Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman Slams #BlackLivesMatter's 'Dangerous Rhetoric' in Deputy's Execution-Style Murder

Here's video, "Sheriff Rails Against ‘Dangerous’ Rhetoric After Deputy Killed: ‘Cop Lives Matter Too’."

And at USA Today, "Sheriff links 'national rhetoric' to killing of deputy in Houston":

"This rhetoric is out of control. I know #BlackLivesMatter, so do our lives. Let's drop this and say '#AllLivesMatter'" @SheriffHickman

— HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) August 29, 2015

Sheriff blasts "dangerous national rhetoric" as out of control.

— John Donnelly FOX 26 (@JohnDonnFOX26) August 29, 2015

Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman described the early morning killing of a deputy sheriff at a gas station   "cold-blooded assassination" and angrily condemned the "very dangerous national rhetoric" about police officers that he said was out of control.

Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was fatally shot while filling his patrol car in northwest Harris County late Friday.

The suspect, whose image was caught on surveillance video, approached Goforth from behind and shot him several times in the back and continued to fire even after the officer had fallen to the ground.

The suspect is depicted in photos as a dark-skinned male wearing a white T-shirt and red shorst and apparently driving a red or maroon-colored Ford pickup.

Rickman said an intense manhunt was underway and that officers were speaking to several people in connecton with the shooting, but that no arrest had yet been made.

Hickman said the killing was unprovoked and that Goforth was apparently singled out only because he was wearing the uniform of a law enforcement officer.

The sheriff made it clear that he felt the shooting was tied to a national backlash over several recent killings of unarmed blacks by police officers.

"When rhetoric ramps up to the point where cold-blooded assassination has happened, this rhetoric has gotten out of control," he said. "We heard 'black lives matter.' All lives matter. Cops' lives matter too, so why don't we drop the qualifier and say all lives matter and take that to the bank."

"Black Lives Matter" is the phrase of a national activist group aimed at addressing shootings by police officers.

Sheriff's office spokesman Deputy Thomas Gilliland said earlier that officials were speaking with a person of interest in connection with the shooting and have obtained a search warrant for the home where the person lives. No arrests have been made, he said.

Sgt. William Kennard of the Texas Department of Public Safety, meanwhile,  tells CNN that the person in police custody is "believed to be the alleged gunman."

Keep reading.

And note that contrary to earlier reports, authorities do not have a suspect in custody. See KHOU News 11 Houston, "Manhunt underway for suspect who fatally shot deputy":

HARRIS COUNTY – Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Darren Goforth was brutally gunned down while at a northwest Harris County gas station Friday evening, Sheriff Ron Hickman said.

Hickman said in a press conference Saturday that the investigation into the killing of Goforth is ongoing, and a suspect is not in custody. A man was brought in for questioning about the incident earlier Saturday morning, but he was not arrested or charged.

Hickman said there are multiple witnesses in the incident, and he is asking them -- as well as anyone else with information -- to come forward.

"We are reaching out to the community for assistance (in) capturing the violent individual for the senseless death of Deputy Goforth," Hickman said.

More.

PREVIOUSLY: "Race War! Black Male Suspect Arrested in Execution-Style Murder of Texas Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth (VIDEO)."

Tia Blanco for Playboy

This is so cool!

At Surfer Magazine, "Tia Blanco Did a Video for Playboy":

Tia Blanco isn’t the next big thing — she’s the next massive thing, or the next huge thing, or the next gargantuan thing. She is the next female surfing sweetheart whose name comes to mind every single time the mainstream feels like bringing a female surfing sweetheart to mind. She’s the name that those guys you knew in college (the ones who wore backwards hats with polo shirts) will reference over Bud Lites at Buffalo Wild Wings. She’s the next star.

And watch, at Playboy, "Tia Blanco Surfs Into Her Playboy Becoming Attractions Shoot."

Donald Trumps Makes His Case to Conservatives at Nashville NFRA 2015 Conference and Straw Poll (VIDEO)

Trump's making the case for the presidential straw poll at the National Federation of Republican Assemblies conference.

At WKRN News 2 Nashville, "Presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks at Nashville event":

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Presidential hopeful Donald Trump will be in Nashville Saturday to speak at the National Federation of Republican Assemblies conference.

The National Federation of Republican Assemblies is a grassroots organization who are meeting in Nashville to endorse a presidential candidate.

The event will be held at Rocketown, a Christian-based entertainment facility, which is located at 601 4th Ave. South.

Louie Gohmert and Dr. Ming Wang  are also scheduled to speak at the event.

Immigrant rights activists are planning to protest Trump’s visit by holding a rally outside the venue.

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and Workers’ Dignity, two local advocacy organizations, plan to march 200 to 500 immigrant community members, led by a mariachi band, from the Music City Walk of Fame Park to Rocketown beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Prior to the event, a prominent message for Donald Trump was displayed on a sign for a south Nashville immigration lawyer, which reads “Donald Trump, make Nashville great again. Please leave soon.”

Elliott Ozment called the sign a “collaborative effort” with some close friends to come up with the message after learning that Trump was scheduled to speak this weekend in downtown Nashville...

Also at CNN, "Donald Trump courts tea party at Nashville straw poll":

(CNN)Donald Trump took his colorful campaign to Nashville on Saturday, where he courted a constituency that some say he is tailor-made for: the tea party.

He is competing in a presidential straw poll and addressed the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, a group that boasts it was "the tea party before there was a tea party."

Trump's appearance was highly anticipated at the conservative gathering: As a candidate, he's hitting the same notes -- anger at conventional politics, contempt for Washington and distrust of special interests and lobbyists -- that propelled the tea party movement in 2010.

"You have not been treated fairly," Trump told the gathering Saturday. "You know, people talk about the tea party, and you talk about marginalized? At least I have a microphone where I can fight back. You people don't. The tea party people are incredible people. These are people who work hard and love the country and they get beat up all the time by the media."

Keep reading.

Restoring American Exceptionalism

Dick and Liz Cheney's new book is here, Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America.

And they write at today's Wall Street Journal, "President Obama has dangerously surrendered the nation’s global leadership, but it can be ours again — if we choose his successor wisely":

In 1983, as the U.S. confronted the threat posed by the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan explained America’s unique responsibility. “It is up to us in our time,” he said, “to choose, and choose wisely, between the hard but necessary task of preserving peace and freedom, and the temptation to ignore our duty and blindly hope for the best while the enemies of freedom grow stronger day by day.” It was up to us then—as it is now—because we are the exceptional nation. America has guaranteed freedom, security and peace for a larger share of humanity than any other nation in all of history. There is no other like us. There never has been.

Born of the revolutionary ideal that we are “endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights,” we were, first, an example to the world of freedom’s possibilities. During World War II, we became freedom’s defender, at the end of the Cold War, the world’s sole superpower. We did not seek the position. It is ours because of our ideals and our power, and the power of our ideals. As British historian Andrew Roberts has observed, “In the debate over whether America was born great, achieved greatness or had greatness thrust upon her, the only possible conclusion must be: all three.”

No other nation, international body or “community of nations” can do what we do. It isn’t just our involvement in world events that has been essential for the triumph of freedom. It is our leadership. For the better part of a century, security and freedom for millions of people around the globe have depended on America’s military, economic, political and diplomatic might. For the most part, until the administration of Barack Obama, we delivered.

Since Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed us the “Arsenal of Democracy” in 1940, Republican and Democratic presidents alike have understood the indispensable nature of American power. Presidents from Truman to Nixon, from Kennedy to Reagan, knew that America’s strength had to be safeguarded, her supremacy maintained. In the 1940s American leadership was essential to victory in World War II, and the liberation of millions from the grip of fascism. In the Cold War American leadership guaranteed the survival of freedom, the liberation of Eastern Europe and the defeat of Soviet totalitarianism. In this century it will be essential for the defeat of militant Islam.

Yet despite the explosive spread of terrorist ideology and organizations, the establishment of an Islamic State caliphate in the heart of the Middle East, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and increasing threats from Iran, China, North Korea and Russia, President Obama has departed from this 75-year, largely bipartisan tradition of ensuring America’s pre-eminence and strength...

Keep reading.

And again, don't miss this essential book, at Amazon, Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America.

Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS

Heh.

I've always wanted one of these babies. And who knows? There's still time, lol!

At the Los Angeles Times, "Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS review: Fast, fun and surprisingly comfortable":

Porsche doesn't make any bad cars, even any mediocre cars. It's only a matter of good, better or best.

And the 911 Targa 4 GTS is assuredly among the best all-around cars Porsche makes. Sporty, stylish and super-fast, it handles like a dream and is as competent in a sharp switchback as it is comfortable on a long-haul drive.

The 2016 Targa 4 GTS boasts a 3.8-liter six-cylinder engine that makes 430 horsepower and 324 pound-feet of torque, on a vehicle that weights only 3,400 pounds. It goes from zero to 60 in 4.1 seconds, and hits a top speed of 187 mph.

But the Targa is fun at lower speeds too. Sitting go-kart low and square on the ground, it jets from corner to corner and makes great use of the all-wheel drive, torque vectoring and traction management systems that I loved on the Boxster GTS.

This is a driver's car. The electronic steering is stiff. The suspension is stiff. The seven-speed PDK transmission is so finely tuned — intuiting slowing, braking and cornering with rev-matching downshifts — that paddle-shifting is unnecessary. The "sport" mode sharpens the gearing and adds dramatic tone and volume to the exhaust note.

As befits a performance car, the tachometer is front and center on the dash, with the speedometer off to the side. Other dash readouts measure G-force and record zero-to-60-mph sprints. The braking is firm and effective, making 60 to zero just as pleasant. An automatically deploying rear spoiler is also there to keep the car stuck to the pavement.

None of that is surprising. It's a Porsche. It's a 911. Of course it's fast and handles like a race car.

But the Targa is fun at lower speeds too. Sitting go-kart low and square on the ground, it jets from corner to corner and makes great use of the all-wheel drive, torque vectoring and traction management systems that I loved on the Boxster GTS.

This is a driver's car. The electronic steering is stiff. The suspension is stiff. The seven-speed PDK transmission is so finely tuned — intuiting slowing, braking and cornering with rev-matching downshifts — that paddle-shifting is unnecessary. The "sport" mode sharpens the gearing and adds dramatic tone and volume to the exhaust note.

As befits a performance car, the tachometer is front and center on the dash, with the speedometer off to the side. Other dash readouts measure G-force and record zero-to-60-mph sprints. The braking is firm and effective, making 60 to zero just as pleasant. An automatically deploying rear spoiler is also there to keep the car stuck to the pavement.

None of that is surprising. It's a Porsche. It's a 911. Of course it's fast and handles like a race car...

Still more.

Maybe I'll look around for a pre-owned Targa, heh.

Race War! Black Male Suspect Arrested in Execution-Style Murder of Texas Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth (VIDEO)

UPDATED! Here, "Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman Slams #BlackLivesMatter's 'Dangerous Rhetoric' in Deputy's Execution-Style Murder."

The original person taken in for questioning is not a suspect and the manhunt is ongoing.

**********

OMG just wow.

The black mofo shot the sheriff from behind and then stood over him and emptied the gun.

Jesus H. Christ it's a freakin' race war out there!

Deputy Golforth was white!

At Gateway Pundit, "Breaking: SUSPECT ARRESTED in Assassination of Texas Sheriff’s Deputy (Video)."

Also at Twitchy, "Tragic: Deputy killed after being shot from behind while pumping gas in Houston," and "Reports: ‘Person of interest’ in custody after Houston-area ‘execution style’ killing of sheriff’s deputy."

Open Letter to Andy Parker, Father of Alison Parker

From Anna Maria Perez:

Mr. Parker,

I sympathize with you and your family’s tragic loss, as I do for the family of Adam Ward.  Vicki Gardner is also in my prayers and I hope that she recovers quickly and well.

That said, I would kindly like to ask you to get off of my back!  Your new found crusade to attack me, other Virginians, and Americans who had nothing to do with the evil actions of Vester Flanagan, is uncalled for and driven by unchecked emotion and ignorance.  I am sick and tired of you leftists who hate liberty using every tragedy as a soap box to stand on to attack the freedoms that our founding fathers have secured for us and that our men and women in uniform have protected for over two centuries.  You liberals always want to take advantage of every shocking event to catch the public off guard in a moment of despair, so that we will willingly relinquish more of our freedom in the false hope that it will be replaced with more security.

I challenge you sir: how do you expect me to be safer if we pass any new gun control law?  Name one gun control law that will leave the liberty of all free Americans intact while somehow disarming the people who are willing to ignore law to commit murder?  If you can’t answer this question, then you have no business harassing Virginians or other Americans with your impotent agitation.  I have the RIGHT to keep and bear arms and that right shall not be infringed, by you or anyone else...

That's very well-written and gloriously passionate. I love it.

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Andy Parker, Father of Murdered Journalist Alison Parker, Pushes for New Gun Control After Virginia Shooting (VIDEO)."

Ariel Meredith, Hannah Ferguson, Sara Sampaio, and Ashley Smith Travel Down Route 66

Watch, at Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, "Route 66 as you've never seen it before."

Black Woman from Los Angeles, 26, Arrested for 'Aggressive' Panhandling in Irvine

I haven't been approached lately, but they are aggressive. The tell you they ran out of gas.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Arrests Made as Death Toll Rises in Migrant Truck Trafficking Atrocity (VIDEO)

At the Wall Street Journal, "Four Arrested in Hungary Over Migrant Truck Deaths":

Hungarian police said Friday they arrested four men in connection with the scores of migrants found dead Thursday in a truck in Austria, a discovery that deepened the debate across Europe about how to accommodate or stem the biggest inflow of migrants in its post-War history.

The men, three Bulgarians and one Afghan, are suspected of being part of a clandestine migrant smuggling network, the Hungarian police said.

Austrian police said earlier Friday that the bodies of 71 migrants had been removed from an abandoned delivery truck on a highway some 20 miles from the Austrian-Hungarian border. The migrants were thought to have suffocated or died of thirst, the police said.

The gruesome discovery in the heart of the continent shocked European Union countries, which have struggled to address the crisis sparked by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Africa and the western Balkans since the start of 2014.

As they scramble to house and process the newcomers, national governments, often under pressure from hostile or fearful electorates, have also sought to stem the influx, beefing up border controls and debating cuts to the handouts some argue have acted as a magnet for economic migrants with unfounded asylum claims.

An EU initiative to distribute migrants, now concentrated in a handful of countries, more broadly across the region has faced stiff resistance in several key countries.

The bodies of 59 men, eight women and four children were discovered in the refrigerator truck on Thursday, Austrian regional police chief Hans Peter Doskozil told a news conference Friday. Based on travel documents found in the truck, the police assume that most of the victims were refugees from Syria.

Police and forensic medical examiners in Vienna are working to ascertain the migrants’ identities, as well as the time and cause of their deaths. Investigators believe the migrants had been dead for at least one-and-a-half to two days when they were discovered.

The highway where the truck was discovered is one of the main migration routes from eastern to western Europe, Austrian police said Thursday.

Many migrants are now traveling from Turkey to Greece and then across the Balkans to Hungary, a course considered less risky than the often deadly sea route across the Mediterranean.

Around 3,000 people a day are currently being moved through the Balkans, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates. The route has been used by roughly 10 times as many migrants so far this year as over the same period in 2014, according to the EU border agency Frontex.

Smuggling has become a lucrative business for criminal rings in Europe as more migrants have converged on the continent and tougher controls at the EU’s borders have made it more difficult to enter the region without outside help. The Austrian police estimate migrants pay between €3,000 ($3,370) and €5,000 for the trip from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq.

Prosecutors in Italy, which has faced a large inflow of migrants coming by sea, say one of the main challenges is catching the masterminds behind smuggling rings—small groups that operate through a web of contacts mainly in Europe, Libya, Turkey and the countries of origin of the migrants and refugees...

Earlier, "Up to 50 Migrants Found Dead in Refrigerator Truck in Austria (VIDEO)."

Lindhurst High School Students Walk Out to Protest Lack of Air Conditioning

This is way up north in Olivehurst, just south of Yuba City, a mile or two east of Highway 99. It's freakin' boiling up there in the summer.

Sheesh.

At CBS News 13 Sacramento:

Western Balkan Exodus Puts Pressure on Germany and European Union

They won't be allowed to stay.

At Der Spiegel, "Mass Migration: What Is Driving the Balkan Exodus?":

More than a third of all asylum-seekers arriving in Germany come from Albania, Kosovo and Serbia. Young, poor and disillusioned with their home countries, they are searching for a better future. But almost none of them will be allowed to stay.

When Visar Krasniqi reached Berlin and saw the famous image on Bernauer Strasse -- the one of the soldier jumping over barbed wire into the West -- he knew he had arrived. He had entered a different world, one that he wanted to become a part of. What he didn't yet know was that his dream would come to an end 11 months later, on Oct. 5, 2015. By then, he has to leave, as stipulated in the temporary residence permit he received.

Krasniqi is not a war refugee, nor was he persecuted back home. In fact, he has nothing to fear in his native Kosovo. He says that he ran away from something he considers to be even worse than rockets and Kalashnikovs: hopelessness. Before he left, he promised his sick mother in Pristina that he would become an architect, and he promised his fiancée that they would have a good life together. "I'm a nobody where I come from, but I want to be somebody."

But it is difficult to be somebody in Kosovo, unless you have influence or are part of the mafia, which is often the same thing. Taken together, the wealth of all parliamentarians in Kosovo is such that each of them could be a millionaire. But Krasniqi works seven days a week as a bartender, and earns just €200 ($220) a month.

But a lack of prospects is not a recognized reason for asylum, which is why Krasniqi's application was initially denied. The 30,000 Kosovars who have applied for asylum in Germany since the beginning of the year are in similar positions. And the Kosovars are not the only ones. This year, the country has seen the arrival of 5,514 Macedonians, 11,642 Serbians, 29,353 Albanians and 2,425 Montenegrins. Of the 196,000 people who had filed an initial application for asylum in Germany by the end of July, 42 percent are from the former Yugoslavia, a region now known as the Western Balkans.

The exodus shows the wounds of the Balkan wars have not yet healed. Slovenia and Croatia are now members of the European Union, but Kosovo, which split from Serbia and became prematurely independent in 2008, carves out a pariah existence. Serbia is heavily burdened with the unresolved Kosovo question. The political system in Bosnia-Hercegovina is on the brink of collapse, 20 years after the end of the war there. And Macedonia, long the post-Yugoslavia model nation, has spent two decades in the waiting rooms of the EU and NATO, thanks to Greek pressure in response to a dispute over the country's name. The consequences are many: a lack of investment, failing social welfare systems, corruption, organized crime, high unemployment, poverty, frustration and rage...

Keep reading.

Vin Scully to Return for 67th Season as Dodgers' Announcer

Wow.

He's getting up there too, at about 87 years.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Dodgers' Vin Scully to return in 2016."

Depraved Democrats Rally Around Grandma Hillary

At Politico, "Democratic elite rally around Hillary Clinton":

MINNEAPOLIS — Hillary Clinton delivered a show of force on Friday meant to make one thing abundantly clear to Democratic leaders, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden: She is the boss.

Coming off two weeks of breathless speculation about the vice president’s ambitions, Clinton now looks like she’s nearly locked up the support of party elites, something she critically failed to accomplish in 2008.

A phalanx of Clinton’s top aides — including campaign manager Robby Mook, political director Amanda Renteria, and top organizing official Marlon Marshall — worked party influencers at the Democrats’ candidate cattle-call here and at a private happy hour at the W Hotel bar on Thursday night, while trying to calm those with questions about the email controversy. Clinton too met with supporters privately on Thursday night.

And party officials gathered in the hotel’s hallways, conference rooms, and suites responded, delivering a level of enthusiasm for their wounded front-runner that demonstrated to would-be challengers how little space they have to pursue the Democratic establishment...

More.

Plus, at U.S. News, "Clinton Delights in 'Party of Trump'."

Jesus Gutierrez-Guzman, Cousin of Cartel Leader 'El Chapo', Sentenced in New Hampshire

Watch, at WMUR News 9 Manchester, "Court gives cousin of 'El Chapo' 16 years in federal prison."

RELATED: At the Guardian UK, "El Chapo's escape was spurred by concern over extradition, lawyer says."

Also, at the New Yorker, "How El Chapo Builds His Tunnels."

Israeli Doctor Fired from Medical Association Ethics Committee for Calling Homosexuals 'Sick in Their Body and Soul...'

It's Dr. Sudi Namir.

At Arutz Sheva, "Israeli Doctor Fired for 'Anti-Gay' Remarks: No Regrets."

Well, they are "sick in their body and soul," but you're not allowed to say stuff like that any more.

Good on Dr. Namir.

One America News Network Website Crashes in Advance of Donald Trump Interview

Donald Trump is no "flash in the pan," a fact that media types from the political establishment are grudgingly beginning to accept.

At Variety, "Website Crashes for Tiny TV Network in Advance of Its Donald Trump Interview."

And from yesterday, "Tomi Lahren Out at One America News Network."

Benghazi Witness: U.S. Provided Arms to Jihadists Who Killed Americans in 9/11 Attack

At Pamela's:

More Obama.

The only thing more monstrous is the media’s complicity in these treasonous acts — covering up for Obama (thankyouverymuch, Candy Crowley) and insuring his re-election not two months after his betrayal of America in Benghazi...

Keep reading.

Benghazi's not going away, because the email scandal's not going away. Grandma Clinton's scheduled to testify before Trey Gowdy's House committee in October.

Prince George's County Police Officer Shows Off His Jump-Rope Skills at Community Day (VIDEO)

Heh.

This is pretty cool.

At WTTG-TV News 5 DC, "VIDEO: Police officer shows off jump rope skills at community day."

Plus, on YouTube, "VIDEO - Police Officer Shows Off Jump Rope Skills at Community Day - Maryland."

The dude's definitely got skills.

Martin O'Malley Rails at DNC for 'Rigged' Debate Schedule, Gets Evil Death Stare from Debbie Wasserman Schultz

This is freakin' hilarious!

At the Hill, "WATCH: DNC chair gives Martin O’Malley death stare after scathing speech."

And at WSJ, "Martin O’Malley Tells Democrats the Debates Are ‘Rigged’."

The Inoffensive Everyday Phrases Used by Reporter Alison Parker That Earned Her a Death Sentence Because Flanagan Deemed Them 'Racist'

The murderer Vester Lee Flanagan was a hypersensitive piece of shit.

From London's Daily Mail, via Blazing Cat Fur:

The report, seen by the New York Post, that was written by news editor Greg Baldwin read: ‘One was something Ward-Parker[1]about ‘swinging’ by some place; the other was out in the ‘field’.’

…’We would say stuff like, “The reporter’s out in the field.” And he would look at us and say, “What are you saying, cotton fields? That’s racist”.’

And someone once brought a watermelon to the office, the horror. This guy was nutty as hell and the race-hysterics gave him a focus for his paranoia. Remember when they tried to blame Sarah Palin for the Gabby Giffords shooting, based on nothing at all? So why aren’t we pinning these murders on Sharpton or, better yet, Barry?

Tomi Lahren Out at One America News Network

This is weird.

She just got national exposure and within weeks she got the ax?

Here's Ms. Lahren on Twitter, "I’ve completed my last show at OANN, and I am profoundly grateful for their support over the last year. Something new is coming...#TeamTomi."

Perhaps her firing has something to do with Sarah Palin's hiring. Indeed, Ms. Palin "filled in" for Ms. Lahren last week? Here, "I look up to @SarahPalinUSA & flattered to have her fill my shoes this week. I'm proud of the show I built #TeamTomi."

ADDED: At the Inquisitor, "Is Internet Sensation Tomi Lahren Joining Fox News?"

Defense Secretary Ash Carter Visits Camp Pendleton

Turns out he visited to observe amphibious landing exercises.

I'd be worried if he was looking to downsize the Marine base.

At the O.C. Register, "Defense secretary flies into JWA, visits Camp Pendleton to observe amphibious landing exercises":

CAMP PENDLETON – Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter visited Camp Pendleton on Thursday to observe an amphibious landing exercise and meet with sailors and Marines.

The exercise allowed the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to showcase its crisis response capabilities, according to Camp Pendleton officials.

Marines worked with sailors to secure a beach area during an amphibious landing exercise.

The demonstration emphasized the need to upgrade the Marine’s Amphibious Assault Vehicle fleet while developing the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, Camp Pendleton officials said.

The Amphibious Combat Vehicle offers greater mobility in tough terrain, increased protection against improvised explosive devices, along with reduced fuel consumption and maintenance...

More.

Hungary Accused of Treating Refugees Inhumanely as Migration Crisis Worsens

Oh man, this is just awful.

At the Telegraph UK, "Refugees left to bake in the heat for hours without food, shelter or medical aid on Hungary's border with Serbia."

Ronda Rousey Hot Carl's Jr. Cinnamon Swirl French Toast Breakfast Sandwich Commercial (VIDEO)

At Ad Week, "Step Aside, Waifs. Ronda Rousey Is Carl's Jr.'s Newest Sandwich-Devouring Ad Star."

And watch, "Carl's Jr. - Ronda Rousey Cinnamon Swirl French Toast Breakfast Sandwich Commercial."

Prep School Rape Trial: Suspect Owen Labrie Found Guilty on Lesser Charges of Misdemeanor Sexual Assault (VIDEO)

Watch, at ABC News, "Owen Labrie Found Not Guilty of Felony Sexual Assault."

Also at the Boston Globe, "Labrie acquitted of felony rape in St. Paul’s School trial."

The dude was convicted on lesser charges. At the Boston Herald, "Former student at elite prep school convicted of sex charges":

CONCORD, N.H. — A graduate of an exclusive New England prep school was cleared of rape but convicted Friday of lesser sex offenses against a 15-year-old freshman girl in a case that exposed a tradition in which seniors competed to see how many younger students they could have sex with.

A jury of nine men and three women took eight hours to reach its verdict in the case against Owen Labrie, who was accused of forcing himself on the girl in a dark and noisy mechanical room at St. Paul's School in Concord two days before he graduated in 2014.

Labrie, who was bound for Harvard and planned to take divinity classes before his arrest put everything on hold, could get as much as 11 years in prison at sentencing Oct. 29. The 19-year-old from Tunbridge, Vermont, will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

He wept upon hearing the verdict, and then, as his lawyers conferred with the judge, sat alone at the defense table, shaking his head slightly and looking up at the ceiling. His mother sobbed. His accuser appeared stoic and huddled with members of her family in the courtroom.

"Owen's future is forever changed," defense attorney J.W. Carney said, adding that the sex convictions will be like "a brand, a tattoo" that he will bear for life.

The scandal cast a harsh light on the 159-year-old boarding school that has long been a training ground for America's elite. Its alumni include Secretary of State John Kerry, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau, at least 13 U.S. ambassadors, three Pulitzer Prize winners, and sons of the Astor and Kennedy families. Students pay $53,810 a year in tuition, room and board.

Prosecutors said the rape was part of Senior Salute, which Labrie described to detectives as a competition in which graduating seniors tried to have sex with underclassmen and kept score on a wall behind a set of washing machines.

The young man was acquitted of the most serious charges against him — three counts of felony rape, each punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison. But he was found guilty of three counts of misdemeanor sexual assault, using a computer to lure a minor for sex, and child endangerment.

Essentially, the jury by its verdicts signaled it didn't believe Labrie's assertion that there was no intercourse, but it also didn't believe the girl's contention that it was against her will. In the end, it found Labrie guilty of having sex with an underage girl.

The girl is "leaving with her head held high," said Laura Dunn, a spokeswoman for the teenager and her family. "It was a step in the right direction.

But the girl's family lashed out at the prep school, saying in a statement: "We still feel betrayed that St. Paul's School allowed and fostered a toxic culture that left our daughter and other students at risk to sexual violence. We trusted the school to protect her and it failed us."

St. Paul's rector Michael G. Hirschfeld commended "the remarkable moral courage and strength demonstrated by the young woman who has suffered through this nightmare," and said the prep school is committed to teaching its students to act honorably.

Labrie was allowed to remain free on $15,000 bail while he awaits sentencing...

More at that top link.

And here's the coverage at WMUR News 9 Manchester:

* "Raw video: Verdicts read in Owen Labrie trial."

* "Raw video: Prosecutors react to Labrie verdict."

* "Raw video: Victim's family attorney reacts to Owen Labrie verdict."

* "Raw video: County attorney reacts to Owen Labrie verdict."

* "Raw video: Attorney for victim's family reacts to Owen Labrie verdict."

Meet the Americans Flocking to Iraq and Syria to Fight the Islamic State

From Adam Rawnsley, at Foreign Policy, "A motley crew of Texans, Iraq War veterans, evangelicals, and bored young men are battling to take down the caliphate":

Meet the motley crew of Americans flocking to Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State. http://t.co/rRrd5aFWi1 pic.twitter.com/VqC2zMubXu

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) August 28, 2015

When a U.S. citizen going by the name “Abu Abdullah al-Amriki” blew himself up in a suicide attack in Baiji, Iraq, this month, he was the most recent example of a troubling trend: the roughly 200 Americans who have traveled or attempted to travel to Iraq and Syria to fight for the Islamic State.

Not all of the foreigners have left for the region looking to fight for the Islamic State, however. Instead, growing numbers of Americans are heading there to fight against the extremists. The American fighters — mostly military veterans, with a strangely disproportionate share of Texans — are linking up with Kurdish groups and Christian militias in the region to battle the Islamic State militants who currently control broad swaths of Iraq and Afghanistan. A new report by the investigative website Bellingcat, released Wednesday, takes the first systematic look at these “other foreign fighters.”

The report finds that at least 108 Americans — including one woman — have made the journey to Iraq and Syria to take on the Islamic State, highlighting the global nature of the conflict and the relative ease of recruitment and travel to the battlefield. It’s a dangerous undertaking, and one American has already been killed in the fighting. Massachusetts resident Keith Broomfield, 36, died while fighting with a Kurdish militia in Syria earlier this year. Broomfield, who had no military experience, traveled to the war zone after a Christian religious awakening.

Nathan Patin, the author of the Bellingcat report, combed through social media posts and news accounts to compile the database. Although Patin was able to find information on the fighters using open sources, the report withholds the identities of those fighters who haven’t gone public in prior news accounts and does not include personally identifying information or information that could lead to their location on the battlefield, out of concern for their safety and that of their families.

The relative online openness of the Americans offers insights into their backgrounds and motivations for wanting to leave behind their daily lives in the United States and participate in wars far away that seemingly have little to do with them. Based on the biographical details offered, the Americans Patin found were almost all male, tended to be in their 20s and 30s, and stayed on the battlefield mostly between one and four months. Around two-thirds describe themselves as veterans, drawn primarily from the Army and Marine Corps. Texas, even accounting for its larger population, produced a disproportionate number of volunteers relative to any other identifiable home state.

In a statement, the FBI declined to say whether it was legal to travel abroad to fight the Islamic State. Still, the agency told Foreign Policy that there “are laws beyond material support charges that may apply to the actions of U.S. citizens in a foreign country,” a reference to statutes banning Americans from providing funding or other assistance to banned militant groups. The State Department also discourages Americans from traveling to the region in general, much less fighting there.

Discerning the motivations for wanting to take up arms against the Islamic State on a freelance basis was more difficult. Humans tend to be unreliable narrators of their own psychology, and assessing motivations from fragments of social media and news accounts offer only an imperfect view.

Based on social media posts and news interviews with the subjects, outrage at the Islamic State’s atrocities was among the most frequently expressed motivation for volunteering. Other factors included solidarity for Christian victims, nostalgia for the camaraderie of prior military service, and even sheer boredom.

Patrick Maxwell, who traveled to Iraq to fight with the Kurdish Peshmerga, is representative of many of the fighters in Patin’s report. A Texan and a veteran of the Marine Corps who served in Iraq, Maxwell has said his service there sparked a desire to return to Iraq and join the fight against the Islamic State.

“I may not be enlisted anymore, but I’m still a warrior,” Maxwell told the New York Times. “I figured if I could walk away from here and kill as many of the bad guys as I could, that would be a good thing.”

Still more.

The Obama administration will probably go harder after Americans fight Islamic State than it will against the actual jihadists.

Andy Parker, Father of Murdered Journalist Alison Parker, Pushes for New Gun Control After Virginia Shooting (VIDEO)

The man's been speaking out for new gun control laws since the murders.

This is from yesterday, at Mother Jones, "Watch the Grieving Father of the Slain Virginia Reporter Make an Emotional Plea for Gun Control."

And he gave an emotional press conference today, at WRIC News 8 Richmond, "Father of Alison Parker speaks to media Friday."

And watch, at CNN, "Slain journalist's father: Alison was a force of nature."

Democrats Freak Out as Donald Trump Campaign Puts Illegal Immigration at Top of Policy Agenda (VIDEO)

Priorities USA, Hillary Clinton's political action committee, is out with a new ad slamming Donald Trump and the GOP as racist on immigration, "This is the Republican Party."

(And at Big Government, "Dem Ad Attacks Trump, Bush, Walker In Spanish on Immigration.")

Obviously, though, the Democrats are shitting bricks now that Donald Trump has made illegal immigration, and Democrat Party murderous open-border sanctuary policies, the top policy concern of Americans.

At the Los Angeles Times, "How Donald Trump turned the immigration debate from reform to 'anchor babies'":

At a recent anti-immigrant rally in the Inland Empire, where activists stood on a street corner chanting, “Help America, not illegals,” several sported the same white T-shirt. On it, in large blue letters, was a name: “Trump.”

This has been a satisfying summer for those who favor stricter immigration enforcement, thanks in no small part to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

Less than a year ago, activists watched angrily as President Obama took sweeping executive action to shield millions of people in the country without legal status from deportation. But in a few short months, Trump has helped flip the national dialogue and given rise to a new surge of calls to ramp up deportations and wall off the Mexican border.

In Trump, anti-immigrant activists have found a brash and unapologetic celebrity spokesman – one whose impenitence was on display Tuesday when he tangled over immigration with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos after briefly kicking him out of a news conference.

Trump’s outrage over crimes committed by immigrants in the country illegally has spurred congressional assaults on “sanctuary city” policies. His proposal to end citizenship for children born to immigrants without legal status has forced more-moderate Republican presidential candidates to the right, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and others using the controversial phrase “anchor babies.”

“It’s a good time for us,” said longtime anti-immigrant activist Robin Hvidston, whose group, We the People Rising, helped organize the rally in Ontario over the weekend. “Donald Trump has brought these issues to the front burner. Does it feel like public opinion is shifting? I’d say yes.”

A certain whiplash has come to define the immigration debate in recent years in the absence of a comprehensive fix to a system that all sides say is broken. Fierce battles play out episodically in Washington and at the state and local level, with activists on both sides trading defeats and victories.

Now the divisive issue is once again at the forefront of the presidential campaign — a fate Republican Party leaders hoped to avoid after 2012, when they ascribed their White House loss in part to their failure to win over large numbers of Latinos.

Recently, it seemed the immigration debate had swung in favor of immigrant advocates. Polls show a large majority of Americans support a path to citizenship, and advocates have won important victories at the local level, with driver’s licenses, healthcare and financial aid at public universities now available to immigrants without legal status in some states...

Keep reading.

Steve Sarkisian's Alcohol Use While Coach at University of Washington Comes Under Scutiny (VIDEO)

Following-up from earlier, "Coach Steve Sarkisian Will Enter Treatment After Drunken F-Bombs at Salute to Troy Event (VIDEO)."

At CBS News Los Angeles:

#BlackLivesMatter Activists Disrupt Mayor Muriel Bowser Speech on How to Stop Black Killings (VIDEO)

It's Thermidor.

At Power Line, "D.C. MAYOR STANDS UP FOR BLACK LIVES AND TO “BLACK LIVES MATTER”." (Via Memeorandum.)



More at WUSA News 9 DC, "Protesters interrupt Mayor Bowser's crime agenda remarks."

Heather Depriest September 2015 Playboy Cover Model

Watch, "Heather Depriest Graces the Playboy September Cover Issue (VIDEO)."

And at Playboy, "Our Steamy September 2015 Cover With Guess Model Heather Depriest."

#WDBJ Shooter Vester Lee Flanagan Was 'Classic Injustice Collector'

It's New York Deputy Police Commissioner John Miller, at CBS This Morning.



Plus, from Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "Video: Gunman was “classic injustice collector”."

Up to 50 Migrants Found Dead in Refrigerator Truck in Austria (VIDEO)

Horrific.

The migrants likely suffocated in the back of the truck, which was probably locked on the outside so the refugees had no way to open to door for air.

At Russia Today, "20 to 50 migrants found dead in truck in Austria, suffocation likely cause."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Austrian Police Find Up to 50 Migrants Dead in Truck":

Europe’s migrant crisis took a deadly turn far from the continent’s coasts Thursday with the discovery in Austria of a truck containing up to 50 decomposing corpses.

The bodies were found in an abandoned delivery truck parked off a highway outside of Vienna, on one of the main migration routes from eastern to western Europe, Austrian police said Thursday.

While more than 2,300 people died this year trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration, the gruesome discovery in inland Europe cast a sharp light on the European Union’s struggle to deal with increasing numbers of refugees crossing its borders.

The quickening flow and its consequences have sparked a debate about whether and how the influx of migrants into border states should be shared among all EU countries.

Many migrants are now traveling from Turkey to Greece and then across the Balkans to Hungary, a course considered less risky than the often deadly sea route. Around 3,000 people a day are currently being moved through the Balkans, the United Nations’ refugee agency estimates. The route has been used by roughly 10 times as many migrants so far this year as over the same period last year, according to the EU border agency Frontex.

The truck with Hungarian license plates was found near the Austrian village of Parndorf, the site of a popular outlet shopping mall about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Hungarian border. It had been left by the side of the highway for more than 24 hours, Austrian police said. Late Thursday they said they couldn’t yet determine the migrants’ cause of death, adding that preliminary inspection suggested the people suffocated or died of thirst.

Austria’s police said they were in contact with their counterparts in Hungary regarding ownership of the truck, which appeared to be a refrigerator vehicle previously used to transport chickens.

Separately, Janos Lazar, minister in charge of the Hungarian prime minister’s office, said the vehicle had been purchased from a Slovak firm and was registered to a Romanian national in Hungary.

“This shows once again that we need to take responsibility and offer refugees asylum,” Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said at a conference on the Western Balkans in Vienna on Thursday. Mr. Faymann emphasized the need for European countries to cooperate, secure the union’s borders, and “fairly share” the refugee burden...

More.

Today’s Impenetrable Wall of Social Justice

A lovely turn of phrase, by Ryan Graham, from the letters to the editor, at the Wall Street Journal, "Raising the Underperforming at the Cost of the Talented."

Writers are responding to Chester Finn and Brandon Wright, "The Bright Students Left Behind."

Might as Well Post the Link to Harry Stein's Book, No Matter What...They'll Call This Book Racist...

I'm off to the college for my long Thursday of teaching, but it's no doubt going to be an interesting new day.

Don't be surprised to see leftists martyr the Virginia murderer Vester Lee Flanagan for the cause of gun control. The New York Times is fast out of the gate with this really stupid editorial, which was posted prominently at the main page of the website last night, "Killings of Journalists Bring Gun Violence to Dark New Level."

As always, more commentary and analysis later.

Meanwhile, here's Stein's book, No Matter What...They'll Call This Book Racist: How our Fear of Talking Honestly About Race Hurts Us All.

BONUS: ICYMI, don't forget about Michael Walsh's new book, The Devil's Pleasure Palace: The Cult of Critical Theory and the Subversion of the West.

Backlash: Black Killer of White Reporters Sent Manifesto Declaring that Murders were a Response to Charleston

At Ace of Spades HQ.

Lake Elsinore Man May Lose Hand After Being Bitten While Trying to Take Selfie with Rattlesnake

Definitely not too smart.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Lake Elsinore Man May Lose Hand After Attempting To Take Selfie With Rattlesnake."

The Dust Lady Has Died

Her picture remains one of the clearest images I remember from media coverage of the attacks.

At the Washington Post, "9/11 ‘Dust Lady’ Marcy Borders, featured in a haunting photo, has died of cancer." And the New York Times, "Marcy Borders, ‘Dust Lady’ Who Survived 9/11, Dies at 42."

Also, watch at the BBC, "Marcy Borders, the Dust Covered Woman in the Iconic 9 11 Photograph, Has Died of Cancer."

She was still a young woman. Of course she believed 9/11 caused her cancer. It's just too much not to believe.

More at the Guardian UK, "Death of 9/11 'dust lady' Marcy Borders renews worry over related cancers."

New York Daily News Puts 'Snuff' Photos of Murdered #WDBJ Reporter Alison Parker on Front Page

Truthfully, I'm not against full and honest reporting on all aspects of these murders, although folks on social media think today's NYDN cover is out of line.

Here, at NYDN on Facebook, "EXECUTED ON LIVE TV."

Actually, she wasn't "executed." She was murdered. There's a difference.

I'll have more tonight.

What Watching the #WDBJ Shooting Says — and Does Not Say — About You

From Mary McNamara, at the Los Angeles Times, "Critic's Notebook If we watch the Virginia TV shooting is the suspected shooter 'winning'?":

To watch or not to watch.

Early Wednesday morning, reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were shot to death during a live interview for WDBJ-TV, a CBS affiliate based in Roanoke, Va. In less than an hour, clips of the event were on YouTube.

It soon developed that the suspected shooter, Vester Flanagan, a former reporter for WDBJ, appeared to have recorded the shooting himself, posted it on Facebook and then tweeted about it using his on-air name, Bryce Williams. Flanagan shot himself while being chased by police and later died.

The Twitter and Facebook accounts were quickly suspended, and YouTube took down the videos, but the disturbing images continued to circulate, prompting an equally widespread "Don't Watch" campaign.

At best, some said, watching or sharing the footage was an endorsement of a media culture run amok, proof that the medium has indeed become the message — people will now literally do anything to be on television.

At worst, it made us complicit in the killings themselves.

Either way, if we watched the brief tragic clips of the attack on Parker and Ward, or the chilling footage taken by Flanagan just before he began shooting, somehow Flanagan would "win."

As if Flanagan were powerful enough to define our reactions to his crime or if any of those reactions were more important than the fact and nature of murder. As if news were suddenly beholden to feelings of gentility and any medium should be blamed for insane people attempting to leverage it for their own dissociated ends...

More.

Actually, leftist "don't watch" social media campaigns are always designed to help Democrats. Ignore them. If you want to watch the video, watch it. Flanagan's dead. He has no power over anything. Frankly, watching allows people to bear witness to the enormity of this assault on decency. And of course the enormity of Democrat Party evil.

FLASHBACK: See Jeff Jacoby, "James Foley video is grim, but we owe it to him to bear witness."

Venezuela's Food Shortages Trigger Looting

Venezuela's a freakin' joke.

At WSJ, "Venezuela’s Food Shortages Trigger Long Lines, Hunger and Looting":

LA SIBUCARA, Venezuela—Hours after they looted and set fire to a National Guard command post in this sun-baked corner of Venezuela earlier this month, a mob infuriated by worsening food shortages rammed trucks into the smoldering edifice, reducing it mostly to rubble.

The incident was just one of numerous violent clashes that have flared in pockets around the country in recent weeks as Venezuelans wait for hours in long supermarket lines for basics like milk and rice. Shortages have made hunger a palpable concern for many Wayuu Indians who live here at the northern tip of Venezuela’s 1,300-mile border with Colombia.

The soldiers had been deployed to stem rampant food smuggling and price speculation, which President Nicolás Maduro blames for triple-digit inflation and scarcity. But after they seize contraband goods, the troops themselves often become targets of increasingly desperate people.

“What’s certain is that we are going very hungry here and the children are suffering a lot,” said María Palma, a 55-year-old grandmother who on a recent blistering hot day had been standing in line at the grocery store since 3 a.m. before walking away empty-handed at midday.

In a national survey, the pollster Consultores 21 found 30% of Venezuelans eating two or fewer meals a day during the second quarter of this year, up from 20% in the first quarter. Around 70% of people in the study also said they had stopped buying some basic food item because it had become unavailable or too expensive.

Food-supply problems in Venezuela underscore the increasingly precarious situation for Mr. Maduro’s socialist government, which according to the latest poll by Datanálisis is preferred by less than 20% of voters ahead of Dec. 6 parliamentary elections. The critical situation threatens to plunge South America’s largest oil exporter into a wave of civil unrest reminiscent of last year’s nationwide demonstrations seeking Mr. Maduro’s ouster.

“It’s a national crisis,” said Marco Ponce, head of the Venezuela Observatory of Social Conflict, noting that unlike the political protests of last year, residents are now taking to the streets demanding social rights.

The nonprofit group recorded 500 protests over food shortages during the first half of 2015, 56 looting incidents and dozens of attempted lootings at grocery stores, pharmacies and warehouses. Even delivery trucks are frequently targeted. “If people aren’t outside protesting, they’re outside standing in line for goods,” Mr. Ponce said.

The unrest is a response to dramatically worsening living conditions for Venezuelans as the economy reels from oil’s slump following more than a decade of populist spending that left the government broke...

Still more.

#WDBJ Shooter Vester Lee Flanagan Was 'Just Waiting to Go BOOM'

He really was.

The entire social justice warrior radical left is just waiting to go BOOM!

More people are going to get killed, especially white people.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Suspect in killing of Virginia TV crew said he was 'just waiting to go BOOM'."

PREVIOUSLY: "Police: Vester Lee Flanagan Dead, Shot Himself After Killing Journalists During Live Broadcast," and "Vester Lee Flanagan, #WDBJ Shooting Suspect, Angry Black Democrat, Disciplined for Wearing 'Barack Obama Sticker' at Work."

Plus, "Vester Lee Flanagan Said God Told Him to Kill Alison Parker and Adam Ward as Payback for Charleston (VIDEO)."

Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe Called for More Gun Control Even Before Virginia #WDBJ Suspect Apprehended

More despicable leftist politicization.

At the Right Scoop, "UGH: Democrat Virginia Gov. EXPLOITS shooting, calls for more GUN CONTROL before suspect in custody."

#BlackLivesMatter Activist Deray McKesson Deletes Tweet Alleging White 'Terrorism' in Virginia #WDBJ Shooting

Truly despicable.

At Twitchy, "‘Mega-FAIL’: DeRay McKesson deletes tweet, backpedals after realizing #WDBJ shooter not white."

"Whiteness" is why they were killed you race-baiting piece of shit. #Deray #AllLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/q0E4NyKsXR

— Harold (@Nikk1066) August 26, 2015

PREVIOUSLY: "Police: Vester Lee Flanagan Dead, Shot Himself After Killing Journalists During Live Broadcast," and "Vester Lee Flanagan, #WDBJ Shooting Suspect, Angry Black Democrat, Disciplined for Wearing 'Barack Obama Sticker' at Work."

Also, "Vester Lee Flanagan Said God Told Him to Kill Alison Parker and Adam Ward as Payback for Charleston (VIDEO)."

Jackie Johnson's Got Your Weekend Forecast

It's supposed warm up a bit, and it's not like it was chilly yesterday, or anything.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Vester Lee Flanagan Said God Told Him to Kill Alison Parker and Adam Ward as Payback for Charleston (VIDEO)

From Jessica Chasmar, on Twitter, "Flanagan says God told him to kill Parker and Ward as Charleston payback."

The suspect apparently wrote that he "put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The Church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15."

See also, ABC News, "After Shooting, Alleged Gunman Details Grievances in ‘Suicide Notes’."

Police: Vester Lee Flanagan Dead, Shot Himself After Killing Journalists During Live Broadcast

Initial reports said that the suspect attempted suicide, but was taken to a hospital. But CNN reports that he died after shooting himself as he was being apprehended by law enforcement.

See, "Police: Bryce Williams fatally shoots self after killing journalists on air."

And WDBJ General Manager Jeff Marks says Alison Parker and Adam Ward were "exuberant and energetic" people. "They were pros." Watch:



PREVIOUSLY: "Vester Lee Flanagan, #WDBJ Shooting Suspect, Angry Black Democrat, Disciplined for Wearing 'Barack Obama Sticker' at Work."

Vester Lee Flanagan, #WDBJ Shooting Suspect, Angry Black Democrat, Disciplined for Wearing 'Barack Obama Sticker' at Work

They said we'd have crazed gunman shooting up innocent media reporters if I voted for Mitt Romney and they were right!

At the Huffington Post (via Dana Loesch), "Alleged Virginia Shooter Requested Personnel Records on Victims":

Virginia murderer got in trouble for showing bias at work apparently, wore an Obama sticker: http://t.co/rJYhplreZv

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 27, 2015

According to an internal memo included in the court documents, after Flanagan was presented with a severance letter in February 2013, he said, "You better call police because I'm going to make a big stink." A newsroom employee called 911, and police officers arrived to physically escort Flanagan from the building.

Memos indicate that Ward videotaped Flanagan as he was escorted out. Flanagan told Ward to “lose your big gut,” and flipped off the camera.

WDBJ objected to Flanagan’s request for employee documents, claiming the personnel records were proprietary information and irrelevant to his claims.

The court filings also include Flanagan’s application for employment at WDBJ and his resume, in which he reported graduating from San Francisco State University with a 3.7 grade point average and his affiliation with the National Association of Black Journalists.

Flanagan was offered a position with WDBJ on March 6, 2012, as a multimedia journalist/general assignment reporter with an annual salary of $36,000. However, he quickly racked up a misconduct record during his year of employment.

In a performance review in August 2012, Flanagan was given a “1,” the lowest rating, for being “respectful to coworkers at all times,” but a “4” for work diligence and attendance. He was written up in November 2012 for wearing a Barack Obama sticker...

RTWT.

Plus, at Gateway Pundit, "BREAKING: WDBJ SHOOTER WAS ANGRY GAY BLACK DEMOCRAT – WAS REPRIMANDED FOR WEARING OBAMA STICKER."

BONUS: At CNN, "#WDBJ TV officials called 911 & some employees hid behind locked door when shooter was fired." Well, yeah, those Obama-Democrat activists are pretty dangerous. Don't forget the guy from Staten Island, "Garland Tyree, Shooter in Staten Island Standoff, Was Democrat Party Activist and Community Organizer (PHOTOS)."

Hillary Clinton: 'We Have Got to Do Something About Gun Violence' (VIDEO)

At the Wall Street Journal, "Hillary Clinton on Virginia TV Shooting: ‘We Must Act to Stop Gun Violence’."



PREVIOUSLY: "Reporter Alison Parker and Photographer Adam Ward Shot and Killed During Live Broadcast (VIDEO)."

ADDED: At Twitchy, "‘Ever the opportunist’: Hillary Clinton calls for action to ‘stop gun violence’ after #WDBJ murders."

Tiny Makeshift Houses Used by Homeless Could Soon Be Removed by the City of Los Angeles (VIDEO)

Well, if the homeless have these little houses, then I guess they're not homeless. These are their homes.

But local officials want the tiny shelters to come down.

Watch, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Makeshift Homes Used by Transients Could Soon Be Removed from Streets of L.A."

Little Girl's Wonder Woman Lunchbox 'Too Violent' for School

Wouldn't want one of the girls going on a violent spree with her "Wonder Woman Lunch Boxes," or anything.

At iOWNTHEWORLD Report, "School Declares Wonder Woman Lunchbox Too Violent."

More at the Metro UK, "School tells parents their daughter's Wonder Woman lunchbox is too violent."

And on Twitter.

Today's "Women's Equality Day," but apparently when it comes to little girls and super heroes, women are not only not equal, they're deemed too violent for the tender sensibilities of school children.

Oh, and I don't know what school district this is, or where this episode of stupidity took place, but I'll update if and when that information becomes available.

All New Victoria's Secret T-Shirt Bra (VIDEO)

Watch, at Theo Spark's, "Victoria’s Secret T-Shirt Bra TV Commercial (August 2015)."

Jorge Ramos Interviewed on 'CBS This Morning'

Following-up from yesterday, "'Go Back to Univision!': Donald Trump Boots Jorge Ramos from Iowa Press Conference (VIDEO)."

And at CBS, "Univision's Jorge Ramos on confrontation with Trump."

Also at CNN, "Univision's Ramos booted from Trump event."

Reporter Alison Parker and Photographer Adam Ward Shot and Killed During Live Broadcast (VIDEO)

Here's the video, "WDBJ Journalist Alison Parker and Photographer Adam Ward Shot Dead During Live TV Broadcast."

More on Facebook and Memeorandum.

And at CNN, "Shooting occurs during live television report: A reporter and cameraman from CNN affiliate WDBJ were killed during a shooting incident that occurred on live television, according to the station," and "WDBJ VP annouces death of journalists."

'Go Back to Univision!': Donald Trump Boots Jorge Ramos from Iowa Press Conference (VIDEO)

Heh.

At Politico, "Univision anchor Jorge Ramos gets tossed out of Donald Trump event."

Victoria's Secret Model Adriana Lima Claims She Was Duped Into Making Turkish Terror Salute (VIDEO)

Watch, at the New York Daily News, "Adriana Lima duped into making Turkish terror group salute."

More at Free Beacon, "Victoria’s Secret Model Salutes Terrorist Group That Tried to Kill Pope John Paul II," and the Jerusalem Post, "Victoria's Secret model gives terror group salute sparking outrage."

Coach Steve Sarkisian Will Enter Treatment After Drunken F-Bombs at Salute to Troy Event (VIDEO)

Here's the background, at Lost Lettermen, "Steve Sarkisian Allegedly Gets Drunk at Event, Makes Ass of Himself."

And at the O.C. Register, "VIDEO: USC football coach Steve Sarkisian says he mixed alcohol with medication, apologizes again for his behavior":

LOS ANGELES - USC coach Steve Sarkisian acknowledged he was intoxicated and again apologized for his recent behavior while meeting with the media Tuesday morning for the first time since an ugly incident at a school event over the weekend.

Sarkisian said his altered state at the annual “Salute to Troy” rally was the result of mixing unspecified medication that he takes with alcohol. He is not facing a suspension and will continue to coach the team, barring further developments.

Sarkisian did say that he will participate in a treatment program. He did not specify what that is but said it will not be full-on rehab. He also said he does not believe he has a drinking problem. Here's a full transcript of Sarkisian's remarks...

Keep reading.

Also at LAT, "Five important questions raised by Steve Sarkisian's news conference."

Here's Michael Walsh's New Book, The Devil's Pleasure Palace

I would've blogged this book sooner, but I haven't started reading it yet.

I'm ordering on Amazon, and the preview matter at the link is freakin awesome!

Here: The Devil's Pleasure Palace: The Cult of Critical Theory and the Subversion of the West.

More blogging tonight.

Andrea Tantaros: Hillary Clinton on the Verge of Political Collapse (VIDEO)

Watch: "From 'Outnumbered', August 17, 2015: Tantaros, Hillary Clinton is on the verge of political collapse."

$30 Pizzas at Lanesplitter Pizza & Pub in Emeryville

How's that minimum wage hike working out for you?

At the Los Angeles Times, "A minimum wage arms race has broken out in the Bay Area":

Nina Gates, 44, and Ira Gibson, 39, are employees of Lanesplitter Pizza & Pub in Emeryville, Calif., whose workers earn $15 to $25 an hour as part of a business model that also did away with gratuities and raised prices, making meals at all five locations “sustainably served … no tips necessary.”

 "Sustainably served," and expensive as hell.

The Fed's Stock-Price Correction

From Martin Feldstein, the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard, and former Chairman of Council of Economic Advisers during the Reagan administration, at the Wall Street Journal:

The unfolding stock-market collapse—the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 1,000 points on Monday morning, rebounding later to nearly 600 points down, following several days of decline last week—is the inevitable result of the Federal Reserve’s policies, namely quantitative easing that produced abnormally low interest rates. The decline on Wall Street has spread to every stock market on the globe, many of which were also weakened by their own policies of excessively easy money.

When the Obama administration’s poorly designed 2009 stimulus legislation failed to produce a strong economic turnaround, then-Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the central bank would pursue an “unconventional monetary policy” by purchasing immense amounts of long-term bonds and promising to hold short-term interest rates near zero for an extended period.

Mr. Bernanke explained that the Fed’s policy was designed to drive down long-term interest rates, inducing portfolio investors to shift from bonds to stocks. This “portfolio substitution” strategy, as he labeled it, would increase share prices, raising household wealth and therefore consumer spending.

The Fed’s strategy worked, causing household net worth to increase by $10 trillion in 2013. Households responded by spending more, leading to an accelerated rise in gross domestic product and a decline in unemployment.

The increase in share prices took the price-earnings ratio of the S&P index to about 30% above its historic average before the market downturn began last week. An alternative measure of the price-earnings ratio that looks at inflation-adjusted earnings over the past decade was even higher, at more than 50% over its historic average.

With virtually no yield available on government bonds and other low-risk fixed-income securities, investors were tempted to climb on the bandwagon of rising share prices. Some sophisticated investors realized that the rapid increase of share prices was a bubble that would end when interest rates returned to normal. They invested on the mistaken theory that they would know when to pull out.

Though the recent decision to start selling was triggered by a variety of events, including the collapse of oil prices world-wide and financial chaos in China, the high price-earnings ratios were enough to make the downturn inevitable. All that was needed was a spark to start the process, just as the increased defaults of subprime mortgages did in 2007.

The excess price of equities was not the only mispricing caused by the Fed’s unconventional monetary policy. As investors reached for yield in a very low-yield environment, they depressed the spreads between Treasury rates and the yields on high-risk bonds and emerging market debt. The prices of commercial real estate have also been pushed to extremely high levels, driving down yields to unsustainably low levels. Banks and other lenders have boosted their short-term earnings by lending to lower-quality buyers and making loans with fewer conditions.

Much of this mispricing will likely unwind in the months ahead. What isn’t clear is whether the fall of equity prices and other corrections will have adverse systemic effects as they did in 2007-08, bringing down consumer spending and business investment and thereby reversing the recent labor-market improvement. Only time will tell...

Boy, that sure sounds familiar.

But keep reading.

Black Women 'Humiliated' After Getting Thrown Off Napa Wine Train for Laughing Too Loud (VIDEO)

Hey, now this is hilarious!

Throw that black mama from the wine train!

And watch, at CBS News San Francisco, "Racism Alleged In ‘Humiliating’ Ejection of Book Club Members From Napa Wine Train."

Also at the San Francisco Chronicle, via Memeorandum, "Black women ‘humiliated’ after getting kicked off Napa Valley Wine Train."

Sorry not sorry, but these big black bitches can be freakin' obnoxious as hell. I'm not surprised they got booted. Not at all.

And see Lisa Renee Johnson's Facebook thread, "Facebook Family, we have a problem!"

Young Albino Amputees from Tanzania

Well, certainly not something you see everyday.

At WSJ, "New Start in New York City for Hunted Albino Children."

Photos chronicle a summer stay in New York for a group of young albino amputees from Tanzania: http://t.co/QG4zDLm77T pic.twitter.com/ZRni3H4Hev

— Chelsea Matiash (@cmatiash) August 24, 2015

Conservatives Need to 'Get Activist'

This is interesting, from Neo-Neocon, at Legal Insurrection, "Problem: Passive Right, Activist Left."

However, I don't know if conservatives are truly "passive." Are they right-wing Alinskyites? Not sure, but the tea party movement wasn't bean bag.

Investors Seek Answers Amid Stock Market Rout

You think?

Maybe they needed some faster circuit breakers, or something.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Investors Grasp for Answers Amid Wild Stock Rout":

Concerns about China’s economy intensified, accelerating the selloff across global markets as investors tried to assess whether the rout was just a short-term pullback or a signal of deeper trouble.

The market misery marched from China though Europe to the U.S., where the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,089 points Monday morning—the worst intraday drop in its history—then popped back up like a cork and fell again in a jagged line to finish 588.40 points down, extending a slide that has left the blue-chip index off 11% this year.

European and Asian shares suffered even deeper declines, with the Shanghai Composite Index tumbling 8.5%, entering negative territory for 2015, having risen as much as 60% at its peak in June.

“Meltdown was the only word that can be used to describe price action in equities,” said ANZ Bank Senior Economist Mark Smith.

Asian stocks continued to be volatile early Tuesday in China, though markets elsewhere in the region showed signs of tempering. China’s Shanghai Composite opened 6.4% lower.

On Monday, oil slid below $39 a barrel in New York, and emerging-market currencies like Turkey’s lira and Russia’s ruble fell against the dollar.

The euro and U.S. Treasurys were notable exceptions, gaining in value as investors sought out safer havens for their money.

Richard Madigan, chief investment officer of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s private bank, called an emergency investment committee meeting following the morning drop in U.S. stocks. The executives spent more than an hour discussing what they were seeing and what had changed.

“Some of this is knowing what you don’t know,” Mr. Madigan said. “And not trying to overthink what we’re seeing but just try to understand what is real, fundamental and deserved…what may create opportunities.”

The severity of the selloff in stocks—shares of J.P. Morgan were down more than 20% at one point early Monday—confounded some observers, because the U.S. economy is showing few of the red flags that preceded major market downturns in the past. The economy continues to expand, corporate earnings outside the energy sector are staying aloft, and credit remains widely available at historically low interest rates even for some junk-rated companies.

Still, the risk is that the market turmoil could spill over into the U.S. economy if the selloff persists. The wide-ranging declines are already raising concerns for officials around the world, notably the Federal Reserve, where officials are debating whether to raise interest rates this year. Beyond that, the rise in the euro and turbulence in emerging markets are threatening the already shaky growth in Europe’s export-driven economies.

Meanwhile, China is pursuing new measures to boost lending and economic growth. The sharp drop in the Shanghai Composite, its worst single-day percentage decline in more than eight years, rippled across Asia, with Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average dropping 4.6% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index falling 4.1%...

More.

'Freshman Daughter Drop Off' — Old Dominion University's Sigma Nu Frat Suspended During Probe Into Sexually Suggestive Signs

Hmm... And the frat boys didn't think they'd get suspended?

At NBC News, "Crass, sexually suggestive banners "welcoming" freshman women to a Virginia college last week have sparked outrage and led to the suspension of at least one of the school's fraternities."

Plus, at WTKR News 3 Hampton Roads, Virginia, "Sigma Nu Fraternity suspends ODU chapter after display of offensive banners."

Hat Tip: Memeorandum, "Banners hung at home near ODU prompt response from University President: 'I am outraged about the offensive message...'"

Sara Sampaio on Becoming a Victoria’s Secret Angel (VIDEO)

Watch: "Portuguese supermodel Sara Sampaio talks about how she was discovered, auditioning for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and her journey to becoming an Angel."

Hey, summer's winding down. It's never too late to prepare for that smokin' fashion show, heh.

IndyCar Driver Justin Wilson Has Died

Man, you just never know.

At the Washington Post, "IndyCar driver Justin Wilson dies from head injury suffered in race."

And watch from yesterday, at AP, "IndyCar Driver Justin Wilson in Coma After Wreck":

British IndyCar driver Justin Wilson remains in a coma and in critical condition after a piece of debris that broke off another car hit him in the head at Pocono Raceway yesterday.

GOP Establishment Plotting Against Donald Trump, Working to Force Him Off Primary Ballots (VIDEO)

I thought Republicans are supposed to about rugged individualism and equal opportunity for everyone.

Well, not Donald Trump, it turns out. They don't like him and are looking to devious ways to drive him off the ballot.

Pretty reprehensible, not to mention cowardly.

At Politico, "State GOP leaders plot to tie Donald Trump’s hands":

Amid mounting concerns about Donald Trump’s candidacy from the GOP establishment, Republican leaders in at least two states have found a way to make life a lot harder for him.

The Virginia and North Carolina parties are in discussions about implementing a new requirement for candidates to qualify for their primary ballots: that they pledge to support the Republican presidential nominee — and not run as a third-party candidate — in the general election.

The procedural moves are clearly aimed at Trump, who pointedly refused to rule out a third-party run during the first GOP debate.

They come amid Republican fears that the real estate mogul is gaining strength in the primary contest, and that his jeremiads against undocumented immigrants will alienate Hispanic voters. Despite coming under a hail of criticism in recent weeks, Trump has held steady atop state and national polls.

John Whitbeck, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, said the proposal was among many that the organization was considering as it sketches out its ballot access requirements for the 2016 GOP primary. The ultimate decision, he said, would be made by the 84 members who comprise the state party’s central committee, which is slated to meet on Sept. 19. The requirements must be submitted to the Republican National Committee by Oct. 1.

If implemented, Whitbeck said, the provision would be similar to ones the party adopted for statewide races held in 2013 and 2014.

“It happens to be one of the things that we are discussing for the 2016 primary,” said Whitbeck, who expressed confidence that Trump would eventually commit to supporting the GOP nominee.

The Virginia proposal has earned the support of Ken Cuccinelli, the state’s former attorney general and 2013 gubernatorial nominee, who has been promoting the idea to members of the state party central committee. He has also been in touch with Whitbeck.
“Anybody who wants to seek the Republican nomination should have to commit to supporting the ultimate Republican nominee,” Cuccinelli said in a Monday interview. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

In North Carolina, Republican Party officials are considering a similar move, and are already in talks with lawyers about how best to implement it.

The topic recently came up during a meeting of state party staffers and is expected to be discussed more extensively on conference calls during the coming weeks. One state party official said a lawyer would soon be drafting language for a provision asking each candidate to support the nominee...

I mean really?

This has gotta be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. So, state GOP leaders are going to "plot" against the Republican frontrunner, with the most recent polling showing Trump up at 32 percent? These idiots cannot be serious. *SMH*

Still more.

Plus, "GOP insiders to Trump: Enough already."