Greek Voters Return Marxist Syriza to Power in Sunday's Snap Elections (VIDEO)

At the Guardian UK, "Greek election live: Alexis Tsipras celebrates victory - as it happened":

Here’s a quick closing summary, as another gripping chapter in Greece’s debt crisis closes, and another one opens.....

Greece’s leftwing leader Alexis Tsipras has emerged triumphant from a snap general election after securing a dramatic victory over his conservative rival, despite a turbulent first term in office and predictions that the race was too close to call after he accepted a crushing eurozone-led austerity programme during his first term in office.

The charismatic leader looked set to be returned to power with a near repeat of the stunning win that catapulted his Syriza party into office in January.

With most of the ballot papers counted, Syriza is leading with a 35.5% share of the vote compared with 28.2% for the centre-right New Democracy party. Speaking in Athens, Tsipras declared the election a victory for the people. “This victory belongs to the people and those who dream of a better tomorrow and we’ll achieve it with hard work,” he said.

Jubilant supporters, clearly relieved at the result, took to the streets in celebration, with many singing and dancing outside Syriza’s main election marquee in central Athens.

Tsipras told supporters that he would tackle endemic corruption in the country. “The mandate that the Greek people have given is is a crystal clear mandate to get rid of the regime of corruption and vested issues,” he said. “We will show how effective we will be. We will make Greece a stronger place for the weak and vulnerable, a fairer place.”

More, "Syriza returns to power in Greek general election: Conservative rival New Democracy concedes defeat to leftwing party led by Alexis Tsipras."

And at WSJ, "Tsipras’s Syriza Set to Return to Power After Resounding Greek Election Victory."

Carly Fiorina Rockets to No. 2 in Latest CNN Poll (VIDEO)

At CNN, "Poll: Fiorina rockets to No. 2 behind Trump in GOP field."

And here's the video from Jake Tapper's Sunday roundtable, "Fiorina and Rubio surge in new CNN poll."

Also, at Hot Air (via Memeorandum):

Is this finally the beginning of the end for Trump which everyone has incorrectly predicted over and over and over again? Or is this just where the tough sledding starts and he has some real competition in his lane from Carly? And on the establishment side of the house, has Marco just hit the moment where the student passes the teacher and sent Bush to the bench?

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



More at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Also at Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Roundup...", and Lonely Con, "Saturday Funnies."

Cartoon Credit: A.F. Branco.

Pope Celebrates Mass in Havana, Cuba (VIDEO)

At PuffHo, "Pope Celebrates Mass In Havana, Warns Against Dangers of Ideology."

Yeah, warning against the "dangers of ideology" after meeting with Fidel Castro in Havana. That oughta work.

Kids' Halloween Store

I've added the widget to my sidebar, but might as well post a link to the main page.

At Amazon, Halloween Deals.

And ICYMI, from Vox Day, SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police.

SJWs are monsters, so it's a unified theme here.

Socialize This, America: Bernie Sanders on the Cover of Time Magazine

He should be on the cover of Time.

At least Sanders is running a real campaign, with real grassroots support, unlike some other Democrat in the race.

See, "The Gospel of Bernie":

With each twist and wrinkle of this election season, which is as wide-open and unscripted as any presidential cycle in living memory, we see more clearly that these are special times in American politics, baffling times, times to challenge categories and scramble expectations. The Internet has killed the kingmakers. Freshness beats incumbency, while the perception of sincerity beats all. There is no room for focus groups in the elevator to the top of the polls; America wants its candidates straight up and packing a kick. This is how a squinty-eyed New Yorker goes from shooting his cuffs and hawking condos to the head of the GOP pack. It’s how Bernie Sanders can join the Democratic Party in April and by August be battling for first place in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Without a single TV ad–or a single congressional endorsement–Sanders has exposed the weakness of the party’s Clintonian establishment while at the same time spotlighting its hunger for an ideological savior. Polls now indicate that if the nominating contests were held tomorrow, Sanders would edge out Clinton in Iowa and beat her in New Hampshire by 10 points. Nationally, he has cut Clinton’s lead from an impregnable 46 points to a crumbling 21 points in just two months.

But even those metrics don’t convey the extent of the Sanders phenomenon. At Clinton events, campaign staffers section off floor space before her speeches to make her crowds look densely packed. Sanders needs no barriers. His audiences are authentically huge–28,000 in Oregon, 11,000 in Arizona, 7,500 in Maine. His volunteer army, meanwhile, though mostly self-organized online, numbers more than 182,000 people spread out from rural Alaska to the Florida Keys, people who have asked the campaign how to improvise events, knock on doors and spread the gospel from campus quad to living room to farmer’s market.

Win or lose, Sanders seeks to transform his party and redeem American politics through an epic battle against some of the wealthiest powers in human history. “A lot of people have given up on the political process, and I want to get them involved in it,” he tells TIME. “In this fight we are going to take on the greed of the billionaire class. And they are very, very powerful, and they’re going to fight back furiously. The only way to succeed is when millions of people stand up and decide to engage.”

This is not just a campaign, says Sanders. It is a “movement,” a “revolution.” He is not only after delegates; he plans to “raise the political consciousness.” Contrast this with the message Clinton conveyed during a meeting this summer with a group of activists. Consummate political engineer, virtuoso of the knobs and dials of public opinion, Clinton said, “Look, I don’t believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate.” David Axelrod, the onetime guru to Barack Obama, brutally mocked the plodding story line. “Hillary: Live With It,” tweeted Axelrod, “is no rallying cry.”

RTWT.

Isla Vista Rebranding Campaign

School starts next week at UCSB, so local Isla Vista boosters are launching a community rebranding campaign.

I can see why, after leftist Elliot Roger's murder rampage last year.

At the Santa Barbara Independent, "Ad Campaign Seeks to ‘Rebrand’ Isla Vista."

And watch John Palminteri, at KEYT News 3 Santa Barbara, "ISLA VISTA REBRANDING."

Jacob Thomas Brewer, Husband to Mary Katharine Ham, Has Died

Honestly, it's a sad story, but it's practically devastating when you know the survivors.

Mary Katharine Ham is expecting with the couple's second child.

At Instapundit, "JAKE BREWER, RIP."

And Mary Katharine's statement, posted to her Instagram account, is at Ed Morrissey's post, at Hot Air, "Jake Brewer, RIP":

We lost our Jake yesterday, and I lost part of my heart and the father of my sweet babies. I don't have to tell most of you how wonderful he was. It was self-evident. His life was his testimony, and it was powerful and tender and fierce, with an ever-present twinkle in the eye. I will miss him forever, even more than I can know right now. No arms can be her father's, but my daughter is surrounded by her very favorite people and all the hugs she could imagine. This will change us, but with prayer and love and the strength that is their companion, we can hope our heartache is not in vain-- that it will change us and the world in beautiful ways, just as he did. If that sounds too optimistic at this time, it's because it is. But there was no thought too optimistic for Jake, so take it and run with it. I will strive and pray not to feel I was cheated of many years with him, but cherish the gift of the years I had. In a life where nothing is guaranteed, Jake made the absolute, ever-lovin' most of his time with all of us. This is a family picture we took a couple weeks ago. It was taken because Jake, as always, was ready with a camera and his immense talent. All four members of our little, growing family are in it. I can never be without him because these babies are half him. They are made of some of the strongest, kindest stuff God had to offer this world. Please pray that he can see us and we'll all make him proud. God, I love him. Psalm 34:18, Philippians 1:3.

Sugar Baby of the Year (VIDEO)

Watch, via London's Daily Mail, "Young women strip for chance to be Sugar Baby of the Year."

BONUS: At Instapundit, "21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Sugar Daddy Secrets: Men reveal what it’s REALLY like to shower younger women with money in return for sex."

The New Left Won the Cold War

A great piece --- and I mean truly great, in forcing a new interpretation of the world historical problem of leftist tyranny --- from John Schindler, at the Federalist, "Who Really Won The Cold War? America’s New Left has swallowed up Communism’s Old Left, and now it’s masticating us all."

Do yourself a favor. Grab a cup of coffee and savor this piece. It's worth it.

The American Project Is Dead

By "the American project is dead," it's asserted that the world historical experiment of American exceptionalism and the U.S. standard of world freedom and opportunity is dead, thanks to the left.

A podcast, at the Federalist, "Charles Murray Says the American Project Is Dead Unless We Fix It."

And see Murray's newsbook, at Amazon, By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission.

Also, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010.

Fleeing Syria: A Desperate Migration

The top story at today's Los Angeles Times:

The gray rubber dinghy that carries Huda Malak, pregnant with her first child, sags to sea level as it approaches Lesbos. The overloaded raft has been taking on water since it launched from a crag off the Turkish shore, about six miles away.

The 18 Syrians on board desperately try to bail water from the sinking craft. Weight, they need to shed weight. They start jettisoning backpacks that hold most everything they still own. A trip that should have taken 45 minutes has lasted double that, and they are still a mile from the Greek island.

Suddenly, Malak’s husband, Tarek Sheikh, stands up.

“I’m doing this to save you, our child, and everyone on board,” Sheikh tells her.

Then he jumps overboard.

His weight makes the difference, and the raft chugs toward land as Malak looks back to where her husband disappeared into the Aegean.

Finally, the boat makes one last thrust and scutters onto a pebble beach.

“Thank God, we are alive!” shouts Firas Gharghoori, a thick, compact man in shorts and a straw fedora, kneeling on the polished stones in a prayer of gratitude.

The new arrivals begin to wander away from the shore, but Malak remains. She crouches with knees bent, face cradled in her hands, her eyes focused on the sea. Fellow migrants approach to offer support to the 23-year-old schoolteacher, their elation at having made it to Europe tempered. She waves them off.

Without warning, Sheikh’s younger brother, Mohammed, takes off his shirt and plunges into the surf in a bid to rescue Sheikh — soon followed by a grizzled Greek restaurateur who has wandered to the scene. The Greek later swims back, his leg bloodied from the rocks. He gamely tries to maneuver a white paddle boat to sea as a makeshift rescue craft. It doesn’t get very far.

A Greek coast guard vessel appears offshore, but far from where Sheikh disappeared. Gharghoori frantically signals at the cutter to move to the left. A coast guard officer in aviator sunglasses, who is in radio contact with the cutter, arrives in a pickup. In broken English, he tries to calm everyone. A few minutes later, he approaches Malak and gives the thumbs-up sign.

Her husband, the hero of the gray rubber boat, is safe. His brother has been rescued too.

This year, more than 2,500 refugees and migrants have died trying to reach Europe in an armada of flimsy rubber dinghies and rickety fishing boats.

Tens of thousands of others are willing to take the risk. But they make it...

Keep reading.

Cindy Crawford on Turning 50

At London's Daily Mail, "'My waist is thicker and my boobs are a little less perky': As Cindy Crawford prepares to turn 50, she reveals how the fashion industry really treats older women."

Yeah, she's a fine woman.



Plus, flashback to 1992, "Pepsi Cindy Crawford (VIDEO)."

Ahmed Mohamed's Clock 'Sure sure doesn't look like any clock I've seen...'

Following-up from last night, "Ahmed Mohamed and the 'Islamophobia' Clock (VIDEO)."

See the comments at the letters to the editor, at the Los Angeles Times, "Readers React, Ahmed Mohamed: The kid with the funny-looking clock":

I guess it's “damned if you do, damned if you don't.” Ahmed's clock sure doesn't look like any clock I've seen.

In fact, it looks like an incendiary device. What if the school officials, wanting to be politically correct, ignored this unusual invention and it turned out to be an explosive? Thankfully it was only a clock, and thankfully the school was wise enough to check it out.

I doubt that Ahmed's ethnicity or religion had anything to do with how he was treated. Please don't let accusations of racism overshadow security precautions.

Ahmed has shown the most maturity so far by his response to events that went out of control.

Jeanette A. Fratto
Laguna Niguel

Plus, from Kyle Smith, at the New York Post, "How Ahmed's clock became a false, convenient tale of racism."

'Is the media trying to get rid of Trump and seizing on Fiorina only because she's useful for that and because their real aim is to cause the Republicans to lose the election in the end...?'

A long entry from Ann Althouse, "'I'm interested in the Althouse reaction to Rush on Friday, about Fiorina being the agreed Trump destroyer between both establishment Dems and Republicans...'":

I do think that much of the media (but certainly not all), wants to help Democrats win in the end. But the general election is a long way away, and for now, the media want ratings, and Trump has been great for ratings. He's very exciting and entertaining, but a lively challenger to Trump is also good for ratings, and Fiorina is a feisty, forcible speaker, unlike all the others, some of whom are almost ludicrously low key. In the end, I think the party is better off with someone who seems normal and has normal credentials — probably Bush, Kasich, or Rubio. But these people aren't much fun for now...

Still more.

Marine Corps Pushes Back Against Decision to Ignore Study About Women in Combat

From Fuzzy Slippers, at Legal Insurrection.

Also at the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Why Marines have a problem with women in combat."

And see the editorial at the Washington Post, "Women in combat."

BONUS: From Julie Pulley, at WSJ, "Women in the Infantry? No Thanks."

Bestseller Levi's 501 Jeans

I don't think I can fit into these anymore. I need the more generous style with more space in the hip and butt area, shall we say.

But if you're a fit young stud, check these out at Amazon, Levi's Men's Jeans 501 Original Fit.

BONUS: From Victor Davis Hanson, The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - From Ancient Greece to Iraq.

ISIS Exposed

I keep meaning to pick up a copy of Erick Stakelbeck's new book, ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam.

So don't be like me. Get your copy today!

Ahmed Mohamed and the 'Islamophobia' Clock (VIDEO)

From Pamela Geller, "Pamela Geller, Breitbart News: Ahmed Mohamed and the ‘Islamophobia’ Clock":

A Muslim teen, fourteen-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, bought a strange ticking device to his school, MacArthur High School. His device caused alarm and fear, and he was detained for having what his teacher perceived as a bomb. Police officers said the electronic components and wires inside his Vaultz pencil case (which is the size of a briefcase) looked like a “hoax bomb,” according to local news station WFAA.

When questioned about what the device was, Mohamed wouldn’t answer. Now terror-tied Islamic groups like the Hamas-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), their media lapdogs, and even Barack Obama are waging jihad against the school and the local police.

When police questioned the boy, WFAA reports, they said he was “passive aggressive” and didn’t give them a “reasonable answer” as to why he had brought his contraption to the school. “We attempted to question the juvenile about what it was and he would simply only say it was a clock. He didn’t offer any explanation as to what it was for, why he created this device, why he brought it to school,” said James McLellan of the Irving Police Department.

This whole thing smells like a setup. With ISIS in America, and young moderate Muslims fleeing to Syria to join the terror group, the response of MacArthur High School officials was rational and reasonable. At my website, PamelaGeller.com, I run news stories on a weekly basis of American Muslim teens who have been arrested for trying to join ISIS. Just this week, a Muslim teen from Philadelphia was arrested for an alleged plot to assassinate the Pope during his visit to the United States.

Every day we are warned of new terror threats, increased threat levels. But trying to protect school children is “Islamophobic.” And President Obama agrees, of course. Yes, he has weighed in; Barack Obama himself got into the act, tweeting to Ahmed: “Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.”

When I first heard about this story, I wrote at my website that it smelled fishy. Now, as more details have emerged, it positively stinks. The plot has considerably thickened. In what has become one of the most egregious of the faked hate narratives, the bomb hoax clockster turns out to come from a family that has a history of supremacist stunts.

The New York Daily News reported this Wednesday about Ahmed Mohamed’s father, Mohamed ElHassan Mohamed:

One of the earliest instances of the standout citizen making national news was in 2011, when he sensationally stood up to an anti-Islamic pastor and defended the Koran as its defense attorney. That mock trial at a Florida church ended with the book’s burning, to ElHassan’s claimed shock. In an interview with the Washington Post at the time, the devoted Muslim said he’d take on Rev. Terry Jones’ challenge because the holy book teaches that Muslims should engage in peaceful dialogue with Christians.

Also in 2011, ElHassan debated Robert Spencer on the questionf of “Does Islam Respect Human Rights?” Clearly, he was trying to score a victory against a famous “Islamophobe” and thus win a name for himself. ElHassan has been looking for publicity and chances to fight against “Islamophobia” for a considerable period. Now he has seized it, going so far as to claim his son was “tortured” by school and law enforcement officials.

He finally has the cause he has been seeking for so long. School officials were being prudent, protecting the children. Irving, Texas has had its share of jihad and sharia. Two Muslim sisters, Amina and Sarah Said, were honor murdered by their father, execution-style, in Irving several years ago. He is still at large. And Irving, Texas is only half an hour from Garland, Texas – the site of a jihad shooting on a free speech event last May. And the news is regularly riddled with stories of young Muslims, all lovely, sweet achievers, who suddenly — go jihad...

More.

FLASHBACK: "The Left's Attack on Pamela Geller Sanitizes Terrorism and Facilitates Murder."

Changes to Republican Party Primary Rules May Backfire

Seems to me this isn't a new problem. The GOP doesn't want a conservative. Party leaders wanted a streamlined caucus and primary schedule to quickly produce a nominee (a centrist nominee), as they always do. And of course Donald Trump's throwing a monkey wrench into the process.

See, "Party Rules to Streamline Race May Backfire for G.O.P.":

In the starkest sign of how unsettled the situation is, what once seemed unthinkable — that Mr. Trump could win the Republican nomination — is being treated by many within the Republican establishment as a serious possibility. And one reason his candidacy seems strong is a change by the party in hopes of ending the process earlier: making it possible for states to hold contests in which the winner receives all the delegates, rather than a share based on the vote, starting March 15, two weeks earlier than in the last cycle. Ten states have said they will do so.

If Mr. Trump draws one-third of the Republican primary vote, as recent polls suggest he will, that could be enough to win in a crowded field. After March 15, he could begin amassing all the delegates in a given state even if he carried it with only a third of the vote. And the later it gets, the harder it becomes for a lead in delegates to be overcome, with fewer state contests remaining in which trailing candidates can attempt comebacks.

“Somebody like Trump, who is operating in a crowded field, could put this contest away early if the crowd doesn’t thin out,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, who was a senior adviser to Mr. Romney...

Keep reading.