ASSOCIATED PRESS: Iran tests suicide drone in military drill. Suicide drone? What, does it carry bomb-laden terrorists under its wings?

THOMAS SOWELL: Are facts obsolete? In the progressive 'reality world', yes, they are. "Narratives" don't contain facts....

IOWA: another ObamaCare failure.

PROGRESSIVES AT WORK: Anti-gun 'public service announcement' encourages kids to become criminals.

VERMONT TO ABANDON its single-payer health care plan. Megan McArdle has much more.

When money talks, governments (sometimes) listen....

WHAT HAPPENS when an anti-police protest goes awry -- the protestors call 911.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from Thomas Sowell. Here are a few:

If anyone in the mainstream media is at a loss for what New Year's resolution to make, try this: Stop "spinning" or censoring stories about race, and try telling the plain truth, if only for the novelty of it.

Republicans complain when Democrats call them racists. But when have you ever heard a Republican counterattack? You don't win by protesting your innocence or whining about the unfairness of the charge. Yet when have you heard a Republican reply by saying, "You're a lying demagogue without a speck of evidence. Put up or shut up!"

Has anyone asked the question, "How could so many people across the country spend so much time at night marching, rioting and looting, if they had to get up and go to work the next morning?"

Read the rest.

MINIMUM WAGE LOOPHOLE written to help labor unions. Even unions understand economics 101: "When something gets more expensive, people tend to buy less of it."

Although making non-union labor more expensive seems counterintuitive to the union workers' best interest....

BEWARE! THEY'RE COMING FOR US NEXT: Ancient Martian civilization wiped out by nuclear-bomb-wielding aliens.

FINAL VOYAGE: Navy pays one cent to scrap aircraft carrier.

That's a lot of razor blades in a time when so few men (including myself) use razors.

LIFE IN THE PROGRESSIVE REPUBLIC: Gun deaths of police officers jump 56 percent in 2014. Thank President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Geese flying south cause winter.

CHEER UP: The pessimists are wrong and America's future is bright.

Jeff Jacoby looks back and comes to the same conclusion.

NO. NEXT QUESTION? Will Obama find his inner Clinton?

Obama's about to find out that Americans can get along just fine without a President.

CENSUS BUREAU: Florida, North Carolina up a peg; New York, Michigan down. Just verifies what my wife, a Florida cracker, has known for years -- all 'native Floridians' originate in either Michigan or New York. (She was born in New York.)

HISTORY REPEATS: just not soon enough.

THE SHEER PETTINESS OF THE LEFT: Architect demands his association prohibit designing torture chambers.

CHRISTMASTIME: then and now. George W. Bush is a better man than Barack Obama can ever be....

CAN'T FIND ANY CRAZY DEMOCRATS? Let me help.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the road: Every time I see a 'baby on board' sticker on a car window I know the 'baby' is in the driver's seat.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS as edited by a social justice warrior.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Living large in a shrinking cocoon.

THAT'S SO-O-O 70'S: White House Science Advisor says man-made global warming saving us from another ice age.

History repeats every few generations....

PITY THE poor feminists on Christmas Day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Apollo 8:

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

THE BIG LIE of the anti-police Left.

A SOLDIER'S CHRISTMAS:



Enough said.

MICHAEL BARONE:

Historically, universities and colleges saw themselves as havens of free speech and fair play, insulated from the larger society to protect those things from interference. Now they insulate themselves in order to violate due process, suppress speech and discriminate by race.

But it's for society's good....

SAVING NASA: the new space rescue mission.

LIBERALS LIED, cops died.

JUST-IN-TIME MANUFACTURING: NASA 'emails' a socket wrench to the International Space Station.

PENTAGON: Santa has been cleared for sleigh travel over U.S. airspace tonight.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, FIDEL: Too bad about your citizens, though.

WHICH POLITICIANS deserve coal this Christmas? Actually none of them ... a lump of coal is far too valuable to waste on a mere politician.

ENJOY THIS CHRISTMAS LIGHTS DISPLAY honoring the men and women in uniform who have served so we can all celebrate the season.

FRUITS OF THE POISONOUS TREE: It’s going to get ugly in New York.

A CHRISTMAS PRESENT courtesy of ObamaCare.

The gift that keeps on giving taking.

ERIC HOLDER: Crossdressing is protected under Federal law.

Kiddies, meet your new kindergarten teacher....

OBAMA SIGNS BROAD ISRAEL PARTNERSHIP BILL, but vows to ‘interpret’ according to his policy. Why does he bother to veto bills, when he intends to enforce only those parts that please him?

THE COST OFADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNMENT OVERHEAD: The decline of the independent doctor.

NRO's JIM GERAGHTY on shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater.

LIBERALS' LAMENT.

THE RAND/RUBIO 'FIGHT': Paul is losing.

POWERLINE'S cancel the Interview week in pictures is up. My favorite is obviously the "Is there anything duct tape can't do?" one.

But I also liked this comment by Steven Hayward on President Obama's final 2014 press conference:

Most observers thought he was confusing Franco with the Baltimore Ravens QB, but I think Obama had “flaccid” on his mind, since it describes his response.

Perhaps Hans & Franz from the State Farm insurance commercials could be brought in to
'pump him up'.

TWEET OF THE DAY: “We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the US.” - B. Obama

SO WHERE ARE THEY? If you were a 'superintelligent machine', why would you bother with mere humans?

OBAMA TAKES QUESTIONS only from female reporters [at his final 2014 press conference]. As opposed to the usual eunuchs.

No need for 'comfyballs' in the White House press room.

ON OBAMA'S END-OF-YEAR PRESS CONFERENCE: "It’s not surprising that Obama doesn’t welcome the Republican-controlled Congress arriving in January. It is a bit surprising how little he thinks it matters."

PIPELINE PUSHBACK: Obama claims Keystone would benefit Canada more than the U.S. So? Is that any way to treat a friend?

FROM MY EMAIL: Lessons in management.

Lesson 1: A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.

The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel..'

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?'

'It was Bob the next door neighbor,' she replies. 'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?'

Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2: A priest offered a nun a lift.

She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.

The priest nearly had an accident.

After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg..

The nun said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'

The priest removed his hand but, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'

The priest apologized 'Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.'

Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, 'Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.'

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3: A sales rep, an administrative clerk, and their manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.

They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."

"Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. "'I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world."

Puff! She's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life."

Puff! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4: An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.

A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?"
The eagle answered: "Sure, why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5:

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

"I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree" sighed the turkey "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.


And finally, my favorite lesson, because it has multiple morals:

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend..
(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

GRUBER'S OBAMACARE: Adding chocolate to the Ex-Lax.

I remember chocolate Ex-Lax. Sh*t tasted better.

BECAUSE OF FRAUD in Medicare and Medicaid, Uncle Sam is now the biggest illicit drug dealer in the country.

Surprised? I'm not.

PRIVACY & SAFETY CONCERNS: Americans skeptical of commercial drones. Personally I think the privacy and safety concerns are overblown. But I also think that commercial market for drones is overblown as well -- at least until drone traffic can be fully automated into some kind of airway traffic structure. And that's still a ways off.

CONGRESSMAN MIKE KELLY (R-PA) has a lump of coal for Barack Obama’s Christmas stocking. It would be well-deserved except that coal is valuable.

SPACE-BASED SOLAR: the energy of the future?

It's back to the future, 1970's edition. Powersats as they were known then have been around the science fiction circles for many years, but there were serious studies and proposals in the mid-70's. It's clear from this article that in the intervening 40 years not much has changed.

COLLEGE CAMPUSES: 'Feelings'-based tyranny.

LET’S HAVE A NATIONAL CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE — so we can figure out whom to fire. That's easy; fire every Democrat in public office....

SEEN ON AN ELECTRICIAN'S T-SHIRT:

Resistance isn't futile
It's voltage divided by current

A little electrical humor....

SECRET SERVICE: We’re gonna need a bigger fence.

Actually we need a bigger President.

MICRO-AGGRESSION DEFINED: "[A] micro-aggression is an affront — real or imagined for the sake of being affronted — so trivial that few stable adults would notice it and none would give it a second thought."

Harvard is more proof that progressives are -- at best -- only marginally sane.

OOPS! Denver Craigslist robbery thwarted by man with concealed carry. Dang those good guys with weapons....

NYC MAYOR DE BLASIO named PETA's Person of the Year. Chuck didn't get to vote....

THE UNAFFORDABLE CARE ACT: Health-care cost pressures increasing on Americans. It'll get worse before it gets better -- if it gets better.

WAITING FOR the other shoe to drop....

KEEPING AL SHARPTON BUSY: The next Michael Brown. Put Sharpton in jail, which he so richly deserves, and much of this will go away.

ANN COULTER: One in five people who write for Rolling Stone are morons. That few?

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION: "Hail to the Redskins."

Heh.

THE CENSUS BUREAU wants to stop tracking marriage and its effect on the U.S. Yes, let's further marginalize those [mostly white, probably Christian, probably child-laden] married couples. They're screwing up our diversity.

JUST DESSERTS: Mosquitos that breed year-round infest Manhattan's Upper West Side.

DEMOCRATS TO COLBERT: Thanks for your help! I suspect this may be the reason why the 'cromnibus' included this campaign finance change provision.

THE CUCKOO'S NEST: A private social club for Silicon Valley venture capitalistss and entrepreneurs.

On the bright side, they got the name right.

MARGINALIZING THE ALREADY MARGINALIZED: Washington Examiner columnist Ashe Schow is doing real feminism a great service.

IT'S AGAINST THE LAW: But it didn't stop the NRLB from filing charges anyway.

UCLA PROFESSOR: Without media bias the average US state would vote like Texas or Tennessee (Video).



Professor Groseclose's Political Quotient quiz is here. I scored 4.16, just barely to the left of Michelle Bachmann. Obviously I'm one of those 'knuckle-dragging Neanderthals' the Left is always complaining about.

THE OBAMAS, racism, and the rest of us:

[F]or the perpetually aggrieved, sometimes honest mistakes are presumptive evidence of invidious discrimination.

We can only hope that one day Mr. Obama will be mistaken for the president of the United States of America. So far, he’s given precious little indication he understands that’s what he was elected to be.

No one would ever mistake him for President of the United States.

DON SURBER: New York returns to the 19th century.

I fully expect Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo to follow through on this [ban on fracking] by banning all use of oil and natural gas as a means of keeping the evil spirits from rising elsewhere.

A return to wood stoves would promote the renewable energy that trees provide. OK, you would probably deplete the forests of New York in one winter, but a few years of cold while you await the regrowth of the forests is a small price to pay for keeping the evil spirits at bay.

Likewise, Mayor DeBlasio will have to rescind his ban on horse-drawn carriages if New York is going to keep moving. The return of electric streetcars would help, provided the electricity is generated by hydro or wooden wind turbines because we cannot extract the ores for metal, lest we disturb the undergrounnd gods. Coal, and uranium for nuclear use are also out.

Dried manure burns; not well - and it smells - but it does burn.

WHEN FACED WITH A SPINELESS CONGRESS, YES: Can [the Emperor] Obama lift the Cuba embargo alone?

CNN’S GLORIA BORGER: Obama is basically Superman. Is that better than being Emperor?

THIS WOULD BE 'HEH' WORTHY IF IT WASN'T TRUE: "Eric Holder called us a nation of cowards, but Barack Obama made us one."

U.S. PATENT & TRADEMARK OFFICE: No, you can't have 'comfyballs'.

Oh, poo.

JACK DUNPHY: Eric Garner sealed his own fate.

PRIVATE SPACE HABITAT to blow up on ISS next year. But it's not a BOOM!-type blowup....

STUDYING ABROAD in Cuba is about to get easier.

Two thoughts, both good: (1) the U.S. will get rid of some wannabe communists; and (2) the smarter ones may come back sadder but wiser.

DO TELL: Some economists see a link between the scarcity of start-ups and the rise in influence-peddling.

LAUGH AT A LIBERAL. "But don’t touch. The brain-eating alien worm larvae might be transmitted through skin contact."

Sound advice.

NASA LAUNCHES STUDY for Skunk Works SR-72 concept. It's an extension of an earlier unmanned concept.

GOOD QUESTION: "[H]ow can one support an environment that enacts idiot laws that should be enforced with 'whatever force is necessary' yet believe there is a problem with the way police interact with citizens?"

FEDERAL DISASTER SPENDING SPIRALS, and FEMA has no plan to control it. Why should it, when its sole purpose is spending our money to foster more Government dependency?

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane. Someday I'd like to keep track of how many times I open/close doors for the cats, but I don't think there are that many numbers.

YES, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus.

NASA STUDY proposes airships amd cloud cities for Venus exploration. They're a day late and a dollar short; it was a story in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact at least 10 years ago.

VERMONT IS GIVING UP on single-payer health care. The reason? Ballooning costs.

If you like tax increases, you can keep your single-payer health care.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PROFESSOR: "It's okay to hate Republicans." And Fox News is to blame.

I can almost agree with her on the Fox News part, since it was established, at least in part, in reaction to the mainstream media's pervasive liberal bias.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Epitaph for Hope and Change.

In the end, the epitaph of the Obama administration will be written that it really did “fundamentally transform America” — though in ways that Barack Obama would have hardly wished.

Sad, but true.

LOS ANGELES’ HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE for hotel workers is really a tax on non-union labor.

And a gold mine for union dues....

IT'S NOT OUR CARS: Squirrels, beavers, and other rodents are causing global warming/climate change/climate disruption.

HOW A SEMI-AUTOMATIC HANDGUN WORKS: Model 1911 .45 caliber.

RAAAACISM! Barack and Michelle tell their stories of oppression.

Linked from Instapundit.

IS OBAMA destroying the Russian economy?

Well, he's sure as hell destroying our economy. Might as well let him spread the 'wealth' around....

PROJECT SILENT NEMO: It's a shark! It's a tuna!. No, it's a spyfish.



The Ghost Swimmer unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) undergoes testing during an event at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek - Fort Story, Virginia.

DUNEBOGGLE IS A BOONDOGGLE: Creating malarial swamps in New Jersey.

But, but ... the 'duneboggle' was planned and created by government experts.

SNOWMAGEDDON: Five years ago today. We're much better prepared today than we were then, but still I rather the next one wait until we've left for sunnier southern climes....

MCDONALDS POLLUTION: The Left mourns the possible end of Cuban poverty. "Keeping brown people in grinding poverty is a small price to pay for autenticidad, no?"

WHITE HOUSE AIDES: Obama feels liberated and ready to be the president emperor he always wanted to be.

There. The lede is fixed. Now go read about the new Emperor's (heh) 'legacy'.

INSTAPUNDIT: "[W]hile corruption may be bad for countries, it’s good for the political class."

ANDREW KLAVAN: Meh! to the Sony hack-attack.

GLOBAL WARMING: Another reason not to diet.

NEW POLL: Obama isn't getting the message from the mid-term election.

Oh, he got the message all right -- from the 60% of voters who didn't bother to vote.

SNATCHING DEFEAT FROM JAWS OF VICTORY: Obama is an expert at losing negotiations from a position of strength.

HOW TO BE STUPID in one easy lesson: read Paul Krugman.

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST: The European Space Agency’s ministerial meeting and the maiden flight of NASA’s Orion deep-space capsule capped a topsy-turvy 2014 — a year marked by controversy and failures — on a positive note.

NOTE TO WANNABE ROBBERS: Your next 'victim' may be armed.

LOSE WEIGHT: take deep breaths and exhale.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SECURITY: How not to be Sony pictures.

THE CANDY BOMBER: Tom Brokaw narrates. Just in time for Christmas.

ASTRONAUTS NOT NEEDED: Russia confirms it is considering its own space station.

More here.

ME TOO! ME TOO!

[C]ould some InstaPundit reader who works on Capitol Hill insert language in the next debacle of a bill that retroactively frees me of income tax back to 2010, and gives me the right to commandeer federal jets for my personal travel? I’d kind of fancy taking Air Force One on one of my dive trips. Also, I’ll bet that would encourage better oversight in the future. . . .

I'll settle for the reduced tax liability. Instapundit can keep Air Force One (it's too high mileage to be worth very much).

JLENS [JOINT LAND ATTACK CRUISE MISSILE DEFENSE ELEVATED NETTED SENSOR] put on display ahead of a three-year test in the Washington DC area.

JLENS should be “five to seven times less” expensive than utilizing a fleet of aircraft to complete the same function.... [T]he American Civil Liberties Union in Maryland said that there are privacy concerns even though JLENS only has radar and no cameras.

And yet the ACLU has no concerns with the manned aircraft currently surveilling the area? Interesting comment, that.

JUST WHEN YOU THINK the Left can't possibly get any dumber ... they prove you wrong again.

FUR PERSONS: It's been a while, so I thought I'd post pictures of the cats who own us. Here's Shadow. He's the patriarch of the family, doing his 'Snoopy the vulture' pose.

This is Shadow's sister Daisy, on her favorite blanket.

And Diamond, doing what she does best, sleeping on our her bed.

And finally, Rusty, in his 'condominium' by the window.

Rusty is the 'baby' of the family, even though he is the largest of the four.

YES, AS A MATTER OF FACT I do own Hollywood.

Cowards.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Are drone strikes more defensible than torture enhanced interrogation techniques?

SO WHERE ARE those little green men hiding?

THE OBAMA RULE: Can I get away with it? Since Congress has proven to be spineless, sure.

RETIREMENT in the 21st century.

MYTH OF THE YEAR: The benefits of e-cigarettes outweighs the harms. Except that it's not a myth: it seems very likely that the benefits of e-cigs will easily outweigh the harms.

NO. NEXT QUESTION. Did Ted Cruz really bungle the lame-duck session for Republicans?

CLIFF MAY: America needs its rough men.

REASON TV: School choice and regulatory creep.

I PREFER TAR & FEATHERS: The bipartisan plan to end IRS stealing.

ANYONE BUT JEB BUSH? Pretty much. PowerLine is down on Jeb Bush's potential candidacy, and refers to this recent Instapundit post:

Jeb’s a nice guy, and would certainly be a better President than Obama — but, then, my cat would be a better President than Obama, and I don’t own a cat.

So I checked with Diamond, and she tells me she's still open to a draft movement.

'PRO-GOVERNMENT' MILLENNIALS take Government jobs, discover they suck and move to the private sector.

I realized that way back in 1970.

GOVERNMENT AT ITS FINEST: Die early.

PRIORITIES: Obama adminstration tasks healthcare facilities with focusing more on ... climate change.

How much more proof do you need to understand that our governing class is completely loony tunes?

HEH: You may be healthier if you are a 'political extremist'. If that's the case, I must be the healthiest man alive....

POWERLINE: Why the Freedom of Information Act is virtually worthless. "[A] cynical determination to run out the clock, combined with the federal government’s infinite litigation budget, can prevent damaging information from coming to light for years. There might be effective remedies for Executive Branch corruption, but the Freedom of Information Act is not among them."

ANOTHER EXPLANATION for why men are leaving college campuses in droves.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON on the resemblance of academia to California: "Traditional campuses are becoming like California, where those who got tired of paying high taxes and getting poor services with lots of psychological abuse simply left. Those who remained were mostly the very wealthy and the very poor."

THEY'RE NEITHER PEACEFUL NOR PROTESTORS: 'Peaceful' protesters block, damage Oakland police station.

A SHORT 'GOOD NEWS' POST: Animal Thieves.

THOMAS SOWELL: Tortured reasoning.

If you knew that there was a hidden nuclear time bomb planted somewhere in New York City -- set to go off today -- and you had a captured terrorist who knew where and when, would you not do anything whatever to make him tell you where and when? Would you pause to look up the definition of "torture"? Would you even care what the definition of "torture" was, when the alternative was seeing millions of innocent people murdered?

Only an idiot -- or a liberal -- would worry about torture in the immediacy of a crisis.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane: If you're smart, become a businessman. If you're stupid, become a politician. If you're too stupid to be a politician, become an academic.

ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will drop off an unmanned Dragon spacecraft in orbit and send it on its way to the International Space Station. Then, if all goes well, the rocket's first stage will turn around, fly itself back to Earth, and, if all goes well, land on this platform floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

Read more here.

RED AMERICA, BLUE AMERICA: if only it could be so....

MARTHA MCSALLY wins Arizona's 2nd Congressional district. I'm pleased,but as an
experienced A-10 combat pilot, she may be more needed in Iraq and Syria.

THE "I CAN'T BREATHE" T-SHIRT we've all been waiting for.

GREEN HYPERBOLE: Cities are 'heat islands' that kill people unless global warming.

The problem is acute in Louisville [KY]. A 2012 study from the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that 39 people die every year in Louisville from heat-related causes. That means that a city with .2 percent of the U.S. population experiences roughly 6 percent of heat-related deaths every year. The problem is only likely to get worse. Unless Louisville’s warming trend is reversed, the cumulative death toll could reach 18,000 by the end of this century—a projection that far exceeds that for any other city.

Umm, the average high temperature in Louisville, KY, during the months of June, July, and August is 87 degrees. The city averages just one day a year when a daytime high reaches into the 100s.

In Venice, FL, the summer average high is 90 degrees; in Austin, TX, it is 95 degrees. Phoenix, AZ, a mere 104 degrees. How many people do those 'heat islands' kill every year?

Idiots.

AT $1/GALLON, THAT'S ALMOST THE NATIONAL DEBT: California needs 11 trillion gallons of water to recover from drought.

THOMAS SOWELL: here be voter fraud.

WHY GUN-CONTROL ADVOCATES lie about guns. The facts aren’t on their side.

THE NEW YORK TIMES needs a paywall. To hide their incompetence.

SCOTT OTT: An exclusive interview with Allah.

ROGER SIMON on the film industry. Liberal lemmings. Rabid liberal lemmings. Stupid rabid liberal lemmings.

WE HAVE an extensive list of things caused by global warming/climate change/climate disruption (your choice); now we know what causes global warming/climate change/climate disruption -- racism.

Which in turn is a smoke-screen for white privilege.

HE'S CONSERVATIVE - AND A MUSLIM - so his opinions must necessarily produce 'existential worry' in the minds of the precious liberal flowers at the University of Michigan.

THEY'VE HAD HOW MANY YEARS TO GET IT RIGHT? Health insurers extend premium deadlines due to chronic back-end exchange issues.

E-CIGARETTES now have teens smoking less tobacco than ever. So let's ban them.

WELCOME BACK, PRETTY LADY: The A-10 carries out its first airstrikes against the Islamic State.

[T]he A-10s had arrived at an undisclosed base in the region ... and will support Operation Inherent Resolve – the mission against the Islamic State – and other operations in the region. The jets will be part of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Group.... The unit has a long history of combat operations, and worked from an air base in southwest Asia in 2011 to provide support to U.S. troops in Iraq....

WE KNOW where the Wild Things come from. So why let them in?

MEGAN KELLY: Angry CIA interrogator James Mitchell lashes out at partisan Senate report. There are two videos. Watch them both.

MORE PROOF THAT TAXES ARE TOO HIGH: National Institutes of Health has spent $100M on mindfulness meditation.

PUNCHING BACK: Tea Party mom wins lawsuit after being arrested for her beliefs.

More please.

HIGHER EDUCATION TODAY: A race to the bottom, between the vicious and the trivial.

LIBERALISM: When you find yourself in a deep hole keep digging. The rest of us will watch and laugh at you.

BAIL-OUT POLITICS is still with us.

BEHOLD THE BROKEN MORAL VALUE SYSTEM of the Occupy crowd.

Well, they got half their wish: a thousand lazy bums living off my tax dollars.

WHEN 'JUSTICE' TRUMPS ACCURACY, journalism loses. More than journalism. The American people lose.

THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE and pothole detection agency. Still, it's an interesting idea.

WELL, WE ELECTED AN UNQUALIFIED PRESIDENT: Unqualified nominees get their jobs --- thanks to Harry Reid.

An unqualified Senator....

I HOPE HE HAS TENURE: Oberlin College prof won’t delay exams for students ‘traumatized’ by Brown and Garner stories. His answer is a marvel of brevity.

NEVER HAPPEN: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe wants to bring back handgun restrictions. He's simply trying to pay off his big-ticket financial contributers.

YOUR COAL-POWERED CAR may not be so green after all.

ANTI-POLICE PROTESTERS HAVE FOUND THEIR ENEMY, and they are us.

Even when protesters aren’t burning out buildings (as they did repeatedly in Ferguson), even when they haven’t broken windows (as they have in Oakland and Berkeley), they have closed down intersections and bridges. In other words, even when they have been “peaceful,” the protests have involved coercion and illegal acts.

Given the events of the past two weeks, you could be forgiven for thinking that the reason President Barack Obama says there is an infrastructure crisis in this country is that there aren’t enough bridges and tunnels for anti-police protesters to block.

Apologies to Pogo for the lede.

ARE 'FEELIES' coming to a movie theater near you? Maybe sooner than you think....

AND YOU WONDER WHY the Democrats lost the South? Wonder no more.

FEDERAL JUDGE: Obama’s executive amnesty is unconstitutional.

If politics were baseball, Obama would have struck out again. It's a pity 'innings' last 4 years no matter how many times he strikes out.

SHOULD DOGS [AND CATS] BE CITIZENS? It’s not as crazy as you think. Oh, yes it is.

My cats, for one, would be offended to have their status lowered to mere citizenship. They would secede from the union if not allowed to own slaves....

EMOTIONAL TRAUMA takes a hit: "Special, delicate snowflake wants you to stop laughing at him."

I wonder if he realizes that it will be difficult to pay off his student loans when no law firm will hire him....

MARK STEYN: explains political correctness.

Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.

Advancing the narrative is akin to "setting fire to truth, and justice, and civilization."

ELIZABETH WARREN: Our first Native American president?

SARAH PALIN hunts feral hogs. World ends for Bambi lovers.

As a former Texan, I can attest that Jazz Shaw is exactly right. Feral pigs are large, aggressive, and downright mean. They're also not easy to kill.

350 LB WOMAN: I'm obese because I don't get enough taxpayer money. Look at the contents of her pantry.

BOZO FOOD: the bulletproof coffee diet. Well, it might explain why the New York Times lacks the basic competence to put out a newspaper.

CROOKS VS. LOONS: The Democrats' post-Obama 'Family Feud'.

OH, MY: Democrat lawmaker may commute to work from jail.

AS OF LAST FRIDAY: "It’s been 42 years since Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan climbed up the ladder of his lunar module, leaving the final human footprint in a patch of lunar soil."

It's time to go again.

GOOD NEWS FROM CONGRESS: "It turns out the $1.1 trillion Christmas Tree -- er, budget -- Congress passed over the weekend isn't all pork barrels and cave-ins to President Obama."

SMALL BUSINESS REGULATIONS: Obama red tape exceeds Bush level.

Even the Bush level regulations were excessive....

EARLIER TODAY I suggested that the Democrat party should be renamed the Childrens' party. This video, however, suggests that I should have picked one of my more obvious alternatives:



Sen. Chris Murphy (D[umb]-CT) appears to be unaware that the Sydney killer, along with his fellow traveler in the Navy Yard killing, used an ordinary, run-of-the-mill shotgun.

FROM MY EMAIL:

Now let me see if I have this right. The family situation is so unstable, 'Junior' doesn't even know where to send a Father's Day card. There's no guidance or discipline in the home. Junior gets dumped into the education system where he is socially promoted because the overwhelmed school district can't deal with the undisciplined whelp. Junior's major formative influences are 'gangsta' rap videos and a corresponding peer group of gangsta wannabes.

At age 18, Junior is turned loose on society carrying a bad attitude, a broken compass and little respect for authority. Junior gets himself in big trouble with the law and meets dire consequences. Then, the situational diagnosis is that the police need more training and understanding.

Pardon me for asking, but do you really believe that bullshit?

But, but ... he's a victim don'cha see?

IT'S NOT TOO LATE:

Get your subsidy now....

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane. Given the ongoing meltdown of Democrats during and after the mid-term elections, perhaps it's time to consider renaming their party. "Dimocrats" and "Dumbocrats" come easily to mind. "Flat Out Bonkers" is descriptive, but the more I think about it, "Children's" party seems right. It accurately describes the whining, foot-stomping, and tantrums and, on the positive side, children have been known to grow up.

Any other suggestions?

WILL THE LAST DEMOCRAT please turn out the lights?

SURPRISED? Obama's 2014 year of redemption didn't quite go as planned. Prediction: the door to 'out' will be slammed on his backside multiple times over the next two years.

CHUCK SCHUMER: Elizabeth Warren is no Ted Cruz. Of course not; she's a Democrat and Democrats can't be criticized.

YOU'RE WELCOME: Under Obama, the wealth gap widens between whites and minorities.

On the bright side, President Obama has succeeded in increasing the size of the Democrat plantation....

QUESTION: Why aren't millennials spending? Answer: They're broke.

JEFF JACOBY: The U.S. is still #1 in all that matters.

But the Obama administration is doing its level best to change that....

NYC MAYOR DEBLASIO gets a vote of confidence from the police union.

Sarcasm intended.

MORE PROOF PROGRESSIVES ARE NUTS: Seven Insane Christmas Shopping Tips from the PC Police.

THE ONLY REASON to assume the government hasn't shut down is that politicians are still getting paid.

PROGRESSIVES: "They're just not making [up] reality they way they used to."

More on the moonbattery from PowerLine.

FIRST IT WAS RACISM; then it was feminism; now it's "partyism":

Partyism’ is a form of hostility and prejudice that operates across political lines. For example, some Republicans have an immediate aversive reaction to Democrats, so much so that they would discriminate against them in hiring or promotion decisions, or in imposing punishment.

Let's face it; progressives are nuts.

MORE ON RACISM: Why does the government hate Indians Native Americans?

VODKAPUNDIT: Racism is still a Lefty pastime.

PERHAPS AFTER HE'S FULLY (FINALLY?) RETIRED, Obama can become an ESPN sports commentator....

JUAN WILLIAMS: White liberal hypocrisy revealed in all its glory. Williams is an honest liberal, which is probably why he was fired from NPR.

SLATE: There’s no way Bush and Cheney didn’t know about the CIA'S EIT program.

Since both former President Bush and former Vice President Cheney have both stated that they knew and approved of the 'enhanced interrogation techniques' from the outset, this article appears to be Slate's attempt to assure that moron remains firmly established within the bounds of the word 'oxymoron'.

ENHANCED TECHNIQUES WORK: The truth about interrogation.

Jason Beale's report is here.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES is up this morning. Given Sen. Diane Feinstein's "Torture Report", this has to be the picture of the week:

There are many more; all are good, most are funny. Go view them.

THE STUPID, it is strong here. And getting stronger, and not just in Sweden.

INSTAPUNDIT: Not a formula for progress.

The Greens and the Luddites got power, just as Nixon initiated the Regulatory Explosion that brought us OSHA, EPA, and various new regulatory regimes, even as money was being diverted to transfer payments to people who didn’t produce anything except votes — from funding the X-15 to funding Section 8.

Instapundit summarized well; now go read the rest.

POWERLINE on 'knowable unknowables'.

MEDICAID IS BROKEN and expansion won't fix it. What isn't mentioned is that the same is becoming true of Medicare as well.

AMMO GRRRLL returns with a welcome to Planet Diversity.

UNEXPECTEDLY, OF COURSE: Obama opens fraud-ridden benefits programs to illegal immigrants.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Obamacare is working so well it should probably be renamed. 'Edsel' comes to mind....

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Congress can pull back the REINS on Washington. And it's well past time to do so.

CIRCLE DANCING: I prefer to think of it as a circular firing squad.

THE ONLY REASON I'd post about Lena Dunham is to emphasize my belief that a huge mistake was made when states began closing their insane asylums.

CROMNIBUS PASSES, bursts at the seams with special-interest goodies. We've had six years of 'Obamnibus' appropriation bills; it's well past time to go back to the regular order of appropriating/authorizing for each department individually.

FOCUS ON BETA MALES: Lumbersexuality and Its Discontents. They could try, you know, actually becoming alpha males instead of play-acting some silly fantasy that has zero basis in the real world.

OBAMACARE is bad economics as well as bad healthcare.

A.B. STODDARD: Democrats sick of ObamaCare. You guys bought a poison pill; now be be good little boys and girls and swallow it.

KEEP TRYING, ELIZABETH: I look forward to the next government shutdown being blamed on Democrats.

Doug Powers agrees: "What's Cherokee for 'flip-flop'?"

A METAPHOR for the Democrat and Republican parties. Guess who's the Democrat....

WHY IT'S BETTER TO GO WITHOUT HEALTH 'INSURANCE': Cuomo to order NY insurers to cover transgender surgeries.

I’M AN OBAMA SUPPORTER. But Obamacare has hurt my family. Maybe you should have thought of that before you became an Obama supporter.

WILL MICHIGAN GOVERNOR ride Detroit resurgence to the White House? Doubtful, but Republican governors will be important in the rebuilding of America over the next few years.

POWERLINE: Cromnibus survives, 219-206. Well, at least in the House. It still has to pass the Senate, and my hope is that Sen. Warren will defeat it there. That way the blame for a government shutdown will be squarely on the Democrats.

WHITE HOUSE prepares for a shutdown. Motto: "It’s Different When We Do It."

AS IF WE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS: Health care to suppress wages even more.

ZOMBIE SATELLITES are for real.

DEMOCRAT REPRESENTATIVE JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): America should apologize to suspected terrorists who underwent enhanced interrogation. I've got a better idea. Why doesn't she go in person to apologize for me?

DON'T QUESTION THE KING EMPEROR: The royal decree explained.

ELIZABETH WARREN: I'm shutting down the government ... but it's you Republicans' fault.

PEW POLL: Americans value gun rights more than gun control.

The demo[graphic]s on this change are fascinating — mainly because it occurs in almost every demo Pew uses. The largest gain is among black voters, where the conclusion that guns protect people from becoming victims rose an astonishing 25 points in two years, from 29% to 54%. Among women, it rose 11 points to go from 40% to 51%. It even rose among Democrats who identify as conservative or moderate by eight points to 47%, although still slightly outweighed by the safety-risk sentiment (49%). The only demo in which protection lost ground from two years ago is among liberal Democrats, and it only declined three points.

Note that the only demographic that didn't increase is those who can afford bodyguards to carry their weapons for them....

YA THINK? There seems to be incongruity and even political opportunism in President Obama's selective transparency.

KEEP ENVIRONMENTALISTS HAPPY: Shit your way to Mars.

REP. TREY GOWDY (R-SC) on standing up to the Obama administration.



It's an old speech (May 2014) but worthy of revisiting. Gowdy is an impressive speaker.

THE OBAMA DOCTRINE: After all, you never know when you may come across a 'killer rabbit'.

TAKING WORKING FROM HOME TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL: Store opens staffed only by robots.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: We have a right to conceal material evidence in order to escape liability. Translation: we're crooks but you can't be allowed to find out.

BREAKING: Key test vote on “Cromnibus” passes — by two votes, after a last-second switch.

Will the Democrats, led by Elizabeth Warren and Nancy Pelosi, try to shut down the government? Stay tuned.

GOING DOWN: Democrats lose the culture war -- and the South.

WHO SAYS liberals aren't religious. It's secular, true enough, but who can argue that it isn't faith-based?

DEFEAT THE OMNIBUS: "It’s important that the nascent GOP majority’s first act not be surrender."

IEEE SPECTRUM: Can drivers assist their own driver assistance systems?

I would suggest that those enamored of self-driving cars consider the analogy to commercial aircraft automated flight systems: Air France Flight 447, Asiana Airlines Flight 214, and Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 among others.

The first two crashes were a result of pilot complacency with the automation. Since Malaysia MH370 has yet to be found, it's cause cannot yet be attributed, but my guess is that eventually it will also be a case of pilot error.

$500 BILLION A YEAR in taxes lost to loopholes. And not a single loophole for me....

THEY DIDN'T WANT THEIR VIEWERS TO KNOW HOW STUPID THEY ARE: NBC News finally gets around to reporting on the Jonathan Grubering of America.

WILLIAM BUCKLEY WAS RIGHT: It is better to be governed by the first 2000 names in the Boston phone book than the faculty of Harvard University.

A reminder: Dr. Jonathon Gruber is a 1992 Harvard graduate.

AFTER THE DEMOCRATS ELECTION ANNIHILATION, a CNN pundit panel ponders potential ruination of the GOP. The progressives took over the Democrat party from the left a few years ago and now they're concerned that the Tea Party is taking over the Republican party from the right? Shouldn't they be cheering?

COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL and 'existential worry'. My 'existential worry' (whatever the hell it is) is that these coddled, immature little twits will someday be foisted on the general public.

YOUR SCREWED UP LIFE is your own responsibility.

“There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.” - P.J. O’Rourke

“We seem to be moving steadily in the direction of a society where no one is responsible for what he himself did,but we are all responsible for what somebody else did, either in the present or in the past.” – Thomas Sowell

And I, for one, am truly tired of being penalized by rules designed to cater to the irresponsible.

SOME RAPES are more equal than others. Especially those that advance a preferred narrative.

JONATHON GRUBER: Aborting poor children saves taxpayers money. That's pocket change. Think of the savings that can be had by 'aborting' seniors: Medicare, Social Security, skilled nursing facilities....

I will point out that the headline is misleading, since the paper in question was a pure exercise in number-crunching. But the point remains: to be -- or become -- solvent, ObamaCare will have to resort to rationing of medical care, and that will come at one or both ends of life.

EX-CIA OFFICIAL: Senators claiming they weren’t briefed on torture had no time for briefings in 2004. “So their ardor for the truth is I think a little greater now than it was at the time....”

PARTY OF [BAD] IDEAS: Democrats to revive gun control push.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS when you don't punch back.

Fortunately there are many in and around the itelligence community who are punching back: here, here, here, here, and here.

THE FATAL CONCEIT of Jonathon Gruber progressives everywhere.

WHEN THE STATES began to close their insane asylums, all the nut cases seem to have gravitated to college camupses.

Either that, or there's a requirement for certified insanity in the hiring process....

[Full Disclosure] I was a college professor for a few years post-PhD. Then I got smart.

GRUBER TOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT OBAMACARE — then he was sworn in. The biggest lie was his apology for calling American voters stupid. He believed it then; he believes it now.

HERE COME THE CLOWNS ENVIRONMENTALISTS: Lima Climate Talks Set for Record Carbon Footprint.

SO LOUISANA is dominated by racist bigots? Well, they are Republicans....

SHOP’S PRO-GUN POLICY proves useful during robbery attempt.

Not wise to confront someone who carries.

[NARROWLY DEFEATED] VIRGINIA SENATE CANDIDATE ED GILLESPIE:

In my remarks, I talked about the dangerous path down which President Obama and his policies are taking us. It’s a transformation from an information economy, where what you know matters most, to an influence economy, where WHO you know is all that counts.

Here are some excerpts from my speech, printed in The Wall Street Journal (12/8/14):

“We can see an influence economy starting to take shape. CEOs are becoming less concerned about inventing the right products, targeting the right markets and hiring the right people in hopes of making a respectable profit for investors—and more concerned about getting the right lobbyists, retaining the right lawyers and attending the right fundraisers in hopes of getting a hefty subsidy from taxpayers.”

“Making the right campaign contributions are becoming as important to a company as its research and development budget, and federal-compliance lawyers will soon outnumber patent lawyers.”

“Fully implemented, Obama ’s influence economy will be one where ordinary Americans must get permission from a government agency or department before they can buy, build, invest or hire. It’s an economy rooted in mandates and waivers, tax credits and targeted subsidies, Federal grants and government loan guarantees.”

From my email.

NO SHIT? Almost six years after the passage of the stimulus package [Recovery and Reinvestment Act], taxpayer dollars have finally found their way into a shovel ready project: $60,000 to haul horse manure.

Yes, shit.

SHOOTING BLANKS: Democrats push to revive failed gun control legislation.

"When you don’t pass background checks, it’s just much more likely that someone will get their hands on an illegal gun and use it to kill their neighbors or their classmates,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT).

Let me see if I've got this right: passing background check legislation will prevent people from getting their hands on illegal guns.

Admittedly I'm mixing up weapons in the metaphor, but these Democrats sure as hell aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer....

OBAMA'S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON AMNESTY wasn't an order; it was a whisper.

HEH. THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN: Liberals turn on South after Landrieu rout.

Much more here. I particularly like this quote: "The Left is losing its mind, and it is a wonderful thing to behold."

And still more here.

HATE SPEECH: Obama goes on profanity-laced tirades against the media that loves him. Not enough, obviously.

Much, much, much more here.

HAS BARBARA BOXER (D-CA) gotten the message? Next question: Will Diane Feinstein (also D-CA)?

A CLEAR MAJORITY: "The [Wendy] Davis campaign [for governor of Texas] was so inept that 95 percent of its own straw men voted for Greg Abbott."

THE SCHOOL LUNCHES MALIA AND SASHA EAT versus the crap Michelle Obama has foisted on America. Scroll down to see the pictures - 'crap' is an understatement.

GERMANS PROTEST FASCISM; liberals complain.

ROLLING STONE gets it right -- twice.

AND NOT IN WAYS I LIKE: Software already defines our lives.

RADICAL ISLAM: Why are liberals hesitant to criticize an ideology that threatens women's equality and gay rights? Because they're afraid of being killed?

GRUBER APOLOGIZES for ‘mean and insulting’ ObamaCare comments. I'm somewhat disappointed, but he's a Democrat - they always cave (or lie) when confronted.

I was hoping that he'd possibly apologize for saying 'stupid' when he really meant 'ignorant' and then go on to defend his remarks because he was absolutely right: American voters are remarkably stupid ignorant about economics.

HAVE YOU LOST YOUR GUN? Call the police and ask them to help you search.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: For too many in the media and in politics, ‘the truth is relative’. Of course; for liberals it's not true if it doesn't advance their narrative.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: The crime and punishment of Obama's healthcare law.

BECAUSE IT'S ALREADY TOO HIGH? Why won't Congress raise the gas tax?

TWEET OF THE DAY: Can Southern Democrats make a comeback?

JEFF JACOBY: The good that results from US 'boots on the ground'.

[W]hen the data is crunched, what emerges is extraordinary: US boots on the ground are a startlingly robust predictor of higher growth rates and longer lives.

Sometimes being the "world's policeman" is a good thing.

UH, RI-I-IGHT: "Under Obama, America is better."

WHY IS IT that leftists [now progressives] become incandescent when reminded of the socialist roots of Nazism?

Because the truth hurts?

AFTER ALL, IT'S ONLY RICH PEOPLE'S PROPERTY: Arson, looting ‘not necessarily violence’.

THE DOOMSAYERS ARE COMING APART: Welcome to "pique oil".

PRETTY OBVIOUS IF YOU TAKE TIME TO THINK: ObamaCare is twice as likely to hurt Americans than help.

DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: Never mind those pesky voters; we were listening to the mandate of those who didn't/couldn't/wouldn't vote.

Obama heard them too.

Or to put more succintly, "Our reality world is more important than your real world."

OBAMA: "a thin-skinned, narcissistic little putz."

WITNESS THE COLLAPSE OF THE PROGESSIVE LEFT: The New Republic cancels December issue after mass staff resignation.

ALMOST A CRIMINAL ACT: being a heterosexual male in America.

IN BERKELEY, NO LESS: Garner chokehold death protest turns violent.

It took a day longer than I expected....

EBOLA? WHAT'S THAT? Ebola 'czar' Ron Klain returning to the private sector.

FAKE BUT ACCURATE: Don't let facts interfere with the preordained narrative.

OBAMA’S 2011 PREDICTION of a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015 wasbarely missed -- by a mere 826,000.

THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY on grand juries.

WHAT A WORLD OF WIMPS: Columbia Law School is permitting students claiming to be impaired due to the emotional impact of recent non-indictments in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner matters to postpone taking their final exams.

I was in college on Friday, November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated -- a far more traumatic event, I should think. Classes resumed on Saturday (college was 6 days a week back then). No exams were postponed, there was no 'trauma counseling', and no plans were made for future teach-in to 'educate ourselves and formulate a response to the implications' of the assassination.

Wimps indeed.

THEY LIED! Thanks to Instapundit for the reminder.

MICHAEL BROWN PROTESTERS have shut down more traffic than Chris Christie. But, but ... Christie was a Republican!

DEMOCRATS CAN BE a working-class party, or a multicultural one, but not both.

Stick with multiculturalism, Democrats; it's working well (for Republicans).

WE'RE WINNING, RIGHT? So our troops won't have to return home, right?

PERSONALLY, I'D RATHER SHOOT THEM, but this'll work.

THE LAW IS AN ASS: And it puts us all in the same danger as Eric Garner.

'STOLEN VALOR' RANGER meets actual Army Ranger. I don't think he'll be doing it again -- at least, not soon, and not in that mall.