Obama's Lawless Presidency

IBD is hammering this criminal clusterf-k administration.

See, "Obama's Scandals Stem from His Lawless Presidency," and "Eight Months Too Late, The Media See the Real Obama."

Angelina Jolie's Double Mastectomy

An amazing story, at London's Daily Mail, "How heroic Angelina Jolie kept her family life as normal as possible for the sake of her children as she underwent a double mastectomy."

Plus, "Brad says Angelina ‘is absolutely heroic’ and hails ‘happy day for our family’ after she undergoes double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer," and "Angelina Jolie's father Jon Voight only learned about daughter's double mastectomy online... despite seeing her just TWO days ago."

Lurking Tyranny

From A.F. Branco:

Obama insists there is no 'there there...'

At the Looking Spoon, "The Only Part of the Obama Administration Where There Really Is 'No There There'."

Tyranny is Always Lurking Just Around the Corner

At Bearing Drift, "Is Tyranny Around the Corner?"

Yes, tyranny is always just around the corner. That’s why, as Thomas Jefferson reminds us, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

IMAGE CREDIT: Rare.

'This may be one of the most heartbreaking stories I have ever read...'

At I'm41, "Pair of Berkeley Lesbian Lunatics Putting 11-Year-Old Son on Hormone Blocking Treatment to Make Him Their Daughter."

Also at Victory Girls, "Lesbian Parents Put Their Eight-Year-Old Boy Through a Sex Change":

Regardless of whether or not a sex change actually changes your gender (here’s a hint: it doesn’t), if an adult wants to choose to mutilate their genitals and live their life as a member of the opposite sex, then whatever. Go for it. You’re an adult, it’s your decision, I may not agree or understand, but it’s your life and your body. The difference here, however, is that this is a child. A child cannot understand the potential long-term consequences of their actions. A child cannot consent to hormone therapy and understand the health risks they could be taking. A child cannot understand that they are choosing to give up any chance of a normal childhood and adolescence. A child cannot think long-term, they cannot understand consequences of their actions, and therefore cannot make such a huge, life-changing decision as getting a sex change.

This isn’t just an example of poor parenting — it’s parents with an agenda to push, acting it out on their defenseless child who ends up being nothing more than a social experiment to their delusional parents.

Remember, for the leftards, if it feels good do it! (No matter whom you destroy in the process.)

Rapidly Shrinking Market Poses Big Challenges for TV Networks

An interesting piece, from Brian Stelter, at the New York Times, "As TV Ratings and Profits Fall, Networks Face a Cliffhanger":

As the major television networks prepare to unveil their new fall lineups in New York this week, they face threats from seemingly every corner.

Prime-time ratings for the Big Four broadcasters — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — together are dropping more precipitously than ever. Even their biggest hits, like “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars,” are fading fast. Advertisers are moving more cash to cable, cutting into the networks’ quarterly profits. New technologies are making it easier to skip those ads, anyway.

That’s not all: there are more outlets for programming cropping up all the time, with Netflix and Amazon and dozens of cable channels competing for actors, producers and, most important, viewers. Government regulators want to take back some of the spectrum allotted to local television stations. And start-ups like Aereo are threatening to deprive the stations of subscription revenue, causing some broadcasters to talk of options that were unthinkable a few short years ago. Some have warned they might go off the air entirely.

The many pressures bearing down on the industry are casting a shadow over this week’s upfronts, an annual tradition in New York in which the new sitcoms, dramas and reality shows are previewed at splashy, open-bar events and the networks try to capture their portion of an estimated $9 billion in advertising commitments.

“The networks are getting picked at from every direction,” said Jessica Reif Cohen, the senior media analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “This year was the tipping point,” she said, “when the television ratings really fell apart.”

The broadcast networks have managed declining viewership for years, but executives by and large said they believed that they had escaped the punishing losses that digital media exacted on the music industry and newspapers.

Now, though, they say they are not sure; even the industry’s biggest boosters concede that the business is under assault, though they express confidence that the networks will adapt. While the challenges before them are numerous, said Gary Carr, who oversees ad-buying at TargetCast, “the networks are far from dead.”

More at the link.

'For a long time, it seemed like the idea of a coverup was just a Republican obsession. But now there is something to it...'

Yes, when events start going so badly for this administration that even the most hardened shills in the JournoList protectorate can no longer dismiss the avalanche of scandal...

See Robert Stacy McCain, "A Short Lesson in Liberal Media Bias: Has Alex Koppelman Forgotten Fitzmas?"

Heidi Klum 'Best Mother's Day Ever'

Well, she's definitely enjoying herself:

Via Twitter.

Associated Press Phone Records Siezed by Department of Justice

It comes it threes.

From Erika Johnsen, at Hot Air, "Breaking: DOJ secretly seized two months of Associated Press phone records?"

More at the Hill, "Justice Department secretly seized AP reporters’ phone records" (via Memeorandum).

Astronaut Chris Hadfield Sings David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' in Space

A wonderful video:

Background at the Next Web, "Commander Chris Hadfield signs off from space with epic cover of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’."

Obama Scandals Invoke Comparisons to Watergate

At Instapundit, "THE BOSTON HERALD GOES ALL IN ON THE OBAMA SCANDALS."

Lots of links at the post.

And I love this: " Barack Milhous Obamixon."

Sick: Salon's Irin Carmon Dismisses #Gosnell Conviction as 'Local Story'

At Twitchy, "Salon’s Irin Carmon: Lone outlaw Kermit Gosnell really was just a local crime story."

.@irincarmon It's a national story in virtually all respects. Amazing that you would even pen such a despicable piece. @davidspjm #ProLife
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) May 14, 2013

And following the links takes us to David Steinberg's essay at Pajamas, "Gosnell and ‘Pro-Choice’: Fleeing From Reason?":

Take the emotion out of it. After Gosnell, is it possible for an impartial observer to offer a logical argument proving abortion is not murder?

Kermit #Gosnell Convicted on Three Counts of First-Degree Murder

At the Philadelphia Inquirer, "Abortion doctor Gosnell found guilty on 3 counts of 1st-degree murder":

Kermit Barron Gosnell - the West Philadelphia doctor whose career in urban medicine began during the "war on poverty" and ended 40 years later as a hated symbol of the antiabortion movement - was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder Monday by a Philadelphia jury.

The jury acquitted Gosnell of one count of first-degree murder involving an infant prosecutors said was born alive and killed during an abortion.

In Pennsylvania, first-degree murder - the premeditated, malicious killing of a person - is punishable by death by lethal injection or life in prison without chance of parole.

Continue reading.

More the Other McCain, "#Gosnell Convicted: Quick Reactions" (via Memeorandum).

Expect updates...

Glenn Greenwald Gets His Blowback On

This was getting some attention on Twitter yesterday, at RCP, "Bill Maher vs. Glenn Greenwald on Islam's History of Violence & U.S. Aggression":

And in a hilarious surprise development, David Atkins, at Hullabaloo, took both Greenwald and Maher to task, "Greenwald and Maher are both wrong." (It's all about "fundamentalism," I guess.) And that elicited a blowback against the blowback from Digby, "No sorry David, Glenn Greenwald is not wrong."

Actually, they're both wrong themselves, and as I always say, as much as I dislike Glenn Greenwald, at least he's consistent. See, "Debating Bill Maher on Muslims, Islam and US foreign policy."

More from Barry Eisler, "Don't Worry, US Imperialism is Cost-Free."

I Picked Up Some Moose Drool

After beer tasting last week, I decided to quit procrastinating on diversifying my repertoire.

Here's the Moose Drool six-pack below. I haven't tried it yet. I also picked up a pack of the Rasputin Stout. Had some with dinner last night. Oh boy, is that good beer!

I'll update when I sample these puppies. The alcohol content much higher than domestic light beers (the Rasputin's at 9% ABV), so it might be next weekend until I have some more. Otherwise, I'll fall asleep too early in the evening.

Republicans Push for More Information on #Benghazi

At the New York Times, "G.O.P. Pushes for More Details of Benghazi Attack":

WASHINGTON — A House committee chairman vowed Sunday to seek additional testimony on the Obama administration’s handling of last year’s deadly attack on the American diplomatic post in Libya as another prominent Republican lawmaker called for a special committee to investigate.

The dispute over the assault in Benghazi, Libya, in September that killed four Americans dominated the network talk shows on Sunday. Leaders of both parties debated whether the administration had paid enough attention to security before the attack, did enough to respond once the violence began and tried to deceive the public afterward in the midst of an election campaign.

“I’d call it a cover-up,” Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said on the ABC News program “This Week.”. “I would call it a cover-up in the extent that there was willful removal of information, which was obvious.”

Mr. McCain called for a select committee to investigate, saying that “there are so many questions that are unanswered.” Last week, several House Republicans called for a special investigation in that chamber as well.

Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, also referred to a cover-up as he charged that the administration scrubbed talking points to falsely blame an incendiary anti-Muslim video rather than specific terrorist groups.

“The American people were effectively lied to for a period of about a month,” he said on the NBC News program “Meet the Press.” “They were in fact covering up an easy attack that succeeded, that was from the get-go really about a terrorist attack. It was never about a video.”

Mr. Issa said he would deliver requests for testimony on Monday to former Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering and Adm. Mike Mullen, the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who led a State Department review of the episode that critics considered inadequate. Mr. Issa, whose committee has been leading the latest investigation in the House, said he did not believe a special investigation would be necessary.

Continue reading.

EARLIER: "George Will Hammers White House on #Benghazi."

Don't Miss This Don't-Miss Essay From Michelle Malkin on Harvard-Trained Immigration Expert Jason Richwine

See, "The crucifixion of Jason Richwine; Update: Richwine resigns."

I guess John McCain's former Hispanic National co-chair Ana Navarro fanned the flames. She dissed Michelle on Twitter, although I've yet to hear back from her:

.@ananavarro 'Talk to the hand, little girl?' Seriously? You should be getting the back of the hand. Disgrace. #Amnesty @michellemalkin
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) May 13, 2013

I must say, though. I'm not sure how Richwine thought that "IQ and Immigration Policy" would make for an enduring (non-controversial) dissertation topic. If folks recall the "Bell Curve" wars, clearly there's precedent for avoiding this kind of thing. Anyway, Professor Daniel Drezner has some additional comments, "Regarding Richwine..."

In the end it doesn't matter. Richwine clearly pushed some buttons with his Heritage immigration study. The left will settle for nothing less that blood.

George Will Hammers White House on #Benghazi

At ABC News, "George Will: Nation ‘Systematically Misled’ on Benghazi."

And from Daniel Foster at NRO, "George Will: White House Painted Benghazi As 'a Movie Review Conducted with Rocket Propelled Grenades'."

More at IBD, "Benghazi Talking Points: A Lie Hillary Agreed Upon."

And from Mandy Nagy, at Legal Insurrection, "Weekend Wrap-up of Benghazi Coverage – Notable Quotes."

Plus, an excellent post from Ed Driscoll, "Jay Carney’s Corruption Occurred a Long Time Ago."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

More at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Grab A Mop," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Still more at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up..."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren, "Cinco de Blameo."