Awaiting Selection

This photo is in the Spring 2014 issue of Memory & Action, the magazine of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and it immediately made me send a donation. The photograph's ominous caption is "Jewish women and children from Subcarpathian Rus, then a part of Hungary, await selection on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. 1944."  This is the 70th anniversary of the deportation to Auschwitz of 425,000 Hungarian Jews in only 55 days.

Good Friday Links

Why don't we tell Mexico that if they don't release Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi from jail, we'll send back the illegal aliens who are being dumped into Arizona?

I saw Jay Carney's press conference yesterday, so I wasn't at all surprised to hear today that he had resigned.  After all, it's not easy answering simple questions about your boss and his scandals day after day. As for Shinseki, he should have resigned right away, to send a signal to the country that the White House was taking the VA deaths and waits very seriously. Instead, as Human Events put it, it turned into an entirely political soap opera.

The Council has spoken! Here are the latest Watcher's Council winners, from the Politics of Division edition.

Follow the Crowd

I heard on ESPN this morning that Donald Sterling is supposedly the most hated man in America -- hated even more than murderers (O.J. Simpson and Aaron Hernandez) and a Ponzi schemer (Madoff). There's something wrong with the way the question was asked, or something wrong with the people who were asked, if they can't distinguish between a big-mouth and a killer.

Another Disappointment

The Daily Beast got it just right: "Awful but True: Pings Were Not From Malaysia Airlines Flight 370."

Miracle of D-Day

In Victor Davis Hanson's latest column, he writes, "D-Day ushered in the end of the Third Reich. It was the most brilliantly conducted invasion in military history, and probably no one but a unique generation of British, Canadians and Americans could have pulled it off."   The NOVA program "D-Day's Sunken Secrets" also reinforced that feeling. We are lucky that Obama wasn't around then, or he surely would have botched it somehow.

Lots 'o Links

Take a look at what's happening in our infuriating society courtesy of Betsy's Page, Maggie's Farm, and Larwyn's Linx.

Bravo!

After the murders at the Brussels Jewish Museum, there was a strong response in Italy:  "Riccardo Pacifici, the president of the Rome Jewish community, spoke in a way the Belgians and other European Jews should have:  “It’s time to show these rogues, these murderers, that we are not afraid, they do not intimidate us. We will march together and take them to jail,” according to Italy’s Il Messagero newspaper on Monday.

That's the spirit!

Save Our Jews

You have a Twitter campaign to "Bring Back Our Girls" -- the Nigerian girls kidnapped by the filthy, murderous Bobo Haram terrorists.

How about someone starting a "Save Our Jews" campaign after witnessing continual hatred toward, and targeted murders of, Jews around the world? Or isn't that politically correct enough to capture the attention of celebrities and the general public?

"Probably" A Terrorist Attack

No "probably" about it. The murders in Brussels was definitely an anti-Jewish attack, no matter how they try to spin it.

Memorial Day Then and Now

If you like old photographs, you'll love these pictures of Memorial Day commemorations of the past.  Also, here are photos of abandoned WWI battlefields as they look today.

Memorial Day in France

"The commander of U.S. Army Europe and the granddaughter of Gen. George S. Patton were among dignitaries in attendance at a Memorial Day ceremony Sunday at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial.

Located just outside the town of St. Avold, the cemetery fans out over 113.5 acres. With its 10,489 graves, it is where the largest number of American dead from World War II rest in Europe."  View the photo gallery here.

Violent Antisemitism

First you had the killings last month at the Kansas City Jewish Community Center.  Now you have murders at the Brussels Jewish Museum in a "climate of hate".  Just this week I read about Jewish students on American college campuses not feeling safe thanks to the antisemitic nature of the BDS movement.  Every day there's a steady drip of politically correct hatred and a terrible feeling of déjà vu. 

Remembering Our Brave War Dead

Good Friday Links

The Council has spoken! Here are the latest Watcher's Council winners, from the VA Blues edition.

Don't forget to read Daniel Greenfield's Friday Afternoon Roundup at Sultan Knish. This week's edition is titled #LikeABoss, this being an actual Obama bumper sticker.

Art and Music

American Digest always has such nice posts, including this PianoGuys video. I had never heard of One Direction and had to look them up afterwards; I like the classical music version better than their original. Here's more on the inspiration behind the video.

About Memorial Day

I like this editorial from ChicagoNow emphasizing that Memorial Day is about our war dead, not about shopping sales.

The V.A. Scandal: What Difference Does It Make?

If this isn't reason enough to get outraged and fire General Shinseki, I don't know what is: "Shameful: Gitmo detainees get better medical treatment than our vets". 

A Doggone Shame

Cartoon by Michael Ramirez. It reminded me of Obama's pathetic 2010 whine that he was being treated like a dog.

Lots 'o Links

The more Obama scandals there are, the more good links there are! Check out those at Maggie's Farm, Betsy's Page, and Larwyn's Linx.

Never Underestimate The Power of The Schwa!

I remember learning about the schwa in school. Leave it to mental_floss to list 9 fun facts about the schwa. They always have such interesting trivia.

Poo, Poo, Poo!

Here's a wonderful column from the Daily Forward that will bring back a lot of fond memories: "Spitting and Other Methods of Warding Off Canaries, Jinxes and Evil Eyes."

Tribute to Sir Nicholas Winton

 "In 1938 Sir Nicholas Winton saved the lives of 669 Jewish children. He kept the story to himself for 50 years."  This article is wonderfully-written by representatives of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, who met the hero last year -- when he was 104 years old.

Give Him The Hook ... Nose

I've never heard of Macklemore until now, and now I'm sorry I ever heard of him after seeing the costume that has gotten him in trouble. He'll undoubtedly sell more records now. At least Donald Sterling didn't wear blackface.

Jerry Vale

He had an instantly recognizable voice, and he's part of a dying breed of talented popular singers.  Most of the tributes to him are using the word "crooner",  a word pretty much extinct to those under 50!

Heiling a Cab

"'I’m a National Socialist – what you guys call a Nazi.... I’m a believer of it.' Demented NYC cab driver insists on his right to wear swastika armband".  He has been suspended for 30 days.  Does that mean that if a white New York cabbie wears a Ku Klux Klan robe while driving, he'd be called 'demented' rather than a hatemonger?

Turning The Tables on the Media

Watch this video, and be very proud that at least one member of Congress,  Rep. Trey Gowdy, is not a politically correct panderer.

Film Noir

Oh, come on! A film is being released this fall about MH370.  How can you make a movie about a plane that's vanished when nobody even knows what happened and why?  Even worse, it's taken less time to make this movie than it's taken to find this plane! I wonder if the distraught relatives and friends will play themselves in the movie. Rating: 0 stars.

Undiplomatic Diplomat

Martin Indyk, the so-called mediator in the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, was, according to the Washington Free Beacon, "Caught Bashing Israel at Hotel Bar."  I would tend to take these stories with a grain of salt, except for the open and brazen contempt directed at Israel by the Obama Administration and John Kerry over the years. It's very easy to believe this story. You can't have peace with people who want to wipe you off the face of the map, and you certainly can't have peace when it's negotiated by Jewish Israel-haters like this one.

To make matters worse, the State Department spokesman said, “What you’ve heard is categorically false. It didn’t happen, period”. Period?  The last time we heard that emphasis was in the lie from Obama that if we liked our health care plan and our doctor, we could keep them -- period! Not very reassuring, is it?

Dirty Politics, Dirty Blogging

I've seen some vicious politics and some disgraceful posts and pictures online over the years, but this story is particularly vile: "A Mississippi man was arrested Friday on allegations that he apparently entered a nursing home to photograph the bedridden wife of Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and posted an image of her online... Kelly is a blogger who has posted items opposing Cochran and supporting his Republican primary challenger, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger newspaper reported. In a statement, McDaniel condemned Kelly's alleged actions. McDaniel's campaign said it has neither an official nor a volunteer relationship with Kelly.  Cochran's wife, Rose Cochran, has been a resident of the nursing home since 2000 and suffers from dementia, the Clarion-Ledger reported." This goes way over the line of normal, decent behavior, and his blog should be shut down as a warning to others that this isn't what blogging's about.

Witness to Evil

Read Denis Hamill's description of the September 11 Museum, complete with haunting photographs. "All you can do is bear witness to evil. Hold onto it. Remember.  And never forget."

Good Friday Links

The Council has spoken! Here are the latest Watcher's Council winners from the #Hash Tag Edition.

Read Daniel Greenfield's Friday Afternoon Roundup titled The Equal Opportunity Discriminator.

Matt Walsh's blog has a whole new look, but his great writing style remains the same. This post on Michael Sam is spot on: "Let’s just cut to the chase. We’ve all read this script before.   If you do anything less than fall to your knees weeping tears of jubilation that a man who is sexually attracted to men was picked to play a game for a living — you’re a homophobe."

Read more at http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/05/12/homophobic-rant-michael-sam/#2IACxgrsQPGSJUFz.99

Resigned to Scandal

What's wrong with this picture?

"Embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki announced the resignation of a senior deputy on Friday, one day after both men testified before a Senate committee about new disclosures of mismanagement in the VA health system.  Problem is, the official, Robert Petzel, the undersecretary for health, had already announced his retirement in September, and his replacement was announced earlier this month."

Yes, that definitely makes everything okay in the disgraceful VA scandal.  Don't tell me the veterans are mollified by this.  And if he had any sincerity or decency at all, why didn't Shinseki himself resign instead of participating in this meaningless farce? I guess since nobody's been held accountable in any of the other Obama scandals, "what difference does it make?"

September 11 Memories

The New York Post has excellent coverage of the September 11 Museum, including this tribute to the NYFD by Tom Von Essen.

As far as the kvetching Muslims are concerned: this is not about them, it's about us.

Lots 'o Links

It's time to get even more aggravated with the news, thanks to Betsy's Page, Maggie's Farm, and Larwyn's Linx. All I know is, the more I hear and read about the scandals in the Obama Administration, the more sure I am that he will never be held accountable for any of it.

The September 11 Museum -- At Last

Look at these powerful photos from the September 11 Memorial Museum.

Come along on a guided tour of the Museum.

Artist Spencer Finch's commissioned work is called “Trying To Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning” and is made up of 2,983 squares of paper, once for every victim, and each a different shade of blue. I think everyone remembers the bright cloudless blue of the sky that day.

Argus Hamilton Quips

The political humorist Argus Hamilton has a new column of zingers, including this one: "Barack Obama was interrupted by a car alarm at a Bel-Air mansion fundraiser while he was denouncing income inequality. It was embarrassing. You'd think if the Democrats really believed in ending income inequality they'd turn off the alarms and let the thieves have the cars."

Stop! Enough!

These PC stories get more ridiculous every day, like this one: "Ohio College Considering Mandatory Transgender Sensitivity Training For Athletics Department."   "The new guidelines would replace pronouns 'he/him/his/she/her/hers' with 'they/them/theirs.'  Besides training, the new policy would also require that the athletic department documents replace 'FTM' (female-to-male and 'MTF' (male-to-female) with 'a transgender student-athlete who was designated a female at birth and is/is not taking medically prescribed hormone replacement therapy related to gender transition' and 'a transgender student-athlete who was designated a male at birth and is/is not taking medically prescribed hormone replacement therapy related to gender transition,' Campus Forum reported. The new guidelines would require athletic department staff to attend training, Clarke explained."  What kind of PC gobbledegook is that? And what if the staff refuses to attend? Of course, you must be some sort of "--ist" if you do refuse, but who cares?

How about considering mandatory education in reading, writing, and arithmetic instead, so your students can get jobs after graduation?

Photographs for Life

I love good writing, and Marie Brenner's article about Robert Capa on D-Day is well worth the read.

Stop Whining!

Do people really care about things like this? From today's UK Telegraph, these two stories: (1) Why there are no women on Bear Grylls' island. Jay Hunt, of Channel 4, answers complaints over sexism on the men-only survival show, and says she didn't see the row coming; (2) Godzilla: why no heroine?  Godzilla reduces its women to supporting roles but an early script had a female lead. 

If it bothers you that much, create a women-only survival show, or make a female-heavy movie, but for Pete's sake, stop counting, and stop complaining!

Liberal vs. Conservative

Ramirez gets it right, as usual! But it's not only speakers at colleges, it's speakers everywhere.

Political Indoctrination USA

I wasn't surprised, but I was still dismayed, to hear about this on the ESPN radio show: Fins’ Don Jones Fined For Tweet About Sam,  So, if you are conservative and you don't approve of men kissing on TV, or of the big celebration over gay athletes -- or about anything that liberals approve of and try to force you to accept -- then you need to be brainwashed in a re-education session. I'd like to see someone who has spine enough to refuse to attend, and get these PC intimidation tactics out into the open once and for all. It looks like free speech is free only for liberals.

The Brainwashing of America

This is a very good article by Austin Hill, titled "'Just Believe': The Closing Of The American Progressive Mind On Matters Of The Economy And Energy."

"Have you noticed that the cries of the cultural and political 'left' in the U.S. are becoming more venomous and shrill? As President Barack Obama flails on the international stage and approval for his domestic agenda and his party in Congress slips away, so-called 'progressive' Americans are also watching something else slip away: the chances of politicians and government bureaucrats getting a strangle-hold on the petroleum energy industry."

"..free people on at least three different continents have elected governments that are abandoning the progressive goal of destroying the petroleum energy industry and moving in the exact opposite direction of the Obama Administration."

"True believers in President Obama’s agenda probably won’t allow themselves to ask difficult questions or to consider how the world is changing, at least that probably won’t happen anytime soon. The rest of us, however, need to speak up, face the facts, and stop ignoring harsh realities on the economy and energy policy."

Well, we do speak up, but we're muzzled because we don't follow the Democrat Party line and the Obama's Little Red Book of anti-business, anti-oil, anti-self-reliance philosophy. 

Watcher's Counbcil

The Watcher's Council -- which keeps an eye on the weasels of the world -- has spoken! Here are the latest Watcher's Council winners from the Inequality Blues edition.

Good Friday Links

Don't forget to check out Daniel Greenfield's Friday Afternoon Roundup.  Today's edition is titled "Democrats and Satanists" -- but I repeat myself.

I got a kick out of this editorial at National Review. It starts out this way: "The Editors would like to extend our condolences to Senator Harry Reid and his family as they go through this difficult time. While we can only guess at the exact nature of the psychiatric or neurological trauma the Senate majority leader has suffered, we assume that it is severe, judging by his symptoms, the most prominent of which is his new habit of taking to the Senate floor to deliver speeches that sound like they ought to be coming from a man wearing a bathrobe in front of a liquor store in Cleveland."

Ramirez has nailed the global warming hoax with the above cartoon, summed up with this line: "It's called weather".

Escape Through Music

This beautiful piece is Solveig's Song by Grieg. If you want more of it, listen to this vocal performance by Marita Solberg.

Patriotic Hymn

I had no idea until this week that there was a great British patriotic hymn called "I  Vow To Thee, My Country",  based on a section of music in Holst's "Jupiter".  The words make it even more stirring.

Lots 'o Links

Stop by and read the latest news tidbits over at Maggie's Farm, Betsy's Page, and Larwyn's Linx. You can't go wrong!

A Famous Pairing

I liked Michael Ledeen's column, "The Chinese and the Jews", about China's interest in everything Jewish.  He ends by saying "... I think the Chinese are going to continue their Jewish studies.  Maybe Shanghai will reestablish the thriving Jewish community for which it was known for so long…and if there start to be mass conversions to Judaism in China, it will be great fun to watch the response of the Jew-haters, won’t it?  Faster, please."

What Hypocrites!

The Commentator says it all: "Having spent years apologising for Islamist atrocities and calling anyone who raised any concerns an 'Islamophobe', Leftists, especially feminists, should hang their heads in shame at events in Nigeria".  So, butchering men and women, and burning churches, isn't proof enough of terrorist atrocities, but kidnapping children is? Websites like Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs have been reporting on terrorist attacks for ages, to no avail.

Noble Music

The stirring "Procession of the Nobles" by Rimsky-Korsakov.  I remember that the TV roundtable show "Agronsky & Company" used this as its theme music.

Great Advice for Monica Lewinsky

From Andrea Peyser: "Monica Lewinsky should shut up and go away."   I agree wholeheartedly! But like the Clintons, she'll unfortunately be around forever whether we like it or not. I don't understand people feeling sorry for her. I feel sorry for us, for having to hear her story again, ten years later. Talk about a distraction -- why has she suddenly come out of the woodwork,  besides for the money?

Holocaust Stupidity and Denial

What kind of clueless people are these?  Deborah R. Lipstadt writes, "After decades spent in the sewers of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, I don’t horrify easily. But yesterday I learned that a school district in Rialto, California, assigned 2,000 8th-grade students to write an essay on whether or not they believe the Holocaust was 'an actual event in history, or merely a political scheme.'  Put simply, this is the greatest victory for Holocaust denial in well over a decade, if not more."

And here's another example of people never taught about plain decency, and the difference between right and wrong: "Visitors to Auschwitz Are Stealing ‘Souvenirs’. Vandals are also scratching their names onto bunks at the concentration camp." 

Blowing Hot and Cold

Did you know that according to the White House, global warming is disrupting Americans' lives? Spare me. The only thing that's disrupting my life is what Obama has done to our country since he took office! The Democrats talk about the Benghazi investigation being a distraction. Well, this hoax is a true distraction, from jobs, the economy, terrorism, and destruction of our health care system, and the other important issues voters care about. I doubt global warming rates high on anyone's list.

Bad for the Jews

Cartoon by Gary Varvel.

An Open Book

Here's some good news from the Wall Street Journal: "People Still Prefer Holding Dusty Old Books" -- as opposed to reading electronic books.

Is This Really America?

How is it possible that these are our diplomats?  "US officials: Even if Israel doesn’t like it, Palestinians will get state. Members of Kerry’s team slam Netanyahu, empathize with Abbas, warn Palestine will rise ‘whether through violence or via int’l organizations.’"  Whose side are they on, anyway?

What A Surprise

From the UK Daily Mail: "Eleven terrorists with links to Al Qaeda have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the disappearance of MH370."

See? I told you.

The Democrats are Desperate, Dude!

The closer we get to the elections, the more desperate the Democrats are getting as they deal with the latest Benghazi revelations.  If you thought Hillary Clinton's "What difference does it make?" was bad, wait till you hear Nancy Pelosi: "Diversion, subterfuge. Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. Why aren’t we talking about something else?"  I'm sure the friends and relatives of our four murdered men loved that remark. Meanwhile, Harry Reid somehow managed to invoke the Koch Brothers.
(Cartoon by Chip Bok)

We're Shocked ... SHOCKED!

It's funny to see these people suddenly waking up and expressing outrage about Benghazi two years after the fact, when the rest of us have known it all along: 4 of our men brutally murdered on the very anniversary of the September 11 attacks, including our Ambassador; blaming a video and engaging in brazen lying and sickening apologies to the Muslims; and all to protect Obama so he could be re-elected.  It's Watergate without the tapes, as Charles Krauthammer says. And in case you don't remember, or you choose to forget, what happened on September 11, 2012, Mona Charen has a recap.

Good Friday Links

The Council has spoken! Here are the latest Watcher's Council winners of the Guv'mint Surveillance edition.

Read Daniel Greenfield's Friday Afternoon Roundup titled "Another Wayward Son." According to what your President implied, if you execute a black man who shot & buried alive a teenaged girl, that's racist.

Jew-Hater Floyd

Pink Floyd should just get it over with and change its name to Jew-Hater Floyd, because they talk less about music and more about how evil Israel is.  Look at this statement by Roger Waters, for example: “The Jewish lobby is extraordinarily powerful here and particularly in the industry that I work in, the music industry and in rock ‘n’ roll, as they say.” Now they want the Rolling Stones to cancel their concert in Israel.  I'm sure Mick and the boys are smarter than that.

Most Conservative Websites

John Hawkins lists the 100 most popular conservative websites of 2014. See if your favorites are on the list, or discover new ones!

The Latest On Flight MH370

Here's an update on the still-missing jet, which vanished two months ago.  I doubt believe in the concept of closure, but I do hope those grieving families can be given some hard evidence soon.

Lots 'o Links

Check out today's important posts at Betsy's Page, at Maggie's Farm, and of course at Larwyn's Linx!