For season 2 of the 13 Weeks Radical Reading Regimen, each weekday I juxtapose excerpts from my book readings with a selection of the previous day’s headlines and noteworthy excerpts. The goal is to make fresh connections between the events of the day and the bigger picture of history and humanity’s place in the universe.

In various European countries now Pastafarianism, the joke religion that believes a spaghetti and meatballs creature got drunk and created the world, is now respected by governments. Pastafarians are insisting on wearing sieves on their heads in their driver’s license photos. And as the Daily Mail reports, numerous European governments are playing along with the joke on entirely earnest grounds that the religion must be respected.

If only American governments could be preoccupied with wasting their citizens’ money in such benign, comical ways. Instead our fake gods send men overseas to die and then ignore their cries for help. Then they sabotage the investigations to find their killers. And it’s left to CNN to do the CIA’s job of investigating the crime.

Talk of potential 2016 presidential contests and the coronation of Empress Hillary as the uncrushable foe are premature.

My position remains the same, and as radical and “extreme” as it was the Sunday before the president’s reelection: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton need to go to jail. The Rule of Law must be upheld when the truth comes out — just wait for more Benghazi whistleblowers to emerge.

Baby-boomer liberalism’s refutation and the final deathblow to the Democratic Party (the perpetual advocate of slavery, socialism, and sexism throughout American history) will be delivered when the great idols of the faith are smashed and revealed for all to be the career criminal fabulists so many refuse to recognize they are.

What a sad, humiliating fate for second-wave feminism — their great champion Hillary ascends to the top of the Democratic Party presidential field as a result of what accomplishment exactly? As Edward Klein’s The Truth About Hillary, today’s concluding book excerpt, points out, if Monicagate had not drawn the public’s overwhelming sympathy, then Hillary would not have been able to fuel her pursuit of the New York Senate seat. Hillary’s most significant accomplishment is being the first first lady to endure the humiliation of her husband confessing to adultery in front of the country while president.

But of course we know that this was all just an act — Hillary knew all about Monica long before any of us. Just like Obama, whose fake memoir has been debunked by a sympathetic biographer, Hillary’s career too relies on a manufactured, romantic mythology, not a real record of improving anyone’s life other than her own. And someday all this crazy “right-wing conspiracy theorizing,” as my friends and family like to dismiss it, will just be mainstream history. I keep telling them: within 10 years you’ll agree with me…

Thursday Morning Book Reading:

Quote of Note: “You cannot opt out of this game.” – pg. 3 of Machiavelli on Modern Leadership by Michael Ledeen:

Thursday Morning News Round Up:

Lead PJM Stories From Thursday:

Michael Walsh: James Risen, the First Amendment, Congress, and the Emperor Hussein

David Solway: On Culture and Politics

Bridget Johnson: Graham: Granting Snowden Asylum ‘Could Not Be More Provocative’

Next Generation TV: The Slobbering Mayor of San Diego (Video)

Ed Driscoll: Salt Lake Tribune Blood Libels Glenn Beck

New at PJ Lifestyle on Thursday:

Walter Hudson: What Zelda Teaches Us About Privacy

Paula Bolyard: Cleveland Kidnapper Ariel Castro Sentenced to 1000 Years, Blames Victims

Roger L. Simon: The Djokovic Diet

Paula Bolyard: Wait, Was That Insane Clown Posse On Red Eye?

Charlie Martin: Climate Change and the Problem of ‘Press Release Science’

Hannah Sternberg: Bad Advice for Ghost Sharks

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New at PJ Tatler on Thursday:

Stephen Green: Snowden Granted Temporary Asylum in Russia

Bryan Preston: ‘Boston Bomber’ Cover Doubles Rolling Stone’s Newsstand Sales…to What Is Still a Tiny Number

Bridget Johnson: D.C. Delegate Searches for Links Between Green-Paint Vandal and Sequestration

Bryan Preston: The IRS Paints it Black

Bridget Johnson: Graham: Granting Snowden Asylum ‘Could Not Be More Provocative’

Bryan Preston: Democrats’ Filner Cover-Up Goes National

Bryan Preston: Someone, Somewhere, Really Is Combing Through Your Google Search History

Bryan Preston: Teamsters Picket Child’s Funeral, Unleash Dog on Dead Woman’s Family

Bryan Preston: Wanna Nurse a Baby Deer Back to Health? Then Prepare for a SWAT Raid

Stephen Green: Newspaper Editor Fired for Anti-Obama Headline

Bryan Preston: Gun Permits Surge in Newtown, CT

Bridget Johnson: Carney: But… but… Russia Reset

Shawn Martini: Is Alaweed the Saudi Prince Canary in America’s Fracking Coal Mine?

Bryan Preston: IRS Chief on Obamacare: Thanks, but No Thanks

Bryan Preston: CNN: CIA Is Polygraphing Benghazi Witnesses…to Keep Them Quiet (Update: Dozens of CIA Were in Benghazi That Night)

CNN goes on to report that a source tells its reporters that there were 35 CIA operatives on the ground at the compound in Benghazi on the night of the attack. Many in that small army of operatives were wounded, some seriously. The presence of so many operatives should put the final kill on any notion that the attack was sparked by a spontaneous riot to protest a film, and more importantly, to the lie that that’s what caused the attack.

Why were 35 CIA operatives on the ground there that night? What was really going on at the compound? Why couldn’t 35 operatives plus the other Americans there fight off the terrorists?

Those answers should be forthcoming, but the Obama administration is apparently dead set that they will not be.

Bryan Preston: IRS Chief on Obamacare: Thanks, but No Thanks

Bridget Johnson: Issa Subpoenas ARB Documents in Benghazi Probe

Bryan Preston: Gay Couple to Sue Church of England to Force It to Perform Gay Weddings

Bryan Preston: Congress Gets Its Own Obamacare Waiver

Stephen Kruiser: MSM Still Using ‘Unexpectedly’ With Straight Faces For Negative Economic News

You know what would truly be unexpected? Any evidence that this economy could sustain a healthy rate of growth for two or three months in a row. The easiest thing to expect now is news that the minor upward bumps have been erased and we’re back to the neighborhood surrounding Square One again.

Also Around the Web Thursday:

Via Drudge:

AP: Netflix Rolls Out New Tool to Profile Viewers

Netflix’s latest attraction will enable families and other people sharing the same account to set up separate identities so the Internet video service can give them better recommendations on what to watch next.

The tool introduced Thursday can splinter a single Netflix account into up to five different profiles at no additional cost from the service’s $8 monthly fee. The Los Gatos, Calif., company is hoping its 37.6 million worldwide subscribers will use the profiles feature and help Netflix’s recommendation system distinguish between viewers who have drastically different tastes.

Until now, deciphering viewing preferences could be tricky with a shared account. Netflix couldn’t tell when a 50-year-old dad was watching its Internet video service and when his 10-year-old daughter was viewing. That resulted in Netflix serving up a mishmash of suggestions that could include movies meant for mature audiences based on the father’s viewing history, and kid-friendly programming drawn from the daughter’s preferences.

At Mediaite:

Andrew Kirell: Ariel Castro Speaks At Sentencing: ‘I’m Not A Monster, I’m Just Sick, I Have An Addiction’

Noah Rothman: Greenwald And Risen’s Flawed Logic: Even If Snowden’s Crime Is Victimless, It Must Still Be Punished

It is certainly possible that history will come to view the majority (though not all) of the leaks facilitated by Snowden in much the same way that Ellsberg’s are seen today.

However, the interview on CNN went off the rails when Greenwald objected to Toobin’s extremely plausible and even likely suggestion that the governments of both China and Russia – the latter having just today granted Snowden political asylum – have accessed the NSA documents that Snowden took with him abroad. Greenwald inexplicably asserted that it was somehow unlikely that Beijing and Moscow would now have access to the intelligence that Snowden compromised.

….

Reconciling the obvious beneficial aspects of Snowden’s leaks with the irrefutable fact that he violated an important law for which he must be punished is not easy. A tip of the hat goes to Toobin this time for taking the measured approach to an issue which requires critical thinking and measured analysis. In this case, neither Greenwald nor Risen facilitated much of the dialogue they claim to support by immediately impugning the motives of those who suggest Snowden’s actions were wrong.

Noah Rothman: Previewing How The Media Will Defuse CNN’s Bombshell Benghazi Revelations

The silence that followed CNN’s bombshell report, in which they revealed that one of their reporters was able to sit down for two hours with a suspect in the deadly 2012 attack on an American diplomatic consulate in Benghazi, was deafening. A portion of the interview, airing on CNN’s The Situation Room on Wednesday, revealed that the suspect is not in hiding, has no fear for his personal safety, and has never been contacted by either Libyan or American investigators. In prime time, Fox News Channel scrambled their programming lineup to dig into the implications of the CNN interview, but neither MSNBC nor even CNN’s highest profile personalities touched the bombshell. Why? Perhaps the revelations were too fresh for those concerned over how the scandalous revelations may adversely impact the White House’s political standing.

Noah Rothman: Dear Conservatives: Democrats Are Not Scared Of Rand, But They’re Terrified Of Christie

Further, the Democratic Party can run virtually the same campaign that they ran against Romney in 2012 against Paul in 2016, substituting the former Massachusetts governor’s personal ties to wealth with Paul’s ideological attachment to libertarianism. They will depict Paul’s as a form of “no-government conservatism” on steroids. His opposition to many aspects of how America prosecutes the war on terror – lent bipartisan legitimacy by virtue of their being utilized by both the Bush and Obama administrations – could also become a net negative in a general election. Paul’s mistrust of many aspects of U.S. defense policy may win over some traditionally Democratic young voters while ceding as many adults and seniors to the Democrats. His candidacy would have the added catastrophic effect of surrendering the issue of national security to Democrats for a generation or more.

…

Speaking of the 2012 campaign, Paul’s baggage when it comes to his past embrace of a neo-confederate speechwriter is as potentially politically toxic in a general presidential election as his father’s questionable newsletters would have been. The Democrats and Clinton can use Paul’s checkered past relating to race issues to drive up minority turnout, cement the impression that the GOP as a whole is unfriendly to minorities, and further depress the white vote.

At Salon:

Joan Walsh: Headline-hungry Newt babbles incoherently!

At Breitbart.Com:

Brandon Darby: Exclusive: Robert Zimmerman, Jr Discusses Emotional Toll on Family

John Nolte: Oops: Matt Damon’s ‘Elysium’ Attacks Everything Matt Damon Stands For

Rush: Obama Won Because GOP ‘Didn’t Want Any Part’ of the Tea Party

Director Bases ‘2 Guns’ Villain on George W. Bush

John Nolte: Huffington Post Retracts False Claim About McDonald’s Wages

At The Blaze:

Sara Carter: Benghazi Blood ‘Is On Their Hands’ and Obama Administration Needs to Answer Key Questions, House Homeland Security Chairman Says

Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, charged the Obama administration with abandoning Americans in the deadly Benghazi attack, saying the “blood is on their hands” and only a select committee has the authority and power to uncover the truth.

McCaul, a Texas Republican and former prosecutor, said the numerous committee hearings already held on Benghazi have not been aggressive enough in uncovering what happened on September 11, 2012 when al-Qaeda militants executed a pre-planned attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

“The tentacles lead to the White House,” McCaul told The Blaze’s contributor Mallory Factor in an exclusive interview.

The killings of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the three other U.S. contractors the night of the attack must be vindicated, he said.

The “blood is on their hands and we need to get to the bottom of it for the victims,” said McCaul, referencing the administration.

At Twitchy:

Comfortably dumb: Roger Waters says he’s not an anti-Semite; Some of his best friends are Jews

Jimmy McMillan (‘The rent is too damn high’ guy) endorses Anthony Weiner?

At The Huffington Post:

Martha Burk: Hillary Haters and Huma: We Ain’t Seen Nuthin’ Yet

The fear of a strong woman in the White House (especially a progressive one) is palpable, and the Hillary Haters are once again out to prove it in the nastiest possible way. Get ready for the longest election season in history — Huma’s bit part is just the beginning.

Julianna W. Miner: The Parenting Sweet Spot, Hat tip AH

Have you ever had a day like that? Where everything just degenerates into a huge goat rodeo? It was awful. So there I was the next morning at the pool, really looking at my kids. And even though we were still all fresh from the goat rodeo, I realized:

• Those are my kids right there: swimming and healthy and beautiful.
• Wait. Hold up. I’m not sitting in the too-warm baby pool, trying to pretend that it’s not disgusting.
• And I’m not changing diapers in the sweltering summer heat because everyone in my family can wipe their own nethers.
• I haven’t had to tell anyone not to drink the pool water this summer.
• I haven’t used a stroller in over a year.
• We are all (mostly) sleeping through the night.
• They hardly ever scream “mommy mommy mommy MOMMMYYY!!!” every two minutes anymore.
• I can pee by myself (almost 40 percent of the time).
• They are sort of independent and (somewhat) helpful lately.
• Yet they still need me and want me to be with them.
• I can get hugs and kisses and snuggles whenever I want.
• But they can also take out the garbage.
• They’re big, but they’re still little.

I’m in the sweet spot.

At National Review:

Betsy Woodruff: The American Conservative, Unfused?

At the Daily Mail:

Canadian man born blind sees for the first time at age 68 after he FELL down the stairs

Hockey mom jailed for performing sex acts on boys aged 14 and 16 during slumber parties she held for players on her son’s team

One of her victims wrote a statement that was read to the court, according to NBC 4.

It read: ‘Holding all this in as a child forced me to grow up in ways I never wanted to. She took the things that I loved most and ripped them out of my life.’

The victim added in his statement: ‘I will never know what could have been.’

A jury found Davis guilty in August last year of four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with the 16-year-old and two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Prosecutors said that divorced mother-of-three gave the 16-year-old alcohol and, on one occasion, encouraged the boy and a teenage girl to drink alcohol during a party at her home.

First hookers, now an AFFAIR? Eliot Spitzer refuses to deny claims he’s cheating on his wife

Sleeping in a tent could cure your insomnia: Exposure to the natural light of dawn and dusk helps synchronise our body clocks

The 3,000-year-old fragment of pottery that leading expert claims could prove that Old Testament stories are TRUE

Starbucks to start offering customers 10 TIMES faster WiFi after signing new deal with Google and dumping AT&T

Woman’s four-and-a-half-foot afro is the world’s largest… and takes her two days to wash

White House outrages Benghazi attack victim’s mother as Obama continues to call the deadly assault a ‘phony scandal’

Last week, the mother of one of the men killed in the attack blasted the president for describing her son’s death as ‘phony.’

‘I don’t believe him anymore. He’s wrong. My son is dead. How could that be phony?’ Patricia Smith, the mother of Foreign Service member Sean Smith, who was killed in the attack, said on Fox News’s Your World on Thursday. ‘How can I tell you? I mean it’s wrong. It’s not phony, it’s not fake. My son is dead and why is he dead? And all I’m waiting for, even to this date, is for someone to get back to me and tell me what happened.

‘I begged them, please, I must know what happened with my son. How come this happened? They all promised me they would get back to me. And you know, not one of them, not one of them ever got back to me in any way shape or form, not by a letter, not by anything other than I got a memo stating that I didn’t need to know because I was not part of the immediate family.’

The science behind ‘food porn’: Taking a photo of your dinner really could make it taste better

‘I’m a Pastafarian’: Man who claims his religion forces him to wear a sieve on his head given permission to wear one on his official identity card picture

The ‘religion’ arose as a response to pressure for American schools to teach the theory known as intelligent design, which some Christians favour as an alternative to natural selection and evolution. The theory argues life must have been helped to develop by an unseen power.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote to the Kansas School Board asking for the Pastafarian version of intelligent design to be taught to schoolchildren as a way of criticising the intelligent design campaigners.

By professing belief in a supernatural entity composed of pasta and meatballs, Henderson called on ‘Pastafarianism’ to be given equal time in science classrooms alongside Christian theory.

Word rapidly spread and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (CFSM) now has thousands of followers, mainly on college campuses and in Europe.

The central tenet of CFSM is that an invisible Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe ‘after drinking heavily’.

Pastafarians celebrate every Friday as a holy day – and consider pirates ‘absolute divine beings’.

At the Right Scoop:

VIDEOS: CNN proves the Obama admin couldn’t care less about Benghazi, interviews ‘mastermind’ of Benghazi attack

L.A. City Council votes unanimously to urge a federal investigation into Trayvon Martin shooting

Friday Morning Book Reading:

Did Monica Lewinsky plant the seeds for President Hillary? Pg. 6 of The Truth About Hillary by Edward Klein:

Do you have an article, video, or blog post that you think I would like and that I should include in this round-up? Do you edit a publication that I should start checking each day? Are you a publisher with books that might fit in with one of the seven days’ research themes in the Radical Reading Regimen? Send me an email at DaveSwindlePJM AT gmail.com.

*****

See last month’s round-ups:

• Week One
• 1. Monday, July 8: “We Ought to Defeat Capitalism With Its Own Weapons, Comrades…“
• 2. Tuesday, July 9: Can We Just Fast Forward to 2040? Please?
• 3. Thursday, July 11: Researching the American Family’s War to Beat Death…
• Week Two
• 4. Monday, July 15: Turning On Mankind’s Magical Machines To Battle Mother Earth’s Cruel Monsters
• 5. Wednesday, July 17: ‘So, You Know How You Felt on 9/11? Yeah, That’s How We Feel When It Comes To Race.’
• 6. Thursday, July 18: ‘… And There We Can Still Maintain Our Mysterious and Dreadful Freedom.’
• 7. Friday, July 19: ‘Evil Always Takes Advantage of Ambiguity.’ – G.K. Chesterton
• Week Three
• 8. Monday, July 22: ‘His Father Urged Him to Study Marxism, But Valentin Preferred Science.’
• 9. Tuesday, July 23: ‘Perhaps The Final Secret of the Illuminati Is That You Don’t Know You’re A Member Until It’s Too Late to Get Out.’
• 10. Wednesday, July 24: Is Anthony Weiner a ‘Deviant’ or a ‘Normal’ Male?
• 11. Thursday, July 25: ‘The Most Ancient Conflict in Western Culture, Between Jew and Egyptian, Continues…’
• 12. Friday, July 26: Weiner’s Wild Women: Are Sydney Leathers and Huma Abedin His Succubi?
• Week Four 
• 13. Monday, July 29: Malcolm X: ‘The Jew Cries Louder Than Anybody Else If Anybody Criticizes Him.’
• 14. Tuesday, July 30: ‘My Father Was a White Man.’ – Frederick Douglass, the Archetypal Anti-Slavery Republican
• 15. Wednesday, July 31: Why Is It Evil to Murder Unwanted Children?
• 16. Thursday, August 1: Nihilism Defined: ‘When You Realize Your Life Has as Much Meaning as Your Dog’s…’