the spoils of their little enterprise.

Lenin felt he wasn’t getting a fair share, while Stalin’s apparent grievance was his erstwhile comrade’s betrayal in forming a new alliance—with another Stalin.

A dozen or so impersonators—who specialize in duping dictators—work the crowds near Red Square, jostling for cash from tourists’ wallets. A photo with Ivan the Terrible, for instance, can cost anywhere from 200 rubles (about $3) to 1,000 rubles, depending on the visitor’s negotiating skills.

The dispute between the two leaders of the global proletariat late June ended in a scuffle, according to city officials and other impersonators, exposing the seamier side of capitalism around Moscow’s main tourist site.

Lenin impersonator Igor Gorbunov said the Stalin look-alike, Latif Valiyev, followed him into an underpass near Red Square and jabbed him in the back with an umbrella. Mr. Gorbunov went to a first-aid station before filing a complaint to police. Law enforcement looked into the incident, but Mr. Gorbunov later said he had forgiven Mr. Valiyev and withdrawn his complaint.

Mr. Valiyev denied having a conflict with his fellow dictator—and demanded payment to answer any further questions.

Look-alikes began to appear on Red Square in the mid-1990s as capitalism took hold and Russia opened up to tourists. “Fat Lenin” was the first, according to Sergei Solovyov, a 57-year-old Lenin impersonator, aka “Tall Lenin.” Six Stalins and eight Lenins, mostly known by their nicknames, now work the square.

“White Lenin” has a pale face; “Wooden Lenin” doesn’t say much; “Gay Lenin” stands with an impersonator of the poet Alexander Pushkin; “Drunk Lenin” likes a tipple.

Other famous political figures, such as Tsar Nicholas II, Karl Marx and even a President Barack Obama, have come and gone. But the favorite Bolsheviks have staying power.

“It’s hard work to be on your feet all day,” said Mr. Solovyov. “It’s also morally hard. People shout: ‘Burn in hell! What have you done with Russia?’”

Oh, I'm sure that have quite a few fans, not least of all, American neo-communist looking to earn some bona fides visiting the Lenin mausoleum.

Still more.

Outsiders Surge in New Poll

Especially Republican outsiders. I don't consider Bernie Sanders an outsider. His surge is based in his unabashed socialism, which is catching the Obama disaffecteds.

At WSJ, "Carson, Fiorina, Sanders Gain Ground in Their Parties’ Primary Races, Poll Shows":

Republicans Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina and Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders have gained significant ground in their parties’ presidential primary races in recent weeks, the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and real-estate developer Donald Trump continue to lead the fields for their parties’ nominations. But Mr. Trump is now essentially tied with Mr. Carson, and significant movement has occurred among candidates just behind them. Mr. Carson is backed by 20% of GOP primary voters, compared with 21% for Mr. Trump. Mrs. Fiorina and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, both have 11% support. Other Republicans register single-digit support.

In the prior Journal/NBC News poll, conducted in mid-July, Mr. Carson had only 10% support, compared with 19% for Mr. Trump. The retired neurosurgeon overtakes Mr. Trump in the new survey, conducted Sept. 20-24, when voters’ first choice is combined with their second.

No candidate in the race has enjoyed a swifter ascent than Mrs. Fiorina, who barely registered in the July survey. She has since taken the spotlight in the GOP race after a strong performance in a televised Sept. 16 candidate debate.

Some 28% of Republican primary voters picked her as their first or second choice in the September survey, up from 2% in the July poll.

By contrast, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush lost the most altitude since the prior Journal/NBC News survey.

Some 7% of Republican primary voters named Mr. Bush as their top pick for the GOP nomination, down from 14% in July and 22% in June.

Like Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Bush was an early front-runner whose pedigree and famous last name is proving to be as much of a liability as an asset. The former Florida governor boasts the biggest war chest in the field, but his continued slippage has donors nervous at a time when candidates with little or no experience in politics have stolen the spotlight.

Mr. Bush, however, said on Fox News Sunday that he remains confident he’ll win in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary in February. He noted his campaign just began an advertising offensive.

“It is a marathon,” he said. “These polls really don’t matter.”

Still more.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



And at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – All Options Are on the Table."

Third GOP Debate Sets Off Wave of Anxiety

From Hadas Gold, at Politico, "The prospect of a reduction in the number of candidates on stage is a life-or-death matter for some campaigns":

The uncertain terms of the next Republican debate are setting off a wave of anxiety among middle and bottom tier campaigns, with several lashing out at the Republican National Committee for failing to provide clarity on how many candidates will appear on stage.

The campaigns fear the entry criteria for the Oct. 28 debate is being designed to reduce the number of candidates on stage for the third primetime debate -- a life-or-death matter for White House hopefuls on the bubble.

While the RNC doesn’t set the rules, it does have a voice in working with the networks running the debates. The committee has not said how many candidates will be allowed into the primetime debate, which will be held in Boulder, Colorado, and broadcast on CNBC. Nor are there any indications there will be an undercard event, as there have been in the first two debate showdowns of the primary season.

“With the next debate a month away, it is maddening that the RNC has yet to provide any guidance to campaigns regarding the criteria that they and CNBC plan to use to exclude candidates,” said Curt Anderson, an adviser to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who appeared in both undercards. In the spin room after CNN recent debate, Jindal spokesperson Gail Gitcho said they already had plans to speak with CNBC in order to keep Jindal on the stage.

Well, it's not just Jindal who's freaking, but keep reading.

Amber Lee's Got Your Low Pressure Forecast

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Watch, "Amber Lee's Weather Forecast (Sept. 27)."

We're Losing the War, Do Something

From Michael Ledeen, at Forbes:

We are living in revolutionary times, but we are burdened with counterrevolutionary leaders. The old order, the bipolar Cold War world, is pretty much gone, but the outlines of a new paradigm have not yet emerged. None of the leaders on “our” side of the world, aside from our president, has any sort of vision for the next stage, the new paradigm, and his vision is based on antipathy for American leadership. He will not challenge the Russian/Iranian/Chinese/North Korean/Cuban etc. war against us.

Ergo things are going to get worse, perhaps very much worse. The pols and pundits could help focus our minds by seeing the war being waged against us, and then figuring out how to win it...

Beautiful Model Nadia Menaz Killed Herself Because She 'feared her devout Muslim parents were going to force her into arranged marriage...'

From Susan Goldberg, at Pajamas, "Muslim Model Hangs Herself to Avoid Arranged Marriage."

And at the Mirror UK, "Model found hanged 'feared her devout Muslim parents were going to force her into arranged marriage'."

And Instapundit quips, "I’d criticize this sort of thing, with the arranged marriages, the honor killings, and so on, but 'that’s their culture'."

‘Birth Tourism’ Booming In Bay Area Despite Fed Crackdown

At CBS News 2 San Francisco, "Word on the street here is that the crackdown down south has pushed many of the operations up north."

Jonathan Papelbon Attacks Bryce Harper in Dugout Fight (VIDEO)

Not good to see, ever.

Watch, at WaPo, "Jonathan Papelbon goes after Bryce Harper in dugout."

Also on Twitter, "Jonathan Papelbon attacking Bryce Harper?"

A Realist Grapples with His Doubts on Intervention in Syria

From the far-left, Israel-bashing Harvard political scientist Stephen Walt, at Foreign Policy, "Could We Have Stopped This Tragedy?":

Unlike neoconservatives, who never admit error no matter how often they are wrong, I spend a fair bit of time thinking about whether my diagnoses of key world events have been off the mark. (For examples of this sort of “self-criticism,” see here, here, and here.) I’ll stand by the vast majority of what I’ve written in my scholarly work and my FP commentary, but I find it useful — indeed, necessary — to occasionally ponder whether I got something wrong and, if so, to try to figure out why.

Case in point: the increasingly awful situation in Syria. Ever since the initial protests broke out, I’ve believed this conflict was not of vital strategic interest to the United States and that overt U.S. intervention was likely to cause more harm than good. What has emerged since then is a relentless and gut-wrenching tragedy, but I’ve uncomfortably concluded that my original judgment was correct. And yet I continue to wonder.

To be sure, the Obama administration has not handled Syria well at all.

President Barack Obama erred when he jumped the gun in 2011 and insisted “Assad must go,” locking the United States into a maximalist position and foreclosing potential diplomatic solutions that might have saved thousands of lives. Second, Obama’s 2012 off-the-cuff remark about chemical weapons and “red lines” was a self-inflicted wound that didn’t help the situation and gave opponents a sound bite to use against him. The president wisely backed away from that position, however, and (with Russian help) eventually devised an arrangement that got rid of Assad’s chemical arsenal. This was no small achievement in itself, but the whole episode did not exactly inspire confidence. The administration eventually agreed to start a training program for anti-Assad forces, but did so with neither enthusiasm nor competence.

And consider what has happened since then. More than 200,000 people are now dead — that’s approaching 100 times as many victims as 9/11 — and numerous towns, cities, and villages have been badly damaged, if not destroyed. There are reportedly some 11 million displaced people either internally or out of the country, about half Syria’s original population. A flood of refugees and migrants has landed in Europe, provoking a new challenge to the European Union’s delicate political cohesion and raising the specter of a sharp increase in right-wing xenophobia. The carnage in Syria has also helped fuel the emergence and consolidation of the so-called Islamic State, intensified the Sunni-Shiite split within Islam, and put additional strain on Syria’s other neighbors.

Given all that, is it possible that those who called for swift U.S. intervention several years ago were right all along? If the United States, NATO, the Arab League, or some combination of the above had established a no-fly zone and stood ready to intervene with ground forces, might the Assad regime have fallen quickly and spared Syria and the world this bleak and open-ended disaster? Or might these steps have given outside powers greater leverage over the situation, put some serious teeth into the early diplomatic efforts, and made some sort of brokered political solution more likely?

Maybe.

We cannot replay the past to see where a different course of action would have led, but one cannot rule out a priori the possibility that a prompt, forceful, and committed international response would have produced a better outcome in Syria than what we observe today. If everything had gone just right, we might be viewing a pacified Syria as a big success story, much as proponents of humanitarian intervention now view NATO’s role in the Balkans in the 1990s...

Hmm... Not so easy for Walt to admit that he's wrong.

America's "vital national interests" have certainly been compromised by the administration's Syria disaster. At this point Walt and other leftists can only define "vital national interests" in existential terms, as the very survival of the United States. But that's not a very useful definition, and U.S. foreign policy has long taken a much larger stand on securing vital interests, which has included preventing hostile foreign powers from securing dominant spheres of interest in a region or country, like Russia in Syria.

But keep reading. Walt's not so open to correcting his errors after all.

Kwikset and Baldwin SmartKey Door Locks

At Amazon, Shop Home Improvement - 10-20% Off Select Kwikset and Baldwin SmartKey Door Locks.

Plus, from Katheryn Russell-Brown, The Color of Crime: Racial Hoaxes, White Fear, Black Protectionism, Police Harassment, and Other Macroaggressions.

Russia's Game Plan in Syria Is Simple

From Julia Ioffe, at Foreign Policy, "Stick it to the Americans":

In Monday’s press briefing, coming after a weekend in which Moscow increased its military footprint in Syria seemingly exponentially, White House press secretary Josh Earnest declared that the administration had come no closer to deciphering Moscow’s motives for its stepped-up presence in the area.

The truth is Russia’s motives are not that hard to divine.

The most proximate reason is the fact that Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s embattled, murderous leader, has been losing territory at a rapid pace. In July, he made a rare announcement admitting losses and blaming them on a shortage of manpower. “We are not collapsing,” he said, which is not something regimes that are not collapsing often have to proclaim publicly. Allowing Assad to continue on the same losing trajectory is anathema to Moscow. “Bashar al-Assad is losing; he’s losing one town after another,” said Georgy Mirsky, a vintage Russian Arabist who teaches Middle Eastern conflicts at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. “If you don’t help Assad, he’ll lose and then the whole world will say Putin lost.” Putin placed his bet on Assad four years ago, Mirsky said, and he hasn’t wavered since. Now he has become a prisoner to that bet and to a certain honor-bound logic. “If you make a bet on a horse and the horse comes in last, then how does it look?” Mirsky explained. “It looks like you don’t understand anything. You will be seen as a loser.”

Russia has always supported Assad, but that support now seems to be inadequate to stanch the bleeding. To avoid looking like a loser who bet on the wrong horse — which, incidentally, Putin has done a lot of in the Middle East — Putin simply has to put more on the scale to maintain the same equilibrium.

Why prop up Assad? Some commentators have pointed to what they see as a burgeoning Russian influence in the region, but many in Moscow see it differently. This talk is “slightly exaggerated,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, who is no Kremlin critic. “Russia doesn’t have many opportunities in the region, and Syria is a unique case.” Russia, he said, is simply stepping into the void left behind by American waffling and a lack of clarity in its Syria policy. “The growth of Russian influence is directly proportional to the decline of American influence in the region,” Lukyanov explained. “The United States lost its mission so maybe the other regional powers see Russia as bad and unpleasant, but they also see that it acts clearly and consistently.” And yet, Lukyanov said, Russia’s expanded horizon for action in the region “is all thanks to Syria. It all starts and ends in Syria.”

Other, more hard-line voices in Moscow are gloating over this role reversal, however exaggerated or mild...

Keep reading.

We're Sorry for Producing Our Cisgendered Son

From Brandon Morse, at the Federalist.

Man Sets Gas Pump on Fire While Trying to Kill Spyder with Cigarette Lighter (VIDEO)

At Right Wing News, "Brilliant! Man Sets Gas Pump and Car Ablaze Trying to Fry Spider with Lighter [Video]."

Here's a YouTube clip, "Man starts massive fire at gas station while trying to kill spider."

Video Shows Vicious Attack on 83-Year-Old Man in Santa Ana

Obama's America.

From Preston Phillips, at ABC News 10 San Diego, "Please RETWEET this video. Santa Ana, #California PD need help finding person who beat up elderly man on walk Friday."

(Also, "Video of Random Attack on 83 Year Old Man in a Parking Lot.")

Actually, the suspect has been apprehended. At the Los Angeles Times, "Suspect arrested for attack on 83-year-old man in Santa Ana."

'We must abandon almost everything we thought we knew about the goods of progress, happiness and growth...'

I'm reading Adbusters, just as a lesson and reminder of who the enemy is.

Frankly, they're everywhere. The leftist culture has metastasized. It's seeped into the unconscious of the up and coming generations, to the point that young people and their unreconstructed '60s rejects are actively opposed to the preservation of society and culture. And I mean preservation of the society and culture that has generated the highest levels of freedom and prosperity the world has ever known. The radical left of today's cultural Marxist social justice warriors, Democrat pajama boys, and the boot-licking enablers in the Obama-loving media will not stop until the "fundamental transformation" promised five days before election '08 has been achieved.

As you hear every four years, this next presidential election is the most important ever, the most important in our country's history. Just think how much better off we'd be had Barack Obama lost reelection in 2012. It's going to take decades to reverse the damage, which is why stopping the Democrat collectivists in 2016 has become a truly existential proposition.

From Kalle Lasn, publisher and editor of Adbusters, "Thought Control":

Unbridled neocon capitalism has been riding the back of humankind without opposition for nearly two generations now. It has provided no answer yet and it has no answer for the most pressing threat of the future, namely climate change. We economics students and heterodox economists must rise up in universities everywhere and demand a shift in the theoretical foundations of economic science. We must abandon almost everything we thought we knew about the goods of progress, happiness and growth. We have to re-imagine industry, nutrition, communication, transportation, housing and money and pioneer a new kind of economics, a bionomics, a psychonomics, an ecological economics that is up to the job of managing our planetary household.

— From Meme Wars: The Creative Destruction of Neoclassical Economics.

'Go Vegan' Animal Rights Protest March in Hollywood (VIDEO)

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



And check the "#GoVegan" hashtag on Twitter. It's a very short step from these "activists" to animal liberation terrorists (who show no hesitation to taking human life in the name of "animal rights").

Closer Huston Street Injured in Angels Spectacular Walk-Off Win Against Mariners at Anaheim Stadium

What a game, seriously.

And as with any spectacular drama, it had extreme highs and lows.

Mike Trout's historic catch, robbing the Mariners' Jesus Montero of a home run in the fourth inning, was simply unbelievable.

But closer Huston Street was hurt bad the ninth inning. Thank goodness David Freese came up and smacked a walk-off home run on the first swing in the bottom of the inning, better for the team to go tend to Street and rest after holding their spot 1/2 game out of a wildcard berth.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Huston Street's injury is a grim note in Angels' dramatic win":

Mike Trout is not easily impressed with himself. Saturday night, he could not help himself. When he returned to Earth, he mouthed several words, including this one: Wow.

Trout made one of the most spectacular catches of this or any other year, pushing himself several feet above the outfield wall to electrify Angel Stadium and rejuvenate the home team.

The catch might live forever on “SportsCenter.” On this night, however, the catch was not the most important development for the Angels, or the decisive play.

In the top of the ninth inning, they lost closer Huston Street to injury. In the bottom of the ninth, David Freese hit a walk-off home run, lifting the Angels to an emotional 3-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

The Angels remained one-half game behind the Houston Astros for the final spot in the American League wild-card race. The Angels have eight games left.

It appears unlikely that Street could pitch in any of those games. Manager Mike Scioscia said Street has a groin injury that is “not good.” Scioscia did not put a timetable on a recovery, but Street sat out 13 days because of a groin injury in July.

Joe Smith, the setup man, normally would replace Street as closer. Smith is out with a sprained ankle, and the Angels are uncertain whether he can return before the regular season ends.

However, in the wake of Street's injury, Smith said he might try to throw off a mound Sunday and accelerate his return.

Street, scurrying to back up a base on a routine ground ball, got off the mound cleanly, then took an awkward step and collapsed. He got up and tried to walk off the field on his own but had to be helped back to the dugout. That could leave rookie Trevor Gott as the closer, although Scioscia said he would try a committee approach.

If not for Trout's catch, the Angels would have been staring at a four-run deficit and Felix Hernandez on the mound. But Trout's wondrous feat kept the deficit at one run — and, two innings later, C.J. Cron tied the score with a home run.

Freese, a World Series hero for the St. Louis Cardinals, won the game in the ninth with the first walk-off home run of his career — regular season, that is.

The outlook did not look promising for the home team before Trout donned his cape.

Keep reading.

'I don't trust the UN on free speech issues. You shouldn't either...'

At Popehat, "A Few Comments on the UN Broadband Commission's 'Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls' Report":

I don't trust the UN on free speech issues. You shouldn't either. In a world where Iran wins a seat on the UN's Commission on the Status of Women, people who care about women's rights should also be skeptical. Pro-censorship forces continually pressure the UN for international laws and norms restricting speech — for instance by demanding laws outlawing blasphemy. Allow me some unabashed American exceptionalism: that's a bad thing. The United States' vigorous approach to protecting free speech and rejecting blasphemy laws is good, and foreign norms that encourage blasphemy laws often used to persecute religious and ethnic minorities are bad.

Read it all at that top link, and note the update.

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

BONUS: See Time, FWIW, "U.N. Says Cyber Violence Is Equivalent to Physical Violence Against Women."

Birthday Reading: The War That Forged a Nation

My mom's visiting for my birthday weekend. We're going out to dinner at Ruby's a little later.

Meanwhile, mom gave me a copy of James McPherson's, The War That Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters. I've already read a couple of chapters. It's great!

Slow-Motion Sexy Sports Time Video

At Playboy, "It's Slow-Mo Sexy Sports Time with Playmates."

Happy Birthday Bryan Ferry!

He's a great guy. Saw him way back in '79, at my first "gig."

At the Mirror U.K., "Bryan Ferry turns 70 today."

And previously, from January, "Bryan Ferry: 'Let's Stick Together'."

Favorites in Military History

At Amazon, Military History.

Recommended, Alex Kershaw, The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau.

Shop Clothing, Shoes, Handbags, and More

At Amazon, Shop Clothing, Shoes, Handbags, and More - 20% Off Fall Fashion.

Plus, from Roger Kimball, The Long March: How the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s Changed America.

Communities Struggle to Care for Elderly, Alone at Home

The other "Home Alone."

At the Wall Street Journal, "More people age at home, raising demand for support services":

STOCKHOLM, Maine—At least three times a night during much of the long, harsh northern winter, Aldea Campbell gets out of bed, steps into her slippers, and descends a flight of frighteningly steep, narrow wooden stairs to the cellar to fill her wood-burning stove. She’s 82, a widow, and has lived in her 102-year-old house near the Canadian border for almost six decades.

She burns wood because she can’t afford enough oil to get through the cold months. When her arthritis is bad, she gingerly maneuvers the steps sideways to keep from falling. But still, she slipped on the stairs twice last year, once badly hurting her tailbone. “It happened so fast,” she said.

Such predicaments are increasingly common in Maine: the grayest, most rural state in the U.S., with housing among the oldest in the nation. Maine has another distinction: it is among the first states to experience challenges from a growing number of seniors who are “aging in place”—remaining independent rather than relocating to nursing homes or moving in with grown children.

More elderly across the nation are aging at home for a variety of reasons: they prefer to and are healthy enough to stay; they can’t afford other options such as assisted living; and states in some cases have imposed policies to limit nursing home stays paid for by Medicaid, which is a major funder of long-term institutional health care for older Americans.

But aging in place is proving difficult in places where the population is growing older, supportive services are scarce, houses are in disrepair and younger people who can assist have moved away. As a result, elderly people who live at home are having to rely more on neighbors—who sometimes are elderly, too—and local nonprofits and public agencies are starting to feel the strain from increasing requests for help.

“It’s a huge issue—it couldn’t be bigger,” said Lenard Kaye, director of the University of Maine Center on Aging. “Ninety-nine percent of older adults say they want to stay right where they are until they’ve taken their last breath, but that doesn’t mean they are continuing to remain safe and remain well.”

Keep reading.

Why 'Market Garden' Was a Bridge Too Far

The Allies' Operation Market Garden took place September 17–25, 1944.

Here's a history flashback, at the BBC, "The Battle of Arnhem (Operation Market Garden)" (via RealClearHistory):

In May 1945 it was the Russians who hoisted their flag over the ruins of the Reichstag building in Berlin. In this way World War Two, in Europe, was signalled as being effectively over. However, the troops who captured Berlin could easily have been British or American, if events around a small town in Holland had turned out differently.

If Operation Market Garden, planned to take place in the area near Arnhem, in Holland, had succeeded, the western Allies could have punched their way across one of the last great natural barriers between them and the German fatherland.

Their tanks and troops might have reached Berlin weeks before the Russians, ending the war by Christmas 1944. The fate of post-war Europe might have been very different.

Market Garden was one of the boldest plans of World War Two. Thirty thousand British and American airborne troops were to be flown behind enemy lines to capture the eight bridges that spanned the network of canals and rivers on the Dutch/German border.

At the same time, British tanks and infantry were to push up a narrow road leading from the Allied front line to these key bridges. They would relieve the airborne troops, and then cross the intact bridges.

The plan was conceived by General Bernard Montgomery, commander of the British forces in Europe. The glittering triumph of the D-Day landings in France had become bogged down in the slow and costly progress through the Normandy fields and hedgerows, which the Germans defended with skill and tenacity.

Despite this, after weeks of heavy fighting, the Allies had finally broken through. For the next three weeks they rolled through France and Belgium, liberating Paris and Brussels. Victory for the Allies seemed close.

But Hitler's forces were regrouping, and as the Allies pushed nearer to Germany's borders, German resistance stiffened. Montgomery believed that a powerful, narrow thrust deep into German lines would be more effective than an advance on a broad front, which had become difficult to supply from the few ports controlled by the Allies, and this was why he devised Operation Market Garden...

Keep reading.


And watch, "A bridge too far movie first bridge fight."

Trying on Bras with Helen Flanagan

Watch, at Maxim, "FHM Sexy Shorts Presents: Trying Shedloads of Lingerie with Helen Flanagan."

Interview with Los Angeles Anchor Baby Sophie Cruz, the Pawn Immigrant Child Who Met the Pope (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Anchor Baby Sophie Cruz Plea to Pope Wasn't Spontaneous (VIDEO)."

Watch, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles , "LA Girl's Encounter With Pope In DC Not Random."

Interview with Woman Who Gave Birth During Padres-Giants Game at Petco Park (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Woman Gives Birth at Petco Park."

And now at ABC News 10 San Diego, "'I'm going to have this baby, like right now'."

At the United Nations, Pope Francis Calls for Urgent Action on Climate Change (VIDEO)

At USA Today, "Pope Francis pushes world leaders at U.N. to protect environment."

Angels Beat Mariners 8-4 at Anaheim Stadium to Move 1/2 Game Out of Wildcard Spot

Second baseman Johnny Giavotella returned from the disabled list to put up a performance for the ages.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Angels begin last stand in playoff chase with a win over Mariners," and "Angels' Johnny Giavotella gives credit to mom for recovery."

And at the O.C. Register, "His vision healed, Angels' Johnny Giavotella is a sight for sore eyes."

Here's Jackie Johnson's Sunny and Warm Weekend Forecast

Very nice weather.

I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Anchor Baby Sophie Cruz Plea to Pope Wasn't Spontaneous (VIDEO)

In other words, it was a lie.

At IBD, "Pope's Cherubic Child Moment Nothing But a Staged Production."

And at AP, "Immigration group planned girl's pope encounter for a year."

Giants Pitcher Madison Bumgarner and Home-Plate Umpire Joe West Exchange Death Stares (VIDEO)

Bumgarner had a bummer of a night, getting pulled after seven innings, only to have reliever Sergio Romo blow a 4-3 lead in the eighth. The Giants beat the Padres 5-4 after a walk-off single by Alexi Amarista.

Giants fans on Twitter last night were merciless.

See the San Francisco Chronicle, "Giants’ bullpen collapses again in loss to Padres":

SAN DIEGO — For the reigning champs, it’s no longer about calculating magic numbers and critiquing games behind. It’s about shutting down wounded players and dreading elimination day.

The season is closing fast on the Giants, who lost to the Padres 5-4 Thursday night in a game Madison Bumgarner — amid stare-downs with umpire Joe West — was denied his 19th win by a worn-down bullpen.

Bumgarner gave up three runs on three hits in seven innings and exited with a 4-3 lead, only to watch Hunter Strickland and Sergio Romo permit the tying run in the eighth and Mike Broadway and Josh Osich yield the winning run in the ninth, Alexi Amarista’s single giving the Padres a walk-off win for the second straight night.

Wednesday, Jake Peavy’s six scoreless innings were wasted as manager Bruce Bochy set a franchise record by using 10 pitchers in a nine-inning game.

“It’s a crazy game we play,” Bumgarner said. “We’ve been through a lot this year. A lot of injuries, a lot of adversity. I feel real good about the group of guys we have here. The way we played this year, right now it’s not what we would have wanted and worked for. At the same time, you’ve got to realize how hard this game is.”

Bumgarner’s confrontations with West were clear to see, especially when West pulled off his mask and either barked at or glared at Bumgarner, who wasn’t thrilled with the strike zone when he was both hitting and pitching.

“Joe was behind the plate?” asked Bumgarner, showing his serious look. “I don’t pay attention to the umpires. I didn’t even realize he was back there.”

More.

Well, that baby boy born at Petco Park last night's going to have some whopper tales to tell when he gets older. Hopefully family members for mom and dad saved the local sports page, heh.

Woman Gives Birth at Petco Park

No that's an entrance into the world.

Watch ABC News 10 San Diego, "A first for Petco: woman gives birth at the ballpark."

'Influential conservatives who operate right-leaning news outlets or sit behind microphones for a living would be wise to tread carefully...'

From Noah Rothman, "No True Conservative":

“I think conservatives have no clue how bad the Boehner resignation is for them,” wrote Real Clear Politics analyst Sean Trende. The factionalism that has come to characterize the leaderless Republican Party today will manifest itself in that fight. “[W]however loses really might pick up their toys and go home,” Trende speculated. As an outgrowth of the bitter squabbles that have typified the primary race, this seems a reasonably likely if worst-case scenario.

I gather Rothman's headline is a riff on the logical fallacy, "No true Scotsman..."

'Our Civil Servants and Representatives Should Be Servant Leaders, Not Lying Manipulators or Dictators...'

A great comment, from the thread at the Wall Street Journal, blogged here, "Speaker John Boehner to Resign":

The departure of Speaker Boehner will do little to diminish the stench emanating from the dismal swamp called Washington, DC. It will do little to stanch the exacerbation of class hatred, racial strife, lying, corruption, cronyism, and political elitism that we have lived with for six years.

I wonder if Speaker Boehner had hoped that the Pope would endow the nation and our government with the grace that would restore civility, reverence for the Constitution, respect for our fellow citizens, and honesty. I wonder if he had hoped that Francis would provide a reminder that our civil servants and representatives should be servant leaders, not lying manipulators or dictators.

We shall see.

RELATED: At iOTW Report, "Paul Ryan’s Idiotic Statement on Boehner Resignation."

VIDEO: Hero Knocks Out Bully Who Attacked Blind Student at Huntington Beach High School

At KTLA, via Memeorandum, "Huntington Beach High Student Arrested for Allegedly Beating Visually Impaired Teen; Video of Incident Goes Viral."

And watch, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Caught on Video: Huntington Beach High Student Comes to Defense of Blind Friend and Knocks Out Bully."

This should be the regular thing, the heroism. But what if it was Muslim bully attacking a blind student. Oh boy, CAIR would be screaming "Islamophobia' from the rooftops.

Czar Nicholas II and Alexandria Exhumed (VIDEO)

CNN's got video, "Russian Czar's remains exhumed."

And the story, at Blazing Cat Fur, "The Bodies of Nicholas II and Alexandra Are Exhumed."

Also at Telegraph UK, "Russia exhumes remains of last emperor Nicholas II and empress Alexandra."

Bitcoin Blackmail Email Ashley Madison Chain-Letter

Heh, I'm not having an affair, and if these idiots spammer want to send a screencap of my Facebook page to my wife, they can go right ahead.

I got two of these bitcoin blackmail emails in my spam folder this morning, and they're actually kinda funny.

At Gizmodo, "Extortionists Are After the Ashley Madison Users and They Want Bitcoin":

This is an unnerving but not unpredictable turn of events. The data that the Ashley Madison hackers released early this week included millions of real email addresses, along with real home addresses, sexual proclivities and other very private information. Security blogger Brian Krebs talked to security firms who have evidence of extortion schemes linked to Ashley Madison data. Turns out spam filters are catching a number of emails being sent to victims from people who say they’ll make the information public unless they get paid!

Here’s one caught by an email provider in Milwaukee:

Hello,

Unfortunately, your data was leaked in the recent hacking of Ashley Madison and I now have your information.

If you would like to prevent me from finding and sharing this information with your significant other send exactly 1.0000001 Bitcoins (approx. value $225 USD) to the following address:

1B8eH7HR87vbVbMzX4gk9nYyus3KnXs4Ez

Sending the wrong amount means I won’t know it’s you who paid.

You have 7 days from receipt of this email to send the BTC [bitcoins]. If you need help locating a place to purchase BTC, you can start here….

The above email was forwarded to Brian Krebs who points out that no bitcoins have been added that wallet yet. (Looks like the Milwaukee-based victim did not pay up.)

One security expert explained to Krebs that this type of extortion could be dangerous. “There is going to be a dramatic crime wave of these types of virtual shakedowns, and they’ll evolve into spear-phishing campaigns that leverage crypto malware,” said Tom Kellerman of Trend Micro...

Lolz. I'm not on Ashley Madison, but any extortionist can get my email off my Blogger profile. In fact, my spammers altered the chain email like this:

I have all of your information about your affair, including the pics. I have your Facebook page as well, using this I can now message all of your friends and family members.

If you would like to prevent me from sharing this dirt info with all of your friends and family members (and perhaps even your employers too?) then you need to send 1 bitcoin to the following BTC address...

Right.

Fucking losers.

Angels Overcome Struggles to Stay in Hunt for October (VIDEO)

A couple of weekends ago, when Huston Street blew a save, with the Astros scoring 5 runs in the top of 9th inning, I'd pretty much given up on the Angels. I didn't even turn on the television a couple of nights when Anaheim was at Seattle.

So imagine my pleasant surprise at the heart these guys had during this week's series against the Astros, and before that, the Twins. The team is 1 1/2 games behind Houston in the wildcard race, and 4 games behind the Rangers for the lead in the American League West. The last home stand, the first week of October, is against Texas, so it should be exiting all the way down to the wire.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Angels overcome distractions, slumps and struggles to stay in playoff hunt":

The Angels haven't exactly thrived in this season of tumult, which began with Josh Hamilton's substance-abuse relapse, banishment and trade to Texas, included General Manager Jerry Dipoto's abrupt resignation July 1 and a brutal August in which they went 10-19 and averaged fewer than three runs a game.

They are 78-74, the mediocre record a reflection of the struggles of several pitchers and players they were counting on and injuries to pitcher C.J. Wilson, third baseman David Freese, second baseman Johnny Giavotella and first baseman Albert Pujols.

But they've survived, and with 10 games left they are 1 1/2 games behind Houston for the second American League wild-card spot entering Friday night's game against Seattle in Anaheim.

"These guys have filtered out every distraction and just came in and played ball," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "We're definitely proud of that. There's a lot of veteran leadership in there, and the coaching staff has been incredible in keeping these guys where they need to be."

That the Angels are still alive is a testament to their resolve, the talents of high-end performers such as Mike Trout, Kole Calhoun, Erick Aybar, Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney and Huston Street and the maturation of rookies Carlos Perez and Trevor Gott.

And it helps that the other wild-card challengers — Houston, Minnesota, Baltimore and Cleveland — are every bit as flawed as the Angels, with holes in their lineups, rotations and bullpens that make them susceptible to uneven play.

But as the Kansas City Royals proved again last October, it doesn't matter how you get to the postseason.

"Anything can happen then," Freese said. "You look back on the season and wish you did this or that early on; it's just human nature to do that. But when you're in a position to get in, that's all you can ask for."

The Angels are 13-8 in September and coming off two pressure-packed, one-run wins in Houston that imbued them with the confidence and mettle to win playoff-like games. They're heating up at the right time.

Keep reading.

The Ayatollah's Genocidal Threat to Israel

From Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, at FrontPage Magazine, "The Supreme Leader puts an expiration date on the Jewish State."

Evelyn Taft's Friday Forecast

She's so sweet, heh.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles.

Christianity's Dangerous Idea

I love this book, from Alister McGrath, Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution — A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First.

I reread chapter 5 last night, "England: The Emergence of Anglican Protestantism." I was talking about King Henry VIII in my classes yesterday, and I wanted to review this history for next week as well. It's fascinating.

Beautiful Kayla Collins (VIDEO)

Watch, at Playboy, "Kayla Collins in Motion is a Beautiful Thing."

She's on Twitter as well:

Happy Friday 😘 pic.twitter.com/0kIB4pKcPD

— Kayla Collins (@KaylaCollins) September 18, 2015

Plus, at London's Daily Mail, "Kayla Collins Poses in Saucy Lingerie Photoshoot."

The Clock, the Pope, and Totalitarian Apologists

From Erick Erickson, at Town Hall:

In Irving, Texas, a few days after the anniversary of September 11, a 14-year-old boy named Ahmed Mohamed took a clock to school that he had assembled inside a pencil case. He claimed he wanted to show it to his science teacher.

Afterward, the clock started beeping in another class, and Ahmed got in trouble. We know he was arrested for disrupting school. We know he was not very cooperative. But beyond that, we do not know much more than the public relations spin his family and the Council on American Islamic Relations have put out.

We do not know anything else because Ahmed's family has refused to allow the police in Irving or the local school district to release their side of the story. We know that Ahmed has been photographed with CAIR representatives. We know his father is an Islamic activist. We know his sister once got in trouble for disrupting school. As reported by The Daily Beast, Ahmed's sister, Eyman, said she "got suspended from school for three days from this same stupid district, from this girl saying I wanted to blow up the school, something I had nothing to do with."

On HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he called Ahmed to talk to him. Curiously, he could [hear] Ahmed's sister giving Ahmed answers. President Obama tweeted that he stood with Ahmed. The mayor of Irving noted in an interview that Obama was tweeting support for Ahmed before a lot of the facts were even known.

The left championed Ahmed as a victim of Islamophobia a few days after September 11. Never mind that multiple people have convincingly shown that they could identically make Ahmed's clock by taking apart a 1986 Micronta digital alarm clock and reassembling it in a Vaultz locking pencil box purchased on Amazon. The media and Obama have ignored so many facts and have ignored that the family is refusing to allow the school and police to tell their side of the story -- something they can do because Ahmed is a juvenile.

When it is easy for the left, they will take the moral high ground. Another example of this came from Washington last week. Obama greeted Pope Francis at the White House. The president invited transgender, gay and abortion activists to greet the pope. This put the pontiff in a difficult political situation to which the Vatican objected.

Among those who were invited to greet the pope was Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop whose consecration as an openly gay bishop in a relationship helped escalate the breakup of the American Episcopal Church. Robinson, after helping break up the Episcopal Church, got divorced. Likewise, Obama saw no problem inviting pro-abortion and pro-gay Catholic activists to greet the pope. These people are in active, celebratory rebellion against the Catholic Church and its pope, who maintains his strong belief in the sanctity of traditional marriage and life...

Kind of depressing, when you think about it, especially that we've still got 14 more months of this administration.

RTWT.

Lily Aldridge in Victoria's Secret So Obsessed Push-Up TV Commercial

She's really spectacular, but then, probably a little on the skinny side.

Watch:

Speaker John Boehner to Resign

Well, I guess this proves there's no crying in congressional leadership.

Watch, at CNN, "John Boehner to resign as House Speaker."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "House Speaker John Boehner to Resign":

WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), long under fire from conservatives within his own party, will resign Oct. 30, according to GOP lawmakers and aides.

Mr. Boehner announced his plans to step down as speaker and resign from Congress at the end of next month at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Friday morning. The announcement came one day after the 65-year-old welcomed Pope Francis for the first papal visit to Capitol Hill, fulfilling a decadeslong ambition for the speaker...

Keep reading.

Also, at Hot Air and Memeorandum.

And at Also, at Althouse, "IN THE COMMENTS: David Begley said":

From altar boy and Jesuit college to meeting the Jesuit Pope in the House. Crying allowed.

Yes, that was my first thought: The Pope made that happen.

AND: There I was yesterday mocking the so-called "breaking news" of the Pope's meeting with John Boehner as "the height of banality."

The United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development

Imagine.

At the Guardian UK, "Your comprehensive guide to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals summit," and "Sustainable development quiz: what do you know about the global goals?"

And at CFR, "Sustainable Development Goals."

Also, a U.N.-associated website, "Global Goals," and video, "'We The People' for The Global Goals":

A new plan for people and planet has just launched - the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Tell everyone! Go here to add your very own intro to this star-studded video and share it with the world: http://wethepeople.globalgoals.org.

You could be introducing a cast that include: Aamir Khan, Ai WeiWei, A R Rahman, Ashton Kutcher, Bill and Melinda Gates, UNHCR supporter Cate Blanchett, UN Messenger of Peace Charlize Theron, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Martin, Colin Firth, Daniel Craig, Djimon Hounsou, G.E.M., Gilberto Gil, Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Lopez, John Legend, Kate Winslet, Kid President, UN Messenger of Peace Lang Lang, UNDP Champion Michelle Yeoh, Malala Yousafzai, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Natalia Vodianova, One Direction, Pink, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Richard Branson, Robert Pattinson, Robert Redford, WFP Global Ambassador Against Hunger Sami Yusuf, Stephen Hawking, UN Messenger of Peace Stevie Wonder, Tanya Burr, and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador for China Zhou Xun - and many more.

Piper Cherokee Aircraft Lands on Red Hill Avenue in Irvine (VIDEO)

This would have to be the trippiest thing you ever saw.

Watch, at the O.C. Register, "Video: Small plane seen touching down on Irvine street."

And at LAT, "Video captures plane speeding down Irvine street":

A week ago, a small plane landed on an Irvine street.

Now, video has emerged showing the Piper Cherokee aircraft quickly gliding down Red Hill Avenue, looking much like a normal car.

The plane was approaching John Wayne Airport when its engine failed. No one was hurt, and the plane eventually came to a stop.

A flight school owns the plane. Here is the video...

Hajj Stampede Kills at Least 717 at Mecca, Saudi Arabia (VIDEO)

Well, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca's doing more to cull the ranks of potential jihadists than anything the Obama administration's done to "degrade and destroy" the Islamic State threat.

Too bad it's only once a year.

At the New York Times, "Hajj Stampede Near Mecca Leaves Over 700 Dead" (via Memeorandum).



And at Althouse, "'There is no accountability... It’s shocking that almost every year there is some kind of death toll...'" (At Memeorandum.)

In the Mail: Jerry Oppenheimer, RFK Jr.

I'm still working on a few other books, and I'm hoping to write some reviews.

But, the publishers keep sending out these tomes, heh.

At Amazon, RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream.

What Makes Conservatism Right?

Here's Greg Gutfeld for Prager University.

And pre-order his new book, How to Be Right: The Art of Being Persuasively Correct.

Los Angeles Declares 'State of Emergency' in Homeless Crisis, Will Commit $100 Million

Following-up from Tuesday, "L.A.'s Homelessness Emergency."

See the Los Angeles Times, "L.A. to declare 'state of emergency' on homelessness, commit $100 million."

Mission San Juan Capistrano Visitors React to Canonization of Junípero Serra (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Pope Francis Canonizes Father Junípero Serra."

Watch, at ABC News 7 Los Angeles, "SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (KABC) -- Sitting in the very church Father Junipero Serra founded more than 200 years ago, visitors to Mission San Juan Capistrano watched as Pope Francis canonized the Franciscan priest Wednesday."

The Truth About the European Migrant Crisis

From Michael Teitelbaum, at Foreign Affairs, "The Truth About the Migrant Crisis: Tragic Choices, Moral Hazards, and Potential Solutions":

The actual numbers of people crossing the Mediterranean into European Union territory, insofar as the limited available evidence is credible, are daunting. During the first eight months of 2015, well over 400,000 people successfully made the fraught journey. In the first part of this year, about 80 percent were departing from the now failed state of Libya and landing on Italian soil  More recently, migrant smuggling activities from Turkey to nearby Greek islands have increased.

In increasingly raucous political and press debates in Europe and elsewhere, recent movements are being described as new “disasters,” “policy failures,” and even “invasions” that the EU and its member states have proven incapable of addressing effectively. In fact, such “irregular” migration across the Mediterranean is hardly new, but the volumes are indeed far larger than in prior years. So, too, are the numbers dying in the attempt. The International Organization for Migration in Geneva estimates that during the first eight months of 2015, more than 2,700 would-be Mediterranean migrants perished at sea.

The stark and widely disseminated images of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children transiting the Mediterranean in crumbling boats, and of the resulting humanitarian disasters at sea, are impossible to ignore. The heart-rending photos of a drowned three-year-old Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach were highlighted in print and online media worldwide. Such deeply disturbing images create daunting daily challenges for an EU already struggling with deep recessions, sustained high unemployment, terrorist attacks, economic and political instability in Greece, and challenges to the euro currency system. They provide useful political fodder for the strengthening populist and anti-EU parties and movements that have appeared in most of the 28 member countries. And they have stimulated a rising tide of violent attacks on facilities housing migrants—more than 200 such attacks in Germany this year, described by German Chancellor Angela Merkel as “unworthy of our country.”

TRAGIC CHOICES, MORAL HAZARDS

As they consider responses to these challenges, European government, advocacy, and media leaders need to keep in mind two important concepts: tragic choices and moral hazards.

The recent mass migrations pose deep moral dilemmas for European societies, of a kind that moral philosophers and theologians call “tragic choices.” These are decisions that bring into conflict the ultimate values by which societies define themselves, such as how to allocate scarce resources among very large numbers of desperate people.

The numbers of potential migrants now are exceptionally large. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that by the end of 2014, nearly 60 million had been forcibly displaced owing to persecution, conflict, and human rights violations—the highest level on record—and of these, it classified nearly 20 million as “refugees.” To these huge numbers may plausibly be added tens or even hundreds of millions more who would likely be attracted by any available option to migrate away from conditions of deep poverty, starvation, or environmental disaster.

In a world of widespread tragedy, what choices should humanitarian societies make to allocate assistance among these potential migrants? Are they obliged by international law and their own values to admit all who wish to come, whatever the effects? Must they give priority to resettling refugees, as defined by international law, over other migrants? And if so, are they obliged to admit all the 20 million counted as “refugees” by the UNHCR? If not, how should they deal with mass casualties among others who risk their lives to gain access to European countries?

In fraught debates about such moral dilemmas, the legal definitions and everyday usage of “refugees,” “asylum seekers,” and “migrants” have become profoundly confused. There is a vast literature on these definitions; suffice it to say that the 1951 UN Refugee Convention defines a “refugee” as a person outside of his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling “to avail himself of the protection of that country . . . owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” An “asylum-seeker” differs from a “refugee” only by geography, having already entered the country in which asylum or refugee status is being sought; those who are approved are called both “refugees” and “asylees,” injecting yet another source of confusion. Contrary to common usage, under the Refugee Convention, people who flee failed states, conflicts, or desperate economic conditions do not qualify as refugees or asylees unless they have a legitimate fear of persecution based on one of the five grounds listed above. But such desperate migrants certainly still deserve humanitarian concern.

On top of tragic choices, European officials must contend with moral hazards. In finance and economics, these arise when incentives or guarantees provided by governments or insurers have the perverse effect of encouraging banks, corporations, and individuals to take dangerous risks such as high “leverage” through heavy borrowing, risks that most would otherwise prudently avoid.

International migration itself should now be understood as a highly leveraged phenomenon. Many millions migrate and settle lawfully each year, but they are dwarfed by the dramatically larger numbers of potential migrants created by immense global economic inequalities and the proliferation of failed states and civil wars. These realities, coupled with nearly global access to modern media and transportation, mean that the option of migrating to more peaceful and prosperous countries is increasingly both known and attractive to potentially massive numbers of people—as but one incomplete measure, more than 1 billion of the 7.3 billion human population currently live on less than $1.25 per day.

With such a large pool of migrants waiting in the wings, even small policy shifts on the part of countries seen as desirable destinations—admirable statements of humanitarian welcome for migrants or policy changes intended to provide migration benefits to smaller groups—can cause great swings in the movement of people. To this may be added the perverse incentives facing people who are able to meet the UN refugee definition but unable to obtain visas to be resettled as refugees in a European country. At risk of their lives, they can force the issue by paying smugglers to transport them to that same country in order to claim asylum. Indeed, several EU governments have formally stated that even the humanitarian sea rescue missions are encouraging greater numbers to pursue such high-risk journeys...

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