Our Watcher's Council Nominations - Dog Days Edition

Ah, the sultry days leading up to the end of summer, when the warm weather brings out the torpor and laziness in all of us and little gets accomplished except by the determined and the desperate.

Of course, these days that group would include the members of the political class and their veritable army of servants, Praetorians, hangers on and staffers.

The Romans were the first to label this time of year the Dog Days(diēs caniculārēs), noting that the skies were ruled by Sirius, the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky at this time of year. And Herodotus, Plutarch, Caesar and Thucydides all noted the effect this time of year has on men...the influence of the days of Dog Star giving rise to tempers, frustrations, gambles and many times, war and rumors of war. Some things never change. Or at least that's what the smart money in Vegas, DC and other oracular venues where the entrails, the Dow or the polls get read for what the omens reveal. The mood can get ugly very quickly.



This week's contest is dedicated to letting sleeping dogs lie...at least for the moment.

Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday morning.

Council News:

After a decade on the Council, Greg of Rhymes With Right has decided to drop full time blogging to pursue other interests. The Watcher's Council among other things is a community and while Greg may be leaving us as a full time voting member, like other former Council members he will remain connected with us and no doubt continue to contribute to features like the Forum and stay in touch. Happy trails, Greg..it's certainly been quite a ride, hasn't it?



Vacancies on the Council don't come up often. If you're interested in being considered to fill this one and want further details on what's involved, please leave a comment and your contact information (which of course won't be published) under any story on Joshuapundit and I'll get back to you.

This week, Palestinian Media Watch, Maggie's Notebook, and Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion earned honorable mention status with some great articles.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

To bring something to my attention, simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title and a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address (mandatory, but of course it won't be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out on Wednesday morning

Simple, no?

It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let's see what we have for you this week....

Council Submissions

Joshuapundit-'What Thy Right Hand Possesses' - The Rape of Kayla Mueller

Don Surber – The Madman Behind The Gibson Guitar

The Independent Sentinel – EPA Forced Their Way on to the Gold King Mine

The Right Planet – Climate Change: Lysenkoism and ‘Weather Cooking’ Revisited

The Razor – Of Course There's Polka In Heaven

GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Navy Versus Persia

Puma By Design – Controlling the Message, China Censors, Scrubs Reports of Tianjin Chemical Blasts (UPDATED)

VA Right! - Donald Trump Nullifies RINO Chants of “Nativist!” and “Racist!” – Let’s Build the Damn Wall!

The Glittering Eye -The Hotel California Budget

Nice Deb – Saturday Movie Matinee: “I Give It a Month”

Bookworm Room – The coming perfect storm on American college campuses — one that feminists and other professional victims will hate

The Noisy Room – New Agers Back Socialist Sanders as Messiah

Honorable Mentions

• Palestinian Media Watch - Fatah`s military wing asks Iran for money for terror war against Israel


• Maggie's Notebook - V-J Day: Video of General MacArthur Accepting Japanese Surrender


• David Gerstman/Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Iran Deal – U.S. capitulation on enrichment even before negotiations

Non-Council Submissions

• David French/NRO – Angry Black Radicals and the Foolish White Liberals Who Love Them submitted by Joshuapundit


• Grouchy Old Cripple – White Privilege submitted by Don Surber


• Medium.Com – Questions that must be asked of all 2016 Republican Candidates submitted by The Right Planet


• Haidt Lukianoff/ The Atlantic –The Coddling of the American Mind submitted by The Razor


• The Blaze – ‘Israel Must Be Obliterated’: New Iranian Video Imagines Muslim Invasion of Jerusalem submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD


• Menachem Z. Rosensaft and David Meluskey/JNS.org –The lynching of Leo Frank and the lessons it imparts 100 years on submitted by Puma By Design


• fire Andrea Mitchell – Rick Wilson meltdown - asks Ann Coulter if Trump pays her more for anal submitted by VA Right!


• Rebeccah Heinrichs/Real Clear Defense – U.S. Foreign Policy Is Overdue For Some Realism submitted by The Glittering Eye


• Daniel Greenfield/FrontPage Magazine-Putting Obama over country is treason submitted by Bookworm Room


• Victor Davis Hanson - The Tragic and Complete Collapse of Racial Relations submitted by Nice Deb


• Michael Totten –The American Flag Flies Again Over Cuba submitted by The Watcher


• Mark Steyn – The Party of Why Nothing Can Be Done submitted by The Watcher


• YouTube – Clinton Refuses To Say Whether Or Not She Wiped The Server submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy! And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!And don't forget to tune in Friday for the results!