IRAQ – The Iraqi city of Ramadi has fallen to Islamic State (IS) after government forces abandoned their positions, officials say.

The police and military made a chaotic retreat after days of intense fighting.  Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had ordered troops to stand their ground, saying he was deploying Shia militia to the city.
Ramadi is the capital of Iraq’s largest province, Anbar, and is just 70 miles (112km) west of Baghdad.
A statement purportedly from IS said its fighters had “purged the entire city”. It said IS had taken the 8th Brigade army base, along with tanks and missile launchers left behind by troops. (more…)

~ BACKSTORY ~

Link to Press Release
(more…)

More of that fundamental change we were told to expect….

(Via New York Post) Saudi Arabia will join the nuclear club by buying “off the shelf” atomic weapons from Pakistan, US officials told a London newspaper.
The Saudis — who financed much of Pakistan’s nuke program — are fearful of international efforts to keep its enemy Iran from acquiring a bomb, the Sunday Times of London reports. The Saudis think the deal, backed by President Obama, will actually accelerate Iran’s nuke push.
Saudi Arabia has talked for years about acquiring a bomb from the Pakistanis. “The House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward,” a former US defense official said. (more)

(HatTip GWP) As State Trooper Foerster lay on ground wounded and helpless, Assata Shakur (aka Joanne Chesimard) grabbed his gun and fired two shots into his head.  She escaped from prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba in 1984 after living as a fugitive for a few years, and received political asylum. She has been living in Cuba ever since.

(Via Right Wisconsin) Marquette’s Gender and Sexuality Resource Center was set up as a sop to the campus gay lobby in the wake of Marquette’s refusal to hire aggressively lesbian Arts & Sciences dean candidate Jodi O’Brien. Not surprisingly, it has consistently pursued a leftist secular agenda including, for example, the Femsex Seminar, which was so raunchy and so opposed to Marquette’s supposed “Catholic mission” that the Administration ordered that sponsorship be withdrawn.
But now we have yet another case of the extreme leftist agenda of the organization. An entry from its Facebook page: (more…)

First, a review of the “Apology”:

It goes much deeper than just “donations to the Clinton Foundation”.  Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer writes in a USA Today Op-Ed:

[…]  I agreed to be interviewed, expecting a robust examination of my new book, Clinton Cash, and my reporting on the Clintons’ accumulation of massive personal wealth, cronyism and the lack of transparency surrounding the Clintons’ foundation.
I expected probing questions, similar to the ones I’ve received from Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, Chris Wallace on Fox News and Frank Sesno on CNN.
What I did not expect — what no one expected — was the sort of “hidden hand journalism” that has contributed to America’s news media’s crisis of credibility in particular, and Americans’ distrust of the news media more broadly. (more…)

When a corrections system focuses entirely on equality of outcome; and when the administrators of the policy are wilfully blind (in that they never addresses the source behavior); and when the non-compliant variables within the system refuse to modify behavior – the only administrative option left is to remove the consequence.
FYI the racial composition of Oakland’s public school system is about 32 percent black, a little under 40 percent Hispanic, about 15 percent Asian and about 12 percent white, according to Oaklandreads.org
(Via Truth Revolt) Board members of California’s Oakland Unified School District unanimously voted on Wednesday to cease suspending students for what they call “willful defiance.” Those behaviors can include swearing/yelling at teachers, refusing direct orders, texting, and storming out of class, to name a few.
The reason?
Concern that too many black students are being suspended for willful defiance.
One sophomore student, Dan’enicole Williams, told the San Francisco Gate, “They never take time out, if someone is sleeping in class, to ask what’s wrong. They may be acting that way because they didn’t eat the night before.” (more…)

By now everyone is familiar with the wonderful and progressive “Race Together” program put out by Starbucks Coffee Shops.  The basic idea was to have the Starbucks employees educate their customers on social tolerance, social justice, racism and how to avoid expressing micro-aggression while carrying around latte’s of various privilege.

Phase #1 was Starbucks employees handing out brochures informing coffee patrons of their unknown privileges; and also explaining what to expect, moving forward, from the college aged baristas’ majoring in advanced lesbian dance theory.
 
Phase #2 appears to be off to a splendid start as seen in this video showing how to communicate tolerance, respect and dignity toward all races.  The video focuses on #4: “members of different races on my block or apartment building”, and #9: “we have managers of different races”.  Starbucks 101 – How Asian and African Americans “Race Together”:

Former interim CIA Head Mike Morell was part of team Hillary both before and after her tenure as Secretary of State so this admission carries a little more sting…. 

(Via Politico) Former Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell said that he believes some foreign intelligence agencies possess the contents of Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
“I think that foreign intelligence services, the good ones, have everything on any unclassified network that the government uses,” Morell said Friday in an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show.
“I don’t think that was a very good judgment,” he added of Clinton’s decision to use the private server for official State Department business. “I don’t know who gave her that advice, but it was not good advice.” (more…)

Marilyn Mosby announced her independent “direct action” charges against the Baltimore Six police officers, with a national press conference.  Immediately after her presser Marilyn Mosby appeared on CNN, ABC, NBC and MSNBC national networks.  Mosby later appeared with the musician Prince, on stage with the family of Freddie Gray, at a Justice for Freddie Gray benefit concert.
However, soon after announcing her charges, the facts behind the case began to surface and the case began falling apart.   Now, with the very real possibility of a nation awakening to the political and activist motives, she is asking the court to impose a gag order – so she can hide the fraud and delay public knowledge.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore prosecutors are seeking a gag order as they pursue a criminal case against six city officers in the case of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who died a week after suffering a spinal injury while in police custody.
A court document that references the gag order, obtained by The Associated Press, is dated Wednesday. Assistant State’s Attorney Antonio Gioia wrote that the gag order motion was mailed to defense attorneys.
Rochelle Ritchie, a spokeswoman for State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, confirmed Friday the office is seeking a gag order. She declined to provide further details. (more…)