Uninsured Choose to Pay ObamaCare Tax Penalty Rather Than Cave to Aggressive Democrat Sign-Up Push

At WSJ, "Many Uninsured Choose Penalty Over Enrollment Offer Under Health Law":

WASHINGTON—A special enrollment period to obtain health insurance for millions of uninsured people who owe a tax penalty under the Affordable Care Act is off to a slow start.

The health law requires most Americans to have insurance or pay a fine at tax time. The open enrollment period under the health law ended Feb. 15, but the Obama administration said it would allow people who discover they owe a fine to sign up for coverage through April, at the end of the tax season.

Major tax-preparation firms say many customers are paying the penalty and not getting health insurance. It is still early, since the special enrollment period launched Sunday, but research also suggests that many people who lack health insurance will pay the penalty and not get covered this year.

Only 12% of uninsured people would buy policies if informed of the penalty, according to a survey of 3,000 adults polled through Feb. 24 by McKinsey & Co.’s Center for U.S. Health System Reform.

At H&R Block Inc., “our analysis indicates that a significant percentage of taxpayers whose household members were not covered for at least a portion of 2014 are opting” to pay the penalty, said Mark Ciaramitaro, a vice president of health-care enrollment services at the tax-preparation firm.

Richard Gonzalez, 59 years old, of Navarre, Fla., found out he will pay a $250 penalty for going without insurance. The retired employee of United Parcel Service Inc. said he won’t take advantage of the special enrollment period because it is cheaper for him to pay out-of-pocket for health care than to buy insurance on the exchange. He said he shopped on the exchange but would have to pay $400 a month for a plan with a $6,000 deductible.

“I think it’s wrong I have to pay the penalty,” said Mr. Gonzalez. “But it beats paying more than $10,000 a year.”

Keep reading.

'Tide of War Receding' as Hundreds Slaughtered in Islamic State Suicide Bombings in Yemen

From Katie Pavlich, at Town Hall, "Yemen Disaster Gets Much Worse: Hundreds Slaughtered in Dual ISIS Suicide Bombings."

And at BNI, "YEMEN: “Heads, legs and arms of dead people were scattered all over the floor of the mosque, blood is running like a river” after multiple suicide bombings."

Muslim Madness: Obama's NCAA Brackets Completed – He Has Jihadists Winning

Via iOWNTHEWORLD Report.

Do the Democrats and Israel Have a Future Together?

Well, no, obviously.

According to the New York Times, racist, eliminationist groups like Student for Justice in Palestine are the future of the Democrat Party -- and this has longtime Jewish supporters of the Democrats extremely worried.

See, "Do the Democrats and Israel Have a Future Together?":

While a deepening polarization among American Jews about Netanyahu puts Obama’s potential successor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a politically uncomfortable position, it is the transformation of Israel into a partisan issue that fills Democratic Jewish officials with dread. Clinton’s advisers can always take solace knowing that the Democratic base will vote for a Democratic candidate no matter what. But Jewish Democrats worry about the prospect of keeping liberal support for Israel a viable long-term position for a party base that is overwhelmingly non-Jewish and increasingly critical of the country.

After all, many younger Americans know Israel only as a nuclear-armed force that is the dominant power in its region. On college campuses, pro-Palestinian groups like Students for Justice in Palestine have long framed the Israeli occupation as the civil rights issue of our time. A Pew Research Center poll over the summer showed that 29 percent of voters under the age of 30 blamed Israel more than Hamas for the war in Gaza, while only 21 percent blamed Hamas more. African-Americans and Hispanics were also more likely to blame Israel.

This trend has clearly frightened the Jewish establishment....

Rude Rosie Jones

Hey, more power to Zoo for keeping the Page 3 flame blazing in Britain.

The Holocaust of Left-Wing Anti-Semitism on America's Campuses

These are indeed dangerous times, and the spread of leftist hatred has the imprimatur of the Democrat Party and the Obama administration. It's not just shocking. It's truly frightening. It's already like France for American Jews. A matter of life and death.

Are America’s Liberal Colleges Breeding Anti-Semitism? http://t.co/FvwzDbUXnr pic.twitter.com/gVLBXvkMvh

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) March 19, 2015

At the Daily Beast, "Berkeley’s Swastika Problem: Are America’s Liberal Colleges Breeding Anti-Semitism?":

A majority of Jewish college students, 54 percent, reported being subjected to or witness to anti-Semitism on campus during a six-month period, according to a 2014 survey published by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Trinity College. Not only was this survey undertaken before the violent summer conflict in Gaza, which researchers Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar said led to a “worldwide flare-up in anti-Semitism,” but they also noted that the “data suggest there is an under-reporting of anti-Semitism through the normal campus channels.”

Even more disturbingly, students reported that they often felt universities did not take their concerns about anti-Semitism seriously. “The response of many university faculty and administrators to Jewish complaints and outrage often shows that their threshold for the definition of the existence of the crime of anti-Semitism is set ridiculously high,” write Kosmin and Keysar.

At schools where students strive to protect the rights of ethnic and racial minorities, stomp out sexual and gender discrimination, and regularly remind people to “check their privilege,” hate speech against the Jewish community has become a pernicious problem.

“We still find anti-Semitic slogans written on bathrooms. We see swastikas on doors still, but they’re kind of dismissed. They’re painted over because there are just so many things that happened,” says Ori Herschmann, a senior at UC Berkeley who serves in the student government. “A lot of students find swastikas and come to me. [They see it] on dorms, on bathroom stalls, just random places on campus.”

Herschmann said the during the conflict in Gaza this summer, he also came across sidewalk graffiti on campus that exhorted “Death to Israel” and “Kill all the Jews.” (Herschmann shared a photograph of the former remark painted on a sidewalk but did not have one of the latter).

Herschmann says the Jewish undergraduates who come to him are often scared. He believes that part of his responsibility as a student leader is to make the Berkeley campus safer. Herschmann sponsored a bill condemning anti-Semitism on Berkeley’s campus and calling for the creation of a committee to deal with anti-Semitism. “I take this extremely seriously. The more I let the anti-Semitic rhetoric get me down, the less I can do my job,” he says. The Berkeley measure passed on February 25.
After initially telling The Daily Beast that they had not heard any reports of anti-Semitic graffiti this academic year, a rep with UC Berkeley later investigated and confirmed that they had been made aware of reports of swastikas on campus, as well as the “Death to Israel” graffiti.

In the case of the “Death to Israel” graffiti, the rep, Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor in the Office of Communications and Public Affairs, maintained the graffiti was technically off-campus, near a popular restaurant called Freehouse. “It looks to me like we can account for that graffiti on the sidewalk, but that was in a public area not on campus,” said Mogulof. “The restaurant was in the city, not on campus. It’s impossible to know if that was someone from the surrounding community, high school kids, or someone affiliated with the campus.”

Hershmann noted that the graffiti was “right across from campus. It's literally across the street…for the university to dodge the question and say it's not part of campus is disgraceful. Students live all over Berkeley. If anti-Semitic events occur all over Berkeley, they [the administration] should make students feel safe.” Freehouse also happens to be only 413 feet from the UC Berkeley Hillel house, according to Google Maps.

The Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations

At Commentary, "A Statement on the Crisis in the U.S.—Israel Relationship":

The relationship between the United States and Israel is in jeopardy because, from the moment his administration began, Barack Obama has consciously, deliberately, and with malice aforethought sought to jeopardize it. He did so in part because he is committed to the idea that Israel must retreat to its 1967 borders, dismantle its settlements, and will a Palestinian state into existence. He views Israel’s inability or unwillingness to do these things as a moral stain.

But the depth of Obama’s anger toward Israel and Netanyahu suggests that there is far more to it than that. Israel stands in the way of what the president hopes might be his crowning foreign-policy achievement: a new order in the Middle East represented by a new entente with Iran. Netanyahu’s testimony on behalf of his country and his people is this: A nuclear Iran will possess the means to visit a second Holocaust on the Jews in a single day. His testimony on behalf of everyone else is this: A nuclear Iran will set off an arms race in the Middle East that will threaten world order, the world’s financial stability, and the lives of untold millions. Simply put, Obama finds the witness Israel is bearing to the threat posed by Iran unbearable.

Elliott Abrams has called the speech kerfuffle a “manufactured crisis.” He is right, and the assembly line has been rolling without letup for six years.

Read it all.

The editors point out that the Democrats have increasingly become anti-Israel, and it's apparent that the sources are both bottom-up and top-down. On the one hand, the virulent racist anti-Semitism on college campuses has seeped upward into the precincts of the Democrat Party establishment (at the presidential nominating conventions, for example), and on the other, the Israel-hatred at the Obama White House has tricked-down, providing über-legitimacy for the entire spectrum of Israel-hatred on the political left.

'If you're anti-Israel then you're anti-America...'

A message to scummy leftists reading this blog, from Howard Stern:

HOWARD STERN: "If you're anti-Israel then you are anti-America." #StandWithIsrael pic.twitter.com/jQ87Sr1ey7
— slone (@slone) March 20, 2015

'Obama Loathes Netanyahu More than Any Other World Leader'

Once again, the inimitable Dr. Krauthammer speaks truth to despicable leftist hatred:

Why Islam Needs a Reformation

From Ayaan Hirsi Ali, at WSJ, "To defeat the extremists for good, Muslims must reject those aspects of their tradition that prompt some believers to resort to oppression and holy war."

A freakin' outstanding piece, excerpted from her new book, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now.

The 'Righthaven' Aftermath

From Steve Green, at the O.C. Register, "At Chapman forum, 'Righthaven' copyright outfit still controversial five years later."

It was through Mr. Green, who contacted me for comment, that I first found out about my Righthaven lawsuit. See "Beating Righthaven."

I'm pretty proud of myself that I fought back and defended myself against those fuckers.

The Rape Epidemic on Campus Does Not Exist

Of course it doesn't. It's being ginned up, to enormous effect, by terrible people.

At Minding the Campus.

Charlotte McKinney in Denim Buffalo

Lovely.

At Egotastic!, "Charlotte McKinney Is Big and Busty and Racktastic for Denim."

BONUS: "Charlotte McKinney Panties Flashing Robe Malfunction Outside DWTS."

"All he said was: 'The right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls. Left-wing organizations are busing them out. Get out to vote, bring your friends and family, vote Likud in order to close the gap between us and Labor'..."

Max Boot discusses the rift between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu, at the L.A. Times, "More 'daylight' between Netanyahu's Israel and the U.S. -- is that what Obama wants?"

"Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls."

Boy, that's really "racist." But with idiot leftists, that's all they've got.

Hateful. Leftists are nothing but hateful.

A Complete Timeline of Obama's Anti-Israel Hatred

An astonishing fit of hatred from this president.

From Ben Shapiro, at Breitbart.



More, "Barack Obama and the War Against the Jews."

The Army's Fort Hood Disgrace

The army's top brass is a disgrace, not the grunts terrorized by Nidal Hasan. And Barack Hussein bears ultimate responsibly. He's virtually a cancer of political correctness ravaging the country.

From Kathy Platoni, at WSJ, "No one who supervised the shooter has been held to account, but the victims are denied pay and benefits":

It was more than five years ago that the gunshots rang out, but those of us who survived can still hear their echoes. On Nov. 5, 2009, an Army psychiatrist named Nidal Hasan—an American radicalized by extremist Islamic beliefs—opened fire on his fellow soldiers in Fort Hood, Texas, killing 14 people, including an unborn child, and wounding 32.

I was there. A beloved friend, Capt. John Gaffaney, died at my knees. I was slated to become the shooter’s direct supervisor and later learned I was at the top of his hit list.

That day has faded from the minds of most Americans. But the survivors and the families of the deceased continually relive its horror. They also continue to face betrayal by the government they served...

A great piece. RTWT.

The Death of Free Speech on College Campuses

From A. Barton Hinkle, at Reason, "From trigger warnings to 'free speech zones', the First Amendment is in peril on campus":

Episodes such as these [at the link] – along with the increasing demand for “trigger warnings,” the campaigns to stamp out “microaggressions,” and so forth – neatly illustrate the snake-swallowing-its-own-tail nature of political correctness. Its support for diversity produces demands for conformity. Its insistence on inclusivity requires it to exclude those who, say, swell with pride at the sight of Old Glory. Its efforts to make the classroom a “safe space” have made classes unsafe for those whose views deviate from the campus norm. It deploys macro-aggression – coercion and compulsion – to punish such non-aggressive acts as the peaceful withholding of consent.

The campaign against hate speech – or merely offensive speech, or just any speech the listener disagrees with – rests on a couple of different rationales. The first is that hateful speech can lead to hateful acts: Racial epithets might lead to lynching, for example. But there is no real empirical evidence to support that claim. Indeed, on today’s campus any violence is more likely to be directed at the offending speaker, rather than at his intended target. (E.g, when an anti-abortion protester showed up a few days ago at the University of Oregon, he didn’t change any minds, but students did snatch his poster and tear it up. “This is not part of your First Amendment right,” they said.)

'Gwen Stefani proves that you can still look sexy when covered in her wax jeans and sky-high heels...'

Check out the slideshow.

ONLY Gwen Stefani could make jeans and a turtleneck look THIS sexy: http://t.co/vnWdstYgUp pic.twitter.com/k7SkJ1r8tR

— Harper's Bazaar (@harpersbazaarus) March 16, 2015

American Airlines Dad and Pilot Daughter Fly Together for the First Time

Feels good.

At ABC News, "American Airlines Dad and Pilot Daughter Duo Take Flight."

And London's Daily Mail, "Father and daughter co-pilot American Airlines flight together for first time - and mom came along for the ride."

The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror

Buy Jamie Glazov's book, United in Hate.

Plus, more specials at Amazon, Spring Cleaning - Shop Now.

Martese Johnson Arrest

Pretty soon you won't be able to arrest a black man in America. Political correctness will demand a universal pre-amnesty from the consequences of any and all forms of black thug behavior.

At BuzzFeed, "UVA Student Bloodied During Arrest By State Liquor Agents; Governor Orders Investigation."

Court records show Johnson was arrested on two misdemeanor charges of obstructing justice without force, and public swearing and intoxication. He is expected to appear in court next week.

And at the Daily Cavalier, "State, University, community responses to Martese Johnson's arrest." (Via Memeorandum.)

Amazing Video of Young Girl's Reaction at Seeing Train for the First Time

This is something else.

It certainly looks like she's seeing a train for the first time.

Watch: "A Sweet Little Girl Sees a Train for the First Time."

Dieudonné M'bala M'bala Convicted of Condoning Terrorism on Facebook

Not funny.

At NYT, "Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, French Comedian, Convicted of Condoning Terrorism."

Netanyahu Foils Obama's Plot to Depose Israel's Likud Government

Here's Ezra Levant:



And at the Los Angeles Times, "U.S. support for Israel at the U.N. is in jeopardy, White House says." Obama's a fucking sore loser. See the Guardian UK, "Obama snubs Netanyahu and criticises Israeli PM's 'divisive rhetoric'."

More from Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "Sour grapes on the left over Netanyahu’s landslide victory."

San Francisco Saint Mary's Cathedral Drenches Homeless with Sprinklers to Keep Them Away

Now this is just cruel.

At CBS San Francisco, "Homeless At Saint Mary’s Cathedral Intentionally Drenched With Water While Sleeping."

And at Memeorandum, "Saint Mary's Cathedral Drenches Homeless With Water to Keep Them Away."

Plus, here's the statement from the archdiocese.

Why Students Voted to Remove American Flag

From Dennis Prager, at Town Hall.

The facts are presented first, and then the analysis:

Now to what I believe is the most important question regarding the resolution to ban the flag and the petition on behalf of the resolution: Why were they supported?

Here are three reasons:

1. Outside of the natural sciences, math, and a few other departments, our universities are essentially seminaries -- teaching what has been the most dynamic religion of the Western world over the past hundred years, leftism. Every -- frequently incoherent -- idea expressed by the resolution and the petition represents years of left-wing indoctrination. Respect for the American flag comes naturally; reasons to hold it in contempt have to be learned.

It is not surprising that the author of the resolution is a student at UC Irvine's School of Social Ecology. Visit its website and you will see leftism in one of its purest forms.

2. The students and the professors see themselves as citizens of the world. Leftism rejects nationalism, and the most nationalistic of the industrialized Western democracies is America. The left regards nationalism -- as symbolized by hanging or waving the American flag -- as primitive and ultimately fascistic.

3. Many professors and students are bored. Compared to the past anywhere and compared to the present almost anywhere, life in America is remarkably easy for the vast majority of college students and college professors.

This ease, however, presents them with another problem -- a lack of meaning in life. For nearly all people there has never been a problem with finding meaning. Even putting aside religion -- humanity's greatest supplier of meaning -- life's difficulties have always given people meaning: How will I feed myself and my family? How will I provide myself and my family with a home?

But these problems exist for almost no American college student and they do not exist for any American professor. And since so few professors, and increasingly few students, derive meaning from America's traditional Judeo-Christian religions, meaning must be sought and found elsewhere.

Thus the left generally and the universities in particular manufacture crises that give the secular middle and upper classes great meaning: fight American sexism, intolerance, xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism, material inequality, capitalism and nationalism.

That America is in fact the most open, opportunity-giving and tolerant country in world history is irrelevant to these people. To acknowledge this would be to deprive themselves of the greatest human need after food -- meaning and purpose.

These are the reasons they want to ban the American flag. That hundreds of thousands of Americans died for what this flag represents -- the American trinity of liberty, In God We Trust and E Pluribus Unum -- means nothing to these students and professors. Thanks to leftism, when they see the American flag they see imperialism and bigotry.

Hateful leftists. Most people rejoice at our flag. Not leftists. They're blinded by hatred.

The Privilege of Checking White Privilege

From John McWhorter, at the Daily Beast, "When students are compelled to have “White Privilege 101” classes, we have every right to ask: Why, and for whose benefit?"

You can check it, but it this leftist meme ain't going away anytime soon (via Instapundit).

Kids React to Old-School VCRs and VHS Tapes

Absolutely wonderful. They're so hip and smart.

At ABC-7 Los Angeles, "KIDS HILARIOUSLY CONFUSED BY VCRS AND VHS TAPES."

Netanyahu Soundly Defeats Chief Rival in Israeli Elections

Good for him.

At NYT, "Stage Is Set for a Fourth Term for Israeli Leader":

TEL AVIV — After a bruising campaign focused on his failings, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel won a clear victory in Tuesday’s elections and seemed all but certain to form a new government and serve a fourth term, though he offended many voters and alienated allies in the process.

With 99.5 percent of the ballots counted, the YNet news site reported Wednesday morning that Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party had captured 29 or 30 of the 120 seats in Parliament, sweeping past his chief rival, the center-left Zionist Union alliance, which got 24 seats.

Mr. Netanyahu and his allies had seized on earlier exit polls that showed a slimmer Likud lead to create an aura of inevitability, and celebrated with singing and dancing. While his opponents vowed a fight, Israeli political analysts agreed even before most of the ballots were counted that he had the advantage, with more seats having gone to the right-leaning parties likely to support him.

It was a stunning turnabout from the last pre-election polls published Friday, which showed the Zionist Union, led by Isaac Herzog, with a four- or five-seat lead and building momentum, and the Likud polling close to 20 seats. To bridge the gap, Mr. Netanyahu embarked on a last-minute scorched-earth campaign, promising that no Palestinian state would be established as long as he remained in office and insulting Arab citizens.

Mr. Netanyahu, who served as prime minister for three years in the 1990s and returned to office in 2009, exulted in what he called “a huge victory” and said he had spoken to the heads of all the parties “in the national camp” and urged them to help him form a government “without any further ado.”

“I am proud of the Israeli people that, in the moment of truth, knew how to separate between what’s important or what’s not and to stand up for what’s important,” he told an exuberant crowd early Wednesday morning at Likud’s election party at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds. “For the most important thing for all of us, which is real security, social economy and strong leadership.”

But it remained to be seen how his divisive — some said racist — campaign tactics would affect his ability to govern a fractured Israel.

Mr. Herzog also called the election “an incredible achievement.” He said he had formed a negotiating team and still hoped to lead “a real social government in Israel” that “aspires to peace with our neighbors.”

“The public wants a change,” he said at an election-night party in Tel Aviv, before the Likud’s large margin of victory was revealed by the actual vote count. “We will do everything in our power, given the reality, to reach this. In any case, I can tell you that there will be no decisions tonight.”

Based on the results reported on YNet, Mr. Netanyahu could form a narrow coalition of nationalist and religious parties free of the ideological divisions that stymied his last government. That was what he intended when he called early elections in December. President Reuven Rivlin, who in coming days must charge Mr. Netanyahu or Mr. Herzog with trying to forge a coalition based on his poll of party leaders’ preferences , said shortly after the polls closed that he would suggest they join forces instead.

“I am convinced that only a unity government can prevent the rapid disintegration of Israel’s democracy and new elections in the near future,” he told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Both camps rejected that option publicly, saying the gaps between their world views were too large. Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Herzog started working the phones immediately after the polls closed, calling party heads to begin the horse-trading and deal-making in hopes of lining up a majority of lawmakers behind them.

The biggest prize may be Moshe Kahlon, a popular former Likud minister who broke away — in part out of frustration with Mr. Netanyahu — to form Kulanu, which focused on pocketbook issues. Mr. Kahlon leans to the right but has issues with the prime minister, and he said Tuesday night that he would not reveal his recommendation until the final results were tallied.

Kulanu — Hebrew for “All of Us” — won 10 seats , according to the tally YNet reported Wednesday based on 99.5 percent of ballots counted. That is enough to put either side’s basic ideological alliance over the magic number of 61 if they also win the backing of two ultra-Orthodox parties that won a total of 14 seats.

“The clearest political outcome is that Kahlon is going to be the kingmaker, and it really depends on how he is going to play his cards,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute. “It very much depends on Kahlon.”

Keep reading (via Memeorandum).

Obama Blames Bush for Islamic State

SMH, this is such a patently ridiculous claim. Seriously, Barack Hussein deserves all the rich mockery he's getting.

At Breitbart, "PRESIDENT OBAMA BLAMES BUSH FOR RISE OF ISIS."

At the second half of the clip, Laura Ingraham slams Hussein for acting like a child -- a tired, petulant, whiny child.

St. Patrick's Day Ladies' Silky Racerback Tank Top

At Amazon.

Plus, Deep Discounts on Open-Box Wearable Technology.

Have a great day!

Aging Baby Boomers Bring Drug Habits Into Middle Age

Great.

And to think, it's easier all the time now use gateway drugs, what with all the marijuana legalization going down across the country. Now we see baby boomers continuing to destroy their lives with drugs, and we've got whole generations of youth lining up behind them, throwing it all away.

At WSJ, "Older adults are abusing drugs, getting arrested for drug offenses and dying from drug overdoses at increasingly higher rates":

UPLAND, Calif.—From the time he was a young man coming of age in the 1970s, Mike Massey could have served as a poster child for his generation, the baby boomers. He grew his hair long to the dismay of his father, surfed, played in rock bands and says he regularly got high on marijuana and cocaine.

The wild times receded as he grew older. In his 30s, he stopped using drugs altogether, rose into executive positions with the plumbers and pipe fitters union, bought a house in this Los Angeles suburb and started a family. But at age 50, Mr. Massey injured his knee running. He took Vicodin for the pain but soon started using pills heavily, mixing the opioids with alcohol, he said.

“It reminded me of getting high and getting loaded,” said Mr. Massey, now 58 years old, who went into recovery and stopped using drugs and alcohol in 2013. “Your mind never forgets that.”

Today, the story of this balding, middle-aged executive continues to reflect that of his generation.

Older adults are abusing drugs, getting arrested for drug offenses and dying from drug overdoses at increasingly higher rates. These surges have come as the 76 million baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, reach late middle age. Facing the pains and losses connected to aging, boomers, who as youths used drugs at the highest rates of any generation, are once again—or still—turning to drugs.

The trend has U.S. health officials worried. The sharp increase in overdose deaths among older adults in particular is “very concerning,” said Wilson Compton, deputy director for the federal government’s National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The rate of death by accidental drug overdose for people aged 45 through 64 increased 11-fold between 1990, when no baby boomers were in the age group, and 2010, when the age group was filled with baby boomers, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mortality data. That multiple of increase was greater than for any other age group in that time span.

The surge has pushed the accidental overdose rate for these late middle age adults higher than that of 25- to 44-year-olds for the first time. More than 12,000 boomers died of accidental drug overdoses in 2013, the most recent data available. That is more than the number that died that year from either car accidents or influenza and pneumonia, according to the CDC.

“Generally, we thought of older individuals of not having a risk for drug abuse and drug addiction,” Dr. Compton said. “As the baby boomers have aged and brought their habits with them into middle age, and now into older adult groups, we are seeing marked increases in overdose deaths.”

Experts say the drug problem among the elderly has been caused by the confluence of two key factors: a generation with a predilection for mind-altering substances growing older in an era of widespread opioid painkiller abuse. Pain pills follow marijuana as the most popular ways for aging boomers to get high, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which conducts an annual national survey on drug use. Opioid painkillers also are the drug most often involved in overdoses, followed by antianxiety drugs, cocaine and heroin.

Wall Street Journal interviews with dozens of older drug users and recovering addicts revealed an array of personal stories behind the trend. Some had used drugs their entire lives and never slowed down. Others had used drugs when they were younger, then returned to them later in life after a divorce, death in the family or job loss.

“If you have a trigger, and your youth is caught up in that Woodstock mentality, you’re going to revert back,” said Jamie Huysman, 60, clinical adviser to the senior program at Caron Treatment Centers, a residential drug treatment organization that plans to break ground this summer on a $10 million medical center in Pennsylvania catering to older adults. “We were pretty conditioned that we could be rebellious, that we could take drugs, and so this is how we respond today.”

Drug-rehabilitation programs are grappling with how to handle the boom in older patients. More than 5.7 million people over the age of 50 will need substance-abuse treatment by the year 2020, according to estimates from government researchers. Meanwhile, hospitals have seen a sharp increase in the number of older adults admitted for drug-related health problems, government statistics show.

“We’re still in the process of figuring out: How do we ensure we have a strong workforce that can address this, and the appropriate settings to address this?” said Peter Delany, director of the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality at the Department of Health and Human Services...

More.

The Riot Ideology in Ferguson

At the Other McCain.

#Ferguson ;) pic.twitter.com/Z1up86izZn

— Anonymous (@occupythemob) March 17, 2015

Hillary Clinton Barface

Via iOWNTHEWORLD Report.

And at WaPo, "Hillary Clinton's image is worse than at any point since 2008."

Police Deny Officers Beat #Ferguson Suspect; Photographer Confirms Jeffrey Williams 'Hanging Around' at Protest

Jeffrey Williams is a piece of leftist scum, and his lawyer sucks big black donkey balls.

At LAT, "Police deny claims that officers beat Ferguson shooting suspect":

A man accused of shooting and wounding two police officers during a protest outside the Ferguson Police Department last week - while possibly aiming for someone else in a crowd of demonstrators - was arraigned Monday, according to the St. Louis County prosecutor's office.

Jeffrey Williams, 20, is charged with two counts of first-degree assault, one count of shooting from a car and three counts of armed criminal action. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Online court records showed Williams entered no plea.

Late in the day, defense attorney Jerryl Christmas suggested that police had used excessive force during the arrest. Christmas told the Associated Press that Williams had bruises on his back, shoulders and face and a knot on his head. A pastor who visited Williams in jail made similar allegations, and Williams' mug shot appeared to show at least one red mark on his cheek.

Authorities denied wrongdoing.

“The St. Louis County Police Department calls these allegations completely false,” St. Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman said in an email to the Los Angeles Times, adding that “the arrest team had an overwhelming presence and Williams did not resist whatsoever.”

Williams' interview with detectives shortly after his arrest was recorded on video, and a nurse deemed him fit for confinement, Schellman said.

Williams, who lives near Ferguson, was arrested over the weekend and confessed to firing the shots at the protest early Thursday, officials said Sunday.

Williams told investigators he'd had an argument with someone at the demonstration and hadn't intended to shoot the officers, according to St. Louis County Prosecuting Atty. Robert McCulloch, but officials said they hadn't confirmed that claim. 

A photographer for the St. Louis American newspaper confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that Williams was at the scene earlier in the evening, hanging toward the back of the crowd.

And at the St. Louis American, "Police arrest 20-year-old North County man in connection to police shooting in Ferguson":

St. Louis American photojournalist Lawrence Bryant, who has worked almost every protest since August 9, said he noticed Williams "hanging around" at the protest on Wednesday - specifically as a new face he had never seen before.

"I always notice new faces," Bryant said, "because I wonder what they are there for."

'Wheels Starting to Come Off' Putin Leadership

Watch Julia Ioffe, at CNN.

Plus, at Telegraph UK, "Vladimir Putin reappears in public for first time in 10 days."

And at NYT, "Putin Returns After Curious Absence and Shrugs Off Rumors."

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) Says #Ferguson Protesters 'Despise' Cop-Shooting Suspect for Damage to 'Movement'

Yeah, well, opening fire on the police doesn't go over too well in public opinion.

At the Hill, "Missouri rep: Protesters 'despise' man arrested in Ferguson shootings."

#Ferguson Leftists Excoriate WaPo's Jonathan Capehart for Admitting 'Hands Up Don't Shoot' Was Despicable Lie

Well, at least Capehart was willing to come out on the side of honesty and decency. His leftist attackers, not so much.

At Sooper Mexican, "Ferguson Movement Turns on Liberal Columnist for Admitting ‘Hands Up Don’t Shoot’ Was a Lie."

Hillary Clinton Changes Story on Email Scandal

Dirtbags. Scum-sucking money-grubbing no good dirtbags. Always have been.

From Thomas Lifson, at the American Thinker, "Team Hillary changes its story on e-mail deletions."

And following the links, at the Wall Street Journal, "Hillary Clinton Spokesman: We Did Read Each Email."

Well for crying out loud, make up your freakin' minds.

Family of Jeffrey Williams Confirms Cop-Shooting Suspect 'Had Taken Part' in #Ferguson Protests

Of course he "had taken part" in the protests.

Photos show him on the ground in Ferguson. And now the family confirms he was a "demonstrator."

At the New York Times, "Man Accused of Shooting Police Officers in Ferguson Appears in Court":

FERGUSON, Mo. — The 20-year-old man accused of shooting two police officers last week outside police headquarters here made his first court appearance Monday morning.

The man, Jeffrey L. Williams, made no statements during a brief appearance before a St. Louis County judge, who set his next court date for March 31, according to the local news media.

Mr. Williams had told investigators he had been at a demonstration the night of the shooting, had gotten into a dispute with some people who were there and shot at them, but he said he missed and struck the police officers instead, the authorities said. Both officers were treated at a hospital and have been released.

“After Michael Brown, he was out there protesting,” an uncle, Mark Mooney, 35, said, referring to the black teenager who was shot and killed by a white Ferguson officer in August. “He had his shirt on. He had his signs up. After that, when things died down, he died down with it.”

Relatives and friends of Mr. Williams said he had taken part in demonstrations but said he was not a protest leader or organizer. They said he lived with his pregnant girlfriend in an apartment in the brick complex where he was arrested Saturday night, about four miles from the police station. He made money by placing bets on the basketball and football video games he played with others, relatives said.

Prosecutors expressed doubts about Mr. Williams’s description of the shooting, and said it remained unclear if he was aiming at others or was targeting the officers. He was unemployed and had had several run-ins with the law, and was on probation at the time of the shooting for receiving stolen property, officials said.

Mr. Williams admitted his involvement to investigators, acknowledged firing the shots from inside a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am and faces first-degree assault and other charges, according to court documents and the authorities.

The two officers — one from the county police and the other from the nearby Webster Groves department — were shot Thursday shortly after midnight as they stood shoulder to shoulder as part of a protective line facing demonstrators at the police station. The demonstration followed an announcement that the Ferguson police chief, Thomas Jackson, was resigning. Mr. Jackson became the latest senior city administrator to step down after a Justice Department report accused the city of using its municipal court and police force as moneymaking tools that routinely violated constitutional rights and disproportionately targeted black residents.

Others dispute the idea that Williams was involved in the protests at the time of the shooting, and claim in fact that others may have been responsible for the shots that hit policemen. I'm sure they're jonesin' to see the mofo walk, but clearly there's no doubt that Williams was a regular participant in the protests, although he wasn't a central organizer or leader of the movement.

Leftists saying otherwise can just STFU. They're going to lie and obfuscate, because that's what they do. The Ferguson protests have been radical and violent, renouncing Martin Luther King's model of non-violence and civil disobedience. The movement is a revolutionary collectivist initiative to break down U.S. hierarchies of inequality. They've repeatedly expressed their radical ideological tendencies throughout.

It is not just about indictments. It is about eradicating entire systems whose foundation lie in private property, violence + incarceration.
— Sharmin Ultra (@sharminultraa) January 6, 2015

UPDATE: NYT changed its story, although the title at the URL remains the same as the original. Here's the updated story, "Lawyer Doubts Suspect’s Role in Ferguson Shootings."

And here's a screencap of the original text, via leftist Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times:

Kate Hudson Bikini Pics

At Egotastic!, "Kate Hudson Wears a Bikini In Malibu."

PREVIOUSLY: "Kate Hudson in Tank Top and Daisy Dukes in Sunny Los Angeles."

Feminists Are Satan's Craven Slaves

Do not listen to them, says Robert Stacy McCain, "Feminist Wonders: Why Do Christofascist Godbags Keep ‘Dehumanizing’ Hillary?"

This isn't a recent photo Melissa McEwan, BTW. http://t.co/TLAX5kReeG @KurtSchlichter @instapundit @KevinNR pic.twitter.com/X9pxcWzr2Q

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) March 16, 2015

Putin Says Russia Was Ready to Activate Nuclear Arsenal Over Crimea

Well, that's one hella reentry after being missing for week.

At LAT, "In film, Putin justifies Russia's seizure of Crimea last year":

Russia was prepared to activate its nuclear arsenal a year ago when its troops secured the Crimean peninsula and eventually annexed it to the Russian Federation, President Vladimir Putin said in a broadcast aired Sunday.

In the documentary-cum-reenactment timed to Monday's anniversary of a referendum in which Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine, the film, “Crimea: Path to the Motherland,” features Putin justifying Moscow's seizure of the Black Sea territory as necessary to protect Russians and military bases from what he described as a nationalist junta that had taken power in Kiev.

Putin accused the United States of masterminding the three-month uprising in the Ukrainian capital that ended with the ouster of Kremlin-allied President Viktor Yanukovich, who has since taken refuge in Russia. He said the “beneficiaries of the armed coup” planned to kill Yanukovich, prompting Putin to personally order Russian military intervention to protect the political ally and save Crimea from attack by Ukrainian nationalists.

Although the documentary was clearly prerecorded, it served to project a vibrant and defiant image of the Russian president, who hasn't been seen in public for more than a week, spurring rumors that he is sick or has been deposed in a palace coup.

The Kremlin website on Sunday also carried a message of condolence from Putin on the death of Russian writer Valentin Rasputin, adding to the impression that he is on top of state affairs.

The documentary covered the year since the March 16, 2014, referendum in which 97% of voters among Crimea's 2 million residents were said to have supported secession. Two days later, Putin issued a decree annexing the peninsula, which is home to Russia's Black Sea fleet and Soviet-era air bases.

The film was a montage of images of Russian paratroopers coming to the rescue of Crimeans, Putin’s observations on his obligation to protect Russians outside his country and reenacted clashes between Ukrainian nationalists and the police and security forces defeated by the popular uprising in Kiev.

Masked Ukrainian zealots were depicted in the reenacted segments hunting Russians with attack dogs and barbed-wire-wrapped truncheons. Fiery scenes of torched police vehicles and black-clad rightists attacking law enforcement cast the overthrow of Yanukovich as a violent, Western-inspired coup d’etat, and the Russian minority in Crimea and eastern Ukraine as the targets of fascist death squads.

The United States, along with Poland and Lithuania, “facilitated the armed coup” by training the nationalists, Putin said...

More.

And at NPR, "Kremlin Says Putin Is Fine, Just Fine."

Carly Fiorina Plans to Excoriate Hillary Clinton, and Her Competition is Grateful for It

At National Journal, "Playing the Heavy":

Hundreds of conservative and evangelical activists had been listening politely and applauding on cue as Carly Fiorina talked about God, and opportunity, and work ethic. For many of those attending the Iowa Freedom Summit, it was the first time they'd heard her speak. For some, it was the first time they'd heard of her at all.

Then, more than 10 minutes into the speech, she mentioned Hillary Clinton.

"Like Hillary Clinton, I too have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe," said Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard. "But unlike her, I've actually accomplished something. You see, Mrs. Clinton, flying is not an accomplishment; it is an activity."

The audience roared and was suddenly engaged, hanging on her words as she criticized Clinton on one issue after another. And when she landed on Benghazi—"Unlike Hillary Clinton, I know what difference it makes that our American ambassador and three other brave Americans were killed in a deliberate terrorist attack"—the crowd surged to its feet with a standing ovation.

"That's the first time I've ever seen her in person, and, frankly, I was moved by the speech. That takes a lot," says Sam Clovis, a former conservative radio host and tea-party favorite in Iowa. "It was the perfect speech on the perfect topic at the perfect place at the perfect time given in the perfect manner."

Fiorina, the only Republican woman actively considering a run for the White House, is taking on Clinton more forcefully and directly than any other GOP contender. It's a deliberate strategy meant to make headlines, differentiate her from the pack, and elevate her position on the national stage. And in the process, it's winning her friends, as Fiorina assumes an attack role that many Republican strategists think male GOP candidates need to avoid...

Keep reading.

This sounds pretty packaged and slickly marketed, and it's apparently working for her. But what's her game? Recall that Ms. Fiorina ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, and was defeated handily by Barbara Boxer. She's never held elective office. I imagine she's got even less of a chance to win the 2016 GOP nomination than Michele Bachmann had in 2012. Perhaps she's looking to do well in a primary or two to position herself as a legitimate running mate for the eventual nominee. A woman would certainly be a nice touch, and Fiorina's smart. She wouldn't generate the kind of attacks that hit Sarah Palin in 2008, although leftists are so evil I can imagine the most horrific smears on the former CEO even now. (Health issues? Say vicious attacks on her as a cancer survivor? Put nothing past the diabolical left.)

In any case, we'll see.

Federal Immigration Agents Raid Suspected Fake Schools

Well, our entire immigration system's a fraud at this point, so there you go.

At WSJ, "Foreigners on U.S. student visas allegedly paid millions but didn’t take classes":

LOS ANGELES—Amid a widening crackdown on immigration fraud, federal agents on Wednesday raided a network of schools alleged to be part of a scheme to collect millions of dollars from foreigners who came to the U.S. on student visas but never studied.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested three individuals who ran four schools in the Los Angeles area alleged to serve as a front for the purported scheme.

Hee Sun Shim, 51 years old, was arrested at his Beverly Hills home, and his alleged associates, Hyung Chan Moon and Eun Young Choi, were arrested in their offices near downtown Los Angeles.

They were taken into custody and charged in Los Angeles federal court with conspiracy to commit visa fraud, money laundering and of other immigration offenses, U.S. authorities said. They weren’t immediately available for comment and their attorneys weren’t known.

Wednesday’s action was the latest in a series targeting visa fraud nationwide.

“It’s a priority for us,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of HSI in Los Angeles. “It is something that can be exploited by types who want to do harm to the country.”

He added that authorities haven’t seen any evidence in this case that suspected terrorists used the alleged scheme to enter the country.

The main school in the alleged scam is Prodee University, located in Los Angeles’s Koreatown neighborhood. It is affiliated with three other schools: Walter Jay M.D. Institute and American College of Forensic Studies in Los Angeles and Likie Fashion and Technology College in nearby Alhambra.

Catering primarily to Korean and Chinese nationals, the schools enrolled 1,500 students, the government said, most of whom live outside of Los Angeles, including in Texas, Nevada and Hawaii. They generated as much as $6 million a year in purported tuition payments, authorities said.

Sham colleges across the U.S. are believed to attract thousands of foreigners who pay fees, some of them with the promise of an education they don’t receive and others with assurance that no classes need be taken.

“It’s never clear to what extent the students are victimized or are in on the scheme,” said Barmak Nassirian, policy analysis director at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

The crackdown comes at a time when U.S. colleges and universities are attracting a record number of foreign students—about one million currently...

Police Shootings in #Ferguson Entirely Predictable — Anonymous Agitation! And Eric Holder Agitation!

From Matthew Hennessey, at City Journal, "Springtime for Chaos in Ferguson":

#Ferguson 's got some 'splainin' to do!! RT @P4R4L3G4L: @ProgPoker So much for the "not one of the regulars" lie pic.twitter.com/eaOXXhCEmW

— ProgPoker (@ProgPoker) March 16, 2015

Prosecutors...said Jeffrey Williams had attended the demonstration the evening of the shooting and previous rallies. http://t.co/KvOCmZB2B6

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 16, 2015

Shortly before shots rang out at Wednesday night’s protest outside the Ferguson Police Department, injuring two officers and reviving fears of return to last year’s social unrest, the Twitter account of Operation Ferguson posted an ominous warning: “This will not end well tonight.” Whoever composed the Tweet was right. Exactly how they knew is an open question.

The Operation Ferguson Twitter account has 70,000 followers. It is run by Anonymous, the mysterious band of online vigilantes and mask-wearing anarchists that allies itself periodically with far-left causes from the Occupy movement to Julian Assange’s Wikileaks. To read the stream of anti-police invective on Operation Ferguson’s timeline is to get a sense of Anonymous’s goals in Ferguson—and beyond. A pair of cellphone photos of cops in riot gear is captioned “punk ass terrorists.” A picture of a young African-American facing off with the police is accompanied by text: “You’ve been killing kids like me for decades. You can’t stop the revolution.” Yet another tweet reads: “protestors have taken streets to usher in the last days of the brutal regime. Same thing happened in #Egypt. #BlackLivesMatter”

During last year’s protests in Ferguson, Anonymous pledged to protect demonstrators from “abuse and harassment” at the hands of police. Hackers affiliated with the group crashed Ferguson City Hall’s e-mail server and, using a favored tactic, threatened St. Louis County Police Department Chief Jon Belmar by posting his home address, telephone number, and photos of his family. “I’ve said all along that we cannot sustain this forever without problems,” Belmar told the media late Wednesday after the shooting. “We were very close to what happened in New York”—a reference to the assassination of two NYPD officers last December.

Anonymous is not the only far-left group that has tried to turn Ferguson into the American Bastille. As the Daily Beast and the Blaze reported last year, well-known Communist agitators flooded into town following the death of Michael Brown with the goal of keeping emotions high and the revolution roiling. But the most-effective left-wing activist in Ferguson has got to be Eric Holder’s Justice Department.

Last week, the DOJ released a report clearing Officer Darren Wilson of misconduct in Brown’s death—the left’s initial justification for its war on Ferguson’s cops. But by dismantling the myth that Wilson had murdered Brown in cold blood, Holder risked undermining the agitators’ casus belli. So he went the extra step of accusing Ferguson’s police and courts of widespread and systemic racism. The report charged that the financially strapped city thought of its black citizens as not much more than a revenue stream. In a press conference, Holder decried last year’s riots, claiming that “violence is never justified,” before going on brazenly to justify the violence: “[S]een in this context—amid a highly toxic environment, defined by mistrust and resentment, stoked by years of bad feelings, and spurred by illegal and misguided practices—it is not difficult to imagine how a single tragic incident set off the city of Ferguson like a powder keg.”

Holder’s claim is that while Darren Wilson didn’t murder Michael Brown, in a way, the entire system did. This type of racial grievance-fueling is like a shot of straight adrenaline to the agitators of Anonymous and their fellow travelers on the professional far left...

Keep reading.

And see Caleb Howe, at Truth Revolt, "'Yes, He Is A Demonstrator': Police Announce Arrest Of Ferguson Cop Shooting Suspect."

#Ferguson Leftists Desperate to Distance Themselves from Cop-Shooting Mofo Jeffrey Williams

From Derek Hunter, at the Daily Caller, "Protesters, Media Try to Distance Ferguson Shooting Suspect From Protests":

The arrest of Jeffery Williams, 20, for the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, has set off a rush to distance the protesters from the would-be cop killer.

Was Williams a “regular” attendee of protests, a casual participant, or not involved at all? There is a lot riding on the answer to that question.

In spite of the riots after the grand jury found no evidence to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, the protests have been portrayed as “largely peaceful.” If a member of those protests tried to assassinate two police officers on the day the chief of police of that embattled city resigned, it would harm that carefully cultivated image.

The “hands up, don’t shoot” protests successfully avoided association with Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who made statements on social media in solidarity with them before assassinating two New York City police officers in December. A second protester shooting police officers would make the “peaceful movement” argument a tougher case to make.

As such, protest leaders and reporters scrambled to contain the narrative and shift attention back to the report the Justice Department released claiming racism is rampant in the Ferguson Police Department.

Well, Williams has some significant ties to the protests, whether he was a "regular" or not. Indeed, he might have been a regular looter more than a protester, which tells you something. See Sooper Mexican, "BREAKING: Punk Arrested for Ferguson Police Shooting Said He LOOTED Over Mike Brown Shooting on FB."

Ferguson Protesters STOMP on American Flag and DESTROY IT in Front of Police Dept

At Sooper Mexican, "It’s really funny how Ferguson protest defenders keep telling us that they’re not all that bad and they’re just Americans like the rest of us. But then they do things like loot and burn down businesses, shoot at cops, and now, stomp on and destroy an American flag."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Lonely Con, "Saturday Funnies," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Roundup..."

More at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Salvage Operation."

'Karl Marx was the foremost hater and most incessant whiner in the history of Western Civilization...'

From Gary North, Marx's Religion of Revolution: Regeneration Through Chaos:

Karl Marx was the foremost hater and most incessant whiner in the history of Western Civilization. He was a spoiled, overeducated brat who never grew up; he just grew more shrill as he grew older. His lifelong hatred and whining have led to the deaths (so far) of perhaps a hundred million people, depending on how many people perished under Mao's tyranny. We will probably never know.

St. Louis County Police Announce Arrest of BLACK MOFO SUSPECT in Officer Shootings

At Gateway Pundit, "MUGSHOT -->>> FERGUSON POLICE SHOOTER ARRESTED ‘Jeffrey Williams’ a REGULAR PROTESTER (VIDEO)."



Also at Hot Air, "Arrest made in attempted assassination of Ferguson police officers."

Kelly Brook Ready for Primetime!

Heh, she's been ready.

At the New York Post:

British bombshell Kelly Brook is ready for American primetime http://t.co/JJCAC1GUbn pic.twitter.com/IcuPiBp5yF

— New York Post (@nypost) March 15, 2015

BWAHAHA! More Democrats Dissing, Bailing on Obama!

Heh, you gotta love it.

At NYT, "More Democrats Are Going Their Own Way, and That's Away From Obama":

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans may be singularly focused on unraveling President Obama’s executive orders and actions, but when it comes to what is left of his viable policy agenda on Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama’s biggest problems are now often with Democrats.

The administration’s most pressing goal, expansive trade legislation, is adamantly opposed by scores of Democrats in the House and Senate even as most Republicans support it. Mr. Obama’s formal request for congressional authorization to fight the Islamic State is deeply imperiled, in no small measure because Senate Democrats find it wanting.

The president’s dismissal of the role of Congress in approving any nuclear agreement with Iran was facing a potential veto override before Republicans scrambled the political dynamic by sending a letter directly to the Iranian leadership. But if international negotiators reach an accord this month, Democrats’ concerns are all but certain to roar back.

Efforts to change a national security program that sweeps up Americans’ phone call data and other records have also stalled over disagreements with Democrats, even though both parties seek changes to the program.

Democrats may be unified on most of the policies that Mr. Obama called “middle-class economics” in his State of the Union address — which he has little chance of advancing with Republicans in control of Congress — but these other potential achievements may be imperiled.

“Over all, on economic issues, we pretty much walk in lock step,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Senate Democrat. But for issues on which Mr. Obama lacks a consensus with congressional Democrats, “he needs an amalgam,” Mr. Schumer said.

Administration officials note that Republicans, given their own infighting and other challenges, have failed to drive a wedge among Democrats on issues such as funding to keep the government open and the president’s veto of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Mr. Obama’s “willingness to put forward ideas that some in his party disagree with isn’t a sign of weakness,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. “In fact, it’s a sign of strength and evidence that he’ll work with anyone on either side of the aisle to keep the country safe and expand opportunity for the middle class.”

In some ways, Mr. Obama faces a predictable challenge. He is grabbing for goals at the sunset of his presidency, relying on a Congress controlled by a deeply hostile Republican Party and Democrats who are more concerned with protecting their own interests.

“He’s trying to create a legacy,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. “They’re trying to survive.”

At the same time, Mr. Obama is wrestling with issues that have historically divided Democrats, like trade and national security. “I don’t think it’s a function of his last two years in office,” said Senator Angus King, independent of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats. “I think it’s a function of the issues. I try to take it an issue at a time. That’s one of the advantages of where I am.”...

More.

Via Memeornandum.

Why Our Pansy-Assed Prep-School Diplomats Fail Against Putin and Islamic State

From Ralph Peters, at the New York Post, "Why our prep-school diplomats fail against Putin and ISIS":

Why do our “best and brightest” fail when faced with a man like Putin? Or with charismatic fanatics? Or Iranian negotiators? Why do they misread our enemies so consistently, from Hitler and Stalin to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliph?

The answer is straightforward:

Social insularity: Our leaders know fellow insiders around the world; our enemies know everyone else.

The mandarin’s distaste for physicality: We are led through blood-smeared times by those who’ve never suffered a bloody nose.
And last but not least, bad educations in our very best schools: Our leadership has been educated in chaste political theory, while our enemies know, firsthand, the stuff of life.

Above all, there is arrogance based upon privilege. For revolving-door leaders in the U.S. and Europe, if you didn’t go to the right prep school and elite university, you couldn’t possibly be capable of comprehending, let alone changing, the world. It’s the old social “Not our kind, dahhhling…” attitude transferred to government.

That educational insularity is corrosive and potentially catastrophic: Our “best” universities prepare students to sustain the current system, instilling vague hopes of managing petty reforms.

But dramatic, revolutionary change in geopolitics never comes from insiders. It’s the outsiders who change the world. In the 21st century, our government suffers from the sclerosis of insider thinking that constantly reinforces itself and rejects conflicting evidence. The result is that we are being whipped by savages.

Of course, the insiders can’t accept so abhorrent a prospect as their own fallibility. So when new blood does enter — through those same “elite” institutions — it’s channeled into the same old calcium-clogged arteries. And we get generals with Ivy League Ph.D.s writing military doctrine that adheres cringingly to politically correct truisms and leaves out the very factors, such as the power of religion or ethnic hatred, that prove decisive. Or a usually astute commentator on Eastern European affairs who dismisses Vladimir Putin as a mere chinovnik, a petty bureaucrat, since Putin was only a lieutenant colonel in the KGB when the Soviet Union collapsed and didn’t go to a Swiss prep school like John Kerry.

That analyst overlooked the fact that Hitler had been a mere lance corporal. Stalin was a failed seminarian. Lenin was a destitute syphilitic. Ho Chi Minh washed dishes in the basement of a Paris Hotel. And when the French Revolution erupted, Napoleon was a junior artillery officer.

And sophisticated Germans assumed they could use Hitler and then dismiss him, while other Europeans mocked him. Stalin’s fellow Bolsheviks underestimated him, until it was too late and their fates were sealed. The French didn’t notice Ho. And Napoleon shocked even his own lethargic family. The “man on horseback” is often the man from nowhere, and the members of the club ignore the torches in the streets until the club burns down around them.

Put another way: We are led by men and women educated to believe in the irresistible authority of their own words. When they encounter others who use words solely to deflect and defraud, or, worse, when their opposite numbers ignore words completely and revel in ferocious violence, our best and brightest go into an intellectual stall and keep repeating the same empty phrases (in increasingly tortured tones):

“Violence never solves anything.” “There’s no military solution.” “War is never the answer.” “Only a negotiated solution can resolve this crisis.” “It isn’t about religion.”

Or the latest and lamest: “We need to have strategic patience,” and “Terrorists need jobs.”

Every one of those statements is, demonstrably, nonsense most — or all — of the time. But the end result of very expensive educations is a Manchurian Candidate effect that kicks in whenever the core convictions of the old regime are questioned. So we find ourselves with leaders who would rather defend platitudes than defend their country.

And negotiations become the opium of the chattering classes...

Ralph is the best.

Keep reading.

Hat Tip: Astute Bloggers.

Paris Kosher Supermarket Where Four Jews Were Murdered in Charlie Hebdo Attacks Reopened Sunday (VIDEO)

Via Ruptly:

Crazy Emily Ratajkowski Outtakes

Ms. Emily in palm fronds is to die for, lol.

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, "Fun outtakes from Emily Ratajkowski's SI Swimsuit 2015 shoot in Kauai."

Bethany Lily

At Zoo Today, "Bethany Lily's insanely booby shoot! Remember the day you first saw Lucy Pinder, Joey Fisher or Stacey Poole? May we introduce 32G Bethany Lily. Remember the name..."

'This is what happens when you let people who think that *capitalism* is a dirty word run economic policy...'

Heh, from Moe Lane, "The fascinating thing about these stories of Seattle restaurant closings…"

BONUS: At Legal Insurrection, "Seattle Restaurants Struggle With New Minimum Wage," and Hot Air, "Seattle eateries closing as $15 minimum wage approaches."

Fashion Icons Dolce and Gabbana Strongly Oppose Homosexual Marriage, Homosexual Parenting, and Surrogacy

Hmm, all's not well in homosexual hegemony land.

From Terresa Monroe-Hamilton, at RWN, "Legendary Gay Designers Strongly Oppose Gay Marriage, Gay Parenting and Surrogacy."

And the obligatory left-wing hissy fit meltdown, at the Guardian UK, "Elton John and leading LGBT groups call for Dolce & Gabbana boycott."

Long Range Strike-Bomber

At Defense News, "Shrouded in Mystery, New Bomber Makes Waves.

And CNN, "New US stealth bomber shrouded in mystery."



BONUS: "Is U.S. Air Force superiority under threat?"

Obama Staff Behind Leaks in Hillary Clinton Email Scandal

Delicious!

At the New York Post, "Obama adviser behind leak of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal."

The slingshot's a nice touch, lol.

Wealthy Members of the Tech Industry Insist on Secrecy

Whopping double standards from folks like Mark Zuckerberg, who want you to reveal increasingly large amounts of personal data while safeguarding their own like it's national security.

At the New York Times, "For Tech Titans, Sharing Has Its Limits."

The Death of Free Speech on Campus

Leftists are the problem, and they won't be forgiven.

From Pat Condell:

Britain Losing Military Clout, Worrying Allies

At the Washington Post, "U.K.’s shrinking military clout worries U.S.":

LONDON — With Europe facing its shakiest security environment in a generation, Britain has slipped into a familiar role: Washington’s tough-talking wingman.

British leaders have led the rhetorical charge against the twin menaces of Russia and the Islamic State while browbeating reluctant European governments to wake up to the reality of a newly unstable continent.

But behind the flinty facade lies an unmistakable erosion in British power, one that has reduced Washington’s indispensable ally to a position that U.K. officials, military leaders and analysts acknowledge could leave the United States without a credible partner in taking on the greatest threats to global ­security.

Britain’s diminished military capacity is a product of years of stringent austerity policies that show no sign of easing.

Despite a too-close-to-call election in less than two months, neither major party has stepped up to shield the military from further cuts, reflecting a public weary of foreign interventions after campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya that are widely seen as failures.

In the two conflicts that most directly imperil Europe today, Britain has been largely ­invisible.

Its contribution to the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State is “strikingly modest,” according to a recent parliamentary report. And as Russia has eviscerated Ukraine over the past year, Britain has often been a bystander while others have tried to stanch the bleeding.

The British withdrawal from world affairs could soon accelerate, with budget cuts likely to take an even greater bite out of an already withered military.

A report issued this week by a respected British think tank, the Royal United Services Institute, found that Britain’s regular army could shrink to just 50,000 troops by 2019 – about half the number of the amount when the decade began and just a fraction of the figure from the height of the Cold War.

“The concern is that we’re going to fall from being a significant player to a bit-part player,” Dannatt said. “The U.K. isn’t of much use to the U.S. if we don’t have a worthwhile military force behind us. Anybody can talk tough. But if you don’t back it up, everyone just laughs at you.”

U.S. officials, normally unwilling to criticize their most stalwart ally, have been unusually open about their apprehension in recent days.

Last week, Gen. Ray Odierno, the U.S. Army chief of staff, said that he was “very concerned” about U.K. defense cuts and that they could result in British troops fighting within American ranks rather than alongside them in any future conflict.

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told the BBC that she was alarmed by the “gap between the collective security needs that we all have and the resources we are bringing to bear.”

Although Power did not single out Britain for criticism, taking aim instead at Europe as a whole, she focused her comments on a NATO target for members to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense.

The long-standing goal is met by only four members from the 28-nation alliance: the United States, Estonia, Greece and ­Britain...

More.

Royal Air Force Flyover at St. Paul's Cathedral Honors Afghanistan War Veterans

Video via Telegraph UK.

Plus, at London's Daily Mail, "The Royals honour Britain's Afghan war heroes: Kate and William lead tributes to the 453 men and women who died fighting the Taliban at St Paul's memorial service."

Magical Leftist Thinking

From Andrew Klavan:

Leftist Cop-Hate

From Heather Mac Donald, at the New York Post, "Fueling cop-hate: How politicians fan the flames":

Government-fueled cop hatred has claimed more victims. Two St. Louis-area police officers were shot Wednesday night during a protest outside the Ferguson, Mo., police department, one in the face, the other in the shoulder.

Both are expected to survive, unlike the two New York City police officers assassinated in December.

Such violence is the sadly predictable outcome of the lies about the police that government officials and the media have stoked for the last year.

US Attorney General Eric Holder has done all he can to keep tensions at a boiling point in Ferguson.

This, though his own Justice Department demolished the hoax that a pacific Michael Brown was killed in cold blood by Police Officer Darren Wilson in August.

The Justice report on the Brown shooting, released last week, demolished every myth around the shooting.

It confirmed virtually everything Office Wilson had testified to, including that Brown had attacked Wilson, tried to grab his gun, then charged at Wilson after the officer exited his car.

The iconic “Hands up, don’t shoot” slogan? Most certainly a fiction.

The report explained why Brown lay for four hours in the street before being taken away: “Kill the cops”-screaming protesters kept barging in on the crime-scene investigation, while gunfire rang around the perimeter. The detectives had to constantly put their work on hold while waiting for more backup.

The Brown report should have forced a massive reconsideration of the virulent anti-law-enforcement campaign that sprang up in the wake of the shooting.

Instead, Holder paved the way for the report’s marginalization by calling, a few days before its release, for a lower standard of proof for civil-rights cases.

Implication: Only an artificially high standard of proof prevented Justice from prosecuting Wilson.

This implication was utterly false. Wilson couldn’t be convicted under any standard of proof, since there is no credible evidence against him.
Yet the media ran with this “burden of proof” angle and buried the report almost as soon as it was released.

Meanwhile, in a stunning bait-and-switch, Holder presented a new report to justify last year’s riots and the ongoing anti-police campaign.
That report claimed that the Ferguson Police Department engages in a “pattern or practice” of violating blacks’ civil rights.

Where the Brown report was measured and thorough, this second report was disingenuous and agenda-driven.

Its most disturbing allegations consisted of anecdotes of apparently unconstitutional stops and arrests by officers acting boorishly toward suspects.

If those anecdotes are true and represent standard procedure in the Ferguson PD, then Ferguson’s force is abysmally trained, with little understanding of the Constitution and a great need for a refresher in courtesy and respect.

But after the evisceration of the Brown hoax, it‘s folly to take stories against the police at face value. Yet there’s no indication that the Justice lawyers double-checked any victim accounts.

Moreover, though the report calls such apparently bad stops “frequent,” it makes no attempt to quantify them in relation to the overall number of stops and arrests, and so establish a “pattern or practice” of civil-rights violations.

The rest of the report goes downhill from there. Its alleged statistical proof of race-based stops and arrests wouldn’t earn its authors a D in Statistics 101, since it lacks a valid benchmark for its stop and arrest data.

That benchmark would include, at a bare minimum, crime rates...

Still more.

Dodge Hasn't Been Able to Make Enough Hellcats to Meet Consumer Demand

This is way cool.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Hellcats? Dodge makes 'em fast, but not fast enough":

Electric cars? Plug-ins? Hybrids? Hydrogen fuel cells?

Nah. The hottest thing in the automotive world may still be raw horsepower.

Dodge has told its dealer network to stop taking orders for the 2015 Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcats, a pair of 700+-horsepower throwbacks that, the company says, it cannot make fast enough.

"Due to unprecedented demand for the 2015 Dodge Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcats, we are temporarily restricting orders while we validate current orders that are in the system," a company spokesperson said Friday.

First unveiled last May, the Hellcats push 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque out of a 6.2 liter V-8 engine. These sleds are said to get from zero to 60 in 3.6 seconds, leaving a trail of hot rubber in their wake.

The base MSRP is $59,995.

Did Dodge underestimate consumer demand? Or fail to anticipate the impact of falling gas prices?

Maybe. The Hellcats get about 13 miles to the gallon in city driving, and a mere 21 on the highway.

Dodge announced last fall that it had received more than 5,000 pre-orders for the 2015 vehicles.

Shortly after, as the vehicles began shipping to dealerships, reports began appearing in the automotive press that demand for the Hellcats was so strong that dealers were getting premiums of up to $10,000 per vehicle over the sticker price.

Current reports suggest the total number of Hellcats ordered may be as high as 9,000. Dodge would not comment on the number sold, or the number on order.

Could a President Hillary Clinton Be Trusted on Email Security?

Another astonishing letter to the editor, at the Los Angeles Times:

To the editor: Let's put aside the rather remarkable ruse that Hillary Rodham Clinton did not want to carry two email devices when she was secretary of State and therefore used a private account for conducting government businesses. After all, most smartphones can be programmed to handle multiple email addresses. ("Hillary Clinton tries to end controversy over private email account," March 10)

Rather, let's consider Clinton's contention that she used her personal email server for convenience. Otherwise put, the United States secretary of State breached security protocols with tens of thousands of emails for four years for her personal convenience.

What security breaches would arise for her convenience if she were president?

Mark S. Greenfield
Los Angeles

Fossil Fuels Will Save the World (Really)

From Matt Ridley, at WSJ.