It’s late, sure. But the kids are going to bed and it’s time to fire up some tunes. The first one needs no introduction. I thought I had shared this one with you guys, but if I did, I can’t find the post, so here you go:

Next up: a couple from a session with the Braun brothers, of Micky and the Motorcars and Reckless Kelly fame. You’ll see they’re from the same session. First is “Snowfall,” sung by Willy Braun, the lead singer of Reckless Kelly:

Then “Rock Springs to Cheyenne” sung by Micky Braun, lead singer of Micky and the Motorcars.

Enjoy.

Ace says we must do something about the media.

The media no longer hides it in their actions. They are fully fused with the Obama Administration and DNC. The only way in which they do hide it is by simply lying when confronted about it: They’ll issue a snide denial, then go about doing precisely what it is they were accused of doing.

This is dangerous and unhealthy. I keep banging this drum but honestly, some patriotic billionaires do have to band together to purchase or build a media outlet. The outlet would be founded upon a simple premise: that it is dangerous and ultimately fatal for democracy for media power to fuse with government power, that the adversarial press is vital.

If we have any hope of fixing the horrible crisis we are facing, the electorate must be educated. But any time someone tries, Democrats howl that they are trying to kill old people and children, and the media joins right in.

Obama gave a partisan inauguration speech and they tried to tell you it was Lincolnesque. Hillary shrugged her shoulders at Benghazi lies and they told you that she had won. As Ace puts it, media’s power is perfectly fused with government’s power. “This is dark, and dangerous, and will lead to horrors. It always has lead to horrors before.”

As with most things, I don’t have the solution. I just know that diagnosing the problem is the first step. National Democrats and the media are the primary problem, because they are lying about the severity of the crisis.

We should all keep thinking about the solution, because it is important.

Glenn Reynolds says: “[G]o full Alinsky. Buy stock and show up at shareholder meetings. Protest at executives’ homes, like ACORN did for bankers. Hound correspondents and anchors by name for unfair coverage. That’s how you do it.”

I’m not sure that will solve the problem, but I don’t see how it would hurt. We certainly have no obligation to make it easy for them to lie to the public.

One thing is to identify the honest ones who don’t have a big head, and support them. I don’t always agree with Jake Tapper, but he’s willing to talk to people like Ace and me, and he’s willing to ask tough questions. You guys might not like to hear this, but Jan Crawford is one of the good ones and she deserves the support of honest people. Using allies — not ideological allies, necessary, but people who care about truth — is important. And also can’t hurt.

Breitbart always said the media was the biggest enemy. I’m not sure they’re the only one or the biggest one, but they’re right up there. Don’t ever forget it.

Because there was no “recess.”

Not odd to see this guy violating the Constitution. Just odd to see a court calling him on it.

The one guy in Congress who really seemed to care about holding the FBI’s feet to the fire on SWATting cases is not running for re-election.

Sigh.

In essence, they wanted to take away Republicans’ right to filibuster, and it didn’t happen.

Aww.

Well, duh.

The Republican senator whose aggressive line of questioning prompted an eruption Wednesday from Hillary Clinton during a hearing on the Benghazi attacks suggested her angry outburst was just a dodge.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson pressed Clinton on why her office wasn’t able to immediately discover whether the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Libya were executed by terrorists or spontaneous protesters. He repeatedly asked her why she didn’t pick up the phone that day and find out the facts, to which Clinton eventually responded sharply, “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. What difference, at this point, does it make?”

“I’m not sure she had rehearsed for that type of question,” Johnson told BuzzFeed Wednesday afternoon, after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. “I think she just decided before she was going to describe emotionally the four dead Americans, the heroes, and use that as her trump card to get out of the questions. It was a good way of getting out of really having to respond to me.”

I’ll say it if he won’t: yeah, she rehearsed it.

She saw how Barack Obama had dodged the very same issue in the very same way in the debates, seemingly with success. HOW DARE YOU! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT DEAD AMERICANS!! HAVE YOU NO SHAME, SIR!

Well, yeah. We’re talking about dead Americans YOU failed to protect, who YOU lied about. After all, you had $16 million for Kindles but no cash for security.

I have to say, though, that Sen. Johnson is a day late and a dollar short. When someone throws you the “What difference does it make?” softball, you don’t watch it float over the plate and let the crowd think you just got burned by a 100-mile-per-hour fastball. You knock it out of the park. Everybody knows what difference it made. It made a difference to whether the Administration was telling the truth. Whether Barack Obama told lies to keep his terrorist fighting credentials burnished.

Johnson should have been the one pounding the table.

Love their photo, by the way. I guess shrill is the new passionate.

L.A. Times:

Alarmed that pranksters have called 911 to report false emergencies at the homes of celebrities including Justin Bieber and Tom Cruise, two Southern California legislators have proposed laws to get tougher with anyone engaged in “swatting.”

A bill announced Wednesday by state Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) would allow longer sentences for and greater restitution from those convicted of making false reports to the police. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca asked for the measure.

A similar proposal has been introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles).

“The recent spate of phony reports to law enforcement officials that the home of an actor or singer is being robbed or held hostage is dangerous, and it’s only a matter of time before there’s a tragic accident,” said Lieu.

I haven’t had a chance to look at the actual language to see what would change, so we’re dependent on the L.A. Times description, which makes it sound like . . . not much:

Gatto and Lieu both propose that those convicted of making false 911 reports be liable for all costs associated with the police response. Such pranks are “a complete waste of law enforcement resources,” said Gatto.

The Assemblyman’s measure, AB 47, would also increase the maximum fine for conviction from $1,000 to $10,000 and make it easier to file murder charges if someone is killed in a swatting incident.

Existing penalties for false 911 reports include up to one year in jail, but an offender may get probation with no jail time. Lieu, a military reserve prosecutor, wants to set a minimum sentence of 120 days in jail.

Lieu’s proposal also would make it easier to charge someone with a felony if a victim is hurt as a result of a prank call. In felony cases, the penalty could increase to three years in jail. And prosecutors would no longer have to show that the prankster knew injury or death would occur.

I would imagine it’s already possible to collect restitution for the costs of response. I’m not sure how they would make a murder charge easier, but I’m for that — although I would think you could already pursue a murder charge under existing law. From this description, all this bill really does is set a “mandatory” minimum jail time for a misdemeanor, and make it easier to file a three-year felony. Big whoop, says me.

Women may go into combat:

Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta plans to announce Thursday a lifting of the ban on female service members in combat roles, a watershed policy change that was informed by women’s valor in Iraq and Afghanistan and that removes the remaining barrier to a fully inclusive military, defense officials said.

Panetta made the decision “upon the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” a senior defense official said Wednesday, an assertion that stunned female veteran activists who said they assumed that the brass was still uneasy about opening the most physically arduous positions to women. The Army and the Marines, which make up the bulk of the military’s ground combat force, will present plans to open most jobs to women by May 15.

Will women start having to sign up for Selective Service, then? I’m guessing we’re not quite ready for that one . . .

That’s not quite the way she put it, of course. But that’s my takeaway.

“What difference does it make”?! Followed by “it is our job to figure out what happened”?

He should have called her on that.

When you engage in righteously righteous outrage, sometimes you have to listen to what you’re actually saying as you pound on the table.

Via Hot Air.

After you watch that, you’ll be ready to watch Rand Paul rip her apart:

Also via Hot Air.

Look at the smirk on her face. He should have called her on that.

This isn’t funny, Ms. Clinton.

Still, good stuff. It’s satisfying to watch someone with nerve tear into her.

Charles C. Johnson (the good Charles Johnson) at the Daily Caller:

In his 1980 graduate thesis at the University of Texas at Austin, John Brennan denied the existence of “absolute human rights” and argued in favor of censorship on the part of the Egyptian dictatorship.

“Since the press can play such an influential role in determining the perceptions of the masses, I am in favor of some degree of government censorship,” Brennan wrote. “Inflamatory [sic] articles can provoke mass opposition and possible violence, especially in developing political systems.”

Brennan serves as President Barack Obama’s national security advisor. Obama has nominated him to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.

How reassuring.