Stolen Passports Deepen Mystery Surrounding Missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370

At LAT, "Malaysian flight leaves trail of anguish, mystery":

Despite the efforts of some 40 boats and three dozen planes, the three-day search for the missing Boeing 777 off the southern coast of Vietnam has yielded nothing but dashed hopes for the friends and family members of the 239 people aboard. By Monday evening, Malaysian and Vietnamese authorities said they had yet to find anything linked to the airliner and that the search area was being expanded and the operation “intensified.”

With no material evidence from the aircraft, however, attention was focused on the fact that two passengers had used stolen passports, one Italian, one Austrian, to board the plane.

Malaysian authorities, who said earlier that they had closed-circuit video recordings of the passengers, revealed Monday that they had identified one of the two men who used the passports.

“I can confirm that he is not a Malaysian, but cannot divulge which country he is from yet,” Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar told the Star, a major Malaysian newspaper. He added that the man is also not from Xinjiang, China -- a northwestern province of the mainland that is home to minority Uighurs.

Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's civil aviation chief, said the two men were “not Asian-looking men.”

That dampened speculation that Uighur separatists might have been behind the jet’s disappearance. Uighur separatists have been blamed for a knifing rampage in southwestern China this month that left 29 dead.

Security authorities have cautioned that use of stolen or forged passports is more frequent than commonly assumed and does not necessarily indicate that terrorist forces might have been involved in the plane’s disappearance.

Also at NYT, "Use of Stolen Passports on Missing Malaysian Airliner Highlights Air Security Flaw." And at CBS News, "No evidence of terrorism in Malaysia Airlines plane's disappearance."

Alexandra Daddario in 'True Detective'

Following up on my earlier piece, "The Best Moments on 'True Detective'."

At Egotastic!, "Alexandra Daddario Topless Redux in Enhanced Technicolor (How Do Her Funbags Match Up to Emily Ratajkowski?)."

BONUS: At the New York Times, "Seeking a Killer and a Benign Universe: ‘True Detective’ Finds Philosophical Answers by Season’s End."

Poland and the #Ukraine Crisis

Putin's making Ukraine's neighbors anxious, especially Poland.

An interesting piece from Professor Padraic Kenney, at the New York Times, "Why Poland Cares So Much About Ukraine":

The phrase "Poland mobilizes its military forces to the border" does have the ring of historical significance to it. #WorldWar2

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 2, 2014

For the last quarter-century — the first time in modern history — Poles have not faced an existential threat from the East. But within living memory, Poland lost its eastern provinces when Hitler and Stalin carved it up in 1939; in 1945, the loss became permanent in a redrawn Poland that now included former German lands. So invasions, dismemberments and wholesale remappings of nations are not implausible to Poles. The idea that Vladimir V. Putin, Russia’s president, could simply send his troops to occupy and effectively annex territory from Ukraine without real provocation may have seemed fantastical from farther away, but not from Warsaw.

Keep reading.

Russia Condemns 'Lawlessness' in Eastern Ukraine

Here it comes.

At the Washington Post, "Russia warns Ukraine over ‘lawlessness’ in east."

And more from CBS:

The Best Moments on 'True Detective'

I missed a few episodes, so I need to watch it again. A great show, no doubt.

See the big post at Esquire.

Reactions at People, "True Detective: Flawed Finale to a Classic Series," and Rolling Stone, "'True Detective' Recap: A Light at the End of the Tunnel."

Pollsters: Negative View of #ObamaCare Could Give Edge to Republicans in 2014

Well, this is getting to be a broken record at this point. Just bring it in November I say.

At National Journal:

A new survey finds that a strong contingent of Americans still don't like Obamacare, and that intensity is likely to bring out more votes for Republicans than Democrats this fall.

Democrat Peter Hart and Republican Bill McInturff, the lead pollsters of the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, presented their new analysis at an annual insurance industry conference Thursday. According to their numbers, 2014 could be shaping up to be a Republican year, a cause for concern for Democrats who could lose the Senate majority over close reelection bids.

"The law has become like Velcro," McInturff said at the America's Health Insurance Plans conference. "Anything bad that happens in health care now is attributed to the health care law."

When asked about the coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act—such as protection for consumers with preexisting conditions—44 percent of voters said they feel hopeful. But 51 percent said they feel fearful when hearing about the possibility that premiums will go up, that some Americans are losing their current coverage, and that employer-sponsored insurance may change.

"Any off-year election is about one thing: turnout," Hart said. "Intensity on these issues makes all the difference in the world."

It's why the Obama administration is doing all it can to prevent negative personal stories from cropping up between now and the election, McInturff said, such as this week's announcement allowing plans that do not meet the law's coverage requirements to be renewed for two additional years. Administration officials denied that the delay had any political motives.

The Democrats' major problem in 2014 may be that there's not enough time to repair the negative impression people have about the Affordable Care Act, McInturff said.

"After hearing more about the health care law, voters become more supportive, but opinion remains a modest net negative," McInturff said.

Some 9 percent of people said a candidate's position on the health care law is the most important factor in determining how they will vote, while 51 percent of people said it is a major factor, and only 10 percent said it is not a factor at all.

More.

Cruz to Rand: Tea Party ≠ Isolationist

From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary:

Senator Rand Paul is smart enough not to place too much importance on his victory in the presidential straw poll held at the recently concluded CPAC conference. Paul was undoubtedly the favorite of the conservative activists who attended the annual big conservative jamboree and received the biggest ovation of all the GOP stars who spoke there. Yet he is sure to remember that his father Ron also won the straw poll in 2010 and 2011 without it aiding his noisy but ultimately futile 2012 presidential candidacy.

However no one, least of all, his GOP rivals, should think that Paul hasn’t expanded his base from his father’s band of libertarian extremists or won’t be a first tier contender in 2016 when runs for president. He has maintained the momentum he got from his filibuster on drones last year while also carefully avoiding confrontations with the GOP establishment he’s eager to supersede. Many of his backers thought the disastrous government shutdown was a good idea and want to make all members of the party leadership to pay for the compromises they forged in order to extricate Republicans from the corner into which the Tea Party had painted them. However, Paul is quietly backing his Kentucky colleague Mitch McConnell for re-election. He’s also sent out signals to the establishment that he should be trusted to avoid extremism by saying that the shutdown wasn’t such a good idea.

But none of that changes the fact that Paul remains outside the mainstream of his party on foreign policy. As Ted Cruz, Paul’s main rival for the affection of Tea Party voters, reminded the country today on ABC’s “This Week,” it would be a mistake to think the Kentucky senator’s neo-isolationist views represent the sentiments of most conservatives or even Tea Partiers. Resentment against big government and suspicion of President Obama’s actions may have helped boost Paul’s popularity, but the idea that it is Rand’s party on foreign policy is a myth.

Continue reading.

Race for Clues in Malaysia Airlines Jet's Fate

At WSJ, "Air-Safety and Antiterror Authorities Appeared Stumped on Investigation's Direction":

As a search for clues to the fate of Malaysia Airlines 3786.KU -8.00%  Flight 370 resumed in the waters off Vietnam on Monday, air-safety and antiterror authorities on two continents appeared equally stumped about what direction the probe should take.

The Boeing BA -0.25%  777 was cruising over the Gulf of Thailand with 239 people on board when it suddenly dropped off air-traffic radar screens less than an hour after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur early Saturday morning. None of the Beijing-bound plane's transmitters appeared to signal distress before shutting down.

In a massive international investigation, no early theory has emerged about what transpired on the airplane traveling at a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet in good weather. The known sequence of events includes elements that seem different from anything in the annals of recent jetliner accidents.

"For now, it seems simply inexplicable," said Paul Hayes, director of safety and insurance at Ascend Worldwide, a British advisory and aviation data firm. "There's no leading theory," he noted, but jetliners "simply don't vanish or disintegrate" and fall out of the sky without warning, unless there is sabotage or some catastrophic structural failure. So far, investigators haven't hinted that they have firm leads on either front.

More.

New York Times v. Sullivan Remains Free Speech Cornerstone

An interesting piece at AP, "AT 50, LANDMARK LIBEL CASE RELEVANT IN DIGITAL AGE."

GOP Establishment Pissing Its Pants Amid 'Challenges From Right'

Here's the New York Times, "Leading Republicans Move to Stamp Out Challenges From Right."

Reading as far as three paragraphs down the phrase "tea party" is nowhere to be found. It's not until the ninth graf where we see...

The escalating tension between party leaders and Tea Party-aligned activists in groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund, the Madison Project and FreedomWorks arises from the activists’ view that some top elected Republicans are major obstacles to enacting conservative policies and need to be replaced.

The conservative activists say they are dedicated to deposing the lawmakers at the risk of losing seats. Their fervor has only grown after some played a role in the elections of Republican Senate mavericks like Rand Paul of Kentucky, Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas over the opposition of party establishment leaders such as Mr. McConnell.

“When you look at the direction Washington, D.C., as a whole is going, when you look at the state of the Republican Party and its decided lack of will to fight, you have to begin looking at the leadership itself,” said Drew Ryun, political director of the Madison Project. The chairman is his father, Jim Ryun, the former Republican congressman and track star from Kansas. “Mitch McConnell is, to me, the essence of the problem in D.C.”

Look, I personally don't hate Mitch McConnell. What I hate is how the GOP establishment tries to demonize the tea party instead of working to implement the tea party agenda. Star Parker nails it on this at WND, "Why Matt Bevin is challenging Mitch McConnell":

It’s with mixed reviews that the tea party is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its emergence onto the nation’s political scene.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, unfavorability rating of the tea party stood at 45 percent in October 2013, up from 25 percent in February 2010. Favorability was at 30 percent, modestly down from 33 percent where it stood in February 2010.

Why the unfavorable trend?

There is no instance where any tea-party principle has been shown to be off base.

If there has been a single defining theme of the tea-party movement, it has been push back against runaway government. And public sentiment today is very much in line with this.

According to a Gallup poll last week, 66 percent expressed dissatisfaction with the “size and power of federal government.”

A majority of Americans today appreciate that the tea party was right in 2010 regarding the impending disaster of the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare.

Principles of the movement, the very principles upon which this country was founded, liberty under God, are demonstrably true.

If we look around the world, or in our own history, we find a direct correlation between robust economic growth and limited government. It’s no accident that today’s sluggish economy coincides with historic bloating of the federal government.

It is also true that facts justify hoisting the banner of traditional values. Intact traditional families, and the children that grow up in them, are demonstrably healthier and wealthier.

So what’s the problem?

One is that upsetting the status quo means shaking up and displacing an entrenched, comfortable political establishment. For tea partiers, this means not just the opposition party, but also the establishment in its own party – the Republican Party.

Take, for instance, the current primary challenge in Kentucky by tea partier Matt Bevin against Republican Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell.

Keep reading.

And more at Memeorandum.

IDF Soldiers Return Home After Stopping Iranian Weapons Shipment

Video below.

And see the Wall Street Journal, "Iran's Secret Weapons" (via Google):

The M-302 rocket is a Syrian-made munition that can launch a 375-pound warhead as far as 125 miles. In a Red Sea raid Wednesday, Israeli naval commandos intercepted a shipment of these rockets that had been loaded on a freighter in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and were destined for Gaza. The rockets would have put most major Israeli cities within striking distance. Iran denies sending the weapons, which happened to be disguised among cement bags labeled "Made in Iran."

The interception of the Panamanian-flagged ship, called the "Klos-C," is not the first time Israel has hooked a deadly Iranian cache at sea. In 2009, Israel found 500 tons of weapons on a cargo ship destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. In 2002, the seizure of the Gaza-bound Karine-A ship, loaded with Iranian arms for Yasser Arafat, persuaded the Bush Administration that the Palestinian leader was actively abetting terror against Israel.

The seizure of the ship is a reminder that the aims and methods of Iranian foreign policy remain unchanged despite the alleged moderation of President Hasan Rouhani. It also suggests the possibility that Hamas, which governs Gaza, maintains a military relationship with the regimes in Damascus and Tehran despite its claims to have severed ties after the Syrian uprising began in 2011 and Bashar Assad started massacring Palestinians along with everyone else.

As Israel's commandos were boarding the ship, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif was in Tokyo, where he said Iran would not close its reactor in Arak as part of a nuclear deal with the West. The only practical purpose for that reactor is to produce plutonium for atomic weapons. If the Administration won't draw conclusions from what the Iranians do in secret, is it too much to ask that it draw conclusions from what they say in public?

Emotional Discussion with Miles O'Brien After Loss of His Arm

Please watch the video all the way through. O'Brien's a pillar of strength and perseverance but he's open about his pain and you can see, in his mannerisms, his lowered gaze, he's very humbled by the outpouring of support people have showered on him.

It's only been about three weeks and he's already back to work and doing reporting on the network. Judy Woodruff has the interview, and more at London's Daily Mail, "PBS correspondent who had his arm amputated after complications from minor scratch returns to air just THREE WEEKS later."

DomesticViolence.org Video Shows Cheery Woman Going About Her Day, Then Comes Home to Brutal Beating

Warning. It's hard to watch, although I guess it gets the message out for the radical left's International Woman's Day, which has its roots in the struggle for global communism.

But whatever. I'm sure no communist has ever physically abused a woman. Nope. Never.

At Huffington Post, "You Need To Watch This Video, But Its Ending Will Disturb You."

#ObamaCare Backers Choking on Their Promises and Running for the Hills

From Michelle Malkin, "Eat your own words, Debbie Wasserman Schultz!":

.@michellemalkin Thanks for spreading the word! You'll be eating them next year. #GetCovered

— D Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) December 18, 2013

At the end of 2013, Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz had some nasty words for yours truly. Irked that I used my Twitter feed to criticize her Obamacare propaganda efforts, Wasserman Schultz snarked back at me:

“Thanks for spreading the word! You’ll be eating them next year. #GetCovered.”

Classy as always. And completely wrong-headed as usual. Less than three months into 2014, how’s dutiful Debbie and her Dear Leader’s pet government takeover program doing? The most recent retreat measures — call it the Obamacare Endangered 2014 Midterm Democrats’ Rescue Plan — include:

–Allowing insurers for two extra years to continue selling plans that otherwise would have been banned by Obamacare. Last fall, Americans across the country and from all parts of the political spectrum raised an uproar in the wake of millions of Obamacare-induced cancellation notices on their individual market health plans. President Obama trotted out a “keep your plan” Band-Aid effective through this year. Now, the “transitional period” will extend through October 2016 and cover policyholders until the following September, after Obama is safely out of office.

–Extending the open enrollment period for 2015 from November 2014 to February 2015, a month longer than originally scheduled. (It will no doubt be extended again as the midterm elections get closer.)

–Relaxing eligibility requirements for insurers to qualify for financial help under a three-year program intended to cushion insurers’ costs of complying with Obamacare mandates.

–Exempting labor unions, universities and other self-insured employers from paying a fee that creates the above-noted fund.

In addition, the White House last month allowed medium-sized employers an extra year to comply with the Obamacare mandate to offer insurance to all full-time workers and reduced the percentage of workers that large companies are required to cover. These latest regulatory walk-backs by administrative fiat all come on the heels of dozens of administrative delays and rollbacks.

While Democrats complain about Republican Obamacare repeal efforts, we may be nearing a special inflection point at which the White House will have reneged on more Obamacare regulations than it’s actually enforcing!

Remember: In November 2010, the White House began issuing thousands of waivers to unions, cronies, businesses and organizations that offered affordable health insurance or prescription drug coverage with limited benefits outlawed by Obamacare. The federalized health care architects had sought to eliminate those low-cost plans under the guise of controlling insurer spending on executive salaries and marketing. Despite the waivers, the mandate has led to untold disruptions in the marketplace and has prompted businesses to cancel the beneficial plans altogether and/or slash wages and work hours.

Keep reading.

It's going to be a Democrat bloodbath in November. I'm so excited. I can't wait.

Possible Terrorist Attack on Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

Well, no one has a bloody clue what happened to that plane, so wtf?

At LAT, "Terrorism not ruled out in disappearance of Malaysia Airlines jet."

And at CBS News, "Malaysia Airlines plane vanishes with 239 aboard: Search intensifies for missing."

Save the Children Imagines Civil War in United Kingdom

Coming to America?

At BCF, "Save the Children video meant to shock us about Syria."

Party Schools

At Forbes, "Party Schools -- Years of Fun Mostly at Other People's Expense, But Not Much Learning" (via Glenn Reynolds).

Yeah, tell me about it, heh. Here's where I attended graduate school, "UCSB Ranked #2 Party School in Country."

"Really CNN? A 'Bowing' 777?"

Well, if you're going to screw up, best to screw up royally.

At Twitchy, "‘Really, CNN?’: Viewers are certain it’s not a ‘Bowing’ 777 [pics]."

Really @CNN? A "Bowing" 777? pic.twitter.com/SE9KatG1cY

— Travel Summary (@TravelSummary) March 8, 2014

History of Recorded Music in 90 Seconds

Via NME:

Femen Protesters Arrested in Topless Demonstration at Crimean Parliament

At Euronews, "Watch: Femen protesters held after topless protest in Crimea."

Hey, it's not just Ukraine. At Reason, "Femen Brings Its Brand of Topless, Feminist Crazy to Times Square in Protest of Putin's Invasion of Ukraine."

UCLA's Far-Left Extremists Protest Hillary Clinton Visit

They're freakin' idiots, via Pat Dollard:

Piers Morgan Interviews Porn Actress and Duke Student 'Belle Knox'

At the Other McCain, "Now @PiersMorgan Interviews Duke Porn Star @Belle_Knox a/k/a Miriam Weeks."

Russia Signals Readiness to Annex Crimea

At NYT, "For First Time, Kremlin Signals It Is Prepared to Annex Crimea":

MOSCOW — Russia signaled for the first time on Friday that it was prepared to annex the Crimea region of Ukraine, significantly intensifying its confrontation with the West over the political crisis in Ukraine and threatening to undermine a system of respect for national boundaries that has helped keep the peace in Europe and elsewhere for decades.

Leaders of both houses of Russia’s Parliament said that they would support a vote by Crimeans to break away from Ukraine and become a region of the Russian Federation, ignoring sanction threats and warnings, from the United States and other countries, that a vote for secession would violate Ukraine’s Constitution and international law. The Russian message was yet another in a series of political and military actions undertaken over the past week that outraged the West, even while the Kremlin’s final intentions remained unclear.

As new tensions flared between Russian and Ukrainian forces in Crimea, the moves by Russia raised the specter of a protracted conflict over the status of the region, which Russian forces occupied last weekend, calling into question not only Russia’s relations with the West but also post-Cold War agreements on the sovereignty of the nations that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The developments underscored how quickly the crisis has evolved. Earlier this week, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had said he did not foresee the possibility of the Crimean Peninsula becoming part of Russia. But on Friday, Russia’s parliamentary leaders, both strong allies of Mr. Putin, welcomed a delegation from Crimea’s regional assembly and declared that they would support a vote to break away from Ukraine, now scheduled for March 16.

RTWT.

Malaysia Airlines Flight Goes Missing

It's the big news on television this evening.

At LAT, "Search and rescue effort launched for missing Malaysia Airlines plane," and the Sydney Morning Herald, "Australians among 227 passengers feared dead after plane goes missing."

And at AP, "Raw: Malaysia Airlines Loses Contact With Plane," and CNN, "Malaysia Airlines' VP: Plane would have run out of fuel."

Anais Zanotti Shows Off in Bikini at Miami Beach

Wow, what a lady!

At Egotastic!, "Anais Zanotti Bikini Pictures Reveal Her Forbidden Fruits."

Fierce Pushback Against Newsweek's Bombshell Bitcoin Cover Story

Here's this morning's entry, featuring the interview with Newsweek's Leah McGrath Goodman, "Satoshi Nakamoto: The Face Behind Bitcoin."

Well, there's some intense pushback against Newsweek in light of Satoshi Nakamoto's stern denials. Here's the magazine's response, "Newsweek stands behind its Satoshi Nakamoto story" (at Techmeme):

Leah McGrath Goodman’s recent cover story for Newsweek, investigating the identity of Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, has generated an immense amount of international attention, including denials from Mr. Nakamoto, criticism of Ms. Goodman’s reporting and ad hominem attacks on her character.

Newsweek published this story because we felt it is an important one. While the virtual currency has become popular, it remains mysterious and volatile. We recognized a public interest in establishing some core facts about Bitcoin and better informing those who might invest money in it.

Ms. Goodman’s research was conducted under the same high editorial and ethical standards that have guided Newsweek for more than 80 years. Newsweek stands strongly behind Ms. Goodman and her article. Ms. Goodman’s reporting was motivated by a search for the truth surrounding a major business story, absent any other agenda. The facts as reported point toward Mr. Nakamoto’s role in the founding of Bitcoin.

And note that this cover story marks the relaunch of the magazine. Business Insider has more, "Here Are All the Reasons Why People Are Skeptical of the Newsweek Bitcoin Story."

Also from Kash Hill, at Forbes, "Deputies confirm key quote from Dorian Nakamoto about Bitcoin in Newsweek story" (at Mediagazer). See also Felix Salmon, "The Satoshi Paradox."

#Ukraine Monitors Blocked Acces to Crimea

At Reuters, "UPDATE 1-OSCE military observers barred from entering Crimea."

And at Zero Hedge, "Pro-Russia Gunmen Block OSCE Monitors Entering Ukraine; Stymie Obama's Plan."



More at LAT, "Russians rally by the thousands in support of annexing Crimea."

Associated Press Smears North Texas Trail Life Scouts with 'Nazi' Photo

At Instapundit:

MY VIEWS ON LIBEL ARE PRETTY RELAXED, BUT THIS SEEMS LIBELOUS TO ME: AP smears Trail Life boys with misleading ‘Nazi’ photo. Made worse by a false caption. And the delay in fixing the error once it was pointed out seems like reckless disregard. But hey, smearing kids in the service of a political agenda is par for the course, these days. #Journalism.

More at the Washington Post, "AP removes misleading Trail Life USA photo from its archives."

Yeah, well. The Internet's forever, the bastards.

Photos of the Day: March 5

At WSJ:

Women watched armed men in Crimea and more in yesterday's best photos: http://t.co/1ZssUPdSAS (Reuters) pic.twitter.com/cybbQ6JWif

— WSJ Photos (@WSJphotos) March 6, 2014

Satoshi Nakamoto: The Face Behind Bitcoin

An update to my earlier entry, "Bitcoin Virtual Currency Market Crashes."

It turns out the so-called creator of Bitcoin is vehemently denying he has any continuing role in the alternative (and flailing) currency. Newsweek's Leah McGrath Goodman has a big story on this, "The Face Behind Bitcoin."

And she's interviewed at CBS This Morning:



More at the Los Angeles Times, "Will the real creator of bitcoin please stand up?", and "Did the real Satoshi Nakamoto just say Newsweek has wrong guy?"

Shrinking Pool of American Experts on Russia

One of my professors and mentors at Fresno State, Dr. Al Evans, was a bona fide Russia expert. I took three courses with him, Modern Politics, Soviet Politics and Soviet Foreign Policy. This was from around 1989 and 1991, so it was an extremely exciting time to study Soviet politics, you know, with the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991.

In any case, I'm reminded of Professor Evans by this story on Russia expert at the New York Times, "Russia Experts See Thinning Ranks’ Effect on U.S. Policy":

WASHINGTON — “I have to do a TV broadcast now, can I call you back in maybe an hour?” Angela Stent, the director of the Russian studies department at Georgetown University, said when she picked up the phone. An hour later she apologized again. “I’m afraid I’ll have to call you back.”

For Ms. Stent and other professional Russia watchers, the phone has been ringing off the hook since Ukraine became a geopolitical focal point. “It’s kind of a reunion,” she said. “Everyone comes out of the woodwork.”

But while the control of Crimea by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has brought America’s Russia experts in from the cold, the news media spotlight has also showed important shifts in how American academics and policy makers think about Russia, not to mention the quality and quantity of the people doing the thinking. Among those experts, there is a belief that a dearth of talent in the field and ineffectual management from the White House have combined to create an unsophisticated and cartoonish view of a former superpower, and potential threat, that refuses to be relegated to the ash heap of history.

“It’s a shorter bench,” said Michael A. McFaul, who returned from his post as the American ambassador in Moscow on Feb. 26, as the crisis unfolded. He said the present and future stars in the government did not make their careers in the Russia field, which long ago was eclipsed by the Middle East and Asia as the major draws of government and intelligence agency talent.

“The expertise with the government is not as robust as it was 20 or 30 years ago, and the same in the academy,” Mr. McFaul said.

The drop-off in talent is widely acknowledged. “You have a lot of people who are very old and a lot of people who are very young,” said Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former economic adviser to Boris N. Yeltsin, a former president of Russia. Mr. Aslund, who had a dozen interviews on Ukraine on a single day this week, said people in the prime of their careers mostly abandoned Russia in the 1990s.

“It is certainly harder for the White House, State Department and intelligence community to find up-and-coming regional experts who are truly expert on that region,” said Strobe Talbott, the president of the Brookings Institution and President Bill Clinton’s Russia point man. “It’s a market problem.”

Compounding the effects has been a lack of demand for Russian expertise at the very top of the foreign policy pyramid. Successive White Houses have sought to fit Russia into a new framework, both diplomatically and bureaucratically, as one of many priorities rather than the singular focus of American foreign policy. Since Mr. Clinton empowered Mr. Talbott, the portfolio has shrunk, and with it the number of aides with deep Russian experience, and real sway, in the White House.

As a result, Russia experts say, there has been less internal resistance to American presidents seeking to superimpose their notions on a large and complex nation of 140 million people led by a former K.G.B. operative with a zero-sum view of the world.

More.

Recall I commented on Angela Stent's book the other day, "Review: 'The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century'."

Stop Slashing Animals' Throats in 'Ritual' Slaughters for Halal and Kosher Meat, Says New Leader of Britain's Vets

Yes. Thank you.

At London's Daily Mail, "Stop slashing animals' throats, says new leader of Britain's vets."

Jet Ski Hero Saves Family of Five from Drowning

At Mirror UK, "Video: Watch fearless hero speed on a jet ski to save a family of five from drowning."

Crimea to Vote on Independence

At LAT, "Obama: Referendum on independence in Crimea is unconstitutional."



Also, at NYT, "Steeped in Its Bloody History, Again Embracing Resistance."

IDF Soldiers Board Gaza-Bound Ship Loaded with Shipment of Iranian Rockets

At Israel Matzav, "Video: IDF soldiers board Klos-C weapons ship."



PREVIOUSLY: "Israel Seizes Gaza-Bound Shipment of Iranian Missiles Near Port Sudan."

Save Us From the SAT

From Jennifer Finney Boylan, at NYT:

BELGRADE LAKES, Me. — I WAS in trouble. The first few analogies were pretty straightforward — along the lines of “leopard is to spotted as zebra is to striped” — but now I was in the tall weeds of nuance. Kangaroo is to marsupial as the giant squid is to — I don’t know, maybe D) cephalopod? I looked up for a second at the back of the head of the girl in front of me. She had done this amazing thing with her hair, sort of like a French braid. I wondered if I could do that with my hair.

I daydreamed for a while, thinking about the architecture of braids. When I remembered that I was wasting precious time deep in the heart of the SAT, I swore quietly to myself. French braids weren’t going to get me into Wesleyan. Although, in the years since I took the test in the mid-’70s, I’ve sometimes wondered if knowing how to braid hair was actually of more practical use to me as an English major than the quadratic equation. But enough of that. Back to the analogies. Loquacious is to mordant as lachrymose is to ... uh ...

This was the moment I saw the terrible thing I had done, the SAT equivalent of the Hindenburg disaster. I’d accidentally skipped a line on my answer sheet, early in that section of the test. Every answer I’d chosen, each of those lines of graphite-filled bubbles, was off by one. I looked at the clock. Time was running out. I could see the Wesleyan campus fading before my eyes.

I began moving all my bubbles up one line, erasing the wrong answers. The eraser on my No. 2 pencil hadn’t been at full strength when I’d started, and now I was nearly down to the metal.

Then there was a ripping sound.

I picked up the answer sheet. Through the gaping hole in the middle of it, I could see the hair of the girl in front of me.

That braid really was a remarkable thing.

I remembered this sequence, like something from a Hitchcock film, when the College Board announced this week that it was rolling out a complete do-over of the SAT. Starting in 2016, gone will be the tristful effect of arcane vocabulary words such as “tristful” and “arcane”; gone will be the penalty for guessing wrong instead of leaving the answer blank; and gone will be the short-lived mandatory essay section, a test that reportedly places a higher value on loquaciousness than logic.

All in all, the changes are intended to make SAT scores more accurately mirror the grades a student gets in school.

The thing is, though, there already is something that accurately mirrors the grades a student gets in school. Namely: the grades a student gets in school. A better way of revising the SAT, from what I can see, would be to do away with it once and for all.

The SAT is a mind-numbing, stress-inducing ritual of torture. The College Board can change the test all it likes, but no single exam, given on a single day, should determine anyone’s fate. The fact that we have been using this test to perform exactly this function for generations now is a national scandal...

Keep reading.

Also at LAT, "SAT overhaul to make essay optional, end penalty for wrong answers.

Activists Gather at #CPAC

It's always exciting, especially in election years.

Robert Stacy McCain reports, "CPAC: The Rev. Cruz Preaches It."

Also at Nice Deb, "#CPAC2014 Ted Cruz Bloggers Briefing (Video)."

More a Ace of SpadesHQ, "Christie Speaks at CPAC, Gets Standing Ovation."

And a bunch of CPAC coverage at Memeorandum.

Twenty-Three Percent of Americans Say #ObamaCare Has Hurt Them or Their Families

That's almost a quarter of respondents (1 in 4) and the number keeps going up.

At Gallup, "Number of Americans Saying ACA Has Hurt Them Inches Up":

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Although several parts of the Affordable Care Act have yet to be implemented, 23% of Americans say the healthcare law has hurt them or their families, while 10% say it has helped them so far. Still, the majority of Americans (63%) feel the law has had no impact on them or their families.

This update is from Gallup polling conducted between Feb. 28 and March 2, just prior to the Obama administration's announcement this week that insurance companies will be able to delay until next year the requirement that they cancel or replace policies that don't conform to the provisions of the law often referred to as "Obamacare."

The 23% who feel the law has hurt them is the highest percentage for the question since Gallup began asking Americans about it in 2012, and is up from 19% in previous polling.

As more people experience the law first-hand, the "hurt them" number will continue to rise.

Indeed, Fox News has a new poll out as well, "Fox News poll: Voters pessimistic, scared about ObamaCare":

Pessimism. Fear. Anger. Those are the most common sentiments expressed about the Affordable Care Act, according to a Fox News national poll that asks voters to pick from a range of emotions that describe how they feel about the law.

Pessimistic is on top: 49 percent say it describes how they feel.

Next is scared (45 percent), followed by angry (43 percent).

On the positive side, 40 percent of voters are optimistic about Obamacare, 24 percent are proud and 21 percent feel excited.

A 63-percent majority of Democrats feels optimistic about the law, while less than half are proud (46 percent) or excited (40 percent). Those are the three sentiments Republicans and independents are least likely to feel.

Two-thirds of Republicans say angry (68 percent), scared (67 percent) and pessimistic (66 percent) describe how they feel about the health care law. For independents, the top three emotions are pessimistic (49 percent), scared (41 percent) and angry (43 percent).

Overall, the new poll, released Thursday, finds that 38 percent of voters favor the health care law, while 57 percent oppose it. In January, it was 36-59 percent.

Fully 91 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents and 27 percent of Democrats oppose the law. A 68-percent majority of Democrats favors it.

Well, the voters will have their say in November. Democrats are going to get hammered.

Mom Drives Van Into Ocean at Daytona Beach with Kids Screaming Bloody Murder

Really.

At LAT, "Mother drives minivan with kids into sea in Daytona Beach."

And at Instapundit, "SUSAN SMITH REDUX? ‘Our Mom Is Trying to Kill Us!’: Hero Recounts Ocean Rescue."

Koch Derangement Syndrome

You might have seen the news last month, "'Evil' Koch Brothers Rank #59 in Political Donations Behind 18 Different Unions."

The facts simply don't matter to the idiot Democrats. They're so intellectually bankrupt they simply must demonize the billionaire Koch brothers, who not only rank way down the list of political giving, but are some of the biggest philanthropists in the country, contributing to artistic ventures like the New York City Ballet.

In any case, see the New York Times, "New Democratic Strategy Goes After Koch Brothers."

And see Noah Rothman, at Mediaite, "The Democrats’ Crusade Against ‘Un-American’ Activities":

The moral righteousness of resistance to Sen. Joe McCarthy’s (R-WI) and the House Un-American Activities Committee remains vibrant in the imaginations of modern progressives. McCarthy and his congressional compatriot’s myopic campaign to expose communists in high-profile areas of American life was opposed by liberal dissenters who viewed his investigation as an infringement on their rights of free association, speech, and even thought.

The modern progressive movement admires their predecessors’ stand against McCarthy so deeply that references to that inauspicious period of American history are regularly deployed in liberal publications and media outlets.

Those noble principles apparently go right out the window when Democrats face what increasingly appears to be a catastrophic political landscape heading into the 2014 midterm election cycle. Political handicappers beginning to suggest Republicans have better than even odds of recapturing the upper chamber of Congress in November as Democratic officeholders struggle to defend the political millstone that has become of the Affordable Care Act. Rather than surrender to their fates, Democrats have taken to identifying their own shadowy boogeyman wrecking America from within: the libertarian billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

“The base of the Democratic party, which provides the lion’s share of campaign contributions and activist hours to the party’s cause in midterm elections, loathes the Kochs,” The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza noted in February when he identified the anti-Koch campaign as a cornerstone of the Democratic Party’s election efforts. “ The base views the duo as everything wrong with the American political system where a handful of individuals are able to exert vast influence over elections simply because of their wealth.”

“The message is clear: The Koch brothers are the real enemy, not the Republican party in November,” he added.

More, "‘Absolutely Un-American’: Dem Rep. Explodes During IRS Investigation Hearing; Issa Walks Out."

Democrats are freakin' unhinged losers.

Why Senior Citizens Are Bankrupting America

Something I talk about every semester in my classes, in an effort to have students think about how politics affects them.

From Daniel Altman, at Foreign Policy, "Old People Are Sucking Us Dry."

Piers Morgan Gives Airtime to Kremlin Propagandist, 9/11 Truther

It's Abby Martin, who unlike RT anchor Liz Wahl, is still collecting a paycheck from the Russian kleptocracy.

At the Washington Free Beacon:

Soon-to-depart CNN host Piers Morgan interviewed RT anchor and 9/11 truther Abby Martin about her condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Wednesday, where she pondered why only the Kremlin-funded network gave her a platform to “tell the truth about corporations and the U.S. government.”

She's a f-king shill for Russian authoritarianism.

@AmPowerBlog pressure on you now @AbbyMartin, 30 seconds of opposition to despotism legitimizing a propaganda channel doesn't cut it

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) March 5, 2014

Russia Conducts ICBM Test Launch Amid #Ukraine Crisis

Pretty fascinating.

At Reuters, "UPDATE 3-Russia test-fires ICBM amid tension over Ukraine."

And at the video the commentators are missing the obvious point: Russia needs to flex its nuclear muscles as as an attempt to remind the world that it's still a great power, if not a superpower. Sure, it's a routine test, but timing is everything. "Hey NATO, think twice about those massive troop deployment to bolster Ukraine okay guys? Thanks."

Charles Krauthammer: 'The United States Has Essentially No Cards to Play in Ukraine'

He's such a calming voice of clarity amid all the jumble. What a treasure.



Also, from Abe Greenwald, at Commentary, "Back to the Confines of History":

As Americans reacquaint themselves with living inside history and not beyond it, they’ll head in one of two directions: They’ll either accept the challenge of making the world a safer, freer place, or they’ll decide that recommitting to the fight against brutality is too burdensome after all. I’m betting they take the challenge. For the idealism that led to post-historic fantasy cuts both ways. If we were idealistic enough to think we’ve moved beyond large-scale injustice then we’re also idealistic enough to go out into the world and do something about the bad guys. That’s why America and her allies are the planet’s first defense against tyranny and oppression.

Hillary Clinton Compares Russia to Nazi Germany

This is the biggest scoop at the Long Beach Press-Telegram I can ever remember. The newspaper's not known for its heavy-hitting on national politics, but this piece got widespread coverage.

See, "Hillary Clinton compares Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine to Adolf Hitler's in Nazi Germany."

And for a taste of the impact, see the Washington Post:

With Hitler remarks, Clinton wades into Ukraine conflict. http://t.co/eEkOYyuBon

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 6, 2014

And at Politico:

Hillary Clinton stands by Russia-Nazi comparison http://t.co/wYaWml6OVa

— POLITICO (@politico) March 5, 2014

And at LAT:

Putin's tactics are like Hitler, but she was not equating the men, Hillary Clinton says via @maevereston at UCLA. http://t.co/4Mh3D6nV8t

— L.A. Times Politics (@latimespolitics) March 5, 2014

Hillary Clinton highlights pragmatism in approach to Russia http://t.co/qWv2c5durz

— Donovan Javier (@DonovanJavier) March 6, 2014

Sara Sampaio Voted SI's Swimsuit 2014 Rookie of the Year

Via Theo Spark.

And at Sports Illustrated, "Sara Sampaio: First Portuguese SI Swimsuit Rookie of the Year, first Portuguese SI Swimsuit model ever."

Israel Seizes Gaza-Bound Shipment of Iranian Missiles Near Port Sudan

At the Times of Israel, "IDF intercepts major Iranian missile shipment to Gaza."

And the Jerusalem Post, "Israel Navy intercepts Gaza-bound Iranian rocket ship near Port Sudan."

Russia Opens Talks on #Ukraine Crisis

At Telegraph UK, "Russia opens talks as UN envoy is chased from Crimea":

Robert Serry was accosted by a group of armed men outside the naval headquarters in Simferopol who shouted 'Crimea is Russian! Putin! Putin!'

Russia and the United States held their first direct talks since the start of the Ukraine crisis on Wednesday night, raising hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough in the worst breach in relations between East and West since the end of the Cold War.

Though progress was limited, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, met his counterparts from the US, France, Germany and Britain in Paris and said further discussions would take place “in days to come”, which was echoed by John Kerry, the US Secretary of State.

“We are all concerned at what it is happening there,” Mr Lavrov said as he left the French foreign ministry. Mr Kerry said the talks merely “initiated a process”.

Tensions remained high in Crimea, where gunmen seized part of a Ukrainian missile facility in Cape Fiolent near Sevastopol, according to Ukrainian officials.

A senior United Nations envoy was forced to cut short his mission and decided to leave the country after being “threatened” by a gang of armed men shouting “Crimea is Russian! Putin! Putin!” Robert Serry was accosted by gunmen outside the naval headquarters in Simferopol. He was blocked from returning to his car and took refuge in a café that was surrounded by a mob. He was allowed to his hotel on condition that he left Crimea. He soon left for the airport.

The volatile situation in eastern Ukraine showed little sign of easing as a dozen people were hurt when pro-Russian protesters took back the regional government building in Donetsk. Earlier in the day pro-Western Ukrainians had reinstalled the national flag on the roof.

The West continued its strategy of combining support for the new government in Kiev with pressure on Russia, whose troops moved into Crimea two weeks ago.

More at Toronto's Globe and Mail, "Russia rebuffs West on Crimea amid Paris talks":

Russia rebuffed Western demands to withdraw forces in Ukraine’s Crimea region to their bases on Wednesday amid a day of high-stakes diplomacy in Paris aimed at easing tensions over Ukraine and averting the risk of war.

The European Union offered Ukraine’s new pro-Western government 11 billion euros ($15 billion) in financial aid in the next couple of years provided Kiev reaches a deal with the International Monetary Fund. Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, also promised bilateral financial help.

Ukraine’s new finance minister, Oleksander Shlapak, caused a fall in the Ukrainian bond and currency markets by saying his economically shattered country may start talks with creditors on restructuring its foreign currency debt.

A UN special envoy had to abandon a mission to Crimea after being stopped by armed men and besieged inside a cafe by a hostile crowd shouting “Russia! Russia!” Dutch diplomat Robert Serry agreed to leave Crimea to end the stand-off.

And the U.S. Defense Department, in an apparent attempt to signal resolve to Moscow, announced military measures to support eastern European NATO allies adjoining Russia and Ukraine.

Russia and the West are locked in the most serious battle since the end of the Cold War for influence in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic with historic ties to Moscow that is a major commodities exporter and strategic link between East and West.

Ukraine pulled out of a trade deal with the EU under Russian pressure last year, sparking months of protests in Kiev and the Feb. 22 ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian ally.

Ukraine says Russia has occupied Crimea, where its Black Sea fleet is based, provoking an international outcry and sharp falls in financial markets on Monday, though they have since stabilised.

The foreign ministers of Russia, the United States, Britain, and Germany met their French counterpart and French President Francois Hollande in Paris to try to start a diplomatic process to defuse the crisis.

But diplomats said it was not clear whether Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would take the crucial step of attending talks with Ukraine’s new foreign minister, a member of a government Moscow has described as illegitimate.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry left the meeting at Hollande’s office without making any statement.

I'll have more...

Russian President Vladimir Putin Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Not the Onion.

It's CBS News, "Vladimir Putin nominated for Nobel Peace Prize" (via Memeorandum).

RT America Anchor Liz Wahl Resigns On-Air

I retweeted BuzzFeed's Rosie Gray, who live-tweeted Liz Wahl's resignation.

And more at BuzzFeed, "Russia Today Anchor Resigns Live On Air."

RT attacks Liz Wahl as self-promoter after her resignation http://t.co/mOwlIdn4oh

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) March 6, 2014

Watch it here: "RT Anchor Quits on Air."

And from Jamie Kirchick, at the Daily Beast, "Exclusive: RT Anchor Liz Wahl Explains Why She Quit."

Runners Thank Veteran Joe Bell for His WWII Service

An awesome story, at NBC Bay Area, "World War II Veteran Honored by Runners, Caught by Reporter's Video."

And at the source, the San Jose Mercury News, "WWII vet becomes viral video star after San Jose racers' spontaneous tribute":

The video got little traction Sunday night as millions of Americans instead were retweeting Ellen DeGeneres's selfie with the movie stars during the Oscars. But by Monday night, Yahoo posted it on its home page. By Tuesday morning, all the major networks were broadcasting the video and some sent news crews to Joe's house. One of them tracked down the first runner in the video, Erik Wittreich, a former Green Beret who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan who coincidentally had been awarded a Pat Tillman Foundation scholarship to finish his graduate work at Stanford.

"I just saw this former soldier showing a lot of respect for his uniform," Wittreich said while visiting Joe at his home Tuesday. "He was clearly proud to show he was in the military. It was important for me to thank him."

Joe lives with his grown son, Matt. His wife, Mary, died four years ago.

"I thought the video caught a moment in time that was honest," Matt Bell said. "There was nothing staged about it. It was an honest response from honest people. We don't see that too much."

And he hasn't seen his father this excited in a long time, he said.

Your Latest #ObamaCare Delay du Jour

It's not like folks didn't see this coming.

From Elise Viebeck at the Hill, "New O-Care delay to help midterm Dems":

The Obama administration is set to announce another major delay in implementing the Affordable Care Act, easing election pressure on Democrats.

As early as this week, according to two sources, the White House will announce a new directive allowing insurers to continue offering health plans that do not meet ObamaCare’s minimum coverage requirements.

Prolonging the “keep your plan” fix will avoid another wave of health policy cancellations otherwise expected this fall.

The cancellations would have created a firestorm for Democratic candidates in the last, crucial weeks before Election Day.

The White House is intent on protecting its allies in the Senate, where Democrats face a battle to keep control of the chamber.

“I don’t see how they could have a bunch of these announcements going out in September,” one consultant in the health insurance industry said. “Not when they’re trying to defend the Senate and keep their losses at a minimum in the House. This is not something to have out there right before the election.”

The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services on Monday both said they had no updates to announce.

I guess we'll wait for the shoe to drop then. At the rate this is going, the illegal individual plans will continue to be offered in perpetuity, because the polling just ain't getting better for embattled "you can keep your plan" idiots Dems.

Sherwin Nuland, the 'How We Die' Guy, Has Died

We all gotta go sometime, and it's rarely dignified. Frankly, this guy predicted his own undignified demise.

Kind of depressing, actually.

At NYT, "Sherwin B. Nuland, ‘How We Die’ Author, Dies at 83":

Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland, a surgeon and author who drew on more than 35 years in medicine and a childhood buffeted by illness in writing “How We Die,” an award-winning book that sought to dispel the notion of death with dignity and fueled a national conversation about end-of-life decisions, died on Monday at his home in Hamden, Conn. He was 83.

The cause was prostate cancer, his daughter Amelia Nuland said.

To Dr. Nuland, death was messy and frequently humiliating, and he believed that seeking the good death was pointless and an exercise in self-deception. He maintained that only an uncommon few, through a lucky confluence of circumstances, reached life’s end before the destructiveness of dying eroded their humanity.

“I have not seen much dignity in the process by which we die,” he wrote. “The quest to achieve true dignity fails when our bodies fail.”

In “How We Die, ” published in 1994, Dr. Nuland described in frank detail the processes by which life succumbs to violence, disease or old age. Arriving amid an intense moral and legal debate over physician-assisted suicide — perhaps the ultimate manifestation of the concept of a dignified death — the book tapped into a deep national desire to understand the nature of dying, which, as Dr. Nuland observed, increasingly took place behind the walls of the modern hospital. It won a National Book Award.

Dr. Nuland wrote that his intention was to demythologize death, making it more familiar and therefore less frightening, so that the dying might approach decisions regarding their care with greater knowledge and more reasonable expectations. The issue has only intensified since the book was published, and has been discussed and debated in the medical world, on campuses, in the news media and among politicians and government officials engaged in health care policy.

“The final disease that nature inflicts on us will determine the atmosphere in which we take our leave of life,” he wrote, “but our own choices should be allowed, insofar as possible, to be the decisive factor in the manner of our going.”

Continue.

Turns out this guy was Victoria "f-k the EU" Nuland's dad:

Dr. Nuland’s first marriage ended in divorce. In 1977, he married Sarah Peterson, an actress and director. Besides his wife, survivors include two children from his first marriage, Victoria Jane Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, and Andrew; two children from his second marriage, Amelia and William; and four grandchildren.

During Live Shot, TV Reporter Nailed by Snow From Passing Plow

At LAT:

We all know TV reporters like to be close to the action during big storms. At times, too close - like the NBC "Nightly News" reporter who got stuck in waist-high mud while reporting on a mudslide in Azusa last week.

FOX 29's Steve Keeley joined the fraternity of imperiled correspondents Monday morning during a live shot in Woodstown, N.J., shown at the bottom of this post.

With yet another large snowstorm slamming the East Coast, Keeley stands by a rural road watching the plows pass and pointing out how quickly the snow re-covers the roads.

Keeley points off-camera and says, "There goes a couple plows, demonstrating what I --"

That's when he and his cameraman get blasted by snow from a passing plow, leading someone in the studio to whoop and briefly shriek before the camera pulls back to reveal Keeley, still upright.

Keeley, still live, resumes his commentary without missing a beat. "Four plow trucks, four plow trucks, and it's still snow-covered," he says, adding, "That is the beauty of breaking news."

Hannah Elizabeth for Zoo Today

Hmm, I'd say this is pretty hot, "Hannah Elizabeth rubbing her boobs with an ice cube in sizzling slow-motion!"

Economy Hits Dems, GOP 'Out of Touch' — Pushing Anti-Incumbency to 25-Year High

Amazing.

At ABC News:

Anti-incumbent sentiment has reached a 25-year high in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, with economic frustration damaging Barack Obama’s Democrats while the Republican Party labors under a broad view that it’s out of touch with the concerns of most Americans.

The Republicans run evenly with the Democrats in congressional vote preference among registered voters, historically a strong position for the GOP given its advantage in midterm turnout. Perhaps more important, with control of the U.S. Senate at stake, the Republicans have a 50-42 percent advantage for Senate seats in the 34 states holding those contests...

The raw survey questionnaire is here.

All is proceeding along the lines discussed previously.

Russian Troops Fire Warning Shots Outside Air Base

Following up my earlier entry, "Staring Down a Russian Rifle in #Belbek."

The Wall Street Journal has the day's full recap, "Putin, Obama Talk Tough on Ukraine: Moscow Shows Little Sign of Backing Down":

The U.S. kept up a war of words with Russian President Vladimir Putin while hoping he will back down over Ukraine, but there was little evidence Tuesday he would.

Mr. Putin offered a full-throated defense of his use of force in the restive region of Crimea, rejecting Western demands to withdraw and insisting sanctions would be counterproductive. Russian troops occupying an air base there fired warning shots at Ukrainian counterparts, seemingly underlining Moscow's determination.

Keep reading.

Cold War Looms Over NATO's Talks on #Ukraine

This is particularly interesting, at the Washington Post, "Europe divided over Russia as NATO meets on Ukraine crisis":

BERLIN —NATO members held emergency talks about the crisis in Ukraine on Tuesday and pledged their “solidarity,” but there were signs of division in Europe over how to respond to Russia’s intervention in Crimea.

Among the biggest obstacles to consensus: Fears dating to the Cold War are running up against the economic clout of the new Russia.

In the former Eastern bloc, political leaders and the populace are seeing the ghost of the Cold War. A nervous Poland, where Lech Walesa stared down the Soviet Union in the 1980s, called Tuesday’s snap meeting of NATO members by invoking a rarely used lever available to members who believe their security or territorial integrity is under threat.

Like the United States, Poland is seeking a relatively aggressive stance against Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for diplomacy but also preparations for economic sanctions and other punitive steps.

Other European powers have offered harsh condemnations of Russia’s military moves while keeping one eye on the economic interests they have cultivated with Moscow since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Russia is Germany’s fourth-largest trading partner outside the European Union and its largest supplier of energy.

Among the French companies with vast investments in Russia is Renault, which is partly owned by the French government. Through a partnership with Nissan, Renault is set to boost its ownership in Russia’s largest automaker to nearly 75 percent this year.

Among Russian oligarchs, London is affectionately known as “Moscow on the Thames.” Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, a close Putin ally, owns the Chelsea soccer club. In the City — London’s financial district, which drives a substantial portion of the British economy — Russian money is courted as king, with ice-cold vodka and caviar a staple on the menus of elegant restaurants.

Given that Europe has a much greater economic relationship with Russia than does the United States, securing its cooperation will be paramount to any effort by Washington to secure significant sanctions. Yet that relationship will not be lightly jeopardized, observers say, even in the defense of a fellow European nation under threat.

A briefing paper caught on camera as a British official walked into No. 10 Downing St., for instance, indicated that the British government is advocating rigorous diplomacy over sanctions.

“The European position is a mess,” said Kadri Liik, a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. “I think it’s quite chaotic and hit-and-miss, and there’s no unanimity as to what to do.”

PREVIOUSLY: "Britain Rules Out Russia Sanctions in Secret Briefing Document Caught by News Photographer at Downing Street."

Putin's Seriously Lost It

According to Julia Ioffee, at the New Republic, "Putin's Press Conference Proved Merkel Right: He's Lost His Mind."

Staring Down a Russian Rifle in #Belbek

Some drama today, from Simon Shuster, at Time, "The Standoff at Belbek: Inside the First Clash of the Second Crimean War":

Our hero - Colonel Yuri #Mamchur, commander of the brigade of Tactical Aviation in #Belbek, #Crimea pic.twitter.com/Xb72MUFVDg

— ЄВРОМАЙДАН (@euromaidan) March 4, 2014

The Ukrainian troops kept the bonfires burning all night on Monday, kicking stones into the embers and waiting for the sun to rise over the Belbek air force base in southern Ukraine. Five days had passed since the start of the siege against them and the strain on the troops was starting to show. The previous day, the Russian forces surrounding their base had issued another ultimatum – surrender your weapons that night and sign an oath of allegiance to Russia or face an assault by 5:00 a.m. The commanders had refused. Some of the troops had defected. The rest stood around the garrison, smoking cigarettes and twitching when the logs popped in the fires. They only understood that the Russians had been bluffing when the roosters started to crow.

The next bluff came soon after, and it marked a turning point in the week-old conflict that has brought Russia and Ukraine to the edge of a fratricidal war. Just before morning reveille, Colonel Yuli Mamchur, the base commander, got word from one of his lieutenants that the Russian officer in charge of the siege, a lieutenant colonel of the special forces who only identified himself as Dima, had called again. His terms were the same, only the deadline was different – surrender by 4:00 pm on Tuesday or the Russians would cut off the power and the gas lines to the base. “What they’re trying to do is make us snap,” Mamchur told TIME. “It’s a mind game.” He decided to call Dima back. Without consulting his ranking officers, Mamchur told the Russian officer that the men under his command – Ukraine’s 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade – was about to march on the Belbek air field that the Russians had occupied. Then he hung up the phone.

The plan he had was reckless if not suicidal. He wanted his men to leave their Kalashnikovs at the base, get into formation and march behind him into the Russian checkpoint about a kilometer up the road. Practically all of them volunteered, but he left half his men behind to guard the base and took the other half with him in a column. He intended to answer the Russian ultimatums with his own psychological attack. His men would be unarmed, and leading their column would be a flagman with a Soviet relic – the banner of the 62nd Fighter Aviation Regiment that had been based in Belbek during World War II. Any soldier born in the Soviet Union would have heard the stories of its legendary pilots, the ones who had taken on the Nazi Luftwaffe in 1941 then went on to guard the skies above the Yalta Conference in 1945. Mamchur reckoned that no soldier with any respect for the heroes of the Soviet Union would shoot at a column carrying that banner.

He guessed right. As he approached the Russian checkpoint with his men trailing behind, three troops came forward and raised the barrels of their assault rifles. They ordered Mamchur to stop, and when he refused, they began firing bursts into the air, one after another, screaming that they would shoot to kill. They were the first shots fired since the Russian occupation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula began last week, so at the sound of the gunfire, the column wobbled. Some of the men ducked but they all kept marching. Only when Mamchur was a few paces from the Russian troops with a Kalashnikov pointed directly at his face did he order his men to stop.

What followed was a stand-off lasting well into the afternoon. Mumchar put forward a simple demand. “It is our duty to the constitution of Ukraine to guard this base,” he said. The Russians could remain in control, as no one had the fire power to evict them. But the Ukrainians insisted on taking their positions beside the fighter jets and radar stations of their occupied base. The Russians asked for two hours to consult with their commanding officers, and the Ukrainian brigade began to wait in the middle of the road. All around them, in the bushes of the surrounding fields, Russian snipers and machine gunners had taken up positions, training their sights directly at the Ukrainians...

Continue reading.

Also at London's Daily Mail, "The first shots of the Ukraine crisis were fired, but Colonel Yuli stands defiant: IAN BIRRELL reports from another dramatic day in Crimea."

ScarJo Pregnant!

Hey, I'm very happy for her --- even more so in light of her stand against the BDS Israel-haters.

At E!, "Scarlett Johansson Pregnant! Actress Expecting First Child With Fiancé Romain Dauriac."

PREVIOUSLY: "The Israel Project Celebrates Scarlett Johansson" (and here as well).

Some Illegals Fear Obtaining Driver's Licenses Since Government Might Establish Their Identities and Deport Them

You think?

Hey, uh, I might be a little worried too if I was in the country illegally.

At NYT, "California Driver’s License Program Hits an Unexpected Hurdle":

BELL, Calif. — The auditorium was packed. There were single mothers, day laborers, grandparents pushing infants in strollers and teenagers interpreting for parents. All of them faced a potentially life-changing prospect: Within a year, California will start offering driver’s licenses to immigrants who are living in the country illegally.

But one person after another stepped to the microphone and expressed fear that the licenses, far from helping them, could instead be used to deport them.

Last year, when California became the most populous state to pass a law permitting undocumented residents to obtain driver’s licenses, advocates for immigrant rights were thrilled, saying it would allow people to commute without fear while also decreasing rates of hit-and-run accidents and uninsured drivers on the roads. Now those advocates are confronting another formidable obstacle: the deep and longstanding mistrust of the American government among this population.

It turns out that persuading immigrants who have spent decades avoiding the authorities to willingly hand over their names, addresses and photographs to the government is no easy sell — particularly since the licenses will look different from regular ones, in ways that have yet to be determined.

“I believe this license process is not secure,” one woman, who declined to identify herself, told state officials at an informational hearing here hosted by the Department of Motor Vehicles. “Is this a trap?”

“It’s not a trap,” said Ricardo Lara, the state senator who represents this working-class city, where more than 40 percent of the population is foreign born. State law guaranteed that their information would not be shared with other government agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he said, adding, “Your information is protected.”

California, home to an estimated 2.5 million immigrants living in the country illegally, has been busy fashioning itself as the most welcoming state for immigrants, passing measures designed to reduce deportations, offering in-state tuition to all residents, and more. But skepticism among this population has grown since President Obama took office, as deportations have hit record highs and efforts to reform immigration laws have stalled in Congress.

Combating this mistrust, Mr. Lara said in an interview, is “the most significant challenge” of getting unauthorized residents — many of whom are already behind the wheel without licenses — to take road tests and buy auto insurance.

“People are skeptical, and rightfully so,” Mr. Lara said. “These are people who have been living in the shadows, living in constant fear. We have to work hard to ensure we really protect these folks.”

F-king Democrat morons. We don't have to assure illegals jack. They're right to fear deportation, for they have no right to be in the country. The Democrats are frankly un-American in their shilling for every open-borders initiative under the sun. Screw them. This state's gone to the dogs and it's going to keep getting worse. One of these days I'll get the hell out of here. Hopefully I won't have to learn Spanish before then.

"Julian's favourite activity was following what people — especially his 'enemies' — were saying about him on the internet..."

Well, I had to get a laugh out of that line. The author, Andrew O'Hagan, slams WikiLeaks paranoiac Julian Assange in his practically book-length essay at the London Review of Books, "Ghosting."

Last week everyone was saying how "interesting" the piece was on Twitter, although it's so long it took me a couple of sessions to read during office hours at work.

So, you're warned, heh. Personally, I can't stand reading long essays like this online. I'd rather be reclining in bed reading a book. But since O'Hagan might have been explaining the perverted psychopathy of my deranged troll-rights stalker, I can't resist the lulz: "Repsac3's favorite activity was following what people — especially his 'enemies' — were saying about him on the internet..."

It's true, of course. Although for Repsac I wouldn't refer to his "favorite activity" of stalking in the past tense. He's still as bad as ever. Worse even, since he's set his criminal stalking hate-blog American Nihilist to "invitation only" in order to plan his attacks out of the investigative purview of legal authorities. But yeah. Either way, the pathetic communist asshat's still at it. See, "Hi Donald Douglas: You Have a New Stalking Troll-Rights Follower Harasser @Repsac3 on Disqus."

Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner Announces Senate Run, Expanding 2014 Battleground in GOP's Favor

This is great!

The news up in Colorado has rocked the world like a political earthquake.

At USA Today, "Senate battleground expands in GOP's favor":

WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Cory Gardner's entrance into Colorado's U.S. Senate race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall opens up a new front in the expanding 2014 battlefield for control of the U.S. Senate.

Democrats control the Senate 55-45, with the assist of two independents who caucus with Democrats, but they face strong challenges in the midterm elections with races clustered in conservative-leaning states that have stacked the political landscape in GOP territory.

While Colorado has tilted toward Democrats in recent elections — Barack Obama won it twice — Republicans see an opportunity to put Democrats on the defensive in a swing state.

"In 2008, Colorado led the nation in change," Gardner said Saturday at an event at a Denver lumberyard to kick off his campaign, in reference to Obama's nomination for president during the Democratic National Convention in Denver. "In 2014, we can change it again."

Chris Harris, a Udall spokesman, said the senator is ready for the fight. "The people of Colorado know that Mark spends every day working to protect Colorado's way of life," he said, "Despite what Republican leaders are trying to say about Gardner to try and cover up his reckless behavior and paint him as a mainstream candidate, that's just not true."

Democrats responded Friday with a new recruit of their own, former U.S. representative Travis Childers, who announced on the eve of the March 1 filing deadline that he is entering the U.S. Senate contest in Mississippi, where incumbent GOP Sen. Thad Cochran is running for re-election. Cochran first faces a June primary threat from state Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party favorite.

Incumbents seldom lose re-election, but if McDaniel were to defeat Cochran in the primary, Democrats face potentially better odds in the general election contest, where recent elections have resulted in Democratic victories over Tea Party candidates in states like Indiana and Delaware. However, the Deep South remains an uphill climb for Democrats running statewide.

Overall, the 2014 landscape is tilting in the GOP's favor and the party is working to put more races in play to improve their prospects for a takeover.

Republicans are also touting the recent entry of Ed Gillespie, a prominent national GOP strategist, into Virginia's Senate race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Warner as another top recruit who could transform what had been second-tier races this cycle into potentially decisive races in determining Senate control.

Republicans are also not ruling out a run at Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., as well, but the party has yet to coalesce around a candidate. The GOP's top choice, former senator Scott Brown, R-Mass., recently switched his residency to the Granite State and has teased a potential Senate run in a new state, but he has yet to make a decision.

Justin Barasky, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats' campaign operation, scoffed at the GOP's trio of recent and potential recruits. "Kudos to Republicans for landing people that can form coherent sentences, but it will not paper over the fact that they support a reckless and irresponsible Republican agenda that is wildly unpopular amongst voters," he said.

Democrats, however, have no additional states to expand the map in 2014, and they are defending more races overall...

PREVIOUSLY: "'The battle for control of the U.S. Senate is where the action is this year in American politics...'"

Charles Krauthammer: Obama Adminstration Calls Climate Change Greatest Threat, Shocked Russians Interested in Territory

From Erika Johnsen, at Hot Air, "Krauthammer: The admin that thinks climate change is our biggest security threat is shocked that Russia is interested in territory."

And listen at the clip, an amazing segment:

Edgar Martirosyan Delivers Pizza to Maria Menounos on Piers Morgan's Show

Talk about a life-changing turn at work.

On Sunday, the dude thought he was dropping off pizza pies to stage hands. And now he's a celebrity

At CNN, "Piers Morgan, Maria Menounos and the most famous pizza guy in the world."



More at LAT, "L.A.-area pizza company seizes Oscar spotlight, milks new fame."