San Francisco Sheriff's Deputies Used Prisoners for 'Gladiator-Style' Matches

Those San Francisco progs! What will they think of next?!!

They're denying it now, of course.

At LAT, "Lawyer for deputies accused of staging gladiator-style inmate fights denies allegations."

The Black Book of the American Left Volume 4: Islamo-Fascism and the War Against the Jews

The new volume of David Horowitz's collected works is out: The Black Book of the American Left Volume 4: Islamo-Fascism and the War Against the Jews.

Don't miss all of Horowitz's books at Amazon.

Secrets of 'Tormented' Germanwings Pilot Coming Into Focus

This guy was all f-ked up. He'd even planned for something "spectacular' to happen, to make him famous. We'll, he's famous now. Infamous, in fact.

Very sad.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Germanwings copilot had health, psychological problems, reports say":

Additional evidence emerged Saturday to suggest copilot Andreas Lubitz had health issues that should have prevented him from being allowed anywhere near the controls of the Germanwings A320 Airbus that he apparently deliberately flew into a mountain in the southern Alps on Tuesday, killing all 150 people aboard.

As well as medical findings, one of the copilot’s former girlfriends came forward to tell a German newspaper that Lubitz, 27, told her, while they were dating last year, that he planned a spectacular gesture to make sure everyone would “remember” him. She described Lubitz as a “tormented” person who knew how to hide secrets.

The German newspaper Bild spoke to the young woman, identified only as Maria W, 26, and said she dated Lubitz for five months in 2014 during which time he said: “One day I will do something that will change the whole system and then everyone will know my name and remember it.

“I never knew what he meant, but now it makes sense,” the woman was quoted as saying.

She revealed that the pilot had suffered nightmares and that their relationship ended because his behavior scared her.

“At night, he would wake up and scream: 'We’re going down!'”

She said if Lubitz did indeed deliberately bring down the plane, “it is because he understood that because of his health problems, his big dream of a job at Lufthansa as captain and as a long-haul pilot was practically impossible.”

More.

And at the Other McCain, "German Co-Pilot Commits Mass Murder":

You might think that this incident seven years ago — when Lubitz was 21 and “depression” interrupted his training — would have caused someone to question his fitness to be a commercial pilot. Oh, but that would be discrimination against the mentally ill, which is unacceptable. Misguided ideas about “human rights” thereby result in putting a murderous psychopath in the cockpit so he can kill 149 innocent people by flying into a mountain at 400 miles an hour.

“You only hear the screams in the final seconds.”

 Yeah, well, wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of the regressive enablers of death, or anything.

Speaking of which, don't miss the broad-brush smears over at No More Mister, "ISLAMOPHOBES FIND A GERMANWINGS STORY THEY LIKE":

No reputable media outlet has reported on any possible motivation for the downing of Germanwings Flight 9525 apart from the claim that copilot Andreas Lubitz was suffering from a significant level of depression -- so elements of the Islam-hating right are now just turning him into a Islamist terrorist, based on evidence that appears to be nothing more than wishful thinking on their part.

And who would be the "Islam-hating right" to which No More Mister smears?

Well, Jim Hoft, a.k.a., "Gateway Pundit." That's it. Oh, actually, there's also Debbie Schlussel, of whom no one --- and I mean literally no one on the right --- considers one of their own partisans. She's simply a nutbag.

But hey, the idiot Steve M.'s got his "Islamophobe" meme and he's going with it!

With So Many Mexicans in the U.S., Mexico Soccer Team No Longer Plays in Mexico

This is an amazing story. Hilarious even. Although it's sad for poor Mexicans who don't even get to see their own team play soccer. But it's hilarious for leftists, since once again their program of "compassionate" immigration policy is shown for what it is: The Reconquista.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Mexico's national soccer team finds a great home venue -- in the U.S.":

Last year, Mexico played more games in the U.S. — eight — than the U.S. national team played domestically. Since February 2010, Mexico has played 30 of its 50 non-tournament games, called friendlies, in this country — many before sellout crowds.

This isn't to say the U.S. team isn't popular here. According to Adidas, the uniform provider for the Mexican national team, the U.S. and Mexico sold nearly an equal number of team jerseys in this country last year. Most second- and third-generation Mexican-Americans rate the U.S. as their second-favorite team.

Mexico is first....

The U.S. has a Mexican American population of more than 35 million, accounting for more than 65% of a U.S. Spanish-speaking marketplace that is increasingly attractive to advertisers. The most popular team is the Mexican national team, which is why SUM has been able to get major corporations such as Wells Fargo, Unilever, Allstate, Castrol, Makita and Home Depot to sponsor U.S. tours.

Not surprisingly, the Mexican team's favorite cities are ones with huge expatriate populations such as Phoenix, Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles, where they regularly pack huge football stadiums.

In Southern California, Mexico drew more than 90,000 to the Rose Bowl for a meaningless midweek exhibition with New Zealand in 2010. A year later an overwhelmingly pro-Mexico crowd of 93,420 was in Pasadena for the Gold Cup final with the U.S. Some of the U.S. players were extremely unsettled at being the visiting team in their own country. The American national team hasn't played Mexico in Southern California since then.

The team's owner openly disses Mexican nationals. Not enough lucre. Well, at least he's not a communist. That's the only good takeaway from this story. He's not a scummy, decrepit Marxist-Leninist revolutionary America-basher, like most of the idiot stateside Mexican leftists who're going to the games.

The Left's Evil, Hypocritical Boycott of Indiana

This was the outrage du jour yesterday, "Indiana Religious Freedom Law Sparks Fury" (via Google and Memeorandum).

But according to the Washington Post, "19 states that have ‘religious freedom’ laws like Indiana’s that no one is boycotting."

Government has to show a "compelling governmental interest" before it can trample religious freedom. That's all that's required. The Indiana law is in line with the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. See the Weekly Standard, "Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Explained." More often than not public accommodations are made for disadvantaged groups. The important thing is that in certain circumstances protections for religious observance will outweigh the goals of state attempts to force equality. And that's why the left is outraged. They want to trample freedom of conscience. They cannot stand a free people making moral choices for themselves. Leftists want state power to force compliance without exception. It's hateful and bigoted. But that's the essences of far-left regressivism.

Dashboard Video Contradicts Actress Taraji Henson's Claim That Son Was Racially Profiled

Despicable lying douchebag leftists always go for the racist allegations first, only to eat shit later.

Watch, at the Los Angeles Times, "Actress Taraji Henson apologizes to Glendale police for racial profile claims."

The cop was super nice!

Here's Henson's earlier allegations, "'Empire' actress Taraji P. Henson says son was racially profiled at USC."

Illinois National Guardsmen Planned Islamic State Terror Plot

Move along. Nothing to see here.

At IBD, "Islamic State In Illinois Planned Another Ft. Hood":

An Illinois National Guardsman sought to fight with Islamic State as his cousin plotted to kill scores at an Illinois National Guard facility. If they had succeeded, would President Obama call it workplace violence?

President Obama's "JV" terrorist team has metastasized to the point where its franchisees have spread across continents and oceans, with the FBI investigating ISIS-related activities and plots in all 50 states, including a very dangerous one in the commander in chief's home state of Illinois.

One of those FBI investigations involved the arrest Wednesday of Hasan Edmonds — a supply specialist with the Illinois National Guard, who had trained at the Joliet Armory since 2011 — at Chicago's Midway International Airport as he prepared to board a plane to Detroit and then to Cairo via Amsterdam, with the goal of joining the Islamic State.

Two hours later, authorities picked up his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, who had planned to wear Hasan's uniform and attack the facility in the same manner that Maj. Nidal Hasan did at Fort Hood, Texas.

The cousins had scouted out the armory on Tuesday, with Hasan Edmonds picking up a copy of the facility training schedule. The plan was for Jonas Edmonds to carry out the assault using AK-47s and grenades.

As they cased the National Guard facility on Tuesday, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune, the cousins from Aurora, Ill., discussed where soldiers would be stationed inside, which rooms and areas to avoid, and the firepower required to carry out the assault. The plot was uncovered when an FBI source made connections with Hasan Edmonds on Facebook, inquiring about his plans to travel overseas to join the Islamic State.

We are mindful of the fact that not all IS recruits and sympathizers are so careless in revealing their intentions. It may be a cliche, but we have to be right all the time while terrorists only have to be right once.

If successful, the planned assault on the Joliet Armory might have mirrored the terrorist attack by Nidal Hasan, whose Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at the Army base near Killeen, Texas, killed 13, including a pregnant soldier, and wounded 32, as he shouted "Allahu Akhbar!"

The Obama administration would dismiss the attack as "workplace violence," just as they dismissed the Islamic State as a "JV" terrorist team...

More.

New Kendra Sunderland Photos

I guess the chick is going full porn star at this point. She's seen at the photos making molds for adult sex toys.

At Egotastic!, "OSU Library Girl Kendra Sunderland Nekkid for Molding of Her Adult Toys."

FLASHBACK, "Kendra Sunderland, Former Oregon State University Student, Arrested After Making Porn Video in Campus Library."

U.S. Raises Pressure on Israel Over Palestinians

Unprecedented.

Barack Hussein is throwing Israel to the wolves at the U.N. on Palestinian statehood.

At WSJ, "White House leaves open the possibility of letting the United Nations set a deadline for a Palestinian state":

The U.S. exerted new pressure against Israel by leaving open the possibility of letting the United Nations set a deadline for a Palestinian state, in what would be a departure from using American veto power to protect its close Mideast ally.

The prospect of a U.N. Security Council resolution arose Friday when French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris would introduce a measure setting a deadline for a negotiated settlement of the conflict and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, possibly within two years.

On dozens of occasions in recent decades, the U.S. has lobbied against approval of such resolutions, using its veto authority as a permanent member of the Security Council as a last resort. In response to past resolutions concerning the Middle East, the White House has echoed Israel’s contention that U.N. action cannot substitute for direct negotiations.

But the White House took a markedly different tack on Friday. Press secretary Josh Earnest said the Obama administration was aware of Mr. Fabius’s comments. “But we have not yet actually seen a text of a resolution so I’d reserve comment on a hypothetical resolution,” he said.

While he didn’t indicate whether the U.S. would actively favor such a resolution, the absence of any dissuasion was telling. White House officials didn’t elaborate on the Obama administration’s position...

Keep reading.

At Least 17 Dead as al-Shabaab Lays Waste to Somali Hotel

The tide of war keeps receding.

Reports elsewhere say victims were beheaded.

At NYT, "Official: Al-Shabab Siege at Somali Hotel Ends, 17 Dead."

And at Euronews, "Militants launch deadly assault on Mogadishu hotel."

'Girl Crush'

Hmm... This is interesting.

From Randall Roberts, at LAT, "Big Town's 'Girl Crush' rankles puritanical country radio."



The lyrics video is here.

Virginia Postrel Joins Glenn Reynolds

They're talking about education. It's quite interesting and informative.

Ellen Pao Loses Historic Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Kleiner Perkins

I've been seeing articles about this case for weeks.

For example, at LAT last week, "Win or lose, discrimination suit is having an effect on Silicon Valley."

Well, she lost.

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Kleiner Perkins prevails in Ellen Pao sex-bias case":

Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers did not discriminate against former junior partner Ellen Pao for her gender, nor fire her because she filed a high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit against the firm, a jury found on Friday.

A six-man, six-woman San Francisco Superior Court jury sided in favor of Kleiner Perkins on all claims after more than two days of deliberation and more than four weeks of testimony that was closely watched by Silicon Valley and around the country as tensions over the lack of diversity in the technology industry have swelled.

The verdict was a major victory for Kleiner Perkins, for which the trial had revealed an at times unflattering portrait of a firm that had fallen from its glory days as an early investor in companies such as Google and Amazon.

Pao filed suit against Kleiner Perkins in 2012 for $16 million in damages for gender discrimination and retaliation, plus unspecified punitive damages. She alleged that Kleiner Perkins had promoted male partners over equally qualified women at the firm, including herself, and then retaliated against her for raising concerns about the firm’s gender dynamics by failing to promote her and finally firing her. Pao, now interim CEO of the message board site Reddit, was fired after seven years at the firm following her 2012 lawsuit...

Keep reading.

How the Left is Shutting Down Debate on Campuses Across the Country

From Kim Strassel, at WSJ, "The Campus Climate Crusade":

Conservative thought on campus these days is rare, though for some it’s still not rare enough. Witness the growing campaign by politicians, unions and environmentalists to intimidate into silence any academic or program that might challenge liberal ideology.

Congressional Democrats have grabbed most of the attention here, with their recent attempt to cow climate skeptics. Richard Lindzen, an emeritus professor of meteorology at MIT and a Cato Institute scholar, earlier this month described in these pages how House Rep. Raul Grijalva was targeting seven academics skeptical of President Obama’s climate policies, demanding documents about their funding and connections. A trio of Senate Democrats is working to muzzle more than 100 nonprofits and companies that have questioned the climate agenda, with a fishing expedition into their correspondence.

Largely unnoticed is that the congressional climate crusaders didn’t come up with this idea on their own. For several years a coalition of liberal organizations have been using “disclosure” to sully the names of conservative professors and try to shut down their programs. Their particular targets are academics who benefit from funding from the Koch Foundation, which has for decades funded free-market professors and groups on U.S. campuses.

Giving money to universities, and earmarking it for certain purposes, is common, though the left has largely cornered the market. Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer and his wife several years ago pledged $40 million to Stanford to start the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy. The Morningside Foundation, established by the family of the late T.H. Chan, last year gave Harvard $350 million to fund work on, among other things, gun violence and tobacco use. The Helmsley Charitable Trust has given money to several schools to advance Common Core.

Apparently the only kind of thought not allowed is that which might “undermine,” according to UnKochMyCampus, “environmental protection, worker’s rights, health care expansion, and quality public education.” Stopping such research is the mission of this organization, which is spearheaded by Greenpeace, Forecast the Facts (a green outfit focused on climate change), and the American Federation of Teachers.

The group’s website directs student activists to a list of universities to which Koch foundations have given money, and provides a “campus organization guide” with instructions for how to “expose and undermine” any college thought that works against “progressive values.” Students are directed to first recruit “trusted allies and informants” (including liberal faculty, students and alumni) and then are given a step-by-step guide on hounding universities and targeted professors with demands for records disclosure and with Freedom of Information Act requests. The AFT and the National Education Association devoted nearly a full day at a conference this month to training students on the “necessary skills to investigate and expose” any “influence” the Kochs have at universities.

This week Michigan State University released documents to student activists who had targeted political-theory professor Ross Emmett, director of the Michigan Center for Innovation and Economic Prosperity. His crime? Using Koch grant money to fund a reading group, called the Koch Scholars, that brings together students to discuss competing political economy ideas. The first two weeks were devoted to Marx, though the activists apparently couldn’t tolerate an equal discussion of capitalism.

Art Hall, who runs the Center for Applied Economics at the University of Kansas School of Business, was forced last year to file a lawsuit to try to stop a state records request from student activists demanding his private email correspondence for the past 10 years. Mr. Hall’s sins? His center got a seed grant from the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation, and he testified against green energy quotas at the state legislature last year.

As for those defenders of academic freedom and integrity, the American Association of University Professors several years ago defended climate scientist Michael Mann against a conservative group’s demands for his records. Now the Kansas chapter of AAUP helped fund the students’ demand for Mr. Hall’s records...

You get the picture. And especially notice the sick but shameless leftist hypocrisy.

More.

Six of Ten Teen Crashes Involve Driver Distraction

I see people texting and driving constantly. Same for people talking on the phone. It's just the way it is nowadays.

Laws prohibiting texting or requiring "hands free" for talking on the phone don't work. People simply don't care. It's not just teens, of course. You can spot a distracted driver almost immediately. They drive slow and erratic. They're dangerous. I want to force these people off the road and give them a merciless physical thrashing.

In any case, at CBS News This Morning, "AAA: 58 percent of teen car crashes involve distractions."

And watch, from AAA, "Distractions and Teen Driver Crashes."

Shelby Steele — Shame: How America's Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country

Professor Steele's new book, available at Amazon.

Plus, Shop Amazon - Children's Books for Easter.

More blogging tonight. Thanks for reading.

'Text Neck'

Mobile technology is hazardous to your health.

At CNN, "There is an epidemic and it is called 'text neck'."

Hey, I'm guilty too.

But then, I read a lot of books, usually reclining in a lounger or lying in bed. In other words, what people have been doing forever. I doubt all the new wireless and mobile technology is helpful for the intellectual development of young people. They need to read more. And I mean old fashioned books, newspapers, and magazines. "Long reads" as folks like to say.

PREVIOUSLY: "Texting Makes You Selfish."

The Bergdahl Desertion

At WSJ, "Obama wanted to ‘whittle away’ the killers at Guantanamo":

The United States Army intends to charge Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. That was Wednesday’s news, but the bigger story is the extravagant price the U.S. has paid because President Obama wanted to score political points.

Readers will recall that then-Private First Class Bergdahl went missing from his post in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009. Fellow soldiers suspected desertion, though the Army conducted a risky manhunt to recover him. The sergeant was quickly captured by the Taliban and held for five years.

The Associated Press has reported that an internal Pentagon investigation in 2010 found “incontrovertible” evidence that he had walked away from his post. Journalists also uncovered an exchange of letters in which the soldier wrote to his father “the title of U.S. soldier is just the lie of fools,” that he was “ashamed to even be american,” and that “the future is too good to waste on lies.” Replied father Robert: “OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE!”

All of this would have been known to President Obama and National Security Adviser Susan Rice when the Administration decided to swap Sgt. Bergdahl for five Guantanamo Bay detainees—all top Taliban leaders—in May 2014. Mr. Obama even invited Sgt. Bergdahl’s parents to a Rose Garden ceremony to announce the swap, while Ms. Rice declared on a Sunday talk show that the soldier had served his country with “honor and distinction.”

At the time of the release, Mr. Obama said he had a sacred obligation as Commander in Chief to do everything possible to bring the sergeant home. Maybe so, but the President made his real motives clear when he noted that the transfer was part of “the transition process of ending a war” and that he wanted to “whittle away” the number of Gitmo detainees. That, he told NBC, “is going to involve, on occasion, releasing folks who we may not trust but we can’t convict.”

This is the language of a President more concerned with pursuing his ideological fixations, and fulfilling a misbegotten campaign pledge, than winning a war or securing the country.

The Bergdahl swap unleashed a torrent of criticism at the time, including from Senate Democrats, so it’s not surprising that the charges against the soldier are only being unveiled now, five months after the midterm elections. There was no Rose Garden ceremony, and Ms. Rice issued no statement that we saw.

Meanwhile, the war in Afghanistan shows no sign of ending, while an emboldened Taliban can look forward to getting their old commanders back after their obligatory year in Qatar ends in June. Sgt. Bergdahl will now face a court martial, but we already know that the White House is guilty of deserting its obligations to U.S. security.

More at Free Beacon, "Former Sergeant Who Served with Bergdahl: He’s Lucky No One is Talking About the Death Penalty."

PREVIOUSLY: "Bowe Bergdahl Charged With Desertion and Misbehavior."

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Intimates: Lily Aldridge

She's so sweet.



PREVIOUSLY: "Lily Aldridge is Maxim's April 2015 Cover Girl."

Kamala Harris Overreacts to 'Sodomite Suppression Act'

She's an idiot.

See the commentary at LAT, "Kamala Harris' (over)reaction to anti-sodomy initiative gives idea more power."

And the statement at the AG's office, "Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Issues Statement on Proposed Ballot Initiative."

PREVIOUSLY: "Signature Petition for 'Sodomite Suppression' Seeks 'Bullets to the Head' Measure for California Ballot (VIDEO)."

Bowe Bergdahl Charged With Desertion and Misbehavior

See WaPo for the report (via Memeorandum).

And Megyn Kelly blasts State Department spokeswoman Jen "Doe-Eyed" Psaki:

Team Harpy Apologizes to Joe Murphy

Team Harpy is Nina de Jesus and Lisa Rabey. Their apologies, published today, are here, "Apologies and retractions."

I'd never heard of these women, but Robert Stacy McCain posted on the controversy today, "Two Women Forced to Apologize for Calling Male Librarian ‘Sexual Predator’."

Ms. de Jesus, who appears to be a trans woman, is a freakin' hardcore leftist ideologue who rails against "settler colonialism" and believes that accusations of sexual harassment/predation need not be backed by evidence of wrongdoing. Moreover, the #TeamHarpy partisans are positively Orwellian, as Popehat points out.

I need to blog something else otherwise I'll be sucked into a netherworld of leftist hatred and evil. Kudos on this Joe Murphy dude for hammering these disgusting trans-SJW jackwagons.

New Footage Shows Terrified Tourists in Tunisia Terrorist Attack

Coming to America.

Watch, at Telegraph UK, "Dramatic video footage has emerged of terrified tourists caught up in the attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis in which 21 people were shot dead by two marauding terrorists."

Lily Aldridge is Maxim's April 2015 Cover Girl

At Maxim.

And London's Daily Mail, "'She's the sweetest girl I've ever met': Lily Aldridge smoulders in topless shoot as she discusses BFF Taylor Swift and being a sex symbol."

Joe Scaffido, Assistant Dean, Invites Islamic State 'Freedom Fighters' to Train Students at Cornell University (VIDEO)

Only in Obama's America.

At the New York Post, "Cornell dean says ISIS welcome on campus in undercover video."

There are literally no depths to which the left will not go to bring evil to this country.

Google's Blue-Chip Insider Access to the Obama White House

Hypocrisy thy name is Democrat.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Google Makes Most of Close Ties to White House":

WASHINGTON—As the federal government was wrapping up its antitrust investigation of Google Inc., company executives had a flurry of meetings with top officials at the White House and Federal Trade Commission, the agency running the probe.

Google co-founder Larry Page met with FTC officials to discuss settlement talks, according to visitor logs and emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt met with Pete Rouse, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, in the White House.

The documents don’t show exactly what was discussed in late 2012. Soon afterward, the FTC closed its investigation after Google agreed to make voluntary changes to its business practices. (See the FTC document on Google).

Google’s access to high-ranking Obama administration officials during a critical phase of the antitrust probe is one sign of the Internet giant’s reach in Washington. Since Mr. Obama took office, employees of the Mountain View, Calif., company have visited the White House for meetings with senior officials about 230 times, or an average of roughly once a week, according to the visitor logs reviewed by the Journal.

One top lobbyist at Google, Johanna Shelton, has had more than 60 meetings at the White House. In comparison, employees of rival Comcast Corp., also known as a force in Washington, have visited the White House a total of about 20 times since Mr. Obama took office.

“We think it is important to have a strong voice in the debate and help policy makers understand our business and the work we do to keep the Internet open, to build great products, and to fuel economic growth,” says Google spokeswoman Niki Christoff.

Jennifer Friedman, a White House spokeswoman, said the FTC “is an independent agency and we respect their independent decision-making.”

She added: “White House officials meet with business executives on a range of issues on a regular basis. These meetings help keep the White House apprised of outside perspectives on important policy issues. Our staff is cognizant that it is inappropriate to discuss issues relating to regulatory enforcement.”

Justin Cole, an FTC spokesman, said: “The FTC is an independent law enforcement agency. Its enforcement decisions are driven by the applicable law and evidence in each case.”

Google’s knack for getting in the room with important government officials is gaining new relevance as scrutiny grows over how the company avoided being hit by the FTC with a potentially damaging antitrust lawsuit. Last week, the Journal reported that the FTC’s competition staff concluded that Google used anticompetitive tactics and abused its monopoly power in ways that harmed Internet users and rivals.

The staff recommended a lawsuit, which would have triggered one of the highest-profile antitrust cases since the Justice Department sued Microsoft Corp. in the 1990s. FTC commissioners voted unanimously to end the probe.

Visitor logs and internal emails reviewed by the Journal describe meetings involving Google, senior White House advisers and top FTC officials between the staff’s recommendation in August 2012 and the vote in January 2013.

On Nov. 6, 2012, the night of Mr. Obama’s re-election, Mr. Schmidt was personally overseeing a voter-turnout software system for Mr. Obama. A few weeks later, Ms. Shelton and a senior antitrust lawyer at Google went to the White House to meet with one of Mr. Obama’s technology advisers.

By the end of the month, the FTC had decided not to file an antitrust lawsuit against the company, according to the agency’s internal emails.

It is unusual for White House aides to talk with officials at a company or agency about law-enforcement matters involving the company or agency. Officials in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division typically don’t meet with the White House during major investigations.

Google’s efforts in Washington also include a well-funded lobbying operation. Last year, Google spent $16.8 million on lobbyists, more than any other company except for Comcast, according to lobbying disclosures...

Keep reading.

Wind Turbines Bring Large-Scale Massacre of Birds at Altamont Pass

Gee thanks leftists.

You're destroying our natural wonders with your Utopian collectivist pursuit to eradicate carbons.

At CBS News San Francisco: "Environmentalists Worry About More Bird Deaths With Wind Turbines at Altamont Pass."

Signature Petition for 'Sodomite Suppression' Seeks 'Bullets to the Head' Measure for California Ballot (VIDEO)

That's a "bullet to the head" for homosexuals.

The "Sodomite Suppression Act." It's a serious thing.

At LAT, "Officials powerless to stop proposed anti-gay initiative":

Over the decades, California has chiseled out some of its most colorful laws at the ballot box.

There have been proposed initiatives seeking to allow public school children be able to sing Christmas carols, to require drug testing of state legislators, to outlaw divorce and to divide California into six states.

But the proposed initiative submitted by a Huntington Beach attorney that would authorize the killing of gays and lesbians by "bullets to the head" — or "any other convenient method" — is testing the limits of the state's normally liberal attitude on putting even the most extreme ideas on the ballot if enough signatures are collected.

The proposed initiative has been met by a firestorm of anger, yet there appears to be nothing that can stop it from being given a formal name and advancing to the signature gathering process.

For a fee of $200, Matthew McLaughlin submitted what he called the Sodomite Suppression Act to the state attorney general's office, which has little choice but to give it a ballot-worthy name, summarize its effects and set the clock running for gathering signatures.

"Mr. McLaughlin's immoral proposal is just the latest — and most egregious — example of the need to further reform the initiative process," Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) said.

Some of California's most controversial laws have been given life through the initiative process, though some lived only briefly. A 1996 initiative legalized marijuana for medicinal use, a law that still stands. Two years earlier, voters approved the so-called Save Our State initiative, which denied a public education and other benefits to those in the country illegally — a law that was quickly declared to be illegal.

Two lawmakers said they were so revolted by McLaughlin's submitted initiative that they have proposed a bill that would increase the fee for filing a ballot measure from $200 to $8,000.

"We live in California, the cradle of direct democracy, but we also need a threshold for reasonableness," said Low, who co-authored the legislation with Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica).

But to get on the ballot, McLaughlin and any supporters he has would have to collect more than 365,000 signatures in 180 days, a high bar even for well-financed efforts.

"In California, this has the same chance as a snowball's chance in hell," said Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State L.A.

Kurt Oneto, a Sacramento attorney who specializes in the initiative process, said Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris does not have the ability to turn down McLaughlin's proposed ballot measure, regardless of how she might feel.

"The state gets serious initiatives that are submitted and we get silly ones, and every now and then we get ugly ones like this," Oneto said. "I would submit this is probably the ugliest one I remember."

More.

America Isn't Better With #ObamaCare

From Katie Pavlich, at the Hill:

It’s been five years since the Affordable Care Act, better known as ObamaCare, was passed and signed into law. This week, the White House is touting the legislation as a huge success and claiming the country is better off.

“FACT: We’ve seen the largest drop in the uninsured rate in decades since the ACA became law. #BetterWithObamacare,” the official White House Twitter feed sent out Sunday.

“More than 16 million Americans have gained health coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act. #BetterWithObamacare,” another tweet said.

First, it’s important to analyze this White House white lie. While more Americans do in fact have health insurance in the wake of ObamaCare, the administration fails to point out that citizens are required by law to do so or pay a fine.
This wasn’t the case in decades past. Times — and the law — have changed. The government criminalized the decision not to purchase healthcare, and the IRS has been tapped with enforcing the requirement. More people have health insurance because they’ve been forced into the system, not because they want insurance or because they have easier access.

Second, let’s review how ObamaCare was passed in 2010. It happened in the middle of the night through a change in Senate rules and without a single Republican vote. Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is now infamous for saying, “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”

She also wasn’t shy about the tactics used to get the legislation through Congress. “We will go through the gate and if the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole-vault in. If that doesn’t work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get healthcare reform passed for the American people for their own personal health and economic security and for the important role that it will play in reducing the deficit,” Pelosi said in January 2010.

Although ObamaCare is still highly controversial, as Pelosi once admitted, its negative impact is clearer.

For example, having health insurance is not the same thing as having access to medical care or affordable coverage. The costs of health insurance premiums and deductibles have significantly increased, leaving families in even more dire financial situations. According to research from the Manhattan Institute, health insurance premiums for people living in a number of states across the country have gone up by more than 100 percent.

Overall, costs to the taxpayer have been enormous, with $2 billion spent on HealthCare.gov, which didn’t work properly for a year, and an estimated $2 trillion in addition to enforce ObamaCare over the next 10 years. Data from a Government Accountability Office report released in 2013 has been cited showing ObamaCare adds $6.2 trillion to the long-term U.S. deficit, a far cry from liberal claims that deficits would be reduced as a result of the law.

Further, and most detrimental, is the mass retirement of doctors...

One of the great public policy abominations ever inflicted on the American people.

Keep reading.

The French Are 'Dismayed' by How Much Obama Has Given Up in Iran Talks

The irrepressible Dr. Krauthammer, on yesterday's All-Star Panel.

The Left Opens Fire on Ted Cruz!

At great talking points memo at Bill O'Reilly's, including commentary from Monica Crowley and Kirsten Powers.

Watch: "Ted Cruz For President - O'Reilly Talking Points."

Ted Cruz Tilts 2016 GOP to the Right

Hey, I can dig it, especially if he slows down the RINO momentum.

At LAT, "Ted Cruz's entry into 2016 race puts pressure on Republicans":

Sen. Ted Cruz jumped into the 2016 presidential race Monday in the same way he intends to run his campaign: upstaging rival Republicans with a splashy, impassioned speech that sought to drag the national conversation further to the right than many in his party want to go.

The Texas senator’s chances of winning the White House are narrow, polls suggest. And his aggressive tactics and brash style during two years in the Senate — including nudging the GOP toward the 2013 government shutdown — have alienated many of the Republican leaders whose support he probably needs to become the nominee.

But in addition to raising his political profile, Cruz’s candidacy is certain to play a role in the GOP primaries as he becomes a spoiler and potential kingmaker, forcing establishment favorites — such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — to confront tea party preferences on immigration, same-sex marriage and social welfare programs.

Cruz's zeal for small government and a muscular national defense reflects the views of many Republicans. But GOP strategists acknowledge the divisive firebrand may drive the debate too far to the right for mainstream political tastes — just as many party leaders say he has done during his short time in Congress. He could force his 2016 opponents to embrace positions in the primary that they might regret when facing the Democratic nominee.

“He's going to raise important questions that other candidates are going to have to answer, especially on social issues,” said Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. “Are you pro-life? Pro-marriage? Ted Cruz has been very bold and he sort of puts pressure on people like Jeb and Rand [Paul] to speak about the issues.”

But Aguilar warned that Cruz's stances, such as his opposition to President Obama's program to defer deportation for millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, could alienate voters in the general election if embraced by other candidates.

Cruz, the son of a Cuban immigrant, makes no apologies for his goal to shake up the mainstream. He has said repeatedly that he wants to be seen as the “disruptive app” of GOP politics.

“It is the time for truth,” Cruz told an enthusiastic crowd of Liberty University students Monday. “It is the time for liberty. It is the time to reclaim the Constitution of the United States.”

It was no accident that he chose to launch his presidential bid at the religious campus founded by the late pastor Jerry Falwell. Not far from the historic Civil War site of Appomattox, Liberty University has been a popular destination for Republicans seeking to bolster their conservative credentials. It also boasts an alumni and donor network that extends far from the campus, nestled near the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains.

Cruz appeared onstage in a massive sports arena amid waving American flags and Christian rock music. He emphasized his family's personal struggles and Christian faith, calling on “courageous conservatives” to join him as he seeks to ignite the same grass-roots movement that propelled him to the Senate in 2012.

“The answer will not come from Washington,” he said. “It will come only from men and women across this country, the people of faith, the lovers of liberty.”

Still more at that top link

The Orwellian Obama Presidency

From Bret Stephens, at WSJ, "Under Mr. Obama, friends are enemies, denial is wisdom, capitulation is victory":

The humiliating denouement to America’s involvement in Yemen came over the weekend, when U.S. Special Forces were forced to evacuate a base from which they had operated against the local branch of al Qaeda. This is the same branch that claimed responsibility for the January attack on Charlie Hebdo and has long been considered to pose the most direct threat to Europe and the United States.

So who should Barack Obama be declaring war on in the Middle East other than the state of Israel?

There is an upside-down quality to this president’s world view. His administration is now on better terms with Iran—whose Houthi proxies, with the slogan “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, damn the Jews, power to Islam,” just deposed Yemen’s legitimate president—than it is with Israel. He claims we are winning the war against Islamic State even as the group continues to extend its reach into Libya, Yemen and Nigeria.

He treats Republicans in the Senate as an enemy when it comes to the Iranian nuclear negotiations, while treating the Russian foreign ministry as a diplomatic partner. He favors the moral legitimacy of the United Nations Security Council to that of the U.S. Congress. He is facilitating Bashar Assad’s war on his own people by targeting ISIS so the Syrian dictator can train his fire on our ostensible allies in the Free Syrian Army.

He was prepared to embrace a Muslim Brother as president of Egypt but maintains an arm’s-length relationship with his popular pro-American successor. He has no problem keeping company with Al Sharpton and tagging an American police department as comprehensively racist but is nothing if not adamant that the words “Islamic” and “terrorism” must on no account ever be conjoined. The deeper that Russian forces advance into Ukraine, the more they violate cease-fires, the weaker the Kiev government becomes, the more insistent he is that his response to Russia is working.

To adapt George Orwell’s motto for Oceania: Under Mr. Obama, friends are enemies, denial is wisdom, capitulation is victory...

Perfect. Devastating. Just too honest, my goodness!

Keep reading.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali — Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now

Ms. Hirsi Ali's book is out today, at Amazon.

Plus, Shop Amazon Sports & Outdoors - Up to 25% Off MSR, Therm-a-Rest, Platypus, SealLine, PackTowl and E-Case.

U.S. Marine Corps March Madness Recruiting (VIDEO)

At LAT, "Marines target March Madness in recruiting campaign."

The Yemen Meltdown

At WSJ, "The U.S. withdrawal is a victory for Iran and al Qaeda":

Another week, another victory for disorder in the Middle East. This time the meltdown is in Yemen, where this weekend the U.S. withdrew the remaining U.S. special forces from a base where they were waging a drone war against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The withdrawal comes amid growing chaos in the country after Houthi militants deposed the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the capital, San’a, for Aden last month. The Houthis belong to the Zaidi offshoot of Shiite Islam and are receiving help from Iran. They are at war with Sunni jihadists, who struck back in bombings on Friday that killed 152 people in San’a and Saada province. An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility.

The U.S. retreat is a major loss in the fight against AQAP, which has been the al Qaeda branch most focused on hitting the U.S. mainland. The U.S. has a military base in Djibouti across the Gulf of Aden as well as naval assets in the region from which it can still strike targets in Yemen. But the loss of special forces on the ground is bound to hurt intelligence collection and thus the ability for accurate targeting. Chaos is a jihadist’s best friend.

As recently as September, President Obama hailed Yemen as an antiterror model. “This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years,” he said. That wishful thinking has now been exposed...

More.

Police Can't Corroborate Rape Allegations at University of Virginia

At CBS Evening News, "Police unable to corroborate U.Va rape allegations."

Also at CNN, "Police say investigators found no 'substantive basis' to support a University of Virginia female student's story that she was raped."

And from Ashe Schow, at the Washington Examiner, "Police investigating UVA rape story emphasize importance of police involvement."

Santa Barbara Woman Tests Negative for Ebola

At the Santa Barbara Independent, "Santa Barbara Health Officials Monitoring Possible Ebola Case: A Woman Who Recently Traveled to West Africa."

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Rookie of the Year 2015 — Kelly Rohrbach

Weekday hotness from Sports Illustrated:

Is Barbarity of Islamic State Pushing Public Opinion Toward Use of Ground Troops?

At Fox News, "Is the barbarity of ISIS changing U.S. public opinion?"

Referenced there is the child jihadi murdering the Israeli Arab, "Islamic State Video Shows Israeli Arab Murdered by Child Jihadi."

And at WaPo, "Support for using ground troops against the Islamic State is increasing."

Hillary Clinton Emails Shed Little Light

This is interesting, but will be entirely academic in the end.

I doubt much is going to come of the whole email thing, even though according this piece she lied about not using her private emails for public business.

At the New York Times, "In Clinton Emails on Benghazi, a Rare Glimpse at Her Concerns."

Taylor Swift Buys Domain Name TaylorSwift.porn

At Billboard:

Taylor Swift knew these domain names were trouble when they walked in.

The singer's team has purchased the web addresses TaylorSwift.porn and TaylorSwift.adult, prior to them becoming available to the public on June 1, according to CNN. It is unclear what she plans to do with them, if anything.

The move was prompted by nonprofit group Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers continuing to expand the number of generic top-level domains, beyond such popular ones as .com and .net.

A number of controversial domain names will be available in June, but public figures and companies are currently being given a window of time in which to register them before anyone else can.

Well, I can imagine what some less scrupulous types might have done with those domains.

USS Theodore Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier — By the Numbers

This is cool, via Telegraph UK:



And at London's Daily Mail, "Towering 20 stories above the waterline and more than 1,000ft long: Inside glimpse of the awesome naval power that is the USS Roosevelt."

Plus, at the U.S. Navy YouTube page, "Theodore Roosevelt Deploys for World Tour."

Ted Cruz Announces Presidential Bid: 'It's Time to Reclaim the Constitution' (VIDEO)

This man is the patriot's patriot.

I don't know if it was a great speech but there's no doubt he meant every word of it. He's a true believer in American exceptionalism.

And no teleprompter at that. Pretty impressive.

More at the Washington Post, "Cruz one of many courting GOP’s hard-right wing."

And watch: "Ted Cruz Presidential Announcement Full Speech (C-SPAN)."

ADDED: At Instapundit, "ANN ALTHOUSE ON TED CRUZ’S OPENING: 'This is a truly powerful speech. Just brilliant'."

Lindsey Pelas

At Egotastic!, "Lindsey Pelas Achieves Instagram Gold Funbag Status."

Could Leftist Disgust with Campus Brownshirts Be Reaching Critical Mass?

From Steven Hayward, at Power Line:

You know campus radicalism—the kind that openly oppresses in the name of ending oppression—is going too far when even The Nation magazine takes notice. Nation writer Michelle Goldberg reports about the case of Northwestern University feminist film professor Laura Kipnes, who wrote an essay last month in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Sexual Paranoia Strikes Academe.” It was a long and rambling piece that covered a lot of territory, but contained here and there several nuggets of good sense...

Continue.

You'll laugh. Via Memeorandum.

V.S. Naipaul: Islamic State Dedicated to Bringing About Another Holocaust

One of the very best essays I've read on the issue of how Islamic is Islamic State.

Again, ISIS is Islamic. Very Islamic.

Read Naipal at London's Daily Mail, "A grotesque love of propaganda. Unspeakable barbarity. The loathing of Jews - and a hunger for world domination. In this stunning intervention, literary colossus V.S. NAIPAUL says ISIS is now the Fourth Reich":

Are Isis and its followers heretics? The politicians of Europe and America, including David Cameron, Barack Obama and Francois Hollande, after every Islamicist outrage insist on describing them as a lunatic fringe. Their constant refrain is that these perpetrators of murder and terror have as much to do with Islam as the Ku Klux Klan has to do with Christianity or the testament of Jesus Christ. But does such political assurance bear scrutiny?

Of course the politicians, church leaders and others who say ‘these atrocities have nothing to do with Islam’ are not making a researched or considered theological statement. They are attempting, quite rightly, to prevent civil discord in a world in which there are considerable Muslim immigrant populations in most countries of Europe and in the US.

So what impels the tiny minority of young men and women from immigrant communities to volunteer themselves to ‘jihad’ and to almost certain self-destruction, or young women to abscond from their families and from European reality to become jihadi brides.

When I visited Pakistan, I discovered what I have characterised as the effects of an ideological nurture. The Pakistani or Bangladeshi Muslim is taught that he or she has no historical antecedents before the conquest of parts of India and its conversion to the faith.

The pressures of poverty and promise bring this Muslim to Britain. He and his family don’t speak English.

They are confined to work and live in an exclusively immigrant area of an inner city – say Bradford, Tower Hamlets or parts of Greater Manchester or Birmingham.

Their children are raised as Muslims, some strict some not so strict, and are sent to the normal city schools which soon become almost exclusively immigrant.

Some find that the values that traditionally inform them are at variance with those of the lives they see around them. This is true for even those Muslim young men and women who are being educated, through Britain’s by-and-large egalitarian system, to be surgeons or computer programmers.

Islamism is simpler. There are rules to obey, a jihad to fight against the civilisation you can’t comprehend, a heaven to go to when you martyr yourself and now a real fighting force in the world which you can join to simplify and solve your existence: no history to complicate your self-awareness, no art to distract you, no ambivalence and choices that ‘Western’ civilisation offers you, no doubt about the fruits of martyrdom, no allegiance to the country in which you were brought up and which gave you a free education and perhaps welfare benefits. A gun, a half-understood prayer and the simplicity that a simple and singular upbringing craves.

That is why they go. And volunteer for death, and die.

In the past three or four centuries since Descartes, Leibniz and Newton, Islam remained encrypted in the revelations of the Koran and the Hadith of a 6th Century life.

The expansion of the scientific enquiry coincided with or possibly caused the maritime expansion of European colonialism. Empirical science, the progress of liberal religion and the germination of modern democratic ideas coincided with European colonial dominion over Asia and Africa.

The process of decolonisation in the 20th Century gave rise to the idea that every advance in civilisation, scientific or democratic, was to be condemned as ‘colonial’. There may be no ideological answer to such bigotry.

The Islamic world does contain currents that are opposed to the interpretations that Isis gives to the Koran, the Hadith and to sharia. These are yet to declare themselves...

Remember, the people calling for a reformation are attacked as "Islamophobes."

There is no call among the left's terror enablers to reform the religion. Islam is not Islam!

More.

Fifty-Seven Percent of Americans Want Presidential Candidate Who'll 'Change Obama's Policies...'

Oh God yes.

At CNN, "Election 2016: The perfect candidate":

A new CNN/ORC poll finds most Americans say they would like a candidate who's a seasoned political leader, someone with an executive background, and someone who's willing to change Barack Obama's policies.

Rather than assessing the traits of individual candidates, the poll asked respondents to think about their perfect candidate and choose between two statements relating to several different traits often found in presidential candidates.

Would the perfect successor to Obama be someone with ideological purity or someone who had a great chance at winning? Someone who has had economic success or someone who's never been wealthy? Someone who relies on their religious views to guide policy or someone who believes religion should have no place in government?

Three statements generated wide-reaching support. Fifty-nine percent of Americans say they'd like a candidate who has been in the public eye as a political leader for many years over one who's new to the political scene. Further, 59% say they prefer a candidate with executive experience over one who's worked as a legislator, and 57% say their perfect Obama successor would change most of the policies enacted by Obama's administration.

A long history in the political limelight is appealing to a broad swath of Americans, with majorities across age, race and education lines saying they prefer someone who's been in the public eye as a political leader for many years.

There is a partisan tinge to the results of this question, however, with Democrats -- who will choose from a field whose leading contender has decades in the public eye -- more apt to prefer a seasoned leader (77%) than Republicans (51%). On the GOP side, 46% say they would rather see someone who is new to the political scene take the White House in 2016, and their party's field includes several contenders who fit that bill.

Overall, 57% say their perfect Obama successor would change most of the policies of the Obama administration, while 41% prefer that the next president continue most of his policies. Republicans are near unanimous in their search for a change in most of Obama's policies: 94% want that. Among Democrats, 22% are looking for changes while 77% would prefer Obama's policies to remain in place...

More.

That 22 percent of Democrats who want changes to Obama's policies are looking for an even more "fundamental transformation" than we've been seeing this last six years, hence the groundswell of support for an anti-capitalist Liz Warren candidacy. See, for example, Legal Insurrection, "Game Changer: Boston Globe urges Elizabeth Warren to challenge Hillary."

At Least 70 Bodies Found After Military Retakes Town Held by Boko Haram

At Euronews, "Nigeria: Dozens of corpses found in town re-taken from Boko Haram."

Starbucks Ends 'Race Together' Fiasco

I guess they're having a hard time letting go of this cluster nevertheless.

At WSJ, "Starbucks Ends Key Phase in ‘Race Together’ Campaign: CEO Howard Schultz says other aspects of campaign to continue."

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Every Day Muslims Kill in the Name of Islam

Ms. Hirsi Ali, at ABC's This Week, "Does Islam Have a Violent Extremism Problem?"

And the idiot Martha Raddatz kneecaps Ms. Hirsi Ali, accusing her of slandering Islam with a "broad brush." Well, we wouldn't want to make Islam look bad or anything, that's for sure.

Notice above all, Ms. Hirsi Ali is 100 percent classy, composed, and full of reason. Her new book is out tomorrow, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now.

Venice Man Accused of Allowing His Dogs Kill Neighbor's Cat (VIDEO)

That's not very neighborly.

At CBS News Los Angeles, "Caught on Camera: Venice Man Accused of Allowing His Dogs to Kill Neighbor's Cat."

Democrat Tulsi Gabbard: Obama Needs Stronger Policy on Islamic State

Once again, the courageous congresswoman takes on the White House.

Watch, at CBS Face the Nation, "House Dem: Obama needs stronger ISIS strategy."

And flashback, from last month, "Democrat Tulsi Gabbard Says Obama is 'Misidentifying' the Enemy."

Obama's Role During the Israeli Elections Was Larger Than Reported

The level of corruption is so astounding it's ridiculous.

At the Hill, "Netanyahu pollster: Obama role in election larger than reported."

Texting Makes You Selfish

And less trusting.

All the screen-time is said to effectively rewire your cognitive and emotional processes, especially among the young.


At the Washington Post, "Texting has made us less trusting, more selfish":

Virtual distance is a game-changer when it comes to human relations. When technology is used as an agent for relationships, in some cases it can be beneficial. However when technology is used purposelessly as a default it doesn’t just squeeze out sophisticated interpersonal interactions, it changes the nature of what’s left.

Purposeful use of technology can support children’s learning but when technology becomes either a substitute or a proxy for relationships, language development in children can be held back. Communication becomes the transfer of impersonal information instead of the sharing of a passion. This can have an impact on language development for kids, but it can have affects on other aspects of our lives.

Taking a risk and having a go at that tricky math problem seems more difficult when a child is on their own than when with a friend. More so sticking with a difficult task (a real gym-buddy is more effective than an app).

These kinds of skills – self discipline, ethical understanding and interpersonal communication, as well as social ability, and critical thinking (among others) – are what UNESCO calls “transversal competencies.” And they can be impaired through virtual distance.

When the ripple effects of actions and inactions seem to go no further than the screen, empathy and collaborative skills can be difficult to develop. For example, children seem to have trouble looking into other people’s eyes and are less able to hold conversations.

As connectivity increases, connectedness can lose out...

More.

Candice Swanepoel at St. Barth's

Candice Swanepoel, for Maxim, "Candice Swanepoel Is the Best Thing About St. Barth's (VIDEO)."

Chaos! All U.S. Personnel Leave Yemen as Country Descends Into Bloody Anarchy

You know, because the "tide of war is receding," and all that.

At the Los Angeles Times, "U.S. forces leave Yemen amid concerns it is safe haven for terror groups":

All remaining U.S. government personnel withdrew from Yemen over the weekend as fighting erupted near the last safe haven for American special forces there and an Iran-backed militia took control of key locations in the country’s third-largest city.

About 100 American special operations troops evacuated Al Anad airbase in the southern part of Yemen on Saturday, as Al Qaeda militants fought house-to-house in a nearby town. The withdrawal comes a month after the U.S. embassy in the capital of Sana was vacated, after months of Shiite rebels clashing with government forces there.

“Due to the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the U.S. government has temporarily relocated its remaining personnel out of Yemen,” State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement.

The U.S. departure from Yemen as it further descends into chaos is likely to hobble the American counterterrorism campaign against two potent extremist groups, the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The Islamic State militants who control large swaths of Iraq and Syria are extending their reach into both North Africa and Yemen, where intelligence officials are concerned they can take advantage of the lawlessness to expand their influence and recruit fighters, as they have elsewhere. And AQAP, the most resourceful and dogged of Al Qaeda's affiliates, has repeatedly used Yemen to plot and stage attacks against the West.

The U.S. plans to continue to fly armed drones over Yemen and strike at leaders of cells plotting to attack Western targets, officials said. But without Americans on the ground and no friendly local intelligence service to turn to for help, the U.S. will have much less information about the location of militant leaders.

More.

'If it weren't for Bibi...'

Heh.

This is totes awesome, at Twitchy, "In epic rant, Weekly Standard editor Lee Smith points out all that would’ve happened ‘if it weren’t for Bibi’."

Mob Launches Anti-Semitic Attack on Stamford Hill Synagogue: 'Kill the Jews!' (VIDEO)

About those no-go zones, this time in Britain.

Watch, at Legal Insurrection, "Mob shouting “Kill the Jews” attacks London Synagogue."

Funeral of Flatbush Tragedy Victims Begins (VIDEO)

At Arutz Sheva‎, "Funeral for Sassoon family begins in Brooklyn, New York. Bodies to be transported for burial in Jerusalem."

Also, "Dov Hikind Relates to Flatbush Tragedy."

And at CBS News New York, "FDNY: 7 Children Killed In Brooklyn House Fire Caused By Malfunctioning Hot Plate."

Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, Calls for 'Death to America'

At the Times of Israel, "Khamenei calls ‘Death to America’ as Kerry hails progress on nuke deal."


Hat Tip: ChristiChat on Twitter.

Islamic State Beheads Three Kurdish Peshmerga Soldiers

Religion of peace.

Watch, at BNI, "Islamic State (ISIS) savages behead three Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers."

'Behead Them in Their Own Homes': Islamic State Publishes U.S. Military Kill List

Well, of course it's still foolish to pretend ISIS is a threat to the homeland.

Nah. That's racist.

At RWN, "ISIS publishes ‘kill list’ online of 100 US military members."



Image Credit: BNI, "Islamic State (ISIS) hackers call for jihad against individual American military personnel."

'Racist' Catalog Withdrawn at the University of North Georgia

Well, yes, that's racist.

Can't show white men outrunning a black man and a woman.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "University Withdraws Catalogue Showing White Men Outracing a Woman & Black Man."

And the race-baiting leftists are just eating this up! At the depraved far-left hate-site Raw Story, "Joyful white guys finish ahead of struggling woman and black man in this university’s catalog."

Rahm Emanuel Facing Tough Reelection

Yeah, he's facing a tough challenge from the left.

Gotta watch out for those Obamacrat corporate dollars, the f-king loser.

At LAT, "Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia, Chicago mayoral candidate, seeks California dollars":

“We are on the cusp of a major statement to be made to the rest of the country -- that we won’t tolerate the types of cronyism and corporate welfare that have come to exemplify the reign of Rahm Emanuel,” Garcia said.

Hostility toward Emanuel, a former congressman who was President Obama’s first chief of staff, drove much of the crowd’s enthusiasm.

“He just takes the money from the poor and gives it to the rich,” said Dorothy Reik, president of Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Video c/o Diogenes' Middle Finger, "Godfather or Tiny Dancer? Is Rahm Emanuel in Trouble in Chicago Mayoral Race? You Bet."

And at NYT, "Chicago Mayor's Race Is Cast as a Test of Liberalism."

Sunday Cartoons

At Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."



Also at Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Round Up..."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Wheeler Peace Dealer."

Netanyahu's Victory and Obama's Response

From Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker:

The main issue with which the U.S. administration is concerned is that of a Palestinian state. President Barack Obama appears to be more concerned with maintaining this stance than in offering congratulations to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Other political leaders, British Minister David Cameron, Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Francois Hollande, the prime ministers of Australia, Netherlands, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and India, and the foreign affairs head of the European Union, quickly made the customary polite remarks to the Israeli leader. Prime Minister Cameron had twittered that he looked forward to working with the government of Israel, one of Britain’s closest friends.

The White House appeared less enthusiastic and certainly less personally cordial. The formal cold statement issued after the belated phone conversation between the U.S. and Israeli leaders stated they agreed “to continue consultations on a range of regional issues, including the difficult path forward to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

However, much more pointed were the remarks of Obama and his spokespeople that the U.S. was reassessing its approach to Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. One can imagine that reassessment will entail a number of factors, including UN resolutions on a Palestinian state, and the attempt of the Palestinian Authority to bring charges of war crimes against Israel to the International Criminal Court. One issue will certainly be that of the Israeli settlements, that, in the words of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in spring 2010, were a “deeply moving signal” that harmed the bilateral relationship, and that Obama considers illegal.

The lack of warmth of the U.S. leader to his Israeli counterpart has long been evident, but it must be disregarded in the effort to achieve a lasting peace. Differences inevitably arise between allied nations, and the current issue of a nuclear Iran is a pressing and controversial one on which Obama and Netanyahu differ. But for 40 years, U.S. policy in the Middle East has been based on shaping an Israel-Arab peace agreement resulting from a process of negotiations between the two parties, not from unilateral actions. For Obama to support a UN Resolution calling for a Palestinian state would be to transform what has been a bipartisan U.S. policy into a one party point of view.

In the interests of peace as well as harmonious US-Israeli relations it is essential that Obama rethink his immediate response to Netanyahu’s victory. Obama had already injected himself into the Israeli electoral campaign if only indirectly as a result of the work of Democratic Party operatives. Netanyahu was perhaps excessive in his rhetoric that complained of the foreign-funded effort to topple his party. Yet he was correct that a group, led by a former national organizer for Obama, had set up the electoral V15 organization and boasted they were doing a job of getting out the anti-Netanyahu vote with over 15,000 volunteers throughout Israel.

More.

America Must Pummel Islamic State

From Colin Dueck and Roger Zakheim, at the National Interest, "Unleashed: America Must Pummel ISIS":

The rise of ISIS, together with its demonstrated brutality, have triggered a sea-change in American popular attitudes, at least on this particular issue. One Quinnipiac poll from March 4 found that 62 percent of all Americans now support the use of U.S. ground troops versus ISIS, as against only 30 percent who oppose. So a two-to-one majority of U.S. public opinion today supports not only the use of force, but the use of American ground troops against the Islamic State. The majorities supporting U.S. airstrikes are even more overwhelming.

One suspects that President Obama, his core supporters, and many of his inner circle find this fierce and unexpected response from the U.S. public toward ISIS rather terrifying. Isn't this the sort of characteristically American, "cowboy" foreign policy reaction Obama was elected to suppress?

Well, yes—and he's doing his best to suppress it. That's what the restrictions on the proposed use of force authorization are supposed to do.

Obama says that his goal is to "degrade, and ultimately destroy ISIS," because Americans insist that he say so. But as so often internationally, his actions have hardly matched his words. As former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made clear, the policy tools Obama has so far authorized against ISIS in no way match the goal of that group's destruction.

There has been a limited U.S. campaign against ISIS for several months now. It has helped to blunt the group's advance. But in terms of seriously rolling back or destroying ISIS, realistically there is no such prospect on the horizon given current U.S. policies. A key U.S. ally, Jordan, in particular is in grave danger.

Most congressional Republicans would like to see U.S. efforts against ISIS escalated, so that the terror state is rolled back rather than simply contained. And they are honest enough to admit this will require more U.S. troops on the ground.

Obama has actually already placed over 2,000 American troops on the ground since this crisis began last year, including Special Operations troops, to help train and advise Iraqi government forces in their fight against ISIS.

But judging by his actions, the fixed point in Obama's thinking is not so much the destruction of ISIS, as the avoidance of another American ground war in the region. And in fact he says as much. He wants to be given credit for believing in the long-term destruction of ISIS. He wants to avoid another ground war, and he wants credit for that too, especially with his political base. He wants congressional Republican approval for whatever language he puts forward. Yet, he simultaneously wants to be able to accuse those same Republicans of favoring the dreaded "boots on the ground”—even though there are already U.S. boots on the ground in Iraq by his own orders.

In other words the president's main objection to robust Republican criticism of his proposed use of force is, in effect, that such criticism is insufficiently disingenuous, as well as politically inconvenient for him.

Not exactly Abraham Lincoln.

But how should Republicans respond? What would an effective American strategy against ISIS look like?

Great piece. Keep reading.

California Won't Run Out of Water

No, but the left will exploit the drought, lie and distort the facts, in order to secure more power over the people of California.

From Tony Barboza, at LAT, "No, California won't run out of water in a year."

Video Shows Death of Mexican Wrestler Perro Aguayo Jr. (GRAPHIC)

Here's the story at the Los Angeles Times, "Pro wrestler Perro Aguayo Jr. dies during match with Rey Mysterio."

Seems like YouTube is not censoring these clips, although most of them don't show the moment when Aguayo had his lights knocked out. But clearly, he died instantaneously.

Watch: "MUERTE DEL PERRO AGUAYO JR (MOMENTO EXACTO)."

Another video is edited to begin a fraction of a second after Aguayo takes the hit, but you can tell how he's knocked completely unconscious on impact from the blow: "Décès de Perro Aguayo Jr, son dernier combat à Tijuana."

More at Deadspin, "Mexican Wrestling Star Perro Aguayo Jr. Dies After In-Ring Accident."

I dispute that he died from the whiplash from the ropes. He was knocked cold and fell into the ropes unconscious. I think media reports are making look like it was an after-accident involving the ropes. I don't think so.

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....