Starbucks’ ‘Race Together’ roll out was a complete disaster -

Legal Insurrection    "Gee, who saw that coming?"

"Earlier this morning, we reported that Starbucks launched a new social justice initiative — encouraging baristas to chat with customers about race. The campaign called ‘Race Together’ was instantly a fantastic disaster.

"I mean, who would’ve imagined engaging customers on a highly politicized issue like race could have possibly gone awry?

"This afternoon, Business Insider reported that Starbucks’ Global Communications Senior VP, Corey "duBrowa, had shut down his Twitter account after going on a Twitter user blockfest. Why? Evidently he wasn’t interested in participating in the conversation Starbucks had started.

""Interestingly, those ‘attacking’ duBrowa (at least as reported by Business Insider) appear to be of the left leaning persuasion. DuBrowa told BI, “I was personally attacked through my Twitter account around midnight last night and the tweets represented a distraction from the respectful conversation we are trying to start around Race Together. I’ll be back on Twitter soon.' ” . . .

No conservative must ever, ever be seen as bullying a female candidate. On the other hand...

"David 'Rodham' Gergen says the Republicans should be very, very, very careful. They should not bully or overly criticize Mrs. Clinton. Would somebody explain this to me? How in the world does one bully the toughest, smartest and most presidential woman in the world. How is it even possible to bully Mrs. Clinton? She's got her own testicle lockbox, for crying out loud! How in the world do you bully that?"   Rush Limbaugh

I saw no sign whatever that the left suffered politically for their bullying of the following  Republican women. Where were the "fairplay independents" when these women were being trashed by the left?

“So sit back and enjoy!” – Smug CNN host can barely contain her excitement over new Palin ‘brawl’ audio

. . . "CNN host Carol Costello can barely contain her excitement over hearing the new audio of the ‘brawl’ in Alaska that involved Bristol Palin a few weeks back.

She started the segment by claiming it was possibly the best audio CNN had ever gotten:

“Okay I’m just going to come right out and say it. This is quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across.”

This liberal blog brims with satisfaction at the Danziger and Oliphant cartoons of Condoleezza Rice

 

Salon's back-handed defense of conservative women:  . . . "Examine the symptoms of this infection, beginning with David Letterman’s comments . . . “buying makeup at Bloomingdale’s to update her slutty flight attendant look,” as well as his joke about Palin’s teenage daughter: “Sarah Palin went to a Yankees Game yesterday … during the seventh inning stretch, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.” (Letterman insists he was talking about her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol. . .  not her 14-year-old, Willow, the daughter who attended the game.) . . .writer Guy Cimbalo published a list of 10 conservative women he’d like to “hate f--k,” a term that various observers interpreted as rough sex, sex tinged by rage, or rape. . . .Worse than the violence of the general sentiment was the graphic specificity of the “Hate F--k Rating” appended to each woman — a list that included Michelle Malkin, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Dana Perino and Laura Ingraham. On Hasslebeck:  . . . On Malkin: “Worse than f--king Eva Braun.”

"Both cases were met with a tepid response from the left. Though Letterman apologized on Wednesday’s show . . . his tone was mock-serious, and his audience chuckled along.

Brent Bozell writes in Townhall: Smearing Republican Women  "In 1992, the feminists in the media rejoiced at what they called "The Year of the Woman," when 10 Democratic women (and one Republican) were running for the Senate in the aftermath of Anita Hill's unproven sexual-harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas. Just two years before, seven Republican women (and two Democrats) ran. But the media yawned.

Where were those cherished independents during all this?

Nice Deb's Weasel of the Week

Nice Deb

"It’s time once again for the Watcher’s Council’s ‘Weasel Of The Week’ nominations, where we pick our choices to compete for the award of the famed Golden Weasel to a public figure who particularly deserves to be slimed and mocked for his or her dastardly deeds during the week. Every Tuesday morning, tune in for the Weasel of the Week nominations!

"Here are this weeks’ nominees….

New York’s comedy Newspaper, The Daily News

The Noisy Room : My submission this week is the NY Daily News for labeling the 47 US Senators as traitors, all Republicans, who sent a signed letter to Iran pointing out the minor detail that any agreement made between Obama and Iran without approval by the Senate is unconstitutional.

Utterly Unhinged Lefty Whack Job Ed Schultz!!

"The Right Planet : Following the shooting of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, by a 20-year-old thug, Jeffrey Williams, MSNBC’s resident hothead, Ed Schultz, recommended disarming the police. Let the officers carry nightsticks instead, said Sgt. Schultz. Wuut? I can hear it now: “We’re taking fire! Grab your nightsticks!!

” Apparently Mr. Ed believes only criminals and thugs should be armed with guns. Brilliant. I mean, come on. He’s just trolling us now."

."Yep, you heard that right… The Associated Students of University of California (ASUCI), a California State University in the USA, wanted to stop flying the American flag on their campus." 

 Much more here.

Hillary's IQ and what it has wrought for our country

"Hillary may have a higher IQ than Bill and objectively be smarter, but man when it comes to optics and basic politics, she's pretty dumb."

"A tweet from Liz Mair — quoted in the earlier post about Scott Walker's hiring her as a strategist — prompted me to write this poll:" . . .

Victor Davis Hanson: Hillary or Bust!  . . . "Abroad, chaos in the Middle East, failed reset with Russia, leading from behind in Libya, and the deaths in Benghazi are no more winning issues than are, at home, the Obamacare fiasco, $9 trillion in new debt, and the alphabet soup of the AP, IRS, NSA, and VA scandals. The Democratic party has also radically changed in just the six years Barack Obama has been in the White House, as it suffered the greatest losses in Congress since the 1920s. Other than hoping for a serious Republican scandal, the Democrats can only cling to two assumptions. One is historic voter turnout by minorities. The second is bloc voting on the basis of racial and gender solidarity.

Hope n' Change  "As if Hillary Clinton's lifeless, laughable excuses for her email scandals weren't bad enough, there's increasing talk that presidential puppet-master Valerie Jarrett is actually orchestratingthe attack on the former Secretary of State. It's like one of those nature documentaries in which a scorpion is squaring off with a rattlesnake; it's hypnotically fascinating to watch, and you hope they'll both lose.

But with Hillary looking (at least temporarily) wounded and woeful, who do Democrats have waiting in the wings to possibly take her place? Right now, the choices seem to boil down to aNative American and a Naive American...

Daniel Pipes: Why Politicians Pretend Islam Has No Role in Violence

The Middle East Forum

"Prominent non-Muslim political figures have embarrassed themselves by denying the self-evident connection of Islam to the Islamic State (ISIS) and to Islamist violence in Paris and Copenhagen, even claiming these are contrary to Islam. What do they hope to achieve through these falsehoods and what is their significance?

"First, a sampling of the double talk:" . . .  Read the full article.

According to non-Muslim politicians these Taliban 
members have nothing to do with Islam.

Ironically, ignoring the Islamic impulse means foregoing the best tool to defeat jihadism: for, if the problem results not from an interpretation of Islam, but from random evil and irrational impulses, how can one possibly counter it? Only acknowledging the legacy of Islamic imperialism opens ways to re-interpret the faith's scriptures in modern, moderate, and good-neighborly ways.

President Obama embarrassed for Republicans over Iran Letter

comicallyincorrect.com

SENATOR OBAMA’S 2008 MESSAGE TO IRAN UNDERMINES CONDEMNATION OF GOP LETTER    . . . "Livid over the GOP letter, Biden proclaimed: “In thirty-six years in the United States Senate, I cannot recall another instance in which Senators wrote directly to advise another country.' ” . . .

Biden threatens to chase the Republicans to the very gates of Hell.  But I digress...

"According to Pajamas Media columnist Michael Ledeen, in 2008, a Democratic senator sent a personal emissary to Tehran encouraging the mullahs not to sign an agreement with the outgoing Bush Administration as negotiations would take on a much friendlier tone following President Bush’s departure from office.

"That senator was a presidential candidate at the time. His name was Barack Obama."

Obama Sent Ambassador To Tehran To Negotiate During 2008 Campaign
"On the program (embedded above) Leeden revisits his disclosure of the trip taken by Ambassador William G. Miller to Tehran in 2008 on Obama’s behalf to assure the mullahs he was a friend of the terrorist-supporting regime. Understanding the Miller trip is important because it gives an insight into Obama's world view not reflected by the mainstream media. As he explained in the PJMedia column he wrote on the subject:" 

2008 Candidate Senator Obama Sent U.S. Secret Emissary To Iran Telling Them Not To Negotiate With George Bush – Said Wait For Him To Be Elected….

Does this all remind you of another incident?

Are we not all embarrassed for America under this president?

Alan Caruba asks, "Is John Kerry a Moron?"

Warning Signs

"I can recall John Kerry, Obama’s Secretary of State, from the days he testified to a congressional committee and slandered his fellow soldiers as the spokesman for Veterans Against the Vietnam War in 1971. I was appalled then and my opinion of the man has not changed since those days. I opposed the war, too, but I did not blame it on the men who were conscripted to fight it, nor did I believe the charges he leveled against some of them.

"These days Kerry is engaged in securing an agreement with the Iranians, if not to stop their program to make their own nuclear weapons than to slow it to a later date. Never mind that the Iranian government is listed by our own government as a leading sponsor of terrorism worldwide or that they have signed such agreements in the past and then tossed out the inspectors. "

. . . 

"On March 2^nd, Kerry addressed the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C, telling them what he has been saying in many forums. Let us understand that “climate change” is the name being used to replace “global warming”, because the Earth has been in a cooling cycle for the past 18 years or so. And let us understand that “climate change” has been happening for 4.5 billion years. "

Missouri Lt Governor: Holder Incited Mob Many Times

Breitbart TV  (Video) "When asked if he had spoken to Mr. Holder directly, Kinder said, “No, no, no, he doesn’t bend to speak with people like me. He comes into town and meets with one side. He met with the family of Michael Brown, and that’s fine that he met with them. But, he did not meet with the family of officer Darren Wilson or with his brother and sister officers to say I’m backing you up. ' ”

This bumper sticker didn’t buy into the media lie.

Iran and Hizballah DROPPED from US Terror List - OBAMA INSANE

Infidel Bloggers Alliance    "US intel report scrapped Iran from list of terror threats

"SOFTENED ASSESSMENT, SUBMITTED IN FEBRUARY, COMES AMID MARATHON NUCLEAR TALKS, SHARED INTERESTS VIS-A-VIS THE ISLAMIC STATE

"An annual report delivered recently to the US Senate by James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, removed Iran and Hezbollah from its list of terrorism threats, after years in which they featured in similar reports
The unclassified version of the Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Communities, dated February 26, 2015 (PDF), noted Iran’s efforts to combat Sunni extremists, including those of the ultra-radical Islamic State group, who were perceived to constitute the preeminent terrorist threat to American interests worldwide."

Inflection point: Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Benghazi investigating committee, concedes that there is reason for the continuing inquiry.

Althouse  "On "Face the Nation" this morning, at the very end of the interview, Bob Schieffer asked: "Well, are you satisfied that there's anything else to find out about Benghazi?"

"Cummings said: "I don't know. We have been at this now, Bob, since May. And I still don't know the scope of what we're looking for. I think there have been eight investigations. They have been done extremely well. And they — I think they have resolved most of the questions."

"He could have said — like many Democratic Party partisans — that the matter has been thoroughly investigated and it's nothing more than partisan politics now. But he said "I don't know." Twice. And then he said "they have resolved most of the questions." Most. Most means not all. So clearly there are questions left."

Restaurants in Seattle Going Dark as $15 an Hour Minimum Wage Looms. UPDATE with a counterpoint

Rick Moran  "I like this simple, elegant explanation from Reason’s Ronald Bailey about the value of labor and the minimum wage:" . . .

Seattle’s $15 minimum wage law goes into effect on April 1, 2015. As that date approaches, restaurants across the city are making the financial decision to close shop. The Washington Policy Center writes that “closings have occurred across the city, from Grub in the upscale Queen Anne Hill neighborhood, to Little Uncle in gritty Pioneer Square, to the Boat Street Cafe on Western Avenue near the waterfront.”

Of course, restaurants close for a variety of reasons. But, according to Seattle Magazine, the “impending minimum wage hike to $15 per hour” is playing a “major factor.” That’s not surprising, considering “about 36% of restaurant earnings go to paying labor costs.” Seattle Magazine,

“Washington Restaurant Association’s Anthony Anton puts it this way: “It’s not a political problem; it’s a math problem.”

“He estimates that a common budget breakdown among sustaining Seattle restaurants so far has been the following: 36 percent of funds are devoted to labor, 30 percent to food costs and 30 percent go to everything else (all other operational costs). The remaining 4 percent has been the profit margin, and as a result, in a $700,000 restaurant, he estimates that the average restauranteur in Seattle has been making $28,000 a year.

“With the minimum wage spike, however, he says that if restaurant owners made no changes, the labor cost in quick service restaurants would rise to 42 percent and in full service restaurants to 47 percent.”

 . . . "That means a net loss in jobs and economic activity. But for the rich voters in King County, that hardly matters. It’s so “progressive” to pay someone a wage unrelated to the value of their work. Too bad those who can least afford to be a casualty of this progressive experiment will suffer the most."

UPDATE: No, the minimum wage isn't forcing these Seattle restaurants to close

. . . "That doesn't mean that the minimum wage increase won't make the Seattle restaurant business harder. But so far it doesn't seem to have made a dent in diners' choices."

'Yes, He Is A Demonstrator': Police Announce Arrest Of Ferguson Cop Shooting Suspect

Truth Revolt

"The suspect has claimed to police that he was shooting at someone else and not at the police officers. The police are not yet able to confirm or disprove that claim. The weapon was a handgun." 

Get Set For “Hands Up #2″: Protesters Claim That #Ferguson Cop Shooting Suspect Jeffrey Williams Was Beaten By Police

. . . "Based on hearsay “Robinson said, this is what he said”, without the police side to rebut.

"Interestingly, according to Keith Rose, a Ferguson activist, what Robinson actually said was Williams said he was not a “regular” protester, not that he never had been.

"Sounds like an effort is underway on the one hand to disavow him as a protester, but on the other hand put out disinformation to make him the new cause."

Holder: Ferguson arrest sends 'clear message' against violence  "Williams has told police and prosecutors he was firing at someone other than the officers, but authorities say they are investigating that claim."

Sheriff David Clarke Disgusted With Obama And Holder After Mo. Police Shooting

But what we expect — and it’s all we expect, Megyn — is we expect that responsible people in this country back us in these situations. When we’re wrong, we’re wrong. But when we’re right, I expect them to come out in very strong language, indicate that and give us some sense that at least they have our backs in these situations and they’re not looking to indict based on emotional mob rhetoric or bring criminal charges or even slam our reputations.

"Kelly noted that although Officer Darren Wilson was exonerated of all charges by the Department of Justice, President Obama was not forceful in acknowledging that verdict."

Cop Shooter Jeffrey Williams Is Friends With Mike Brown’s Buddy Dorian Johnson

"Williams told police he fired the shots.
St. Louis officials say Williams was a regular Ferguson protester.

"Jeffrey Williams and Mike Brown’s buddy Dorian Johnson are friends on Facebook."

Suspect Arrested in Ferguson Shooting, Claims He Wasn’t Aiming at Officers
. . . "But Williams reportedly told investigators he didn’t mean to target the line of police standing on the sidewalk Wednesday night, facing down protesters on the opposing sidewalk. Williams is claiming that he intended to shoot his .40-caliber handgun at someone with whom he had a disagreement, but hit the police instead." . . .

Ferguson Police: Public info led to arrest of man in shootings of two officers

"Authorities offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of person or persons responsible for the gunfire upon the two officers, according to the St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers website.

"McCulloch said the tipster whose information led to Williams' arrest is eligible to receive the reward. He declined to provide any information on the tipster or the nature of the tip."