Islamist extremist Harry S. wasn't in Syria for long. But during his stay there, he claims, Islamic State leaders repeatedly tried to recruit him to commit terror attacks in Germany. Security officials believe he could be telling the truth.Still more.
It was an early summer morning in the Syrian desert, with not a cloud in the sky, when Mohamed Mahmoud asked those gathered around him: "Here are some prisoners. Which of you wants to waste them?"
Not long before, Islamic State (IS) had taken the city of Palmyra, and now jihadists from Germany and Austria were to participate in the executions of some of the prisoners taken in the operation. They drove to the site of the executions in Toyota pick-ups, bringing along an IS camera team in order to document the atrocity in the city of antique ruins. Even then, Mohamed Mahmoud was known to German security officials for his repeated propaganda-video calls to join the jihad. On that early summer day in Palmyra, though, he didn't just incite others. He grabbed a Kalashnikov himself and began firing. That day, Mahmoud and his group of executioners are thought to have killed six or seven prisoners.
The story comes from someone who was in Palmyra on that day: Harry S., a 27-year-old from Bremen. "I saw it all," he says.
Harry S. returned to Germany from Syria and is now in investigative custody. He has told security officials everything about the brief time he spent with Islamic State and has also demonstrated his readiness to deliver extensive testimony to German public prosecutors. He stands accused of membership in a terrorist group. His lawyer Udo Würtz declined to offer a detailed response when contacted, but said of his client: "He wants to come clean."
German investigators are extremely interested in the testimony of the apparently repentant returnee, even as they are likely unsettled by what he has to say.
A Vital Witness
Harry S., after all, is more than just a witness to firing squads and decapitations. He also says that on several occasions, IS members tried to recruit volunteers for terrorist attacks in Germany. In the spring, just after he first arrived in Syria, he says that he and another Islamist from Bremen were asked if they could imagine perpetrating attacks in Germany. Later, when he was staying not far from Raqqa, the self-proclaimed Islamic State capital city, masked men drove up in a jeep. They too asked him if he was interested in bringing the jihad to his homeland. Harry S. says he told them that he wasn't prepared to do so.
Harry S. was only in IS controlled territory for three months. Yet he might nevertheless become a vital witness for German security officials. Since the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, fear of terrorism has risen across Europe, including in Germany, and security has been stepped up in train stations and airports. And the testimony from the Bremen returnee would seem to indicate that the fear is justified. Harry S. says that, during his time in the Syrian warzone, he frequently heard people talking about attacks in the West and says that pretty much every European jihadist was approached with the same questions he had been asked. "They want something that happens everywhere at the same time," Harry S. says.
Harry S.'s path from the Bremen quarter of Osterholz-Tenever to the jihadists of Islamic State was not particularly remarkable. His radicalization was similar to many other young, directionless men from European suburbs, from the Molenbeek district of Brussels to Lohberg in Dinslaken. In Tenever, some of the residential towers are up to 20 stories tall.
The son of parents from Ghana, Harry S. grew up in "difficult conditions," according to a court file. His father left the family just as he was entering puberty. Even though Harry S. initially only managed to graduate from a lower tier high school in Germany, he dreamed of returning to his parents' homeland and working as a construction engineer.
There was even a brief moment when it looked as though he was going to get control over his life. But then, in early 2010, he and some friends robbed a supermarket, getting away with €23,500, and flew to the island of Gran Canaria for a vacation. It wasn't long before the authorities were on to them and Harry S. was sentenced to two years behind bars for aggravated theft.
A Dangerous Radical
In prison, he met a Salafist named René Marc S., the "Emir of Gröpelingen" -- a man who Bremen officials consider to be a dangerous radical. It didn't take long before prison officials noticed a "change in character" in Harry S. According to prison records, he converted to Islam and expressed "radical sentiments" about world events. After his release, the new convert visited the Furqan Mosque (which has since been shut down) in the Gröpelingen neighborhood of Bremen. At the mosque, he became part of a Salafist clique which sent at least 16 adults and 11 children to Syria in 2014.
Harry S. tried to make the journey as well. From Istanbul, he flew in April 2014 to Gaziantep, a large Turkish city near the border with Syria, but his trip came to a premature end. Turkish authorities arrested him and sent him back to Bremen, where he told police that he had wanted to help out in Syrian refugee camps. The authorities didn't believe him and confiscated his passport in an effort to prevent him from making another attempt. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, he was required to report to the local police station.
But the authorities were still unable to prevent the Salafist from traveling to Syria to join the war. Harry S. simply grabbed an acquaintance's passport and, with another Islamist from Bremen, traveled overland via Vienna and Budapest. This time, there were no police waiting for him at the border to Syria. Instead, he was met by smugglers who brought him across the border to an IS safe house set up for new arrivals from around the world.
Harry S., a large man with broad shoulders, was trained as a fighter in Syria. He claims to have been drilled in training camps together with 50 other men: sit-ups, hours of standing in the sun and forced marches lasting the entire day. Those who gave up were locked up or beaten. His Kalashnikov, it was driven home to him, should become like his "third arm" and he was told to keep the weapon in bed with him while sleeping.
Once he finished training, he says he was to become a part of a special unit, a kind of suicide squad for house-to-house combat. Harry S. claims that, during his brief time in Syria, he was never sent into battle -- but he claims to know many young men, including Germans, who died in battle. "Luckily, I managed to get away," he says.
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
German Jihadist Returns from Syria and Gives Testimony
At Der Spiegel, "Back from the 'Caliphate': Returnee Says IS Recruiting for Terror Attacks in Germany":
Jeremy Corbyn's Hard Left Draws-Up 'Stalinist Plot' to Seize Control of Labour
It's almost like a parody, except it's not.
Corbyn's hard left even plan's "reeducation camps."
At London's Daily Mail, "Hard-Left's 'Stalinist plot' to seize control of Labour: Detailed blueprint by Corbyn's supporters show they will try to oust critics, take over policy making and hold Mao-style 'political education activity' programme."
More, "'Sack the mutineers!': Labour MP urges Jeremy Corbyn to start the new year with a shadow cabinet clear out."
And at the Independent UK, "Jeremy Corbyn to dismiss 'disloyal' shadow ministers in New Year reshuffle: Hilary Benn and Maria Eagle are among party heavyweights facing demotion in the first week of January."
Corbyn's hard left even plan's "reeducation camps."
At London's Daily Mail, "Hard-Left's 'Stalinist plot' to seize control of Labour: Detailed blueprint by Corbyn's supporters show they will try to oust critics, take over policy making and hold Mao-style 'political education activity' programme."
More, "'Sack the mutineers!': Labour MP urges Jeremy Corbyn to start the new year with a shadow cabinet clear out."
And at the Independent UK, "Jeremy Corbyn to dismiss 'disloyal' shadow ministers in New Year reshuffle: Hilary Benn and Maria Eagle are among party heavyweights facing demotion in the first week of January."
New Poll Finds Americans Bitterly Divided Over Obama's Handling of the Country (VIDEO)
Sixty-nine percent of Americans are angry "about the way things are going in this country today."
And the public's bitterly divided over the president's legacy, with 37 percent saying Obama's had a positive impact on the country and 37 percent saying his impact's been negative.
Polarization, in a nutshell.
At CNN, "Full results: CNN/ORC poll on views of government."
Plus, watch CNN's Jim Acosta, "Americans divided over Obama legacy."
PREVIOUSLY: "Voters Seek Vengeance Against Obama's 'Fundamental Transformation of America' (VIDEO)."
And the public's bitterly divided over the president's legacy, with 37 percent saying Obama's had a positive impact on the country and 37 percent saying his impact's been negative.
Polarization, in a nutshell.
At CNN, "Full results: CNN/ORC poll on views of government."
Plus, watch CNN's Jim Acosta, "Americans divided over Obama legacy."
PREVIOUSLY: "Voters Seek Vengeance Against Obama's 'Fundamental Transformation of America' (VIDEO)."
New Year, New You — BUMPED
Start the new year off with fitness, health, nutrition, organization, wellness, money management, and more --- at Amazon.
Plus, from Donald Trump, Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.
Plus, from Donald Trump, Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.
Voters Seek Vengeance Against Obama's 'Fundamental Transformation of America' (VIDEO)
From Dan Spencer, at Red State, "Revenge Replaces Hope and Change" (via Memeorandum)":
Frank Luntz tells us that Trump supporters are not just angry. They want revenge. They seek vengeance for Obama’s fundamental transformation of America. These Trumpeteers see the Donald as the antidote for all that Obama has made wrong with America. Trump’s bombastic attacks on the Republican establishment, the mainstream media and his critics are cathartic for the millions who feel “silenced, ignored and even scorned by the governing and media elite.”More at the link, and watch the full segment, from Face the Nation (with Luntz speaking from Las Vegas, where the December 15 debate was about to take place).
According to Luntz, to understand why Trump is so popular, you have to listen to why his supporters hate Obama so much. One only has to look at the Frank Luntz focus-group conducted on December 9 to see how much Trump supporters dislike Obama...
Richest Americans, on Both Left and Right, Shape Private Tax System to Save Billions
Well, an update from the class war, from the New York Times (who else?), "For the Wealthiest, a Private Tax System That Saves Them Billions":
No, it's going to take a constitutional conservative revolution to shake loose the barnacles of the Beltway political class. It's coming, though. I really feel significant change is coming.
More at the link.
WASHINGTON — The hedge fund magnates Daniel S. Loeb, Louis Moore Bacon and Steven A. Cohen have much in common. They have managed billions of dollars in capital, earning vast fortunes. They have invested millions in art — and millions more in political candidates.Notice how this isn't just a conservative or Republican phenomenon. George Soros is perhaps the most important puppet-master of the Democrat Party/radical left establishment. All of these people are gaming the system for all it's worth. The difference, at least for me, is that Democrats don't care about the corruption of their wealthy elites --- just look at the epic hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton, the Democrat front-runner.
Moreover, each has exploited an esoteric tax loophole that saved them millions in taxes. The trick? Route the money to Bermuda and back.
With inequality at its highest levels in nearly a century and public debate rising over whether the government should respond to it through higher taxes on the wealthy, the very richest Americans have financed a sophisticated and astonishingly effective apparatus for shielding their fortunes. Some call it the “income defense industry,” consisting of a high-priced phalanx of lawyers, estate planners, lobbyists and anti-tax activists who exploit and defend a dizzying array of tax maneuvers, virtually none of them available to taxpayers of more modest means.
In recent years, this apparatus has become one of the most powerful avenues of influence for wealthy Americans of all political stripes, including Mr. Loeb and Mr. Cohen, who give heavily to Republicans, and the liberal billionaire George Soros, who has called for higher levies on the rich while at the same time using tax loopholes to bolster his own fortune.
All are among a small group providing much of the early cash for the 2016 presidential campaign.
Operating largely out of public view — in tax court, through arcane legislative provisions and in private negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service — the wealthy have used their influence to steadily whittle away at the government’s ability to tax them. The effect has been to create a kind of private tax system, catering to only several thousand Americans.
The impact on their own fortunes has been stark. Two decades ago, when Bill Clinton was elected president, the 400 highest-earning taxpayers in America paid nearly 27 percent of their income in federal taxes, according to I.R.S. data. By 2012, when President Obama was re-elected, that figure had fallen to less than 17 percent, which is just slightly more than the typical family making $100,000 annually, when payroll taxes are included for both groups.
The ultra-wealthy “literally pay millions of dollars for these services,” said Jeffrey A. Winters, a political scientist at Northwestern University who studies economic elites, “and save in the tens or hundreds of millions in taxes.”
Some of the biggest current tax battles are being waged by some of the most generous supporters of 2016 candidates. They include the families of the hedge fund investors Robert Mercer, who gives to Republicans, and James Simons, who gives to Democrats; as well as the options trader Jeffrey Yass, a libertarian-leaning donor to Republicans.
Mr. Yass’s firm is litigating what the agency deemed to be tens of millions of dollars in underpaid taxes. Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund Mr. Simons founded and which Mr. Mercer helps run, is currently under review by the I.R.S. over a loophole that saved their fund an estimated $6.8 billion in taxes over roughly a decade, according to a Senate investigation. Some of these same families have also contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to conservative groups that have attacked virtually any effort to raises taxes on the wealthy.
Some of the biggest current tax battles are being waged by some of the most generous supporters of 2016 candidates. They include the families of the hedge fund investors Robert Mercer, who gives to Republicans, and James Simons, who gives to Democrats; as well as the options trader Jeffrey Yass, a libertarian-leaning donor to Republicans.
Mr. Yass’s firm is litigating what the agency deemed to be tens of millions of dollars in underpaid taxes. Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund Mr. Simons founded and which Mr. Mercer helps run, is currently under review by the I.R.S. over a loophole that saved their fund an estimated $6.8 billion in taxes over roughly a decade, according to a Senate investigation. Some of these same families have also contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to conservative groups that have attacked virtually any effort to raises taxes on the wealthy...
No, it's going to take a constitutional conservative revolution to shake loose the barnacles of the Beltway political class. It's coming, though. I really feel significant change is coming.
More at the link.
Donald Trump Isn’t a Fascist
He's a media-savvy know-nothing?
It's that any better?
Ask John Cassidy, at the New Yorker, "Donald Trump Isn’t a Fascist; He’s a Media-Savvy Know-Nothing":
Trump's an American nationalist who's talking truth to power --- and taking it to the Beltway elite. All the prognostications that Trump was a flash-in-the-pan, that he'd be toast before the end of the year, proved false. The permanent political class has rotten eggs on its collective face. And I'd include John Cassidy as among the rotten elite toadies.
Still more, FWIW.
It's that any better?
Ask John Cassidy, at the New Yorker, "Donald Trump Isn’t a Fascist; He’s a Media-Savvy Know-Nothing":
With Donald Trump ending 2015 well ahead in the Republican primary polls, the debate about what his candidacy represents is intensifying. Pointing to favorable remarks about Vladimir Putin that Trump made recently, Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, said Sunday, on “Meet the Press,” “This is a man now flirting with authoritarianism. . . . This is a serious, serious matter.”Either do I, but a "know-nothing's' no better.
Some people have gone so far as to suggest that Trump, in whipping up popular resentments and stigmatizing immigrants and Muslims, is exhibiting Fascist tendencies. During the last Democratic debate, Martin O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland, said that America must never surrender its values “to the Fascist pleas of billionaires with big mouths.” Slate’s Jamelle Bouie has argued that “Fascist” is the label that best fits Trump, and the word has also cropped up in New Hampshire, where Trump is the front-runner. In a blog post, Jonathan P. Baird, an administrative law judge, noted that the candidate is popular with white supremacists and other hate groups, and wrote, “Trump is no conservative. He is not about conserving what is valuable in America’s laws and heritage. He has crossed enough lines to indicate he is something else altogether.”
That last statement is indisputable, but is “Fascism” the best way to describe the Trump phenomenon? I don’t think so...
Trump's an American nationalist who's talking truth to power --- and taking it to the Beltway elite. All the prognostications that Trump was a flash-in-the-pan, that he'd be toast before the end of the year, proved false. The permanent political class has rotten eggs on its collective face. And I'd include John Cassidy as among the rotten elite toadies.
Still more, FWIW.
The Tragedy of Tamir Rice
Yeah, it's a tragedy alright.
It's a tragedy that the boy apparently reached into his waistband to pull out a toy gun. If you're a policeman and you see a black youth reaching "into his waistband," what else are you going to do?
It's terrible that this boy was killed, but it's not terrible there was no indictment. Frankly, it's one more example that the criminal justice system hasn't lost its sanity, like the leftists constantly haranguing law enforcement.
But for the far-left take, see Jelani Cobb, at the New Yorker, "Tamir Rice and America’s Tragedy."
It's a tragedy that the boy apparently reached into his waistband to pull out a toy gun. If you're a policeman and you see a black youth reaching "into his waistband," what else are you going to do?
It's terrible that this boy was killed, but it's not terrible there was no indictment. Frankly, it's one more example that the criminal justice system hasn't lost its sanity, like the leftists constantly haranguing law enforcement.
But for the far-left take, see Jelani Cobb, at the New Yorker, "Tamir Rice and America’s Tragedy."
Radical Founder of Femen Brazil Renounces Feminism, Declares Herself Pro-Life, and Apologizes to Christians
Well, she regretted having an abortion after the birth of her second child (her first born).
At Truth Revolt, "Radical Feminist Activist Denounces Feminism, Apologizes to Christians."
At Truth Revolt, "Radical Feminist Activist Denounces Feminism, Apologizes to Christians."
Holiday Bowl: USC vs. Wisconsin
It's not on until 7:30 pm (Pacific), so a late game if you're on the East Coast.
In any case, at the Los Angeles Times, "For resilient USC seniors, a period of unprecedented tumult will end in Holiday Bowl":
And don't miss Lindsey Thiry at the video above.
In any case, at the Los Angeles Times, "For resilient USC seniors, a period of unprecedented tumult will end in Holiday Bowl":
They came to USC knowing that part of their careers would be played under NCAA sanctions.More.
No bowl games for a few years? They could deal with that.
A thinned roster because of scholarship limits? That might lead to more immediate playing time.
Four coaching changes and multiple off-the-field dramas later, USC's seniors are preparing for Wednesday's Holiday Bowl against Wisconsin, a final game in a span of unprecedented tumult.
Members of the 2011 and 2012 recruiting classes will leave the program with advanced degrees in resiliency.
"We went through hell and back," fullback Soma Vainuku said. "That's how you can explain us seniors."
These are players who signed on to play for Lane Kiffin, who had succeeded Pete Carroll and in his first season guided the Trojans to an 8-5 record in 2010.
They saw Kiffin get fired, Ed Orgeron promoted to interim coach, Orgeron bolt when Steve Sarkisian was hired, Clay Helton promoted to interim coach for a bowl game, Sarkisian fired, Helton promoted again to interim coach and, finally, Helton hired as permanent coach.
They also endured three changes at defensive coordinator, numerous arrivals and departures of position coaches and controversies surrounding coaches, teammates and Athletic Director Pat Haden.
Freshman tailback Ronald Jones II marveled at the seniors' ability to play through the upheaval.
"I can't imagine," he said. "I probably couldn't have stayed. It would be hard seeing a new face every offseason and then trying to buy into his motto and system. That would have been tough."
Not everybody did stay. Six players from those classes, Marqise Lee, Leonard Williams and Nelson Agholor among them, left early for the NFL, and a handful transferred or quit or were removed from the team. But a dozen seniors from those classes will complete their eligibility this week...
And don't miss Lindsey Thiry at the video above.
Distracted Walking
Instapundit linked to a recent New York Times piece on the topic, "Distracted Walkers Pose Threat to Self and Others."
I expect this topic will be growing in importance, especially considering the increasing frequency of such cases, like the one in San Diego over the weekend, "Distracted Man Dies After Falling Off Cliffs in San Diego, Family Devastated (VIDEO)."
And watch, from earlier today, at CBS This Morning, "New research shows danger of distracted walking."
I expect this topic will be growing in importance, especially considering the increasing frequency of such cases, like the one in San Diego over the weekend, "Distracted Man Dies After Falling Off Cliffs in San Diego, Family Devastated (VIDEO)."
And watch, from earlier today, at CBS This Morning, "New research shows danger of distracted walking."
Harvard Professors Threatened With Investigation for Questioning Rape Documentary
At Blazing Cat Fur, "Harvard Professors Threatened With Investigation for Questioning Rape Culture Claims":
A group of Harvard professors who criticized the campus rape documentary “The Hunting Ground” are being menaced with the possibility of a Title IX sexual harassment investigation intended to silence their criticisms.RELATED: From Jeannie Suk, at the New Yorker, "The Trouble with Teaching Rape Law."
“The Hunting Ground,” released early this year, portrays American college campuses as hotbeds of sexual assault where administrators routinely allow perpetrators to get off scot-free. The film has attracted a great deal of criticism, though, both for the data it relies on and for the individual stories it uses to portray the campus rape epidemic.
Last month, a group of 19 Harvard Law School professors published an open letter denouncing it as a “propaganda” film in advance of its airing on CNN. In particular, the professors criticized the film for its treatment of Brandon Winston, a Harvard law student whom the film treats as almost certainly guilty of raping fellow student Kamilah Willingham. In fact, a criminal grand jury failed to even indict Willingham of a sex crime, indicating a severe lack of evidence against him.
Now, though, activists appear to be searching for a way to have the professors silenced by the federal government for criticizing their film...
Lauren Louise
On Twitter:
And Instagram as well.
#Saturdayselfie 😉😉😉😉😉 pic.twitter.com/jhdAUQG0BB
— Laurenlouise Model (@laurenlouise221) December 19, 2015And Instagram as well.
Missouri Flooding Evacuations (VIDEO)
It's bad over there. Really bad.
At the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Historic rainfall brings floods, worries to St. Louis region," and "The rain is over, but the risk is not."
At the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Historic rainfall brings floods, worries to St. Louis region," and "The rain is over, but the risk is not."
State Department Counts 'Bringing Peace' to Syria as One of Its Wins in 2015
This was a pretty excitable topic on Outnumbered this morning, on Fox News. Katherine Timpf even blew off the suggestion as "insane."
But see Politico, "State Dept. counts 'bringing peace' to Syria as a 2015 win."
But see Politico, "State Dept. counts 'bringing peace' to Syria as a 2015 win."
The Republican Road to Absolute Chaos?
Pfft. It's not going to be that bad.
From Benjamin Ginsberg, at the Wall Street Journal, "Flirting With a Chaotic GOP Convention" (via Memeorandum):
Actually, I expect we'll have a clear leader by Super Tuesday, March 1.
But we'll see. We'll see.
From Benjamin Ginsberg, at the Wall Street Journal, "Flirting With a Chaotic GOP Convention" (via Memeorandum):
Reports of Republican officials convening a closed-door session over the possibility of a deadlocked convention are feeding speculation over what happens if 19 weeks of primaries, caucuses and conventions leave a muddled picture.Keep reading, FWIW.
The past nine Republican conventions began with a presumptive nominee. And the chances of delegates arriving at the convention in Cleveland next July with no clear nominee remain small. But the odds are no longer infinitesimal thanks to the multicandidate field, required early proportional voting, and the fact that only 16.2% of the delegates will have been chosen in decisive, winner-take-all contests.
Three convention scenarios can emerge after 56 states and territories choose their delegates between Feb. 1 and June 7: There will be a clear winner, a bunched up field of several candidates, or a leader who can’t get a majority of delegates on the first ballot. The latter two scenarios would make Cleveland uncharted territory.
Here’s how each of those scenarios could come about...
Actually, I expect we'll have a clear leader by Super Tuesday, March 1.
But we'll see. We'll see.
Shunned by Canada and Sweden, Unmarried Syrian Muslim Woman Opts for Sensuality-Drenched Brazil
Well, I guess those Canadian and Scandinavian welfare states aren't so welcoming after all.
At the Los Angeles Times, "FLEEING SYRIA: Refugees find dizzying freedoms and unexpected dangers in Brazil":
Maybe she'll hook up with a bisexual fitness club down on the Copacabana? Who needs that hijab when you can be strutting a hip monokini down the beach?
Still more.
At the Los Angeles Times, "FLEEING SYRIA: Refugees find dizzying freedoms and unexpected dangers in Brazil":
Soon after she arrived, she began to feel conspicuous. On the street, on the bus, in the subway, people looked. They didn’t seem hostile, just puzzled. Even in Latin America’s biggest city, a woman in a headscarf stood out.Who knows?
“Everyone was staring, and I was feeling alone,” says Dana Balkhi, 27. “I felt like I was choking.”
She had come to Brazil by herself, an anomaly among unmarried Muslim women. In Syria, she had studied English literature at Damascus University and loved the novels of Jane Austen.
After a missile hit her house, she fled to Turkey with her sister, but couldn’t find work there.
Canada said no, then Sweden said no, and in the winter of 2013, she faced a choice. She could return home, as her sister did, even as civil war obliterated the country. Or she could try Brazil, which was handing out fast, low-hassle “humanitarian visas” to Syrians escaping the carnage.
She went on Google and typed: Sao Paulo Arabic community helping refugees, and found some Brazilian-based Muslims who offered to help.
Who would she be coming with? they wanted to know.
Just me, she said.
They picked her up at the airport in December 2013 and gave her a bed. She learned to brace herself for the questions, when local Muslims discovered she was on her own.
“Not everyone respects my choice,” she says. “They’ll say my family doesn’t care about me, or I’m not a good girl. Of course, there are other girls that did that, but not many.”
Maybe she'll hook up with a bisexual fitness club down on the Copacabana? Who needs that hijab when you can be strutting a hip monokini down the beach?
Still more.
Muslims Brutally Beat Christians in Berlin After Christmas Day Celebrations
Boy, the Islamists are assimilating really well over there.
At Pamela's, "Muslims Brutally Beat Christians in Berlin After Xmas Day Celebrations; ‘I Am Muslim, What Are You?’ Screams Attacker."
At Pamela's, "Muslims Brutally Beat Christians in Berlin After Xmas Day Celebrations; ‘I Am Muslim, What Are You?’ Screams Attacker."
Beatles Streamed 70 Million Times During First Three Days on Spotify
I was at my son's new apartment yesterday, helping him finish his recent move, and we were listening to the Beatles. He mentioned that he'd been using Spotify.
I tweeted, and below is David Joachim, at the New York Times:
I tweeted, and below is David Joachim, at the New York Times:
Helping my son move in at his Artist's Village apartment. Listening to the Beatles too, heh. pic.twitter.com/fIatXa8Okn
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 28, 2015
In the Beatles’ first three days on Spotify, their songs were streamed 70 million times - https://t.co/SwQWRfdb7Y
— David Joachim, NYT (@davidjoachim) December 28, 2015
Syrian Journalist and Anti-Islamic State Filmmaker Gunned Down in Turkey (VIDEO)
At the Telegraph UK, "Syria anti-Islamic State documentary maker 'assassinated' in Turkey":
Naji Jerf was killed in Gaziantep, only a couple of months after Isil claimed responsibility for killing Ibrahim Abdelkader and a friend in southern Turkey.
Tourists Skip Christmas in Bethlehem (VIDEO)
Well, it's not safe. You might get stabbed by a "Palestinian" jihadist.
At France 24:
At France 24:
Monday, December 28, 2015
The Deep and Growing Ideological Divide in the 2016 Presidential Election
From Gerald Seib, at WSJ, "Most Important Election 2016 Feature: Deep and Growing Ideological Divide":
And flashback to November, "WELL, WITH THE WORST POLITICAL CLASS IN HISTORY, THERE’S PLENTY TO BE ANGRY ABOUT: Americans’ Mood Darkened by Widespread Anger, New WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds."
As the nation heads into what figures to be a dramatic election year, its defining political characteristic isn’t love or hate for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.Still more.
Instead, the most important feature of America’s political landscape is a deep and growing ideological divide.
This divide will be especially apparent early in the new year, when the most divided groups in America, the Republican and Democratic voters who show up for primary elections and caucuses, hold the keys to the presidential selection process. These folks disagree, deeply, on an array of social issues, on the nation’s top priorities, and on what kind of leader they are seeking in the next president.
Collectively, these voters are driving Republican candidates to the right and Democratic candidates to the left—and ensuring that the challenge of bringing the country together will be tougher after the election, regardless of who wins.
A clear picture of this divide emerges from the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, taken in mid-December. Consider:
— Almost 7 in 10 Republican primary voters describe themselves as strong supporters of the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. Among Democratic primary voters, the figure is just 25%.
— Among Democratic primary voters, 62% say they strongly back immediate action to combat climate change. Just 13% of Republican primary voters share that view.
— A new issue splitting the parties at their bases is the Black Lives Matter Movement. Almost half of Democratic primary voters call themselves strong supporters of the movement. Only 6% of Republican primary voters do so.
— The National Rifle Association drives one of the biggest wedges of all. Among Republican primary voters, 59% strongly support the NRA, while just 11% of Democratic primary voters are strong backers.
Republican primary voters put national security and terrorism at the top of their list of priorities for the government. Democratic primary voters put job creation and economic growth at the top of the priority list. About a third of Democrats say health care is a high priority; among Republicans, a comparable share worry about deficits and government spending.
Republicans are more likely to say they worry that the U.S. isn’t projecting a sufficiently tough image abroad; Democrats are more likely to say they think the U.S. should be focused on concerns at home.
When pollsters asked what voters are looking for in the next president, Republicans used terms like bold and a strong leader who could restore American strength abroad. Democrats were more likely to say they want a leader who is diplomatic and inclusive and who will preserve recent progressive gains.
These differences are why the country has two main political parties, of course, and they aren’t entirely new. But there is clear evidence that the ideological divides are bigger than they used to be...
And flashback to November, "WELL, WITH THE WORST POLITICAL CLASS IN HISTORY, THERE’S PLENTY TO BE ANGRY ABOUT: Americans’ Mood Darkened by Widespread Anger, New WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds."
Heh. Caltrans Sign on Northbound I-15 Hacked to Read: 'Vote Donald Trump' — UPDATE: 'Vandalism Investigation' Now Underway
That's the best.
At LAT, "Caltrans sign in Corona is hacked to show support for Donald Trump."
At LAT, "Caltrans sign in Corona is hacked to show support for Donald Trump."
Someone reprogrammed the northbound 15 Freeway sign https://t.co/e6FIR6hrYC pic.twitter.com/H3nUCnQmSZ
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) December 28, 2015
Well, this being California, I'm sure quite a few people were not pleased with the Donald Trump-hacked Caltrans sign. Here's the update, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Vandalism Investigation Underway Into ‘Vote Donald Trump’ Freeway Message Sign."Distracted Man Dies After Falling Off Cliffs in San Diego, Family Devastated (VIDEO)
Initial reports said the man was distracted by some kind of "device."
At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Man in fatal fall appeared distracted by electronic device," and "Man who died in cliff fall was visiting."
More at ABC News 10 San Diego:
Still more, "Family 'heartbroken' after man falls to his death."
At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Man in fatal fall appeared distracted by electronic device," and "Man who died in cliff fall was visiting."
More at ABC News 10 San Diego:
Still more, "Family 'heartbroken' after man falls to his death."
Today, Americans More Likely to Say Terrorists Are Winning Than at Any Time Since 9/11 (VIDEO)
Frankly, this is just sad, considering all the sacrifices made by U.S. military personnel.
Of course, the Democrats are the party of defeat, so it's no surprise the public thinks we're losing the war on terror.
At CNN:
Of course, the Democrats are the party of defeat, so it's no surprise the public thinks we're losing the war on terror.
At CNN:
'Undeclared' Voters Could Be Wildcard in New Hampshire
New Hampshire has both election-day voter registration and an open primary system. It makes for intense voter mobilization right up to election day.
At the Los Angeles Times, "In New Hampshire, undeclared voters could be a key wild card in the primary":
At the Los Angeles Times, "In New Hampshire, undeclared voters could be a key wild card in the primary":
Catherine Johnson's day started at 6 a.m. She left her home in Hanover, drove 100 miles southeast across New Hampshire to a campaign event in Plaistow, then worked her way back with stops in Londonderry, Bedford and Goffstown.
Her itinerary rivals that of some presidential candidates. But Johnson will be casting a ballot, not appearing on one. She wanted to do her homework.
"I'm having so much fun," Johnson said recently as she talked of watching Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who campaigned Dec. 19 for Sen. Lindsey Graham's now-ended GOP run, and of planning to see New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is seeking the Republican nomination. She also plans to attend a Democratic primary debate.
"I just want to vote for who I think is the best leader for this time in our country's history. And I'm not sure I know who that is yet," she said.
Johnson is registered as an independent — "undeclared," as such voters are called in New Hampshire — one of 380,993, more than 40% of the electorate, who can choose to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary on Feb. 9.
She grew up in Republican politics, the daughter of a former state party chairman, and said she spent her 7th birthday stuffing envelopes for her father's Senate campaign.
After voting for McCain in the 2008 primary, she supported President Obama for reelection in 2012, she said. She met Hillary Clinton this year and is considering the former secretary of State, but is concerned about Donald Trump's standing in the polls and considering which Republican might be the best alternative.
"You want your vote to count," she said.
Not all undeclared voters will put in her kind of mileage in weighing their options, but neither is Johnson a total anomaly in this state, which grows obsessed with presidential politics every four years. Undeclared voters represent a significant wild card here, and campaigns will work overtime to monitor their changing attitudes in the final weeks before the first ballots are cast.
"You have to recognize there's always going to be shifting ground because of the nature of New Hampshire," said Joel Benenson, chief strategist for the Clinton campaign. "You have to be vigilant and staying on top of it, and looking for changes and asking as many questions as you can to assess who's going to vote where."
Many undeclared voters are not truly independents and vote consistently in one primary or the other, analysts stress. The true swing, independent vote here might be as little as 4% of the final electorate, said Andy Smith, a University of New Hampshire pollster.
But in a close primary contest, those voters can make a significant difference. So can undeclared voters who lean toward one party or the other but don't vote in every election. Both groups add another unpredictable element to a state where more than a third of voters often make up their minds in the final three days before the primary, according to exit polls taken over the years.
It's Time to Rally Around Donald Trump
From Diana West, at Big Government (via Memeorandum):
Phyllis Schlafly also argue's that Trump's the last hope for America.
Boy, conservatives have a bleak view of our prospects. You can understand why.
BONUS: "The Political Establishment's Terrified by Donald Trump's 'Tangible American Nationalism'."
Brent Bozell has called on conservatives to rally around Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97%Still more.
for the Republican presidential nomination. Ted Cruz is a good man and a fine candidate — my own second choice — but I believe GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is the candidate for American patriots to rally around.
Bozell states that Cruz is the one candidate who will return the United States to “her Constitutional foundations and Judeo-Christian values,” explaining:
On every issue of crucial importance to conservatives—defunding Planned Parenthood, ending the Obamacare nightmare, reducing the size of government, opposing amnesty—Cruz is not only with conservatives, he’s led the fight for conservatives.
To be honest, if these were the only issues under discussion in this GOP presidential primary season I would hardly be able to make myself pay attention. It’s not that they are unimportant issues. Personally, I support every one of them. But they are not existential issues. They are not the issues on which the very future of the Republic hangs. They are issues that a responsible Republican House and Senate, if they were loyal to their oath and to their constituents, could today begin to rectify all by themselves.
If they did — or if, say, a President Cruz were to ensure that Planned Parenthood was defunded, Obamacare ended, government trimmed, and amnesty once again staved off for another election cycle — we would all rejoice. However, the Constitution, the Republic, would be no more secure. On the contrary, they would still teeter on the edge of extinction, lost in a demographic, political, and cultural transformation that our fathers, founding and otherwise, would find inconceivable — and particularly if they ever found out that the crisis took hold when We the People lost our nerve even to talk about immigration and Islam.
It is in this danger zone of lost nerve and the vanishing nation-state where the extraordinary presidential candidacy of Donald Trump began. Like the nation-state itself, it started with the concept of a border, when Donald Trump told us he wanted to build a wall. Circa 21st-century-America, that took a lot of nerve.
After all, Americans don’t have walls. We don’t even have a border. We have “border surges,” and “unaccompanied alien minors.” We have “sanctuary cities,” and a continuous government raid on our own pocketbooks to pay for what amounts to our own invasion. That’s not even counting the attendant pathologies, burdens, and immeasurable cultural dislocation that comes about when “no one speaks English anymore.” A wall, the man says?
The enthusiasm real people (as opposed to media and #GOPSmartSet) have shown for Trump and his paradigm-shattering wall is something new and exciting on the political scene. So is the “yuge” sigh of relief. Someone sees the nation bleeding out and wants to stanch the flow. Yes, we can (build a wall). From that day forward, it has been Trump, dominating the GOP primary process and setting all of the potentially restorative points of the agenda, compelling the other candidates to address them, and the MSM, too. Blasting through hard, dense layers of “political correctness” with plain talk that shocks, Trump has set in motion very rusty wheels of reality-based thinking, beginning a long-overdue honest-to-goodness public debate about the future of America — or, better, whether there will be a future for America. That debate starts at the border, too.
A well-defended border is an obvious requisite for any nation-state. It bears noting, however, that before Donald Trump, not one commander in chief, and (aside from former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-CO), not one figure of national fame and repute I can think of had ever put it to the people of this land that a wall was a way to stop our border crisis: the unceasing flow into the nation of illegal masses of mainly Spanish-speaking aliens, among them terrorists, criminals (yes, including rapists and murderers) and transnational gangs. On the contrary, crime and chaos at the U.S. non-border are what every branch and bureaucracy of our government expect We, the People to accept as normal — and pay for as good citizens.
But good citizens of what — the world?
For many decades, the unspoken answer to this inconceivable question (inconceivable, that is, before Trump) has been yes. “We Are the World” has been the USA’s unofficial anthem, the political muzak of our times that we either hum along to, or accept in teeth-gritted silence for fear of censure (or cancelled party invitations). “Openness,” “multiculturalism,” “globalism” — all have been pounded into us for so long that I think Americans despaired of ever hearing anyone give voice again to a patriotic vision of American interests. Then Trump came along and changed the tune. Americans perked up their ears. Maybe a wall — which is just the beginning of Trump’s detailed immigration policy, which Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)80%
calls “exactly the plan America needs” — would make America possible again. That would be great, indeed.
Does Trump see it all this way, or is he going on “feel”? I don’t claim to know, although by this time in the political season, I think I am beginning to get a sense of Trump. When it comes to what is important, beginning with immigration, Trump’s instincts are as formidable as his courage. Notwithstanding Cruz and his consistent conservatism (in which Bozell places great stock), immigration wouldn’t even be a campaign issue without Donald Trump. In my opinion, the Trump plan is absoutely essential to any possible return, as Bozell puts it, to America’s constitutional foundations and Judeo-Christian principles. I actually think of it as our last shot...
Phyllis Schlafly also argue's that Trump's the last hope for America.
Boy, conservatives have a bleak view of our prospects. You can understand why.
BONUS: "The Political Establishment's Terrified by Donald Trump's 'Tangible American Nationalism'."
Riot Ideology
From Fred Siegel, at the O.C. Register, "New riot ideology: Results through coercion":
The long version is at City Journal, "The Riot Ideology, Reborn."
In the summer of 1966, Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach warned that there would be riots by angry, poor minority residents in “30 or 40” American cities if Congress didn’t pass President Lyndon Johnson’s Model Cities antipoverty legislation. In the late 1960s, New York Mayor John Lindsay used the fear of such rioting to expand welfare rolls dramatically at a time when the black male unemployment rate was about 4 percent. And in the 1980s, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry articulated an explicitly racial version of collective bargaining – a threat that, without ample federal funds, urban activists would unleash wave after wave of racial violence.More.
“I know for a fact,” Barry explained, “that white people get scared of the [Black] Panthers, and they might give money to somebody a little more moderate.”
This brand of thinking, which I call the riot ideology, influenced urban politics for a generation. Perhaps its model city was Baltimore, which was consumed in 1968 by race riots so intense that the Baltimore police, 500 Maryland state troopers and 6,000 National Guardsmen were unable to quell them. The “insurrection” was halted only when nearly 5,000 federal troops requested by Maryland Gov. Spiro Agnew arrived.
Since 1968, Baltimore has proved remarkably adept at procuring state and federal funds, but never really recovered from the riots. And the lawlessness never fully subsided. What began as a grand bargain to avert further racial violence after 1968 descended over the decades into a series of squalid shakedowns. Antipoverty programs that had once promised to repair social and family breakdown became by the 1990s self-justifying and self-perpetuating.
In the wake of the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and the 2015 West Baltimore riots, a new riot ideology has taken hold, one similarly intoxicated with violence and willing to excuse it, but with a different goal. The first version of the riot ideology assumed that not only cities, but also whites could be reformed; the new version assumes that America is inherently racist beyond redemption and that the black inner city needs to segregate itself from the larger society.
The West Baltimore rioters of 2015 didn’t call for more LBJ-style antipoverty projects, but for less policing. In a “keep off our turf” version of belligerent multiculturalism, the rioters see police as both to blame for black criminality and as an embodiment of bourgeois white values. The old riot ideology referred to mostly white urban police forces as occupying armies; the new version sees even Baltimore’s integrated police force, under the leadership of a black mayor and (until recently) a black police chief, as an occupying army. Withdrawing the police from black neighborhoods is the only acceptable solution.
This new racial politics is not only coalescing around activists claiming to speak for urban blacks – represented publicly by groups like Black Lives Matter – but also is expressed in the writings of best-selling author Ta-Nehisi Coates. And Baltimore is once again center stage...
The long version is at City Journal, "The Riot Ideology, Reborn."
Sunday, December 27, 2015
'Son of Saul'
I saw 'Son of Saul' yesterday at the Nuart Theater, in West L.A.
Saul is a sonderkommando at Auschwitz. He's among the trustee prisoners who prepare and clean the gas chambers, removing the bodies and sending them to the ovens, and then shoveling and disposing of the ashes. It's of course the most hellish, unimaginable setting you could think of, and that's part of the captivation of this film. It's shot with a super truncated, up-close focus, primarily on Saul, with the background very blurred, and images often fleeting, which is designed to foster the imagination of the viewer. I'd prefer a little more realism myself, although the method is indeed effective. The film's also fast-paced and the action seemingly busy all the time. Saul is to a point dehumanized by it. But he comes across a boy who just having been murdered, is being prepared for burning. Saul wants to save him. He wants to give him a decent burial, with the Kaddish from a rabbi. He takes the boy as his own son. That becomes his all-encompassing quest, all the time surrounded by the wheels of industrial-scale death. Again, that's what makes the movie riveting.
In any case, I first learned of the film from Joe Morgenstern's review at the Wall Street Journal, "‘Son of Saul’ Review: From Holocaust Hell, Piercing Art." (And see, "‘Son of Saul’: Not About the Survivors.")
Also good is Kenneth Turan, at the Los Angeles Times, "Review: Set in Nazi death camps, 'Son of Saul' is a powerful, immersive vision of hell."
And see an interview with the director László Nemes, from earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, at France 24, "'Son of Saul' makes waves at Cannes."
The official trailer is here.
Saul is a sonderkommando at Auschwitz. He's among the trustee prisoners who prepare and clean the gas chambers, removing the bodies and sending them to the ovens, and then shoveling and disposing of the ashes. It's of course the most hellish, unimaginable setting you could think of, and that's part of the captivation of this film. It's shot with a super truncated, up-close focus, primarily on Saul, with the background very blurred, and images often fleeting, which is designed to foster the imagination of the viewer. I'd prefer a little more realism myself, although the method is indeed effective. The film's also fast-paced and the action seemingly busy all the time. Saul is to a point dehumanized by it. But he comes across a boy who just having been murdered, is being prepared for burning. Saul wants to save him. He wants to give him a decent burial, with the Kaddish from a rabbi. He takes the boy as his own son. That becomes his all-encompassing quest, all the time surrounded by the wheels of industrial-scale death. Again, that's what makes the movie riveting.
In any case, I first learned of the film from Joe Morgenstern's review at the Wall Street Journal, "‘Son of Saul’ Review: From Holocaust Hell, Piercing Art." (And see, "‘Son of Saul’: Not About the Survivors.")
Also good is Kenneth Turan, at the Los Angeles Times, "Review: Set in Nazi death camps, 'Son of Saul' is a powerful, immersive vision of hell."
And see an interview with the director László Nemes, from earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, at France 24, "'Son of Saul' makes waves at Cannes."
The official trailer is here.
Leftists and Their Media Lackeys Have Launched Campaign to Deny the 'Ferguson Effect'
From Heather Mac Donald, at WSJ, "Trying to Hide the Rise of Violent Crime":
And see, "America's Legal Order Begins to Fray — #FergusonEffect."
Murders and shootings have spiked in many American cities—and so have efforts to ignore or deny the crime increase. The see-no-evil campaign eagerly embraced a report last month by the Brennan Center for Justice called “Crime in 2015: A Preliminary Analysis.” Many progressives and their media allies hailed the report as a refutation of what I and others have dubbed the “Ferguson effect”— cops backing off from proactive policing, demoralized by the ugly vitriol directed at them since a police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., last year. Americans are being asked to disbelieve both the Ferguson effect and its result: violent crime flourishing in the ensuing vacuum.Still more.
In fact, the Brennan Center’s report confirms the Ferguson effect, while also showing how clueless the media are about crime and policing.
The Brennan researchers gathered homicide data from 25 of the nation’s 30 largest cities for the period Jan. 1, 2015, to Oct. 1, 2015. (Not included were San Francisco, Indianapolis, Columbus, El Paso and Nashville.) The researchers then tried to estimate what 2015’s full-year homicide numbers for those 25 cities would be, based on the extent to which homicides were up from January to October this year compared with the similar period in 2014.
The resulting projected increase for homicides in 2015 in those 25 cities is 11%. (By point of comparison, the FiveThirtyEight data blog looked at the 60 largest cities and found a 16% increase in homicides by September 2015.) An 11% one-year increase in any crime category is massive; an equivalent decrease in homicides would be greeted with high-fives by politicians and police chiefs. Yet the media have tried to repackage that 11% homicide increase as trivial.
Several strategies are employed to play down the jump in homicides. The simplest is to hide the actual figure. An Atlantic magazine article in November, “Debunking the Ferguson Effect,” reports: “Based on their data, the Brennan Center projects that homicides will rise slightly overall from 2014 to 2015.” A reader could be forgiven for thinking that “slightly” means an increase of, say, 2%. Nothing in the Atlantic write-up disabuses the reader of that mistaken impression. The website Vox, declaring the crime increase “bunk,” is similarly discreet about the actual homicide rate, leaving it to the reader’s imagination. Crime & Justice News, published by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, coyly admits that “murder is up moderately in some places” without disclosing what that “moderate” increase may be.
A second strategy for brushing off the homicide surge is to contextualize it over a long period. Because homicides haven’t returned to their appalling early 1990s or early 2000s levels, the current crime increase is insignificant, the Brennan Center and its media supporters suggest, echoing an argument that arose immediately after I first documented the Ferguson effect nationally.
“Today’s murder rates are still at all-time historic lows,” write the Brennan researchers. “In 1990 there were 29.3 murders per 100,000 residents in these cities. In 2000, there were 13.8 murders per 100,000. Now, there are 9.9 murders per 100,000 residents. Averaged across the cities, we find that while Americans in urban areas have experienced more murders this year than last year, they are safer than they were five years ago and much safer than they were 25 years ago.”
The Atlantic is similarly reassuring about today’s homicide rate: “The relative uptick”—which, again, the magazine never specifies—“is still small compared with the massive two-decade drop that preceded it.” True enough, though irrelevant—good policing over the past two decades produced an extraordinary 50% drop in crime. America isn’t going to give all that back in one year. The relevant question: What is the current trend? If this year’s homicide and shooting outbreak continues, those 1990s violent crime levels will return sooner than anyone could have imagined.
The most desperate tactic for discounting the homicide increase is to disaggregate the average. “Fears of ‘a new nationwide crime wave’ are premature at best and wildly misleading at worst,” asserts the Atlantic, because the “numbers make clear that violent crime is up in some major U.S. cities and down in others.”
But such variance is inherent in any average. If there weren’t variation across the members of a set, no average would be needed. Any national crime increase or decrease will have counterexamples of the dominant trend within it, yet policy makers and analysts rightly find the average meaningful. The Ferguson effect’s existence does not require that every city experience depolicing and a resulting crime increase. Enough cities—in particular, those with significant black populations and where antipolice agitation has been most strident—are experiencing murder increases that cannot be ignored.
Baltimore’s per capita homicide rate, for example, is now the highest in its history, according to the Baltimore Sun: 54 homicides per 100,000 residents, beating its 1993 rate of 48.8 per 100,000 residents. Shootings in Cincinnati, lethal and not, were up 30% by mid-September 2015 compared with the same period in 2014. Homicides in St. Louis were up 60% by the end of August. In Los Angeles, the police department reports that violent crime has increased 20% as of Dec. 5; there were 16% more shooting victims in the city, while arrests were down 9.5%. Shooting incidents in Chicago are up 17% through Dec. 13...
And see, "America's Legal Order Begins to Fray — #FergusonEffect."
Islamic State Fighters Flee Ramadi (VIDEO)
At the Wall Street Journal, "Islamic State Militants Flee Ramadi Stronghold Amid Iraqi Offensive":
BAGHDAD—Islamic State fighters fled their last bastion in the center of Ramadi Sunday night as Iraqi security forces encircled the area and prepared a final push to clear out any remaining fighters or explosives, Iraqi officials said.More.
State television beamed images of people celebrating in streets across the country, though the army had not yet declared Ramadi completely under its control. A number of Iraqi leaders said they were confident the city would fall within days, if not hours.
A defeat in the capital of Anbar province, which is just 60 miles from the capital Baghdad, would be Islamic State’s third major loss in as many months to Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitary groups. Those forces retook the oil refining town of Beiji in October and in November, Iraqi Kurdish forces drove the Sunni Muslim extremist group out of the strategic city of Sinjar.
A decisive victory in Sunni-majority Ramadi could strengthen national unity and soothe sectarian conflict in the Shiite-dominated country where Sunnis often complain of discrimination. It would also augur well for the coming battle to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and Islamic State’s main stronghold in Iraq.
“My eyes are filled with tears now upon hearing that security forces managed to defeat Daesh in Ramadi,” said Sheikh Ghazi al-Goud, a member of parliament from Anbar province, using another name for Islamic State. “This is a victory for all Iraqis. Iraqis proved through the Ramadi fight that they are united, Sunnis and Shiite.”
One reason for the Ramadi operation’s slow progress has been the Iraqi government’s reluctance to include Iran-backed Shiite militia groups who have so far carried most of the fight against Islamic State. Moderate Iraqi leaders and U.S. officials worried that deploying the Shiite-majority militias to Ramadi could spark further sectarian strain, or lead some Sunni civilians to fight with Islamic State.
Iraqi troops, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, have spent nearly three weeks fighting their way into Ramadi.
By late Sunday, Islamic State militants were fleeing Ramadi’s eastern suburbs along with their families and civilian hostages they had been using as human shields, a security official said.
Their departure came after Iraqi security forces encircled the city center and began pushing into a former government compound that had been the group’s last bastion in the city. Iraq’s military said they had occupied only one building in the government compound, a blood bank owned by Iraq’s ministry of health.
Iraqi troops picked their way through cratered city streets and booby-trapped buildings left behind by more than a month of almost continuous fighting, military officials said...
Local Ski Resorts Going Blockbuster
Heh.
Reminds my of my younger days. We used to go skiing in the San Bernardino Mountains all the time.
This is going to be one of the best snow seasons in a long time, perhaps a decade or more.
Reminds my of my younger days. We used to go skiing in the San Bernardino Mountains all the time.
This is going to be one of the best snow seasons in a long time, perhaps a decade or more.
Death Toll at 11 from Swath of Tornadoes That Wreaked Destruction in Dallas Area (VIDEO)
At USA Today, "Texas under siege: Tornadoes, flooding, snow and ice."
And at Dallas Morning News, "Garland tornado that killed 8 classified as EF4; 3 others killed in Collin County":
And at Dallas Morning News, "Garland tornado that killed 8 classified as EF4; 3 others killed in Collin County":
Hundreds huddled in shelters Sunday while trying to add up the damage to their homes, churches and schools caused by deadly storms that blew through North Texas.
A tornado that blew through Garland killing eight people Saturday night has been classified as an EF4, with winds up to 200 mph, according to the National Weather Service. And a tornado that killed two people in Copeville has been classified as an EF2.
Meteorologists also rated the tornado that touched ground in Rowlett an EF3.
Eleven people, including an infant, were killed in Dallas and Collin counties, and as many as 11 tornadoes were reported to the Weather Service. Meteorologists were working Sunday to confirm just how many tornadoes touched down across North Texas.
The reported tornadoes started as far south as Hillsboro and moving north toward Blue Ridge and northeast to Sulphur Springs...
Elites and Media Really Hate Donald Trump's Voters
True. So very, very true.
From Michael Walsh, at the New York Post.
See also the Chicago Boyz, "The Trump Phenomenon," and Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "ANALYSIS: TRUE. Elites and media really hate Donald Trump’s voters, Michael Walsh writes":
From Michael Walsh, at the New York Post.
See also the Chicago Boyz, "The Trump Phenomenon," and Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "ANALYSIS: TRUE. Elites and media really hate Donald Trump’s voters, Michael Walsh writes":
In the movie business, there’s something called the “cheer moment,” when the long-suffering hero finally decks his tormentor with a satisfying right cross. What the Beltway Republicans fail to understand is that their conservative base — which gave them stunning congressional victories in 2010 and 2014 and has nothing to show for it — has been longing for precisely that moment since Reagan crushed Mondale 49-1 in 1984.Hat Tip: Memeorandum.
The Trumpkins are sick of winning and having nothing to show for it, and their vengeance will be terrible. Maybe the Establishment should stop belittling them and listen instead.
Behind-the-Scenes Footage with Swimsuit Model Hannah Davis (VIDEO)
She's fabulous.
Watch, via GQ, "It’s Our Pleasure to Present Hannah Davis."
Plus, flashback, "Sports Illustrated's Summer of Swim Heats Up with 2015 Cover Model Hannah Davis," and "Celebrate Fourth of July with Hannah Davis."
Watch, via GQ, "It’s Our Pleasure to Present Hannah Davis."
Plus, flashback, "Sports Illustrated's Summer of Swim Heats Up with 2015 Cover Model Hannah Davis," and "Celebrate Fourth of July with Hannah Davis."
Ola Wanserska Wishes Very Merry Christmas by Taking Big Bite Out of Chocolate Santa Claus (VIDEO)
That's a big Santa, heh.
Watch, via Playboy, "Instagram Model Ola Wanserska Wishes You a Merry Christmas."
Watch, via Playboy, "Instagram Model Ola Wanserska Wishes You a Merry Christmas."
Israel's Homegrown Enemies
From Caroline Glick, at JPost.
Some background at the Times of Israel, "Clip shows far-right wedding-goers celebrating Duma killings":
Hey, it's a problem. No beating around the bush, although Glick denounces the left's false equivalence between Jewish supporters of right-wing terrorism and the global left's support for Palestinian-Iranian-Islamic terrorism for the destruction Israel.
Some background at the Times of Israel, "Clip shows far-right wedding-goers celebrating Duma killings":
Israeli youngsters, said to be friends of detainees in deadly firebombing, stab photo of 18-month-old victim; wave firebombs, rifles and knives at Jerusalem event.And watch, "Jewish Radicals Celebrating Wedding by Stabbing Photo of Dawabsheh Baby."
Hey, it's a problem. No beating around the bush, although Glick denounces the left's false equivalence between Jewish supporters of right-wing terrorism and the global left's support for Palestinian-Iranian-Islamic terrorism for the destruction Israel.
Graduation Rates Rise, But Fewer Students Ready for College-Level Academic Work
The story's out of Greenville, S.C., so you can guess the race of the students who're graduating underprepared.
At the New York Times, "As Graduation Rates Rise, Experts Fear Diplomas Come Up Short":
But continue reading.
And it's interesting to note the inequality implications when comparing these less-well-off urban schools with affluent suburban ones, like the New Jersey school district where the battles are over whether students are pushed to get an A+ in calculus, rather than an A.
At the New York Times, "As Graduation Rates Rise, Experts Fear Diplomas Come Up Short":
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A sign in a classroom here at Berea High School, northwest of downtown in the largest urban district in the state, sends this powerful message: “Failure Is Not an Option. You Will Pass. You Will Learn. You Will Succeed.”I'd bet reduced standards are the No. 1 factor in reduced college readiness. Certainly in California, if not the country as a whole. I mean, sheesh, a passing grade is a D for college credit, even in my political science classes.
By one measure, Berea, with more than 1,000 pupils, is helping more students succeed than ever: The graduation rate, below 65 percent just four years ago, has jumped to more than 80 percent.
But that does not necessarily mean that all of Berea’s graduates, many of whom come from poor families, are ready for college — or even for the working world. According to college entrance exams administered to every 11th grader in the state last spring, only one in 10 Berea students were ready for college-level work in reading, and about one in 14 were ready for entry-level college math. And on a separate test of skills needed to succeed in most jobs, little more than half of the students demonstrated that they could handle the math they would need.
It is a pattern repeated in other school districts across the state and country — urban, suburban and rural — where the number of students earning high school diplomas has risen to historic peaks, yet measures of academic readiness for college or jobs are much lower. This has led educators to question the real value of a high school diploma and whether graduation requirements are too easy.
“Does that diploma guarantee them a hope for a life where they can support a family?” asked Melanie D. Barton, the executive director of the Education Oversight Committee in South Carolina, a legislative agency. Particularly in districts where student achievement is very low, she said, “I really don’t see it.”
Few question that in today’s economy, finishing high school is vital, given that the availability of jobs for those without a diploma has dwindled. The Obama administration has hailed the rising graduation rate, saying schools are expanding opportunities for students to succeed. Earlier this month, the Department of Education announced that the national graduation rate hit 82 percent in 2013-14, the highest on record.
But “the goal is not just high school graduation,” Arne Duncan, the departing secretary of education, said in a telephone interview. “The goal is being truly college and career ready.”
The most recent evaluation of 12th graders on a national test of reading and math found that fewer than 40 percent were ready for college level work. College remediation and dropout rates remain stubbornly high, particularly at two-year institutions, where fewer than a third who enroll complete a degree even within three years.
In South Carolina, even with a statewide high school graduation rate of 80.3 percent, some business leaders worry that not enough students have the abilities they need for higher-skilled jobs at Boeing, Volvo and BMW, which have built plants here in recent years. What is more, they say, students need to be able to collaborate and communicate effectively, skills they say high schools do not always teach.
“If you look at what a graduation diploma guarantees today,” said Pamela P. Lackey, the president of AT&T South Carolina, “the issue is we have a system of education that prepares them for a different type of work than we have as a reality today.”
Still, there is no single reason these rates have increased.
Economists point to a decline in the teenage pregnancy rate, as well as a reduction in violent crime among teenagers. Some districts use data systems to identify students with multiple absences or failed classes so educators can better help them. And an increasing number of states and districts offer students more chances to make up failed credits online or in short tutoring sessions without repeating a whole semester or more.
States also vary widely in diploma requirements. In California, South Carolina and Tennessee, the authorities have recently eliminated requirements that students pass exit exams to qualify for a diploma. Alaska, California, Wisconsin and Wyoming demand far fewer credits to graduate than most states, according to the Education Commission of the States, although local school districts may require more.
According to one analysis of requirements for the class of 2014, 32 states did not require that all graduates take four years of English and math through Algebra II or its equivalent, which is often defined as the minimum to be prepared for college.
“Students and their families rely on and trust the high school diploma as a signal of readiness,” said Alissa Peltzman, the vice president of state policy at Achieve, a nonprofit that performed the study. “It needs to mean something. Otherwise, it’s a false promise for thousands of students.”
Over the past decade in California, several large urban districts adopted coursework guidelines aligned to entrance requirements at the state’s public universities. Los Angeles initially required that students earn at least a C in those classes, but the number of students on track to graduate plummeted. Now grades of D or higher are accepted...
But continue reading.
And it's interesting to note the inequality implications when comparing these less-well-off urban schools with affluent suburban ones, like the New Jersey school district where the battles are over whether students are pushed to get an A+ in calculus, rather than an A.
'Whole Child' Approach to Learning Divides Families in New Jersey School District
The "whole child" approach is a way to reduce standards, which would help some students be less stressed and more successful. Interestingly, it's the parents of white children who're protesting. Asian parents are going for it, however.
At the New York Times, "New Jersey School District Eases Pressure on Students, Baring an Ethnic Divide":
At the New York Times, "New Jersey School District Eases Pressure on Students, Baring an Ethnic Divide":
This fall, David Aderhold, the superintendent of a high-achieving school district near Princeton, N.J., sent parents an alarming 16-page letter.
The school district, he said, was facing a crisis. Its students were overburdened and stressed out, juggling too much work and too many demands.
In the previous school year, 120 middle and high school students were recommended for mental health assessments; 40 were hospitalized. And on a survey administered by the district, students wrote things like, “I hate going to school,” and “Coming out of 12 years in this district, I have learned one thing: that a grade, a percentage or even a point is to be valued over anything else.”
With his letter, Dr. Aderhold inserted West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District into a national discussion about the intense focus on achievement at elite schools, and whether it has gone too far.
At follow-up meetings, he urged parents to join him in advocating a holistic, “whole child” approach to schooling that respects “social-emotional development” and “deep and meaningful learning” over academics alone. The alternative, he suggested, was to face the prospect of becoming another Palo Alto, Calif., where outsize stress on teenage students is believed to have contributed to two clusters of suicides in the last six years.
But instead of bringing families together, Dr. Aderhold’s letter revealed a fissure in the district, which has 9,700 students, and one that broke down roughly along racial lines. On one side are white parents like Catherine Foley, a former president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at her daughter’s middle school, who has come to see the district’s increasingly pressured atmosphere as antithetical to learning.
“My son was in fourth grade and told me, ‘I’m not going to amount to anything because I have nothing to put on my résumé,’ ” Ms. Foley said.
On the other side are parents like Mike Jia, one of the thousands of Asian-American professionals who have moved to the district in the past decade, who said Dr. Aderhold’s reforms would amount to a “dumbing down” of his children’s education.
“What is happening here reflects a national anti-intellectual trend that will not prepare our children for the future,” Mr. Jia said.
About 10 minutes from Princeton and an hour and a half from New York City, West Windsor and Plainsboro have become popular bedroom communities for technology entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical researchers and engineers, drawn in large part by the public schools. From the last three graduating classes, 16 seniors were admitted to M.I.T. It churns out Science Olympiad winners, classically trained musicians and students with perfect SAT scores.
The district has become increasingly popular with immigrant families from China, India and Korea. This year, 65 percent of its students are Asian-American, compared with 44 percent in 2007. Many of them are the first in their families born in the United States.
They have had a growing influence on the district. Asian-American parents are enthusiastic supporters of the competitive instrumental music program. They have been huge supporters of the district’s advanced mathematics program, which once began in the fourth grade but will now start in the sixth. The change to the program, in which 90 percent of the participating students are Asian-American, is one of Dr. Aderhold’s reforms.
Asian-American students have been avid participants in a state program that permits them to take summer classes off campus for high school credit, allowing them to maximize the number of honors and Advanced Placement classes they can take, another practice that Dr. Aderhold is limiting this school year.
With many Asian-American children attending supplemental instructional programs, there is a perception among some white families that the elementary school curriculum is being sped up to accommodate them.
Both Asian-American and white families say the tension between the two groups has grown steadily over the past few years, as the number of Asian families has risen. But the division has become more obvious in recent months as Dr. Aderhold has made changes, including no-homework nights, an end to high school midterms and finals, and a “right to squeak” initiative that made it easier to participate in the music program.
At a packed meeting of the school district’s Board of Education held shortly before the winter break, a middle school cafeteria was filled with parents, with Asian-Americans sitting on one side and white families on the other. Some parents and students described rampant cheating, grade fixation and days so stressful that some students could not wait for them to end. But other parents, primarily Asian-American ones, described a different picture, one in which their values were being ignored...
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Hideous Black Lives Matter Protesters Attack Multiple U.S. Cities Before Christmas (VIDEO)
These are terrible, truly evil people.
At the Los Angeles Times, "Just before Christmas, Black Lives Matter protests roil cities across the U.S.":
"Calling a halt" to Christmas. These people are the biggest assholes. Truly hideous.
Still more.
At the Los Angeles Times, "Just before Christmas, Black Lives Matter protests roil cities across the U.S.":
It's the most wonderful time of the year and a winter of discontent, a season of police bullhorns and Christmas lights.Right.
Demonstrators protesting police shootings of black men confronted last-minute holiday shoppers and travelers in California and the Midwest this week, seeing the crowds as an opportunity to draw attention to their cause.
In Chicago on Thursday, more than 100 demonstrators marched down North Michigan Avenue, the city's premier shopping corridor, and laid down on the street for a "die-in." They also blocked access to some stores where Christmas Eve shoppers were hoping to wrap up their tardy gift-buying.
The demonstrators were again protesting the October 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black 17-year-old carrying a knife who was killed when a Chicago police officer shot him 16 times.
The officer, Jason Van Dyke, has been charged with first-degree murder. Footage released last month appeared to show McDonald walking away from Van Dyke, sparking protests that have yet to fully die down, much as the Black Lives Matter movement has remained in national headlines since last year's protests in Ferguson, Mo.
"When one part of Chicago is affected, all of Chicago is affected," one of the demonstrators, Alex Thiedmann, said of the "Black Christmas" demonstration on North Michigan Avenue. "If I remain silent, I become an oppressor."
Onlookers affected by the protest had a mixed response. Emily Grossman, 36, was kept from getting an iPhone at the Apple Store. "I hate to put myself first, but this is BS," she said.
Rabiah Muhammad came downtown for a doctor's appointment but stopped to watch the protests.
"I was walking down the street and I saw all these beautiful people of all ages and colors," she said. "I think it's a bigger problem than the city of Chicago. It's an American problem. This kind of brutality? That's not what our country is supposed to be."
A day earlier, shoppers and travelers also encountered demonstrators in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Minneapolis.
On Wednesday afternoon, activists affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement shut down the southbound lanes of the 405 Freeway in Westchester for about 10 to 15 minutes, writing chalk messages on the pavement. Up to nine demonstrators were arrested.
"On one of the busiest travel days of the year, Black Lives Matter is calling for a halt on Christmas as usual in memorial of all of the loved ones we have lost and continue to lose this year to law enforcement violence without justice or recourse," a statement from Black Lives Matter organizers said...
"Calling a halt" to Christmas. These people are the biggest assholes. Truly hideous.
Still more.
U.S. Flights Hit by Major Weather Delays Ahead of Christmas (VIDEO)
At WSJ, "U.S. Flights Hit by Major Weather Delays":
Fog and storms triggered major flight delays in pockets of the U.S. ahead of Christmas, while airlines were bracing for a winter storm predicted to sweep across much of the country over the weekend.More.
A line of storms stretching from Louisiana to New York held up arrivals on Thursday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the busiest U.S. airport by traffic, by an average of 2½ hours as of 2 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said on its website.
At least 11 people were killed across the South as springlike storms mixed with unseasonably warm weather and spawned rare Christmastime tornadoes, according to the Associated Press.
Delta Air Lines Inc., which operates its largest hub at Hartsfield-Jackson, was the most affected carrier, with a third of its mainline flights nationwide delayed, according to FlightAware.com, a tracking service.
The Atlanta-based carrier said it had started to cancel some flights as the storms forced planes to divert from Hartsfield.
While earlier delays at airports around Washington and New York caused by the weather had abated by early afternoon, Delta said they could return because of air traffic congestion in other parts of the country.
Nationwide, 3,049 flights were delayed and 349 canceled as of 5 p.m. Thursday on the East Coast. That came after weather issues in the Northeast and parts of the Midwest had triggered the above-average delays and cancellations earlier in the week. Almost 11,000 total flights from Tuesday through Wednesday were delayed, and around 750 canceled, according to FlightAware. On typical winter days, there are about 4,000 delays and 150 cancellations in the U.S.
Dozens of regional jet flights operated on behalf of major airlines by SkyWest Inc. and other carriers have been canceled, according to FlightAware, as well as more than 60 Southwest Airlines Co. services.
American Airline Group Inc. said it had canceled four mainline flights, alongside 84 flown by regional partners. United Continental Holdings Inc. said it wasn’t experiencing major disruptions...
Powerful Storm System Across South and Midwest Kills at Least 11 (VIDEO)
At WSJ, "Dozens injured, homes destroyed after tornadoes touch down":
A powerful storm system that tore across parts of the South and Midwest claimed at least 11 lives, injured dozens of people and destroyed homes and businesses just as final preparations for Christmas celebrations were under way.More.
The system spawned more than a dozen tornadoes, including a potent one in Mississippi on Wednesday that remained on the ground for roughly 50 miles, an especially long stretch for a December twister, said Greg Carbin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center.
Mississippi was hit especially hard. At least seven deaths were reported there as of Thursday afternoon, and storms caused widespread damage to houses, mobile homes and other structures, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. More than 1,400 power outages occurred, and storm debris forced numerous road closures.
Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency Thursday and toured damaged areas in several counties. “Mississippians are resilient in difficult times, and we will meet this challenge head on for those that are in need,” he said.
In Tennessee, three fatalities were reported, and state and local officials were conducting damage assessments on Thursday, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. One death was reported in Arkansas as a result of a tree that crashed on a house, said Barbara Hager, manager of the Arkansas Response and Coordination Center.
Apart from tornadoes, the system produced storms with heavy rain and winds of 50 miles an hour and higher, Mr. Carbin said. It was generated by a combination of a powerful jet stream with a mass of warm, moist air over the region, he said. Storms extended across a swath of territory from Arkansas to Ohio...
Garth Kemp is Back!
Garth Kemp was fired for tweeting about the Kardashians --- unfavorably tweeting --- earlier this year.
See AdWeek, "Veteran KABC Weather Anchor Out."
Seems like an extremely minor discretion, but ABC's loss is CBS's gain.
See AdWeek, "Veteran KABC Weather Anchor Out."
Seems like an extremely minor discretion, but ABC's loss is CBS's gain.
Obama Administration Held Secret Contacts with Syria
A big story, at the Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Pursued Secret Contacts With Assad Regime for Years":
The Obama administration pursued secret communications with elements of Syria’s regime over several years in a failed attempt to limit violence and get President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power, according to U.S. and Arab officials.Keep reading.
Early on, the U.S. looked for cracks in the regime it could exploit to encourage a military coup, but found few.
The efforts reflect how President Barack Obama’s administration has grappled to understand and interact with an opaque Middle East dictatorship run for 45 years by the Assad family.
Unlike the secret White House back channel to Iran, however, the Syria effort never gained momentum and communication was limited. This account is based on interviews with more than two dozen people, including current and former U.S. officials, Arab officials and diplomats. Most of these contacts haven’t been previously reported.
U.S. officials said communications with the regime came in fits and starts and were focused on specific issues. At times, senior officials spoke directly to each other and at others, they sent messages through intermediaries such as Mr. Assad’s main allies Russia and Iran.
Mr. Assad tried at different times to reach out to the administration to say the U.S. should unite with him to fight terrorism.
In 2011, as the regime began to crack down on protests and soldiers began to peel away from the army, U.S. intelligence officials identified officers from Mr. Assad’s minority Alawite sect who potentially could lead a regime change, according to former U.S. officials and current European officials.
“The White House’s policy in 2011 was to get to the point of a transition in Syria by finding cracks in the regime and offering incentives for people to abandon Assad,” a former senior administration official said.
But regime cohesiveness held, and the crackdown continued.
In August 2011, Mr. Obama publicly called for Mr. Assad to step down.
The administration’s core message never strayed from the U.S. line that Mr. Assad ultimately has to step down. But instead of persuading Mr. Assad to exit, the covert communications may have fed his sense of legitimacy and impunity.
That helped fuel the current wrangling among world powers over the Syrian leader’s future in any settlement. It also hampered the effort to consolidate the international fight against Islamic State.
“We have had times where we’ve said: ‘You could create a better environment for cease-fires if you stop dropping barrel bombs,’ ” a senior U.S. official said. “There’s communicating on specific issues,” the official added. “It’s not like Cuba or Iran, where we thought that we would essentially, in a secret bilateral negotiation, resolve the issue.”
Questions sent to the office of Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban about communication with the Obama administration were unanswered...
Kendall Jenner on Vogue Brazil January 2016 Cover
As I was saying.
Here she is on Vogue Brazil, via ET, "Kendall Jenner Reveals Her First Magazine Cover of 2016 Is 'Vogue Brasil'."
Here she is on Vogue Brazil, via ET, "Kendall Jenner Reveals Her First Magazine Cover of 2016 Is 'Vogue Brasil'."
Kendall Jenner Sexy Lingerie in Love Advent Calendar (VIDEO)
Kendall Jenner is getting lots of coverage --- and I like it!
At E!, "Kendall Jenner Is a 'Goddess' in Sexy Black Lingerie in Fiery Love Advent Calendar Photos and Video."
And watch, "Day 24 - Kendall Jenner by James Lima (LOVE Advent 2015)."
At E!, "Kendall Jenner Is a 'Goddess' in Sexy Black Lingerie in Fiery Love Advent Calendar Photos and Video."
And watch, "Day 24 - Kendall Jenner by James Lima (LOVE Advent 2015)."
Lucy Pinder Nuts Magazine Flashback (VIDEO)
Well, we can always enjoy the memories, "Lucy Pinder, Nuts Magazine, December 2013."
And of course, there'll be more outlets for the Nuts lovely to display their talents. I'll be on the lookout, heh.
More, "Lucy Pinder is an Amazing Christmas Present."
And of course, there'll be more outlets for the Nuts lovely to display their talents. I'll be on the lookout, heh.
More, "Lucy Pinder is an Amazing Christmas Present."
U.S. Plans Massive Raids to Deport Illegal Central American Migrants
Seems like the administration's bureaucracy's out of sync with the political needs of the party in power.
At WaPo, "U.S. plans raids to deport families who surged across border":
And the Donald weighs in, right now, heh:
At WaPo, "U.S. plans raids to deport families who surged across border":
The Department of Homeland Security has begun preparing for a series of raids that would target for deportation hundreds of families who have flocked to the United States since the start of last year, according to people familiar with the operation.More.
The nationwide campaign, to be carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as soon as early January, would be the first large-scale effort to deport families who have fled violence in Central America, those familiar with the plan said. More than 100,000 families with both adults and children have made the journey across the southwest border since last year, though this migration has largely been overshadowed by a related surge of unaccompanied minors.
The ICE operation would target only adults and children who have already been ordered removed from the United States by an immigration judge, according to officials familiar with the undertaking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because planning is ongoing and the operation has not been given final approval by DHS. The adults and children would be detained wherever they can be found and immediately deported. The number targeted is expected to be in the hundreds and possibly greater.
The proposed deportations have been controversial inside the Obama administration, which has been discussing them for several months. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson has been pushing for the moves, according to those with knowledge of the debate, in part because of a new spike in the number of illegal immigrants in recent months. Experts say that the violence that was a key factor in driving people to flee Central America last year has surged again, with the homicide rate in El Salvador reaching its highest level in a generation. A drought in the region has also prompted departures.
The pressure for deportations has also mounted because of a recent court decision that ordered DHS to begin releasing families housed in detention centers...
And the Donald weighs in, right now, heh:
Wow, because of the pressure put on by me, ICE TO LAUNCH LARGE SCALE DEPORTATION RAIDS. It's about time!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2015Jack Cashill, Scarlet Letters
Another addition to the burgeoning genre on the totalitarian left's attack on individual liberty.
At Amazon, Jack Cashill, Scarlet Letters: The Ever-Increasing Intolerance of the Cult of Liberalism.
At Amazon, Jack Cashill, Scarlet Letters: The Ever-Increasing Intolerance of the Cult of Liberalism.
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