Damage Control: Planned Parenthood Hires Crisis Communications Firm

The left's abortion Holocaust industry leader, in damage control mode.

At Politico:

Planned Parenthood has hired high-profile Washington public relations firm SKDKnickerbocker as it scrambles to deal with the ongoing scandal and release of a third undercover video Tuesday showing a clinic’s staff handling fetal tissue after an abortion.

The additional PR firepower reflects the growing pressure on the women’s health organization amid building GOP calls to cut its $540 million in government funding. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) earlier this week called to halt Planned Parenthood’s federal funding while Congress investigates whether the organization broke a federal ban on profiting from fetal tissue donation. The Senate plans to hold a vote on a defunding amendment from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and others that is likely to fail.

SKDKnickerbocker is no newbie to working on Planned Parenthood issues. The Democratically aligned firm is run by well-connected operatives, including Anita Dunn and Hilary Rosen. It also worked with the group during the 2012 election cycle, according to SKDKnickerbocker’s website...

Well, Anita "Mao Tse" Dunn is no slouch at damage control, to say nothing of Hilary "Ann Romney Stay-at-Home Mom" Rosen.

More at Memeorandum.

EARLIER: "Grisly New Video Shows Doctor Harvesting Aborted Baby Parts for Planned Parenthood Black Market."

Kate Moss for Love Magazine

On Twitter, "Kate Moss by David Sims wears Balmain Fall/Winter 2015 Lace Body Look 10 styled by @kegrand for @THELOVEMAGAZINE."

More from photographer Katie Eleanor Grand, on Twitter.

And from Drunken Stepfather, "KATE MOSS FOR LOVE MAGAZINE OF THE DAY."

Charlotte McKinney: They're Real. And They're Spectacular (VIDEO)

Watch, at GQ, "Charlotte McKinney: The 5 Things I Say When I'm Asked If They're Real."

BONUS: At the link, "CHARLOTTE MCKINNEY TOPLESS ON INSTAGRAM! Blonde bombshells blonde bombshells!" Also at WWTDD, "Charlotte McKinney Topless on Instagram."

Britain's Lord Sewel Resigns House of Lords After Snorting Cocaine with Two Hookers (VIDEO)

He's a former Labour peer.

The story first broke at the Sun UK, "Lord Coke: Top peer’s drug binges with £200 prostitutes ... And he’s the the one in charge of standards."

More at Sky News, "Lord Sewel Steps Down From House of Lords."

And at Telegraph UK, "Lord Sewel resigns and faces police inquiry after 'snorting cocaine with prostitutes'."

Grisly New Video Shows Doctor Harvesting Aborted Baby Parts for Planned Parenthood Black Market

Good timing.

From The Center for Medical Progress, "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE #PPSellsBabyParts EX-CLINIC WORKER REVEALS PROFIT MOTIVE IN PLANNED PARENTHOOD BABY PARTS SALES, VP MEDICAL DIRECTOR PRICES BODY PARTS ..."

Also at Live Action, "BREAKING: New undercover video shows sorting of aborted baby parts at Planned Parenthood."

Conservatives Harden Opposition to the Export-Import Bank

I've gotta confess, this debate over the Ex-Im bank is completely esoteric. I mean, what does this bank even do? And I guess that's it. Total establishment cronyism.

At Foreign Policy, "Ahead of Friday Deadline, Conservatives Harden Opposition to the Export-Import Bank":

The fate of the Export-Import Bank, a key funding source for small businesses that want to do business abroad, and whose charter expired at the beginning of July, will soon be in the hands of the House of Representatives. Conservative lawmakers there are now preparing to buck their party’s mainstream in an attempt to kill something the White House and U.S. businesses say is necessary to stay competitive globally.

If this sounds familiar, it should.

A similar scenario played out in June, during the debate about fast track trade authority, something President Barack Obama and GOP leadership said was needed to push through trade bills like the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Conservative Republicans teamed up with some Democrats, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a close ally of the White House, to delay its passage. Obama ultimately got what he wanted when the renegade Democrats, boxed in by their leader, relented and voted for fast track.

This time, however, conservative members of the GOP and those affiliated with the Tea Party are on their own. Populist Democrats who initially rejected Obama on trade in this case support the bank, known as the Ex-Im. During a rare Sunday vote, senators voted 67 to 26 to attach the bank’s reauthorization to the highway bill, which faces a Friday deadline. The highway bill either has to pass by then, the House could vote on for a five-month extension, or some other compromise must be reached.

But that doesn’t mean Republicans can’t slow down the process. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wants the bank reauthorized. But House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday he would not bring the bill to the floor of the lower chamber. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, also has said he would not support the bill...

More.

Donald Trump Sells New York Penthouse for $21 Million

Twenty-one million doesn't go that far in presidential politics, so maybe this is just the beginning of an asset selloff for Trump. He's gonna need lots more liquid cash if he's going to contest the primaries all the way through next June.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Located on the 24th floor of the 32-story building, the 6,200-square-foot condo has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms."

RELATED: At Politico, "Donald Trump’s cash will only take him so far in 2016":

The Donald has pledged to self-fund his campaign, but his cash position isn’t even close to what he would need to make it to the White House.

Rising Costs Strike at German Competitiveness

At WSJ, "Companies grapple with labor expenditures that threaten growth, investment in Europe’s largest economy":

FRANKFURT—Spiraling German labor costs are starting to undermine the country’s famed competitiveness, threatening to hurt economic growth and investment in Europe’s largest economy.

Propelled by a healthy economy and record-low unemployment, labor costs here are rising fast, as the government has further tightened its grip on the labor market, driving up companies’ wage bills.

Official German data published this month showed that real wages in the first quarter rose at their fastest rate since late 1992, when wages in East Germany shot up following the country’s unification, and much faster than the eurozone as a whole.

German businesses say they are feeling the pinch, but in Berlin, politicians have ignored a trend economists and managers warn that, if left unchecked, will hit growth and employment levels.

“Rising labor costs is the most critical issue,” said Martin Kapp, the chief executive at machine-tool maker KAPP Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH, who said he expects increases in personnel expenses, which include wages as well as contributions to social insurance, retirement and health care, among other costs, to rise about 30% over the next 10 years...

Keep reading.

Cecile Richards Defends Planned Parenthood Selling Aborted Baby Body Parts, Calls Pro-Lifers Killers

From Steve Ertelt, at Life News.

I was going to post the video, but ABC News yanked the interview from its YouTube page. Which is strange, because it was up there on Sunday.

BONUS: From Mollie Hemingway, at the Federalist, "The 4 Most Embarrassing Things Cecile Richards Said In Defense of Planned Parenthood."

Ford Bets on Super-Duper Class of Pickups

I love the new Ford 150, from what I've seen on TV.

But they're more luxurious than I thought.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Auto Makers Double Down on Pricey Pickups."

How and Why to Kill the Iran Deal

From Caroline Glick, at the Jerusalem Post.

Khloé Kardashian Complex Cover Behind the Scenes

Here, "Behind the scenes of Khloé Kardashian's August/September 2015 cover for Complex."

Hat Tip: London's Daily Mail, "'You don't give me credit for my daily workouts!' Khloé Kardashian shuts down 'troll haters' by posting unretouched image from Complex spread."

Boy Scouts of America to Lift Ban on Homosexual Adults

Hey, gotta go with the flow, I guess.

At ABC 10 News, San Diego, "Boy Scouts board ends ban on gay scout leaders."

Also at CNN, "Jon Langbert, a former Boy Scout leader who is gay, says that the lifted ban on gay adult leaders does not go far enough."

Doesn't go far enough? You'll notice that the goal isn't so much to allow gays to participate in the Boy Scouts, but to once again banish altogether the role of religion out of American life, public and private.

This whole turn is horrendous. See, "The Same-Sex Marriage Bait-and-Switch."

Turkey Riles U.S. Ally in Fight Against Jihadists

At WSJ, "Kurdish Troops Fighting Islamic State in Syria Say Turkish Forces Shelled Them":

Kurdish fighters who are allied with Washington accused Turkey of shelling their positions in Syria, a sign of the difficulties Ankara and the U.S. face as they boost cooperation to fight Islamic State militants.

Monday’s accusation came from the Kurds’ People’s Defense Units, a Syrian group that has emerged as the most effective U.S. partner in the fight against the Islamist extremists. Its role has complicated matters for Turkey, which is worried about growing Kurdish influence along its border with Syria and an emboldened Kurdish minority seeking more autonomy at home.

Turkey said its forces were fired upon from unidentified sources across the Syrian border and that it responded with artillery. It said it was investigating claims that several Kurdish fighters were wounded but that the Syrian-Kurdish defense units, known as the YPG, “do not fall within the scope of Turkey’s war on terror.”

U.S. officials said Monday that they weren’t aware of any border attack but stood by Turkey’s right to defend itself.

The episode underscores the fragility of an agreement between the U.S. and Turkey for American jets to use Turkey’s air bases to strike Islamic State positions and help create a 60-mile-long buffer zone in Syria for moderate rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. The details have yet to be worked out. Meanwhile, Turkey itself has also begun launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets.

Turkey’s new more aggressive stance is sure to emerge on Tuesday in Brussels at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting, which Ankara called to discuss its security threats, including recent bouts of violence that have killed scores of Turkish civilians and security officials.

But as the U.S. tries to compartmentalize long-standing political differences between Turkey and Syrian Kurds, the two sides appear to have come into confrontation.

The YPG, which controls a swath of territory in northeast Syria along Turkey’s border, accused the Turkish army of hitting positions in the area with tank fire on Friday and injuring several villagers and four allied fighters from the Western-backed moderate Free Syrian Army rebel group. The Kurdish group said the Turkish military shelled the same village on Sunday and fired on a vehicle nearby.

“Instead of targeting Islamic State terrorists’ occupied positions, Turkish forces attack our defenders’ positions,” the YPG said. “We are telling the Turkish army to stop shooting at our fighters and their positions.”

Meanwhile, Ankara is also getting dragged deeper into a major regional conflict that it had sought to avoid, adding an additional layer of complexity to the patchwork of alliances—including Sunni rebel groups, jihadists, Kurdish militias and forces loyal to Mr. Assad—which are vying for influence along Turkey’s southern borderlands...

Keep reading.

California Democrats Proclaim 'Climate Change' Top Legislative Priority

Leftists are so stupid.

From Joel Kotkin, at the O.C. Register, "Putting climate change ahead of constituents."

Abigail Ratchford Pool Vixen

Watch, at Playboy's YouTube page, "Abigail Ratchford Proves She's The Ultimate Pool Vixen."

Naftali Bennett: Obama's Nuclear Deal with Iran is a 'Farce'

Via the BBC:

Palestinians in Hebron Stalk Hyena on the Highway, Corner It, and Then Stone It to Death (VIDEO)

Hey, it's all fun and games to chase down a hyena to stone it to death, right?

All from the "religion of peace" folks.

Remember, these people feel the same way about Jews.

Demonic.

At Bare Naked Islam, "HEBRON: Palestinian savages corner a hyena in the road with their cars and then have fun stoning him to death."

Mike Trout Hits Grand Slam Into 'Trout Net' in 13-7 Win Over Rangers at Angel Stadium (VIDEO)

Folks are starting to describe Mike Trout with words like "magical" and "historic."

He's still only 23-years-old.

At Bleacher Report, "Mike Trout Crushes Grand Slam, Ball Lands in Fan's 'Trout Net'."

And at the O.C. Register, "Angels star Mike Trout's grand slam caught in the 'Trout Net'":

ANAHEIM – Just when we all might think that Mike Trout’s heroics can’t possibly get any more spectacular, the Angels’ reigning AL MVP did something magical Sunday once again.

In the sixth inning of the Angels victory over the Texas Rangers, Trout blasted Spencer Patton’s 93 mph, down-and-in fastball into the Angel Stadium bleachers in right center field for a grand slam.

But this was a grand slam dunk, the home run landing in the 2-foot-diameter netted basket of the “Trout Net” sign held high by Angels fan Jonathan Plaza, who was standing in the second row of the stands in Section 240.

Trout’s grand slam, the third of his career, gave the Angels an six-run lead en route to a 13-7 victory. It was Trout’s second home run of his 4-for-4 day, and his league-leading 31st of the season.

Just before Trout came to the plate with the bases loaded, Plaza, 25, of Santa Ana, borrowed back his homemade net sign from the young fans standing in the row in front of him.

“I said, ‘Let me have it back because I have a hunch something’s going to happen,’” Plaza recalled. “Then Trout hit it. I saw the ball. It was going deep. I jumped up with the sign and I caught it.”

This was the first home run Plaza has ever caught, but not the first baseball Trout has been sending his way.

Plaza and his son, Alexander, who turns 4 in September, have made their Trout Net a ballpark fixture since this season’s home opener. That was the first day they came with their sign, a red-netted ring topped by the white letters “Trout Net,” with Trout’s number, “27,” and photos of a diving Trout around the rim.

Alexander first held up the sign at the opener and several other home games. Trout has spotted the sign and made a habit of trying to lob baseballs into the net during warmups. Right fielder Kole Calhoun has also taken aim at the Trout Net.

Earlier this season, Trout posted a photo of Alexander with the Trout Net and the message, “I see you out there bud!” on Instagram.

"Magical."

See what I mean?

More at that top link.

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Mike Trout's grand slam leads Angels in 13-7 win over the Rangers."

The Coming (and Hilarious) Democrat Implosion

From Kurt Schlichter, at Town Hall:

Republicans fear a repeat of 1992, with a squishy Bush at the head of the ticket watching helplessly as some populist businessman/novelty act hands the election to a Clinton. But Democrats should fear the far more likely repeat of 1968.

Ah, the 1968 convention … just thinking of it brings a smile to the face of every normal American. Let’s start with hordes of Chicago cops kicking the psychedelia out of dirty hippies. Footage of all-American flatfoots clocking VC-flag waving pinkos with nightsticks is more erotic than a hundred “Fifty Shades” books. Just thinking about it makes me want to light up a Marlboro and cuddle.

Then there was the fun and games inside the convention hall – nothing like blue stater on blue stater fratricide to quicken the pulse and put a spring in your step. That glorious intramural warfare led to a Republican president. It may well again in 2016.

Back in 1968, the Democrat Party was divided between liberals who loved America and liberals who hated everything about it. The situation is a little different now, with today’s Democrat Party divided between liberals who hate everything about America and liberals who really, really hate everything about it.

The delightful scene at Netroots where Martin O’Malley was forced to do penance before a jeering crowd of washed-out undergrads for the sin of saying “All lives matter” was a harbinger of the future. The Democrats are on the verge of being sucked into their own vortex of progressive insanity that will bar them from any chance to reach out of their psychotic echo chamber to normal Americans. It serves them right...

He's good!

More at that top link.