Sheriff Dave Ward and Ammon Bundy Meet on 'Neutral Ground' to Discuss End to #Malheur Occupation (VIDEO)

At the Portland Oregonian, "Sheriff, Bundy meet on neutral ground to discuss ending refuge occupation":

CRANE -- Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward, backed up by two other sheriffs, met face-to-face Thursday with protest leader Ammon Bundy to bring a peaceful end to a weeklong occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

"I'm here to offer safe escort out," the sheriff told Bundy. "Go back and kick it around with your folks."

The sheriff plans to call Bundy on Friday to see what he and his group have decided.

Ward was accompanied by three rigs carrying heavily armed law enforcement officers.

The parley took place in the open, standing at the intersection of a state highway and the back route to the refuge. It was another in a series of twists and turns the past week that have drawn national and international attention to this sparsely populated high desert country.

Ward was encouraged to reach out directly to the militants at a town hall meeting Wednesday night in Burns that drew an estimated 400 people. Several speakers urged the sheriff to do just what he is doing Thursday, and several ranchers had volunteered to join him if needed to end the occupation.

Bundy and about 20 other militants took over the headquarters compound of the refuge on Saturday and additional protesters have been arriving in the past day. Bundy, a member of an Arizona ranching family, has said repeatedly that the occupation was to protest the imprisonment of two Harney County ranchers and to demand that the federal government turn over ownership of federal land to local control.

The meeting happened in one of the most remote spots in Oregon, near where Highway 78 intersects with Lava Bed Road. This is largely flat terrain – sage country that hosts few people and sustains thousands of cattle. There has probably been no more unlikely place for the work of ending a confrontation that has turned life upside down in Harney County.

The protesters have been left alone at the refuge. They have been free to come and go at will and have dispatched supporters 30 miles to Burns for supplies. They have held daily news conferences, allowed reporters to explore outside the buildings and have hosted dozens of local residents who have come to talk.

Several protesters attended the town hall meeting but didn't speak – Ward said only local residents could have the mic...

Still more.

8-to-10 Foot Waves Pound SoCal Beaches as Latest El Niño Storm Arrives (VIDEO)

I'm doing daddy daycare chauffeur duties today, but I'd love to be down at the beach checking out the high surf.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Monster waves batter California coast as latest El Niño storm passes through":

Southern California was soaked on Thursday with another storm driven by El Niño, sending powerful waves crashing against oceanfront Malibu homes and delaying power restoration for thousands of mountain dwellers in the Big Bear area.

The storm prompted the National Weather Service to issue a strong surf warning for beaches across the California coast as waves rose above 15 feet in many areas — and as much as 35 feet at Maverick's Beach in Northern California.

The final scattered rains came a day after the week's strongest storm washed away hillsides, flooded freeways and dumped heavy snow in the mountains.

In Malibu, the storm passed in the early-morning hours, clocking winds at 35 mph and covering homes with pea-sized hail. Sporadic lightning strikes and minor street flooding also were reported.

Surfers complained that many of the swells were too chaotic to ride, and Los Angeles County health officials advised against ocean-water contact for up to 72 hours because of elevated bacteria levels — especially near drainpipes, harbors and the mouths of rivers...

More.

Germany Launches Deal with Facebook, Google, and Twitter to Crack Down on 'Hate Speech' Against Muslims

Well, good luck with that.

And sheesh, at this point Mark Steyn's looking like a prophet, "One-Year Anniversary of Charlie Hebdo Attacks."

At the Washington Post, "Germany springs to action over hate speech against migrants":

BERLIN — Donald Trump may be testing the boundaries of tolerance on the U.S. campaign trail. But here in Germany, the government is effectively enforcing civility, taking aim at a surge of hate speech against refugees and Muslims.

As Western Europe’s most populous nation grapples with a historic wave of mostly-Muslim migrants, politicians and activists are decrying a rash of incendiary speech bubbling to the surface of German society. In a country whose Nazi past led to some of the strictest laws in the West protecting minorities from people inciting hatred, prosecutors are launching investigations into inflammatory comments as judges dole out fines, even probation time, to the worst offenders.

German authorities, meanwhile, have reached a deal with Facebook, Google and Twitter to get tougher on offensive content, with the outlets agreeing to apply domestic laws, rather than their own corporate policies, to reviews of posts.

Critics call it the enforcement of political correctness, raising the question of what constitutes hate speech and sparking a national debate over free expression. Germans have been outraged, for instance, by reports of more than 100 sexual assaults and robberies in the city of Cologne allegedly committed by gangs of young Arab and North African men on New Year’s Eve. Some Germans are questioning whether their online comments could be taken down, or whether they could be charged with incitement, for publicly pondering whether refugees could have been among the assailants.

The Syrian conflict has created the largest wave of refugees to hit Europe since World War II.
Two of the suspects have been identified as Moroccan citizens. But Cologne police say they have not yet determined whether any of the assailants were recently arrived asylum seekers. Nevertheless, the incidents have fed a strain of anger and suspicion here beyond the traditional migrant critics in the right wing.

“It’s not politically correct to say anything against migrants. We don’t have freedom of opinion anymore. #Cologne,” Tweeted a German user from Hanover going by the handle Pulvermann.

Proponents are hailing the government effort as a way to foment respect while also controlling the most savage voices in society...

Yes, because it's horribly "savage" to express your concerns about Islamic gang rape on social media.

Keep reading.

Germany's Gender Quotas for Corporate Boardrooms Get Collective Yawn

They're so progressive over there (*cough, cough*).

At Der Spiegel, "Boardroom Quotas: The Slow Pace of Gender Equality in Corporate Germany":

Germany's statutory gender quota for supervisory boards took effect at the beginning of the year, yet the ratio of women to men is still alarmingly low. Many companies don't even seem to realize that the new law applies to them.

Sometimes, in cases when the present seems less than appealing, remembering the past can be helpful. Take the year 2001, for instance. Deutsche Bank's then-CFO and eventual supervisory board chairman Clemens Börsig was appearing before a congress of European businesswomen when he took the liberty of advising the approximately 1,000 participants to orient their career ambitions not only vertically, but "horizontally" as well. There are plenty of positions to be had in middle management, he said, women don't always have to set their sights on the highest positions.

When the women in the audience started laughing, Börsig apparently didn't even understand why.

It's comforting to think that no board member at Deutsche Bank -- or any other major industry player for that matter -- would dare suggest such a thing today. It goes without saying that women are as deserving of a place in the upper echelons of Europe's largest economy -- and that they are as qualified academically and as esteemed -- as their male counterparts. Political and societal pressure is just too great to deny women's access to leadership positions, top jobs and, consequently, power.

Oh, really?

In May last year, the so-called "Law on Equal Participation of Women and Men in Leadership Positions in the Private and Public Sector" came into effect. It was meant to ensure that at least 30 percent of all supervisory board positions in Germany's largest companies are held by women. Since Jan. 1 of this year, these firms must fill vacant board positions with women until that 30 percent threshold is reached. Furthermore, around 3,500 other public companies are also required to present a strategy for getting more women into top jobs.

It's a law that above all shows one thing: Not a whole lot has changed since Börsig's revealing remarks about the advancement of women. It has been known for two years that a binding quota was imminent, yet the ratio of female to male board members at the 102 companies that are either listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange or that have employee participation in decision-making still stands at 23.1 percent. For all the talk of inclusion in the last year, that number has risen by only 1.8 percent...

Well, I'm sure they'll have plenty of Muslima refugees flooding into the workplace pipeline in no time. I mean, isn't that the intent of the whole "welcoming" thing, to relieve the stress on the German economy from declining population ratios?

Actually, who knows? Everything's all pretty much fucked up nowadays, thanks to radical leftist ideology and craven political correctness.

But keep reading, FWIW.

Handgun Sales Surge as Women Step-Up Purchases (VIDEO)

At Fox Business, "Handgun sales surging thanks to women."

And once again, here's Dana Loesch's book, Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America.

Twitter to Transition to 10,000 Character Limit

Here's Michelle Malkin on the proposed change, "140 characters = a tweet. 10,000 characters = Digital diarrhea. No, @Twitter, no!"

And at WSJ, "What Twitter Gains by Expanding the 140-Character Tweet."

Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Faith, Family, and Donald Trump (VIDEO)

Following-up from earlier, "Donald Trumps Says Ted Cruz's Citizenship Could 'Be a Big Problem' (VIDEO)."

This is a great interview. You'll fall in love with his family.

Via ABC News Nightline:

17 Workers Trapped at Cargill Salt Mine as Elevator Malfunctions 75 Stories Deep

At AP, via Memeorandum, "17 mine employees trapped in salt mine near Ithaca."

USA Today:

17 workers are trapped in an elevator shaft 75 stories deep in a N.Y. salt mine: https://t.co/O3S4DU3Uc1 pic.twitter.com/cOsl0gJnNB

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 7, 2016

Rhian Sugden for Page 3

Well, thank goodness.

Today's page3 is moi 😇 check out https://t.co/L0xJaSUJle Pic taken by @Page3photog hmu @charlietoons pic.twitter.com/DtmQPU9CvN

— Rhian Sugden (@Rhianmarie) January 7, 2016

Global Stocks Pummeled on China Volatility

Following-up from earlier, "China Halts Trading After Stocks Drop 7 Percent in 29 Minutes."

Now, at the Wall Street Journal, "Global Stocks Tumble on China Volatility":

Steep falls in Chinese equities pummeled global markets on Thursday, as widening concerns over the world’s No. 2 economy pushed investors out of shares, oil and metals.

The selloff came after the People’s Bank of China made its largest downward adjustment to the yuan since August, a move that sent the country’s stock market down over 7% amid concerns about capital flight from the Asian giant.

“A very large connected economy is a hard bullet to dodge for all equity markets,” said Nicholas Melhuish, head of global equities at Amundi Asset Management.

China’s stock markets stopped trading after only 30 minutes, ending the shortest trading day in their history after a newly installed mechanism to limit volatility was triggered for the second time this week.

Pessimism spread quickly, with Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index each losing over 2%.

European stocks opened to steep losses. The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 3.4% in midmorning as energy and basic resources shares tumbled.

Futures pointed to a 2.5% loss for the S&P 500. Changes in futures markets don’t necessarily reflect moves after the opening bell.

Fears about China spread to commodity markets, sending Brent crude oil down 2.3% to $33.42 a barrel, nudging higher after sharper earlier falls amid concerns about future demand from the world’s second-largest consumer of crude. Metals were also down, with copper falling 2.5%.

As the price of resources tumbled, commodity-linked emerging markets all took a hit. South Africa’s rand currency fell to an all-time low against the dollar, falling to 16.22 to the dollar.

In Europe, China-exposed mining and energy sectors were leading the losses, with the sectors down 5.2% and 4.2% on the day respectively as oil prices lingered near multiyear lows.

Shares in Anglo American PLC were down 9.3%, Tullow Oil PLC was down 5.6% and Glencore PLC was down 4.3%.

The first week of trading of the year has been dominated by China, after markets opened on Monday to a weaker yuan and lackluster Chinese data manufacturing data.

As investors flee more risky assets, so-called safe-haven investments have gained...

Keep reading.

Cars Stuck in Flood Waters at Tuxford Street and San Fernando Road in Sun Valley (VIDEO)

More from this week's storms.

Amber Lee reports for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



And ICYMI, "Los Angeles River Roars Back to Life During Recent El Niño-Fueled Storms (VIDEO)."

Behind the Scenes with Miss August 2014 Maggie May (VIDEO)

Watch, via Playboy, "Go Back to the Hazy Summer Days with Maggie May."

BONUS: "Maggie May Playmate Miss August 2014 (PHOTOS)," and "34 Photos You Didn't Get to See In Maggie May's Playboy Pictorial."

Donald Trumps Says Ted Cruz's Citizenship Could 'Be a Big Problem' (VIDEO)

At USA Today, "Donald Trump: Ted Cruz's citizenship could 'be a big problem'."

Nancy Cordes reports, for CBS Evening News:

Florida Atlantic University Fires James F. Tracy, Professor Who Pushed Conspiracy Theories About Mass Shootings

Kind of fascinating that I've never heard of this guy. Of course, I don't traffic in conspiracy theories.

This guy is literally insane and needs help, bad.

At the New York Times, "Florida Professor Who Cast Doubt On Mass Shootings Is Fired":

MIAMI — A Florida Atlantic University professor who suggested in blog postings and radio interviews that the 2012 massacre of children at Sandy Hook Elementary and other mass shootings were a hoax designed by the Obama administration to boost support for gun control was fired Tuesday.

James F. Tracy, 50, a tenured associate professor of communications at the Boca Raton university, has repeatedly called into question the authenticity of recent mass shootings, including the slaying of churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., and office workers in San Bernardino, Calif. In his blog postings and radio interviews, Mr. Tracy has said the Newtown massacre may have been carried out by “crisis actors” employed by the Obama administration.

Mr. Tracy’s ideas fall into part of a larger movement of Internet conspiracy theorists who believe the spate of mass murders have simply been staged by the government. A few of the theorists do not think the shootings took place at all.

Florida Atlantic University, which first reprimanded Mr. Tracy in 2013, dismissed him less than a month after the parents of 6-year-old Noah Pozner, the youngest victim of the shooting at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn., publicly accused the professor of harassment in a Sun Sentinel opinion piece. Lenny and Veronique Pozner, angered by Mr. Tracy’s conspiracy theories, had asked Mr. Tracy to remove a photograph of Noah from his blog, Memory Hole. In return, Mr. Tracy sent them a certified letter demanding proof that Noah ever lived and that the Pozners were his parents.

Mr. Tracy continued his clash with the Pozners on Facebook, where he called the Newtown shootings a “drill,” a reference to a theory that the massacre was an exercise in which no one died staged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“The Pozners, alas, are as phony as the drill itself, and profiting handsomely from the fake death of their son,” Mr. Tracy wrote in a letter that is attributed to him on the Sandy Hook Hoax Facebook page. Mr. Tracy declined to comment on his termination. His lawyer, Thomas Johnson, also declined to comment on whether Mr. Tracy would seek legal action or file a grievance against the university over his dismissal.

In a column published in December in the Sun Sentinel, Mr. Tracy said the Pozners had mounted a “vicious attack” on him meant to intimidate his employer into firing him. The attacks, he said, stem from his efforts to question “the state-sanctioned Sandy Hook narrative.”

On Wednesday, the Pozners put out a statement to the newspaper, saying that they hoped that Mr. Pozner’s firing “sends a strong message to conspiracy theorists that Sandy Hook and other mass shootings actually happened and that many people, including our little boy, Noah, lost their lives in those shootings.”

Mr. Tracy, who has taught at the university since 2002, has also spread his views in the classroom, saying in interviews that it is his job as an academic to spark debate among students.

Florida Atlantic University ultimately dismissed him on grounds that have nothing to do with his theories or his feud with the Pozners...

More.

And truly bizarre. Makes me feel bad for the families, but then, only a little. The whole gun control agenda has become a cult movement. Better to stay away from all of this sometimes.

China Halts Trading After Stocks Drop 7 Percent in 29 Minutes

Heh.

China was supposed to be overtaking the U.S. economy about this time, or so went the conventional wisdom some time ago.

Looks like once the Chinese state loosens controls on yuan, the economy's not such a tight ship after all.

At NYT, "China Halts Trading After Market Tumbles More Than 7 Percent":

HONG KONG — Trading on China’s stock market was halted on Thursday for the second time this week, as stocks plummeted in Asia, and later in Europe, over concerns about the country’s currency and the health of the economy.

The markets in China closed after only 29 minutes and did not reopen, with the main index in Shanghai down 7.3 percent. Other Asian markets slumped as well.

“Obviously it doesn’t look good, it doesn’t look good at all,” said Hao Hong, the chief market strategist at Bank of Communications International, the overseas arm of a big Chinese bank.

It has been a rocky start to the new year in global markets, with worries over China shaking the confidence of investors around the world and creating volatility in the markets. The big fear is that China’s economy is slowing down, crimping global growth.

A downbeat Chinese manufacturing report first sent stocks spiraling on Monday, prompting the country’s market to close early. It also set off a global rout, with stocks in Europe and the United States getting hit.

Since then, investors have been unnerved...

Heh.

You think?

Still more.

Bentley's New Bentayga SUV Set to Debut at $229,000.00

Heh.

It does 0-60 in four seconds.

Watch, at WSJ, "New Bentley SUV Attracts One Percenters."

The website's here.

And at the Bentley YouTube page, "Bentley Bentayga Launch Film - The Landing."

Pennsylvania High School Coach on Leave After Head-Butting Basketball Referee (VIDEO)

Jeez, he leveled that ref, lol.

At the Philadelphia Enquirer, "Bucks coach head butts ref, finds job on the line."

One-Year Anniversary of Charlie Hebdo Attacks

Well, it's been year since Charlie Hebdo, but just over two months since the Paris attacks. One would think France is a changed country at this point, but you can bet deadly political correctness is already creeping back in. More people will die in the Islamic jihad. It's only a matter of time.

Mark Steyn has more, "The Ghosts of Charlie Hebdo."

No pullout quote will do justice. Read it all at the link.

And buy Steyn's book, "Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech and the Twilight of the West."

The Transgender Battle Line: Childhood

From Debra Soh, at the Wall Street Journal:

What should parents do if their little boy professes an intense desire to be a girl? Or if their daughter comes home from kindergarten and says she wants to be a boy? In recent years the dominant thinking has changed dramatically regarding children’s gender dysphoria. Previously, parents might hope that it would be a passing phase, as it usually is. But now they are under pressure from gender-identity politics, which asserts that children as young as 5 should be supported in wanting to live as the opposite sex. Any attempts to challenge this approach are deemed intolerant and oppressive.

I myself was a gender-dysphoric child who preferred trucks and Meccano sets to Easy-Bake Ovens. I detested being female and all of its trappings. Yet when I was growing up in the 1980s, the concept of helping children transition to another sex was completely unheard of. My parents allowed me to wear boys’ clothing and shave my head, to live as a girl who otherwise looked and behaved like a boy. I outgrew my dysphoria by my late teens. Looking back, I am grateful for my parents’ support, which helped me work things out.

Since then, research has established best-treatment practices for adolescents and adults with gender dysphoria: full transitioning, which includes treatment with hormones to suppress puberty and help the individual develop breasts or facial hair, as well as gender-reassignment surgery.

But prepubescent children who identify with the opposite sex are another matter entirely. How best to deal with them has become so politicized that sexologists, who presumably would be able to determine the healthiest approach, are extremely reluctant to get involved. They have seen what happens when they deviate from orthodoxy...

Keep reading.

Cologne Mayor's Advice on Mass Assault Stirs Outcry (VIDEO)

Following-up from Tuesday, "Cologne, Germany, Shocked — Shocked! — by Dozens of Sexual Assaults on New Year's Eve (VIDEO)."

At NYT, "Cologne Mayor’s ‘Arm’s Length’ Sex Assault Advice Stirs Outcry."

Not so thrilled about all those "vulnerable" refugees now.

More at RT, "'At arm's length' Cologne mayor proposes code of conduct for women after NY attacks."

At Community Meeting, Overflow Crowd of Local Residents Wants Militia to End #Malheur Occupation (VIDEO)

At the Portland Oregonian, "Residents near Oregon standoff like militants' message, but still want them to leave":

BURNS – Cowboys, mothers, retirees and dozens more from Harney County offered support Wednesday for the anti-government message offered by militants occupying a federal compound outside of town.

But they still asked the group of protesters to leave.

One speaker after another among the hundreds gathered for a community meeting said it was time to talk the way to a solution. When a rancher volunteered to accompany the sheriff to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, others shouted out their willingness to go as well.

About 20 protesters took control of the wildlife refuge headquarters on Saturday. The group is led by Ammon Bundy of the activist Nevada ranching family who came to Oregon to spare two local ranchers from prison.

Many local residents at the gathering said they supported the point the protesters are trying to make with their occupation – that the federal government is overreaching -- and they praised the militants for bringing national attention to federal land management issues that residents have faced for years.

Bundy "has given Harney County our biggest and best platform ever to get our message out," said rancher Mitch Singer. He went to the refuge to meet with the protesters and urged locals to pick up on the political battle.

Merlin Rupp, who has lived in the county 70 years, said he also went to the refuge to see what was happening. "They ain't hurtin' a damn thing down there," he said, though he added it was time for militants to go home.

Vanessa Leathers-King said she was in a group of 30 to 40 locals who headed to the wildlife reserve for the same reason. "That's the cleanest I've ever seen the refuge," she said.

Area businessman Tim Smith said the new Harney County Committee of Safety met with the militants as well. The committee formed last week at a community meeting organized by the protesters.

Six local residents agreed to serve on the committee to press grievances against the government, but the community has viewed it with suspicion because of its origins. Besides Smith, the committee includes a retired fire chief and two ranchers.

Smith said the safety committee reflects the divide in the community over the standoff – three committee members signed a letter demanding the militants leave but three others wouldn't.

As for the occupiers, Smith said, "We do not believe there is any threat to this community from this group."

Keep reading.

Los Angeles River Roars Back to Life During Recent El Niño-Fueled Storms (VIDEO)

This CBS Evening News clip below gives you a glimpse of how powerful the L.A. River's been during the storm surges this week.

But click through at this Los Angeles Times report, endure the brief advertisement at the video, and behold how amazing this waterway is when Los Angeles gets some rain. Literally billions of gallons have poured through the normally-dry wash downtown, and local reservoirs have been able to redirect some of the storm runoff to replenish their capacities.

At LAT, "El Niño rains get L.A. River roaring to life."

Inside the Garden of Political Town Hall Plants

From Michelle Malkin:

On Thursday, CNN will host a town hall with President Obama as part of his “final-year push to make gun control part of his legacy.” In addition to sitting down with liberal anchor Anderson Cooper, the network says Obama will “take questions from the audience.”

Uh-oh. Get out your best pruning shears and trowels. In an age of micromanaged partisan stagecraft and left-wing media enablers, there is no such thing as a spontaneous question.

CNN has a long history of allowing political plants to flourish in its public forums.

At the cable station’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas in 2007, moderator Wolf Blitzer introduced several citizen questioners as “ordinary people, undecided voters.” But they later turned out to include a former Arkansas Democratic director of political affairs, the president of the Islamic Society of Nevada, and a far left anti-war activist who’d been quoted in newspapers lambasting Harry Reid for his failure to pull out of Iraq.

At a CNN/YouTube GOP debate two weeks later, the everyday, “undecided voters” whose questions were chosen included:

–A member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual Americans For Hillary Clinton Steering Committee.

–A young woman named “Journey” who questioned the candidates on abortion and whom CNN failed to properly identify as an outspoken John Edwards supporter.

–A supposed “Log Cabin Republican” who had declared his support for Obama on an Obama ’08 campaign blog.

–A supposedly unaffiliated “concerned mother” who was actually a staffer and prominent Pittsburgh union activist for the United Steelworkers — which had endorsed Edwards for president.

–A supposed “undecided” voter who urged Ron Paul to run as an independent, but who had already publicly declared his support for former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s Democratic presidential bid.

–A staffer for Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; a former intern for Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and a former intern for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Once a manipulative gardener, always a manipulative gardener. During the push for Obamacare, Democrat plants spread like kudzu across town hall propaganda events. At White House “citizen town halls” in 2009, Team Obama hand-picked not-so-random “random” questioners who included:

–An operative for the Washington, D.C.-based Health Care for America Now, the K Street Astroturf outfit with a $40 million budget to lobby for government-run health care that directed its activists to “drown out” opponents at town hall meetings.

–An “unemployed” cancer patient who was actually working for the DNC’s Organizing for America and the Virginia Organizing Project, which coordinated lobbying trips and health care forums with HCAN.

–A Democrat National Committee member and community blogger at Organizing for America.

–The 11-year-old daughter of a coordinator of Massachusetts Women for Obama who had donated thousands of dollars to the campaign, as had her law firm employer.

Using young people as horticultural conduits to shape narratives wasn’t an Obama invention, of course. Last week, Hillary Clinton’s town hall events featured two children reading scripted questions on gender pay equity and guns. The campaign balked at accusations that they would exploit kids and manufacture questions...

I have no plans to watch tomorrow's stupid "town hall" on gun control, although perhaps I'll tune in for a couple of minutes to check out the plants, heh.

Still more.

Slashing in Chelsea: Woman Attacked While on Way to Work (VIDEO)

At CBS News 2 New York, via Memeorandum, "Woman Speaks Out on Facebook After Being Slashed by Stranger in Chelsea."

The woman, Amanda Morris, needed seven stitches, and she took to Facebook to write about the horror.

Watch, although caution for the graphic images, "Woman Slashed in NYC."

Also at NYDN, "VIDEO: Woman gets slashed in the face in a terrifying random attack on her way to work."

Fallout from Pyongyang Hydrogen-Bomb: Beijing's Nightmare Is the Collapse of Its North Korean Ally

I never gave any of these h-bomb reports any credibility, although the major newspapers dutifully gave the story front-page coverage, to say nothing of CNN's breaking bombshell news coverage.

In any case, see Andrew Browne, at the Wall Street Journal, "North Korea’s Strategy Puts Beijing in a Bind":

SHANGHAI—The Korean Peninsula stands as a gateway to China. It kept the old emperors constantly on guard—and their successors today are no less vigilant.

Beijing’s nightmare is the collapse of its North Korean ally that might well bring U.S. military forces rushing all the way to the border, controlling routes that lead through China’s northeastern industrial heartland to the doors of the capital.

That strategic reality emboldens the family dynasty that runs North Korea. Wednesday’s detonation is the latest example—and the most outrageous one, if Pyongyang’s claims to have set off a hydrogen bomb are true—of how North Korea works on Beijing’s deepest anxieties. The “Young General” Kim Jong Un knows that his country is an indispensable buffer for China—“lips to teeth,” as the Chinese say. He can do virtually anything, and get away with it.

The dictator has cast what Pyongyang claims is its fourth nuclear test as a challenge to America; it fits into a long-established pattern of reckless antics designed to grab attention in Washington, force a crisis and extract diplomatic concessions.

But he is also playing a familiar psychological game with a neighbor that supplies his impoverished country’s food and energy and keeps his despotic regime alive.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, a stern authoritarian, is hardly a leader with whom to be toyed. And he has gone further than his predecessors in showing his exasperation with behavior that threatens not only peace in the neighborhood but also China’s own economic security. If Mr. Kim is persona non grata in Beijing—and the fact that China has yet to invite him leads to that conclusion—the South Korean leader, Park Geun-hye, has become a favorite houseguest. She is a regular visitor, showing up most recently last year in a front-row seat at a massive military parade to mark Japan’s defeat in World War II.

In a part of the world where politics often plays out in symbols, diplomatic invitations given or withheld have exaggerated significance...

Keep reading.

BONUS: At the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "White House Disputes North Korea's Claim of Hydrogen Bomb Test."

Donald Trump Will Win Republican Nomination, Claims Former Ben Carson Campaign Manager (VIDEO)

This interview was getting some airtime even on Fox News.

At CNN, "Carson's ex-campaign manager: Trump will be GOP nominee."

Militiamen Back Down from Claims of Imminent FBI Raid Against #Malheur Refuge Occupation (VIDEO)

It's still a big crowd of journalists up there, but Ammon Bundy's voice sounds hesitant and tired. I expect we might be seeing a resolution to the siege fairly soon, but we'll see. We'll see.

At the Portland Oregonian, "Militants in Oregon back down after flare up of fear over rumored raid":

BURNS — After a flare up of fear overnight that federal agents planned to raid their occupied compound, a group of armed militants determined that the information was false and relaxed Wednesday, one of the leaders said.

"It was all rumors and everything calmed down at about 3 a.m.," Jon Ritzheimer told The Oregonian/OregonLive. "There's nothing to be upset about.

The protesters — about 20 or so — have read newspaper reports that authorities are taking a wait-and-see approach to their takeover at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, he said.

It's now "a battle of wits," Ritzheimer said. "I'm game. We all get to live and let's talk and engage each other."

Before the protesters stood down, they had moved heavy construction equipment belonging to the federal government across refuge roads.

Some of them tended a bonfire at the entrance through the night and supporters were posted as a first alert along the road leading to the refuge about 30 miles outside of Burns.

Ritzheimer said the militants now are back to focusing on their land use protest.

"We have research teams finding out who this land was taken from and who it needs to be sent back to," he said...

More.

One U.S. Service Member Killed in Afghanistan: Ralph Peters, Back on Fox News, Responds (VIDEO)

It's a fiction that U.S. forces aren't engaged in combat, but Obama insists on perpetuating it.

At the Los Angeles Times, "1 U.S. service member killed, 2 wounded in Afghanistan."

And Ralph Peters, back at Fox News after his suspension for (rightly) calling Obama a pussy, held his fire against the president on focused mostly on broad policy objectives in Afghanistan. To win, you've got to want to win, and that doesn't appear to be the case with the American deployment.

Watch, "Critics Slam President Obama for Claim of No Combat Troops in Afghanistan - America's Newsroom."

Pat McFadden, Former Shadow Europe Secretary, Speaks Out on Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Reshuffle (VIDEO)

Well, he says he's been a hardcore Labour supporter all his life, so it's just a matter of differences of opinion regarding his sacking. But he gets passionate at the end of the interview about his views towards radical jihad and Islamic terrorism, which is never the West's fault.

Right on, mate.



Sounds more like an anti- anti-communist leftist than a Corbynite.

PREVIOUSLY: "British MP Stephen Doughty Resigns as Labour Shadow Foreign Office Minister on Live TV (VIDEO)."

Dangerous El Niño Storms Cause Flooding and Disruptions in California (VIDEO)

This is a cool video below, but I feel bad for the homeless. Many of them refuse to come out from the elements.

See the Los Angeles Times, "El Niño prompts an outreach effort to get L.A.'s homeless into shelters."



More weather blogging throughout the day. There's going to be more flooding and more disruptions.

Racial Identity Emerges as Main Driver of Voter Choice — Now? Just Now?

This is interesting.

And what's especially interesting is how the MSM establishment talks about how "racial voting" is something new all of a sudden. I guess the topic wasn't all that compelling when 95 percent of blacks voted for Obama in 2008, and 92 percent did so again in 2012. But hey, white working class voters are all in for Donald Trump, so now it's a phenomenon.

At the New York Times (where else?), "Racial Identity, and Its Hostilities, Return to American Politics":

Why do working-class Americans vote as they do?

The question has long bedeviled analysts on the left, troubled that people who would largely benefit from a more robust government seem so often to vote for right-leaning politicians eager to cut federal programs to pay for tax cuts for the rich.

The unusual Republican presidential primary, evolving from one surprise to the next, has revived the debate, but with an important racial coda. As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz surge in the polls, buoyed by the enthusiastic support of angry white men, they raise a narrower question: What’s going on with working-class whites?

Though subtle, this variation reflects an important shift in American politics: Perhaps even more than economic status, racial, ethnic and cultural identity is becoming a main driver of political choice.

It suggests that the battle over the purpose and configuration of the American government — what it’s for, who it serves — may become more openly about “us” versus “them,” along ethnic lines.

Consider the Trump phenomenon. While polls find that he also leads the Republican pack among women and higher-income voters, by far his most solid support comes from less educated, lower-income white men, according to a Pew Research Center analysis conducted in October.

Donald Trump is backed by 43 percent of Republicans with at most a high school education, but only 28 percent of those with bachelor degrees and 21 percent of those with some graduate school, according to an analysis of the most recent New York Times/CBS poll.

Similarly, a Quinnipiac University poll last month found that Hillary Clinton would readily beat Mr. Trump in a general election among college-educated voters, while Mr. Trump would eke out victory among those without a college degree. This is also true of the other angry Republican at the top of the list, Senator Ted Cruz.

Their supporters are overwhelmingly white. White non-Hispanics are the only ethnic group that leans Republican, according to a study of party affiliation by the Pew center. White men who have not completed college favor the G.O.P. over the Democratic Party by 54 to 33 percent.

President Obama and Bernie Sanders have speculated that frustration over lost jobs and stagnant wages can explain much of the blue-collar support for Mr. Trump and conservative populists more generally.

The explanation, however, is not quite satisfactory. As Matthew Yglesias at Vox suggests, many white Americans are most likely drawn to Mr. Trump’s xenophobic, anti-immigrant message because they agree with it...

Well, dang, if Matthew Yglesias says that white working class voters are drawn to "Trump's xenophobic, anti-immigrant message," then that's a freakin' explanatory law of groundbreaking scholarly importance. Give that man an award!

Keep reading, FWIW.

(Oh, and keep in mind the notion of voters segregating themselves into cultural and ideological tribes isn't really new. It's been going on throughout the Obama interregnum [at least], and started with the aforementioned black racial voting for Obama. It's just news when the white oppressor class gets its collective nostrils bent out of their proper alignment.)

British MP Stephen Doughty Resigns as Labour Shadow Foreign Office Minister on Live TV (VIDEO)

At the Guardian, "Three shadow ministers resign over Corbyn's 'dishonest' reshuffle":

Jonathan Reynolds and Stephen Doughty quit after objecting to sacking of Pat McFadden, while Kevan Jones resigns after Maria Eagle’s move.

McFadden was sacked as shadow Europe minister for saying the West was not responsible for jihad terrorism. Obviously, that goes against the Labour Party line and he had to go, heh.

Amazing developments in Britain.

More at the Telegraph UK, "Labour heading for 'impending disaster': Three shadow ministers quit - one on live TV - as Jeremy Corbyn accused of telling lies."

Donald Trump Campaign Confident of Grassroots Infrastructure in Iowa (VIDEO)

Following-up from my post a few weeks back, "Donald Trump Campaign Lags in Mobilizing Iowa Caucus Voters."

Katrina Pierson spoke with Martha MacCallum earlier, at Fox News:

Harney County Sheriff David Ward Says #Malheur Militiamen to Face Charges

From the headlines at the Memeorandum thread.

I'll have more when I see an interview with the sheriff (he's quite telegenic, it turns out).

Meanwhile, at the Portland Oregonian, "Militants ramp up rhetoric over fears police are about to hit":

It's Day 5 of the standoff. Here's the rundown on what you need to know about the militants occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge...

Click through for the details.

Here's this morning's previous entry, "LaVoy Finicum, Malheur Occupier, Claims FBI Issued Arrest Warrants for 5 Anti-Government Militiamen (VIDEO)."

Actually, despite their restraint so far, I think authorities are gearing up for a raid, and are bulking up reserve forces so they'll deploy overwhelming power. See, "Oregon militants: Kate Brown seeks 'swift resolution' to standoff."

I'll have updates throughout the day.

Another Leftist Pushes the Example of 'Gun Control' in Australia, Which is the Go-To Model for Mass Confiscation of Citizens' Firearms

USA Today reporter Trevor Hughes made the case for buying a gun a couple of weeks back, "Voices: Why I decided to buy a handgun."

Well, it turns out that Susan Miller, a colleague at USA Today, wasn't pleased that Mr. Hughes deigned to escape from the Democrat-leftist gun control plantation.

Here's Ms. Miller's piece, and I quote the de rigueur reference to the Australian gun "buy-back." See, "Voices: More guns are simply not the answer":

Australia instituted stricter gun laws in 1996, including a major buyback that reduced firearms in the country by 20%, and since then the nation has had no mass shootings, Lankford notes. “No country in the world seems to have figured out a way to have a large number of firearms and not have public mass shootings happen,” he says.

Nancy Lanza, the mother of Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza, was an enthusiastic gun owner who took her unbalanced son to shooting ranges. Did the fact that Nancy Lanza had an arsenal in her house save her from her gun-wielding son? No. Perhaps if she didn’t have that arsenal, and she hadn’t taken him to shooting ranges, the result would have been very much different...

That's it. That's it right there. Leftists simply do not believe citizens should be able to own firearms. If they didn't own firearms, the thinking goes, we wouldn't have mass shootings.

The sheer stupidity in this boggles the mind. Remember, there are too many variables in the gun debate to make any kind of predictions on what will stop massacres. All of this rests on "perhaps." Perhaps if Ms. Lanza hadn't taken her son to a shooting range? Hell, perhaps if Ms. Lanza never had Adam in the first place! Yes, that's it, just abort everyone and we'll certainly prevent more mass shootings. Pregnancy will become criminal, abortions mandatory, and eventually the remainder of the human race will be wiped out through death by attrition. People are a cancer on the planet, so that's obviously the plan. Yay progs!

Obama Tightens Rules for Gun Dealers — Which Will Do Little Other Than Allow Him to Duck the Real Questions

From Fordham Law Professor Nicholas Johnson, at the Wall Street Journal, "A Glittery Gun-Control Distraction":

On Tuesday President Obama announced that he would take executive action to expand the definition of a “firearms dealer.” The intent is to require more people who sell guns to first obtain a federal license—which obliges them to perform background checks on buyers. Unnoticed is that this action, taken under the banner of “common sense” gun control to make Americans safer, reverses a Clinton administration gun-control policy that also was supposed to make us safer.

The story begins with the 1968 Gun Control Act, which is the foundation of the current federal gun regulation. It requires, among other things, that commercial sellers of firearms obtain a federal firearms license or “FFL.” Regulators in the early 1970s, like the Obama administration today, pressed the gun-control agenda through aggressive interpretations of the 1968 law.

Those prosecutions targeted hobbyists and collectors who sold a few guns at gun shows. One collector who sold three firearms over a period of two years had his gun collection seized and was prosecuted in 1972 for dealing without license. Many prudent and fearful gun owners responded by obtaining federal firearm licenses, even though they did not have storefronts or retail operations.

By the 1990s, the gun control mantra had changed. The claim became that it was a problem to have so many federally licensed gun dealers around, and that “kitchen table gun dealers” constituted a hazard. A claim often heard was that the U.S. had more gun dealers than gas stations. No one explained why the laws and penalties against illegal trading might work differently for “kitchen table dealers,” and there was no empirical support for the idea that these individuals were less trustworthy than the people who ran gun stores. But that did not get in the way.

As a plum to gun-control groups, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms under Bill Clinton responded in 1994. The ATF changed the requirements for who could obtain a federal license for the retail sale of firearms (by, for instance, mandating actual storefront operations). The antigun Violence Policy Center celebrated the results in a 2007 policy paper that said the number of licensed dealers “has dropped 79 percent—from 245,628 in 1994 to 50,630.”

Now President Obama proposes moving the furniture around again. The ATF’s new guidance on the matter says that storefronts are irrelevant: “it does not matter if sales are conducted out of your home, at gun shows, flea markets, through the internet, or by other means.” The agency also emphasizes that “courts have upheld convictions for dealing without a license when as few as two firearms were sold.”

We’re coming full circle, back around to the policies of 1972. Prudent hobbyists and collectors, fearing that they might face prosecution under the new, broader definition of a gun dealer, will apply for federal firearms licenses. The impact on gun crime, which is already dramatically down since the 1970s, will be negligible...

Well, of course. None of this is about reducing crime rates and saving lives. If it were we'd be keeping prisoners behind bars and making it easier for everyday citizens to keep and bear arms. It's about pushing the collectivist agenda, which is mired in sick left-wing hypocrisy.

But keep reading.

And don't forget to pick up Dana Loesch's book, Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America.

With $6,000 Deductibles, Carlsbad Woman Cancels Health Insurance, Will Pay #ObamaCare Tax (VIDEO)

She's not a libertarian crusader or anything either. She doing what she has to do to save money, and would be happy for single payer to come along.

Actually, this was the Democrat plan all along. Destroy the private health insurance model in an Cloward-Piven push to flood the rolls, bring the collectivist revolution, and take over the healthcare system in a final socialist putsch.

At ABC 10 News San Diego, "Big risk: Why this woman canceled her health insurance."

Looking Back at the Waco Siege (VIDEO)

This is something I've been thinking about, with this Oregon occupation going on.

Folks could get killed.

At CNN:

'Relentless' Pace of El Niño Storms Has Officials Concerned

It's not so much that we're having huge downpours, it's that they don't stop coming.

At the Los Angeles Times, "A steady conveyor belt of El Niño storms is what has officials concerned":

To understand the power and potential dangers of El Niño, look at satellite images of the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.

At least four storms were brewing — the farthest still getting going in Asia — and all aimed at California.

It's this pattern, a series of back-to-back-to-back storms seemingly arriving on a conveyor belt, that concerns officials bracing for potential damage from the predicted winter of heavy rains.

"El Niño storms: it's steady, not spectacular. But it's relentless," said Bill Patzert, climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. "It's not 10 inches in 24 hours and nothing afterward. It's a 1-inch storm, a 2-inch storm, followed by a 1-inch storm, followed by a 2-inch storm...

Keep reading.

And ICYMI, "Jackie Johnson's Got Your Rainy Weather Forecast."

Here's Nightline's Report on Obama's Controversial Gun-Grabbing Executive Orders (VIDEO)

All the left can do is play on emotion.

It's really kind of pathetic. We're stuck with the Crybaby-in-Chief for another year.

Watch, via ABC News:

This Crowd Shot from Donald Trump's Massachusetts Rally is Absolutely Mind-Boggling

WaPo's Chris Cillizza is impressed:

Donald Trump went to Lowell, Mass. — a town about five miles south of the New Hampshire border — for one of his now-trademark big-arena rallies on Monday night. This is what the crowd looked like per WaPo's Jenna Johnson...

Click through for the photo and additional commentary.

Amberleigh West is Playboy's Miss January 2016 (VIDEO)

She'll be one of the final nude Playmates in Playboy magazine.

Watch, "Miss January Amberleigh West Gets in Touch with Her Sexy Side in Nature."

And at Bro Bible, "Amber Leigh West Is Playboy’s Miss January 2016 and She’s a Total Stunner."

Also, at the Chive, "Meet Playboy’s final nude centerfolds, Amberleigh West and Kristy Garett (21 Photos)."

LaVoy Finicum, Malheur Occupier, Claims FBI Issued Arrest Warrants for 5 Anti-Government Militiamen (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Dave Ward, Harney County Sheriff, Says Steps Being Taken to Move Militiamen Off Malheur Reserve."

According to this KOIN report, the occupation is disrupting everyday life, and things have reached a boiling point. There's a huge law enforcement presence in the nearby community of Burn, and LeVoy Finicum says the FBI's got arrest warrants out for five of the militiamen.

Hopefully, they'll just pack up and go home without a freakin' gun battle. I suspect they've made their point and the restraint of the authorities so far has been quite admirable, to say the least.

Watch, at KOIN 6 News Portland:

Jennifer Lawrence Explains Her 'Slutty Power Lesbian' Style as She Poses in Bikini for Glamour Magazine

She's not serious, right?

I mean, it's hard to tell these days, since practically everyone's homosexual or thinks it's cool to be.

At Glamour, "Jennifer Lawrence Gives the No-Filter, No-B.S. Interview of Your Dreams."

(I read the interview. She thinks Planned Parenthood provides cancer screening, *smh*. )

And at London's Daily Mail, "'I've got t*** and ass': Jennifer Lawrence explains her 'slutty power lesbian' style as she poses in a bikini for Glamour while adding she 'doesn't date a lot'."

New Alessandra Ambrosio Bikini Pics

Well, life's rough for the Victoria's Secret bikini set, heh.

At London's Daily Mail, "'Forever on vacation!' Alessandra Ambrosio shows off her angelic body in a bikini as she strikes a pose on the beach in Brazil."

Roots of Ranchers' Land Dispute Stretch Back Decades (VIDEO)

At the Wall Street Journal, "Roots of Oregon Land Dispute Stretch Back Decades":

Behind the armed protest at a national wildlife preserve in Oregon lies a decadeslong struggle between agencies that manage vast tracts of federal land in the West and the ranchers, loggers and miners who depend on access to them for their livelihoods.

The U.S. government owns roughly 640 million acres of property in the country, much of it in the West—making up the majority of land in some states such as Utah, Oregon and Nevada. Fights with the government have intensified as it has added mandates to preserve the environment and wildlife, especially in times of drought and wildfires.

For more than 70 years in north Texas, Ken Aderholt’s family has grazed cattle on lush pastureland that hugs the Red River. So Mr. Aderholt was stunned, he said, when an official with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management told him in 2013 that about 650 acres of his approximately 900-acre property was federal public land.

“This land was bought and paid for and people struggled to acquire it, so for them to just come in and swoop in and say it’s theirs is pretty devastating,” said Mr. Aderholt. He filed a lawsuit in November saying the BLM has no right to his property, to which Mr. Aderholt said his family has held a deed since 1941.

The BLM, which declined to comment on Mr. Aderholt’s suit, contends that the land in the area had long been federal property but was never actively managed by the agency.

The tensions have become a growing political issue in western states, where some communities say federal land controls hurt their economies.

“These are more localized, spontaneous protests, but the issues are all the same: dissatisfaction and anger with the federal government over what they see as unnecessarily restrictive regulations of public lands to protect environmental values,” said Gregg Cawley, a political-science professor at the University of Wyoming and federal land policy expert.

The Oregon occupation, in its fourth day Tuesday, was spurred by a dispute involving rancher Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven. A jury convicted the pair of arson after they set fires that spread to federal lands; they said they set the blazes to protect their property from invasive plants and prevent wildfires. They turned themselves in Monday to serve the remainder of a five-year prison sentence.

The occupiers, led in part by Ammon Bundy—the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a similar standoff with federal officials in 2014—indicated Tuesday that they were making plans to go home after certain conditions were met and local residents could better stand up for themselves. LaVoy Finicum, a protester and rancher from northern Arizona, said the group would leave the when “the state of Oregon is safe from threat and intimidation of a central power.” But they didn’t detail their exact demands, and it remained unclear when the occupation would end...

Keep reading.

Wheaton College Prepares to Fire Larycia Hawkins, Hijab-Wearing Professor Who Claimed Christains and Muslims Worship Same God

I didn't get a chance to blog this story earlier.

The woman's definitely a weirdo. And fired! Wow, that's major. But yes, it's a private Evangelical Protestant Christian college, and Professor Hawkins' pro-Muslim advocacy is not keeping with the mission of the institution, obviously. Frankly, she's a freakin' radical leftist who's working to destabilize the school's traditional program. It's so clean-cut it's ridiculous. And she's been there nine years. Man, you'd think someone might have seen this coming?

Here's the statement from the college, "Statement by Wheaton College Regarding Notice of Recommendation to Initiate Termination Proceedings as to Dr. Larycia Hawkins."

And at the Washington Post, "Wheaton is planning to fire professor who said Muslims and Christians worship the same God":

Wheaton College, an evangelical college in Illinois, had placed associate professor of political science Larycia Hawkins on administrative leave after she made a controversial theological statement on Facebook that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. The school has now begun the process to fire her due to an “impasse,” it said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Hawkins, a tenured political science professor, posted on Facebook that she would wear a hijab during the Advent season in support of Muslims.

“I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book,” Hawkins wrote on Facebook. “And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.”

It’s unclear what specific statement Hawkins was referring to from Pope Francis, though the pontiff said in November that “Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters.” The Catholic Church has taught since the Second Vatican Council that Muslims and Christians worship one God, though they view Jesus differently.

The theological debate has centered on how evangelicals teach about a Trinitarian God, meaning that they believe in a three-person God — God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit — existing as one being. Muslims do not believe in the Trinity.

“While Islam and Christianity are both monotheistic, we believe there are fundamental differences between the two faiths, including what they teach about God’s revelation to humanity, the nature of God, the path to salvation, and the life of prayer,” the college said in a Dec. 22 statement.

During Hawkins’s administrative review process, which was paused over the holidays, Wheaton administration requested a theological statement, which Hawkins submitted. She was put on leave through the spring semester pending review.

“Following Dr. Hawkins’ written response on December 17 to questions regarding her theological convictions, the College requested further theological discussion and clarification,” the college said in the statement. “However, as posted previously, Dr. Hawkins declined to participate in further dialogue about the theological implications of her public statements and her December 17 response.”

Hawkins, a tenured political science professor, posted on Facebook that she would wear a hijab during the Advent season in support of Muslims.

“I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book,” Hawkins wrote on Facebook. “And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.”

It’s unclear what specific statement Hawkins was referring to from Pope Francis, though the pontiff said in November that “Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters.” The Catholic Church has taught since the Second Vatican Council that Muslims and Christians worship one God, though they view Jesus differently.

The theological debate has centered on how evangelicals teach about a Trinitarian God, meaning that they believe in a three-person God — God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit — existing as one being. Muslims do not believe in the Trinity.

“While Islam and Christianity are both monotheistic, we believe there are fundamental differences between the two faiths, including what they teach about God’s revelation to humanity, the nature of God, the path to salvation, and the life of prayer,” the college said in a Dec. 22 statement.

During Hawkins’s administrative review process, which was paused over the holidays, Wheaton administration requested a theological statement, which Hawkins submitted. She was put on leave through the spring semester pending review.

“Following Dr. Hawkins’ written response on December 17 to questions regarding her theological convictions, the College requested further theological discussion and clarification,” the college said in the statement. “However, as posted previously, Dr. Hawkins declined to participate in further dialogue about the theological implications of her public statements and her December 17 response.”

Hawkins has been asked to affirm the college’s statement of faith four times since she started teaching at Wheaton nearly nine years ago, according to the Chicago Tribune. She was called in over a paper on black liberation theology that the provost thought endorsed Marxism, the paper reported. She was reportedly asked to defend a Facebook photo showing her at a party inside a downtown Chicago home the same day as Chicago’s Pride Parade. And she was asked to affirm the college’s statement after suggesting that diversifying the college curriculum should include diplomatic vocabulary for conversations around sexuality, according to the Tribune.

Last month, college officials said in a statement that Hawkins’s administrative leave came from her theological statement that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, not her desire to wear a hijab, her race or her gender. The statement has sparked a larger discussion over theological questions and the identity of the evangelical college where faculty are required to sign a statement of faith. Attempts to reach Hawkins and college administrators on Tuesday were unsuccessful...

Still more.

Dying Lion Caught in Poacher's Snare Saved After Tourists on Safari Share Photos on Facebook

I think we can all agree that this is cruel and absolutely unacceptable.

At London's Daily Mail, "Happy ending for king of the jungle caught in a poacher's snare: Dying lion is rescued after staggering across road in front of horrified safari group in apparent plea for help."

Dying lion rescued after staggering in front of horrified safari group https://t.co/LCYIANH5ZM pic.twitter.com/dAoRgnPMJM

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) January 5, 2016

Jackie Johnson's Got Your Rainy Weather Forecast

She's been quite accurate, heh.

Obama Wipes Away Crocodile Tears During Call for New Gun Confiscation Measures (VIDEO)

At this point, it's all for show.

Even CNN's Kate Bolduan asked panelists if it wasn't all optics by now.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Obama announces crackdown on gun purchases, but it illustrates limits of his office."



More, at Twitchy, "'Enough to make you physically sick': Media lapdogs swoon over weepy gun grabber Obama," and "'Straw men shortage'? Tears of a clown prince: So, what REALLY makes Obama cry?"

Muslim Rape Gangs Attack Women, and Feminists Won't Say a Word About It

From Robert Stacy McCain, at the Other McCain:

American feminists, who have incited irrational hysteria over a non-existent “rape epidemic” on U.S. college campuses, will ignore this news. American feminists never said a word about the Rotherham Horror, in which English girls as young as 11 were pimped out by Muslim predators. American feminists don’t want to call attention to certain crimes committed by certain criminals, and it is not just Juanita Broaddrick’s rape accusation against Bill Clinton that feminists demand that we ignore. The feminist movement in the United States is controlled by the Democrat Party, and therefore rape is just a talking-point to them, an “issue” that feminists help Democrats exploit for partisan purposes. Because feminists are dishonest partisans, their agenda requires a lot of deliberate falsification — the phony “1-in-5” statistic, the UVA rape hoax, etc. — and it also requires feminists to ignore a lot of actual rapes which do not fit the Democrat Party-approved propaganda narrative...

Sing it, brother.

Lots more at the link.

The New York Times Turns Terror Supporters Into 'Hipster Palestinians'

Well, that's what they normally do.

At BCF, "NYT Turns Terror-Supporters Into ‘Hipster Palestinians’."

Jennifer Lopez on Jimmy Kimmel Live (VIDEO)

Watch, "Jennifer Lopez is Very Busy."

And at London's Daily Mail, "J Lo has perfect legs. Literally. That is all."

Fiftieth Birthday Bikini Babe Explodes Watermelon with Smith & Wesson Model 500 (VIDEO)

This massive cannon fires a .50 caliber bullet.

Watch, via Theo Spark, "Smith .500 Against Watermelon: .50 cal for Early 50th Birthday for Farm Girl."

Heh, explosive!

Britt Bergmeister Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call (VIDEO)

Here's a lovely break from politics blogging.

Via Sports Illustrated:

ISIS Weapons Engineers Develop Self-Driving 'Suicide Bomber' Car for Mass-Casualty Terror Attacks (VIDEO)

And that's not all they're developing.

According to Sky News, ISIS "scientists have stunned western weapons experts by producing a homemade thermal battery for surface-to-air missiles."

Watch, "Exclusive: Inside an Islamic State Terror Weapons Lab."

Dana Loesch, Defeating the Plot to Disarm America

She really is.

And she was back on CNN a little while ago, on Anderson Cooper's show. I was surprised. I had CNN on because I was too lazy to turn the channel over to Fox while I was blogging, heh.

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

'We have a President who's not asleep at the wheel, he's not at the wheel at all, he's somewhere else...'

The inimitable Charles Krauthammer, hammers President Obama's delusional and meaningless (and probably unconstitutional) executive orders on gun control.

Watch, from today's All-Star Panel at Fox News, "Charles Krauthammer on Obama's Executive Action on Gun Control."

Dave Ward, Harney County Sheriff, Says Steps Being Taken to Move Militiamen Off Malheur Reserve

At the Portland Oregonian, "Sheriff says steps being taken to end militants' occupation of federal compound":

BURNS – Steps are in motion to resolve militants' occupation of a federal compound outside of town, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said Tuesday.

"There are things being done," Ward said. "It's not visible to the public."

The sheriff sought to assure the community and the country that police aren't sitting back and leaving the group of about 20 militants with a free hand.

He wouldn't disclose details, saying the FBI and federal agencies are handling the siege at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

He's focused on protecting people from possible militant violence in town, he said in an exclusive interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive.

"It takes only one unstable person to show up with a skewed belief window to create something that can't be taken back," he said.

Worry over that possibility led officials to close schools and government buildings this week...

More.

Kinda vague though.

The Guardian's a little more specific on what might happen, "Authorities plan to cut off power to militia at occupied Oregon refuge." (Via Memeorandum.)

Ted Cruz Releases 'Invasion' Campaign Spot: Bankers and Journalists Flood Across the Rio Grande (VIDEO)

Heh.

I like this.

At the Dallas Morning News, "New Ted Cruz ad targets immigration with an ‘invasion’ of white collar workers."



And from earlier, "Ted Cruz's Voter Base Has Largest 'Room-to-Grow' in Latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll."

Newly Single Kelly Rohrbach Shows Offs

Well, according to People Magazine, "Leonardo DiCaprio and Kelly Rohrbach Split."

That's good news for eligible bachelors. She's smokin'!

At Last Men on Earth, "Kelly Rohrbach got the pink slip from DiCaprio (PHOTOS)."

Nice bikini!

PREVIOUSLY: "Kelly Rohrbach for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit's 'Fill in the Dots' Series (VIDEO)," and "Kelly Rohrbach, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Rookie, Offers Very Sexy Golf Tips (VIDEO)."

Leftists Take the Low Road on Militia Occupation at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Actually, leftists take the low road on everything, but yeah, on the standoff too.

From Michael A. Cohen, at the Boston Globe, "Liberals take the low road in Oregon standoff":

Fair points. https://t.co/jK2hZfzvaY pic.twitter.com/3F6d7Jplwx

— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) January 5, 2016

Over the weekend, a bunch of guys with legally procured guns took over a federal bird sanctuary in the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge in rural Oregon. They did so as a protest on behalf of two local ranchers, the Hammonds, who are being sent back to prison. The two men had previously been found guilty of committing arson, but even though they were required to serve a mandatory five years in prison, a judge gave them a lesser sentence. Now, after an unusual appeal by the prosecutor, they are being returned to a federal penitentiary to complete their full sentence.

Now, granted the seizure of federal property is nothing to sneeze at; certainly not when the men doing it are armed with high-caliber weapons and have spoken of responding to police efforts to dislodge them with force. Moreover, those involved include the son of Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher locked in a long-standing dispute with federal officials over the use of federal land for cattle grazing. These fights between right-wing Westerners and the federal government are not new, though Bundy took it to a new level last year by bringing in armed civilians to “protect” his ranch — and forcing the federal government to back down. But this is not a rebellion or an insurrection and, in some respects, those involved have a legitimate beef — sending someone who has already served time back to prison is not a normal circumstance and one that, in certain situations, would enrage not just conservatives but liberals.

Yet, it’s been liberals, in the days since the militia seizure, who have been loudly calling for blood — and pointing out alleged double standards. On Twitter, regular comparisons have been made between the response in Oregon and the shootings by police of black youths like 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and 12-year-old Tamir Rice. One widely retweeted tweet even went so far as to posit a “crazy idea” to “treat armed adult white militia like they’re unarmed black children. Just for one day.”

This is, to put it mildly, an over-reaction and a damaging one at that. If one believes that police should not be using deadly force against children (you can count me in that group), then calling for deadly force to be used against gun-toting whites is just a tad hypocritical.

The Washington Post asked why those in Oregon aren’t being branded terrorists. The answer is actually rather simple: Nothing this group has done looks or sounds like terrorism. No violence has occurred; no one has yet been harmed, and these individuals, as bizarre as it may seem, are legally allowed to possess the guns they have for protection...

Tamir Rice wasn't "unarmed." He reached to his waistbelt for a pellet gun that was perfect replica of .40 caliber semiautomatic handgun.

But keep reading. Leftists are pure scum.

Ammon Bunday Says Militia Won't Leave Until Malheur Refuge Turned Over to Locals (VIDEO)

At the Portland Oregonian, "Bundy: Militants 'forwarding our plan' to privatize Oregon wildlife refuge":

BURNS -- The leader of anti-government protesters occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge said Tuesday that the group won't leave until ranchers, loggers, farmers and other private landowners have wrested full control of the reserve's tens of thousands of acres.

Ammon Bundy, who has acted as a spokesman and head of the group, took no questions from reporters after making brief remarks vowing to hold his ground at the refuge until the private landowners "can stand strong enough to defend them themselves."

"We have been very active in forwarding our plan and assisting the people of Harney County in claiming and using their rights," he said. Once that happens, "then we will go home."

His statements followed Harney County Sheriff David Ward's call for the protesters to pack up and leave town.

Many of them hail from out of state -- places like Nevada, Arizona and Texas. Their presence has disrupted the community's daily rhythm, with Burns' schools and public buildings shuttered and law enforcement presence growing in town.

Bundy offered no details about which residents, if any, have accepted the militants' offer for land on the refuge.

Pulling up in a silver Chevy Silverado pickup with a "Bye Bye BLM" bumper sticker in the back window, a flannel-clad Bundy emerged with a posse of several men for what has now become a daily 11 a.m. press conference. As reporters swarmed, a man in military garb barked into a walkie-talkie.

"All sectors, all sectors, maintain radio silence unless it's an absolute emergency."

Silently, Bundy approached a podium in the snow-covered roadway at the refuge.

Bundy said the group will leave only if "the community" signals that the protesters no longer are welcome. Despite the sheriff's statements and a general sense of unease among townspeople and ranchers alike, militant leaders said so far that they haven't received that signal...

Keep reading.

Cologne, Germany, Shocked — Shocked! — by Dozens of Sexual Assaults on New Year's Eve (VIDEO)

At Deutsche Welle, "A 'new dimension' of sexual assault in Cologne."

And at Der Spiegel, "New Year's Eve Attacks: Dozens of Women Sexually Assaulted in Cologne":

Dozens of women celebrating New Year's Eve in Cologne have said they were the victims of sexual assault. With a group of men with North African and Middle Eastern appearances under suspicion, the incident threatens to augment growing concern over Germany's refugee policies.

German politicians and officials are voicing concern on Tuesday over reports that dozens of women were harassed and groped in the heart of Cologne on New Year's Eve by a large group of men on the crowded square in front of the city's main train station. According to police, many also had personal items stolen and fireworks were also fired into the crowd of revelers. According to police, some 90 complaints had been filed by Tuesday morning, with witnesses saying that the perpetrators were young men between 15 and 35 years old and appeared to have migrant backgrounds.

"We will not tolerate such cowardly and abhorrent attacks," said German Justice Minister Heiko Maas on Tuesday. "This is apparently an entirely new dimension of organized crime." All of those involved, Maas demanded, must be "identified and made accountable."

At a press conference on Monday evening, Cologne's police chief, Wolfgang Albers, said that a quarter of the complaints made were related to sexual harassment or groping, with many others pertaining to theft of purses, wallets and mobile phones. He said that smaller groups of men repeatedly emerged from a crowd of about 1,000 young men to surround women, harass them and steal from them. According to the Cologne daily Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, many of the presumed perpetrators are suspected of being from a large group of men that has attracted the attention of police in the past several months. Prior to New Year's Eve, the group had been involved in theft and petty crimes in Cologne nightlife districts.

"The entire square was full of almost exclusively men with just a few fearful women among them being stared at," says Anne, a 27-year-old who was at the scene on New Year's Eve and who spoke to SPIEGEL ONLINE. "I can hardly describe it. I felt very uncomfortable." She says that she was groped soon after arriving to the square.

Careful Calibration

The attacks occur at a time when sentiment toward Muslims and foreigners in Germany appears to be becoming increasingly antagonistic. Even as the numbers of refugees arriving in Germany has slowed with the onset of cold weather, those critical of Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy of welcoming refugees fleeing war and violence have become more vocal. Indeed, groups critical of Islam and foreigners have been quick to seek to appropriate the events in Cologne for their own purposes. Pegida, for example, the Islamophobic movement that got its start in Dresden, has posted several comments about the Cologne attacks on its numerous Facebook sites, with supporters responding in a predictably offensive manner.

Many German politicians commenting on Tuesday about the events in Cologne have been careful to calibrate their responses so as to avoid playing into the hands of right-wing Islamophobes. "We will not tolerate organized groups of men from North Africa that debase defenseless women with brazen sexual attacks," said Ralf Jäger, interior minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He added, however, that the authorities will do everything in their power to ensure that such attacks are not repeated. "We owe that to women as well as to those North African refugees who want to live peacefully among us."

Germany's integration commissioner, Aydan Özoguz, demanded a rapid investigation "because on the one hand, the women need clarity and on the other, refugees and foreigners are quickly becoming the focus of broad suspicion."

Despite such urgings, however, it will likely take some time before any of the perpetrators can be identified...

More at Pamela Geller's, "VIDEO Shows WILD MUSLIM CHAOS on New Years in Germany, Sex Attacks, Fireworks THROWN at Crowd."

Denmark and Sweden Tighten Border Controls to Staunch Tide of Jihadist 'Refugees' (VIDEO)

I don't know. Perhaps even some of the Scandinavia social justice loonies are starting to wake up. Of course, the prospect of being beheaded on the streets has a bracing effect.

At the New York Times, "Sweden and Denmark Add Border Checks to Stem Flow of Migrants":

LONDON — The continued flow of people along Europe’s migration trail, from Turkey and Greece to the Balkans to Scandinavia, faced new impediments on Monday as two of the northernmost destinations further tightened border controls in response to political, economic and logistical pressures.

Sweden, once one of the most welcoming of nations for refugees, introduced new identity checks on Monday for travelers arriving from Denmark. Fearful that migrants who otherwise would pass through on their way to Sweden would now be unable to leave, Denmark swiftly moved to impose new controls on people traveling via its border with Germany.

The moves by the two Scandinavian countries represented another step in the erosion of the ideal of borderless travel across most of the European Union, amid rising concerns about the costs imposed by the tide of migration and fears that terrorists are seeking to enter Europe masquerading as refugees.

In recent months, Scandinavian countries, like other countries in Europe, have expressed increasing concern about the scale of the influx of migrants seeking to reach prosperous Northern European countries known for their generous welfare systems and for relatively welcoming attitudes.

The arrival of migrants — roughly one million reached Germany last year alone, though a significant minority were from other parts of Europe rather than from Syria, Iraq and other conflict-ridden nations — has gradually led European countries from south to north to seek to stem the tide.

Hungary built a razor-wire fence along its border to keep migrants out. Denmark has cut benefits to new arrivals by about 50 percent and has introduced tough language requirements for those seeking permanent residency. Finland has issued news releases in Arabic detailing additional restrictions, apparently with the aim of warning would-be asylum seekers that the country is not a paradise.

Under the temporary border controls introduced Monday in Sweden, travelers to Sweden from Denmark will have to show valid identification with a photograph, like a passport, for the first time in more than half a century. The move raised the prospect of continuing delays in travel between the two nations, especially on the Danish side of the Oresund Bridge, a major link between Copenhagen, the Danish capital, and Malmo in southern Sweden, a popular gateway for migrants seeking to enter Sweden.

The new border controls in Sweden are likely to present a hurdle to thousands of would-be asylum seekers, many of whom lack official documents. (The Oresund Bridge has also gained a foothold in popular culture, being at the center of the hit Scandinavian crime television series “The Bridge,” which starts with detectives from the two countries teaming up to investigate the murder of a woman whose body is found on the structure.)

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