Record Temperatures in Southern California

It's expected to hit 129 degrees in Death Valley today, 119 in Palm Springs, and 105 in Victorville.

At KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Southland sizzles under summer heat wave":

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Summer is here and Southern California is sizzling under a heat wave with temperatures reaching 100 degrees in many areas.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, the mercury passed 90 even before noon. Temperatures were expected to reach high 80s for Los Angeles and Orange counties, high 90s for the Inland Empire and Valleys, mid 80s for the local mountains and the low 100s for the High Desert communities.

Large swaths of the Southland will remain under an excessive heat warning until Sunday night.

Residents are urged to avoid outdoor activities if possible and stay hydrated. People who were out and about said they were trying to get things done quickly and get inside to a cool place.

"It's going to be staying at home with the air conditioner and not going out as much as you can," said Tiffany Friddle of Palmdale.

There's a news video at the clip, which incidentally features Gunny Lee Ermey of "Full Metal Jacket."

And click on the station's weather page, here.

Ecuador Defends Its Surveillance Programs

I guess Rosie Gray was getting too hot for Ecuadorean officials with her reporting on the country's surveillance programs.

At BuzzFeed, "Ecuador Defends Domestic Surveillance."

And, "Exclusive: Documents Illuminate Ecuador’s Spying Practices."

just a few hours after Ecuador threatened BuzzFeed, someone has had Scribd take down the docs published in my story http://t.co/R6QsPnDnrl

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) June 28, 2013

Free Speech Dies in UK: Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller Banned from Entering

From Roger Kimball, at Pajamas Media:

Geller and Spencer are denied entry to the UK. Quoth a government spokesman: individuals whose presence “is not conducive to the public good” may be denied entry by the Home secretary. He explained: “We condemn all those whose behaviours and views run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any form.”

That pretty much covers the waterfront, doesn’t it? Disagree with me and I’ll have you named an enemy of the state.

Entertain views that conflict with the dominant left-wing narrative, and I’ll see to it that you are branded a hatemonger and are ostracized (or worse). Say or write something I don’t like, and I’ll pretend you did something criminal. I’ll deliberately confuse the expression of opinion and criminal behavior, so that the expression of opinion blends seamlessly into criminal behavior.

George Orwell anatomized this technique in 1984. Joseph Stalin pioneered it “on the ground” in the Soviet Union. It’s all part of what Anthony Trollope wrote in his great, dark novel The Way We Live Now.

Lee Rigby is hacked to death by Muslim fanatics. That’s an instance of what former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith insisted we call “anti-Islamic activity.” Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer say and write things the timid, politically correct bureaucrats who run Britain don’t like, and they’re declared pariahs.

Continue reading.

Lil' Wayne: Flag Stomping Coward

ZoNation, via Theo Spark:

Alex Baldwin is One Angry Cracka!

Well, after all the "creepy ass cracka" jokes on Twitter, now here's this...

At Twitchy, "Alec Baldwin threatens ‘toxic little queen’ reporter in epic Twitter rant."

My wife and I attend a funeral to pay our respects to an old friend, and some toxic Brit writes this fucking trash http://t.co/eoHfGGjD46
— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) June 28, 2013

I saw this earlier while trolling London's Daily Mail, "Alec Baldwin's pregnant wife Hilaria TWEETS about Rachael Ray and anniversary gifts during James Gandolfini's funeral."

UPDATE: Baldwin's page is not loading on Twitter, perhaps having been taken down: http://twitter.com/ABFalecbaldwin

MORE: From Selena Zito:

And just like that (again) Alec Baldwin twitter account deletes His Twitter account https://t.co/oYGUZKA7fg

— SalenaZito (@SalenaZitoTrib) June 28, 2013

MORE:

Oh, Alec Baldwin. Haven't you learned? You can delete, but you can't hide. @ABFalecbaldwin http://t.co/gqcikPFcew

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) June 28, 2013

MT @bendreyfuss: The Daily Mail took George Stark’s name off the @ABFalecbaldwin story & replaced the byline http://t.co/1oG9OCMKdn

— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) June 28, 2013

Gwyneth Paltrow in 'Thanks for Sharing'

She takes really good care of herself, so it's no surprise folks are making a big deal out of "Pepper Potts" stripping down in the trailer for her upcoming film, "Thanks for Sharing."

At the Los Angeles Times, "Gwyneth Paltrow strips in 'Thanks for Sharing' trailer."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Hotter than ever! Gwyneth Paltrow, 40, strips to racy lingerie in new trailer for sex addiction movie Thanks For Sharing."

Glenn Greenwald's 'Hairy Jocks' Porn Business

Well, well, well.

When you dig down, virtually all these prominent homosexual intellectuals have some sordid background as "RawMuscleGlutes" or "Hairy Jocks" pornography mofos.

And now it's Greenwald's turn for the depraved deep background to emerge, if he we didn't think he was depraved enough already.

At the New York Daily News, "Glenn Greenwald, journalist who broke Edward Snowden story, was once lawyer sued over porn business."

Read it all at the link. Greenwald was supposedly getting 50 percent profits in a porno outfit called "Hairy Jocks," in which he had a personal, ah, hands on role in creative content.

More at London's Daily Mail, "Journalist who helped Edward Snowden expose the NSA scandal was previously sued by business partner over running of 'Hairy Jocks' porn business."

This is great!

I've been waiting for a Glenn Greenwald "RawMusclesGlutes" moment. This is gold! Gold, I tell you!

ADDED: From Robert Stacy McCain, "Glenn Greenwald Is a Ridiculous Joke (And Alas, the Internet Never Forgets)."

“DomMascHry31”? Really? I always figured @ggreenwald as more the "SmoothLooseBottom" type ... http://t.co/lZ1zf5SOs9 #tcot
— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) June 27, 2013

Hoot! Life of Julia, Amnesty Applicant

This is great, at Twitchy, "Kevin Sorbo highlights spoof of Obama administration composite woman: ‘Life of Julia, Amnesty Applicant’."

At the comments, "Sadly, it's not a spoof. It's a road map."

And at the Center for Immigration Studies, here.

Senate Passes Immigration Reform

Laura Ingraham tweeted Sen. Jeff Sessions' "courageous" opposition to this shamnesty clusterf-k, seen at the clip.

And at NYT, "Immigration Overhaul Passes in Senate: 68-32 Vote Sends Bill to House, Where Odds Are Longer." (Via Memeorandum.)

More video here and here.

And more news at Memeorandum.

I can't imagine Speaker Boehner would even contemplating violating the Hastert bill on this, and somewhere earlier on Twitter I read that he's not even planning to bring the Senate bill to a vote in the House.

Other measures are planned, though, so it's never a good idea to rest easy. Folks should call their congressional representatives to make sure these people know how much grassroots opposition is out there. #StopAmnesty.

Added: I just saw this on Twitter, at National Review, "Comprehensive Rejection: House Republicans give the Senate’s immigration bill short shrift."

#TrayvonMartin Supporters Keepin' it Classy on Twitter

At Weasel Zippers, "Trayvon Martin Supporters Threaten To Kill Zimmerman, Random White People…"

These mf act like #Zimmerman really ain't did shit wrong. R.i.p. #TrayvonMartin ima pop me a mf #Creepycracker walkin by my house
— Vonni Versace (@Dat_Nigga_Vonni) June 27, 2013

Now there's more at the Blaze, "‘IF ZIMMERMAN GET OFF, IMA GO KILL A WHITE BOY’: TRAYVON MARTIN SUPPORTERS MAKE SHOCKING THREATS AHEAD OF VERDICT."

Aaron Hernandez Denied Bail

At TMZ, "AARON HERNANDEZ: Stuck in the Slammer - BAIL DENIED."

The dude's a mofo gang-banging former NFL tight end. Who knew?

Yesterday: Aaron Hernandez brandishing a Glock handgun for a selfie iPhone pic http://t.co/dsKeJGOopk pic.twitter.com/Ene9YROtkh

— TMZ (@TMZ) June 27, 2013

Also at SI, "Aaron Hernandez denied bail, will remain in jail."

After #DOMA Ruling, Much Work to Be Done for Statutory Rape Equality

You can't make this up, on Twitter:

#DOMA's defeat is a remarkable win for LGBT rights, but Kate's story shows that there is much work to be done for equality #FreeKate

— Eventivist (@Eventivist) June 26, 2013

Or as Robert Stacy McCain frequently notes, "Bad causes attract bad supporters." See, "#FreeKate’s Mom: ‘I Will NOT Have Anyone Ruin This for Family!!!!’" And, "The #FreeKate Criminal Caucus."

Also, "Just Like Mandela: Has Banging Jailbait Become the New Civil Disobedience?", and especially, "Perverts, Degenerates and Sociopaths."

This is the progressive left's homosexual equality program in a nutshell. Society's been monumentally hoodwinked by Godless postmodern depravity and licentiousness.

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Reinstates Caveman Blogger's First Amendment Challenge

At the Institute for Justice, "Free Speech Victory."

The decision reverses a previous ruling by a federal district judge that had dismissed Cooksey’s case, reasoning that advice is not protected speech and hence Cooksey had suffered no injury to his First Amendment rights.

“This decision will help ensure that the courthouse doors remain open to speakers whose rights are threatened by overreaching government” said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes. “In America, citizens don’t have to wait until they are fined or thrown in jail before they are allowed to challenge government action that chills their speech.”

The dude dispenses "paleo-style" dietary advice on his blog.

Amazing what's threatening to the permanent political class, via Instapundit.

One of Four Obama Supporters Sees Tea Party as Biggest Threat to National Security

Tin foil Democrats, at Rasmussen, "26% of Obama Supporters View Tea Party as Nation’s Top Terror Threat":

Half of all voters consider radical Muslims the bigger terrorist threat facing the nation, but supporters of President Obama consider the Tea Party to be as big a danger.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters consider radical Muslims to be the bigger threat to the United States today. Thirteen percent (13%) view the Tea Party that way, and another 13% consider other political and religious extremists to be the larger danger. Six percent (6%) point to local militia groups. Two percent (2%) see the Occupy Wall Street movement as the bigger terrorist threat. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

However, among those who approve of the president’s job performance, just 29% see radical Muslims as the bigger threat. Twenty-six percent (26%) say it’s the Tea Party that concerns them most. Among those who Strongly Approve of the president, more fear the Tea Party than radical Muslims.

These people are seriously f-ked up. Man.

Rachel Jeantel Cross-Examination

I can't watch the trial live. It's too droning and monotonous, or at least this woman is too droning and monotonous. And she can't read? I'm watching this on CNN right now. She says she can't understand cursive handwriting. (More here --- is cursive racist?)

In any case, at the Los Angeles Times, "Zimmerman trial: Star witness faces grueling cross-examination."

Also at Legal Insurrection, "Zimmerman Update Exclusive — Mid-Day 4 — West’s Cross-Examination of Rachel Jeantel."

Pamela Geller and International Coverage of Britain's Capitulation to Islam

It's dhimmitude all the way down

Here's this report at the Shariah-complaint BBC, "US bloggers banned from entering UK" (via Memeorandum).

And at Atlas Shrugs, "TREACHERY:

A soldier was just beheaded on the street, and they say I'm a terrorist threat.

It is worth noting that in all this media coverage of the banning of Spencer and me, not one media outlet had me on to discuss it. Not one. If what I say is so egregious, why not expose me? Because the last thing that the enemedia wants is for people to hear what I have to say. Because most rational, freedom-loving people would agree.Channel 4 contacted me for an interview and then canceled shortly thereafter.

Further, not once in all of the media accounts were we identified accurately. We oppose jihad. We are counter jihad. Despite all the column inches, not once is that even mentioned. We are not anti-Muslim. We oppose an ideology that calls for holy war, misogyny, persecution and oppression of non-believers. I don't care who or what you worship. You can worship a stone, just don't stone me with it. This is very clear. But the media's twisted and colorful descriptions of us include "anti-Muslim," "anti-Islam," "anti-Ground Zero mosque campaigners," "right wing activists," "hatemongers," "islamophobic bloggers," "anti-Muslim pair."

Repeat after me: C O U N T E R J I H A D.

Also, "BRITISH BAN NOW INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT."

PREVIOUSLY: "Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Banned From Britain."

ADDED: From Saberpoint, "Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Are Banned From Britain":

If you speak the truth about Islam, you will be banned. Freedom of speech is not allowed in Great Britain anymore. Truth is not a defense. What kind of insanity is the British government pushing, and why?

Silent Witness to Abuse: Many Saw Father Donald Patrick Roemer's Behavior But Were Reluctant to Take Action

At the Los Angels Times, "Clergy abuse case filled with silent bystanders":

They stared at each other, the detective and the priest. Kelli McIlvain found interrogating him somewhat surreal. She had been raised Catholic and taught that a man in a black clerical shirt and white collar was nothing less than an emissary of God.

Father Donald Patrick Roemer was 5 feet 5, maybe 150 pounds. Hazel eyes. Blondish hair. A Ventura County Sheriff's Office report described him that night as "cooperative, seems stable," though McIlvain remembered how he repeatedly buried his head on the desk and wept.

To her surprise, his confession came easily. Yes, he said, he molested the 7-year-old boy.

McIlvain lit a cigarette. She hushed her voice, slowed her cadence to match his. Were there others, she asked. Yes, he said, according to court papers, and offered name after name.

"Where do I go from here?" he asked as midnight neared.

"Well," she said, "I'm going to have to arrest you."

What McIlvain uncovered in the weeks that followed seared the case into her memory, so much that she can recall its details more than three decades later, long after she retired: A number of people inside and outside the Catholic Church had been alerted to Roemer's misdeeds, or had strong suspicions of them, she learned.

They did nothing.

Experts call it the "bystander effect" — when people fail to help in potentially dire situations. Often they are more wary of falsely accusing someone than of their fears being confirmed. They question whether it's their responsibility to help, whether stepping in would do any good. If no one else is upset, they assume it's OK to walk away.

"We think our way out of situations we don't want to believe," said Pete Ditto, a UC Irvine professor who studies moral decision-making.

According to the 12,000 pages of church records that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles made public this year, the phenomenon appears to have played a key role in allowing clergy sex abuse to fester in case after case.

Although Catholic leaders shoulder much of the blame for the abuse scandal, the culture of silence extended to teachers, secretaries and others in the church's bottom rungs. In certain cases, it took years for someone to tip off the archdiocese's top officials to suspected molesters, let alone authorities.

Continue reading.

Editors at WSJ Not Pleased With Supreme Court's Homosexual Rights Rulings

See, "A Gay Marriage Muddle":

The Supreme Court didn't propound another Roe v. Wade on Wednesday and discover a constitutional right to gay marriage, but it did take a major step toward it. The saving grace for democratic consensus and self-government is that the marriage debate can now continue in the states, if our judges will allow it.

That's our reading of two 5-4 rulings that saw the High Court range from its most restrained to aggressive activism in overturning the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), a federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Lower courts will be navigating through the mess for years.

The restraint came in Hollingsworth v. Perry, where the Court was asked to issue a judicial edict expanding traditional one man-one woman unions to include gays and lesbians for all 50 states under the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection....

And continuing with the DOMA decision:

A different Court majority leapt in the opposite direction in the 5-4 ruling written by Justice Anthony Kennedy in U.S. v. Windsor, which overturned Doma. Section 3 of that 1996 law signed by Bill Clinton adopted the traditional definition of a spouse for federal purposes like taxes and Social Security.

Our view is that Doma was an understandable political response at the time to state court rulings on gay marriage, and adopting a uniform federal rule was a temporary solution as states experimented with new arrangements and a social consensus evolved. Congress was always free to revise Doma later.

A different Court majority leapt in the opposite direction in the 5-4 ruling written by Justice Anthony Kennedy in U.S. v. Windsor, which overturned Doma. Section 3 of that 1996 law signed by Bill Clinton adopted the traditional definition of a spouse for federal purposes like taxes and Social Security.

Our view is that Doma was an understandable political response at the time to state court rulings on gay marriage, and adopting a uniform federal rule was a temporary solution as states experimented with new arrangements and a social consensus evolved. Congress was always free to revise Doma later.

But the majority overturned Doma with a confusing combination of logic that mixed principles of federalism with language about equal protection. On the one hand, Justice Kennedy and the four liberal Justices called Doma an illegal federal intrusion on the traditional state power to regulate marriage. On the other hand, they also described Doma as motivated by animus toward gay couples that violates the federal guarantee of equal protection.

The High Court's equal protection jurisprudence typically applies a different level of constitutional protection to discriminatory laws, known as strict or heightened scrutiny. Other laws are merely evaluated using a "rational basis" test. But Justice Kennedy never even mentions this basic question. He then goes on to make a due process argument under the Fifth Amendment about treating citizens one way under state law and another under federal law. The result is a legal muddle.

The opinion is so confusing that it inspired a highly unusual debate among the dissenters about what it means. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote his own dissent to note that while the majority "goes off course" in overturning Doma, it "is undeniable that its judgment is based on federalism." This would mean Windsor applies only to federal law, and the states are free to continue debating marriage.

But in his dissent, Justice Scalia is scathing about Justice Kennedy's "legalistic argle-bargle" and suggests that the equal protection language of the opinion means that some future case will require the Court to prohibit states from banning same-sex marriage:

"It takes real cheek for today's majority to assure us, as it is going out the door, that a constitutional requirement to give formal recognition to same-sex marriage is not at issue here—when what has preceded that assurance is a lecture on how superior the majority's moral judgment in favor of same-sex marriage is to the Congress's hateful moral judgment against it." Tell us how you really feel, Mr. Justice.

No doubt.

There's still more at that top link.

More Offices Offer Workers Alcohol

Back when I was working at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana --- when I was 21-years-old --- we had beer one time with lunch at Togos.

Other than that, I don't think this is within my experience, and certainly not at the college.

At the Wall Street Journal, "As Workday Expands, Alcohol Flows More Freely, but Practice Can Be Risky, Exclusionary":

The keg is becoming the new water cooler.

At least, that's the case at such firms as the Boston advertising agency Arnold Worldwide, where workers cluster around a beer-vending machine—nicknamed Arnie—after the day's client meetings are done. As they sip bottles of home-brewed beer, employees exchange ideas and chitchat, often sticking around the office instead of heading to a nearby bar.

Plenty of offices provide free food to their workers, but as the workday in many tech and media companies stretches past the cocktail hour, more companies are stocking full bars and beer fridges, installing on-site taverns and digitized kegs and even deploying engineering talent to design futuristic drink dispensers.

The perk, firms say, helps lure talent, connects employees across different divisions and keeps people from leaving the office as the lines between work and social lives blur.

But employment lawyers worry that encouraging drinking in the workplace can lead to driving while intoxicated, assault, sexual harassment or rape. Plus, it may make some employees uncomfortable while excluding others, such as those who don't drink for health or religious reasons.

Drinking on the job has long been part of work life in the U.S. and abroad, whether it's a beer with colleagues in the United Kingdom or Japanese salarymen entertaining clients at sake bars. But holding happy hour in the office is different, experts say, because it brings after-hours activity into the professional space.

Nope. Definitely not in my experience, but continue reading.

Nigella Lawson Moves Out of Family Home

An update on the British celebrity wife-choking story.

At London's Daily Mail, "Nigella packs her bags: Hopes of saving her marriage look grim as removal men clear home of her belongings... and she's even taking the cookbooks and the blender."

Well, she had to take the blender. She's a professional cook for crying out loud.

BACKGROUND: "Nigella Lawson Attacked by Husband Charles Saatchi at Scott's Restaurant in Mayfair," and "Charles Saatchi Admits to Throat-Choking Assault of Wife Nigella Lawson."