Amazon's $1 Billion Acquisition of Video Game Streaming Twitch.tv Is a Bargain

Amazon's $1 Billion Acquisition of Video Game Streaming Twitch.tv Is a Bargain: "The company’s latest deal to buy Twitch for more than $1 billion is being lambasted by most analysts, but I believe it is brilliant.
Amazon has bought America’s fastest growing television network. Twitch.tv has 55 million mostly millennial visitors who watch up to 16 billion minutes of its videos each month. The $1 billion acquisition gives Amazon a live TV network that already has more viewers than CNN and is highly valued by a prime consumer demographic of millennial youth."



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Obama: The world’s always been messy, but now social media is amplifying it « Hot Air

Obama: The world’s always been messy, but now social media is amplifying it « Hot Air: "The No. 1 priority in electing someone after President Obama should be finding someone who does not believe the world conforms to his worldview simply because he says it does. It’s a very dangerous state of mind."



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The 'We Can't Wait' Clause | National Review Online

The 'We Can't Wait' Clause | National Review Online: "At the time of writing, the United States is not in extremis — and nor are its political arrangements historically egregious. Instead, the system is humming along nicely. There is little point in having a written constitution if the president can merely free himself from its restrictions when he deems them irresponsible. Nor, for that matter, is there much virtue in the people’s sending men and women to Washington to serve as a check on the president if the very act of being checked provokes him into circumventing the rules. Which is to say that Obama is irritated not with his inability to deal with imminent catastrophe, but with business as usual, and his lamentations amount not to a Churchillian roar but to a whine. On a human level, one can empathize. It is never nice to be thwarted when you believe that you have the only acceptable answers. On a legal level, though, one can do little more than shrug. Congress was elected, too."



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Best of the Web Today: Formidable Faux? - WSJ

Best of the Web Today: Formidable Faux? - WSJ: "Lots of people are able to find time to do home-improvement projects and form opinions about world affairs. Either Curtis is terribly inefficient or teaching is a harder job than we realized."



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Why comedians and ‘SNL’ are shielding President Obama | New York Post

Why comedians and ‘SNL’ are shielding President Obama | New York Post: "Got that? The charter Choom Ganger, confessed eater of dog and snorter of coke. The doofus who thinks the language spoken by Austrians is “Austrian,” that you pronounce the p in “corpsman” and that ATMs are the reason why job growth is sluggish. The egomaniac who gave the queen of England an iPod loaded with his own speeches and said he was better at everything than the people who work for him. The empty suit with so little real-world knowledge that he referred to his brief stint working for an ordinary profit-seeking company as time “behind enemy lines.” The phony who tells everyone he’s from Chicago, though he didn’t live there until his 20s, and lets you know that he’s talking to people he believes to be stupid by droppin’ his g’s. The world-saving Kal-El from a distant solar system who told us he’d heal the planet and cause the oceans to stop rising. The guy who shared a middle name with one of the most hated dictators on earth."



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Vacations and Vocations | National Review Online

Vacations and Vocations | National Review Online: "President Barack Obama is spending his vacation golfing on Martha’s Vineyard. Hillary Rodham Clinton is spending her vacation in the habitual Clintonian mode, making a vulgar spectacle of herself in the Hamptons. Joe Biden, not that anybody cares, is off to Grand Teton.

Senator Rand Paul, on the other hand, is spending his vacation in Guatemala, performing eye surgeries on poor children who need care."



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Hamas chief: Hey, we’re not as bad as those ISIS nutcases « Hot Air

Hamas chief: Hey, we’re not as bad as those ISIS nutcases « Hot Air: "Hamas doesn’t target civilians like ISIS does, Mashaal claims, although Isikoff starts off the interview challenging that claim right off the bat. “You are firing rockets at Israeli cities, like Tel Aviv, at Haifa, at Beersheba,” Isikoff points out. “Who are you aiming for?”

Mashaal blames the crude nature of their weapons, and then begs the world for more precise artillery so that they can aim at strictly military targets. No, seriously.

Come on, man."



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NYC Mayor hires old felons to “interrupt” new felons « Hot Air

NYC Mayor hires old felons to “interrupt” new felons « Hot Air: "Also less reported is that a couple of the “interrupters” in the pilot program wound up back in custody for new crimes of their own, according to a separate source. And, as West notes, participants in the program are not required to report to the police if any of the suspects have illegal guns. You know… to preserve their street cred. You don’t want to get a reputation as a snitch.

Congratulations, New York City. You overwhelmingly wanted de Blasio. And now you’ve got him. Enjoy."



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Science According to Steyer | Power Line

Science According to Steyer | Power Line: "What a pitiful display! “Climate change is Real…” Yes, and it has been real for millions of years. “The planet is older than 6,000 years old.” Huh? “Seawater is salty and rising.” Yes, at the same rate it has been for thousands of years. “The moon is not made of cheese.” I believe this is an Obama line. Apparently he considers it a crushing argument. “98% of scientists agree.” Not on anthropogenic global warming, they don’t. The battle continues to rage, and the hysterics are losing.

The white lab coat with too-long sleeves is an entertaining touch, too. If this is what Steyer is buying for his $100 million, Republicans can rest easy."



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In a stew over inversions - The Washington Post

In a stew over inversions - The Washington Post: "Alabama, and the Honda manufacturing states (Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana and Ohio; all but Ohio are right-to-work), attracted these jobs by practicing “entrepreneurial federalism ” — tailoring tax and regulatory policies to gain competitive advantages against other states. Progressives deplore this as a “race to the bottom.” Conservatives call it a rationality competition."



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My Jewish Family’s Incredible Shrinking World | TIME

My Jewish Family’s Incredible Shrinking World | TIME: "I’ve heard that I shouldn’t let a few anti-Semites keep me from traveling. But it’s not the anti-Semites who are the problem. It’s the people in these countries sitting idly by and not saying that these people canceling Jewish film festivals or writing despicable op-eds don’t speak for them. The silence is what is so troubling. The optimist in me hopes things change and that the world opens up to us again. A lot would need to change for that to happen. I wonder if my kids will see Edinburgh or Caracas first."



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While Paul Ryan distances himself from House of Cards D.C. dystopia, Hillary embraces it « Hot Air

While Paul Ryan distances himself from House of Cards D.C. dystopia, Hillary embraces it « Hot Air: "Spacey’s character is written with the intention of communicating to the viewer everything that is wrong with Washington. In that effort, the writers and the actor succeed spectacularly. How in God’s name Hillary Clinton, or the rest of the D.C. media/political complex for that matter, thinks it is appropriate to associate with such a figure amid a veritable crisis of confidence in Washington, I have no idea."



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Planned Parenthood sex ed: Whip it? Whip it good « Hot Air

Planned Parenthood sex ed: Whip it? Whip it good « Hot Air: "Even apart from the issue of consent, the instruction being given at these clinics would still be highly inappropriate for 15- or 16-year-olds of either gender. I’ve made this point a number of times, but it’s still worth repeating: Sex education at this age should aim for basic health and safety education, the importance of disease and pregnancy prevention, and hopefully some counseling on abstinence and the avoidance of exploitation. These videos show the opposite — an encouragement and normalization of exploitation and victimization. These counselors aren’t even discussing the relative merits of sexual positions and techniques, but how to inflict pain and physical injuries under the caveat of “consent.” That isn’t sex education; it’s grooming."



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Vox: Obama can’t govern, so let’s repeal the 22nd Amendment « Hot Air

Vox: Obama can’t govern, so let’s repeal the 22nd Amendment « Hot Air: "Some presidents are able to negotiate with their ideological opponents, and some are not. Obama is not, and all the excuses in the world for his failures are unlikely to reverse the looming verdict of history."



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The Smart-Gun Maker Who Told Holder Off | National Review Online

The Smart-Gun Maker Who Told Holder Off | National Review Online: "“This interested Eric Holder,” Gentry says. “He wondered how we might be able to control who was or wasn’t authorized. I stopped him right there. I looked right across a table at Eric Holder — yeah, the attorney general of the United States — and told him, ‘If you try to mandate my smart-gun technology, I’ll burn it down.’ The Intelligun is designed to save lives, not restrict freedom.”"



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Best of the Web Today: A Tax on Public Schools - WSJ

Best of the Web Today: A Tax on Public Schools - WSJ: "Unlike the 10th Amendment argument, this one applies to private- as well as public-sector employees. The Halbig and King plaintiffs are not employers but individuals seeking relief for the individual mandate. But if the Halbig ruling survives on appeal--if ObamaCare means what it says--the employer mandate will be in trouble too.

As for the Indiana case, the plaintiffs' victory is far from final. Judge Lawrence scheduled an Oct. 9 hearing on motions for summary judgment. Stay tuned."



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Britain: If hostilities break out in Gaza again, we’re cutting Israel off « Hot Air

Britain: If hostilities break out in Gaza again, we’re cutting Israel off « Hot Air: "None of this matter much, however, when your position is not logical but guided by emotion and reflex. And the reflex in Europe, it seems, is to lurch toward the abhorrent anti-Semitism which characterized the mid-20th Century.

If there was ever a sound argument against the necessity of a free and viable Jewish state, Europe is refuting it on a daily basis."



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Best of the Web Today: The Axelrod Doctrine - WSJ

Best of the Web Today: The Axelrod Doctrine - WSJ: "Barack Obama's foreign-policy record won't catch up with his first secretary of state, at least not if she can help it. In an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, Hillary Clinton is critical and occasionally scathing toward the man who hired her in 2009 after vanquishing her in 2008. "And for what it's worth," Goldberg adds, "I also think she may have told me that she's running for president [in 2016]." She didn't actually say so explicitly, but if she does run, let it be remembered that Goldberg was the first to see it coming.

Her harshest comment came in response to Goldberg's citation of a vulgar aphorism that "President Obama recently coined to describe his foreign-policy doctrine," according to Goldberg. Mrs. Clinton sanitized it in her response: "Great nations need organizing principles, and 'Don't do stupid stuff' is not an organizing principle.""



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Obama using Americans in Iraq as ‘collateral’ to maintain Dem support for airstrikes? « Hot Air

Obama using Americans in Iraq as ‘collateral’ to maintain Dem support for airstrikes? « Hot Air: "A grotesque accusation surfaced in the Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday. It is an unconfirmed claim, and is so repulsive that the source of this assertion refused to reveal his or her identity to WFB’s Adam Kredo. It is, nevertheless, conceivable that, as this source claims, President Barack Obama is balking at evacuating American diplomatic personnel from Iraq in order to maintain support among the American left for airstrikes against ISIS targets."



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Hey, maybe the GOP should tank the midterms « Hot Air

Hey, maybe the GOP should tank the midterms « Hot Air: "After reading various lefty defenses of Obama’s executive power grabs, though, I see that there is an important reason to take back the Senate. Ezra Klein et al. are citing protracted congressional gridlock as a reason for O to act more aggressively; Congress, by its inaction, has created some sort of power vacuum and now the executive needs to fill it. If that’s their pretext for blessing immense, unprecedented executive action like a unilateral amnesty for five million illegals, then by all means let’s solve that gridlock right away. Vote Senate Democrats out and Senate Republicans in. Now, with both chambers controlled by the same party, even lefties will concede that Obama’s authority to act on his own has shrunk and that he has no choice but to return to more traditional forms of executive action — in theory. I’ve got a funny feeling that what they’ll do in practice is claim that gridlock still exists, only now between Congress and the executive, and of course in case of a stalemate like that the tie should go to whichever branch is controlled by the Democrats. But let’s at least force them to make that argument."



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Video: Obama’s the “Underestimator in Chief” « Hot Air

Video: Obama’s the “Underestimator in Chief” « Hot Air: "Todd is also correct, and gets closer to the actual issue. Obama doesn’t have a foreign policy outlook, other than to be seen as the anti-W. His foreign policy has been entirely reactive; Obama seems to reject even the idea that America should shape outcomes outside our borders. Dismissing ISIS as the JV made it easier to dodge any responsibility to stop their march through Iraq at the time and insist that the Iraqis could handle the job. Now Obama is ordering a handful of airstrikes, which does little to solve the strategic crisis in the region, as Dianne Feinstein and the Washington Post both warned over the last few days."



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