'Morning Joe' Panel Mocks IRS for Lost Lois Lerner Emails

They're cracking up, "MSNBC Panel Mocks and Ridicules IRS for Losing Lois Lerner Emails."

Will Iraq or Syria Survive? U.N. Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Middle East Crisis

An interview at the hard-left Democracy Now!

Brahimi takes the standard leftist line that the current crisis is all the Bush administration's fault. Doh!



And FWIW, at attack on Brahimi from 9/11 truther Thierry Meyssan, "Taking stock of Lakhdar Brahimi."

Iraqi Government Denies Loss of Baiji Refinery to #ISIS Jihadists

Well, if that ISIS video from last night is authentic, it doesn't much look like Iraq forces control much around that refinery.

But here's this from Holly Williams for CBS News "This Morning":

South Carolina DMV Makes Transgender Teen Remove Makeup Before Taking Driver's License Photo

Here we go, at the "tipping point" of the civil rights agenda.

At the New York Daily News, "DMV forces gender non-conforming South Carolina teen to remove makeup for license photo: activists."

Click through at NYDN for the selfie Culpepper took right before removing his makeup.



Also at the Los Angeles Times, "Gender group asks South Carolina to let teen wear makeup for DMV photo."

The Assassination of Nouri al-Maliki? U.S. Looks to Oust Iraqi Prime Minister

I suggested on Twitter a couple of days ago that the administration should go the Ngo Dinh Diem route. Nouri al-Maliki's been tightening his grip in defiance of Washington. But his time is up and it's not like there's no precedent for decisive action.

At the Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Signals Iraq's Maliki Should Go: The White House Is Convinced the Shiite Leader Is Unable to Reconcile With the Nation's Sunni Minority and Stabilize a Volatile Political Landscape":

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is signaling that it wants a new government in Iraq without Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, convinced the Shiite leader is unable to reconcile with the nation's Sunni minority and stabilize a volatile political landscape.

The U.S. administration is indicating it wants Iraq's political parties to form a new government without Mr. Maliki as he tries to assemble a ruling coalition following elections this past April, U.S. officials say.

Such a new government, U.S., officials say, would include the country's Sunni and Kurdish communities and could help to stem Sunni support for the al Qaeda offshoot, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, that has seized control of Iraqi cities over the past two weeks. That, the officials argue, would help to unify the country and reverse its slide into sectarian division.

No worries, of course.

The U.S. wants nothing to do with a coup against Maliki, because in reality the White House is just washing its hand of the whole affair. A violent overthrow of Maliki's regime would signal a return to America's viceroy role in Iraq. And that ain't happening. Shoot, as it is Obama's backing away from airstrikes against the insurgents. Basically, we're stuck with hashtags from here on out.

More at WSJ.

PHOTO: The body of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem (via Wikimedia Commons).

Kurdish Women Guard Against #ISIS

Well, you do what you gotta do.

From Jenan Moussa, who's reporting from Iraq:

RT @HaraldDoornbos Kurdish women in Kobani-region in Kurdish controlled N- #Syria guard their village against ISIS: pic.twitter.com/Ob0zNYlS2i

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 17, 2014

The Implosion of #Iraq

At Der Spiegel, "A Country Implodes: ISIS Pushes Iraq to the Brink":

The terror group ISIS has occupied vast portions of Syria and Iraq in the hopes of establishing a caliphate. The jihadists' success lays bare Iraq's disintegration and could ignite yet another civil war between Shiites and Sunnis in the country.

Masoud Ali, a tall, friendly man with a beard and green eyes, was a taxi driver in Mosul until a few days ago. He likes the desert, and he loves his wife and his yellow Nissan. He never paid much attention to politics until now. "Inshallah," he says. Whatever happens is God's will. But then fighters with the "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," or ISIS, overran the city of two million.

An evening curfew has been in force in Mosul since last Monday, says Ali. He and his family heard gunshots near their apartment on Tuesday, and when Ali looked outside, he saw a dead body lying on the street. Then the rumors began. "They've occupied all government buildings and the airport," said a friend. "The power station and the water works, too," a neighbor added. There were television reports of banks being robbed, the release of thousands of prisoners and the confiscation of oil wells. A day later, Masoud Ali loaded his family into his car and stepped on the gas. As they drove away, they could see police uniforms and abandoned military vehicles in the ditch. Government troops, most of them Sunnis, had surrendered to the Sunni ISIS fighters.

Ali, like most residents of Mosul, is also a Sunni. He had heard the mayor calling for the citizens of Mosul to defend themselves against ISIS. "But why should I have defended myself?" he asks. "For the Shiite government? For Prime Minister Maliki, who oppresses the Sunnis?" He shakes his head. "The conflict has escalated because people in Iraq don't like the government anymore."

Keep reading.

Nice slideshow there as well.

L.A. County Judge Denies Occidental College Request to Seal Due Process Lawsuit

This is interesting, at LAT, "Judge denies Occidental request to seal suit over expulsion."

Background at Fox News, "Good grades, good home gets college student profiled as rapist, claims lawsuit."

#ISIS Parades Through Beiji, #Iraq

An ISIS video clip, c/o AP: "Raw: ISIL Militants Parade Through Beiji."

And at Gateway Pundit, "Report: ISIS Takes Control of Baiji Oil Refinery (Video)."

VIDEO: F/A-18 Super Hornets Launch from USS George H.W. Bush Amid #Iraq Crisis

Via the U.S. Navy on YouTube:



And at WVEC-TV ABC 13 Norfolk, "USS George H.W. Bush Arrives in Persian Gulf."

Blockbuster Video: Dick and Liz Cheney on #KellyFile — 'The Collapsing Obama Doctrine'

Here's the Cheneys Wall Street Journal op-ed, "Dick and Liz Cheney: Rarely Has a U.S. President Been So Wrong About So Much at the Expense of So Many."

And from tonight's Kelly File with Megyn Kelly, the interview:

Have you read Dick and Liz #Cheney’s powerful @WSJ editorial? They’re on #KellyFile at 9p ET to talk #Obama crises. pic.twitter.com/SjdZiaQuFF

— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) June 18, 2014

Somali-Canadian Farah Mohamed Shirdon of Calgary Joins #ISIS Jihad in Iraq

Via Blazing Cat Fur, "Mosaic of Diversity Alert: Farah Mohamed Shirdon of Calgary fighting with ISIS, threatens Canada in Jihadi vid."

Washington #Redskins Trademarks Canceled

I saw this early today at Legal Insurrection, "“Redskins” trademark cancelled by USPTO as “disparaging” — Are “Negro” and “Colored” next?"

And here's the Wall Street Journal's report, "U.S. Patent Office Cancels Washington Redskins Trademarks: Federal Agency Rules Redskins Name Disparages Native Americans."

And another unhinged leftist at MSNBC, race-baiting Joy Reid, "Joy Reid 'Warns' MSNBC Viewers That 'Racial Slur' Redskins Will Be Said During Segment."

VIDEO: On the Frontline of the Battle Against #ISIS Insurgents

Ruth Sherlock reports from Tal Afar:

And at Telegraph UK, "Iraq crisis: Saddam's men return to power in city once held by US."

Unhinged #MSNBC Blowhard Ed Schultz: 'Obama's Way is Working' in #Iraq

Heh, the world is literally burning down. Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine. It all worked out just as planned, says the unhinged blowhard Ed Schultz.

It's like freakin' freak show.

At Free Beacon, "Big Eddie: ‘Obama’s Way is Working’ in Iraq."

British Glamour Model Jodie Gasson Shows Off Her Twin Peaks in Rocky Wilderness of the Desert

At Egotastic!, "Jodie Gasson Has Adventure In the Desert."

VIDEO: General David Petraeus Says #Iraq Must Defeat #ISIS Insurgency

The country need to unite against extremists and prevent a sectarian civil war.

At Telegraph UK, "General Petraeus: Iraq must unite against extremists."

Just 37 Percent of Americans Back President Obama's Handling of Foreign Policy

At the Wall Street Journal, "Poll Shows Erosion in President's Support Only 37% Back Obama's Handling of Foreign Policy, but Respondents Side With Him on Climate Change and Education."

At AoSHQ, "Chuck Todd: Given Grim Polling Showing 'Disaster' In Level of Support, Obama's Presidency is 'Over'."

Here's the video: "Chuck Todd: WSJ/NBC Poll 'Disaster for the President'."

#Iraq Battles for Control of Oil Refinery

At the Wall Street Journal, "Iraqi Government Forces Battle for Control of Major Oil Refinery Elite Counterterrorism Units Battle Islamist Rebels for Control of Baiji Refinery":

Iraq's counterterrorism units backed by other security forces and helicopter gunships were battling insurgents on Wednesday for control of the country's main oil refinery, trying to keep the fuel hub that supplies Baghdad from falling to a powerful week-old offensive by Sunni Muslim militants, Iraqi officials said.

The gunships bombarded positions of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham fighters inside the refinery in the northern city of Beiji, a state oil official said.

Two fuel-storage tanks were in flames after hours of fighting that erupted before dawn on Wednesday, when ISIS militants attacked with mortars and machine guns, another state oil official said.  The refinery's several hundred employees fled the facility as it came under the latest assault in the weeklong siege of the oil hub.

A military spokesman, Gen. Qassim Atta, insisted on Iraqiya state television that the refinery was under full government control, contradicting oil ministry officials and others who said the oil facility was at least partly in insurgent hands. By late Wednesday, ISIS fighters had retreated from the refinery complex to an adjacent compound for employees, ministry officials said.

Keep reading.

Troop Backstabber Harry Reid Dismissed Iraq War as Lost in '07: Smirks at #ISIS Bloodbath Today

The treasonous Senate Majority Leader voted for 2002's Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, but soon began stabbing American troops in the back by abandoning his support for the deployment.

Here's the New York Times report on Harry Reid from 2007, "Leading Democrat in Senate Tells Reporters, ‘This War Is Lost’." Just one more member of the cut-and-run Democrat Party of defeat.



And now the Los Angeles Times reports, "Senate leader Harry Reid rejects call for U.S. troop buildup in Iraq."

Also, see Robert Tracinski, at the Federalist, "Obama’s Wish-Fulfilling Prophecy in Iraq."