'Let's Have Hearings in Chicago...'

A great segment with Newt Gingrich debating CNN's Piers Morgan.

But see Milton Wolf, "What Newt should have said to Piers Morgan."

Women in Combat

I've seen a lot of conservatives attacking the policy on Twitter, and prominent figures like Lt. Col. Allen West have spoken out publicly against the Pentagon's move. In my classes I've spoken to a number of veterans and current service personnel on the policy as well. Privacy issues remain a problem for those serving with opposite sex personnel, and comparative strength between men and women comes up. But mostly the consensus is that women should be able to serve in front-line combat. I think it's about time, although the service branches should be flexible in adapting to gender differences, going with what works and what is comfortable for those on the ground.

Deadly Riots Erupt Across Egypt on Anniversary of Revolution

At the New York Times:

CAIRO — Violence erupted across Egypt on Friday as tens of thousands of demonstrators filled Tahrir Square to mark the second anniversary of the country’s revolution with an outpouring of rage against the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood. At least seven protesters and two police officers were killed in clashes in Suez, the state news media said.

More than 250 people were injured in similar battles around government buildings across the country, including the Interior Ministry, the presidential palace and the state television building in the capital. The deaths reported in the city of Suez took place near the provincial government headquarters, which protesters set on fire. Muslim Brotherhood offices were ransacked or burned in at least three cities, including Ismailia, the Suez Canal town where the group was founded 85 years ago.

In the most striking episode, masked men attacked the offices of the Brotherhood’s Web site in Cairo, upending furniture, littering the floor with broken glass and papers and smashing computers. Several witnesses said the assailants came in a large group to the third floor, carrying pellet guns and acid to burn through the padlock, and left with computer hard drives.

“They said, ‘We are here to destroy this place,’ ” said Ragab Abdel Hamid, 36, a printer who works for a liberal organization in the same building and tried to contain the attack. “It was planned.” Unknown assailants had blasted the metal doors to the same office with a fire bomb just days before, leaving flame marks, and the gates had been refortified.

The violence — from Alexandria in the north to Aswan in the south — dramatized the deepening chasm of animosity and distrust dividing the Brotherhood from its opponents. Although the Islamists of the Brotherhood have dominated elections since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, another broad segment of the population harbors deep suspicions of the group’s conservative ideology, hierarchical structure and insular ethos.

Those doubts were only redoubled last month when President Mohamed Morsi, with the Brotherhood’s political party, temporarily overruled the authority of the judiciary in order to ensure that his Islamist allies could push through an Islamist-backed Constitution to referendum over the objections of other parties and the Coptic Church.

“Egyptians will never let the Muslim Brotherhood rule — over our dead bodies,” said Heba Samir, 36, catching her breath by the Nile after fleeing tear gas outside the state television building.

More at that top link, and also, "Street-Level Views of Protests in Cairo to Commemorate 2 Years of Revolution."

Kate Hudson for Ann Taylor

I just watched "Almost Famous" on cable a couple of weeks back and I couldn't have been more impressed with Kate Hudson. I haven't payed that much attention to her before. I won't make that mistake again.

See London's Daily Mail, "Now Kate Hudson reveals she is DESIGNING for Ann Taylor as she strikes a pose for fashion brand's latest campaign."

Facebook Envy

At the Chicago Tribune, "Study finds rampant envy on Facebook":

Witnessing friends' vacations, love lives and work successes on Facebook can cause envy and trigger feelings of misery and loneliness, according to German researchers.

A study conducted by two German universities found rampant envy on Facebook, the world's largest social network, which has more than 1 billion users.

The researchers found that 1 in 3 people felt worse after visiting the site and more dissatisfied with their lives, while people who browsed without contributing were affected the most.

"We were surprised by how many people have a negative experience from Facebook, with envy leaving them feeling lonely, frustrated or angry," researcher Hanna Krasnova from the Institute of Information Systems at Humboldt University in Berlin told Reuters.

"From our observations, some of these people will then leave Facebook or at least reduce their use of the site," Krasnova said, adding to speculation that Facebook could be reaching a saturation point in some markets.

I just don't care for it that much. Twitter's way more fun.

Employee at Stafford Hospital Suspended After Pacifier Found Taped to Sick Baby's Mouth

At the Sun UK, "Hospital taped dummy to sick baby’s mouth: Scandal as worker suspended":

A BABY struggling to breathe had a dummy TAPED into his mouth at a scandal-hit hospital.

The pacifier is believed to have been fixed to premature twin Mason Fellows in intensive care to stop him crying.

His mum Sarah — who gave birth to Mason and brother Reece 2½ months early — said: “I’m so angry. He could have suffocated.”

A worker at Stafford Hospital has been suspended while cops investigate.
Mason's grandmother spoke of her horror last night.

Diane Denny, 69, said: “I am furious. How can a human being do this to an innocent, defenceless baby? To my mind, this is nothing less than torture.

“I have been bed-bound by a stroke — but if I ever get my hands on the person who did this they would wish they were never born.”

Four-month-old Mason had been taken to scandal-plagued Stafford Hospital with breathing problems. He had only just returned home after being treated with twin Reece at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, where mum Sarah, 28, had kept a bedside vigil.

Diane, from Cannock, Staffs, said: “Sarah was visiting Mason after the latest problems but when she arrived she found police and nurses surrounding his cot.

“The officer told her a member of staff had alerted them after seeing a dummy taped across Mason’s mouth.

Continue reading.

And here's the Sun's "Page 3" since we reading some UK news.

Palmdale Woman Accused of Torturing Her Kids

At the Los Angeles Times, "Woman accused of torturing her children":

Neighbors say they hadn't known children lived in Ingrid Brewer's home at all. The boy and girl, 8 and 7, ran away because 'they were tired of being tied up and beaten,' a sheriff's official says.

Neighbors of a Palmdale woman charged with assaulting and torturing two of her children said Thursday that they never even realized she had kids.

The siblings — a boy, 8, and girl, 7 — did not play outside and were rarely seen, said Cynthia Otero, who runs a day care center at a home opposite the house in the 39000 block of Clear View Court where Ingrid Brewer is alleged to have mistreated the youngsters.

Otero said that when she recently spotted the children getting out of a car, she thought Brewer, 50, "might be baby-sitting."

So neighbors in the suburban cul-de-sac were the more shocked when word spread that Brewer was arrested on suspicion of crimes against her children, she said. Brewer is being charged with eight felony counts, including torture, assault with a deadly weapon and cruelty to a child.

According to authorities, Brewer reported the children missing Jan. 15, prompting a search by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Palmdale Station. The youngsters were found hours later hiding under a blanket near a parked car on a street close to their home. They were without winter clothes in 20-degree weather, authorities said.

Sgt. Brian Hudson, a spokesman for the sheriff's Special Victims Bureau, said the children told investigators they ran away because Brewer deprived them of food, locked them in separate bedrooms when she went to work each day, bound their hands behind their backs with zip ties and beat them with electrical cords and a hammer. The youngsters also said that when they were locked in the bedrooms and needed to use the bathroom, they instead had to use wastebaskets, Hudson said.

They fled because "they were tired of being tied up and beaten," Hudson said.

Sounds like Democrat family values to me.

Astonishing Photos of Sharp-Toothed Leopard Seal Devouring Penguin in Icy Waters Off the Antarctic Peninsula

Absolutely amazing photography, at London's Daily Mail, "Swimming into jaws of death: Incredible photos capture penguin's final moments as it is engulfed by leopard seal's gaping mouth."

I first saw this piece earlier today on my iPhone. I couldn't stop looking that first photo, at the size of that seal compared the little penguin. Survival of the fittest.

Obama's Recess Appointments Struck Down by U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

It's a Beltway wonkish kind of buzz surrounding this decision today, out of the Federal Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit. The Fox News All-Stars, at the clip, are largely deconstructing what in fact happened rather than providing a larger analytical interpretation (although Bret Baier points out repeatedly how significant a decision this was). And then see the New York Times' report, "Court Rejects Recess Appointments to Labor Board":

WASHINGTON — In a ruling that called into question nearly two centuries of presidential “recess” appointments that bypass the Senate confirmation process, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday that President Obama violated the Constitution when he installed three officials on the National Labor Relations Board a year ago.

The ruling was a blow to the administration and a victory for Mr. Obama’s Republican critics – and a handful of liberal ones – who had accused Mr. Obama of improperly claiming that he could make the appointments under his executive powers. The administration had argued that the president could decide that senators were really on a lengthy recess even though the Senate considered itself to be meeting in “pro forma” sessions.

But the court went beyond the narrow dispute over pro forma sessions and issued a far more sweeping ruling than expected. Legal specialists said its reasoning would virtually eliminate the recess appointment power for all future presidents when it has become increasingly difficult for presidents to win Senate confirmation for their nominees. In recent years, senators have more frequently balked at consenting to executive appointments. President George W. Bush made about 170 such appointments, including John R. Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations and two appeals court judges, William H. Pryor Jr. and Charles W. Pickering Sr.

“If this opinion stands, I think it will fundamentally alter the balance between the Senate and the president by limiting the president’s ability to keep offices filled,” said John P. Elwood, who handled recess appointment issues for the Justice Department during the Bush administration. “This is certainly a red-letter day in presidential appointment power.

And more from John P. Elwood, at Volokh, "DC Circuit Strikes Down President Obama’s Recess Appointments."

Guns Across America

Photos at the People's Cube, "Olga Does Guns Across America Rally in Atlanta, Jan.19, 2013."

Dianne Feinstein's Personal Mission to Ban Guns

Well, Feinstein's bill is pretty much dead in the water, but her case is demonstrative of so much epic hypocrisy on the gun-grabbing left. See: "Dianne Feinstein's Concealed Carry Permit."

More at Jammie Wearing Fools, "Oh Well: Ban on So-Called ‘Assault Weapons’ Lacks Democrat Votes to Pass Senate."

VIDEO: French Airstrikes in Mali

Cool.

Via Telegraph UK, "Mali airstrikes footage released by French military":

Pro-Life March on Washington

At Life News, "March for Life Proves the Next Generation Pro-Life on Abortion."

And at Twitchy, "Pro-life Generation: Youth turn out in huge numbers to march for the unborn."

Also, "‘Pro life and pro gay’: Gay March for Life participants threaten liberal media narrative."

Anti-abortion protesters fill the mall. One sign reads "I'm pro-life and pro-gay." Others, "I regret my abortion" twitter.com/ndiblasio/stat…
— Natalie DiBlasio (@ndiblasio) January 25, 2013

And check Jill Stanek's for updates.

Arrest of Robert Pimentel, Former Elementary School Teacher, Revives Debate on Firing Criminal Educators

Update on this utterly obscene travesty of decency.

At the Wall Street Journal, "L.A. Arrest Revives Effort to Ease Firing of Teachers":

LOS ANGELES—The arrest of a Los Angeles teacher suspected of molesting 20 children is jump-starting demand for legislation that would make it easier to fire California teachers accused of abusing students and deny them lifetime medical and dental benefits.

Robert Pimentel, who was arrested Wednesday, is entitled to collect a pension and lifetime medical benefits because he resigned last March before officials could fire him, amid allegations that he had improperly touched a student, said Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy.

Prosecutors charged Mr. Pimentel with abusing 12 girls between 2002 and 2012, according to a criminal complaint. Mr. Pimentel began teaching at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School in 2007, but he worked for the district on and off since 1974.

At his arraignment in a Long Beach, Calif., courthouse Thursday, Mr. Pimentel pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is being held on $12 million bail.

Mr. Pimentel's lawyer, Richard Knickerbocker, said his client denies all the allegations and didn't molest any students. He said the police "were basically soliciting people to make complaints," and that Mr. Pimentel's actions were misinterpreted. Mr. Knickerbocker said, in one instance, after a student "did a very fine job, he hugged her and kissed her on the forehead and they take that as something that's nefarious."

The case is likely to reignite the debate over a proposed state law that would streamline the process for firing teachers and school administrators who have engaged in sex, violence or drug offenses with students. The bill doesn't specifically address pensions or benefits, but a local district has the power to suspend medical and dental benefits if a teacher is fired, Mr. Deasy said.

The bill was introduced last year by Democratic state Sen. Alex Padilla as SB 1530, but was killed in a committee.

Mr. Padilla reintroduced the bill in December as SB 10. It would allow school districts to suspend without pay teachers accused of egregious conduct, and would allow local school boards to make the final decision about dismissal—as opposed to a three-person committee that includes two teachers and a judge.

A former principal who the district says failed to report the alleged abuse when she was first made aware of allegations against Mr. Pimentel four years ago is also entitled to her pension and benefits because she resigned before she could be fired.

"They get their pensions and benefits for life, and that absolutely needs to be addressed in the law," Mr. Deasy said.

Yeah, it's great that the arrest "revives" the debate, but I doubt much will change as long as CTA has Sacramento's in its pocket. Remember from last year, "California bill on teachers accused of sex crimes fails."

More at London's Daily Mail, "California teacher 'sexually abused TWENTY elementary students and one adult'."

Fontana School District Police Get Semi-Automatic Weapons (VIDEO)

I reported on this story yesterday, and it was covered by CBS Evening News last night, "SoCal School District Gets Semi-Automatic Guns."

'Wrong Girl'

Via Theo Spark:

Shocking Creative Artists Agency Party at Sundance Film Festival

This does sound pretty tasteless, at LAT, "A bawdy CAA party at Sundance shocks guests, including clients":

PARK CITY, Utah — Parties at the Sundance Film Festival typically feature maverick filmmakers, the best in nouvelle cowboy cuisine and plentiful pours of high-end spirits and Utah microbrews.

But the bash thrown by Hollywood's powerful Creative Artists Agency on Sunday night took festival revelry in an unexpectedly bawdy direction, as Sundance guests mingled with lingerie-clad women pretending to snort prop cocaine, erotic dancers outfitted with sex toys and an Alice in Wonderland look-alike performing a simulated sex act on a man in a rabbit costume.

For decades, CAA has carefully maintained a reputation as Hollywood's most meticulous talent firm, but CAA's leave-nothing-to-chance attention to decorum vanished in that Bacchanalian blizzard on the snowy streets of this mountain resort.

Some CAA clients found the party so shocking that they said it made them embarrassed to be associated with the agency.

"I said to my agent, 'Is this how you want to brand yourself? Pole dancers? Really?'" said Oscar-nominated writer-director Naomi Foner, who was at the festival with her film, "Very Good Girls."

And Foner, who is the mother of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, said she didn't see the sex toys.

"I would have been much more verbal if I had seen that," said the 66-year-old screenwriter of "Running on Empty."

The performers were part of a Las Vegas troupe, the Act LV, which was hired by the Mint Agency, CAA's party planner for the evening.

"The performance by Simon Hammerstein's The Act LV was more explicit than intended," CAA said in a statement. "We regret if this created an uncomfortable setting for any of our guests."

The party planners and CAA had wanted to "wow the crowd," said Jordan Fogle, the chief executive of the Mint Agency, a Toronto-based marketing and events firm.

The Act LV is known for delivering lewd thrills that toe the line between performance art and impropriety.

"They [CAA executives] were a little bit concerned," Fogle said following the public relations backlash to the party. "It's not the image they want to portray — a slutty, trashy image. It's the antithesis of what they are as a brand."

Perhaps they doth protest too much.

But continue reading.

BONUS: At the New York Post, "Greedy celebs flock to Sundance for the swag." Yeah, swag. Like "prop" cocaine and Alice-in-Wonderland sex toys. You can't make this stuff up.

EXTRA: The Wall Street Journal actually talks about the films from the film festival, "Filmmakers in a Frisky Mood."

Bobby Jindal's Speech to RNC's Winter Meeting 2013 (VIDEO)

Lots of folks are paying attention to Jindal's speech, so I gave it a listen. He's both attractive and articulate, although it's not so much that he's presenting new ideas as it is the overall package he pulls together, and his willingness to pull no punches on some of the party's emerging shibboleths, especially the notion that the GOP needs to move to the center. His main themes are that the Republicans are the party of growth and that Washington, D.C., isn't the center of the American political universe. Probably the biggest challenge for the party going forward is being able to effectively articulate its vision, and thus be able to appeal to new generations of Americans.

The last ten minutes are very good if you're pressed for time, or just skim the transcript, from Charlie Spiering, at the Washington Examiner, "Full text: Bobby Jindal's dynamite speech to the Republican National Committee in Charlotte" (via Memeorandum).

PREVIOUSLY: "GOP Leaders Search for New Strategy."

Benjamin Millepied Will Be New Director of Paris Opera Ballet

An interesting piece at the New York Times, "Paris Opera Ballet Picks Outsider for New Director." I like this part:

Mr. Millepied will inherit one of the world’s greatest classical troupes. It has 150 dancers, a complex hierarchy of ranking and promotions and the sizable weight of history: the company is effectively an outgrowth of the very beginnings of ballet at the court of Louis XIV. Its dancers almost all come from the Paris Opera Ballet school, and they rarely leave to dance elsewhere once they have achieved a coveted position in the company.

They are also civil servants, with long-term contracts that run until their mandatory retirement, with pension, at 42. And with the notable exception of Ms. Lefèvre, directors tend to drop like flies at the Paris Opera. Even Rudolf Nureyev lasted only six stormy, if productive, years in the 1980s, while directors like John Taras and Violette Verdy managed just a few seasons.

The byzantine politics, scale and bureaucracy of the Paris Opera are worlds away from Mr. Millepied’s professional experience. He has long put together touring groups, and even at the peak of his dancing career was an indefatigable organizer of small choreographic projects and festivals with musicians and artists. He is a prolific choreographer who has created works for major companies (including American Ballet Theater, City Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet), and his public profile is high, thanks partly to his work on the Darren Aronofsky film “Black Swan” and his subsequent marriage to its star, Natalie Portman.

But his new company, the L.A. Dance Project, which made its debut in September in Los Angeles, is small and experimental in orientation. (Mr. Millepied said he planned to continue running the L.A. Dance Project until he began his new job, when he would move to Paris with Ms. Portman and their son. He said he hoped the company, which has a budget guaranteed for the next three years, would continue.)

“It is always a gamble,” Ms. Lefèvre said in a telephone interview. “I imagine people had something to say when I arrived. But he has a real artistic sensibility and an admirable curiosity. He will have to find his own way between innovation and the house traditions.”

Asked about making the transition from project-based director and choreographer to director of an institution as vast as the Paris Opera, Mr. Millepied smiled.

“I am not entirely a foreigner,” he said. “I did grow up in France, and even though I didn’t go to the school or dance with the Paris Opera Ballet, I absorbed similar ideas in my training. I understand the scale of a big company. I danced for one for almost 20 years. I think it’s an asset that I have absorbed other traditions and had other experiences in the U.S., which I can bring to the dancers here.” He added, “But of course I have a lot to learn about this company and its very remarkable and specific qualities.”

And speaking of Ms. Portman, see London's Daily Mail, "Is Natalie Portman quitting Hollywood? Actress's husband Benjamin Millepied accepts prestigious ballet job in Paris."

'California did the impossible,' Brown says in State of the State

At the Los Angeles Times:

SACRAMENTO — Seeking to reclaim the state's identity as an innovator and engine of growth, Gov. Jerry Brown declared in a sweeping State of the State address that "California did the impossible" in emerging from financial crisis poised to lead again.

Brown outlined a vision for the state Thursday in remarks that were equal parts history lesson, lecture and rhetorical flourish. It includes major investment in water and rail systems, more robust trade and an education structure free of regulations that crush creativity.

Invoking California's "spectacular history of bold pioneers meeting every failure with even greater success," he asked a joint session of the Legislature to overhaul the way schools are funded, build a controversial bullet train and aggressively expand healthcare to millions of needy residents.

Californians "have a rendezvous with our own destiny," he said, in an allusion to Franklin Roosevelt's famous Depression-era speech.

At the same time, he sounded the familiar theme that the state should not try to live beyond its means. Drawing on the Book of Genesis, he recounted Pharaoh's dreams of well-fed cows eaten by starving cows — a warning that famine can follow plenty.

"Fiscal discipline is not the enemy of our good intentions but the basis for realizing them," he told an Assembly chamber packed with legislators, state Supreme Court justices and other dignitaries who applauded throughout the 24-minute speech.

Brown plans to take his message to Washington, D.C., next month, when he will attend a meeting of the National Governors Assn., and to China in April, when he leads a state delegation to christen California's new trade office there.

The governor is at a high point in his long political career, presiding over a Capitol now entirely controlled by his Democratic Party and having convinced voters that higher taxes would restore the state's financial footing.

He will have more influence over lawmakers than any governor has had in years. He solved for them their most immediate problem: an out-of-whack budget that has constrained their ambitions and forced them to cut deeply into programs their constituents value.

But despite Brown's proclamations that California no longer has a deficit, the state faces long-term financial problems that could stymie his agenda.

There's video at that top link, and at C-SPAN, "Gov. Brown (D-CA) Delivers State of the State."

I think the governor's getting a little cocky, but we'll see. Maybe California's turning a corner. How much things might improve remains to be seen. But no doubt any improvement will be welcomed.

(I'm especially interested to see what happens in public education, however. Lord knows that sector has infinite room for improvement.)