VIDEO: President Barack Obama #Commencement Address at University of California, Irvine

Here's the full video, "President Obama Delivers the Commencement Address at the University of California, Irvine."

Right here at home in Irvine. Turns out he threw out the "post-partisan" script.

At CNN, "Climate change deniers ‘serious threat’ to future, Obama says."

The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker?

Seriously?

The New Republic's epic smear of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, at Althouse, "'I live in Wisconsin, and I've been following Scott Walker since the 2010 election here, and I have no idea what the 'toxic strain of racial politics' refers to. But congratulations to TNR for it's eye-catching and weird sexualization of Walker: 'Scott Walker Is So Hot Right Now' and for having the nerve to sub-head with "too bad" as you smear him with the accusation of "toxic strain of racial politics'."



Althouse subscribes to TNR and has the smear, "The Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker: A Journey Through the Poisonous World That Produced a Republican Star," on her iPad.

Obama's Rush for #Iraq Exit and Maliki's Autocratic Rule Ensured Much Hard-Won Progress Would Be Lost

From Fouad Ajami, at the Wall Street Journal, "The Men Who Sealed Iraq's Disaster With a Handshake":

Two men bear direct responsibility for the mayhem engulfing Iraq: Barack Obama and Nouri al-Maliki. The U.S. president and Iraqi prime minister stood shoulder to shoulder in a White House ceremony in December 2011 proclaiming victory. Mr. Obama was fulfilling a campaign pledge to end the Iraq war. There was a utopian tone to his pronouncement, suggesting that the conflicts that had been endemic to that region would be brought to an end. As for Mr. Maliki, there was the heady satisfaction, in his estimation, that Iraq would be sovereign and intact under his dominion.

In truth, Iraq's new Shiite prime minister was trading American tutelage for Iranian hegemony. Thus the claim that Iraq was a fully sovereign country was an idle boast. Around the Maliki regime swirled mightier, more sinister players. In addition to Iran's penetration of Iraqi strategic and political life, there was Baghdad's unholy alliance with the brutal Assad regime in Syria, whose members belong to an Alawite Shiite sect and were taking on a largely Sunni rebellion. If Bashar Assad were to fall, Mr. Maliki feared, the Sunnis of Iraq would rise up next.

Now, even as Assad clings to power in Damascus, Iraq's Sunnis have risen up and joined forces with the murderous, al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which controls much of northern Syria and the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Mosul and Tikrit. ISIS marauders are now marching on the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and Baghdad itself has become a target.

In a dire sectarian development on Friday, Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called on his followers to take up arms against ISIS and other Sunni insurgents in defense of the Baghdad government. This is no ordinary cleric playing with fire. For a decade, Ayatollah Sistani stayed on the side of order and social peace. Indeed, at the height of Iraq's sectarian troubles in 2006-07, President George W. Bush gave the ayatollah credit for keeping the lid on that volcano. Now even that barrier to sectarian violence has been lifted.

This sad state of affairs was in no way preordained. In December 2011, Mr. Obama stood with Mr. Maliki and boasted that "in the coming years, it's estimated that Iraq's economy will grow even faster than China's or India's." But the negligence of these two men—most notably in their failure to successfully negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement that would have maintained an adequate U.S. military presence in Iraq—has resulted in the current descent into sectarian civil war.

Outstanding.

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Calls for Shia Jihad."

Iraq Veteran J.R. Salzman Slams Obama — #Iraq

Brutal.

At Twitchy, "‘Why did you throw our sacrifices away?’: Vet J.R. Salzman slams President Obama."

.@BarackObama Thousands of Americans sacrificed life and limb in Iraq, and you're tweeting about student loans as it falls to terrorists?
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) June 13, 2014

I did not get an arm blown off in Baghdad so you could sit on your ass and watch Iraq fall, @BarackObama. I did my job. DO YOUR JOB.
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) June 13, 2014

And don't give us any of that "I inherited this mess" BS on Iraq. You were president the last three years of the Iraq war, @BarackObama.
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) June 13, 2014

You promised to fix the worlds problems, yet you somehow lost a war THAT WAS ALREADY WON. How is that even possible, @BarackObama?!?
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) June 13, 2014

Wolf Blitzer Interview with John McCain on Iraq's 'Existential Threat'

Heh, he wants Susan Rice fired.

Fire 'em all for that matter!

Hundreds of British Jihadis Flooding Into #Iraq

Hoisting the black flag over Iraq.

And after they're done there, they'll head back to Britain to rain down destruction on the infidels.

At London's Daily Mail, "British fanatics heading to Iraq to join ISIS militants in their HUNDREDS amid fears 'they could bring terror to UK'."

Doctors Use Forceps to Remove Cellphone Stuck Down Man's Throat

So disgusting the nurse in the background is gobsmackingly horrified. Her face says it all as a long stream of saliva drools off the phone as doctors rip the thing from deep inside the man's oral cavity.

Truly sick.

At Mirror UK.

And on YouTube, too gross to embed (and that's saying a lot), "See man with mobile phone stuck in his mouth reducing medics to laughter."

Iraqi Military Repels #ISIS Jihadis North of Baghdad

Really?

Well, we'll see how they hold up.

I expect word anytime now of Maliki fleeing to Tehran.

But see the Wall Street Journal, "Iraqi Military Makes Gains North of Baghdad in Conflict With ISIS: U.S. Moves Aircraft Carrier into Persian Gulf."

Also at Al Alam, "Iraq forces retake town north of Baghdad."

Sounds like very limited and isolated success thus far.

Check back for updates.

Obama's Appeasement Midwifes the Birth of Islamic #Caliphate In Iraq

At IBD:

Ramirez cartoon: Don't forget your golf clubs, Mr. President http://t.co/g3FPhUCodj #Iraq pic.twitter.com/0HW3yjxIID
— IBDeditorials (@IBDeditorials) June 14, 2014

From Syria to Iraq to Afghanistan to Pakistan, the jihadist dream of a caliphate stretching from the Atlantic to the Himalayas is taking shape. It's aided by a feckless foreign policy not seen since Neville Chamberlain.

As President Obama learns about it in the newspapers, the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) is dismembering Iraq, adding Saddam Hussein's birthplace of Tikrit to the list of cities once liberated by the U.S. that are now flying jihadist flags. The war on terrorism is over all right, and Obama lost it.

An American official has told The Blaze that the U.S. Embassy, United Nations and other foreign organizations with a presence in Iraq are "preparing contingency plans to evacuate employees." We might soon see helicopters on the roof of our embassy in Baghdad in a scene reminiscent of the last days of Saigon as Iraq becomes Obama's Vietnam.

Unlike Vietnam, ISIS is not interested in liberating the homeland from colonial oppressors. ISIS and other radical Islamists have long proclaimed a goal of restoring a pan-Islamic state, a caliphate that extends from the Mediterranean coast to the Iranian border. One such Islamic empire, in the seventh century, spanned the Middle East, spread to Southwest Asia, North Africa and Spain, ending with the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258.

The largest and most powerful rebel force in Syria is Jabhat al-Nusra, with 7,000 fighters. It's a branch of al-Qaida in Iraq, from which it has received regular payments.

"It's now time to declare in front of the people of the Levant and (the) world that the al-Nusra Front is but an extension of the Islamic State in Iraq and part of it," Iraqi al-Qaida leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is quoted as saying recently in a piece on AlArabiya.net.

"This (ISIS' rise in Iraq) is of great significance," according to an assessment released Wednesday by the Soufan Group, a private security company. A restored caliphate will attract "many more disaffected young people ... from all over the Muslim world, especially the Middle East, lured by nostalgia for al-Khulafa al-Islamiya (the Islamic caliphate), which remains a potent motivator for Sunni extremists."

Restoring the caliphate was the stated goal of Osama bin Laden in creating al-Qaida, but the terrorist group was never designed to take and hold territory as is ISIS, now flush with captured cash and weaponry.

"It's ISIS that will build the caliphate, not al-Qaida," says Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, who monitors jihadist activity for the Middle East Forum...

Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Calls for Shia Jihad

Following-up from yesterday, "Thousands Heed Call to Arms in #Iraq: Top Shiite Cleric Urges Defense Against Fast-Moving Sunni Insurgents, Fanning Sectarian Conflict."

Here's the clip, from Telegraph UK:



And the latest from CNN, "Iraq's leaders scramble to rally forces against militant advance."

#ISIS Claims Credit for Kidnapping Israeli Teenagers

From Algemeiner, at the link.

Terror Cell Affiliated With Bloodthirsty #ISIS Claims Responsibility for Presumed Kidnapping of Israeli Teens http://t.co/c0ZkS7B3IA #Israel
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 14, 2014

#WATCH: Nighttime search for 3 missing #Israeli teenagers. We will work day & night to bring them home http://t.co/HA6gI0kxoV
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 14, 2014

#EXCLUSIVE: Inside look at the search for 3 teens presumed kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists #BringBackOurBoys http://t.co/qco4Hi3as9
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) June 14, 2014

And from the IDF spokesman, who discounts ISIS claims.

#IDF is operating under the presumption that the 3 #Israeli teens were abducted by #Palestinian militants. Our Mission, bring them home ASAP

— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) June 14, 2014

Ukraine Army Plane Shot Down

At BCF, "Pro-Russian rebels shoot down large Ukrainian transport plane, killing dozens."

Also at AP, "Raw: Military Plane Shot Down in Ukraine."

And Russia Today (FWIW), "Ukraine military Il-76 plane downed by self-defense forces in Lugansk," and "Moment Ukraine Il-76 military transport jet shot down in Lugansk."

Bare-Faced #ISIS Executioner Shakir Wahiyib

A jihadi rock star.

Well, let's not celebrate these ghouls too much now, eh?

At Telegraph UK, "Iraq crisis: the bare faced ISIS executioner who spreads terror with his open killing":

Shakir Wahiyib is a feared enforcer for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham who does not cover up his face in videos of his killings.

In an army full of masked, black-clad figures, he is the one man who is never shy to show his face. But for those unlucky enough to cross him, the face of Shakir Wahiyib, a feared enforcer for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, is often the last they will ever see.

The star of a series of grisly jihadist videos, including one in which three men are executed after failing his "Quranic quiz", Wahiyib is one of the few publicly-identified leaders of the shadowy jihadist group that has swept through northern Iraq.

The bare faced ISIS executioner who spreads terror with his open killing http://t.co/MmlJY58A29 pic.twitter.com/D99Xfxt1o6
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 14, 2014

Whoa J-Lo!

Jennifer Lopez for Billboard magazine, looking fit and fabulous.

See, "Whoa, J.Lo! Jennifer Lopez Billboard Cover Shoot."

“@JV3GA90: Who Cover of @billboard Magazine well duh it @JLo of course showing you body for the Gods #JLoAKAjune17 pic.twitter.com/ipoZ5svTvS” 😊

— Jennifer Lopez (@JLo) June 13, 2014

Chrissie Hynde Out With Debut Solo Album

Toby Harnden retweeted Chrissie Hynde yesterday. Amazing.

At the New York Times, "Chrissie Hynde, Minus the Pretenders."

And Sydney Morning Herald, "Hard rockin' Chrissie Hynde unleashes solo album: 'I'm way past writing my break-up album'."

The album, "Stockholm," is out in vinyl (along with digital formats, naturally).

"Ignore every 'expert' who tells you that #ISIS is not al Qaeda because their leaders don't get along..."

Yes, exactly.

People keep saying that Ayman al-Zawahiri dissed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, excoriating ISIS as "too extreme" blah, blah.

The mind boggles. You can do a million point-blank executions to the back of the head, and beheadings until Kingdom come, but don't tell me murdering nearly 3,000 people on September 11 doesn't quite match up. Taking down the Twin Towers? Seriously. It's hard to get more extreme. Or, well, come back and get me when al-Baghdadi secures his own personal nukes. An atomic al-Qaeda would be pretty extreme indeed.

But see Bare Naked Islam, down at the conclusion here, "ISIS winning in Iraq despite being greatly outnumbered by 15 to 1."

'Al Qaeda Has Been Decimated...'

At White House Dossier, "Obama During Campaign: 'Al Qaeda Has Been Decimated'."

Iraq Lost Iraq

Some food for thought, from DrewM., at AoSHQ, "America Isn't 'Losing' Iraq, Iraq Is":

Obama won the 2008 election in no small part because he promised to get the US out of Iraq. John McCain lost in no small part because he famously argued we should stay "100 years" if that's what it took. The American people made their choice. To now say that having won on getting out of Iraq Obama should have instead turned around and adopted McCain's losing policy idea is absurd.

This does not absolve Obama from his negligent inaction in the face of the imminent threat presented by the still growing ISIS invasion. That's entirely on Obama and his band of national security incompetents. But the great "loss of Iraq"? That's on the Iraqis. They were given a chance to build a decent country after Saddam's removal and they squandered it.

I think it's a little more complicated (Obama "turned around" on a lot of things in national security since 2008, for example), but the bottom line on ISIS is correct.

Planned Parenthood Counsels Underage Girl in Bondage and Sadomasochism

Go to the website, from Lila Grace Rose and Live Action, "Planned Parenthood Exposed."

And Ms. Rose is interviewed by Dana Loesch, at the Blaze, "Lila Rose and Dana Loesch on Planned Parenthood Exposé ."

More from Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Planned Parenthood: BDSM advocate no longer counseling teens; Update: Live Action derides “the token firing” strategy; Update: PP lied about termination?"

Leftists Long for Saddam Hussein

From Tom Wilson, at Commentary, "Liberals Longing for Saddam":

When the invasion of Iraq took place, many left-liberal commentators—particularly those in Britain and Europe—had a curious response. Of course they detested Saddam, they assured us, but might it not be the case that Saddam—a strong man—was the only person who could govern “a place like that”? This stunning suggestion that human rights and basic freedom might not be for everyone, that some human beings are just better off under despotism, was shocking then and its shocking to consider now. But for the most part these arguments faded from discussion as a jittery democratic reality got off the ground in Iraq. What good liberal would want to consign the Iraqi people back to the dark days of Saddam? Besides, one got the impression that most of these voices weren’t actually that favorable toward the Baathist regime, they just hated the thought of the use of Western power far more.

Now, however, with Iraq descending into chaos once again—arguably as much the result of the strength of Islamism as the weakness of democracy—these “liberals” are dusting off those old arguments and wheeling them back out in another attempt to bamboozle a public they’ve already spent over a decade misleading. Yet, one voice has gone much further. Chris Maume, an editor at the UK Independent, who by all accounts spent much time in Iraq during the glory days of Saddam, not only takes this opportunity to sow doubts about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, but even does so by mounting the most astonishing defense of life under Saddam.

Whitewashing the poverty suffered by most Iraqis compared to the obscene wealth enjoyed by the Saddam’s ruling clan, Maume reflects, “Baghdad was noisy and mucky and full of building sites, but it was bustling and thriving. There wasn’t a huge amount in the shops, but people had all they needed to get by.” Perhaps they did, but you can’t imagine writers for the Independent ever insisting that the underprivileged in Western countries have long “had all they needed to get by.”

Maume writes particularly glowingly about the healthcare available in Iraq, as well as the order and stability compared to today. Back in the good old days it was “a fully functioning state in which it was possible to live a fulfilled life.” Of course Maume wouldn’t be so callous as not to spare a thought for Saddam’s victims; “If you were Kurdish, or a dissident, life wasn’t like that, and I’m not suggesting for a second that we should forget their suffering. But by and large, life was OK in Saddam’s dictatorship.” And of course to the estimated 180,000 Kurds murdered by Saddam, one should also add the oppression of the marsh Arabs. But it sounds as if Maume accepts what happened to them as the price for the “benefits” that other Iraqis enjoyed under Saddam. And yet it isn’t hard to think of other despotic regimes where, provided you weren’t the wrong ethnic group, perhaps for a time life was perfectly pleasant for everyone else...

Keep reading.

Not only did leftists long for Saddam, they longed for --- and actively worked toward --- U.S. defeat in Iraq. And seeing the sheer ideological blindness of leftists blaming the Bush administration for the current crisis is almost beyond belief. It's staggering even. Erik Loomis had this yesterday, for example, "The next few days (weeks?) are going to be insane. Can we make a running list of writers to never take seriously again after they claim the U.S. should send troops to Iraq or attack Obama for withdrawing those troops?"

"Never take seriously." That would be any leftist discussing national security.