Friday, June 28, 2013

Obama Rolls Out Red Carpet for Vile Jew-Hating Cleric Abdullah Bin Bayyah

Here's the report at the Investigative Project on Terrorism, "Exclusive: Banned Cleric's Outspoken Deputy Visits White House." And at Fox News, "Official confirms, defends White House meeting with controversial Muslim scholar."

And here the analysis at Michelle Malkin's, "Another White House play date with Muslim jihad":

Abdallah Bin Bayyah photo 800px-Abdallah_Bin_Bayyah_2009_zps7d9abe9a.jpg
Bin Bayyah’s moderate Muslim costume shouldn’t fool anyone. This sharia thug, who has worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to boost his progressive-friendly cred, lobbied the United Nations to outlaw all mockery and criticism of Allah. He raised money to benefit the terror group Hamas. He is a top lieutenant of Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf Qaradawi, who exhorts followers to kill every last Jew; sanctioned suicide bombings and the killing of our soldiers; expressed support for executing apostates and stoning gays; and declared that the “U.S. is an enemy of Islam that has already declared war on Islam under the disguise of war on terrorism and provides Israel with unlimited support.”

As jihad watchdogs have reported, the administration has rolled out the red carpet for dozens of Muslim Brotherhood officers, flacks and sympathizers. IPT noted last year: “White House visitor logs show that top U.S. policy-makers are soliciting and receiving advice from people who, at best, view the war on terrorism as an unchecked war on Muslims. These persons’ perspectives and preferred policies handcuff law enforcement and weaken our resolve when it comes to confronting terrorism.”

No kidding. Another Qaradawi cheerleader, Hisham al-Talib, was welcomed last spring at the White House by Obama’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Four days later, White House officials welcomed a foreign delegation of the radical sharia-enforcing Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt. As I reported previously, al-Talib is an Iraqi-born Muslim identified by the FBI as a Muslim Brotherhood operative and a major contributor to the left-wing Center for Constitutional Rights, the group of jihadi-sympathizing lawyers who helped spring suspected Benghazi terror plotter Abu Sufian bin Qumu from Gitmo....

We need a zero tolerance policy for jihadist infiltrators and coddlers in Washington. Let’s make the most transparent administration ever live up to the hype. I suggest the White House be required to raise the black flag of Islamic jihad at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue every time President Obama welcomes these treacherous visitors.

Even better: Let’s take a page from Kanye West and project the names of all the Ikhwan-linked goons who are allowed to darken the White House doorstep onto the side of the Old Executive Office Building for all to see — along with their most infamous hate videos and fatwas against Jews, infidels, gays, women and U.S. soldiers. No more play dates with Muslim jihad behind closed doors. Light ‘em up.
Once again, this is the "progressive left" in action. Where are the denunciations for the troll rights harassers around the web? (Toe tapping ....) Oh, not forthcoming. No surprise.

See also Bare Naked Islam, "OBAMA REGIME warmly welcomes to the White House, deputy of terrorist suicide bombers-endorsing cleric banned in the US and UK."

Michelle Fields on Red Eye Debating Immigration and Polygamy

This is a bit too libertarian-ish for me, but funny nevertheless.

European Union Diktats Forcing Energy Rationing in Great Britain

Bad karma from all the cowardly political correctness, no doubt.

At London's Daily Mail, "Electricity to be rationed: Power cuts in 2 years unless industry cuts back, warns regulator."
Britain could face a return to Seventies-style power rationing to prevent blackouts.

The disturbing news came amid warnings that the country may not be producing enough energy to keep the lights on by 2015.

Offices and factories could be ‘bribed’ to close for up to four hours a day during the winter to prevent households losing power.

Energy regulator Ofgem said the country faced an ‘unprecedented challenge’ as coal-fired plants are closed by European Union diktats on the environment.
Well, frankly, Obama's war on fossil fuels promises to put America on the fast lane to British-style rationing. Perish the thought, I know. But it's happening.

Rationing Britain photo BNzFIINCYAAh82tpng-large_zpsd5cb54a9.png

South Africa Prepares for Mandela's Passing

At WSJ, "Flowers, Cards, Hope Pile Up for Mandela":

JOHANNESBURG—The life of Nelson Mandela appeared to hang in the balance Thursday morning, as family members visited the Pretoria hospital where he was undergoing treatment and neighbors from his rural ancestral town prepared for the passing of South Africa's former president.

"Yes, tata's situation is critical…he doesn't look good," Mr. Mandela's oldest living daughter, Pumla Makaziwe Mandela, said in an interview Thursday on South African state television, using the local term of respect for an older person.

"But I think that for us as his children and grandchildren we still have this hope because you know when we talk to him he will flutter, trying to open his eyes and will open his eyes, when you touch him he still responds," she said.

On Thursday, President Jacob Zuma paid his second visit to the hospital in less than 24 hours in order to confer with Mr. Mandela's doctors. In a statement, Mr. Zuma said he was informed by the medical team that Mr. Mandela's condition "has improved during the course of the night. He remains critical but is now stable."

Late Wednesday, Mr. Zuma canceled plans to attend an infrastructure-investment conference in neighboring Mozambique, after conferring with Mr. Mandela's doctors at the Pretoria hospital where he was admitted June 8 to treat a lung infection.

Mr. Zuma's spokesman, Mac Maharaj, wouldn't confirm news reports that Mr. Mandela is on life support, or say whether Mr. Zuma planned to visit him again on Thursday.

Mr. Mandela, a revered champion of peace and racial equality who became South Africa's first black, freely elected president in 1994, has been hospitalized four times since December and suffered a string of respiratory ailments stretching back to the tuberculosis he contracted during 27 years in prison for opposing South Africa's former white-minority government.

Dozens of reporters and satellite trucks have converged outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria. They track every visit by family members and government officials—and capture the hopes and memories of well-wishers who have left a mounting pile of flowers, cards and balloons outside the hospital's gates.
Continue reading.

Britney Spears Animated GIF Album Covers

At BuzzFeed, "Every Britney Spears Album Cover As An Animated GIF."

Obama Visits Senegal

He always visits the slave houses. Why that's a priority, well, that's only explicable from the Obama-leftist self-demonology of perpetual apology for America's alleged past sins.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Obama begins Africa tour, visits Senegal slave house":

DAKAR, Senegal — President Obama arrived in this corner of West Africa to deliver messages about civil society and good governance, democracy and development. Senegal's message to him was simpler: Welcome home.

The greeting was plastered on signs and T-shirts wherever Obama went Thursday during his first full day of a weeklong, three-country trip to Africa. Although Obama was born and largely raised in Hawaii, his father was born and is buried in Kenya, and on this day Senegal treated the president as one of its own. Lampposts were covered with signs reading, "Welcome home, Mr. President." The greeting, and Obama's likeness, appeared everywhere. Crowds of people danced and waved.

Obama seemed to claim Senegal too, shaking hands and posing for pictures, but also acknowledging the dark history of slavery the country shares with the United States.

The president and his family visited a small slave house on Goree Island off the coast of Dakar, the nation's capital, where it is said men, women and children were traded, sorted, shackled and weighed before being sent across the Atlantic to the Americas.

The president stared pensively out the "door of no return," described as the exit for those boarding slave ships, while spending about half an hour in the two-story salmon-colored house filled with dark holding cells.

"Obviously, for an African American — and an African American president — to be able to visit this site, I think, gives me even greater motivation in terms of the defense of human rights around the world," Obama said afterward.
The president doesn't care about human rights. He cares about power. If touting his so called commitment to human rights helps him push his apology agenda (and statist agenda), then he'll say he cares about human rights. Frankly, America's standing in the world right now is as low as it's been --- if not lower --- than any time since President Carter was in office. Watching interviews on the news yesterday people said that because Obama's black they were excited to see him. It's not that he represents America, or that America has been at the forefront of freedom promotion since the mid-20th century, it's that the president is black. That's a sad, sad commentary on where things stand in the world. It's basically affirmative action in public diplomacy. And it's not good, for the world community nor for American foreign policy.

Tea Party 'Threat' on Hannity Live

Dana Loesch and Kirsten Powers on Hannity's last night:


BACKGROUND: "One of Four Obama Supporters Sees Tea Party as Biggest Threat to National Security."

Obama Says He Won't Bargain for Return of 'Hacker'

At the Wall Street Journal, "Ecuadorean Disarray Clouds Snowden Bid":

Disarray within the Ecuadorean government over the role of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange in Edward Snowden's asylum bid is complicating the outcome, according to diplomatic correspondence that appears to shed light on the mixed signals from Quito over the American fugitive's fate.

Mr. Assange—the antisecrecy-group founder who for the past year has been sheltered inside Ecuador's London embassy—wrote to Ecuadorean officials Monday that he hoped his role in the Snowden matter hadn't embarrassed the government, according to an internal Ecuadorean diplomatic correspondence obtained by Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Networks and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

But in the note, Mr. Assange also offered public-relations advice to top Ecuadorean officials about how to handle the crisis. Mr. Assange's earlier efforts on Mr. Snowden's behalf had prompted one diplomat to caution that Mr. Assange could be perceived as "running the show" in Ecuador.

In addition, it was an Ecuadorean diplomat who has said he is close with Mr. Assange—Fidel Narvaez, the consul at Ecuador's London embassy—who issued a controversial temporary travel document intended for Mr. Snowden, according to another of the Ecuadorean diplomatic correspondences.

WikiLeaks and Mr. Assange didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Thursday. Representatives for Ecuador's foreign ministry declined to comment on the authenticity of the correspondences.

Several representatives at Ecuador's mission in London also declined to comment and said Mr. Narvaez was out of the office and unavailable to comment. He didn't respond to an email seeking comment.


Mr. Snowden has been charged by U.S. authorities with theft of government property and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information. On Sunday, Mr. Snowden arrived in Moscow, according to WikiLeaks, after spending several weeks in Hong Kong after he admittedly leaked details of U.S. National Security Agency intelligence-gathering programs.

Russian officials have said he remains in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, and have said he should move along. The question now is where Mr. Snowden—stripped of his U.S. passport and apparently without an Ecuadorean travel document—can go.

The validity of any Ecuadorean travel document, or "safe pass," has been the subject of intense speculation this week. Mr. Assange said this week Ecuador issued such a document to Mr. Snowden and Ecuadorean officials haven't denied it exists. But officials have said that such a safe conduct pass, if it is in Mr. Snowden's possession, isn't valid.

On Tuesday, Alexis Mera, the legal adviser to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, was sent a correspondence from an address bearing Mr. Narvaez's name. "Dear Alexis," read the note, which included a copy of an Ecuadorean safe-conduct pass issued in Mr. Snowden's name, "I am responding to your request."

Another email from the same account, dated Wednesday and addressed to the legal adviser as well as to a presidential spokesman, said: "I trust you received the requested document yesterday." Mr. Narvaez was in Moscow at the time, according to the message.

But by then, Ecuadorean officials were publicly disputing that Mr. Snowden had been given such travel papers—a position voiced most strenuously by Mr. Correa on Thursday. Even if such a document existed, the president said, "the person who issued it will be totally without authority and [the document] would have no validity."
Snowden's pretty screwed over right now, obviously. It's not fun holing up in an airport, and as folks were saying on Fox News' All-Stars, especially so at Moscow's airport.

In any case, more at the link.

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."


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:

Thursday, June 27, 2013

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."
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:


MORE:



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)."

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.

Life of Julia, Amnesty Applicant photo 2-Julia-Applies_zps83dfb285.png

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…"


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?


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:


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."

ABC News Blows Wad at #DOMA Ruling

I noticed Terry Moran on Tuesday going ape sh*t over how big --- BIG! --- was the Court's Voting Rights Act ruling.

At MRC, "ABC's Terry Moran Thrilled Over Gay Rulings: 'Poetic' 'Declaration' for 'Equal Dignity'":

A smiling Terry Moran made little effort to contain his excitement on Wednesday, hyping the Supreme Court's pro-gay marriage decisions as "poetic" and a "declaration" for "equal dignity." During live coverage, Moran and other journalists kept cutting to California, touting the cheering and celebrations there.

Minutes after the Court struck down key provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act, Moran thrilled, "And there is ringing language in here affirming the equal dignity and the equal rights of gay Americans under federal law." The grinning journalist said of Justice Anthony Kennedy's opinion, "He wrote one case in language that is almost poetic in its embrace and affirmation of equal status."
More at that top link, and see, "ABC: Screw Objectivity, We're For Gay Marriage; GMA Hosts Celebrate On-Air."

Well, we don't have an objective press anymore, if we ever did.

More Running Interns

These interns are good.

Via Shira Toeplitz:


PREVIOUSLY: "Running of the Interns."

Historic Advance for Homosexual Marriage

Yeah, yeah.

Bold advance. Epic. Now we'll just wait for the states to approve polyamory and lower the age of consensual sex to 15 or below. Who knows? We're on the cusp of a new era. Unicorns and rainbows!

At the Los Angeles Times, "A bold advance for gay marriage."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Historic Win for Gay Marriage: High Court Rulings Lift Bans on Federal Same-Sex Benefits, Weddings in California":

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court dramatically advanced gay rights Wednesday in rulings that direct the federal government to provide equal treatment to same-sex spouses and allow the resumption of gay marriages in California.

In a pair of 5-4 rulings on the final day of the court's term, the justices struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to gay couples married under state law, and let stand a ruling that found Proposition 8, a 2008 voter initiative that ended same-sex marriage in California, unconstitutional.

In striking down DOMA, Justice Anthony Kennedy said Congress had no business undermining a state's decision to extend "the recognition, dignity and protection" of marriage to same-sex couples.

By excluding such couples from the rights and responsibilities of marriage contained in more than 1,000 provisions of federal law, "DOMA writes inequality into the entire United States Code," Justice Kennedy wrote.

The DOMA ruling had immediate effects. The Obama administration said it would move swiftly to ensure same-sex married couples get the same tax and other benefits as heterosexual couples, although the process for doing so is uncertain for same-sex couples who marry in one state, then move to a state that doesn't recognize gay marriage.

Meantime, noncitizens who are married to American same-sex partners likely would qualify for permanent resident status, lawyers said.
In California, Attorney General Kamala Harris said she would order that marriage licenses be granted to same-sex couples statewide as soon as a U.S. appeals court takes a procedural step, which could come within a month.

The Supreme Court's rulings didn't say whether there is a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage, ensuring years of battles in states that bar it. Groups that believe marriage is between a man and woman said they would fight state by state to defend that definition, while the American Civil Liberties Union tapped veteran GOP strategists as part of a $10 million campaign seeking to convert Republican-led states to the gay-marriage cause.
Continue reading.

'We are governed by a man who does not want the United States to be feared...'

That's Dennis Prager's opening comment about the epic collapse of America's foreign influence under this president.


And buy his book, Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph.

The Next Frontier in Progressive Equality!

I tweeted Robert Stacy McCain earlier as he was promoting his new piece at the American Spectator, "Sexual Anarchy: Progress, Perversion and the ‘Emerging Awareness’ Doctrine."



Found: Barack Obama 'HOPE' Poster Dumped for Trash Pickup

What a metaphor.

At Twitchy, "Photo of the day: Hope down in the dumps."



Twitchy Disrupts the Leftist Narrative

From Moira Fitzgerald, "The Right is Killing It on Twitter."

Twitchy induced photo 88e70a02-6aa9-4e0c-aa8a-f0d4fb5c203e_zps9811b909.jpg

PREVIOUSLY: "Netroots Exploits Emerging Technologies to Block the 'Corporate-Funded, Right-Wing Assault' on Americans."

Paula Deen Dropped by Wal-Mart, Caesars Entertainment

Things continue to fall apart for this lady.

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Paula Deen dropped by Wal-Mart after 'Today' tears."


And at Pat Dollard's, "Paula Deen Breaks Down In Tears While Daring Someone to Smash Her Head In With a Rock."

RawMuscleGlutes: 'Jesus was on the side of love...'

Aww.

Isn't that sweet?

Andrew "RawMuscleGlutes" Sullivan says "Jesus was happy today," at AC360 last night:


FLASHBACK: At AoSHQ, "Don't Go Over There, But Sullivan Is Pushing (of Course!) Trig Trutherism Now":
Is trolling for "Milky Loads" from anonymous sex partners really the best medical practice? People have a right to know.
And back at Sully's dish, "I Believe":
Some final thoughts after so many years of so many thoughts. Marriage is not a political act; it’s a human one. It is based on love, before it is rooted in law. Same-sex marriages have always existed because the human heart has always existed in complicated, beautiful and strange ways. But to have them recognized by the wider community, protected from vengeful relatives, preserved in times of illness and death, and elevated as a responsible, adult and equal contribution to our common good is a huge moment in human consciousness. It has happened elsewhere. But here in America, the debate was the most profound, lengthy and impassioned. This country’s democratic institutions made this a tough road but thereby also gave us the chance and time to persuade the country, which we did. I understand and respect those who in good conscience fought this tooth and nail. I am saddened by how many failed to see past elaborate, ancient codes of conduct toward the ultimate good of equal human dignity. I am reminded of the courage of a man like Evan Wolfson who had the vision and determination to change the world.
Aww.

I think I'm gonna cry. Waaaaahhhh!!

Homosexual Marriage Ruling Could Mean Wedding Bells for Straight Hollywood Couples

Yeah, some self-important celebrities pledged to delay getting married until homosexuals could legally tie the knot.

See the Hollywood Reporter, "Some star-powered duos have stuck to their pro-gay principles -- others meant well, but reneged on their pledge."

And at Twitchy, "Kristen Bell proposes to Dax Shepard after DOMA ruling; Gets Twitter handle wrong; Update: Shepard says ‘F**k Yes’."

Ralph Reed: American Traditional Values Under Assault by 'Activist Court'

At Newsmax:
Republican strategist Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, tells Newsmax that Americans who believe in traditional values of marriage are "under assault" by the government and the courts.

He also asserts that the Supreme Court is an activist court that is legislating from the bench, and says the nation is in the grips of an "immoral legal regime" of abortion on demand.

Reed is the former head of the Christian Coalition. He founded the Faith & Freedom Coalition in 2009.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, and handed down a ruling on Proposition 8, thereby allowing gay marriage to continue in California.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV on Wednesday, Reed says he is "profoundly disappointed" by the court's rulings.

"If you look at the ruling in the Defense of Marriage Act, they ruled that the state, not the federal government, should be allowed to define marriage for purposes of that state's customs, laws, and traditions. They ruled the states were more powerful in making this decision than the federal government.

"And in the California marriage case where the state defined marriage as between a man and a woman and a federal district court overturned that ruling, they ruled that that decision would stand.

"It's really a case of jurisprudential incoherence. On the one hand they're saying that state law takes precedence; on the other hand they're [disallowing] a state law – not just any state law but a law in which the people of California voted not once, but twice to keep marriage defined the way it has been defined for over 160 years in California, which is as between a man and a woman."
Yeah, well, stuff's pretty much messed up all around.

More at that top link.

"For the most insightful analysis of the #DOMA ruling, just read the Tweets of Meghan 'Look at My Magnificent Melons' McCain...'

That's the hilarious headline at the Daley Gator.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Bill Clinton on Whatever Helps Keep Democrats in Power

On Twitter:


1996: "I have long opposed governmental recognition of same-gender marriages and this legislation is consistent with that position. The Act confirms the right of each state to determine its own policy with respect to same gender marriage and clarifies for purposes of federal law the operative meaning of the terms 'marriage' and 'spouse.' "

2013: "I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory" ...


New Kelly Andrews Pics

How about a break from teh gays for a bit?

Here's the brunette hottie from Liverpool, at Egotastic!, "Kelly Andrews Pink Thong Majesty for Ta-Ta-Tuesdays."

PREVIOUSLY: "Kelly Andrews at Egotastic!"

And on Twitter.

Hollywood Deserves Credit for America's Shift Toward Homosexual Licentiousness

Hey, it's a Gramscian culture shift underway, right before our eyes.

At National Journal, "Will, Grace, and a Decade of Change on Gay Rights":

Sean Hayes photo sean1037x300__oPt_zps1b0d05cf.jpg
Only 10 years ago, sex between two consenting males was illegal in Texas, six in 10 Americans opposed allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, including the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, and Republican strategists were actively working to enact bans on same-sex marriage on swing-state ballots because it helped their chances politically.

Today, the president of the United States, along with half the country, supports same-sex marriage, one-third of Americans live in states that allow gay couples to be married, and the Supreme Court says the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a legal bond only available to heterosexual couples, is unconstitutional. The Democratic Party openly embraces gay marriage in its platform, while Republican leaders desperately want to avoid an issue that's now a political loser for them.

The stunning shift in American attitudes toward gays and same-sex marriage, which culminated in a pair of Supreme Court rulings on Wednesday invalidating DOMA and effectively killing an anti-same-sex-marriage ballot initiative in California, has been fueled by the rising influence of a younger, more accepting generation. That generation has been influenced in part by an increasing willingness of gays and lesbians to publicly declare their sexual orientation and by the rise of a popular culture in which gay characters on television and in movies are commonplace.

Polling shows younger Americans strongly backing gay marriage. Two-thirds of millennials--those born after 1981--now support marriage equality, up from about half in 2003, according to data compiled by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. A majority of members of Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980, now favor gay marriage, reflecting more than a 10-point increase over the last decade. A majority of baby boomers and the Silent Generation are still opposed to same-sex marriage, but support even among those older Americans has increased by between 9 and 17 points.

Coverage of the marriage debate in the news media has tilted strongly toward support for same-sex marriage. Pew studies show about half of all stories that covered this spring's arguments before the Supreme Court focused on those who supported marriage equality, while only one in 10 stories covered the opposition.

Researchers also credit popular culture with changing American attitudes on gay marriage. Television shows like Will & Grace, which ran in prime time from 1998 to 2006, and Modern Family, which debuted in 2009, feature gay characters in lead roles. Shows as diverse as The Simpsons, Lost, The Office, and Grey's Anatomy all featured prominent gay characters or characters who came out of the closet. Celebrities like Ellen Degeneres and Rosie O'Donnell who came out gave every American a face to attach to homosexuality.

"I think Will & Grace did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody has ever done," Vice President Joe Biden said on Meet the Press in 2012, when he inadvertently got ahead of President Obama's decision to publicly support gay marriage.

Being able to attach an individual to homosexuality has played a role, too. Data experts at Facebook showed about 70 percent of users of the popular social network has a friend who publicly identifies as gay or lesbian, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. Gallup polling conducted in May showed 75 percent of respondents said they have friends, relatives, or coworkers who have told them personally that they are gay or lesbian.

"Hollywood has made gay-rights mainstream while making Christianity seem extreme," said Chris Wilson, a Republican pollster. "Try to name one positive portrayal of an evangelical Christian in a prime-time show right now. Conversely, you can likely name at least one positive portrayal of a homosexual character in each popular prime-time program. A decade of that has an impact."
More at the link.

PHOTO: The Advocate, "Sean Hayes I Am Who I Am."

Justice Antonin Scalia's Dissent in United States v. Windsor

I just read Scalia's dissent in today's DOMA ruling.

The full case in PDF is here.

It takes awhile to wade through these things, and I've still got more studying to do.

Madeleine Morgenstern has this, at the Blaze, "12 OF THE MOST CUTTING HIGHLIGHTS FROM JUSTICE SCALIA’S ANGRY DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT DISSENT."

Here's the conclusion.
In the majority’s telling, this story is black-and-white: Hate your neighbor or come along with us. The truth is more complicated. It is hard to admit that one’s political opponents are not monsters, especially in a struggle like this one, and the challenge in the end proves more than today’s Court can handle. Too bad. A reminder that disagreement over something so fundamental as marriage can still be politically legitimate would have been a fit task for what in earlier times was called the judicial temperament. We might have covered ourselves with honor today, by promising all sides of this debate that it was theirs to settle and that we would respect their resolution. We might have let the People decide.

But that the majority will no do. Some will rejoice in today’s decision, and some will despair at it; that is the nature of a controversy that matters so much to so many. But the Court has cheated both sides, robbing the winners of an honest victory, and the losers of the peace that comes from a fair defeat. We owed both of them better. I dissent.
Interestingly, responses to Scalia don't address his substantive points as much as simply dismiss him as a bigot. Paul Waldman at the American Prospect, is a case in point, and the homosexual Josh Barro, at Business Insider, "Antonin Scalia's Gay Marriage Dissent Is Dripping With Contempt and Sarcasm."

Seriously. A good indicator that Scalia has destroyed the majority's holding is the visceral ad hominem reactions to be found on the radical left, for example:
I’ve never understood the whole “Scalia is so brilliant” thing. I’ve been hearing it for years and years, particularly from certain law school profs (who were raging unreconstructed old school liberals, but who loved to let us all know that they found “Nino” quite charming at cocktail parties). I’m a corporate lawyer, but my father was a federal appellate civil rights lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund for almost 40 years. He argued cases in front of SCOTUS including after Scalia was appointed. My father’s impression of him based on appearing before him seems totally consistent with my read of Scalia’s claptrap opinions – he’s a somewhat intelligent but extraordinarally belligerent narcissist. Reading his stuff, for me, provokes revulsion at his immaturity – which brings disrepute to the institution – and whiplash at his rampant inconsistency.
In any case, Scalia's in the minority of a deeply divided Court. Perhaps we'll return to this issue if public opinion shifts. There's clearly large remaining division on the issue nationwide, and once other moral barriers begin to fall we may well see a shift in public opinion back toward traditional morality. Trends in support for Roe v. Wade give conservatives lots of hope on that score.

For now, though, the homosexual thugs have won the day.

More at Althouse, "DOMA as 'a bare congressional desire to harm a politically unpopular group'."

Homosexuals Celebrate Supreme Court Rulings on Same-Sex Rights

Here's USA Today's tweet:

But this is what folks are really celebrating, at iOWNTHEWORLD, "Condemn these perverts and you’re a “gay basher”."

Hey, that's putting the "progress" in progressives!

Yay!

Running of the Interns

Here's something to lighten things up.

A BuzzFeed, "The 2013 Running of the Interns."



Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Banned From Britain

The world is turned upside down.

Here's Pamela's post, "BANNED IN BRITAIN: UK CAVES TO JIHAD." And Robert's, "Britain capitulates to jihad."

Pamela Geller photo 6a00d8341c60bf53ef0192aba24d82970d-600wi_zps9f7ed493.png
Pamela Geller photo 6a00d8341c60bf53ef0192aba248f3970d-600wi_zpsbe9fc591.jpg

ADDED: From Pamela, "BRITAIN BANS GELLER AND SPENCER -- SANCTIONS IED JIHADIST SQUADS":
I have been banned in Britain. My crime? My principled dedication to freedom. I am a human rights activist dedicated to freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and individual rights for all before the law. I fiercely oppose violence and the persecution and oppression of minorities under supremacist law. I deplore violence and work for the preservation of freedom of speech to avoid violent conflict.

I have never been convicted of any crime. I have never been arrested. I became a writer and activist in the wake of 911.

For this I am banned. I shed no tears. I am banned from Mecca, too.

The Home Secretary said that my being in the UK was "not conducive to the public good.” Banning those who speak in defense of freedom is "not conducive to the public good." It is painfully apparent that the action of the British authorities will have the opposite effect of what they had intended. They have lit a fuse. And instead of allowing a respectful laying of flowers in memory of Lee Rigby on Armed Forces day, they have given rise and sanction to poison like this (below).

Our banning is like a patient on life support refusing medical treatment.
More at the link.

And following the links takes us to the Sun UK, "IED threat to Britain as fanatic Anjem Choudary recruits vigilante squads."

Meanwhile, Typing 'Transgender' Into Google...

It's all rainbows in America...

Google photo BNswyZ8CQAEJVMX_zps76200e06.png

Take a look here.

Supreme Court Avoids Proposition 8 Ruling

As expected, the Court ruled on a technicality, and not on the merits. The decisions of the lower federal courts will prevail in California, which means gay marriage will be de facto in the state.

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "High court: Prop. 8 backers lack standing." And at the Los Angeles Times, "Prop 8: Gay marriage could resume soon after Supreme Court ruling."

Expect updates...

Supreme Court Strikes Down Defense of Marriage Act

I'm not surprised.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Gay marriage ruling: Supreme Court finds DOMA unconstitutional."

And at Legal Insurrection, "Supreme Court DOMA decision – Unconstitutional."

UPDATE: We're still waiting for the decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Prop. 8 case out of California.

More at Twitchy, "SCOTUS circus day: Supreme Court declares DOMA unconstitutional; Hardest hit: Bill Clinton."

Okay, the Court has ruled narrowly on Prop. 8, arguing that supporters don't have standing to defend the initiative, sending the case back to the 9th Circuit.

Meanwhile, here's the People's Cube on DOMA:


Expect updates...

Men's Wearhouse Explains Why It Fired George Zimmer

At the Los Angeles Times, "Men's Wearhouse: Zimmer tried power grab, privatizing before firing."

He tried to take back the company through some privatization scheme. I told you he was getting eccentric.

PREVIOUSLY: "Men's Wearhouse Fires Founder George Zimmer."

Obama Unveils War on Fossil Fuels

It's not just coal, and he didn't campaign on this either.

At Wall Street Journal, "The Carbonated President":

President Obama's climate speech on Tuesday was grandiose even for him, but its surreal nature was its particular hallmark. Some 12 million Americans still can't find work, real wages have fallen for five years, three-fourths of Americans now live paycheck to check, and the economy continues to plod along four years into a quasi-recovery. But there was the President in tony Georgetown, threatening more energy taxes and mandates that will ensure fewer jobs, still lower incomes and slower growth.

Mr. Obama's "climate action plan" adds up to one of the most extensive reorganizations of the U.S. economy since the 1930s, imposed through administrative fiat and raw executive power. He wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17% by 2020, but over his 6,500-word address he articulated no such goal for the unemployment rate or GDP.

***
The plan covers everything from new efficiency standards for home appliances to new fuel mileage rules for heavy-duty trucks to new subsidies for wind farms, but the most consequential changes would slam the U.S. electric industry. These plants, coal-fired power in particular, account for about a third of domestic greenhouse gases.

Last year the Environmental Protection Agency released "new source performance standard" regulations that are effectively a moratorium on new coal plants. The EPA denied that similar rules would ever apply to the existing fleet, or even that they were working up such rules. Now Mr. Obama will unleash his carbon central planners on current plants.

Coal accounted for more than half of U.S. electric generation as recently as 2008 but plunged to a mere 37% in 2012. In part this tumble has been due to cheap natural gas, but now the EPA will finish the job and take coal to 0%.

Daniel Shrag of Harvard, an Obama science adviser, told the New York Times Monday that "Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they're having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what's needed." At least he's honest, though in truth Mr. Obama's target is all forms of carbon energy. Natural gas is next...
Man, he's awful.

Continue reading.

Giraffe Chases Jeep on Safari

This is great.


More at London's Daily Mail, "When giraffes attack! Moment tourists left terrified by angry bull chasing their car."

#VRA: Reactions Reveal Divide on Race Progress

Here'ss Jackie Calmes, Robbie Brown, and Campbell Robertson, putting it mildly at the New York Times, "On Voting Case, Reaction From ‘Deeply Disappointed’ to ‘It’s About Time’":

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday said he was “deeply disappointed” with the Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision ruling a central piece of the 1965 Voting Rights Act unconstitutional, and he called on Congress to pass legislation protecting access to voting.

The president registered his critique in a written statement issued by the White House that noted the law’s bipartisan legacy and the Supreme Court’s acknowledgment, in the ruling, that discrimination persists.

“For nearly 50 years, the Voting Rights Act — enacted and repeatedly renewed by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress — has helped secure the right to vote for millions of Americans,” the statement read. “Today’s decision invalidating one of its core provisions upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent.”

Mr. Obama’s attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., who is named as the defendant in the case, Shelby County v. Holder, used similar language to criticize the court’s decision.

“The Department of Justice will continue to carefully monitor jurisdictions around the country for voting changes that may hamper voting rights,” Mr. Holder said. “Let me be very clear: We will not hesitate to take swift enforcement action using every legal tool that remains available to us against any jurisdiction that seeks to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s ruling by hindering eligible citizens full and free exercise of the franchise.”

Mr. Holder also emphasized the law’s long history of bipartisan support in Congress and under successive presidential administrations.

In his decision, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that Congress remained free to try to impose federal oversight on states where voting rights were at risk, but it was clear that the likelihood that a divided Congress could agree on a remedy was small.

Members of the N.A.A.C.P. and civil rights lawyers said they would ask Congress to draw up a new coverage formula, laid out in Section 4 of the act.

“We are confident that members of both houses of Congress that helped lead the effort in 2006, many of whom are still there, will help to restore the power of Section 4,” Wade Henderson, the president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday....

Across the South, reaction to the decision appeared to be split, largely along racial and partisan lines. Luther Strange, the Republican attorney general of Alabama, called it “a victory for Alabama” and added that he did not believe that the state should be included in any formula Congress may adopt.

Tate Reeves, the Republican lieutenant governor of Mississippi, said he was pleased by the decision but said that preclearance “unfairly applied to certain states should be eliminated in recognition of the progress Mississippi has made over the past 48 years.”

On one point, most people agreed: that Congress was not likely to come up with a remedy to Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act any time soon, leaving the South without the oversight provided by Section 5.
Good.

And see J. Christian Adams' comments to that effect as well, "Supreme Court's Ruling in Shelby v. Holder: 'It is one of the most important decisions in decades...'."

Lee Bollinger and Gail Heriot Discuss Affirmative Action

It's Lee Bollinger who's most interesting here. He was named as the defendant in the pair of big affirmative affirmative action cases 10 years ago. He's a pathetically lame racial grievance hack. A typical idiot leftist stuck in the Jim Crow past.

Brazil's Dilma Rousseff's Rebuked in Call for National Referendum

At WSJ, "Brazil's Proposed Political Overhaul Meets Resistance":

SÃO PAULO—Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff labored to drum up support Tuesday for the sweeping overhaul of the nation's political system she has proposed in response to large public demonstrations against government waste and corruption.

The first-term president called Monday night for a national referendum on whether to alter the constitution to improve government accountability. This was part of a package of proposals to appease an increasingly angry public that has taken to the streets in crowds of as many as a million to protest corruption and deteriorating government services. She also called for earmarking oil revenue for education, hiring foreign doctors to improve health, and other initiatives.

But Ms. Rousseff's proposal met with immediate resistance from some political leaders and legal experts.

The national chairman of the opposition Social Democrats, Senator Aécio Neves, called the referendum an attempt to shift the public focus from "the administration's failed social and economic policies" to the new and difficult-to-digest topic of electoral reform.

The president of the Brazilian bar association, Marcus Coelho, said the referendum was unnecessary and that an existing bill in Congress could be pushed forward to address political reform without a constitutional amendment.

The opposition was so strong that some analysts said they expected Ms. Rousseff to alter her call for a national vote on whether to call a constitutional assembly.

The call for a referendum was seen by some political analysts as an attempt to use the protest movement to push Congress into action on reform.

"Congress hasn't understood what's happening on the streets," said David Fleischer, a professor of political science at the University of Brasília. "The president wanted to take a step forward," but she is taking a big risk that could backfire if Congress blocks the move, he said.

It appeared that Ms. Rousseff's call for action already has had some impact. Congressional leaders agreed to vote—as early as Tuesday night— on a series of reform measures that have languished in the corridors of power for months. Congressional leaders also proposed pushing forward with existing legislation on political overhaul, which they said would be faster than the president's call for a constitutional assembly to decide the changes.

The protests began last week and marches continued Tuesday. Despite rainy weather in São Paulo, hundreds of people blocked major roads into the city, while there were protests in several other cities including Belo Horizonte, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, and São Luís, in the northeastern state of Maranhão.
Continue reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Brazil President Dilma Rousseff Offers National Referendum to Ease Unrest."

Germany Blasts Britain Over Surveillance

I think it was Glenn Greenwald's feed, but folks were joking about how this was like the 1930s.

At the Guardian UK, "Germany blasts Britain over GCHQ's secret cable trawl":
Minister questions legality of mass tapping of calls and internet and demands to know extent to which Germans were targeted.

The German government has expressed the growing public anger of its citizens over Britain's mass programme of monitoring global phone and internet traffic and directly challenged UK ministers over the whole basis of GCHQ's Project Tempora surveillance operation.

The German justice minister, who has described the secret operation by Britain's eavesdropping agency as a catastrophe that sounded "like a Hollywood nightmare", warned UK ministers that free and democratic societies could not flourish when states shielded their actions in "a veil of secrecy".

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger sent two letters on Tuesday to the British justice secretary, Chris Grayling, and the home secretary, Theresa May, stressing the widespread concern the disclosures have triggered in Germany and demanding to know the extent to which German citizens have been targeted.

It is the first major challenge to David Cameron's government to publicly justify its mass data-trawling operation, which was revealed in documents leaked by the former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
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More at the link.

Stumbling Into Syria

From David Bromwich, at the New York Review:
Reporters working in Syria—most recently Robert Worth in an article in The New York Times Magazine—have converged on a single unhappy perception: far and away the largest and most capable groups of rebels are jihadists. That is a central fact of this uprising. But the fall of the town of Qusair to Hezbollah forces, in the first week of June, and the realization that Aleppo is also in jeopardy have turned the war so heavily in Assad’s favor that an all-out campaign for French, British, and American intervention has now been launched. The French “new philosopher” and journalist Bernard-Henri Levy did much to persuade Nicholas Sarkozy of the propriety of organizing a NATO war to overthrow Qaddafi; in a characteristic recent column for The Daily Beast, Levy nicknames Assad “the Syrian killer” and speaks of the danger that now threatens the morale and substance of the West:
The surrender of Aleppo to the death squads of Hezbollah would be a fresh eruption of carnage whose victims would be heaped atop the hundred thousand already claimed by this atrocious war against a civilian population.
He affirms that “Aleppo belongs not to Syria but to the world”—a stirring phrase of ambiguous import—and he numbers the recent crimes against civilization by Serbs and Islamists: “those past crimes haunt our collective conscience.” The failures of the West have all been failures to wage the necessary humanitarian wars against Slavic or Islamist fanatics.

It must be admitted that American policy has fallen short of demands like these. We sided with Islamist rebels in Afghanistan, under the name of Mujahideen fighters, and against the same rebels under the names of Taliban and al-Qaeda; we fought against them in Iraq during the 2004 insurgency, and stood at their side as paymasters and allies when they became the “Sunni Awakening” in 2007; we were against them in Mali, Somalia, and Yemen, but allied with them as the courageous militias in Libya; and now in Syria, we are both for them and against them—allies insofar as they agree with us in attacking the government, but opponents because they want to dominate or kill the moderate rebels to whom we intend to ship arms. We will wage war against them after they help us to win the war against Assad.
That's an excellent analysis, and Bromwich lays the blame for an inevitable fiasco right at the feet of Barack Obama.

Be sure to RTWT.

Al-Nusra Front Beheads Assad Supporters in Syria

Allegedly so, according to this video at Live Leak, "Big Crowd & Beheading Syria [Graphic]."

President Obama is supporting these rebels.

HAT TIP: Golem.

PREVIOUSLY: "NBC's Richard Engel: 'Just Back From #Syria ... Lots of Black Banners at Checkpoints...'" And, "Child Chained Up and Forced to Watch Parents Murdered by Obama-Backed Syrian Rebels."

The Economist Argues for Further Western Intervention in Syria

An interesting case, although as I always say, the moment has passed.

See, "Can Iran be stopped? The West should intervene in Syria for many reasons. One is to stem the rise of Persian power":
The growing risk of a nuclear Iran is one reason why the West should intervene decisively in Syria not just by arming the rebels, but also by establishing a no-fly zone. That would deprive Mr Assad of his most effective weapon—bombs dropped from planes—and allow the rebels to establish military bases inside Syria. This newspaper has argued many times for doing so on humanitarian grounds; but Iran’s growing clout is another reason to intervene, for it is not in the West’s interest that a state that sponsors terrorism and rejects Israel’s right to exist should become the regional hegemon.

The West still has the economic and military clout to influence events in the region, and an interest in doing so. When Persian power is on the rise, it is not the time to back away from the Middle East.
RTWT.