Blog Heap of Links for the day 11 May 2015

…One of my students asked “How involved was President Bush with what was going on?” I smiled and responded, “What you really mean is, ‘Was President Bush smart enough to understand what was going on,’ right?”

The class went dead silent. Everyone knew that this was the true meaning of the question. Kudos to that student for asking the hard question and for framing it so politely. I had stripped away that decorum and exposed the raw nerve.

I looked hard at the 60 MBA students and said “President Bush is smarter than almost every one of you.”…

…Cartoonophobia is a crippling mental disorder, please do your part to help these sick, sad, people to conquer their irrational fear of illustrations. Thank you.

…What was my recommendation to Michael? Forego having Geert Wilders speak, because of he high risk involved. I personally know Geert and support his stance against the incursion of militant Islamism and Islamo-fascism. If we were on a battlefield this would be an easy call, but there are innocent men and women involved — they are not warriors.…

[How sad. Alas, Col West has his squishy spots.]

…It'll be a long time before you see "Washington Post Offers No Apology for Attacking Target of Thwarted Attack" or "AP Says It Has No Regrets After Blaming The Victim". The respectable class in the American media share the same goal as the Islamic fanatics: They want to silence Pam Geller. …

“Really why Silent Bob is silent was because Jayson [Mewes] talks a lot. It was that simple,” said Smith. …

Even though Bartlesville remained unscathed from the severe storms last week, extreme weather conditions have challenged residents since the city’s founding more than a century ago.

Established in the floodplain of the Caney River, the City of Legends was the scene of regular flooding until upstream dam projects brought the river under control in the late 1940s.

One of the first recorded floods in the town’s history took place in the spring of 1885, when, according to one eyewitness, a “25-foot wall of water” roared down the Caney River.…

[Correction on date of tornado]

Oklahoma City …Milot loves music, and loves playing the mandolin — and that came in handy during his surgery. Dr. Sughrue had Milot play the mandoline as part of a process to determine how his brain was functioning.

Dr. Sughrue was able to remove 99% of the tumor — and because of the aggressive attack, Milot is hopeful that his chemotherapy will knock out the rest of the mass.…

[I wouldn't normally have much to do with the Vlogbrothers, but their silly argument over Batman is sort-of worth slogging through to catch the songified version at the end of this post.]

Oklahoma City …During the chase the two officers became separated. Eller found himself alone when he caught up to Jermaine in a driveway of a nearby home and as he tried to place him under arrest, a fight ensued. During the struggle, Jermaine was able to take Eller's police baton and then proceeded to strike him over the head somewhere between six and 12 times.

According to a report, that's when a witness nearby charged up with his weapon drawn and told Jermaine he would shoot him if he did not stop hitting Eller.…

Florida …Highlands County Sheriff's Office investigators say at 3:40 p.m. on Monday, May 4th, an online pizza order, for a small hand-tossed classic pizza with pepperoni, was received by the Pizza Hut in Avon Park. Under the comments section there was a message asking them to send help and call 911 as the customer was being held hostage.…

…DeKalb County Police say two men walked into the store, pretending to be customers. They asked for the store owner to get them something from a shelf, and when he turned his back, one of the men pulled a shotgun and put it to the owner's head.

Police say when the owner realized what was happening, he turned around; and while moving the shotgun away from his head, he pulled out his own gun and shot one of the robbers dead.…

Pistol Pete starts the week off with the usual great collection of links, posters, videos, and his opinionated opinions. [Retro'd a day late]

Whittle, Dershowitz, Bill O channels Jesus, Nun says ‘Islam is ISIS. Whoever Says Otherwise Is a Liar’, Is Experience a Requirement for Presidential Hopefuls? Baltimore cops attorneys call for prosecutor’s dismissal, Why the Freddie Gray Case Seems to Be Unraveling, Funeral Service For Slain NYPD Officer, and more

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Vic pulls together the news, then beats it into submission, starting here today.

"… On this day in 1846 the United States declared war on Mexico.…"