Britain Prepares for War in 1940

At London's Daily Mail, "Those were the days: From England’s pubs to Sheffield’s steel industry and preparations for war - film archive reveals how life was in 1930s and 40s Britain."

China Hacking Deep, Diverse

At the Wall Street Journal, "Internet Spies Stretch Beyond Government, Offering Beijing Cover, Experts Say":

China's Internet espionage capabilities are deeper and more widely dispersed than the U.S. indictment of five army officers last week suggests, former top government officials say, extending to a sprawling hacking-industrial complex that shields the Chinese government but also sometimes backfires on Beijing.

Some of the most sophisticated intruders observed by U.S. officials and private-sector security firms work as hackers for hire and at makeshift defense contractors, not the government, and aren't among those named in the indictment. In recent years, engineers from this crowd have broken into servers at Google Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and top cybersecurity companies, former U.S. officials and security researchers alleged.

The Chinese have often told their U.S. counterparts they don't condone hacking but also that they can't police what they don't control, according to former U.S. officials. While it is possible Beijing makes this claim simply as an excuse for inaction—given its strict control of domestic Internet traffic—experts in the field, including former U.S. officials, say the Chinese hacking landscape is chaotic and hard to follow.

This structure brings "a political gain to being able to say 'we can't control all attacks,' " said Adam Segal, a China and cybersecurity scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "But I think there is a cost when hackers go after targets that are too sensitive or get involved in a crisis and the government can't control the signaling."

Sometimes freelancers appear to take orders from the military, at other times from state-owned firms seeking a competitive advantage, U.S. security firms say.  This diffusion of China's hacking activities underscores the challenge the U.S. faces in addressing what Washington considers economic espionage.

"Part of the consternation when we were pushing them was there is not complete knowledge of what's going on," said a former U.S. official, recalling cyber negotiations with China.

More.

Sheriff's Deputies Knew of Rodger's 'Disturbing' Videos But Did Not Watch Them

As I said over the weekend, we'd know more as the details trickled out. And here we go with more on the botched Sheriff's Department "welfare check" of Elliot Rodger.

At LAT, "Deputies didn't view Elliot Rodger's videos in welfare check."

Reporters Mock Doe-Eyed Jen Psaki for Saying Obama 'Doesn't Give Himself Enough Credit...'

She's precious.

At Nice Deb, "Video: Humble Obama Doesn’t Give Himself Enough Credit for All His Foreign Policy Successes."

And at RT, "'Kiev forces shooting at civilians': State Dept's Psaki has no concerns."

U.S. Economy Shrinks in First Quarter

From Katie Pavlich, at Town Hall, "Economy Shrinks in First Quarter of 2014: GDP Revised to -1 Percent."

Stop looking at @BarackObama's economy http://t.co/pYtj7rDVf5 @AceofSpadesHQ @instapundit @rsmccain @ali @AmPowerBlog pic.twitter.com/Z6bXzmTFct
— Evi L. Bloggerlady (@MsEBL) May 29, 2014

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to Buy Clippers for $2 Billion

Jeez, $2 billion?!!

Talk about sweetening the pot!

At the Los Angeles Times, "Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wins Clippers bidding war for $2 billion."

And at Instapundit, "I WITHDRAW MY EARLIER SPECULATION THAT DONALD STERLING WAS SUFFERING FROM DEMENTIA: Sources: Ballmer agrees to buy Clippers for record $2 billion. In fact, now I wonder if he set the whole thing up. He bought the team for $12 million."

Watch How Vastly Different West Point Cadets React Between Hearing Presidents Obama and Bush

Oh my goodness this is brutal, at the Independent Journal Review.

Previous "icy" Obama at West Point blogging is here.

#Democrat Bob Beckel Attacks Kimberly Guilfoyle, Slurring Her as "Treasonous'

At Expose Liberals, "Blob Beckel meltdowns yet again – calls Kimberly Guilfoyle treasonous."

Obama, Biden Pushing a 'New World Order'

At Breitbart, "Obama, Biden Promoting a 'New,' 'Changing Very Rapidly' World Order."

Desperate Democrats Looking Ahead to #Election2016

Remember Abby Huntsman? She's former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's daughter.

Well, here she recycles leftist Politico reporter Todd Purdum's piece from last week, "How Republicans lose by winning":

It’s the predominant paradox of contemporary American politics: If Republicans prevail in this year’s midterm congressional elections, it will be because of their party’s sharp-edged stances on topics like abortion and Benghazi, Obamacare and immigration, gay marriage and the minimum wage — issues that energize the GOP’s core base of support.

But if Republicans lose the race for the White House in 2016, it will be because of their party’s polarizing, out-of-step stances on those very same issues, which alienate much of the broader electorate the GOP needs to win a national contest in a country whose demographics and political realities are shifting under its feet.

Look, 2016's a long way off, but I understand why leftists want to dwell on it now: The Democrats are going to take a savage beating in November, and the progressive brand --- which is literally imploding before our eyes, from public rejection of ObamaCare to bipartisan repudiation of the administration's foreign policy --- may not recover for a generation. Do Republicans have problems? Sure. But this leftist look-ahead is nothing more than political cognitive dissonance. They're being slapped in the face with the harsh reality of Democrat Party failure so it's soothing to think that they'll be saved by demographics in the next presidential election. And pathetically, even their demographic prognostications may not help. Traditional white voters (the bane of the Democrat coalition) have higher rates of turnout, constituting a larger share of the electorate than their proportion in the population, thus endangering the progressives even in presidential election years. (See National Journal, "Older White Voters Will Haunt Democrats All Year.")

Not only that, the Republicans could very well adapt to the demographic challenges they're facing, especially with younger voters (18-24 year-old Millennials despise President Obama) and Hispanics (whose warmth toward the GOP in Texas is seen as model for the national party.)

Of course, Republicans could blow all their natural advantages by nominating a candidate in 2016 who refuses to take the Democrats by the throat and kick them to the curb. Nice guys finish last, especially when the Democrats care about nothing more than raw power (literally no depth is too low for leftists, for which no character assassination can be vicious enough). You have to call their bullshit and destroy them.

The politics of desperation is all the Democrats have now and it's all they're going to have in 2016. Run strong candidates and fight them on the facts, and they will fold like a worn out accordion.

Obama Skipped a Few World Events in His Big Foreign Policy Speech at West Point

I missed this editorial Richard Engle mentioned in his comments I posted earlier.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Obama at West Point":

The speech President Obama delivered Wednesday at West Point was intended to be a robust defense of his foreign policy, about which even our liberal friends are starting to entertain doubts. But as we listened to the President chart his course between the false-choice alternatives of "American isolationism" and "invading every country that harbors terrorist networks," we got to thinking of everything that wasn't in his speech.

No mention of the Reset. "The reset button has worked," Mr. Obama avowed in a 2009 meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's figurehead president. That was the same year Mr. Obama announced in Moscow that, "The days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chessboard are over."

No mention of the Pivot or "rebalance" to Asia. This was billed by Hillary Clinton in 2011 as "among the most important diplomatic efforts of our time" and meant as proof that America's withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan wasn't simply a retreat from the world. But as assistant secretary of defense Katrina McFarland admitted in March, following the latest round of Pentagon cuts, "Right now, the pivot is being looked at again, because candidly it can't happen."

No mention of Mr. Obama's Red Line in Syria against the use of chemical weapons. No mention, either, of the ostensible success of using diplomacy to disarm Bashar Assad. The President was fond of boasting of this achievement until recently, when it emerged that Assad continues to use chlorine bombs to kill his enemies. Somehow that also didn't make it into the speech....

We know that no foreign policy speech can cover the entire world. But listening to Mr. Obama trying to assemble a coherent foreign policy agenda from the record of the past five years was like watching Tom Hanks trying to survive in "Cast Away": Whatever's left from the wreckage will have to do.

U.S. International Relations Have Not Improved Under Obama

What's amazing is that it's leftist NBC correspondent Richard Engel making the case.

At Free Beacon, "NBC Reporter: U.S. Relations Have Not Improved With a Single Nation Under Obama."



Also at NewsBusters, "NBC's Richard Engel: U.S. Relations Have Not Improved With a Single Nation During Obama Presidency." (At Memeorandum.)

University of California Seeks Increase in Community College Transfers

Good luck with that.

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "UC schools aim to enroll more community college students."

LBCC is ranked 53 among the state's community colleges, with 89 students transferring to a UC campus in 2012-13.

Traitor or Patriot? Edward Snowden Interview with Brian Williams of NBC News

Well, dirtbag traitor, of course. But a hero to the America-hating left.

At NBC, "Edward Snowden's Motive Revealed: He Can 'Sleep at Night'."

'Icy Reception' for Obama During West Point #Commencement Address

Man, even left-wing CNN just hammers the president's cowardly speech.

At Instapundit, "VIDEO: See the Reception Obama Received From the U.S. Military Academy That CNN Anchor Says Is ‘Pretty Icy’."

Just One-Quarter of West Point Cadets Give Obama Standing Ovation During #Commencement Address

Not well respected as Commander in Chief.

At London's Daily Mail, "I'm NOT WEAK: Obama answers critics in West Point speech and insists the US must lead the world by example – 'If we don't, no one else will'":

Obama receives standing ovation from less than 25% of #WestPoint cadets: report http://t.co/ds0Nbepvxz #military pic.twitter.com/b5bnaeHSOd
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) May 28, 2014

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would 'work with Congress to ramp up support for those in the Syrian opposition who offer the best alternative to terrorists and a brutal dictator.'

But the central theme of his foreign policy-heavy address was that American strength would continue to come by working through international coalitions. Obama called for diplomacy and 'multilateral action' in the face of global threats.

His prepared remarks, distributed by the White House, replaced that phrase with the words 'collective action.'

Receiving tepid applause and a short standing ovation from less than one-quarter of the audience upon his introduction, Obama argued for a contradictory foreign policy that relies on NATO and the United Nations while insisting that 'America must always lead on the world stage.'

'If we don’t, no one else will,' he insisted. But 'we require partners,' he said, using the words 'partner' or 'partnership' 16 times in his speech.

PREVIOUSLY: "Barack Obama West Point Speech 2014."

Hundreds of Migrants Storm Spain's Melilla Enclave

At Toronto's National Post, "Hundreds manage to storm across Spanish border at Melilla as 1,500 migrants charge towering barbed-wire fence."

And at Blazing Cat Fur, "Spain: meningitis alarm in Melilla migrant centre."

Exploiting Mass Murder — #Progs #UCSB #IslaVistaShooting

An outstanding Talking Points Memo from yesterday:



Also, at Blazing Cat Fur, "Rutgers Professor: Killing Spree Result of White Privilege."

The Most Anti-War Foreign Policy Doctrine in Decades

From Max Fisher, at Vox, "Obama just announced the most anti-war foreign policy doctrine in decades."

Poor Baracky's getting all beat up --- even among the far-left Obama-worshipping Vox-splainers!

No doubt President Appeasement's counting down the days until he's mercifully termed out of office.

How Could Effeminate Elliot Roger Overpower and Stab Three Men to Death?

I was wondering about this almost as soon as I'd heard the news that Rodger killed his roommates by knifing them to death.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Isla Vista returning to normal as painful questions linger":

Exactly how the rampage began remains one of the case's key mysteries. How did a physically unimposing 22-year-old manage to stab three men to death, apparently without drawing anyone's attention? Police are not releasing any details of their findings in the investigation.

On Monday, students were puzzling over how it could have happened.  "It's kind of unbelievable," said Bonan Yan, who took computer science classes with the stabbing victims.

Zhe Lu, another computer science student who knew the victims, said: "If a person was in danger for his life, I think he would try everything to escape. From a door. From a window...."

Wang's mother, Jane Liu, told KNTV-TV Channel 11 in the Bay Area that her son was upset by loud music that Rodger played in the middle of the night and had decided to find another apartment for the next school year...

Keep reading.

And at KEYT Santa Barbara, "Parents Help Students Heal from Isla Vista Mass Murders."