Blog Heap of Links for the day 10 July 2014

BREAKING NEWS: IRAQ TELLS U.N. THAT ‘TERRORIST GROUPS’ SEIZED NUCLEAR MATERIALS. REUTERS

New Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has assigned deputies to manage everything from bank accounts to bomb attacks [War News Updates editor's comment: "The International Criminal Court in The Hague now knows who to focus their attention on when it comes to who they must charge for war crimes."]

Islamist plot to blow up Eiffel Tower, Louvre and nuclear power plant foiled, say French police - French police stumbled on terror plans after decrypting coded messages between Algerian butcher living in southern France and high-ranking members of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb

Survey data continually show that Oklahomans favor policies that give parents more educational options. However, enacting those policies has proven to be difficult. A simple metaphor can help explain why.

Campbell, Wisconsin… police chief Tim Kelemen on leave… admitted using a Tea Party activist's name and email address to create accounts on pornographic, dating and insurance websites from both his home and work computers. …apparently upset that Tea Party activists… filed a federal lawsuit over the city's decision to bar political protests on a pedestrian walkway on Interstate 90.

…Algorithms designed by Yahoo wiz kids make sure that at least twenty-five percent of the headlines I see are positive stories about same-sex marriage… Interestingly, I had read the previous weekend about the revelation of a clandestine experiment that Facebook conducted on its subscribers. … That got me wondering: aren't judges people too? Aren't they subject to emotional contagion as easily as the rest of us mortals? …

Congressman Steve Stockman Thursday filed a resolution directing the House Sergeant-At-Arms to arrest former IRS Director of the Exempt Organizations Unit Lois Lerner on charges of contempt of Congress. “Asking the Justice Department to prosecute Lois Lerner for admittedly illegal activity is a joke. The Obama administration will not prosecute the Obama administration. How much longer will the House allow itself to be mocked? It is up to this House to uphold the rule of law and hold accountable those who illegally targeted American citizens for simply having different ideas than the President. Democrats have openly stated the House has the powers to arrest those in contempt of Congress and imprison them in the Capitol. I don't want to go as far as Democrats in exercising the House’s powers to arrest. Ms. Lerner will be held in the D.C. jail. It's time to for House to stop tacitly endorsing this administration's illegal activity by refusing to hold him accountable. I expect Democrats to defend and even praise criminal activity. The question is whether Republican leadership will join them in mocking the House and breaking the law." [Powerful!]

A former Ponca City [Okla] bakery worker will get a $51,500 settlement over charges that he was discriminated against for not being a union employee at a bakery. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters came to an agreement with Kirk Rammage, a former delivery driver… The case took more than seven years and worked its way through the National Labor Relations Board and federal courts twice. … Oklahoma’s Right to Work law, passed in 2001, says that a worker does not have to join a union as a condition of employment.

…The letter claims that Google has been confusing America with 2016: Obama’s America, which was D’Souza’s first movie and has been out of theaters for two years, while Lionsgate released America on July 2 and it is currently playing in about 1,100 theaters nationwide. Google, according to the letter, has been "misdirecting many users who mistakenly believed the film was not playing in theaters. We understand this was brought to your attention for correction five days ago, yet the problem persists." …

Obama caught horsing around in Denver [graphic at link]

In contrast to the inhuman behaviour of the terrorists, the elephants at the Ramat Gan Safari showed how they protect their young during an air raid alert. This must be one of the most moving videos I’ve seen. [Watch on YouTube]

…unnamed woman… had tissue from her nose implanted in her spine… [trying to] repair… nerve damage… treatment failed. …eight years after… the woman… complained of increasing pain in the area. … Doctors discovered a three-centimetre-long growth… mainly nasal tissue, as well as bits of bone and nerve branches that had not connected with the spinal nerves.

"Paedophilic interest is natural and normal for human males,” said the presentation. “At least a sizeable minority of normal males would like to have sex with children … Normal males are aroused by children.” [No.]

Chicago-born actress and comedian Nora Dunn, who is one of the few alums of TV’s “Saturday Night Live” based in the Chicago area, has sold her two-bedroom vintage condominium unit in Ukrainian Village for $258,500 and paid $185,000 for a condo unit in Evanston.

Hamas apparently expected a limited response to the recent rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns; The organization is concerned the IDF's operation could be the end to Hamas’s rule over the Gaza Strip. … Hamas accused Israel of “crossing all the redlines” by bombing the homes of its military commanders. [Can dish out, can't take. Weenies at heart.

Three rockets were launched at Dimona in southern Israel on Wednesday afternoon. The Iron Dome intercepted one rocket before it could land, while two other rockets landed in open areas. Dimona is the location of Israel's nuclear reactor. There was no indication that rockets damaged any part of the reactor. Hamas claimed responsibility for the rockets, stating that it had been attempting to hit the nuclear reactor.

Republican Rep. Allen West of Florida: "Um, Harry, are you so blind to your own political prejudice that you overlooked the fact that one out of those five white men — isn’t?" … Mr. West added that he hoped Republicans would capture the Senate in November and "kick your white male butt out."

“Look, for $8 million you could put them all on a first-class seat back to their homes,” [Oklahoma Senator Dr. Tom] Coburn said on CNN’s “Crossfire” on Tuesday. [Video at link]

With the system being overwhelmed, Border Patrol agents are concerned about minors who have admitted to being MS-13 members… minors who have committed acts like torture and murder in their home countries before heading north to the United States. … "We have six minors in Nogales who have admitted to killing and doing grievous bodily injuries. One admitted to killing as young as eight years old," an agent tells Townhall anonymously for fear of losing his job for speaking out. "They are being held for placement in the U.S." …