Monday, June 20, 2016

Deal of the Day: Ivation 1.7 Liter (7-Cup) Precision-Temp Stainless Steel Cordless Electric Tea Kettle [BUMPED]

At Amazon, Ivation 1.7 Liter (7-Cup) Precision-Temp Stainless Steel Cordless Electric Tea Kettle; 6 Preset Heat Settings; Auto Keep-Warm for 2-Hours; Safety Shutoff Boil-Dry Protection, 1500w SuperFast Heatup.

Also, Save 69% on Norton Security Premium - 10 Devices.

More, Computer Accessories.

Plus, Power Wheels Disney Frozen Jeep Wrangler, Baby Blue/Purple.

And, AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable - 6 Feet (Latest Standard).

Still more, from J. Kael Weston, The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan.

BONUS: Clinton Romesha, Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor.

Donald Trump Assassination Attempt: Man Arrested Trying to Kill Trump at Las Vegas Rally (VIDEO)

Now, would this be getting more mainstream media coverage if some "right-wing extremist" tried to steal a policeman's gun at one of Hillary's events?

I think you know the answer.

But see the Las Vegas Sun, "Secret Service: Man at Las Vegas rally said he wanted to kill Donald Trump."

And at the Washington Examiner, via Memeorandum, "19-year-old man tried to kill Trump at Las Vegas rally, officials say."



U.S. Supreme Court Limits 4th Amendment's Ban on 'Unreasonable Searches'

Interesting.

At WSJ, "U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Limits Constitutional Protections Against Searches":
WASHINGTON—A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday limited constitutional protections against searches, ruling that evidence gathered after police illegally detain someone could be used in court absent “flagrant” misconduct by law enforcement.

Writing for the court, Justice Clarence Thomas said a police officer’s possible “negligence” in stopping a pedestrian without reasonable suspicion shouldn’t prevent prosecutors from charging him with a drug offense.

The ruling came in a South Salt Lake City, Utah, case in which a man named Edward Strieff walked out of a house an officer had been watching after getting an anonymous tip about “narcotics activity” happening there.

The officer, Douglas Fackrell, stopped Mr. Strieff, asked what he was doing at the house and ran his identification through a police database. When that produced a traffic warrant, Officer Fackrell arrested Mr. Strieff and searched him, discovering the drugs.

Utah conceded that the police stop was illegal but argued that the discovery of the warrant provided the officer a legitimate reason to arrest Mr. Strieff and search him.

“The warrant was valid, it predated Officer Fackrell’s investigation, and it was entirely unconnected with the stop,” Justice Thomas wrote in the 5-3 ruling. “And once Officer Fackrell discovered the warrant, he had an obligation to arrest Strieff.” That, in turn, authorized the officer to search Mr. Strieff under Supreme Court precedents that allow police to search arrestees to ensure they aren’t carrying concealed weapons.

Justice Thomas was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan filed separate dissents, each joined in part or in whole by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“This case allows the police to stop you on the street, demand your identification, and check it for outstanding traffic warrants—even if you are doing nothing wrong,” Justice Sotomayor wrote. “If the officer discovers a warrant for a fine you forgot to pay, courts will now excuse his illegal stop” and allow prosecution for any evidence he finds...
Also at USA Today, "Supreme Court allows searches based on outstanding arrest warrants":
The decision was controversial because in some cities thousands of people have arrest warrants pending against them, mostly for traffic violations as insignificant as unpaid parking tickets.

There were 16,000 outstanding arrest warrants in Ferguson, Mo., as of 2015 — a figure that amounts to roughly 75% of the city’s population — the Justice Department found during its investigation into the 2014 police shooting of an unarmed, 18-year-old African-American man. Cincinnati recently had more than 100,000 warrants pending for failure to appear in court. New York City has 1.2 million outstanding warrants.

The high court case involved a Utah narcotics detective's detention of a man leaving a house that was under observation for possible drug dealing. Based on the discovery of an outstanding arrest warrant for a minor traffic infraction, the man was searched and found to have illegal drugs...

Hydration Stations in Phoenix (VIDEO)

That's nice, but maybe the Salvation Army should be setting up some hydration stations at the border.

Illegal aliens are going to be dying to get into the U.S. in this weather, literally.



Free Speech Farce: How One College Lets Students Censor Debate

From Jillian Kay Melchior, at Heat Street, "Muzzled Professors: An Inside Look at How One College Lets Students Censor Classroom Debate":

For many students and professors, one of the great appeals of college life is being exposed to new and different ways of thinking. But that age-old process is now under threat at schools around the country. Take the University of Northern Colorado.

After two of the school’s professors asked their students to discuss controversial topics and consider opposing viewpoints, they received visits from the school’s Bias Response Team to discuss their teaching style. The professors’ students had reported them, claiming the curriculum constituted bias.

These incidents, both in the 2015-2016 academic year, reflect a growing trend in higher education. College students increasingly demand to be shielded from “offensive,” “triggering” or “harmful” language and topics, relying on Bias Response Teams to intervene on their behalf. Such teams are popping up at a growing number of universities.

Heat Street filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get a look at some of the complaints to UNC’s Bias Response Team, and a sense of how the team is handling those petitions. In one report reviewed by Heat Street, a professor, whose name was redacted, had asked students to read an Atlantic article entitled “The Coddling of the American Mind,” about college students’ increasing sensitivity and its impact on their mental health.

The professor then asked his students to come up with difficult topics, including transgender issues, gay marriage, abortion and global warning. He outlined competing positions on these topics, though he did not express his personal opinion.

In a report to the Bias Response Team, a student complained that the professor referenced the opinion that “transgender is not a real thing, and no one can truly feel like they are born in the wrong body.”

“I would just like the professor to be educated about what trans is and how what he said is not okay because as someone who truly identifies as a transwomen I was very offended and hurt by this,” the student wrote.

A member of the Bias Response Team met with the professor, the report says, and “advised him not to revisit transgender issues in his classroom if possible to avoid the students expressed concerns.” The Bias Response Team also “told him to avoid stating opinions (his or theirs) on the topic as he had previously when working from the Atlantic article.”

In a separate incident, a professor, whose name was also redacted, asked his students to choose from a list of debate topics, some of them regarding homosexuality and religion.

The Bias Response Team’s notes summarized: “Specifically there were two topics of debate that triggered them and personally felt like an attack on their identity (GodHatesFags.com: is this harmful? Is this acceptable? Is this Christianity? And Gay Marriage: should it be legal? Is homosexuality immoral as Christians suggest?)”

The student, whose name is redacted and who is referred to as “they” in the report, complained that “other students are required to watch the in-class debate and hear both arguments presented.”

“I do not believe that students should be required to listen to their own rights and personhood debated,” the student wrote. “[This professor] should remove these topics from the list of debate topics. Debating the personhood of an entire minority demographic should not be a classroom exercise, as the classroom should not be an actively hostile space for people with underprivileged identities.”

The Bias Response Team wrote that while this incident “did not reach a level of discrimination,” members still contacted the professor to “have a conversation… [and] listen to his perspective, share the impact created for the student and dialogue about options to strengthen his teaching.”

The Bias Response Team wrote that once the conversation was completed, they wanted a full report of “the outcome of your time together. . . so I can document and share with the student that outreach was completed.”

The University of Northern Colorado did not respond to Heat Street’s request for comment about whether the Bias Response Team is a threat to free speech and academic freedom. We also asked to be put in touch with the professors who had received complaints, but we did not hear back before publication...
I don't create "safe spaces" in my classrooms, and I don't let students censor debate, although I don't think my campus has a "bias response team." (And I'm not going to give administrators any ideas.)

I discuss controversial issues in class all the time, presenting both sides of debate, but usually contrasting "Main Street" opinion from the collectivist wisdom found at major media outlets like the New York Times. I always put the New York Times homepage up on the overhead screen, starting from the minute I call the roll sheet. I'll usually begin class lectures with a discussion of the hot news items. It's great. We discussed leftist political correctness after the Belgium jihad attacks (I posted this ABC News piece on administration threats to prosecute anti-Muslim "hate speech" in class), and transgender issues pretty much the whole semester. We had especially good discussions on the trans problem, and one of my students was transitioning from female to male, and told the class that Donald Trump was the only candidate so far that he could relate to! Now that was a teachable moment, heh.

In any case, more at the link.

Carey Murphy Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call 2017 (VIDEO)

Via Sports Illustrated:



Welcome to Port Antonio, a Tourist-Free Haven on Jamaica’s North Coast (VIDEO)

Via GQ:



Eric Metaxas, If You Can Keep It

I mentioned this book last night.

At Amazon, If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty.

Eric Metaxas photo 13445604_10210141097786932_1890168626194202079_n_zps9ltpcvov.jpg

Dana Loesch Hired by NRA as Women's Policy Adviser and National Spokesperson

At the Washington Times, "Dana Loesch lands big NRA role: Special Adviser on Women's Policy."

She's been doing these NRA videos for a while now, in any case, and they're great!


Hope Hicks, the 27-Year-Old Accidental Press Secretary for Donald Trump

From Olivia Nuzzi, at GQ:

From the antechamber to Donald Trump's office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, I was fetched by Hope Hicks. She was apologetic for the wait and a little nervous about what I'd come to discuss—namely, her.

The 27-year-old press secretary was clad in a teal dress, and she dug her stilettos into the colorless carpet as she showed me into the office, a room festooned with enough Trump memorabilia to suggest a serial killer's shrine. There before me sat Trump himself, behind his giant desk, upon which there was nothing resembling a computer, a PalmPilot, or even an Etch A Sketch.

“Oh,” Trump said, flashing his notorious disdain for handshakes as I extended my arm. He stood and reached, Martian-like, for my hand, as if the ritual were not the habit of businessmen or politicians. Hicks, meanwhile, settled into a $5,000 red velvet Knoll lounge chair. She affixed a smile to her face, and then said nothing more to me. As if speaking were not the habit of a spokesperson. But then, Hicks—who never appears on TV and rarely talks to reporters—resembles a traditional political spokesperson about as much as Trump resembles Mister Rogers.

Hicks is a product not of Washington but of the Trump Organization, a marble-walled universe where one's delightful agreeability and ferocious loyalty are worth more than conventional experience. She is a hugger and a people pleaser, with long brown hair and green eyes, a young woman of distinctly all-American flavor—the sort that inspires Tom Petty songs, not riots. And yet Hicks has, almost by accident, helped architect the strangest and least polite campaign in modern American history.

I wanted Hicks to help me understand just how all this had come to pass, how a person who'd never worked in politics had nonetheless become the most improbably important operative in this election. But she declined my request to talk. Instead, she arranged something more surreal: I could talk about her with Donald Trump, in front of her.

Trump, of course, has little experience with subjects other than Trump, which he made clear when I asked him about Hicks's quick ascent to his inner circle. “Bill O'Reilly last night said it is the greatest political event in his lifetime,” Trump said, exaggerating O'Reilly's point. “The most incredible political event in his lifetime! That's pretty big. You know, who knew this was going to happen? So…” He pivoted, reluctantly, to the topic at hand. “Hope's been involved from the beginning, and she has been absolutely terrific.”

Hicks's job—a sui generis role of outsize importance that she half invents on the fly—involves keeping the media at bay and operating as Trump's chief gatekeeper. But she's also summoned in critical moments of confusion to play instigator and score-settler. It was her job to facilitate Trump's rebuke of the Pope after His Holiness questioned the Christianity of anybody who would build a border wall (kind of Trump's thing). And it was she who helped malign a female reporter who'd been manhandled by Trump's campaign manager, immediately claiming she was a lying attention hound. Hicks was also called on this spring to explain why Trump, over the course of three days, advocated four positions on abortion. She tried without success to quell the confusion, declaring, finally, that President Trump would end abortion, simple as that: “He will change the law through his judicial appointments and allow the states to protect the unborn.”

Still, for all the grenades Hicks has to both jump on and lob, it's a more quotidian skill set that seems to impress the boss. “If you see her phone going”—he raised both hands and mimicked Hicks answering several devices—“ ‘This is Hope. This is Hope. This is Hope.’ ” He hung up the make-believe phones. “She gets a call a minute, probably,” he said, seemingly pleased with this antiquated barometer of his own popularity...
More at that top link.

WARNING! 'Game of Thrones' Spoilers!

WARNING: Spoilers ahead. Click away if you haven't seen this week's "Game of Thrones" episode!

*****

I don't DVR shows. My wife does.

If I wanna watch something I prefer to watch it when it goes live. I watch shows on a real TV. I don't stream and I don't record. I've got no time for all that. I'm not much of a television person beyond news and sports. The exception is the cable movie channels, which I love to have, even if I don't watch as many flicks as I should to justify the subscriptions. Call it luxury of affluence, or something, heh.

In any case, for the shows that I do like to watch, like "Game of Thrones," I need to stay off Twitter on Sunday nights.

Jamie Kirchick killed the climax for me last night. Sheesh:

And if you want a full summary and analysis (with spoilers), click on Heat Street, "Everyone Loved ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 9, but I Hated It. Here’s Why."

Omar Mateen's Family Should Be Under Arrest

They should all be behind bars, IMHO. From Robert Spencer, at FrontPage Magazine:

Noor Salman, the wife of Omar Mateen, the Orlando gay nightclub jihad mass murderer, has gone missing, and with good reason: she explodes the idea that Mateen was a “lone wolf” terrorist. She should be arrested – but now she is gone.

Salman witnessed him selling his house to his brother-in-law for $10 – a clear indication that the couple knew jihad was in the offing. She has admitted to law enforcement authorities that she and her husband had recently been “scouting Downtown Disney and Pulse [the nightclub where the jihad massacre took place] for attacks.” Mateen texted her during his massacre, asking if she had seen the news; she responded that she loved him.

As authorities deliberated over whether or not to arrest her, Salman herself showed more dispatch. Last Wednesday, the killer’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen, told reporters that Salman was “no longer here.”

No one seems to have asked Seddique Mateen himself where she has gone, but he probably knows. There are, after all, numerous indications that he may not be as upset about his son’s jihad massacre as he has claimed: he is an open supporter of the Taliban, and the morning after the murders, he posted online a video in which he claims that he was “not aware what motivated” Omar to “go into a gay club and kill 50 people,” but then he adds: “God will punish those involved in homosexuality,” as it is “not an issue that humans should deal with.”

Despite Seddique Mateen’s professed puzzlement over his son’s actions and denial that Omar had been “radicalized,” is it really any wonder that a man who grew up in a household in which the Taliban were held up as positive role models would turn out to be a jihad terrorist? Omar Mateen is known to have cheered at school when al-Qaeda flew planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001; is it likely that his father, a supporter of al-Qaeda’s allies and collaborators the Taliban, rebuked him for doing so?

While not revealing where Noor Salman is, the family issued a statement saying: “Noor is completely innocent and [was] unaware of the attacks.” It added the claim that she is unable to comprehend “cause and effect.” The mainstream media, always anxious to exonerate Islam from responsibility for the crimes done in its name and in accord with its teachings, even dragged out Salman’s middle school teacher to say: “Noor had difficulty with retention, she had difficulty with conceptualizing, understanding, all challenges to her. She tried hard. She was very sweet.”
So, they're going with the fucking retard defense.

That's a new one, I guess. Desperate, but new.

More at that top link.

Folks Hit the Beach on Sunday to Beat the Heat (VIDEO)

It's supposed to be 100 in Irvine today. It got up to 96 yesterday.

Great time to get outside and get into the water.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



Terror Attack in Orlando Re-Exposes Great American Divide

From Salena Zito, at RCP:
SMITHTON, PA - Gunshots echoed across the mountains hugging the valley cut by the Youghiogheny River as anglers, boaters, bikers and day-hikers enjoyed the Great Allegheny Passage recreational area between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

A group of men in their mid-30s, dressed in biking shorts and jerseys, stood around a gazebo built for travelers on the 300-mile trail, discussing where to end their day. The gunfire horrified them — but not in a duck-we're-under-attack way. Their reactions ranged from ridicule to misunderstanding to disgust and concluded with an assumption that they were unsafe around “these people” and it was time to move along.

In truth, the shots came from a local sportsmen's club. Most people around here consider the club members to be among the region's premier conservators; they stock the river every spring, lead clean-up crews along the trail, keep the deer population contained with their hunting and donate venison to needy families who can live off the meat of one buck for more than a year.

Theirs is a tradition passed from father to son. They don't own AR-15s but will defend your right to do so — not because they think people should have semi-automatic weapons but because they see gun ownership as one of our freedoms that Main Street America is ceding to cosmopolitan elites.

On Monday, as the motives and the blame for the Orlando massacre were dissected by “experts” on CNN, a successful Pittsburgh businessman called, distressed by the media coverage.

“Why do they make me feel as though I am somehow to blame for this?” he asked.

He is white, middle-aged, a gun owner, a devout Catholic and, despite his success and widespread respect for his generosity, he felt he heard a “Shame on you!” message from President Obama on down.

Everyone, he said, appeared to blame the tragedy in Orlando on guns, bigots, racism and people whose religious beliefs do not support gay marriage (but likely could care less if someone is gay): “It was like a series of code-words aimed at Middle America.”

Obama, many Democrats and much of the political class always come across as not being on Main Street's side. It is a feeling that makes Americans feel frustrated, ostracized, unsafe. And it adds to that disconnect that pundits always bemoan yet perversely contribute to by piling on against the “otherness” of traditional American culture.

Obama inserted politics into his passionless initial reaction to the Orlando slaughter; a day later, passion emerged only when he attacked Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. In both instances, he blamed Republicans for not passing a semi-automatic weapons ban and a ban on weapons sales to suspected terrorists on the nation's no-fly list.

The last time I checked, Democrats controlled Congress and the presidency in 2009 and 2010 and they never allowed either of those measures to go to the House or Senate floor for a vote...
Keep reading.

Donald Trump Fires Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski

This is breaking.

At USA Today:

And originally from Maggie Haberman, at NYT:


Santa Barbara Sherpa Fire Still Raging Out of Control

This is a nasty, nasty fire.

Watch, at KEYT News 3 Santa Barbara, "Day 4 of fire fight in Scherpa comes to a close," and "West Goleta Residents Told to Think About Preparing."

And at the Santa Barbara Independent, "Scherpa Fire: Sunday Afternoon Update."

And from the Santa Barbara County Information Officer, incredible photos from the other day, when the fire jumps the 101 Freeway near Refugio:





It's still early on the West Coast. More triple-digit temperatures are expected, and this fire is burning in parts of the Santa Ynez outback, where there's few if any service roads.

Showdown Over Gun Control This Week on Capitol Hill

It's astonishing that our politics have come to this.

All of these terror attacks simply do not raise gun control issues.

At WSJ, "Lawmakers Set for New Showdown on Guns":
WASHINGTON—Republicans and Democrats are headed for a new showdown over gun control this week as lawmakers sort through four proposals on the divisive issue in the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre.

The Senate will vote Monday on provisions to limit access to weapons for people on the government’s terrorist watch lists and expand background checks. One Republican-sponsored measure to delay gun sales to buyers on a watch list has secured support from the National Rifle Association.

None of the proposals is likely to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome Senate hurdles. But some momentum was already building for a bipartisan compromise led by Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) to prevent people on the government’s no-fly list from buying firearms while still offering a route to appeal those decisions.

Omar Mateen, the gunman in the Orlando shooting that left 49 dead, was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2013 and 2014 and was placed on the terror watch list. But he was removed when authorities couldn’t find evidence to continue the investigations.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the Federal Bureau of Investigation plans to release Monday a partial transcript of the 911 calls from the gunman inside the nightclub. But she said the transcript won’t include what Mateen said about his support for Islamic State.

“What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this individual’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups and further his propaganda,” she said on NBC Sunday.

The Justice Department didn’t clarify what exactly Mateen said about terror or Islamic State.

The heated election season adds another wrinkle to the political maneuvering in the wake of Orlando. Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump last week broke with many in his party by supporting an outright ban on gun sales to people on terror watch lists. Democrats are intensifying their focus on terror watch lists alongside other measures such as expanded background checks. While Republicans in some tight Senate races might benefit from reaching a deal, such a move could also spark a backlash from conservative voters and from gun-rights groups.

Any gun-control measure would need to overcome significant hurdles, including winning support in the Republican-controlled House...
The administration's memory-holing of 9/11 is outrageous and reprehensible.

That said, I doubt the proposal on the terror watch list restrictions is going to fly. There's too many good, decent people who'll be banned from buying firearms because of bureaucratic screw-ups. Just a week or so ago, Dana Loesch's step-father was detained and questioned at the airport over a mistaken name. It's just not going to work.

Markets Soar After Poll Suggests Britain Will Stay in European Union

Hmm. It's just one poll?

Maybe traders are really jonesin' for the U.K. to stay?

At WSJ, "Global Stocks Soar After Poll Suggests U.K. Will Remain in EU":
Stocks, sterling and oil soared at the start of the week after polls suggested the U.K. was more likely to vote to remain in the European Union in Thursday’s referendum than previously expected.

The Stoxx Europe 600 jumped 3.7%, on track for its best day since August, while the British pound surged more than 2% against the dollar to as high as $1.4674.

Futures pointed to a 1.3% opening gain for the S&P 500. Changes in futures markets don't necessarily reflect market moves after the opening bell

“We’re in this sort of frenzied period where Brexit is front and center,” said Bob Doll, senior portfolio manager at Nuveen Asset Management.

A survey published in the Mail on Sunday showed that 45% of respondents backed the U.K. staying in the trade bloc, compared with 42% in favor of leaving. The poll-of-polls, averaging the last six polls in the U.K. vote, returned to 50/50, suggesting growing momentum for the “remain camp” in the referendum...
Keep reading.

There's no mention of the Jo Cox murder, but no doubt ghoulish British leftists will continue to exploit the poor woman's death.

FLASHBACK: From 2004, "Postcard from Britain: Immigration Is Hot Issue as Elections Approach."

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Father's Day

Sorry for the light posting.

My younger sister was here on Friday, and then yesterday my mom came for Father's Day. We went out to B.J.'s in Irvine for a wonderful dinner last night.

I've been hanging out watching sports all day today, with the exception of an afternoon excursion to Barnes and Noble, where I picked up a copy of the new book out from Eric Metaxas, If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty.

I'm also halfway through Roger Scruton's, Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left. Scruton's an absolutely stellar writer, and the book's excellent. It's heavy duty scholarship, though, so not a quick read. But his command of the literature is breathtaking, and he's just merciless in skewering all the neo-Marxist postmodernist pap.

On the sporting front, the Angels have been outstanding this weekend, especially the pitching. Both offense and defense have been great too, especially yesterday, with the Halos taking the Athletics 7-1. Tim Lincecum made his major league comeback, picking up the win, although this Sports Illustrated piece just savages him as a hollow shell of his old self.

Today Jared Weaver had a pretty amazing outing, a 2-0 shutout over the A's. I don't know how great or not it was according to all the sophisticated metrics of professional analysts, but it was nice to see Weaver pitch the complete game for the win, clearly rekindling some badly needed confidence for a pitcher who's also seen better days.

LAT's Pedro Moura was impressed, in any case: