VIDEO: Man Beheaded in Saudi Arabia for 'Sorcery'

At London's Daily Mail, "The moment man was publicly beheaded in a Saudi Arabian car park for being a 'sorcerer'."

Via Pat Dollard, "Footage Surfaces of Saudi Arabian “Sorcerer” Being Publicly Beheaded – With Graphic Video."

Occupy Oklahoma Protester Found Dead

At News 9 Oklahoma City, "Occupy OKC Protester Found Dead In Tent In Downtown OKC."

And a WaPo, "Man found dead in tent during Occupy Okla. City protest; police say death not suspicious."

Verum Serum has video: "Man Found Dead at Occupy OKC (Video added)." And at Occupy OKC on Twitter.

Kim Kardashian Divorce: 'This was not an easy decision'

Yeah, but it wasn't the least bit surprising.

At London's Daily Mail, "'This was not an easy decision': Kim Kardashian files for divorce from Kris Humphries after just 72 days of marriage (that's $250,000 earned every 24 hours)."

Virginia GOP Says Halloween-Themed E-Mail Over the Top

I wondered why I was getting a lot of hits yesterday to this post.

See Los Angeles Times:

Virginia Republicans were in apology mode Monday over a Halloween-themed email that depicted a zombie-like President Obama with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head.

The northern Virginia-based Too Conservative blog first flagged the mailer from the local Republicans in Loudon County promoting a local holiday parade. It also offers a ghoulish caricature of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi D-San Francisco).

"I am no fan of Barack Obama, but putting up a photo of him as a zombie with a bullet hole in his head?" the blog stated. "Someone should send this to the US Secret Service."

Well, I'd say the Democrats' reaction was over the top.

More at Bret Baier, "Grapevine: Halloween Trick for Virginia Republicans."

Justina Jensen and Walter James Casper III

See New Hampshire Union Leader, "Woman charged with pimping teen recruited at Occupy NH rally."

Justina Jensen, charged with felony prostitution in New Hampshire, and convicted on a similar charge earlier this year in New York.

Walter James Casper III, a.k.a. Repsac3, progressive hate-blogger, busted repeatedly by conservatives for ultra-creepy online harassment and stalking.

The woman, Justina Jensen (pictured at top), was caught attempting to turn tricks with with a 16-year-old girl. According to the police prosecutor, Jensen "was convicted of a similar charge earlier this year in New York." I find that pretty amazing, because she sure looks ashamed at her mug shot, which is posted at the Union Leader's report. Maybe whatever self-recrimination she feels at the time of arrest dissipates upon release. In other words, a woman like this is a sociopath who has no firm underlying moral code. The numbers are too small, but my sense that's a pattern that's particulary prevalent on the left, considering the outbreak of criminal activity that's been taking over the occupy movement. See: "Not a political movement; a crime wave!" And the immediate comparison I had was to my deranged stalker Walter James Casper III (pictured at bottom above), who has now escalated his campaign of harassment to include personal e-mail stalking and threats. Like Jensen, there is no bright line of wrongdoing for Walter James Casper. He's perhaps even worse, for at his photo above, which is not Photoshopped, there's a bit of a diabolical smirking in evidence. And it turns out that when the Independent Realist blocked Walter James Casper from commenting at his blog, criminal Casper tracked him down on Facebook, and Independent Realist blocked him at that location as well. See Independent Realist's reply to me from last week:

Thank you Dr. Douglas for the kind words and links to the Realist. I am afraid that the longer Walter (Walter James Casper, III) continues with his delusional rantings, the further he will slip down into the depths of his paranoia. There is nothing that we can do other than to block him from our blogs and such (I've already had to block him from my blog and Facebook page), and simply allow him to rant on his own site. Eventually he will alienate himself from even his own followers as they begin to realize the depth of his illness.

And as Walter is reading this blog, I would offer him this advice: seek professional help and seek it now. Do not wait.

See the whole thing: "Repsac3, W. James Casper - The Final Word."

WALTER JAMES CASPER III = RACIST REPSAC3! A sociopathic poster manchild for the progressive left. Dude, you're clinical. Get some freakin' help before you hurt someone!

PREVIOUSLY: "Continuing Lies by Cowardly Hate-Blogger W. James Casper in Left's Demonic Workplace Intimidation Campaign."

We Should Not be Surprised by the Left's Racist Hit Job on Herman Cain

Rush Limbaugh (via Memeorandum):

This story appears to me to be a close relative of the hit job that the Washington Post is doing on Marco Rubio. It's not a news story. This is gutter partisan politics, and it's the politics of minority conservative personal destruction, is what you've got here. Rubio and Cain unfit to lead, don't you see. We cannot have a black Republican running for the office of president. We can't have one elected. We can't have an Hispanic. The left owns those two groups, and those two groups are gonna forever be minorities. Those groups cannot ever be seen to be self-sufficient or rising above, on their own. Those two groups are owned -- lock, stock, and barrel -- by the Democrat Party and anything good that happens to any black or Hispanic in American politics can only happen via the Democrat Party. "If it happens elsewhere, we're gonna destroy those people -- a la Clarence Thomas."

VIDEO: Herman Cain Interview with Greta Van Susteren

And William Jacobson's got an excellent entry, "A taste of the medicine."

And talking about the original Politico hit piece, Glenn Reynolds adds:

Would Jonathan Martin, Maggie Haberman, Anna Palmer and Kenneth Vogel have put their names on a similar piece, with no named sources, aimed at Barack Obama? Would Politico have run it? I think we know the answer.

More links at the post.

Also, at Memeorandum and London's (salacious) Daily Mail, "'I don't even remember her name': Herman Cain denies sexual harassment claims as he admits he knew BOTH women."

PREVIOUSLY: "Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Scandal Upends GOP Presidential Race."

Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Scandal Upends GOP Presidential Race

I'm just now getting back on the grid, and Herman Cain's story seems to be going through some transformations. Here's the short version of Cain's denial of the allegations on Fox News this morning:

I listened to the longer version this morning at Hot Air, "Cain: “I was falsely accused” of sexual harassment at trade group." Cain sounded completely confident and he gave a flat-out denial.

Except, was it the truth? Maybe there's some shading going on and the story's basically the same. The update's at Hot Air, "Revealed: Cain describes hand gesture that led to harassment claim; Update: Small settlement, says Cain." Check that post. One of those interviewed in the original Politico report is no longer taking questions. I'm still learning on this, but The Other McCain has huge roundup, "Herman Cain at the National Press Club." And here's video of Cain's statement at the Press Club:

Time has that, "Facing a Media Scrum, Cain Boisterously Denies Harassment Allegations":

Ever since he began topping presidential polls, the media has been drafting pieces of Cain’s political obituary: unpacking his campaign’s organizational woes, his tortured answers to questions on abortion and foreign policy, his puzzling scheduling strategy. Now they wanted to witness the last breaths. But the candidate showed up boisterous and smiling, and after skating through a stump speech laden with humor and light on policy, Cain mopped a patina of sweat from his brow and stepped to the lecturn to face his questioners. “I would be delighted to clear the air,” he said.

“Number one, in all of my over 40 years of business experience … I have never sexually harassed anyone,” Cain announced. “Number two, while at the restaurant association, I was accused of sexual harassment. Falsely accused, I might add. I was falsely accused of sexual harassment, and when the charges were brought, as the leader of the organization, I recused myself and allowed my general counsel and my human resource officer to deal with the situation. And it was concluded after a thorough investigation that it had no basis.

“As far as a settlement,” Cain continued, “I am unaware of any sort of settlement. I hope it wasn’t for much, because I didn’t do anything.” He declined to speculate whether the source of the Politico article cataloging the allegations was an opposition leak, called the kerfuffle “a witch hunt,” and suggested there was nothing further to pursue.

And now back to Politico for the latest, "Cain acknowledges settlement details."

I don't expect too much damage to Cain's candidacy, barring any 11th hour revelations. What's troubling is the changing story line, which makes Cain looks amateurish if not inept. His demeanor is vigorous in responding, fortunately, but these late acknowledgements raise questions of veracity.

An upside is that Cain's getting a lot of "earned" media (which really unearned, in a sense) which may have the salutary effect of bolstering Cain's rise in the polls, especially if regular folks agree that these are specious allegations amounting to an opportunistic witch hunt, as Cain suggests.

Here's the latest Memeorandum link. I'll have more later.

Added: From Jennifer Rubin, "Cain gets tripped up on the facts: Will this kill the campaign?:

The error Cain made was in not getting the entire story out early, completely and truthfully. He left the day with voters and the media more confused than ever.

This may not be the end of the Cain campaign, but it will take a toll. The never-ending stories here suggest Cain hasn’t been honest with the public. That’s going to be harder to explain than the original allegations.

He should be okay if that's the end of the allegations. But if more facts come out that Cain hedged or denies, well, it's not going to be pretty.

Legal Insurrection in the O.C.

Last Tuesday, William Jacobson published a picture of the windmills off Interstate 10 near Palm Springs: "Open – A Tape from California." It turns out William and his wife flew into Orange County Airport and rented a car to head out to Rancho Mirage for a legal conference. I contacted William and we met up for some coffee last night near his hotel near the airport.

He posted an update on their travels last night: "Open – Live from The OC."

It was great meeting William and his wife. We hit it off and had lots to talk about, but there wasn't enough time. I'll look forward to seeing them again, either in New York or perhaps next time they make it to California. It's a bummer the county's so big sometimes, although that's one of the great things about blogging: I've met more wonderful people over these last few years. It's been something to really cherish.

Head on over to see what's going on at the blog. He's just as big a blogging junkie as I am!

World Population Grows by 1 Billion in Only 12 Years

At the Occupy Orange County protest the other day, I asked a guy passing by at the information booth what he thought of the movement. He kept saying "they" have a plan to control the world economy. And I asked who's "they"? He's said "it's not a conspiracy or anything, but the 1 percent really do control the whole world." And from there he somehow squeezed in some yammering about how the world's population was now at 7 billion. I didn't really make the connection, but then I saw news reports that the world's population was about to hit 7 billion. Well that was it, I thought, no doubt this gives left-wingers plenty more fear-mongering material.

See Los Angeles Times, "World population hits 7 billion on Oct. 31, or thereabouts."

It took only a dozen years for humanity to add another billion people to the planet, reaching the milestone of 7 billion Monday — give or take a few months.

Demographers at the United Nations Population Division set Oct. 31, 2011, as the "symbolic" date for hitting 7 billion, while acknowledging that it's impossible to know for sure the specific time or day. Using slightly different calculations, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the 7-billion threshold will not be reached until March.

Under any methodology, demographers agree that humanity remains on a steep growth curve, which is likely to keep climbing through the rest of this century. The U.N.'s best estimate is that population will march past 9.3 billion by 2050 and exceed 10.1 billion by the end of the century. It could be far more, if birthrates do not continue to drop as they have in the last half-century.

Nearly all the projected growth this century is expected to occur in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, while the combined populations in Europe, North America and other wealthy industrialized nations will remain relatively flat. Some countries, such as Germany, Russia and Japan, are poised to edge downward, their loss made up mostly by ongoing growth in the United States, which is bolstered by waves of immigrants.

That's so ominous sounding, "they" had to pick Halloween for the date, or something.

Of course, not mentioned is the fact that the earth can sustain billions more without any problems. See Power Line, "POPULATION BOMB EPIC FAIL."

This Was the Week That European Democracy Died

From Janet Daley, at Telegraph UK:

So this is where we are. The agreed EU “stability union” triumphantly paraded before the media in Brussels will have the power to approve or disapprove budgets of countries in the eurozone – that is, to vet and police them – before they are submitted to the elected parliaments of those countries. In other words, parliaments which are directly mandated by, and answerable to, their own populations will not control the most essential functions of government: decisions on taxation and spending. Even without the ultimate institutions of economic and political union, which still elude the EU, actual power over fiscal policy will be taken from the hands of national leaders. And if, as a voter, you cannot influence your prospective government’s tax and spending policies, what exactly are you voting for?

'Occupy' Protest at St. Paul's Cathedral in London Splits Anglican Church

At New York Times:

LONDON — In a city where demonstrations of every kind are part of the daily syncopation, there has rarely been any with quite the same potential for amplifying the protesters’ cause as the one that has settled in recently on the historic forecourt of St. Paul’s Cathedral, setting off a painful crisis of conscience for the Church of England .

For the last 15 days, St. Paul’s has been the backdrop for London’s counterpart to the Occupy Wall Street tent city in Zuccotti Square in New York. Here, the protest has taken on aspects of a medieval carnival, a jumbled tent city with buskers and rappers and clothing stalls and a panoply of banners and a makeshift cafeteria. There have been pet dogs, and a man dressed as Jesus declaiming against the usurers in the temple.

Where Princess Diana appeared to pealing bells after her marriage to Prince Charles, where a nation grateful for deliverance in war watched the caissons arrive for the funerals of Lord Nelson and Winston Churchill, beneath Christopher Wren’s great dome that stood defiant amid the smoke and fire of the Luftwaffe’s blitz, Britain’s anticapitalist battalions have pitched camp.

Scores of similar encampments have sprung up in cities around the world, echoing the continuing protest in Wall Street’s heart against the bankers and corporate barons and complicit politicians the protesters hold responsible for global financial distress.

But few, if any, of the protests outside New York have had the resonance the St. Paul’s campers have achieved in Britain by choosing as their venue what many regard as the country’s most iconic religious landmark.

Continue reading.

Occupy Ottawa

See Blazing Cat Fur, "The Battle of Occupy Ottawa: Blood, Urine & Feces Featured As Buddhists & Marxists Clash!"

Following the links takes us the University of Ottawa Marxist Students Association, "Why We Left Occupy Ottawa."

That solidarity thing isn't working out as planned, as noted previously.

Arrests at Occupy Denver

The New York Times has a report, "Occupy Protesters Regroup After Mass Arrests."

On Saturday, for the third consecutive night, dozens of demonstrators defied the curfew and inhabited the site, chanting and waving signs and huddling for warmth in the 40-degree weather. The police made no new arrests overnight.

In Denver, most of the arrests on Saturday were over a police rule prohibiting structures, including tents, from being erected in public parks. Some accounts said that tensions escalated when the protesters climbed the State Capitol’s steps during a march by as many as 2,000 people. No public demonstrations are allowed on the steps without a permit.

But a media liaison with Occupy Denver, Jeannie Hartley, said on Sunday that the protesters had never made it to the steps, which were blocked off.

Most of the 20 arrests, a police spokesman said, were made when officers moved to keep people from erecting tents across the street from the Capitol at Civic Center Park. Several videos showed the police using pepper spray. Two protesters were arrested and charged with felony assault on a police officer after officials said he was knocked off his motorcycle, and other officers were kicked, said the spokesman, Lt. Matt Murray.

Lieutenant Murray said that the police requested reinforcements after the officer was knocked off his motorcycle and that the enlarged force then moved into the park where most of the arrests were made.

One video posted on the Occupy Denver Facebook page also clearly showed tension and conflict within the protesters’ ranks. At one point, a man, shouting in anger, is seen being pushed from the crowd to confront the officers, who are lined up with shields and batons.

“I will fight back!” he screamed as other protesters pulled him back. One demonstrator, who had pushed to the front, confronted the man: “We are nonviolent — do not instigate that!”

“They hit me!” the first man shouted.

“Yeah, and they’re going to keep hitting you!” the other said.

“They don’t have a right!”

More at American Glob, "Democrats Are Going To Regret Their Support For #Occupywallstreet," and Marooned in Marin, "#OWS Weekend Insanity In Denver, Orange County CA & Elsewhere."

Occupy Wall Street and the Illusion of Solidarity

John Sexton at Verum Serum visited the Occupy Wall Street encampment Saturday in downtown Los Angeles. He's got coverage in three parts:

* "My Day at Occupy LA (Part 1)."

* "My Day at Occupy LA (Part 2)."

* "My Day at Occupy LA (part 3): Thoughts and Observations."

And here's some of John's observations at that last post:

The media has been reporting for weeks that the Occupiers don’t have demands or a clear message. That’s right but it’s also very wrong. It’s not that the occupiers don’t have a message, it’s that they have a hundred messages, not all of which are compatible with one another. As we saw just last week, even the folks at Occupy LA can’t agree with one another. They literally held something like a coup over the no weed policy. Solidarity is an something of an illusion.

There’s one exception to this, and that’s the near universal dislike for authority in general and the police in particular. Disliking the cops when they show up to roust a campsite is probably the only thing that can truly unify these folks. No wonder Occupy Oakland is now the emotional center of the movement.

There's more at the link, but I'm interesting in that "no clear message" theme, which is something I discussed at my Saturday photo-essay: "Occupy Orange County: 'Get Money Out of Politics'." In Los Angeles there's clearly a bias toward Marxist-Leninist revolutionary agitation, with a bit of hippie-doper culture thrown in. There wasn't much of that in Irvine. The socialist agitation that was on hand in the O.C. was associated with the Obama-Democrat-Progressive-Socialists. These are the folks looking to expand the socialist welfare state from within, using stealthy Alinskyite union thuggery and conspiracy. Richard Trumka personifies these types, fat and well-fed at the public trough. But among establishment progressives there's a "no enemies on the left" program, and the MSM furthers it by positioning the occupy movement as an acceptable --- even wholesome --- rival to the tea parties. That's all pretty messed up, in any case. More on that at my earlier entry, "Communist-Progressive Coalition Lobbies Congressional 'Super-Committee' Against Proposed Cuts to Social Security."

Taylor Swift Nude Scandal!

At London's Daily Mail, "Taylor takes Swift action against website claiming it has 'topless private pic' of the country star."

1990 Nissan 300ZX

See Doug Ross, "How many 22-year old cars still look modern and up-to-date in 2012?"

With Weak Economy, Obama May Lose Key Demographic Groups

See LAT, "Obama's demographic support may not weather economy."

Actually, blacks are still enthusiastic about the president. See NYT, "Black Voters’ Support for Obama Is Steady and Strong." But check the graphic at LAT, "Key States for Obama's Reelection." White voters in Florida, Ohio and Nevada will be especially crucial, and Latinos as well, who aren't going to be as wedded to the Democrats as black voters. Colorado and New Mexico will be problematic as well, despite higher levels of college educated whites. Perhaps that's why Obama continues to ramp up the class warfare rhetoric. Polls show a lot of sympathy with the occupy movement. No doubt the White House hopes the protesters don't start turning on him, mentioning that he's in the pocket of these same big banks and Wall Street brokerages. See Weasel Zip, "Obama Uses Occupy Wall Street’s Language, Rails Against “The Top 1%”…"

Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Allegations

At Los Angeles Times, "Herman Cain denies allegations of sexual harassment."

The full coverage is at Memeorandum, and see The Other McCain, "Cain Spokesman: ‘Smear Campaign Meant to Discredit a True Patriot’."

'Diaper Need Awareness Day'

You gotta read this piece from Mark Steyn, at National Review, "Adult Babies: There’s almost nothing you can’t get government to pay for."