Pro-Abort Sandra Fluke Walks Back Retarded 'How We Raise Boys' Comment on Twitter

She got some pretty sharp pushback.

At Weasel Zippers, "Childless Lib Sandra Fluke: “How We Raise Boys” Leads To Gun Violence…"

Beyond availability of assault weapons & not mental health services, another contributing factor: how we raise boys. msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012…
— Sandra Fluke (@SandraFluke) December 21, 2012

.@sandrafluke Wasn't referring 2 individual parenting but 2 how all of us as society fail boys by teaching them that violence=how 2 b manly
— Sandra Fluke (@SandraFluke) December 22, 2012

.@sandrafluke Sorry to not be more clear.
— Sandra Fluke (@SandraFluke) December 22, 2012

Here's her feed.

She can stay the hell away from my boys, the clueless freak abortionist.

Firm Hired to Overhaul California's State Government Payroll in 'Over its Head' and 'May Be Unable to Reach its Goal'

It's utterly asthounding, the amount of money burned up by the endlessly voracious bureaucratic entitlement state. But California keeps throwing up example after example. One of these days it's going to be a bunch of road warriors out here. We're just counting down to the fiscal apocalypse.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Overhaul of California government payroll system at risk of collapse":

SACRAMENTO — One of the state's biggest technology endeavors, a $371-million overhaul of the government payroll system, is beset with problems and "in danger of collapsing," according to the state controller's office.

The company hired for the project is in over its head and may be unable to deliver on its promise to update a payroll system so old that even simple salary adjustments can tie it in knots, the controller's chief administrative officer said in a letter.

The state has spent at least $254 million so far on contractors, staff salaries, software and more for the system upgrade, which is five years overdue and has nearly tripled in cost since lawmakers authorized it in 2005.

"The project … is foundering and is in danger of collapsing," administrator Jim Lombard wrote to the contractor, SAP Public Services, in October. Lombard said the new system is not capable of processing "any portion of the state payroll population, let alone the full population of approximately 240,000 employees."

An SAP spokesman, Andy Kendzie, said the company is meeting its contractual obligations.

"Considering the project's complexity, and the many requirements involved in payroll processing, there have been some challenges," Kendzie said in a statement. "Despite these, SAP remains committed to the overall success of the project."

Technology quagmires have become a hallmark of California state government, with delays and cost overruns common...

Do tell.

Go finish reading at that top link.

Not to worry about yesterday's failed Mayan apocalypse prophecy. The ethnic wizards of our once-Golden State will be sure to see that puppy through!

National Review's Newtown Symposium

For some reason NRO's editors thought it smart to put Charlotte Allen's not-enough-men essay first in its recent symposium on the massacre. I don't know. As the father of a husky 11-year-old boy, I doubt I'm the best advocate for a bunch of husky (11 or) 12-year-old boys "gang rushing" a grown man wielding a semi-automatic rifle shooting fragmenting bullets. Megan McArdle made the "gang rush" argument as well (about which here). There may be some circumstances during a mass shooting that such virtual human sacrifice defense methods succeed in dragging down the shooter, or bowling him over, or whatever, but it defies common sense for a rational-thinking child to summon up that much foolish bravado. If anything, I suspect someone would sooner jump between the line of fire to save a dear friend, as what happened during the Aurora shooting. That "gang rush" thing sounds more like a bum rush at this point.

That said, this was actually an excellent symposium: "Newtown Answers."

A couple I like especially, for example, from Jim Daly:

As parents, we must help our children navigate a corrosive culture. We can do this by encouraging and championing a strong moral foundation. Morals help to maintain order in the culture. It’s become en vogue in some circles to consider that morality is relative, that good and bad are subjective. But as we were reminded this past Friday, nothing could be further from the truth.

The best news in the darkest of times is that God has not given up on us. He is in the middle of the mayhem. He now holds these precious little children in His arms. And as we mourn we must hold tightly to the hope and promises of His Word, that He truly is “Our Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.”

From David French:

Thousands of years ago, a man named Job faced the horrible, violent death of his children. He begged God for reasons for his calamity. He pled his case at great length and with great eloquence. Yet when God finally answered, the response was not what Job hoped. The God of the universe answered Job by essentially declaring that He was God, and Job was not. So Job literally placed his hand over his mouth and trusted in the God who he could not fully understand.

Our lives are full of the inexplicable — virtuous men die at evil hands, good men fail while bad men succeed, and justice is forever elusive — but like Job, we must trust our Creator, the God who gave us life and loved us enough to send a Savior. When all words fail, we trust, we pray, and we rely on a promise:

“Blessed are those who mourn; for they shall be comforted.”

May God fulfill that promise for the victims and families of Sandy Hook Elementary School.

From Father Gerald Murray:

The Feast of the Holy Innocents on December 28 is a reminder that violence and mass murder have been part of the human condition since the Fall of Man. Innocent boys were slaughtered by the evil Herod. The senseless act of violence at Sandy Hook Elementary School is a shocking instance of the ever-present possibility that a man will choose to do unimaginable crimes. We are stunned by such murderous hatred, which is diabolical in nature and gravely offends our natural instincts and our religious convictions. What can console us and reassure us?

Sympathy and kindness towards the grieving are important and necessary, but man cannot restore what has been destroyed. The only true and lasting consolation that the Church can offer to those who mourn the untimely death of their loved ones is the Divinely revealed truth that this life is but a preparation for life eternal in Heaven. Those who die are in the hands of a Good God.

May the knowledge of God’s goodness console those who now live in such great sorrow, yet are sustained by the hope of being reunited one day with their loved ones in Heaven.

And the essay by Emily Stimson stands alone, so I'd rather not block quote it. Go read it all at the symposium.

And again, why the editors placed Charlotte Allen's up front is a mystery. She's written response to her critics, for what it's worth: "Newtown & My Critics." (via Memeorandum).

WaPo's Ezra Klein Will Almost Certainly Retain the Title of World's Dumbest Blogger in 2013

An awesome report, from Doug Ross, "WORLD'S DUMBEST BLOGGER: My 'Facts' About Gun Control Aren't Political, As Far As You Know."

President Obama Wipes Away Tears While Describing 'Overwhelming Grief' of Newtown Massacre

It is overwhelming grief.

And perhaps a day like today would be a day to put aside politics and instead get closer to loved ones and God, but no, the left's mass-shooting exploitation chorus is kicking it into high gear.

Here's the take at The Right Scoop, "President gives emotional statement on mass shooting, hints at possible gun control legislation."

And at Twitchy, "In wake of Conn. school massacre, President Obama calls for ‘meaningful action’; Anti-gun zealots turn on White House for not politicizing shooting to their liking; Michael Bloomberg demands a plan."

And this curation's been updated, "Execrable ghoul David Frum mocks victims of Conn. school shooting; Update: Eric Boehlert, Piers Morgan join in; Update: Michael Moore swoops in; Update: Celebrity ghouls crawl out." Plus, "Anti-gun vulture Michael Moore swoops in, says NRA hates freedom, wants children dead."

Expect updates...

PREVIOUSLY: "Report: More Than Two Dozen Dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut."

Report: More Than Two Dozen Dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

The numbers are still unconfirmed, but CBS News Connecticut had this, "BREAKING NEWS: 27 Dead, Including 14 Children, In Elementary School Shooting."

Added: From Robert Stacy McCain, "CONNECTICUT SCHOOL SHOOTING."

More from the Hartford Courant, "AP: 27 Dead, Including 18 Children, At Sandy Hook School Shooting In Newtown."

And from Dana Loesch:

Awful. Some families have less babies to take home from school today. My heart is sick and sad.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) December 14, 2012

Well, this is totally unexpected:

Assault weapons ban "a commitment" of President Obama's, spokesman says. on.cnn.com/Zq1uF7
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) December 14, 2012

Now at Twitchy, "Execrable ghoul David Frum mocks victims of Conn. school shooting; Update: Eric Boehlert, Piers Morgan join in; Update: Michael Moore swoops in; Update: More celebrity ghouls crawl out."

10:55am Pacific: At PBS: "State Police Briefing on Newtown, Conn. Elementary School Shooting." And at CBS News, "Conn. school shooting: Student says teacher saved him."

11:12am Pacific: At Twitchy, "Disgusting: Lefty celebs crawl out to politicize Newtown, Conn., tragedy."

I'm stepping out for a few hours. More blogging later this afternoon.

Meanwhile, check Instapundit for updates.

Illiterate Rap Fans Flood Michelle Malkin's Timeline With Racist Misogyny

I was on Twitter when this was going down.

At Twitchy, "Rapper The Game and fans attack ‘racist,’ ‘bitch,’ ‘hoe’ Malkin and Fox News; clog Twitter with bad English, threats."

Are you threatening me, fool? NOTED. RT @therealgreeley @thegame @meekmill fuck this @michellemalkin bitch up
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) December 14, 2012

Background here: "‘Jesus Piece’: Have you seen the cover of The Game’s new album?," and "Fox News, Michelle Malkin brace for mass exodus of viewers as The Game urges boycott."

Mark Steyn on Breakdown in America

A great interview, with Michael Coren:

Democrats Are Pathologically Unserious

Milton Wolf, at the Washington Times, "GOP should fear voters, not the ‘fiscal cliff’":

How many times does Lucy have to pull away the football before Charlie Brown finally wises up and quits playing her game?

Republicans don’t have to keep falling for the Democrats’ duplicity. The Democrats pretend the so-called “fiscal cliff” debate is about getting our financial house in order, so they propose a tax increase on people earning more than $200,000 a year (i.e., “millionaires and billionaires” in Democrat-speak), which will fund their leviathan government for all of — drumroll — four days.

These are pathologically unserious people. Their goal is not to solve the current fiscal crisis. Their goal is to use the crisis to grow government and further their statist agenda which, incidentally, created the crisis in the first place. Recall Democrat Rahm Emanuel’s unmasked moment of clarity: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”

Now, in hopes of enacting their panacea of tax increases, Democrats offer spending cuts that everyone knows never will happen. What’s worse, the president calls for $255 billion in more spending. Only a Democrat would claim increased spending will reduce the deficit, and only a Republican would fall for it.

The Democrats’ lust for tax increases goes far beyond simple class warfare, as atrocious as that alone is. Democrats are fully aware that the rich already are paying more than their fair share. The wealthy (top 10 percent) may earn 50 percent of the income, but they pay 70 percent of the federal taxes. If that’s not fair, what is? Eighty percent? One hundred percent?

The Democrats’ long game is to push an ever-increasing tax burden onto fewer and fewer taxpayers. This grows a class of Americans who may or may not earn paychecks but certainly become beneficiaries of government largesse while remaining blissfully detached from its enormous cost. (What’s their fair share?) Economists would call this a recipe for disaster. Democrats would call it a voting base. Weak-kneed Republicans are poised to help them build it.

Continue reading.

New York Post Subway Death Cover Controversy

From photographer R. Umar Abbasi, "Anguished fotog: Critics are unfair to condemn me":

(Post freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi captured the dramatic moments before Ki Suk Han was struck by a downtown Q train. A day after the pictures were published, a flurry of criticism erupted — from other media and over social media like Twitter. He recounted the or deal to The Post yesterday.)

I was on an assignment, waiting for a train at the 49th Street subway platform, when I suddenly heard people gasping.

The announcement had come over the loudspeaker that the train was coming — and out of the periphery of my eye, I saw a body flying through the air and onto the track.

I just started running. I had my camera up — it wasn’t even set to the right settings — and I just kept shooting and flashing, hoping the train driver would see something and be able to stop.

I had no idea what I was shooting. I’m not even sure it was registering with me what was happening. I was just looking at that train coming.

It all went so quickly; from the time I heard the shouting until the time the train hit the man was about 22 seconds.

At the same time, the perp was running toward me. I was afraid he might push me onto the tracks.

The victim was so far away from me, I was already too far away to reach him when I started running.

The train hit the man before I could get to him, and nobody closer tried to pull him out.

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Man Pushed to Death on Subway Tracks."

And the backlash at Mediagazer and Memeorandum.

Man Pushed to Death on Subway Tracks

At the New York Times:

A 58-year-old subway passenger was killed on Monday after he was pushed onto the tracks of an onrushing train in Manhattan by a man who had been mumbling to himself as he walked along the platform, the police said.

The passenger, identified by the police as Ki-Suck Han of 52nd Avenue in Queens, tried to climb back onto the platform but did not make it; he was struck by a southbound R train in the 49th Street station. He was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, the police said.

The assailant fled and remained at large on Monday night, the police said. Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, described the attacker as a black man in his mid-20s in a tan shirt and black pants who was carrying a black jacket and wearing a woolen hat.

On Monday night, two police officials and a priest were seen escorting a woman believed to be the victim’s wife from a Queens apartment to a van. They made no comment to reporters outside.

The police released a brief video from a surveillance camera in which the attacker is seen and heard cursing at the victim and telling him to stand in line “and wait for the R train.”

And see London's Daily Mail, "Caught on video: The moment 58-year-old man argued with 'deranged' stranger before being 'pushed' to death on New York."

'You have been in a bubble of denial for the past five years, so a tidal wave of evidence of the happy family life you feel these cheaters stole from you is bound to be overwhelming...'

I can't recall ever reading a "Dear Abby" story quite like this, although it's not Abigail Van Buren but "Dear Prudence."

See: "Unbearable Betrayal" (via Instapundit).

Sucking at the Teat of the Progressive Welfare State

Well, I thought this was pretty good, at Maggie's Farm, "Normalizing and universalizing welfare: You pitiful masses still have unmet needs."

Welfare includes crony capitalism, tax breaks for businesses, mortgage deductions, bailouts, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid right down to disability and the now ubiquitous EBT cards.

Naturally, we Conservatives think it best to eliminate all forms of welfare and charity from government control except for the most desperate or hopeless of individual cases. Remove welfare from the middle classes and provide a safety net for the desperate: Restoring a True Safety Net.

The Left, on the other hand, aspires to normalize and universalize welfare programs. Hayek's serfdom under a benevolent, altruistic, and all-powerful state. With Obomacare on track to fail resulting in a total government take-over, Liberals are beginning to comtemplate their next project: The Great Society's Next Frontier - Now that Obamacare—the largest expansion of the social-safety net in the last 60 years—is safe, what's next for the liberal economic project?

It's true, you know?

Here's just one example, at the Democrat-socialist Daily Kos, "Let's Defend Social Security and Other Entitlements With the Second Bill of Rights."

Texas Secession Fever

At the New York Times, "With Stickers, a Petition and Even a Middle Name, Secession Fever Hits Texas":

HOUSTON — In the weeks since President Obama’s re-election, Republicans around the country have been wondering how to proceed. Some conservatives in Texas have been asking a far more pointed question: how to secede.

Secession fever has struck parts of Texas, which Mitt Romney won by nearly 1.3 million votes.

Sales of bumper stickers reading “Secede” — one for $2, or three for $5 — have increased at TexasSecede.com. In East Texas, a Republican official sent out an e-mail newsletter saying it was time for Texas and Vermont to each “go her own way in peace” and sign a free-trade agreement among the states.

A petition calling for secession that was filed by a Texas man on a White House Web site has received tens of thousands of signatures, and the Obama administration must now issue a response. And Larry Scott Kilgore, a perennial Republican candidate from Arlington, a Dallas suburb, announced that he was running for governor in 2014 and would legally change his name to Larry Secede Kilgore, with Secede in capital letters. As his Web page, secedekilgore.com, puts it: “Secession! All other issues can be dealt with later.”

In Texas, talk of secession in recent years has steadily shifted to the center from the fringe right. It has emerged as an echo of the state Republican leadership’s anti-Washington, pro-Texas-sovereignty mantra on a variety of issues, including health care and environmental regulations. For some Texans, the renewed interest in the subject serves simply as comic relief after a crushing election defeat.

But for other proponents of secession and its sister ideology, Texas nationalism — a focus of the Texas Nationalist Movement and other groups that want the state to become an independent nation, as it was in the 1830s and 1840s — it is a far more serious matter.

It's interesting, if not something of a sideshow.

RELATED: From Saberpoint, "Vox Popoli Hates Californians -- Even Conservatives."

Obama Copies California, While State's Residents Flee to Texas

An absolutely amazing development, but no surprise givien the long-standing stagnation of this once "Golden State." At IBD, "Obama Policies Copy Moribund California, Not Texas":

Anyone who thinks that President Obama's economic policies will spur strong growth should consider U-Haul rates between California and Texas.

Renting a 20-foot truck one-way from San Francisco to San Antonio, for example, will cost $1,693. But the U-Haul tab to go in the opposite direction is just $983.

To University of Michigan economist Mark Perry, who has tracked this "U-Haul Index," the difference in these rental rates is the result of straightforward supply and demand.

Put simply, far more people want to leave California for Texas than vice versa. Why? Because California's economy is moribund while Texas' is thriving.

"The American people and businesses are voting with their feet and their one-way truck rentals to escape California and its forced unionism, high taxes, and high unemployment rate for a better life in low-tax, business-friendly, right-to-work states like Texas," noted Perry, who is also a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

California Nation

The problem is that Obama's economic policies are pushing the country to be more like the California people are leaving and less like the Texas they're flocking to.

"Every dream program that the administration embraces — cap and trade, massive taxes on the rich, high-speed rail — is either in place or on the drawing boards" in California, notes Joel Kotkin, executive editor of NewGeography.

Like President Obama, California's Gov. Jerry Brown pushed for a substantial new tax on the "rich" that raises the top rate to 13.3%, a hike voters approved in November. Even before these taxes kick in, California was the fourth most heavily taxed state, according to a ranking by the Tax Foundation.

Also like Obama, the state is regulation happy. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks California as one of the four worst states in terms of regulations. The state also imposes one of the heaviest tax burdens on businesses.

As a result, California consistently ranks at or near the bottom for business friendliness.

And like Obama — who has pushed federal spending up to historic highs for the past four years — per-capita spending in California has climbed 42% from 2000 to 2010, even after adjusting for inflation. The state is now one of the biggest spenders in the country.

The contrast in economic policies between California and Texas — which otherwise share many things in common, since both are big-population border states with lots of immigrants — could not be more striking.

Continue reading.

Entitlement America

An outstanding O'Reilly Factor from a couple of nights back, worth every minute:

And I think this is the WaPo editorial he's referencing, "Mitt Romney’s parting ‘gifts’."

And here's O'Reilly's election night rant, on video.

O'Reilly's politically incorrect. For progressives that's RAAAAACISM!!

'Social Security has run out on you and me...'

"When the Shit Hits the Fan," from the Circle Jerks' "Golden Shower of Hits" LP (1983).

The studio version is here.

Obama's pissing his golden shower right now, so you better duck while you can.

In a sluggish economy
Inflation,recession
Hits the land of the free
Standing in unemployment lines
Blame the government for hard time

We just get by
However we can
We all gotta duck
When the shit hits the fan
10 kids in a cadillac
Stand in lines for welfare checks
Let's all leach off the state
Gee!the money's really great!

Soup lines
Free loaves of bread
5lb blocks of cheese
Bags of groceries
Social security
Has run out on you and me
We do whatever we can
Gotta duck when the shit hits the fan...

Counting on Election's Momentum, General Secretary Obama Will Mobilize Party Apparatchiks for Tax Increases, Spending Cuts

Well, the emphasis of course will be on tax increases. We need "more revenue," dontcha know?

At the Wall Street Journal, "White House Plans Public Appeal on Deficit":

WASHINGTON—The White House plans an aggressive public campaign to build support for its approach to reduce the deficit through tax increases and spending cuts, a sharp contrast to its private talks with Republicans that faltered last year.

President Barack Obama will meet with labor leaders Tuesday and a number of chief executives on Wednesday, in an effort to solidify backing for his proposals.

Both groups carry sway with different segments of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Mr. Obama also plans to travel outside of Washington to try and broaden national support for his proposal that includes tax increases on the wealthy—which White House officials believe won public backing in last week's election.

His meetings with labor and business leaders come before he meets with congressional leaders Friday, evidence the White House believes Mr. Obama can use momentum from his re-election to marshal outside support and heighten pressure on Republicans to agree to tax increases on upper-income earners.

The strategy comes as many Republicans appear to have softened their antitax rhetoric in the wake of the election, with many openly acknowledging that higher taxes will likely be part of any plan to reduce the deficit.

Mr. Obama has planned the meetings as policy makers start work to craft a package of deficit-reduction measures that could come in place of the so-called fiscal cliff, the mandatory spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to begin in January.

Several Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Tom Price (R., Ga.), have said in recent days higher tax revenue could be part of a deal. They have refused to consider higher tax rates, saying that new revenue should come instead from new limits on deductions and other tax breaks, suggesting one potential approach to a deal.

Republicans also say significant changes to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid would have to be part of any package.

Continue reading comrades!

MORE: At Weasel Zippers, "Obama to Meet With Top Union Thugs, Leaders of Leftist Groups After They Drop Hundreds of Millions of Dollars on His Re-Election Campaign…" Secretary Obama will consult the apparatchiks on the administration's Five-Year Plan.

'Deranged' Nanny Stabs to Death Two Kids of CNBC Media Executive in New York

Here's the report from yesterday at the New York Daily News, "Deranged nanny allegedly kills two children of CNBC media executive Kevin Krim and wife Marina; Kids, 2 and 6, are found by mom in bathtub at luxury upper West Side apartment building: NYPD."

On cue, the New York Times provides the sympathetic victim's treatment of the suspect, Yoselyn Ortega, "Life Was in Chaos for Nanny Accused of Killing 2 Children." Life is hard. Go ahead and take it out on the children you were hired to protect. Call it the revenge of the 99 percent.

But see London's daily Mail, thank goodness, "Brave six-year-old girl tried to fight off killer nanny: Tragic last moments of the children stabbed to death by carer in New York apartment":

Brave six-year-old Lucia Krim tried to fight off her crazed nanny as the woman allegedly stabbed her and her brother Leo, 2, repeatedly with two kitchen knives before leaving their small bodies covered in blood in the bathtub for their mother to find.

As shocking new details emerge, neighbours have revealed that Yoselyn Ortega, 50, was visibly unravelling before the heinous slayings in the Upper West Side apartment on Thursday night and appeared to have 'aged seven years in a few months.'

Beautiful Lucia, who had been playing in the elevator moments before the horrifying slaying, suffered defensive wounds as she attempted to fend off the woman who her parents paid to protect her and her siblings.

She was eventually stabbed multiple times in the stomach and the neck while little Leo suffered two punctures to the neck, a law enforcement source told The New York Post.

'They both suffered. They bled out,' the source said, adding that Ortega used two kitchen knives in the alleged attack. 'The little girl tried to protect herself.'

A Dominican immigrant, and so depraved. God help the Krim family. Nothing should ever befall a family like that.

Cleveland Bus Driver Decks Black B*tch With Uppercut

The dude got suspended, but he was obviously done taking that sh*t.

At Gateway Pundit, "Cleveland Ohio RTA Bus Driver Uppercuts Unruly Female Passenger (Video) (via Memeorandum)."