France's Cultural Protectionism Blocks Netflix's Global Reach

At the Los Angeles Times, "Netflix struggles to win over skeptics in film-loving France":

As Netflix has spread its video streaming services around the globe, the company's been met with curiosity, skepticism and, at times, indifference.

But none of the Silicon Valley giant's adventures abroad generated the mix of fear and anxiety that it has stirred in film-loving France before its launch this month.

In a country of proud cinephiles, Netflix has been bashed by national politicians, vilified by cultural leaders and brushed off by potential broadcast partners who have instead beefed up their own competitive video offerings. These groups worry that Netflix will undermine the complex system created by broadcasters and the government to protect a French film industry that is central to the country's identity, and a significant part of its economy.

As the headline in Le Monde put it on the eve of Netflix's launch in France: "Let the Carnage Begin."

Aware of how it is being perceived, Netflix spent months wooing the French, both in public and behind the scenes. The stakes for the company are high.

Netflix is increasingly dependent on international markets for growth, analysts note, and France is one of the largest countries left to conquer. Yet appealing to local consumers is costly, and the company is promising big investments to acquire and produce local content. To ease cultural fears, executives have tried to make the case that the company will expand consumer choice and film production.

For now, though, the French are skeptical.

"We want to say welcome to Netflix," said Dante Desarthe, co-chairman of France's Guild of Authors, Directors and Producers. "But we want them to be respectful of the rules we have created here in France to protect our cinema."

More.

Paul Konerko Is Retiring

Where do the years go, man?

Seems like just the other day I was watching Dodger games with Paul Konerko, but that was back in 1997-98.

At USA Today, "White Sox honor retiring Paul Konerko with statue."

And at the Chicago Tribune, "Paul Konerko video a fitting farewell to White Sox."

Plus, video's from last night's game, at MLB, "Konerko exits during 7th to huge ovation," and "Konerko thanks the fans in Chicago."

A Close-Up View of Islamic State's War Machine

At Business Week, "How Islamic State Wages War."

Some ISIS fighters all all hopped up on drugs.

Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher!

Hey, you gotta love it, no matter what you think of this tasteless prick. At RCP, "'Maher Rips Liberals Over Islam: "If We're Giving No Quarter to Intolerance, Shouldn't We Start With [Beheaders and] Honor Killers?'"

Hat Tip: Glenn Reynolds, "The thing to remember is that talk of tolerance and diversity is mostly just a political weapon for white people to use against other white people. It’s not about actually helping anyone."

Hey Walter James Casper, Are You Going to Attack Dr. Zuhdi Jasser as a Racist Bigot and 'Right Wing' Islamophobe?

I met Dr. Zuhdi Jasser at the David Horowitz West Coast Retreat a few years back. He's a really nice man. And he's Muslim.

And like Judge Jeanine Pirro, he must have missed the memo about not "jumping to conclusions" about the Oklahoma beheading.

Indeed, Walter James Casper III, are you going to attack Dr. Jasser as a racist bigot and hateful "right wing" Islamophobe? I doubt that's going to work too well on this guy.

Stop the political correctness and defeat the violent ideology of Islamic jihad:



PREVIOUSLY: "#OKBeheading Suspect Screamed 'Islamic Phrases' During Attack, Posted #ISIS Hand-Sign Photos to Facebook, But Repsac3 Smears 'Right Wingers' for 'Bigotry'," and "Wait for It! Repsac3 on #OKBeheading: Attacking Islam Just Because the Suspect Tried to Convert Coworkers is Racist!!"

Judge Jeanine on Fire! Stop the Charades! It's Us Against Islamic Jihad!

Wow!

I guess Judge Jeanine missed the "don't jump to conclusions" memo, lol!

Democracy Requires a Patriotic Education

From Donald Kagan, at the Wall Street Journal:

These values [of honor and democratic merit, of civic participation and self-sacrifice for community] have not disappeared, but in our own time they have been severely challenged. With the shock of the 9/11 terror attacks, most Americans reacted by clearly and powerfully supporting their government's determination to use military force to stop such attacks and to prevent future ones. Most Americans also expressed a new unity, an explicit patriotism and love of their country not seen among us for a very long time.

That is not what we saw and heard from the faculties on most elite campuses in the country, and certainly not from the overwhelming majority of people designated as "intellectuals" who spoke up in public. They offered any and all explanations, so long as they indicated that the attackers were really victims, that the fault really rested with the United States.

As most of us have come to know too well, the terrorists of al Qaeda and other jihadists regard America as "the great Satan" and hate the U.S. not only because its power stands in the way of the achievement of their Islamist vision, but also because its free, open, democratic, tolerant, liberal and prosperous society is a powerful competitor for the allegiance of millions of Muslims around the world. No change of American policy, no retreat from the world, no repentance or increase of modesty can change these things.

Yet many members of the intelligentsia decried the outburst of patriotism that greeted the new assault on America. The critics were exemplified by author Katha Pollitt, who wrote in the Oct. 1, 2001, edition of the Nation about her daughter wanting to fly the American flag outside their window after 9/11. "Definitely not," Ms. Pollitt replied. "The flag stands for jingoism and vengeance and war."

Such ideas still have a wide currency, reflecting a serious flaw in American education that should especially concern those of us who take some part in it. The encouragement of patriotism is no longer a part of our public educational system, and the cost of that omission has made itself felt. This would have alarmed and dismayed the founders of our country.

Jefferson meant American education to produce a necessary patriotism. Democracy—of all political systems, because it depends on the participation of its citizens in their own government and because it depends on their own free will to risk their lives in its defense—stands in the greatest need of an education that produces patriotism.

I recognize that I have said something shocking. The past half-century has seen a sharp turn away from what had been traditional attitudes toward the purposes and functions of education. Our schools have retreated from the idea of moral education, except for some attempts at what is called "values clarification," which is generally a cloak for moral relativism verging on nihilism of the sort that asserts that whatever feels good is good.

Even more vigorously have the schools fled from the idea of encouraging patriotism. In the intellectual climate of our time, the very suggestion brings contemptuous sneers or outrage, depending on the listener's mood. There is no end of quoting Samuel Johnson's famous remark that "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," but no recollection of Boswell's explanation that Johnson "did not mean a real and generous love for our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest."

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Obama in George W. Bush Flight Suit on the Cover of The Economist

And the White House isn't pleased, via the Washington Times, "White House pans ‘unfair’ magazine cover with Obama in Bush’s flight suit."

Well, O's entire political skit has been the "anti-Bush," so no surprise they're no whining about being compared to a real president. It makes the Democrats look wrong, to say nothing of stupid and deceitful.

In any case, here's the Economist, "America and Islamic State: Mission Relaunched":

FOR more than three years, Barack Obama has been trying to avoid getting into a fight in Syria. But this week, with great tracts of the Middle East under the jihadist’s knife, he at last faced up to the inevitable. On September 23rd America led air strikes in Syria against both the warriors of Islamic State (IS) and a little-known al-Qaeda cell, called the Khorasan group, which it claimed was about to attack the West. A president who has always seen his main mission as nation-building at home is now using military force in six countries—Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

The Syrian operation is an essential counterpart to America’s attacks against IS in Iraq. Preventing the group from carving out a caliphate means, at the very least, ensuring that neither of these two countries affords it a haven (see article). But more than the future of IS is at stake in the streets of Raqqa and Mosul. Mr Obama’s attempt to deal with the jihadists is also a test of America’s commitment to global security. It is a test that he has been failing until now.

IS et al

The sense that America is locked in relative decline has been growing in recent years, as it has languished under the shadow of the financial crisis and two long, difficult wars. Why should a newly rich country like China take lectures about how to run its affairs from a president who struggles even to get his own budget through? America, meanwhile, seems swamped by the forces of disorder, either unable or unwilling to steady a world that is spinning out of control. IS embodies this frightening trend. It is, in the jargon, a non-state actor, and it thrives on chaos. With each new humiliation of the governments in Iraq and Syria, it has accumulated more wealth, territory and recruits.

Its rise has also reflected American policy. First, the poorly thought-out intervention of George W. Bush, typified by the rash “Mission Accomplished” banner that greeted him on the USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2003 after his invasion of Iraq. Then Mr Obama’s studious inaction. When Syrians rose up against the regime of Bashar Assad, the president stood back in the hope that things would sort themselves out—leaving Mr Assad free to commit atrocities against his own people. Even when Mr Assad crossed “the red line” of using chemical weapons, the superpower did not punish him. About 200,000 Syrians have died and 10m have been driven from their homes. Denied early American support, the moderate Syrian opposition has fragmented, leaving the field to the ruthless and well-organised IS.

Standing back has not worked well elsewhere in the world, either. Mr Obama has spoken about the limits to American power—exhorting other governments with a stake in today’s system to do their bit to keep the world safe. He wanted the United States to be seen less as a unilateral bully, more as the leader of world opinion. Yet when America stepped back, its allies stepped back, too. The countries that most eagerly came forward were its rivals, such as Russia and China.

IS has induced a change of heart among the American people. Before vicious extremists seized the city of Mosul and began to cut off Western heads on social media, Americans doubted the merit of further military action in the Middle East. When they realised that IS threatened them directly, they began to demand protection. Mr Obama therefore has a chance not just to strike a blow for order in the Middle East, but also to give the declinists pause.

From axis of evil to network of death

He has brute force on his side. The disastrous mismanagement of post-invasion Iraq has tended to eclipse the overwhelming potency of American firepower at the beginning. In six short weeks in the spring of 2003 America and its allies defeated the 375,000 troops of Saddam Hussein with the loss of only 138 American lives. Never in history has a single country had such military dominance. It has not suddenly evaporated.

The bigger question is whether Mr Obama can carry off delicate diplomacy. The lesson from Iraq and Afghanistan is that firepower alone will not prevail. Indeed, if America comes to be seen by Sunni Arabs as nothing more than a Shia air force, strikes will only bind IS to the local people.

If he is to win the argument in Iraq and Syria, Mr Obama needs coalitions and partnerships. For that he must get the diplomacy right. So far he has done well. He insisted on the replacement of Nuri al-Maliki, the Shia-chauvinist former prime minister of Iraq, with Haider al-Abadi, who is making efforts to bring Sunnis into government. He sent John Kerry, his secretary of state, to recruit regional Sunni powers such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to try to persuade Sunnis in Iraq and Syria that he is not taking sides against their branch of Islam. America has argued to the United Nations that its intervention—requested by Iraq but not Syria—is legal under Article 51 of the UN’s charter. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, appears to have accepted that argument; so should Britain’s Parliament, which will vote on whether to help America.

There is much more for Mr Obama to do...

More.

And remember, the Economist is hardly alone in this analogy. See earlier, "Foreign Policy Editor David Rothkopf Hammers Obama's Foreign Policy: Says Barack Should Take a Page from George W. Bush's Second Term."

Eric Holder: A Legacy of Race-Based Radicalism

From Matthew Vadum, at FrontPage Magazine:

The most racist, polarizing Atty Gen. is gone. His replacement will be no better because that's the way Barack wants it. And Sharpton.

— David Horowitz (@horowitz39) September 26, 2014

Attorney General Eric Holder is at long last relinquishing his cabinet post after nearly six unprecedented, catastrophic years of racial demagoguery and gangsterism.

Holder, who announced yesterday that he will leave office when a replacement is selected, will leave behind what is probably the most ugly and toxic legacy of any attorney general ever in the history of the republic.

Although he has all the moral authority of disbarred Duke Lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong, Holder knows he is immune to criticism because he is black and a radical leftist. He is a protected, pampered member of the ruling class and his arrogance knows no bounds. He ignores court orders and gives congressional overseers the finger.

Holder has transformed the U.S. Department of Justice into a racial grievance incubator, an intensive care unit for kooky, authoritarian ideas that should have died after the 1960s. The DoJ, especially its rotten, totally corrupt Civil Rights Division, is a lawyerly commune for revolutionaries who oppose the very idea of the rule of law. Critical Legal Theory and Critical Race Theory govern much of what goes on in the department.

It is no exaggeration to say that Holder leaves death and destruction behind after saturation-bombing the Constitution, orchestrating criminal activity in order to whip up public support for policy changes, fomenting racial tension and violence, persecuting political opponents and disfavored industries, obstructing justice, and enforcing laws arbitrarily and capriciously and in a manner calculated to benefit his friends and allies.

More.

Mini Cooper S Is a Nifty 'Personality' Car

I can see my son driving a Mini Cooper.

Reviewed by Dan Neil, at the Wall Street Journal:

THE PERSON WHO DRIVES this car is fun at parties, hot in the boudoirs, dangerous with firearms. No, not the chandelier!

You want one of these people at your weekend corporate retreat. But only one, I think.

Mini owners, right? It's a thing. And like the hilarious office mate you can't turn off, a fully optioned Mini Cooper S can be just a tick more fun than is strictly bearable on a day-to-day basis. Maybe you're not in a day-glo checkerboard mood, you know?

"That's your problem, Debbie Downer," this car says, shaking its maracas at me. "Turn that frown upside down!"

Fine.

Redesigned and re-engineered for the 2014 model year, the Mini Cooper S Hardtop (three-door compact) pretty much owns cuteness in the comparative set of midprice personality/performance. Let's meet our bachelors: VW Golf GTI, Ford Focus ST, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ, Ford Mustang. These cars' transaction points hover around $30,000 and they are all powered by turbo'ed, free-spooling four-bangers (excepting the Subaru/Toyota twins, which are naturally aspirated). Some are front-wheel drive, some rear drive, with two doors or four, but they all sell handling finesse more than blazing horsepower, styling charisma more than raw sex appeal...

And at Mini, "INTRODUCING THE NEW MINI. NOW WITH 5 DOORS."

The 'Bro Hug' Has Become the Default Greeting, Especially Among the Morally Decrepit, Faux-Hip Democrat-Left

I'm not so much into the "bro hug." And I'm especially not into it if I'm going to be bro-hugging some skanky unwashed Democrat-leftists.

At NYT:

Circa Now: The Bro Hug: Embracing a Change in Custom http://t.co/T23hevRFzY

— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 27, 2014

F/A-18 Hornets and EA-6B Prowlers in Action Off the Aircraft Carrier USS George H.W. Bush

From the U.S. Navy on YouTube:

ARABIAN GULF (Sept. 26, 2014) F/A-18 Hornets and EA-6B Prowlers return to and launch from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in support of strike, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over Iraq. These missions help increase U.S. capacity to target ISIL, and coordinate the activities of the U.S. military across Iraq and into Syria.

Emily Ratajkowski on the Red Carpet for New York Premiere of 'Gone Girl'

She's fabulous.

At London's Daily Mail, "She's red hot! Emily Ratajkowski sizzles in slinky off-the-shoulder crimson gown at Gone Girl premiere."

The beautiful @emrata looks stunning on the #GoneGirl red carpet at #NYFF. pic.twitter.com/r6cWo1aAHp

— Gone Girl (@GoneGirlMovie) September 26, 2014

What Was I Saying About the 'Khorasan Group'?

You have to stay a couple of steps before the Obama administration hacks, because it's all bullshit all the time.

I called out the White House disinformation on this fake "Khorasan group" a couple of days back, "Why is al-Nusra Front Being Relabeled as 'Khorasan'?"

And now here comes Andrew McCarthy, at National Review, "The Khorosan Group Does Not Exist" (via Memeorandum):

There is a reason that no one had heard of such a group until a nanosecond ago, when the “Khorosan Group” suddenly went from anonymity to the “imminent threat” that became the rationale for an emergency air war there was supposedly no time to ask Congress to authorize.

You haven’t heard of the Khorosan Group because there isn’t one. It is a name the administration came up with, calculating that Khorosan — the –Iranian–​Afghan border region — had sufficient connection to jihadist lore that no one would call the president on it.

The “Khorosan Group” is al-Qaeda. It is simply a faction within the global terror network’s Syrian franchise, “Jabhat al-Nusra.” Its leader, Mushin al-Fadhli (believed to have been killed in this week’s U.S.-led air strikes), was an intimate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the emir of al-Qaeda who dispatched him to the jihad in Syria. Except that if you listen to administration officials long enough, you come away thinking that Zawahiri is not really al-Qaeda, either. Instead, he’s something the administration is at pains to call “core al-Qaeda.”

“Core al-Qaeda,” you are to understand, is different from “Jabhat al-Nusra,” which in turn is distinct from “al-Qaeda in Iraq” (formerly “al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia,” now the “Islamic State” al-Qaeda spin-off that is, itself, formerly “al-Qaeda in Iraq and al-Sham” or “al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant”). That al-Qaeda, don’t you know, is a different outfit from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula . . . which, of course, should never be mistaken for “al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,” “Boko Haram,” “Ansar al-Sharia,” or the latest entry, “al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.”

Coming soon, “al-Qaeda on Hollywood and Vine.” In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if, come 2015, Obama issued an executive order decreeing twelve new jihad jayvees stretching from al-Qaeda in January through al-Qaeda in December.

Except you’ll hear only about the jayvees, not the jihad. You see, there is a purpose behind this dizzying proliferation of names assigned to what, in reality, is a global network with multiple tentacles and occasional internecine rivalries.

As these columns have long contended, Obama has not quelled our enemies; he has miniaturized them. The jihad and the sharia supremacism that fuels it form the glue that unites the parts into a whole — a worldwide, ideologically connected movement rooted in Islamic scripture that can project power on the scale of a nation-state and that seeks to conquer the West. The president does not want us to see the threat this way.

Mind-boggling lies and disinformation, but again, it pays to stay ahead of these f-kers. It's all politics. It's never about keeping people safe. And for that I can never forgive the Democrats. They're not Americans. They're anti-Americans.

The Jihad Origins of the Oklahoma Beheader’s Hamas-Mosque

What? The beheader attended a mosque? No way!

And the jihad origins of the Oklahoma beheading? Impossible!

You're racist if you jump to conclusions! And if you're Pamela Geller, you're the most racist of them all times infinity!!

At Atlas Shrugs, "EXCLUSIVE: The Jihad Origins of the Oklahoma Beheader’s Hamas-Mosque."

More at Big Peace, "Oklahoma Beheader Linked to Al Qaeda Leader Awlaki, Boston Bomber's Mosque." (Via Memeorandum.)

U.S. Expands International Coalition Against #ISIS

A report at CBS News:



And also at the Los Angeles Times, "Britain, Belgium and Denmark join coalition fighting Islamic State."

Glenn Reynolds Interviews Joel Kotkin, Author of The New Class Conflict

I've got a lot of books stacked up, but no doubt I'll be getting to Kotkin's soon.

Buy it at Amazon, The New Class Conflict.

And watch this great interview, via Instapundit:

Lily Aldridge, Karlie Kloss, Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio

They love to shop, heh.



And the fashion show airs December 9th. Tune in at American Power for all your Victoria's Secret coverage!

The #VSFashionShow will air on December 9th on CBS. GET EXCITED NOW. pic.twitter.com/vxzWOlTGXY

— Victoria's Secret (@VictoriasSecret) September 17, 2014

#OKBeheading Suspect Screamed 'Islamic Phrases' During Attack, Posted #ISIS Hand-Sign Photos to Facebook, But Repsac3 Smears 'Right Wingers' for 'Bigotry'

Following-up from yesterday, "Wait for It! Repsac3 on #OKBeheading: Attacking Islam Just Because the Suspect Tried to Convert Coworkers is Racist!!"

No surprise, but Walter James Casper III is doubling-down on his ideological hatred:

Bigotry is starting with the premise that "Muslims are evil," and viewing every case involving Muslims through that distorted lens.
— W. James Casper (@repsac3) September 27, 2014

Problem is, it's not "jumping to conclusions" when mainstream media sources report that the suspect screamed Islamic exhortations before the beheading (most likely "Allāhu Akbar!"). I mean, seriously. The suspect was proselytizing, according to coworkers. His actions were clearly religiously motivated:

Vaughn foods Co-worker who witnessed murder tells #news9 Murder suspect Alton Nolen was shouting Islamic phrases. FBI investigating
— Robin Marsh KWTV-9 (@robinmarsh9) September 26, 2014

And at the suspect's Facebook page, photos posted there express solidarity with the Islamic State, and then some:

@DelGirlsHoops @proadstudio @maysoonzayid @NY_Patricia #OK Beheaders Facebook page https://t.co/wb2CqbekZl pic.twitter.com/UENUhq8GTD
— RiWired (@riwired) September 27, 2014

So, no. No one's "jumping to conclusions." It's patently obvious that he murdered in the name of Islam.

Actually, it's Repsac3 who's a proven bigot and a racist --- something I've documented here for a long time. Walter James Casper is an epic hater and liar. His own tweets are self-refuting and utterly depraved, outside the bounds of basic decency. Man.

Leftists Sour on Obama

Well, not all leftists have soured on him. Some idiot progs will take their dying breath defending this epic fail of a presidency.

But O's hardcore support has definitely been eroding, especially among young people and moderate- to middle-class income Americans.

At the Hill, "Liberal base sours on Obama."