Wolf Blitzer Has Heated Exchange with Donald Trump Over Latest Barack Obama Birth Controversy

The story's at Memeorandum.

Trump is already an extremely loose cannon, so it makes for great television, no doubt.

But did Wolf every follow up on Michelle's touting of Barack's "Kenyan birth"? Oh, no? I thought not.

x

5.8 Earthquake Hits Italy

At the Los Angeles Times, "In Italy, 5.8 quake kills 16, injures 350." And at the San Francisco Chronicle, "Italian Earthquake Kills at Least 15 in Emilia Romagna Region."

Plus lots of pictures at London's Daily Mail, "Priest dies in church collapse while trying to rescue statue as second major earthquake to hit Italy in days kills at least 15 others."

California Voters Don't Trust Government on Proposed New Taxes and Spending, Poll Finds

Well, to be precise, California voters support Governor Jerry Brown's tax hike initiative on the November ballot, but when question wording is changed to indicate that the state may waste the money, support drops dramatically — especially among independents.

See the Los Angeles Times, "California voters still support Jerry Brown's call for tax hikes — But skepticism about how lawmakers would use the money could derail the governor's plan, and winning over independents is key, poll finds":

SACRAMENTO — California voters continue to back Gov. Jerry Brown in his call for higher taxes, but distrust of state government could erode that support, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll.

About half of those surveyed said they approved of Brown's job performance — a finding virtually unchanged from three months ago, before he announced that the projected budget deficit had leapt from $9.2 billion to $16 billion. Brown wants voters to pass a quarter-cent increase in the sales tax and raise levies on individual incomes of more than $250,000 by 1 to 3 percentage points, or about 11% to 32%.

But some of those inclined to support increased taxes are reluctant to trust state leaders with more money.

When told of the growing deficit and the governor's plan to plug it with a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, 59% of respondents said they would support the tax hikes. Just 36% said they would vote against the proposal if it is on the ballot this fall as Brown hopes.

However, when voters heard arguments against the plan — namely, the suggestion that Sacramento could waste any new money it received from higher taxes rather than spend it on such services as schools and public safety — only 50% said they would vote for it. And 42% would oppose it.

"Very quickly, the intensity changes as people are presented with more information," said Linda DiVall of the Republican polling firm American Viewpoint, which conducted the survey in conjunction with the Democratic company Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.

The proposal's passage, which would require a simple majority, would depend in large part on Brown's ability to win independent voters — those not registered with any political party, who make up about 21% of the state's electorate. They were the most likely to turn against the governor's measure when an argument was made against it.

Before the critique, independents supported the measure 58% to 38%. Afterward, just 43% of those respondents said they would vote yes and 47% said they would vote no.

One of those people is Margrit Drexelius, a 52-year-old independent voter from Santa Clarita. She said she recognizes why Brown is asking people to pay more in taxes but doubts lawmakers would spend the money wisely.

"I understand the money has to come from somewhere," she said. "But I don't think they know how to use people's money. Frankly, I think that all politicians are doing a crappy job."

Bingo!

Continue reading at the link.

Obama Awards Medal of Freedom to Dolores Huerta, Honorary Chair of Democratic Socialists of America

Well, naturally.

Obama's a socialist.

See "Obama Awards Medal of Freedom to Democratic Socialists of America Chair" (via Memeorandum).

And listen to Ms. Huerta's interview with Univision today. All about "social justice," you think?

Aaron Worthing Released From Custody at Montgomery County Jail, Rockville, Maryland

Aaron Worthing is out of jail and conservatives are ramping up the support networks.

Aaron is retweeting all the support, and Dan Collins has a nice roundup of today's news: "Aaron Walker Jailed on ‘Violation’ of Peace Order." And see Memeorandum for all the action.

It's going to take a long time to resolve things legally, but there's no doubt that progressives are waging all out lawfare. Mandy Nagy tweets this from "Occupy Rebellion," a sockpuppet supporting the Brett Kimberlin attacks:

I'll be updating, as always.

Meanwhile, Volokh has an excellent post with informed comments at the thread: "Aaron Walker, Brett Kimberlin, and the Fog of Litigation."

And see Hans Bader, "Injunction Imposed Over Blog Posts That Criticized Convicted Terrorist-Turned-Left-Wing Activist."

Added: See Jeff Goldstein as well, "And you thought justice was blind…"

Lawfare: Aaron Worthing Arrested After #BrettKimberlin 'Peace Order' Hearing — UPDATED!

This story is developing.

Robert Stacy McCain reports, "REPORT: Aaron Walker Arrested After Maryland Hearing on Kimberlin Case" (via Memeorandum).

And at Twitchy, "Blogger and Brett Kimberlin target Aaron Walker arrested in Maryland; Updated" (via Memeorandum).

And Popehat nails it at the title: "Brett Kimberlin and Aaron Worthing: Censorship And Retaliation Through Lawfare"

Below is the so-called "peace order" that Kimberlin submitted to the court. Kimberlin's alleged imminent impending harm because conservatives blogged about him. He alleges he's received death threats. At around Noon Pacific Time Aaron Worthing had not updated his Twitter feed for about 5 hours. And at this point Twitter is freezing up due to over-capacity. That said, there's a first-hand account of the court hearing at Munsey’s Technosnarl, "When Your Honor, This Man Is a Convicted Domestic Terrorist Is Not Enough." Read it all at the link. It looks like Aaron let his frustrations get the best of him --- which is not surprising, considering the cunning evil that is Brett Kimberlin.

Michelle Malkin affirms what I say all the time: "The world is upside-down."

And be sure to read William Jacobson's post for some perspective: "What’s going on in Maryland?"

UPDATE: The Blaze is reporting on the story: "BLAZE CONFIRMS: CONSERVATIVE BLOGGER ARRESTED FOLLOWING COURT HEARING WITH CONVICTED SPEEDWAY BOMBER BRETT KIMBERLIN."

Gendercide: Sex-Selection in America

It couldn't happen here, right?

That's always the thing, when we read the brutal reports on sex-selection baby killing in China, India, and other developing countries. It's never here, in the good ole U.S. of A.

Right?

Wrong.

Watch this video from Live Action and you will be horrified, via Hot Air and Memeorandum.

And check Live Action, "Sex-Selective Abortion Thrives in America, Courtesy Planned Parenthood."

Gunny Nick Popaditch Phenomenal Memorial Day Speech 2012

This guy is on fire. What a speech!

Via Freedom's Lighthouse, "Outstanding Memorial Day Speech by U.S. Marine Veteran, and Candidate for Congress (CA-53), Nick Popaditch – Video 5/28/12":

The U.N. Again Plays Accomplice to Massacre

At the Wall Street Journal, "Syria's Srebrenica" (via Google):

The United Nations Security Council on Sunday condemned Syria's government for the killing of 108 people, mostly women and children, in Houla on Friday. But the condemnation was incomplete: It should have included the Security Council itself for providing the diplomatic cover that has let the Assad government continue its killing.

Thanks to Russia and China, the Security Council has failed to impose any serious sanctions on Syria, much less endorse action to help the opposition amid more than 6,000 deaths. That's bad enough. But in April the U.N. turned to aiding and abetting the regime with its mission to send Kofi Annan to Damascus as a special "peace" envoy.

Mr. Annan, who as a former U.N. Secretary-General is perfectly trained for the role of accommodating dictators, brokered a cease-fire that he said Syria's Bashar Assad promised to obey. As was widely predicted at the time, Mr. Annan's truce succeeded only in buying time for the Assad regime to crush rebel havens in Homs and elsewhere and now to perpetrate the massacre in Houla.

On Monday, Mr. Annan made another trip to Damascus and proclaimed himself "personally shocked and horrified by the tragic incident in Houla." Nice to know.

He also called on "every individual with a gun" to disarm and stop the killing, which continues the moral equivalence that equates systematic shelling of civilian neighborhoods with small-arms resistance to organized military assaults. The U.N. is every bit as complicit in the Houla murders as it was when its blue-helmet Dutch peacekeepers stood by and did nothing as the Serbs massacred thousands of Bosnians in Srebrenica in 1995.

The Obama Administration signed onto the Annan mission as an excuse not to have to organize a coalition of the willing outside the U.N. to intervene in Syria. Bill Clinton was finally shamed into going around the U.N. in Bosnia in the 1990s, but Mr. Obama's main goal seems to be to get past the election without again having to use American military force.

RTWT.

And ICYMI, BCF has the trailer for "U.N. Me."

Iraq War Protester David Lawley-Wakelin Bursts Into Courtroom as Former PM Tony Blair Faces Leveson Inquiry

At London's Daily Mail, "You're a war criminal! Protester bursts into courtroom as Tony Blair gives evidence at Leveson Inquiry (and former PM's car is egged as he leaves)."

And from Telegraph UK, "Leveson intruder David Lawley Wakelin had heckled Tony Blair before on Question Time."

MSNBC's Chris Hayes Apologizes for Stupid Comments Disrespecting America's Fallen Military Heroes

ICYMI, here's the background, with video, "MSNBC's Chris Hayes 'Uncomfortable' Honoring Fallen U.S. Troops, Spews About 'Rhetorically Proximate' Justifications for More War."

And here's the apology, via Puff Ho:

On Sunday, in discussing the uses of the word "hero" to describe those members of the armed forces who have given their lives, I don't think I lived up to the standards of rigor, respect and empathy for those affected by the issues we discuss that I've set for myself. I am deeply sorry for that.

As many have rightly pointed out, it's very easy for me, a TV host, to opine about the people who fight our wars, having never dodged a bullet or guarded a post or walked a mile in their boots. Of course, that is true of the overwhelming majority of our nation's citizens as a whole. One of the points made during Sunday's show was just how removed most Americans are from the wars we fight, how small a percentage of our population is asked to shoulder the entire burden and how easy it becomes to never read the names of those who are wounded and fight and die, to not ask questions about the direction of our strategy in Afghanistan, and to assuage our own collective guilt about this disconnect with a pro-forma ritual that we observe briefly before returning to our barbecues.

But in seeking to discuss the civilian-military divide and the social distance between those who fight and those who don't, I ended up reinforcing it, conforming to a stereotype of a removed pundit whose views are not anchored in the very real and very wrenching experience of this long decade of war. And for that I am truly sorry.

That's not much of an apology, actually.

Indeed, it's not all that complicated. Parsing all the rhetorical proximity to war is freakin' stupid. Americans are steeped in military history and when our soldiers lose their lives that's considered a greater act of valor. The individual agency involved is just part of the larger symbolism of national purpose and sacrifice. It's stupid to ignore that larger symbolism. And it's even more stupid not to recognize that a television network --- even a network as far left as MSNBC --- is a far different medium than the rarefied pages of The Nation (where Hayes is an editor).

But maybe that's intellectualizing it a bit much. Here's Bill Quick for the concise response to Hayes:

He’s lying, and I don’t believe a word of his apology.

In fact, I think if he said what he really thinks, he’d tell us that the American fighting man is nothing more than a robotically programmed killer hired by the hegemons of the American empire to brutalize the helpless indigenous peoples of the world in order to further their exploitation in the furnaces and sweat shops of capitalism.

More at Pull My Chain, "Well I’m uncomfortable calling Hayes a ‘journalist’."

Gallup: Romney Enjoys Huge Lead Among Veterans

See: "Veterans Give Romney Big Lead Over Obama."

Read it all at the link. There's some interesting tables on the veterans' demographic. Nearly three-fourth of all men aged 80-89 served in the military, and the numbers are also high for those in their 60s and 70s. Perhaps with the introduction of the selective service in the 1970s the Democrats would subsequently enjoy a long-term benefit as the earlier generations of drafted military veterans passed from the scene.

Also from This Ain't Hell, "Gallup: Romney’s lead over Obama comes from veterans" (via Memeorandum).

And at Linkmaster Smith, "So You’re Telling Me 1 In 3 Vets Favor #OccupyResoluteDesk?"

BONUS: Ed Morrissey has the political angle, "Obama, Romney tied at 46 in 6-week Gallup survey."

Mitt Romney Commemorates Memorial Day in San Diego (VIDEO)

The Washington Post reports: "Romney’s Memorial Day promise: to maintain a US military ‘with no comparable power anywhere’."

Eagles 'Hotel California' at No. 5 — Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time

They've wrapped up the Memorial Weekend marathon at The Sound L.A.

Check the link for the top finishers. The Eagles' "Hotel California" came in a No. 5 — a fine entry and a fine performance at the clip:

PREVIOUSLY: "Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time."

Dog Tags

I'm hanging out blogging and my youngest boy comes over and slips a little necklace over my shirt with dog tags on it. I thought that was pretty cool so we took a  photo.

As the Nation Remembers This Memorial Day, Don't Forget That Barack Obama Was Most Antiwar Candidate for President Since George McGovern

I'm watching President Obama's commemoration at the Vietnam War Memorial on CNN. And there's more coverage at The Hill (via Memeorandum).

While I appreciate the president's word of gratitude for our nation's fallen, I can't help feeling that his words are cheap. In 2007, as a candidate for the Democrat nomination, Obama laid claim to being the most far-left, antiwar candidate in the race. After he was elected, he set out to reorient American national security toward a dramatic and precipitous downsizing of our military presence overseas. I do not discount that Obama has made some monumental decisions as Commander-in-Chief --- decisions that undoubtedly made the country safer --- but those decisions should be always viewed through the prism of naked partisan politics, and not the more noble politics of our nation's higher calling to goodness in the world. Here's what I wrote in 2010, when the administration announced the final drawdown from Iraq, "President Barack Obama Claims Credit on Iraq War":

For all of the socialism and Islamist-appeasement of this administration, the one thing that has bothered me the most about this president (and candidate in 2007-08) is his screechingly perverse antiwar ideology and opportunism. Barack Obama was the most antiwar Senator in Congress throughout 2007 and in 2008 he tried to play both sides of the fence: After opposing the surge he then turned around and hailed its success, while insisting once more that the war was wrong.

There's more at the link.

This Cold Fury headline also captures the feeling back in 2010: "Obama singlehandedly wins Iraq war, comes home victorious, pats wonderful self on back."

So again, while I appreciate the dignity that Obama now brings to Memorial Day, I simply can't look at this president and consider him sincere. Indeed, when I hear MSNBC commentators like Chris Hayes diss the troops as false heroes "rhetorically proximate" to neo-imperialist warmongering, I'm reminded of the president. The Veterans of Foreign Wars is now demanding an apology from Hayes, "VFW Seeks Apology After MSNBC Host's 'Reprehensible and Disgusting' Comments" (via Memeorandum). And while some might be calling this a mini-tempest, I'd simply point out that Hayes' wife, Kate Shaw, is Associate Counsel to the President in the Barack Obama White House. Perhaps Ms. Shaw should step down so as to eliminate the close connections to Chris Hayes at MSNBC. No worries thought, right? I'm sure in no time we'll be hearing Press Spokesman Jay Carney promising that such associations have no impact on the president's national security policy making, wink, wink.

PHOTO CREDIT: "President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet the U.S. Navy’s first contingent of women...", via the White House Flickr page.

Remarkable Men and Women Are Still Stepping Forward to Defend Freedom

From Tom Manion, at the Wall Street Journal, "Why They Serve—'If Not Me, Then Who?'":

I served in the military for 30 years. But it was impossible to fully understand the sacrifices of our troops and their families until April 29, 2007, the day my son, First Lt. Travis Manion, was killed in Iraq.

Travis was just 26 years old when an enemy sniper's bullet pierced his heart after he had just helped save two wounded comrades. Even though our family knew the risks of Travis fighting on the violent streets of Fallujah, being notified of his death on a warm Sunday afternoon in Doylestown, Pa., was the worst moment of our lives.

While my son's life was relatively short, I spend every day marveling at his courage and wisdom. Before his second and final combat deployment, Travis said he wanted to go back to Iraq in order to spare a less-experienced Marine from going in his place. His words—"If not me, then who . . . "—continue to inspire me.

My son is one of thousands to die in combat since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Because of their sacrifices, as well as the heroism of previous generations, Memorial Day 2012 should have tremendous importance to our entire nation, with an impact stretching far beyond one day on the calendar.

In Afghanistan, tens of thousands of American troops continue to sweat, fight and bleed. In April alone, 35 U.S. troops were killed there, including Army Capt. Nick Rozanski, 36, who made the difficult decision to leave his wife and children to serve our country overseas.

"My brother didn't necessarily have to go to Afghanistan," Spc. Alex Rozanski, Nick's younger brother and fellow Ohio National Guard soldier, said. "He chose to because he felt an obligation."

Sgt. Devin Snyder "loved being a girly-girl, wearing her heels and carrying her purses," according to her mother, Dineen Snyder. But Sgt. Snyder, 20, also took it upon herself to put on an Army uniform and serve in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan as a military police officer. She was killed by an enemy roadside bomb, alongside three fellow soldiers and a civilian contractor, on June 4, 2011.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Daniel Douville was an explosive ordnance disposal technician, doing an incredibly dangerous job depicted in "The Hurt Locker." He was a loving husband and father of three children. "He was my best friend," his wife, LaShana Douville, said. "He was a good person."

Douville, 33, was killed in a June 26, 2011, explosion in Afghanistan's Helmand province, where some of the fiercest fighting of the decade-long conflict continues to this day...

Continue reading.

Mitt Romney Video Thanks Veterans on Memorial Day

Via Blogs4Mitt:

Also at the Los Angeles Times, "Romney campaign thanks veterans on Memorial Day."

Memorial Day 2012

I'm always thankful for the untold sacrifices, each and every day.

See the editorials at Buffalo News and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Photo Credit: Arlington National Cemetery, via Wikimedia.

Brett Kimberlin and 'SWATting': Where Is the Establishment Press?

From Tom Blumer, at NewsBusters:

As the clock in the Eastern time zone officially tells me that it's Memorial Day, it occurs to me that the men and women we honor today did not fight and die so they would see their country become one where a person could be hounded from their home, see themselves and/or loved ones lose their jobs, worry about the safety of their kids, or be visited by police with guns drawn as a result of a false anonymous tip -- all of which has "just so happened" to occur in close proximity to having blogged about the activities of a certain person or his associates.

It also occurs to me that part of the way of life these men and women died to preserve had to do with defending the rights of the press (which at the time of our Founders was understood to be anyone "down" to the level of a pamphleteer) to conscientiously do their jobs, and that part of the reason why what is happening as described in the first paragraph goes on may be because those involved know that they often won't be called out by the local, regional, or national press -- virtually no matter how egregious their offenses.

If they somehow do get caught, tried, and jailed, they frequently become objects of orchestrated sympathy -- and too many in the media aren't averse to playing along. What's more, it seems that some of the worst perpetrators of these crimes against basic human decency, and in some cases actual crimes, are doing so with the assistance of money obtained from people who like to think of themselves as politically correct but should nevertheless know better.

Which leads us to the subject of Brett Kimberlin...

Continue reading.

Last night Stranahan, Patterico, Liberty Chick and others recorded a radio show (here), and there's some speculation that the swatting suspect called in. Skip forward to 65:00 minutes at the recording. It was chilling. The voice resembled the caller at the YouTube clip above, the Patterico swatting.

Check for updates at all the usual blogs and on Twitter.

And starting Tuesday folks need to make their voices known. Contact your Member of Congress and some of the mainstream media outlets, especially CNN (on Twitter here).

Michelle has more: "A post-Brett Kimberlin blogburst to-do list." And I'll be updating.