Raw footage — photographs and video — of the tsunami and its aftermath, and an extensive list of online resources for those who want to follow earthquake-related news and information.

UPDATE: 4:00 pm MST Friday: The devastation in Japan is massive as is loss of life. Watching the great black debris-tsunami wave of water speed overland like the 1950′s movie, The Blob, which portrayed a huge rolling mass that ate everything in its path… that was this. No one in its path could survive long without higher ground. The farm plains of Japan where the waves hit are flat. Flat flat. There...

An earthquake measuring 7.9  (new reports now say 8.8) on the Richter scale has struck Japan. The quake was centered 60-80 miles off the coast nearest to the Miyagi Prefecture. Reports are of a 24 km depth which is relatively shallow. There are reports that a tsunami could have been created, possibly as high as 20 feet and of course this could come in several waves. Areas all over the Western Pacific could...

The WikiLeaks wave has now moved to Latin America, where newspapers around the region have been supplied with U.S. diplomatic cables from local U.S. Embassies. This article by columnist Luis Hernandez Navarro of Mexico’s La Jornada underscores the tremendous damage the cables have done to the credibility of President Felipe Calderon, and the fear that many Mexicans have of a U.S. invasion. For La Jornada,...

Gabriel Ledeen, a former U.S. Marine Captain and two-tour veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom asked the following question at the Huffington Post last week: “Who supports the U.S. soldier?” He was referring to an oft-debated and emotional issue that comes up whenever our nation is engaged in combat operations: Can Americans support our troops in combat while at the same time opposing the cause, the mission,...

Is it possible to financially starve Libyan despot Muammar Qaddafi into submission? This editorial from Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland warns that a no-fly zone would lead to another war that the West cannot afford to wage, and that the only way to defeat Qaddafi is massive global cooperation to deny his regime the funds it needs to survive. The Financial Times Deutschland editorial says in part: It’s...

Guest post by Ali Ezzatyar Ali Ezzatyar is a journalist and American attorney practising in Paris, France. On the situation in Egypt, he was recently quoted by Robert Fisk at The Independent. ********** Comparisons to Ceausescu, while initially pessimistic, could turn out to be understated. Qaddafi is digging in and Libya is moving closer to what may be a prolonged and bloody struggle for the country’s...

In an editorial that many will find ironic in the extreme, Japan’s Nishi Nippon defends the practice of whaling by insisting that it actually contributes to the protection of other marine life. The newspaper goes on to criticize the U.S. group Sea Shepard for protecting whales from death by arguing that doing so endangers the lives of whale hunters – and that whaling must go on to preserve the...

This could be my daughter, or yours, or your sister or cousin. I know we have some writers and probably readers, too, who live in or near Seattle, and/or the larger region. If you see or hear anything, please contact the authorities per Michelle Malkin’s instructions. If you believe that prayer can help, it certainly can’t hurt Hopefully, this young woman will be found soon and be back with her...

Are Western journalists, who have been reporting attempts by people in China to demonstrate against their government, aspiring for China’s “collapse”? This editorial from China’s state-run Global Times tells its readers hopefully, ‘Chinese society has no interest in resolving problems through revolution.’ The editorial from the Global Times says in part: “A few Western...

Is the office of the U.S. Trade Representative cracking down on Chinese search engines Baidu and Taobao for being ‘notorious markets’ for pirated goods – or is it simply retaliating for Google’s controversial withdrawal from the China market? According to this news item from China’s state-controlled Finance East Day, one Chinese analyst suggests that Beijing must stand up to the...

The weather forecast for Austin, Texas, reads, “Warm, some sun today [Friday], chance for rain, cooler temps this weekend.” We certainly hope for some cooler “temps” tomorrow, Saturday, and certainly for some cooler heads, as the Texas Nationalist Movement will be holding a rally tomorrow, “the 175th anniversary of William Barret Travis drawing the line in the sand at the Alamo,” to urge Texans...

Can this year’s Academy Awards be interpreted as a slap in the face to American cinema? According to columnist Renato Silveira of Brazil’s Cinematorio, the fact that True Grit went away empty handed and ‘The Social Network’ nearly so to the benefit of The King’s Speech was nearly inexplicable. For Brazil’s Cinematorio, Renato Silveira writes in part: The Academy sent American...

First, a Texas state representative, Leo Berman, R-Tyler, joined the “birthers’ movement” by introducing a bill with a real Texas twang. A bill that would require presidential candidates to present their birth certificates to the Texas secretary of state “because we have a president whom the American people don’t know whether he was born in Kenya or some other place.” Now, another Texas state representative,...

Actually, I can’t be certain of that last part, but I do think the parents will accept Gen. Petraeus’s sincere apology — everyone makes mistakes now and then, and it’s not as if you took away the only thing that mattered to them, right?

There is a lot of hand wringing on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border about what to call the drug-related conflagration in Mexico – and much talk about whether the U.S. should intervene directly. While stopping short of calling for U.S. troops, for Mexico’s Excelsior newspaper, military analyst Jorge Luis Sierra makes no bones about what he would call it: a full-scale war. For Excelsior, Jorge...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from Marc Ambinder, who notes that although Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has the power in his state (in fact I predict this will end with public unions’ collective bargaining right stripped) every day the budget impasse goes on weakens Walker and his and his GOP supporters’ position: The Democrats, without leverage to move Walker an inch and facing his veto power,...

Will we start to see a bit of Republican pullback in light of two polls that suggest that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is at increasingly variance with the country’s center over the issue of public unions — and that he’d lose the election if it was held today amid his ongoing efforts to disembowel public union collective bargaining? That’s the prevalent question in light of two new...

Has there been, as we have all been told, a ‘revolution’ in Egypt? For Semana of Colombia, columnist Antonio Caballero writes that the only thing which has changed is the person leading Egypt’s 60-year-old military government, and he cites as evidence the apparent satisfaction of President Barack Obama. For Semana, columnist Antonio Caballero writes in part: “Televisions around the...

Is this a seminal moment in human history – beyond which the major powers no longer pay lip service to freedom and human rights, while simultaneously backing friendly dictators? According to this editorial from Russia’s Vedomosti, diplomats will from now on have to recognize that the use of ‘our son’s of bitches’ – as Franklin D. Roosevelt is rumored to have called them...

WASHINGTON — This is not the first time that Wisconsin has been at the center of national agitation over the role of unions. The earlier battle was staged in Sheboygan at Kohler, the legendary manufacturer of kitchen, bath and furniture products. The employees at Kohler had voted to join the United Auto Workers union, and a strike that began in April 1954 was not settled until the early 1960s. ...

Whether fundamentalist or not – how grateful are young Arabs for the emergence of Facebook and Twitter – which are, after all, the inventions of America’s open society? Dar al-Hayat columnist Jameel Theyabi writes of the new lease on life social networks have provided young Arabs and their elders, and expresses his deep thanks for these powerful tools that have enabled people to take down...

From TheHill.com:

Get ready for a new period of controversy over U.S. diplomatic cables being unleashed by WikiLeaks. According to this continental roundup by Rogelio Núnez of Spain’s Infolatam, in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Columbia and Guatemala, newly disclosed cables are impacting presidential elections, angering heads of state, and sparking local political squabbles that are likely to have significant consequences. For...

Tell me, who comes off as “disrespectful” in this almost nine-minute-long confrontation? Personally, I find it absolutely astounding that Ann Althouse can post this video as evidence that the Wisconsin protesters at this war memorial are hurting their cause.