'Tis the Season to Be Jolly

LATMA.tv, via Atlas Shrugs, and it's a riot:

Michele Bachmann's Damage Control

Actually, I believe her. Her top staffer went for the payout, but with the way things are shaken out for her in Iowa, people had a lot of incentive to jump ship. And politicos lie about stuff, so what can you do?

At Washington Post, "Michele Bachmann's Campaign Flameout":

DES MOINES — The rise and fall of Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) may well stand as an allegory of the most turbulent GOP presidential primary in memory, one whose latest turn has been bitter and bizarre.

With just days to go before the Iowa caucuses, where a poor finish would almost certainly mean the end of Bachmann’s presidential hopes, the candidate who only months ago led the field here is being all but counted out.

A CNN/Time poll released Wednesday showed her running last among the six serious contenders in Iowa, garnering support from only 9 percent of likely caucusgoers surveyed.

Her story line went from poignant to poisonous on Wednesday night. Bachmann’s own Iowa chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson — who just hours earlier had appeared with her at a campaign event — suddenly turned up onstage at a rally for Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) and announced that he was ditching her.

She fired back with an accusation that Sorenson “personally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign.”

Then came another twist: Wes Enos, Bachmann’s political director, contradicted his candidate, saying in a statement that Sorenson’s switch “was in no way financially motivated.”

Sorenson issued a statement saying that he “was never offered money from the Ron Paul campaign or anyone associated with them and certainly would never accept any.”

That Bachmann’s once-promising endeavor should end up in such a surreal place speaks to the larger forces that have defined the primary contest.

More at that top link.

Also at Des Moines Register, "Bachmann reasserts that defector was paid."

And more at Memeorandum.

Girl Scouts Get Lesson in Media Bias

At Fox News:

And at Wizbang, "The co-opting of the Girl Scouts can now be considered complete."

Los Angeles Times Covers Organizing for America's 'Baloney' Map to Reelection

And they even quote campaign manager Jim Messina with the "bullsh*t" billion dollars line.

See: "Team Obama lays out electoral map strategy."

And click through for the video: "Obama for America Official Says 'Billion Dollar Campaign' is Baloney."

Mark Steyn Talks to Ambassador John Bolton on Hannity's Show

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

Occupy Wherever You Are! NYPD Arrests 50 Protesters Attempting to Seize Church Lot for New Encampment

The video's at the Occupy Wall Street page: "Take Back the Commons!"

And see The Blaze, "'Occupy Clergy' Lead Invasion of Church-Owned Land to Kick Off Re-Occupation."

Notice at both the video and at The Blaze, Occupy protesters are outfitted with Arafat-style keffiyehs, freakin' terrorist asshats.

It's all about "occupying wherever you are," at home and internationally. See: "Occupy Wall Street Embodies the Soul-Crushing Stagnation of the Status Quo." And: "Racist Walter James Casper III Doubles-Down on Endorsement of Revolutionary Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street."

Murderous bastards.

Third World Socialists Cheer Occupy Wall Street

There's more of that global communist solidarity we've been talkin' about.

At Weasel Zippers, "Occupy Wall Street Gets Big “Up Twinkles” From Third World Socialist Revolutionaries…"

PREVIOUSLY: "Occupy Wall Street Embodies the Soul-Crushing Stagnation of the Status Quo," and "Racist Walter James Casper III Doubles-Down on Endorsement of Revolutionary Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street."


PHOTO CREDIT: Looking at the Left, "Zuccotti Utopia: Portraits of The New Revolutionaries."

Oops! Las Vegas Occupy Hoists Palestinian Flag — Racist Walter James Casper III Hardest Hit!

Well, another inconvenient fact for the deranged Occupy backer.

At Marathon Pundit, "Occupy Las Vegas Obamaville and Its Palestinian Flag."

What's this? The Gaza Strip?

No, it's the west entrance of Occupy Las Vegas, what its occupiers like to call Area 99. Where they are camped is an old parking that was adjacent to a building that probably was torn down to make way for something that would be bigger and better--prior to the start of the Great Recession--which has hit Vegas hard. But the Palestinian cause has nothing to do with our economic struggles.

Here's an ugly fact: There is a persistent strain of anti-Semitism within the Occupy Wall Street movement...

And notice the language there: An "ugly fact." Not an "ugly opinion." Or an "ugly fringe kook." Nope. The persistent, deep-seated strain of the Occupy Wall Street movement is hatred of Israel. It's everywhere. (Or, "occupy wherever you are," like the Jewish state.)

And following the links take us to Atlas Shrugs, "More Anti-Semitism from Obama-Endorsed #OccupyChicago."

Right.

And that's "More Anti-Semitism from Walter James Casper III-Endorsed #Occupy-Chicago." See: "Racist Walter James Casper III Doubles-Down on Endorsement of Revolutionary Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street."

When you hoist the Palestinian flag it's an incitement to terrorism against Israelis. That's what that these murderous people are all about.

RELATED: "Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh Calls for Expulsion of Israel from 'Blessed Land of Palestine'."

Previously: "Occupy Wall Street Embodies the Soul-Crushing Stagnation of the Status Quo"; "Occupy Wall Street and the Jews"; "Christmas Smear: MSNBC Hack Ed Schultz Slurs Tea Partiers as 'Sewer Rats' — Assploding Hypocrite W. James Casper HardestHit!"; and "Manifesto: Occupy for the Revolution."

Heightened Attention to Santorum in Iowa

At Telegraph UK, "Santorum surges as candidates campaign in Iowa."

And from Nate Silver, at New York Times, "The Santorum Surge In Iowa and Beyond" (via Memeorandum).

Silver's got a big old model based on a "momentum bonus" and good timing, but others have been saying that Santorum's ill prepared to compete beyond Iowa, lacking organization in particular.

Robert Stacy McCain sure likes him though. See, "IOWA NOTEBOOK: Occupy Caucuses?"

See more at The Hill, "Top Santorum supporter says he can win Iowa caucus."

Tides Foundation Bankrolling Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street

A couple of earlier reports, from Reuters, "Who's behind the Wall Street Protests?," and Aaron Klein, "Look who’s behind Occupy Jew-hating. Latest astonishing claim: Protests represent Torah."

And here's the warning from the ADL, which is not the most aggressive Israel advocacy group when it comes to calling out the radical left: "Anti-Israel Groups Attempt to Co-Opt Occupy Wall Street Message." 

PREVIOUSLY: "Documenting Anti-Semitism at Adbusters, Leading Backer of 'Occupy Wall Street'."

More: "Occupy Wall Street Embodies the Soul-Crushing Stagnation of the Status Quo," and "Racist Walter James Casper III Doubles-Down on Endorsement of Revolutionary Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street."

See also: "Occupy Wall Street and the Jews"; "Christmas Smear: MSNBC Hack Ed Schultz Slurs Tea Partiers as 'Sewer Rats' — Assploding Hypocrite W. James Casper HardestHit!"; and "Manifesto: Occupy for the Revolution."

Nearly 60 Percent of 'Liberal Democrats' Have 'Positive' View of Socialism

That's one of the more interesting findings at the new Pew Report, "Little Change in Public's Response to 'Capitalism,' 'Socialism'."

The "liberal Democrats" --- these are the progressive radicals at the base of the Democrat-Socialist Party --- are almost twice as likely as all respondents to have a "positive" view of socialism. A strong majority of 59 percent of liberal Democrats said they held a positive view of socialism, whereas 31 percent at the entire poll held a positive view of the Marxist ideological program. Also interesting is the finding that 76 percent of liberal Democrats prefer the term "progressive" to "liberal" (68 percent positive). "Progressive" also generates a more positive reaction from Independents and Republicans, which explains why radical leftists have adopted the "progressive" moniker. After decades of failed "liberal" programs it's no wonder that radicals would try to dress up their morally bankrupt ideology with more popular terminology.

In any case, Gateway Pundit sums up the public's rejection of the murderous ideology: "Despite Obama-Endorsed #OWS Protests 60% of Americans Still Reject Socialism."

PREVIOUSLY: "Racist Walter James Casper III Doubles-Down on Endorsement of Revolutionary Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street," and "Occupy Wall Street Embodies the Soul-Crushing Stagnation of the Status Quo."

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh Calls for Expulsion of Israel from 'Blessed Land of Palestine'

Via Theo Spark:

The Hamas Prime Minister exhorted:

"We say today, explicitly, so it cannot be explained otherwise, that the armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers [Israel] from the blessed land of Palestine. The Hamas movement will lead Intifada after Intifada until we liberate Palestine - all of Palestine, Allah willing. Allah Akbar and praise Allah.

Also, at Jerusalem Post, "'Arab world must stop Israel's Judaization of J'lem'."

Well, the genocide's gotta start somewhere, I guess.

Hamas-Tied Unindicted Co-Conspirator CAIR Launches TOS Attack on Wordpress-Hosted Bare Naked Islam

TOS is terms of service.

It turns out the Hamas-linked Council on American Islamic Relations launched a successful campaign to have Wordpress censor Bare Naked Islam as a "hate site." See Blazing Cat Fur, "BarenakedIslam will rise again..."

Here's the CAIR press release: "Anti-Muslim Hate Site Removed After CAIR's Intervention."

The group alleges that Bare Naked Islam threatened Muslims, and CAIR apparently moved aggressively against the blog for its leading role in attacking TLC's program "All American Muslim."

I didn't blog about that controversy because it wasn't a controversy. Yeah, the press is stupidly mainstreaming the "religion of peace," but if folks opposed the program they didn't have to watch it. CAIR, on the other hand, campaigns to shut down dissenting voices critical of Islam. You don't have a marketplace of ideas if powerful grievance-industry lobbying groups can shut you down with persistent complaints. That's the progressive modus operandi, and it's reprehensible and anti-American --- which is why neo-commies and Jew-bashers are down with it.

UPDATE: This story's going viral.

See Astute Bloggers, "TIME TO BOYCOTT SHARIA COMPLIANT WORDPRESS," and Zilla of the Resistance, "Free Speech Hating Peas in an Anti-Semitic Pod."

And also at Gateway Pundit, "WordPress Takes Down “Bare Naked Islam” Blog After Threats From CAIR," and Ironic Surrealism, "WordPress.com Dhimmis Bow to Their Islamic Masters Take Down ‘Bare Naked Islam’ Blog."

Pakistani Death Squads Hunt Down Suspected Drone Informants in North Waziristan

At Los Angeles Times, "Pakistani death squads go after informants to U.S. drone program."

The reprisals are dreadful. But the news is working to fuel the radical left's antiwar agitation on Afghanistan, and the press reporting hasn't been particularly objective on these topics. See Telegraph UK, "Pakistani girl brought to US for treatment 'disfigured by her own nation's military'." And at Long War Journal, "CNN makes questionable claim that drone strike wounded Pakistani child."

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

Kelly Clarkson Gets Slammed for Ron Paul Endorsement

I sent her a tweet last night, one of just untold numbers, apparently.

Clarkson's backtracking a bit now.

See: "I am really sorry if I have offended anyone." (Via Memorandum.)

And see Wasington Examiner, "Kelly Clarkson under fire for Ron Paul support," and The Hill, "Kelly Clarkson defends support for Paul."

House Leader Nancy Pelosi Would Like to Retire

She probably doesn't like being in the minority and doesn't think the Dems will win back control of the chamber in November.

I saw Breitbart tweeting hints about this yesterday.

At Big Government, "EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Pelosi’s Daughter: ‘My Mom Wants to Leave Congress’." (Via Memeorandum.)

Obama for America Official Says 'Billion Dollar Campaign' is Baloney

There's video at the link.

At Weasel Zippers, "Official Obama Campaign Video: Claims We’re Running Billion Dollar Campaign Are “Bullshit”…"

The Houses of the GOP Hopefuls

That's at New York Times.

And Reliapundit's not pleased: "Unreal: NYSlimes publishes photos of the homes of the GOP candidates."

Yeah, in no time the Occupy freaks'll be harassing the candidates in their own front yards. Pathetic losers.

Ron Paul Campaign Tells Dirtbag Activists to Shower and Shave Before Stumping for the Candidate

I don't ever recall a campaign news article like this one. But then again, this is no ordinary GOP campaign.

At New York Times, "Marching Orders for Paul’s Volunteers: Do Shave, Don’t Tweet" (at Memeorandum):

DES MOINES — Ron Paul’s college-aged volunteer army — a core of the powerful ground organization that is the envy of rivals — is descending on Iowa from around the nation to coax people to the state’s Republican caucuses as he seeks to pull off what only months ago seemed like an unthinkable victory here on Tuesday.

Four years after young people flocked to the state to help propel the campaign of Barack Obama, this radically different movement is embracing a 76-year-old veteran Texas congressman who is drawing supporters for his libertarian and antiwar views.

And they say they are under strict orders: To look, dress, shave, sound and behave in a way that will not jeopardize Mr. Paul’s chances. Even before flying here on their own nickel, some students said they had been instructed to cover up tattoos and told that their faces should be fresh-shaved or beards neatly trimmed, wearing only nice clothes that one described as “business casual.”

“No tats,” another volunteer, Rocco Lucente, said as he ticked off the rules after arriving at the airport Tuesday night. No liquor, no drugs and, he said, no “fraternizing in the dorms, nothing like that.”

He said the standard expected of volunteers was: “What would Ron Paul do?”

The hundreds of volunteers are considered Mr. Paul’s most potent weapon beyond his vast and acerbic advertising campaign in Iowa, where the caucus results often turn on the ability of campaigns to turn out supporters. After the volunteers arrived at the airport here, they were whisked to a Y.M.C.A. camp the campaign rented in Boone, an hour outside Des Moines, where some said they expected to be drilled on get-out-the-vote techniques and how to use scripts to talk to prospective caucusgoers.

Much of their efforts have been cloaked in secrecy: They said that once they arrive at the camp they are under orders not to speak to journalists or make postings on social media sites about their activities in Iowa, a provocative limitation for a movement lubricated by the effective use of the Internet. A half-dozen Paul aides declined to comment or allow a visit to volunteers. “We’re keeping our cards close to our vests,” said Jesse Benton, the national campaign chairman.

Jeez, it's like boot camp.

VIDEO HAT TIP: AoSHQ.

Ben Breedlove Died on Christmas Day: Made Videos on Life Coping With Life-Threatening Heart Condition

God had come to him on occasion.

At Los Angeles Times, "Texas teen dies on Christmas, leaves online message."

Ben had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart has different levels of thickness and is unable to pump blood evenly. More at ABC News, "Texas Teen Ben Breedlove Posted Powerful Videos Before Christmas Death."