How Long Does America Have?

From Robert Wargas, at PJ Media, "Every week this country is consumed in a new distended orgy of polarized, mutual hatred, set against the backdrop of outrage mobs, race riots, shuttered businesses, scandals, Twitter-induced career ruination, gleeful smear parties, and partisan hackery."

It's interesting how the left's homosexual culture war is always indicated in the anarchic breakdown of the inner cities. It's like there's a common thread or something. See, "There Is a 'Real Case' Against Homosexual Marriage. But Nowadays Very Few Are Willing to Make It."

Praying for Peace in America

From Alyssa Lafage, on Twitter:

Going to bed, praying for peace. My heart breaks for this country and how divided we've become. There has to be a better way. 💔

— Alyssa Lafage (@AlyssaLafage) April 28, 2015

Baltimore Rioters Cut Water Hose Used by Firefighters to Extinguish Fire

At CNN, "Rioters cut water hose trying to put out fire."

And at London's Daily Mail:

Masked rioter caught on live TV cutting firefighters’ hose http://t.co/8DYH43XVPa #BaltimoreRiots pic.twitter.com/G9EnsurfAJ

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) April 28, 2015

The thug who cut the fire hose putting firefighters in danger @BaltimoreOEM @BaltimorePolice #BaltimoreRiots pic.twitter.com/PSnvPY1XYK

— Photographer (@Eastcoastphotog) April 28, 2015

Baltimore Rioting: 'Visual Analogy of the Obama Presidency'

From the incomparable Pamela Geller, on Twitter:

Watching #BaltimoreRiots livestream is a visual analogy of the Obama presidency; lawless, vicious, violent, destructive, no law and order

— Pamela Geller (@PamelaGeller) April 27, 2015

Plus, the Baltimore Sun has pulled its subscription gate in the public interest. See, "Riots erupt across West Baltimore, downtown."

Also, "Latest updates on the Baltimore riots and Freddie Gray case Live."

There Is a 'Real Case' Against Homosexual Marriage. But Nowadays Very Few Are Willing to Make It

I don't think anyone seriously doubts that the Supreme Court is on the verge of announcing a national constitutional right to homosexual marriage. Oral arguments begin this week, so there's a lot of new commentary coming out.

But as readers of this blog will recall, I've basically thrown in the towel on this fight --- at least in its current iteration.

The left's culture warriors have won on same-sex marriage. Perhaps there'll be a period of experimentation on the issue, and it's possible that the Court could craft a decision that includes some element of federalism, but mostly we're simply past the moral turning point. In the popular culture, and among the younger demographics, traditional values hold no sway. Frankly, a lot of ignorance and rank stupidity do hold sway, but most leftist arguments aren't intellectual, in any case. They're emotional. And with polls showing that Americans have warmed to the idea of expanding the definition of what's a "civil right," it's simply a fact that "marriage" as it's been understood for millennia will no longer exist. As long as people are programmed to do as they please, with allegedly no individual or social consequences, marriage as the biological regenerative basis of societal reproduction simply can't compete. Again, time will tell if the damaging effects of such change force a cultural reaction to literally save society as we know it, but either way, it ain't gonna be pretty.

In any case, Politico's got a piece up from far-left law professor John Culhane, "There's No Real Case Against Gay Marriage" (at Memeorandum). Culhane, who's a regular columnist at Slate, argues that conservatives are fighting a rear-guard action, designed to fear-monger the Court, warning against the epic damage to come if the justices grant a national right to homosexual licentiousness. Culhane flippantly brushes away these arguments, claiming them to be repudiated and "eviscerated." Actually, they have not been, because the left uniformly brings its own favorable research to bear while simultaneously ignoring or dismissing ideologically conflicting findings as "methodologically unsound." What Culhane does not mention, of course, is that the left's homosexual marriage steamroller has explicitly sought to destroy any and all opponents of the same-sex agenda by any means necessary. It's been an all-out cultural war since Proposition 8 passed in California, for sure. The left has used fascist intimidation, lies and deception, judicial misconduct, and simple political realpolitik opportunism to bring the debate to the critical mass of public approval of moral degeneracy.

Think back over the past few years of cultural conflict. In 2008, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton claimed that marriage was an historic institution embedded in the sacred union of one man and one woman for the moral rebirth of the family. Nowadays, not so much. And California's majority vote in 2008 to secure the traditional standing of marriage in the state constitution? Swept away by the federal courts and homosexual judges with massive conflicts of interest, ethics or standards be damned. Popular culture? "Duck Dynasty" is still going strong, having beaten back a vicious jihad by the left's culture warriors, and for what? The depraved Hollywood hedonist culture keeps marching on. Chick-fil-A? The company's stronger than ever. But the leftist Obama-enabling state media continues to demonize those who stand for old-fashioned values. The list goes on. In short, traditional culture has been affirmed again and again as the ugly fascist homosexual left revealed its true diabolical agenda. Screw families. If your kid is traditional he or she will be kicked out of school. Screw religion. Biblical teachings have been redefined as "hate speech." Screw science. You're not down with transgender "women" using public restrooms with your pre-teen little girl? Hater!

I've made the case against homosexual marriage for years. (Check the archives. Try various searches.) These days, I rarely see very many new arguments under the sun. The fact is America has abandoned God-given moral standards. The left has destroyed the fundamental idea of right and wrong in the name of touchy-feely political correctness that's turned the country into a barren wasteland of abomination. And that's just what the regressive left wants. Leftists seek to destroy traditional America and bring about the Gramscian Marxist collective of the wretched and deranged. They're succeeding. And society's becoming more polarized by the day. Regular Americans --- the silent majority --- will increasingly abandon statist conceptions of the public good and retreat into family and small communities to escape the tyranny of the leftist regime foisted by the Democrats and the Washington political class. We'll see a growing "Hunger Games" politics with increasing resistance in the states (the "districts"), and ultimately a revolution of values that will rend the country along lines so divisive the import will be tantamount to a new civil war. And even then, there'll be no guarantee of change or improvement. Perhaps enough traditionalists who decide to "go Galt" will force an apocalyptic moment on the political class. Maybe we'll see a constitutional revolution, with perpetual demands for an Article 5 convention. Perhaps we'll have a "double-dip" recession to make 2008-2010 look like the good old days. No doubt regular folks will proudly announce they're clinging to their guns and religion, and they'll proclaim they're willing to die for their God-given rights. Rioting will further become a permanent feature of Obama's America, and those of his Democrat Party successors. This is the future that's coming, thanks to the destructive politics of the radical left hordes and their take-no-prisoners social war that's now reached a head this week.

In any case, Culhane cites and dismisses the "amicus brief of 100 scholars of marriage," but it seems clear that should conservative forces lose this year, a cataclysmic moment will have been reached. Get in, sit down, and shut up. We're in for a ride.

And see the Public Discourse, "Redefining Marriage Would Put Kids of Heterosexuals at Risk":

The metamorphosis of marriage from a gendered to a genderless institution would send the message that society no longer needs men to bond to women to form well-functioning families or to raise happy, well-adjusted children. That would be bad news for children of heterosexuals on the margins: the poor, the relatively uneducated, the irreligious, and others who are susceptible to cultural messages promoting casual or uncommitted sex.

*****

Marriage is a complex social institution that, like all social institutions, regulates and encourages certain human behaviors. Without effective social institutions, no amount of law and law enforcement can make a society function properly. Marriage reinforces particular values and actions that benefit society, both broadly and individually. As Professor Amy Wax has observed: “Marriage’s long track record as a building block for families and a foundation for beneficial relations between the sexes suggests that ordinary people desperately need the anchor of clear expectations, and that they respond to them.” Or, as the Sixth Circuit put it, at least some citizens “may well need the government’s encouragement to create and maintain stable relationships within which children may flourish.”

That is why states have traditionally supported man-woman marriage, an institution that has historically and universally been linked to procreation, marking the boundaries where sexual reproduction is socially commended. This underlying message helps achieve a principal purpose of marriage: any children born will have a known mother and father who have the responsibility to care for them. Even ancient Greek and Roman societies understood this. Despite encouraging same-sex intimate relations, they limited marriage to man-woman unions.

Of course, marriage provides benefits to adults as well. But these are secondary to the main purpose of an institution that, in the words of revered psychologist Bronislaw Malinowski, is “primarily designed by the needs of offspring, by the dependence of the children upon their parents.” Indeed, as the religious skeptic Bertrand Russell candidly observed, “But for children, there would be no need for any institution concerned with sex.”

From this purpose—ensuring the care of any children born to man-woman unions—flow several specific secular norms, norms that are “taught” and reinforced by the man-woman definition and understanding of marriage:

1. Biological Bonding and Support: Where possible, every child has a right to be reared by and to bond with her biological father and mother. And every child has a right, whenever possible, to be supported financially by the man and woman who brought the child into the world.

2. Gender Diversity: Where possible, a child should be raised by a mother and a father who are committed to each other and to the child, even where he cannot be raised by both biological parents.

3. Postponement: Men and women should postpone procreation until they are within the committed, long-term relationship of marriage. This is alternatively called the “responsible creation” or “channeling” norm.

4. Valuing Procreation/Child-Rearing: Within the protection and stability of marriage, the creation and rearing of children are socially valuable.

5. Exclusivity: For the sake of their children, men and women should limit themselves to a single procreative partner.

All of these specific norms are grounded in and support the more general norm of child-centricity: Parents and prospective parents should give the interests of their children—present and future—equal if not higher priority than their own.

Common sense and social science show that these norms provide immense benefits to children, their parents and society. In short, children generally do best emotionally, socially, intellectually, and economically when reared in an intact home by both biological parents. More specifically, as the brief documents in detail, compared to any other family structure, children raised by their biological, married parents are less likely to commit crimes, experience teen pregnancy, have multiple abortions, engage in substance abuse, suffer from mental illness, or do poorly in school. They are also more likely to support themselves and their own children in the future. No other parenting arrangement comes close (on average) to that of a child’s biological, married mother and father.

This is true because of the power of the norms stemming from man-woman marriage. For instance, biological bonds between parents and their child deepen their investments in their relationships with each other and with the child. Further, having both a mother and a father provides crucial gender diversity for a child’s social and emotional development. As famed anthropologist (and atheist) Margaret Mead noted: “One of the most important learnings for every human child is how to be a full member of its own sex and at the same time fully relate to the opposite sex. This is not an easy learning; it requires the continuing presence of a father and a mother.”

Vibrant child-centricity and biological support norms lead to less physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and divorce. And parents who embrace the procreative exclusivity norm are unlikely to have children with multiple partners—a phenomenon that leads to social, emotional and financial difficulties for children and their mothers. Similarly, people who embrace the postponement norm are less likely to have children without a second, committed parent—another well-established predictor of psychological, emotional and financial heartache.

On the other hand, a culture that largely rejects the social value of creating and rearing children jeopardizes a society’s ability to reproduce itself. It is thus not surprising that some courts have deemed man-woman marriage “the fundamental unit of the political order … [for] the very survival of the political order depends upon the procreative potential embodied in traditional marriage.”

More at the link.

And check for updates at Memeorandum.

Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism

I'm reminded of Joshua Muravchik's classic book on socialism, what, with all the Millennial Marxist agitation these days.

At Amazon,  Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism.

The Tax Burden Rises

At WSJ, "The share of income paid by workers keeps rising":

Your government hopes you haven’t noticed, but if you live in a developed country there’s a good chance your taxes have gone up over the past four years. That’s the conclusion from the OECD’s latest “Taxing Wages” report, which finds the average worker paid a higher proportion of income in tax in 2014 than in 2010.

The average total “tax wedge” is the difference between the gross cost to a company of employing one person and what that worker takes home after income tax and employee and employer social insurance taxes. The OECD finds that this wedge stood at 36% in 2014, up 0.1 percentage points from 2013 for its 32 member countries. The average tax burden was 35% in 2010. The burden increased in 23 OECD member countries in 2014, though no country increased marginal tax rates.

Governments were able to make this tax grab on the sly thanks in part to bracket creep. As nominal income rises, a taxpayer can find himself in a higher tax bracket even if inflation means his purchasing power hasn’t increased at the same pace. Rising nominal incomes also diminish the relative value of personal allowances and deductions that generally don’t keep up with inflation, and in some cases were reduced.

As a result, an increase of only 0.3% in inflation-adjusted earnings was enough to increase the average Finn’s tax wedge by 0.84 percentage points to 43.9%. Japanese workers were even worse off as modest nominal wage increases pushed them into higher tax brackets while faster inflation left them with less purchasing power: Inflation-adjusted earnings fell by 1.9% but the average tax wedge rose 0.29 percentage points to 31.9%, ranking 21st on the list. Belgium’s 55.6% tax wedge puts it at the top of the rankings, with Chile’s 7% wedge is at the bottom.

The OECD provides a useful public service by including social-insurance taxes on workers and employers in these rankings. These contributed significantly to the bigger tax wedges in countries such as Canada, where social charges amounted to nearly half of the 0.52 percentage point increase to 31.5%, tying America at 22nd. Politicians like to present these levies as “contributions,” but the sooner voters recognize them for the income taxes they are, the better.

Americans saw their inflation-adjusted wages increase 1%, and their tax wedge increased 0.11 percentage points to 31.5% last year. This is still lower than most of Europe. Americans also don’t pay the steep value-added taxes that European welfare states use to finance themselves, and which aren’t included in this study.

But American taxes on labor already are edging higher without statutory rate increases since 2013, even before the full burden of ObamaCare’s subsidies arrives. Only Britain, Ireland and Switzerland have tax wedges lower than America’s among OECD countries, and most European countries tax labor at 40% or above...

Still more.

These statist incursions never seem to abate, do they?

Kate Bock, Über Canadian

This lady's hardcore!

Soft-on-Crime Leftists Lobby Against Efforts to Roll Back Proposition 47

Pretty soon no one will be put behind bars.

Sheesh.

At LAT, "Different kind of crime-victim group lobbies against rolling back Prop. 47":

Albania Morales stood behind the coffin-shaped placard that bore her dead husband's face, practically eclipsed by her political prop. Ricardo Avelar-Lara died last November in Los Angeles, shot by sheriff's deputies.

I am a crime victim, Morales said: I saw the officers kill him.

Morales was taking part this week in a rally with a twist: She and other self-described crime victims were not backed by the usual law enforcement groups. And the last thing they wanted was for California to get tougher on crime.

Morales was joined by former inmates, families of people in prison, those who had lost loved ones to murder. The participation of traditional crime-victim groups that for 26 years occupied the Capitol lawn for this annual event had been called off.

Organizers of this week's activities say theirs is a truer reflection of what a victim is, their goals a more accurate representation of what crime victims want and need. Last fall, the group masterminded Proposition 47, the law that removed most felony penalties for drug use and minor theft.

They are now lobbying against efforts to roll back portions of the law and in support of redirecting corrections spending toward trauma services for victims and alternatives to incarceration for criminals.

Criminal justice experts say that agenda is part of a national shift in the public safety debate, one that focuses more on conflicts between communities of color and the criminal justice system, including abuses of force by police and lengthy prison sentences.

"That static idea of a victim of crime as somebody attacked by a stranger, and as somebody who is white … is becoming an obsolete thought," said Mai Fernandez, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime in Washington, D.C.

"The reality is a lot of crime in the United States happens in communities of color," she said. "A person can be a victim at one point, and they turn around and perpetrate a crime."

Representatives of traditional crime-victim groups are appalled by the blurring of lines between victim and criminal.

"To use the term 'victim' so freely is kind of offensive to me," said San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Michael Ramos, who is planning to run for state attorney general.

Ramos drew a distinction between the family members of murder victims he had consoled on the morning before the rally and some of those recruited to the event. He accused the organizers of co-opting the definition of crime victim for political purposes.

The rally was held by Californians for Safety and Justice, a group spawned by foundations that include the Ford Foundation and the California Endowment, and by New York hedge fund mogul George Soros. The group began recruiting people to speak out as crime victims shortly after it was formed, to help press for new criminal justice policies.

The effort focused on reducing penalties for drug use and other nonviolent crimes, and the foundations directed $14 million in grants to community groups that then campaigned for or otherwise supported Proposition 47. Law enforcement associations and traditional crime-victim groups opposed the measure.

Beginning in 2013, the organization assembled advocates to provide an alternative to views voiced for more than two decades at the Capitol rallies held by Crime Victims United of California. The annual event was hosted by the state's prison guard union, and often the governor attended.

Harriet Salerno, the mother of a murder victim and founder of Crime Victims United, canceled this year's gathering out of concern that it would be marked by confrontation. At the past two rallies, she said, those showing support for police were harassed.

"I don't need to be abused," Salerno said.

She also bridled at criticism from leaders of Californians for Safety and Justice that the previous rallies gave little voice to minority victims with complicated stories of crime and violence.

The speakers for Californians for Safety and Justice this week included Dionne Wilson, the wife of a slain police officer who now regrets advocating for the death penalty against her husband's killer and became the lead voice for crime victims supporting Proposition 47.

Other speakers were a woman pushed into prostitution as a child and a rape victim who said most prison inmates are themselves victims of crimes.

In a series of Sacramento workshops over the last year, they have urged people to lobby for changes in the justice system, including reduced spending on prisons. The motto of this week's rally was "Remember. Recover. Reform."

More.

Reason's Damon Root on the Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court

This guy's good, "VIDEO: Should the Supreme Court Allow Us to 'Go to Hell'?"

Homosexual Businessman Who Hosted Ted Cruz Event Grovels in Apology Before Gay Fascist Overlords

At NYT, "Gay Businessman Who Hosted Cruz Event Apologizes."

And ICYMI, "Ted Cruz Is Guest of Two Gay Businessmen."

And at NYDN, "Boycott fires up after gay NYC hoteliers host Sen. Ted Cruz event," and at Bloomberg, "Ted Cruz Campaign Battles 'Intolerant' Boycott of Gay Men Who Hosted Him in New York."

Also, at PuffHo, "Mati Weiderpass And Ian Reisner, Gay Businessmen, Face Controversy Over Hosting Ted Cruz."

Gay businessman apologizes for hosting Ted Cruz event http://t.co/hKdbRD4EKl
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) April 27, 2015

Nepal's Seismic Time Bomb

At LAT, "Katmandu's poorly constructed buildings worsen quake outcome":

An exploding urban population that led to taller and often poorly constructed buildings, along with an unusually hazardous combination of geological conditions, had for years prompted warnings from scientists that the Katmandu Valley of Nepal was a seismic time bomb waiting to go off.

Saturday morning, it did.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake and a magnitude 6.6 aftershock toppled buildings, set off a destructive avalanche on Mt. Everest and killed at least 1,805 people Saturday afternoon. That number is projected to rise as high as 10,000.

Brian Tucker, president of GeoHazards International, a California-based nonprofit that works with vulnerable communities to reduce the risks of natural disasters, spent much of the 1990s in Nepal. He was assessing what would happen if there was a reoccurrence of the magnitude 8.2 earthquake that struck the area in 1934 and left more than 10,000 dead in the Katmandu Valley. The analysis projected 40,000 deaths if a similar temblor occurred.

Others who have studied quake risks in the area more recently predicted a death toll of 100,000 or more from a large earthquake, including Roger Bilham, a professor of geology at the University of Colorado who studies Himalayan seismic activity. Just days ago, Bilham spoke to seismologists gathered in Pasadena about the risks of a major quake elsewhere in the Himalayan range. Bilham said the area west of Katmandu has been overdue for a temblor of around magnitude 8.

"Unfortunately, now it's happened, and it's a tragedy beyond belief," he said.

The area has a history of frequent seismic activity, although events as large as the one that occurred Saturday happen about once every 80 years, said Ole Kaven, a research geophysicist with U.S. Geological Survey.

Unlike the earthquakes that typically strike California, with two plates sliding past each other horizontally, the earthquake in Nepal was caused by a thrust fault, in which two plates collide. The fault also is shallow, meaning that the shaking occurs near the surface, rather than deep in the earth.

U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones said faults like the one that caused this earthquake are most often found under water and can produce devastating tsunamis. But the Himalayan region is different.

"This is the one place where we have a lot of people living on top of a megathrust," she said...

More.

Also at WSJ, "How the Nepal Earthquake Happened."

Fascinating explanation of the Nepal earthquake http://t.co/4kO40qGPDR pic.twitter.com/dvMbdYdRbz

— LaurenceWitherington (@LaurenceWSJ) April 27, 2015

Mad Max: Fury Road (Official Trailer)

Thinking back, "The Road Warrior" is my favorite of the Mel Gibson-era "Mad Max" franchise. It's so cool!

I suspect Gibson's a little out of shape for these post-apocalyptic workouts, so I'm looking forward to the new iteration.

Baltimore Erupts Into Violence, Chaos as #BlackLivesMatter Riots Rage

I love that headline, via Big Government, "BALTIMORE, Maryland — Racial protests supposed to be peaceful quickly turned into violent riots on Saturday evening, closing down the city of Baltimore for some time—and creating a panic for thousands of people as just 50 miles away elites in Washington partied with President Barack Obama at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner."

Shock Video: Wheelchair-Bound Woman Under Attack During Baltimore Riot!

God, it's like Road Warrior out there!

You are on your own mofos!

At Big Government, "VIDEO: WHEELCHAIR-BOUND WOMAN IN PATH OF BALTIMORE RIOT’S THROWN PROJECTILES":

A shocking video of Saturday’s violent riots in Baltimore, Maryland show an individual shielding a handicapped woman caught in the sights of a mob throwing bottles, trash cans, and other objects at random bar patrons.

Watch at the link.

Shocking leftist depravity!

Obama's Racial Healing in Baltimore

On Twitter this morning:

AP photo of my friend nearly getting slashed yesterday outside of Camden Yards. pic.twitter.com/5qvQqJRD2a

— Joe Giglio (@JoeGiglioSports) April 26, 2015

And on Twitter November 2014:

My favorite part about the Obama era is all the racial healing.

— jon gabriel (@exjon) November 24, 2014

Free at last.

The End of Reform in China

Here's a great piece from the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, from Youwei, "Authoritarian Adaptation Hits a Wall":

Speech is censored, in the press and on the Internet, to prevent the publication of anything deemed “troublesome.” Actions are watched even more closely. Even seemingly nonpolitical actions can be considered dangerous; in 2014, Xu Zhiyong, a legal activist who had led a campaign for equal educational opportunities for the children of rural migrants, was sentenced to four years in prison for “disturbing public order.” Public gatherings are restricted, and even private gatherings can be problematic. In May 2014, several scholars and lawyers were detained after attending a memorial meeting for the 1989 movement in a private home. Even the signing of petitions can bring retribution.


Just as important is the emerging mass line—that is, official public guidance—about China’s critical need to maintain stability. A grid of security management has been put in place across the entire country, including extensive security bureaucracies and an extra-bureaucratic network of patrol forces, traffic assistants, and population monitors. Hundreds of thousands of “security volunteers,” or “security informants,” have been recruited among taxi drivers, sanitation workers, parking-lot attendants, and street peddlers to report on “suspicious people or activity.” One Beijing neighborhood reportedly boasts 2,400 “building unit leaders” who can note any irregularity in minutes, with the going rate for pieces of information set at two yuan (about 30 cents). This system tracks criminal and terrorist threats along with political troublemakers, but dissenters are certainly among its prime targets.


In today’s China, Big Brother is everywhere. The domestic security net is as strong yet as delicate as a spider web, as omnipresent yet as shapeless as water. People smart enough to avoid politics entirely will not even feel it. Should they cross the line, however, the authorities of this shadow world would snap into action quickly. Official overreaction is a virtue, not a vice: “chopping a chicken using the blade for a cow,” as the saying goes, is fully approved, the better to prevent trouble from getting out of hand.


This system is good at maintaining order. But it has reduced the chances of any mature civil society developing in contemporary China, let alone a political one. And so even as grievances proliferate, the balance of power between the state and society leans overwhelmingly toward the former. Social movements, like plants, need space in which to grow. And when such space does not exist, both movements and plants wither.


More.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Vile Leftist Rania Khalek: Did Israel Learn from #NepalEarthquake 'how to kill better'?

Never a dull moment with the Israel-hating left.

And notice how there's never any pushback from Democrats and progressives. These poeple, Khalek and her disgusting pal Max Blumenthal, are the voice of the party.

At Twitchy, "‘Vile slander’: Rania Khalek wonders if Israel is helping Nepal to ‘learn from the earthquake how to kill better’."

Idea for a game. "Who buried these people in the rubble: Israel or an earthquake?" #NepalEarthquake #gaza #hasbara pic.twitter.com/rvjNxlY6eX

— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) April 26, 2015

Nepal Warns Earthquake Death Toll Could Reach 10,000 — #NepalEarthquake

At London's Daily Mail, "Faces of the missing: Nepalese officials warn death toll of devastating quake could hit 10,000 as scores of American families are among the thousands searching for those still unaccounted for."

Plus, huge coverage at the Los Angeles Times, "Massive quake hits Nepal."

Caroline Heldman reports that her mountain climbing sister has been found safe:

My sister @Heldman is alive, are well as her fellow trekkers! They are trapped above an avalanche in the #Langtang region. #NepalEarthquake

— Caroline Heldman (@carolineheldman) April 26, 2015

PLEASE SHARE: My sister Kat Heldman is missing at Mt. Gangchempo in Nepal. Anyone there seen her? #NepalEarthquake pic.twitter.com/ElTu7ol8Ps

— Caroline Heldman (@carolineheldman) April 25, 2015

Thank God.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Lonely Con, "Saturday Funnies," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up..."

And see Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Flying Squirrel."