Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Ellen Alexander Photoshoot

At Taxi Driver, "Ellen Alexander in a See-Through Nightie on a Photoshoot."

The Democratic Party No Longer Believes in Hard Work

From Betsy McCaughey, at the Post:


Would you rather show up at work on time or stretch out on the sofa and watch TV? Stupid question. Most people punch a clock out of necessity. But progressive Democrats want to make work optional, and to guarantee a slew of benefits to everyone, whether they get off the couch or not. It's a slap in the face to America's workforce.

Some 70 Democrats in the House of Representatives -- more than one-third of the party's representatives -- endorsed a plan on Thursday to outlaw private health insurance and force all Americans into a government-run system. Let's be clear. This plan is not about helping the needy. The plan would rip away medical coverage from half of all Americans, including the 157 million who get their insurance the old-fashioned way -- earning it through a job. The plan, dubbed "Medicare for All," would prohibit employers -- even giant companies that self-insure -- from covering workers, retirees or their families.

Union workers with gold-plated health benefits would have to give them up and settle for the same coverage as people who refuse to work at all. Why work?

Apparently, the Democratic Party no longer believes in work.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is taking the opposite route -- beefing up work incentives. Last Thursday, the president's Council of Economic Advisers revealed that about half of able-bodied adults who collect benefits, such as food stamps, housing aid or Medicaid, work zero hours, while the nation's working stiffs pay the tab.

Why should people toil if they can get take it easy and get freebies instead? No wonder nearly 1 out of every 5 working-age adults collects these benefits. Dependence soared during the Obama administration, while workforce participation plummeted.


Nice Catch!

Country girls on Twitter:


Long List for the Man Booker Award

At the New York Times, and more authors at the Guardian U.K. below:


Very Patriotic!

Seen on Twitter:


#CarrFire Mow Most Destructive in County History

This was at USA Today yesterday, "Amid 'apocalyptic' Carr Fire, local newspaper informs Redding community."

And at the Redding Record Searchlight today, "UPDATE: Carr Fire now most destructive in Shasta County history."

Newspapers are dying, so I'll highlight interesting legacy media stories when I see them. There's still little as enjoyable and worthwhile than sitting down to a cup of coffee and the newspaper in the morning. Just relax, wake up to some coffee and victuals, and learn about what happening in the world. (Those are the days, and they may be the days in the past. See Megan McArdle, "the Daily News tweetstorm you've all been waiting for. Safe to exhale now.")

Megan Parry's Tuesday Forecast

It's nice weather. I can't complain.



When Will #Dems Condemn the Left's Growing Turn to Violence?

From Karol Markowicz, at the New York Post:


Monday, July 30, 2018

'Saving Private Ryan' Premiered 20 Years Ago This Week

Here's an excellent, I mean really excellent piece, at LAT, "'Saving Private Ryan' at 20: How Spielberg's vivid D-Day story changed war movies forever":


The Omaha Beach sequence was naturally the most challenging scene in the film. Baby boomer audiences had previously seen the 1962 version of the battle in Darryl F. Zanuck’s “The Longest Day.” However, it was shot from a distance, and Spielberg was determined to put his cameras right in the surf as the men came ashore.

Before shooting began, the director spoke with author Stephen E. Ambrose, considered one of the top World War II historians in the country. Says Spielberg, “Stephen Ambrose gave me contact information for some of the veterans who had actually stormed Omaha and Utah Beach on June 6th — he had interviewed a lot of them for his book ‘Citizen Soldiers’ — and I met with a couple of them.

“I remember one of the guys telling me the entire charge up the beach was a blur — not a blur to his memory, because he still remembered every single grain of sand when he had his face buried in it from that fusillade raining down on them from above. But he described how everything was not in focus for him. And he described the sounds, and he described the vibrations of every concussion of every 88 shell that hit the beach, which gave some of them bloody noses, rattled their ears. The ground would come up and slam into their faces from the concussions.”
RTWT.

Also, Kenneth Turan's original movie review, "Review: Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan' is a raw and powerful work that overcomes a conventional script."

Woman Attacked in Walmart Parking Lot (VIDEO)

I sent this to my wife and she texted me back, "OMG!"



#Democrats 'Outside the Mainstream' (VIDEO)

Actually, the findings in this poll aren't that dramatic,and they don't shine a particularly good light on Republicans. I wrote about it here, "Majority of Americans Believes #Democrats Are 'Outside The Mainstream' of Acceptable Politics."

And now at Fox News:



Saturday, July 28, 2018

Megan Abundis' Central Coast Weather Forecast

She's a sweetie.

For KSBY News 6 San Luis Obispo:



Shopping Today

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BONUS: Jerome R. Corsi, Killing the Deep State: The Fight to Save President Trump.

Natasha Oakley and Devin Brugman at Miami Swim Week (PHOTOS)

At London's Daily Mail, "Natasha Oakley and Devin Brugman flaunt their sun-kissed curves as they sandwich themselves between some bikini-clad babes at Miami Swim Week."


Alex Jones and Infowars Fight Radical Left's Campaign of Censorship (VIDEO)

I don't care about Alex Jones, although I think he's hilarious. I generally won't pay attention to anyone who claims September 11 was an inside job. I hate that. It's insidious, and it actually aligns with the radical left's agenda (which I saw first hand in my coverage of ANSWER protests in Los Angeles.)

But this is interesting, nevertheless.

At London's Daily Mail, "YouTube ditches videos from Infowars founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as part of its latest bid to 'remove hate speech' from the site."

And at CNET, "YouTube is playing whack-a-mole, but Infowars keeps streaming."



Roseanne Hannity Interview (VIDEO)

At USA Today, "Roseanne Barr finally apologizes to Valerie Jarrett on 'Hannity' — and then tells her she needs to get a haircut":

Hannity asked Barr several times what she would say to Jarrett if she were watching. It took her a while to get around to something, but eventually Barr said:
Let’s talk about it. Let’s really turn this into a teachable moment. We need to talk about race and everything that’s connected to it. Her skin tone is like mine, and I’m brown. I didn’t know she was African-American. I assumed because she was from Iran and she lived in Iran for such a long time. If she’s watching, I’m so sorry you thought I was racist and you thought that my tweet was racist because it wasn’t. It was political. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding that caused my ill-worded tweet. I’m sorry that you feel harmed and hurt. I never meant that.
"For that, I apologize. I never meant to hurt anybody or say anything negative about an entire race of people. My 30 years of work can attest to that,” she added.

And then: "Plus, I'd tell her she needs to get a new haircut."

If the last part sounds insensitive, well, sure, but it also speaks to what made the interview so bizarre and unsatisfying: Barr is a comic, first and foremost, and she could not stop being one Thursday night...

Blood Moon

Going around on Twitter.

Amazing:


Two Killed in #CarrFire in California (VIDEO)

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Carr Fire kills two firefighters near Redding, destroys 500 structures":

REDDING — The ferocious Carr Fire that ripped into this city of 90,000 after winds blew it over the Sacramento River has taken the life of a second firefighter, destroyed 500 structures and prompted authorities to expand evacuations Friday.

The intensity of the heat created fire whirlwinds that uprooted trees and turned over cars as 37,000 residents fled for their lives after the fire entered the northwest side of the city late Thursday night.

Three people were missing — two young children and their great-grandmother, who were last known to be at a home that was leveled by the fire, a family friend said.

“This fire is a long way from being done,” Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said at a news conference. “We’re seeing fire whirls — literally what can be described as a tornado. ... These are extreme conditions. This is how fires are burning in California. We need to take heed. Evacuate. Evacuate. Evacuate.”

By Friday night, 48,000 acres had burned and only 5 percent of the blaze was contained. Five hundred structures were destroyed and 75 damaged, Cal Fire Shasta-Trinity Unit officials said...
More.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Majority of Americans Believes #Democrats Are 'Outside The Mainstream' of Acceptable Politics

This was the finding in this week's new WSJ/NBC News poll.

At Free Beacon, "Poll: Majority Say Dem Candidates 'Out of Step' With Most Americans’ Thinking."

The catch here is that in July 2016, when Obama was still in office, a plurality of 48 percent thought the Democrats were outside the mainstream. That's the change. Now respondents see both parties outside the mainstream, but the GOP has ticked down a couple of points while the number for the Dems has increased 8 points. That's important, especially in this election year.

And see Joseph Curl, "More Americans than ever find Democrats out of the mainstream."

Today's Gold Box and Lightning Deals

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BONUS: Jamie Glazov, Jihadist Psychopath: How He Is Charming, Seducing, and Devouring Us.

Swedish Student Blocks Afghani's Deportation by Refusing to Sit Down Until Man Was Removed from Flight (VIDEO)

Oh, the "woke" Scandinavian progressives. Notice how the woman was the "lone" activist on the plane. No doubt all the other passengers were glad the jihidist-in-waiting was getting the boot.

And woke journalists at the Guardian were all over it, with video too. See, "Swedish student's plane protest stops Afghan man's deportation 'to hell'":


A lone student activist on board a plane at Gothenburg airport has prevented the deportation of an Afghan asylum seeker from Sweden by refusing to sit down until the man was removed from the flight.

Her successful protest, footage of which spread rapidly across the internet, shines a spotlight on domestic opposition to Sweden’s tough asylum regime, at a time when immigration and asylum are topping the agenda of a general election campaign in which the far right is polling strongly.

“I hope that people start questioning how their country treats refugees,” Elin Ersson, 21, told the Guardian in an interview. “We need to start seeing the people whose lives our immigration [policies] are destroying.”

The social work student at Gothenburg University bought a ticket for the flight from Gothenburg to Turkey on Monday morning, after she and other asylum activists found out that a young Afghan was due to be deported on it. In fact he was not on the plane but activists discovered another Afghan man in his 50s was onboard for deportation.

As she entered the plane, Ersson started to livestream her protest in English. The video received more than 4m hits on Tuesday.

Facing both sympathy and hostility from passengers, the footage shows Ersson struggling to keep her composure. “I don’t want a man’s life to be taken away just because you don’t want to miss your flight,” she says. “I am not going to sit down until the person is off the plane.”
Yes. Hostility. Watch the video and you can see some pissed off passengers. She should've gotten the boot and the Afghani jihadist should have stayed for the ride back to his s***hole country.

Still more.


CNN's Smirking Gimp Kaitlan Collins Booted from Rose Garden Press Event (VIDEO)

She smirks. The corners of her lips curve upward in the most unbecoming look. She's nasty looking even.

At Politico:



Fat Activism

A great post at the Other McCain, "You Need Some ‘Fat Positive Activism’?"



Customer Claims Otay Ranch ARCO Double Charged (VIDEO)

What a total scam. I don't doubt this for a minute.

At ABC 10 News San Diego:



Graham Greene, The Human Factor

At Amazon, Graham Greene, The Human Factor (Penguin Classics).



Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Georgia Gibbs Wet T-Shirt (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.



Facebook Shares Tumble; Mark Zuckerberg Hardest Hit

Hehe.

I haven't checked my Facebook feed all summer. I don't care about it anymore.

And I certainly don't care about Mark Zuckerberg. He lost $16 billion in personal market value today? Well, that's just too bad. I'm all torn up about it.

At Bloomberg, "Zuckerberg Loses $16.8 Billion in a Snap as Facebook Plunges."



Amazing Lindsey Pelas

She's incredible.


More here and here.

Bernard Malamud, The Fixer

At Amazon, Bernard Malamud, The Fixer: A Novel.



Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent

At Amazon, Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent: A Novel.



Nice Photos

At Theo's, "Pic Dump..."

Megan Parry's Heat Advisory Forecast

It's more humid than a couple weeks ago, but still doesn't seem as hot as that one day when it was 109. That was a nightmare. The power went out on us.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:



Breannah Black Bikini Curves

At Egotastic, "Breannah Black’s Ridiculous Bikini Curves Are the Perfect Thing."

Jennifer Aniston Sunbathing

At Taxi Driver, "Jennifer Aniston Sunbathing in Blue Bikini."

Allie Beth Stuckey Will Not Apologize for Hilarious Satirical Interview with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Allie Beth Stuckey's Satirical Interview with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Gets Over One Million Views on Facebook -- and Leftists Are Furious!"

Here she is:


LAPD Releases Video of Trader Joe's Firefight

The police department was already taken heat for engage the suspect even before it was known whether a police officer's weapon killed the store manager.

Now it's confirmed, and oh boy, what a nightmare public relations scenario.

At LAT, "A wild chase, a gun battle, then tragedy as officer's bullet kills Trader Joe's employee":

Two Los Angeles police officers tore through traffic on Rowena Avenue on Saturday afternoon in a high-speed pursuit of an attempted murder suspect driving a Toyota Camry.

Suddenly, the back window of the Camry shattered.

Forty-five seconds later, the Camry veered into a utility pole in front of a Trader Joe’s and the driver bolted for the entrance, firing his gun wildly from his hip, according to dashboard and body-cam footage released by the Los Angeles Police Department on Tuesday.

The officers had less than two seconds to react before the gunman fled into a store full of shoppers. But a bad shot could hit a bystander. The video showed a man by the entrance and another behind the wreck, but not who was behind the glass front doors.

The officers opened fire. The suspect was hit in the arm but made it into the store, shooting at least three times at police from inside. A beloved Trader Joe’s manager, Melyda Corado, 27, died in the shootout.

On Tuesday, the police chief announced that one of the officers’ bullets had killed her.

“On behalf of myself and the rest of the department, I want to express my deepest condolences and sympathy to her family and everyone that knew her,” Chief Michel Moore said of Corado. “I know that it’s every officer’s worst nightmare to hurt an innocent bystander during a violent engagement. I spoke with the officers this morning — they’re devastated. They were devastated in the immediate aftermath of this event.”

Moore said she was coming out of the market and was close to the suspect. Gene Atkins, who allegedly had shot his grandmother earlier Saturday, survived the gunshot wound and surrendered to authorities hours later. No one else was injured...
More.

Heatwave Stokes Fear of Power Outages

That's a legitimate fear, considering that the power went out a couple of weeks ago when the mercury hit 109.

(As for wildfires, we've always had them in California, because we've always had the Santa Anas.)

At LAT, "'This is what the future looks like': Heat wave stokes fears of power outages and fires":


When a blistering heat wave struck the Southland earlier this month, the region’s electric grid was so overwhelmed that more than 100,000 customers in Los Angeles had at some point lost power. Some went days without electricity.

Now, as Southern California endures another round of scorching heat that forecasters expect will shatter daily records in some areas on Wednesday, utility officials are hoping to avoid similar chaos by staffing extra workers and imploring residents to ease up on their thermostats to give the aging power system a chance to cool down.

“It’s similar to running your car at 100 mph, nonstop,” said Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokesman Joe Ramallo, referring to those who blast their air conditioning day and night. “Eventually, you’re going to have some problems. Distribution equipment is like that — it needs a break.”

Southern California Edison, which brings power to much of the region, is also urging people to reduce their electricity use during peak hours. State officials have issued a Flex Alert, calling on the public to turn off unnecessary lights and hold off on running major appliances until late in the evening Wednesday.

Forecasters predict daytime highs will reach between 90 and 102 degrees in the coastal plains and between 98 and 108 in the valleys. Desert areas could hover around 110 degrees, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service.

Public health officials in Riverside County reported six heat-related deaths this month. Most of those who died were elderly, including a 91-year-old from Riverside who died of prolonged heat exposure in a home without cooling measures, said Jose Arballo Jr., spokesman with the Riverside University Health System.

“Plan somewhere to go if you have to go, if you lose power,” Seto said.

As temperatures spiked Monday, about 3,800 customers — most in Beverly Grove — temporarily lost power. By midday Tuesday, Ramallo said only a few dozen people were reporting problems.

While additional DWP crews will be available Wednesday to jump on any outages, the utility is also taking steps to address the grid problems in the long term, which could involve planned power outages in residential neighborhoods...
More.

Rep. Jim Clyburn Signals That Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Will Have to Wait Her Turn for Leadership

This is excellent.

At Buzzfeed, of all places:


Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Shop Deals

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Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320

1320 feet is a quarter mile, so that's a cool number for the new Dodge Challenger Scat Pack, which is essentially a dragster.

At Road and Track, "The Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 Takes a Page From Porsche":


Today, Dodge announced the new 2019 Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320, a lightweight, dragstrip-oriented version of the Challenger R/T. In essence, it's a naturally aspirated, narrow-body version of the Challenger Demon, named "1320" for the number of feet in a quarter-mile. With a 485-horsepower, 6.4-liter V8, a zero-to-60 time of 3.8 seconds, and a quarter-mile of 11.7 seconds, Dodge says it's the quickest naturally aspirated muscle car on sale today. It's also the result of a brilliant strategy that reminds us of one of our other favorite performance-car brands, Porsche. And no, we haven't lost our minds.

Much of the cool stuff from the Challenger Demon has slowly trickled down into the rest of the Challenger lineup. The 840-horsepower Demon’s bolt-on fender flares soon found a new home on the 707-horse Hellcat Widebody for 2018. The huge 2.7-liter supercharger from the Demon, along with some supporting engine mods, help give the 2019 Hellcat Redeye its 797-horsepower rating. And the 2019 R/T Scat Pack Widebody is basically a Hellcat Widebody without the supercharger. Plus, there's the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, which borrows its 707-horsepower engine from the Hellcat and receives the Demon's clever Torque Fill system for quick dragstrip launches. Basically, Fiat-Chrysler has been spreading the Demon's best bits all around the SRT family.

The new R/T Scat Pack 1320 joins that list. From the Demon, the 1320 gets adaptive dampers with a special mode to help transfer weight to the rear axle during launches; a TransBrake that locks the output shaft of the eight-speed automatic to build revs at a standstill at the starting line; and Torque Reserve, a computer-controlled ignition timing system designed to maximize the power the engine's kicking out as the car is straining to leave the starting line.

There's also a line-lock function so you can preheat the tires with a big smoky burnout, and systems to minimize wheelspin and axle-hop on hard drag launches. For hardware, the 1320 gets upgraded half-shafts from the Demon, plus sticky, 275-mm wide Nexen street-legal drag radials, a super-sticky summer-only tire. And like the Demon, the 1320 comes standard with only a driver's seat, for maximum weight saving—though you can option a front passenger seat and rear seats for $1 each. Equipped with only a driver's seat, the 1320 weighs 4127 lbs—87 lbs lighter than a regular R/T Scat Pack. In terms of looks, the 1320 is closer to a narrow-body Hellcat—it has that car's vent-and-scoop hood and large trunk spoiler—though the split grille and the "1320" bumblebee logo give it away as a non-supercharged Challenger...
More.

Added: Lots more details at PR Newswire, "2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320: Beware of the Angry Bee at the Drag Strip."

Justice Department Wants Refund from Georgia Sheriff Who Bought Dodge Muscle Car

This Georgia sheriff's department bought a Hellcat with asset forfeiture funds, heh.

At Instapundit, "YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK — AND PLAY: Justice Department Wants Refund from Sheriff Who Bought a Dodge Charger Hellcat."

Hey, "That's My Dodge," lol.



Allie Beth Stuckey's Satirical Interview with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Gets Over One Million Views on Facebook -- and Leftists Are Furious!

This is really just too precious.

On Twitter:


Taylor Swift in Mini Skirt

At Popaholic, "Taylor Swift Flashing All of Her Insanely Sexy Legs in a Kinky Short Skirt… WOW!"

Also at Taxi Driver, "Taylor Swift Pantie Peek Upskirt in Mini Skirt."

Do You Fly Coach?

If you do, and I do, you're sucked.

CEOs defend packing 'em in like sardines on the major airlines coach sections.

At WSJ, "When Airline CEOs Try the Cheap Seats."


Monday, July 23, 2018

Raising a Black Daughter in a Red State

I was raised in Orange County, in California, one of the reddest of the red states back in the 1970s. I have two sisters. Being a black (mixed-race) person, there's some things you deal with as a racial minority. Unfortunately, you have to deal with racism. We were lucky, though. Our parents were educated and middle class. We had a nice home in a nice area, with good schools. Our family was cultured. We traveled, in the U.S. and to Europe. I don't ever think my parents said it was a "heartbreak" to raise us in California. If anything, my dad thought it was much better than being raised in the South.

But this piece, from Shanita Hubbard at NYT, is a new classic in the genre of geographical polarization. If you're going to face racism, it's not going to be exclusively in "red states." You're just going to experience it and you're going to learn to deal with it, manage it, and make it less debilitating. And America today is nowhere near where it was back in the 1970s when I was growing up. It's much better, so much better, even in the Deep South.

In any case, FWIW, "The Heartbreak of Raising a Black Daughter in a Red State":


Nearly two years ago, I moved with my daughter, who was then 7, from Yonkers to a small town in Pennsylvania. It’s minutes outside of New Jersey, but right in the heart of Donald Trump’s America. Sixty-one percent of the people in my county voted for him.

Drive through most communities in my town and you’ll still see large blue Trump campaign signs on perfectly manicured lawns. Chances are, you’ll spot at least two newer-model pickup trucks with Confederate flag license plate frames. As I, a black woman, move through my daily routine, I exchange nonverbal social pleasantries with my neighbors — gestures that are calculated to avoid the kind of actual conversation that could quickly become uncomfortable. A quick nod. A small smile. But all the unspoken words that haunt my interactions in stores and on sidewalks seem to fall freely from children’s lips on the school playground.

Raising a brown girl in a solidly red area of a red state is giving me a front-row view of the way the current political climate is affecting young children.

In the past few months, it seems, there is a new, sad, pithy hashtag trending every week or so — a white person calling the police on a black family barbecuing, a black boy mowing a lawn or a little black girl selling bottled water. The interactions are dangerous and also send a dangerous message to children: There are people who believe you don’t belong here. That’s the message I worry my daughter will get every time we drive to school behind a car with a Confederate flag bumper sticker, and worse — when she’s with her classmates and I’m not there to protect her.

When I’m feeling particularly optimistic, I imagine that these kids must have been busy playing, out of earshot, when Mr. Trump’s calling African nations “shithole countries” was reported on the evening news. I try to convince myself that if their parents are defending a man who referred to neo-Nazis as “fine people,” it’s after all the children have gone to bed. I hold out a glimmer of hope that any praise for the “Muslim ban” is saved for when the youngest members of the household are preoccupied with screen time. I assure myself that no mother or father would tell a child that migrant kids from Mexico deserve to be separated from their parents and detained because they are “illegal.”

I am consistently jolted back to reality, and not just by evidence on the internet, like a video that surfaced of two white parents teaching children to be “patriotic” by vandalizing a mosque. My reminders come in the form of my daughter’s answers to “How was your school today?” One recent afternoon she reported that two girls she considered friends could no longer play with her. The reason: She’s brown...
I actually don't believe this story, about how kids wouldn't play with her daughter because "she's brown." And if something like this does happen, so what? You can't force people to play with you. Go find someone you like and enjoy being with. The world's not perfect, and it didn't start not being perfect with President Trump. What's wrong with our country today is leftist political correctness. It's so stultifying and hateful. I don't enjoy following politics and teaching politics as much as I used to, for these reasons exactly.

More at the link, FWIW.

Jeanine Pirro, Liars, Leakers, and Liberals

*BUMPED.*

Following-up, "Judge Jeanine Pirro Claims Whoopi Goldberg Treated Her Like a 'Dog' and Told Her to 'F*** Off' (VIDEO)."

At Amazon, Jeanine Pirro, Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy.



Branson Duck Boat Tragedy (VIDEO)

At USA Today, "'Death traps': Federal officials have warned about dangers from duck boats for two decades," and "'I thought I was dead': Branson duck boat passenger who lost 9 family members shares survival story."

And watch, at CBS Evening News, "Video of duck boat's final moments show it struggling to stay afloat," and "Duck boats have a history of deadly accidents."

Also at NYT:


Shop 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.

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More here, Buck Knives 0119 Special Fixed Blade Knife with Leather Sheath - 75th Anniversary Edition.

BONUS: Kurt Schlichter, Conservative Insurgency.

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Democratic Socialism Rising

I'm glad.

This is a positive development, for leftists can't hide behind the "not really socialism" lie anymore. We can call them as well see them. Hateful, murderous Marxists.

At AP, "Democratic socialism rising in the age of Trump":

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A week ago, Maine Democrat Zak Ringelstein wasn’t quite ready to consider himself a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, even if he appreciated the organization’s values and endorsement in his bid to become a U.S. senator.

Three days later, he told The Associated Press it was time to join up. He’s now the only major-party Senate candidate in the nation to be a dues-paying democratic socialist.

Ringelstein’s leap is the latest evidence of a nationwide surge in the strength and popularity of an organization that, until recently, operated on the fringes of the liberal movement’s farthest left flank. As Donald Trump’s presidency stretches into its second year, democratic socialism has become a significant force in Democratic politics. Its rise comes as Democrats debate whether moving too far left will turn off voters.

“I stand with the democratic socialists, and I have decided to become a dues-paying member,” Ringelstein told AP. “It’s time to do what’s right, even if it’s not easy.”

There are 42 people running for offices at the federal, state and local levels this year with the formal endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America, the organization says. They span 20 states, including Florida, Hawaii, Kansas and Michigan.

The most ambitious Democrats in Washington have been reluctant to embrace the label, even as they embrace the policies defining modern-day democratic socialism: Medicare for all, a $15 minimum wage, free college tuition and the abolition of the federal department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Congress’ only self-identified democratic socialist, campaigned Friday with the movement’s newest star, New York City congressional candidate Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old former bartender who defeated one of the most powerful House Democrats last month.

Her victory fed a flame that was already beginning to burn brighter. The DSA’s paid membership has hovered around 6,000 in the years before Trump’s election, said Allie Cohn, a member of the group’s national political team.

Last week, its paid membership hit 45,000 nationwide.

There is little distinction made between the terms “democratic socialism” and “socialism” in the group’s literature. While Ringelstein and other DSA-backed candidates promote a “big-tent” philosophy, the group’s constitution describes its members as socialists who “reject an economic order based on private profit” and “share a vision of a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning, equitable distribution, feminism, racial equality and non-oppressive relationships.”
These are bad people. Very bad.

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "'I believe that in a modern, moral and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live...' (VIDEO)."

Robert Spencer, The History of Jihad

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Robert Spencer, available August 7th, The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS.


Elizaveta Tchigvintseva

Wow, what a name, heh.

At Editorials Fashions Trends, "Elizaveta Tchigvintseva by Alexey Trifonov."

Apply the Same Rules to James Gunn

If you were on Twitter yesterday (where else?), you probably heard about the James Gunn controversy. It turns out the dude, who's the creator and director of "Guardians of the Galaxy," posted thousands of tweets (allegedly jokingly) promoting pedophilia, sexual assault, and other racist or taboo comments.

He's now been fired by the Walt Disney Company. See the Wrap, "Disney Drops James Gunn From 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Franchise After Offensive Tweets."


A number of conservatives were defending Gunn, saying that he shouldn't have been fired for offensive tweets. Personally, I'm glad he was fired. We're in an attack culture. Gunn was apparently a vicious member of "the resistance" against President Trump. I see no reason to carve out an exception for someone like this when conservatives are constantly harassed, deplatformed, fired, and demonetized simply for expressing conservative viewpoints. And as someone whose personal livelihood (and person) was viciously attacked by diabolical leftists for years, I'm still in the war mode. Fuck 'em.

In any case, AoSHQ, who is no longer posting on Twitter, wrote a series of posts yesterday about the story.

See, "Marvel/Disney Director James Gunn in Twitter Flap." And especially this part:
What complicates this, of course, is that Disney fired Roseanne Barr for making a joke that the left claimed was racist, but will not, I assume, fire James Gunn for making pedophilia jokes.

Incidentally, I believe both Roseanne Bar and James Gunn. I think Roseanne Barr did not know Valerie Jarrett was black for a simple reason: Because I didn't know that myself.

She says she assumed Jarrett was Iranian; I believe that, because I assumed that too. I always heard of Valerie Jarrett's family's close relations to Iran; I assumed that meant they were Iranian.

I also think James Gunn was just making a lot of edgy jokes.

But Disney did fire Barr -- so should Gunn be spared the Social Justice whip?

Although one might say two wrongs don't make a right, let me explain the wrong I care about avoiding: the wrong in which liberals are permitted to say whatever they like without consequence, but where I will be fired and hounded out of civil society for saying the same sort of thing.

I will not put up with that, and yeah, I think I'll demand a bullshit firing of James Gunn, because I will insist on the #SameRules applying to both liberals and myself.

So yeah, fire this pedo-normalizing monster.
Also, "Report: James Gunn Fired from Guardians of the Galaxy," and "I Was Wrong. James Gunn Was a Scalp-Hunting SJW Himself."



Note that Ace is being entirely consistent with his earlier position on attack politics and its consequences. Go back to this post from last year, "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum -- Again":
It is imperative we begin emulating the left in its tactics.

A couple of years ago, I suggested a completely different strategy: I wanted to pursue a kinder path. I wanted an end to the speech wars and social media mobs and boycotts and all the rest of it.

But that path has been tried, and it has failed. Passive resistance -- moral resistance -- can only work when dealing with opponents with morality and honor, or who, at least, see you as more than subhuman.

Gandhi's tactics would not have worked had India been colonized by, say, China.

Many on the right, or even liberals who lean to the left but who still hold to classic liberal traditions, have called, endlessly, for an end to the Speech Wars.

That failed.

We've been trying this for years. Two or three years in my own case.

Has this sweet music of reason had any positive effect of soothing the passions of the beast?

Well, watch this video of the Empowered Mob demanding more firings at Evergreen college last week, and tell me the path of merely condemning mob lunacy is having any effect at all.

The Empowered, Privileged Mob demanded -- demanded! -- that white people absent themselves from their space, and this is what happened to those who said, "No, that's racist, and teaching class is my job."

Embarrassed by their own repulsive behavior, the Privileged Mob is now demanding -- demanding! again, like emotionally unstable toddlers -- that this video be taken down and that consequences be visited on whoever "stole" it.

This is not working.

People calling for an end to the Speech Wars have a good end in mind -- most people would just love it if not every single minor consumer transaction were not politicized, if not every single public faux pas were not a call to the Social Justice Wolves to come and feed -- but the current strategy, championed by most who want to get to this end-point, is not working.

The dispute I have with them now is not over their preferred end-state -- I deeply desire the end-state they seek, where people actually have freedom to think and speak as they want, and not every fucking mundane movie-ticket purchase is either a Cause or a Crisis -- but the current policy of "unilateral disarmament, and hope that the Monster Babies will learn from our example" is a total, dismal, catastrophic failure.

In order to learn at all, it is required that someone first believe that he has anything to learn at all, and we know that progressives do not see conservatives as people from whom anything can be learned -- they see us as subhumans to be re-educated and reconstructed into civilized savages who at least won't embarrass them as we tend their gardens...
RTWT.

And note that it's Mike Cernovich who really did the work to bring this guy down. At the Wrap, "Meet Mike Cernovich, the Right-Wing Provocateur Who Got James Gunn Fired."

And on Twitter below:



Emily Ratajkowski Bikini in Greece

Oh to be young again!

Nice Cap

It's beach weather. Get out there and check out some fabulous women!


Friday, July 20, 2018

Pro-Life Groups Mobilize the Ground Game

I love this.

At NYT, "‘I’m Doing It for the Babies’: Inside the Ground Game to Reverse Roe v. Wade":


AVON, Ind. — Armed with sunscreen, doorknob fliers and a mission 50 years in the making, the team of activists sporting blue “I Vote Pro-Life” T-shirts fanned out into a web of cul-de-sacs in a subdivision just west of Indianapolis, undeterred by towering rain clouds and 90-degree heat.

It was exactly a week after President Trump had named Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to be his nominee for the Supreme Court, and the group was joking that they had a new sport: Extreme Canvassing.

In short surveys, the teams ask voters about their hopes for Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation and their opposition to abortion funding. Canvassers have knocked at nearly 1.2 million homes nationwide in recent months, and by November, they are slated to reach their goal of 2 million.

“Whenever I’m feeling tired, I say, ‘I’m doing it for the babies,’” said Kaiti Shannon, 19, as she consulted a mobile app to determine which porch with wind chimes to approach...
More.

Hailey Clauson Explains What it Takes to Be a Model (VIDEO)

Well, it helps to have some tight honking hooters, lol.

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:




Margot Robbie Wet Swimsuit

At Drunken Stepfather, "Margot Robbie Wet Swimsuit of the Day."

Ariel Winter in Her Pajamas

At Taxi Driver, "Ariel Winter in her PJ's."

Judge Jeanine Pirro Claims Whoopi Goldberg Treated Her Like a 'Dog' and Told Her to 'F*** Off' (VIDEO)

Heh. This is the best.

Hot Air had a good and related post yesterday, "“Say Goodbye!”: Judge Jeanine’s Appearance on “The View” Goes as Well as Expected; Update: “Get The F*** Out”."

And on Hannity's last night:



USA Today Fires Cheri Jacobus

She's a vile woman and Never Trumper who's got me blocked on Twitter, so lol it's appropriate that she got fired for her vile mouthing-off on Twitter.

At the Wrap, and the USA Today statement below:


Thursday, July 19, 2018

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.

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Still more, NestlΓ© Pure Life Bottled Purified Water, 16.9 oz. Bottles, 24/Case.

And, Samsung (UN55MU6290FXZA) Flat 54.6" LED 4K UHD 6 Series Smart TV (2017 Model) with Solo X3 Bluetooth Home Theater Sound Bar + 6ft HDMI Cable + Universal Screen Cleaner for LED TVs.

BONUS: Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent: A Novel.

Halsey in White

At Taxi Driver, "Halsey Nipples See-Through in White."

The Surreal Helsinki Summit (VIDEO)

Stephen Cohen a professor of history and Russian expert who is married to Katrina vanden Heuvel, the publisher and editor of the far-left magazine the Nation.

Cohen's been a strong critic of U.S. foreign policy toward Russia, arguing that U.S. provocations --- such as the expansion of NATO to the border of the Russian federation, and the American bombing war in Kosovo in the 1990s --- is responsible for hostile U.S.-Russia relations and the every-ready risk of war.

He argues that we're in a new cold war at the video below, an interview with Tucker Carlson from earlier this week.



And here's Ms. Katrina's essay at the Nation yesterday, "Parsing the Surreal From the Sensible in Trump’s Helsinki Performance":
Donald Trump, that self-described “very stable genius,” delivered a remarkably unhinged performance in his press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin after their Helsinki summit. Trump used the global stage to savage Democrats and to attack the Mueller investigation and his own intelligence officials, while once more boasting about his election victory. Putin, clearly pleased to be accorded Trump’s public respect, noted that as “major nuclear powers, we bear special responsibility for maintaining international security.”

Not surprisingly, Trump’s remarks triggered a furious reaction. Former CIA director John Brennan called them “treasonous.” The liberal activist group MoveOn echoed the charge. Republican Senator John McCain called it “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi suggested that Trump’s behavior “proves” that the Russians “must have something on the president.”

In this toxic atmosphere, it is worth parsing the inane from the sensible in what the president said. Trump’s bizarre comments on Russian interference in the 2016 election made it clear that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation should continue....

Although he was widely reviled for it, Trump is also not wrong to say that both powers have contributed to the deteriorating relations. Leaders of the US national-security establishment protest our country’s innocence regarding the tensions in Georgia and Ukraine. But it was perhaps the wisest of them, the eminent diplomat George Kennan, who warned in 1998 that the decision to extend NATO to Russia’s borders was a “tragic mistake” that would eventually provoke a hostile response. “I think it is the beginning of a new cold war,” Kennan said presciently. “I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies.”
RTWT.


#NATO's Challenge is Germany, Not America

From VDH, at American Greatness:

During the recent NATO summit meeting, a rumbustious Donald Trump tore off a thin scab of niceties to reveal a deep and old NATO wound—one that has predated Trump by nearly 30 years and goes back to the end of the Cold War.

In an era when the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact are now ancient history, everyone praises NATO as “indispensable” and “essential” to Western solidarity and European security. But few feel any need to explain how and why that could still be so.

Does NATO still protect the West? Does it prevent destructive European feuding? Does it ensure the postwar global order of free trade, commerce, travel, and communications? And is NATO—or the United States and its leadership of NATO—the real reason there has not been a World War III or a return to global tribalism and chaos?

NATO’s post-Cold War expansion to 29 nations and to the border of Russia meant the alliance became more expansive at the very time the old existential Soviet threat disappeared. Larger membership tended to weaken common ties, even as common dangers disappeared.

The result was that the idea of NATO membership became more important to the countries that are part of it than the reality and responsibility of actual military readiness.

Polls show that in most NATO countries, the idea of fighting on behalf of another country receives scant public support. The notion that the Dutch would march into Estonia to save its capital, Tallinn, from Russia is a cruel joke.

NATO’s 21st-century problem is not the United States, which provides a large percentage of its wherewithal, but Germany. As the most populous and most affluent of European nations, Germany still insidiously dominates Europe as it has since its inception in 1871.

Berlin sends ultimatums to the indebted Southern European nations. Berlin alone tries to dictate immigration policy for the European Union. Berlin establishes the tough conditions under which the United Kingdom can exit the European Union. And when Berlin decides it will not pony up the promised 2 percent of GDP for its NATO contribution, other laggard countries follow its example. Only six of the 29 NATO members (other than the United States) so far have met their promised assessments.

Germany’s combination of affluence and military stinginess is surreal. Germany has piled up the largest trade surplus in the world at around $300 billion, including a trade surplus of some $64 billion with its military benefactor, the United States, yet it is poorly equipped in terms of tanks and fighter aircraft.

Ostensibly, NATO still protects Europe from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, just as it once kept the Soviet Red Army out of West Germany. But over the objections of its Baltic neighbors and the Ukraine, Germany just cut a gas pipeline deal with Russia—the purported threat for which its needs U.S.-subsidized security.

Stranger still is Germany’s growing animosity toward the United States...
More.