Where Is the Anti-War Movement?

One of the themes in my classes is how young people today are at a deep, relative disadvantage in terms of political power, especially compared to the elderly. It's a really complicated topic, actually, worth some serious scholarly introspection. For example, to what extent has technology-increased prosperity, especially for young people, who are so connected to mobile technology, in fact demobilized the youth demographic from consequential political action? Further, Barack Obama's presidency may have in fact set back the prospects for the improvement of life chances for young Americans, because they were used as cogs in the Democrat Party electoral machine. In fact, once the maw of the Obama-Democrats' electoral machine achieved critical mass, it spit out young people as so much spent fuel, as nothing more than human refuse. Look at the student loan debt crisis and you get an idea of how totally screwed are today's youth by Democrat Party indifference to generations of indebted student lumpen-proletarians.

But then again, leftist propaganda of race, gender and social welfare entitlement is a powerful narcotic for young people, who've been made so stupid by their gadgets that they simple don't realize when the leftist powers-that-be are f-king them up the ass.

In any case, that's why I'm fascinated with '60s-era folk and antiwar music, which I love to listen to. I love the idealism, for example, of Peter, Paul and Mary, "'Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly ... Before they're forever banned?'" But where is the comparable social protest movement today? If you look at that playlist the Sound L.A. had going this morning, much of that music is iconic and representative of the revolutionary social change of the times. Peter, Paul and Mary sang at the March on Washington in 1963, but oddly it was their music that activists played in 2003 at the Iraq war protests. I'm not as plugged into pop musical trends nowadays to know --- and sure, folks like Rage Against the Machine, for example, certainly capture the angst of contemporary generations --- but it seems to me that political change is not in fact a driving factor in today's youth culture. At least with punk rock in the '70s and '80s you had intense, even anarchic, anti-government tendencies geared toward mobilization, even if that was basically anti-statism. Today purportedly revolutionary folk rock bands are simply shills for Democrat Party power and corruption. The '60s aren't calling, brother.

In any case, this paradox of increasing youth evisceration and impoverization (amid what's often flippantly referred to as a new age of Democrat progressivism) vis-à-vis the dire absence of a genuine revolutionary, anti-establishment movement will continue to bedevil American politics in the years ahead. Who will once again lead the next generation, screaming "Fight the system. Fight back!"???

And with that, for your reading enjoyment, check out Richard Seymour, at the Guardian UK, "The anti-war movement's dilemma – and how to resolve it," and his really excellent and complicated interview at the New Left Review, "Where Is The Anti-War Movement?"

This desire results from people's anger
Towards the system
Fight the system fight back
Fight the system fight back
People die in police custody
Why dont you go see if God can see them
Fight the system fight back
Fight the system fight back
We been shit on far too long
London wants is no freedom
Fight the system fight back
Fight the system fight back
Stand up fight for freedom
Stand up fight for your rights
Fight the system fight back
Fight the system fight back
Fight the system fight back

'Imagine There's No Global Warming'

Heh, this is good, via iOWNTHEWORD, "John Lennon Re-Imagine-d."

Imagine there's no warming
It's all just been a lie
CO2 is not a pollutant
The Polar Bears aren’t gonna die
Imagine if all the people
Livin' another day

Imagine there's no Kyoto
It isn't hard to do
Gas at 99 cents a gallon
And no carbon taxes too
Imagine all the people
Driving SUVs

You may say I'm a denier
But I'm not the only one
31,000 scientists
Say the world’s climate follows the sun

Imagine no politicians
I wonder if you can
No one to fear monger
No need to eliminate man
Imagine all the people
Drilling all over the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be more fun

'Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly ... Before they're forever banned?'

So, I go over to get a cup of coffee this morning, and the Sound L.A. has some folksy antiwar music playing on the radio, Peter, Paul and Mary, "Blowin' in the Wind." (The band released its version, a cover song, just three weeks after Bob Dylan, who wrote it, released his cut on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963).

All Along the Watchtower
Bob Dylan
10:09 AM

If You Really Love Me
Stevie Wonder
10:06 AM

Good Lovin'
Grateful Dead
10:01 AM

Wooly Bully
Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs
9:59 AM

Going Up the Country
Canned Heat
9:56 AM

Hoedown
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
9:51 AM

Gemini Dream
The Moody Blues
9:47 AM

Baby Blue
Badfinger
9:44 AM

Nobody
The Doobie Brothers
9:40 AM

Ring of Fire [Live]
Johnny Cash
9:37 AM

White Bird
It's a Beautiful Day
9:31 AM

Vehicle
The Ides of March
9:28 AM

Heart of Gold [Live]
Neil Young
9:25 AM

Blowin' In the Wind
Peter, Paul & Mary
9:22 AM

Bridge Over Troubled Water
Simon & Garfunkel
9:17 AM

San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers In Your Hair)
Scott McKenzie

Bwahaha! Black Americans Are Last Political Lifeline for Desperate Democrats!!

This is so pathetic. Really, it's come to this?

And yes, remember how Obama was supposed to be a president for all Americans, about how there's no black and white America, blah blah? That was all electoral hope-and-change bullshit. When the chips are down you just call in the race-baiting shock troops of the bereft, desperate Democrat (rat) Party.

At the New York Times, "Black Vote Seen as Last Hope for Democrats to Hold Senate":

WASHINGTON — The confidential memo from a former pollster for President Obama contained a blunt warning for Democrats. Written this month with an eye toward Election Day, it predicted “crushing Democratic losses across the country” if the party did not do more to get black voters to the polls.

“African-American surge voters came out in force in 2008 and 2012, but they are not well positioned to do so again in 2014,” Cornell Belcher, the pollster, wrote in the memo, dated Oct. 1. “In fact, over half aren’t even sure when the midterm elections are taking place.”

Mr. Belcher’s assessment points to an urgent imperative for Democrats: To keep Republicans from taking control of the Senate, as many are predicting, they need black voters in at least four key states. Yet the one politician guaranteed to generate enthusiasm among African Americans is the same man many Democratic candidates want to avoid: Mr. Obama.

Now, Democrats are deploying other prominent black elected officials and other surrogates, buttressed by sophisticated voter targeting efforts, to stoke black turnout. At the White House, the president is waging an under-the-radar campaign, recording video advertisements, radio interviews and telephone calls specifically targeting his loyal African-American base.

“Anybody who looks at the data realizes that if the black vote, and the brown vote, doesn’t turn out, we can’t win. It’s just that simple,” said Representative Marcia L. Fudge of Ohio, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, referring to African-American and Latino voters. “If we don’t turn out, we cannot hold the Senate.”

African-Americans could help swing elections in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and possibly Arkansas, a New York Times analysis of voter data shows, but only if they turn out at higher-than-forecast rates. They will also be important in Kentucky, where Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic Senate candidate, refuses to say if she voted for President Obama — a stance that black leaders including Ms. Fudge fear will depress turnout.

Republicans, who are expanding outreach to African-Americans in states like North Carolina and Georgia, have their own aggressive get-out-the-vote effort, mindful of the success of the Obama campaign, which turned out voters in record numbers.

Black voters made history in 2012, exit polling and census data show, when they turned out at a rate higher than whites to help re-elect Mr. Obama. But fewer voters go to polls in midterm elections. In 2010, a disastrous year for Democrats, blacks voted at a rate lower than whites, creating a “turnout gap.”

The numbers are significant. Although more than 1.1 million black Georgians went to the polls in 2012, only about 741,000 voted in 2010. In North Carolina, Democrats say there are nearly one million black registered voters who did not vote in 2010.

Mr. Belcher declined to discuss for whom he had written the memo, saying it was private, but the document was circulated by the Democratic National Committee. In the memo, he also argued that the turnout gap, more than any Republican Tea Party wave, was responsible for Democrats’ 2010 defeats. So the challenge for Democrats is to get midterm voters to the polls at presidential election-year rates.

“If you tell me in Georgia that, on the closing of the polls, the electorate is 32 percent African-American, I’m going to tell you we have probably elected a Democratic senator,” he said. “That’s not theory. It’s basic math.”

More.

Well, "big name surrogates" are supposed to be stepping up to the plate for the Dems. Maybe Al Sharpton can give it the old Crown Heights college try. That oughat mobilize the Wall Street-hating Democrat hordes.

Freakin' dirtbag losers. Crush the bastards.

Sylvie Meis

A lovely lady, at Egotastic!, "Sylvie Meis Lingerie Shoot for Hunkemoller Dessous in London."

Late Shifts in the Polls Probably Won't Help Desperate Democrats

Following up on my previous entry, "Democrats Now in Retreat as GOP on Verge of Historic Gains in House of Representatives."

Crush these mofos. Flatten them until they're bleeding out of the eye sockets.

At the Monkey Cage, "Why late shifts in the polls probably won’t help Democrats in Senate races":

All of the major Senate forecasting models, including ours at Election Lab, now rely heavily on averages of public polls.  This raises the question of whether those averages will be correct on Election Day, and whether any misses could affect which party manages to retain control of the Senate.  In particular, there is the question of whether polling misses might mean that the Democrats end up with a slim Senate majority after all.

There are reasons to be skeptical that this will happen.  It’s not just that we can’t easily predict whether the polls will over- or underestimate one party’s vote share, as discussed by Nate Silver and by Mark Blumenthal & Co.  And it’s not just, as Josh Katz and Sean Trende have found, that Senate polls already tend to be pretty accurate at this point in time — especially when candidates have a 3- to 4-point lead, as do Republican candidates in Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana.

The other key point is this: Late movement in Senate polls tends to be in the direction of the underlying fundamentals.  I discussed this movement in the polls in an earlier post, and it’s worth revisiting it now.

The analysis is pretty straightforward.  Estimate a simple model of Senate elections from 1980 to 2012 that relies on only a few factors: economic growth, presidential approval, whether it’s a midterm or presidential year, and how the state voted in the most recent presidential election. Then estimate an out-of-sample forecast for every Senate election between 1992 and 2012. Then compare the polls to that forecast.

Here is the gap between the polls and the forecast for the last 60 days of the campaign...

Continue reading.

Basically, public opinion polls should settle closer and closer to the prediction of the electoral model, hence early predictions of GOP gains are increasingly likely to hold true.

So crush their souls, the Democrat-progressive vermin. Flatten them like corpses in the mud.

Democrats Now in Retreat as GOP on Verge of Historic Gains in House of Representatives

As Markos used to always say, crush them. Crush their spirits and consign them to the margins of American politics for decades. The obscenely grotesque Democrat-progressive ghouls deserve nothing less.

At Politico, "House Democrats in retreat":

Three weeks out from an election that could give Republicans a historic majority, House Democrats are resorting to the painful strategy of retreat.

Faced with a perilous midterm environment and a sudden gush of Republican money, Democrats are shifting cash from blue-chip recruits to prop up teetering incumbents. The goal is to minimize losses and keep Republicans from their most dominant hold on the House since Harry Truman’s presidency — potentially expelling Democrats from the speaker’s chair for years to come.

In recent days, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has scrapped spending on behalf of two prominent candidates in districts the party had high hopes of snatching from the GOP: Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff, a former state House speaker once seen as the party’s best 2014 prospect; and Virginia Democrat John Foust, who is trying to defeat Republican Barbara Comstock, a hard-nosed former operative who played a key role in the investigations of President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

The money that had been planned in those districts, where airing TV ads is costly, is being shifted to shore up incumbents and keep once-safe seats in the party’s column. Conservative outside groups in recent days have invested millions of dollars in races, erasing what had been a sizable Democratic financial advantage.

Democratic strategists say they’re trying to determine how much damage they might incur on election night. On Monday, the DCCC announced a $600,000 investment to save a suddenly endangered northeastern Iowa district that President Barack Obama won by 14 percentage points. It was an unmistakable sign of how much the political terrain has shifted against Democrats since the 2012 election.

Other similar moves could be on the way.

“Making these decisions is the hardest part of this job, but the amount of outside Republican money raining down on our incumbents means that we need to fine-tune our reservations,” New York Rep. Steve Israel, the DCCC chairman, wrote in an email. “It hurts to scale back any ad buy, but especially when you have strong candidates like Foust and Romanoff who are polling well, have momentum and could win their races.”

Democrats are now almost exclusively playing defense. Of the 28 districts seen as most seriously in contention, all but seven are held by Democrats. Republicans are virtually assured to expand their current 17-seat majority; strategists have pegged GOP gains at six to eight seats. But if Republicans can reach their goal of netting 11 seats, they will have their largest majority since 1949.

The good news for Democrats is that, at least for now, there’s no indication that Republicans are poised for a double-digit gain. Of the 18 Democratic incumbents in the most challenging races, pollsters from both parties say, there isn’t one who appears certain to lose. While 2014 is shaping up to be a good year for Republicans, they add, it does not yet resemble the wave-like environment of 1994 and 2010 for Republicans, or 2006 and 2008 for Democrats.

Republicans are hopeful that a late push from deep-pocketed conservative groups could yield bigger gains. Over the final three weeks of the campaign, GOP-aligned outside organizations have reserved more than $22 million worth of commercial airtime in competitive districts across the county, nearly double the investment from third-party Democratic groups.

During the final stretch of the election, few Democrats will be targeted with more cash from GOP-friendly outfits than California Rep. Ami Bera, who was first elected two years ago. Conservative groups will spend nearly $3 million against Bera, far outpacing their liberal counterparts.

In that race and others, conservative groups are coordinating their efforts to avoid overlap. On Tuesday, American Action Network began airing a TV commercial attacking Bera for his support of Obamacare. That ad will run through Oct. 20, and the next day, Congressional Leadership Fund, a group with close ties to Speaker John Boehner, will begin a commercial buy in the district that will go on for a week. Finally, the baton will be passed to the Karl Rove-founded American Crossroads, which will air ads for the final week leading up to Election Day...

 Crush them just like any threat to American prosperity needs to be crushed and violently destroyed.

The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority

Via Truth Revolt:

Here's Some Kelly Brook to Hold You Over ...

... While I head back out to see "Fury" for a second time.

See the Daily Garlic, "Kelly Brook."

@AmPowerBlog ~> https://t.co/Z9NFdscir8

— Inherent Craigé (@CraigR3521) October 18, 2014

@CraigR3521 indeed. can't get enough of her.

— David Partridge (@beegdave) October 18, 2014

Also at Egotastic!, "Kelly Brook Bouncy Flouncy Fun Time Cleavage Is In the House."

Critics Weigh In on Brad Pitt's 'Fury': A Violent, Visceral Update to the World War II Genre

At the Los Angeles Times, "'Fury': Brad Pitt tank drama carries out its mission, reviews say":

Writer-director David Ayer takes his gritty explorations of masculinity and violence to the battlefields of World War II in "Fury," starring Brad Pitt as the hardened leader of an American tank crew behind German lines.

Movie critics largely agree that "Fury," like the crew it depicts, accomplishes what it set out to do with unflinching violence and skilled execution — though not without its share of casualties.

More.

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?'"

"And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"

From the movie "Fury":



PREVIOUSLY: "World War II Veteran Says 'Fury' Is 'Accurate Portrayal' of Hellish Brutality of the War," and "Fury."

Community Organizer, Barack Obama, Crashed Country After Democrats Gave Him Keys to the Presidency

Heh, this story at the Smoking Gun reminds us of the dangers of giving responsibility to those who are too inexperienced to handle it.

See "Boy, 8, Crashed SUV After Drunk Dad Let Him Drive."

Boy, 8, crashed SUV into tree after drunk dad let him drive... http://t.co/sWZuuZMrTx

— The Smoking Gun (@tsgnews) October 17, 2014

Our community organizer president, after crashing everything, has put off attempting to pass any further priorities until after the elections, according to the Los Angeles Times, "Obama putting key priorities on hold until after midterm election."

Maybe the Democrats will finally sober up after the shellacking they're going to be handed on November 4th.

World War II Veteran Says 'Fury' Is 'Accurate Portrayal' of Hellish Brutality of the War

I can't get this movie off my mind.

And I can't give this movie a greater recommendation. So, don't take it from me. Listen to one of the men who actually fought tank battles against the Nazis in World War II.

Here's Brad Pitt and the crew of "Fury," interviewed by David Muir on World News Tonight:



More at the U.S. Army, "Soldiers, WWII vets honored at 'Fury' movie premiere":

Among those veterans was Ray Stewart, who recalled his days as a tank gunner.

"I served with 2nd Armor, F Company, 66th Armor Regiment. I loved to drive a tank. I drove a tank from Germany down to the Bulge, which is over 100 miles, and I drove it in the rain, and the cold," he said, in reference to the Battle of the Bulge, which began in December 1944.

"By the time we got down to the Bulge, it was 11 degrees below zero," he said....

Stewart attended the premiere with his family, including his wife of 63 years, Dottie.

"She has been a good wife to me, a beautiful wife," he said.

PREVIOUSLY: "Fury."

This Far-Left Whackjob Has a Pet Chicken --- So I Guess You Aren't Allowed to Eat Chicken Anymore, Or Something

A little late in getting to this, but then again, it's hard to keep up with the endless radioactive meltdown of everything the left gets its hands on.

Via Pat Dollard, "WATCH, MUST-SEE, HILARIOUS: Mentally Ill Woman Storms Restaurant, Claims a Chicken Is Her Daughter."

Children May Get Marijuana-Laced Candy on Halloween

Police warning, via the U.K. Independent.

And remember to thank a prog for making your Halloween a real-life nightmare:

US police warn marijuana sweets may end up in children's Halloween trick-or-treat bags http://t.co/fOHFs74v8h pic.twitter.com/NnyxkyOfbv

— The Independent (@Independent) October 18, 2014

'I’ll check my white male privilege right after you check your arrogant liberal [leftist] assumptions...'

From Frau Katze, at Blazing Cat Fur:

This is what I hate about progressivism. It’s such a dry, gray, joyless thing. It leaves no room for anyone to have an actual identity of their own. It doesn’t illuminate. It doesn’t enlighten. It doesn’t encourage open expression. It simply turns the lights off and tells everyone to shut up and play along.

Indeed, it's a sickness. If Ebola doesn't kill us, the left's secular collectivist totalitarianism most surely will.

Obama Freaks Out as His Administration Proves Its Woeful Unreadiness to Combat Ebola

It's all coming off the rails.

A devastating report, at the New York Times, via Ron Fournier:

Finger-pointing, blame-shifting, under-cutting, spinning: #Obama White House, you should be ashamed of this: http://t.co/BCqzkIgoeA #Ebola

— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) October 18, 2014

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and its arrival in the United States, is the latest in a cascade of crises that have stretched Mr. Obama’s national security staff thin. As the White House scrambled to stop the spread of Ebola beyond a handful of cases, officials were also grappling with an escalating military campaign against the Islamic State, the specter of a new Cold War with Russia over Ukraine, and the virtual disintegration of Yemen, which has been a seedbed for Al Qaeda.

Senior officials said they pushed Mr. Obama to name an Ebola coordinator as a way of easing pressure on the staff at the National Security Council.

At the meeting on Wednesday, officials said, Mr. Obama placed much of the blame on the C.D.C., which provided shifting information about which threat category patients were in, and did not adequately train doctors and nurses at hospitals with Ebola cases on the proper protective procedures.

On Thursday night, in televised remarks, Mr. Obama sought to reassure the public about the dangers from Ebola. But the sense of crisis that emanated from the White House was in sharp contrast to Sept. 30, when Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian who had traveled to Dallas, tested positive for Ebola. Mr. Obama received a telephone briefing from Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the C.D.C., after which the White House issued a sanguine statement that concluded: “We have the infrastructure in place to respond safely and effectively.”

In the days that followed, Mr. Obama carried on as usual while his aides gamely added Ebola to their bulging portfolios. On Oct. 1, Mr. Obama met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and later had dinner with friends at the RPM Steakhouse in Chicago, where he had traveled for fund-raisers and to deliver an economic speech.

By early October, as questions about the Dallas hospital’s treatment of Mr. Duncan mounted, federal officials began reassessing their response, even as they continued to express confidence.

C.D.C. officials publicly dismissed the effectiveness of screening for Ebola at airports in the United States. But Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, found a way to make it work over the weekend of Oct. 4. Mr. Obama announced the screening protocol the following Monday.

Even after Mr. Duncan’s death on Oct. 8, officials betrayed little sense of a change in approach. Mr. Obama traveled to California for campaign fund-raising and on his return to Washington, received a briefing from his secretary of health and human services about the announcement that a nurse who treated Mr. Duncan had contracted Ebola.

The business-as-usual sentiment at the White House changed abruptly, officials said, when it got word early Wednesday that a second nurse in Dallas contracted the disease. The fact that she had traveled on a Frontier Airlines flight despite having a fever added to the concern, officials said.

“This Frontier thing took it out of the abstract thing and to this level where people could identify with and made them scared,” a senior official said. Within hours, White House aides canceled a planned trip by Mr. Obama to Connecticut and New Jersey. Hours later, Thursday’s trip to Rhode Island and New York City was also scrubbed...

What a nightmare.

More at that top link.

Obama-Democrats' Ebola Evasions Reveal Disdain for the American People

From Peggy Noonan, at WSJ, "Who Do They Think We Are?":

The administration’s handling of the Ebola crisis continues to be marked by double talk, runaround and gobbledygook. And its logic is worse than its language. In many of its actions, especially its public pronouncements, the government is functioning not as a soother of public anxiety but the cause of it.

An example this week came in the dialogue between Megyn Kelly of Fox News and Thomas Frieden , director of the Centers for Disease Control.

Their conversation focused largely on the government’s refusal to stop travel into the United States by citizens of plague nations. “Why not put a travel ban in place,” Ms. Kelly asked, while we shore up the U.S. public-health system?

Dr. Frieden replied that we now have screening at airports, and “we’ve already recommended that all nonessential travel to these countries be stopped for Americans.” He added: “We’re always looking at ways that we can better protect Americans.”

“But this is one,” Ms. Kelly responded.

Dr. Frieden implied a travel ban would be harmful: “If we do things that are going to make it harder to stop the epidemic there, it’s going to spread to other parts of—”

Ms. Kelly interjected, asking how keeping citizens from the affected regions out of America would make it harder to stop Ebola in Africa.

“Because you can’t get people in and out.”

“Why can’t we have charter flights?”

“You know, charter flights don’t do the same thing commercial airliners do.”

“What do you mean? They fly in and fly out.”

Dr. Frieden replied that limiting travel between African nations would slow relief efforts. “If we isolate these countries, what’s not going to happen is disease staying there. It’s going to spread more all over Africa and we’ll be at higher risk.”

Later in the interview, Ms. Kelly noted that we still have airplanes coming into the U.S. from Liberia, with passengers expected to self-report Ebola exposure.

Dr. Frieden responded: “Ultimately the only way—and you may not like this—but the only way we will get our risk to zero here is to stop the outbreak in Africa.”

Ms. Kelly said yes, that’s why we’re sending troops. But why can’t we do that and have a travel ban?

“If it spreads more in Africa, it’s going to be more of a risk to us here. Our only goal is protecting Americans—that’s our mission. We do that by protecting people here and by stopping threats abroad. That protects Americans.”

Dr. Frieden’s logic was a bit of a heart-stopper. In fact his responses were more non sequiturs than answers. We cannot ban people at high risk of Ebola from entering the U.S. because people in West Africa have Ebola, and we don’t want it to spread. Huh?

In testimony before Congress Thursday, Dr. Frieden was not much more straightforward. His answers often sound like filibusters: long, rolling paragraphs of benign assertion, advertising slogans—“We know how to stop Ebola,” “Our focus is protecting people”—occasionally extraneous data, and testimony to the excellence of our health-care professionals.

It is my impression that everyone who speaks for the government on this issue has been instructed to imagine his audience as anxious children. It feels like how the pediatrician talks to the child, not the parents. It’s as if they’ve been told: “Talk, talk, talk, but don’t say anything. Clarity is the enemy.”

The language of government now is word-spew...

More.

Elizabeth Marxs

Cybergirl of the Year 2014, at Playboy:



PREVIOUSLY: "Elizabeth Marxs on Twitter!"

'Fury'

I couldn't wait to see this movie. In fact, I thought it was in theaters on October 10th and ended up waiting another week to see it. It was definitely worth it.

Easily the best World War II movie since "Saving Private Ryan." And Brad Pitt delivers a scorching performance, shorn of leftist political correctness. Indeed, totalitarian progs will hate this film's realpolitik version of morality.

Kenneth Turan has a review, at the Los Angeles Times, "'Fury' treads on war movie expectations as Brad Pitt & Co. kill Nazis."

Sabato's Crystal Ball: Republicans Should Gain 5-8 Seats in the Senate

The latest from Larry's Sabato's election projection outfit, "2014: A Tale of Two Elections: New 2014 Senate and House Ratings."

Ebola Cruise Ship Denied Entry by Mexico

This is starting to look like a Hollywood production.

At the Washington Post, "Amid Ebola concerns, Mexico fails to grant access to cruise ship carrying Texas health worker." (Via Memeorandum.)

Nurse from Texas Health Presbyterian Blasts Ebola Response

Oh man, she's fired up!



Just wow.

More here, "Whistle-blower nurse: 'I feel lied to'," and "Nurse: Ebola gear left neck exposed."

No Reason to Panic About Ebola!

And certainly no reason to panic until after the midterms. The Democrats need to mitigate the political damage. That comes before public health.

Ebola Not Contagious Until After Nov. 4 Election, Says CDC http://t.co/03Q0h3jQlt #TCOT #Ebola pic.twitter.com/s6X4Bnov70

— The People's Cube (@ThePeoplesCube) October 16, 2014

And see Jonathan Last, at the Weekly Standard, "Six Reasons to Panic":

Not everyone is convinced that this Ebola isn’t airborne. Last month, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy published an article arguing that the current Ebola has “unclear modes of transmission” and that “there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients, which means that healthcare workers should be wearing respirators, not facemasks.”

Lovely.

More.

The Centers for Anything But Disease Control

From Michelle Malkin, at RCP:

So now the federal health bureaucrats in charge of controlling diseases and pandemics want more money to do their jobs. Hmph. Maybe if they hadn't been so busy squandering their massive government subsidies on everything but their core mission, we taxpayers might actually feel a twinge of sympathy.

At $7 billion, the Centers for Disease Control 2014 budget is nearly 200 percent bigger now than it was in 2000.

Those evil, stingy Republicans actually approved CDC funding increases in January larger than what President Obama requested.

What are we getting for this ever-increasing amount of money? Answer: A power-hungry busybody brigade of politicized blame-mongers.

Money, money, it's always the money. Yet, while Ebola and enterovirus D68 wreak havoc on our health system, the CDC has been busying itself with an ever-widening array of non-disease control campaigns, like these recent crusades:

--Mandatory motorcycle helmet laws. CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden appoints a 15-member "Community Preventive Services Task Force" to promote pet Nanny State projects. An obscure Obamacare rule -- Section 4003(b)(1) -- stealthily increased the task force's authority to study "any policies, programs, processes or activities designed to affect or otherwise affecting health at the population level." Last year, the meddling panel extended the agency's reach into transportation safety with a call to impose a federal universal motorcycle helmet law on the country. Is riding a Harley a disease? Why is this the CDC's business?

--Video games and TV violence. At Obama's behest, in the wake of high-profile school shootings, the CDC scored $10 million last year to study violent video games and media images, as well as to assess "existing strategies for preventing gun violence and identifying the most pressing research questions, with the greatest potential public health impact." Whatever that means. Why is this the CDC's business?

--Playground equipment. The CDC's "Injury Centers" (Did you know there are 13 of them?) have crafted a "national action plan" and funded countless studies to prevent boo-boos and accidents on the nation's playgrounds. Apparently, there aren't enough teachers, parents, local school districts, and county and state regulators to police the slides and seesaws. Why is this the CDC's business?

--"Social norming" in the schools. The CDC has funded studies and campaigns "promoting positive community norms" and "safe, stable, nurturing relationships (SSNRs)" in homes and schools. It's the mother of all government values clarifications programs. So bad attitudes are now a disease. Again, I ask: Why is this the CDC's business?

After every public health disaster, CDC bureaucrats play the money card while expanding their regulatory and research reach into anti-gun screeds, anti-smoking propaganda, anti-bullying lessons, gender inequity studies and unlimited behavior modification programs that treat individual vices -- personal lifestyle choices -- as germs to be eradicated.

Here's a reminder of what the CDC does with money that's supposed to go to real disease control...

Continue reading.

Ebola Outbreak: Response Ripples Across Nation

At the Wall Street Journal, "Officials Scramble to Limit Chance of Spreading Infection":

Concerns about the Dallas nurse who flew to Cleveland shortly before being diagnosed with Ebola rippled across the country Thursday, as officials tried to limit the chance of spreading infection by those who came into direct or indirect contact with her.

A handful of schools in Texas and Ohio closed their doors for disinfection. A group of Ohio nurses who flew from Dallas to Cleveland were put on leave, as was a Frontier Airlines flight crew who flew her back to Dallas. And eight people in the Cleveland and Akron area who spent significant time with the nurse, identified as Amber Joy Vinson, put themselves into voluntary quarantine.

Amid the tumult, the Texas Department of State Health Services on Thursday issued new rules barring dozens of health-care workers who treated Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., from taking public transportation and visiting public places.

Judge Clay Jenkins, the county’s highest elected official, said that although the directions restricting workers’ movements are binding, he’s confident that they will voluntary comply. “These are hometown healthcare heroes who are going to honor that,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, a Yale student who had traveled to Liberia and checked into a hospital with “Ebola-like symptoms” tested negative for the virus. The student’s symptoms and subsequent hospitalization on Wednesday night set off an urgent reaction among Connecticut health officials, prompting Gov. Dannel Malloy to invoke the state’s authority to quarantine and isolate patients with the virus or suspected of having the virus.

Despite the nationwide agitation, public health officials preached a message of calm. “Just because someone may have been exposed does not mean they are infected,” Dr. Chris Braden of the CDC said at an Ohio news conference.

Ms. Vinson, who helped treat Mr. Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas before he died Oct. 8, was in the Akron area visiting family and preparing for her wedding, local health and law-enforcement officials said. On Thursday, public health officials stressed Ms. Vinson was aware of her possible exposure and kept largely close quarters with family members and friends.

“She was being very distant,” said Summit County Health Commissioner Gene Nixon, adding that she refrained from hugging or kissing anyone.

Another public health official said a relative later reported that Ms. Vinson had appeared lethargic and unwell over the weekend.

Late Thursday night, Ms. Vinson’s family released a statement through Kent State University, where she attended and where several of her relatives work.

“Amber is a respected professional and has always had a strong passion for nursing,” said Lawrence Vinson, her uncle, in the statement. “She followed all of the protocols necessary when treating a patient in Dallas, and right now, she’s trusting in her doctors and nurses as she is now the patient.”

ADDED: "U.S. Ebola Response Is Slammed by Lawmakers: Obama Considers Appointing Czar After Bipartisan Criticism Mounts."

More Americans Support Ground Troops to Fight #ISIS

Boy, does this ever put Obama in a bind.

He's said repeatedly that he won't send ground troops back to Iraq (or into Syria), and more and more he's finding himself on the wrong side of public opinion. What a loser.

At NBC News, "More Americans Back U.S. Ground Troops in ISIS Fight."

5 Takeaways From the October WSJ/NBC News Poll

From Janet Hook, at WSJ:

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that Republicans enter the final three weeks of the midterm election campaign well-positioned to make gains in Congress. At the same time, the political environment is riddled with volatile elements that could produce surprises. Here are some main takeaways of the new poll.

And got to the full survey, "Republicans Hold Advantage as Midterms Near: Poll Shows Low Interest, Disillusionment Create Room for Surprises."

Polls Show Massive Repudiation of Democratic Party on Election Day

Voters are actually highly dissatisfied with the direction of American politics, but as the party controlling the White House and the Senate, the public is on the verge of dealing a massive repudiation to the Obama-Democrats on November 4th.

Here's ABC News, "Trouble Looms for Obama, Democrats with Election Day 2014 Approaching" (via Memeorandum):

Barack Obama and his political party are heading into the midterm elections in trouble. The president’s 40 percent job approval rating in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll is the lowest of his career – and the Democratic Party’s popularity is its weakest in polling back 30 years, with more than half of Americans seeing the party unfavorably for the first time.

The Republican Party is even more unpopular. But benefitting from their supporters’ greater likelihood of voting, GOP candidates nonetheless hold a 50-43 percent lead among likely voters for U.S. House seats in the Nov. 4 election.

These and other results are informed by an array of public concerns on issues from the economy to international terrorism to the Ebola virus, crashing into a long-running crisis of confidence in the nation’s political leadership. Almost two-thirds say the country is headed seriously off on the wrong track. Even more, three-quarters, are dissatisfied with the way the political system is working.

Scorn is widely cast: Among those who are dissatisfied with the political system, two-thirds say both sides are equally to blame, with the rest dividing evenly between Obama and his party, vs. the Republicans in Congress, as the chief culprits. But as a nearly six-year incumbent president, Obama – and by extension his party – are most at risk.

Beyond his overall rating, Obama is at career lows in approval for his handling of immigration, international affairs and terrorism (long his best issue) in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates. Approval of his handling of the conflict with Islamic State insurgents in Iraq and Syria has plummeted by percentage 15 points in the last two weeks, amid questions about the progress of the air campaign now under way.

Further, while Obama’s negative rating on handling the economy has eased, more Americans say they’ve gotten worse off rather than better off under his presidency; the plurality is “about the same” financially, for most not a happy outcome. Even with the recovery to date, 77 percent are worried about the economy’s future, and 57 percent say the country has been experiencing a long-term decline in living standards – all grim assessments as Election Day looms.

Such views can carry a punch. An analysis conducted for this report shows that presidential approval ratings (in data since 1946) and views that the country’s on the right track (since 1974) highly correlate with midterm gains or losses for the party in power. (The correlations are .68 and .65, respectively; 0 means no relationship and 1 is a perfect, positive fit.)

Moreover, an index of dissatisfaction, also produced for this study, finds that the public’s unease on a range of issues strongly predicts vote preferences; these wide-ranging concerns emerge as a key factor in the 2014 contest. In addition to persistent doubts about the economy, for instance, 71 percent express worry about a terrorist attack and 65 percent say they’re concerned about an Ebola epidemic – disquieting sentiments when confidence in the political system is so weak. (Details of the dissatisfaction index will be covered in a separate report tomorrow.)

History, for its part, offers the Democrats cold comfort. Obama’s approval rating matches George W. Bush’s heading into the 2006 midterms, when the Republicans lost 30 seats. The only postwar president numerically lower heading into a second midterm was Harry Truman, at 39 percent approval, in 1950; his Democrats lost 28 seats. While race-by-race assessments don’t suggest those kinds of losses this year, the comparison adds context to the GOP’s upper hand.

Such results also help explain why Obama is attending his first public campaign rally of 2014 only today, for Gov. Dan Malloy of Connecticut.

More.

Far-Left Ghoul Scott Lemieux: Killing Babies is a 'Positive Social Good'

Just wow.

Let's just kill more babies, as if we haven't killed enough already, with the left's pro-abortion genocide that's cut a murderous swath across America since the Supreme Court so egregiously ruled in 1973.

For as ghoulish at take you're likely to read, here's your go-to wannabe baby-killer Scotty Lemieux, at the regressive hate-site Leftists, Ghouls and Murder, "Abortion Rights Without Apology." (Via Memeorandum.)

Just read it at the link --- and be ready for the most shameless advocacy for the killing of society's most vulnerable, the unborn.

Leszek Kolakowski: The Man Who Killed Marxism

From Mark Michalski, at RealClearReligion, "The Man Who Killed Marxism":

In Main Currents of Marxism, Kolakowski wrote that "Marxism has been the greatest fantasy of our century." According to him, socialism signifies giving the solution which can never exist. "At present," the author pointed out, "Marxism neither interprets the world nor changes it; it is merely a repetition of slogans." And this is because the ruling elite does not represent the society's needs, but places empty ideology above anything else. Clearly the most important premise of the socialist rule is that it can be exercised by those who possess power. The system which exacts stern order and blind obedience may only triumph through violence, fear, and military coercion. At the same time this system generates only alienation, and stagnation. The sad story of our times is that the system which claims to embody the rights, privileges and welfare of the working class is the same system whose biggest enemy is its very citizens. Kolakowski jokes that socialism would be a splendid idea if only there were no people.

An astounding tome, Main Currents of Marxism: The Founders - The Golden Age - The Breakdown.

Accused College Rapists Have Rights, Too

From Judith Shulevitz, at the New Republic.

It's a great piece, so RTWT. The conclusion's killer:

What’s happening at universities represents an often necessary effort to recategorize once-acceptable behaviors as unacceptable. But the government, via Title IX, is effectively acting on the notion popularized in the 1970s and ’80s by Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon that male domination is so pervasive that women need special protection from the rigors of the law. Men, as a class, have more power than women, but American law rests on the principle that individuals have rights even when accused of doing bad things. And American liberalism has long rejected the notion that those rights may be curtailed even for a noble cause. “We need to take into account our obligations to due process not because we are soft on rapists and other exploiters of women,” says Halley, but because “the danger of holding an innocent person responsible is real.”

There's your radical feminism infecting the "real world."

The Indecent Mind of Andrea Dworkin

Another one from Robert Stacy McCain!

"All that is necessary to defeat feminism is to tell the truth about feminism." http://t.co/cnskNpDDEJ @AmPowerBlog pic.twitter.com/nmBwH9SeXu

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) October 12, 2014

The 'Government is Not Competent to Handle' the Ebola Virus and #ISIS Threat

Oh, well, here's that notorious right-wing whack job Susan Page, of USA Today, glibly circulating those widely ridiculed conservative fever-swamp talking points. You know, the ones where the White House is completely incapable of handling the various threats to basic American safety and security.

Yes, so go ahead and completely discount Ms. Page's comments. She's simply a FUBAR RWNJ. The truth is, the Obama administration has everything under control. It's all copacetic man.

Alison Lundergan Grimes Will Not Compromise Her Constitutional Right to Deny She Voted for President Barack Obama!

Because the Founders guaranteed the right to hide behind the "secret ballot" if you're a Kentucky Senate candidate who voted for President Obola.

She's seriously in contention for the worst candidate ever.

Truly mind-boggling.

From Mary Katharine Ham, at Hot Air, "Video: Alison Lundergan Grimes sticking with this whole my-vote-is-private shtick."

From Comedy to Farce

From Victor Davis Hanson, at Pajamas Media:

It was tragically comical that the commander in chief in just a few weeks could go from referring to ISIS as “jayvee” and a manageable problem to declaring it an existential threat, in the same manner he upgraded the Free Syrian Army from amateurs and a fantasy to our ground linchpin in the new air war. All that tragic comedy was a continuance of his previous untruths, such as the assurance that existing health plans and doctors would not change under the Affordable Care Act or that there was not a smidgeon of corruption at the IRS.

But lately the Obama confusion has descended into the territory not of tragedy or even tragic comedy, but rather of outright farce...

Keep reading.

Seattle Boots Columbus Day for 'Indigenous Peoples' Day'

I wrote on this earlier, and today's the day.

At NBC News:

Highway 73 Toll Road to Be Refinanced

I hate the toll roads. I avoid them like the plague, and I'm not the only one. Screw the transportation agency. They can suck on that debt until 2200 for all I care.

At LAT, "O.C. toll road to be refinanced again; drivers may be paying until 2050."

Go Navy!

Heh, just now on Twitter:

#239NavyBday RT @AdamBaldwin: #GoNavy! "For 239 Years, the @USNavy Has Stood the Watch!" - http://t.co/Cmrt8kvS0Y

— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) October 13, 2014

Penelope Cruz for Esquire Magazine November 2014

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have backed off from their attacks on Israel. That's good, especially since Ms. Penelope is one of the hottest of the hots.

See Egotastic, "Penelope Cruz Sweet Cleavage in Esquire Magazine November 2014."

Fire Rachel Maddow!

MSNBC's considering cancelling Ronan Farrow, which wouldn't be bad. But if you're going to can anyone it should be Rachel Maddow, the ultimate far-left hack whose show is a broken-record of GOP-bashing and tea party conspiracies. She's utterly ridiculous, and it shows in the ratings decline.

Here's the headline at Mediaite, "MSNBC Eyes Canceling Ronan Farrow Show Amidst Schedule Shakeup."

And see Ed Driscoll on the New York Times report on MSNBC's epic collapse, "MSNBC: ‘Dukakis After Dark’ Meets Groundhog Day."

@RogueStarGamez Biggest reason not to fear MSNBC? Nobody watches them. http://t.co/edwY7I2xDa @Int_Aristocrat @instapundit

— I Aim to Misbehave (@Aim2Misbhv) October 13, 2014

Richard Engel: #ISIS Hasn't Been Degraded at All

Of course not. Random pinpricks won't do jack.

Obama's national security policy continues to inspire no confidence whatsoever.



PREVIOUSLY: "Obama's Desultory Bombing Mission Won't Defeat #ISIS."

Fleet Week Air Show San Francisco (2014)

At Twitchy, "Amazing photos, videos of the Blue Angels in action from San Francisco’s Fleet Week."

PREVIOUSLY: "San Francisco Fleet Week."

One Killed, Two injured After Being Struck Amtrak Train at Gaviota State Beach

Just not smart.

Lots of trains rip through Santa Barbara County. And they were on the trestle with no escape.

At LAT, "Couples taking sunset picture hit by train; one dead, two injured."

Despite the Left's 'Tea Party Fear' Meme, Democrat Constituencies Most Scared of Ebola

If you look at the headlines at Memeorandum, you'd think the tea party was hunkering down in wilderness outbreak camps to guard against Ebola. Here's the headline at NYDN, for example, "Tea Party and fears of an Ebola outbreak go hand in hand."

But according to Pew Reports, it's traditional Democrat Party minority groups who're most likely to fear contracting Ebola. Here, "Blacks, Hispanics More Concerned about Exposure to Ebola."

And a summary at Big Government, "PEW: BLACKS, HISPANICS MORE WORRIED THAN WHITES ABOUT CONTRACTING EBOLA":

The poll, conducted Oct. 2-5, found that "nearly half of blacks (47%) and 39% of Hispanics say they are very or somewhat worried about being exposed to the Ebola virus," while "just 27% of whites are worried" about contracting Ebola.

In addition, "women (37%) are somewhat more concerned than men (27%) that they or someone in their family will be exposed to Ebola," and those with with lower levels of education are more worried about getting Ebola than college graduates.

Pew found that while 22% of college graduates are worried about getting Ebola, "34% of those with some college experience and 38% of those with no more than a high school diploma say they are worried."

It's not just fear of an "outbreak," as the NYDN piece suggests, but fear of personally contracting the disease that has Democrats most worried. So whenever you see depraved leftist spewing lies about tea party Ebola fear-mongering, tell them to go suck a discarded Liberian intravenous blood bag.

Republicans Seize on Terrorism as Campaign Issue, Debunking the Left's Narrative of Lies

The way the press criticizes any mention of the rash of beheadings, it serves only to infantilize the American electorate, and of course, protect the Obama White House. Censoring images of Americans being murdered by ISIS does nothing to protect the families. It does everything to protect the crumbling leftist narrative, which needs all the help it can get.

These are not "shocking" images and showing snippets of them in campaign ads is not disrespectful. The opposite Obama-Democrat meme is the big lie of the current campaign season.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Some Senate candidates seize on terrorism as campaign issue":

Far behind in the polls and in need of a bump, a Republican running for Senate in New Mexico recently turned to the image of the knife-wielding Islamic State militant who beheaded an American journalist, building a campaign advertisement that flashes on the horrific YouTube video.

The online spot, from the campaign of Allen Weh, a decorated Marine who served in Vietnam and later in Iraq, is perhaps the most brazen effort by Republicans to use the threat posed by the militants to gain traction with voters. But it is not the only one.

At a time when no single national issue is dominating midterm election campaigns, GOP candidates in several battleground states are seizing on public unease with President Obama's strategy for containing the terrorist group.

In Colorado and New Hampshire, Democratic senators are being badgered by TV ads showing gun-toting Islamic militants against a soundtrack of Obama's comments — including his remark in September that "we don't have a strategy" for the threat.

The attacks come amid voter unease with developments in the Middle East. During debates this week in North Carolina and Georgia, both key contests for control of the Senate, the U.S. response to the terrorists was the first question of the evening.

"The president has continued to fail and show a policy of peace through weakness," said Thom Tillis, the Republican speaker of the House in North Carolina who is trying to oust Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, during the debate in the military-heavy state. "This is a policy that needs to be on the ballot in November."

Also notice how the Times frames the issue as Republicans "struggling" and "grasping" for traction, when in fact public opinion polls have routinely found the public favoring more robust action to defeat the terrorists. Indeed, Obama's approval on national security has plunged to the low-30s in various surveys.

But hey, the leftist press will do anything to keep the flailing Democrat Party afloat. It's pretty pathetic.

Secret Transcripts Shed Light on J. Robert Oppenheimer's Communist Connections

At the New York Times, "Transcripts Kept Secret for 60 Years Bolster Defense of Oppenheimer’s Loyalty."

And after you finish that, see John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, "J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Spy? No. But a Communist Once? Yes."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

More at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Grim," and Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Roundup."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

My Bad! By Bad! Steve M. at No More Mister Is Not Bisexual — NTTAWWT!!

Well, I've got Steve M. trolling my comments section, telling me how "stupid" I am, for mistaking him with "Steven D" at Booman Tribune.

My bad! My bad! I wouldn't want to make stupid, dumb mistakes with the alphabet or anything, like this one, "Hey, 'No More Mister', It's 'Donald T. Sterling' Who Owns the #Clippers, LOL!"

So, to be absolutely clear (and he really wanted me to be absolutely clear, because, ahem, well tolerance), Steve M. is not bisexual, or homosexual, from what I gather --- not that there's anything wrong with that!!

No 'Troll Rights' on Twitter for Terrorist Jihadis

Heh, I guess the ISIS jihadis weren't pleased to find out they had no "troll rights" on Twitter.

At Breitbart, "TWITTER CEO: ISIS THREATENED TO ASSASSINATE ME FOR DELETING JIHADIST ACCOUNTS."

ISIS jihadists are just like leftist trolls, in that regard. They threaten to make your life miserable, if not kill you, if you deny they have a right to post at "public commenting systems." I mean really. Like Twitter and Blogger are "public commenting systems." But then, leftists like this smear conservatives as racist for standing up against jihad, so no surprise that Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is getting these death threats. Nothing --- nothing! --- is allowed to stand in the way of leftist-Islamist totalitarianism.

See also, "Imaginary ‘Rights’ You Don’t Have, You Sad and Disgusting Troll, Bill Schmalfeldt," and "The Definition of Cyberstalking."

RELATED: "Hi Donald Douglas: You Have a New Stalking Troll-Rights Follower Harasser @Repsac3 on Disqus."

Dow Erases Gains for the Year

Interesting stock market volatility this last week, perhaps a precursor of broader economic calamity? And we're barely out of the last recession, hmm.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Tumultuous Week Shatters Market Calm as Global Growth Fears Rattle Investors":

Global stocks tumbled on Friday, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average into negative territory for 2014 and shaking the confidence that many investors had clung to despite lackluster growth around the world.

A wave of selling in the final hour of trading on Friday left the Dow at 16544.10, down 115.15 points, or 0.7%. The blue-chip index fell 466 points, or 2.7%, for the week, its worst weekly performance since August.

The Dow rose or fell at least 1% on three separate days, a sign of the stomach-churning worries now spreading through global financial markets.

As big U.S. companies begin reporting third-quarter results, many investors fear that some firms will say weakening foreign markets and the strengthening U.S. dollar held down sales and could hurt future performance.

Another problem: Because stock-price valuations are high, many investors believe low interest rates and inflation, strong earnings and steady economic growth are needed to keep pushing stocks higher overall.

The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index fell 4.45% for the week, while the small-stock Russell 2000 index slumped 1.4% on Friday. It is down 13% from its March high.

This week’s most troubling news came largely from Europe, where surprisingly soft economic reports again raised the specter of recession. Germany announced unexpected weakness in manufacturing and exports.

Meanwhile, falling oil and industrial-metals prices are fueling fresh worries that China, a buyer of vast quantities of raw materials, might be slowing down more than previously thought.

“It is the dollar and exposure to foreign economies that are weighing on the market here right now,” said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, which oversees $4.5 billion.

Still, the Dow is down only 4.3% from its record in September. While many money managers worry that the volatility isn’t over, few expect a bear market, meaning a decline of 20% or more. So far in 2014, the Dow has slipped 0.2%...

More.

RELATED: "‘A Regular, Run of the Mill, Old Fashioned Normal Stock Market’."

Wendy Davis Starts Slow Walk-Back of Despicable Wheelchair Attack on Greg Abbott — UPDATE! Correction Appended!!

Check it out at Twitchy, "‘Tone deafness personified': Wendy Davis campaign begins soft backpedal on wheelchair ad."

The Davis campaign will be out with an apology on Monday, if not sooner.

Meanwhile, the hardened dead-soul leftists are defending the hate.

Congratulations, @WendyDavisTexas. Your "Look at the Cripple" ad gets the coveted @karoli endorsement: http://t.co/fZrjtht7LY
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) October 11, 2014

More at Treacher's Twitter feed.

And don't miss the "Faithful Bisexual" No More Mister, "A HARSH AD, BUT A VALID POINT."

Seriously, I have no words or these sad facsimiles of human life. Man.

CORRECTION: I confused "Steven D." with "Steve M." A thousand pardons! See, "My Bad! By Bad! Steve M. at No More Mister Is Not Bisexual — NTTAWWT!!"

LOL Logic from Heisenburger King

This is great, from Doug Ross, "THE LOGIC ZONE: Where No Democrats Dare to Tread."

The Capitalist Cure for Terrorism

From Hernando de Soto, at the Wall Street Journal, "Military might alone won’t defeat Islamic State and its ilk. The U.S. needs to promote economic empowerment."

An interesting piece, including a powerful argument about economic freedom and personal autonomy. I just don't think de Soto makes the connection to terrorism all that well. Islamists aren't primarily driven by poverty. They're driven by religious ideology. Wealthy or poor, contemporary Islam is about jihad, not greater economic empowerment.

Bwahaha! Cassandra Rules Gets Much-Deserved Tear Gas to the Face!! — #Ferguson #ShawShooting

I wish I could have seen it in person, lol!

That would have made a killer Vine, this stupid, disgusting racist bitch screaming in pain, mwahahaha!!

Here: "Super flattering right? I can open my eyes now. He got me at point blank range. Dead in my eyes. #ShawShooting."

She's obviously a bleedin' idiot and rank skankball. Here's the brain-addled (c-word) minutes before scoring a tear-gas cream pie in the face, lol!

Me. #FergusonOctober pic.twitter.com/yw7VgT3p9y

— Cassandra (@CassandraRules) October 11, 2014

San Francisco Fleet Week

I love this --- at Moscow by the Bay, lol!

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Fleet Week to open in S.F. with a roar," and "Fleet Week roars back with commission for newest assault ship."

Plus, from CBS News Bay Area, "Parade of Ships Makes It Way Under Golden Gate Bridge For Fleet Week," and "Sailors Crowd San Francisco Streets for Fleet Week Festivities."

#ISIS Black Flag Planted in Kobani

Horrible.

At IBD, "Obama's Feckless 'Strategy' Risks Kobani Slaughter."

Obama's Feckless 'Strategy' Risks Kobani Slaughter http://t.co/cvg7u6dsLI … via @IBDinvestors - pic.twitter.com/tBe7LwZkbS

— Daniel John Sobieski (@gerfingerpoken) October 11, 2014

Huntington Beach Asbestos Scourge Closes Schools, Angers Community

Yay!

Huntington Beach school kids exposed to cancer-causing agents! Way to go public bureaucrats!

I'm being sarcastic, lest anyone take offense. This is a freakin' nightmare.

At LAT, "Asbestos scare: Huntington Beach elementary school closed indefinitely."

Ebola Screening at New York's JFK Airport

Folks were kidding about the U.S. becoming the Ebola nation, but not so much now.

At NYT, "As U.S. Steps Up Fight, J.F.K. Begins Screening Passengers for Ebola."

Latinos Get Their Own National Park to Befoul with Dirty Diapers — #SanGabrielMountains

See Five Feet of Fury, "Finally: Latinos get a National Park of their very own that they can throw garbage around in."

And following the link, from Steve Sailer:

You know, it’s not really the Evil White Man who is throwing his muchachos’ disposable diapers in the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, as this 2012 Los Angeles Times article “An Alpine Creek that Reeks” (and accompanying reader comments) makes clear.

Well, Obama calls this outdoor diaper dumpster an "awesome natural wonder."

Figures.

He's using his "pen and phone" to help out the Hispanic Huggies demographic. What a dirtbag loser.

VIDEO: Black Thug Shoots Newlywed Soldier and Kills His Pregnant Wife, No Word from Leftist RACE-BAITERS!

Same --- and despicable --- as it ever was.

Via Clash Daily.

How Political Correctness Endangers Women

Well, PC totalitarianism endangers everyone.

But check out Bethany Mandel, at the Federalist:

Evil exists, which is unfortunate, but a reality nonetheless. And to acknowledge as much doesn’t blame either the victim or society at large. When women are harmed, it is not because a “rape culture” is embedded in our society. It’s because of the existence of evil. Denying the existence of evil does not erase it, just as denying the race of those responsible does not erase racism. It only serves to protect evil, allowing it to strike again. And that denial sets a frightening and dangerous precedent for any reporting, especially that of violent crime.

That quote doesn't quite do, ahem, justice, so RTWT.

And remember, the left's political correctness perpetuates crime, and THAT is evil.

Postcard from Britain: Immigration Is Hot Issue as Elections Approach

Well, better late than never, I guess.

At the New York Times, "As Elections Approach, a Desire To Roll Up the Welcome Mat":

LONDON — John O’Keefe, a neuroscientist at University College in London, brought pride to Britain last week when he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his discovery, in rats, of the brain’s “GPS” system. But Dr. O’Keefe, American-born, had some unwelcome criticism for his adopted country.

Britain’s efforts to restrict immigration have become “a very, very large obstacle” to hiring the best scientists, he said. “We should be thinking hard about making Britain a more welcoming place.”

That is precisely the opposite of the current mood in Britain, seven months before an election, where immigration, the economy and the health service are the hottest issues.

Before the elections in 2010, David Cameron, now prime minister, had vowed to reduce net migration to less than 100,000 a year by 2015, including migrants from within the European Union, which has a fundamental principle that all citizens may live and work in any member country. Home Secretary Theresa May wants to reduce the figure to tens of thousands.

But there is a long and awkward way to go. While the government has set targets, it has little control over the variables. In the year ended March 2014, the government reports, 265,000 non-European Union citizens moved to Britain, ending a steady decline since the recent peak of 334,000 in 2011. Net immigration to Britain from the European Union rose to 130,000 in the year through March, up from 75,000 two years ago.

Total net immigration in the year through March was 243,000. That is back up to the 10-year average of nearly a quarter of a million people, said Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch U.K., which advocates restrictions. “If allowed to continue,” he said, the population will increase by 12 million — two more Scotlands — in 20 years. “That’s huge,” he said, arguing that three-quarters of British voters “want to see it reduced.”

So immigration is a fertile topic for the right and for the nationalist U.K. Independence Party, which is squeezing Mr. Cameron, and it is so sensitive with voters that even the opposition Labour Party has little to say about it.

Thursday’s two by-elections were a warning shot for both parties. UKIP won the seat in Clacton-on-Sea by a large margin, as expected, after the legislator Douglas Carswell defected from the Tories to join Nigel Farage and UKIP. That was historic, because Mr. Carswell became UKIP’s first elected member of Parliament. But what really shook the ground was the by-election in Heywood and Middleton, near Manchester, when the UKIP candidate came within 617 votes of defeating the heavily favored Labour candidate in the Labour Party’s heartland.

By-elections are famous for protest votes that don’t usually carry over to the general election. But UKIP, an essentially English nationalist party, is making headway against both main parties on the issues of sharply reducing immigration and quitting the European Union... 

More at that top link.

Funny, but sometimes the journalistic standard of promoting balance is completely idiotic. Clearly, British elites --- uniformly pro-immigration, apparently --- just don't get it. Britain is Balkanized, crime-ridden, and rotting at the core from the progressive depravity of political correctness. The rank-and-file masses of traditional Britain have woken up to the poxy elite destruction of their once great nation. Ostensibly "right-wing" parties are making record gains, not just in Britain. The left will denounce these trends as "xenophobia" and "racism," but the fact is that basic decency and common sense are making a comeback. Such old-fashioned values scare the crap out of vile progressives. The traditional push-back is destroying the very platform of social destruction that is the essence of radical progressivism.

The Left: Destroying and Terrorizing America One Five-Year-Old Child at a Time

Another reason why radical leftism is the scourge of modern existence.

From Darleen Click, at Protein Wisdom, "School officials abuse 5 year old who drew something resembling a gun":

Bullying kids into believing there is no such thing as gender: Good Terrorizing kids about drawing guns or engaging in any fantasy play about weapons: Bad and needing psychiatric “help.”

Tar, feathers and a rail just doesn’t seem to enough to visit upon these child abusers.

Click through for the full report.

The Obamas Have Brought Nothing but Disease, Disgrace, and Deceit — And Then Some...

Going around on Twitter:

Alison Lundergan Grimes 'Disqualified Herself' by Refusing to Admit She Voted for Obama

Can't get away from Barack "Fart Face" Obama fast enough.

At Truth Revolt.

Bwahaha! Dems Can't Get Away from Obama: He's Like a Fart on an Elevator!

OMG this is freakin' hilarious --- and too true lol!!

Via People's Cube:

Dems move away from Obama but they have nowhere to run. He's like a fart in an elevator. http://t.co/ScentzI15A #TCOT pic.twitter.com/v5tn0qPc7J

— The People's Cube (@ThePeoplesCube) October 11, 2014

PREVIOUSLY: "Alison Lundergan Grimes Won't Say If She Voted for Obama."

Kay Hagan Missed Armed Services Committee Hearing to Attend Fundraiser (VIDEO)

Alas, she's not as vulnerable as I had hoped. But God willing she'll still be dumped out on her ass by election day.

At Free Beacon, "Hagan Confirms Attending NYC Fundraiser Over Islamic State Hearing."

Democratic Party's Turnout Problem

I noted the engagement gap the other day, which is going to hurt the idiot Dems, "Voter Engagement Lower Than in 2010 and 2006 Midterms."

And now here's this, at the Hill, "Turnout fears mount for Dems":

The Democratic Party's worst fears about the midterm election look to be coming true.

Polling in recent weeks suggests turnout on Election Day could be very low, even by the standards of recent midterms. That’s bad news for Democrats because core groups in the liberal base are more likely to stay home than are people in the demographic segments that lean Republican.

A Gallup poll last week found that voters are less engaged in this year's midterms than they were in 2010 and 2006. Only 33 percent of respondents said they were giving at least “some” thought to the upcoming midterms, compared to 46 percent in 2010 and 42 percent in 2006. Even more troubling for Democrats, Republicans held a 12-point advantage  when those paying “some” attention were broken down by party.

Historically, the core Democratic constituencies of young people, minorities and single women are more likely to skip voting in midterm elections. The current projections suggest that months of effort by the Democratic Party to engage those groups on issues such as the minimum wage and women's pay may have been in vain.



If the numbers hold, it could mean a rout for Democrats similar to the 2010 "shellacking" — President Obama’s description — that swept away their House majority.

"We cannot have 2010 turnout. If we have 2010 turnout among our key constituencies, we're going to have 2010 all over again. It's math," said Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher, who served as a pollster for President Obama's election campaigns.

More. (Via Memeorandum.)

Also from Martin "Not Dead" Longman, at the Washington Monthly, "If an Election Happens in the Forest and…" (Also via Memeorandum.)

America Is 'War on Women' Weary

From Kim Strassel, at WSJ:

Colorado Sen. Mark Udall has been called a lot of things, but the nickname highlighted during his Tuesday debate with Republican Cory Gardner deserves some meditation. “Mr. Udall,” said the female debate moderator, “your campaign has been so focused on women’s issues that you’ve been dubbed ‘Mark Uterus’ . . . Have you gone too far?”

Don’t tell Harry Reid , but the “war on women” theme is losing political altitude. Don’t tell the entire Democratic Party, in fact, which this year chose to elevate this attack—that Republicans are hostile to women—to the top of its political strategy. Mr. Reid spent most of the past year holding Senate show votes (on “equal” pay or the Violence Against Women Act) designed to give his candidates further political ammunition. Democrats by some estimates have already devoted as much as 60% of their $120 million in midterm TV advertising to the “war on women”—claiming Republican candidates are anti-birth-control, anti-women’s-health, anti-reproductive rights, anti-equal pay. Even Republicans at the height of anti-ObamaCare fervor were never so monomaniacal.

When a party throws $70 million at an issue, it will move the voter dial. Yet what’s remarkable is how little that dial is moving for Democrats compared with past elections. In Colorado, where Mr. Udall and his allies have beaten the “war on women” drum harder than any campaign, the most recent poll, from Quinnipiac, shows Mr. Gardner down by only three points among women. Colorado Republican Ken Buck, who failed in a Senate bid in 2010, lost women by 17 points.

New Fox News state polls show the same everywhere. Alaska Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan is losing women by five points. In Kentucky, GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell is down among women voters by two points—and he’s running against a Democratic woman. Republican Tom Cotton in Arkansas is outright tied among women against Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor.

Credit for these tight margins goes partly to the GOP, which after too many thrashings finally came into an election with a counter-strategy. The National Republican Senatorial Committee put a new premium on picking nominees talented enough to avoid saying stupid stuff. This was no small task, given the media’s obsessive focus in interviews and debates on social issues, and thus the endless potential for Republican error. Less than a month from Election Day, the GOP has yet to suffer a Todd Akin moment.

Republican candidates have also gone on offense. Mr. Gardner (as well as a half-dozen other GOP Senate candidates) flummoxed the left with his support for over-the-counter birth control. The position has helped inoculate him from Democratic assaults. Republicans still could—and should—do more to highlight Democratic extremism on social issues. Mr. Udall, for instance, recently refused to say he was opposed to sex-selective abortions, meaning he’s apparently not against terminating girl babies solely because they are girls. War on women?

Mr. Udall’s race offers another insight into the Democrats’ diminishing war-on-women returns. Women are open to a bit of fear-mongering about Republicans, but they are less sure about a Democrat who can’t talk about anything else...

Exactly. Look squirrel!

More at that top link.

Alison Lundergan Grimes Won't Say If She Voted for Obama

Via Legal Insurrection, "Alison Grimes: Stop asking me if I voted for Obama."

Abortion Barbie Goes There

See Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "The worst campaign ad ever?":

It’s simply stunning in its sheer desperation. It’s so bad that I’m writing this post at nearly 11 pm in Rome to make sure it goes up on the site tonight. This isn’t just a bad campaign ad — it may very well be the worst, most cynical campaign ad ever. And the award goes to Wendy Davis, who’s about to get trounced by Greg Abbott, and this shows why:

After getting justice for himself, Greg Abbott spent his career denying that same justice to other victims. WATCH: http://t.co/KpuBJdU5fa

— Wendy Davis (@WendyDavisTexas) October 10, 2014

RTWT.

And don't miss Twitchy, "‘Eff it, let’s go after the cripple’: You have to see Wendy Davis’ new attack ad [video]." Be sure to follow the links for additional posts.

A perfect representation of Democrat Party depravity. So, when will top party officials and office holders denounce Wendy Davis and her abject hatred for the disabled? I'm not holding my breath. This is a feature, not a bug.

Rosie Jones Returns to Zoo

Well, she's making the most of her modeling career, and good for her. The U.K.'s totalitarian feminists already succeeded in getting Nuts shut down. More power to Zoo.



PREVIOUSLY: "Rosie Jones' First-Ever Zoo 'Shoot."

News Generation Gap

A rhetorical question, via Nieman Lab:

Is there a news generation gap? http://t.co/xx5PaRTVhD pic.twitter.com/Ce9t5f5xVu

— Nieman Lab (@NiemanLab) October 9, 2014

Of course there's a news gap. I'm frankly surprised young people read news websites at all.

Here's the Left’s Secret Plan to Turn America Into Sweden

From James Pethokoukis, at AEI.