Why California’s Drought Was Completely Preventable

Victor Davis Hanson

 After the initial phases of the federal Central Valley Project and state California Water Project were largely finished — and flooding was no longer considered a dire threat in Northern California — environmentalists in the last 40 years canceled most of the major second- and third-stage storage projects. To take a few examples, they stopped the raising of Shasta Dam, the construction of the Peripheral Canal, and gargantuan projects such as the Ah Pah and Dos Rios reservoirs. VDH

 

. . . "What is new is that the state has never had 40 million residents during a drought — well over 10 million more than during the last dry spell in the early 1990s. Much of the growth is due to massive and recent immigration.

"A record one in four current Californians was not born in the United States, according to the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. Whatever one’s view on immigration, it is ironic to encourage millions of newcomers to settle in the state without first making commensurately liberal investments for them in water supplies and infrastructure.

"Sharp rises in population still would not have mattered much had state authorities just followed their forbearers’ advice to continually increase water storage." . . .

Leading Obama supporters offer law enforcement advice

MSNBC's Al Sharpton demands DOJ takeover of police nationwide

 

. . . "Several wondered why the Justice Department hasn't arrested Sharpton for back taxes he owes. One person suggested Sharpton is protected by the administration and will never have to pay his back taxes.

" 'Out of respect, we could have them wear uniforms that honor people of color," one Twitter user suggested. "How about brown shirts?"

"Another person wondered if Sharpton was delivering a message from the White House. "Would this be 'police state' -- like communism? Hmmm."
 The Rev ticked off some of his supporters.


Michael Moore Demands America ‘Disarm The Police’

 "Filmmaker Michael Moore demanded on Twitter Thursday that America’s police officers be disarmed and all African-Americans imprisoned for non-violent crimes be released.
 
"Moore’s demands came in response to the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old man who dies two weeks ago while in police custody in Baltimore.


" 'After a night of relative calm in Baltimore but more than 100 arrests in New York City and violence in Ferguson, Missouri, Moore said prisons are filled with innocent people and compared incarceration to “a modern day slave system.”


“ 'Next demand: Disarm the police,” he wrote. “We have a 1/4 billion 2nd amendment guns in our homes 4 protection. We’ll survive til the right cops [are] hired,” he wrote."
More Moore here.

HopeN'Change
. . . " Now we're being told that these terrorizing miscreants, who were acting with neither cause nor control, are all good kids who are just frustrated because, according to Barack Obama, we haven't nurtured them with enough federal money. And most importantly, they shouldn't be called "thugs" because it might be code for the dreaded n-word. ' . . . 

 

Links on the Baltimore riots and my choice for Mother of the Year

How Riot Supporters Think  "Walter Hudson has already drawn your attention to an article in Salon endorsing urban guerrilla warfare as a viable strategy for “the oppressed.”

"It’s important to take articles like this very seriously. One is tempted to shrug—”well, it’s Salon“—and go on with one’s day. But Salon is not The Socialist Worker. It isn’t even what Ramparts used to be. It reaches a much wider audience, and those who read it and write for it are not solely members of obscure sects like the Revolutionary Communist Party. They are registered Democrats and independents. They are students, teachers, journalists, and the baristas at Starbucks. They’re all around." . . .

 

 Police source: Mayor Blake ordered cops to 'stand down' at height of rioting
. . .  Clearly, Rawlings-Blake did not want to be seen as bringing the hammer down on "protestors."  She went to great pains to try and separate "legitimate" protestors from the "thugs.' " . . .


The Weasel of the Week Award goes to...
 "Yes, once again, It’s time to present this week’s statuette of shame, The Golden Weasel!!

"Every Tuesday, the Council nominates some of the slimiest, most despicable characters in public life for some deed of evil, cowardice or corruption they’ve performed. Then we vote to single out one particular Weasel for special mention, to whom we award the statuette of shame, our special, 100% plastic Golden Weasel. This week’s nominees were all spectacularly disgusting, but the votes are in and we have our winner winner… the envelope please…

 Washington Post reports that Freddie Gray was trying to hurt himself in police van

. . . "Needless to say, the forces that have been criticizing the Baltimore Police do not welcome this report.  They are heavily invested in a narrative of police misconduct.  And they may be correct, though the evidence is not in, and the release of an official investigation has still not happened.  But, should the report be true and verified, you can count on protesters citing a “larger truth.' ”

Sharpton Plays Defense For Dingbat Baltimore Mayor, Shoves Fox Reporter Aside
" Al Sharpton was on hand in Baltimore yesterday to 1) Make sure things get worse there and 2) Protect the mayor from uncomfortable questions."

Video from Noisy Room

"Leland Vittert, who deserves a Pulitzer Prize that he’ll never receive for his work in Baltimore, reported yesterday that one of his sources in the police department informed him that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who deserves a tar-and-feather treatment that she’ll never receive, told the police to stand down and not challenge rioters as they were ravaging the city." . . .
Remember Vittert is Fox News and Sharpton is MSNBC. Just sayin'

 LIBERAL CHICK: Tells People to ‘Loot and Steal’ and Endorses Hillary for President

 

Black Mom Changes Leftist Narrative on Violence  . . . The left turns on her.
"The important teaching moment represented by this dramatic incident, a brief moment of sanity in the media, undercut the left-wing effort to somehow blame the police for the riots. As a result, the “progressives” had to go on the attack against the black mother.

"Over at Think Progress, the blog of the pro-Obama Center for American Progress, Graham was attacked as a “misguided” mother who exercised bad judgment in holding her son accountable. Writer Kira Lerner said the issue was alleged police violence, not rioting in the streets by black youth.

"She quoted a woman with a group opposed to “police brutality” as saying that “While she doesn’t condone the looting that was highlighted by the media in Baltimore Monday night, she said she understands where the violent protesters are coming from.' ”. . .

#BaltimoreRiots Teen Thanks Mom, while American U Prof calls her Mammie
 “ 'I understand how much my mother really cares about me. I just got to try to do better.' ”  Video at the link.
 “What caught my eye was his sweatpants,” she told ABC News. “Even though he had on all black, I knew those sweatpants he had on, they had a stripe on the side of it and then his eye contact met mine. And I knew that was my son.”
"Though he was visibly annoyed and tried brushing off his mom in the video that has now gone viral, the 16-year-old recognizes that she was just looking out for him.
“I’m like, ‘Oh man! What is my momma doing down here?'” Michael told ABC News, laughing while thinking back to the moment his mom nabbed him Monday afternoon.
“All my friends know my mother. Every time they see her they’re like, ‘Toya coming.’ Oh, yeah she’s coming. Everybody better get straight,” he said."

The Clintons; masters of chutzpah

 

Chutzpah meaning: 1. shameless audacity; impudence
 Clinton example: when the Clinton's were exposed to be renting out the Lincoln bedroom at the White House to big donors, they claimed to be victims of the corrupt campaign financing needs in politics. Bill said they would campaign against this very custom and set himself up as the champion of campaign reform. This couple had the very nerve to go from being exposed as the most greedy of politicians to the very ones to clean up corruption in politics. And the media and the public bought it!
Bill Clinton is considered to be a master politician, but he is enabled to be that only because of the willingness of Democrat media/voters to cling to the Clintons.  As George Will said, the Clinton's strength is the inability to be embarrassed by anything. And I would add, the Democrat voters' willingness to settle for mediocrity in all areas of our culture and government. The Tunnel Dweller





Hillary Clinton, of all people, calls for restoring trust in public life  "Bill and Hillary Clinton's durability in American public life is built largely upon their complete inability to be embarrassed or shamed by anything.

"Think about all the controversies, everything they've been involved in. Don't think too graphically, but Cattlegate, Travelgate, the Lincoln Bedroom, Monica, Paula et al. Benghazi. Cutting consulate security there. Violating agreements with the White House. Private email server. Deleted emails. Influence peddling. Opaque transparency on fundraising. Uranium deals. No apologies. Just their immensely enriched bank accounts.

 "So, there Clinton was Wednesday 10 days into her final bid to capture the Oval Office, on a Columbia University stage calling for the restoration of trust in American public life." .

Should Hillary Clinton wear a body camera?

 

 Hillary Clinton to Demand Transparency for Public Officials Not Named Hillary Clinton  . . . "But there's another obvious reason why Hillary Clinton's call for police body cameras is... interesting. Later today, Hillary Clinton is going to stand up on national television and insist that the American people are entitled to an extensive record of evidence documenting the decisions of public officials who are charged with making life or death decisions. The hypocrisy here is too obvious to ignore:" . . .
 . .
While on the subject...
Hillary Clinton Blows off Questions from the Press  "If you’re wondering why the Democratic Party’s presumed 2016 nominee has been quiet lately, you’re not alone.
"Hillary Clinton has answered only seven questions from the media since announcing her run for president.
. . .
"Here Are All Seven Media Questions Hillary Clinton Has Answered During Her Campaign" . . .Read more at the link.

Obama to abandon Israel at the UN

This petulant juvenile president gets his revenge for Netanyahu's speech to Congress

Caroline Glick
"In testimony last week before the House committee in charge of State Department funding, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power acknowledged that the Obama administration intends to abandon the US’s 50 year policy of supporting Israel at the United Nations.

"After going through the tired motions of pledging support for Israel, “when it matters,” Power refused to rule out the possibility that the US would support anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council to limit Israeli sovereignty and control to the lands within the 1949 armistice lines – lines that are indefensible.

"Such a move will be taken, she indicated, in order to midwife the establishment of a terrorist-supporting Palestinian state whose supposedly moderate leadership does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, calls daily for its destruction, and uses the UN to delegitimize the Jewish state.
In other words, the Obama administration intends to pin Israel into indefensible borders while establishing a state committed to its destruction." . . . Full article.

This teacup poodle rides elevators to visit friends

USA Today    "This black teacup poodle named Nala is making everyone smile at a nursing home in Minnesota. She scurries from room to room, even riding the elevator by herself, to see her friends."

The tiny dog is an “angel” in disguise to nursing home residents.

"A tiny teacup poodle named Nala is administering a medicine that everyone at a nursing home in Minnesota loves to get. Nala accompanies Doug Dawson to his work at Lyngblomsten nursing home and while he works, she sprints independently around the hallways of the home seeking out people to comfort.

"Although Nala never trained as a therapy dog, she has a knack for knowing when people are really sick and need her. She even senses when someone is passing on. When she finds someone she wants to see, she jumps on their laps and gives them a cuddle and makes them smile. As the residents describe her, she’s an “angel”."

MSNBC POLICE BRUTALITY EXPERTS ARE INCREDIBLE -- NOT IN A GOOD WAY

 

Ann Coulter ... "It's beginning to look as if the Democratic Party can't whip African-Americans into an anti-white frenzy to turn out on Election Day, and then say, "OK, thanks, guys! That's all we need."
"How else do liberals explain the upsurge in racial unrest since Obama became president? Why would white racism -- their view -- latent for the previous 15 years, burst forth meteorically just as the country elected its first black president?
"Did we elect this bumbling incompetent, then suddenly remember that we're racists?
"I have an explanation! It's subtly alluded to in the title of my book, "Mugged: Racial Demagoguery From the Seventies to Obama." What's theirs? 
. . . 
"This is what I loathe about lawyers. They refuse to let their clients talk -- in order to save the perfect case for trial. But in big public cases like these, that strategy doesn't work. Their clients are left to twist in the wind for six months, and, by the time the trial comes around, the guy's life is ruined anyway.

"Luckily for Officer Wilson, his girlfriend called into a radio station to give his version of events soon after the shooting. Eight months and millions of dollars later, it turns out her account was the only true one, despite all those very credible, highly believable, salt-of-the-earth eyewitnesses testifying on MSNBC. "

 

April 29th, 1945; seventy years ago: US troops liberate Dachau concentration camp

World War 2 Today

 

 "Dachau concentration camp was the first camp established by the Nazis, shortly after they came to power in 1933. At first the camp was used to detain enemies of the Nazi regime, political prisoners. Later many tens of thousands of other would pass through the camp and its numerous sub-camps, including groups of Jews, women and Clergy ( mainly Catholics) from all over occupied Europe.

"Dachau was not an extermination camp with gas chambers, although the death rate from conventional executions, starvation and ill treatment was high and the camp was equipped with ‘ovens’ for the disposal of the dead. It was also the site of numerous medical experiments on detainees, many of whom died in the course of experiments, which included prolonged exposure to freezing water and simulated high altitude tests."

 Below: Photograph allegedly showing an unauthorized execution of SS troops in a coal yard in the area of the Dachau concentration camp during its liberation—part of the Dachau liberation reprisals. 29 April 1945 (U.S Army photograph)
The caption for the photograph in the U.S. National Archives reads, “SC208765, Soldiers of the 42nd Infantry Division, U.S. Seventh Army, order SS men to come forward when one of their number tried to escape from the Dachau, Germany, concentration camp after it was captured by U.S. forces. Men on the ground in background feign death by falling as the guards fired a volley at the fleeing SS men. (157th Regt. 4/29/45).”

 

New book about Felix Sparks gives a new perspective on the liberation of Dachau and the Dachau massacre 
 "It was Sparks who fired a shot into the air to stop the killing of German soldiers with their hands in the air, an event known today as the Dachau massacre.  The Dachau massacre was kept secret for 40 years, and many people today still don’t believe it."

Here is a strongly pro-German account of the killing of SS guards by the American liberators

Col. Felix Sparks fires his pistol into the air to stop the massacre.

Why conservatives have more empathy than liberals. Let's have done with "straw men"

 

Daniel Hannan  . . . " 'For too long, you have been told something that simply isn't true," Miliband assured supporters as he announced his program. "That's what's good for the richest and most powerful is always good for the whole of our country. That as long as a few individuals and companies are OK, we can just wait for the wealth to trickle down to everyone else."
"Really? We've been told that? By whom? Who has spouted such bilge? Type "trickle down economics" into Google and it'll prompt you with "myth", "criticism", "debunked" and "doesn't work." But you'll search in vain for anyone actually proposing the idea.
"Not that this deters leftist politicians, election after election, from tearing into it. Here, for example, is Barack Obama in 2008: "We can't afford four more years of the theory that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else."

 If you start from the conviction that you're standing up for the underdog, you will naturally assume that your political opponents are for the powerful. You will subliminally screen out evidence that challenges that view. As Danusha Goska put it in American Thinker not long ago, "Never, in all my years of leftist activism, did I ever hear anyone articulate accurately the position of anyone to our right. In fact, I did not even know those positions when I was a leftist."

 

Iran Literally Fired a Shot Across an American Ally’s Bow, But Obama Won’t Dump His Disastrous Deal

http://comicallyincorrect.com/

Noisy Room ... "What, if anything, would cause President Barack Obama to step away from the negotiating table with Iran?
"This is the question I find myself pondering in light of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy Patrol’s unchecked act of aggression on Tuesday against America’s interests in the Straits of Hormuz – an act that in a sane world would in and of itself put an end to the president’s disastrous nuclear deal with Iran.
"As of this writing, reports indicate that the Iranian Navy Patrol fired shots at and ultimately seized a commercial cargo ship, the M/V Maersk Tigris, which flies under the Marshall Islands flag. Some believe Iran was even targeting a U.S. vessel.
. . . 
"Further, this act can be seen as a brazen test of the sincerity of U.S. resolve, as it was timed to coincide with the opening of the Senate’s debate on the Corker-Menendez Iran bill." . . .

 

Contentions: Zarif’s Bluster  . . . "However he does it, that’s his problem,” Zarif said, adding that a UN resolution endorsing the agreement would have to be endorsed by the U.S., “whether Senator Cotton likes it or not.”

. . . "Oh and Zarif made clear that the lifting of sanctions would occur within weeks of the agreement being signed (contrary to White House claims that sanctions relief would be phased), while also mocking Obama’s claims that sanctions could “snap back” in the event of Iranian violations: “If people are worrying about snapback, they should be worrying about the U.S. violating its obligations and us snapping back,” he said. “That is a point that the United States should be seriously concerned about. This is not a game.”
. . .
"So desperate for an agreement, in fact, that the president is willing to overlook Iranian aggression in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen—and even to overlook Iran’s jailing of three American citizens and its seizure of a ship belonging to allies that we are pledged to defend.

"It is indicative of where we stand that there has been nary a peep of protest about the hijacking of the Maersk Tigris. The Pentagon even leaked word that the U.S. is not legally obligated to protect the Maersk Tigris, as if the U.S. cannot act to protect its moral and strategic interests even if not compelled to do so under the terms of some piece of paper."

 . . . But the problem has become much more pronounced under the Obama administration, which sees détente with Iran as its lasting legacy. That’s why Iran’s foreign minister feels free to come to New York and act like a haughty master of the universe, knowing there will not be even a peep of protest from this thoroughly intimidated administration.

Baltimore Is a Job For Super-President — Where Is He?

 

 Investors.com  ... "Leadership: Riots rage 40 miles from the White House, in a city 15 minutes away on Marine One. The one thing that President Obama is good at is speaking to a crowd. So where has he been?

"You don't lead from the Rose Garden. Jimmy Carter painfully discovered that when he chose to make himself a fellow Iran hostage, locking himself in the White House as 52 Americans suffered for 444 days.

"Ronald Reagan proved it when he stood before the Brandenburg Gate and demanded, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" It wouldn't have worked too well saying it 4,000 miles away in the East Room.

"Consider how much traveling this president does. Last month, Judicial Watch announced its findings that the first family's annual Hawaiian Christmas trips over the past three years have cost taxpayers $15.5 million just for the travel costs.

"But a visit to burning Baltimore is apparently too much to ask.". . .

: Read More At Investor's Business Daily

Former Al Jazeera employee sues network, alleging anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism

http://comicallyincorrect.com/

WaPo  "A former employee of Al Jazeera America has filed suit against the network for workplace retaliation, leveling a number of allegations that a manager engaged in discriminatory conduct toward women and made offensive remarks about Israel and the United States.

"Matthew Luke started at Al Jazeera America in 2013 in New York City, prior to the network’s U.S. launch, and served initially as its supervisor of media and archive management. In his early days on the job, notes the complaint, Luke was a happy employee, working closely with Jeff Polikoff, who now holds the title of acting executive vice president of operations & technology. “Luke worked diligently to assist AJAM to prepare for the launch of its U.S. news network in August of 2013, and, along with the team that he managed, was instrumental in making that launch a logistical suc[c]ess,” notes the lawsuit.

"A couple of months after the launch, AJAM hired Osman Mahmud as a news editor, the complaint states. Over time, Mahmud would rise through the ranks, ultimately securing the title of senior vice president of broadcast operations & technology — a position in which he supervised Luke. The complaint levels a whole sheath of claims in the direction of Mahmud:" . . .
Full article here