'Black Lives Matter' Movement Based on a Lie

This is from Jason Riley, at the Wall Street Journal, "‘Black Lives Matter’—but Reality, Not So Much."

It's not a new argument, but it's updated, and most excellent:

It’s the black poor—the primary victims of violent crimes and thus the people most in need of effective policing—who must live with the effects of these falsehoods. As the Black Lives Matter movement has spread, murder rates have climbed in cities across the country, from New Orleans to Baltimore to St. Louis and Chicago. The Washington, D.C., homicide rate is 43% higher than it was a year ago. By the end of August, Milwaukee and New Haven, Conn., both had already seen more murders than in all of 2014.

Publicly, law-enforcement officials have been reluctant to link the movement’s antipolice rhetoric to the spike in violent crime. Privately, they have been echoing South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who said in a speech last week that the movement was harming the very people whose interests it claims to represent. “Most of the people who now live in terror because local police are too intimidated to do their jobs are black,” the governor said. “Black lives do matter, and they have been disgracefully jeopardized by the movement that has laid waste to Ferguson and Baltimore.”

More.

Man Dies After Being Swept Away in Flash Flood While Hiking Near Mill Creek Crossing in Forest Falls

It's in San Bernardino.

Watch, from yesterday, at ABC News 7 Los Angeles, "MAN SWEPT AWAY IN FLASH FLOOD WHILE HIKING IN FOREST FALLS."

Sad. The dude was on a first date.

We had a tropical downpour just a few minutes ago in Irvine. It happens so fast. You can see how dangerous it would be in mountainous areas.

Olympics 2024 in Los Angeles? What About Those Busted Sidewalks and Retiree Pension Costs?

At IBD, "Olympics? L.A. Already Faces Herculean Budget Woes."

No, it's not the best idea.

See the letters to the editor at the Los Angeles Times, "L.A. can't fill all its potholes, but it wants the Olympics. That's insane":

To the editor: I don't live in Los Angeles anymore, but I still have an affinity for the city where I grew up, so I have to ask: Did anyone see the irony or humor in the juxtaposition of the headlines on Sunday's front page? ("Inequity is 'baked in' when it comes to L.A. city services; where you live matters," Aug. 28)

According to one article, the city will be on the hook for billions if it is selected to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, but according to another piece, it can't consistently provide basic services. Graffiti removal can take days, depending on where you live. Potholes and trash may go unaddressed for weeks after a complaint.

This particular story does not even take into consideration the sidewalks, which are on a 30-year repair plan, and the water system, which breaks regularly. And all the billions to be spent on the Olympics are supposed to turn a profit of less than 3%. The mayor must have a very sharp pencil and a crystal ball. Good luck.

Steven L. Rice, Thousand Oaks

California Braces for Lower Standardized Test Results for Students

But no worries. The tests are new and the scoring system is more difficult than previous tests. As if that's going to alleviate testing anxiety, or something.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Don't panic, officials say as California braces for lower student test results."

Well, no worries. The state's getting rid of the high school exit exam anyway. These standardized tests are just for show, something to wave before outside regulators to prove bureaucrats are going through the motions. See, "Governor signs bill dropping high school exit exam requirement for class of 2015."

Keep Cool in San Diego

Hit the beach!

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

Special Offers in Fine Arts

At Amazon, Shop Special Offers - 40% Off Fine Art .

Plus, from Mark Bauerlein, ed., The State of the American Mind: 16 Leading Critics on the New Anti-Intellectualism.

European Union Proposes Distribution of 160,000 Refugees

Yeah, that oughta work.

Shoot, Juncker was heckled.

And 120,000? 160,000? What's another 40 thousand or so asylum seekers, meh? We've got room to spare!

At WSJ, "EU’s Juncker Proposes New Refugee Quota Plan as Bloc Struggles to Respond to Migrant Wave":

STRASBOURG, France—A top European Union official on Wednesday proposed redistributing 160,000 refugees across the bloc, but acknowledged that wouldn’t go far enough to address the largest flow of migrants to the continent since the aftermath of World War II.

The EU has sputtered in its attempts to craft a coherent approach to the crisis amid competing national interests and insistence by some countries—particularly in the poorer east—that taking in refugees must be voluntary.

The new plan, which has to be approved by a majority of EU governments, is the second attempt by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to help Greece, Italy and Hungary, the three countries on the front line of the crisis. The plan also seeks to speed up procedures across the bloc to send back migrants who don’t qualify for asylum.

“I do believe that given the gravity of the situation we face, this proposal is quite modest,” Mr. Juncker acknowledged at a news conference, adding that nearly 500,000 people have made their way to Europe in the past year.

But he pointed out that earlier even more modest plans were rejected by EU leaders and that if “we had taken decisions back then, perhaps we would have saved a lot of lives.”

Over the next two years, most EU countries—excluding the U.K., Denmark and Ireland, who have opt-outs from Europe’s common asylum system—would be required to take in a total of 160,000 refugees in hard-hit Italy, Greece and Hungary.

Germany, which is the main destination for migrants entering from those EU border states, is one of the architects of the proposal and hopes to diffuse the stream of people who would try to seek asylum there.

Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her call Wednesday for the EU to agree to binding rules, saying Mr. Juncker’s proposal was a “first step of a fair distribution” but more is needed.

According to German government estimates, some 800,000 people are expected to apply for asylum there this year alone.

“It’s not possible to set a limit and to say ‘We don’t care beyond that and it is then an issue for two or three or four countries,” she said. “This must be a European responsibility and only then will all member states care about the causes of migration” and help address conflicts driving people to flee to Europe...

More.

Plus, at Der Spiegel, "A Continent Adrift: Juncker Proposes Fixes to EU's Broken Asylum Policies."

Hot Summer Babe Blogging Rule 5

Summer's not quite done yet, by no means, considering these triple-digit temperatures we're having. Time to get in the pool with some hot bikini babes!

Maybe they'll go skinny dipping with you, heh.

At Egotastic!, "HOLLY! ROSIE! KELLY! AND RHIAN! HOT END OF SUMMER SEXTASTIC SHOWDOWN!"

San Pedro Residents Protest Donald Trump Visit to Battleship Iowa

Sounds like Trump's still working on Latino engagement in the Los Angeles harbor area.

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "San Pedro not happy about Donald Trump’s event at Battleship Iowa":

San Pedro is not reacting kindly to Donald Trump’s scheduled national security speech at the Battleship Iowa next week.

In fact, some serious name-calling has erupted in an online petition, signed by nearly 3,000 people, that encourages cancellation of the celebrity presidential candidate’s visit.

“Donald Trump is an arrogant, racist, misogynist buffoon,” said one resident who signed an online petition titled “Tell the USS Iowa: We Don’t Want Trump in San Pedro, CA.”

Other petitioners were just as blunt in their rhetoric about the celebrity presidential candidate’s Tuesday appearance, sponsored by a veterans group.

• “We do not need discrimination of any type, San Pedro is a humble town and does not need Trump to come and mix waters.”

• “San Pedro is a melting pot of different cultures — Donald Trump has already made his intolerance clear; he has no place in our community.”

• “He’s a buffoon. He’s a racist. It is a city built on blue-collar labor. Does Trump know what that is? And much of that labor comes from immigrants. They are welcome here in Pedro. You, Trump, are not.”

Gabriela Lopez of San Pedro, a 25-year-old aspiring physician, started the petition that asks Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino to send Trump packing before he arrives in the port union stronghold.

“It was shocking to me that he would be speaking (at) the battleship,” Lopez said.

The ship, she said, should be neutral political territory.

And it is, said Jonathan Williams, CEO and president of the Battleship Iowa, the floating museum that has been in San Pedro since 2012.

“As a 501(c)(3), we are nonpolitical and apolitical. We can’t endorse or promote any political candidate,” Williams said. “We provide a community platform to all groups and organizations, regardless of political affiliation.”

More at that top link.

Marine Corps' Women-in-Combat Experiment Yields Breakdown of Unit Cohesion

Hmm... Not the kinda meme we usually hear about. Unexpectedly!

At WaPo, "Both the men and women in the nine-month exercise reported a breakdown in unit cohesion":

Over the past nine months, the Marine Corps tested a gender-integrated task force in both Twentynine Palms, Calif. and Camp Lejeune, N.C. in an attempt to gauge what the Marine Corps might look like with women in combat roles.

According to a recent report in the Marine Corps Times, only a small number of women were left by the experiment’s conclusion — two of the roughly two dozen that started — mostly in part because of the physical and mental stress that comes with combat roles. Both the men and women in the task force also reported a breakdown in unit cohesion with some voicing  a perceived unequal treatment from their peers.

The experiment comes as all branches of the military face a Jan. 1, 2016 deadline to open all combat positions to women — from basic infantry battalions to elite special operations units such as U.S. Navy SEALs. While branches like the Air Force and Navy have relatively small communities where women are currently barred from serving — namely special operations detachments — the U.S. Army and Marine Corps have a host of units and jobs closed to woman. These jobs, known as combat arms, include infantry, artillery and armored divisions.

The gender-integrated Ground Combat Element Task Force served as a snapshot of sorts of what the Marine Corps might look like if women were a staple in combat positions. Each closed position was represented: infantry, artillery and mechanized units, such as tank platoons and light armored reconnaissance detachments, all operated in tandem with one another. The women were spread among them in ratios that would be expected in an integrated Marine Corps, with roughly 90 percent of the branch  made up of men.

The nine-month exercise was broken down into two parts. Initially there was a four-month training period, or “work-up,” at Camp Lejeune, followed by a five month “deployment” to the Mojave Desert in Twentynine Palms. Certain elements of the task force also participated in training at Camp Pendleton, and mountain warfare in Bridgeport, Calif.  This two semester cycle was common over the past 15 years. During the height of the Iraq War, it was common that Marine units would train for six to eight months and then deploy for a similar amount of time.

During both phases of the training, the Marines were hooked up to heart monitors and equipment that monitored their shooting abilities. According to the report, the data will be sent to Marine Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford in order to better tailor his approach to integrating women into Marine combat positions and help establish a baseline for gender-neutral standards that the Marines can possibly apply in the future.

Yet for all the monitoring technology in the field, most of the feedback, both negative and positive, has thus far been anecdotal.

“[The Marine Corps] hope[s] to provide transparency to our research and findings soonest,” Marine spokesman Maj. Christian Devine wrote in an email.

The Marine Corps Times report cites a number of instances where women had a difficult time completing physical tasks, like moving 200 pound dummies off the battlefield or from the turret of a “damaged” vehicle. Peer assessments were also mixed.

Lance Cpl. Chris Augello, a reservist who prior to the experiment was pro-integration, submitted a 13-page essay—which he shared with the Marine Corps Times—on why he had changed his mind.  “The female variable in this social experiment has wrought a fundamental change in the way male [non-commissioned officers] think, act and lead,” he wrote, referring to the female presence and its effect on how Marine Corps small-unit leaders do their job.

Augello, according to the report, also noted that relationships between the female and male Marines in his platoon sometimes turned romantic and in turn became a distraction. Integration, Augello wrote, is “a change that is sadly for the worse, not the better.”

Still more.

Hopefully few lives will be lost from the real-world combat results of gender integration.

Everything's all about equality nowadays, so what can you do?

Greek Coast Guard Allegedly Sabotaging Refugee Rubber Boats, Cutting Fuel Lines, Leaving Migrants Adrift at Sea (VIDEO)

Remember, the Greeks locked refugees inside a stadium without food and water for days. They're really compassionate over there, being communists and all.

Holly Williams reports, for CBS News, "Uniformed men accost refugees, leave them adrift at sea."

Element Capital Buys Billions of Dollars of Treasury Securities

Hmm... This is pretty interesting.

At WSJ, "An Obscure Hedge Fund Is Buying Tens of Billions of Dollars of U.S. Treasurys":

A little-known New York hedge fund run by a former Yale University math whiz has been buying tens of billions of dollars of U.S. Treasury debt at recent auctions, drawing attention from the Treasury Department and Wall Street.

Element Capital Management LLC, led by trader Jeffrey Talpins, has been the largest purchaser in dozens of government-bond auctions over the past 10 months, people familiar with the matter said. The buying is part of an apparent effort by the fund to use borrowed money to exploit small inefficiencies in the world’s most liquid securities market, a strategy that is delivering sizable profits, said people close to the matter.

Mr. Talpins is an intense and reserved trader formerly at Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. He is known for a tenacious style that can grate on rivals and once tested the patience of former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Element has been the largest bidder in many of the 62 Treasury note and bond auctions between last November and July, these people said. At many recent auctions, some of which involved sales of more than $30 billion of debt, Element purchased about 10% of the issue, these people said. That is an unusually large figure, analysts said.

Element’s activity has raised questions because the cumulative purchases far exceed the hedge fund’s $6 billion in assets under management. Treasury officials, who frequently meet with large auction participants, have asked Element about its activity, said someone close to the matter.

“Their buying is eyebrow-raising,” said a trader who once worked for a firm that deals in government securities and witnessed Element’s bidding. These primary dealers often know the identity of other auction bidders. Element “never shared its strategy, but we often asked,” the trader said.

Treasury likes to know who is buying its bonds and why, partly because it prefers long-term holders such as pension funds, insurance companies and central banks. Treasury officials fear purchases by trading-oriented funds could result in sales that increase market swings and potentially drive up borrowing costs.

“If you’re issuing debt, your preference is those ‘sticky investors,’” said Scott Skyrm, a managing director at Wedbush Securities.

“Consistent with our policy, Treasury does not comment on individual investors in Treasury auctions or conversations with market participants,” a Treasury representative said.

Element is a “macro” fund, or one that wagers on global macroeconomic trends in bond, stock and currency markets. The firm uses a “unique probabilistic approach,” according to a presentation the firm made last year at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Element had been shorting, or betting against, bonds in anticipation of higher interest rates but has been exiting from that wager, according to someone close to the matter. That is one reason the fund has been a big buyer of Treasurys lately.

But people who have worked with the firm or are close to Mr. Talpins said there is another reason: Element is among the last to embrace “bond-auction strategies,” trading maneuvers that have become less popular since the financial crisis.

These trades aim to take advantage of the effects of supply and demand in the $12.8 trillion Treasury market. Demand for these bonds often fluctuates based on factors including investor perceptions of economic growth and market risk, while supply can be affected by regular auctions of different-maturity Treasury securities. A burst of new supply tends to slightly depress prices for short periods, sometimes for less than an hour...

More at the link.

This is so slick it reminds of "Bonfire of the Vanities."

British Airways Plane Catches Fire on Las Vegas Runway (VIDEO)

It's a miracle no one was killed. Initial reports had passengers jumping down the emergency chutes and running for their lives.

Watch, at KTNV News 13 Las Vegas, "British Airways plane reportedly catches fire at Las Vegas airport."

More, "Live at McCarran after fire," and "Victims in McCarran fire."

Participants at German Homeopathy Conference Accidentally Take Hallucinogenic Drug

The question is, how do you "accidentally" take hallucinogens at a homeopathy conference?

Now that's a trip!

At the Independent UK, "Homeopathy conference ends in chaos after delegates take hallucinogenic drug":

Police are reportedly looking into possibilities including the drug being taken as a joint experiment, or it being furtively given to conference participants as a prank.

No arrests have yet been made as the investigation continues into a possible violation of Germany’s Narcotics Act.

A "furtive prank"?

Well okay. If you say so.

That'd be last homeopathy conference I'd be attending, that's for sure. What a bunch of sleazebags and losers.

If anyone kicks the bucket perhaps they can get Susan Sarandon to carry their ashes at Burning Man next year.

Dick Cheney Discusses Iran Nuclear Deal at American Enterprise Institute (VIDEO)

Well, Cheney slams the Iran nuclear deal at the American Enterprise Institute.

Watch the full video, at AEI, "The nuclear deal with Iran and the implications for U.S. security."



And see the New York Times, "Dick Cheney Denounces Nuclear Deal With Iran as 'Madness'," and Politico, "Cheney: Deal would allow Iran to nuke U.S."

Hungarian Camerawoman Petra László Caught on Tape Tripping Refugee Children (VIDEO)

She's a "right-wing nationalist"?

Watch, "Hungarian Camerawoman Fired for Tripping Refugees Trying to Escape Police."

At the Guardian UK, "Hungarian nationalist TV camera operator filmed kicking refugee children."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Pictured: Astonishing moment a Hungarian camerawoman deliberately TRIPPED migrants who were fleeing police - including a father carrying his terrified young child."

She's been fired.

State Department 'Transparency Czar'

This is actually bizarre.

Watch, at CNN, "The State Department has tapped Janice Jacobs as an 'email czar' to assist Secretary of State John Kerry."

Europe's Migration Crisis is America's Too — Thanks to Obama Administration's Foreign Policy Failures (VIDEO)

From Ambassador John Bolton, at AEI, "Migrant crisis isn’t just Europe’s problem; it’s our problem, too":

While Americans may believe that Europe, long disdainful of our own intense debate over border-security problems, is getting what it deserves, we should nonetheless focus on both the potential threats and lessons applicable to us. One critical cause of Europe’s illegal-immigration spike is the growing chaos across the greater Middle East. This spreading anarchy derives, in substantial part, from Barack Obama’s deliberate policy of “leading from behind” by reducing U.S. attention to and involvement in the region. When America’s presence diminishes anywhere in the world, whatever minimal order and stability existed there can rapidly evaporate...

And watch, from Greta's "On the Record," yesterday afternoon, "Migration Crisis In Europe Rooted In Obama Failures."

Unending Flow of Migrants Cross the Greece-Macedonia Border (VIDEO)

A refugee crisis can't go on forever, and frankly, it won't. There'll be a political backlash, sooner rather than later.

Watch, at AFP, "Hundreds of migrants were pouring over the frontier between Greece and Macedonia on Tuesday as they made their way towards the European Union following a day of tensions with police."

Also, at NBC News, "Thousands of Migrants Still Streaming Into Hungary Despite Maltreatment."

BONUS: At Moonbattery, "End Times: Europe Crumbles Under the Devastating Impact of Mass Immigration."

Triple-Digit Temperatures in San Francisco Bay Area (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Jackie Johnson's Got Your Extreme Weather Forecast."

It's all over the state, man.

At CBS News 5 San Francisco, "Heat Wave Brings Triple-Digit Temperatures to Bay Area."