Huge Ben Carson Campaign Shakeup as Top Staffers Quit (VIDEO)

At this point the campaign's a vanity project for Dr. Carson. I'm never liked him that much. He leaves me cold. He's boring as hell, and frankly he's not too bright.

In any case, actually three top staffers have resigned, per Jennifer Jacobs at the Des Moines Register.

See, "Campaign shake-up: Three top aides for Ben Carson resign."

And watch, at CNN, "Ben Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett and communications director Doug Watts have resigned, the campaign confirmed Thursday."

Lily Aldridge for Vogue España

Okay, here's this year's Woman of the Year runner-up, for Vogue Spain:

El look de @LilyAldridge, 'cover girl' de #VogueEnero. Chica chica boom boom! https://t.co/fyJkwgcriz pic.twitter.com/ful0aYyVu4

— Vogue España (@VogueSpain) December 29, 2015

And on Instagram.

So, Kendall Jenner Kicked off the LOVE Advent 2015 Calendar (VIDEO)

I mentioned last night that I needed to go back to the beginning of the series.

So, here we go: "Day 1 - Kendall Jenner by Doug Inglish (LOVE Advent 2015)."

Nina Agdal: American Power's Woman of the Year for 2015

I almost forgot about AmPow's Woman of the Year — again!

Heh, I think I need to put more thought into it ahead of time.

Last year I picked Anais Zanotti at the spur of the moment. Emily Ratajkowski won the award for 2013, and Kate Upton was the inaugural Woman of the Year back in 2012.

Actually, it was Nina Agdal who reminded me of the award, so what the heck? I'm going with the Danish beauty as the Woman of the Year for 2015!

I was just noticing how freakin' shapely she is at that Sports Illustrated video. She's got more curves than Lily Aldridge, who's definitely a close runner-up for this year. But it's a spur of the moment thing, so better luck next year Lily!

In any case, here's Ms. Agdal at WWTDD Drunken Stepfather, "Nina Agdal Topless."

More at Elle, "NINA AGDAL: 'IT'S NOT EASY TO BE A BUTT ROLE MODEL'."

Also, at Sports Illustrated, "Nina Agdal still can't find her pants...and we're not complaining."

Good morning @Angels! Ill be at @NewEraCap shop at Angel’s Stadium monday! Throwing out the first pitch of the game👍 pic.twitter.com/SXLK540atU

— Nina Agdal (@NinaAgdal) August 15, 2015

BONUS: "Interview with Nina Agdal, Lily Aldridge, and Chrissy Teigen (VIDEO)."

Nina Agdal's One Super-Cool Danish Babe (VIDEO)

She's got curves!

Obama Administration's Espionage Against Israel Should Be Major Scandal

Following-up, "Obama Administration Spied on Israel — And Members of Congress, Pro-Israel Interest Groups as Well."

At the New York Post, "Why Team Obama’s Israel spying should be a major scandal":

No one should be in the least bit surprised that the United States and Israel continue to spy on each other, despite being longtime close allies.

Israel’s strategic position in the world’s most volatile region pretty much guarantees that. So does Jerusalem’s dependence on continued US support and goodwill.

But news that the Obama administration targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for continued close electronic surveillance — even as it curbed it for other friendly leaders — still is pretty startling.

As is The Wall Street Journal’s disclosure that the sweep included conversations with US Jewish groups and members of Congress.

The last is especially critical: Careful rules govern how the National Security Agency can handle such intercepted conversations, and it’s not clear they were followed.

But it’s also significant that Team Obama apparently had no problem with spying on Americans engaged in legitimate political activity — in this case, trying to block the president’s dubious nuclear deal with Iran.

The White House took pains not to leave a paper trail. As one senior official told the Journal: “We didn’t say, ‘Do it.’ We didn’t say, ‘Don’t do it’.”

Still more.

Plausible deniability.

This administration just reeks criminality.

Authorities Say Police Officers to Carry Bigger Guns at Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Festivities (VIDEO)

Well, we've got seemingly unprecedented anti-terror preparations taking place all over world, so why would Pasadena be any different.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Hannah Ferguson for LOVE Advent 2015 (VIDEO)

I need to go back and watch these videos from the beginning of the series, man!

Watch, "Hannah Ferguson (LOVE Advent 2015)."

PREVIOUSLY: "Route 66 Outtakes - Hannah Ferguson Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2015 (VIDEO)."

New Year’s Terror Threats Spur Responses Across Europe (VIDEO)

Well, it's not just Brussels and Ankara.

Imagine the security preparations in Paris this weekend.

At WSJ, "New Year’s Terror Threats Spur Responses in Turkey and Belgium":

Turkish authorities arrested two suspected Islamic State extremists allegedly planning to kill revelers during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Ankara, and Belgium canceled the main fireworks display in Brussels, amid a heightened state of alert over possible Islamic State attacks around the holidays.

Turkish officials said counterterrorism police found a suicide vest and a backpack filled with explosives and ball bearings when the two men were taken into custody in a low-income neighborhood in the capital, Ankara.

Turkish media outlets published photos of the explosives purportedly seized in the raid, and said the men were planning to target popular shopping and restaurant districts in the city.

The end-of-the-year fireworks in Belgium were canceled a day before two members of a Belgian motorcycle group charged with plotting an attack at Brussels’ Grand Place were due to appear in court.

Belgian police said they had found Islamic State propaganda in the one of the raids earlier this week that led to the arrest of the two men. According to a person familiar with the investigation, the two men are members of the motorcycle group Kamikaze Riders, which is known to include people of various religions.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, appearing on RTBF, the Belgian national broadcaster, said the celebration was canceled in light of “a possible and credible threat.”

“In this uncertain situation, when investigations are under way and information arrives practically every hour...it seems to me the decision was correct and well-founded and I am in full agreement with it,” he said.

The two men were charged Tuesday with plotting to attack police and military personnel during end-of-year holiday celebrations in Brussels’ Grand Place.

The fireworks display was scheduled to be held at another nearby center-city site, De Brouckère.

According to a person familiar with the investigation, the two men are members of the motorcycle group Kamikaze Riders, which is known to include people of various religions.

A Belgian judge on Thursday will rule on whether the two men will continue to be detained. Xavier Carrette, a lawyer for one of the accused, Mohamed Karay, said his client denied the charges. He said Mr. Karay had no criminal record and wasn’t radicalized.

The lawyer for the other man, accused of being the ringleader of the alleged plot, couldn’t be identified. That individual has been charged with both plotting a terror attack and recruiting people into a terrorist group.

Belgian police launched two fresh raids Wednesday in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, taking in one man in connection to the investigation into the Paris attacks.

Turkish authorities recently stepped up their own counterterrorism operations in advance of year-end celebrations by mounting a series of raids across the country and detaining scores of people trying to enter Turkey from Syria.

New Year’s celebrations in Turkey are frowned upon by some conservative Muslims who see it as a Christian tradition.

A few dozen protesters gathered on Wednesday to object to New Year festivities in Istanbul, where malls and shops feature animated Santa Claus figurines singing Christmas songs, illuminated Christmas trees and other holiday decorations that some Turks have embraced to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

The intensifying international fight against Islamic State, combined with the Turkish government’s deepening fight with Kurdish insurgents, has created more concern in the country about rising security risks.

Last week, Kurdish militants claimed responsibility for firing several mortars at Istanbul’s second-largest airport, an attack that killed one woman. The separatists threatened to carry out more attacks on civilian targets if the Turkish government doesn’t ease up on its continuing military operations against Kurdish insurgents in southeastern Turkey...

More at that top link.

And ICYMI, "Brussels Cancels New Year's Festivities: Reports."

Obama Administration Spied on Israel — And Members of Congress, Pro-Israel Interest Groups as Well

I mean if this kind of completely underhanded (and illegal) espionage of our purported allies were taking place during the Watergate era, it'd be right up there with the break-in at the DNC headquarters. It's not so much that we're spied on our only consolidated democratic ally in the Middle East, but that the Obama White House deployed bureaucratic legerdemain to establish plausible deniability. Obama set himself up to blame the NSA if anything went wrong, and this is two years after pledging to curtail spying on America's strategic partners.

And don't forget to add in the extra bonus of spying on Members of Congress and pro-Israel lobbying groups.

Man, this is really something else.

At the Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Spy Net on Israel Snares Congress" (via AoSHQ):

i'm sure everyone knows this but this Obama-spies-on-US-congressmen story is breathtaking https://t.co/K83Dadh4Pu

— The Scandalous DJT (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2015

Hey if a president knowingly spies on foreign allies, after promising not to, AND Congress -- We're just livin' in a YOLO Nation, right?

— The Scandalous DJT (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2015

Obama's going to be SO MAD when he reads about his own actions in the papers

— The Scandalous DJT (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2015

NSA’s targeting of Israeli leaders swept up the content of private conversations with U.S. lawmakers.

President Barack Obama announced two years ago he would curtail eavesdropping on friendly heads of state after the world learned the reach of long-secret U.S. surveillance programs.

But behind the scenes, the White House decided to keep certain allies under close watch, current and former U.S. officials said. Topping the list was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The U.S., pursuing a nuclear arms agreement with Iran at the time, captured communications between Mr. Netanyahu and his aides that inflamed mistrust between the two countries and planted a political minefield at home when Mr. Netanyahu later took his campaign against the deal to Capitol Hill.

The National Security Agency’s targeting of Israeli leaders and officials also swept up the contents of some of their private conversations with U.S. lawmakers and American-Jewish groups. That raised fears—an “Oh-s— moment,” one senior U.S. official said—that the executive branch would be accused of spying on Congress.

White House officials believed the intercepted information could be valuable to counter Mr. Netanyahu’s campaign. They also recognized that asking for it was politically risky. So, wary of a paper trail stemming from a request, the White House let the NSA decide what to share and what to withhold, officials said. “We didn’t say, ‘Do it,’ ” a senior U.S. official said. “We didn’t say, ‘Don’t do it.’ ”

Stepped-up NSA eavesdropping revealed to the White House how Mr. Netanyahu and his advisers had leaked details of the U.S.-Iran negotiations—learned through Israeli spying operations—to undermine the talks; coordinated talking points with Jewish-American groups against the deal; and asked undecided lawmakers what it would take to win their votes, according to current and former officials familiar with the intercepts.

Before former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed much of the agency’s spying operations in 2013, there was little worry in the administration about the monitoring of friendly heads of state because it was such a closely held secret. After the revelations and a White House review, Mr. Obama announced in a January 2014 speech he would curb such eavesdropping.

In closed-door debate, the Obama administration weighed which allied leaders belonged on a so-called protected list, shielding them from NSA snooping. French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders made the list, but the administration permitted the NSA to target the leaders’ top advisers, current and former U.S. officials said. Other allies were excluded from the protected list, including Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of NATO ally Turkey, which allowed the NSA to spy on their communications at the discretion of top officials.

Privately, Mr. Obama maintained the monitoring of Mr. Netanyahu on the grounds that it served a “compelling national security purpose,” according to current and former U.S. officials. Mr. Obama mentioned the exception in his speech but kept secret the leaders it would apply to.

Israeli, German and French government officials declined to comment on NSA activities. Turkish officials didn’t respond to requests Tuesday for comment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the NSA declined to comment on communications provided to the White House.

This account, stretching over two terms of the Obama administration, is based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former U.S. intelligence and administration officials and reveals for the first time the extent of American spying on the Israeli prime minister...

More.

And see Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Obama Crosses a Line on Spying":

#Obama crosses a line on #spying. https://t.co/A5MOx2yTzu pic.twitter.com/bjj63DqGfC

— Jonathan S. Tobin (@TobinCommentary) December 30, 2015

Let’s specify that it must be understood that in the real world all nations probably spy on each other. That includes friends. Moreover, the generally very close relations between the U.S. and Israeli security establishments does not preclude them from seeking to gain more information than might be shared in the course of normal diplomatic intercourse. In the past, there have been documented cases of the U.S. spying on Israel. On the other hand, the Pollard affair demonstrated an instance in which some Israeli spooks and their political masters had the bad judgment to not only spy on the U.S. but to employ an unstable American Jew. That mistake has wrongly allowed anti-Semites within the U.S. government to wrongly place loyal American Jews under suspicion.

But the endless, eternal struggle for more intelligence that all spies wage against each other has become something very different under the Obama administration. The report about its anti-Israel activity makes plain that surveillance of Israel has gone beyond the routine hunger for extra tidbits of information that had not been previously shared by the allies. What has been going on is more like a campaign that was driven primarily by political motives more than ones rooted in security.

The Obama administration wasn’t content to merely debate the Israelis and the majority of Americans that opposed the Iran nuclear deal. The president and his foreign policy team were actively spying on them in a way that reflected more than ordinary curiosity about an ally. The information it sought and gathered actually had nothing to do with Israeli or American security. Rather it was conducting political espionage aimed at monitoring normal diplomatic conduct and legitimate political activity being conducted by American citizens and members of Congress that opposed the president’s détente with Iran.

The irony here is of Olympic in proportions. Rather than using its resources on legitimate security risks or even on sources of vital information relating to the defense of the homeland or our allies, the NSA was basically acting as an arm of the White House’s political operations ferreting out information about lobbying efforts of those opposed to the Iran deal.

That netted the administration some juicy tidbits about conversations between former Speaker of the House John Boehner and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer that led to an invitation to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress (so much for the administration’s expressions of shock and surprise about the alleged breach of protocol by the Israelis!). While the Israeli decision to accept that offer was politically debatable, it was not a matter of national security one way or the other. Nor were any of the sessions that were apparently bugged involving Israelis, American supporters of Israel and members of Congress.

Leaving aside ethics and the law, this spying activity was largely pointless. It’s not as if anyone in Washington was in any doubt about Israeli displeasure with the president’s betrayal of the security interests of both nations in his pursuit of appeasement of Tehran. Everything they learned about opposition to the Iran deal by spying was already being talked of openly by all concerned. Using the NSA in this manner wasn’t just morally dubious; it was a waste of precious intelligence resources.

Nor can we be reassured by what the Journal tells us the NSA did to keep limits on the spying it was doing use the measures. Removing “trash talk” by members of Congress directed at the president from the transcripts it provided the White House was nice, but it didn’t address the basic problem of the executive branch spying on the legislature’s normal conduct of business.

Complicating this affair were the administration’s worries about Israeli efforts to find out what was going on between the U.S. and Iran in the nuclear talks. Apparently the White House’s greatest fear was that the Israelis would tell Congress what the president and his foreign policy team were giving away in the course of those negotiations.

In the end, Obama got his nuclear deal with Iran via concessions and even was able to implement it despite the opposition of the majority of the House and Senate as well as the American people. The spying on Israel didn’t help, but it did further undermine the already fragile trust between the Jewish state and its one superpower ally.

What comes through loud and clear from all of this is that the Obama administration is more worried about letting either its allies or the representatives of the American people know about its conduct toward Iran than they were about the nuclear threat. That meant using the NSA in a manner for which it was not intended: to spy not just on foreign friends but on American citizens and members of Congress...

Still more.

Save Up to 70% Off on Clothing, Shoes, and More

At Amazon, Select Fashion Up to 70% Off.

Plus, from John Sedgwick, War of Two: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Duel That Stunned the Nation.

And from Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton.

BONUS: From Lynne Cheney, James Madison: A Life Reconsidered.

Donald Trump Hits Hillary Clinton Over Husband Bill's Sexual Predation (VIDEO)

From Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today, "Playing the 'Bill card' against Hillary":

It's what she gets for playing the 'war on women card' against Trump.

Hillary Clinton stepped in it big time. Trotting out the “war on women” card that she has played so effectively, she charged Donald Trump with sexism.

But Trump, unlike other Republican candidates in the past, wasn’t having any of it. He fired back, on Twitter, ”If Hillary thinks she can unleash her husband, with his terrible record of women abuse, while playing the women's card on me, she's wrong!”

And boom! The issue switched to President Clinton’s record, turning him from a campaign asset to a campaign liability. As the only president to be impeached over sexual harassment (technically, for lying about sexual harassment), and as a political figure who has faced numerous accusations of rape and sexual abuse, Bill Clinton isn’t a good choice for feminist standard-bearer. Worse yet, bringing up Bill’s misbehavior also brings up Hillary’s role in covering for his abuses, and in attacking and humiliating his accusers.

Even The Washington Post’sRuth Marcus concluded that Trump was right, and that Bill’s awful record with women is "fair game.”

The former president, Marcus noted, has a real problem. “ 'Sexism' isn’t the precise word for his predatory behavior toward women or his inexcusable relationship with a 22-year-old intern. Yet in the larger scheme of things, Bill Clinton’s conduct toward women is far worse than any of the offensive things that Trump has said. Trump has smeared women because of their looks. Clinton has preyed on them, and in a workplace setting where he was by far the superior. That is uncomfortable for Clinton supporters but it is unavoidably true.”

Yes, and it’s a pretty ugly story. As The New York Times' Maureen Dowd wrote, feminism died when Hillary and other top Democratic women circled the wagons around Bill and attacked his accusers:

“Feminism died in 1998 when Hillary allowed henchlings and Democrats to demonize Monica (Lewinsky) as an unbalanced stalker, and when Gloria Steinem defended Mr. Clinton against Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones by saying he had merely made clumsy passes, then accepted rejection, so there was no sexual harassment involved. As to his dallying with an emotionally immature (22-year-old), Ms. Steinem noted, ‘Welcome sexual behavior is about as relevant to sexual harassment as borrowing a car is to stealing one.’ ”

Steinem must not have attended any human resources lectures lately...

God, this is the juiciest campaign ever, lol.

You gotta love Trump, which is why the left's gotta hate him, heh.

Still more.

Donald Trump Announces Big Advertising Blitz for Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina (VIDEO)

At the New York Times, "Donald Trump Announces Plan for TV Ads, With a Big Uncertainty":

Donald J. Trump scored another first in the 2016 presidential race on Tuesday evening — he held a news conference aboard his private jet just before a rally in Iowa, to announce he is about to spend heavily on the campaign.

How heavily? It’ll be huge, Mr. Trump assured reporters, saying he will spend $2 million a week in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina on television ads.

Whether that meant in each state, or $2 million over all in the three, was unclear. But the distinction is significant; $2 million a week per state would be saturation level, and virtually impossible in New Hampshire, where the airwaves are already cluttered.

But $2 million a week in the three is a moderate-level advertising buy for a candidate and is about what most of the other candidates are spending. Candidates pay substantially lower rates than “super PACs” do for their airtime.

Still, Mr. Trump has yet to reserve the television time, according to two independent media buyers. His media-buying firm, Strategic Media, placed time for the radio buy that Mr. Trump did in the three states earlier this year.

It’s not clear what Mr. Trump is waiting for in terms of his ad buy. But the suspense he has managed to generate over whether he will commit to a fairly basic campaign function has dominated the campaign for the last day...

More at that top link.

Olga Ogneva for Playboy Ukraine

At Playboy Plus, "Ukrainian beauty Olga Ogneva lets it snow in this wonderfully hot set from photographer Viktor Krasnov."

Hat Tip: Egotastic!, "OLGA OGNEVA TOPLESS AND CHILLY FOR PLAYBOY UKRAINE."

Mathilde Frachon Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call (VIDEO)

Boy, can't wait for the 2016 edition to come out. They've got some freakin' lookers this year!

Marcel Hirscher Nearly Hit by Drone During World Cup Alpine Skiing Event (VIDEO)

Watch, via the BBC, "Drone narrowly misses skier Marcel Hirscher during slalom race."

And ESPN reports on the predictable response, "Drone to be banned..."

Donald Trump Slams New Hampshire Union-Leader (VIDEO)

Hadas Gold had this at Politico a couple of days ago, "Trump: Union Leader publisher a 'lowlife'."

And the front-page editorial at the Union-Leader, "Joseph W. McQuaid: Trump campaign insults NH voters' intelligence."

Plus, here's Heather Nauert with Mary Katharine Ham:

WATCH: Striking Video of Flooding In North of England

Heh.

Included is the guy getting rescued after refusing to leave his Land Rover. The water was already gurgling up over the windshield. Rescuers pop off the sun roof and pull the bloody bugger out!



PREVIOUSLY: "David Cameron Defends Flood Record as Northern England Is Drenched (VIDEO)."

Brussels Cancels New Year's Festivities: Reports

Jesus, the freakin' terrorists have won.

Man. *SMH*

At Sky News:

AFP: The Mayor of #Brussels says the city's new year's festivities and fireworks have been cancelled over a #terror threat

— Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) December 30, 2015

All New Year's Eve events cancelled in Brussels due to terror threat - 50,000 people had been expected to attend https://t.co/E2Lhw0uNX5

— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 30, 2015

As I was saying earlier, they've got it bad over there. Really bad. See, "Two Suspects Arrested in Belgium in 'Paris-Style' Terror Plot for New Year's Eve (VIDEO)."

Baby Tastes Bacon for the First Time (VIDEO)

Heh.

Watch, "Baby filmed by parents as he tastes bacon for the first time - his reaction is amazing."

Hat Tip: Robert Stacy McCain:

The meaning of life. https://t.co/pjxuWvpZVV

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) December 30, 2015