GRAPHIC VIDEO: 20 Killed as Ukraine Pounds Rebel-Held Luhansk with Artillery Shelling — #MH17

Obama today called for an "immediate cease fire" today, all the good that's going to do.

Obama calls on Russia, pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine to adhere to cease-fire for #MH17 probe. http://t.co/uJLy7piCtf

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 18, 2014

Here's this at the Independent UK, "MH17 Malaysia Airlines crash: '20 civilians killed in Luhansk' as shelling continues":

At least 20 civilians have died when shelling continued in the rebel-held city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine this morning, just hours after the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed, the Luhansk city administration has reported.

The city’s official administration said the deaths came on “another black day” where shells hit almost every district in the city as Ukraine's forces continued to advance against pro-Russian rebels.

In a statement, it said: "Today intense bombardment of Luhansk has continued. Shells are falling in almost all districts of the city. According to preliminary information, more than 20 civilians have been killed since this morning."

Shelling in the troubled eastern region also damaged an electricity substation and reduced access to water supplies after the powercut halted water pumping stations, according to the BBC.

The conflict continued as it emerged nine Britons are among the 298 passengers who died when the Boeing 777-200 was downed as it passed over the Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the neighbouring region of Donetsk on Thursday.

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Calls for ceasefire in Ukraine fall on deaf ears in wake of plane crash as at least 20 are killed in heavy shelling across country."

#MH17 Theories Focus on Russian Special-Ops Forces in Ukraine

Fareed Zakaria speculates that it's likely that Russian special-ops units in Ukraine are responsible for the downed jetliner, "U.S.: Pro-Russian separatists likely shot missile at MH17."

And also at this report from CBS News This Morning:

U.S. Officials Say 'Indicators' Show Pro-Russia Rebels Shot Down #MH17

At WSJ, "U.S.: Evidence Points Toward Separatists in Missile That Downed Airliner."

'All Roads Lead to the Russians' — U.S. Officials Say #MH17 Was Hit by Surface-to-Air Missile

At the Wall Street Journal, "Malaysia Airlines Plane Was Hit by Surface-to-Air Missile, U.S. Officials Say: 283 Passengers and 15 Crew Were on Board Flight Bound for Kuala Lumpur From Amsterdam."

US Defense official: "If the separatists shot it down, it couldn't have been done without Russian assistance." #MH17

— Julian E. Barnes (@julianbarnes) July 17, 2014

Thanks to Amazing Hot Shots Ladies

From Hot Shot Calendars:

Now the 2015 calendar girls have been chosen, and the calendar has been shot.. we'd like to thank all the amazing ladies who made it to the castings.

It was extremely hard to chose the final girls and we hope you enjoyed the ride. Hope to see you all again soon.

VIDEO: Public Health Crisis, Medical Screening Breakdown as Illegal Aliens Spread Infectious Diseases Across U.S.

The disgusting open-borders leftists are denouncing "fear-mongering," attempting to give the diseased aliens a clean bill of health.

But this investigation, at ABC-15 KNXV-TV Phoenix, indicates the public health screening system is breaking down, and that chicken pox, influenza, pneumonia, viruses, staff infections, and tuberculosis are showing up across the Southwest.

God, this is out of conrol!

Krauthammer on #MH17: The Least Obama Could Do is 'Make a Damned Decision for Once in His Life'

Oh man, Dr. K just thrashes our semi-retired president:



And you know, Mary Katharine Ham says we should drop the "semi" off "semi-retired. See, "Video: Pretty much everyone expressing dismay over White House response to world falling apart."

'Dumbass' Krystal Ball Pranked by Howard Stern Fan During Malaysian Crash Coverage

At Free Beacon, "Prank Caller Destroys MSNBC’s ‘The Cycle’."

And at Business Insider, "A Howard Stern Fan Pranked MSNBC During Malaysian Plane Crash Coverage":

MSNBC host Krystal Ball was pranked live on air Thursday during her coverage of the Malaysian flight crash in Ukraine — with an apparent fan of shock jock Howard Stern posing as a military expert only to make a crude joke and call Ball a "dumbass."

"I was looking out the window and I saw a projectile flying through the sky, and it would appear that the plane was shot down by a blast of wind from Howard Stern's ass," the prankster said.

Ball ignored the remark and continued her questioning.

"So it would appear that the plane was shot down. Can you tell us anything more from your military training of what sort of missile system that may have been coming from?" she asked.

"Boy you're a dumbass, aren't ya?" came the reply.

Yep, a true dullard, even by MSNBC's gutter-level standards.

Why #BDS Must Be Stopped

From Alan Dershowitz, for Prager University:

Dispute Over #Dodgers Games Could Be Defining Moment in Sports Programming

I've been bummed about this all season, as regular readers will recall, but what are you going to do? I get Cox Communications, and they're not budging in negotiations.

I blame the Dodgers personally, and I know they're taking a lot of heat from the fans. The owners aren't pleased, for sure, but the gods of corporate profit must be appeased. No baseball at all otherwise.

A great piece, at the Los Angeles Times, "Dodgers remain off most TVs in L.A. as dispute continues":

The Dodgers are in first place in their division and gunning for a berth in the World Series in October. But as the second half of the season begins Friday, most local fans aren't able to watch any of it on television.

Off the field no progress has been made in the standoff between Time Warner Cable, which is distributing the new Dodgers-owned channel SportsNet LA, and area pay-TV providers including DirecTV, Dish Network, Charter Communications and Cox Communications.

"It is unlikely that we are going to get a deal done," David Rone, president of Time Warner Cable Sports, acknowledged for the first time this week.

Dodgers President Stan Kasten called the situation "extremely troubling" and urged everyone to "return to the table to continue to work to try to make a deal as quickly as possible."

Before the start of the 162-game season, many observers expected that pressure from fans would force the pay-TV providers to the negotiating table, or face mass defections. That's what usually has happened in the past. But not this time.

Instead, Time Warner Cable and the providers are deadlocked in what could become a definitive moment for the world of sports programming, as the industry realizes that exorbitantly priced television deals can backfire...

Keep reading.

Summer Reading with Kate Upton

Seen on Twitter:

Kate Upton reads books, not magazines when at the beach http://t.co/2nkQb78jpx pic.twitter.com/v9OzJPVi8Q
— Robert Charette (@_Charette_) July 16, 2014

Plus, ICYMI, "Kate Upton Exclusive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Outtakes 2014."

Malaysia Flight #MH17 Downing is Major Game-Changer for International Politics

The story's still developing, especially on whether pro-Russia separatists shot down the jetliner.

At U.S. News and World Report, "The Geopolitical Fallout of a Plane Shot Down: If a plane was shot down by Russian rebels, Putin will face fallout."

Also from Duke University political scientist Peter Feaver, at Foreign Policy, "The Downed Malaysia Airlines Plane Is a Game Changer for Ukraine."

And from Julia Ioffe, at the New Republic, "The Crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Is a Game Changer":

Make no mistake: this is a really, really, really big deal. This is the first downing of a civilian jetliner in this conflict and, if it was the rebels who brought it down, all kinds of ugly things follow. For one thing, what seemed to be gelling into a frozen local conflict has now broken into a new phase, one that directly threatens European security. The plane, let's recall, was flying from Amsterdam.

For another, U.S. officials have long been saying that there's only one place that rebels can get this kind of heavy, sophisticated weaponry: Russia. This is why a fresh round of sanctions was announced yesterday. Now, the U.S. and a long-reluctant Europe may be forced to do more and implement less surgical and more painful sanctions.

Well, maybe the Europeans will step up support for Ukraine, but Obama won't do a damned thing. What, 23 Americans were on board? Meh, "it's a terrible tragedy."

More from Ioffe here.

Obama Hits Two Fundraisers in New York, Says 'Meh' to Malaysia 777 Downing, Israel's Ground War in Gaza

The dude's off to New York for campaign fundraising, as the rest of the world literally crashes and burns.

At WABC-TV New York, "OBAMA COMING TO NEW YORK TONIGHT FOR FUNDRAISERS":

#Obama has arrived in #NYC for Democratic fundraisers.
— darlene superville (@dsupervilleap) July 17, 2014

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is traveling to New York City Thursday for two campaign fundraising events during a national transportation tour.

He is scheduled to attend one event for the Democratic Party and another for the House Majority PAC, which tries to help Democrats win House seats. They are being held at separate private homes in Manhattan and are closed to media coverage.

Obama will spend about five hours in the city, arriving at Kennedy airport at 4 p.m., then heading to the fundraisers. He will return to the White House just after 9 p.m.

And at the Hill, "Obama: 'World is watching' reports of downed jetliner."

Yeah, the "world is watching, " and I'll be partying in New York, heh."

Also, at the Yeshiva World News, "Canadian PM Rebukes Obama on His Israel Stance."

Shoot, at least somebody's taking him to task!

ADDED: At Twitchy, "‘The disconnect is stunning’! Obama on #MH17: ‘Looks like it may be a tragedy’ [Vine]."

Wow. @BarackObama's entire remarks about #MalaysiaAirlines crash is basically "that sucks" & "we'll find out if there were any Americans"

— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) July 17, 2014

Malaysia Airlines Jet Shot Down Over Ukraine, More Than 300 Dead 298 Dead

The obligatory Malaysian jet shot down post.

At NDTV, "More Than 300 Dead in Malaysian Airliner Downing: Ukrainian Ministry Aide," and at Fox News, "Malaysian jetliner shot down by surface-to-air missile over Ukraine."

And at Telegraph UK, "Malaysia Airlines plane 'shot down' over Ukraine." And at Memeorandum.

Dramatic photos here.

The Left's Semi-Annual Parade of Spooky Right-Wing Phantoms

At the Other McCain, "Demons of Left-Wing Paranoia":

Over the years, the cast of characters in this Pageant of Evil has changed several times. Ten years ago, the Left was all about fighting such dreaded demons as Halliburton, Karl Rove, Big Oil and “neocons” (a liberal euphemism for EVIL GREEDY JEWS). Nowadays, the exaggerated object of imaginary fear is usually the Koch Brothers.

After a while, you notice that the list of bogeymen that liberals want you to worry about never includes actual Bad Guys — drug gangs, carjackers, child pornographers, pimps, serial killers, Islamic terrorists or dangerous foreign governments. No, it’s always some far-fetched Republican conspiracy they’re worried about. The Existential Menace to Democracy As We Know It is necessary to the campaigns of Fear and Hate by which the Party of Evil mobilizes its core constituents: Fools, thieves, radicals and perverts.

Continue reading.

Charles Krauthammer: Obama 'Clearly Attempting to Conceal Information' on Illegal #BorderInvasion

Actually, I'm really trying to understand how Obama perceives some upside to this illegal alien invasion, besides, of course, the surge of voters into the Democrat Party ranks. But that's years away even with the most optimistic legalization timetables. (To say nothing of the so far minimal evidence of illegals padding the voter rolls in Democrat constituencies in current elections, although I wouldn't put it past the Acorn Alinskyite leftists.)

A great commentary from Krauthammer:



And in case you missed, see Krauthammer's, "Immigration No-Brainer."

David Bowie Promises: 'More Music Soon'

At the Independent UK, "David Bowie has promised new music 'soon'."

He's back... http://t.co/sgiciT5XnC pic.twitter.com/WF5of4fOY2

— The Independent (@Independent) July 17, 2014

Hundreds Protest Against 'BBC Bias' in Reporting on Gaza

My goodness, and all this protesting against the far-left BBC. I guess the Murdoch-owned Sun UK has escaped the wrath of the crazy Pallies, lol!'

At the London Evening Standard, "Pro-Palestinian demonstration over BBC 'bias' in reporting of Gaza conflict."

Israeli Strike Kills Four 'Palestinian' Children in Gaza

At the Washington Post, "Israeli strike kills four children on a Gaza beach."

And at the L.A. Times, "Israelis consider ground invasion of Gaza; brief truce planned."

PHOTOS: At McAllen Border Patrol Station, 'Unaccompanied' Children Account for Less Than 20 Percent of Those Apprehended

Los Angeles Times correspondent Molly Hennessy-Fiske obtained entry to the Border Patrol station at McAllen, Texas. She reports that nearly 1,000 illegals are detained every day, but less that 20 percent of those are "unaccompanied" children.

This is not the image of the "It's for the children!" that the despicable leftists have been spinning, as I reported earlier, "It's Not 'Unaccompanied Minors': McAllen Border Station Flooded with 1000s of Adult Illegal Alien Criminals."

Here's the report, at the Times. Click the embed to view the photos:

The latest: A grim wait for migrants at Border Patrol station in McAllen, Texas http://t.co/Qc1AbleO83
— Molly Hennessy-Fiske (@mollyhf) July 17, 2014

The number of immigrants coming across the border near the southern tip of Texas, the epicenter of the crisis, has fallen recently, [Border Patrol Regional Chief Robert] Duff said. Agents are catching about 900 migrants a day crossing the Rio Grande, compared with 1,200 a day last month, he said.

The agents are seeing half as many families as before, and unaccompanied children account for less than 20% of the people being apprehended, Duff said. It's not clear why the numbers have dropped, but the Border Patrol doesn't expect the trend to last.

The station was built to house migrants temporarily, not for days at a time. Duff said the facility could hold as many as 380 people, though he acknowledged that some officials say it should be fewer. There were 350 detainees on Tuesday, the day of the tour.