FREE SPEECH IS NOT THE RIGHT TO DESTROY: Right to protest?

WHILE THE LEFT AS USUAL CELEBRATES DEATH, MATURE HUMAN BEINGS TRY TO PREVENT MORE TRAGEDY: On losing hope.

SO NOW FRANCE IS DONE, LET’S LOOK AT ENGLAND: May is Lucky in her Enemies.

SOCIALISTS? COMMITTING FINANCIAL FRAUD?  Next you’ll tell me water is wet and fire is hot.   FBI investigating Jane Sanders for alleged bank fraud.

MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT DUCK SEX: The horrible thing you never knew about ducks.

MOLON LABE: ISIS Tells Jihadists To Attack U.S. Gun Store Owners As Way To Acquire Firearms.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO TORTURE AND MURDER: Vulnerable father was forced to eat own testicle and then tortured to death, court hears. “A vulnerable father of two was tortured to death by his girlfriend and three of her associates who even forced him to eat his own testicle, a court has heard. . . . Mr Prout was then targeted by Miss Corbett and her friends Myra Wood, 49, Kay Rayworth, 55, and Zahid Zaman, 43, in a protracted torture ordeal that prosecutors said ‘belongs in the Dark Ages.'”

SO ON A FACULTY EMAIL LIST I’M NOT PART OF (BUT PEOPLE EMAILED ME FROM) there’s talk of “Denormalizing” Justice Gorsuch. The idea is that any 5-4 decisions in which Gorsuch is on the winning side should be “quarantined” as “illegitimate.”

Well, somebody will be denormalized — and possibly quarantined as illegitimate — by this approach. . . .

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Dress Rehearsal for Armageddon: How Cities Plan for a Nuclear Attack. And how you can, too.

So I guess it’s “Duck and Cover” all over again. Who could have seen this coming?

USA TODAY: James Comey’s Firing Was Inevitable:

How the mighty have fallen. In March, Comey was hailed as “the most powerful person in Washington.” But those who are tagged “most powerful” have a funny way of quickly being shown up, particularly when they serve at the pleasure of the president. In Comey’s case, his power supposedly was based on his ongoing investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election, an investigation which has turned up nothing of great importance, certainly nothing to substantiate charges of Russia “hacking the election.”

In fact, Comey had been a dead man walking for some time. He was a director without a constituency. He had tried to strike a balance in a sharply divided political environment and wound up alienating both sides. He had to go.

Democrats blame him for Hillary Clinton’s election loss. Just last week Hillary Clinton said if the election were held October 27 she would be the president – that is, the day before Comey’s dramatic note to Congress that he had reopened the FBI’s investigation into her alleged mishandling of classified information through her bootleg email server.

Then two days before the election Comey said “never mind.” The Bureau had hastily reviewed the 49,000 potentially relevant emails it had found on a laptop owned by disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, and nothing there changed its conclusions from the previous July when he had called out Mrs. Clinton for lying but did not recommend prosecution.

Whether this rollercoaster ride had an impact on the election is one question, but Comey’s seemingly erratic behavior so close to an election was quite another. I was at a meeting with some senior members of the law enforcement community when Comey backed off the investigation and they expressed utter bewilderment at what he was doing. It went beyond how this would affect Comey’s career or his reputation; he was potentially tarnishing the Bureau itself. And for all this Comey said he had no regrets.

Read the whole thing.

WEIGHING THE ETHICS of Artificial Wombs.

STEVE GREEN, ROGER SIMON, AND MICHAEL WALSH WEIGH IN ON TRUMP FIRING COMEY ON TUESDAY’S HOT MIC AT PJM.

AT AMAZON, save in Arts Crafts and Sewing.

Plus, deals in Home and Garden.

DIY MUSIC UPDATE: Over at the PJ Lifestyle blog, I have a review of the V-Control app for the Android and iPad: V-Control: Remote Control For Your Music Recording Software.

PORN FOR THOSE OBSESSED WITH GRUESOME VIOLENCE IN THE NAME OF GOD: A look at the Islamic State’s publication, Rumiyah.

Each issue contains seemingly practical advice on how to obtain weapons (particularly firearms and explosives) in various Western countries. Some of this advice is fatally flawed and apparently not based on experience (other than some novel or video). The techniques for carrying out attacks, whether with vehicles, knives, bombs or firearms are all based on attacks that have already occurred are often featured. In short, it’s sort of porn for those obsessed with gruesome violence in the name of God (or Allah or whatever). Police often find copies of Rumiyah on computers or smart phones owned by actual or potential ISIL terrorists in the West. It is unclear if the information contained in Rumiyah played a major role in the number and conduct of recent lone wolf attacks in the West because a lot of the attack methods have been known for years but only recently popularized by ISIL.

The post also discusses other Islamic State information operations.

BREAKING: FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY IS FIRED BY TRUMP.

As Ace writes, “I’m cool with that. FBI Director Rudy Giuliani?”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): WaPo:

Officials released a Tuesday memo from the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, laying out the rationale behind Comey’s dismissal.

“The FBI’s reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage, and it has affected the entire Department of Justice,’’ Rosenstein wrote. “I cannot defend the director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken. Almost everyone agrees that the director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives.’’

In a letter to Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that he agreed.

“I have concluded that a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the FBI,’’ Sessions wrote. “I must recommend that you remove Director James B. Comey, Jr. and identify an experienced and qualified individual to lead the great men and women of the FBI.’’

Shortly before the announcement, the FBI notified Congress by letter that Comey had misstated key findings involving the Hillary Clinton email investigation during testimony last week. . . .

In defending the probe at last week’s hearing, Comey offered seemingly new details to underscore the seriousness of the situation FBI agents faced last fall when they discovered thousands of Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s emails on the computer of her husband, Anthony Weiner.

“Somehow, her emails were being forwarded to Anthony Weiner, including classified information,” Comey said, adding later, “His then-spouse Huma Abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding emails to him for him I think to print out for her so she could then deliver them to the secretary of state.” . . .

At another point in the testimony, Comey said Abedin “forwarded hundreds and thousands of emails, some of which contain classified information.’’

Neither of those statements is accurate, said people close to the investigation.

Stay tuned. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying the sight of Democrats who were calling for Comey to be fired suddenly turning him into a Saturday Night Massacre martyr.

Flashback: Ex-AGs Alberto Gonzales, Eric Holder, Michael Mukasey rip FBI director. Well, sure, those Republican hacks would — wait, what?

HMM: Statin Use Increases Odds of Back Disorder: Cohort Study. “In a large observational study of insured individuals in the military and their family members, statin use was associated with increased odds of having a back disorder, including spondylosis, intervertebral disc disorders, herniated discs, and spinal stenosis.”

HOW QUICKLY WILL THE DNC-MSM MEMORY HOLE THIS STATISTIC? Comey: 15 Percent of Terror Cases Came as Refugees.

Flashback: Former President Obama, who believed that America could always “absorb” another terror attack, “frequently remind[ed] his staff that terrorism takes far fewer lives in America than handguns, car accidents, and falls in bathtubs do,” as his stenographer Jeffrey Goldberg chillingly noted last year.

UPDATE: Trump fires Comey.

KATIE PAVLICH: Goodbye To My Friend, Bob Owens.

Rick Moran remembers an “uncompromising defender of the right to bear arms.”

And this:

“MYSTERIOUSLY:” Colin Kaepernick is still mysteriously a free agent, and some in the NFL reportedly think he’s moved on from football.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Is My Neti Pot Going to Kill Me?

TYLER O’NEIL: No, New York Times, Christianity’s Opposition to Abortion Is Anything But New.

PROGRESS? The Echo Show’s killer feature is next-level FaceTime.

Along with the Echo Show, Amazon is launching a new communications platform for Alexa devices, which allows for calling and messaging between Echo units and smartphones that have the Alexa app installed. A feature called Drop In lets the devices connect instantly, without requiring someone to “answer” the call. This allows the Echo Show to be an always-ready, internet-connected video intercom that I can call from anywhere in the world using my smartphone.

As a parent of two young children who takes a number of work trips per year, I make a lot of video calls back home to say good morning or wish them good night. Services such as Skype and FaceTime have completely changed how I can keep in touch with my family when I’m away, as a video call is always more intimate than text messages or a voice call, especially for young children.

But FaceTime and similar services have their own limitations: they need a smartphone, tablet, or computer open and available and for the other party to answer the call. A video intercom that’s always on and ready for a call has no such limitations.

Is not having someone’s uninvited face suddenly appear in your kitchen or den really such a limitation?

STELTER, TUR CLASH WITH JORGE RAMOS ON BEING ‘STAND-INS FOR DEMOCRATS:’

At a recent National Press Club panel on the current state of the U.S. news media, the fireworks really erupted when Ramos objected to a statement made by Tur, in which she basically exhorted journalists to uphold core journalistic standards.

KATY TUR, CORRESPONDENT, NBC NEWS: Continue to report on the facts. Be as fair as you possibly can be. Be partial to the truth, and don’t be alarmist when it’s unnecessary.

JORGE RAMOS, SENIOR NEWS ANCHOR, UNIVISION: May I, uh, disagree?

After interrupting Tur for apparently advocating a much too orthodox approach to the practice of the profession, Ramos proceeded to urge the attendees at the National Press Club event to favor instead his ‘holy war’ approach to covering Trump.

JORGE RAMOS, SENIOR NEWS ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Our position, I think, has to be much more aggressive. And we should not expect the Democrats to do that job. It is our job. If we don’t question the president, if we don’t question his lies, if we don’t do it, who is gonna do it? It’s an uncomfortable position…

BRIAN STELTER, HOST, CNN’S RELIABLE SOURCES: You’re almost saying we’re a stand-in for the Democrats.

“Almost.” Just think of them as Democrat operatives with bylines (and in Ramos’ case, a daughter who was employed the Hillary campaign) and it all makes sense.

BREAKING NEWS FROM 1939: The German military has a Nazi problem.