Stealth Marxist Eric Garcetti Wins Los Angeles Mayor's Race

Here's the Los Angeles Times article from February highlighting Garcetti's Marxist years at Columbia, "The L.A. City Council member and mayoral candidate was a committed young progressive known on campus for gliding between different worlds and liberal causes.

And now he's won election to City Hall, "Garcetti beats Greuel: Councilman big in central L.A., does well in the Valley."

Here's the headline at Capital News from the other day, "Menshevik vs. Bolshevik for L.A. Mayor—Greuel vs. Garcetti."

Well, Bolshevik is more appropriate for Garcetti than the writer probably intends. The dude was in all the "correct" progressive causes in college. He's spent his years since pulling off an Obama-style transformation to "political moderate."

You gotta root these people out, freakin' anti-American thugs.

Jodi Arias Sentencing: Death Penalty Would Cause More Pain

She's a convicted murderer. But she deserves a "second chance." Right.

At Fox News, "Jodi Arias, in jailhouse interview, says her lawyers let her down."

Ibragim Todashev, Friend to Boston Bombing Suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Killed in FBI Shootout

At the Wall Street Journal, "Associate of Boston Bombing Suspects Is Killed: Orlando Man Connected to Tsarnaev Brothers Fatally Shot After Trying to Attack FBI Agent."

And the New York Times, "Man Being Queried on Tsarnaev Ties Is Killed by Officer":

BOSTON — A man in Orlando, Fla., who was being interviewed early Wednesday morning by an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a Massachusetts state policeman about his ties to the deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect, was fatally shot after he tried to attack them with a knife, according to a senior law enforcement official.

The authorities were questioning the man — who was identified by a law enforcement official as Ibragim Todashev — about whether he had played a role in a triple murder on Sept. 11, 2011, in Waltham, Mass.

“The investigators were working on the theory that he and Tamerlan had done the murder,” said the official, referring to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the deceased marathon bombing suspect. One of the victims was a friend of Mr. Tsarnaev.

The F.B.I. agent, who was from the Boston field office, sustained minor injuries in the episode, the official said.

The official said that the authorities had spoken to Mr. Todashev at least twice since the April 15 bombings, which killed three and injured about 200.

Continue reading.

Lois Lerner Pleads the Fifth: 'I Haven't Done Anything Wrong...'

A weaselly freakin' POS.
d

And a discussion from Carol Platt Liebau, at Townhall, "Taking the Fifth — What It Does (& Doesn't Do) for Lerner" (via Memeorandum).

French Nationalist Dominique Venner Commits Suicide in Paris Notre Dame Cathedral

I'm not sure what good it'll do. He was supposed to be protesting France's move to legalize homosexual marriage, but frankly, I'd bet a lot of people are cheering the dude's death.

At Independent UK, "Far-right French historian, 78-year-old Dominique Venner, commits suicide in Notre Dame in protest against gay marriage":

Mr Venner, a prolific author of books and tracts on extreme nationalist themes, has been one of many vociferous critics of the law. Some of his work as a historian has been well-received, incuding a 1981 book on the Red Army which won a prize from the Académie Française. Much of his work has been steeped in the racist ideology of the far-right, apologising for the pro-Hitler regime in Vichy in the Second World war and warning of conspiracies to destroy European civilisation and to swamp the white race.

Mr Venner was also an expert, and the author of several books, on hunting and fire-arms. In the 1960s, he was a member of the Organisation de l'Armée Secrète - the extreme nationalist terrorist movement which opposed the French withdrawal from Algeria and attempted several times to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.

More at the Astute Bloggers, "WILL DOMINIQUE VENNER'S POLITICAL SUICIDE IN NOTRE DAME SET OFF A REVOLT LIKE MOHAMMED BOUAZIZI'S DID IN TUNISIA?"

Nah. This is a last gasp from a long gone era of French politics, a weird throwback that reminds me of what real ideological politics looks like.

Desperate Minutes in School Razed by Tornado

At WSJ, "Oklahoma Tornado: Long Minutes of Desperation Inside School Razed by Storm."

And about the erroneous death toll, at LAT, "Chaos after tornado led to double reporting in death toll."

#IRS Toady Lois Lerner to Take the Fifth

A very significant development, at the Los Angeles Times, "Top IRS official will invoke Fifth Amendment."

The Times buried the story at the bottom of the homepage, apparently. Pirate's Cove has it, "Lois Lerner to Plead 5th at IRS Hearing." And at Big Government, "Gee, It's Almost Like the LA Times Is Trying to Hide Its Own Huge Scoop."

.@charlescwcooke Precisely. People take the 5th when they have something to hide or someone to protect. @aceofspadeshq #IRS
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) May 21, 2013

'Stop #IRS Abuse of Power': Tea Party Swarms Santa Ana on National Day of Protest

Villa Park City Councilwoman Deborah Pauly organized today's IRS protest in downtown Santa Ana.

I made it down there a little after Noon and hundreds of patriots were lining the sidewalks to demonstrate their outrage with this criminal clusterf-k administration.

Out on Civic Center Drive, Councilwoman Pauly protests the tyranny, at right:

"Stop IRS Abuse of Power":

More patriots:

More patriots on the North side of the street:

And more on the protests from around the country, at Michelle Malkin's, "Photos from IRS protests around the country today."

And at Director Blue, "40 PHOTOS: Conservatives March on the IRS Building; IRS Agents Respond by Mocking Protesters."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Angry tea partiers rally at IRS headquarters in Washington with stern warnings: 'They're going to have to produce all the documents' on targeting scandal."

Instapundit has huge roundups here (in Tennessee) and here (nationwide).

More at Instapundit, "AP: Protesters Rally Over IRS’ Tea Party Scrutiny," and "VIDEO: TEA PARTY PATRIOTS PROTEST OUTSIDE IRS."

Drop your protest inks in the comments and I'll update...

UPDATE: Instapundit links. Thanks!

Storm Over 'Swivel-Eyed Loons' Engulfs British Prime Minister David Cameron

At Independent UK, "'Swivel-gate': David Cameron goes to war with the press over 'swivel-eyed loons' slur":

PM backs his friend as Tory co-chairman Lord Feldman denies he is source of damning remarks about local party members.

David Cameron risked a major blow to his authority after he defended one of his closest friends over claims that he had described Tory activists as "mad, swivel-eyed loons".

The Conservative co-chairman Lord Feldman, a tennis partner of the Prime Minister, was forced to deny making the remarkable attack on party members, which reportedly arose during a conversation with journalists at an event in London.

The peer, who attended Oxford University with Mr Cameron, said it was "completely untrue" that he made the derogatory remarks that several newspapers reported as being made by an unnamed member of Mr Cameron's inner circle. Downing Street later announced that the Prime Minister was backing his friend.

But both The Times and The Daily Telegraph, which put the incendiary remarks on their front pages yesterday without naming Lord Feldman as the alleged source, last night said they stood by the story – threatening an extraordinary stand-off between Downing Street and newspapers.

The row deepened the bitter internal schism between Mr Cameron's inner circle and the rest of the party – particularly over issues including the European Union and gay marriage.

The UK Independence Party, which has been mopping up support from disenchanted Tory voters in recent months, immediately seized on the dispute. Its leader, Nigel Farage, remarked: "If you are a Conservative supporter who believes in Ukip ideas then your party hates you. Come and join us."

And see historian Tim Bale, at Telegraph UK, "Swivel-eyed loons, or seeing clearly?"

Sounds like Britain's elite needed some shaking up. Good for those loons!

'You're All I Got Tonight'

From yesterday morning, on the Sound L.A.:

Accidents Will Happen - Elvis Costello: 10:20am

Abracadabra - Steve Miller: 10:09am

About a Girl - Nirvana: 10:06am

Abacab - Geneis: 9:59am

Sunshine of Your Love - Cream: 9:54am

Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen: 9:52am

Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin: 9:44am

Shadow of a Doubt - Tom Petty: 9:37am

Everybody Wants Some!! - Van Halen: 9:32am

Born on the Bayou - CCR: 9:26am

You're All I've Got Tonight - The Cars: 9:22am

Notice at 10:00am, "A to Z" week kicked in: "You won't hear a song repeated for over a week."

I got to work when "Accidents Will Happen" came on --- and weird, but what a blast from the past.

Well, Yeah. Damned Tyrant

Via Knuckledragging.

'We know who you are. You cannot hide. You cannot escape. We are legion. We never forget. We never forgive. We are everywhere. And we are better than you...'

From Mandy Nagy, at Legal Insurrection, "Israeli counter-hackers claim to expose #OpIsrael hackers":

It appears that the battle between Anonymous hackers embroiled in the #OpIsrael campaign and Israeli counter-hackers continues.

A video posted at a new website titled “Anon Bastards” claims to have exposed those behind the last round of #OpIsrael attacks.

Is This the Face of Tolerance in Europe?

I hope not, at Der Spiegel, "EU Survey Shows Widespread Homophobia in Europe."

Of course, "homophobia" is a fictitious term. If it's anything, it's plain hatred straight up.

That's Christopher Bryant below, via Independent UK, "Gay couple beaten in park urge MPs to moderate language on gay marriage."

And back stateside, there's also no such thing as a "hate crime." But the left gets more mileage out of the attacks, like the one last week in New York. See, "Killing in Greenwich Village Looks Like Hate Crime, Police Say." And the Daily Beast works the exploitation angle like a Stradivarius, "New York Shooting Highlights Surge in Hate Crimes." There's no evidence for the "surge," actually. But facts don't matter for progressives (too inconvenient), so they go for emotionalism and lies.

Beat them at the polls. They're progressive losers and idiot social outcasts. Don't freakin' beat them. Sheesh.

'Brass-Knuckled Intimidation' – Megyn Kelly and Michelle Malkin on Obama's Chicago Way

Another great segment:

Wild Night at the Billboard Music Awards

At London's Daily Mail, "Still shedding the pounds! Christina Aguilera wows as she shows off her very slim body in a low-cut black dress at 2013 Billboard Music Awards," and "She's a very cheeky girl! Ke$ha plays coy in a little black dress that exposes her derriere at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards."

Barack Obama's Subversion of Democracy

Here's the banner headline at yesterday morning's PuffHo, "DOJ Calls Fox News Reporter James Rosen 'Co-Conspirator' In Leak Case; Journalists Outraged." And, "The DOJ's Targeting Of Fox News Reporter Risks Criminalizing Journalism."

Hmm, I thought, "Maybe some of the left-wing outfits are starting to take this seriously." Then I scrolled over to the Washington Post's big breaking story on Obama's DOJ targeting and noticed E.J. Dionne's pathetic little piece bemoaning the horrible --- HORRIBLE! --- collapse of democratic government in the West! See, "Political dysfunction spells trouble for democracies."

I was almost laughing, except people like Dionne still garner a lot of attention. So I got a kick out of James Taranto slamming the JournoList-ing idiots bemoaning the alleged "demise" of democratic government, "A Crisis of Authority." To be specific, it's a crisis of left-wing statist authority, which can only be propped up with a deepening circle of lies:

"After a week of scandal obsession during which the nation's capital and the media virtually ignored the problems most voters care about--jobs, incomes, growth, opportunity, education--it's worth asking if there is something especially flawed about our democracy," declares the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne.

He goes through a partisan litany of complaints--"a radicalization of conservative politics, over-the-top mistrust of President Obama on the right, high-tech gerrymandering in the House and a Senate snarled by non-constitutional super-majority requirements"--but makes no mention of the abuses of power by the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department. He does hint at Benghazi, in his concluding paragraph, but only to pooh-pooh it:

Since World War II, bouts of economic growth have allowed democracies to buy their way out of trouble. One can hope this will happen again--and soon. In the meantime, politicians might contemplate their obligations to stewardship of the democratic ideal. They could begin by pondering what an unemployed 28-year-old makes of a ruling elite that expends so much energy feuding over how bureaucrats rewrote a set of talking points.

But if the purpose of that rewriting was, as it appears to have been, to deceive voters and bolster the president's re-election prospects, then it was a subversion of democracy.

RTWT.

Plus, Glenn Greenwald also went to town on this, "Obama DOJ formally accuses journalist in leak case of committing crimes":

Under US law, it is not illegal to publish classified information. That fact, along with the First Amendment's guarantee of press freedoms, is what has prevented the US government from ever prosecuting journalists for reporting on what the US government does in secret. This newfound theory of the Obama DOJ - that a journalist can be guilty of crimes for "soliciting" the disclosure of classified information - is a means for circumventing those safeguards and criminalizing the act of investigative journalism itself. These latest revelations show that this is not just a theory but one put into practice, as the Obama DOJ submitted court documents accusing a journalist of committing crimes by doing this.

More at that link.

There's a lot I disagree with, for example, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are cyber-terrorists, not journalists.  But as always, Greenwald's good for lighting a fire on the hypocritical JournoList circle jerks.

Ray Manzarek: 1939-2013

An obituary, at the Los Angeles Times, "Ray Manzarek dies at 74; keyboardist for the Doors."

'I'd Love to Change the World...'

From Ten Years After.

And from the band's Wikipedia entry:

The song was written and sung by Alvin Lee. The song reflects the widespread confusion concerning world events in the time-frame when it was written. With lyrics such as "Tax the rich, feed the poor/ till there are no rich no more," the song derides the standard counter-cultural position on social issues, contending that higher taxes on the rich would only wipe out the upper class, while leaving poverty as much of a problem as ever. The chorus of "I'd love to change the world/ but I don't know what to do/ so I'll leave it up to you," adds an ironic twist to such sentiments, since changing the world is unlikely with a simple rock song. The song features a folk-inspired chord pattern to support the melody.

A studio version is here.

*****

[guitar]
Spoken 'Now, turn on'

Everywhere is freaks and hairys
Dykes and fairies
Tell me where is sanity?

Tax the rich, feed the poor
Till there are no, rich no more

I'd love to change the world
(Dee-dee-dee-dee)
But I don't know what to do
(Dee-eee-dee-dee-dee-dee)
So I'll leave it up to you-ooo-ooo
(Be in my prayer)

Population, keeps on breedin'
Nation bleedin', still more feedin'
Economy

Life is funny, skies are sunny
Bees made honey, who needs money?
Monopoly

I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
(Dee-eee-dee-dee-dee-dee)
So I'll leave it up to you-you-ooo
(We-eee-dee-dee-dee-dee)

Oh, yeah!
[guitar]

Rescuers Search Into Night for Moore Schoolchildren

At the Oklahoman, "Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin confirmed that bodies of children had been found at Plaza Towers Elementary School. She also confirmed that bodies of adults had been found on the school lawn."

And at the New York Times, "Vast Oklahoma Tornado Kills at Least 91."

VIDEO: Melissa Debling and Daisy Watts X-Rated

I think they're exaggerating the "X" rating, although it's a little kinky alright.

PREVIOUSLY: "Melissa Debling and Daisy Watts."