Ukraine's Loss of Crimea Has NATO Examining Its Core Mission

At the Los Angeles Times, "NATO member nations are split over how aggressively to respond to Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula":

BRUSSELS — Last fall, nearly 6,000 NATO troops, mostly in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, trained to repel an invasion by a fictional country that bore an uncanny resemblance to Russia.

Five months later that scenario no longer seems so remote.

The reality of tens of thousands of Russian troops assembled along Ukraine's border has forced the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to confront long-deferred issues about its capability — and collective will — to respond to aggressive moves by Moscow.
The recent ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich and Russia's belligerent response has the 65-year-old alliance thinking again about its core mission of common defense at a time when its resources, including those of the U.S., are stretched thin.

That reflection has exposed a deep division among NATO's 28 member nations.

In a visit to Belgium on Wednesday that included a stop at NATO headquarters, President Obama vowed the alliance would "uphold" its commitment to defend its members. In a clear warning to Moscow, he called for stationing more forces in NATO countries "that may feel vulnerable."

Some experts say that if Moscow began to seriously threaten NATO members, the U.S. would need to at least partially rebuild its military presence in Europe, which once included more than 250,000 troops, hundreds of tanks, fighters jets and other equipment for rapid response against the Soviet army. The number of U.S. troops in Europe now stands at about 70,000 and dropping.

For now, that remains a distant possibility. Obama has all but ruled out direct U.S. military involvement in Ukraine, noting that the country is not a NATO member and therefore outside the alliance's collective security umbrella...

More.

And at the New York Times, "Obama Renewing U.S. Commitment to NATO Alliance."

Also, from Stephen Walt (yes, that Stephen Walt, FWIW), "Would You Die for That Country?"

Harsh Life of Missing 8-Year-Old Relisha Rudd Comes Into Focus

An almost unbelievable story of bureaucratic incompetence and incomprehensible evil.

At the Washington Post, "Relisha Rudd’s difficult past comes into focus":

Relisha Rudd’s absences piled up at Daniel A. Payne Elementary School, topping 30 days this year before someone notified the D.C. Child and Family Service Agency on March 13.

But it took an additional six days before the city agency took action. By then, Relisha, 8, had gone missing.

Police believe Kahlil Malik Tatum, 51, a janitor at the homeless shelter at the old D.C. General Hospital, where Relisha lived, killed his wife and now has the girl. They are looking for them up and down the East Coast.

With the search now into its eighth day with no breaks, Relisha’s difficult past is coming into focus. Guardians, social workers and employees at the subsidized shelter had extensive contact with Relisha but missed or ignored repeated opportunities to intervene weeks or even years ago, records show. And her mother, who allowed Relisha to be with Tatum, told school officials her daughter was missing school because she was sick, an explanation that authorities say delayed their ability to respond...

Keep reading this sorry-assed report.

I mean really? Who lets their 8-year-old child spend the days with a janitor at a homeless shelter? This dude Tatum took the child "swimming" and bought her presents. Hey, no hints something's awry there. Nope, not at all. And child protective services? No clue. Can you say city-agency clusterf-k?

This is not good. Not good at all. Ima say a prayer now.

Professor Tyler Cowen Attacked While Teaching Class at George Mason University

A freakin' left-wing nut job tried to place him under citizen's arrest, and pepper-sprayed him.

At Instapundit, "I HOPE THE STUDENTS HURT THIS GUY SOME WHEN THEY CAUGHT HIM AND HELD HIM FOR THE COPS":

I encourage Tyler to show no mercy to this sorry subhuman. I wouldn’t.

From the comments: “Progs really are going Full Metal Retard these days.”

Indeed.

And like I always say, block, ban, and report the f-kers.

How the West Brought About the Crisis in #Ukraine

Via Julia Ioffe on Twitter, this is fascinating.

At the New York Times, "In Crimea, Russia Moved to Throw Off the Cloak of Defeat":

Very important piece by David @herszenhorn on how, in part, the crisis in #Ukraine is the West's fault. http://t.co/zrFJ0otTmt

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 25, 2014

SEVASTOPOL, Crimea — With a single diesel-electric submarine and a hodgepodge of other aging vessels, Russia’s rickety Black Sea Fleet would be no match for the United States’ Sixth Fleet, based in Italy, which boasts the latest in seaborne military technology and has been running drills nearby.

Still, the legendary Russian fleet, whose headquarters have been here since 1783, is within a day’s sailing of the Mediterranean and remains crucial to the Kremlin’s ability to exert strategic influence in the Middle East and beyond.

Safeguarding this maritime muscle may well have been one reason President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sent armed forces to seize Crimea. But is it possible that the Sevastopol base is just the most concrete manifestation of Russia’s deep interests in Ukraine that the United States and its NATO allies either ignored or forgot as they tried to bind it more tightly with the West?

For years, Mr. Putin has complained about the West moving unilaterally to reorder the Continental balance of power — promoting Western capitalism and democracy — with little indication anyone was heeding his concerns. Its courting of Ukraine, apparently, was a step too far, prompting Mr. Putin to risk sanctions and the worst conflict since the Cold War to make clear that Washington and its friends do not call all of the shots anymore.

The annexation here, and the Russian troops still massed on the border of eastern Ukraine, seem a clear and sharp message from Mr. Putin that the future of Ukraine and the broader region, especially Moldova and Georgia, which are also being courted by Europe, will not be decided by the West alone.

“For 23 years after 1991, Russia has been treated consciously or subconsciously as defeated in the Cold War,” said Dmitry Kosyrev, a writer and political commentator with the RIA Novosti news agency in Moscow. “Russia has not accepted this mentality. We have something to say. We have not only interest, but experience. We are not a defeated country in the Cold War; we are something separate like India, like China.”

Mr. Kosyrev added, “Not talking to us, not accepting our point of view, that’s exactly what brought Europe and the United States to the crisis in Ukraine.”

The Obama administration and European leaders, of course, insist that it is Russia and Mr. Putin who acted aggressively and unilaterally, refusing to hear the view of Ukrainian citizens who took to the streets of Kiev in November after the president at the time, Viktor F. Yanukovych, broke his promise to sign political and trade accords with the European Union.

The contest for influence in Ukraine, long torn between Russia and the West, stretches back much further than last autumn. It is part of a wider tug-of-war that the West had dominated since the fall of the Soviet Union, drawing into Europe’s fold not just former Eastern bloc nations like Poland and Bulgaria, but the ex-Soviet republics — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — in the Baltics.

Mr. Putin and many Russians believe that the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev had received assurances that the NATO alliance would not extend beyond a reunited Germany. They consider it a betrayal that NATO now includes the Baltics, reaching Russia’s borders — a point that Mr. Putin stressed in his speech announcing the annexation of Crimea.

“They have lied to us many times, made decisions behind our backs, placed us before an accomplished fact,” Mr. Putin said. “This happened with NATO’s expansion to the East, as well as the deployment of military infrastructure at our borders. They kept telling us the same thing: ‘Well, this does not concern you.’ That’s easy to say.”

More.

Hammered in Ratings and Revenues, @MSNBC Hangs On for Dear Life

It's a terrible network with stupid commentators. Its tanking corresponds perfectly with the growing toxicity of the far-left, Democrat Party brand under this corrupt, amateur-hour Obama administration.

From Dylan Byers, at Politico, "MSNBC is in serious trouble":

This is the story of MSNBC in a nutshell: It rose to prominence on its criticism of George W. Bush, peaked during Barack Obama's historic 2008 campaign, and, by criticizing Republicans and championing liberal causes, sustained its viewership in the years that followed.

Until now.

MSNBC suffered harder loses in 2013 -- in terms of both viewership and revenue -- than either of its competitors at Fox News and CNN, according to Nielsen data featured in a new Pew Research report. Prime-time viewership declined by a staggering 24 percent (nearly twice the loss sustained by CNN and four-times that sustained by Fox News). Daytime viewership fell by 15 percent, even as it rose at both of the other networks.

On the revenue side, MSNBC was projected to decline by 2 percent, while both CNN and Fox News were projected to experience growth of 2 percent and 5 percent, respectively. MSNBC was expected to bring in $475 million in revenue: less than half what CNN will make and roughly one-quarter of what Fox News will make.

Conventional wisdom has it that cable news doesn't have much of a future: The audience is old and getting older, the television landscape is growing more and more fractured, appointment viewing is becoming a thing of the past, etc. Certainly, every cable news network lost viewers last year. But this version of events often ignores the incredible revenue gains made each year by Fox News (like a rocket) and CNN (far more gradual, but we're still talking billions).

MSNBC isn't seeing that growth, and it's not clear how it will. In a world where liberals wanted to be outraged by George Bush every night, or celebrate the rise of Barack Obama, MSNBC had a theory of the case. But now Obama's presidency has turned into a slog, and MSNBC isn't compelling. Prime time is just hours of what often seems like feigned outrage. And the daytime strategy -- giving shows to kids in their 20s and 30s, in an apparent bid to reach the youths -- is comically bad, and rendered absurd at every commercial break when the catheter ads come on...

Sheesh.

Maybe MSNBC President Phil Griffin will put these losers out of their misery. Maybe some higher-up will put Phil Griffin out of his misery. These stooges are all messed up. Obviously, Melissa Harris-Perry, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, Touré Neblett, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ed Schultz and Al Sharpton aren't cutting the mustard, the buttfreak race-baiting morons. Poor things. Ima about to cry (not).

Sammy Braddy for Zoo Today

She's a lovely British Page 3 model.

At Egotastic!, "Sammy Braddy in Art of Seduction Zoo Photoshoot 2014."

'Fortress Venice' — Officials Seek to Restrict Street Access to Venice Beach Tourist Attraction

It's been not quite a year ago since I was up there, "Chillin' in Santa Monica and Venice Beach."

I've had a hankering to return, actually. But I better hurry up about it, if this front-page report at the Los Angeles Times is any indication, "Officials seek to tame Venice boardwalk":

Spencer Davis was chatting up tourists on the Venice boardwalk when police officers pulled up in front of his display of plastic alien heads.

Had Davis seen a man threatening people with a chain saw, they asked?

"Not today," he quipped with a smile, assuming that the officers were joking.

Then he turned around and saw police officers, their guns drawn, with a man holding a chain saw.

"Just when you think you've seen it all…" Davis said.

For all the gentrification, designer homes and tourist attractions, Venice is still that kind of place — where artists, the homeless, Silicon Beach hipsters, surfers, inline skaters and tourists come together along a circus-like boardwalk.

Over the last few decades, the city has tried to tame the scene on Ocean Front Walk, but with limited success. Now, City Hall is making what some locals consider the most concerted effort yet to bring control to the area.

The city is considering a series of safety measures, including security cameras, more lights and a public address system, as well as closing off about 20 of the 32 streets that dead-end onto Ocean Front Walk. To accomplish that, the plan also calls for the installation of automated retractable posts, as well as gates, planters or other measures at the locations to prevent cars from getting onto the boardwalk....

Critics say that the city is trying to turn the beloved boardwalk — one of California's top tourist draws — into "Fortress Venice."

"If you can't even go to the beach without being watched," said Venice Neighborhood Council President Linda Lucks, "where can you go?"

More.

'Demographics look promising for the Democratic Party, but the people who make up those demographics seek economic change that the party shows no signs of delivering – and may not be able to deliver...'

That's part of the conclusion from Thomas Edsall, at the New York Times, "How Strong Will the Anti-Democratic Backlash Be?"

Because the Dems are so poor at restoring economic growth, there's no reason demographics is destiny for the party. That is, by alienating their own natural constituencies on the economy, the Dems have no lock on the presidency in 2016 and beyond. So, forget all the talk about the GOP permanently in the wilderness after this year. Sure, Republicans need to court minority demographics, but whites are still 70 percent of the electorate and Democrats are alienating white voters in increasing numbers. (See the passage on Sean Trende at the piece.)

More at Gallup, "U.S. Whites More Solidly Republican in Recent Years." And also at Gallup, older voters are abandoning the Obama-Democrat clusterf-k coalition, "U.S. Seniors Have Realigned With the Republican Party."

Thrasher Magazine Coverage of Vans Skatepark Huntington Beach Grand Opening

Remember earlier, "My Buddy Broke His Hip at the Vans Skatepark Opening Yesterday."

Well my friend, Todd, is featured briefly in Thrasher Magazine's video coverage of the grand opening. Not the best way to get picked up by the skateboarding mags, although it definitely preserves the memories.

Also, "Huntington Beach, CA skatepark opening."

Leftists, Unions Prepare Attacks Against Bruce Rauner in Illinois

I heard about Bruce Rauner the other day, at Director Blue, "RUMBLE: Is Illinois Finally Ready to Embrace Fiscal Sanity by Electing its Own Scott Walker?"

A gubernatorial candidate in the Scott Walker mold? Oh boy, that'll bring out the knives on the regressive left.

At the New York Times, "Union Leaders Gird for Battle Against Republican Running for Governor of Illinois":

CHICAGO — With the selection of a multimillionaire businessman to be the Republican candidate for governor in Illinois, union leaders have begun bracing for one of their starkest campaign battles of the year over the fate of public sector labor unions, pensions and pay.

The first-time candidate, Bruce Rauner, has been denounced by union leaders, some of whom say they fear he will try to be the next Mitch Daniels, the former Republican governor of Indiana who ended collective bargaining for state workers by executive order, or a knockoff of Gov. Scott Walker, the Wisconsin Republican who led efforts to cut collective bargaining rights for most public employees in his state.

“He’s clearly a man obsessed with destroying unions,” Roberta Lynch, deputy director of the local council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said on Wednesday, a day after Mr. Rauner won a closer-than-expected race against three veterans of Illinois politics. “He’s trying to stir up resentment of public employees — teachers, police officers, firefighters.”

What a great guy!

More here.

Yep, the regressive idiots are losing it over this guy, at Daily Kos, "As one-percenter Bruce Rauner narrowly wins GOP nomination, Democrats attack on minimum wage."

Pluralism, Individualism, and Religious Liberty

You gotta read this essay from Yuval Levin, and follow the links to Emily Bazelon and Ross Douthat.

California Congressional Crony Barbara Boxer: Why No Hobby Lobby Complaints About Viagra?

This moron is an embarrassment to the people of California, and it's hard to be an embarrassment in this state. You've really got to find the imbecile's wheelhouse to get freakazoid traction around here. But never underestimate Babs Boxer's mind-boggling stupidity.

From Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Boxer: Why doesn’t Hobby Lobby oppose Viagra?":

Behold one of the most chronically misinformed members of the US Senate surprising utterly no one with the extent of her insight into the Hobby Lobby case.  Barbara Boxer appeared on MSNBC this morning to declare her support for the HHS contraception mandate, claiming at one point that it protects the religious freedom of employees. As Twitchy captured in this segment, Boxer then goes on to challenge Hobby Lobby’s owners for hypocrisy for not opposing insurance coverage of Viagra for men … which even flummoxes Boxer’s MSNBC interviewer...

First and foremost, Viagra (and other erectile-dysfunction drugs and treatments) aren’t widely covered by insurance. That’s one reason why a large online market for inexpensive purchases of the drugs exist. Second, as anyone who gives a moment’s thought about the subject would realize, such drugs would be appropriate to help empower natural procreation, which isn’t against anyone’s religion, last I checked. Lastly, and this is a more minor point, Boxer ignorantly invokes the Catholicism of the plaintiffs in this court hearing, when none of them are actually Catholic.

The religious objection is to contraception and sterilization, and in the Hobby Lobby case, it’s narrowed to a specific kind of contraception — abortifacients. Boxer blithely dismisses the distinction and blathers about the employer taking away the woman’s right to choose her form of contraception — which is nonsense....

A blithering blight of mendacity.

Video at the link.

And at Twitchy, "Pathological ignorance: Sen. Boxer’s Hobby Lobby strawmen ‘need Viagra to stand up’ [video]."

Protip: If you have to bring Viagra into a discussion about birth control, you don't really have any idea of what you're talking about.

— RB (@RBPundit) March 25, 2014

BASE Jumping the World Trade Center

At the New York Post, "WTC BASE jumpers’ wild ride through their eyes."

And at Hot Air, "Video: The Freedom Tower BASE jump":

Footage that’s simultaneously old and new. The jump happened six months ago but the clip didn’t hit YouTube until yesterday, when the responsible parties finally surrendered to the NYPD to face charges of burglary, reckless endangerment, and jumping from a structure. (“Burglary” in New York is broader than theft committed while inside a building unlawfully.) The cops have been looking for them since September. Partly that’s because the idea of strange men parachuting onto the streets of lower Manhattan with impunity is … problematic, and partly that’s because it’s a staggering security lapse for the city to have missed a bunch of guys sneaking undetected into the tower that replaced the World Trade Center. (According to one defendant, they simply stepped through a hole in the fence around the perimeter that was covered with a tarp.)

So, with nothing left to lose and maybe a little to gain, the BASErs finally put the clip online...

Astonishing Poll Shows 38-Year Democratic Congressman Down 14 Points

I love this!

At iOWNTHEWORLD, "38-year Dem congressman, Nick Rahall, down 14 points":

Washington Examiner...

Here’s an astonishing poll: David Freddoso at Conservative Intelligence Briefing links to a report by the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake that West Virginia 3rd district incumbent Rep. Nick Rahall trails Republican challenger state Sen. Evan Jenkins by a 54-percent to 40-percent margin. The poll was conducted by the Tarrance Group, a Republican firm which, like several Democratic and other Republican firms, has had a good record for reliability over the years.

This is astonishing for several reasons. Rahall, first elected in 1976, is now the seventh most senior member of the House, with three of the more senior members retiring (John Dingell, Henry Waxman, George Miller) and another with a serious primary challenge (Charlie Rangel). Moreover, his district in southern West Virginia has historically been very Democratic; in its previous boundaries it voted for Walter Mondale over Ronald Reagan in 1984. Rahall won in 1976 by 46 percent to 37 percent over Ken Hechler, his predecessor in the seat, who after losing a Democratic primary for governor ran as a write-in candidate; the Republican nominee received only 18 percent of the vote. From 1978 to 2008, Rahall was re-elected with at least 64 percent of the vote, except in 1990 when he beat Republican Marianne Brewster by only 52 percent to 48 percent.

But this is coal country, and Rahall’s margins have gone down after President Obama was elected president. In 2010, Rahall won by a reduced margin of 56 percent to 44 percent, and in 2012, his margin was only 54 percent to 46 percent. Obama’s unpopularity surely cost him: John McCain carried the district within its then-boundaries by a 56-percent to 42-percent margin in 2008, and Mitt Romney carried the current district 65 percent to 33 percent in 2012. Rahall is ranking Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and was Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee when Democrats had a majority in the House; these are committee positions of importance to a mountainous coal district, but apparently they are not enough to help him now...

More.

'I’m Joni Ernst. I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm. So when I get to Washington, I’ll know how to cut pork...'

At iOWNTHEWORLD, "On Tuesday, Iowa senatorial candidate Joni Ernst, a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard, released an ad on behalf of her campaign. The ad contained one of the greatest opening pitches in political history..."

Shock Video Shows Blonde Woman Harassed at Cairo University

Because Muslim societies are so progressive and all that.

At London's Daily Mail, "What happened when a blonde woman in a sexy pink top walks through a Cairo university campus? Viral video captures crowds of baying men swarming around female."

The YouTube clip is here.

Victoria's Secret Very Sexy

Via Theo Spark.

I whoop it up around the house when these commercials come on the television, heh.

USC to Offer Class in 'Google Glass Journalism'

Not quite sure how this is supposed work, but see Mashable, "USC Is Offering a Google Glass Course for Journalism":

OK, Glass, it's time to change journalism.

That will be the collective mindset of students taking "Glass Journalism," a new course slated for the fall semester at the University of Southern California, where students will be tasked with thinking up new ways for journalists to tell stories using augmented reality and Google Glass.

It's a first-of-its-kind class for USC, and web-journalism professor Robert Hernandez believes the class offers a rare opportunity for journalism to get ahead of a budding technology trend. Hernandez said journalists have been followers — not trailblazers — when using other technology like mobile and social media, but that the industry has a chance for a head start with Glass.

"As someone who hijacks technology for journalism, I want to be proactive about shaping what journalism will look like on this," said Hernandez, who worked most recently as director of development for The Seattle Times before joining USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 2009. “This platform is so new, no one has defined what journalism looks like on there. It’s such an opportunity for the journalism industry to jump on there.”

Something tells me we still need good old-fashioned journalism, like reporters digging for the truth and reporting it. But hey, it's the 21st century so everything has to be cutting edge.

Continue reading.

Conservative Justices Seem Poised to Deal Blow to #ObamaCare

That's the headline to David Savage's piece at the Los Angeles Times.

I doubt folks should get their hopes up. Remember the Court's decision upholding the individual mandate as a tax in 2012, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. That was a crushing defeat for conservatives. So personally, I just don't read that much into oral arguments, despite the widespread reporting today that a majority on the Court were hostile to the administration's position on the law's contraceptive mandate. (See the Washington Post as well, "Supreme Court seems sympathetic to firms on contraceptives case.")



More from Lyle Denniston, at SCOTUSblog, "Argument recap: One hearing, two dramas" (via Memeorandum).

#Ukraine Illustrates Hard Truths Leftists Won't Face

At Instapundit, "KURT SCHLICHTER: Ukraine Illustrates Hard Truths Liberals Won’t Face":

“Now we are in the almost unimaginable position of looking back at Jimmy Carter as an example of comparatively sure, savvy leadership. The Russians invaded Afghanistan and Carter armed the rebels. The Russians invaded Crimea and Barack Obama went on Ellen to hear the hostess gush about how much America loves Obamacare.”

True, but Carter's about face was too little too late.

BONUS: At Reason, "Students For Liberty Against Ron Paul on Crimean Crisis." And from Dave Weigel, at Slate, "Ron Paul and a New Libertarian Rift Over Ukraine."

Afghanistan Is No Vietnam

From Michael O'Hanlon, at the National Interest:

Several weeks ago, reputable news organizations like Politico and CNN reported the results of a survey of Americans in which support for the Afghanistan war, now in its thirteenth year, was lower than public support had ever been for the Vietnam conflict. Reportedly, this polling data is influencing White House advisors to President Obama, who favor a rapid end to the war, including perhaps even a "zero option" for next year (after the current NATO mission there will have ended).

On its surface, the views of political advisors to the president seem easy to understand. After all, Vietnam brought down President Johnson. In such a context, getting the United States out of Afghanistan as completely and quickly as possible would seem imperative for the Obama administration.

Balderdash. In fact, this reading of the recent polls on Afghanistan is simply wrong, and the way in which the American media tended to report on it was fundamentally misleading.

Anyone who thinks the Afghanistan mission is less popular than Vietnam does not remember or understand the latter conflict. Unlike the case with the war in Southeast Asia, the nation's intensity of sentiment about Afghanistan, while admittedly not positive, is very mild.

It is true that less than 20 percent of all Americans view the Afghanistan war positively. In light of its length, its many frustrations, and President Karzai's attitude towards the United States, this is not entirely surprising.

But the attitudes about Afghanistan are not deeply felt across the public or the electorate. To be sure, among troops and diplomats and others who have served, and their families, the sacrifice has often been great and the sentiments about the war can be powerful—for good and for bad. But such a group, even very broadly defined, constitutes about 1 percent of the country.

The fine testimony before Congress last week of war commander General Joseph Dunford was notable largely for the lack of coverage it produced by the media, and the lack of interest by most Americans. There were no huge protests, no big newspaper advertisements calling for an end to the war, and relatively little partisan skirmishing on the subject even in these politically tumultuous times.

Any student of polling should know that polls about given subjects in public policy are only meaningful if they capture intensity. Vietnam tore this country apart. Afghanistan makes it yawn...

Yes, but either way, the results will be the same: a precipitous U.S. withdraw and a power vacuum filled by America's international rivals, especially Russia. There's already jockeying for position in Kabul. At the New York Times, "Breaking With the West, Afghan Leader Supports Russia’s Annexation of Crimea." And Moscow seeks to maximize its economic gains as well. At the Washington Post, "As U.S. war ends, Russia returns to Afghanistan with series of investment projects."

We're watching the spoiled fruits of the Obama administration's incompetence and moral bankruptcy, now causing the deepest collapse of U.S. power and international respect since Jimmy Carter's term in office. See Victor Davis Hanson, at National Review, "A New Obama Doctrine? With his presidency in a tailspin, Carter radically changed course. Will Obama do the same?"

Time-Lapse Video: Vans Skatepark Huntington Beach

This is cool.



And at the H.B. Independent, "'Everything is all good' at skate park."

Merkel and Europe Seek Harder Line on Putin

At Der Spiegel, "Dancing with the Bear: Merkel Seeks a Hardline on Putin":

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spent many years trying to understand Russian President Vladimir Putin. But even she didn't expect him to annex Crimea. Now, she and her European counterparts are struggling to come up with a response.

Last Monday was a day of historic comparisons for Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Immediately prior, almost 97 percent of voters on the Crimea Peninsula had voted in favor of joining Russia, an outcome that reminded the chancellor of the East Germany where she grew up. "Every result over 90 percent in this world has to be viewed with skepticism," Merkel said. After a brief, dramatic pause, she added: "With the exception of my election to the party chairmanship, of course."

Her comment was greeted with laughter, but it would remain the only buoyant moment that morning. The focus of the meeting was squarely on Russia and the crisis in Ukraine. Hesse Governor Volker Bouffier spoke of the West's "distressing helplessness" in the face of Russia's annexation of Crimea and said he was reminded of the year 1938 when the world did nothing to prevent Adolf Hitler's takeover of the Sudetenland in what was then Czechoslovakia. CDU General Secretary Peter Tauber, who holds a Ph.D. in history, pointed out that, just as now with the Winter Olympics in Sochi, there had been an Olympics prior to the Sudetenland seizure: 1936 in Berlin.

They are comparisons that lead to only one possible conclusion: Europe must stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin: no appeasement, a stern response. Until the Crimea referendum, Merkel had charted a completely different course for Germany in the Ukraine crisis; she had sought to work closely with Moscow in an effort to avoid a direct confrontation. But once Putin annexed Crimea, Merkel was forced to take an uncharacteristically hardline approach. Normally happy to wait and observe as a situation unfolds, Merkel went on the offensive last week, telling German parliament that "without a doubt, economic sanctions will be considered" should the situation become more critical.

For a chancellor who prefers to move slowly, it was a strong statement. For a leader who famously likes to think things through to the end, it was a confusing one. What, exactly, is her strategy? In levying sanctions, it is vital to have a clear understanding of your adversary and what goals he is pursuing. And it is important to have more patience. Does Merkel believe that the mere threat of painful economic sanctions will prevent Putin from sitting down to a meal of eastern Ukraine after his Crimean appetizer? Or is she really prepared to pursue the spiraling logic of sanctions? Whether she wants to or not, Merkel has to dance with the Russian bear. And it is unclear who has the lead.

Isolating Russia

The situation is an uncomfortable one for the German chancellor. But several telephone calls with the Russian president in recent weeks have led her to the conclusion that there is no other option at the moment. Even as the lines of communication to Moscow remain open, travel bans have been issued, accounts have been frozen and targeted economic sanctions have been prepared. The international community is isolating Russia.

On Friday evening, the Chancellery saw the first positive effects of Merkel's clear path on Russia. After days of back-and-forth over a possible observer mission by the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) for Ukraine, Moscow finally agreed. It was interpreted as a reaction to Western pressure. The determination and unity showed by the US and EU surprised Moscow, it was said.

But Merkel's path is not uncontroversial, neither within her governing coalition with the center-left Social Democrats nor within her own party. "If we levy economic sanctions and we are the ones most affected in the end, then they serve nobody," said Armin Laschet, deputy head of the CDU. Unsurprisingly, the German business community likewise believes that sanctions are the wrong approach. It is difficult to calculate their true costs and the price tag of an EU effort to provide financial assistance to Ukraine is likewise hard to estimate. One billion euros alone will be needed to stave off an immediate Ukraine insolvency.

And then there are the voters.

I like how the Germans don't blanch at the Nazi-Russia comparisons.

Continue reading.

Investigators Say Malaysia Flight 370 Crashed in 'Suicide Mission'

At Telegraph UK, "Malaysia Airlines crash: Suicide mission theory of MH370 investigators":

Sources close to investigation tell Telegraph that team working on MH370 mystery believe it was crashed deliberately.

Flight MH370 crashed into the Indian Ocean in an apparent suicide mission, well-placed sources revealed have revealed, as Malaysia’s prime minister announced that everyone on the missing aircraft had died.

The team investigating the Boeing 777’s disappearance believe no malfunction or fire was capable of causing the aircraft’s unusual flight or the disabling of its communications system before it veered wildly off course on a seven-hour silent flight into the sea. An analysis of the flight’s routing, signalling and communications shows that it was flown “in a rational way”.

An official source told The Telegraph that investigators believe “this has been a deliberate act by someone on board who had to have had the detailed knowledge to do what was done ... Nothing is emerging that points to motive.”

Asked about the possibility of a plane malfunction or an on-board fire, the source said: “It just does not hinge together... [The investigators] have gone through processes you do to get the plane where it flew to for eight hours. They point to it being flown in a rational way.”

Yesterday the worst fears of the families of the 239 people on board were realised when Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister, announced that no one could have survived.

The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the British satellite firm Inmarsat provided information that led to his conclusions, but Britain was also caught in the middle of an international blame game over delays in the right search area being pinpointed.

Relatives of the missing passengers are angry that Inmarsat worked out within 24 hours that MH370 was likely to have crashed where the search is now concentrated, but it took a further 10 days for rescue teams to act on the information.

Despite no confirmed sightings of wreckage, Mr Razak revealed that new analysis by the AAIB and Inmarsat showed the plane ended its eight-hour flight on March 8 in the deep, remote waters of the Indian Ocean, about 1,500 miles west of Perth, with no survivors.

“This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites,” he said.
“It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”

How Satellite Analysts Found Route of Missing Jetliner

At LAT, "British company analyzes satellite data for Malaysia Flight 370":

The British company whose satellite data helped direct search efforts for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 toward the south Indian Ocean said about two weeks ago that it had received “routine” and “automated” signals from the missing Boeing 777.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who announced Monday that the plane carrying 239 people "ended in the southern Indian Ocean" with no hope of survivors, said the company, Inmarsat, has been performing additional calculations on satellite data. Flight 370 disappeared March 8.

"Using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort, they have been able to shed more light on MH370’s flight path."

While the Boeing 777's transponders and communications systems were disabled, the airplane's satellite terminal was still on, "pinging" to try to maintain a connection with a satellite.

Tim Farrar, president of the consulting and research firm Telecom, Media & Finance Associates Inc. in Menlo Park, Calif., who is familiar with Inmarsat satellites, said the company looked at the Doppler effect to understand the speed of the plane relative to the satellite. This gave them two probable arcs of possible flight paths: One to the north and one to the south.

"The arcs were based on time shift --how long the ping took to reach the satellite -- which gave a distance and thus an arc," Farrar said. "By looking at speed -- and comparing to other planes at the same distance from the satellite -- it was possible to determine the plane was not in the Northern Hemisphere and pin down the track with a high probability."

More.

U.S., Western Allies Agree to Boycott G-8 Summit in Russia

At the New York Times, "Russia Is Ousted From Group of 8 by U.S. and Allies."

And at the Washington Post, "Obama, allies agree to boycott Group of Eight meeting in Russia, isolating Vladi­mir Putin":

THE HAGUE — The world’s major industrial nations on Monday effectively suspended Russia indefinitely from the Group of Eight and warned that they would impose stronger economic sanctions against Moscow if President Vladi­mir Putin expands his military intervention in Ukraine.

The decision followed a push by President Obama for a united stand by wealthy nations against what he has called Russia’s violation of international law with the annexation of Crimea this month. Obama and the leaders of six allied nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain — agreed Monday to boycott a planned G-8 summit meeting in Sochi, Russia, in June, effectively isolating Putin. Instead, they said they would convene as the Group of Seven in Brussels during the same time frame...

More.

A decision like this might have had more effect had it been imposed a month ago. Frankly, sanctions aren't likely to alter Putin's path, although a firm response now could give the West more influence in future iterations with Russia.

Syria Crucifixion Video

Saw this at Blazing Cat Fur, "Al Qaeda splinter group crucify man in Raqqa (northern Syria)."

Marine Le Pen's Earthquake Rocks France

At the Economist, "French politics: Marine Le Pen's triumph":

FOR Libération, it was a “slap in the face”. For Le Monde, another daily newspaper, it was an “earthquake”. The first round of voting in French municipal elections on March 23rd was a clear snub to François Hollande, the French president, whose Socialist Party did worse than polls had predicted in several towns. If there was a symbolic victor ahead of the second round of voting on March 30th, it was Marine Le Pen (pictured), the leader of the populist National Front.

First-round voting is only a partial guide to final results next weekend. But a few early conclusions can be drawn after the polls closed last night. The first is that the French are fed up with Mr Hollande. This will not come as a surprise. Thanks to high unemployment, low economic growth and political amateurishness, his popularity rating, at just 19%, is the lowest of a president of the Fifth Republic at this stage into his term. But this was the first chance the French have had to send him this message through the ballot box.

Voters did this partly by staying at home. Abstention went up from 33% in 2008 to 36%, a new record for municipal elections, and a low turnout tends to penalise the left. There was also a clear rebuke of the Socialist Party in towns where it had expected to do well. In Marseilles, for example, the left had hopes of winning control of a city where the governing centre-right UMP has failed to curb a violent organised-crime wave. Yet Patrick Mennucci, the Socialist candidate, came in third place, with just 21% of the vote, behind both the UMP and the National Front.

To their relief, the Socialists look well placed to hold on to Paris. Although the UMP candidate, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, came out marginally ahead of Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist candidate, in first-round voting, the city’s indirect election favours the left. But the Socialists face a difficult run-off in a string of other towns where they did not score as highly as they had hoped, including Toulouse, Amiens, Reims, Saint-Etienne, Quimper and Caen. Jean-Marc Ayrault, the prime minister, acknowledged grimly in a televised statement after the first-round results, that voters had expressed their “worries” and “doubts”.

It is the National Front, however, that pulled off the real electoral feat. The Eurosceptic, nationalist, anti-immigration party fielded more candidates than it has ever done at local elections, even in its heyday under Jean-Marie Le Pen, Ms Le Pen’s father. It managed to grab control of one town hall, in the former mining town of Hénin-Beaumont in France’s industrial north: Steeve Briois, the National Front candidate, won outright in the first round with just over 50% of the vote, evicting the left. He becomes the front’s first mayor since Mr Le Pen’s party won control of three southern towns, Toulon, Orange and Marignane, in 1995. This is a first in the French north.

Moreover, the National Front came top in a string of other towns, setting it up for a second-round contest.

More.

And at the New York Times, "Far-Right Party Stirs Municipal Elections in France."

Rose McGowan Steps Out After Romantic Dinner at Craig's Restaurant in West Hollywood

At Egotastic!, "Rose McGowan Seen leaving Craig's Restaurant in West Hollywood."

BONUS: At last week's London's Daily Mail, "Lady in red! Rose McGowan, 40, is flawless in a slinky crimson dress for a night out at the Chateau Marmont."

More Americans Say Polarization in Congress Is Good

From the new poll out at USA Today, "Divided we still stand – and getting used to it":

The sharp political divide that Americans say they hate may be becoming the new normal.

A USA TODAY/Bipartisan Policy Center poll taken this month, the fourth in a year-long series, shows no change in the overwhelming consensus that U.S. politics have become more divided in recent years.

But sentiments have shifted significantly during the past year about whether the nation's unyielding political divide is a positive or a negative. In February 2013, Americans said by nearly 4-1 that the heightened division is a bad thing because it makes it harder to get things done.

In the new poll, the percentage who describe the divide as bad has dropped by nearly 20 percentage points, to 55% from 74%. And the number who say it's a good thing — because it gives voters a real choice — has doubled to 40% from 20%.

"Honestly, I feel like Congress is designed to be slow, so it could be frustrating but that's how they are designed to be," Gage Egurrola, 23, a salesman from Caldwell, Idaho, who was among those surveyed. "It helps stop bad policies."

Shar Wright, 65, of Bodfish, Calif., disagrees. "I think this is the new normal, and I think it's terrible," she says. "They're putting their own agendas first and they should be voting on what the people want and what the country needs. What we need is a lot more care, a lot more concern and a lot less of tomfoolery."

The shift in public opinion toward Egurrola's view may reflect broadening acceptance of Washington's polarization as an inevitable fact of life. Skepticism about the government's ability to solve big problems, fueled by concerns about the Affordable Care Act, could play a part as well. It sets a landscape that could boost Republicans in the November elections, minimizing the impact of Democratic charges that GOP forces have been obstructionist.

Now, Americans say it's more important for their representative in Congress to stop bad laws than to pass new ones. On that, there is no partisan divide: 54% of Republicans and 51% of Democrats say blocking bad laws should be their priority.

Indeed, we have to stop terrible Democrat Party legislation from ever seeing the light of day. The f-kers are destroying this once great nation, sheesh.

Luckily, Republicans are in line to make sweeping gains in Congress this year. And by next year, hopefully, the public will support significant legislative fixes to the predicament the left has gotten us into. Seriously, if the GOP controls both chambers  the pressure on the White House to compromise will be overwhelming.

So, until then!

More at the link.

No Hope for Flight 370, Says Malaysia Prime Minister

At the Los Angeles Times, "Malaysia prime minister: Flight 'ended in the southern Indian Ocean'."

And a live blog at Telegraph UK, "Malaysia Airlines MH370: live."



BONUS: At the Other McCain, "Malaysian Prime Minister Gives Press Conference in Perfect English."

Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Hobby Lobby Case Today

At LAT, "Religious case at Supreme Court could affect Obamacare and much more."

And here comes Amanda Marcotte to shoot down conservative arguments on religious liberty, contraception, and prolly mansplaining too. At the Daily Beast, "Your Health Care, Your Choices (Amen, to That!)," and at Raw Story, "The Hobby Lobby Case Is About Spreading Lies About Contraception."

RELATED: At the Other McCain, "Wow! @AmandaMarcotte Really Hates Babies: ‘Time-Sucking Monsters’."

Hackers Target Household Devices for New Wave of Crime

Following up from the other day, "The Dystopian Internet of 2025."

More news to put you ill at ease online, at LAT, "Simple Internet-connected devices can end up in complex online crimes":

To keep an eye on his child via his smartphone, Marc Gilbert installed Internet-connected video baby monitors in his home in Houston.

One evening, Gilbert heard a stranger's voice bellowing obscenities from the monitor. He disconnected the device after realizing that it had been hacked.

"I'm a pretty technical guy, and I thought I knew how all this stuff should be hooked up," said Gilbert, who has written several letters to his congressman and other elected officials, trying to bring the security issue to their attention.

For decades, hackers have used the Internet to break into network routers, personal computers and advanced industrial devices.

But now, a whole new generation of often mundane, household devices is being connected to the Internet — and hackers are having a field day.

Thanks to smaller, cheaper processors, speedier wireless connections and the explosion of smartphones and tablets, it's becoming easier and more affordable to digitally link just about any object — sports equipment, watches, light bulbs, washing machines, thermostats.

If you can think of it, someone has probably stuck a sensor on it and connected it to the Internet.

Like a PC, the devices have operating systems and processors. And when they are connected to the Internet, hackers can break in and seize control.

Manufacturers and consumers haven't taken the same security precautions as they would with a PC, however, enabling hackers to turn seemingly innocuous gadgets into drones that can be used to spread malicious spam or launch a massive cyberattack — disrupting services or shutting down entire networks.

Even more frightening for many security experts is the prospect that the hackers could cause physical harm to people by shutting off thermostats, cars or even medical devices.

Such fears led doctors to turn off the wireless functionality of a heart implant in former Vice President Dick Cheney, out of concern that someone might hack it and attempt to kill him.

"It's the Wild West out there again," said Tommy Stiansen, co-founder of Norse Corp., a San Mateo, Calif., cybersecurity firm whose threat-detection team has discovered a wide range of devices being hacked. "The number of devices that have been compromised is staggering."

Pure evil.

Unfortunately more, at the link.

The Truth About Spring Break

At the Independent UK, "The rite stuff: good times, self-discovery and lots of booze":

This is the Nirvana moment: the precise picture they envisioned when they boarded their planes back in still-frigid Boston, Chicago or New York.

As Dutch DJ Afrojack raises a fist and the first beats pulse through their bones they too let fly, barefoot on the sand, pressed together in a miasma of sun-pinked flesh and swim-suits. Above, against a postcard Caribbean sky, black MTV cameras swoop and curve, a passing parasail adds a dash of yellow.

Call it their right, or their rite of passage, the special – and occasionally perilous – week called Spring Break when tens of thousands of young Americans flee university campuses to shed the usual rules, parental expectations and inhibitions and go a bit bonkers in the sun. It is a time for a different kind of learning, pushing the limits of their livers, testing the looser sides of their young libidos and navigating the unfamiliar far from home.

Not a national holiday as such and certainly not a religious one, the annual student migration south is in fact a rolling affair that runs from late February to early April. Different colleges and universities pick different weeks in the late-winter calendar when teaching stops and their wards are released. Some may just linger, others will seek virtue, perhaps building houses for the poor. But this is what they are meant to do: get drunk, laid and sunburned...

Well, as they say on Twitter: #YOLO!

It's pretty dangerous, though, apparently (yeah, we all drank too much when we were young, and all that). So, keep reading at the link.

Matador Enrique Ponce Gored at Las Fallas Festival in Valencia, Spain

At David Jackson's blog, "Ponce “ripped apart” by bull as bullfight goes wrong."

Watch it here.

Shark-Attack Survivor Bethany Hamilton Wins Surf n' Sea Pipeline Women's Pro 2014

This is awesome.

Soul surfer, at London's Daily Mail, "'I usually lose so this was great!': One-armed 'Soul Surfer' who survived shark attack wins major title for the first time in nearly ten years."

Three Children Found Starving and Abused in Home of Lesbian 'Domestic Partners' in Salinas

One child was in chains.

See the Other McCain for the report, "GIRL IN CHAINS: ‘Domestic Partners’ Charged in ‘Particularly Heinous Case’."

Most MSM news reports left out the lesbian part, naturally, although London's Daily Mail calls it, "Lesbian couple 'starved their three children so badly they looked like concentration camp victims and kept one adopted daughter chained to the floor'."

Liz Wahl on Putin's Propaganda Network: RT Hosts Are 'Very Hostile to the West, Very Anti-American, Very Conspiratorial...'

It's Ms. Wahl yesterday on "Reliable Sources," with Brian Stelter. An excellent segment:



PREVIOUSLY: "'Cold War-Hungry Neocons' Stage-Managed Liz Wahl's Resignation from Russia Today? — ROTFLMFAO!!"

U.S. Scurries to Shore Up Spying on #Russia

This report is rather shocking. Or as Victoria Nuland might say, pretty impressive statecraft.

At the Wall Street Journal, "In Crimea, Russia May Have Gotten a Jump on West by Evading U.S. Eavesdropping" (via Google):

And #Russia had Victoria Nuland on crystal clear phone tap telling EU to eff off. #Intelligence #Fail http://t.co/jUH3bWJ1aW

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 24, 2014

U.S. military satellites spied Russian troops amassing within striking distance of Crimea last month. But intelligence analysts were surprised because they hadn't intercepted any telltale communications where Russian leaders, military commanders or soldiers discussed plans to invade.

America's vaunted global surveillance is a vital tool for U.S. intelligence services, especially as an early-warning system and as a way to corroborate other evidence. In Crimea, though, U.S. intelligence officials are concluding that Russian planners might have gotten a jump on the West by evading U.S. eavesdropping.

"Even though there was a warning, we didn't have the information to be able to say exactly what was going to happen," a senior U.S. official says.

To close the information gap, U.S. spy agencies and the military are rushing to expand satellite coverage and communications-interception efforts across Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic states. U.S. officials hope the "surge" in assets and analysts will improve tracking of the Russian military and tip off the U.S. to any possible intentions of Russian President Vladimir Putin before he acts on them.

The U.S. moves will happen quickly. "We have gone into crisis-response mode," a senior official says.

Still, as Russia brings additional forces to areas near the border with eastern Ukraine, America's spy chiefs are worried that Russian leaders might be able to cloak their next move by shielding more communications from the U.S., according to officials familiar with the matter. "That is the question we're all asking ourselves," one top U.S. official says.

The Obama administration is "very nervous," says a person close to the discussions. "This is uncharted territory."

It all comes amid the backdrop of a worried government in Kiev. Ukraine's foreign minister said Sunday that the troop buildup is increasing the possibility of war with Russia.

Months before the takeover, U.S. spy agencies told White House policy makers that Mr. Putin could make a play for Crimea, home to strategically important Russian naval installations. That led to an unsuccessful diplomatic push by the Obama administration.

When the moment arrived, U.S. attention was focused on the troops on Russian soil. Instead, forces already inside Crimea were spearheading the takeover of the peninsula, before U.S. spy agencies fully realized what was happening.

Citing conflicting assessments from intelligence agencies, Rep. Michael Rogers, Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has launched a review of whether spy agencies misjudged Mr. Putin's intentions. Agency officials say the differences were relatively small and reflected the competing analysis that policy makers expect intelligence agencies to conduct.

Some Obama administration, military and intelligence officials say they doubt the U.S. could have done much differently. Even with a clearer understanding of Mr. Putin's plans, the Obama administration thought it had few options to stop him. U.S. spy chiefs told President Barack Obama three days before the Crimea operation that Russia could take over the peninsula so fast that Washington might find out only when it was done.

Some U.S. military and intelligence officials say Russia's war planners might have used knowledge about the U.S.'s usual surveillance techniques to change communication methods about the looming invasion. U.S. officials haven't determined how Russia hid its military plans from U.S. eavesdropping equipment that picks up digital and electronic communications.

Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. spy satellites and other intelligence-gathering assets have been focused less on Russia and more on counterterrorism, the Middle East and Asia, reflecting shifting U.S. priorities.

"This is the kind of thing young military officers are going to be reading about in their history books," says one senior U.S. official.

As early as December, U.S. intelligence analysts and diplomats got indications that Mr. Putin had his eye on Crimea. Widespread protests in Kiev against then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych concerned the Kremlin. The analysts and diplomats warned that Moscow could take unspecified measures to protect Russian interests in Crimea if the situation worsened.

The U.S. military's European Command asked the Pentagon to increase intelligence-collection efforts in the region, including satellite coverage. Images showed what U.S. officials described as typical military movements at Russian bases in Crimea.

Looking back, some U.S. officials now suspect Russia might have been trickling more highly trained units into Crimea in small numbers. But U.S. intelligence analysts didn't pick up any such indications before the takeover, officials briefed on the intelligence-gathering effort say...

 Very impressive, indeed.

Still more at the link.

My Buddy Broke His Hip at the Vans Skatepark Opening Yesterday

Here's an update to yesterday's entry, "Vans Skatepark Huntington Beach Grand Opening."

It turns out my good buddy Todd, who skated with me 35 years ago back in the day, broke his hip yesterday at the skatepark opening. It's a horrible fracture. Todd's femoral head broke off and he'll no doubt require hip replacement surgery. I haven't heard back from him since yesterday afternoon, so we'll see. Please join me in prayer for him.



I'm reminded of the piece at the L.A. Times in January, "Middle-aged skateboarders defy family skeptics, and falls." Old school veteran Steve Alba broke his collarbone last year. I saw Alba hanging out yesterday at the clover bowl but he did not skate (although he apparently did skate a secret pre-session last week or so).

I'm not myself looking to rekindle my glory skateboarding years (my teenage years, basically), although I can't resist the thrilling feel seeing all my old buddies, many of them out there hitting the bowls. I'll probably stick to the freestyle area, lol. It's been a long time since I did any serious skating, and like any sport, you need to train and maintain conditioning.

I'll keep you posted.

BONUS: At the O.C. Register, "Grand opening of Vans skatepark mixes legends, next generation."

'Obamao T-Shirts' Pulled as First Lady Visits the Great Wall of China

Well, at least the Chinese are showing some respect.

The Belgians? Not so much.

At the Weekly Standard, "'Obama-Mao T-Shirts' Removed from Great Wall Shops as Michelle Obama Visits."



PHOTO CREDIT: Truth Revolt, "Michelle Hits The Great Wall: Did She Buy an Obamao T-Shirt?"

Belgium's De Morgen Publishes Monkey Photos of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle

Well, Brooke Goldstein just tweeted.

.@GoldsteinBrooke Well, that's racist!

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 23, 2014

Almost unbelievable, but here's the UK's Metro, "Belgian newspaper De Morgen in racism row over doctored Obama monkey picture."

More Lovely Anais Zanotti

I posted on this lady a couple of weeks back, "Anais Zanotti Shows Off in Bikini at Miami Beach."

And here she is again at Egotastic!, "Anais Zanotti, Your Nipple Peeking Bikini Body is Killing Me Ever So Kindly."

BONUS: More blogging and Rule 5 goodness from...

* Blackmailers Don't Shoot, "Saturday Linkfest: Calling out in Transit."

* Drunken Stepfather, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY."

* Knuckledraggin', "I Know!"

* Pirate's, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is Mother Earth being upset over Someone Else driving a fossil fueled vehicle which causes cold and snow, you might just be a Warmist."

* Today's Big Hit, "If You Like Girls Because Bewbs (20 photos)" (via Linkiest).

* Twitchy, "'Don't dish if you can't handle it': Dana Loesch schooling Meghan McCain is a thing of beauty."

P.S. I cut back a bit on the huge weekend Rule 5 roundups, because they take a long time. But please do drop you links if you'd like to be linked up randomly in any case.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich Feeds 2016 Presidential Speculation

At WSJ, "Kasich Declines to Rule Out 2016 Run." (At Memeorandum.)



I thought it was a great interview. Becca Lower, not so much...

.@KatMcKinley Indeed! @JohnKasich

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 23, 2014

@AmPowerBlog @KatMcKinley Did we watch the same interview? #shm @JohnKasich

— Becca Lower (@BeccaJLower) March 23, 2014

Kasich’s proposed 2.75% severance tax called ‘unwieldy, unrealistic and unworkable' http://t.co/TnykoeUbRM // @AmPowerBlog @KatMcKinley

— Becca Lower (@BeccaJLower) March 23, 2014

CBO Report Confirms Gov. #Kasich is Wrong About Medicaid Expansion http://t.co/9KZY0LAIhj // @AmPowerBlog @KatMcKinley #foxnewssunday #tcot

— Becca Lower (@BeccaJLower) March 23, 2014

Pakistan Censors Entire International New York Times Cover Story

Here's the original report at the New York Times, "What Pakistan Knew About Bin Laden."

Folks weren't happy in Islamabad.

See Blazing Cat Fur, "NYT report on Al Qaeda is censored in Pakistan."

What Pakistan doesn't want you to read is what Pakistan knew about bin Laden. No Puns. NYT vs INYT (Pak). Via @nycjim pic.twitter.com/YlgN2DEXiq

— Subel (@svbel) March 22, 2014

As Soon as Nate Silver Starts Projecting GOP Victories, Progressives Unsheath the Knives on Former Leftist Wonder Boy

Nate Silver and his 538 blog became the gold standard of leftist election talking points during the last two presidential election cycles. It was too easy, of course, with Barack Obama rolling up a big win against a pathetically outmatched John McCain in 2008, and also in 2012, when the left's character assassination machine helped destroy Mitt Romney, whose prescient criticism of the Democrat nominee is now playing out in real time on issues from ObamaCare to Russia in Ukraine.

I can remember during those years that leftists, especially bloggers, would respond to any suggestion of Republican electoral success by pointing to the latest projections at 538, which were considered unassailable.

And what's happened now? Well, Silver's abandoned the media's Democrat Party headquarters at the New York Times to start his own media venture, and he's coming under fire. For example, Wednesday at the Week, "Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight and the dangers of being ideologically neutral."

Interesting how no one was slamming Silver for being "ideologically neutral" when he was projecting Democrat electoral victories. Now though, the knives are out. Here's Paul Krugman, the New York Times blogging economist and leftist thought-enforcer, "Tarnished Silver":

Timothy Egan joins the chorus of those dismayed by Nate Silver’s new FiveThirtyEight. I [sic] sorry, but I have to agree: so far it looks like something between a disappointment and a disaster.

But I’d argue that many of the critics are getting the problem wrong. It’s not the reliance on data; numbers can be good, and can even be revelatory. But data never tell a story on their own. They need to be viewed through the lens of some kind of model, and it’s very important to do your best to get a good model. And that usually means turning to experts in whatever field you’re addressing.

Unfortunately, Silver seems to have taken the wrong lesson from his election-forecasting success. In that case, he pitted his statistical approach against campaign-narrative pundits, who turned out to know approximately nothing. What he seems to have concluded is that there are no experts anywhere, that a smart data analyst can and should ignore all that...

More.

Here's Silver's forecast, "FiveThirtyEight Senate Forecast: GOP Is Slight Favorite in Race for Senate Control." (At Memeorandum.)

Frankly, Silver's probably less bullish than most analysts projecting big GOP gains this year, like Alan Abramowitz, Charlie Cook, and Larry Sabato.

Yet, here's Silver right in the sweet spot getting attacked by depraved leftist political assassins who won't tolerate deviance from the accepted Democrat Party line. Joining Krugman at the New York Times is Timothy Egan, "Creativity vs. Quants," and Balloon Juice piles on, slamming Silver for his "unwarranted contrarianism." Really? Unwarranted? Literally everyone's predicting a big Senate romp in November. But poor Nate's projections are "unwarranted," being so at odds with the left's pathetic party line.

F-king leftist partisans and morons. Lucky for the rest of us they're not only stupid but screwed.

Added: From the Right Scoop, "Obama’s Favorite Oracle Nate Silver Predicts Republicans Win BIG; Keith Ellison Disagrees Because Nuh-uh!"

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



More at Theo's, "Toons..."

And at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies (early edition)," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Still more at Legal Insurrection, "Laughingstocks."

Behold John Hinderaker's Breathtaking Demolition of Washington Post Far-Left Reporter Juliet Eilperin

Here's the Power Line piece that was top-trending all day yesterday at Memeorandum, and is still up top, "The Washington Post Responds to Me, and I Reply to the Post."

It's John Hinderaker responding to this hacktacular smear by Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin, at Thursday's WaPo, "The biggest lease holder in Canada’s oil sands isn’t Exxon Mobil or Chevron. It’s the Koch brothers."

Hindaker's original takedown is here, "WASHINGTON POST FALLS FOR LEFT-WING FRAUD, EMBARRASSES ITSELF [UPDATED WITH POST'S RESPONSE]."

And here's the authors' response at WaPo, "Why we wrote about the Koch Industries and its leases in Canada’s oil sands."

Hinderaker performs one of the most effective demolitions of leftist media bias I've seen in a long time. Be sure to check the links. But as I was reading through it was the personal background on Juliet Eilperin that was especially clinching:

Why would the Washington Post embarrass itself by republishing a thoroughly discredited attempt to link the Koch brothers to the Keystone Pipeline? Because that is a Democratic Party talking point, and the Post is a Democratic Party newspaper. But the truth is a little worse than that.

Who is Post reporter Juliet Eilperin? Among other things, she is married to Andrew Light, who writes on climate policy for the Center for American Progress. The Center for American Progress is an Obama administration front group headed by John Podesta, who is a “special advisor” to the Obama administration. CAP’s web site, Think Progress, has carried out a years-long vendetta against the Koch brothers that has focused largely on the environment. Ms. Eilperin’s conflict in writing about environmental issues has already been a subject of controversy at the Post. The paper’s ombudsman should examine this latest example of Ms. Eilperin throwing facts to the winds in her eagerness to promote her (and her husband’s) far-left agenda.

I'm not one to believe that perfect objectivity is possible, even for journalistic institutions whose very legitimacy is sustained by a purported commitment to rigorous nonpartisanship. But when reporters are so thoroughly corrupted by just ridiculously outlandish conflicts of interest we can throw all benefit of the doubt out the window. Eilperin's sham objectivity is simply disgusting.

Hinderaker has yet another update, "THE POST: DEPANTSED BUT NOT DELOUSED." And embedded there is Brit Hume on Twitter:

Two @washingtonpost reporters respond to @powerlineblog's evisceration of their work. They get eviscerated again. http://t.co/6dgRw1amdP

— Brit Hume (@brithume) March 22, 2014

'Microaggressions': The Left's Latest Bogus 'Racism' Meme

I first heard about "microaggression" last November during the flap at UCLA, where Professor Val Rust was attacked for correcting mistakes on writing assignments:

About 25 students participated in the sit-in, in the classroom of Val Rust, professor emeritus of education. Watson – a student in that class – said Rust’s course was one of many in which students of “color and consciousness” have experienced discrimination. Of about 10 students in the class, 5 participated in the sit-in. Participants read a letter listing their complaints and a series of demands for reform. Regular coursework was suspended for about an hour because of the sit-in.

“A hostile campus climate has been the norm for Students of Color in this class throughout the quarter as our epistemological and methodological commitments have been repeatedly questioned by our classmates and our instructor,” the group’s letter reads. The statement accuses “the professor” (it does not identify Rust by name) of correcting “perceived grammatical choices that in actuality reflect ideologies” and “repeatedly questioning the value of our work on social identity and the related dynamics of oppression, power and privilege.” The “barrage of questions by white colleagues and the grammar ‘lessons’ by the professor have contributed to a hostile class climate,” it continues.

Also, from William Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection from last year, "UCLA Prof accused of racist “micro-aggression” for correcting student grammar."

And tonight, "2014 – Year of the Microaggression."

That's great.

I tweeted to William last night as well, a piece from the New York Times:

.@LegInsurrection Students See Many Slights as Racial ‘Microaggressions’... http://t.co/vh210wslzy

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 22, 2014

Vans Skatepark Huntington Beach Grand Opening

I took my youngest son down to H.B. today for the grand opening of the new skatepark.

The O.C. Register had a write-up yesterday, "Vans to open free skatepark in H.B. Saturday."

And at the Vans homepage, "Vans Skatepark in Huntington Beach, CA Grand Opening 3/22."



I'll have more later. That clover bowl is even bigger than it looks in pictures!

Matt Drudge Liberty Tax

A little dust-up yesterday, at Twitchy, "Matt Drudge: ‘Just paid the Obamacare penalty for not ‘getting covered”."

Also at Liberty Unyielding, "Liberals race to shoot down Drudge’s ‘liberty tax’ Obamacare tweet," and Big Government, "‘LIBERTY TAX’: WHITE HOUSE, MEDIA ATTACK AFTER DRUDGE PAYS OBAMACARE OPT-OUT PENALTY." (Via Drudge Report, "OBAMACARE TAX COLLECTION BEGINS; WHITE HOUSE SLAMS DRUDGE 'LIE'.")

Obama media teams know they will not get audited for avoiding taxes. I don't have this luxury. So they mock, ridicule http://t.co/Cg23N734R9
— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) March 21, 2014

Belle Knox Update

At the Other McCain, "Is Everything Feminist ‘Empowerment’ Now? Or Is @Belle_Knox a Sociopath?"

And at Journal 14, "The Feminist Empowerment of @Belle_Knox."

BONUS: At Reason, "Porn Star Belle Knox on Being Libertarian..."

Chinese Satellite Spots Possible Debris from Flight MH370

At BCF, "Chinese satellite spots possible plane debris in southern Indian Ocean - again."

And at Telegraph UK, "MH370: Chinese satellite detects 'floating object'."

Still more at London's Daily Mail, "MH370 LATEST: China says satellite has located 72ft object in Southern Indian Ocean 75 miles from where previous possible wreckage was located as Australian pilots spot small objects."

2014 Major League Baseball Opens in Sydney, Australia

The Dodgers and the Diamondbacks opened the 2014 today at the Sydney Cricket Grounds, which was transformed for major league baseball.

At SI, "Watch: MLB reinvents historic Sydney Cricket Ground for Opening Day baseball." And, "Dodgers, Diamondbacks go down under for Opening Day in Australia."

And at LAT, "Baseball is a change-up for Sydney Cricket Ground." Plus, "Scott Van Slyke leads Dodgers past Arizona, 3-1, in season opener."

'Hot-shaming really is a thing now...'

Well, you can't be flaunting your hotness, heh.

At Instapundit, "THAT’S THE LAST TIME I WORK OUT AT THE HARRISON BERGERON FITNESS CLUB: Gym Tells Hot, Fit Woman to Cover Up Because She’s Intimidating Others. 'Hot-shaming really is a thing now'."

Theft, Assault, and Vandalism Charges Filed Against Professor Mireille Miller-Young

From Eugene Volokh, at the Washington Post, "Theft, assault, and vandalism charges filed against UC Santa Barbara professor."

And don't miss the comments section, heh.

PREVIOUSLY: "UCSB Police Department Releases Report on Professor Mireille Miller-Young."