Public Policy Polling: Donald Trump Leads GOP Field in North Carolina

I placed 'Public Policy Polling" prominently in the headline remembering that the firm was lauded as the most accurate polling outfit during the 2012 presidential election. So I don't think these findings on Trump in North Carolina are a fluke.

A lot of folks are saying Trump's a flash-in-the-pan candidate who'll burnout well before the early contests next February. I don't know? He's no Herman Cain. Trump's an entertainer who relishes the fight. He's accustomed to being on the hot seat and he doesn't need to pander for donations. Establishment types, like Charles Krauthammer, can't stand him. He's not my candidate but I'm energized that he's helped position immigration as the top issue on the policy agenda right now. Yes, the GOP needs to broaden the base. But the party also needs to take a principled stand on illegal immigration. Too many families are being hurt. We're definitely at a turning point. The Democrats should fear awakening the silent majority in 2016. It's going to be unbelievably huge.

Here's the poll, "Trump leads GOP field in North Carolina" (at Memeorandum):

PPP's newest North Carolina poll finds that Donald Trump's momentum just keeps on building. He's the top choice of Republican primary voters in the state, getting 16% to 12% for Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, 11% for Mike Huckabee, 9% for Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, 7% for Rand Paul, 6% for Ted Cruz, 5% for Chris Christie, 4% for Carly Fiorina, 2% for Rick Perry, 1% each for Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum, and less than 1% each for John Kasich and George Pataki.

Trump's favorability rating in North Carolina is 55/32, much higher than we were finding in national polls prior to his entry into the race. Trump's really caught fire with voters on the far right- 66% of 'very conservative' voters see him favorably to only 24% with a negative view of him. Trump is polling particularly well with younger voters (29%) and men (20%).

Jeb Bush had been leading our previous few polls in North Carolina. But he continues to struggle with conservatives. Among 'very conservative' Republicans, only 37% see him favorably to 44% who have a negative opinion of him and only 7% of those voters support him for the nomination, putting him in 7th place in the GOP field. Bush's overall 43/35 favorability is the second worst of any of the 10 candidates we measured that for, besting only Chris Christie's 27/41 standing.

Mike Huckabee has the highest favorability rating of the GOP hopefuls in North Carolina at 65/19. Also with particularly good numbers are Marco Rubio at 57/16 and Ben Carson at 55/10. We're not generally finding those folks at the top of the heap when it comes to preference for the nomination, but they do have a lot of goodwill that might help them move up later...

More at Memeorandum.

Republican 'Leaders' Shitting Bricks as Donald Trump Speaks Truth to Corrupt Beltway Amnesty Business-as-Usual

Hey, more power to Donald Trump. Americans are noticing and they're thankful for the honest talk on the corrupt bipartisan failure to secure this nation's borders.

At the Washington Post, "GOP leaders fear damage to party’s image as Donald Trump doubles down":

The head of the Republican National Committee, responding to demands from increasingly worried party leaders, spent nearly an hour Wednesday on the phone with Donald Trump, urging the presidential candidate to tone down his inflammatory comments about immigration that have infuriated a key election constituency.

The call from Chairman Reince Priebus, described by donors and consultants briefed on the conversation and confirmed by the RNC, underscores the extent to which Trump has gone from an embarrassment to a cause for serious alarm among top Republicans in Washington and nationwide.

But there is little they can do about the mogul and reality-television star, who draws sustenance from controversy and attention. And some fear that, with assistance from Democrats, Trump could become the face of the GOP...

Keep reading.

I had Fox News on all afternoon. Charles Krauthammer didn't even want to give Trump the time of day, especially after Laura Ingraham upbraided Charles Lane, also on the panel, for distorting Trump's comments while spewing typical leftist pro-illegal alien PC. Establishment types just don't want to deal with this issue. Ingraham of course has been on top of it a long time and was validated last year with Dave Brat's secure-the-borders victory in Virginia's 7th Congressional District (after beating Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the primary). She'd championed Brat throughout the campaign.

Then Hannity's show opened with three families who've lost loved ones to illegals. It's a visceral issue for Americans. It remains to be seen if it's not the Democrats who've got more to worry about than the GOP.

Ariana Grande Claims Her 'I Hate America' Words Were Taken Out of Context

If you're going to apologize, just apologize.

That's the rule on apologies. Otherwise it's a non-apology, which is what Ms. Grande's is.

From Warner Todd Huston, at Right Wing News, "Millionaire Pop Singer Ariana Grande Says She Hates America — Then Retracts."

And at CBS News Los Angeles, "Ariana Grande Says She’ll ‘Strive to Be Better,’ Apologizes for Saying ‘I Hate America’":

Grande’s apology didn’t addressed the doughnut-licking allegations, but she said via Twitter (@ArianaGrande) she loves America. She also claims her words were taken out of context.

Ms. Grande's rambling, incoherent apology is here.

12-Year-Old Black Boy Charged with 1st Degree Murder in Minneapolis, Minnesota

It's not just any 12-year-old boy. It's a 12-year-old BLACK boy, arrested for an alleged murder in Omaha, Nebraska.

The media always reports the race of the white cop who allegedly shoots a black victim, but the race of the black perps is never mentioned.

It's shameful, especially so when it's a otherwise innocent child. 12-years-old. My god what is happening in this country?

At the Minneapolis Star Tribune‎, "12-year-old boy charged with 1st-degree murder in Omaha shooting after arrest in Minneapolis."

Hat Tip: ABC News Los Angeles, "12-YEAR-OLD BOY ARRESTED FOR 1ST-DEGREE MURDER."

Twilight of the Euro Welfare State?

Well, as I was saying a little while ago.

From Holman Jenkins, at the Wall Street Journal, "Twilight of the Euro Welfare State?":

Journalists have strained to apply their good guy-bad guy conventions to the Greek crisis. But are the bad guys the greedy, wastrel Greeks? Or are the bad guys the imperious, demanding Germans?

In fact, this narrative is a poor construction. What we’re seeing is less a story of good guy-bad guy than a terminal falling out among Europe’s club of welfare states over the inevitable problem that eventually other people’s money (in Margaret Thatcher’s phrase) runs out.

The Greek combination of welfarism-plus-cronyism, with a large helping of outright corruption, has long relied on other people’s money from abroad to make ends meet. But if the terms imposed by fellow Europeans for fresh loans-cum-aid have lately seemed intolerable to Greek voters, they still took the availability of fresh loans for granted. This week they are learning their right to their neighbors’ money is not automatic after all—and yet, for reasons we’ll get to, don’t be surprised if there’s an 11th-hour bailout.

Let us not kid ourselves, the way many Europeans are kidding themselves, that Greece is entirely unique. Portugal, Italy and Spain—“core” European welfare states—already have made the same transition to dependence on external “other people’s money” to uphold their welfare systems.

Their version of other people’s money is Mario Draghi’s implicit promise to tax all Europeans with future inflation (a promise that remains implicit at this point) to keep their welfare states afloat. If not for the European Central Bank’s promise, these governments likely would already be in the same position as Greece—unable to finance their deficits.

As long as Mario Draghi is on the job, there should have been no dramatic, visible “contagion” from the Greek crisis. And there hasn’t been, for the same reason there was none from the Cyprus crisis two years earlier. There is no “surprise” involved: The markets had already fully internalized that Greece and Cyprus were outside the circle of Mario’s magic guarantee, so there is no reason their default need be seen as heralding other defaults.

But the fundamental long-term problem still remains: How will France and Italy especially (the key too-big-to-fail economies) find their way back to reliance on internal taxation plus voluntary, market-based lending to keep their welfare states up and running? Is this even possible in a democratic political system with large, calcified interest groups? Then again, if European states are already maximizing their option to avoid reform, might not the feared triumph of populist parties in future elections actually be a good thing, producing a crisis that forces action?

Well, Germany has a robust, export-led industrial economy that generates enough wealth to support its welfare state (for now, at least). France, not so much.

But keep reading, in any case.

Tourists Gored at Pamplona's San Fermin Bull Run (VIDEO)

At Euronews, "Tourists gored by bulls during San Fermin 'bull run'."

And at Telegraph UK, "Pamplona Running of the Bulls - by numbers."

State Senator Jeff Stone Looks to Crack Down on California's Sanctuary Cities

At CBS News Los Angeles, "Riverside Lawmaker Calls For Longer Immigration Holds After San Francisco Pier Shooting."

Senator Stone was just on Greta Van Susteren's show as well.

Jehane 'Gigi' Paris for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit

Watch: "Gigi Paris Casting Call | Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016."

FLASHBACK: "Jehane 'Gigi' Paris Sultry Photoshoot by Chris Shintani."

Far-Left Scholars Slam Angela Merkel in 'Open Letter' on Greece: 'Austerity Has Failed'

Actually, the socialist welfare state has failed, with Greece being Exhibit A.

But when you've got folks like Fidel Castro and Vladimir Putin propping up Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, you know the left sees an opening to bring down the leading capitalist oppressors in the Western camp.

From Thomas Piketty , Jeffrey Sachs , Heiner Flassbeck, Dani Rodrik, and Simon Wren-Lewis, at the Nation, "Austerity Has Failed: An Open Letter From Thomas Piketty to Angela Merkel":

As most of the world knew it would, the financial demands made by Europe have crushed the Greek economy, led to mass unemployment, a collapse of the banking system, made the external debt crisis far worse, with the debt problem escalating to an unpayable 175 percent of GDP. The economy now lies broken with tax receipts nose-diving, output and employment depressed, and businesses starved of capital.

The humanitarian impact has been colossal—40 percent of children now live in poverty, infant mortality is sky-rocketing and youth unemployment is close to 50 percent. Corruption, tax evasion and bad accounting by previous Greek governments helped create the debt problem. The Greeks have complied with much of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s call for austerity—cut salaries, cut government spending, slashed pensions, privatized and deregulated, and raised taxes. But in recent years the series of so-called adjustment programs inflicted on the likes of Greece has served only to make a Great Depression the likes of which have been unseen in Europe since 1929-1933. The medicine prescribed by the German Finance Ministry and Brussels has bled the patient, not cured the disease.

Together we urge Chancellor Merkel and the Troika to consider a course correction, to avoid further disaster and enable Greece to remain in the eurozone. Right now, the Greek government is being asked to put a gun to its head and pull the trigger. Sadly, the bullet will not only kill off Greece’s future in Europe. The collateral damage will kill the Eurozone as a beacon of hope, democracy and prosperity, and could lead to far-reaching economic consequences across the world.

In the 1950s, Europe was founded on the forgiveness of past debts, notably Germany’s, which generated a massive contribution to post-war economic growth and peace. Today we need to restructure and reduce Greek debt, give the economy breathing room to recover, and allow Greece to pay off a reduced burden of debt over a long period of time. Now is the time for a humane rethink of the punitive and failed program of austerity of recent years and to agree to a major reduction of Greece’s debts in conjunction with much needed reforms in Greece.

To Chancellor Merkel our message is clear; we urge you to take this vital action of leadership for Greece and Germany, and also for the world. History will remember you for your actions this week. We expect and count on you to provide the bold and generous steps towards Greece that will serve Europe for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Heiner Flassbeck, former State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Finance

Thomas Piketty, Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development, Professor of Health Policy and Management, and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University

Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School

Simon Wren-Lewis, Professor of Economic Policy, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

Interesting, but it's not all Germany's fault.

The world historical ideological battles over this are pretty entertaining, though.

Remember, beyond Greece the entire postwar project of European unification is at risk. Maybe Germany doesn't like that so much either.

See my earlier entry, "Germany's Power Polarizes Europe."

MSM Talking Heads Slam Hillary Clinton CNN Interview as 'Angry' and 'Evasive'

Evasive. Defensive. Annoyed. Angry.

You name it. She didn't come off too well, even for her biggest defenders in the lamestream press.

Some videos via Free Beacon.

See: "CNN's Maggie Haberman: Clinton was 'very defensive' answering questions about private email," and "Morning Joe Panel Rips Hillary's Interview: She Was 'Fearful', 'Annoyed', and 'Evasive'."

Also, "Chuck Todd: Clinton looks more defensive than ever talking about her emails," and "Jeff Zeleny: I Was Surprised Clinton Did Not 'Take An Ounce of Responsibility For Anything She Has Done'."

BONUS: "The Media Thought Hillary Clinton's CNN Interview Was Terrible | SUPERcuts! #212."

The New Totalitarians Are Here

From Tom Nichols, at the Federalist:

There’s a basic difference in the traditions of political science between “authoritarians” and “totalitaritarians.” People throw both of these words around, but as is so often the case, they’re using words they may not always understand. They have real meaning, however, and the difference between them is important.

Simply put, authoritarians merely want obedience, while totalitarians, whose rule is rooted in an ideology, want obedience and conversion. Authoritarians are a dime a dozen; totalitarians are rare.  The authoritarians are the guys in charge who want to stay in charge, and don’t much care about you, or what you’re doing, so long as you stay out of their way. They are the jefe and his thugs in a brutal regime that want you to shut up, go to work, and look the other way when your loudmouthed neighbor gets his lights punched out by goons in black jackets. Live or die. It’s all the same to the regime.

Totalitarians are a different breed. These are the people who have a plan, who think they see the future more clearly than you or who are convinced they grasp reality in a way that you do not. They don’t serve themselves—or, they don’t serve themselves exclusively—they serve History, or The People, or The Idea, or some other ideological totem that justifies their actions.

They want obedience, of course. But even more, they want their rule, and their belief system, to be accepted and self-sustaining. And the only way to achieve that is to create a new society of people who share those beliefs, even if it means bludgeoning every last citizen into enlightenment. That’s what makes totalitarians different and more dangerous: they are “totalistic” in the sense that they demand a complete reorientation of the individual to the State and its ideological ends. Every person who harbors a secret objection, or even so much as a doubt, is a danger to the future of the whole project, and so the regime compels its subjects not only to obey but to believe.

This is what George Orwell understood so well in his landmark novel “1984.” His dystopian state doesn’t really care about quotidian obedience; it already knows how to get that. What it demands, and will get by any means, is a belief in the Party’s rectitude and in its leader, Big Brother. If torturing the daylights out of people until they denounce even their loved ones is what it takes, so be it. That’s why the ending of the novel is so terrifying: after the two rebellious lovers of the story are broken and made to turn on each other, the wrecks left by the State are left to sit before the Leader’s face on a screen with only one emotion still alive in the husks of their bodies: they finally, truly love Big Brother.

’ve gone down this road of literary and academic exposition because I fear an increasing number of my fellow Americans are, at heart, becoming totalitarians.

Now, by this I do not mean America is creating Nazis or Stalinists. It’s true, of course, that both Nazism and Stalinism were species of the genus “totalitarian,” but both have since died the deaths they deserved. I mean that ordinary people, and not a few opinion and thought leaders, are adopting the same insane belief that human minds can be molded and shaped and made to think in new ways by sheer force...

Continue reading.

The Left's Sanctuary Movement Leads to Murder

At Frontpage Magazine, "TREASON OF THE CITIES":

On Monday, illegal alien Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a 45-year-old repeat drug offender who had been deported five times, was charged with killing Kathryn Steinle, 32, at Pier 14 in the "sanctuary city" of San Francisco. The details surrounding this case are a testament to the multi-layered bankruptcy of progressive ideology.

We begin with the contemptible notion of a sanctuary city itself. Despite the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act of 1996 requiring cities to cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), there are literally hundreds of cities in the nation that provide safe haven for illegal aliens in open defiance of federal law. Yet because that law conflicts with progressive sensibilities, not a single lawsuit has ever been filed by the federal government against a sanctuary city for violating it. In a revealing contrast, the Obama administration has filed suit against states such as Arizona, Alabama and South Carolina that were attempting to enforce federal immigration law. The administration claimed the states had no right to do so—despite the reality the administration itself refuses to do so.

The case of Lopez-Sanchez itself is equally illuminating. Despite his presence in America following five deportations to his native country of Mexico, ICE turned Lopez-Sanchez over to San Francisco police on March 26 because he had an outstanding drug warrant. And despite the reality he had a record of seven felony convictions, San Francisco released Lopez-Sanchez to the streets on April 15, after the district attorney declined to prosecute him for a 20-year old marijuana possession charge. In short, the feds aided and abetted the release of a serial border-buster to a sanctuary city manifestly unwilling to jail a career criminal.

No one made that reality clearer than San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. Mirkarimi first blamed ICE for Sanchez-Lopez’s release, insisting the agency didn’t file a formal court application to detain him. But in a later interview with CNN, his progressive instincts were revealed. The sheriff defended San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy, insisting it "makes us safer." "We’re a world-renowned city with a large immigrant population,” Mirkarimi declared. "And of that population is a population that is also here undocumented. From a law enforcement perspective, we want to build trust with that population. And our sanctuary city and other attendant laws have allowed us to do that.”

Mirkarimi’s arrogant defiance of federal law is nothing new. In a press release sent out last year, he boasted about a revision made to his department’s policy of retainment that "reduced the number of individuals released to ICE authorities by 62 percent. Only one other county in California had a policy of similar strength,” it stated.

San Francisco’s equally contemptible Mayor, Ed Lee, added ideologically-inspired insult to injury. Despite issuing a press release saying he was "deeply saddened" by the "tragic and senseless death,” of Steinle and that his "thoughts and prayers” were with her family, he also endorsed his city’s sanctuary policy. "Let me be clear: [the policy] protects residents regardless of immigration status and is not intended to protect repeat, serious and violent felons," he said. Lee further emphasized his commitment to "civil liberties" and "public safety” to explain his 2013 decision to "veto any legislation” undermining the San Francisco Sheriff's Department's ability to determined whether or not to honor ICE-issued "detainers" on a case-by-case basis.

As for ICE itself, their criticism of San Francisco rings exceedingly hollow. "We're not asking local law enforcement to do our job,'' ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement. "All we're asking is that they notify us when a serious foreign national criminal offender is being released to the street so we can arrange to take custody.’’

Utter sophistry, belied by two inconvenient realities. ICE had Lopez-Sanchez in custody before turning him over to San Francisco, and by any reasonable measure his record of five deportations should have made his continued retention a no-brainer.

Yet even more to the point, ICE itself has released tens of thousands of criminal immigrants onto America’s streets over the past two years. In FY2013, 36,007 criminal aliens were released, followed by another 30,558 criminal aliens in FY2014. ICE cited both overcrowding and the Supreme Court case Zadvydas v. Davis as their rationale for doing so. In that case the Court ruled the doctrine of plenary power does not allow the federal government to detain an immigrant under a deportation order indefinitely if no other country will accept him. As a result of that decision, 134,000 aliens were released into the general population in only three years. Moreover, ICE does not keep track of those they release--including the 618 sex offenders given their freedom in the 2013 mass release.

In an April House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Lamar Smith challenged ICE Director Sarah Saldaña regarding those releases, honing in on that Court case. “One-quarter of these 30,000 criminal aliens had been convicted of level one crimes, such as murder, rape, and sexual abuse of a minor,” Smith revealed. “Of those 30,000, only 8 percent were Zadvydas cases.” When Saldaña insisted that half of those released in 2014 were the result of the Zadvydas ruling, Smith noted the Obama administration was nonetheless releasing criminal aliens not affected by that ruling. “Why are you doing this to the American people?” Smith asked. “You know their recidivism rate is high. You know these individuals are going to be convicted of other crimes. Why are you doing the this to the American people?”

The answer is as simple as it is distressing: because the Obama administration has embraced the American left’s determination to ignore any law it doesn’t like, using a policy of selective law enforcement as a club to do so. Just as it is with sanctuary cities, Obama’s executive actions attempting to grant amnesty to as many illegals as possible, or the administration’s continuing policy of allowing hundreds of thousands of illegals to surge over the nation's border—followed by their calculated dispersion throughout the nation—the extortionist message is clear: Americans will be force-fed so-called comprehensive immigration reform, whether they like it or not...

Still more at that top link.

Cartoon Credit: IBD.

ABC News San Francisco Reports Pier 14 Shooter 'Stole' BLM Officer's Glock Semiautomatic Pistol

The suspect Francisco Sanchez claimed he'd "found" the weapon underneath a bench, wrapped in a t-shirt. He also claims to have fired three rounds "accidentally."

But Vic Lee at ABC-7 News San Francisco is reporting on Twitter that the suspect "stole" the handgun, which is said to be similar to the Glock 19 9x19mm pictured.

The gun Francisco Sanchez stole belongs to Bureau of Land Mgt Ranger who was on official business in SF when stolen. pic.twitter.com/AGTk7ddWQA

— Vic Lee (@vicleeabc7) July 8, 2015

Sources tell ABCnews that the gun Francisco Sanchez allegedly used in the Pier shooting is a Glock like this one. pic.twitter.com/bS1kkvNsXS

— Vic Lee (@vicleeabc7) July 8, 2015

However, the full report indicates that the suspect "found" the gun, although law enforcement officials stopped just short of alleging that Sanchez stole the weapon. See, "GUN USED IN SAN FRANCISCO PIER 14 SHOOTING WAS STOLEN FROM RANGER."

Sanctuary State: California Bars Local Law Enforcement from Detaining Illegal Aliens for Minor Convictions

It's not just the City of San Francisco. The entire State of California is one massive illegal immigration sanctuary.

Illegal aliens can't be detained after their release date at the local level.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Fatal shooting of S.F. woman reveals disconnect between ICE, local police; 5-time deportee charged":

At the root of the tragedy is the uneasy relationship between immigration authorities and local law enforcement in many parts of the country — but most notably in California and perhaps nowhere more so than in the Bay Area.

Eager to encourage immigrants who are in the country illegally to trust the criminal justice system and report crimes without fear that police will hand them off for deportation, San Francisco honors federal requests that immigrants be held for pickup only if their current crime and earlier conviction meet thresholds spelled out in a 2013 city ordinance.

Sanchez didn't meet those. His past crimes were too old, and the case he was booked on had evaporated.

Handed over to the San Francisco County Sheriff's Department in March on a bench warrant for a 20-year-old marijuana sales case, he was cut loose when prosecutors declined to charge him.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had lodged an "immigration detainer" with the Sheriff's Department asking to be "notified prior to his release," but "the detainer was not honored," ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said in a statement.

California's Trust Act, which went into effect in January 2014, bars local law enforcement from detaining defendants with most minor convictions past their release dates in order to hand them over to ICE, but it allows jurisdictions to turn over people such as Sanchez with past felony convictions.

San Francisco, however, is among a number of local governments — including Santa Clara and Alameda counties — with policies that are more protective of potentially deportable immigrants than the Trust Act.

Although the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department follows the Trust Act, for example, the Los Angeles Police Department has not honored an ICE request since mid-2014 "unless there is a warrant or other legal requirement to do so," LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Monday.

The issue was complicated further when a federal court in Oregon ruled in April 2014 that Clackamas County had violated a plaintiff's 4th Amendment rights by holding her for immigration authorities beyond her release date. A slew of jurisdictions that had been complying with the detainer requests soon stopped doing so.

Sanchez's case is among more than 10,000 in California and 17,000 nationwide since January 2014 in which an ICE request that an immigrant in the country illegally be detained for pickup was declined or ignored, ICE officials said...

PREVIOUSLY: "Is Your Church Abetting Sanctuary Nation?"

San Diego Teenager in Coma After Skateboard Crash

I gather the kid wasn't wearing a safety helmet.

At ABC 10 News San Diego, "Teen fights for his life after skateboard crash":

The teen was airlifted and has had some of the best care you can get, and he has needed it.

"We don't know the full damage right now," Robin said. "He will have a brain injury, [and] he will have hearing issues."

10News learned Joseph smacked the back of his head so hard his brain hit the front and became bruised.

"Yesterday, the swelling was just too much, and so they had to remove the right side of his skull," Robin explained. "They're going to take his feeding tubes now and surgically put them into his stomach tomorrow morning."

Then, they will wake him when, and if, he is ready.

"I just want him to wake up," Raymond said.

Raymond and Robin are the parents of Joseph Rogers, a 17-year-old going into his senior year in high school.

Is Your Church Abetting Sanctuary Nation?

Well, yeah, if you're a Unitarian Universalist.

See Michelle Malkin:

The random, heartless murder of a young tourist on San Francisco’s Pier 14 by a five-time illegal alien deportee who benefited from the “progressive” city’s sanctuary policy has law-abiding Americans, law enforcement officials and political opportunists of all stripes up in arms.

But for decades, feckless government leaders ignored the pleas of families who suffered the bloody consequences of open borders.
For every Kate Steinle who died at the hands of an illegal alien sanctuary beneficiary, there is a Tony, Michael and Matthew Bologna in San Francisco.

A Jamiel Shaw (age 17) or Xinran Ji (age 24) in Los Angeles.

A Martin Kudlis (age 3) in Denver.

An Iofemi Hightower, Dashon Harvey, Terrance Aeriel, or Natasha Aeriel in Newark.

A Zina Linnik (age 12) in Tacoma.

A Vanessa Pham (age 19) in Fairfax County, Va.

As I’ve reported time and again, liberal “sanctuary” programs in these metropolitan areas have protected, harbored and enabled criminal illegal aliens who disappeared into the deportation abyss. Both Democrats and Republicans, goaded by Big Government and Big Business interests, collaborated to turn America into a collective sanctuary nation. Non-enforcement is the rule, deportation evasion is the game, and the country is a safe haven — for law-breakers from around the world.

Yet, even as born-again tough-on-borders grandstanders now race in front of cameras to condemn these dangerous policies, churches across the country are brazenly thumbing their noses at our immigration laws. And political phonies are doing nothing to stop them...

Keep reading.

Michelle's got a lot of links at the post.

Cyberattack Can't Be Ruled Out for New York Stock Exchange Outage, Say Analysts

No, not at all.

I mean c'mon, all these outlets went down simultaneously, WSJ, NYSE, United Airlines? Yeah, musta been a glitch (rolls eyes).

At the Epoch Times:

Trading in securities was suspended on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday at 11:32 a.m. “All open orders will be canceled. Additional information will follow as soon as possible,” stated a brief message on its website.

What exactly caused the shutdown is still under investigation, yet foul play could be a factor.

Two major issues have hit the global stock markets hard. Stock markets around the world fell on Monday after the “no” vote in the Greece referendum. In China, things are even more severe, where its stock bubble burst and its markets have plummeted around $3.25 trillion in value.

“I would say there is a high probability that adversarial nation-states are behind it, based on their increasingly advanced capabilities and brazenness,” said Casey Fleming, CEO of BLACKOPS Partners Corporation, which does counterintelligence and protection of trade secrets for Fortune 500 companies.

The NYSE, on its twitter account, quickly denied the possibility of a breach: “The issue we are experiencing is an internal technical issue and is not the result of a cyber breach.”

The attacks on NYSE and United Airlines are being reported as separate incidents with separate causes, but being publicly-traded companies they have to be careful about what they say. The cybersecurity community, in particular, is still not ruling out the possibility of a cyberattack.

According to cybersecurity news service, The Cyberwire, “Early indications are that there’s no sign of cyber attack, but of course this bears watching.”

Fleming noted, the Chinese stock exchange is down 25 percent this week, and “there is a possibility they are trying to manufacture a softer landing to the forecast hard landing.”

A representative from the New York Stock Exchange gave only vague details. Marissa Arnold, an NYSE spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement simply that, “We’re currently experiencing a technical issue that we’re working to resolve as quickly as possible,” and noting that updates will be provided “as soon as we can.”

Fleming emphasized that it could also be an unrelated error, and that hackers may have nothing to do with the system going down. “It could be someone left a soda can on top of a server in the data center, or a rat chewing on a cable.”

“But the coincidence is way too high,” he said, noting that several systems seem to have gone down around the same time. “United Airlines was down after a computer glitch, other websites are down, and now the New York Stock Exchange is down.”

PREVIOUSLY: "Cyberwarfare in Real Time," and "New York Stock Exchange Hit by Glitches or Hacked?"

Cyberwarfare in Real Time

At Zero Hedge, "Is This What the First World Cyber War Looks Like: Global Real Time Cyber Attack Map":

After a series of cyber failures involving first UAL, then this website, then the NYSE which is still halted, then the WSJ, some have suggested that this could be a concerted cyber attack (perhaps by retaliatory China unhappy its stocks are plunging) focusing on the US. So we decided to look at a real-time cyber attack map courtesy of Norsecorp which provides real time visibility into global cyber attacks.

What clearly stands out is that for some reason Chinese DDOS attacks/hackers seem to be focusing on St. Louis this morning.

Click through for the attack graphic.

PREVIOUSLY: "New York Stock Exchange Hit by Glitches or Hacked?"

New York Stock Exchange Hit by Glitches or Hacked?

You just don't get "glitches" on the NYSE. Nope, not buying it for a minute.

See BGR Media, "Do They Think We’re Idiots? Officals Say No Indication that NYSE Trading Halt is a Cyberattack":

The New York Stock Exchange has been shut down after reports from earlier this morning indicated the exchange was having technical difficulties processing orders. Despite this, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement saying that there are no indications that this is part of a cyberattack, although they also haven’t put out any statement about what the actual problem might be.

The reason we’re viewing this skeptically right now is that all United Airlines flights this were grounded due to computer glitches. What’s more The Wall Street Journal’s website similarly went down at around the same time that NYSE suspended its trading. What’s more, hugely popular financial blog Zero Hedge also went down this morning along with multiple Dow Jones websites.

While this isn’t definitive proof that there’s a massive hack going on, it would also be a huge coincidence to imagine that the world’s biggest financial newspaper and the New York Stock Exchange would both go down at once.

So what could be going on? Financial analyst Josh Brown speculates that China is likely involved. On his Twitter feed, Brown says that DHS officials are “lying or wrong” about there being no indication of there being a cyberattack. He speculates that China has not been happy about WSJ’s coverage of its own recent stock market woes and says it “isn’t happy with the way our financial media is reporting on its financial market woes.” China this week announced major trading restrictions that have frozen traders out of 72% of the market.

Again, this is all speculation, but this doesn’t strike us as a particularly crazy explanation...

A certain country isn’t happy with the way our financial media is reporting on its financial market woes.

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) July 8, 2015

You’ve never seen me endorse a conspiracy theory before. This one is the real thing.

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) July 8, 2015

Department of Homeland Security: "no signs of malicious activity at this time" re: the New York Stock Exchange

— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) July 8, 2015

They’re lying or wrong. https://t.co/4Dzyb5fmXe

— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) July 8, 2015

Seems pretty obviouis to me.

Emily DiDonato for Maxim

Lovely.

Here: "Emily DiDonato Is Maxim's August 2015 Cover Girl."

China Markets Fall Sharply Despite Fresh Help From Beijing

Now this is interesting.

At WSJ, "Fears about faltering Chinese demand rattles commodities markets":

Chinese markets fell sharply Wednesday, even as officials scrambled to arrest a three-week stock selloff. The widespread selling has spilled into global markets and is deepening doubts about Beijing’s limits to halt it.

China introduced fresh measures to restore investor confidence Wednesday seemingly to little avail. Stocks and Chinese bonds traded offshore, even high-quality corporate bonds issued by top state-owned companies, are getting dumped. China’s offshore yuan, which trades freely, hit a four-month low against the U.S. dollar amid a dimming outlook for the world’s second-largest economy.

The Shanghai Composite fell 5.9% at 3507.19, after losses of as much as 8.2% earlier Wednesday. The index has lost 32.1% since its peak in mid-June. The smaller Shenzhen Composite fell 2.5% at 1884.45, down 40% from its high last month.

The ChiNext board, which measures startups, ended up 0.5% at 2364.05 after regulators committed to buying small-cap stocks. The index remains down 40.6% since its June peak.

In Hong Kong, which has until recently fared better than the Chinese mainland, the benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 5.8%, wiping out all of its gains for the year. A gauge of Chinese companies with Hong Kong listings, known as H-shares, plunged 6.1%.

A spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Deng Ge said in a statement that “irrational selloffs” had increased, and described the current market mood as “panic sentiment.”

Hundreds of Chinese stocks were frozen from trading Wednesday, with 1,287 companies halted. That represents 45.6% of the constituent stocks of the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Composite and $2.5 trillion of market capitalization, according to data from FactSet.

China has put an arsenal of measures to work in recent days to stem the selloff that has wiped out roughly $2.4 trillion in value from China’s equities. On Wednesday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced that the China Securities Finance Corp., a commission unit that provides financing for margin trading, will increase purchases of small-cap stocks. The move follows an earlier pledge by the company to buy blue-chip shares to stabilize the market. China’s central bank said it would help ensure the unit has ample liquidity to stabilize the market.

Also on Wednesday, regulators said they would ease rules for insurers to buy blue chips and said state-owned firms shouldn’t sell their holdings in publicly listed arms.

Beijing’s attempts are undoing liberalization efforts that the country had pursued during the past year, said Gan Ai Mee, an investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, which has $490.8 billion in assets under management, and less exposure to Chinese stocks relative to other markets in its portfolio .

“It doesn’t bode so well for investor confidence,” she said. “It’s a step backwards in terms of financial reforms they’re trying to put through.”

Keep reading.

Between Greece, Europe, and China, U.S. treasuries are pretty much the only safe bet on international currency markets right not.

I've been saying this for years, but all the talk of American decline --- you know, about how this was supposed to be the Chinese century --- is a bunch of bull. Frankly, the world economy is crashing all around us and we'll likely see a global recession before too long, heh.

First Cousin Marriages in Britain's Pakistani Communities Leading to 'Appalling' Disabilities Among Children

Actually, the science is settled on this, but leftists aren't really about science. They're about deplorable political correctness and social depravity.

Pat Condell tweets the report from the Telegraph UK:

Hey, “progressives”, I’m all confused now. Is this woman a racist, or what? Shouldn’t somebody call the police? http://t.co/mHqpSF9d9C

— Pat Condell (@patcondell) July 8, 2015

Deep Dreaming Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: The Great San Francisco Acid Wave

Robert Stacy McCain oughta get a load of this.

At Wire: "Google Deep Dream Turns 'Fear and Loathing' Into Nasty Trip."

Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Speaks to European Parliament

At Telegraph UK, "Tspiras demands that Greece 'be given a way out of debt crisis' as Greek PM torn apart by EU":

The Greek PM is up.

He says he has now been given a mandate from his people to "redouble our effforts to get a socially just and economically sustainable solution to the Greek problem without repeating the mistakes of the past, which condemend the Greek economy."

He his government came to power five a half months ago and "I fully assume this responsibility for what has happened in the course of these give and a half months. But if we are being sincere, we must recognise that the basic responsibility for the impasse of the Greek economy...don't just concern the past five and a half months, but five and a half years."

*****

Mr Tsipras says the majority of the Greek people "have no other choice but to "demand that they be given a way out."

"We demand an agreement with our neighbours but one that gives us a sign that we are exiting from the crisis and there is light at the end of the tunnel. An agreement which will bring about credible and neccessary reforms."

Reforms have been more "than ordinary citizens can stand."

*****

Debt relief is not a means to take money off European taxpayers, says Mr Tsipras.

He says the bail-out money never trickled down to the Greek people, but to save European banks. That generates a round of applause from MEP's.

*****

Europe is at "a crucial juncture". Mr Tsipras says his country's crisis is just a manifestation of Europe's inability to solve its debt crisis.

"What we now need is a European solution to a European problem."

And with that, Mr Tsipras's address ends.

*****

Marine Le Pen speaks.

Some odd bed fellows for the Leftist Mr Tsipras. France's Marine Le Pen is next to deliver a rousing defence of his country against euro diktats.

Like Mr Farage, she is advocating an exit from the "steel jaws" of the euro.

Check back for updates.

Hillary Clinton Now Has More Than 60 Paid Staffers in Iowa Alone — Bigger Than Any Other Campaign

From Jennifer Jacobs, at the Des Moines Register, "Clinton campaign adds 20 paid Iowa staffers":

Hillary Clinton has hired 20 more field organizers to campaign for her in Iowa, and they started work Tuesday, a spokeswoman told the Des Moines Register.

"A top flight organizing staff is critical to winning the caucus and we're excited to add to the team that has been on the ground for nearly three months," Clinton's Iowa director, Matt Paul, told the Register in a statement.

Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, is in Iowa Tuesday for her fourth visit to the first-in-the-nation voting state since she formally announced her candidacy April 12. She was scheduled to do events in Iowa City and Ottumwa.

Lily Adams, the campaign's Iowa spokeswoman, declined to reveal the total number of Iowa staff, which includes a team of strategists based in Des Moines, but said the 20 hires join the existing team of 21 field organizers and six regional organizing directors on the ground since April.

All 47 are paid, Adams said.

The field staffers are focused on organizing down to the precinct level, doing one-on-one meetings with activists, county chairs and Iowans who have never caucused before, as well as organize house parties and attend local Democratic events. They use commitment cards to secure pledges to caucus for Clinton on Feb. 1.

More.

Hillary Confronts the Enemy

At Politico, "For the first three months of her campaign, Clinton remained virtually off limits to the national media. But on Tuesday she sat for her first nationally broadcast interview":

Hillary Clinton’s campaign, unlike those of her rivals, has provided the media with information about the fundraisers attended by the former secretary of state, down to the names of the donors who hosted and the head count for each event. Its communications shop has so far maintained a constructive working relationship with the press corps — senior staffers last month mingled with reporters over beers after a background briefing at the Brooklyn campaign headquarters.

That new spirit of openness may have neutralized the famously toxic relationship between the press and the Clinton operation, but with Bernie Sanders turning out huge crowds and the Republicans about to steal the spotlight next month with their first debate, Clinton operatives have realized it’s time to cross the final, harrowing frontier: providing access to the candidate herself.

For the first three months of her campaign, Clinton remained virtually off-limits to the national press. She did not sit down for a national television interview (her most recent occurred during her book tour for “Hard Choices” in 2014), nor did she grant any interviews to national newspapers or websites. With questions surrounding her use of private email during her years at the State Department, and surrounding the Clinton Foundation, the candidate herself remained as distant from the national media as ever — and it shows in the press coverage of her second presidential bid.

On Tuesday, after a campaign stop in New Hampshire, the campaign sought to enter a new phase of its relations with the press — Clinton sat with CNN’s Brianna Keilar (notably a beat reporter, not one of the network’s anchors who are household names) for her first nationally broadcast interview.

More interviews will follow, communications director Jennifer Palmieri has promised.

Clinton insiders said July makes sense for Hillary’s moment to finally embrace national television — enough time has passed since the height of the controversies surrounding the Clinton Foundation and her use of a private email address at the State Department that she will have space to talk about her own campaign message.

But the campaign doesn’t have the luxury of waiting much longer: In August, Clinton is scheduled to go on vacation, and then the crowded Republican field will be chewing up news cycles with the first debate — possibly defining Clinton on a national stage.

“Now is a good time for the campaign to take back control of the story of who Hillary Clinton is,” said longtime donor Jay Jacobs. “She can now use [national television] to accomplish that.” In terms of the controversies she will have to respond to, he said, “The tide has been turned.” Beginning Monday, Clinton will also start rolling out more detailed policy proposals to discuss...

There's more at the link, although that's a strange dig against Brianna Keilar, whose beat is in fact the Hillary Clinton campaign as Senior Political Correspondent for CNN. "Notably" she fills in for anchors Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper regularly, and for the most part she's fair and balanced.

That said, Politico downplays what's obviously going on in Camp Clinton: they're shitting bricks at the rise of Bernie Sanders, who looks to make this a real race. It's pretty interesting, in fact.

Readers' Questions on Greece Crisis

Very informative.

At the Financial Times, "Greece debt crisis: Readers’ questions answered."

Five Days to Save Greece From the Abyss Warns Europe

At the Telegraph UK, "'This is the most critical moment in our history' - five days to save Greece from the abyss warn European leaders":

Creditor powers ready plans to deal with humanitarian crisis and a banking collapse in Greece as agreement remains perilously out of reach.

The European Union faces "the most critical" moment in its 64-year history, after leaders warned they had five days to prevent Greece from careering out of the euro and into a full blown humanitarian crisis.

"Our inability to find agreement may lead to the bankruptcy of Greece and the insolvency of its banking system", said Donald Tusk, head of the European Council, after talks between Greece and its partners ended without agreement on Tuesday night...

More at Euronews, "New deadline for Greek debt deal: Eurozone leaders have given Greece until Thursday to present a comprehensive reform package to the Eurogroup finance ministers."

Activists Petition to Rename Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Long Beach, California

From Tim Grobaty, at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Robert E. Lee and the ‘PC Nazis’ Square Off":

Our series of columns regarding the idea of a name change for Robert E. Lee Elementary School has resulted in a lot of anger and otherwise vitriolic disagreement, because that’s how life goes these days. “PC Nazi” is among the more cordial things we’ve been called since we sprang this on the readership last month.

Of the 500 or so comments we’ve received, the largest category is, “What about all those other guys?”

Jerry, or jjm2154 as he’s called on Yahoo!, is a typical responder in this camp. “Twelve presidents were slave owners, eight while in office,” he notes. “There are five schools in the LBUSD name dafter people who were slave owners. Do we change them also?”

“Political correctness and history revisionism gone berserk,” proclaims another commenter. “There really was a Civil War and you cannot name-change it away. What’s next, changing the name of Knott Avenue because Walter Knott was a Republican?” Well, yes, that does seem to follow.

Another, tpobob@aol.com, wonders, “Where will it stop? Luther Burbank and David Starr Jordan were proponents of eugenics. Should they go too?”

We don’t know, we’re just a lowly PC Nazi, not the PC Heinrich Himmler.

And we truly don’t know. Maybe. Maybe change them slowly; one a year until everything’s cleared up.

At that rate, it’ll be after many of us are dead before the worst are weeded out and replaced by newer heroes. Surely people have made some significant accomplishments in the last 150 years....

But the matter at hand is Robert E. Lee, and a decision by the Long Beach Board of Education could come as early as the July 20 meeting. Meanwhile, apart from our gentle nudging, Earl Ofari Hutchinson and his Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable has entered the fray, delivering a petition of 57 signatures to the Board of Education on Monday, and Tuesday, the group announced that Al Sharpton has announced his support for the name change, which will no doubt enrage, in a deeply satisfying way, the anti-name change camp. Hutchinson has warned the board that “civil rights leaders will call for a march in Long Beach... if local officials refuse to take action.”

I think it's all out of control, but I'm not going to defend the Confederacy. Folks know my reasoning, and it's America's majority opinion by a wide margin. See, "Majority of Americans See Confederate Flag as Symbol of Southern Pride."

Texas' Revised Social Science Curriculum Whitewashes Role of Slavery in Origins of Civil War

Maybe Stogie should move to Texas?

At the Washington Post, "How Texas is whitewashing Civil War history."

PREVIOUSLY: "Leftist Stogie at Saberpoint Joins Marxists and Radical Libertarians on Civil War Revisionism."

Tuesday Afternoon with Robyn Lawley

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Every Tuesday afternoon should be spent with rookie @Robynlawley, right? http://t.co/MTZgsQA3MU pic.twitter.com/pr6rGZO3n8

— SI Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) June 9, 2015

Woman at Hillary Clinton 4th of July Parade Wears Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul Stickers with Benghazi Sign in Hand

Gotta be some deeper significance. You know, the surge in populism this season.

Seen on Twitter:

Waiting for Hillary to appear at a parade - this woman wearing Bernie and Rand stickers with Benghazi sign in hand pic.twitter.com/hoOX8aUZ2v

— Katie Hinman (@khinman) July 4, 2015

Greece Clings to Hope as Alexis Tsipras Battles Banking Collapse

At the Guardian UK, "Prime minister pleads with sceptical leaders to provide two-pronged financial assistance with Angela Merkel saying it is ‘matter of days’ until time runs out":

Greece continued to cling to hopes of remaining within the eurozone as it pleaded with its sceptical European partners on Tuesday to agree fresh financial assistance that would prevent the collapse of its banks within the next few days.

Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, submitted proposals for a third bailout to a summit of eurozone leaders in Brussels, making clear that his country would also need immediate support to stop a banking collapse that would force a return to the drachma.

Greece’s new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, prompted optimism of a breakthrough when he said there was “political will” in Brussels to keep the eurozone intact.

Government sources in Greece said Tsipras has proposed a two-pronged approach. The prime minister asked for three to four months of bridging finance that would keep the banks open and allow Athens to pay their pressing debts to the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. That would be followed by a third bailout package lasting two years, which would include debt relief.

Despite his favoured no vote winning Sunday’s referendum by a large majority, Tsipras is aware that both emergency finance and a longer-term deal under the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) would come with significant strings attached.

In the hope that Washington would lean on Brussels to agree a deal, Tsipras spoke to Barack Obama before the summit. The US president then spoke to Angela Merkel, putting pressure on the German chancellor to keep Greece in the eurozone. The White House is keen to avoid Greece leaving the euro, fearful that it could increase Russia’s influence in the eastern Mediterranean.

Brussels has made it clear that Greece’s fate will be decided quickly. Refusal by eurozone leaders – many of whom have lost patience with Tsipras – would lead to Greece’s departure from the single currency being confirmed at the impending summit of all 28 European Union countries, which has been tentatively planned for Sunday...

Keep reading.

Outrageous! Obama White House Blames Republicans for Murder of Kathryn Steinle!

The Obama White House blamed this on Republicans for "not passing comprehensive immigration reform"?

You can't be serious?

At Truth Revolt, "Outrageous: White House Blames Republicans for Steinle Murder."

And watch, from Fox & Friends this morning, "Placing Blame - White House Says GOP Responsible for Steinle's Death - Illegal Immigration."

NewsBusted — Bernie Sanders Surging in the Polls...

Heh, Jodie Miller's still got it, via Theo Spark.

Gang of Black Thugs Beats White Tourist Bloody, Crowd of Black Bystanders Does Nothing to Help (VIDEO)

More on the black thug violence in Cincinnati.

At CBS This Morning:



And here's the video of the bloodied white man being mocked by the black crowd of bystanders: "Cincinnati 7/4/15 Fountain Square."

PREVIOUSLY: "Black Mob Violence in Cincinnati on 4th of July (VIDEO)."

Novak Djokovic Screams at Wimbledon Ball Girl, Reducing Her to Tears (VIDEO)

He does this a lot.

Remember from April?, "Tennis star Novak Djokovic publicly apologises to ball boy and his parents after youngster was caught in outburst after he lost set against Andy Murray."

Hey, maybe some anger management classes bro?

At London's Daily Mail, "Now Djokovic loses his cool: World number one yells at ballgirl during tense clash - the day after Australian Nick Kyrgios got embroiled in racism row over court outburst," and "Novak Djokovic vows to apologise to ball girl after outburst during thrilling win at Wimbledon 2015 over Kevin Anderson."

Watch the video: "Novak Djokovic loses his cool with ball-boy [girl] at Wimbledon."

BBHMM: Rihanna's Violent 'Bitch Better Have My Money' Music Video

So, there's this Rihanna gangland "BBHMM" video.

M'okay?

Here: "Rihanna - Bitch Better Have My Money (Explicit)."

Does it promote violence? Violence against women? Does it glorify pot-smoking, gun-wielding thug life?

Prolly. Although it's not a new debate. Back in the 1990s everybody was all, "Violent video games cause criminal tendencies among young gamers, yo."

 And now here comes the radical feminist backlash, of course.

At the Guardian UK, "Feminists fall out over ‘violent, misogynistic’ Rihanna video":

Bitch Better Have My Money (BBHMM) is a slick seven-minute film, co-directed by one of the few black women in America who has managed to get right to the top of a male-dominated pop industry.

The plot is simple – an accountant has defrauded the singer out of money, so she kidnaps his wife, a spoiled, wealthy white woman complete with chichi dog and diamonds. With two friends, she bundles her into a trunk, strips her, swings her upside down from a rope, knocks her out with a bottle, then lets her almost drown in a swimming pool.

When that doesn’t get her the money, Rihanna finds the accountant, straps him to a chair, shows a collection of knives presumably used to finish him off, and then is shown blood-covered and naked in a trunk of money.

A show of sisterhood it isn’t, although the homage to Hollywood’s girl power blockbuster Thelma and Louise, with Rihanna and her co-conspirators riding off in a 1960s blue convertible, suggest the artist might think differently.

More at Bustle, "Who's The Wife In Rihanna's 'BBHMM' Music Video? Hannibal's On-Screen Wife Had Pretty Terrifying Night — VIDEO."

And at the Atlantic, "‘BBHMM’: Rihanna's New Video Does Exactly What It's Supposed To":

Of all the scandalized reactions to Rihanna’s music video for “Bitch Better Have My Money,” my favorite comes, as is not surprising for this sort of thing, from the Daily Mail. Labelling herself in the headline as a “concerned parent” (a term to transport one to the days of Tipper Gore’s crusade against lyrics if there ever was one), Sarah Vine opens her column by talking at length about how so very, very reluctant she was to watch Rihanna’s new clip. Then she basically goes frame-by-frame through the video, recounting her horror at what unfolds. “By the time it had finished, I wondered whether I ought not to report [Rihanna] to the police,” Vine writes. “Charges: pornography, incitement to violence, racial hatred.”

Bill O'Reilly Unloads on 'Sanctuary City' San Francisco, 'Directly Responsible' for Kathryn Steinle Murder (VIDEO)

Wow!

O'Reilly just explodes!

Watch: "O'Reilly: Trump Right About Border Wall, San Francisco Officials 'Directly Responsible' for Steinle Murder."

Hannah Davis in Red, White, and Blue Bikini Sucking on a Popsicle for America

At BroBible:

Hannah Davis In A Red, White And Blue Bikini Sucking On A Popsicle For America http://t.co/HTlABuiSYp pic.twitter.com/LNw9A45B5P

— BroBible (@BroBible) July 7, 2015

San Francisco's Poor Denied Affordable Health Programs Under ObamaCare

San Francisco's poor had more affordable (and accessible) care before the ObamaCare monstrosity rendered the healthcare system asunder.

At LAT:

SF already had an almost-free health program. Obamacare, however, isn't as affordable. http://t.co/x0EgeeU9GD pic.twitter.com/9f8ExUtqih

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) July 7, 2015

Austin Dillon Walks Away from Horrifying Crash at Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway

At USA Today, "Austin Dillon in horrifying crash; five fans injured."

Scot Breithaupt, Founder of BMX, Found Dead in Tent in Vacant Lot in Indio

Well, doesn't sound like that nice of a place to check out.

I never met him, but Scot Breithaupt's name is immediately recognizable from my own BMX days in the 1970s.

I was riding both bikes and skateboards for awhile. Once the big SoCal skateparks came around, though, not too many of us were riding BMX.

In any case, at LAT, "Scot Breithaupt dies at 57; started global BMX craze in Long Beach."

Zandria Robinson, Dirty Southern Black Feminist Sociologist, Now Teaching at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee

That's her handle, "Dirty Southern Black Feminist Sociologist," not mine.

She's definitely a dirty black bitch.

At Weasel Zippers, "Black Memphis Professor Who Left Job Under Cloud for Racist Comments Resurfaces at Another School."

54-Year-Old Man Gored to Death at St. Pere Festival, Castellon, Spain

The poor fucker got up and ran, but later collapsed. He died after being taken to the hospital.

Those bull runs are extremely hazardous to your health.

At London's Daily Mail, "A bull gored the man to death at the St Pere festival, held in Castellon: The local man was tossed around like a rag doll in the prolonged attack."

Watch at the video: "Shocking moment elderly man is thrown around by angry bull."

Florida State University Removes De'Andre Johnson After Punching Video Comes Out

A black privileged athlete asshole.

Yep, that pretty much sums it up. He was cut loose like a piece of highway scum stuck in the headlights.

At LAT, "Florida State removes De'Andre Johnson from team after punching video comes out."

Watch the video: "Video shows punch thrown by FSU QB De'Andre Johnson."

Swiss Artist Arrested for Nude Selfie 'Performance' with Tourists at Eiffel Tower

Well, that's just crazy.

At the Independent UK, "Artist Milo Moire arrested in Paris for taking naked selfies with passers-by in front of the Eiffel Tower."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Female artist is arrested after posing for NAKED selfies with tourists beside the Eiffel Tower as part of a ‘performance’."

Donald Trump: Mexico is Sending 'Tremendous Infectious Disease ... Pouring Across the Border'

Oh boy.

Trump's going aggro with his comments on Mexican rapists. Now he's saying, in a written statement, that Mexico is sending "tremendous infectious disease" across the border.

At the Daily Beast, "Trump Warns of Diseased Immigrants Coming Across the Border — Adds Insult to Injury." (And at Memeorandum.)

Here's his statement:

We have got to take our country back. It's time!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2015

Statement from Donald J. Trump:

I don’t see how there is any room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the statement I made on June 16th during my Presidential announcement speech. Here is what I said, and yet this statement is deliberately distorted by the media:

“When Mexico (meaning the Mexican Government) sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you (pointing to the audience). They’re not sending you (pointing again). They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems to us. They’re bringing drugs.They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people! But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people. It’s coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming probably from the Middle East. But we don’t know. Because we have no protection and we have no competence, we don’t know what’s happening. And it’s got to stop and it’s got to stop fast.”

What can be simpler or more accurately stated? The Mexican Government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc. This was evident just this week when, as an example, a young woman in San Francisco was viciously killed by a 5 time deported Mexican with a long criminal record, who was forced back into the United States because they didn’t want him in Mexico. This is merely one of thousands of similar incidents throughout the United States. In other words, the worst elements in Mexico are being pushed into the United States by the Mexican government. The largest suppliers of heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs are Mexican cartels that arrange to have Mexican immigrants trying to cross the borders and smuggle in the drugs. The Border Patrol knows this. Likewise, tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border. The United States has become a dumping ground for Mexico and, in fact, for many other parts of the world. On the other hand, many fabulous people come in from Mexico and our country is better for it. But these people are here legally, and are severely hurt by those coming in illegally. I am proud to say that I know many hard working Mexicans—many of them are working for and with me…and, just like our country, my organization is better for it.

The Mexican Government wants an open border as long as it’s a ONE WAY open border into the United States. Not only are they killing us at the border, but they are killing us on trade … and the country of Mexico is making billions of dollars in doing so.

I have great respect for Mexico and love their people and their peoples’ great spirit. The problem is, however, that their leaders are far smarter, more cunning, and better negotiators than ours. To the citizens of the United States, who I will represent far better than anyone else as President, the Mexican government is not our friend…and why should they be when the relationship is totally one sided in their favor on both illegal immigration and trade. I have pointed this out during my speeches and it is something Mexico doesn’t want me to say. In actuality, it was only after my significant rise in the polls that Univision, previously my friend, went ballistic. I believe that my examples of bad trade deals for the United States was of even more concern to the Mexican government than my talk of border security.

I have lost a lot during this Presidential run defending the people of the United States. I have always heard that it is very hard for a successful person to run for President. Macy’s, NBC, Serta and NASCAR have all taken the weak and very sad position of being politically correct even though they are wrong in terms of what is good for our country. Univision, because 70% of their business comes from Mexico, in my opinion, is being dictated to by the Mexican Government. The last thing Mexico wants is Donald Trump as President in that I will make great trade deals for the United States and will have an impenetrable border--only legally approved people will come through easily.

Interestingly, Univision has just announced they are attempting to go public despite very poor and even negative earnings, which is not a good situation for a successful IPO or high stock price—not to mention that I am currently suing them for breach of contract. Remember, Univision is the one who began this charade in the first place, and they are owned by one of Hillary Clinton’s biggest backers. After the speech was made, there were numerous compliments and indeed, many rave “reviews”—there was very little criticism. It wasn’t until a week after my announcement that people started to totally distort these very easy to understand words. If there was something stated incorrectly, it would have been brought up immediately and with great enthusiasm.

The issues I have addressed, and continue to address, are vital steps to Make America Great Again! Additionally, I would be the best jobs President that God ever created. Let’s get to work!

See the reaction at Memeorandum.

Greece Given 24-Hour Deadline

Never a dull moment over there.

At the Guardian UK, "Eurozone struggles to find joint response to Greek referendum":

GUARDIAN: Greece given 24 hour deadline #tomorrowspaperstoday #BBCPapers pic.twitter.com/xpENuhvFnL

— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) July 6, 2015

Heads of governments at odds as Germany and European commission let Greece stew while France, Italy and Spain are impatient for a deal.

Germany and France scrambled to avoid a major split over Greece on Monday evening as the eurozone delivered a damning verdict on Alexis Tsipras’s landslide referendum victory on Sunday and Angela Merkel demanded that the Greek prime minister put down new proposals to break the deadlock.

As concerns mount that Greek banks will run out of cash, and about the damage being inflicted on the country’s economy, hopes for a breakthrough faded. EU leaders voiced despair and descended into recrimination over how to respond to Sunday’s overwhelming rejection of eurozone austerity terms as the price for keeping Greece in the currency.

Tsipras, meanwhile, moved to insure himself against purported eurozone plots to topple him and force regime change by engineering a national consensus of the country’s five mainstream parties behind his negotiating strategy, focused on securing debt relief. Tsipras also sacrificed his controversial finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, in what was seen as a conciliatory signal towards Greece’s creditors.

In Paris, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President François Hollande tried to plot a common strategy after Greeks returned a resounding no to five years of eurozone-scripted austerity. The two leaders were trying to find a joint approach to the growing crisis ahead of an emergency eurozone summit on Tuesday to deal with the fallout.

But Merkel said there was no current basis for negotiating with the Greek side and called on Tsipras to make the next move.

As eurozone leaders prepared for today’s emergency summit in Brussels, the heads of government were at odds. France, Italy and Spain are impatient for a deal while Germany, the European commission and northern Europe seem content to let Greece stew and allow the euphoria following Sunday’s vote to give way to the sobering realities of bank closures, cash shortages and isolation.

Greek banks are to remain closed until Thursday at the earliest, it was announced, with ATM withdrawals rationed to €60 daily.

“The prospects of a happy resolution of this crisis are rapidly diminishing,” said the British chancellor, George Osborne, after speaking to some of the key policymakers. “If there is no signal from these meetings that Greece and the eurozone are ready to get around the table again, we can expect the financial situation in Greece to deteriorate rapidly.”

The commission had nothing positive at all to say about Sunday’s Greek referendum, while Germany’s increasingly hardline social democratic leader, Sigmar Gabriel, warned that Greece was on the brink of insolvency.

He accused Tsipras, the radical leftist prime minister who outmanoeuvred the rest of the eurozone with his plebiscite, of ruthlessly pursuing the Greek national interest at everyone else’s expense. His message suggested a Grexit was now inevitable as he stressed the need for EU humanitarian programmes to forestall social implosion in Greece.

Utterly amazing.

Still more.

Germany's Power Polarizes Europe

Yeah, which explains all the Angela Merkel Hitler paraphernalia.

At the Wall Street Journal, "The Continent’s most powerful country is grappling with its leadership role—and other nations are, too":

BERLIN—Under the glass Reichstag dome in Germany’s parliament last week, left-wing opposition leader Gregor Gysi lit into Chancellor Angela Merkel for saddling Greece with a staggering unemployment rate, devastating wage cuts, and “soup kitchens upon soup kitchens.”

The chancellor, sitting a few steps away with a blank expression on her face, scrolled through her smartphone.

Ms. Merkel’s power after a decade in office has become seemingly untouchable, both within Germany and across Europe. But with the “no” vote in Sunday’s Greek referendum on bailout terms posing the biggest challenge yet to decades of European integration, risks to the European project resulting from Germany’s rise as the Continent’s most powerful country are becoming clear.

On Friday, Spanish antiausterity leader Pablo Iglesias urged his countrymen: “We don’t want to be a German colony.” On Sunday, after Greece’s result became clear, Italian populist Beppe Grillo said, “Now Merkel and bankers will have food for thought.” On Monday, Ms. Merkel flew to Paris for crisis talks amid signs the French government was resisting Berlin’s hard line on Greece.

“What is happening now is a defeat for Germany, especially, far more than for any other country,” said Marcel Fratzscher, head of the German Institute for Economic Research, a leading Berlin think tank. “Germany has, at the end of the day, helped determine most of the European decisions of the last five years.”

Senior German officials, in private moments, marvel at the fact that their country, despite its weak military and inward-looking public, now has a greater impact on most European policy debates than Britain or France, and appears to wield more global influence that at any other time since World War II.

Berlin think-tank elites, diplomats and mainstream politicians generally see the rise of German power as a good thing. They describe the stability, patience and rules-based discipline of today’s German governance as what Europe needs in these turbulent times. Germany—with its export-dependent economy and history-stained national identity—has the most to lose from an unraveling of European integration and is focused on keeping the union strong, they say.

Ms. Merkel’s popularity at home has remained strong through the Greek crisis, holding about steady at 67% in a poll at the end of June. She now must weigh whether to offer additional carrots to Greece to keep the country in the euro and preserve the irreversibility of membership in the common currency—at the risk of political backlash at home and the ire of German fiscal hawks. Only 10% of Germans supported further concessions for Greece in another poll last week.

U.S. officials generally see German leadership as crucial geopolitically, praising Ms. Merkel’s push last year to get all 28 European Union countries to adopt sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. But across Europe, Germany’s power is also straining unity in the EU, an alliance forged as a partnership of equals that now is struggling to accommodate the swelling dominance of one member.

With every crisis in which Ms. Merkel acts as the Continent’s go-to problem solver, the message to many other Europeans is that for all the lip service about the common “European project,” it is the Germans and faceless bureaucrats in Brussels who run the show...

Power is the ultima ratio.

Still more.

Holly Williams Reports: Anxiety in Greece After 'No' Vote

More excellent coverage from Holly Williams in Athens, for CBS News, "Celebrations, anxiety after "no" vote in Greece."

Ferocious Debate Over San Francisco's Status as Sanctuary City

Following-up from earlier, "Kathryn Steinle Murder: San Francisco Sanctuary City Garnering Major National Media Attention."

Ah, not the best publicity for your city, but hey, the Dems are compassionate!

At CBS News San Francisco:

Euclid Tsakalótos Takes Over as New Greece Finance Minister

At Zero Hedge, "Meet New Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos."

Whatever Tsakalótos' ideas may be, he is a straightforward politician. I expect he won't be using tricks or try to manipulate the media.

— Yannis Koutsomitis (@YanniKouts) July 6, 2015

On assuming duties, new Greek FinMin @tsakalotos says: The message of Sunday, the 61%, is something that will remain in economic history.

— NikiKitsantonis (@NikiKitsantonis) July 6, 2015

Greek FinMin @tsakalotos I won't hide the fact that I'm nervous and anxious. I understand that I'm assuming my post at a difficult time.

— NikiKitsantonis (@NikiKitsantonis) July 6, 2015

Greek FinMin @tsakalotos says whole world talking about need for a viable solution to Greek crisis thanks to efforts of @yanisvaroufakis

— NikiKitsantonis (@NikiKitsantonis) July 6, 2015

Varoufakis hands over to Tsakalotos at the Finance Ministry. It's not quite all smiles #Greece #euro pic.twitter.com/dIKr6p11xM

— Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis) July 6, 2015

Germany Sticks to Hard Line After Greece 'No' Vote

At the New York Times, "Germany Maintains a Hard Line on Greece Debt After Vote":

ATHENS — Germany maintained a hard line with Athens on Monday after Greek voters rejected Europe’s austerity policies in a referendum, intensifying pressure on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to restart bailout talks and opening a rift with European countries that appeared more inclined now to consider softening the push for austerity.

As Mr. Tsipras changed his finance minister Monday and laid plans to restart bailout negotiations with creditors, however, it appeared the jubilation that followed the no vote in Greece could fade quickly as signs of financial collapse become more evident.

While the referendum may have lifted Mr. Tsipras’s popularity and bought some time to return to negotiations, Greek banks are almost out of cash and are expected to stay closed for at least several more days, analysts and people close to the situation in Greece said.

The government decided on Monday that a bank holiday scheduled to end Tuesday would now be extended through Wednesday, and a daily cap on A.T.M. withdrawals of 60 euros, about $66, in place since last week, could be tightened. An announcement was expected later in the day. Long lines formed again at cash machines in Athens on Monday as people continued to take out money in dribs and drabs.

The European Central Bank decided Monday to maintain emergency loans to Greek banks at about 89 billion euros, a level that keeps them from failing but will not prevent them from running out of cash they can issue to depositors within a few days.

Ominously, the central bank also said it would tighten requirements for collateral that Greek banks must post in return for loans. The decision means that, even if the European Central Bank decides to increase the lending limit, Greek banks might not have enough collateral needed to qualify for more emergency cash...

Continue reading.

Kathryn Steinle Murder: San Francisco Sanctuary City Garnering Major National Media Attention

Following-up from earlier, "Illegal Alien Francisco Sanchez Chose San Francisco for Its 'Sanctuary City' Policies."

Now here's Bret Baier, at Fox News:



CNN's also had non-stop coverage of the story, and I haven't even seen the evening news broadcasts yet. And watch Donald Trump's poll numbers. Leftists will be apoplectic.

PREVIOUSLY: "Kathryn Steinle, Vibrant 32-Year-Old San Francisco Woman, Murdered by Illegal Alien Suspect Francisco Sanchez," and "Deported 5 Times Previously, Illegal Alien Confesses to Murder of Kathryn Steinle at San Francisco's Pier 14."

Mona Hussein Obama Blames 'Right Wing' in Non-Apology for Death Threats Against CJ Pearson

Pathetic.

Interesting how Mona Brown of Baltimore blames "right wing attacking" her, after the way she attacked a 12-year-old pic.twitter.com/CFJqwR4JzG

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) July 6, 2015

Out Magazine: The 'Lesbian-Led' U.S. Women's Team Defeats Japan in World Cup Final

For the left it's not enough for the women's team to win the tournament. It's has to be the "lesbian-led" women's team.

*SMH*

At Out Magazine:

CONGRATS! Lesbian-led U.S. Women's team defeats Japan to win #USWNT BIG win for women everywhere! @mPinoe pic.twitter.com/wCxQ9jKc4J

— Out Magazine (@outmagazine) July 6, 2015