Wednesday, April 08, 2015

"UNEXPECTEDLY": Iran Repudiates Obama Deal, Will Use Military-Grade Centrifuges to Enrich Uranium

By The Tower

Iran’s foreign minister and lead nuclear negotiator, Mohammad Javad Zarif, told legislators that Iran would start feeding uranium into advanced centrifuges as soon as the nuclear deal with the P5+1 nations goes into effect, The Times of Israel reported today. Enriching uranium in advanced centrifuges would violate the parameters agreed to last week, according to American and French fact sheets showing their understandings of the deal.

Iran will begin using its latest generation IR-8 centrifuges as soon as its nuclear deal with the world powers goes into effect, Iran’s foreign minister and nuclear chief told members of parliament on Tuesday, according to Iran’s semi-official FARS news agency. …

Iran has said that its IR-8 centrifuges enrich uranium 20 times faster than the IR-1 centrifuges it currently uses.

According to the FARS report, “Iran’s foreign minister and nuclear chief both told a closed-door session of the parliament on Tuesday that the country would inject UF6 gas into the latest generation of its centrifuge machines as soon as a final nuclear deal goes into effect by Tehran and the six world powers.”

The American version of last week’s understanding states, “Iran will not use its IR-2, IR-4, IR-5, IR-6, or IR-8 models to produce enriched uranium for at least ten years.” According to The Times of Israel, the French version differs slightly in allowing “continue[d] R&D work on the advanced IR-4, IR-5, IR-6 and IR-8 centrifuges,” but not enrichment, which was the activity mentioned by Zarif.

Zarif reportedly told Iranian legislators on Tuesday that Iran would not allow cameras into any of its nuclear facilities. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action calls for the “continuous surveillance” of Iran’s nuclear facilities.


Read more at The Tower. Hat tip: BadBlue Real-Time News. Photo: euronews (in English) via YouTube.

DANIEL PIPES: Decoding the Obama Doctrine

Historian Daniel Pipes offers a concise and damning review of "The Obama Doctrine", such as its, beginning with a review of the administration's foreign policy track record.

Count the mistakes: Helping overthrow Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, leading to anarchy and civil war. Pressuring Husni Mubarak of Egypt to resign, then backing the Muslim Brotherhood, leading now-president Sisi to turn toward Moscow. Alienating Washington's most stalwart ally in the region, the Government of Israel. Dismissing ISIS as "junior varsity" just before it seized major cities. Hailing Yemen as a counterterrorism success just before its government was overthrown. Alarming the Saudi authorities to the point that they put together a military alliance against Iran. Coddling Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, encouraging his dictatorial tendencies. Leaving Iraq and Afghanistan prematurely, dooming the vast American investment in those two countries.

And, most of all: Making dangerously flawed deals with the nuclear-ambitious mullahs of Iran.

'Is this ineptitude?', Pipes asks rhetorically.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Admits His Plan Will End With Iran Getting Nuclear Weapons

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Nation

Obama Admits His Plan Will End With Iran Getting The Bomb: Sara Noble
As Illegals Flow Into Country Again, Public Opposition Grows: Ace
Mark Levin explains what Congress should do with Obama’s Iran nuke deal: Scoop

Liberals Are the New McCarthyites—and They’re Proud of It: John Fund
Obama slams Christians at Easter prayer breakfast: LI
Over, Under, Sideways, Down – You Were Warned: Camp o' the Saints

Why the Left Lies: Ben Shapiro
VA Reform: Another Obama “Success Story”: Michelle Malkin
How Paul, Cruz Are Shaking Up GOP Presidential Nomination Process: Matt Kibbe

‘I Am Who I Am': 3 Questions for Rand Paul: Ken McIntyre
Attacks On Rand Paul Come Early: Brian Lilley
Rand Paul's dilemma: Matt Mackowiak

Economy

Wacko Communist Elizabeth Warren Is A Fraud Worth Millions: iOTWreport
Obamacare’s Tax Nightmare: Betsy McCaughey
Disaster Inevitable When The Two Decade-Old Stock Bubble Bursts: Jesse Colombo

Scandal Central

Why is Trey Gowdy allowing Hillary to testify behind closed doors?: Thomas Lifson
Top Spy: Hillary's Emails 'Likely' Hacked by China, Russia, Iran: Daniel Halper
How the U.S. thinks Russians hacked the White House: CNN

John Oliver Finds the Real Edward Snowden: Tom Nichols
2009 NCIS Investigation: Bergdahl Went Over to the Other Side: Jim Hoft
Hillary’s Brothers Unlike Any Others: Dick Morris

Climate & Energy

PURE EVIL: United Nations Climate Commissar: MB
Another call to arrest climate “deniers”: Eric Worrall
Laurence Tribe Fights Climate Case Against Star Pupil, President Obama: Coral Davenport

Media

Lunch With Noah Rothman: Smitty
Fighting Against ‘Rape Culture’ Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry: Charles C.W. Cooke
The Very Deep Thoughts of Sally Kohn: GayPatriot

The Battle Of The Polls Begins: Springer's Blog
Ted Cruz the Liberator Storms San Francisco: MB
Note on Cruz and Rand: Jen Kuznicki

Rolling Stone, media bias, and how the left uses fake victims to create real ones: Poor Richard
12 Reasons I Concealed Carry A Gun: Tom McHale
Planned Parenthood goes off the rails during Rand Paul presidential announcement: LI

World

Report: Zarif Says Iran Will Allow No Cameras at Nuclear Sites: The Tower
Report: Internal French Document Shows Troubling Discrepancies With US on Iran Deal: IPT
Iran to Hold 2nd Holocaust Cartoon Contest: The Tower

Crisis management is not a strategy- neither is isolationism: Gov. Mike Huckabee
National Security Question? Ask Someone Else, Says White House: Caleb Howe
The Rattlesnake: Erick Erickson

Sharif El-Gamal: “Plan to build 39-story tower and [Ground Zero] mosque": Pamela Geller
Remember Suspicious Explosion In Minneapolis That Blew Up Apartment Building, Killing 3? : WZ
Intent of Russian military aircraft near U.S. shores remains unclear: W.J. Hennigan

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

​Your Porn Is Watching You: Brian Merchant
Surprise! The Rand Paul Online Store Blatantly Caters to the Paranoid: Leon Wolf
Startup Spotlight: How this entrepreneur built Rhino Camera Gear from a kitchen: GeekWire

Cornucopia

2015 Fresh - March: Little Worlds
Incoming: Balls, Bees and Rolling Stones Attack!: MOTUS
Ted Cruz Laughs After Blasting Away With A M249 Machine Gun: Bearing Arms

Image: Incoming: Balls, Bees and Rolling Stones Attack!
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a principled conservative? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "President Obama’s failed leadership has put him at odds with many across the country, including members of his own party, and key allies around the world. Americans would be better served by a president who spent more time working with governors and members of Congress rather than attacking them. Whether it is cutting a bad deal with Iran, calling ISIS the JV squad, or touting Yemen as a success story, Obama’s lack of leadership has hurt America’s safety and standing in the world." --Gov. Scott Walker

Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Fun with Bitmoji

Bitmoji is a mobile app that lets you create your own cartoon-style avatar that oftentimes has an eerie resemblance to your real self. It happens to be blowing up at the moment -- a true viral success story. Rebecca Greenfield explains "Why Your Bitmoji Looks So Much Like Your Actual Face:"

The other day, I texted a friend my Bitmoji, a lookalike cartoon avatar I created using this app. "Wow," he said. "That actually looks strikingly like you." He isn't the first person to tell me the little brown-haired caricature looks eerily like my actual, human self—nor is mine the first Bitmoji to get that reaction. My friend Alex's Bitmoji looks like it ate him and stole his soul. When another friend texts me his emoji likeness, I get chills.

This phenomenon extends beyond my friend group. The app, launched in November, is "pretty amazingly popular," says Jacob "Ba" Blackstock, the CEO and creative director of Bitstrips (the maker of Bitmoji). Bitstrips would not provide specific download numbers, but said since launch people have shared tens of millions of Bitmoji...

The likeness is especially uncanny because making a personalized emoji using the app is such a subjective process. First, you pick a face shape, then skin tone, hair color, length, type, style, jaw shape, eyebrows, a mouth and so on. Before you know it, a cartoon version of you appears on your iPhone (or Android) screen...

Anyhow, here's my Bitmoji:

When Iran tests its first nuclear weapon, Obama should be forced to return his Nobel Peace Prize

By Alan Caruba

Only fools express any trust in Obama these days or the Iranians who have made him look the fool when no one in their neighborhood or the world trusts a thing they say or do.

After more than six years of listening to President Obama’s unremitting lies, when he says of the latest “accord” with Iran, “It’s a good deal” and standing in the Rose Garden declares that the U.S. and Iran have reached “an historic understanding” the only history being made his own ignominy and idiocy.

It would be historic if anyone could extend either President Obama or the Iranians any trust. Indeed, since the U.S. created its first atomic bombs to end World War II, one nation after another has secured their own nuclear weapons, starting with the then-Soviet Union who built theirs with plans stolen from us!

We have been down this road before. On April 1st Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger offered an abridged look at the quarter-century of negotiations with North Korea which agreed to all manner of terms, signed all kinds of agreements, and joined various international organizations to assure everyone of their peaceful intent. He warned that “No agreement is going to stop Iran. Agreements, and a lot of talk, did not stop North Korea.”

“Iran,” said Henninger, “knows it has nuclear negotiators’ immunity: No matter how or when Iran debauches any agreement, the West, abjectly, will request—what else?—more talks. Iran’s nuclear bomb and ballistic missile programs will go forward as North Korea’s obviously did, no matter what.”

OBAMA'S PARTNERS IN PEACE: The complete obliteration of Israel in another Holocaust is "nonnegotiable"

By The Tower

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the commander of Iran’s Basij militia, said in an interview that “erasing Israel off the map” is “nonnegotiable,” The Times of Israel reported today.

Naqdi’s comments were made public as Iran and six world powers prepared Tuesday to issue a general statement agreeing to continue nuclear negotiations in a new phase aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord by the end of June.

Fars News, an official Iranian news outlet, quoted Naqdi threatening both Saudi Arabia and the United States.

What did Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the UAE expect from the Clintons in exchange for tens of millions?

By AgainstCronyCapitalism.org

I am sure it was because these countries simply believed in the foundation’s mission.

(From McClatchy)

“The fundamental issue here is that you’ve got foreign businesses and foreign governments giving money to the Clinton Foundation partly because of the foundation’s work, but also because of the access to the upper echelons of power in America,” said Lawrence Jacobs, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a prize-winning author of numerous books on politics. “I think the people who know something about politics understand the wink and a nod that’s going on here: Give to Bill and become a friend of Hillary. . . . There’s kind of a political shakedown going on here.”

Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton, said that “it’s simply wrong to assert or even suggest” that donations to the foundation have influenced her foreign policy positions.

Indeed how could one “even suggest” such a thing. Or that these countries are trying to get in good with a potential future president? Ms. Clinton has no interest in such things. It’s not like she has a history of inside dealing or anything.

As we’ve said before, Hillary Clinton is counting on willful ignorance to make it to the White House. It is a vital part of her strategy.

Click here for the article. (Hat tip: BadBlue News Service)

HILLARY CLINTON SHOT AND CHASER: White House and State Dept. Hacked by Foreign Nationals Edition

Not literally a shot and chaser by Hillary (though word has it she may have a few issues with, uhm, over-imbibing). But one of our Ed Driscoll-style virtual shot-and-chaser vignettes.

SHOT: Top Spy: Hillary's Emails 'Likely' Hacked by China, Russia, Iran
A top intelligence official under President Obama, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, says that the chances Hillary Clinton's private emails were hacked is "very high." Flynn, who ran the Defense Intelligence Agency but is now retired, called it hackings "likely" ...

...Kelly asked, "What do you think the odds are that the Chinese, the Russians hacked into that server and her e-mail account?"

"Very high," Flynn said without hesitation. "Likely."

"Really?"

"Yep. Likely. They're very good at it. China, Russia, Iran, potentially the North Koreans. And other countries who may be 'our allies' because they can."

Flynn said we "all ought to be asked" about Hillary Clinton's emails and the security surrounding her private account.

CHASER: How the U.S. thinks Russians hacked the White House

Larwyn's Linx: Top US General: Obama Has Caused Military Readiness to Fall to Historic Levels

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Top US General: Obama Behind Fall of Military Readiness to Historic Lows: RWN
Iran: US agreed to immediate lift of sanctions: RS
Barack Obama Tells Congress Not To Overreach: Sara Noble

The Iran ‘Agreement’ Charade: Thomas Sowell
Obama: 'Misjudgment' for Israel to Demand Iran Recognize Right to Exist: Mediaite
Half Million Illegal Aliens Get California Driver's Licenses: Breitbart

Job One: Teach millennials about the real Hillary: LI
Hillary Commits A Crime & They Defend Her: Martin Armstrong
Her Royal Heinous vs. the Democrat Opposition: Doris O'Brien

Welcome to the Arena, Senator Paul: Erick Erickson
Big Business Targets Conservatives: Erick Erickson
When Wildcats Attack: Cameron Gray

Economy

The IRS delays yet another piece of Obamacare. Like they do.: Moe Lane
Suntrust Bank Cancels Account Because Company Sells Guns: Samuel M. McCall
Barry University suspends Project Veritas student journalist: Amy Miller

Scandal Central

La Raza Provides Illegal Aliens With Info on Where They Can Vote Illegally: Steven Ahle
Lying Democrats: Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder have no shame: Joseph Curl
Plumber confesses: I rigged illegal gas-blast line for landlord’s son: Post

Claim: Bombshell NCIS Report Reveals Bowe Bergdahl’s ‘Deliberate’ Plan: Jason Howerton
White House: Dems Criticizing Iran Deal Are "Principled" But GOP Just Trying to Sabotage: Katie Pavlich
Attention, ALL 2016 Presidential campaigns. Please film ALL your candidate’s ‘private’ appearances.: Moe Lane

Climate & Energy

The Drought: California Apocalypto: Victor Davis Hanson
The Scorching of California: How Green extremists made a bad drought worse: Victor Davis Hanson
Poll: More Americans Trust Fox News than Obama on Climate Change: Matt Wilstein

Media

Rifles at the Door: Mark Steyn
Fact-Checking The Fact Checkers: Politico Stumbles In Its Super-Sleuthing: Exposing Obamacare
Jaw Dropper: Obama On GOP Letter To Iran – Democrats Would Never Have Tried To “Undermine” Bush: WZ

Is This Supposed To Be An Apology?: Dana Loesch
Harry Reid Beaten By His Brother Larry ?…: Treehouse
Conservatives Call on Apple to Pull Out of Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran: John Hawkins

World

Benghazi, Bergdahl, and the Bomb: Matthew Continetti
Saudis: This nuke deal is going to make our war with Iran-backed proxies harder to fight: Noah Rothman
Citing Reality – Canada Will Not Lift Sanctions On Iran…: Treehouse

Iran Transfers Tens of Millions to Hamas to Rebuild Terror Tunnels: Algemeiner
Southern residents alarmed by Hamas tunnel rebuilding: Hayom
American Who Recruits Untold Numbers of Fighters for ISIS Finally Gets Confronted: IJR

Soldiers Sit Through ‘White Privilege’ Presentation — and the Backlash Isn’t Pretty: Blaze
Five Moscow Lies Suggest What Putin is Likely to Do Next in Ukraine: Paul Goble
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee Flies Communist China’s Flag At State Capitol: Deanna Fisher

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Tomahawk Cruise Missile Hits Moving Ship Target: Kris Osborn
Enjoy a terrifying 10,000 foot GoPro camera freefall: Steve Dent, Engadget
Instagram Scores Highest for March Madness Engagement: Al Urbanski, DMnews

Cornucopia

Adventures in the Skin Trade: Ed Driscoll
In Sesame Street’s “Game of Chairs,” You Win Or You Try: Dangerous Minds
10 Medieval rabbits that hate Easter and want to kill you: The Poke

Image: American Who Recruits Fighters for ISIS Finally Gets Confronted
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a conservative candidate? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "What nature’s deadly four-year drought is teaching California is that even the liberal aristocracy eventually has a rendezvous with what they created.

All the capital, income, and influence in the state cannot guarantee exemption from their own self-induced chaos. Climbing atop the smokestacks of the sinking Titanic is of little use after you have deprecated the idea of more lifeboats." --Victor Davis Hanson

Monday, April 06, 2015

Looks like everyone's trolling the Kentucky Wildcats tonight

Detroit Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings:

The University of Wisconsin (or a surrogate):

UNEXPECTEDLY: Obamacare Caused Health Insurance Rates to Go Up By 50% On Average

By Warner Todd Huston

Remember how Barack Obama claimed that all our insurance rates would go down? Heck, at one point he even claimed he’d save Americans $2,500 a year. Well, it turns out that his Obamacare law caused expenses to soar by over 50% on average and for some more than that. Yes, Obama lied again.

Here are some examples of Obama claiming that insurance rates would go down for most Americans with his Obamacare law…

Well, apparently this is yet another major Obamacare lie. In fact, almost no one has found lower insurance rates. On the contrary, premiums have soared in costs and they continue to rise.

It’s been five years since the Affordable Care Act became law, but only two since most of its provisions went into effect.

As its detractors predicted, Obamacare’s implementation led to a large, immediate rise in health insurance premiums. This is hardly surprising: The law required that a broad swath of treatments be fully insured, thus deepening the moral hazard problems that have long plagued the American health insurance system.

Larwyn's Linx: Iran Framework Deal: Greatest Political Hoax Ever?

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Nation

Iran Framework Deal: Greatest Political Hoax Ever?: LI
U.S.-Israeli tensions hit new boiling point with Iran nuclear deal: Kelly Cohen
The President Is Playing A Very Dangerous Game, Rep. Zeldin Warns: Sara Noble

Munich, Anyone? Obama’s Iran Agreement in Translation: Roger L. Simon
NPR: The Deal Struck with Iran Was Not the Deal Announced by President: Lev Tsitrin
Iran: All Sanctions, Boycotts, Embargos Will Be Gone Forever on Day One: Sara Noble

Two Guys Or Two Girls And a Pizza Place: Ben Domenech
The Ongoing War Against Christianity: Star Parker
Requiring a concealed carry permit is the definition of ‘infringed’: Bob Livingston

Wasserman Tries to Defend the Dearth of Dem Candidates: GWP
Clinton machine threatens Martin O’Malley. Note the choice of subject noun: Moe Lane
Progressives Unhinged: Derek Hunter

Economy

Obamacare’s $800 Billion Tax Hike Explained in One Chart: Alex Rendon
Suspend the president of the University of Virginia: Don Surber
Why Are So Many Employers Unable to Fill Jobs?: Stephen Moore

Scandal Central

Rolling Stone's UVA rape investigation: “A failure that was avoidable”: CJR
Down from Watergate: Kevin D. Williamson
US Soldiers Now Being Lectured on White Privilege at Diversity Training Sessions: GWP

Climate & Energy

Governor Brown: “Californians Will Be Heavily Fined For Long Showers”: Treehouse

Media

Spare Us Your Outrage: Erick Erickson
Let Them Bake Cake: Mark Steyn
CNN: “Will Schumer bring on new Democratic era?”: Moe Lane

CBS Sends Out Insane Iran ‘Death To America’ Tweet But Not Before Twitter Notices: Michael Hausam
A Kennedy whitewash: Post
For The Betterment Of Mankind, Carry A Gun: Concealed Nation

Right Wing Conspiracy Behind Donations to Memories Pizza Revealed: MB
Chris Matthews VERY upset at Hitler comparisons, forgets when he compared Bush to Hitler: Scoop
CIA Tweets ‘Good Riddance’ to Homeland Character: Evan McMurry

World

France slams Kerry over lowered demands on Iran for deal: Hayom
Obama leaves four Americans behind with Iran nuke deal: FAM
France’s True Problem: Skinny Fashion Models: AmInt

He descended into Hell: Leslie Eastman
Obama statement on Kenyan massacre doesn't mention jihadis killed Christians: Marathon
Vienna: “Free, Free Palestine” chant becomes “Kill, Kill the Jews”: LI

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

You Won’t Believe That These Designs Are Actually From One Single Shirt: Mike Shouts
Disney is pouring $250 million into a fantasy sports site: Jon Fingas
Watch the First Ever 4K 1,000 fps Drone Footage: PopMech

Cornucopia

Easter 2015: MOTUS
Had Enough? Cruz May Be the Answer: iOTWreport
Pray for Mandy Nagy (Update 4-4-2015: “she misses the way it used to be”): LI

Image: Barack Obama fights back against Israeli critics of Iran nuclear deal
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a conservative candidate? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "The Indiana hysteria is an excellent indicator. Ron Fournier of National Journal, who for some reason is generally esteemed, argued with a straight face that Indiana’s freedom-of-religion law is “not unlike Jim Crow laws at all,” which is true if you ignore the slavery and categorical subjugation and the use of state violence in the service of a program of general political and social repression and the first few centuries of American history and all. Moral panics have their uses: If you convince yourself that your opponent is evil — not wrong, not operating from a set of values at variance with your own, but evil — then there is no crime of which he might not be suspected — and, more important, no crime that one might not commit oneself in order to frustrate his wicked aims.

Needless to say, this line of thinking can be suspended when the politician is confronted with real but politically convenient evil, e.g., those Sandinistas that the Reagan administration was fighting. This is why in the popular history of 20th century, the bad guys aren’t the Communists who murdered 100 million people and their American enablers, but the meanies such as Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy, who tried to expose them." --Kevin D. Williamson

Sunday, April 05, 2015

BILL WHITTLE: "SIR, I WILL NOT OBEY THAT ORDER."

By Bill Whittle

Let’s just assume for a moment that you’re a radical, left-wing zealot, who was raised by actual communists, and who, naturally enough views the United States military as the tool of capitalist exploitation and colonial racism. Now, further assume that through a perfect storm of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, fate, money, power and media bias somehow conspired to make you Commander in Chief of those same armed forces.

What would you do?

You couldn’t very well scuttle 11 carrier strike groups. You can’t just destroy entire air wings, or armored divisions, or any of the rest – no matter how much you may want to. That would break the spell.

If you hate this country, and you especially hate the military, you simply cannot go around destroying the weapons – that’s too obvious. But you can do something much more subtle, and in the long run, even more disastrous, if your stated goal is to fundamentally change the country and the military that protects and defends it.

You don’t have to destroy the weapons. You don’t even have to destroy the warriors. All you have to do is create a set of conditions that are so incompatible with the warrior code that the warriors will remove themselves, because these are people who risk death and dismemberment, and whether at the tip or the end of the spear, generally live in appalling conditions, under great emotional hardship, for disgraceful levels of pay.

AAA: Top 7 Reasons for Teen Driving Accidents

A study funded by AAA probably represents the most comprehensive research project into the causes of teen driving accidents ever conducted.

The research team analyzed nearly 1,700 videos taken from in-vehicle event recorders covering the six seconds immediately prior to crashes involving teen drivers. Results identified driver distraction as a factor in 58% of all crashes studied, including 89% of road-departure crashes and 76% of rear-end crashes. The National HIghway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had previously estimated that distraction would be a factor in only 14% of teen driver crashes, which had to be an absurdly low expectation given the ubiquity of cellphone and texting addiction among (but not limited to) teens.

Video data was recorded by Lytx DriveCam devices that collect video, audio and accelerometer data when a driver triggers an in-vehicle device by hard braking, fast cornering or impacts that exceed a certain g-force. Each video is 12 seconds long and provides information from before and after the trigger event...

...The AAA researchers found that drivers manipulating their cellphone (calling, texting or other uses), had their eyes off the road for an average of 4.1 out of the final six seconds leading up to a crash. According to distraction.gov, checking a text typically takes your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds, during which time the car will have covered the length of a football field when traveling at 55 miles per hour.

The top 7 reasons for teen crashes:

ind the wheel were found to be:

  1. Interacting with one or more passengers: 15% of crashes
  2. Cell phone use: 12% of crashes
  3. Looking at something in the vehicle: 10% of crashes
  4. Looking at something outside the vehicle: 9% of crashes
  5. Singing/moving to music: 8% of crashes
  6. Grooming: 6% of crashes
  7. Reaching for an object: 6% of crashes

Send this to any teen drivers you know.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech News

EVIL CLOWN: Taco Bell Launches Cold War Against McDonald's With Soviet-Style Propaganda Imagery

Pretty funny.

Egg McMuffins aren't just mediocre pastries stuffed with microwaved eggs, bright yellow cheese and ham product. They are a form of tyranny.

That, at least, is the upshot of "Routine Republic," a riveting and surreal new Taco Bell campaign from Deutsch. A year after the agency cheekily hired a bunch of guys named Ronald McDonald to celebrate the Mexican-themed fast-food chain's first foray into breakfast, the shots at the Golden Arches are barely masked.

In the three-minute centerpiece ad ..., McDonald's affable but intrinsically creepy mascot is reimagined as a sunken-eyed Stalinist clown (though perhaps bearing closer resemblance to Mao). He rules over a small army of look-alikes and an oppressed proletariat in a decrepit, cloistered city with a beefy security apparatus. Run-of-the-mill breakfast sandwiches are his preferred method of subjugation.

Watch the video after the break:

Larwyn's Linx: Kill the Deal

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Kill the Deal: William Kristol
Obama administration warns Iran not to be put off by deal's spin: Lid
Iran’s Persian statement on ‘deal’ contradicts Obama’s claims: Amir Taheri

Arabic Most Common Language of Refugees in U.S.; 91% on Food Stamps: Creeping
Los Federales To Fly In Children From Central America For Illegals: Cove
Illegal Alien with Drug-Resistant TB to Be Released into US, say AZ Reps: Breitbart

Tom Cotton vows to stop Obama's insane Iran deal: Scoop
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Negotiated deal with Iran is only option: Luke Rosiak
Arabic: Most Common Language of Refugees in America: Breitbart

Stop Liberals From Exploiting Conscience To Avoid Their Civic Duties: Kurt Schlichter
How the West was Lost: Ed Driscoll
Political Pandering over Religious Freedom Bill: Rick Jensen

Economy

Record High 12,202,000 Black Americans Not In Labor Force: WZ
Obamacare Has Led to Higher Insurance Premiums: Salim Furth
Missouri considers banning purchase of soda, chips with food stamps: Exam

Scandal Central

The Rise of the Megalothymiamanical Memories Pizza Truthers: Ed Driscoll
Broken City: Rahm Emanuel and the unraveling of Chicago.: John B. Judis
Surrender to Tehran: National Review

Climate & Energy

Corn, Scorn and Policy Porn: Debra Saunders
Regulator faces climate rule challenges amid leadership swap: John Siciliano

Media

French media broadcast location of Jews hiding from jihad murderer: Robert Spencer
Black Support Of Gun Ownership Skyrockets: Bob Owens
Mormons Across America Deliver Some Major Bad News to Harry Reid: ConTrib

Who, Exactly, Should We Punish for Not Digging Gay Marriage?: Ace
What Feminists Mean by ‘Equality’: R.S. McCain
Just Some Good Reportin': Ace

World

Islamist terrorists target and slaughter Christians in Kenya; but Obama’s statement ignores it: PW
New ISIS Magazine Singles Out Santorum as ‘Catholic Crusader’ Enemy: Tatler
Saudi Arabia warns Canada to not support blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes: Adam Taylor

The Threat of War Is Real: Joel Skousen
Three Female Terrorists Arrested in New York; Philly: Ryan Mauro
Abu Bakr, Husband of Terror Suspect, Marched in NY Parades with Black Flag of Jihad:

'Iran funding the rebuilding of Hamas tunnels in Gaza': Hayom
Lebanese Hezbollah calls Iran deal a 'victory': Exam
Hezbollah hails Iran deal as victory for ‘axis of resistance’: Avi Lewis

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue Tech News)

Judge orders Facebook and Zuckerberg to turn over documents: Larry Neumeister
3 Vendors Lead the Wave for Big Data Predictive Analytics: Virginia Backaitis
Extended Warranties: Are they worth it? We Ask An Expert: Simon Hill

Cornucopia

Evolving, It’s What Progressives Do: MOTUS
Classic Cartoon – Easter Yeggs: Glob
Pope, thousands brave rain for Easter in St. Peter’s Square: WaPo

Image: Evolving, It’s What Progressives Do
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Isn't it time for a conservative candidate? Ted Cruz 2016: Official Site

QOTD: "Britain has a parliamentary system of government, and so Neville Chamberlain's parliamentary majority ensured the Munich agreement would go forward. The U.S. Constitution, on the other hand, provides for a separation of powers. As Hamilton explains in Federalist #75:

"However proper or safe it may be in governments where the executive magistrate is an hereditary monarch, to commit to him the entire power of making treaties, it would be utterly unsafe and improper to intrust that power to an elective magistrate of four years' duration. ... The history of human conduct does not warrant that exalted opinion of human virtue which would make it wise in a nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous a kind, as those which contain its intercourse with the rest of the world, to the sole disposal of a magistrate created and circumstanced as would be a President of the United States."

It is now up to the members of Congress to do their duty, on this delicate and momentous occasion. It is up to members of Congress to refuse to accede to this set of concessions made by our current executive magistrate, concessions that would put one of the world's most dangerous regimes further along the road to acquiring the world's most dangerous weapons." --William Kristol

Saturday, April 04, 2015

THANKS, OBAMA: Today's Middle East Resembles "Europe Right Before World War I"

By Steven Bucci

For years, the great nations of Europe spent huge sums of money to build their military might. They assembled themselves into blocs, all the better to play a dangerous game of power politics. Slowly, surely, they were stumbling toward war.

In June 1914, an assassin shot the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the powder keg was lit. The results were disastrous.

The Middle East today looks frighteningly similar to the Europe of the early 20th Century.

For years, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have competed—Iran, as the champion of the Shia Islamic world, the House of Saud as the de facto leader of the Sunni world.

Iran has a massive military, as well as major capabilities in unconventional warfare and espionage. It influences or outright controls Hezbollah in Lebanon, Assad in Syria, and the powerful Shia militias in Iraq. Now, Tehran is encouraging—and most likely aiding—the Al Houthis rebelling in Yemen.

The Saudis, powerful in their own right, have allied with al-Sisi in Egypt, King Abdullah in Jordan, and most of the other Gulf Arab states. They are also allied with the Pakistanis, who have one of the largest militaries in the world, and nuclear weapons to boot. Additionally, there is a growing possibility that the Turks may throw in with the Sunni side.

6 Interesting Facts About the 2015 Final Four Point Spread

Morning Call has some interesting facts about the 2015 Final Four Betting Line.


6: THE PROS ARE BETTING WISCONSIN

The KY-WI betting line opened at -6 for Kentucky but "significant professional action on Wisconsin" has driven that number down to 5.

5: SMALLEST SPREAD OF THE YEAR FOR KENTUCKY

The -5 number for Kentucky is its smallest favorite all year, tied with its -5 at Louisville in December.

4: 70 PERCENT OF BETS BACK DUKE OVER MICHIGAN STATE

Duke is a -5 favorite over Michigan State, but Vegas has let 70 percent of the bets go Duke's way. This tells me that someone very knowledgeable is putting their money on MSU covering.

3: IN FALL OF 2014, KY WAS A 50-1 LONGSHOT TO GO UNDEFEATED

Sportsbooks "will suffer a big loss if this prop cashes".

2: THE ODDS AGAINST A PERFECT BRACKET

The odds against a perfect bracket thus far in the tournament (picking all 60 games correctly): 2,300,000,000,000 (2.3 trillion) to 1.

1: POSSIBLE TITLE GAME SPREADS

• Wisconsin -5.5 over Michigan St
• Wisconsin -1 over Duke
• Kentucky -11 over Michigan St
• Kentucky -6 over Duke

Hat tip: BadBlue Sports News.

Washington Post hammers Obama's Iran deal as a catastrophic mistake

By The Tower

Noting that President Barack Obama’s stated goals for an acceptable nuclear deal with Iran in 2012 would see Tehran “‘[…] end their nuclear program’ and ‘abide by the U.N. resolutions that have been in place,'” an unsigned staff editorial published today in The Washington Post laments that the president has retreated “a long way” from these positions.

The “key parameters” for an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program released Thursday fall well short of the goals originally set by the Obama administration. None of Iran’s nuclear facilities — including the Fordow center buried under a mountain — will be closed. Not one of the country’s 19,000 centrifuges will be dismantled. Tehran’s existing stockpile of enriched uranium will be “reduced” but not necessarily shipped out of the country. In effect, Iran’s nuclear infrastructure will remain intact, though some of it will be mothballed for 10 years. When the accord lapses, the Islamic republic will instantly become a threshold nuclear state.

The editorial also observes that the sanctions relief that would follow an agreement would allow Iran “to wage more aggressively the wars it is already fighting or sponsoring across the region.”

ISRAEL UNITED: Obama's Iran Deal is Utterly Insane

By Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel


I just came from a meeting of the Israeli cabinet. We discussed the proposed framework for a deal with Iran.

The cabinet is united in strongly opposing the proposed deal.

This deal would pose a grave danger to the region and to the world and would threaten the very survival of the State of Israel.

The deal would not shut down a single nuclear facility in Iran, would not destroy a single centrifuge in Iran and will not stop R&D on Iran's advanced centrifuges.

On the contrary. The deal would legitimize Iran's illegal nuclear program. It would leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure. A vast nuclear infrastructure remains in place.

The deal would lift sanctions almost immediately and this at the very time that Iran is stepping up its aggression and terror in the region and beyond the region.

In a few years, the deal would remove the restrictions on Iran's nuclear program, enabling Iran to have a massive enrichment capacity that it could use to produce many nuclear bombs within a matter of months.

The deal would greatly bolster Iran's economy. It would give Iran thereby tremendous means to propel its aggression and terrorism throughout the Middle East.

Such a deal does not block Iran's path to the bomb.

Such a deal paves Iran's path to the bomb.

And it might very well spark a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East and it would greatly increase the risks of terrible war.

Now, some say that the only alternative to this bad deal is war.

That's not true.

There is a third alternative – standing firm, increasing the pressure on Iran until a good deal is achieved.