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Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 17, 2015 19 Comments
International support for blasphemy laws has been growing in recent years with Muslims pushing for them in Europe and Obama seemingly advocating for them at the U. N. In Quebec, a bill has been introduced that will target those who "write against the Islamic religion." Robert Spencer reports, initially quoting from The National Post:
“Bill 59 assigns new powers to the Quebec Human Rights Commission (QHRC) to combat hate speech, as well as a variety of other provisions meant to protect against extremism, by censoring speech that promotes ‘fear of the other.’ Ominously, the bill would allow the QHRC to pursue websites that in its estimation describe and denounce Islamism….Jacques Frémont, the commission’s president, explained that he planned to use the requested powers to sue those critical of certain ideas, ‘people who would write against … the Islamic religion … on a website or on a Facebook page.'”

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 16, 2015 20 Comments
While small acts of kindness from citizens can touch the lives of police officers many miles away, police officers across the country increasingly face public aggression, disrespect, and violence.  In the wake of Ferguson and the execution of police officers in NYC and across America,  America's police face an untenable situation as they attempt to do their jobs. Watch this report on police under attack: The recent attention has brought with it a heightened awareness among police officers . . . and hesitation.  An Alabama police detective, saying that he was concerned about media attention, was pistol-whipped with his own gun last week.  CNN Wire reports:
An Alabama police detective is pistol whipped with his own gun. He says the coverage of deadly police shootings across America is partly to blame.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on August 02, 2015 15 Comments
While most toddlers celebrate turning two with animated character-themed parties, some are more interested in personal injury lawyers. "Planning out Grayson’s second birthday party, Ms. Dobra chose a different theme, one that reflected her little boy’s most passionate interest: New Orleans personal injury lawyer Morris Bart," writes the Wall Street Journal. According to the WSJ:
Mr. Bart is a familiar face in Louisiana thanks to his ubiquitous TV ads and a firm motto that would make Saul Goodman proud: “One Call, That’s All!” Maybe it has to do with the flashing lights and music featured in the spots, but Grayson can’t stop watching his ads, said Ms. Dobra, a nurse from Prairieville, La. “He’s always been very drawn to Morris Bart commercials,” she told Law Blog. “He used to watch ABC and color videos, and he used to love those. But now he wants to watch Morris Bart commercials.” When they’re not on TV, he watches them on YouTube.
Inside Edition explains:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 02, 2015 44 Comments
As the Internet Mob rages against the American dentist who killed the famed lion, Cecil, there is a new potential target for its ire: The hunter's "glamourous" wife.
Tonette Palmer was formerly the vice president of a family-run import and export company although recent employment records list her as secretary for a Minneapolis real estate developer. The mother-of-two seemingly shares her husband's zeal for killing wildlife, with public records revealing that she has held as many as seven sport licenses entitling her to fish in Florida and hunt in Alaska. Her husband's numerous kills - all by bow and arrow - include a moose, a buffalo, a polar bear and a mountain lion. Their two homes are thought to be crammed with stuffed heads and mementos from his safari slaughter spree, with more items stored in his personal office at his dental surgery in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Egads! How dare this woman have hunting licenses! The piece goes on to reveal that the dentist, Walter Palmer, and his wife enjoy $1 million home filled with hunting trophies. Based on this article, the media seems to be expanding its net of outrage to include Palmer's children, too, as it describes the marriage of his daughter. Fueling the fire of environmental justice outrage that is now consuming Palmer and those close to him, the report is essentially nothing more than a caricature of a rich, selfish family completely devoid of compassion for nature.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on August 01, 2015 37 Comments
Following the shooting of Cecil the lion, the Daily Mail is reporting that his brother, Jericho, has also been shot dead by poachers in Zimbabwe:

Cecil the lion's brother Jericho has been shot dead in a park in Zimbabwe.

The animal was protecting his lion cubs after he was shot dead by Minnesota dentist, Walter Palmer earlier this month, sparking outrage around the world.

Johnny Rodrigues, Chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said in a statement: 'It is with great sadness and regret that we report that Jericho was shot dead at 4pm this afternoon.

'We have no further details but will advise as soon as we know more.'

Before his death there had been concerns Jericho would not be able to hold the territory of Cecil's cubs alone and could be chased away by rival lions.

Unprotected, the lionesses and cubs are now under threat and also move away or be killed.

Last week Mr Rodrigues, told the Daily Mail Online Jericho was keeping the cubs safe from any rival males.

Twitter is atwitter at the news:

Posted by Jay Caruso on July 31, 2015 9 Comments
The book 13 Hours, based on events on the ground in Libya on September 11, 2012 has been adapted for the big screen and the movie will be released in January, 2016. Mitchell Zuckoff, the author of the book opted, instead of trying to wrap a narrative around the book, basically just told the story of what happened on the ground, leaving politics largely out of it. The film was directed by Michael Bay which will be a departure of sorts for him. While Bay has directed fun, popcorn style action movies with lots of explosions, the subject matter here is much more delicate. It's real and four Americans were killed including the Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. The real question is: How will it be received by Democrats, particularly, Hillary Clinton? Here is the trailer:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 31, 2015 50 Comments
Though it's seemingly impossible to discuss the tragic tale of Cecil the lion without invoking a comparison war, there is an entire part of this story that those with their hair ablaze forgot to consider -- what do Zimbabwean's think? It appears I'm not the only one pondering the African perspective. While Americans are calling for the extradition of the dentist who killed Cecil the lion and the hashtag #lionlivematter was trending on social media, Zimbabwe had one question -- what lion?

Posted by Amy Miller on July 30, 2015 59 Comments
This week's collective global meltdown over the killing of Cecil the Lion has brought out the worst in both activists and everyday citizens who found themselves upset at Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer over the allegedly illegal hunt. Actress Mia Farrow tweeted Palmer's personal address. Screenshot via Twitchy: farrowtweet Other Twitter uses were quick to report the dox to the platform's support staff, prompting Farrow to delete the tweet. Instead of leaving it at that, she decided to post another tweet, this time including Palmer's business address:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 29, 2015 79 Comments

It's enough to be upset, without drawing comparisons....

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 28, 2015 24 Comments
You know what I always ask myself when considering my stance on any hot-button piece of legislation, particularly matters of national security? Gee, I wonder what Hollywood thinks. Except I don't do that because I have a brain. One that I enjoy using. But there must exist people who demand Hollywood's expertise on matters of national importance or videos like this one wouldn't exist. Utilizing one of the most annoying video formats in existence, various celebrities work together to complete a sentence. Like this one:
"I love playing frisbee with my sons. I love the sound of the waves on the Pacific at sunrise. I love curling up with a good book. I love to see my grandkids smile. But if Congress sabotages the nuclear deal with Iran, we could be denied the very moments that make our lives worth living."
minion-gifs-1

Posted by Michael Stopa on July 26, 2015 30 Comments
Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute, has made a career of painstakingly going into the police departments and town meetings and impacted urban neighborhoods to research the facts on the ground about how police practices actually affect lives. On July 21, 2015, MacDonald appeard on the Harvard Lunch Club Political podcast, hosted by radio talk show host Todd Feinberg and me.  The full 35-minute podcast segment is at the bottom of this post. MacDonald spoke out against the crippling influence that the "Black Lives Matter" movement is having on the quality of life in the very neighborhoods where the protests are taking place:
I think this is an even more extreme example of the way this country deals with race and policing, which is to talk fanatically about police in order not to talk about the far more difficult problem of black crime.
Proactive policing practices have been the target of protests against "police racism." Speaking about this so-called "broken windows" method of policing, where police detain perpetrators for minor, quality of life violations like turnstile jumping or loitering and smoking weed, MacDonald notes:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 26, 2015 4 Comments
Amidst the Confederate battle flag hoopla, the KKK and the New Black Panther Party held dueling protests at South Carolina's capitol. From the chaos, a hero emerged. A hero bearing a sousaphone. Following KKK members to their rally, this might be the best example of real life trolling on the Internet:

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on July 25, 2015 8 Comments
The failure of the Occupy movement was epic in its crash-and-burn in the wake of "occupiers" pooping on cop cars, establishing rape safety tents, displaying food privilege, and being infested with rats and disease.  As amusing as the "up and down twinkles" and mindless, robotic repetition of speakers were, the failure of the Occupy movement is worth revisiting in light of its offshoot the #BlackLivesMatter movement. One of the reasons the left was so incensed by the TEA Party, and worried enough to come after us by any means necessary, is that we are a genuine grassroots, populist movement.  While they publicly railed against our successes and worked to ridicule and bully us into submission, they were always working away at trying to duplicate (i.e. manufacture) our efforts.

Occupy is still touted as "populist," an astonishing claim that is easily refuted in that it was a clearly top-down movement funded and organized by the usual suspects.  Likewise, we know that Ferguson was another crisis the left couldn't let go to waste, so the usual suspects hired and bused in race agitators, union members, communists, anarchists, et al.   These are all the same big players in the background, pulling the strings, and they have one goal in mind, a goal that Andrew Breitbart saw for what it was:

https://twitter.com/AndrewBreitbart/status/120953881818701824

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 20, 2015 20 Comments
On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 space capsule landed on the moon. As I related last year:
I was at summer camp in New Hampshire. They brought us into the rec hall where a couple hundred of us stared, bleary-eyed, at a single black and white monitor. They said we would remember this all our lives. And I do. It’s as if it happened yesterday.
Six hours later, on July 21 (UTC/GMT), Neil Armstrong would be the first man to step foot on the moon:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 17, 2015 40 Comments
Last night, a writer at Gawker outed and gay-shamed someone at the behest of an unnamed (for his safety!) source. It was a story steeped in sex, fame, cash, and blackmail, which made it a perfect target for today's salacious clickbait culture. Today, Gawker's managing partners voted 5-1 (with the lone dissenter being the editor who approved the story) to take the story down---but the damage has already been done. Sorry, Nick Denton---you don't get to take this one back. (The link above is a web archive link; if you wish to read their hit job, you can click knowing that you won't be giving Gawker any traffic.) Long story short, Gawker allegedly received a series of text messages and photos showing a planned liaison between Condé Nast CFO David Geithner (his name sounds familiar because he's Tim Geithner's brother) and a gay porn star and escort. Gawker claims that the escort, whose story is told under the pseudonym "Ryan," sent them the photos and text messages after Geithner (who is married to a woman) was unable to meet him as planned during a Chicago business trip. Major money was involved: $2500 plus airfare for "Ryan's" plane ticket from Texas to Chicago. Geithner forwarded a chunk of the cash to "Ryan" in advance, and sent his photo and lodging plans to "Ryan" via text:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 16, 2015 23 Comments
The video below was posted by Ed Driscoll at Instapundit, with the comment:
THIS CHILLING VIDEO MIGHT MAKE YOU KICK YOUR KIDS OUT OF THE HOUSE — TO PLAY OUTSIDE
It's one of the more depressing statements about what has happened to childhood. I don't want to turn this into one of those "When I was a kid, I had to walk 4 hours to school..." type of things. It's just the opposite. It's about the freedom we had. To fall. To bump our heads. To compete. To get physical. "Just be home by dinner" used to be the norm, now it could get a parent arrested or get child services involved. Something very important was lost along the way.

Posted by Amy Miller on July 14, 2015 24 Comments
Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced that he is taking steps to reverse a longstanding ban on open military service by transgender people. Carter said that he has asked a panel of senior Pentagon officials to study the affect transgender service members will have on military procedure, as well as what it will take to adapt current procedures to accommodate the new policy. More via CNN:
Carter made the announcement in a memo outlining a pair of directives to both study the effect of transgender service men and women over the next sixth months, as well as adding the new protocol that any personnel diagnosed with gender dysphoria or who identify as transgender will have their paperwork for dismissal from the military reviewed at the highest personnel levels in DOD. "At a time when our troops have learned from experience that the most important qualification for service members should be whether they're able and willing to do their job, our officers and enlisted personnel are faced with certain rules that tell them the opposite," Carter wrote in his statement. "Moreover, we have transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines - real, patriotic Americans - who I know are being hurt by an outdated, confusing, inconsistent approach that's contrary to our value of service and individual merit."
Get prepared for a blitz, because the mainstream media is excited:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 12, 2015 3 Comments
Comedy Central's Key & Peele began Season 5 by having a little fun with the Obama Administration. Key and Peele describe their show as:
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are the stars of Key & Peele, a show that examines life in a distinctively provocative and irreverent way. Whether it's anger-translating the president, spoofing Nazis or ordering up some soul food, Key & Peele showcases the guys' camaraderie and unique point of view, born from their experiences growing up biracial in a not-quite-post-racial world.
In a fictitious meeting between President Obama and Mrs. Clinton, each brings an Anger Translator. Their function? To translate the diplomatic b.s. into what they're really saying. President Obama's Anger Translator is Luther and Mrs. Clinton's is Savannah: The profanity-laced (but bleeped out) meeting began nice enough:
Obama: “It’s always good to see you.” Luther (Translation): “I pretended to like you for seven years!” Clinton: “Good to see you too, Mr. President.” Savannah (Translation): “My hatred for you is a pure force of nature that is going to move me onward to my destiny.”
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