Seven Dead in Horrific Cargo Plane Crash in Afghanistan

At London's Daily Mail, "The horrific moment cargo plane dropped out of the sky before crashing in fireball - killing seven Americans in Afghanistan."

Fox News Runs Branco Cartoon From Legal Insurrection

Kudos to William Jacobson and A.F. Branco, "Branco’s Chris Matthews cartoon on Fox News":

And that Fox News segment is right here: "Boston Bombings Coverage - Media Credibility Hurt By Errors? - Wake Up America!"

The Death of Collaboration in the Independent Blogosphere

Robert Stacy McCain published an interesting post the other day, "Where Were You in 2002?"

He's asking about where folks were 11 years ago when the independent blogosphere was the vital forum for news reporting and analysis independent of the mainstream media. 2002's a long time ago. I don't think I was reading blogs intentionally at that point. It was still early in my career at LBCC and I was focused mostly on teaching and  research in political science. It was Dan Drezner's 2004 blogging piece in Foreign Policy that turned me on to the blogosphere and there's been no turning back (see, "Web of Influence"). At that time I was reading Drezner and Virginia Postrel. A little later Althouse became my favorite blog, and by 2006 I decided to get my blogging feet wet. American Power went live in October 2007. I've had a good run so far and I expect to be plugging away until I get bored or the progressives are successful in getting me fired. (Hell, that wouldn't stop me anyway, so WTF).

I've never considered myself an influential blogger (although my inbox, filled with all kinds of free books and promotions from publishers and blog newbies, often tells me otherwise). It was during the 2007 GOP primaries when I got really serious about having an impact and in 2008, when John McCain won the Republican nomination, I felt some vindication for my efforts. One result was that I got picked up by RealClearPolitics later that year. But honestly, I've had more fun these last few years following The Other McCain's advice on "How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog in Less Than a Year." Sure, the babe blogging around here's become a major pastime, but actually, the idea of building community through "reciprocal linkage" has been one of the more important elements of my program. Folks need to exercise the "The Full Metal Jacket Reach-Around":

Reciprocal linkage is the essential lubricant that makes the blogosphere purr with contentment. If somebody's throwing you traffic, you should either (a) give them a link-back update, or at a minimum (b) keep them in mind for future linkage. Because you don't want to end up on the wrong end of a kharmic unbalance in the 'sphere, where you're always taking and never giving.

As blogging has become almost exclusively professionalized in the last few years, the notion of "The Full Metal Jacket Reach-Around" seems kind of quaint. But don't be fooled. We've still got lots of independent bloggers out there doing what the mainstream press refuses to do. For example, Robert mentions Professor William Jacobson's Legal Insurrection as a model of high-impact professional blogging to which we should all aspire. And of course Glenn Reynolds continues to plug away at Instapundit, resisting the lucrative lure of a huge corporate sponsor (even more lucrative, that is, as Glenn's already got great model of monetization). There are lots more examples --- and apologies to some of the great new blogs, like Rebel Pundit and SOOPER Mexican, for not highlighting their work more often --- although it's clear there are increasing sustainability issues for smaller "mom and pop" blogging outfits. Here's how Robert describes the problem at The Other McCain:

This network/community concept seems to have been lost by (or, more likely, was never known to) newer arrivals in the ‘sphere. The idea that each of us is contributing to a common project is not just some kind of “Stone Soup” idealism, but is in fact the only way to build any genuinely meaningful alternative to that pathetic exercise in groupthink we call the Mainstream Media. Bloggers who don’t help build the alternative can complain about the MSM “borg” all they want; they aren’t really making a difference. There are two ways in which bloggers actually help sabotage the blogosphere:

Turn your blog into a series of lectures...

Never link another blogger. It’s weird that some bloggers would rather link a story in the New York Times or the Washington Post than to link a fellow blogger. Why this is, I don’t know. Sometimes it seems like everybody has the same idea: Grab an MSM headline off Drudge, link it, include a brief blockquote and add some political snark. Not only does this effectively surrender content control to Drudge — so that bloggers are merely replicating the headline selection there — but nobody’s snark ever goes beyond their own readership, because no blogger ever quotes another blogger.

Be sure to read the rest for additional insight.

Those bloggers who "never link another blogger" are the kinds I generally avoid. Sure, few bloggers can worry about linking all their buddies all the time, but throwing some hits to your friends once in a while is the friendly thing to do, especially when you've been a mensch yourself, linking and forwarding your posts with breaking news and so forth. Which is why I was surprised yesterday at popular pro-life blogger Jill Stanek. I woke up about 4:00am and wrote a post on WND's piece on Planned Parenthood's grotesque sex education promotions ("Sex-ed cartoons 'too graphic' for N.Y. Times." I later tweeted it to Robert and cc'd Jill:

.@rsmccain Planned Parenthood Sex Education Graphics Too Grisly for the New York Times is.gd/HBetXJ @jillstanek @directorblue
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) April 29, 2013

Then checking back on Twitter about an hour later I see Jill in my timeline with a new blog post:

Ew, gross! @nytimes,@washingtonpost reject THIS @amerlifeleague ad of Planned Parenthood sex ed images jillstanek.com/?p=122100
— Jill Stanek (@JillStanek) April 29, 2013

Jill's post is time-stamped at 4:14pm in the afternoon, 1:14pm Pacific time, 50 minutes after I tweeted my link to her. Now, perhaps Jill had her entry all queued up or was already familiar with WND's reporting. I don't know. I can say that Jill isn't a big proponent of the Full Metal Reach Around community-building strategy. I've sent her lots of stuff in the past and have been linked perhaps a couple of times at her blog. I don't know. Perhaps she wanted to have this Planned Parenthood "scoop" all to herself, with no hat tip to WND, much less myself. That's how some bloggers roll. It's not the best way to build community, in any case.

Again, maybe Jill got that post going without ever seeing my tweet. But if it were me, I'd probably have replied on Twitter in the first place and then posted a hat tip if I blogged it. Your mileage may vary.

Either way, I couldn't help thinking that yesterday was one good example of the lack of collaboration in the blogosphere. And it's not an insignificant issue. Now more than ever American democracy needs alternative voices. American politics needs citizens to upend the establishment narrative. People frankly need to build on the social media revolution to bring greater accountability to government at at time when the press has abdicated its historic role as freedom's watchdog. Bloggers are upsetting and will continue to upset the accepted memes and force big media to report real news that's important to real Americans. Along with other forms of citizens' social media, blogs promote accountability and deliberation. William Jacobson had something on that yesterday, "If not for prior #Gosnell Twitter campaign, would MSM be covering Bronx and DC revelations?"

But "social" means you can't do it alone. The best of the top bloggers recognize the vital role newbies play in keeping the 'sphere an essential place for alternative reporting. And new bloggers entering the arena might heed the warnings of The Other McCain (and others) on the dangers of the death of collaboration in the independent blogosphere.

Review of the Rolling Stones at Echo Park Nightclub in Hollywood

I mentioned the surprise gig earlier.

Randall Roberts has a review at the Los Angeles Times, "Rolling Stones invade Echo Park, perform an hour of classics":

How was the gig? How the hell do you think it was?

It was the Stones in a little club, and for most in attendance, a dream come true.

That's how it was.

More here, a raw video of "Brown Sugar" from the show.

Blogger for CBS Houston Attacks 'Chunky' NBA Cheerleader Kelsey Williams

Chunky?

She's pretty smokin' actually.

But see PuffHo, "NBA Cheerleader 'Too Chunky'? CBS Houston Blogger Sparks Outrage For Questioning Kelsey Williams' Figure (PHOTO)," and at International Business Times, "Is Kelsey Williams Fat? Claire Crawford Blogs NBA Cheerleader Is ‘Too Chunky’ to Wear Oklahoma City Thunder Uniform."

Helen Mirren Named Best Actress at Olivier Awards 2013

At the Independent UK, "Olivier Awards 2013: Dame Helen Mirren rules the West End as she wins for another portrayal of the Queen - but Curious Incident team are top dog."

RELATED: At the Wrap, "'RED 2' Trailer: Helen Mirren at Her Deadliest (Video)."

I'm looking forward to that.

Benghazi Report Revives Troubling Questions

From Michael Barone, at RCP:

"What difference, at this point, does it make?"

That was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's angry response to a question about the State Department's account of the attack on the Benghazi consulate where Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were murdered on Sept. 11, 2012.

Her response was cheered by leftist commentators on MSNBC. Righteous indignation is so attractive.

But of course it makes a difference. Hillary Clinton is leading in polls for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination and general election. It's always legitimate to examine the performance of a front-runner for the presidency. And of the president himself.

You can find such an examination in the Interim Progress Report that five House Republican committee chairmen released last Wednesday.

Democrats complain that this is a partisan effort. Sure, but Democrats are free to present their own view of the facts. My sense is that they would rather squelch critical examination of Benghazi and the Obama administration's response, as they did with the help of most of the press during the 2012 presidential campaign.

No doubt.

There's more at that top link.

PREVIOUSLY: "Obama Administration Threatened Whistleblowers on Benghazi (VIDEO)."

Fabulous Claudia Romani Bikini Hotness

Here's some lovely bikini blogging for the evening, at London's Dailly Mail, "Did you forget something? Italian model Claudia Romani nips out for a walk in Miami wearing a tiny black bikini."

Obama Administration Threatened Whistleblowers on Benghazi (VIDEO)

New explosive allegations out tonight.

At Greta Wire, "THREATS AGAINST BENGHAZI WHISTLEBLOWERS ALLEGED":

At least four career officials at the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency have retained lawyers, or are in the process of doing so, as they prepare to provide sensitive information about the Benghazi attacks to Congress, Fox News has learned.

Victoria Toensing, a former Justice Department official and Republican counsel to the Senate intelligence committee, is now representing one of the State Department employees. She told Fox News her client and some of the others, who consider themselves whistleblowers, have been threatened by unnamed Obama administration officials.

“I’m not talking generally, I’m talking specifically about Benghazi – that people have been threatened,” Toensing said in an interview Monday. “And not just the State Department. People have been threatened at the CIA.”

Toensing declined to name her client. She also refused to say whether the individual was on the ground in Benghazi on the night of September 11, 2012, when terrorist attacks on two U.S. installations in the Libyan city killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.

However, Toensing disclosed that her client has pertinent information on all three time periods investigators consider relevant to the attacks: the months that led up to September 11, when pleas by the ambassador and his staff for enhanced security in Benghazi were mostly rejected by senior officers at the State Department; the eight-hour time frame in which the attacks unfolded; and the eight-day period that followed the attacks, when Obama administration officials falsely described them as the result of a spontaneous protest over a video.

Continue reading.

Also at Newsmax, "Administration Blocking Benghazi Whistleblowers."

Tsarnaevs' 'Troubled Trail' Gets More Objective Treatment at the Los Angeles Times

Following up from yesterday's report, "Because Frustrated Boxing Aspirations Are So Horrible That Murdering Americans in Jihad Bombings is Totally Understandable, or Something."

Here's the front-page story at yesterday's Los Angeles Times, which eschews the heavy causal implications employed by the New York Times, "The Tsarnaev brothers' troubled trail to Boston":

Anzor Tsarnaev was tough, a championship boxer back home, and he wanted his oldest boy to be tough too.

Rain or shine, like a scene from "Rocky," the wiry Chechen immigrant would ride his bicycle as his son Tamerlan jogged to a Boston-area boxing gym, pushing him to run faster, to punch harder.

"He was his trainer, basically," said Joe Timko, Anzor's supervisor at Webster Auto Body, a corner repair shop in Somerville. "And he was an old Russian soldier. He'd make him run for miles."

Armed with a good left jab and powerful right, "Tam," as friends called him, climbed the ranks in regional tournaments and dreamed of joining the U.S. Olympic boxing team. At home, a crowded third-floor walk-up, he showed off by doing chin-ups outside. At night, he played the piano and accordion.

But by 2009, Tamerlan's life abruptly changed course. He told his parents that "the Koran prohibits beating people in the face." He grew a beard, began to pray more than five times a day, dropped out of college and gave up stylish leather pants for sweat pants. He argued with friends over politics, picked a fight at a pizza parlor, shouted at speakers at a mosque.

"He gave up drinking and smoking, and he even gave up boxing he loved so much," said his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva. Anzor Tsarnaev said he was brainwashed by religion.

His uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, asked why he didn't get a job.

"I'm doing bigger things," Tamerlan told him that August. "Now I'm with God. Now I'm happy."

Tamerlan, 26, died nine days ago after he and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar, were in a shootout with police. Dzhokhar is in custody at a medical facility for prisoners on federal charges that he planted one of the two nail-filled bombs that exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15.

Investigators are convinced both brothers carried out the plot, which killed three people and wounded more than 260. Yet it did not appear meticulously planned. Authorities say they planted homemade bombs in full view of surveillance cameras, and when their pictures emerged three days later, they tried to flee with no cash, no disguises and one firearm. Officials say that they killed an MIT police officer for his pistol but couldn't figure out how to unlock the holster.

Now investigators are struggling to understand: How did a cocky young athlete and his skateboard-riding brother, if authorities are correct, become do-it-yourself Islamist terrorists?

Read it all at the link.

It's an old-fashioned piece of journalism, although the difference between the New York Times' hack report yesterday is dramatic.

Planned Parenthood Sex Education Graphics Too Grisly for the New York Times

WND reports on the All American Life League's full-page advertisement that was rejected by the New York Times, "Sex-ed cartoons 'too graphic' for N.Y. Times."

Here's the ALL.org website. And the group's ad is at this PDF.

ALL.org says Planned Parenthood's materials are based on the Robie Harris book, "It's Perfectly Normal Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health."

Read all about it at the links. And I'll tell you, I couldn't even put that stuff up on an overhead in my classes at the college. But no doubt Planned Parenthood wants to put this stuff before your elementary school children. Way to go progs!

Because Frustrated Boxing Aspirations Are So Horrible That Murdering Americans in Jihad Bombings is Totally Understandable, or Something

Here's the front-page report at today's New York Times, "A Battered Dream, Then a Violent Path."

And some of the reactions:

* At Atlas Shrugs, "THE NEW YORK TIMES WAGES JIHAD ON THE TRUTH: BOSTON BOMBER WENT JIHAD BECAUSE THE GOLDEN GLOVES CHANGED THEIR RULES."

* At Blazing Cat Fur, "Shocka! New York Times Article Blames Boston Bombing On America."

* At Israel Matzav, "NY Times: 'If we'd let Tamerlan become a citizen despite being an Islamist and beating his girlfriend, he wouldn't have blown up the Marathon'."

You've got to read the piece. It's like seriously?

BOSTON — It was a blow the immigrant boxer could not withstand: after capturing his second consecutive title as the Golden Gloves heavyweight champion of New England in 2010, Tamerlan Anzorovich Tsarnaev, 23, was barred from the national Tournament of Champions because he was not a United States citizen.

The cocksure fighter, a flamboyant dresser partial to white fur and snakeskin, had been looking forward to redeeming the loss he suffered the previous year in the first round, when the judges awarded his opponent the decision, drawing boos from spectators who considered Mr. Tsarnaev dominant.

From one year to the next, though, the tournament rules had changed, disqualifying legal permanent residents — not only Mr. Tsarnaev, who was Soviet-born of Chechen and Dagestani heritage, but several other New England contenders, too. His aspirations frustrated, he dropped out of boxing competition entirely, and his life veered in a completely different direction.

Mr. Tsarnaev portrayed his quitting as a reflection of the sport’s incompatibility with his growing devotion to Islam. But as dozens of interviews with friends, acquaintances and relatives from Cambridge, Mass., to Dagestan showed, that devotion, and the suspected radicalization that accompanied it, was a path he followed most avidly only after his more secular dreams were dashed in 2010 and he was left adrift.

His trajectory eventually led the frustrated athlete and his loyal younger brother, Dzhokhar, to bomb one of the most famous athletic events in this country, killing three and wounding more than 200 at the Boston Marathon, the authorities say. They say it led Mr. Tsarnaev, his application for citizenship stalled, and his brother, a new citizen and a seemingly well-adjusted college student, to attack their American hometown on Patriots’ Day, April 15.

Hey, no doubt.

Who could miss the inevitable causal relationship! It must have been horrible. Horrible! Whaaaaa!!! Next time life throws up a roadblock I think I'll run out and buy a pressure cooker, some gun powder, a few boxes of carpenter's nails and some ball bearings. Now where are are my old copies of Inspire?

Progressives Launch Anti-Koch Brothers Jihad on Rumors of Tribune Company Sale to Billionaire Brothers

From Michael Calderone, at PuffHo, "Koch Brothers Media Strategy, Political Agenda Raise Concerns Over Tribune Ownership."

The LA Weekly first reported news of the Kochs' possible interest in Tribune newspapers last month. But a Sunday front-page New York Times story describing a strategy of using media to promote free-market policy ideas prompted Tribune journalists to speak out, both anonymously and on the record. Clarence Page, a liberal Chicago Tribune columnist who opposes Koch ownership, said the Kochs “seem to be coming in upfront with the idea of using a major news media as a vehicle for their political voice."

This week's outcry is reminiscent of Wall Street Journal staffers’ fears in May 2007 as Rupert Murdoch, the conservative mogul behind Fox News and the New York Post, bid for the august broadsheet parent-company, Dow Jones. While the Journal’s framing of political and policy stories sometimes tilts more to the right, journalists’ worst fears of right-wing tabloidization of the newsroom never came to pass. But the response to Koch ownership is different six years later in that journalists are now pining for Murdoch.

“Murdoch, for all his flaws, is a newspaper man. The Kochs are not,” a Chicago Tribune journalist told media writer Jim Romenesko. “I have no faith in their belief in the importance of a free and robust watchdog press. Frankly, such a press seems antithetical to their goals and harmful to their influence in the political process.”

Steven Pearlstein, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post writer, suggested Thursday that Tribune Co. staffers band together to oppose any sale to the Kochs.

Because nothing promotes robust debate and deliberation like leftist campaigns to squelch competing views.

More at the link.

And who knew? There's a whole website set up to fight the smears. See, "Mother Jones Gets It Wrong… Again."

Well, yeah, Mother Jones has been getting it wrong quite a bit lately, the idiots.

RELATED: At Neiman Labs, "The newsonomics of the Koch Brothers and the sales of U.S.' top metros."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Also at Jill Stanek's, "Stanek Sunday funnies 4-28-13," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

And see Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up..."

BONUS: At Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Hard Boiled."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

Jessica Davies for Loaded Magazine

Via Twitter:

Shot from my @loadedmag spread x twitter.com/_JessicaDavies…
— Jessica Davies (@_JessicaDavies) April 28, 2013

And at Egotastic!, "Jessica Davies for Loaded Magazine April 2013."

Celebrating Babies

At iOWNTHEWORLD.

Salon's Geller-Obsessives Shill for Islamic Supremacy

You know, it'd actually be hilarious if it wasn't so perverted.

The far-left trolls are relentless in their endless politics of personal destruction. Few folks know this better than Pamela Geller, but every time she shows them out as sh-t-eating dregs of humanity who have no business even commenting on the most grievous threats facing the nation.

At Atlas Shrugs "@Salon's Greatest Hits."

Pamela first smacks down the idiot Alex "Ping Pong Balls" Pareene, and then continues:

Has Salon learned anything? No. And then there is this: the obsessed troll, Alex Seitz-Wald, ran this headline after the Boston bombings.

Read the whole thing.

Again, this kind of epic left-wing juvenility would be mostly mock-worthy if it wasn't so fiendish. Leftists turn their disagreement with Pamela into a Manichean crusade to destroy her. And she has a lot of help from the legions of deranged progressive trolls prowling the Internet. People of decency and faith must continually redouble their efforts at beating back these scummy leftist enemies from within.

NYT's Mark Leibovich Slams White House Correspondents' Dinner

A great clip.

Leibovich hammers Washington's entitled celebrity class, which partied last night at the exclusive correspondents' dinner:

Leibovich discusses his forthcoming book, "This Town: The Way it Works in Suck Up City."

And see Politico, "'This Town': A Washington takedown."

Plus, at Twitchy, "Tweet like a girl: Sarah Palin blasts ‘DC assclowns’ at ‘pathetic’ Correspondents’ Dinner." (The responses to Palin on Twitter have been utterly pathological.) And at Memeorandum.

BONUS: At The Other McCain, "Have You Heard the One About the President Who Was a Miserable Failure?"

Robert Downey Jr. Sprained His Ankle Last Year While Filming the Finale of 'Iron Man 3' in Wilmington, N.C.

Iron Man's my favorite super hero, and my youngest boy's into the franchise, so it's a win-win situation. The film opens next Friday.

The Los Angeles Times reports on some of the challenges of finishing the production, "‘Iron Man 3′: Tony Stark lives by his wits in Marvel’s latest":

It was the moment that brought a $200-million blockbuster to a screeching halt.

Robert Downey Jr. stood frozen in pain after leaping onto a platform of an oil tanker on the Wilmington, N.C., soundstage where “Iron Man 3” was shooting its fiery finale last year. The actor had made ambitious wire jumps for stunt scenes before, but this time was different. The impact of the landing left him with an ankle sprain so severe he was unable to walk for seven weeks.

“I was feeling a little bit invincible, I guess,” Downey said last week while making the promotional rounds for “Iron Man 3,” which rockets into theaters on May 3. “I checked it out, and I was like, ‘Oh, we got this.’ And we didn’t have it.”

When it comes to playing Tony Stark, the genius-billionaire-playboy-inventor whom Downey first brought to the screen in 2008’s record-breaking “Iron Man,” the Oscar-nominated actor could be forgiven for overreaching.

More at the link.

Rolling Stones Play Surprise Gig at Hollywood's Echo Park Nightclub

One lady walked out of the show quipping, "Best bar band ever."

That would have been great.

At LAT, "Rolling Stones rock Echo Park club in surprise 'warm up' gig."