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While rioters were burning and looting their way through Baltimore, MD Monday night following the funeral of Freddie Gray, one Michael Jackson impersonator decided to use the cameras to show off his dance moves. This unidentified street performer was caught on video multiple times dancing to Jackson’s 1983 hit “Beat It” Monday, among other hits, as mobs of people hurled objects at police officers and set fires to businesses and others buildings. Dressed in a black leather jacket and dark pants, the man moonwalked his way onto the hearts of users on Twitter, but didn’t stop there. He ended up...

Last week a bipartisan group of senators – Sens. John Barasso (R-Wyo.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Heidi Heitkamp (D.-N.D.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) – introduced S. 1026, seeking to strike Section 526 from the EISA. In 2009, ALEC adopted a resolution calling for a repeal of this section. Section 526 of the federal Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 prevents federal departments and agencies from purchasing fuels that have higher lifecycle emissions than that of conventional petroleum fuels. This would include a variety of non-conventional alternative or synthetic transportation fuels such as coal-to-liquids, oil shale, and...

This past Saturday Bloomberg’s Everytown representative, Ted Alcorn, insisted that he would not appear simultaneously with John Lott (the author of More Guns, Less Crime (University of Chicago Press) and the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center) on C-SPAN. Alcorn would only appear after Lott's segment was finished. Here is John Lott's discussion of Bloomberg's gun control advocates unwillingness to ever debate http://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4535462 Here is Bloomberg’s Research Director’s explanation for why his organization won't ever debate. http://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4535518 Acorn's explanation for why Bloomberg's groups refuse to debate is pretty embarrassing. Hopefully, these clips will get a lot of attention and...

Becoming secretary of state was supposed to be Hillary Clinton's path to the White House. Instead it has become an obstacle, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that she just might well be smelling the roses in the backyard of her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., rather than at the Rose Garden at the White House. As Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul is wont to say: Hillary Clinton needs a second campaign plane just to carry her political baggage.

WASHINGTON — President Obama responded with passion and frustration on Tuesday to the violence that has rocked Baltimore and other cities after the deaths of young black men in the hands of the police, saying it was part of a “slow-rolling crisis” that demanded a period of national soul-searching to resolve. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Mr. Obama called for “full transparency and accountability” in a Department of Justice investigation into the death of Freddie Gray, the young black man who died of a spinal cord injury sustained while in police custody. But he also said his thoughts...

The president of the Baltimore City Council apologized for calling rioters “thugs” at a press conference Tuesday, calling those responsible for the violence “misdirected” youths.

LAS VEGAS—Sen. Ted Cruz appeared to charm a crowded room of influential Jewish Republicans convening in Las Vegas on Saturday, presenting a withering critique of President Obama’s foreign policy and pointing to what he said was his ardent support of Israel.Mr. Cruz mixed humor with pointed jabs at top Democrats: President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Texas Republican’s was the first in a line of speeches open to media at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual meeting here.“So tell me, is this the Ready for Hillary group?” Mr. Cruz said to guffaws....

Since his first homily in 2013, Pope Francis has preached about the need to protect the earth and all of creation as part of a broad message on the environment. It has caused little controversy so far. But now, as Francis prepares to deliver what is likely to be a highly influential encyclical this summer on environmental degradation and the effects of human-caused climate change on the poor, he is alarming some conservatives in the United States who are loath to see the Catholic Church reposition itself as a mighty voice in a cause they do not believe in. As...

Conservatives have rightly reacted with amusement to various elements of the modestly titled blockbuster ABC special, “Bruce Jenner, The Interview.” After all, Diane Sawyer was literally more shocked that Jenner came “out” as a conservative, than she was that he came out as a woman. Also, much of the highly-rated two-hour special felt much like an exercise in pushing the public to embrace, or even celebrate, something that many believe to be an acquired mental disorder. Understandably, conservatives get very nervous when a liberal media monolith determines that only one opinion on a subject (theirs) is valid and all variance...

(Reuters) - The Vatican and the United Nations teamed up to warn the world of the effects of climate change on Tuesday, coming down firmly against skeptics who deny human activities help change global weather patterns. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon discussed climate change with the pope before opening a one-day conference of scientists and religious leaders called "The Moral Dimensions of Climate Change and Sustainable Development".

Former President Bill Clinton accepted more than $2.5 million in speaking fees from 13 major corporations and trade associations that lobbied the U.S. State Department while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, an International Business Times investigation has found. The fees were paid directly to the former president, and not directed to his philanthropic foundation. Many of the companies that paid Bill Clinton for these speeches -- a roster of global giants that includes Microsoft, Oracle and Dell -- engaged him within the same three-month period in which they were also lobbying the State Department in pursuit of their policy...

On the heels of rioting and looting in the city of Baltimore, President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on Americans to do some "soul-searching" regarding the issues that contribute to the violence. In a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Obama condemned the criminals engaging in violent acts and sought to draw a line between the rioters and the non-violent protesters. "When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they're not protesting. They're not making a statement. They're stealing," Obama said. He added, "When they burn down a building, they're committing arson. And they're...

The Presidential campaign for the 2016 election is getting under way and it is time to start researching the different candidates that have already entered the race or have expressed the possibility of doing so. I have been thinking about this for quite some time and I know exactly what I am looking for in the next President of the United States. I am looking for someone who knows the Constitution backwards and forwards – and who believes in it with all their soul. I am looking for someone who knows and loves the rule of law – and who...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear 2.5 hours of oral arguments that may very well determine the fate of marriage equality in the United States.... a victory for equal marriage would be a narrow win in the broader landscape. So what does the movement for LGBTQ justice look like if the marriage question is finally settled? Remarkably similar, since many of the kinds of discrimination LGBTQ people currently face will remain unaffected by the change. This is particularly true for the decisions we tend to associate with getting married, like where to live, where to work and how to...

Scott Walker remains something of an enigma. Beyond the story of the Eagle Scout son of a Baptist preacher whose faith guides him, we’ve never gotten much of a glimmer of what drives him. It requires huge amounts of energy and long, exhausting days to attempt what Walker is doing — to run for president and campaign across the nation and make international political trips while still serving as governor — and that isn’t possible unless something very powerful is pushing you. But Walker always projects an icily calm persona, never revealing the least glimpse of any inner demons. A...

Three surrogate-born babies and their Israeli parents were evacuated from Nepal, according to the Guardian. The families travelled in a small military plane that had transported a team of doctors who were dispatched to aid in the rescue efforts following Saturday’s deadly earthquake. According to the Guardian report, the babies were the few of many babies born to same-sex male couples in Nepal via surrogate mothers, as surrogacy for gay couples is illegal in Israel. Another 22 babies are awaiting evacuation, along with their parents who had made their way before the earthquake struck. Yossi Filiba, from Tel Aviv, arrived...

Religious institutions could be at risk of losing their tax-exempt status due to their beliefs about marriage if the Supreme Court holds that gay couples have a constitutional right to wed, President Obama’s attorney acknowledged to the Supreme Court today. “It’s certainly going to be an issue,” Solicitor General Donald Verrilli replied when Justice Samuel Alito asked if schools that support the traditional definition of marriage would have to be treated like schools that once opposed interracial marriage. “I don’t deny that.”

The Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox will play the finale of their three-game series Wednesday at Camden Yards in a game that will be closed to the public. The revised plan was announced Tuesday after widespread public unrest in Baltimore forced a postponement of a White Sox-Orioles game for the second consecutive day.

The Great Emancipator was almost the Great Colonizer: Newly released documents show that to a greater degree than historians had previously known, President Lincoln laid the groundwork to ship freed slaves overseas to help prevent racial strife in the U.S. Just after he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Lincoln authorized plans to pursue a freedmen’s settlement in present-day Belize and another in Guyana, both colonial possessions of Great Britain at the time, said Phillip W. Magness, one of the researchers who uncovered the new documents.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015 Savages With Cell Phones Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Race riots usually begin with criminality and end with criminality. They're protests by criminals on behalf of a dead criminal. The stores with smashed windows aren't the means to express outrage, but the end. The purpose of criminality is criminality. The police exist so that stores can remain unrobbed and random pedestrians can remain unbeaten. The protests express opposition to that policy by robbing stores and assaulting random white people. The police were never the problem. The looters and rioters were. The counterculture...