‘ANTI-GUN STUPIDITY’: Honolulu destroys $575G worth of police firearms. Just when you begin to think (hope?) progressives have reached their stupidity peak (nadir?), they surprise you by going to a whole new level. If I were the Honolulu city council, I'd reduce their budget by that exact amount.

LET'S RENAME another mountain.

SURFING THE WAVE? This election, I think the voters just might catch that 'outsider' wave.

DID YOU KNOW? A British bus company uses sheep urine to reduce city smog. A chemical in the urine converts part of the fuel exhaust into non-polluting nitrogen and steam.

From the Morning Examiner daily email.

BECAUSE I CAN: I think I'll blow a few thousand gallons of jet fuel, fly to Alaska to lecture Alaskans on the evils of global warming climate change and -- just for the hell of it -- rename a mountain.

Mount Arrogance is a woefully inadequate description of our the 'worst President ever'.

IT'S CALLED 'SNEAKERNET', STUPID: Mystery deepens into how classified emails got onto Clinton's unclassified server.

NOW PUNCH BACK! Judge rules Missouri family can keep colorful swingset. The Stouts should sue the homeowners association out of existence.

As a warning....

SARAH PALIN interviews Donald Trump.



As usual with anything Sarah Palin does, the Progressives go completely bonkers....

CHARLES BARKLEY: Blacks have always voted Democrat [at least in his lifetime], ‘and they’re still poor’. Yet he still leans toward the Democrats. Why?

WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL WRITER about to become very unpopular with #BlackLivesMatter. Colbert I. King is black, and back when I was reading the Post, about the only editorial writer who was worth a hill of beans.

He is absolutely correct in his evaluation.

GERMAN PHYSICISTS: Late 20th century warming 'nothing unusual'.

President Obama is on his way to Alaska to promote global warming alarmism. I have been to Fairbanks in January, and all I can say is: if more atmospheric CO2 can raise the temperature there by 0.7 degree, it isn’t nearly enough!

Heh.

LOCKHEED MARTIN developing U-2 spy plane successor. When a news report like this appears in the open press along with the word 'developing', it's probably fair to assume that at least a prototype or two is already in the air above.

THE KEY TO DISASTER SURVIVAL? Friends and neighbors.

Pretty obvious when you stop to think about it. Also pretty obvious (and widely unsaid) is that the government does its level best to prevent you from helping yourself and your neighbors. There are a lot fewer jobs for 'first responders' when citizens realize that they can take care of themselves just fine,thank-you-very-much.

LIBERALS ARE name calling goons posing as intellectuals. It would be more accurate to leave off 'posing as intellectuals'.

More here.

GUN MYTHS and the Roanoke shootings.

THIS IS WHAT GOVERNMENT TRANSIT LOOKS LIKE. Metro: Track Defect Deleted From Inspection Report.

A technician “erroneously” deleted information....

The second part of Instapundit's lede "but government healthcare will be awesome!" reminds me that we already know how 'awesome' government healthcare will be.

Now we know what the meaning of 'is' is, to recall to another famous Clintonion fudge: 'erroneously deleted' is PC-speak for 'covered up'. For those of us old enough to remember Richard Nixon (he was impeached), then administration spokesman Ron Ziegler was once quoted as saying "This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative." Meaning, of course, that the previous statements were lies.

When it comes to government pronouncements, caveat emptor. Don't trust, verify.

ON THE VERGE of being overlawyered? Surely you jest.

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD declares war on franchises. It's nothing more than a ploy to force unions on franchise owners.

Remember the $15 minimum wage? Unions demanded it, Los Angeles adopted it, and now unions are before the city council asking to be exempt from the minimum wage requirement. If permitted, then they can go to companies and say essentially 'if you permit your company to be unionized, then you won't have to pay the minimum wage'. Same ploy here.

There’s always a chance a federal court ... [will see through the NLRB ruling}, ... but in the meantime, if you were thinking about opening a franchise operation, wouldn’t a ruling like this give you second thoughts? The uncertainty generated by this ruling will almost certainly have a negative impact on the franchise industry, thus placing another drag on an already sluggish economy.

But with the Obama administration, dragging the economy to a halt is the point.

More here.

HURRICANE KATRINA: What the media missed. News reports are 'the first draft of history', and as such, are almost always wrong. Here's a much more sober assessment.

Linked from this post at Instapundit.

RASMUSSEN: Nearly 3 in 4 Americans think political correctness is a problem. Which is why Donald Trump is so wildly popular, and why more Republican candidates should follow his lead.

I would note that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did exactly that earlier today on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.

THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN: A-10 vs F-35 in a cannon fire test. Watch the video, then read the comments: opinions are pretty strong on both sides.

HILLARY: Republicans want to round up illegals and put them in boxcars.

Wait a minute. Isn't that how Democrats got them here in the first place?

PEGGY NOONAN on Trumpmania. You can read the full article by entering "America is So in Play" in your search engine.

HILLARY COMPARES REPUBLICANS TO TERRORISTS; Carly Fiorina responds.

REPUBLICANS SHOULD TAKE A LESSON FROM TRUMP: Kick ass and take names.

NO. NEXT QUESTION? Was there a better way to stop Anwar al-Awlaki than by assassinating killing him?

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DSP EARLY WARNING SATELLITES? U.S. Air Force eyes (nuclear) blast detection satellite.

INTERESTING: Cancer patient to participate in NASA study in zero-gravity environment.

WHATEVER HAPPENED to telling damn fools to mind their own business?

MAKE OF IT WHAT YOU WILL: Assessing Carly Fiorina's time as HP chief.

She should clearly be in the next debate. But will she? I suggest that if not, CNN will have hell to pay.

FRIENDS & ENEMIES:

The original is here.

PUNCH: North Dakota legalizes police to fire ‘less than lethal’ weapons from drones.

COUNTERPUNCH: Boeing has developed a laser cannon specifically designed to turn drone aircraft into flaming wreckage.

WHATEVER HAPPENED to the myriads of hostlers, blacksmiths, coopers, sucksmiths, millers, tallowmakers, wheelwrights, sicklemen, puddlers, telegraphers, stockingers, fellmongers, saddlers, ploughmen, knackers, bleacherers, weavers, thatchers, and scriveners?

LOIS LERNER: My dog ate my homework made me investigate Tea Party groups.

WHAT DONALD TRUMP KNOWS that Republican politicians don't.

Keep scrolling down for more.

TECHNOLOGY doesn't always work according to plan.

THAT YOU'RE AN ASS: What your reaction to my NRA sticker says about you.

THE WEEK: Why there is no viable solution to America's gun problem. It's because there is no gun problem. There is a mental health problem, and the progressives are loath to address it because it puts their own mental 'health' at risk.

TWEET OF THE DAY: Forrest Bush.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Blame the NRA. Of course.

THEY’RE FROM THE BLOATED BUREAUCRACY and they’re here to help you save money. If you can survive until 2030.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, groundhog edition, is up. They were so good - and so varied - that I couldn't choose a single favorite. Here are my favorites:

Now go see the rest.

ISN'T 'REDISTRIBUTION' supposed to be about taking from the rich and giving to the poor? Or did I get it wrong?

SPACE.COM: Private Space Stations Could Be a Reality by 2025. And I might be around to see it happen...

A CASE of "be careful what you ask for, as you might get it (good and hard)": A coalition of labor unions and health insurance companies is pushing Congress to repeal Obamacare's 'Cadillac tax'.

TECHNOLOGY: The evolution of today’s most popular laser eye surgeries. What surprises is the speed at which technology moves to application and the slowness at which application moves to approval.

LOCKHEED may be 'losing the battle' to keep flying the U-2 Dragon Lady. Then again, maybe not.

All I know for sure is that it was 'losing the battle' when I retired from the Skunk Works way back in 2010.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: The Washington Examiner asks readers one question with each Morning Examiner email, and here's todays question and response:

Which of the candidates, announced or unannounced, does President Barack Obama favor to succeed him in the White House?

[R]eaders opted for Joe Biden, although at least two readers believed the president favored his wife, Michelle Obama. Nancy in Pittsburgh had a different take:

None of those who have been mentioned. He wants to continue to rule America, and he may figure out a way to accomplish this. He has gotten everything else he's wanted.

The latter is a relatively common suspicion on the Right, and with Hillary's flameout, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Left scheming ways to get around the 22nd Amendment.

AN ERROR? ARE WE SURE? Facebook apologizes for 'error' that banned reports on illegals taking jobs from Americans.

Forgive me, but that's hard to take seriously, given Mark Zuckerberg's support of immigration.

NOT TO MENTION THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH HACKING: Electronic noise is drowning out the Internet of Things.

BUT ARE THEY ARMED? UAVs deployed to protect sea turtles along Mexico’s Pacific coast.

PENSIONS OF 10,000 military cheaters on Ashley Madison list may take a hit. And what about other government agencies?

The list says there are 44 emails registered on the Ashley Madison site with a "WhiteHouse.gov" address.

Was one 'POTUS@WhiteHouse.gov'?

BECAUSE ALL THE HOT AIR HAS MOVED TO THE EARLY PRIMARY STATES: Wind energy gets blown away by shifting patterns in the West.

CARS THAT THINK: Tesla hands self-driving technology to select customers.

It’s like handing off DVD players to the first non-engineers ever to see them—guys who will not read the #$%^! manual and who will not use a ballpoint pen to set the digital clock so it won’t flash “12:00” forever and ever.

I'd read the #$%^! manual if the first 375 pages weren't chock full of 'safety' warnings and the 10 pages of useful information (like what the blinkin' lights mean and where the fuse box is) were organized coherently and logically.

SCOTT WALKER'S ObamaCare alternative chooses pragmatism over purity. It's a good first step, but a first step only. I'm still looking for health insurance to move away from the tax exemption of employer-based plans and open up group plans to professional, fraternal, and other voluntary associations.

YEAH, RIGHT: Veterans' mail incorrectly 'placed in shred bins'.

WYOMING MAN files suit over massive EPA fines for building pond. I hope he wins, wins big, and every dime of his winnings comes from the salaries of the EPA bureaucrats.

Remember, this is your EPA.

AMMO GRRRLL on the socialist paradise of Cherokee Lizzie, Class-Envy Bernie and Disparate Impact Barry:

[B]eing the arbiters of Cool, the gatekeepers guarding the trends, the fads, the politically-correct speech code, is less trouble and less dangerous than facing down angry mobs. Sometimes, “in the course of human events” and all that, angry mobs – even nuns! – can be pushed far enough to fight back. And decide for themselves what is Cool. May the time not be distant.

Amen.

FIVE YEARS? For most progressives, five days is a step too far.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON has thoughts on the absurd and not-so-absurd of immigration reform.

IS THERE a gender-neutral term for 'idiot'? Yes. 'Diversity Coordinator'.

THE NASCENT BIDEN CAMPAIGN has picked a campaign slogan.

A POX ON VOX: John Hinderaker's final comment about Vox founder, editor-in-chief, and former Washington Post employee Ezra Klein ("[H]e just isn't very bright.") is spot on and representative of the entire Vox organization.

Vox does, however, provide a small window into the historical illiteracy of the progressive 'reality' worldview.

JEB BUSH just lost my vote. We need a Republican candidate who will stand up to these lice, not cater to them.

'TIDAL WAVE' of EPA regulations threatens U.S. 'fracking' revolution. Progressives won't be happy until the United States is as poor as the rest of the world.

THE MOVEMENT to surrender on amnesty is well underway.

I'm willing to grant permanent residency to those illegals who have lived - and worked - here quietly and within the law for years. But citizenship? No. Not until they leave and then get in line to return legally.

TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY: Anti-abortion groups demand Portrait Gallery remove Planned Parenthood founder bust.

Well, the progressives demanded -- and got -- the removal of the Confederate battle flag (and various Civil War statuary); shouldn't they also demand the removal of reminders of their clearly racist heroine?

I BLAME PROGRESSIVES: Race baiting + entitlement = very angry people.

FIVE YEARS AGO, the New York Times was dumber than the average American. Has anything changed?

RETURN FIRE: Liberals use PC terminology to obscure reality and advance their narrative. Here's how to punch back.

INFLATABLE HABITATS: from the Space Station to the Moon and Mars? And Instapundit cheers: privately-owned space stations are just over the horizon.

Given the state of the world today, this may be an example of 'just in time' manufacturing.

ELECTION 2016 IS COMING.

The folks who are getting the free stuff don't like the folks who are paying for the free stuff, because the folks who are paying for the free stuff can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff.

And the folks who are paying for the free stuff want the free stuff to stop.

And the folks who are getting the free stuff want even more free stuff on top of the free stuff they are already getting!

Now the people who are forcing the people who pay for the free stuff have told the people who are receiving the free stuff that the people who are paying for the free stuff are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.

So the people who are getting the free stuff have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free stuff by the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free stuff and giving them the free stuff in the first place.

We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff.

Now understand this.

All great democracies have committed financial suicide somewhere between 200 and 250 years after being founded. The reason? The voters figured out they could vote themselves money from the treasury by electing people who promised to give them money from the treasury in exchange for electing them.

The United States officially became a Republic in 1776, 238 years ago. The number of people now getting free stuff outnumbers the people paying for the free stuff.

In 2012, they were 47%. Now they are dangerously nearing 51%.

THIS WOULD BE A PERFECT ANALOGY for the progressive worldview except for the fact that progressives believe that they've already evolved.

AMMO GRRRLL on customer service: An oxymoron, or what?

And she's absolutely right about the South, which is part of the reason why we're moving there soon.

Northerners: come to visit (if you must), but please don't stay!

BILLIONAIRE GEORGE SOROS warms up to coal as stock prices hit bottom.

One can't help but wonder if Soros' demonization of coal was an intentional act of stock manipulation for personal profit....

THE WEB knows all, and tells all.

And more seriously, snoops. I've already turned off automatic updates for Windows, and am seriously thinking of removing some already-installed updates (i.e., KB2952664, KB3035583, and KB2990214).

PROGRESSIVES ON ERADICATING POVERTY: kill off all the poor people.

It's the same approach they want to use to eradicate Alzheimer's.

HARD DATA (that is already being ignored by the left) on mass shooting incidents.

This was posted at PowerLine before the Roanoke murders yesterday.

HILLARY: can't do math. Or millenials.

WANTED: 'Presidential' candidate.

The complete cartoon is here.

FROM MY EMAIL: just when you thought you've seen everything.

No reason to stand on your feet waiting to get your welfare check. Just put your flip-flops next in line and go back and sit on your ass and play games on your iPhone.

Is this a great country or what?

AN OPEN LETTER to the Republican Party of Virginia:

So now I read that the Republican bureaucrats in Virginia and North Carolina are considering removing Trump from the primary ballot because he won't commit to the Republican party should he not be the candidate.

The Republican party already has a reputation as the Stupid party -- why are you insisting on proving it? Buy a clue. The Donald is leading because he is willing to stand up, confront the PC crowd, and tell them to sit down, shut up, and go play in the childrens' sandbox while adults debate the direction this great country will take.

Do you seriously think that Republicans should be apologizing for sins uncommitted to 'people' who would never consider voting for them in the first place? If you do, the Republican party deserves the appellation Stupid party.

Grow up. Grow a spine. And ovaries (see Carly Fiorina). Embrace Trump, emulate him, and engage America on issues, not on which Republican can be least offensive to those whiny progressives in their fantasy land of rainbows and unicorns.

Will they listen? Or remain the Stupid Party?

HILLARY CONDUCTS FIRST DEBATE ... with Black Lives Matter. I don't know whether it's a good sign or a bad sign, but what bothers me is that she believes in force - government force - to make the changes she desires. Watch starting at 1:10 in the video.

WHY DONALD TRUMP may become the Republican candidate for President of the United States:

They're big, they're brass, and he has a spine of steel. Of the current Republican candidates only Carly Fiorina has the (ovaries) to match.

DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA AMERICA:

AHEAD OF THE CURVE? Once, maybe, but not any more.

POPULAR MECHANICS: the (unofficial) state cars of America. None of my cars made the list....

GO HOME. Go home now.

HEARD ON WTOP RADIO: Without medical breakthroughs, dementia will double every 20 years.

Not to worry, the breakthrough has already happened: it's called ObamaCare. Dying early and often will 'cure' Alzheimer's.

IT WAS NECESSARY to destroy the environment in order to save it.

It worked in Viet Nam....

THE PATIENT DIED, but the doctor's doing just fine …

UPDATE: How's that "tax the rich" thing working out for ya?

Remember, progressives, it's 'your' tax money you're losing out on ... you can't tax the rich if they're not rich.

TIME TO BUY BEACHFRONT PROPERTY IN NEVADA AND ARIZONA: California sinking faster than previously thought.

MORE CAMPAIGN bumper slogans....

PROGRESSIVES: How's that "tax the rich" thing working out for ya?

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, evergreen edition, is up. My favorite:

Hillary's new hairstyle is also worthy of recognition:

Now go see the rest.

GOVERNMENT 'AFFAIRS': High-level federal employees used work Internet systems to join Ashley Madison.

More accurately defining government processes....

Even if it was a joke, it used to be "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you"; now it's "I'm from the government and I'm incompetent to help you". Now it's not a joke.

CHANGE YOU CAN HOPE FOR:

Daniel Snyder, owner of the NFL Redskins, has announced that the team is dropping the word "Washington" from the team name and will henceforth be simply known as "The Redskins".

It was reported that he finds that the word 'Washington' imparts a negative image of corruption, cheating, and lying, and is not a fitting role model for young fans of football.

From my email.

WHY DOES CNN hate women? I'm all for having two debates, on two nights, with the candidates for each debate selected randomly. Questions should be asked in 10 seconds or less, and 'gotcha' questions strictly prohibited.

THE GOLD KING MINE FIASCO: What it tells us about the EPA.

[F]ederal agencies like the EPA have become a law unto themselves. They have far too much power, and tend to regard Congress (and even more so, the voters) as a mere inconvenience. The only solution is to drastically reduce the agencies’ powers, something that Congress–which, as you might have forgotten, is ostensibly controlled by Republicans–can do.

So do it. Defund the EPA.

THE MEANING OF 'PROFIT'. Read the comments as well.

CARLY FIORINA'S POLL SURGE is killing Chris Christie. He's now in the top 11.

REDSKINS PRESIDENT WON’T CHANGE NAME even if new stadium [in D.C.] gets blocked. Good for them. Let the PC crowd lose money and get their knickers twisted

IT'S OFFICIAL: cats are better than dogs.

THAT MUCH? The California Clean Energy Jobs Act (Prop.39) that raised taxes on corporations to fund energy efficient projects in schools and create clean energy jobs has generated less than a tenth of the promised jobs.

The Associated Press reported that the Clean Energy Jobs Act (Prop. 39) has only created 1,700 clean energy jobs, despite initial predictions it would generate more than 11,000 each year beginning in fiscal year 2013-14.

And more than half of the $297 million given to schools for the projects has been funneled to leeches consultants and energy auditors.

Surprise, surprise. Throwing money at stupidity is just a fast way to create poverty.

REP. JOHN CONYERS (D-MI) Everyone 'deserves' Medicare - whether he wants it or not. But not too much Medicare.

For your average progressive, yes, choice is always bad. At least for the little people.

IT APPEARS the Social Justice Warriors have taken over the IEEE. Pity.

TENNESSEE COURTS reverse ban on 'mother' and 'father'. I guess they realized the next step, going full sex gender-neutral and referring to children as 'things' ('its'?) was a step too far....

MICHAEL B. MUKASEY: Clinton Defies the Law and Common Sense. [It's behind the paywall, but you can find it here.] The law is for 'little people' and common sense has always been in short supply in the progressive community.

From the comments:

You can be stupid and reach the Presidency. You can be a criminal and reach the Presidency. But you cannot be both stupid and a criminal and reach the Presidency.

I wouldn't be so sure. This election may prove the commenter wrong.

HOW MARKETS WORK: it's not by government turning the crank.

RANDOM THOUGHT: we're beginning to see policy proposals from the Republican candidates, some well thought out; some not. Have we seen any policy proposal from Hillary Clinton, other than 'more free stuff for the little people'?

CARLY FIORINA ON THE IOWA STATE FAIR SOAPBOX: "Everyone Of Us Is Gifted By God!"

THOMAS SOWELL has more random thoughts. Always worthwhile. Here's one:

Despite an old saying that taxes are the price we pay for civilization, an absolute majority of the record-breaking tax money collected by the federal government today is simply transferred by politicians from people who are not likely to vote for them to people who are more likely to vote for them.

And another:

Barack Obama wrote a book titled "The Audacity of Hope." His own career, however, might more accurately be titled "The Mendacity of Hype."

Read the rest. His final 'random thought' is worth seriously considering by every Republican presidential candidate.

YOUR TAX DOLLARS WASTED: NIH, the National Institutes of Health, spent $800,000 to study the dating habits of obese teen girls. (But not obese teen boys.)

To paraphrase Hillary, "What difference ... does it make (to know)?"

OKLAHOMA GUN STORE OWNER: This is a Muslim-free zone.

As noted, it's probably illegal, but then doesn't "no shoes, no shirt, no service" discriminate against nudists? And don't high prices discriminate against the poor?

Personally, I'm coming to favor repealing every anti-disrimination and 'fairness' statute passed since the founding of the Republic. If an honest cost/benefit study were ever to be done, I'd bet the real costs of anti-discrimination laws far outweigh even the perceived benefits of such legislation, much less the real benefits.

NO SHIT, SHERLOCK: “Today’s ‘progressives’ would have protested the horseless carriage.”

"[T]HE CAMPAIGN TO RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE isn’t being pushed for the benefit of the working class. It’s being pushed for the benefit of the political class."

PODCAST: Carly Fiorina drops by the Ace of Spades. Click here to listen.

Via Instapundit; the Ace of Spades link is here.

“YOU THINK WE’RE THAT STUPID?” Clinton team: Well, yes. Yes, we do.

And they may be right.

HMMM. "Just because cotton was grown principally in the South and harvested by slaves, does this make cotton a 'racial symbol'?" Also, cotton is white....

SO IS OUR PRESIDENT: U.S. fight against Islamic State is disorganized and incoherent.

A match made in Heaven somewhere else.

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY: Nothing's changed.

AS A LAUGHINGSTOCK? Actual CNN headline: ‘Hillary Clinton revived America’s reputation in world.’

POWERLINE: Will 2016 be a climate hysteria election? Hopefully, no, it will be a return-to-sanity election.

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TODAY: Fearful, and looking for a big brother to protect them. At least that's what the 'intelligensia' in charge of the higher education experience would like you to believe.

ASSURING WORDS -- if you don't know much about history.

When it comes to progressives and history, I tend to think of the old B-grade fright movies, where the priest is shown holding up a crucifix to ward off the evil zombies, or vampires, or whatever.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX) introduces NRA-supported background-check bill. Not a real surprise; though it's touted as a gun control bill, it's really a mental-health bill, which is in fact supported by the NRA, although there is some pushback from the fringes of the gun-rights movement.

My only wish is that the Cornyn bill addressed mental health generally, and not just within the context of weapons.

THE SHORT AND LONG OF IT:

Courtesy of Pardon My Planet.

HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT: NASA's Orion spacecraft conducts its critical design review (CDR), which is essentially the go-ahead for initial production.

KASICH: 'I don't read a Bible to figure out what I think'. And I don't need John Kasich to tell me what I should think.

CNN's bias is showing again....

REPORT: Fiorina viewed Hillary favorably in 2008. As the lesser evil?

AMAZING RED AURORA captured by Space Station astronaut Scott Kelly.

NOT OURS: Who's side is Obama on?

THE AGE GAP between the Democratic and Republican presidential fields. What's frightening (to me) is that I'm older than every presidential candidate but one: Bernie Sanders.

I'm also struck by the fact that on the Republican side, all the plausible candidates (to me) were born between 1950 and 1954. Except possibly Scott Walker, who is the junior candidate on my list.

ROGER SIMON: Fear and Loathing in Martha's Vineyard. If you like conspiracies ....

FORMER CIA SPY ON CLINTON EMAILS: ‘You and I would get fired and possibly jailed’ for this. But laws are for the little people, not 'us'.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Tragic and Complete Collapse of Racial Relations:

Polls show that racial relations have gotten much worse under Barack Obama. Why has that happened?

The answer is rather simple, actually. Without racism (more properly, 'victimism'), the Democrats have no party.

EVEN SOME CONSERVATIVES can be stupid.

I'm reminded of this quotation, attributed variously to Abraham Lincoln or P. T. Barnum: "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." Unfortunately, the latter took over 6-1/2 years to accomplish.

WHY MARKETS WORK, and bureaucrats don't. Bureaucrats have no skin in the game.

SOCIALISM EXPLAINED in one T-shirt.

THE NEXT SJW ASSAULT ON THE SOUTH: the hoop skirt.

It used to be that zero was a lower limit on IQ. Not any more....

GOOD QUESTION: Who really runs #BlackLivesMatter? To truly answer the question, follow the money -- and my bet is that it will lead to the American taxpayer via city, state, and federal welfare 'safety net' programs.

BERNIE SANDERS: I’ll fight hardest to end racism. Should be interesting; he'll be fighting his own party.

MAKING A FAMILY SHOW A HATE CRIME: One nutty professor’s censorious crusade. “'Some people,' said Mark Twain, 'are educated beyond their intelligence.'”

We call them Social Justice Warriors.

FROM THE DESK OF BOBBY JINDAL, a report on the Democrat primary. Stay classy, Democrats.

CARLY FIORINA: What's wrong with federally mandated maternity leave.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY’S (EPA) Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce carbon pollution, contains an antipoverty transfer program to help offset the harm it does to the poor.

Hmmm. So the EPA admits that its Clean Power Plan will harm the poor (among a whole bunch of not-so-poor), but just a wee bit more taxpayer cash will (partially) offset the harm caused.

Wouldn't it be simpler, cheaper, and better to just flush the Clean Power Plan down the toilet where it belongs?

CNN: Can executions be humane? Can someone explain to me why they should be?

WE SHOULD THANK EPA CHIEF Gina McCarthy for pointing out that her agency is no longer necessary: "The very good news is that we see that this river is restoring itself."

Now they can get back to the important stuff: regulating your barbeque grill.

OFTEN WRONG, BUT NEVER IN DOUBT: Next time government gives you dietary advice, consider doing the opposite. Always do the opposite. It's safer and you'll live longer.

ARKANSAS CUTS state contracts with Planned Parenthood. Despite being warned that states moving to defund Planned Parenthood may be in conflict with federal law. As a great American once said, "Damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead."

THE FUTURE OF THE WEB looks a lot like bitcoin. More than you ever wanted to know....

LIVE FROM CLEAR LAKE IOWA: Democrats on parade. "[T]the crowd in Clear Lake was not really in touch with reality." No, they're in touch with 'reality'.

EPA CHIEF TOURS SCENE OF TOXIC SPILL in Animas River to figure out how to blame it on climate change. Or Republicans. Or both.

ALLEN WEST: The unlearned lesson from Ferguson.

It's a lesson that progressives and their foot soldiers, now charmingly calling themselves 'victims', have been unlearning for centuries.

NOW WE CAN build a real space station....

THE BATTLE TO ERASE HISTORY: The second Battle of New Orleans.

FOR DEMOCRATS, law is useful only when it can be used as a weapon (against non-Democrats).

Much more here.

OK, SO POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES is up. This week's selection is so good I couldn't choose just one favorite. Here are three:

This one had to have been done by a Marine or former Marine because I saw a pickup truck just yesterday with a bumper sticker that read "The Marines: for when you absolutely, positively have to destroy something overnight".

Now go see the rest.

WHY INTELLECTUALS HATE CAPITALISM: They’re jealous.

Those who can, do; those who can't, whine. Progressives whine.

HERE WE GO AGAIN: UAVs may have negative physiological impacts on local wildlife.

Way, way back in time (the early 70's) there was much hullabaloo about those damned rockets scaring/killing off all the wildlife where Kennedy Space Center now stands on Merritt Island. Today the area is a nature preserve teeming with wildlife.

History is not kind to progressive causes; perhaps that's why theyre always trying to erase it.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: With an EPA this incompetent, who needs robber-barons?

HMM: Democrats start to worry about the Clinton email scandal. So who's about to jump in? Biden? Warren? Kerry? Gore?

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY finally does some useful research with beer delivering robots.

OH, MY: Save an endangered species; use a condom. There's gotta be a 'wildlife' joke in there somewhere....

SSH! DON'T TELL THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Sixth Planned Parenthood video reveals organs harvested without consent.

ISS PICTURES are being used to map global light pollution.

So turning on the lights at night is now 'pollution'? What's next? No citronella candles at night to ward off mosquitos?

OF COURSE THEY DID: Did Team Hillary remove classification markings from documents on her server?

Classified material -- especially TS/SCI material -- is held on systems that are physically and electronically separate from GENSER (general service) systems holding unclassified and official use only material. For TS/SCI material to be found on Hillary's server, it had to have been downloaded from the classified system to a removable media (for example, a USB drive), transported to an unclassified system and uploaded. There's no other way.

And that's a felony: 10 years and a $10,000 fine on the paperwork I signed (repeatedly) when I held such clearances.

CULTURAL CLEANSERS want to ban 'Dixie'.

They want to ban history because they're afraid of it.

BOBBY JINDAL: It's the melting pot, not the salad bowl. I, too, am tired of hyphenated Americans. Would that more Republican candidates speak of immigration as does Jindal.

THE ECONOMIST: Gun sales have doubled under Obama. And the murder rate is down - but that part is to be whispered, not shouted from the rooftops.

MAKING SENSE OF TRUMPIAN POPULISM: "[V]oters pay more attention to the tune than to the lyrics."

No one on either side of the political spectrum is happy with the ruling class, so Trump's apparent contempt of them is music to the ears.

WALTER E. WILLIAMS: Academic fascism.

"There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them."

And they're alive and well on college campuses....

YOUR WI-FI MAY BE SPYING ON YOU: Researchers have devised a system for detecting the Doppler shifts of ubiquitous Wi-Fi and mobile telephone signals to “see” people moving, even behind masonry walls 10 inches thick.

EXCEPTIONAL AMERICANS: Madman Muntz. Posted because vaguely, from somwhere, I remember him.

YES, BLACK LIVES MATTER ...:

... to Planned Parenthood.

CLINTON: I've got mine; now I'll make the taxppayer give you yours.

NOT NEWS: Unarmed white teen killed by cop; two white cops killed by blacks.

It should be a hashtag: #white lives don't matter.

HE MIGHT TRY LOOKING IN A MIRROR: Tom Steyer wants to know why the gas prices he jacked up are so high.

LOIS LERNER: GOP critics 'evil and dishonest'. Of course. She's just a nice grandmotherly type without a biased bone in her body....

WILL CARLY FIORINA be GOP's weapon against 'War on Women' charge? Only if she's nominated.

NAVAJO NATION: EPA seeks to deny compensation for toxic spill.

Surprised?

DON'T DO GOVERNMENT. It's bad for your health.

Shamelessly stolen from Instapundit.

JUST IN CASE you get lost in the asteroid belt, Ceres’ mountains and craters now have names.

POLITICS is a reality show.

THIS FORD BRONCO MONTANA LOBO was the SUV of the future in 1981.

I'd buy it if it was on sale today in a quad-cab version.

"VINDICTIVE PROTECTIVENESS": “The Coddling of the American Mind”. Progressives dare not let anyone challenge their 'reality' world.

HEH: Rosetta's comet lets out an epic fart. More comet news in this Popular Science post.

OBAMA TO VISIT Nevada and the Alaskan artic to discuss global warming climate change. No wildlife will be harmed, and no Alaskan consulted.

FIORINA'S IN, so who's out? Pundit betting is Christie, Kasich, or Huckabee. I'd toss all three and start winnowing the field.

VIRGINIA GOV. TERRY MCAULIFFE'S travels for Hillary targeted by the America Rising super PAC.

McAuliffe's a Clinton political shill posing as a Governor.

IN HIDING: Biomedical firms that rely on fetal tissue aren't talking.

COMMENTARY: The Doublethink Strategy of the Cultural Elitists. A quick skim-thru is all you'll need to realize the utter vacuousness of our 'ruling classes'.

NEWS YOU CAN USE from the Los Angeles Times: throwing rocks and frozen water bottles at police is not violence.

STENCH AND THE CITY: San Francisco's summer of urine.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: If Donald Trump is awful, the GOP is worse.

I don't know about 'worse', but it is a close call.

Included bonus: a Carly Fiorina salute.

UNEXPECTEDLY: Government recommendations on breakfast were based on basically nothing, and probably wrong.

When faced with any Government recommendation, the only intelligent thing to do is ignore it.

A QUESTION for Socialist Presidential wannabe Bernie Sanders: How are you going to deliver all those unicorns you've put in your stable?

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: Do as we say, not as we do.

Does anyone not seriously stupid think the EPA will launch a criminal investigation into itself?

STUDY SHOWS that the universe is dying. Big deal. A glance through the morning news shows the U.S. is dying faster.

COWARDLY CANDIDATE retreats before Black Lives Matter thugs.

Anyone with even an ounce of moral courage would have demanded the police remove them, arrest them, and jail them. Bernie Sanders - and his handlers - did nothing of the sort; instead they gave them the microphone.

CAN YOU CRY? Why 'emotional intelligence' is key to your success.

Sheesh.

FOR SECOND STRAIGHT MONTH, the State Deptartment fails to meet court-ordered Clinton emails schedule.

Why should it? The State Department knows damned well that the worst that will happen is a few days of bad publicity with the possibility of some low-level employee getting his/her hand slapped.

More. Maybe this judge will show some gonads.

GO FOR IT: Canada firm prepares NAFTA lawsuit against US believing Obama is ready to ax Keystone XL.

THE POPULIST TICKET: Trump-Sanders 2016.

THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER is looking good for tonight. Especially here in Virginia, where the forecast is for clear and cool.

A MOUNTAIN IN A MOAT: pictures from Pluto's moon Charon.

More at the Washington Post.

WE'VE NOTICED: Obama only offers condolences when it fits his political agenda.

TECHNOLOGY: New exoskeleton lets paraplegic stroll the streets. The technology's imperfect and the cost astronomical, but time and market economics will correct both in the relatively near term.

Expect to hear/see more.

THE TED RALL TAPES: He lied; he got fired.

Couldn't happen to a nicer 'cartoonist'....

I LOOK FOR the next ISIS-inspired terror attack to be in Seattle.

NOTHING'S CHANGED: From five years ago today.

FINAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

BERNIE SANDERS HYPOCRISY WATCH: Pay equity is for little people.

CLINTON CAMPAIGN says email server to go to Justice Deptartment amid report it contained 'top secret' emails.

Word that Clinton had relented on giving up possession of the server, which she has previously said she wiped clean, came as Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said two emails that traversed Clinton's personal system were deemed "Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information" — a rating that is among the government's highest classifications.

Wow! TS/SCI. If I had ever removed TS/SCI materiel from its safe, vault, or classified computer system and taken it home, I'd still be serving time in Leavenworth Penitenttiary.

FROM A MILLION MILES AWAY, NASA camera shows moon crossing face of Earth.

What's interesting about the picture is that it almost looks like a black-and-white picture of the moon was simply pasted atop a full-color image of the Earth.

HEH.

BUSINESSES launch new push to roll back ozone rules.

Here's the interesting thing, which reflects on the basic incompetence of Big Government. The ozone rules, as promulgated by the EPA, are in place at least in part to control smog in urban areas. Businesses, rightly I think, are arguing that the new rules will inhibit growth, both in terms of building density and infrastructure (i.e., transportation).

Yet HUD's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule is specifically designed to encourage dense pack in urban areas....

Is it hypocrisy? Or is it merely incompetence?

HITLER DISCOVERS OBAMACARE:



The YouTube link is here.

ON THE MOVE: EPA says toxic water from Colorado mine will spread.

Now for the trick question: Will the EPA try to sue itself into oblivion as it would had the polluter been an evil capitalistic corporation with deep pockets? Or will the response be "move along, nothing to see here?"

I know which way I'll bet....

IEEE SPECTRUM: Airless tires roll towards consumer vehicles.

Given where we're moving, they can't come too soon....

FROM MY EMAIL: The Green Thing.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.

The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in its day. The older lady went on to explain:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the 'green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the 'green thing' back then.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the 'green thing' in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the 'green thing' back in our day.

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right; we didn't have the 'green thing' back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the 'green thing' back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the 'green thing'. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint. But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the 'green thing' back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-ass young person. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off ... especially from a tattooed, multiple-pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

CARLY FIORINA ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY. Her interview is the first on the audio podcast and lasts perhaps five minutes. Key quotes:

"Steve Jobs was fired. Oprah Winfrey was fired. Walt Disney was fired. Mike Bloomberg was fired. I feel like I'm in pretty good company."

Her election in 2016 will be when "we finally begin to reduce the size and the power and the corruption of the federal government."

Keep hammering, Carly.

A THOUGHT for Progressive haters of the Confederate flag:

The suggestion that the Confederate flag is nothing more than a symbol of hatred and prejudice simply because one group of people has given the Confederate flag a tarnished reputation, overlooks the original intent of the flag - Independence.

The Confederate flag never flew on a slave ship, but the Stars and Stripes did. As for the groups who misuse the Confederate flag, we should fight strenuously against those who would misrepresent what the flag stands for. The Confederate flag represents heritage, not hatred.

Assuming, of course, that Progressives are capable of thought.

AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHERING FAIR HOUSING (AFFH): the Progressive assault on suburbia.

In the coming year, suburbanites should demand more respect from Washington, D.C., from the media, the political class and from the planning community. If people choose to move into the city, or favor density in their community, fine. But the notion that it is the government’s job to require only one form of development contradicts basic democratic principles and, in effect, turns even the most local zoning decision into an exercise in social engineering.

As America’s majority, suburbanites should be able to deliver a counterpunch to those who seem determined to destroy their way of life. Irrespective of race or generation, those who live in the suburbs—or who long to do so—need to understand the mounting threat to their aspirations Once they do, they could spark a political firestorm that could reshape American politics for decades to come.

PowerLine comments:

So the administrative state has now reached the point where the President’s minions can tell Americans where to live, and direct local communities as to how they spend their money, and Congress’s only role is to veto the regulation if it can muster a two-thirds majority in both houses. The Constitution really is a dead letter.

Which is why 2016 is a pivotal election year.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: History's complexity should discourage retroactive morality.

Punch line for the Progressive Nation: "Cheap, politicized moralizing ... tells us more about the ethics and ignorance of today's grand inquisitors than the targets of their inquisitions."

They are aggressively stupid and proud of it.

FIORINA: Trump is a sexist. 'Sexist' I doubt; and I doubt Fiorina actually said those words. Boorish and ill-mannered I don't doubt, and I rather suspect that is the way Fiorina would have put it.

TARGET STORES to phase out 'gender-based signage.

[D]on’t bother looking for “boys bedding” or “girls building sets.” That’s because they are being removed so that the sensibilities of some of their customers won’t be disturbed.

And WalMart will no longer sell any Confederate-themed merchandise.

It's beyond my comprehension that these stores will bow to the crazed demands of progressive snots who wouldn't shop at their stores to begin with. To paraphrase Donald Trump, it's really, really stupid to piss off your best customers.

ON DECEMBER 9, 2004, someone from the Nutroots Netroots Nation wrote about the Democrat party "Now it's our Party: we bought it, we own it, and we're going to take it back."

Well, you did. Are you happy now?

GLOBAL WARMING: a $1.5 trillion industry.

$1.5 trillion a year will buy a whole lot of scientists, not just in the United States but around the world. With that kind of money at stake, it is little wonder that global warming hysterics would rather “adjust” past temperature data than admit that their models are wrong, and have no skill at predicting future climate.

It would be more accurate to call global warming a $1.5 trillion scam.

IN THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER'S daily Morning Examiner emails, there is always a question for readers to respond to. One question about whether Mitch McConnell will help his party's chances in the 2016 presidential election by standing with the status quo or by yielding to the conservative insurgency within his ranks received this response:

Without a doubt; McConnell "would" benefit the GOP in the 2016 Presidential election cycle by supporting the conservative insurgency, merely be demonstrationg that somewhere in the GOP Leadership resides a modicum of spinal matter.

Which concisely explains Donald Trump. (And the rapid rise of Carly Fiorina in the polls. The lady has big brass ones.)

LIBERALS ATTACKING LIBERALS: "Cognitive dissonance seems to be the official editorial policy of the Democratic elite."

GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS: "[Donald]Trump and [Bernie] Sanders are only symptoms. Failed leadership is the disease."

ANOTHER AFTER-ACTION REPORT on the first Republican presidential debate.

HEH: Navajo Nation to sue EPA.

Bring home some scalps....

DONALD TRUMP: Obama has done 'nothing' for blacks.

On ABC's "This Week," Jon Karl asked Donald Trump about a tweet from last year, where the Republican candidate wrote: "Sadly because Barack Obama has done such a poor job as president, you won't see another black president for generations."

"... I think that he has set a very poor standard, I think that he has set a very low bar," said Trump. "I think that it's a shame for the African-American people.

I'm no Donald Trump fan, but sadly I have to agree that Obama has been such a disaster as President that the memory will cast a shadow on the campaign of the next African-American candidate, no matter how well-qualified he or she may be.

THE EVOLUTION OF HILLARY'S LOGO:

NEGLIGENT CORPORATE POLLUTER nabbed in massive spill ... Oh, wait, it was the Environmental Protection Agency.

More here.

Doug Powers comments: "The EPA’s river clean-up effort will undoubtedly involve lots of big equipment that’s powered by fossil fuels, mostly because God loves irony. "

THREE SHOTS, THREE HEADS: SAS sniper saves father and eight-year-old son from being beheaded by ISIS.

Good.

MICHELLE MALKIN: Look who’s coddling Denver’s social justice warriors jerks.

PRIORITIES:

From the August 3rd edition of the Washington Examiner.

ANOTHER HIT: Raytheon SM-6 intercepts ballistic missile target in key test of the ballistic missile defense system.

THE WORLD needs ethical killer robots.

INSTAPUNDIT (Glenn Reynolds) polled his readers for preferences both before and after Thursday's first Republican debate. Here's the pre-debate preference poll:

Now here's the post-debate poll, and be prepared for a surprise.

Carly Fiorina gained 19 points, to 35% from 16%. Scott Walker lost 17 points, down to 23% from 40%. Of the remaining candidates, Rubio was up 3%, Perry down 3%, and the other candidates barely moved.

I've been impressed with Fiorina from the get-go; now I'm even more impressed. She has the potential to be England's Margaret Thatcher and America's Ronald Reagan all rolled into one.

[Update] And Golda Meir, the former Prime Minister of Israel; I forgot her.

REPUBLICAN 'OLD GUARD' pushes back against Cruz and Lee.

Let's get real - the 'divisiveness' of which Sen. Hatch (R-UT) decries is a direct consequence of six years of then-Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Democrat leadership. Lack of decorum is not the problem; a return of decorum is not the solution.

Cruz and Lee are doing what is necessary, if not pretty.

IT'S TIME to end life tenure on the Supreme Court.

GOOD QUESTION: What happens when science allows us to abort a baby if it has the 'gay gene'? I had asked the same basic question in some earlier posts.

NASA IMAGINES a drone of your own.

"I see a time when every home will have a drone. You're going to use a drone to do rooftop inspections. You're going to be able to send a drone to Home Depot to get a screw driver," said Parimal Kopadekar, manager of NASA's Safe Autonomous System Operations Project at Ames Research Center.

Perfect. I've got a second-floor gutter on my new home that badly needs inspecting....

ANDREW KLAVAN: Who helped themselves in GOP debate, and who ought to drop out.

With the possible exception of John Kasich, I agree with Klavan's assessment. And I especially agree with his assessment of Carly Fiorina, so much so that I'm linking to this must-watch [MSNBC] video.

WHY PROGRESSIVES CONTINUE TO FAIL: Contrary to progressive belief, human nature can't be changed.