Kopp-Etchells Effect: Michael Yon Named Sparkling Photographic Phenomenon to Honor Soldiers

I haven't kept up with Michael Yon since he left Afghanistan.

Instapundit has an update, "THE PHOTOGRAPHER IS MICHAEL YON, WHO MANY INSTAPUNDIT READERS WILL REMEMBER: How a Combat Photographer Named a Phenomenon to Honor Soldiers."

Supermodel Paulina Porizkova, 51, in Tiny Bikini on Beach in Hawaii

She's amazing.

Still looking fabulous.

And she's a rock-solid mom as well.

At London's Daily Mail, "'No makeup and no filters!': Paulina Porizkova, 51, proves she's still a supermodel as she poses in tiny bikini on beach in Hawaii."

FLASHBACK: "Rule 5 Saturday: Paulina Porizkova."

On Board the USS Eisenhower (VIDEO)

At London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE: 'We kill bad guys and blow up their stuff' - on board the USS Eisenhower as its Top Guns blast ISIS with bombing missions around the clock."

Also, via the Joint Forces Channel:

Hedge Funds Take Short Position Against Germany's Deutsche Bank

This is interesting.

Hedge funds are attacking Deutsche Bank AG, and profiting.

At WSJ, "Hedge Funds Profiting on Bets Against Deutsche Bank":

Hedge funds that have placed bets against Deutsche Bank AG are reaping the rewards.

Deutsche Bank shares are down nearly 50% since the start of the year on concerns about its capital position, leading to large profits for a number of hedge funds who have been running short positions on the German lender, betting its stock will fall further.

However, it has been a bumpy ride. Deutsche’s shares fell as much as 8% in morning trading Friday, reaching a record, following reports that clients, including several large hedge funds, have pulled billions of dollars from the bank. But they later recovered to close up 6.4% in afternoon trade in Frankfurt.

Greenwich, Conn.-based AQR Capital Management, which runs $159 billion in assets, revealed that it had a short position in Deutsche Bank on Wednesday, according to a filing made public by the German regulator on Thursday.

AQR was also among a number of funds that have recently taken steps to withdraw securities or cash from the bank, or dial back their trading activities, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Deutsche Chief Executive John Cryan said in a message to employees Friday that media speculation that a few hedge funds had reduced some activities with the bank was causing “unjustified concerns.”

He said the bank had “strong fundamentals” and pointed to the sale this week of British insurer Abbey Life for $1.2 billion and the bank’s plans to sell its stake in China’s Hua Xia Bank. “We fulfill all current capital requirements and our restructuring is well on track,” he said.

Other hedge funds to have bets against the bank include Marshall Wace LLP, Discovery Capital Management LLC and Highfields Capital Management LP, according to filings. Marshall Wace first declared a 0.5% short position in Deutsche Bank in February. By Tuesday, it had doubled its bet to 1.03%, although this was cut back Thursday to 0.9%.

Discovery first disclosed a position at the start of August and increased it late that month, while Highfields first disclosed a position in July, which it quickly increased.

Hedge funds’ bets against the troubled German lender have been cranked up in recent days, although they are still below levels hit earlier this summer...

More.

Edward Majerczyk Pleads Guilty in Celebrity Hacking Scandal

I wondered why search results were pulling up my old Jennifer Lawrence posts.

At LAT, "Man convicted of hacking Gmail and iCloud accounts of at least 30 celebrities in L.A."

Angelo Codevilla, The Ruling Class

At Amazon, Angelo Codevilla, The Ruling Class: How They Corrupted America and What We Can Do About It.

And see Professor Codevilla's essay, "After the Republic" (via Instapundit).

Senate Votes to Override Obama's Veto of Saudi 9/11 Lawsuit Bill (VIDEO)

And the vote was 97-1?

Can Obama really be that badly on the wrong side of the issue?

Indeed he can.

At USA Today, "Congress rejects Obama veto of 9/11 bill; first override of his presidency":

WASHINGTON — The House and Senate voted Wednesday to reject President Obama's veto of legislation allowing lawsuits against foreign sponsors of terrorism — the first successful override of a presidential veto since Obama took office.

The president had vetoed the legislation Friday because he said the bill — known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA — would infringe on the president’s ability to conduct foreign policy. It was the 12th veto of his presidency.

But after an intense push by 9/11 survivors and families of victims who want to sue Saudi Arabia based on claims the country played a role in the 2001 terror attacks, even Obama’s Democratic allies on Capitol Hill voted to override his veto.

The House voted 348-77, well above the two-thirds majority needed. The final vote tally in the Senate was 97-1. Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., cast the lone dissenting vote.

"In our polarized politics of today, this is pretty much close to a miraculous occurrence," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. Democrats and Republicans in both chambers agreed, he said, that the bill "gives the victims of the terrorist attack on our own soil an opportunity to seek the justice they deserve."

The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he shared some of Obama's concerns but said the victims' rights outweighed them.

"We cannot in good conscience close the courthouse door to those families who have suffered unimaginable losses," Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said.

Obama told CNN on Wednesday that he thinks overriding his veto was a "mistake" and "basically a political vote." But he said he understood why Congress voted the way it did, despite what he suggested were private misgivings among some lawmakers.

“If you're perceived as voting against 9/11 families right before an election, not surprisingly, that's a hard vote for people to take," he said. "But it would have been the right thing to do."

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest decried the override as the "single most embarrassing thing the United States Senate has done possibly since 1983."

"Ultimately these senators are going to have to answer their own conscience and their constituents as they account for their actions today," he said, adding that Reid showed "courage" in opposing it.

The measure essentially creates an exception to sovereign immunity, the doctrine that holds one country can’t be sued in another country’s courts. It allows plaintiffs to sue other nations in U.S. federal courts for monetary damages in cases of injury, death or property damage caused by acts of international terrorism in the United States.

The White House has argued that the legislation will prompt other nations to retaliate, stripping the immunity the United States enjoys in other parts of the world. Obama said in a letter to Reid before Wednesday's vote that lawsuits already are allowed against countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism by the U.S. government.

The president warned the law could be "devastating" to the U.S. military, diplomatic and intelligence communities...

More.

And watch, at CNN, "Senate overrides Obama's veto 97-1."

The House voted 348 to 77 to override as well, so it's a done deal: the first congressional override of this administration. At LAT, "In a first, Congress rebukes Obama with veto override of 9/11 bill."

Deal of the Day: Save on FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing System

At Amazon, FoodSaver FM2435-ECR Vacuum Sealing System with Bonus Handheld Sealer and Starter Kit, Silver.

Also, Nathaniel Persily, ed., Solutions to Political Polarization in America.

And, James Campbell, Polarized: Making Sense of a Divided America.

BONUS: Beth Akers and Matthew M. Chingos, Game of Loans: The Rhetoric and Reality of Student Debt.

Robert L. Shibley, Twisting Title IX

This is a vital read.

At Amazon, Robert L. Shibley, Twisting Title IX.

Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy [BUMPED]

Following-up from Sunday, "Wendy Warren, New England Bound."

At Amazon, Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832.

I'll have more blogging tonight.

El Cajon Police Officer Shoots and Kills Black Man (VIDEO)

I don't know the full details yet, especially the genuine details outside of the leftist media propaganda machine.

FWIW, at the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Man shot, killed by El Cajon police officer."

And at ABC News 10 San Diego:

AlfonZo Rachel: My Observations on the Clinton/Trump Debates (VIDEO)

At Theo's, "My Observations on the Trump / Hillary Debates by AlfonZo Rachel."

Hannah Ferguson Irresistibles (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated:

WATCH: Charlotte McKinney Strips Down in New Pete Yorn Video

At the London's Daily Mail, "Charlotte McKinney strips off her lacy lingerie in provocative new music video."

Here's the video, "Pete Yorn - I'm Not The One."

Katy Perry Nude Funny or Die Video

At London's Daily Mail, "'Let those babies loose!' Katy Perry strips NAKED at polling station but later gets arrested in new parody clip urging fans to vote..."

She's wild.

Amber Lee's Wednesday Forecast

It's been very hot, although my school's air conditioning has been working just fine (or at least in my building).

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Shimon Peres Has Died

A great obituary at NYT:

#ShimonPeres Dies at 93; Built Up #Israel’s Defense and Sought Peace. https://t.co/n8Rr8V2bYG

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 28, 2016

Los Angeles Unified Has Nearly 700 Unresolved Complaints About Failed Air-Conditioning During This Week's 100-Degree Weather

What a nightmare.

At LAT, "L.A. Unified has almost 700 unresolved complaints about broken air conditioning":

Jessica Melgoza is one of the lucky ones. A freshman at Banning High School’s new firefighter magnet, the 14-year-old has a prime seat in her English class — right in front of one of two fans.

All Los Angeles Unified School District classrooms are supposed to have working air conditioning. But as of Monday, when temperatures crept above 100 degrees by early afternoon, L.A. Unified schools had almost 700 unresolved complaints about problems with air conditioning.

Five, including two received Monday, came from Banning, located in Wilmington.

The current number of unresolved complaints is half of what the school system faced in mid-August, after school started, said Roger Finstad, L.A. Unified’s director of maintenance and operations. For the most part, the temperatures this school year have been more forgiving than last year, he said.

“For us, that’s a very modest backlog,” Finstad said. The district has about 30,000 classrooms...

Modest?

Well, I wouldn't want to see a severe backlog then. That's inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on students, inadvertently or not.

Keep reading.

Statement from Dean Melanie Wilson About Professor Glenn Reynolds's tweet

I saw this at Memeorandum yesterday, "Statement from Dean Melanie Wilson about Professor’s Tweet."

And at Instapundit, "THE UNIVERSITY ENDS ITS INVESTIGATION: “In short, no disciplinary action will be taken against Professor Reynolds. The tweet was an exercise of his First Amendment rights.” Though perhaps not the most brilliant such."

Heh, it goes with the territory these days. If you're a conservative online, and a public intellectual college professor, expect the attack mobs to come after you with 20 divisions.

More here.

Hillary Clinton Feels the Pressure

At the Hill, "Clinton feels the pressure":

Hillary Clinton is feeling the pressure in the race for the White House — even after a strong night in the first 2016 presidential debate.

Clinton has a huge staff advantage over Donald Trump, which should help her turn out supporters this fall.

The Electoral College is tilted in her favor, and demographics are moving in the Democratic Party’s direction.
She’s running to succeed a popular president who is firmly on her side, and the economy is strengthening.

She’s also running against Trump, who has divided the Republican Party while alienating large groups of Americans.

Despite all those advantages, Clinton finds herself in an excruciatingly tight race.

As recently as Aug. 27, she had a more than 6-point lead over Trump in the RealClearPolitics national average of polls after a strong stretch following the Democratic National Convention.

On Tuesday, her lead was 2.4 percentage points in RealClearPolitics national advantage.

Polls have shown Trump ahead in the swing states of Florida and Ohio, and he has at least a fighting chance in all of the other battlegrounds, from purple states such as Nevada and Virginia to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two states a Republican hasn’t won in decades.

Clinton’s team believes its candidate had a strong performance in Monday’s debate that will translate into a wider lead going into the second and third contests next month.

“The debate buoys her to the next big thing and the next debate,” said one Clinton surrogate.

They also argue that it is Trump who faces some pressure. The next presidential debate on Oct. 9 in St. Louis could be a must-win situation for the Republican.

All the same, Clinton and her supporters acknowledge they are in a dogfight over the next six weeks that could still go either way.

And they expect a fierce challenge from Trump...

Well, no one should taking it easy at this point.

More.