Britain and U.S. Move Toward Intervention in Syria

Okay.

We'll see how well that goes.

At the Guardian/Observer Sunday, "Syria: Cameron and Obama move west closer to intervention."

John Lydon and Louise Mensch on Question Time

My angry commenter cited this exchange the other day.

I love John Lydon:

'Dad, Rush Limbaugh and Me'

An interesting op-ed from Madeline Janis, at the Los Angeles Times.

Read it all. She admits to being a stereotypical leftist and she harangued her father for listening to Rush Limbaugh. (One of her biggest peeves is that he received government benefits --- the GI Bill, Social Security and Medicare --- but was still conservative, as if conservatives don't support any government role in social welfare, health and education, a common leftist fallacy.) But the conclusion caught my eye:

I suspect that our family dynamic wasn't unique, and that across America fathers and daughters and sons and mothers have learned to accommodate political differences and respect one another across the gulf. Our love for each other and our family helped my father and me transcend the enormous ideological divide between us.

It makes me wonder if there isn't something in these experiences that might help us, as Americans, transcend our political differences. Even if we don't have the same closeness as a family, Americans of all political stripes do share a love of country. And that could be a start, at least, at reaching across the gulf of ideology to work cooperatively and respectfully to solve the challenges facing the nation.

And that's another leftist fallacy, which ends up being a pernicious leftist lie, that "Americans of all political stripes share a love of country."

Leftists do not actually love this country. The left --- and that includes this presidential administration and the congressional Democrat Party --- are Democrat-Socialists marinated in class warfare rhetoric and Marxist welfare redistributionism. They don't love this country. They love what they think this country could be if they were able to fully impose their socialist program on Americans without opposition.

And that's the basis of our political differences, which are irreconcilable. That some people agree to go along to get along is a testament to our national attributes of decency and pragmatism. But America as a nation will continue to stagnate as long as people remain ignorant to the true nature of leftism. The next two elections are crucial in this regard. And the GOP needs to have candidates who aren't afraid to call it like it is, people like Michele Bachmann and Allen West. And when more people like this win office and implement basic policies of decency, probity, and prudence, we'll start to turn things around.

In any case, more at the letters to the editor, "More on 'Dad, Rush Limbaugh and Me'."

The Real Reason College Costs So Much

Allysia Finley interviews Ohio University President Richard Vedder, at the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Vedder is skeptical about the president's proposal to tie federal aid to graduation rates, among other performance metrics. "I can tell you right now, having taught at universities forever, that universities will do everything they can to get students to graduate," he chuckles. "If you think we have grade inflation now, you ought to think what will happen. If you breathe into a mirror and it fogs up, you'll get an A."

A better idea, Mr. Vedder suggests, would be to implement a national exam like the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) to measure how much students learn in college. This is not on Mr. Obama's list.

Naturally. Standards and accountability are racist.

But RTWT.

'United States of Obama' at Anniversary of March on Washington

A sick cult of black Obama worship.

Despicable.

At Fire Andrea Mitchell, "Obama flag face at MOW violates desecrates American flag."

And at Twitchy, "Pledge of aggrievance: ‘United States of Obama’ flag waves at March on Washington."

Black Teen Criminals Accused of Beating WWII Hero to Death

Black criminals.

Black teen thug criminals.

Folks need to get all the details in there.

Pictured: The teens accused of beating WWII vet to death in 'random attack' http://t.co/z67OfJ9pNu pic.twitter.com/l3fwMEbXyy

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMailUS) August 23, 2013

More at Expose Liberals, "Demetruis Glenn – black thug arrested in fatal beating of Delbert Belton," and "Kenan Adams-Kinard second suspect in fatal beating of Delbert Belton."

Also, "Kenan Kinard Facebook page and Twitter."

Damned criminal mf's.

'Legendary' Britney Spears at #MTV Video Music Awards 2001 #VMAs

In which the Los Angeles Times goes all BuzzFeed, "MTV Video Music Awards: 30 moments that make it a can't-miss event."

Interestingly, I saw the piece in the hard-copy edition of the newspaper, but it's ridiculously obsolete in conveying a story like this. See all the videos at the link.

12. Britney Spears and her snake (2001). Brit’s celebrated her last few months as a teenager in a big way with her sexiest song yet, “I’m a Slave for U.” From bursting out of a cage with a tiger to slinking around with a giant yellow python. There’s something about a pop princess shaking it with a giant snake that screams legendary.

R.S. McCain Hammers Lying Liar @BrianBeutler of Liar's Lair @Salon.com

I slammed the idiot leftist Brian Beutler on Twitter yesterday.

And now Robert Stacy McCain's taken the baton, "The Foul Stench of @BrianBeutler’s Truthlessness Has Become Intolerable."

.@RSMcCain I slammed @BrianBeutler yesterday: https://t.co/guzqM35xuG

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 24, 2013

.@AmPowerBlog Don't bother arguing with @/brianbeutler, he's a hired liar. http://t.co/oJOuWAEcA4

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) August 24, 2013

Simon Cowell Lauren Silverman Beach Stroll in South of France

Well, I guess he's not too worried about Ms. Silverman's demands for a reality show.

Must be the life, really.

At London's Daily Mail, "Those smiles say it all! Simon Cowell can't keep the grin off his face as he holds hands with pregnant lover Lauren Silverman during romantic beach stroll":

He's spoken out about how happy he is that his lover Lauren Silverman is pregnant.

And now Simon Cowell is fully showing just how ecstatic he is about it - by putting on a public display of affection with her during a romantic getaway in the South of France.

In fact the music mogul couldn't get the smile off his face as he held hands with Lauren while they walked along a beach on Saturday morning.

And Silverman looked equally as gleeful as she also grinned from ear to ear to show they're not just having a baby together but are also officially an item.

It is the first time the pair have been seen together since news of the pregnancy shocked the world. And it also marks the first time they've been reunited since her husband Andrew Silverman found out about their affair and they subsequently got a divorce.

Continue reading.

Imogen Thomas for Nuts

And she recently had a baby.

A pro-life babe.

Hello :-) @nutsofficial.... http://t.co/ndCppDk8Cf xxx pic.twitter.com/r399VBKPcQ
— Imogen Thomas (@Imogen_Thomas) August 20, 2013

And at Egotastic!, "Imogen Thomas Boobtastic Faptastic Lingerie Goodness."

Stop Playing the Victim, Baracky!

From lefty Kathleen Parker, at WaPo, "Obama’s race remarks exacerbate tensions":

If I had a son, he would look like Christopher Lane, the 22-year-old Australian baseball player shot dead while jogging in Oklahoma.

If I had a father, he’d look like Delbert Belton, the 88-year-old World War II veteran beaten to death in Spokane, Wash.

And yes, if I had a son, he’d look like the white teenager who police say drove the getaway car in the Oklahoma killing.

These are all true statements if we identify ourselves and each other only by the color of our skin, which increasingly seems to be the case. Even our president has done so.

Barack Obama helped lead the way when he identified himself with the parents of Trayvon Martin, shot by George Zimmerman in the neighborhood-watch catastrophe with which all are familiar. Stepping out from his usual duties of drawing meaningless red lines in the Syrian sand, the president splashed red paint across the American landscape:

“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

In so saying, he essentially gave permission for all to identify themselves by race with the victim or the accused. How sad, as we approach the 50th anniversary of the march Martin Luther King Jr. led on Washington, that even the president resorts to judging not by the content of one’s character but by the color of his skin — the antithesis of the great dream King articulated....

Nothing is fair about profiling, but one’s treatment by a stranger is not always necessarily linked to one’s racial or ethnic history. Sometimes it’s just . . . you.

The killings leading the news the past several days have been horrific in their apparent randomness. Were they racially motivated? Had the perps been white and the victims black, would Obama have identified with them? More to immediate concerns, did the president’s identification with Trayvon Martin nourish the killing passions of these youths?

Hard to say with any certainty, though one of those charged in the Oklahoma shooting apparently tweeted some messages this summer that unmistakenly convey racial animus toward whites. They might be dismissed as Twitter nonsense — but for the dead body.

We do know this much for certain: Had the races been reversed, the usual suspects would have had much to say. White teens beat up an elderly black veteran and leave him for dead? White teens shoot a talented black athlete visiting from another country?

Word.

Christian Air Force Veteran Relieved of Duties After Disagreeing with Homosexual Marriage

This is why they call it the "Gaystapo."

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Discrimination Complaint Filed After Christian Relieved of Duties Over Beliefs About Homosexuality."

Spending Billions, @ESPN Rules College Football Schedule

A big report at the New York Times, "College Football’s Most Dominant Player? It’s ESPN":

The nation’s annual rite of mayhem and pageantry known as the college football season begins this week, and Saturday will feature back-to-back-to-back marquee matchups.

At the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, last year’s national champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide, will battle the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic.

Earlier in the day in Houston, Oklahoma State will play Mississippi State in the Texas Kickoff Classic. And that night in Arlington, Tex., Louisiana State and Texas Christian will face off in the Cowboys Classic.

The games will not just be televised by ESPN. They are creations of ESPN — demonstrations of the sports network’s power over college football.

The teams were not even on each other’s schedules until ESPN, looking to orchestrate early-season excitement and ratings, went to work. The 2013 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic came together more than two years ago when one of the network’s programming czars noticed that Alabama was not scheduled to play this Labor Day weekend, brought the Tide on board and found a worthy opponent.

Far beyond televising games, ESPN has become the chief impresario of college football. By infusing the sport with billions of dollars it pays for television rights — more than $10 billion on college football in the last five years alone — ESPN has become both puppet-master and kingmaker, arranging games, setting schedules and bestowing the gift of nationwide exposure on its chosen universities, players and coaches.

A great piece.

Continue reading.

And it's a three-part series, so I'll probably update on Part II tomorrow, and so forth...

Added: The piece mentions ESPN's conflicts of interest, including backing out on a PBS documentary on concussions in the NFL. See LAT, "ESPN bows out of concussion project; NFL denies exerting pressure." And NYT, "N.F.L. Pressure Said to Lead ESPN to Quit Film Project."

'Fuckin' Problem'

Well, since we're discussing civil rights progress in the black community, how's about some A$AP Rocky with Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar?

[Hook: 2 Chainz, Drake, and Rocky]
I love bad bitches, that's my fuckin problem
And yeah I like to fuck, I got a fuckin problem
I love bad bitches, that's my fuckin problem
And yeah I like to fuck I got a fuckin problem
I love bad bitches, that's my fuckin problem
And yeah I like to fuck, I got a fuckin problem
If finding somebody real is your fuckin problem
Bring ya girls to the crib maybe we can solve it

[Verse 1: A$AP Rocky]
Hold up bitches simmer down
Takin' hella long bitch give it to me now
Make that thing pop like a semi or a nine
Oh baby like it raw with a shimmy shimmy ya
Huh, ASAP get like me
Never met a motherfucker fresh like me
All these motherfuckers wanna dress like me
Put the chrome to your dome make you sweat like Keith
Cause I'm the nigga, the nigga nigga, like how you figure?
Getting figures and fuckin bitches, she rollin' swishers
Brought her bitches, I brought my niggas, they getting bent up off the liquor
She love my licorice, I let her lick it
They say money make a nigga act nigger-ish
But at least a nigga nigga rich
I be fuckin' broads like I be fuckin' bored
Turn a dyke bitch out have her fuckin' boys, beast

[Hook]

[Verse 2: Drake]
I know you love it when this beat is on
Make you think about all of the niggas you've been leading on
Make me think about all of the rappers I've been feeding on
Got a feeling that's the same dudes that we speakin' on, oh word?
Ain't heard my album? Who you sleepin' on?
You should print the lyrics out and have a fucking read-along
Ain't a fucking sing-along unless you brought the weed along
Then ju.. (Okay, okay, okay)
Then just drop down and get yo' eagle on
Or we can stare up at the stars and put the Beatles on
All that shit you talkin' bout is not up for discussion
I will pay to make it bigger, I don't pay for no reduction
If it's comin' from a nigga I don't know, then I don't trust it
If you comin' for my head, then motherfucker get to bustin'
Yes Lord, I don't really say this often
But this long dick nigga ain't for the long talking, I beast

[Hook]

[Verse 3: Kendrick Lamar]
Yeah ho this the finale
My pep talk turn into a pep rally
Say she's from the hood but she live inside in the valley now
Vacate in Atlanta, then she going back to Cali
Got your girl on my line, world on my line
The irony I fuck 'em at the same damn time
She eyeing me like a nigga don't exist
Girl, I know you want this dick
Girl, I'm Kendrick Lamar
Aka Benz is to me just a car
That mean your friends need to be up to a par
See my standards are pampered by threesomes tomorrow
Kill 'em all dead bodies in the hallway
Don't get involved listen what the crystal ball say
Halle Berry, hallelujah
Holla back I'll do ya, beast

[Hook]

And since I mentioned Barack Hussein, here's a flashback to the ho's playlist in the White House, "President Obama's 'Rap Palate': Why Praise Violent, Misogynistic Hip-Hop Stars?"

That bitch got a problem, mf.

Leftists Go Nuclear Over Pro-Life Community Post at BuzzFeed

Talk about intolerance and ideological tribalism.

At Twitchy, "‘Shameful’ pro-life post forces BuzzFeed to question where to draw the line."

Following the links takes us to Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke at the New York Observer, "Amid Anger Over Anti-Abortion Post, Buzzfeed Says It’s Still Figuring Out Whether To ‘Draw Lines’." And here's the offending entry, "8 Outrageous Things Planned Parenthood Was Caught Doing."

Lefties haven't learned the fundamentals of the Streisand effect. Most people would've never heard of the pro-life community post, but now it's going viral and more people will be educated on the pro-death abortion cult's lies.

Way to go progs!

Thousands Gather to Mark Anniversary of March on Washington

At this point it's all about grievance. Objective, demonstrable progress toward racial equality doesn't matter so much, and we have plenty of evidence on progress toward racial equality today, like, er, the black man in the White House.

But see the Washington Post, "‘Keeping the dream alive’ - Thousands gather on Mall to mark anniversary."

William Allison, 92, came to today's march with same sign he marched with in '63 pic.twitter.com/qT3kL8VlEP via @HamilHarris #MarchonWashington

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 24, 2013

More, "March on Washington's 50th Anniversary."

50 Years Ago Democrats Believed In Tax Cuts

Astute Bloggers had this the other day.

Barbarians at the Campus Gates

Here's this Thomas Sowell piece at National Review from May, "Why colleges cave to the demands of student activists."

Glenn Reynolds tweeted it the other day, and it reminded me of the first hand account of the Swarthmore protests on which the Sowell piece is based. See Danielle Charette, "My Top-Notch Illiberal Arts Education: At Swarthmore, it's fine to smash 'hegemonic power structures' and silence other students."

She's discussing a campus environmental divestment protest sponsored by the group "Mountain Justice." Here's the key bit:

On May 4, the school scheduled an open board meeting on the divestment initiative so that the opinions of board members, faculty, administrators and students would receive a fair hearing. I went to the meeting to listen, and to support a friend who was planning on delivering a few remarks critical of the divestment idea. My friend never got his chance.

The board had invited two representatives from Mountain Justice to sit on a panel with them for the first half of the meeting. What the board didn't realize was that those same students were positioning themselves to grab the microphone and disrupt the proceedings. The chairman of the Board Investment Committee, Chris Niemczewski, was in the middle of delivering the opening PowerPoint presentation—which, incidentally, estimated the cost of divestment at $200 million over 10 years—when more than 100 student protesters burst into the room, waving signs and shouting.

One of the student panelists grabbed the microphone out of turn and handed it to a line of protestors who delivered speeches that condemned the "liberal script" in the name of "radical, emancipatory change" and "institutional transformation." Afterwards, my classmates defended their behavior because they were smashing "hegemonic power structures" and "flipping the power dynamic."

About 10 minutes after the takeover, I stood up and reminded the protesters that other members of the college were there to hear various perspectives. But rather than listen to what I had to say, the students began to shout and clap in unison, drowning out what I was saying. Professors sat silent in the audience. Neither Dean of Students Liz Braun, nor the college president, Rebecca Chopp, spoke up.

I crossed the aisle to speak to the meeting's moderator, but she refused to do anything. Then I appealed to Ms. Chopp, who conceded that what was unfolding was "outrageous" but said there was nothing she could do. I approached Ms. Braun as well, but she did nothing.

All of this is on video, which some classmates have posted online, exulting in the evidence of how they spoke truth to power. Meanwhile, my peers have derided me on blogs and Facebook. One accused me of "pernicious, destructive, far-reaching silencing."

They give me far too much credit: I'm an English major who wants Swarthmore to be a place where ideas are freely exchanged. To me, overthrowing a meeting of board members, who are all alumni, is wrong and juvenile.

Apparently the college doesn't see things that way. The day after disrupting the open board meeting, the protesters insisted on mandatory campus "teach-ins" for all students. Though it was the day before exams at a school that prides itself on its academic rigor, the administration acquiesced and endorsed the teach-ins to heal our "fractured community."

Each attendee received a list of student "demands," which included making courses in ethnic studies and gender and sexuality required for graduation. The activists also demanded that Swarthmore revise its judicial process so that "sexual assault cases are no longer confidential." A refresher course in basic civility might be more useful.

After I sent several emails and a link to the video to President Chopp, she agreed to meet with me a week after the incident. Ms. Chopp conceded that the meeting was handled poorly and that the administration must do a better job of defending all of its students, not merely those with the loudest voices.

Still, I have yet to hear a public defense of our college's policies. No administrator has condemned the takeover of the board meeting. If that tantrum doesn't qualify as disorderly conduct and outright intimidation, what does? If moderate or conservative students—no doubt also a "marginalized" group on campus—behaved similarly, would they be held accountable?

Actually, the college president, Ms. Chopp, published a cowardly response at the newspaper, "Swarthmore Believes in Having All Viewpoints Heard."

Clearly Swarthmore believes no such thing.

And WSJ's letter-writers aren't in a forgiving mood either, "The Open Society and Its Enemies on Our Campuses."

Leftist regressives are destroying decency --- if not democracy --- in America.

18 Questions for the Guardian UK

From Louise Mensch:

Remember, the Guardian said they agreed to destroy their computers – all of them – that contained the intel; they professed that they did not know what David Miranda was carrying – I believe their corduroy pants to be on fire even as we speak.

If they lied and kept copies and physically shifted the data, the UK and US intelligence agencies should go after them full throttle for espionage. At the bottom of this blog we have the police opening a criminal investigation into Miranda - remember the relief against that bit is only temporary – for transporting this data… if the Guardian have done it, they should be pursued in exactly the same way. Same with the New York Times.

RTWT.

She links Anderson Cooper's interview with Greenwald and Miranda, "Glenn Greenwald 'JOURNALISM IS NOT A CRIME AND IT'S NOT TERRORISM!'"

I think he's in over his head. Good thing, too. He won't ever be allowed in either the U.S. or Britain without possibly facing charges.

More at Memeorandum, "New York Times and Guardian Will Publish More Snowden Revelations."

March on Washington's 50th Anniversary

From David Wessel, at the Wall Street Journal, "50 Years of a Dream."

Folks have moved the goalposts on civil rights progress. It used to be equal opportunity, eliminating legal barriers to full  participation in society. Nowadays it's just left-wing regressive bitching about "inequality," and the concomitant bogus claims of "racism."

Clearly, from that perspective, we have not overcome.