Iraqi Troops Storm Downtown Ramadi in Bid to Oust Islamic State Occupiers (VIDEO)

At the Washington Post:

BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces broke into Ramadi’s city center on Tuesday, pushing closer to its main government buildings in what commanders hope will be a final thrust to recapture the key provincial capital from Islamic State militants.

Security forces erected a temporary bridge over a canal to gain access to downtown Ramadi, about 80 miles west of Baghdad, and launch a morning offensive, military leaders said. By nightfall, the troops were within half a mile of the government compound, they added.

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, represents a key battle for Iraqi forces. It is the largest population center they have tried to retake from the Islamic State.

The offensive, backed by U.S. air power, also marks the first major battle for Iraq’s armed forces that has largely excluded pro-government Shiite militias, testing whether the military can go it alone.

“We’ve entered the center,” said Brig. Gen. Hamid al-Fatlawi, commander of the army’s 8th Division. The militants have put up only “simple” resistance, he said...

Keep reading.

Today's the Last Day for 2-Day Shipping at Amazon, If You Want to Put Your Gifts Under the Tree

You better get shopping, heh.

Here, Books in Russian History.

You can still get one-day shipping tomorrow.

BONUS: Star Wars Trilogy (A New Hope / The Empire Strikes Back / Return of the Jedi) (Widescreen Edition with Bonus Disc), and Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (Widescreen Edition).

Must Obama Reach Out to 'Angry White Voters'?

Actually, Obama hates "angry white voters."

I doubt he'd ever deign to "reach out" to them. Frankly, he's constantly demonizing them.

In any case, at Politico, "Why Obama Must Reach Out to Angry Whites:

For all the bad feelings that Donald Trump’s naked religious bigotry and race baiting are conjuring up, it is also providing our nation with an opportunity. The ugly rhetoric just might force the country to finally contend with a problem many don’t even want to acknowledge exists: that we are fast becoming a nation in which minorities make up a majority of the population. As a result, tens of millions of white Americans, accustomed for so long to having all the benefits of being the majority, are scared out of their minds—and it is this fear that Trump is exploiting so effectively. These feelings are emerging not because whites are all racists, but because they don’t know what that might mean for them and their children.

As long as angry, scared white Americans follow Trump and his ugly rhetoric, the racial divide in America will only deepen, and it will become increasingly difficult to solve the nation’s most pressing problems. So the question becomes: Who can counter Donald Trump?

Actually, there's no "naked religious bigotry" nor "ugly rhetoric." Trump's just speaking plainly. We've become a nation where minorities are exempt from criticism, to the point on national suicide.

Still more at that top link, FWIW.

Save 60 Percent Off Singer Products

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And ICYMI, William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era.

'Ultra-Conservative' Protests Against 'Refujihadist' Invasion of Europe (VIDEO)

ABC News calls the populist protests against Islamic refugee invaders "ultra-conservative."

William Taubman, Khrushchev

Remember, as I was finishing up Stephen Kotkin's Stalin, I was wishing I could start on volume 2, but it's not out yet.

So imagine my luck last night when I came across William Taubman's Pulitzer Prize winning biography on Stalin's successor, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era.

I've got almost a half dozen books I'll be ordering after Christmas, and recall that I just started Orlando Figes', A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924, last night.

So, I better quit blogging for awhile and get back to reading.

You can get two-day shipping today at Amazon, so your gifts will arrive in time for Christmas. Have a good one!

Eva Adams Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call (VIDEO)

Well, thank goodness we still have Sports Illustrated, considering.

FHM and Zoo Magazines to 'Suspend' Publication

Following-up from April, "Death of the Lads Mags?"

The feminist campaign to destroy men's magazines in Britain is virtually complete.

At the Telegraph UK, "The end of the lads' mag? FHM and Zoo magazines suspended":

FHM and Zoo magazines are to suspend publication, their publisher has announced.

Bauer Media today set in motion the process to call time on the two titles, effectively ending the presence of so-called 'lads' mags' on newsagent shelves.

"Unfortunately it’s true and it has been announced today the intention to suspend publication of FHM,"  read a statement posted on the FHM website.

"It’s been an absolute joy producing the magazine over the years. Thank you for all your support, we will keep you updated with developments over the coming weeks.

A similar statement published on Zoo's site said: "It is with regret we have to inform you of the intention to suspend publication of ZOO.

"We've loved every minute of the near 12 years and 600-plus issues we've shared with you and would like to thank each and every one of you who've been there with us along the way."

Still more.

Look, even Playboy's ditching the centerfold. It's hard out there for hot red-blooded males.

Defeating ISIS Won't Solve Threat of Islamic Jihad in Syria

At the Telegraph UK, "Defeating Islamic State will not end jihadist threat in Syria, report warns":

Study backed by Tony Blair Faith Foundation says that some 65,000 fighters in Syria who do not support Isil still have jihadist leanings.

Defeating Islamic State will not end jihadist threat in Syria, report warns https://t.co/U6htvDZYN5 pic.twitter.com/Ay40EAyary

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) December 20, 2015

Around 65,000 fighters with jihadist sympathies belong to rebel militias in Syria other than Islamic State, a new report claims, adding to concerns that defeating the group will do little to bring peace to the country.

The study by the Centre on Religion and Geopolitics said fighters with extremist views were to be found across Syria’s rebel groups.

Up to 60 per cent of all rebels belonged to groups with an Islamist agenda, with more than half of those adhering to Salafi-jihadism, the hardline ideology underpinning Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

Some 15 groups besides Isil have jihadist views even if they are currently dedicated to the local fight against the Assad regime, the report said. They include al-Qaeda’s local branch, Jabhat al-Nusra, the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam and one of the most powerful fighting forces, Ahrar al-Sham.

The Centre on Religion and Geopolitics is an arm of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Its senior adviser is Ed Husain, a London-born former Islamist who later set up a think-tank, Quilliam, to promote counter-radicalisation.

“ISIS represents a continuation of a way of thinking that started before it existed and will carry on if it is defeated,” the study says. “The West risks making a strategic failure by focusing only on ISIS.

"Defeating it militarily will not end global jihadism. We cannot bomb an ideology, but our war is ideological.”

Putin's Power Play in Syria

A fantastic analysis, from Angela Stent, at Foreign Affairs, "How to Respond to Russia’s Intervention":

At the end of September, Russia began conducting air strikes in Syria, ostensibly to combat terrorist groups. The strikes constitute Russia’s biggest intervention in the Middle East in decades. Its unanticipated military foray into Syria has transformed the civil war there into a proxy U.S.-Russian conflict and has raised the stakes in the ongoing standoff between Moscow and Washington. It has also succeeded in diverting attention away from Russia’s destabilization of Ukraine, making it impossible for the West to continue to isolate the Kremlin. Russia is now a player in the Syrian crisis, and the United States will have to find a way to deal with it.

Once again, Washington has been caught off-guard, just as it was in March 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and began supporting pro-Russian separatists fighting Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine. For all of Russia’s domestic problems—a shrinking economy, a declining population, and high rates of capital flight and brain drain—it has projected a surprising amount of power not only in its neighborhood but also beyond. U.S. President Barack Obama may refer to Russia as a regional power, but Russia’s military intervention in Syria demonstrates that it once again intends to be accepted as a global actor and play a part in every major international decision. This will be a vexing challenge not only for Obama during his remaining time in office but also for the next occupant of the White House.

Why has Washington been so slow to grasp the new Russian reality? Russian President Vladimir Putin has not kept his agenda a secret. In February 2007, for example, he delivered a scathing critique of U.S. foreign policy at the Munich Security Conference. “One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way,” he warned. Countless times since, Russia has vowed to replace what it sees as a coercive U.S.-led global order with one in which the West respects Russia’s interests. In retrospect, Russia’s war with Georgia in August 2008 signaled Moscow’s willingness to use force to prevent its neighbors from drifting toward the West and to reassert its influence in areas that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. But the United States and its allies have repeatedly underestimated Russia’s determination to revise the global order that Moscow feels the West has imposed on Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

As the United States gears up for the 2016 presidential election, it faces two central challenges in deciding how to deal with Russia. First, it needs to determine the nature of Russia’s objectives in Syria and Ukraine. Second, because Russia depends on a highly personalized political system, Obama and his would-be successors need to decide how to manage relations with Putin, an especially difficult task given the overwhelming pressure on the campaign trail to look tough. The evidence suggests that if the next president wants to engage with the Kremlin in a way that is consistent with U.S. interests, he or she should focus on concrete areas where the two countries can and must work together—particularly nuclear and conventional military issues. Continuing to isolate Russia is not likely to work. Instead, the next U.S. administration should clearly communicate to the Kremlin what American interests and values are and join with U.S. allies in resisting further Russian attempts to unravel the post–Cold War order...

Keep reading.

'With Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, several of the nation's most esteemed journalists and influential news outlets have set aside traditional notions of balance and given themselves license to label the Republican front-runner a liar, a demagogue, a racist and worse…'

The quote's from Politico's Dylan Byers, at Jay Rosen's PressThink, "Something happened in journalism two weeks ago that I want to examine before we all forget about it and election season rolls on."

"Traditional notions" of media objectivity went out the window decades ago, if there were any such notions in the first place.

Let's face it: the U.S. has descended into a miasma of leftist political correctness, with the Democrat Media Complex leading the crash all the way down.

In case you missed it, go back and read the much-too-clear David Horowitz essay from yesterday, "Donald Trump and the American Future."

Muslims are not like any other minority group. They want to kill us. And leftists will be among the first of those slaughtered, which I suppose is poetic justice.

Transitioning to the Post-Obama Era

From VDH, at PJ Media:

How will the country wake up from its coma in 2016 to reality in 2017?

Next year the lame-duck, legacy-starved Obama administration will double down on its executive orders, bureaucratic fiats, and circumvention of the law. Obama will seek to fundamentally transform America, contrary to law, effecting change in ways he was not able to by adhering to the law.The media, as it has the past seven years, will not only ignore the illegality, but also rationalize and commend it.

Then comes 2017.

If a Republican is elected president, what will the media and its liberal sympathizers do should the next chief executive decide to follow the Obama modus operandi?

Consider a number of issues, starting with immigration...

Keep reading.

Turkey Getting Serious About Securing Its Borders?

Well, don't hold your breath.

At the New York Times, "Turkey Moves to Clamp Down on Border, Long a Revolving Door."

University of San Diego Students Wear 'Muslim Yellow Stars' to Protest Donald Trump (VIDEO)

Trivializing the Holocaust --- and protecting the perpetrators of a new Holocaust, the Islamo-lefitst jihadists.

At Victory Girls, "University of San Diego Students Wear “Muslim Yellow Stars” to Protest Trump."

And at Legal Insurrection, "Professors and Students at U. San Diego protest Trump by wearing 'Muslim Yellow Stars'."

And watch, at ABC 10 News San Diego:

Odell Beckham Jr. Gets One-Game Suspension (VIDEO)

From Sam Farmer, at the Los Angeles Times, "NFL's one-game suspension of Giants' Odell Beckham Jr. feels a little like a wrist slap":

Odell Beckham Jr. got off easy.

The NFL suspended the New York Giants star receiver for one game Monday, a day after he blatantly and repeatedly tried to injure Carolina cornerback Josh Norman.

Beckham, flagged for three personal fouls in Sunday's 38-35 loss, was caught by TV cameras throwing a punch at Norman and later trying to land a helmet-to-helmet blow.

It was an embarrassing display for a league trying to repair its image in terms of player safety. Beckham paid two hefty fines as a rookie last season: $10,000 for kicking St. Louis linebacker Alec Ogletree and $11,025 for throwing his helmet to the turf in anger while protesting a late tackle out of bounds. Earlier this season, he threw a punch at Buffalo safety Duke Williams and it cost him $8,681.

There's no question Beckham is one of the most exciting players in the game. His Matrix-like one-handed touchdown catch last season will go down as one of the most acrobatic plays in NFL history. But Sunday's spectacle will take some time to live down...

More.

And watch, at the NFL's YouTube page, "Odell Beckham Jr. Suspended One Game."

SpaceX Nails Falcon 9 Landing (VIDEO)

At the Sacramento Bee, "SpaceX launches rocket 6 months after accident, then lands."

High Winds, Cold Weather Batter the Pacific Northwest (VIDEO)

At KOIN 6 News Portland, "Heavy winds wreak havoc across Oregon and Washington."

And at CBS This Morning, "Rain and snow target millions in the West":

Many parts of the country are getting hammered by powerful weather systems during Christmas week. It’s raining in the East and the South, but the worst weather is in the West. Powerful Pacific storms threaten millions with rain and snow, while some areas in northern California are already being hit with snow. John Blackstone reports from Mill Valley, California.

Still more, at KCRA News 3 Sacramento, "Heavy rainfall moves into the Foothills Monday afternoon," and "Snow causes major delays on Sierra roads."

Amazon Offers Package Delivery in Two Hours or Less (VIDEO)

You need an Amazon Prime membership, but still, I love these guys.

At CBS This Morning:

Donald Trump and the American Future

From David Horowitz, at FrontPage Magazine:

I have to confess that of late I have become increasingly pessimistic about the future of our country. For awhile I was hopeful that the electorate would finally cut through the fog of political correctness: the racist, collectivist, America-and-white people-are-guilty party line of the Democratic Party. Not so any more. Both the conservative punditry (with a few notable exceptions) and the Republican establishment are proving as feckless in resisting the left’s attacks, and as unfocused on the Democratic adversary as the Republican congress. The Democrats are at it full bore. Having gotten away with disarming the nation in the face of its enemies, and with promoting systematic racial discrimination, along with racist lynch mobs in the streets, the Democrats are busy on the attack. In their election campaign year, they are accusing Republican candidates of being racist and recruiters for ISIS. The only serious - i.e., bloody-minded - fire coming from the Republican side is directed at Donald Trump.  (Think about it – all the Democrats need is a damaged Trump. Then they can condemn Republicans for merely associating with him.) If Republicans want to join Democrats and match their viciousness in taking down the Republican front-runner, Hillary Clinton is going to be our next president.

The most recent explosion of outrage at Trump is his proposal for a temporary moratorium on Muslim immigration “until we figure it out” – i.e., figure out how to vet Muslim immigrants so that we don’t allow anymore Tashfeen Malik’s into the country where they are determined to kill innocent Americans. Otherwise perfectly intelligent conservatives have joined the Democrat smear squad in denouncing Trump’s suggestion as unconstitutional, illegal, and un-American. In fact, as a cursory Internet search should convince anyone free of anti-Republican bigotry, Trump’s proposal is not only constitutional (foreigners seeking entry into the country have no rights under the US Constitution – only US citizens do. It is also perfectly legal. There is an actual U.S. code that says the president has the authority to ban “any class” of individuals he deems a threat to the American citizens.

Moreover, Trump’s proposal is obviously sensible – i.e., is justified by a realistic confrontation with the facts. According to a Pew Poll, 64% of Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan believe that leaving the Muslim faith should be punished by death. In Afghanistan the figure is 78%. While 64% of Muslims are not active terrorists, there was not a single member of the Muslim community in San Bernardino willing to alert authorities to the hateful, indeed murderous ideas of the shooter couple. Punishing apostasy by death is only a crystallization of the jihadists’ belief that all non-Muslims who refuse to submit to the Islamic faith should be killed. That is what the war that Islamists have declared on us is about. Donald Trump has done the country a service by putting this issue – previously unmentionable – before the American public. Thus far he is the only candidate with the guts to do this, and that is why he is leading in the polls by a wide margin.

According to a 2009 “World Opinion Poll” conducted by the University of Maryland, between 30% and 50% of Muslims in Muslim countries approve of the terrorist attacks on America. If 64% of Muslims think that infidels deserve death – and an impressive percentage approve of the attacks on America and the West – that amounts to between 500 million and 800 million sworn enemies of our country and our culture.  Say it’s only a tenth of those numbers. That’s 50 million or more potential killers for Allah, and supporters of killers for Allah. Keep in mind that these terrorists already have chemical and biological weapons. Is there any person not blinded by leftwing ideas that doesn’t think this presents a vetting problem for us in dealing with Muslim immigrants and visitors? Moreover, a vetting problem that we obviously haven’t begun to solve? However, perhaps Trump’s blanket ban, though constitutional, legal and temporary - is also impractical. The details as Trump himself would be the first to admit are still negotiable. A practical plan even one of reduced scope is better than none.

So why are conservatives treating Trump as a pariah? Clinton and Obama have the blood of hundreds of thousands of Christians and non-ISIS Muslims on their hands not to mention the American victims of their rules of engagement. It is they and their party who have undermined the war on radical Islamists for 22 years since Bill Clinton refused to visit the thousand victims of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Democrats have fought to try terrorist soldiers in civil courts where they would be given the rights of American citizens; they have fought to close Guantanamo, and have deliberately released terrorist generals to return to the battlefield and kill more Americans; Democrats have fought to abandon our military presence in Iraq, surrendering a hard won victory to ISIS and Iran; Obama and Hillary overthrew – illegally, immorally and unconstitutionally – the anti-al Qaeda government of Libya and turned that country into a terrorist hunting ground. Where are the Republican litanies high-lighting these betrayals?

In the meantime, jihadist mosques protected by Democrats continue to function – including the one attended by the San Bernardino shooters – the city of New York continues to bar first responders from monitoring mosques to see what they are preaching, 350 Sanctuary cities still refuse to cooperate with Homeland Security. All under the enemy-friendly doctrine that all Muslims belong to a protected species that cannot be scrutinized about their commitment to a religion that preaches hatred of non-Muslims, particularly Jews, and whose avowed goal is the political submission of the entire world to the Islamic faith.  On the other side, a Republican/conservative chorus has so tarred and feathered the Republican front-runner who is doing by default the work that they should be doing, that they have made it virtually impossible for him to win a general election. And make no mistake, they have also made it virtually impossible for any Republican candidate to speak frankly about the Democrats’ perfidy and the danger it poses to our country.

How much innocent blood do Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have on their hands? How much innocent blood will be spilled in the next four years if Clinton is elected? These are the questions Republicans should be asking, not whether Donald Trump is a bigot. He obviously is not.  Impolitic yes. Racist no. Donald Trump has many faults but lack of political courage is not one of them. He seems motivated by concern for the pit into which this country has fallen under an administration with catastrophic priorities and uncertain loyalties. That is what Republicans need to think about when framing their next attacks. Otherwise the future is dim indeed.

Conservative Icon Phyllis Schlafly Says Donald Trump is Last Hope for America

People like Trump because he's an unfiltered, politically incorrect warrior.

It's why I like him, although I sometimes cringe at the things he says.

In any case, at WND, "Phyllis Schlafly: Trump is 'last hope for America'":

Phyllis Schlafly, an icon of the conservative movement who has been active for half a century, is warning the nation: Donald Trump is the last hope for America.

Schlafly unloaded on Republicans in Congress for passing the $1.1 trillion omnibus bill last week, a move she called a “betrayal.”

“This is a betrayal of the grassroots and of the Republican Party,” Schlafly said in an exclusive interview with WND. “We thought we were electing a different crowd to stand up for America, and they didn’t. We’re extremely outraged by what Congress has done. Nancy Pelosi couldn’t have engineered it any better. I think the people are going to react by electing Donald Trump.”

Trump put out a statement Friday to ABC News saying, “If anyone needs more evidence of why the American people are suffering at the hands of their own government, look no further than the budget deal announced by Speaker Ryan. In order to avoid a government shutdown, a cowardly threat from an incompetent president, the elected Republicans in Congress threw in the towel and showed absolutely no budget discipline.”

Trump continued, “Congress cannot seem to help itself in bending to every whim of special interests. How can they face their constituents when they continue to burden our children and grandchildren with debts they will never be able to repay? Our government is failing us, so we must do something about it. Who knows how bad things will be when the next administration comes in and has to pick up the pieces?”

Schlafly applauded the GOP front-runner’s fighting spirit.

“It sounds like Donald Trump is the only one who has any fight in him,” she said. “He will fight for the issues that we really care about and are very hot at the present time, such as the immigration issue. I don’t see anyone else who’s eager to fight.”

The Republican-controlled Congress just sold America down in river in the “worst kind of betrayal,” Schlafly told WND.

“It’s the worst kind of a betrayal because we thought we elected a bunch of good guys who would shape up the party,” she said. “We had a lot of fancy promises that the Republicans were going to shape up and change course. And they disappointed us. Betrayal is an appropriate word to describe it.”

WND asked Schlafly if she believes Donald Trump is the last hope for America.

“He does look like he’s the last hope [for America],” Schlafly said. “We don’t hear anybody saying what he’s saying. In fact, most of the people who ought to be lining up with him are attacking him. They’re probably jealous of the amount of press coverage he gets. But the reason he gets so much press coverage is the grassroots are fed up with people who are running things, and they do want a change. They do want people to stand up for America. It really resonates when he says he wants to ‘Make America Great Again.’”

Schlafly said it’s not only Republicans who feel betrayed, but Democrats, too...

More.

It'd be hard to challenge Schlafly's conservative bona fides. No doubt Trump's tapping into a tremendous yearning for robust leadership against the leftist onslaught.

It's extremely interesting.

Donald Trump Hilariously Reports That Barack Obama 'Schlonged' Hillary Clinton in 2008 Election (VIDEO)

Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, and Think Progress have blown gaskets at this hilarious story, via Memeorandum, "‘Schlonged’: Watch Trump's Astonishingly Sexist Attack on Hillary."

What a freakin' riot!

Here's the video, "Trump Says Obama 'Schlonged' Hillary."

It's actually hard to make out the "schlonged" reference. Trump's kinda saying it under his breath. But Think Progress has the quote, so you be the judge. Either way, given the twisted leftist panties, it's the best, lol.

Lakeisha Holloway, Suspect in Deadly Las Vegas Vehicle Rampage, Faces Murder Charges (VIDEO)

Following-up from earlier, "One Dead and Dozens Injured as Driver 'Intentionally' Rams Pedestrians on Las Vegas Strip (VIDEO)."

Here's ABC News 13 Las Vegas:



Also, at the Las Vegas Sun, "Why? Motive sought after pedestrians mowed down along Las Vegas Strip."

30% Off Verbatim LED 'Warm White' Light Bulbs

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Plus, check out Susan Pedersen, The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire.

And Richard Pipes, The Russian Revolution.

BONUS: From David Priestland, The Red Flag: A History of Communism.

Report: Public Opinion Polls Probably Underestimate Donald Trump's Popular Support

I argued that the polls were underestimating Trump's strength back in the summer months, particularly with reference to the left's monstrous sanctuary city policies. And now here comes statistical evidence that polls are likely shorting the Manhattan real estate developer's support.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Polls may actually underestimate Trump's support, study finds":

Donald Trump leads the GOP presidential field in polls of Republican voters nationally and in most early-voting states, but some surveys may actually be understating his support, a new study suggests.

The analysis, by Morning Consult, a polling and market research company, looked at an odd occurrence that has cropped up repeatedly this year: Trump generally has done better in online polls than in surveys done by phone.

The firm conducted an experiment aimed at understanding why that happens and which polls are more accurate -- online surveys that have tended to show Trump with support of nearly four-in-10 GOP voters or the telephone surveys that have typically shown him with the backing of one-third or fewer.

Their results suggest that the higher figure probably provides the more accurate measure. Some significant number of Trump supporters, especially those with college educations, are "less likely to say that they support him when they’re talking to a live human” than when they are in the “anonymous environment” of an online survey, said the firm's polling director, Kyle Dropp.

With Trump dominating political debates in both parties, gauging his level of support has become a crucial puzzle. The Morning Consult study provides one piece of the solution, although many other uncertainties remain.

Among the complicating factors is this: The gap between online and telephone surveys has narrowed significantly in surveys taken in the last few weeks. That could suggest that Republicans who were reluctant to admit to backing Trump in the past have become more willing to do so recently.

Another issue is that not only can polls change over time, but Trump's support in pre-election surveys might not fully translate into actual votes. He has not invested as heavily as some of his GOP rivals in building the kind of get-out-the-vote operation that candidates typically rely on, particularly in early voting states.

Some of the polls that show heavy support for Trump have also shown him doing better among self-identified independents who lean Republican than among regular GOP voters. At least some of those independents may not be in the habit of voting in primaries and caucuses, which could make a robust turnout operation even more necessary.

On the other hand, a candidate of Trump's level of celebrity may simply not need much of a get-out-the-vote operation. No one really knows...

And that was something I also suggested, in my post the other day, "Donald Trump Campaign Lags in Mobilizing Iowa Caucus Voters." With Trump's celebrity, is old-time voter mobilization passé?

We won't know until February.

But keep reading.

Police Shut Down Mathilde Grafström Photography Exhibition

Heh, a little too naturalistic, it turns out.

At London's Daily Mail, "Police shut down photo exhibition of naked women because they’re too ‘indecent’ for display in public square."

And check it out, at the Mathilde Grafström homepage.

Ah, very natural, you might say.

Season 5 Finale of 'Homeland'

Hmm, it was a pretty surprising finale.

Spoilers ahead, at WSJ, "‘Homeland’ Season 5 Finale: An Intelligence Expert Weighs In."

Once You've Declared 'War' on Bourgeois Values, You're Pretty Much Screwed

Postcards from the nihilist left. See David Thompson, via Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit:

“LEFTIST POSTURING IS OFTEN ANTITHETICAL TO PRACTICAL SUCCESS AND PRACTICAL HAPPINESS,” David Thompson writes:

To take a vivid and familiar example, imagine if your children, nieces and nephews took to heart the operatic blatherings of Laurie Penny, who tells her readers to “Fuck social mobility… Fuck money. Fuck rising above your class… Fuck marriage, mortgage, monogamy, and every other small, ugly ambition.” These, she says, are things “we should have abandoned.”

Well, okay. But where exactly does that leave a young person, or a person not-so-young? Once you’ve declared “war” on bourgeois values, once you’ve abandoned the conventional foundations of material and emotional reward, where do you go? How will that radicalism serve you later in life, when you’re no longer a stroppy teenager or a twenty-something poseur? Is a mix of contrarianism, hypocrisy, resentment and a colossal sense of entitlement a sound footing for an adult life? After all, those “small, ugly ambitions” are what gave Laurie her own comfortable upbringing and advantages in life, such that she can now flit around the world tweeting about how oppressed she is.

As noted before, it’s one of the classic problems for self-imagined radicals. In denouncing bourgeois habits (usually while enjoying the benefits of such behaviour, at least residually), they have little of practical use to offer their followers. If you do away with marriage, monogamy, responsibility, deferred gratification, personal territory, etc., you’re basically left with a recipe for failure, dependency and unhappiness. Though of course the resentment that follows can be very useful to would-be prophets of the left. If encouraging needless misery, and then exploiting it, is your thing...

The hideous prog-trolls who used to comment here used to hate being called nihilists, but that's exactly what they are.

Still more.

Suicide Bomber Kills Six American Soldiers In Afghanistan (VIDEO)

At the Wall Street Journal, "Bomb Kills Six American Troops in Afghanistan."

Actually, a "bomber" killed the troops. The bomb itself was just the weapon of destruction.

Yuliya Lasmovich's Lovely Lingerie Shoot

Well, I'm really into Russian history --- and culture, lol.

On Instagram. (And Maxim, "WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GIRL WANTS: YULIYA LASMOVICH.")

And at the Superficial, "Yuliya Lasmovich Lingerie Photos."

One Dead and Dozens Injured as Driver 'Intentionally' Rams Pedestrians on Las Vegas Strip (VIDEO)

At the Los Angeles Times, "One person killed, 37 injured after car hits pedestrians on Las Vegas Strip."

Also at the Las Vegas Sun, "At least one dead, 36 injured when car strikes pedestrians on the Strip."

The suspect is identified as motherfucking black bitch Lakeisha Holloway.

More from last night, at ABC News 13 Las Vegas:

Buy The German War with Two-Day Shipping

I think my mom's going to give me Nicholas Stargardt's, The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939–1945, for Christmas.

Well, at least I asked for it, lol. Who knows what she picks up, heh.

Remember though, if I like it, it might take me weeks to read Orlando Figes', A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924, so we'll see. It's really long, but I'm fascinated by Soviet history right now, for some reason.

Actually, I've been meaning to get back to reading Nazi history. I started Michael Burleigh's, The Third Reich: A New History, a year or two back, and I've been meaning to return to it. It's also one of those massive Tolstoy-esque tomes, so it might not be for awhile. I'll go for Stargardt first and then decide. Not only that, there's a lot of good works in American political science I need to read, especially on the voting patterns of Millennials.

More on that later though.

Shop for Stargardt at Amazon. Click two-day shipping to receive it in time for Christmas.

Starting Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy

I've finished Stephen Kotkin's, Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928.

I'm going to pick up now with Orlando Figes', A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924.

It really needs to grab my attention, for it's another lengthy tome (longer than Kotkin's book, excluding notes, at 824 pages).

In any case, I love this time of year!

Shop for it Amazon.

Finished Stephen Kotkin's Stalin

An amazing book.

It's projected as the first of three volumes, and if volume 2 was available, I'd start reading it right now.

In any case, if you're still shopping, Amazon's got two-day shipping in time for Christmas.

Here, Stephen Kotkin, Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928.

3.1 Earthquake Hits Near Costa Mesa

It was a pretty decent shaker, of course I'm located just a few miles away from the epicenter.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Earthquake: 3.1 quake strikes near Costa Mesa."

I tweeted right when it hit.

Earthquake!

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 20, 2015

'CBS wanted its own tidy narrative of patriotic Muslims who have no problem with this president...'

Following-up, "Muslims in America Focus Group (VIDEO)."

At Instapundit, "THE PALACE GUARD DEFENDS THE PALACE: CBS Edited Out Harsh Critique of Obama, U.S. ‘Militarism’ by Muslim Focus Group":

“They ripped into Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but CBS wanted its own tidy narrative of patriotic Muslims who have no problem with this president.”

Plus:

He shut me down when I said that President Obama and Hillary Clinton has killed many Muslims under the administration when we were discussing Trump, and ironically for a GOP strategist, he shut me down when I talked about how Democrats have enacted some of the most deadliest and discriminatory policies against Muslims. . . .

The edited version of the focus group interview was mainly about proving our American identity, condemning terrorism, and Trump’s bashing of Muslim-Americans. This is problematic.

He kept saying how he felt bad that no one listens to Muslims and how he wanted to give us an opportunity to talk to the general population. But how can that happen when we’re manipulatively edited to have us fit their own narrative and agenda?

They call that journalism, these days. Interesting that they muted criticism of Obama and Hillary, but focused on complaints about Trump.

The Democrats Are Totally Unserious (VIDEO)

From Noah Rothman, at Commentary, "Not a Serious Party":

Democrats are understandably enjoying themselves as Republicans flirt with handing their presidential nomination over to an individual who is objectively unqualified in character, experience, and temperament for the job. They shouldn’t be begrudged a moment or two of schadenfreude as their opposition elevates their only candidate who consistently loses and loses badly in head-to-head polls against their likely nominee. The GOP frontrunner speaks in vagaries, frequently contradicts himself, and displays almost no grasp of the fundamentals of geopolitics. The fact that Republicans are celebrating a neophyte doesn’t itself render Democrats a serious party. For those Americans who were without plans on a Saturday night the weekend before Christmas, they were privy to a series of fictions Democrats find pleasing but which do not amount to a serious set of foreign policies.

Perhaps the most galling of contradictions was offered by Hillary Clinton in her defense of the creation of a “no-fly” over Northern Syria. “[O]ne of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad’s forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs and from ISIS,” Clinton said. “And of course, it has to be de-conflicted with the Russians, who are also flying in that space.”

“Of course,” as though that was a minor detail. This administration already negotiated “de-confliction” of the space over which NATO forces and Russian warplanes operate, but that did not prevent Turkish forces from shooting a Russian fighter jet out of the sky.

Clinton repeatedly insisted that a “no-fly zone” over Syria would, by virtue of its very existence, stop the outflow of refugees over the Turkish border. She did not, however, speculate on the kind of forces that would be needed to secure a safe zone on the ground in Syria in which refugees could be safe. Much to Ankara’s consternation, a substantial portion of Syria’s north is occupied by Kurdish forces, but not all of it is in the hands of pro-Western militias. Worse than the present humanitarian crisis associated with the exodus of refugees (most of whom aren’t spilling over the Turkish border) would be the prospect of a poorly secured safe zone that becomes a kill box for Assad or ISIS.

When asked if she would shoot down Russian or Syrian warplanes that penetrate that space, Clinton said she did not “think it would come to that.” What else is the point of a no-fly zone but to prevent through force its penetration by enemy air forces? Clinton went on to strike an even more incoherent posture: “The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia,” Clinton claimed. “If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward ISIS and put the Assad future on the political and diplomatic track, where it belongs.” Pardon?

The administration finally caved to Moscow’s demand that a transitional Syrian government minus Assad is no longer in the cards. Barack Obama’s 2011 contention that Bashar al-Assad must go has been abandoned, but the region-wide Sunni insurgency against a regime that killed over a quarter million people and deployed chemical weapons against civilians will never abate so long as Assad rules in Damascus. The Russians got what they wanted from Barack Obama, and Clinton declined to criticize that about-face. So, why should Russian behavior change? What Clinton means by her wish that Russia would stop trying to prop up Assad militarily and instead do so diplomatically is anyone’s guess.

To Clinton’s credit, her delusion was still more concrete and realistic than the policies of any of her competitors...

Look, pushing gun control after San Bernardino is more important than serious efforts to stop another attack on U.S. soil.

The Democrats have disqualified themselves from office. Only the stupidity of large segments of the American electorate will give them another chance.

Keep reading, in any case.

Demi Lovato Stuns in Plunging Swimsuit at St. Bart's

She's a good lady.

At London's Daily Mail, "Having the time of her life! Demi Lovato is launched from the water by Wilmer Valderrama as couple recreate iconic Dirty Dancing lift on St. Barts trip."

Olivia Wilde Bikini Pics

Well, it's Sunday --- and that means it's Rule 5 day!

At London's Daily Mail, "Olivia Wilde looks stunning in tiny bikini as she enjoys a day at the beach with her 20-month-old son Otis and husband Jason Sudeikis."

She's shapely. Nice legs especially.

Public Schools Struggle with Lessons About Islam Amid Renewed Fears of Terrorism (VIDEO)

Teachers pushing the ideology of Islamic jihad in the classroom should be fired.

At LAT:

The assignment on world religions that was handed out to students at Riverheads High School in rural Virginia seemed pretty simple, on its face.

A teacher's printout explained why calligraphy was religiously significant to Muslims. The assignment asked students to re-create the complex strokes for the Shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, "to give you an idea of the artistic complexity of the calligraphy."

The Shahada was not translated, but in Arabic, it states, "There is no god but God, and Mohammed is his messenger."

It was religious indoctrination, parents charged. The angry calls and messages that flooded the district grew so intense last week that Augusta County school officials shut down the district Friday, keeping 10,500 students home "out of an abundance of caution."

The incident was just the latest in a series of disputes involving Islam and the classroom, which come as the nation experiences a rise in anti-Muslim attacks and vandalism and renewed fears of terrorism after the bloodshed in Paris and San Bernardino...

More.

Really.

Who would be so stupid as to assign that project? Only an America-hating leftist.

Redlands Tea Party Speaks Out Against Syrian Refugees After #SanBernardino Attack

Great piece, at LAT, "After the San Bernardino shootings, voices rise on both sides of the refugee debate":

Bill Whittle scanned the crowd of more than 200 Redlands Tea Party Patriots and Unite Inland Empire members gathered for the yearly Christmas party. The tables in the Western-themed barbecue restaurant were decorated with stickers hailing the 2nd Amendment and proclaiming: "Don't Tread on Me."

"To say that this is a war on terror is designed to make sure that we don't say that it's a war on Islam," Whittle told the crowd last week.

"Amen!" a woman shouted.

"The president said just a few nights ago [that] America is not at war with Islam," Whittle, a conservative blogger and political commentator, continued. "I think that's probably true. But Islam is at war with America, and they have been for some time now."

The Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino, which left 14 dead and injured 22 others, has intensified the debate over whether the U.S. should accept Syrian refugees and inspired some people — most notably GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump — to oppose allowing any Muslims into the country.

For some in this swath of Southern California, which has strong conservative undertones, the massacre at the Inland Regional Center provided a "told you so" moment."

John Berry, a California state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots and a cabinet member of the Redlands chapter, said the terrorist attack by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik validated what he and others have been saying for years.

"I take no satisfaction in saying, 'I told you so.' None, because this is a horrible, horrible atrocity," Berry said. "But in some ways I'm surprised it hasn't happened before."

More.

Bernie Sanders Apologizes to Hillary Clinton for Stealing Voter Data (VIDEO)

At Bloomberg, via Memeorandum, "Bernie Sanders Apologizes to Hillary Clinton for Data Breach."

And watch, at ABC News:

Remaining Holiday Shipping Deadlines for Amazon

Heh.

Following-up my previous entry, "Holiday Shoppers Wait Until the Last Minute for Deals."

Here's USA Today, "Heads up! Amazon holiday shipping deadlines near."

It's too late for standard shipping, if you want to put your gifts under the tree; but you can opt for two-day shipping, and there's lots of additional fast shipping options if you're an Amazon Prime member.

And thanks for all the readers who've shopped Amazon through my links at American Power. It's greatly appreciated.

More here, Take 25% Off Holiday Shopping.

Holiday Shoppers Wait Until the Last Minute for Deals

Online retailing has forever changed the nature of holiday shopping.

At WSJ, "‘Super Saturday’: Holiday Shoppers Wait Until the Last Minute for Deals."

Tin Fey Opts Out of the Left's Culture of Demanding Apologies for Everything

Thank goodness.

A Hollywood icon stands up to the bullies of the collectivist left.

At the Independent Journal Review, "Tina Fey is Stirring Outrage on the Left by Refusing to Give Them Any More Apologies."



Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Donald Trump Campaign Lags in Mobilizing Iowa Caucus Voters

Well, Trump's running an unconventional campaign, but if mobilizing voters at the base is the be-all-end-all of Iowa caucus politics, we're in for an ultimate test.

At the New York Times:

DES MOINES — Donald J. Trump has dominated much of this political season, excited an often-ignored part of the electorate, filled huge arenas with followers and upended the rules of how modern campaigns are run.

But now he faces an urgent question: Can he actually win crucial early contest states?

Translating a personality-driven campaign to the voting booth is no easy feat, especially for a candidate who has never run before.

But here in the state with the first nominating contest, about six weeks away, Mr. Trump has fallen behind in the nuts and bolts of organizing. A loss in Iowa for Mr. Trump, where he has devoted the most resources of his campaign, could imperil his leads in the next two nominating states, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where his get-out-the-vote organizations are even less robust.

A successful ground game is crucial in Iowa because of the state’s complicated method of caucus voting, but the Trump campaign has lagged in reaching some of its own benchmarks.

Mr. Trump’s Iowa director predicted that he would recruit a leader for each of the state’s 1,681 Republican precincts by Thanksgiving. Instead, the first major training session for precinct leaders, heavily promoted in emails and conference calls, drew only about 80 people to West Des Moines last weekend, with about 50 participating online.

Some of Mr. Trump’s Republican rivals have spent months calling and knocking on doors to identify potential supporters to draw them out to caucuses, but Mr. Trump does not appear to have invested in this crucial “voter ID” strategy until recently.

The Trump campaign hopes to attract a surge of independents and disaffected Democrats on caucus night, but the latest data from the Iowa secretary of state show no significant growth in Republican registrations.

Interviews in Iowa with Mr. Trump’s campaign workers, his volunteers and dozens of attendees at his rallies over two months, as well as observations of voter outreach, conference calls and confidential training sessions, indicate that Mr. Trump’s support in the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses may fall short of his poll numbers in the state. He is now trading the lead position with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas....

If you've noticed, a lot of political commentators, especially movement conservatives, have spoken with absolute certainty that Trump wont' be the nominee. If that proves true, it'll be because of grassroots organization issues like this. Remember, Barack Obama won Iowa in 2008, largely on the strength of youth mobilization through new media (which at that time was Faceback and Obama's own innovative campaign website, BarackObama.com).

And the Times piece in fact underestimates the impact of a Trump loss in Iowa. It won't just hurt him organizationally, or in terms of primary polling. Trump's momentum is sustained by the illusion of insurmountable victory --- he just keeps rising in the polls like the Energizer bunny on steroids. If he loses in Iowa, it will be the most crushing blow egotistically. He won't be able to make a bunch of funny faces and wave his hands frantically. It's going to be push comes to shove.

In any case, more at the link.

Free One Day Shipping Available for Select Watches, Jewelry, and More

Good to December 22nd.

At Amazon, Shop Amazon Fashion - Free One-Day Shipping.

Up to 85% Off Kindle Book Holiday Deals — BUMPED!

At Amazon, Shop - Kindle Book Holiday Deals.

Plus, Home & Kitchen - Cuisinart Gift Ideas.

BONUS: From Robert Spencer, The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS. And Pamela Geller, Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance.

Ana Cheri, Playboy's Miss October 2015, on a Trampoline with Skittles (VIDEO)

This lady is great!

Watch, "Miss October 2015 Ana Cheri Jumps on a Trampoline in a Bikini With Thousands of Skittles."

PREVIOUSLY: "Go Behind the Scenes with Playboy's Miss October 2015, Ana Cheri! (VIDEO)," and "Ana Cheri, Playboy's Miss October 2015."

Public Policy Trolling

Heh, totally.

At iOTW Report.

And see the Guardian UK on the PPP poll, via Memeorandum, "Poll: 30% of GOP voters support bombing Agrabah, the city from Aladdin."

PPP is an establishment Democrat Party polling outfit, contracted with Markos Moulitsas' Daily Kos, so it figures. Here, at Memeorandum, "Trump Lead Grows Nationally; 41% of His Voters Want to Bomb Country from Aladdin; Clinton Maintains Big Lead."

Donald Trump Slams Jeb Bush as 'Low Energy' (VIDEO)

God, Trump gives hilarious interviews, heh.

And of course Jimmy Kimmel's the best!

'There are 48 of those seats, terraced in three rows, in the suite controlled by Jones...'

I'm watching the Cowboys tonight, not the freakin' Democrat-communist debate.

At the New York Times, "Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Wows Those Gathered at ‘the Fifty’":

Ima watch @NFL football tonight. Screw the @TheDemocrats' debate, freakin' commies.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 19, 2015

ARLINGTON, Tex. — The offer to watch the Dallas Cowboys play from the owner Jerry Jones’s suite is extended during the summer, but the formal invitation is not sent until a week before the game.

The package arrives by overnight mail for out-of-town guests — it is hand-delivered by team security personnel to those in the area — and contains a box holding an acrylic tray with the Cowboys star logo etched in the middle. Nestled inside the tray is a card requesting that the recipients join the Jones family “on the fifty” (as in yard line), along with tickets, a parking map and a parking pass.

All visitors receive valet privileges, but only some are afforded the luxury of driving beneath AT&T Stadium, to the base of an elevator that lifts them directly into the suite.

“It’s the most valuable thing we have,” said Jones’s daughter, Charlotte Jones Anderson, an executive vice president of the team. “Even better than the seat.”

There are 48 of those seats, terraced in three rows, and one of Anderson’s unofficial duties is teaming with her mother, Gene Jones, to determine how each is filled — who, exactly, is granted entry into one of the most exclusive spaces in the sporting realm.

Los Angeles does not have a football team, so on Cowboys game days, Hollywood comes to AT&T Stadium.

As the irrepressible owner (and general manager) of the N.F.L.’s richest team, Jones wields considerable power on league matters, though he offers only occasional input on the composition of his own suite. His wife and daughter strive for a convivial atmosphere and a diverse crowd filled with business associates, arts patrons, political figures, celebrities, friends and family members.

For Saturday’s game against the Jets, they are expecting a crowd of about 62, with the overflow content to mingle by high-top tables and chairs and watch the game on television. As she sauntered through the seats Thursday afternoon, more than 48 hours before kickoff, Anderson peeked at the names stenciled on the place cards at each spot.

There, in the front row, the chancellor of the University of Texas system, William McRaven. Some seats down, the chief executive of MillerCoors, Gavin Hattersley. Behind McRaven, the former mayor of Arlington, Robert Cluck, a treasured friend of the family. As a city councilman, he told Jones that he was going to run for mayor of Arlington, and when he won, that he wanted Jones to build a stadium there.

It was only the first iteration of the seating chart, Gene Jones cautioned, and for every game, that task concerns and vexes her like no other. As if hosting a dinner party, she sketches out a schematic in pencil, always mindful of guests’ interests and personalities, and then solicits thoughts from her daughter up until their guests arrive.

“People get moved,” Gene Jones said.

“There’s a little massaging,” Anderson said.

“It’s a nightmare,” Gene Jones said.

There are always last-minute cancellations and accommodations and additions, like the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who informed his friend, the injured quarterback Tony Romo, that he would like to attend Saturday’s game. Romo called Anderson and, she said, told her, “I would put him in my suite, but I feel like he deserves to be in yours.”

Kimmel explained that he just wanted to come, that he did not even need a seat. Nonsense, Anderson said. Kimmel is sitting right beside her, in the front row...

Jimmy's really cool. I'd pull the stops out for him too.

Continue reading.

Corona Residents Surprise Thieves with 'Package of Poop on the Porch' (VIDEO)

That's the best!

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Bernie Sanders Campaign Meltdown (VIDEO)

Sanders is getting the raw deal, if you ask me.

A data breach, and the Sanders staffer has been fired? Okay, but then cut the Sanders campaign off from the DNC database, which holds all of Sanders' campaign data? Overreaction much?

At LAT, "Fallout from data breach threatens Bernie Sanders' campaign":

A technological transgression is threatening to derail the insurgent White House bid of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and it set off a fierce battle Friday between Sanders and the national Democratic Party, which cut off his campaign from a crucial voter database.

The dispute was rooted in Sanders staffers peeking at confidential voter files owned by rival Hillary Clinton’s campaign. By the end of the day, after a dizzying volley of charges and counter charges, it had landed before a federal judge. That was after the Sanders technology advisor who oversaw the snooping had been fired and open political warfare had erupted between the party and progressives backing Sanders, who accuse it of meting out a punishment that doesn’t fit the crime to give Clinton a leg up in the race.

It was all an unwelcome development for Sanders on the eve of a presidential debate Saturday in New Hampshire, where he is under pressure to rekindle some of his early momentum. The senator needs a strong showing at the event, in a state that has become almost a must-win for him. He has struggled to gain leverage over Clinton since the focus of voter attention shifted from the economy to national security, an area where she has considerably more experience. Now Sanders is faced with having to answer questions about the data breach.

The dispute also underscores the ever-growing role that data play in modern presidential campaigns, where resources are marshaled around precise formulas that factor in such details as where voters live, their latest purchases at big-box retailers and what magazines they read. The lawsuit the Sanders campaign filed against the Democratic National Committee late Friday alleges the party is breaking its contract with the campaign by cutting it off from a database that is the lifeblood of the campaign.

“The campaign is hamstrung without access to the voter data,” the campaign said in the lawsuit. It said the campaign is losing an estimated $600,000 in contributions each day it does not have access to the data, which is used to target donors. “However the damage to the campaign’s political viability, as a result of being unable to communicate with constituents and voters, is far more severe, and incapable of measurement,” the complaint said.

The electronic snooping at issue came after the contractor that handles the DNC database temporarily dropped the firewall that prevents one campaign from seeing data that belongs to another.

The Sanders campaign responded aggressively to the party's move, saying it had fired the employee who made the decision to peek at the Clinton files and accusing the DNC of trying to “sabotage” Sanders’ campaign by blocking its access to critical voter information.

Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver accused the DNC of holding the campaign’s data “hostage,” which he said was an attack on "the heart and soul" of the Sanders operation. He said the DNC was using the breach as an excuse to do the Clinton campaign’s bidding. Blocking access to the voter database, he said, would prevent the Sanders campaign from using even its own voter information.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the DNC chair, denied that the committee was being unfair. She likened Weaver’s demand for access to the voter file to a burglar who entered a house through an unlocked door, stolen items and then continued to insist on having access to the house.

Blocking the voter database is the only way to “protect the integrity” of the files until an independent audit can determine what information Sanders’ staff may have taken, she said in an interview on CNN. "The Sanders campaign doesn't have anything other than bluster at this moment."

The Clinton campaign piled on, saying Sanders' team had misrepresented what happened.

"This was an egregious breach," said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook. "Our data was stolen. ... This was not an inadvertent glimpse into our data."

Still more.

More video at Fox News, "Sanders campaign: We don't need dirty tricks."

ADDED: At Politico, via Memeorandum, "Bernie Sanders' campaign sues DNC."

Donald Trump Surges to 39 Percent in Latest Fox News Poll (VIDEO)

The survey was conducted after Tuesday night's GOP debate.

At Fox, "Fox News Poll: Trump jumps, Cruz climbs, Carson sinks in GOP race."

Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy

Stephen Kotkin's, Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928, is almost 1,000 pages long, including notes and the bibliography. I've got not quite 200 pages to go, and I'm enjoying it.

I think I'm going to stay on Russian history, and especially Soviet Marxism-Leninism. I've got a few books I need to order from Amazon, but in the meanwhile I've got Orlando Figes', A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924, on my shelf.

I think I might give it a go when I'm done with Kotkin, which should be in about two or three days, heh.

Social Class Differences Increasingly Affect Children's Success

Any educator serious about student success has to deal with the one thing that's not politically correct to discuss: influences from students' home life are perhaps the most powerful indicators of academic success. A classic book on this is Annette Lareau's, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. I only have students for one semester in my classes, but I try my hardest to impart as many basic life skills to students as I can. A lot of this is simply modeling values of hard work and professionalism, and then providing as much real-life examples of up-from-the bootstraps work ethics as possible. I also provide handouts and overheads on what it means to be a successful student, something that isn't appreciated by young people, especially those from non-traditional backgrounds.

Often, one semester is just not enough for students to make big changes, but at least the most conscientious students will have a chance to build on that foundation, internalizing those crucial tips from my classes, to increase their levels of student success. It's an entire culture that we have to battle against, and economic class disadvantages are extremely difficult to overcome.

In any case, at the New York Times, "Class Differences in Child-Rearing Are on the Rise":

The lives of children from rich and poor American families look more different than they have in decades.

Well-off families are ruled by calendars, with children enrolled in ballet, soccer and after-school programs, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. There are usually two parents, who spend a lot of time reading to children and worrying about their anxiety levels and hectic schedules.

In poor families, however, children tend to spend their time at home or with extended family, the survey found. They are more likely to grow up in neighborhoods that their parents say aren’t great for raising children, and their parents worry about them getting shot, beaten up or in trouble with the law.

The class differences in child rearing are growing, researchers say — a symptom of widening inequality with far-reaching consequences. Different upbringings set children on different paths and can deepen socioeconomic divisions, especially because education is strongly linked to earnings. Children grow up learning the skills to succeed in their socioeconomic stratum, but not necessarily others.

“Early childhood experiences can be very consequential for children’s long-term social, emotional and cognitive development,” said Sean F. Reardon, professor of poverty and inequality in education at Stanford University. “And because those influence educational success and later earnings, early childhood experiences cast a lifelong shadow.”

The cycle continues: Poorer parents have less time and fewer resources to invest in their children, which can leave children less prepared for school and work, which leads to lower earnings.

American parents want similar things for their children, the Pew report and past research have found: for them to be healthy and happy, honest and ethical, caring and compassionate. There is no best parenting style or philosophy, researchers say, and across income groups, 92 percent of parents say they are doing a good job at raising their children.

Yet they are doing it quite differently.

Middle-class and higher-income parents see their children as projects in need of careful cultivation, says Annette Lareau, a University of Pennsylvania sociologist whose groundbreaking research on the topic was published in her book “Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race and Family Life.” They try to develop their skills through close supervision and organized activities, and teach children to question authority figures and navigate elite institutions.

Working-class parents, meanwhile, believe their children will naturally thrive, and give them far greater independence and time for free play. They are taught to be compliant and deferential to adults.

There are benefits to both approaches. Working-class children are happier, more independent, whine less and are closer with family members, Ms. Lareau found. Higher-income children are more likely to declare boredom and expect their parents to solve their problems.

Yet later on, the more affluent children end up in college and en route to the middle class, while working-class children tend to struggle. Children from higher-income families are likely to have the skills to navigate bureaucracies and succeed in schools and workplaces, Ms. Lareau said.

“Do all parents want the most success for their children? Absolutely,” she said. “Do some strategies give children more advantages than others in institutions? Probably they do. Will parents be damaging children if they have one fewer organized activity? No, I really doubt it.”

Social scientists say the differences arise in part because low-income parents have less money to spend on music class or preschool, and less flexible schedules to take children to museums or attend school events.

Extracurricular activities epitomize the differences in child rearing in the Pew survey, which was of a nationally representative sample of 1,807 parents...

More.

Killin' It with Abigail Ratchford (VIDEO)

She's smokin'!

Via Maxim:

Bar Refaeli Arrested for Tax Evasion (VIDEO)

At Variety, "Supermodel Bar Refaeli Arrested in Israel for Tax Evasion."

And watch, at Euronews, "Bar Refaeli questioned for 12 hours over tax evasion claims."

Plus, flashback Bar Refaeli nude photo shoot for Elle in 2012 (VIDEO).

Conservative Anger Grows Over Marco Rubio and Illegal Alien Amnesty (VIDEO)

It's definitely an Achilles Heel of his campaign.

Here's yesterday's entry, "Open-Borders Money Backs Marco Rubio."

And at the New York Times, "Conservative Ire Grows Over Marco Rubio's Past on Immigration":

WASHINGTON — Senator Marco Rubio made a big bet on an immigration overhaul that failed – and he has been running away from it since. Now his past is catching up with him, stoking old grievances from conservative rivals who are reopening one of the most vulnerable episodes in his past.

The anger toward Mr. Rubio on the right has only grown in recent days as he has taken to aggressively questioning Senator Ted Cruz’s toughness on illegal immigration, a line of attack that some Republicans say they find disingenuous.

On talk radio, on the campaign trail and on televisions in states like Iowa, Mr. Rubio is suddenly facing a torrent of criticism from within his own party unlike anything he has faced so far in the presidential race.

Mr. Cruz’s campaign, which was initially rattled by the criticism, is retaliating with a new ad that makes the case that the 2013 immigration bill Mr. Rubio helped write would have left the country exposed to attacks from Islamic State infiltrators. It shows Mr. Rubio standing with a group of conservative adversaries like Senator John McCain as Mr. Cruz says: “Their misguided plan would have given Obama the authority to admit Syrian refugees, including ISIS terrorists. That’s just wrong.”

People who saw Mr. Rubio speak near Des Moines the other day found their windshields plastered with black-and-white fliers that mocked him as “Chuck Schumer’s amnesty pitchman.” If Mr. Rubio is elected president, warned the fliers, which were noticed by a freelance journalist, he would support liberal immigration policies and “impose them by force on Americans.”

Mr. Rubio’s struggle to mollify Republicans who believe he betrayed conservative principles for political convenience – two years of outreach, apology and labored professions of a lesson learned – has never had higher stakes. Right now he is trying to break out beyond the third- or fourth-place spot he holds in many polls by peeling away support from conservative favorites like Mr. Cruz and Ben Carson.

His recent attacks on Mr. Cruz are backfiring as some influential conservatives are now rallying to Mr. Cruz’s side and denouncing Mr. Rubio.

Senator Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who is a hero of the anti-immigration reform movement on the right, went on a conservative radio program Thursday to defend Mr. Cruz and say that Mr. Rubio would be held accountable by conservative voters who rallied around killing the 2013 legislation.

“I think Senator Rubio has to answer for things that were in that bill,” Mr. Sessions said on the “Howie Carr Show.”

He continued, “This presidential election is going to decide who runs the White House: the crowd that pushed this legislation or the crowd that opposed it.”

Mark Levin, who has one of the largest followings on conservative radio, has been leading much of the effort lately on the air and online to criticize Mr. Rubio. He has accused the senator of “utter incoherence” in trying to tear down Mr. Cruz and paper over his own involvement in the immigration overhaul. “Such unprincipled ambition has not and will not go unnoticed by conservatives,” he cautioned.

Rush Limbaugh told his listeners: “Marco Rubio was part of the Gang of Eight trying to secure amnesty and wishes he wasn’t. Ted Cruz never was.”

The Rubio campaign’s effort to sully Mr. Cruz’s record on immigration is something even the Texas senator’s most ardent critics say distracts from the reality of the situation...

More.

No Matter Who Wins the GOP Nomination, Hillary's Going to Have a Fight On Her Hands

It's going to be virtually 50-50 heading into November 2016. All the usual indicators of campaign success will be in play, especially voter mobilization. Ignore polls that show Hillary beating Donald Trump. Conservatives will rally to his flag if it means the crushing Democrat power.

In any case, from Jonathan Last, at the Weekly Standard:

Tuesday's debate wasn't boring, exactly. There was a good deal of substance and some demolition derby, too. Also, there was some real news toward the end when Trump doubled down on staying in the Republican party and not running a third-party candidacy if someone else is the nominee. But I don't know that the debate altered the strategic balance of power in this race in any meaningful way.

But it did get me thinking about the general election. To my mind, the most likely nominees, in descending order of probability, are Rubio, Cruz, and Trump. And watching them, it struck me that the consensus views about each of their chances against Hillary Clinton may not be correct.

Let's start with Rubio, who remains my favorite to win the nomination. (And please understand that I mean "favorite" in the Vegas sense, i.e. "the guy with best odds to win"; not "the guy I want to win.") The theoretical poll match-ups show Rubio with a slim lead over Clinton. I think this vastly understates his potential. Watch Rubio on the debate stage and he looks like a creature genetically engineered in a lab to crush HRC. By dint of his youth and energy, he turns her greatest strengths into weaknesses. He's a devastatingly good debater. As he showed Tuesday night, he can take a punch. And his political instincts are brilliant.

Have a look at Rubio's first moment of the night. The debate opened with a question about Trump's Muslim immigration/visa pause, which Jeb Bush scoffed at, over and over, as "not serious." Wolf Blitzer then turned to Rubio and noted that a majority of Republican voters supported the idea. It was an invitation to pile on Trump and disavow a "crazy" position. Instead of disavowing it, Rubio explained why Republican voters support it and then shunted the blame onto Barack Obama:

Well, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen.

But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from ISIS. This is the most sophisticated terror group that has ever threatened the world or the United States of America. They are actively recruiting Americans. The attacker in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. He was a health inspector; had a newborn child and left all that behind to kill 14 people.

We also understand that this is a group that's growing in its governance of territory. It's not just Iraq and Syria. They are now a predominant group in Libya. They are beginning to pop up in Afghanistan. They are increasingly involved now in attacks in Yemen. They have Jordan in their sights.

This group needs to be confronted with serious proposals. And this is a very significant threat we face. And the president has left us unsafe. He spoke the other night to the American people to reassure us. I wish he hadn't spoken at all. He made things worse. Because what he basically said was we are going to keep doing what we're doing now, and what we are doing now is not working.

If Rubio wins the nomination, I suspect he'll beat Clinton like a drum. A 7-point, realigning victory would not be out of the question and Clinton's best-case scenario would be a narrow win eeked out by the smallest margins.

With Ted Cruz, current polls and conventional wisdom suggest that Clinton would have a much easier time: That Cruz is too conservative for mainstream voters; that his personality is too abrasive. I tend to agree with this, to a point. But watching him in these debates it's clear that Cruz isn't Barry Goldwater. He's not looking to run a capital-C Conservative campaign in order to prove a point. He wants to win and his ambition and strategic cleverness make him perfectly willing to be ambiguous when he believes it necessary.

His general election beta window might be shifted down a couple points from Rubio's, but I doubt he would be an easy out for Clinton.

Which brings us to Trump...

A great essay.

And keep reading for the Trump analysis.

Muslims in America Focus Group (VIDEO)

Leftists don't care about Muslims. Well, they care about them to the extent that Islam helps take down America. Frankly, the most racist, regressive people you could possible know are leftists. They're hateful, hideous ghouls.

In any case, Frank Luntz admits that he backed off his usual high-pressure style in focus group settings, certainly in fear of being attacked as "racist" and "Islamophobic."

Watch, at CBS This Morning, "Focus group of American Muslims talks politics, fear and faith."

Woman's Body Found Inside Refrigerator in Santa Ana (VIDEO)

Man, that's grisly.

At the O.C. Register, "Santa Ana police find woman's body inside fridge."

And watch, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Senator Jeff Sessions: Omnibus a 'Betrayal', Increases Foreign Workers, Fully Funds Obama Immigration Agenda (VIDEO)

At Big Government.