GOP Leaders Search for New Strategy

At the Wall Street Journal, "Republican Leaders Search for New, Winning Strategy."

And then see the Washington Post, "Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal: GOP must stop being 'stupid party'," and "Bobby Jindal speaking truth to GOP power."

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blur to Headline Coachella

At the Los Angles Times, "Coachella 2013: Blur, Phoenix, Red Hot Chili Peppers to headline."

Held at the Empire Polo Grounds since its 1999 inception, Coachella has a reputation for presenting a heavily curated lineup that connects the dots among hitmakers, underground artists and those on the comeback trail, all within an unique desert setting that’s increasingly becoming more resort-like, with upscale options to match (at the highest end of the VIP configuration.

Israel's New Power Broker

At the New York Times, "The Making of Yair Lapid":

TEL AVIV — They pitched tents along Rothschild Boulevard and took to the streets in unprecedented numbers, hundreds of thousands demonstrating against the rising costs of gas, apartments, even cottage cheese.

Back on the genteel boulevard on Wednesday, many of those middle-class protesters from 2011 said they had taken their grievances to the ballot box the day before, helping to catapult Yair Lapid, a suave, handsome journalist-turned-populist-politician, into Israel’s newest power broker.

“He spoke out the strongest about how everything in this country is upside down,” said Elad Shoshan, 28, who works with computers and rents an apartment on a cheaper street off the boulevard.

Echoing his candidate’s mantra, Roni Klein, 52, an accountant, said, “My wife and I work, and still it is very hard for us to finish the month.”

Mr. Lapid’s new, centrist Yesh Atid party shocked the political establishment by winning 19 of Parliament’s 120 seats, becoming Israel’s second-largest faction and a crucial partner for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relatively poor showing left him scrambling to form a stable coalition.

While Mr. Netanyahu remains all but assured of serving a third term — Mr. Lapid said Wednesday that he would not unite with Arab lawmakers to stop him — Yesh Atid’s ascendance promises to shift the government’s focus to pocketbook concerns despite the pressing foreign policy issues Israel faces.

Mr. Lapid’s campaign hardly challenged Mr. Netanyahu’s policies on the Iranian nuclear threat, the tumult in the Arab world or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This was the first election in memory in which such existential security issues were not emphasized, as a growing majority of Israelis see them as too tough to tackle. Even Mr. Netanyahu barely spoke about Iran, his raison d’être.

Instead, voters and analysts alike said Mr. Lapid had captured the hearts of Israel’s silent majority with his personal charm and a positive, inclusive message that harnessed the everyday frustrations that fueled the huge social justice protests in 2011.

RTWT.

And see the Times of Israel, "Netanyahu offers Lapid Foreign or Finance Ministry."

Icy Death: David Cox Died After His Car Plunged Into Water on School Run

These winter car-crash deaths are too much.

At Mirror UK, "Horror on the school run: Dad drowns after BOTH family's cars crash into icy river":

His wife managed to swim to the bank with their daughter and son and the three of them tried valiantly to free him but he drowned.

A dad drowned yesterday after his car plunged into an icy river - moments before his wife's vehicle did the same.

Last night a neighbour told of her desperate bid to free trapped dad David Cox from his submerged car which crashed during the school run.

Victoria Bamber waded stomach high through the water to reach the stricken dad-of-two who had skidded off a snow covered road just minutes before his wife Ruth’s 4x4 crashed at the same spot, jamming his door shut.

Ruth, 39, managed to swim to the bank with their 11-year-old daughter Tess and son Ioan, nine.

The three of them tried valiantly to free him but he drowned.

Mum-of-three Victoria said the first she knew of the tragedy was when frantic Ioan banged on her door after running three quarters of a mile from the crash scene to his home to raise the alarm because there was no mobile phone signal in the area.

The 32-year-old added: “He was running down the lane shouting for help.

"He came banging on the door saying, ‘There’s been an accident, daddy is trapped’.

“He said that both cars had gone into the water.”

As she raced to the scene Victoria spotted Tess who was running towards the house, for a second time.

When she arrived at the crash site, both cars were in the water but she could only see one, which was wedged against the other, trapping David.

Continue reading.

New York Post: Hillary Clinton Explodes at Benghazi Hearing

The Post made some hay with Hillary's testimony.

See, "Feisty Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fires back at Congress in Benghazi hearing." And also a commentary from John Podhoretz, "Clinton’s exasperation can’t cover the fact that administration bumbled in pursuit of terrorists."

Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Bandeau

Some Candice Swanepoel overnight.

Obama's Spending Will Require Massive Tax Hikes on the Middle Class

It's harsh, but at some level I hope people really get socked and feel it. Maybe that's what it will take to wake people the f-k up.

At IBD, "Now They Tell Us: Obama's Tax Promises Were Bogus":

Remember all those mainstream news reports before the election about how President Obama's expansive spending plans would require massive tax hikes on everyone, not just millionaires and billionaires? Neither do we.

But somehow after the election, reporters are finally admitting that Obama's budget numbers simply don't add up and that new taxes on the middle class — including a European-style value added tax — are "inevitable."

New York Times columnist Eduardo Porter, for example, wrote this week that the $620 billion in tax hikes on the rich that Obama secured as part of the fiscal-cliff deal are "hardly enough to stabilize the nation's debt in the next 10 years, let alone deal with the long-term budget deficit."

Fortune senior editor-at-large Shawn Tully wrote last week how "steep deficits and mountainous debt will rise even after the new revenue is counted."

An article on CNBC's website in early January noted that the fiscal-cliff deal "merely masks the bleak long-term outlook for the country."

These stories go on to say that there's no way Obama can finance his ambitious plans without raising taxes on everyone.

The Financial Times ran a piece shortly after Obama signed the fiscal-cliff deal noting "that maintaining a basic welfare state . .. implies higher taxes for the middle class as well as for the rich."

Targeting The Middle

CNN reported that while "President Obama wants to balance spending cuts with tax increases ... experts say he can't do that without hitting the middle class."
That story quotes Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert Bixby saying that "it's hard to make the numbers work" if you exempt "the middle class from any pain."
Hmm.

As we recall, Obama endlessly promised the country that he could spend — sorry, "invest" — more on roads and education while cutting the deficit simply by trimming some fat out of government programs and asking "millionaires and billionaires to pay just a little bit more."

No one in the mainstream press seriously challenged Obama on this at the time, even though it was painfully obvious to anyone who looked at the budget forecasts that Obama was peddling fiscal snake oil.

Continue reading.

Here's that Eduardo Porter piece, from the New York Times, "Higher Taxes on Everyone Could Ease Spending Cuts."

I'm going to read around at some of those additional reports cited by IBD. The Obama campaign was one big lie after another. My favorite? "Al Qaeda has been decimated!"

Jihadists' Bid for Sharia in Mali

This is a great piece, running surprisingly at the New York Times' op-ed page, from Karima Bennoune, "The Taliban of Timbuktu":

BEFORE the recent French intervention in Mali began, 412,000 people had already left their homes in the country’s north, fleeing torture, summary executions, recruitment of child soldiers and sexual violence against women at the hands of fundamentalist militants. Late last year, in Algeria and southern Mali, I interviewed dozens of Malians from the north, including many who had recently fled. Their testimonies confirmed the horrors that radical Islamists, self-proclaimed warriors of God, have inflicted on their communities.

First, the fundamentalists banned music in a country with one of the richest musical traditions in the world. Last July, they stoned an unmarried couple for adultery. The woman, a mother of two, had been buried up to her waist in a hole before a group of men pelted her to death with rocks. And in October the Islamist occupiers began compiling lists of unmarried mothers.

Even holy places are not safe. These self-styled “defenders of the faith” demolished the tombs of local Sufi saints in the fabled city of Timbuktu. The armed groups also reportedly destroyed many churches in the north, where displaced members of the small Christian minority told me they had previously felt entirely accepted. Such Qaeda-style tactics, and the religious extremism that demands them, are completely alien to the mainstream of Malian Islam, which is known for its tradition of tolerance.

That openness is exactly what the jihadists seek to crush. “The fact that we are building a new country on the base of Shariah is just something the people living here will have to accept,” the Islamist police commissioner in the town of Gao said last August. Until military action began this month, local citizens were on their own in resisting the imposition of Shariah — and they fought back valiantly. A radio journalist was severely beaten by Islamist gunmen after speaking on the radio against amputations. Women marched through the streets of Timbuktu against Islamist diktats on veiling until gunfire ended their protest.

Continue reading.

And linked at the piece is this report from the United Nations Security Council, FWIW, "Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Mali."

On Assault Weapons Ban, Senate Democrats Must Reckon With Angry Gun-Owning Constituents

I doubt Senator Feinstein's got a snowball's chance of getting her gun-grabbing bill passed, and that's not even considering her own Democrat colleagues in the Senate. The House will shut down the legislative push to gut the Second Amendment. There'll be hell to pay if they don't.

Here's the clip below of Feinstein's press conference this morning, and see the New York Times, "Democrats in Senate Confront Doubts at Home on Gun Laws":

BECKLEY, W.Va. — Talk of stricter gun control has stirred up a lot of unease here, a place where hunters vie for top prize (a 26-inch LED television) in the Big Buck Photo Contest, and ads for a gun-simulator game ask, “Feel like shooting something today?”

But before Senator Joe Manchin III invited a group of 15 businessmen and community leaders to lunch last week to discuss the topic, he had only a vague idea of how anxious many of his supporters were.

“How many of you all believe that there is a movement to take away the Second Amendment?” he asked.

About half the hands in the room went up.

Despite his best attempts to reassure them — “I see no movement, no talk, no bills, no nothing” — they remained skeptical. “We give up our rights one piece at a time,” a banker named Charlie Houck told the senator.

If there is a path to new gun laws, it has to come through West Virginia and a dozen other states with Democratic senators like Mr. Manchin who are confronting galvanized constituencies that view any effort to tighten gun laws as an infringement.

As Congress considers what, if any, laws to change, Mr. Manchin has become a barometer among his colleagues, testing just how far they might be able to go without angering voters.

On Thursday a group of Democratic senators led by Dianne Feinstein of California plans to introduce a bill that would outlaw more than 100 different assault weapons, setting up what promises to be a fraught and divisive debate over gun control in Congress in the coming weeks. But a number of centrist lawmakers like Mr. Manchin have already thrown the measure’s fate into question, saying that all they are willing to support for now is a stronger background check system.

As a hunter with an A rating from the National Rifle Association, Mr. Manchin gave advocates for new weapons laws reason for optimism after he said last month that gun firepower and magazine capacity might need to be limited.

But now, Mr. Manchin, who affirmed his support for gun rights by running a campaign commercial in 2010 showing him firing a rifle into an environmental bill, says he is not so sure. One of his local offices has been picketed, and even some of his most thoughtful supporters are cautioning him that stronger background checks are about all the gun control they can stomach.

More at that top link, and at the Daily Caller, "Feinstein calls for banning more than 150 types of firearms during dramatic press conference" (via Memeorandum and Protein Wisdom).

I'll have more on this ...

Classic French Toast at Bravo Burgers

I had breakfast with my wife on Tuesday, when I was out running errands most of the day. Bravo Burgers serves a very delicious breakfast, with good coffee and a nice restaurant ambiance. And my wife loves it because she can get in and out of there in a half-an-hour and be back on the job. I recommend it!

Jessica Alba Joins Axis of Fedora!

Actually, it's not just Ms. Alba. It's a roster of fedora hotties.

At London's Daily Mail, "Felt fedora hats are this week's celebrity must-have: Kate Moss, Catherine Zeta Jones, Myleene Klass and Jessica Alba are just some of the headgear's famous fans."

Robert Stacy McCain, Bob Belvedere, and Da Tech Guy et al., have some hot competition.

Cyber-Terrorist Group WikiLeaks Alleges Working Relationship With the Late Criminal Hacker Aaron Swartz

At All Things Digital, "WikiLeaks Alleges Relationship With Web Activist Aaron Swartz."

RELATED: At London's Daily Mail, "Members of hacking group Anonymous jailed for denial of service attacks on Visa, MasterCard and PayPal websites."
Freakin' criminals, the lot of them.

Kitty Lea Baby Oil Screencaps

This is pretty amazing, at Egotastic!, "BY POPULAR DEMAND: Kitty Lea Slippery When Wet and Oiled Down (VIDEO)."

BONUS: "Kitty Lea Shows All But Her Kitty In Hot New Front Magazine Photoshoot (VIDEO)."

These are NSFW.

Oak Harbor Councilman Stomps Feets, Walks Out of Meeting in Protest of Veteran Packing Heat With Concealed Carry Permit

This is an example of democracy in action and in this case --- and note that Oak Harbor is on Whidbey Island off of far-left Seattle, Washington --- the idiot progressive councilman was rebuke, embarrassed, and stomped out like a child.

Via iOWNTHEWORLD, "Look at this sack of pansysh*t – Councilman walks out of meeting because a trained war veteran has a CCW."

And kudos to Mayor Scott Dudley for his conciliatory and constitutionally-sound comments at the rest of the meeting.

Muslims Protest Lego Over 'Racist' Star Wars Toy

You can't make this up.

At London's Daily Mail, "Lego accused of racism by Turkish community who say toy is based on a mosque."

More at Pamela's, "#MYJIHAD IN AUSTRIA: MUSLIMS DEFAME LEGO WITH ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM OVER STAR WARS TOY SET." And at BNI, "Oh, NOES! Outraged Muslims demand apology from 'LEGO' and threaten lawsuit for offending the wittle fweewings of Turkish Muslims."

New York's Gun Confiscation Agenda

Michelle's was on fire on last night's Hannity:

More here: "Assemblyman Lists Gun Confiscation Agenda of N.Y. Democrats."

The National Debt Is Unfair to the Next Generation

Commentary from the lovely Michelle Fields, via Instapundit:

Kate Upton Mercedes-Benz Controversy

Nah, that's not so controversial.

At the Hollywood Reporter, "Kate Upton's Steamy Mercedes-Benz Ad Draws Controversy."

Hat Tip: Theo Spark, "Kate Upton Washes the All-New Mercedes-Benz CLA in Slow Motion."

Mante Te'o's Hoax 'Girlfriend' Speaks Out

It's Diane O'Meara, in an interview with Anderson Cooper from last night:

And at London's Daily Mail, "'He's been stalking my Facebook and stealing my photos': Face behind Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend speaks out for first time - and slams 'hoaxer' over 'identity theft'."

Fontana School Police Add 'Military-Style' Rifles, Anti-Gun Board Member Freaks Out

Seriously, when police can't even arm themselves with top-level firepower, you know it's not about keeping "assault weapons" out of the hands of criminals, etc. It's about the complete and total unconstitutional disarming of society.

Unreal, at the Los Angeles Times, "Fontana school police are armed with semiautomatic rifles":

The recent purchase of the Colt rifles draws criticism and sparks an effort to ban such weapons on school campuses.

Police officers in the Fontana Unified School District were armed recently with semiautomatic rifles, drawing sharp criticism and sparking an effort to ban such weapons on school campuses.

The Colt military-style rifles, which cost about $1,000 each, are kept in safes when officers are on campus and will be used only in "extreme emergency cases" like the massacre in Newtown, Conn., Supt. Cali Olsen-Binks said.

The district purchased the rifles in October and received them in December, before the tragedy in Newtown, where a gunman killed 26 people — 20 of them children — at an elementary school. The shooting sparked debate on whether armed school guards could prevent these types of tragedies.

The purchase was not spurred by a specific event, Fontana Unified School District police Chief Billy Green said. The rifles are designed to increase shooting accuracy and provide the 14 officers with more effective power against assailants wearing body armor, Green said, adding that those capabilities are necessary for officers to stop a well-armed gunman.

"If you know of a better way to stop someone on campus that's killing children or staff members with a rifle, I'd like to hear it," he said. "I don't think it's best to send my people in to stop them with just handguns."

"I hope we would never have to use it," Green said. "But if we do, I'd like them to be prepared."

Several other school districts have similar weapons but policies differ on whether they are brought on campus or left in patrol car trunks or administration buildings.

Fontana school police bought the guns for about $14,000, which fell below the threshold that requires school board approval. School board members were not informed until after the purchase.

Board member Leticia Garcia said the police chief and superintendent should have alerted the five-member board and held a public hearing on the issue. She said arming officers with such weapons is a policy matter and should have been decided by the entire school district community, especially in light of the ongoing debate around the country.

Garcia, whose son attends Fontana High School, said she is working with local state legislators to draft a bill that would keep school police departments from taking these types of weapons onto campuses.

"We're turning our schools into a militarized zone," she said.

But the Fontana school superintendent said she believes it's a necessary evil to have the guns on campus to keep the 40,000-plus students and staff members safe. Officers have gone through training for the weapons, Olsen-Binks said.

"It balances providing that community-oriented openness at schools without compromising any kind of security for students and employees," she said.

More at that top link.