Walter James Casper III = Certified NPR Tinfoil Conspiracy Crackpot

OMG, this is getting too ridiculous.

Deranged tinfoil stalker Walter James Casper III keeps spinning his lies about the idiot Dina Temple-Raston at NPR. He keeps telling us to "read the transcript, read the transcript," blah, blah -- which when you actually read the transcript only proves my point that Temple-Raston was spewing lies about "right wing individuals." In contrast to Tinfoil Rim-Station Repsac's claim, this Temple-Raston NPR sleazebag wasn't focusing on "all the possibilities" for suspects in the attack. She was systematically scoffing at the prospect that anything other than "right wing individuals" would have been the perpetrators, and this is despite the so-called statements of the "officials" she keeps throwing out there without any substantiation.

The question is not whether the Saudi student taken to the hospital was a legitimate suspect, but the possibility that anyone of Muslim background, as in a "Saudi national," could be the suspect. According to the transcript, these so-called unnamed officials told her that "nothing is ruled out at this point." Hate-bagger Walter James Casper can cherry-pick all he wants, but Temple-Raston is not reporting when she starts spewing about the right wing. She's adding her own commentary.

But the Saudi student is not issue. Repsac focuses on that because he's hopelessly pinned down on the main argument, which is that the left was scapegoating the right wing for the attacks, and Temple-Raston's smears were among the worst. She wouldn't legitimately consider the possibility of a Muslim bomber. She's spewing racist attacks, smearing conservatives, which is why hate-bagger Repsac is defending her to the death, the facts be damned. She completely blew off the possibility that the homemade pressure-cooker bomb could have been assembled by a Muslim terrorist using the al-Qaeda training manual. Again, Tinfoil Rim-Station Repsac keeps telling us to "read the transcript," so let's read the transcript:

MELISSA BLOCK: OK. What about the explosives themselves? We've been hearing about pressure cookers today.

DINA TEMPLE-RASTON: Yes. Well, basically, it's one of those pots that you use often to cook rice, and pressure cooker bombs have traditionally been used by young jihadists to get bomb training in Afghan training comps. An al-Qaida online magazine called Inspire provided instructions on how to build pressure cooker bombs, but that doesn't necessarily mean that this is a foreign plot.

Instructions on the how to make this kind of bomb is all over the Web. In fact, white supremacists, on their website, have linked to the Inspire magazine directions to make this bomb. So officials are telling me that we should be careful not to read too much into that.

BLOCK: And what are officials telling you about how easy it would be to make a pressure cooker bomb like the ones we saw in Boston?

TEMPLE-RASTON: They're pretty easy to make. I mean, basically, you put in explosives like TNT into the pressure cooker.

Message to Hate-Monger Racist Tinfoil Rim-Station Repsac3: You said read the transcript. I did --- indeed, I'm deconstructing it for you and your deranged terror enabling mind. In spite of the fact that these so-called officials told her that "nothing was ruled out" at this point, Temple-Raston willfully blew off the possibility that indeed it was Islamic terrorists cribbing al-Qaeda bomb instructions to assemble a pressure cooker bomb in an evil plot to kill Americans in Boston. The key line is all this about how instructions are "all over the Web." Thus she implies anyone could make one of these, especially the alleged Hitler's birthday-celebrating "right wing individuals" that this lady maliciously pegs as the perpetrators in Boston. Sickening.

But of course we know what happened now. The Tsarnaevs were not only "inspired" by the al-Qaeda bomb designs, the elder Tamerlan may well have had hands-on bomb-building training in Chechnya, as I reported earlier: "Sophisticated Bomb Design Indicates Tamerlan Tsarnaev May Have Received Weapons Training in Chechnya."

It's not hard, Racist Repsac3. All it requires is a bit of decency and honestly. No, the left was not "considering all the possibilities." No it wasn't just Michael Moore intent to pin this attack on conservatives. It was an across-the-board leftist attack on the right, chronicled all over the place but which you conveniently ignore because it shows you to be a pathological liar. It was Dina Temple-Raston. It was Chris Matthews. It was Tom Brokaw. It was MSNBC. And it was you. You are a terror enabler sowing disinformation to defend the left's America-hating propaganda attacks on conservatives. It happens every time, "blame righty." And every time you lie and distort the truth in a sickening attempt to exonerate your pus-filled progressive ideology. In the words of Robert Spencer, writing at FrontPage Magazine, you are "Excusing Jihad In Boston":

If the Boston bombers really had been Bible-quoting Christian fanatics, none of that [blame-righty disinformation] would actually have happened at all. Instead, the media feeding frenzy would have been intense. The air waves would have been full of earnest examinations of how the Bible is full of material that constitutes incitement to violence, recommendations of what the churches and Christian leaders must do to make sure that this kind of attack never happens again, and story after story about bright, attractive young people who got mixed up with church groups and ended up with their lives and the lives of everyone around them in ruins.

But of course, the bombers weren’t Christians; they were Muslims, acting explicitly in the name of Islam. Media analysts, when they have deigned to take notice of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s statement at all, have scratched their heads in puzzlement over how he and his brother could have gotten the idea that murdering innocent people at a sporting event could possibly constitute any kind of defense of Islam. However, they wouldn’t be so puzzled if they knew that the Qur’an exhorts Muslims to use the “steeds of war” to “strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah” (8:60) – and that al-Qaeda has recently recommended bombing sporting events as a nicely effective way to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah.

The mainstream media has no interest in how the Qur’an may incite those who believe it is the word of Allah to commit acts of violence against those who do not so believe. And so it was that the Atlantic Wire’s story was actually about why it scarcely mattered that the bombers were Muslim, and Chris Matthews was declaring that the bombers’ inspirations and motivations made no difference, and Martin Bashir was praising the virtues of the Qur’an, and it was Sean O’Malley, the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston, who cautioned against taking revenge and decried the “perversion” of Islam that led to the bombings.

It is hard to say why Cardinal O’Malley was so confident that the bombers were perverting Islam, despite the Qur’an’s many commands to Muslims to commit acts of violence against unbelievers (2:190-193; 4:89; 9:5; 9:29; 47:4; etc.). It is likely, however, that he simply believes what he has been told about this question: that Islam is a religion of peace, and that those who commit acts of violence in its name are twisting and hijacking the beautiful, peaceful teachings of the religion.

And that’s the problem with this pervasive media denial. The Atlantic Wire asked why it mattered that the bombers were Muslim. It’s a fair question. It matters because the fact that they were Muslims is not incidental to what they did. There’s this thing called “jihad,” you see. It’s an Islamic doctrine involving warfare against unbelievers. The likelihood is that some others might want to wage jihad against Americans as well. And so the more we know about it, the better prepared we can be to defend ourselves.

But the more we lie to ourselves and each other about what this jihad is really all about, the more we enable people like Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. We cannot possibly defeat an enemy whom we refuse to understand, refuse to study, refuse to listen to because he explains why he is our enemy in terms that we can’t bear hearing. That’s why this media obfuscation is nothing short of criminal. And it will bear much more fruit of the kind it bore on the sunny day of the Boston Marathon.

F-k you Racist Tinfoil Rim-Station Freak Walter James Casper III. We've read the idiot Temple-Raston's transcript and find it badly wanting, indeed, evil. As are you. Progressives will do anything but look the cold hard facts in the face. We have a Muslim jihadi problem in the U.S. Americans can't deny it. We must fight it. You are with us or you're not. That is you're American or you're not. And we know the answer to that.

P.S. I don't read your blog, you asshat. I read your Twitter feed. I clicked your blog for the quotes. It's you who's lying, not me. You're a liar and a despicable terror-enabling ghoul and you'll go to hell for your anti-Americanism.

'Democracy May Have Had Its Day'

At the Wall Street Journal, "The Weekend Interview with Donald Kagan":

Donald Kagan is engaging in one last argument. For his "farewell lecture" here at Yale on Thursday afternoon, the 80-year-old scholar of ancient Greece—whose four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War inspired comparisons to Edward Gibbon's Roman history—uncorked a biting critique of American higher education.

Universities, he proposed, are failing students and hurting American democracy. Curricula are "individualized, unfocused and scattered." On campus, he said, "I find a kind of cultural void, an ignorance of the past, a sense of rootlessness and aimlessness." Rare are "faculty with atypical views," he charged. "Still rarer is an informed understanding of the traditions and institutions of our Western civilization and of our country and an appreciation of their special qualities and values." He counseled schools to adopt "a common core of studies" in the history, literature and philosophy "of our culture." By "our" he means Western.

This might once have been called incitement. In 1990, as dean of Yale College, Mr. Kagan argued for the centrality of the study of Western civilization in an "infamous" (his phrase) address to incoming freshmen. A storm followed. He was called a racist—or as the campus daily more politely editorialized, a peddler of "European cultural arrogance."

Not so now. Mr. Kagan received a long standing ovation from students and alumni in the packed auditorium. Heading into retirement, he has been feted as a beloved and popular teacher and Yale icon. The PC wars of the 1990s feel dated. Maybe, as one undergrad told me after the lecture, "the pendulum has started to swing back" toward traditional values in education.

Mr. Kagan offers another explanation. "You can't have a fight," he says one recent day at his office, "because you don't have two sides. The other side won."

Continue reading.

Rush to Judgment: Dina Temple-Raston 'Scoffed' at Possibility of 'Saudi National' Suspected in #Boston Bombing

Terror enabling troll rights harasser Walter James Casper III continues to lie about the media's disgusting rush-to-judgment blaming conservatives for the Boston terror attack.

For some reason, adult sick f-k loser (ASFL) Repsac3 insists that what Ms. Temple-Raston actually said doesn't matter, and thus he can just keep spinning this lie about how she was "reporting" the news rather than spewing hateful racist attacks on conservatives.

Folks can find Racist Repsac3's racist blog post on Google: "Creepy-clown Stalker Donald Kent Douglas Doubles Down on Media Conspiracy Theory." But one more time: No government official claimed that right wing conservatives were motivated to launch a terrorist attack on Boston, on April 15th, because of Adolf Hitler's birthday. That is plain nutbag conspiracy theorizing and it's disgusting, but that's Racist Repsac3 for you, the sick f-k. Of course, readers will recall that NPR's Steve Inskeep reported on how Temple-Raston "scoffed" at the idea that the suspect was a "Saudi national" --- you know, because we're just fresh out of Saudi Muslims inspired by the Saudi-based teachings of al Qaeda, or some such sh-t like that.

No, for racist conspiracy racist Walter James Casper III, Temple-Raston was "reporting" the news, like a prime-time evening news segment, not commenting on the news on an extreme left-wing NPR commentary show for an extreme left-wing NPR audience. Seriously. Folks can read the transcript. Temple-Raston was interviewed for NPR's commentary show "All Things Considered." Temple-Raston was spewing racist nutbag conspiracies about bulls-t Nazi birthdays being celebrated by the far right. In other words, she's speculating. The transcript is right here in all of its tin hat glory: "Boston Marathon Bombing Case Gains Momentum."

I know. This is some whacked sh-t, but that's Racist Rim-Station Repsac3 for you.

Stoaty Weasel's got his number, and how, "We set fire to a gypsy. You?:

“April is a big month for anti-government and right-wing individuals. There’s the Columbine anniversary, there’s Hitler’s birthday, there’s the Oklahoma City bombing, the assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco.”

–NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston, speculating that the Boston Marathon bombers were home grown (before the Tsarnaev brothers started shooting up the place, obviously).

Okay. Wow. Let’s take those in reverse order. “…the assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco…” was a really horrible episode in our history, in which a house full of religious nutcases were burned alive by federal agents for no good reason. It did indeed horrify all kinds of people, and someone out on the “here be dragons” fringe of the right did indeed retaliate with the Oklahoma City bombing. Which is a desperate embarrassment to the third or so of the country that is in the mainstream right and has been used as a stick to beat us for twenty years. It is not a day for celebration in any way, shape or form.

But…wait…dear lord, Hitler’s birthday?!? If you turned America upside down and shook her hard, I bet fewer than a hundred genuine neo-Nazis would fall out. A kind of right wing, I guess, because they always say so. But just…really, NPR?

Whoa, hang on, the Columbine anniversary? The hell? Two punk kids shoot up their high school? That’s not even…there’s nothing…that’s not right, left or anything. That’s just. No.

This all happened last week, obviously, when nobody knew nothing. Which is why I didn’t post about it then. I was in no mood.

Is it too much to ask our publicly-funded media not to accuse me of Hitler worship? And they wonder why we talk about defunding them every time we get a majority.

"The hell" is right.

Temple-Raston was shamelessly smearing conservatives ---- all while refusing to consider the possible legitimacy that an Islamic terrorist from Saudi Arabia might have been the perpetrator. Nope. It had to be a bunch of fanatical right wingers celebrating Hitler's birthday.

Whoopi. Let's sing the Horst Wessel song and blow the legs off beautiful 8-year-old American boys --- because that's right in the f-king wheelhouse of conservative right wing individuals!

My god. We've reached a milestone in Repsac III's troll rights harassment blogging: Walter James Casper III = Certified NPR Tinfoil Conspiracy Crackpot.

Get some help motherf-ker.

Death Tolls Passes 300 in Bangladesh Building Collapse

At the Wall Street Journal, "Arrests Ordered in Bangladesh Disaster: Officials Seek Factory Owners as Death Toll in Collapse Passes 300 and Anger Swells Over Building Safety and Pace of Rescue":

DHAKA, Bangladesh—Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered arrests over the collapse of a factory complex here this week after tens of thousands of workers staged at-times violent protests and police clashed with victims' families angry over the pace of the search for survivors.

Workers pulled 100 more survivors from the rubble of the Rana Plaza building on Friday, drawing cheers from onlookers with each rescue, as the death toll rose to at least 306. Rescuers estimated the toll could jump by at least one hundred once the search phase ends and bulldozers start removing bodies.

Citing criminal negligence, Ms. Hasina on Friday ordered the arrests of the man who built and owns the complex, Sohel Rana, because of the building's condition, and of the owners of all five garment factories housed there for ordering employees back to work after cracks appeared in the building's exterior on Tuesday, her spokesman said. Arrest orders of factory owners are extremely rare here. One factory owner was arrested in 2005 in a building collapse that killed 68, but wasn't convicted. Factory owners wield huge political clout in a country that employs hundreds of thousands of garment workers making clothes for Western retailers.

It remains to be seen whether authorities will charge and prosecute the owners over the Rana Plaza incident or abandon the case once public anger has died down. Two of the factory owners turned themselves in to authorities early Saturday, Bangladesh media reported.

More at that top link.

More Plane Debris Found Near Ground Zero

At Atlas Shrugs, "MORE LANDING GEAR FROM 9/11 PLANE FOUND NEAR SITE OF PLANNED GROUND ZERO MOSQUE."

Read all of Pamela's piece at that link.

And at the New York Times, "11 Years Later, Debris From Plane Is Found Near Ground Zero":

It was wedged in a narrow, inaccessible space between two buildings, about three blocks from the World Trade Center site. And there it remained, hidden from view, for more than 11 years. Ground zero slowly gave way to a new tower. Protesters gathered nearby, angry over a planned Islamic center.

But this week, land surveyors happened upon it — a piece of a plane’s landing gear, apparently belonging to one of the two jets that slammed into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, the police said.

On Wednesday, around 11 a.m., the surveyors called 911 to say they had found a piece of damaged machinery. What the police discovered was a component about 5 feet high, 3 feet wide and about 17 inches in depth. It was lodged in the narrow gap between 50 Murray Street, a residential building, and 51 Park Place, which is empty. There, it had been “out of sight and out of mind for over a decade,” the Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said on Friday.

That area is inaccessible from the street, Mr. Browne said, adding that a tiny door opens into the corridor from a neighboring building.

“The odds of it entering that space at exactly that angle that would permit it to squeeze in there,” he said, “it had to come in at almost precisely the right angle.”

Of course, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had to throw out the possibility that the gear had been lowered into that spot by hand, because no doubt everyone wants to lower a piece of jet machinery into a crevice between some buildings a couple of blocks from a terrorist attack site, or something.

'Kon-Tiki'

This is interesting. I read Thor Heyerdahl's book when I was in elementary school.

A review from Kenneth Turan, at the Los Angeles Times, "Review: 'Kon-Tiki' a tale retold of determined seafarers":

Based on the 1947 book of the same name, six men attempt to cross the ocean on a raft to prove Polynesians originated in pre-Inca Peru centuries ago. Thor Heyerdahl was the fearless leader, and this film captures the journey and the man in thrilling detail.

More video here.

George W. Bush Speech at Dedication of Presidential Library

President Bush got choked up at the end of his speech. A great man and a great presidency. I'm looking forward to visiting his presidential library.

Highlights from the event at CNN, "Presidential library leaves Bush teary-eyed."

And see Joseph Curl, at the Washington Times, "W Outclasses Barack and Bill Without Even Trying":

DALLAS — Shortly after Barack Obama was elected in 2008, a fellow reporter who'd covered President George W. Bush all eight years told me she'd had enough of the travel and stress and strain of the White House beat, that she was moving on. We reminisced about all the places we'd been, all the crazy days and wild nights, all the history we'd seen — first hand. Just before we said our goodbyes, I asked her if she'd miss covering President Obama.

"Not at all. He's an inch deep. Bush is a bottomless chasm, a deep, mysterious, emotional, profound man. Obama is all surface — shallow, obvious, robotic, and, frankly, not nearly as smart as he thinks. Bush was the one."

Her words, so succinct, have stuck with me ever since. By the way, she's a hardcore Democrat.

But she was right. And that contrast was apparent to all who watched Thursday's ceremonial event to open W's new presidential library in Dallas. The class and grace and depth of America's last president completely outshined that of his successor (who, coincidentally, or perhaps not, was the only one seated in the shade on a sunny Texas day)...

Continue reading.

Also, "Watch The Battle Hymn of the Republic performed by the U.S. Army Chorus."

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva Made Terrorism Watch List in 2011

At Jammie Wearing Fools, "Surprise! Psycho Mother of Boston Bombers Also on Terror Watch List."

And the Wall Street Journal, "Suspects' Mother Was Placed on Watch List":

MAKHACHKALA, Russia—The mother of the two young men alleged to have plotted and carried out the Boston Marathon bombing was placed on the same classified watch list as her elder son, according to U.S. officials, raising further questions about her role in his apparent radicalization.

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva and her son Tamerlan were placed at the same time in late 2011 on the Terror Identities Datamart Environment database, a low-level watch list that contains the names of more than 500,000 people flagged by multiple U.S. security agencies. It wasn't clear why she was placed on the list.

Her presence on the list is one more thing Ms. Tsarnaeva shared with Tamerlan, who is believed to have masterminded the marathon bombing.

Earlier in the week, after insisting in a two-hour interview with The Wall Street Journal that Tamerlan had been framed, Ms. Tsarnaeva said strife in her family had arisen from its ultimately unsuccessful attempt to adjust to American life. "We never should have come to America," she said. "We tried, but I wouldn't do it again."

Ms. Tsarnaeva said in the interview she often surfed many of the same Internet sites as her son, as the two exchanged ideas on religion and adopted more orthodox Islamic practices. She denied that she or her son adopted any extremist ideologies, however. Now back in Russia living with her husband, Anzor, she said she doesn't know when she will be able come to the U.S. to see her remaining son, Dzhokhar, who was moved Friday from a Boston hospital to a prison medical facility. While the Tsarnaevs had talked about traveling this week to Boston, Ms. Tsarnaeva now says that U.S. officials who came to see them in Makhachkala said they would not for now have the opportunity to see Dzhokhar. She also says she would like to stay closer to relatives. Mr. Tsarnaev has said he will go to the U.S., but he hasn't said when.

Ms. Tsarnaeva also faces a warrant for her arrest in the U.S. after failing to show up for an October court appearance on charges she shoplifted seven dresses at a suburban Boston department store, according to court records. Ms. Tsarnaeva is charged with one count of larceny and two counts of vandalizing property because several of the dresses were damaged in the alleged June 30, 2012, incident at a Lord & Taylor in Natick, Mass., according to court records.

Authorities are still pursuing the case and would arrest her if given the opportunity, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office said Friday.

Continue reading.

And ICYMI, "America's Insane Asylum for Jihadists, Hustlers and Frauds."

Whoo! Luscious Julianne Hough Bikini Shots

She looks great.

At London's Daily Mail, "Has she been on the heartbreak diet? Newly single Julianne Hough appears much slimmer in a bikini after putting on 20lbs while dating ex-Seacrest."

President Infanticide Speaks at 2013 Planned Parenthood National Conference

At the Wall Street Journal, "Obama Praises Work of Planned Parenthood."

And at Life News, "Obama Ignores Kermit Gosnell Murder Trial in Planned Parenthood Speech."

Naturally, he wouldn't mention Gosnell. Both President Obama and Planned Parenthood endorse the exact same baby-killing evil as the accused murderer. See, "Planned Parenthood's Defense of Infanticide." And, "The Secret Life of Senator Infanticide." (Now President Infanticide.)

Bush Kept Us Safe; Obama, Not So Much

From Charles Krauthammer, at the Washington Post, "The Bush legacy":

Clare Boothe Luce liked to say that “a great man is one sentence.” Presidents, in particular. The most common “one sentence” for George W. Bush is: “He kept us safe.”

Not quite right. With Bush’s legacy being reassessed as his presidential library opens in Dallas, it’s important to note that he did not just keep us safe. He created the entire anti-terror infrastructure that continues to keep us safe.

That homage was paid, wordlessly, by Barack Obama, who vilified Bush’s anti-terror policies as a candidate, then continued them as president: indefinite detention, rendition, warrantless wiretaps, special forces and drone warfare, and, most notoriously, Guantanamo, which Obama so ostentatiously denounced — until he found it indispensable.

Quite a list. Which is why there was not one successful terror bombing on U.S. soil from 9/11 until last week. The Boston Marathon attack was an obvious security failure, but there is a difference between 3,000 dead and three. And on the other side of the ledger are the innumerable plots broken up since 9/11.

Moreover, Bush’s achievement was not just infrastructure. It was war. The Afghan campaign overthrew the Taliban, decimated al-Qaeda and expelled it from its haven. Yet that success is today derogated with the cheap and lazy catchphrase — “He got us into two wars” — intended to spread to Afghanistan the opprobrium associated with Iraq.

As if Afghanistan was some unilateral Bush adventure foisted on the American people. As if Obama himself did not call it a “war of necessity” and Joe Biden, the most just war since World War II.

The dilemma in Afghanistan was what to do after the brilliant, nine-week victory. There was no good answer. Even with the benefit of seven years’ grinding experience under his predecessor, Obama got it wrong. His Afghan “surge” cost hundreds of American lives without having changed the country’s prospects.

It turned out to be a land too primitive to democratize, too fractured to unify. The final withdrawal will come after Obama’s own six years of futility.

Continue reading.

The author slams Obama for his complete ineptitude, his complete deliberate abandonment of the hard won gains in security and stability in place at the time of Bush's departure of office. The last four years have been the among the most devastating for American foreign policy in American history. Obama has not kept us safe.

Never Before Seen Beatles Photos From 1964

From Leslie Woodhead, at the Daily Beast:

They’re one of the most documented bands ever, but once and a while we get to see them in a new light. Documentary filmmaker Leslie Woodhead uncovered these photos he took of the Fab Four back in 1964 when they were recording in Manchester. He tells the story of the photographs in an excerpt from his new book, How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin.

Richie Havens: 'Here Comes the Sun...'

Via William Jacobson, "RIP – Richie Havens."

Also at Rolling Stone, "Richie Havens, Folk Icon, Dead at 72."

The Evil in Boston

From Bret Stephens, at the Wall Street Journal:

I have my own experience of what a bombing of this sort looks like. In January 2004 I was living in Jerusalem when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus down the street from my apartment. I was on the scene in about three minutes.

"The ground was covered in glass; every window of the bus had been blasted," I wrote later that day. "Inside the wreckage, I could see three very still corpses and one body that rocked back and forth convulsively. Outside the bus, another three corpses were strewn on the ground, one face-up, two face-down. There was a large piece of torso ripped from its body, which I guessed was the suicide bomber's. Elsewhere on the ground, more chunks of human flesh: a leg, an arm, smaller bits, pools of blood."

Rereading these lines all these years later, I'm struck by how far they fall short of capturing my memory of the event, of the experience of it. But human carnage is beyond description, a fact known mainly to those—now including several hundred people in Boston—who have seen it for themselves. To see it is to understand it; to understand it is to have no real words for it.

Gawker Won't Take Down Videotape of Hulk Hogan Bonking His Friend's Ex-Wife

This is the link at Mediagazer, "A Judge Told Us to Take Down Our Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Post. We Won't."

Gawker's John Cook is the biggest scumbag, and I really do mean the freakin' biggest scumbag. Still, this is quite the unusual story:

We publish all manner of stories here. Some are serious, some are frivolous, some are dumb. I am not going to make a case that the future of the Republic rises or falls on the ability of the general public to watch a video of Hulk Hogan fucking his friend's ex-wife. But the Constitution does unambiguously accord us the right to publish true things about public figures. And Campbell's order requiring us to take down not only a very brief, highly edited video excerpt from a 30-minute Hulk Hogan fucking session but also a lengthy written account from someone who had watched the entirety of that fucking session, is risible and contemptuous of centuries of First Amendment jurisprudence.

Head back over to Mediagazer to read it all.

Need a refresher on John Cook? Here you go: "John Cook, Dude Trying to Out CIA Agent Who [Helped Kill] Bin Laden, Married to Anti-Zionist Allison Benedikt*."

Like I said: The dude's the scum of all scum. I couldn't care less what happens to that sex tape, although I'm not at all bothered by the pain and harassment the court is raining down on that sleazebag.

Bombers' Mother Zubeidat Tsarnaeva Press Conference: 'America took my kids away from me...'

The jihad mom, via BCF, "Video: Mother of Boston bomb suspects berates US authorities - America Took My Kids Away From Me!"

Also at USA Today, "Bomb suspects' mother will 'never' accept their guilt."

I thought she didn't care if her son died? Allahu Akbar!

Gwyneth Paltrow — 'World's Most Beautiful Woman' — Shows Off Smokin' See-Through Mesh Panel Gown at Hollywood Premiere of 'Iron Man 3'

Ms. Paltrow was named People's 2013 "Most Beautiful Woman," but the big news is this sheer number she stepped out in Wednesday at the 'Iron Man 3' premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles.

See London's Daily Mail, "Gwyneth Paltr-WOW! Iron Man 3 star stuns in dress with entirely sheer side panels (and no underwear) at film premiere."

Oh, and I guess the "Most Beautiful Woman" thing didn't go over too well on Twitter: "Gwyneth Paltrow is crowned the world's most beautiful woman - and then it all turns ugly on Twitter."

The "most beautiful"? Meh. Who cares? She looks great and the "Iron Man" films are smokin'!

Live it up, baby!

Sophisticated Bomb Design Indicates Tamerlan Tsarnaev May Have Received Weapons Training in Chechnya

Because, of course there wasn't any international planning, or some such shit like that.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Boston bombs showed some expertise: Investigators say the triggering devices used suggest the older brother received guidance on his recent trip to Russia":

Investigators say the triggering devices used suggest the older brother received guidance on his recent trip to Russia
":WASHINGTON — Investigators said the two Boston Marathon bombs were triggered by long-range remote controls for toy cars — a more sophisticated design than originally believed — bolstering a theory that the older suspect received bomb-making guidance on his six-month trip to Russia last year.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a shootout with police last week, "more than likely got some instruction in Dagestan," a federal law enforcement official said Wednesday.

The official said investigators continued to believe that Tsarnaev, 26, and his brother, Dzhokhar, 19, were radicalized in the U.S., and that no foreign terrorist group orchestrated the plot.

Nevertheless, the CIA revealed Wednesday that it had asked the FBI and other federal agencies to put Tamerlan Tsarnaev on the terrorism watch list in October 2011 after receiving information from Russia. His name was not placed on a no-fly list, but it was circulated to various intelligence and domestic security agencies.

The information the CIA received "was nearly identical to the information the FBI received in March 2011" from Russia, one official said — unspecific allegations that he had become an Islamic extremist.

The CIA shared all the information provided by the foreign government including two possible dates of birth, his name and a possible name variant as well, an official said.

FBI and Russian security services have been conducting interviews separately in the Dagestan area since the Tsarnaev brothers became suspects in the bombings last week, according to a federal law enforcement official. The agencies are talking to Tsarnaev family members, including the father of the brothers.

The officials asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Further suggesting that Tamerlan Tsarnaev's Russia trip played a role, Secretary of State John F. Kerry told reporters Wednesday in Brussels that the elder suspect "learned something where he went, and he came back with a willingness to kill people."

A joint FBI and Department of Homeland Security intelligence bulletin sent to state and local law enforcement Tuesday night suggested that the bombs' triggering mechanism was more sophisticated than previously thought.

"The sophistication of the explosive devices is similar to what you might find on a battlefield, and I am concerned there is a person out there, either in the Chechen region or in the United States, who trained him," Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement.


"For anyone to rule out a foreign connection at this time, I think is highly premature," he said.

America's Insane Asylum for Jihadists, Hustlers and Frauds

A commentary from Michelle Malkin:

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon killing spree by foreign-born jihadists, see-no-evil bureaucrats in Washington are stubbornly defending America’s lax asylum policies. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Tuesday that the screening process is rigorous, effective and extensive.

These people can’t handle the truth. Or tell it.

The Tsarnaev brothers reportedly were granted asylum by “derivative” status through their parents. After entering on short-term tourist visas, the mother and father (an ethnic Chechen Muslim) won asylum and acquired U.S. citizenship. Next, younger son Dzhokhar obtained U.S. citizenship. Older son Tamerlan, whose naturalization application was pending, traveled freely between the U.S. and the jihad recruitment zone of Dagestan, Russia, last year before the bombers’ gunfight in Watertown, Mass., last week left the Muslim terrorist dead.

[Sidenote: They all received taxpayer-funded welfare benefits, too. No surprise. Did you know jihad preachers have urged their followers to collect welfare bennies while plotting terror?]

Though they had convinced the U.S. that they faced deadly persecution, the Tsarnaevs’ parents both returned to their native land and were there when their sons launched last week’s terror rampage. Authorities will not reveal any details of the sob stories the Tsarnaevs originally spun to win asylum benefits for the entire family.

The whole thing stinks. And it’s an old, familiar stench. Immigration lawyers have been working the system on behalf of asylum con artists for decades. The racketeers coach applicants with phony stories and documents from “chop shops” and game their way through “refugee roulette.”

Continue reading.

And don't skip Michelle's interview with Hannity at that clip. Outstanding.

After Tweeting Wishes for 'White American' Bomber, Despicable Terror Enabler Walter James Casper III Denies Leftist Bias in #Boston Marathon Reporting

Repsac3, professional progressive troll and rim-station rim master, is lying again.

After getting hammered the other day, the idiot troll rights harasser posted an entry even more stupid than his usual level of stupidity: "Note to Media Bias Hunters on the Right..." Folks can Google it if they want.

Rim-Station Repsac claims that NPR's Dina Temple Raston was only relying on official statements when she falsely claimed the Boston bombing was likely the work of the far right, because:

April is a big month for anti-government, and right-wing individuals. There's the Columbine anniversary. There's Hitler's birthday. There's the Oklahoma City bombing. The assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco."

Actually, no.

No official agency claimed that celebration of "Hitler's birthday" on the right was a possible catalyst for the Boston attack or any such shit. She's commenting, not reporting. I repeat Temple Raston is just spewing her own hateful prejudices. She offers no evidence for her claims. That is, without a shred of substantiation, she drops the idea of "officials said such and such" and that the "FBI is comparing this or that" as the prelude to deranged smears that have been universally repudiated in the press. Only someone as mental as Walter James Casper III would defend such proven, despicable lies and hatred.

Troll harasser Repsac claims that any reporter would be looking at "other possibilities" like "Islamist extremism" in addition to alleged right wing fanatics, blah, blah... But Temple Raston wasn't looking at "other possibilities." Morning host Steve Inskeep, her colleague at NPR, reported that Temple Raston "scoffed" at the thought of a possible Muslim suspect from Saudia Arabia: "Asked about 'Saudi national' off-air, @nprdina scoffed."

But facts don't matter to Walter James "Rim-Station" Casper III. Moreover, as I reported earlier, it's not just stupidity with depraved people like "Hatesac3." There's a fundamental embrace of evil that drives people like this, manifest by a pathological aversion to decency and truth.

At the video from Tuesday night is Sean Hannity segment on the left's "Rush to Judgment," which includes examples of leftist media outlets completely falling over themselves in blame-righty fits. After the introductory video collage, Juan Williams admits that Hannity's piece is "on to something" about the left's faux journalistic attacks on conservatives --- and Williams is a way left-of-center defender of the Obama administration who usually smacks down Hannity's attacks on the left, not to mention Bill O'Reilly's. But I like Williams. He's got a core of decency and honesty that people like the violently hateful harasser Walter "Rim-Station" Repsac badly lacks.

And remember, Walter James Casper III tweeted out the universally disparaged racist David Sirota's "white American bomber" hit piece. See: "'Emotionally, it is very hard for me to consider such ilk as fellow Americans, let alone as decent human beings...'."

Racist Rim-Station Repsac3 is a vile troll who should be blocked, banned and reported to the authorities for his criminal and hateful harassment and debauchery.

'Five Jihadists Have Reached Their Targets in the United States Under Barack Obama...'

Rep. Tom Cotton skewers this terror-enabling Democrat pro-sharia administration, via Weekly Standard:

At the Breitling Shop South Coast Plaza

I stopped for sandwich at Lawry's Carvery the other day at South Coast Plaza, and there's a Breitling store across the aisle.

Very cool.

#Boston and Civil Liberties

From Julie Borowski:

Here's That 'GE Works' Commercial With 'Agent Smith'

This is pretty cool:

How to Stop Terrorists Before They Kill

From Judith Miller, at WSJ, "The NYPD's surveillance program was designed to detect local terrorists before they strike—and it's working."

She makes a pretty good case, but then, New York's resources are enormous compared to Boston's.

See also, the Verge, "They're watching: why city-wide surveillance failed to stop the Boston bombing."

Kelly Brook Bikini Photo

Via Twitter:

Obama Mismanagement May Have Allowed Bombings

At IBD, "Bureaucratic Mismanagement May Have Allowed Bombings":

Lawrence Wright, author in 2006 of the Pulitzer Prize-winning history of al-Qaida, "The Looming Tower," wrote in an open letter 6-1/2 years ago to his fellow Pulitzer-winning journalist, Steve Coll: "The reorganization of our intelligence agencies — through the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the new office of Director of National Intelligence — has done nothing to improve the bureaucratic tangles, the institutional incomprehension, and the limited skill set of our operatives; indeed, in many respects, it has only added a new overlay of confusion."

As Wright pointed out, "Communication broke down at a crucial time — exactly during the period that al-Qaida was making its plans for 9/11."

As Chambliss noted, "Information sharing between agencies is critical. And we created the Department of Homeland Security to supervise that. We created the National Counter Terrorism Center to be the collection point for all of this information." He vowed to find out whether somebody "dropped the ball."

Whoever that somebody who dropped the ball is, you can bet the establishment media won't identify him as the guy who shoots hoops at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

As a candidate, President Obama relished ridiculing what he called the Bush administration's "color-coded politics of fear" and its "rigid 20th century ideology" unsuited to fighting "21st century's stateless terrorism."

But five years into his tenure as president, Obama doesn't seem to be a very good manager of the government bureaucracies charged with protecting Americans from terror.

The Honey-Trap of Moral Equivalence

From Douglas Murray, at Gatestone:

Today, in an age that often seems of pragmatism and managerial-ism in politics, if there is a way not just to honor the late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's memory but to continue her legacy it should be to encourage and praise those rare individuals who are willing to buck such trends. In Canada recently, I have had an opportunity to reflect on the perhaps surprising fact (also surprising to many Canadians) that in recent years Canada has shown itself to be a home to convictions which ennoble the present and can stand proud before history. The Harper government's moral clarity on a number of issues –in particular religious freedom and Israel – demonstrate a stand that can be rightly admired and celebrated by free peoples around the world.

Over the last decade the issue of religious freedom has come out of the rear-view mirror to a position of utmost importance, especially among minority communities. But nowhere does it matter more than in the Middle East. As Canada's Foreign Minister, John Bair, must have been reminded on his recent trip to the region, whether you compare what is happening across that region to events in Europe in 1848 or 1991, such historical comparisons are of limited use. What is happening there now, the upsurge of Islam, is a once-in-a-lifetime event. And although none of our countries may any longer have the capability or will to have a permanent military presence in the region, the significance of what soft diplomacy we can muster, and what moral stands we insist on, may yet prove far more important.

Continue reading.

Hat Tip: Blazing Cat Fur (the essential Canadian counter-jihad blog).

Police Officer Saves Man From Being Hit by Train

A lifesaver.

At London's Daily Mail, "Pictured: Dramatic moment Colombian police officer drags man from platform edge seconds before train hurtles into station."

Syrian Rebels Direct Hit by Tank Shell

A freakin' wicked video, via Blazing Cat Fur, "Bad day for the Rebels."

Tsarnaevs Were on Welfare!

Andrea Tantaros leads off at "The Five":

Awesome Interview With Boston Bombing Survivor Adrianne Haslet-Davis

She asked for a whiskey while waiting for medical help --- that's my kind of lady.

At CNN, "Boston bombing survivor: I take it day by day."

David Sirota and the Definition of Hate Speech

From Sheryl Longin, at PJ Media:

So much has been written (and is worth reading) about David Sirota’s Salon article, “Let’s hope the Boston Marathon bomber is a white American,” in particular, posts by Richard Fernandez, Roger Kimball, and my husband, Roger Simon, that Sirota felt compelled to write a second piece, doubling down and attempting to justify his initial thoughts. In spite of all the scrutiny, something fundamental has been overlooked, hiding in plain sight.

It is a sometimes less than admirable but nonetheless completely understandable and basic human reaction to be protective of groups with which one has a connection. When a crime is committed, people often hope that the perpetrator is not a member of said group. I am certain that many parents and relatives of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia hoped that the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook massacre would not turn out to have a mental illness. When Dr. George Tiller, an OB/Gyn and abortion provider, was assassinated in 2009, I am certain that pro-life advocates across the country were hoping his killer would not be an anti-abortion activist. When two bombs were detonated at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, I am certain that millions of Muslims were hoping the terrorists would not be adherents of Islam.

That is not what David Sirota was doing. What if the parent of a mentally ill young person expressed publicly after the rampage at Sandy Hook that he/she hoped the killer was an Islamic terrorist? What if a pro-life advocate publicly hoped that Dr. Tiller’s murderer would turn out to be an African American gang member? That is precisely what David Sirota was doing. And that is hate speech plain and simple. When it becomes acceptable to wish in public for people you disagree with to be heinous murderers (and without even the slightest bit of evidence), we have crossed a line that doesn’t allow for a functioning democratic society. I’d like to say that I hope David Sirota isn’t an American citizen, because his words of hate shame me, but sadly, the truth is that he is one of us and if we don’t call out his crime, we are condoning it...

Oh, by all means call these f-kers out. They're despicable racist losers and terror enablers. Call them out, big time.

More at the link.

RELATED: "'Emotionally, it is very hard for me to consider such ilk as fellow Americans, let alone as decent human beings...'"

Bomb Suspect Was Put on Two Watch Lists

At the Wall Street Journal, "CIA, FBI Flagged Him for Concern, Raising New Questions About Missed Opportunities to Prevent Fatal Boston Attack":

U.S. authorities put alleged Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev on two separate watch lists in 2011 after Russian security agencies twice reached out to their American counterparts, raising new questions about missed opportunities to prevent the attack.

Russian officials contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation in March 2011, then reached out to the Central Intelligence Agency in September of that year, citing concerns Mr. Tsarnaev might have been associating with extremists, according to U.S. officials.

The FBI has said it interviewed Mr. Tsarnaev and conducted a threat assessment, but found nothing "derogatory" that could prompt further investigation. A U.S. law-enforcement official said the case was closed after three months, after which the FBI asked Russian counterparts for additional information, but received none.

U.S. officials said Wednesday that at the request of the CIA, Mr. Tsarnaev was added to a broad database called Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, which holds hundreds of thousands of names flagged by multiple U.S. security agencies.

RTWT.

Also at the Boston Globe, "Russia alerted US repeatedly about suspect, senators say: Brothers may have planned to go to NYC next."

Plus, from Pamela Geller, "OBAMA'S EPIC FAIL: CIA WANTED BOSTON JIHADI BOMBER PLACED ON TERROR WATCHLIST."

Terror Widow Katherine Russell 'Should Be Jailed for Wearing Headbag (Hijab)'

Says Ann Coulter on Sean Hannity's, via Bare Naked Islam, "Ann Coulter: "“Boston Muslim Bomber’s wife should be jailed for wearing a headbag (hijab)”."

The Left and Terrorism: Stupidity or Willful Blindness?

Yeah, they're idiots alright, but for many progressives it's actually willful blindness that describes their terror enabling, and that's evil.

At Power Line, "WHY DOES EVIL MAKE LIBERALS STUPID?"

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, we are suffering through the inevitable period of liberal hand-wringing. Liberals can’t help themselves: while normal people are reviling the bombers, celebrating their capture or death, and debating measures that can be taken to prevent future atrocities, liberals’ thinking (if you can call it that) goes in a different direction. Liberals call for understanding; tell the rest of us we don’t realize how complex mass murder is; recommend introspection (But why? I didn’t do it.); and warn against various forms of overreaction to the latest terrorist outrage. The reality of evil, a constant in human affairs for millennia, renders liberals not speechless–that would be too much to hope for–but incoherent.

PREVIOUSLY: "'Emotionally, it is very hard for me to consider such ilk as fellow Americans, let alone as decent human beings...'"

Image Credit: The Looking Spoon, "Fool America Once, Shame On You. Fool America Dozens Of Times, Shame On Liberals."

Our Welfare State Terrorists

For the left, the hits keep coming, at Lonely Conservative, "Boston Bombers Were Welfare Recipients." Also at My Pet Jawa, "Terrorists & Family Living Off Welfare." (Via Memeorandum.)

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva: 'I Don't Care if My Youngest Son Is Killed...'

This is truly bizarre, at Gateway Pundit, "WHOA!… Zubeidat Tsarnaeva Tells CNN: “I Don’t Care if My Youngest Son Is Killed. I Don’t Care If I Am Killed. I Will Say Allahu Akbar!” (Video)

And at London's Daily Mail, "Mother of Boston Marathon bombers may be ARRESTED if she returns to U.S. after failing to appear on shoplifting charge."

Most Expect 'Occasional Acts of Terrorism' in the Future

At Pew Research, "Six-in-Ten Say Post-9/11 Steps Have Made Country Safer":

Last week’s bombings at the Boston Marathon attracted broad public interest: 63% of Americans say they followed the story very closely, among the highest interest in any news story in the past decade. And the bombings drew far more public attention than any terrorist event since Sept. 11, 2001, which 78% reported following very closely in mid-October of that year.

While the Boston bombings riveted most Americans, the incident appeared to confirm the public’s long-held belief that occasional terrorist acts are to be expected. Over the past decade, majorities have consistently said that “occasional acts of terrorism in the U.S. will be part of life in the future.” This sentiment has spiked to 75% in the wake of the Boston bombings from 64% a year ago and now matches the previous high of 74% in 2003.

Continue reading.

Naturally, Democrats are less likely to say that government action has made the country safer, no doubt a lingering indicator of Bush Derangement Syndrome.

Denmark Rethinks Its Much Too Generous Welfare State

That Abe Greenwald piece reminded me of this one, at NYT, "Danes Rethink a Welfare State Ample to a Fault":

COPENHAGEN — It began as a stunt intended to prove that hardship and poverty still existed in this small, wealthy country, but it backfired badly. Visit a single mother of two on welfare, a liberal member of Parliament goaded a skeptical political opponent, see for yourself how hard it is.

It turned out, however, that life on welfare was not so hard. The 36-year-old single mother, given the pseudonym “Carina” in the news media, had more money to spend than many of the country’s full-time workers. All told, she was getting about $2,700 a month, and she had been on welfare since she was 16.

In past years, Danes might have shrugged off the case, finding Carina more pitiable than anything else. But even before her story was in the headlines 16 months ago, they were deeply engaged in a debate about whether their beloved welfare state, perhaps Europe’s most generous, had become too rich, undermining the country’s work ethic. Carina helped tip the scales.

With little fuss or political protest — or notice abroad — Denmark has been at work overhauling entitlements, trying to prod Danes into working more or longer or both. While much of southern Europe has been racked by strikes and protests as its creditors force austerity measures, Denmark still has a coveted AAA bond rating.

But Denmark’s long-term outlook is troubling. The population is aging, and in many regions of the country people without jobs now outnumber those with them.

Some of that is a result of a depressed economy. But many experts say a more basic problem is the proportion of Danes who are not participating in the work force at all — be they dawdling university students, young pensioners or welfare recipients like Carina who lean on hefty government support.

“Before the crisis there was a sense that there was always going to be more and more,” Bjarke Moller, the editor in chief of publications for Mandag Morgen, a research group in Copenhagen. “But that is not true anymore. There are a lot of pressures on us right now. We need to be an agile society to survive.”

Yeah. That's not going be sustainable. But I'm sure leftists can still find ways to argue the European social model beats America any day. Idiots.

But read it all at that top link.

The Age of Hope and Shame

From Abe Greenwald, at Commentary:

The Obama years are the years of hope and shame. That’s what’s left once you’ve hollowed out the space traditionally occupied by informed debate. Liberals, led by the president, merely hope that gun laws and background checks will stem gun violence. There’s no debating the merits. So when people disagree, it can only be attributed to shameful intentions, not thoughtful misgivings about effectiveness. Liberals hope that expanding the welfare state will do more good for more people. The facts of Europe don’t apply. So when conservatives disagree it’s because they’re shamefully indifferent to human suffering, not concerned about an unsustainable initiative. Obama hopes we’re no longer in a war on terror but engaged in a cleaner-sounding war on al-Qaeda. If you think a recent string of terrorism attempts in America demonstrates otherwise, shame on you. Without self-righteousness liberals have no case.

Man, that's a freakin' great piece.

RTWT.

NPR's Dina Temple Raston Blamed #Boston Bombing on 'Right-Wing Individuals'

And still, some despicable leftists are already attempting to shove these inconvenient facts down the memory hole.

At AoSHQ, "After Four Days of Speculatively Blaming the Right and Anticipating What Poltical Solutions We Might Need To Address Their Growing Menace, Left Declares That the Time for Speculation and Political Wargaming Has Passed."

Because "right wing individuals" are all about Hitler's birthday, or some such shit.

Progressives are the biggest assholes. And losers.

Princeton Political Scientist Richard Falk Says #Boston Had It Coming

The scum of my profession, this Richard Falk.

Here's the dude's bio:

Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights.

See Blazing Cat Fur, "U.N. Scumbag Says Boston Got What It Deserved."

And at FrontPage Magazine, "U.N. Human Rights Official Calls Boston Bombing “Blowback” and “Resistance”."

New York Times Interactive on Moment Runners Neared Finish Line at #Boston Marathon

Via Emily Stanitz on Twitter. Click through to watch:

Incredible NYT interactive on runners at the #BostonMarathon finish line the moment the first bomb exploded nyti.ms/10ugUdV
— Emily Stanitz (@emilystanitz) April 23, 2013

Obama's Gun Control Defeat Raises Questions About His Effectiveness

It's about time we're getting some critical reporting like this, at the New York Times even.

See, "In Gun Bill Defeat, a President Who Hesitates to Twist Arms":

WASHINGTON — Senator Mark Begich, Democrat of Alaska, asked President Obama’s administration for a little favor last month. Send your new interior secretary this spring to discuss a long-simmering dispute over construction of a road through a wildlife refuge, Mr. Begich asked in a letter. The administration said yes.

Four weeks later, Mr. Begich, who faces re-election next year, ignored Mr. Obama’s pleas on a landmark bill intended to reduce gun violence and instead voted against a measure to expand background checks. Mr. Obama denounced the defeat of gun control steps on Wednesday as “a shameful day.”

But Mr. Begich’s defiance and that of other Democrats who voted against Mr. Obama appear to have come with little cost. Sally Jewell, the interior secretary, is still planning a trip to Alaska — to let Mr. Begich show his constituents that he is pushing the government to approve the road.

The trip will also reinforce for Mr. Begich and his colleagues a truth about Mr. Obama: After more than four years in the Oval Office, the president has rarely demonstrated an appetite for ruthless politics that instills fear in lawmakers. That raises a broader question: If he cannot translate the support of 90 percent of the public for background checks into a victory on Capitol Hill, what can he expect to accomplish legislatively for his remaining three and a half years in office?

Robert Dallek, a historian and biographer of President Lyndon B. Johnson, said Mr. Obama seems “inclined to believe that sweet reason is what you need to use with people in high office.” That contrasts with Johnson’s belief that “what you need to do is to back people up against a wall,” Mr. Dallek said.

“Obama has this more reasoned temperament,” he said. “It may well be that it’s not the prescription for making gains. It raises questions about his powers of persuasion.”

Some supporters said the imperative of the moment requires more force from Mr. Obama. “He needs to turn up the heat every way he can and every chance he gets because it’s not political points or poll numbers that are at stake but lives,” said Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, a New York Democrat who has sponsored a gun control bill in the House.

The White House on Monday defended the president’s efforts on the gun legislation, saying he had made a vigorous effort to lobby wavering senators. “He made numerous phone calls and had numerous meetings,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. “And his entire team here engaged in this process completely and thoroughly.”

But the president has long struggled to master his relationship with Congress. During his first two and a half years in office, he favored what aides called an inside approach, working quietly in back rooms to convince lawmakers of the logic of his positions. That worked better when Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate, and he passed legislation to expand health care, regulate Wall Street and spend hundreds of billions of dollars to stimulate the economy.

Well, he's a shitty president who can't tell the difference between his ass and a homosexual rim-station.

But RTWT.

RELATED: "Public Support For Gun Control Ebbs."

And to think, the gun-grabbing Dems work the shame strategy for all it was worth. I'd say they "worked it to death," but that wouldn't be cool.

'Stereotypically White Americans'

At Big Journalism, "CNN'S ERIN BURNETT SURPRISED BOMBING SUSPECTS AREN'T 'STEREOTYPICAL' AMERICANS.

"Wait ... Let me make sure I understand. Sorry, I want to make you understand. So they're still looking into the possibility that even though these two kids look very, very stereotypically like they're from here that this may be linked to a foreign terror group?"

Of course. Stereotypical.

Reese Witherspoon Apologizes After Arrest for Disorderly Conduct

At London's Daily Mail, "'You're about to find out who I am': What Reese Witherspoon said to police after arrest for 'disorderly conduct'... as her and husband Jim Toth's mugshots are revealed."

Dream Angels Extended Cut

Lovely:

RELATED: "What makes a successful lingerie shoot? Victoria's Secret Angels reveal it's all down to the 'sexy heat' in behind the scenes clip."

College Enrollment Dips Amid Massive Debt Pile

At IBD, "College Enrollment Dips As Student Loan Debt Nears $1 Trillion":

For the first time since the recession started, the college enrollment rate among young people has slipped, possibly signaling slower growth in student debt amid soaring delinquency rates and poor employment prospects.

In October 2012, 32.7% of people 16 to 24 years old were enrolled in college, the Labor Department said Wednesday in its annual reading. That's down from 33.4% a year earlier. The last time there was a decline was in 2006.

The total number enrolled also dropped to 12.7 million from 12.8 million, despite a slight uptick in the number of fresh high school graduates entering college...

RTWT.

Glenn Reynolds wrote about this kind of thing: "The Higher Education Bubble."

The Truth About Islam, the World's Most Violent Religion

At Saberpoint, "Why the Boston Bombers Did It (Hint: It's In the Koran)":

Question: Does the Quran really contain dozens of verses promoting violence?

Summary Answer: The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are called 'hypocrites' and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter. Unlike nearly all of the Old Testament verses of violence, the verses of violence in the Quran are mostly open-ended, meaning that they are not restrained by the historical context of the surrounding text. They are part of the eternal, unchanging word of Allah, and just as relevant or subjective as anything else in the Quran. Most of today's Muslims exercise a personal choice to interpret their holy book's many calls to violence according to what their own moral preconceptions find justifiable. Apologists cater to their preferences with tenuous arguments that gloss over historical fact and generally do not stand up to scrutiny. Still, it is important to note that the problem is not bad people, but bad ideology. Unfortunately, there are very few verses of tolerance and peace to abrogate or even balance out the many that call for nonbelievers to be fought and subdued until they either accept humiliation, convert to Islam, or are killed. Muhammad's own martial legacy - and that of his companions - along with the remarkable stress on violence found in the Quran have produced a trail of blood and tears across world history.

More at the link.

Karolina Kurkova Gun Dress Causes Sensation

It's a twofer: guns and gams (beautiful gams, which of course just makes the feminists that much more pissed).

At the Mellow Jihadi, "Karolina Kurkova Wears Gun Skirt, World Ends."

Latest Updates on #Boston Terrorist Attack

At the Wall Street Journal, "Fresh Bomb Details Revealed: Prosecutors Describe Suspect's 'Calm' Behavior; Charges Could Carry Death Penalty."

Tsarnaev has been charged as a non-combatant defendant. Legal Insurrection has the indictment, "Unsealed Complaint and Affidavit – U.S. v Dzhokhar Tsarnaev."

This morning's Wall Street Journal made the case for denying Miranda rights, and Paul Gigot elaborates at the clip. See, "Enemy Combatants in Boston."

Less compelling is Michael Mukasey's op-ed published this morning as well, "Make No Mistake, It Was Jihad." The arguments against providing Miranda are basically about preventing another attack, an obviously high-priority goal. The only problem is that this attack is looking more and more as if it could have been prevented. That earlier FBI interrogation of Tamerlan is a major intelligence fiasco. Not to throw up our hands here. Only to say, hey, when you've got them by the balls don't throw it all away. People are getting blown to bits.

More at the New York Times, "Boston Bombing Suspect's Bedside Hearing," and London's Dail Mail, "'You can rouse him now': Extraordinary scene of Boston Marathon bomber's bedside arraignment, as he's read his Miranda Rights and only manages to say one word" (via Memeorandum).

Suspicion Falls on Dead Terror Suspect's Widow

At the New York Post, "Wife of suspected Boston Marathon bomber faces FBI's heat."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Feds to question Boston bomber's widow as she says she was 'watching TV when she discovered husband was a suspect'."

Canada Terror Plot Thwarted

It's been feeling a lot like the days after September 11, 2001.

At Atlas Shrugs, "MAJOR JIHAD TERROR PLOT TO ATTACK NEW YORK-TORONTO RAILROAD THWARTED IN CANADA: 'IT WAS MEANT TO BE SPECTACULAR AND THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT OF CARNAGE'."

And check Blazing Cat Fur:

* "Canada: Muslims Fear Backlash Over Latest Thwarted Terror Plot - Linked to Amish Division of Al Qaeda."

* "Idiot Apologists: Cair Canada Demands Government Not Pass Combating Terrorism Act Same Day As Via Rail Muslim Terrorists Arrested."

* "Chiheb Esseghair web page disappears in a Hurry."

More at Telegraph UK, "Canadian police foil al Qaeda-backed plot to derail train."

CNN Stumbles in Boston Terrorism Coverage

From David Carr, at the New York Times, "The Pressure to Be the TV News Leader Tarnishes a Big Brand":

Like a lot of Americans, when I woke up on Friday morning and found out there was a manhunt in the Boston area for the remaining suspect in Monday’s bombing at the marathon, I turned on CNN.

It’s a common impulse, although less common than it used to be. The news audience has been chopped up into ideological camps, and CNN’s middle way has been clobbered in the ratings. The legacy networks’ news divisions can still flex powerful muscles on big stories, and Twitter and other real-time social media sites have seduced a whole new cohort of news consumers.

But the biggest damage to CNN has been self-inflicted — never more so than in June, when in a rush to be first, it came running out of the Supreme Court saying that President Obama’s health care law had been overturned. It was a hugely embarrassing error.

Still, when big news breaks, we instinctively look to CNN. We want CNN to be good, to be worthy of its moment. That impulse took a beating last week. On Wednesday at 1:45 p.m., the correspondent John King reported that a suspect had been arrested. It was a big scoop that turned out to be false.

Mr. King, a good reporter in possession of a bad set of facts, was joined by The Associated Press, Fox News, The Boston Globe and others, but the stumble could not have come at a worse time for CNN. When viewers arrived in droves — the audience tripled to 1.05 million, from 365,000 the week before, according to Nielsen ratings supplied by Horizon Media — CNN failed in its core mission.

It was not the worst mistake of the week — The New York Post all but fingered two innocent men in a front-page picture — but it was a signature error for a live news channel.

Continue reading.

I didn't even turn on the TV during much of the breaking news. Twitter is where the action is.

Boston Terrorism Update: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Responding to Questions in Writing

At the Wall Street Journal, "Bombing Suspect In and Out of Consciousness." Also, "Prosecutors Plot Strategic Course."

Also, at the New York Times, "Officials Say Bomb Suspects Appeared Set to Attack Again."

Al Neuharth, 1924-2013

From the Los Angeles Times, "Al Neuharth dies at 89; newspaper mogul created USA Today":

USA Today was a different kind of newspaper, designed for a generation of readers raised on television who lacked the time and inclination to read lengthy stories. A bold retort to the gray pages of traditional newspapers, it had color photographs, eye-catching graphics and bite-sizestories with paragraphs set off by bullets. Organized into four distinct sections, it featured a brightly hued full-page weather map and catered to sports fans with a mass of game results and other statistics.

Neuharth, who aimed to capture an increasingly mobile generation of readers desiring an easy-to-digest format when they were at home or on the road, dubbed it "The Nation's Newspaper."

"Our audience will be the whole damned country, but we think we can attract a slice of 4 or 5 percent of the more affluent, better-educated people over most areas of the country," Neuharth predicted in a 1982 interview with the Miami Herald. "We won't compete locally. We will be a second buy."

Critics, however, derided the paper as gimmicky and "junk food journalism." "McPaper" became a favorite put-down by traditional journalists appalled by its emphasis on brief, breezy stories. Newsweek poked fun at its founder as "the man who shortened the attention spans of millions of Americans."

It lost money for the first five years. But by its fifth anniversary in 1987, revenues had begun to rise and critics began to change their tune, with stories in other newspapers describing USA Today as innovative, even revolutionary.

By the early 1990s, major dailies, including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, were redesigning their pages to be more reader-friendly, adding color, snappy graphics and stories that read more quickly.

RTWT.

An interesting guy.

Sorry, Media, No White Tea Partiers Were Involved

From Investors Business Daily:

In 2002, about 40 armed Chechen separatists took more than 900 hostages at Moscow's Dubrovka Theatre, a siege that resulted in the deaths of 130 hostages and all of the Chechen terrorists.

The world also watched in horror in 2004 as armed Islamic separatist militants, some Chechen, occupied a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, and killed more than 380 people.
By all accounts, the Tsarnaev brothers were fully Americanized, permanent residents attending U.S. schools. But as such they were the perfect "sleepers," terrorists in waiting, ripe for recruiting, particularly considering their place of origin.

Leftists such as Sirota bemoan "profiling" and "stereotyping" while they engage in a variety all their own. Sirota complained that the likes of Timothy McVeigh are treated as lone wolves while Muslim terrorists are treated as existential threats, that "white male privilege means white men are not collectively denigrated/targeted" for their acts.

Islamofascist terrorists, and the regimes and groups that support them, do constitute an existential threat. There have not been many Swedish terrorists; and what Sirota calls profiling we would call a description of the suspects. We wonder what part of "death to America" Sirota and his colleagues do not understand.

More at that top link.

And see, "'Emotionally, it is very hard for me to consider such ilk as fellow Americans, let alone as decent human beings...'"

Katherine Russell, Widow of Marathon Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Converted to Islam, Wore Hijab, Was 'Brainwashed' by Extremist Husband

Such an ultimate bummer that this young lady got mixed up with that jihadi loser scum.

At London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE - How doctor's daughter became the Muslim convert widow of Boston bomber: Terrorist husband 'brainwashed' her and she gave up her dreams of college to have his baby at 21":

None who knew her as a child could have dreamed that this would be the face she would one day present to the world, nor that her life and those of so many Bostonians would be so violently caught up with two brothers from Chechnya and a cause as unclear as it was brutal.

As a girl growing up in Rhode Island Katherine was known to her friends as Katie. One school friend who asked not to be named recalled: ‘I saw her like a few months ago and she was just totally transformed. She was not the same person at all.’

Sunday Night Rule 5

Via Guns and Bikinis:

What We Know About the Tsarnaevs

From Mandy Nagy, at Legal Insurrection, "The Lives of the Boston Bombers: What We Do and Don’t Know."

Marxist Melissa Harris-Perry Rejects Islam as Relevant to Boston Bombing

Well, I'd call it bizarre but this is MSNBC we're talking about.

Via Pat Dollard, "MSNBC Terror-Enabler Melissa Harris-Perry Says Jihad Had Nothing To Do With Boston Attack, Only Bigots Would Think So." (Via Memeorandum.)

#Boston Bombing: Obama Lulled America Into False Confidence Over Terror Threat

At Flopping Aces, "Obama lulled America into false sense of security."

This administration has never been about fighting terrorism to keep Americans safe --- it's been about fighting to keep Democrats in power.

Remember "President Gutsy Call"?

Well, it's jihad in America now. The Democrats will have plenty to answer for come November 2014.

Cartoon Credit: Bosch Fawstin.

Looks Like Wendy Greuel's Gonna Need a Bigger Comeback Kid!

Here's yesterday's report at KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Bill Clinton joins Wendy Greuel at LA mayoral campaign event."

But as the Los Angeles Times reports today, Greuel's trailing badly in the mayor's race, "Garcetti opens 10-point lead over Greuel":

Eric Garcetti has opened a commanding 10-point lead in the Los Angeles mayor's race over rival Wendy Greuel, whose dogged fight to win the backing of public employee unions appears to be undercutting her on her home turf in the San Fernando Valley, according to a new USC Price/Los Angeles Times poll.

A month before the May 21 runoff, likely voters favored Garcetti over Greuel by 50% to 40%.

The survey also found no sign of success for Greuel's effort to gain an edge among women by highlighting her potential to make history as the city's first female mayor. Women preferred Garcetti, 50% to 41%.

Latinos and younger voters backed Garcetti by still wider margins. The city councilman from Silver Lake has strengthened his standing in the central city and Eastside neighborhoods that he won decisively in the March primary. He has also built a solid lead on the Westside — a key target of Greuel's.

Perhaps most worrisome for Greuel, the city controller, is her failure so far to establish a base in the Valley, where the two are effectively tied. Greuel, who lives in Studio City, had hoped that audits by her office that found wasteful spending of taxpayer money would appeal to the Valley's Republicans, often a pivotal vote in L.A. elections.

Instead, Garcetti has emerged with a lopsided lead among conservatives citywide, picking up support from many of those who voted in the primary for Republican radio personality Kevin James, now a Garcetti backer.

Greuel's tepid support in the Valley, which she represented on the City Council from 2002 to 2009, poses a major challenge for her in the closing weeks of the race. Though Democrats dominate the Valley, many of the city's Republicans live on its western and northern ends.

She's through.

I doubt even the "Comeback Kid" can help her at this point.

Garcetti's a stealth Marxist, by the way. This ought to be interesting.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Thermal Imaging Video

Via Blazing Cat Fur, "Video of Dzhokar Tsarnaev In Boat."

Pathetic Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Idiotstan) Attacks GOP as 'Islamophobic'

At Gateway Pundit, "Here We Go… Sen. Feinstein Accuses GOP Rep. Peter King of Islamophobia After Boston Bombings (Video)."

Also at iOWNTHEWORLD, "Congressman Peter King: Stop Being ‘Politically Correct’."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

More at Reaganite's, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES," and Jill Stanek's, "Stanek Sunday funnies 4-21-13."

Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies." And Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Obama’s Cube."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

Jessika Jinx Rule 5

Well, some babe blogging is overdue.

Here's Ms. Jinx on Twitter.

Now, from some of our babe blogging friends.

At Laughing Conservative, "Emily Ratajkowski." And Subject to Change, "In the Kitchen."

Now at Proof Positive, "San Francisco Season Opener Against Green Bay Packers Set for Sept. 8," and "Friday Night Babe - Lena Headey!"

Also at Bob Belvedere's, "Rule 5 Saturday - Amanda Ammann." (That was last Saturday --- expect updates from the hots at TCOTs!)

More at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart ... Sarah Stephens."

And at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is an awesome home garden providing locally grown veggies in order to reduce Mankind’s carbon footprint (instead of just being a way to grow your own superfresh veggies), you might just be a Warmist."

Also at Pirate's, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup.

And at Guns and Bikinis, "Today's Hot Babes."

At Woodsterman's,"Advice to an Old Guy ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

Plus, at Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Sunny Reichert."

More Rule 5 blogging later ... send me your links and I'll update!

Runners at London Marathon Hold 30-Second Silence for Victims of Boston Marathon Bombing

At the Guardian UK, "London Marathon observes silence for Boston bomb victims – video."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "'It was never an option not to be here': Prince Harry praises London Marathon runners and brave Boston bomb victims as tens of thousands hit the streets to enjoy spectacular race in spring sun."

More video, "UK Marathon crowds undaunted by Boston bombings," and "London Marathon runners show support for Boston."

Miranda Rights for the Boston Bombing Suspect

I think it's a no brainer that the suspect should be Mirandized and tried in civilian courts. Sure, he's a terrorist, but he's also an American citizen who was captured by domestic law enforcement. Save the military tribunals for enemy combatants. The New York Times has the background, "Legal Questions Riddle Boston Case." And Glenn Greenwald, "What rights should Dzhokhar Tsarnaev get and why does it matter?"

I can't speak for Robert Stacy McCain, although he cracks me up, as usual:

I once more quote eminent law enforcement authority, Inspector Harry Callahan, SFPD: "Well, I'm all broken up over that man's rights."

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) April 20, 2013

Via Bob Belvedere, "Boston Terrorist Attack Aftermath: Best Tweets."