Jennifer Delacruz's Mild Weather Forecast

It's lovely weather, heading into the 4th of July holiday this week.

Here's the fabulous Ms. Jennifer, for ABC News 10 San Diego:

Shop Deals

*BUMPED.*

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BONUS: F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents - The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek, Volume 2).

Folks Need to Get Busy!

Lol.

At LAT, "Americans keep having fewer babies as U.S. birthrates hit some record lows":

Hey stork, you’ve been slacking off — and U.S. health officials know it.

For the second year in a row, the number of babies delivered in the U.S. fell in 2016, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics. For some groups of women, the birth rate reached record lows.

The provisional figures released Friday include 99.96% of all births in the United States last year. Here’s what they show:

Overall births

The total number of babies born in the U.S. last year was 3,941,109. That’s 37,388 fewer babies than were born in the U.S. in 2015, which represents a 1% decline.

The number of births tends to rise as the population rises, so statisticians like to make historical comparisons by calculating the general fertility rate. This is the number of births per 1,000 women considered to be of childbearing age (between 15 and 44).

In 2016, the U.S. general fertility rate hit a record low of 62.0 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. In 2015, the general fertility rate was 62.5.

Another useful statistic is the total fertility rate. This is an estimate of the total number of babies that 1,000 women would have over their lifetimes, based on the actual birth rates for women in different age groups.

In 2016, the total fertility rate for American women was 1,818 births per 1,000 women. That’s the lowest it has been since 1984.

In order for a generation to exactly replace itself, the total fertility rate needs to be 2,100 births per 1,000 women. The U.S. has been missing that mark since 1971 (though the country’s population has grown due to immigration).

More older mothers

The ages of women giving birth in the U.S. has been skewing older for several years, and that trend continued in 2016.

Birth rates for women 30 and older hit their highest levels since the 1960s, and women in their early 30s had the highest birthrate of any age group.

In 2016, there were 102.6 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 30 and 34. The last time it was that high was 1964.

There were also 52.6 births per 1,000 women ages 35 to 39, the highest that figure has been since 1962...

Teenage birthrates are declining, so that's good news.

But keep reading.

Trump Administration Believes it's Gained Tactical Advantage in War with the Media, Thanks to CNN Resignations and Sarah Palin's Libel Suit Against the New York Times

I think so.

From Hada Gold, at Politico, "Trump seizes the advantage in war with media":

Donald Trump and his allies believe he’s gained a tactical advantage in his war with the media.

As he escalates his attacks on the “failing media,” Trump and his allies are increasingly convinced that recent evidence, including the retracted CNN piece on an aspect of the Russia investigations, will prove to skeptical voters that the mainstream media has a vendetta against the administration.

Many White House staffers were “elated,” a person with knowledge of their conversations said, when they learned that three journalists had resigned over a botched story that claimed newly appointed Export-Import Bank official Anthony Scaramucci was being investigated for his ties to a Russian investment fund.

Trump was quick to publicize the retraction and resignations on his Twitter feed, adding, “What about all the other phony stories they do. FAKE NEWS.” He used the “FAKE NEWS” line again Wednesday morning in claiming that The Washington Post was “guardian of Amazon,” the company of Post owner Jeff Bezos.

Conservative outlets and allies of the president also trumpeted Sarah Palin’s libel suit against The New York Times for suggesting in an editorial that her super PAC played a role in inciting the gunman who shot former Rep. Gabby Giffords. The editorial from May was ultimately corrected, but was nonetheless an embarrassing moment for another media company that’s aggressively reported on the president and received his wrath in return.

The attacks marked an escalation of Trump’s strategy of citing media bias to rally conservatives and undecided voters around the idea that the investigations of Russian influence in the 2016 election are media-driven and politically motivated...

Keep reading.

Maitland Ward Breaks Snapchat

Heh.

At Taxi Driver, "Maitland Ward in Her Shower on Snap Chat."

And she posts to Twitter, commenting, "Here's the Snap Pic that was reported & taken down. If you don't like my SM game please don't follow me. I enjoy having fun and being free."

Also, "So I read the snapchat rules... it says nudity is okay as long as you're not performing any sort of sexual act. Is showering a sex act?"

Summer Reading for Republicans

At Foreign Policy, "What Are Republicans Reading? An Elephants in the Room Summer 2017 Reading List."

Some suggestions cited, in no particular order:

* Garrett Graff, Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die.

* Lynne Olson, Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War.

* Brian Devereux, Escape to Pagan: The True Story of One Family’s Fight to Survive in World War II Occupied Asia.

* Thomas-Durell Young, Anatomy of Post-Communist European Defense Institutions: The Mirage of Military Modernity.

* Peter Schweitzer, Victory: The Reagan Administration’s Secret Strategy that Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union.

* Misagh Parsa, Democracy in Iran: Why It Failed and How It Might Succeed.

* Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam.

* Edward Luce, The Retreat of Western Liberalism.

* Sinclair McKay, The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The WWII Codebreaking Centre and the Men and Women Who Worked There.

* Thomas Wright, All Measures Short of War: The Contest for the Twenty-First Century and the Future of American Power.

Interesting.

Extremely heavy on foreign policy and international relations, and still more at the link.

Tom Wolfe, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby

At Amazon, Tom Wolfe, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.

Niall Ferguson, Empire

At Amazon, Niall Ferguson, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power.

Genevieve Morton Uncovered for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2017 (VIDEO)

Nice.

Mark Levin, Rediscovering Americanism

*BUMPED.*

See Mark Levin, Rediscovering Americanism: And the Tyranny of Progressivism.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Say White House Officials Promised That National Enquirer Hit Piece Would Be Spiked if They Apologized to President Trump

As is usual every day, I woke up to this news in my Twitter feed this morning.

It's like Groundhog's Day of fake news, outrage news.

See, "Statement From The National ENQUIRER."

And the full expose, "AFFAIR GAME! Joe & Mika: TV Couple’s Sleazy Cheating Scandal."

More at Newsweek, via Mediagazer, "'MORNING JOE' HOSTS ACCUSE TRUMP OF BLACKMAILING, THREATENING THEM OVER 'NATIONAL ENQUIRER' STORY."

And from Gabriel Sherman, at New York Magazine, "What Really Happened Between Donald Trump, the Hosts of Morning Joe, and the National Enquirer":

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump used his close alliance with the National Enquirer to attack his enemies. Now that he’s President, he’s continuing to benefit from the tabloid’s support.

This morning in a Washington Post op-ed, Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski disclosed that White House officials offered to spike an Enquirer story about their romance if the pair apologized to Trump for the show’s critical coverage. In recent months, Scarborough and Brzezinski have questioned Trump’s mental state and fitness for office. They elaborated on the op-ed on MSNBC this morning. Morning Joe regular Donny Deutsch said it was “blackmail” for Trump to use a hit-piece in the Enquirer to extract an apology from media critics. Trump then tweeted a quasi-confirmation of the behind-the-scenes conversations, saying that Scarborough called to enlist his help to kill the story. Scarborough called Trump’s version a “lie,” tweeting that he never spoke to the president.

According to three sources familiar with the private conversations, what happened was this: After the inauguration, Morning Joe’s coverage of Trump turned sharply negative. “This presidency is fake and failed,” Brzezinski said on March 6, for example. Around this time, Scarborough and Brzezinski found out the Enquirer was preparing a story about their affair. While Scarborough and Brzezinski’s relationship had been gossiped about in media circles for some time, it was not yet public, and the tabloid was going to report that they had left their spouses to be together...

Still more.

Brian Merchant, The One Device

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Brian Merchant, The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone.

WATCH: Dana Loesch Takes on Critics Who Accuse Her of 'Inciting Violence' in New Video for the NRA

Following-up from yesterday, "The Clenched Fist of Truth (VIDEO)."

Here's USA Today's MSM take, "NRA video declares war on liberals, critics say."

What a joke. Totally laughable.

Here she is on Tucker's last night:

Small Plane Crashes on I-405 in Irvine (VIDEO)

Well, this is likely to make the national evening news broadcasts, from right here, nearby home.

At the O.C. Register, "Small plane crashes on I-405 freeway at MacArthur, catches fire, 2 hospitalized."

And at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Plane Crashes on NB 405 Freeway in Irvine."

The Krauthammer Conjecture

Here's Charles Krauthammer's regular Friday column (which runs at the loathed WaPo), at the O.C. Register, "Why do they even play the game?":

In mathematics, when you’re convinced of some eternal truth but can’t quite prove it, you offer it as a hypothesis (with a portentous capital H) and invite the world, future generations if need be, to prove you right or wrong. Often, a cash prize is attached.

In that spirit, but without the cash, I offer the Krauthammer Conjecture: In sports, the pleasure of winning is less than the pain of losing. By any Benthamite pleasure/pain calculation, the sum is less than zero. A net negative of suffering. Which makes you wonder why anybody plays at all.

Winning is great. You get to hoot and holler, hoist the trophy, shower in champagne, ride the open parade car and boycott the White House victory ceremony (choose your cause).

But, as most who have engaged in competitive sports know, there’s nothing to match the amplitude of emotion brought by losing. When the Cleveland Cavaliers lost the 2015 NBA Finals to Golden State, LeBron James sat motionless in the locker room, staring straight ahead, still wearing his game jersey, for 45 minutes after the final buzzer.

Here was a guy immensely wealthy, widely admired, at the peak of his powers — yet stricken, inconsolable. So it was for Ralph Branca, who gave up Bobby Thomson’s shot heard ’round the world in 1951. So too for Royals shortstop Freddie Patek, a (literal) picture of dejection sitting alone in the dugout with his head down after his team lost the 1977 pennant to the New York Yankees.

In 1986, the “Today Show” commemorated the 30th anniversary of Don Larsen pitching the only perfect game in World Series history. They invited Larsen and his battery mate, Yogi Berra. And Dale Mitchell, the man who made the last out. Mitchell was not amused. “I ain’t flying 2,000 miles to talk about striking out,” he fumed. And anyway, the called third strike was high and outside. It had been 30 years and Mitchell was still mad. (Justly so. Even the Yankee fielders acknowledged that the final pitch was outside the strike zone.)

For every moment of triumph, there is an unequal and opposite feeling of despair. Take that iconic photograph of Muhammad Ali standing triumphantly over the prostrate, semiconscious wreckage of Sonny Liston. Great photo. Now think of Liston. Do the pleasure/pain calculus.

And we are talking here about professional athletes — not even the legions of Little Leaguers, freshly eliminated from the playoffs, sobbing and sniffling their way home, assuaged only by gallons of Baskin-Robbins...

More.

Pankaj Ghemawat, The Laws of Globalization

At Amazon, Pankaj Ghemawat, The Laws of Globalization and Business Applications.

The Tip of the Iceberg in CNN #FakeNews

See the excellent piece, from Mollie Hemingway, at the Federalist, "CNN’s Latest Retraction Is Just the Tip of the Fake News Iceberg."

Via Ace of Spades HQ, "As the Russia Narrative Implodes Hilariously, Apparently the Next Big Scandal Will Be 'Trump Said Something About Mika'."

(I haven't blogged about Trump's tweets because I don't care; Trump is gonna Trump, but the left's got nothing else so they're playing it up. See Memeorandum, "Trump No Longer Seems Able to Hide His Raw Misogyny. Good.")

Benjamin M. Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth

At Amazon, Benjamin M. Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth.

Amber Lee's Comfortable Cooler Forecast

We've had local wildfires over the last few days, and the air quality's been nasty at times.

But the coastal areas have been quite comfortable. I'm enjoying the nice breezy weather.

Here's the lovely Ms. Amber, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Eric Bolling, The Swamp

*BUMPED.*

This just came out yesterday Tuesday. It's a great summer for conservative reading!

At Amazon, Eric Bolling, The Swamp: Washington's Murky Pool of Corruption and Cronyism and How Trump Can Drain It.

Hilary Rhoda in Beverly Hills

At London's Daily Mail, "Brunette beauty! Hilary Rhoda in purple jumpsuit for Beverly Hills photo shoot."

PREVIOUSLY: "Hilary Rhoda Gets Oiled Up (VIDEO)."

Blog Slow Loading in Chrome

As noted, the blog's not been loading.

So, I checked my browsers. I'm still having problems in Chrome (and will update when I get it fixed).

But I fixed the problem on my iPhone 7. Check this piece, at iGeek Blogs, "Safari Running Slow on iPhone or iPad? Five Tips to Speed It Up."

The full blog, not [just] the mobile URL, loads in about 2-3 seconds 1 second on my iPhone after implementing the fixes at that piece, so I know there's something going on in Chrome that I can't figure out.

I haven't had complaints, and the traffic's been better than normal this week, so I'm not too worried about general accessibility. I'd just like to my own reading to be enjoyable and blog performance to be good.

More later.

Thanks for reading.

Sean Hannity Blasts CNN's Fake News Anti-Trump Agenda (VIDEO)

I've been watching the Angels/Dodgers freeway series this last three nights, at 7:00pm. I'm usually watching Angels baseball anyway in the evenings when they're playing at home. That, and I'm taking a break from watching cable news generally, even Fox News.

But Hannity deserves kudos for staying on the case. Last night's monologue was a comprehensive chronicle and indictment of the network's pathetic anti-Trump fake news agenda and programming.

This is devastating.

Watch, "Hannity: CNN leading the collapse of liberal media."

Today's Deals

Shop, Gold Box Deals.

And, Electronics, Computers & Accessories.

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BONUS: E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class.

The Clenched Fist of Truth (VIDEO)

It's Dana Loesch, for the NRA, here.

And at the Hill, "NRA defends 'closed fist of truth' ad."

The NRA tweeted its support here.

(I'm not embedding tweets right now, as the blog's been loading slow. We'll see how it goes after few days.)

What Is Conservatism?

From Ofir Haivry and Yoram Hazony, at the new journal, American Affairs:

The year 2016 marked a dramatic change of political course for the English-speaking world, with Britain voting for independence from Europe and the United States electing a president promising a revived American nationalism. Critics see both events as representing a dangerous turn toward “illiberalism” and deplore the apparent departure from “liberal principles” or “liberal democracy,” themes that surfaced repeatedly in conservative publications over the past year. Perhaps the most eloquent among the many spokesmen for this view has been William Kristol, who, in a series of essays in the Weekly Standard, has called for a new movement to arise “in defense of liberal democracy.” In his eyes, the historic task of American conservatism is “to preserve and strengthen American liberal democracy,” and what is needed now is “a new conservatism based on old conservative—and liberal—principles.” Meanwhile, the conservative flagship Commentary published a cover story by the Wall Street Journal’s Sohrab Ahmari entitled “Illiberalism: The Worldwide Crisis,” seeking to raise the alarm about the dangers to liberalism posed by Brexit, Trump, and other phenomena.

These and similar examples demonstrate once again that more than a few prominent conservatives in America and Britain today consider themselves to be not only conservatives but also liberals at the same time. Or, to get to the heart of the matter, they see conservatism as a branch or species of liberalism—to their thinking, the “classical” and most authentic form of liberalism. According to this view, the foundations of conservatism are to be found, in significant measure, in the thought of the great liberal icon John Locke and his followers. It is to this tradition, they say, that we must turn for the political institutions—including the separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism—that secure the freedoms of religion, speech, and the press; the right of private property; and due process under law. In other words, if we want limited government and, ultimately, the American Constitution, then there is only one way to go: Lockean liberalism provides the theoretical basis for the ordered freedom that conservatives strive for, and liberal democracy is the only vehicle for it.

Many of those who have been most outspoken on this point have been our long-time friends. We admire and are grateful for their tireless efforts on behalf of conservative causes, including some in which we have worked together as partners. But we see this confusion of conservatism with liberalism as historically and philosophically misguided. Anglo-American conservatism is a distinct political tradition—one that predates Locke by centuries. Its advocates fought for and successfully established most of the freedoms that are now exclusively associated with Lockean liberalism, although they did so on the basis of tenets very different from Locke’s. Indeed, when Locke published his Two Treatises of Government in 1689, offering the public a sweeping new rationale for the traditional freedoms already known to Englishmen, most defenders of these freedoms were justly appalled. They saw in this new doctrine not a friend to liberty but a product of intellectual folly that would ultimately bring down the entire edifice of freedom. Thus, liberalism and conservatism have been opposed political positions in political theory since the day liberal theorizing first set foot in England.

Today’s confusion of conservative political thought with liberalism is in a way understandable, however. In the great twentieth-century battles against totalitarianism, conservatives and liberals were allies: They fought together, along with the Communists, against Nazism. After 1945, conservatives and liberals remained allies in the war against Communism. Over these many decades of joint struggle, what had for centuries been a distinction of vital importance was treated as if it were not terribly important, and in fact, it was largely forgotten.

But since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, these circumstances have changed. The challenges facing the Anglo-American tradition are now coming from other directions entirely. Radical Islam, to name one such challenge, is a menace that liberals, for reasons internal to their own view of the political world, find difficult to regard as a threat and especially difficult to oppose in an effective manner. But even more important is the challenge arising from liberalism itself. It is now evident that liberal principles contribute little or nothing to those institutions that were for centuries the bedrock of the Anglo-American political order: nationalism, religious tradition, the Bible as a source of political principles and wisdom, and the family. Indeed, as liberalism has emerged victorious from the battles of the last century, the logic of its doctrines has increasingly turned liberals against all of these conservative institutions. On both of these fronts, the conservative and liberal principles of the Anglo-American tradition are now painfully at cross-purposes. The twentieth-century alliance between conservatism and liberalism is proving increasingly difficult to maintain...

Keep reading.

Keeping Campaign Promises: President Trump Presses South Korea on Trade — #MAGA

Making America great again!

At Bloomberg, "President Trump plans to press South Korean President Moon Jae-In on trade imbalances."

Michelle Malkin, Sold Out

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Michelle Malkin, Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America’s Best & Brightest Workers.

BONUS: Michelle Malkin, Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals & Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores.

Congress Must Pass Health Care Reform to End the Financial Crises of Everyday Americans — BCRA

I've protested the ObamaCare monstrosity since the summer of 2009.

If we can get the Senate bill passed and legislation approved in conference, we might be well on the way to fixing the system and helping millions of Americans.

Forget the leftist fear-mongering. They're not sharing stories like this with us.

From Tom Price, President Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, and an orthopedic physician trained at the University of Michigan Medical School, at the Wall Street Journal, "ObamaCare’s Victims Need Relief Now":

America faces an urgent crisis in its health-care system. Costs are skyrocketing and choices are disappearing on the individual and small-group markets. Many people now confront the real challenge of having no choice in their health coverage.

One of them is Doug Lake, an Iowa radiologist who came to the White House last week to share his story. His daughter, who suffers from a rare cardiac condition, is covered by an insurer that plans to pull out of ObamaCare’s exchange in their state next year. Only one insurer remains in their county, and that company has requested a 43% increase in premiums.

The situation is even worse elsewhere. As of this week, 49 counties across the country do not have a single insurer offering plans on the exchanges next year.

This year more than 1,000 counties had only one insurer in the ObamaCare market, meaning millions of Americans had no meaningful choice. Meanwhile, the insurers that did stay in the market increased premiums for their midlevel plans by an average of 25%. Premiums on the individual market are up about $3,000 since ObamaCare was implemented. Think about what else that money could buy!

It is too early to know how much premiums will rise next year, but reports so far indicate that double-digit increases again will be the norm.

These are not simply numbers on a page: They represent real people with real stories, facing real health-care and financial crises.

Dudley Bostic, a pharmacy owner in Tennessee, can no longer afford to provide health insurance for her employees because of ObamaCare’s mandates. Candace Fowler, a Missouri homemaker who was recently diagnosed with a serious neurological condition, lives in a county where there are slated to be no insurers selling ObamaCare plans next year. Tommie McClain, a student in Clinton, Mo., who suffers from chronic migraines, faces the possibility of zero choices in his county, too.

The good news is that Congress has the chance to help Doug, Dudley, Candace, Tommie and the millions of other Americans suffering under this law by undoing the damage done by ObamaCare and fulfilling the promises President Trump has made.

The bill recently introduced in the Senate would get rid of the individual mandate, which in 2015 alone caused 6.5 million Americans to pay $3 billion in penalties to the IRS because they did not want or could not afford a government-dictated health plan. It would directly repeal some of ObamaCare’s most costly regulations while giving states flexibility to waive others if they develop innovative ways to provide coverage and bring down costs.

The Senate’s plan also would repeal hundreds of billions of dollars in onerous taxes. It would put Medicaid on a sustainable spending path and give states a real chance to reform the program to make it work for the people who rely on it...

More.

Grim: Libyan Red Crescent Recovered Dead Bodies of at Least 24 Migrants Off the Coast of Tripoli (VIDEO)

I'd say this is unconscionable, but it's par for the course in European politics.

Until the EU leadership, and especially Germany, get the refugee scandal under control, they can't say jack about the U.S., the Trump administration, or "human rights."

Content Warning, at Ruptly, "Libya: 24 migrants found dead off Tajura coast *GRAPHIC*: The Libyan Red Crescent recovered the dead bodies of at least 24 migrants, who lost their lives attempting to cross the Mediterranean in a bid to reach Europe, off the Tajura coast, some 14 kilometres (8,69 miles) east of Tripoli, Tuesday."

Samantha Gradoville and Flavia Lucini 'Like a Boy' Video by David Bellemere

Watch, at Lui Magazine (France), "VIDÉO: COMME UN GARÇON, PAR DAVID BELLEMERE" (Video: Like a Boy, by David Bellemere).

Rita Ora in Sequin Dress for Launch at Annabel Nightclub in London (PHOTOS)

At London's Daily Mail, "There's m-Ora where that came from! Sizzling Rita, 26, is joined by her striking brunette manager sister Elena, 28, who proudly supports her during her new single launch."

And at Taxi Driver, "Rita Ora Braless in Slightly See-Through Sequin Dress."

FLASHBACK: "Rita Ora for 'Lui' Magazine."

The Busted Name in News

This is CNN.

At the New York Post, "CNN faced $100M lawsuit over botched Russia story." (Hat Tip: Instapundit.)

A Better Direction for #BlackLivesMatter

From Jason Riley, at WSJ, "Rather than scapegoat police, why not focus on bad schools and job-killing regulations?":

Will Black Lives Matter soon suffer the fate of other separatist “black power” movements in the 1920s and 1960s, which captured America’s attention for a period but ultimately did little to help advance the black underclass?

The Black Lives Matter movement got its start after George Zimmerman’s 2013 acquittal for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin and found its footing a year later when Michael Brown was shot dead after attacking a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. By 2016, BLM activists were being hosted by President Obama and disrupting campaign events for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Today, major news organizations such at National Public Radio and the Washington Post turn to BLM representatives for comment on race-related stories.

An obituary for a movement that has become so prominent so fast seems premature, but a recent BuzzFeed article that included interviews with dozens of BLM-linked activists was pessimistic about the group’s future. Factions have formed, infighting is common and objectives are unclear. “Black Lives Matter is still here. Its groups are still organizing. But Black Lives Matter is on the verge of losing the traction and momentum that sparked a national shift on criminal justice policy,” wrote reporter Darren Sands. And “activists largely agreed that the identity of the movement, its existential purpose and aim, remains unresolved.”

Some BLM leaders want to integrate political institutions further. Others want the organization to expand its focus to immigrants’ rights. Still others want to create a society “free from pain being inflicted on it by police, racist structures, and capitalism.” Apparently, there are places in the world where blacks living in noncapitalist societies are thriving in comparison with their U.S. brethren...

More.

ICYMI: James F. Brooks, Captives and Cousins

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, James F. Brooks, Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands.

Eugen Joseph Weber, The Hollow Years

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Eugen Joseph Weber, The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s.

Shop Deals Today

At Amazon, Today's Deals: New deals. Every day. Shop our Deal of the Day, Lightning Deals and more daily deals and limited-time sales.

And, Mountain House Just In Case...Essential Bucket.

More, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 6 Feet (1.8 Meters) - Black.

Still more, KIND Breakfast Bars, Peanut Butter, Gluten Free, 1.8 Ounce, 32 Count.

More here, MTech USA MT-086 Series Fixed Blade Hunting Knife, Straight Edge Blade, Black Handle, 12-1/4-Inch Overall.

Plus, Dirt Devil Vacuum Cleaner Dynamite Plus Corded Bagless Upright Vacuum with Tools M084650 RED.

Also, LG Power Pair Special - LG Turbo Series Ultra-Capacity Laundry System with Steam *PURE WHITE COLOR*.

BONUS: Milton Friedman, Free to Choose: A Personal Statement.

Ayn Rand, Capitalism

At Amazon, Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (Mass Market Paperback).

Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson, Machine, Platform, Crowd

Out today, at Amazon, Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson, Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future.

America First Policies Pulls Spot Attacking Sen. Dean Heller (VIDEO)

Following-up from the other day, "Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, Target of America First Policies PAC."

At Politico:

Pro-Trump group pulls ads criticizing Heller over Obamacare https://t.co/LgDvwVcI4A pic.twitter.com/agT4rB3et7

— POLITICO (@politico) June 27, 2017

Sarah Palin Sues New York Times for Defamation

Righteous.

At Instapundit, "ANNALS OF FAKE NEWS: Sarah Palin Suing New York Times for Defamation."

ICYMI: Henry Olsen, The Working Class Republican

At Amazon, Henry Olsen, The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism.

Abigail Ratchford's Hottest Social Media Posts

At Maxim, "Instababe Abigail Ratchford celebrated #NationalSelfieDay by posting her hottest shots ever."

And directly from Ms. Abigail:

Some like it hot 🔥 pic.twitter.com/LVbDEosSxQ

— Abigail Ratchford (@AbiRatchford) June 18, 2017

Splish splashhhhhh 💦💧 pic.twitter.com/c76LsnXTjh

— Abigail Ratchford (@AbiRatchford) June 19, 2017

Sunday views ☀️ pic.twitter.com/rdbFRZoNPI

— Abigail Ratchford (@AbiRatchford) June 26, 2017

BONUS: "Abigail Ratchford Huge Tits."

Lisa Delpit, Other People's Children

At Amazon, Lisa Delpit, Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom.

Sabine Jemeljanova Rule 5

Seen on Twitter:

#DailySabine @you_kiki https://t.co/UQAJxzaOLp #SabineJemeljanova #Page3 #Boobs #Busty #Brunette #Beauty #Cleavage #Lingerie #Glamour #Model pic.twitter.com/jgcBD1o1h2

— RosieJonesArchive (@CopperMailman) June 18, 2017

Woman Cliff Dives in Swiss Alps Wearing Nothing But a Parachute (VIDEO)

Well, this makes you wanna go cliff diving, lol.

At London's Daily Mail, "Adrenaline junkie throws herself off a cliff completely NAKED for her first ever base jump (good job she was wearing a parachute): Annelise Temple threw herself off the drop in Lauterbrunnen, in the Swiss Alps."

Road Rage in California (VIDEO)

At the Sacramento Bee, "Who caused the California road rage crash captured in viral video? CHP weighs in":

Apparent case of road rage triggers horrifying chain-reaction crash in California. At least one person was injured. https://t.co/ECVmH8RTIk pic.twitter.com/NwSYP35Buw

— ABC News (@ABC) June 23, 2017

California Highway Patrol officers on Monday were still searching for the motorcyclist involved in a shocking Southern California freeway crash that went viral on video last week.

The video, taken on a Santa Clarita freeway shows a motorcyclist at high speed kicking a car in the carpool lane, causing the car to swerve and smash into the center divider in flames, then careen into a truck, knocking the truck upside down, causing moderate injuries.

We talked with CHP Officer Eric Priessman about what the video shows and who might be at fault. Here are his answers, paraphrased...

Keep reading.

Heresy Speech

A very perceptive analysis from Jonah Goldberg, at the Commentary symposium, "Is Free Speech Under Threat in the United States?":

Contemporary social justice activism is a quasi religion and dissent is heresy | @JonahNRO https://t.co/iWSwWs1lD2 pic.twitter.com/UtdPBgxYlU

— Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) June 23, 2017

In the past, threats to free speech have taken many forms—nationalist passion, Comstockery (both good and bad), political suppression, etc.—but the threat to free speech today is different. It is less top-down and more bottom-up. We are cultivating a generation of young people to reject free speech as an important value.

One could mark the beginning of the self-esteem movement with Nathaniel Branden’s 1969 paper, “The Psychology of Self-Esteem,” which claimed that “feelings of self-esteem were the key to success in life.” This understandable idea ran amok in our schools and in our culture. When I was a kid, Saturday-morning cartoons were punctuated with public-service announcements telling kids: “The most important person in the whole wide world is you, and you hardly even know you!”

The self-esteem craze was just part of the cocktail of educational fads. Other ingredients included multiculturalism, the anti-bullying crusade, and, of course, that broad phenomenon known as “political correctness.” Combined, they’ve produced a generation that rejects the old adage “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never harm me” in favor of the notion that “words hurt.” What we call political correctness has been on college campuses for decades. But it lacked a critical mass of young people who were sufficiently receptive to it to make it a fully successful ideology. The campus commissars welcomed the new “snowflakes” with open arms; truly, these are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

“Words hurt” is a fashionable concept in psychology today. (See Psychology Today: “Why Words Can Hurt at Least as Much as Sticks and Stones.”) But it’s actually a much older idea than the “sticks and stones” aphorism. For most of human history, it was a crime to say insulting or “injurious” things about aristocrats, rulers, the Church, etc. That tendency didn’t evaporate with the Divine Right of Kings. Jonathan Haidt has written at book length about our natural capacity to create zones of sanctity, immune from reason.

And that is the threat free speech faces today. Those who inveigh against “hate speech” are in reality fighting “heresy speech”—ideas that do “violence” to sacred notions of self-esteem, racial or gender equality, climate change, and so on. Put whatever label you want on it, contemporary “social justice” progressivism acts as a religion, and it has no patience for blasphemy...

Far-Left Democrats Can't Count on Trump's 'Toxicity' in 2018

Put me on record for Republicans retaining congressional control next year. Things could change, and midterm elections are usually bad for the president's party, but I'm skeptical far-left Democrats can retake control, especially of the House.

I could be wrong, so I'm not betting money on it.

But see Cathleen Decker, at LAT, "There's only one Trump — that's a key challenge for Democrats targeting GOP seats in 2018":

Today's analysis: Atop 2017 losses, a sobering challenge for Democrats aiming at Trump next year https://t.co/wmrSSrNh2V

— Cathleen Decker (@cathleendecker) June 25, 2017

Democrats have hoped that President Trump’s deep unpopularity would propel them to gains in next year’s midterm election as they fight to take control of the House and improve their position in the Senate.

But last year’s contests and this year’s special elections suggest a complication: Trump is so distinctive a politician that it’s hard to persuade voters that other Republican candidates are carbon copies of the president. Trump’s outsized persona makes even those Republicans who share his views seem more moderate, an important attribute to swing voters.

That presents a problem for the party out of power.

Midterm elections traditionally serve as referendums on the president, but voters’ complicated views of Trump may give Republicans more running room than his popularity figures suggest. The votes cast by individual Republican incumbents may be more important to their survival than any linkage with the president.

The first of those key votes is scheduled for this week, as senators confront the GOP healthcare measure, which closely resembles a House-passed bill that is widely unpopular.

In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Friday, only 16% of adults supported the House plan. Three times that percentage thought it was a bad idea. Yet it is far from clear how powerful the issue will be in 2018, given the fast pace of political events.

Warning signs emerged for both parties after the spring series of special elections. Four of the races picked successors to Republicans elevated to senior positions in Trump’s administration; Republicans won all four. A fifth race, to replace California Democrat Xavier Becerra, the state’s new attorney general, was won by Democrat Jimmy Gomez.

In each of the four races in GOP districts, Democratic candidates came far closer to the Republicans than their party has in the recent past — but they did not succeed.

Implicit in the contests was a Democratic effort to repudiate Trump. Yet in the races which attracted more attention and money, Democrats may have suffered from a backlash as the virulence of their opposition pushed more Republicans to the polls.

In the aftermath, Democrats have offered as a partial excuse the Republican voting strength in those districts. But winning next year will require succeeding in Senate races in states that voted for Trump and in House contests where Republicans have the power of incumbency, something they did not enjoy in the special elections this year.

Tuesday’s results in the 6th Congressional District in Georgia, the most expensive House race in history, demonstrated what candidates next year face. There, as elsewhere, Trump loomed over the race even though the candidates seldom talked about him directly.

Republican Karen Handel barely mentioned the president, although members of his administration served as reinforcements for her. Her campaign spent much of its time casting Democrat Jon Ossoff as in league with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and “San Francisco values.” Handel won by just under 4 percentage points.

Ossoff backed away from criticism of Trump in the latter part of the race, but began it by contending that his victory would “make Trump furious.”

Connecting the Republican president and Republican candidate did not work there, suggesting it may not work elsewhere, Republican and Democratic strategists said.

“Voters have very complex feelings about Donald Trump,” said California-based strategist Katie Merrill, citing polling from swing districts around the country. “He’s wildly unpopular, but they still want Congress to try to work with him — and Congress is more unpopular than he is.”

“Simply going into the district and trying to tie them to Trump is not going to be enough to defeat them,” said Merrill, who is working for a super PAC seeking to defeat seven Republican House incumbents in California districts won last year by Hillary Clinton...

Chaim Herzog, The Arab-Israeli Wars

*BUMPED.*

This is the updated edition, essential reading.

At Amazon, Chaim Herzog (updated by Shlomo Gazit), The Arab-Israeli Wars: War and Peace in the Middle East.

Adam Greenfield, Radical Technologies

Just out last week, at Amazon, Adam Greenfield, Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life.

Everywhere we turn, a startling new device promises to transfigure our lives. But at what cost? In this urgent and revelatory excavation of our Information Age, leading technology thinker Adam Greenfield forces us to reconsider our relationship with the networked objects, services and spaces that define us. It is time to re-evaluate the Silicon Valley consensus determining the future.

We already depend on the smartphone to navigate every aspect of our existence. We’re told that innovations—from augmented-reality interfaces and virtual assistants to autonomous delivery drones and self-driving cars—will make life easier, more convenient and more productive. 3D printing promises unprecedented control over the form and distribution of matter, while the blockchain stands to revolutionize everything from the recording and exchange of value to the way we organize the mundane realities of the day to day. And, all the while, fiendishly complex algorithms are operating quietly in the background, reshaping the economy, transforming the fundamental terms of our politics and even redefining what it means to be human.

Having successfully colonized everyday life, these radical technologies are now conditioning the choices available to us in the years to come. How do they work? What challenges do they present to us, as individuals and societies? Who benefits from their adoption? In answering these questions, Greenfield’s timely guide clarifies the scale and nature of the crisis we now confront —and offers ways to reclaim our stake in the future.

New Gillian Anderson Perky Photos

Following-up from last week, "Gillian Anderson Bikini Photos."

Now, at London's Daily Mail, "It's Gil-lean Anderson! Braless X-Files actress, 48, shows off her perky chest and enviably taut stomach as she peers over her balcony in Portofino."

And at Taxi Driver, "Gillian Anderson Boobs in See-Through Top."

Deal of the Day

At Amazon, Samsung 4245243 U28E590D 28-Inch 4K LED-Lit Monitor, Black/Silver, (Refurbished).

Plus, New Deals. All Day.

And, Panasonic RF-2400 AM / FM Radio, Silver.

Here, Women's Swimsuits.

More, Deals in Laptops.

Plus, Shop Gourmet Food.

Still more, Large Beach Towel, Pool Towel, in Cabana Stripe - (Variety, 4 pack, 30x60 inches) - Cotton - by Utopia Towel.

Again, Koffee Kult DARK ROAST COFFEE BEANS (Whole Bean 5 Lbs) - Highest Quality Delicious Organically Sourced Fair Trade - Whole Bean Coffee - Fresh Gourmet Aromatic.

BONUS: Tyler Cowen, Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation.

Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station

Following-up from last night, "The New York Times Shills for Communism — Again."

At Amazon, Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Acting and Writing of History.

Project Veritas: #CNN Producer John Bonifield Confesses: Russia Conspiracy is 'Bullshit' (VIDEO)

At Breitbart, "Project Veritas Undercover Investigation: CNN Producer Admits Network Hyping 'Mostly Bullsh*t." (Via Memeorandum.):

James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas has struck again: This time, a senior CNN producer was caught on camera by one of O’Keefe’s investigators admitting that the network’s relentless bashing of President Donald Trump with the Russia scandal lacks proof.

“Could be bullshit. I mean, it’s mostly bullshit right now,” the CNN producer, John Bonifield, said in a video O’Keefe’s Project Veritas released on Tuesday, when asked about his thoughts on the Russia investigation. “Like, we don’t have any giant proof. Then they say, well there’s still an investigation going on. And you’re like, yeah, I don’t know. If they were finding something we would know about it. The way these leaks happen, they would leak it. They’d leak. If it was something really good, it would leak…. The leaks keep leaking and there’s so many great leaks, and it’s amazing. I just refuse to believe that if they had something really good like that that wouldn’t leak because we’ve been getting all these other leaks. So, I just feel like they don’t really have it but they want to keep digging. And so I think the president is probably right to say, like, look you are witch hunting me. You have no smoking gun. You have no real proof.”

More.

Also at Gateway Pundit, "O’Keefe Undercover Bombshell: CNN Producer Admits Trump-Russia Story is “Bullsh*t” (Video)."

It's pretty good, but my first question is did they buy this guy off, John Bonifield? How did Project Veritas gain access to the CNN studios?

More at the Heavy, "John Bonifield: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know":

You can watch the video that James O’Keefe posted on YouTube above. Be aware, though, that it’s not clear whether more raw footage exists or whether the video has been selectively edited. The video is titled, “American Pravda.”

In it, O’Keefe identifies the man captured by the hidden video as John Bonifield, a CNN producer. It’s not clear whom the other man was (he’s identified as a “PV journalist”) or why Bonifield would have spoken with him so openly. The man says, “Then why is CNN constantly like, Russia this, Russia that?”

In the video posted by O’Keefe, the man he identifies as Bonifield responds, “Because it’s ratings.”

“Because it’s ratings?” the man, identified as a “PV journalist,” queries further. “Our ratings are incredible right now,” says the man O’Keefe identifies as Bonifield.

At another point in the video, the “PV journalist” says, “But honestly, you think the whole Russia sh*t is just like bullsh*t?” The man said to be Bonifield responds, “Could be bullsh*t. I mean, it’s mostly bullsh*t right now. Like, we don’t have any big giant proof.”

He also says, “I just feel like they don’t really have it but they want to keep digging” and “And so I think the President is probably right to say like, look, you are witch hunting me.”

Project Veritas also claims that Bonifield brought up CNN head Jeff Zucker, saying, “Just to give you some context, President Trump pulled out of the climate accords and for a day and a half we covered the climate accords. And the CEO of CNN (Jeff Zucker) said in our internal meeting, he said good job everybody covering the climate accords, but we’re done with that, let’s get back to Russia.”

It’s been a bad week for CNN. The O’Keefe video comes on the heels of the resignations of three CNN journalists after the network retracted and deleted a story on Russia...

More at Memeorandum and Twitchy.

Peter Collier and David Horowitz, Destructive Generation

At Amazon, Peter Collier and David Horowitz, Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About the Sixties.

BONUS: David Horowitz, Radical Son: A Journey Through Our Times from Left to Right.

Seattle's Lesson on the the $15 Minimum Wage - #FightFor15

From Megan McArdle, at Bloomberg, "Seattle's Painful Lesson on the Road to a $15 Minimum Wage: The experiment has hurt low-wage workers, cutting their earnings by $125 a month."

Leftist economists were naturally shooting down the new report, which says low-income workers are harmed by the minimum wage hikes.

ADDED: At Legal Insurrection, "Seattle Minimum Wage Hike Backfires Hurting Low Income Workers."

#FakeNews Meltdown at Cable News Network: #ThisIsCnn

This is after the Anthony Scaramucci story blew up.

From Yesterday:

NEW - 3 CNN staff resign over Scaramucci/Russia story pic.twitter.com/L35Le6ML5p

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) June 26, 2017

Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau and Lex Harris all resigned from CNN over Russia/Scaramucci story. These are big names. https://t.co/5efVCUZl8P

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) June 26, 2017

And today, at LifeZette, via Memeorandum, "Fake News Meltdown at CNN: Retractions, Resignations and Outbursts."

An editor's note from CNN https://t.co/5bHxUVnHHt pic.twitter.com/W3IjT5FPN8

— CNN (@CNN) June 24, 2017

.@CNN did the right thing. Classy move. Apology accepted. Everyone makes mistakes. Moving on. https://t.co/lyVajCKNHx

— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) June 24, 2017

"The President did nothing wrong" @Scaramucci and @ChrisCuomo tussle over whether Russia probe is a "hoax" https://t.co/tVGOthQApj

— New Day (@NewDay) June 20, 2017

Alexander Gerschenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective

At Amazon, Alexander Gerschenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective.

Massive Cyberattack Hits Europe

Like I said the other day, "These really are acts of war and it's increasingly apparent that Western states are losing."

Yep.

See the Telegraph U.K., "Live - Petya cyber attack: Ransomware spreads across Europe with firms in Ukraine, Britain and Spain shut down."

Also at Bloomberg, "New Cyberattack Spreads Across Europe, Hits Rosneft, Maersk":

A new cyberattack similar to WannaCry is spreading across Europe, hitting major companies from Rosneft PJSC in Moscow to A.P. Moller-Maersk in Copenhagen while disrupting government systems in Kiev.

More than 80 companies in Russia and Ukraine were affected by the Petya virus that disabled computers Tuesday and told users to pay $300 in cryptocurrency to unlock them, according to the Moscow-based cybersecurity company Group-IB. Telecommunications operators and retailers were also affected and the virus is spreading in a similar way to the WannaCry attack in May, it said.

The intrusion is “the biggest in Ukraine’s history,” Anton Gerashchenko, an aide to the Interior Ministry, wrote on Facebook. The goal was “the destabilization of the economic situation and in the civic consciousness of Ukraine,” though it was “disguised as an extortion attempt,” he said.

More.

The New York Times Shills for Communism — Again

Can't get enough Walter Duranty over there, lol.

And they never tire of rehabilitating the failed theories of Marxism.

See Bhaskar Sunkara (Editor of the Jacobin), at the Old Gray Lady, "Socialism’s Future May Be Its Past":

Why, 100 years on, the road to socialism runs back through Finland Station in Russia. By @sunraysunray https://t.co/QH0N0Zp6k6

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) June 26, 2017

Stripped down to its essence, and returned to its roots, socialism is an ideology of radical democracy. In an era when liberties are under attack, it seeks to empower civil society to allow participation in the decisions that affect our lives. A huge state bureaucracy, of course, can be just as alienating and undemocratic as corporate boardrooms, so we need to think hard about the new forms that social ownership could take.

Some broad outlines should already be clear: Worker-owned cooperatives, still competing in a regulated market; government services coordinated with the aid of citizen planning; and the provision of the basics necessary to live a good life (education, housing and health care) guaranteed as social rights. In other words, a world where people have the freedom to reach their potentials, whatever the circumstances of their birth.

We can get to this Finland Station only with the support of a majority; that’s one reason that socialists are such energetic advocates of democracy and pluralism. But we can’t ignore socialism’s loss of innocence over the past century. We may reject the version of Lenin and the Bolsheviks as crazed demons and choose to see them as well-intentioned people trying to build a better world out of a crisis, but we must work out how to avoid their failures...

Try as they might, it's still the old Communism, but with fluffed-up dressing.

These are terrible people. Resist them to the last.

"Workers' democracy" will be dismantled as soon as the "majority" vote in the party elites. It's the same old, same old.

Angels Beat Dodgers in 4-0 Shutout Behind Ricky Nolasco Gem

The Angels went two games above .500 tonight with a sparking win over the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, the opening night of a four-game freeway series.

The Dodgers have the second best record in baseball, just a game or two behind than Houston. And Los Angeles had a 10-game winning streak heading into tonight's game.

#HaloRecap: #Angels blank Dodgers, @RNolasco47 picks up the win!https://t.co/EyQj2dtDum pic.twitter.com/JAmcpjDkLo

— Angels (@Angels) June 27, 2017

So what's up with the Angels?

The joke recently is that they've been stuck one game within .500 ball, up or down, with no end in sight. Well, with tonight's game Anaheim's got a two-game winning streak, so that's encouraging.

The Angels now move into second place in the American League West, still 12.5 games behind the first place Astros. But if they keep performing like this, things will be looking very good going into the All-Star break, especially since injured Mike Trout's expected to return to the lineup any times thereabouts.

Here's more from Mike DiGiovanna, at LAT, "Break up the Angels? They broke, but haven't wavered":

Last rites were administered to the Angels on May 29, the day they learned that star center fielder Mike Trout would need surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb and miss six to eight weeks.

The rotation was already in tatters, having lost ace Garrett Richards to a right biceps strain after one start, Tyler Skaggs to a rib-cage strain in late April and Andrew Heaney and Nick Tropeano to season-ending elbow surgeries.

General manager Billy Eppler was running out of spackle to patch a bullpen that lost its best reliever, Cam Bedrosian, to a groin strain for two months, erstwhile closer Huston Street to a back strain for 2½ months and late-inning man Andrew Bailey to a shoulder injury for 2½ months.

Third baseman Yunel Escobar was on the disabled list, and left fielder Cameron Maybin was about to join him. First baseman Luis Valbuena was hitting .167, and second baseman Danny Espinosa (.141) and right fielder Kole Calhoun (.209) were in deep slumps.

The Angels were already buried in the American League West, a division the powerful Houston Astros led by 11½ games entering Saturday.

Surely, they could not withstand the loss of baseball’s best all-around player, a two-time most valuable player who was batting .337 with 16 homers, 36 runs batted in and a league-leading 1.203 on-base-plus-slugging percentage when he injured his thumb on a head-first slide into second.

Yet, as the Angels enter their fifth week without Trout, they were 2 games out of the second AL wild-card spot heading into Sunday, alive and kicking, their ability to tread water in a pool of mediocrity putting them in position for a possible second-half playoff push.

“It’s miraculous, the job the Angels and [manager] Mike Scioscia have done,” John Smoltz, a Hall of Fame pitcher and Fox television analyst, said on a conference call last week. “Their pitching has just been decimated, and then they lose Trout.

“If they can get some pitching back, then they’re a threat for a wild card. I didn’t think with that many injuries they’d even be hanging around.”

That the Angels are 13-12 without Trout — and 39-39 overall — through Saturday seems as improbable as their 12-0 record on Tuesdays. Even with Trout’s dominant two months, they were 14th in the AL in OPS (.709) and ninth in runs (335) through Friday.

But they’re averaging 5.0 runs a game in Trout’s absence because Maybin and Calhoun heated up, Albert Pujols continued to drive in runs and Andrelton Simmons and Escobar continued to hit. They’re pressuring teams with a league-leading 67 stolen bases, and Eric Young Jr., has filled some of Trout’s void.

Young, signed to a minor league deal last winter, was called up from triple-A when Trout went on the DL. He was batting .288 with an .826 OPS, three homers, 10 RBIs, 15 runs and six stolen bases in 23 games through Friday.

Calhoun followed an eight-for-65 skid by hitting .341 (28 for 82) with five homers and 20 RBIs in 22 games through Friday. Since moving to the leadoff spot on May 16, Maybin is hitting .374 with a .466 on-base percentage, five homers, 10 doubles and 30 runs in 25 games. Pujols is fifth in the AL with 51 RBIs.

Bud Norris, Blake Parker, Yusmeiro Petit, David Hernandez and Keynan Middleton solidified a no-name bullpen that ranks fifth in the AL with a 3.62 ERA and has stranded 91 of 117 inherited runners, an AL-best 22.2% scoring percentage.

Norris, a former starter who signed as a minor league free agent, had a 2.43 ERA and converted 11 of 13 save opportunities before going on the DL because of an inflamed right knee last Tuesday.

Parker, a winter waiver claim who made the club because of Street’s injury, was 3-2 with a 2.16 ERA, 49 strikeouts and nine walks in 33 1/3 innings through Friday. Petit, a minor league free agent, has a 2.42 ERA, 51 strikeouts and 11 walks in 44 2/3 innings of 28 games.

Hernandez, who was pitching for Atlanta’s triple-A team when the Angels acquired him for cash or a player to be named on April 24, has a 2.28 ERA, 27 strikeouts and four walks in 23 2/3 innings of 26 games.

And Middleton, with his 100-mph fastball, has risen toward a high-leverage role with a 2-0 record and 3.43 ERA in 24 games since being called up...

Still more.

Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains

The hot new book among radical leftists, apparently --- #1 New Release at Amazon.

See, Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America.

There's no such thing as the "radical" right, of course. It just sounds super spooky, heh.

Tori Praver See-Through Swimsuit (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, "Tori Praver Shows Off While Wearing a See-Through Swimsuit (VIDEO)."

Alexandra Daddario for GQ Spain

At Egotastic!, "Alexandra Daddario Showing Off Her Heavenly Racktastic for GQ."

And at GotCeleb, "Alexandra Daddario – GQ Spain Magazine (July/August 2017)."

Shop Today's Deals

At Amazon, Today's Deals New deals. Every day. Shop our Deal of the Day, Lightning Deals and more daily deals and limited-time sales.

And here, Deals in Car Stereos, Speakers, and More.

More here, Logitech H800 Wireless Headset for PC, Tablets and Smartphones, Bluetooth Headphones with Mic.

Also, Best Sellers in Televisions.

More, Deals in Laptops.

Plus, Shop Gourmet Food.

Still more, Large Beach Towel, Pool Towel, in Cabana Stripe - (Variety, 4 pack, 30x60 inches) - Cotton - by Utopia Towel.

Again, Koffee Kult DARK ROAST COFFEE BEANS (Whole Bean 5 Lbs) - Highest Quality Delicious Organically Sourced Fair Trade - Whole Bean Coffee - Fresh Gourmet Aromatic.

BONUS: Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.

Kylie Jenner Flashed Upskirt as She Headed into Craig's Restaurant in Los Angeles

At Cosmopolitan, "Kylie Jenner Accidentally Flashes Her Crotch to Photographers."

And at Taxi Driver, "Kylie Jenner Pantie Upskirt in Tiny Dress."

Katie Hopkins: 'You are Frankenstein. I am your monster...' (VIDEO)

She's a freakin' righteous woman.

Our liberal press is biased. People like you give voice to people like me. You are Frankenstein. I am your monster pic.twitter.com/rF9TDTActR

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) June 26, 2017

Jennifer Delacruz's Monday Forecast

As usual, this clip wasn't available before I hit the sack, but Ms. Jennifer's always worth a post.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

Noel Monk and Joe Layden, Runnin' with the Devil

Something different for you.

At Amazon, Noel Monk and Joe Layden, Runnin' with the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen.

Anne Tyler, The Amateur Marriage

I picked this book off my shelf a couple of weeks ago to read. The receipt was still in there: I got 25 percent off (it was $5.99) at Target.

It's a perfectly fine book, comforting and humorous. And a rather quick read.

I need to have a novel in progress while I'm reading my big non-fiction and history tomes. It helps if it's a short novel as well, so I can rip through it and feel a sense of accomplishment.

So, with Anne Tyler, it got me to thinking: Should I read more of her books? I bought this one on a whim, as it was. I was about to move into my town-home in Tustin and I was worried about disposable income after the mortgage payments would be due. I stocked up on all kinds of books. I go through jags and obsessive spurts like that.

I was about to give this one to the local library, since I have so many books on my shelves left unread after years and years of just sitting there, but I decided to give it a go, just to feel like I read some "pulp fiction."

In any case, it's worth a look.

At Amazon, Anne Tyler, The Amateur Marriage: A Novel.

Giulio Meotti, A New Shoah

At Amazon, Giulio Meotti, A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism.

ICYMI: Marjorie J. Spruill, Divided We Stand

At Amazon, Marjorie J. Spruill, Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women's Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics.

Austin Ruse, Fake Science

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, available July 17th, Austin Ruse, Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

"Crazy Bernie Sanders" trending on Twitter -Made with 100% corrupt ingredients (Bank fraud included) https://t.co/Oj98iIxEAZ pic.twitter.com/GQ5wfaOojV

— BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) June 25, 2017

Also at Theo's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: Ben Garrison.

Chicago Dyke March Collective Removes Pro-Israel Queers Waving Jewish Pride Flag from Annual LGBT Parade

It's come to this.

At Haaretz, "Chicago ‘Dyke March’ Bans Jewish Pride Flags: ‘They Made People Feel Unsafe’" (via Memeorandum).

Also at Twitchy, "TRIGGERED: Guess the country’s flag banned by tolerant lefties at Pride parade in Chicago."

"As a Jew, I'm not welcome here." If you get "triggered" by a Star of David you need to check your racism. https://t.co/BedsxAjlZJ

— Alex Ryvchin (@AlexRyvchin) June 25, 2017

Dyke March organizer explains the group's decision to expel Jews from Chicago Pride parade. https://t.co/9mgKhbXNig pic.twitter.com/8XYs109bUP

— John-Paul Pagano (@johnpaulpagano) June 25, 2017

Yeah so asking Pride marchers who display a Star of David to leave? That isn't "pro-Palestinian." It's anti-Semitic. https://t.co/h9qj8JT1JS

— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 25, 2017

The Dyke March Chicago also banned American flags as symbols of oppression. They allowed flags from other countries. Give me a fucking break

— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 25, 2017

The idea that America is uniquely oppressive among nations is one of the more idiotic things I have ever heard (and I've heard a lot!)

— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 25, 2017

Pop quiz: Do gays have more rights in A) Israel or B) the Palestinian Authority? https://t.co/fXAPuJenfO

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 25, 2017