Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 Cover Girls Open Up (VIDEO)

I haven't actually seen the new edition in hard copy.

I need to buy a copy for, eh, my records, lol.

Robert Stacy McCain Responds to Twitter Suspension — #FreeStacy

Robert's backup account, @SexTroubleBook, is now also suspended.

The evil SJWs have declared all out war on him --- and his supporters.

I wrote about this on Saturday, "Robert Stacy McCain Suspended on Twitter — #FreeStacy."

Folks should tweet to @Support, @Twittter, @Safety, and @Jack (Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and current CEO), using the #FreeStacy hashtag.

.@Jack, Twitter is dead to me if you permanently ban my friend Robert Stacy McCain. @safety @Support cc. @Instapundit #FreeStacy

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 22, 2016

Meanwhile the Ralph Retort posted an email from Robert, "FOLLOW-UP: R.S. McCain’s Amazing Response to His Unfair Twitter Suspension":

I reached out to Mr. McCain before publishing our first story this morning. He got back to me with this response. In my opinion, it was too good not to be its own post. So, here you go…

As I have said for years: Being notorious is not the same as being famous, but it’s better than being anonymous.

That is to say, I don’t often complain about being hated or misunderstood. It comes with the territory. I started out in the news business as a $4.50-an-hour staff writer for a tiny weekly newspaper in Austell, Georgia. Most people have no idea what I did before I got involved in political journalism as an assistant national editor for The Washington Times in 1997, or even have any idea of the work I did there. The vast majority of people who read my blog or follow my Twitter feed have any knowledge of or interest in my personal “backstory.” It’s not about me. I am not the story. I am the guy telling the story, or I am the guy making jokes about the story. I understand that. But I think some people in the New Media era lose sight of this reality.

Politics is like football. It’s a team sport. Until I was in my mid-30s, I was a very partisan Democrat. Bill Clinton (who I voted for in 1992) cured me of my Democrat loyalty. During the 1990s, I began a rather deep autodidactic study of politics, history, economics, philosophy, etc. My politics are conservative, my economics are Austrian, my faith is Christian. It’s that simple — and certain people HATE me for it. But those people hate everybody who is not a Democrat. Fine. I understand that kind of hate, having once been a Democrat myself, but Democrats think of their personal hatred as “social justice.” And so I understand them better than they understand me.

However, it’s not about me.. I’m just a story teller, really, and also occasionally a cheerleader for my team. But I was making my living and paying my bills as a journalist before I got into politics, before there was any such thing as a blog or Twitter. So, if you will excuse my French, fuck “social justice,” and fuck all these pretentious idiots who popped up on the Internet three or four years ago claiming to be “experts” on something. They may fool some people, but they don’t fool me. Zoe Quinn, Brianna Wu, Anita Sarkeesian, that whole worthless crowd of phony hustlers? They don’t fool me. I was street-smart enough to spot their kind of hustle even before I got into the news business. “Social justice” is a three-card monte hustle, a cheap and transparent scam or, as Friedrich Hayek said, social justice is a mirage. The object of the SJW game — for Quinn, Wu, Sarkeesian, et al. — is for them to make money without ever doing any actual work except be a professional “activist.” Yeah, so fuck their activism, and fuck their claim to being morally superior to me (or you or anybody else) just because they are an “activist” who claims to be advancing “social justice.” They do not fool me, nor should anyone else be deceived by their bogus hustle, and the fact that my @rsmccain account got suspended? Just further proof of what I keep saying: Feminism is a totalitarian movement, and the First Rule of Feminism is, “Shut up!” Sarkeesian and her crowd cannot sustain their arguments against well-informed criticism, and so they attempt to “win” the argument by silencing all criticism.

This is why you can’t even state FACTS about these people on Twitter without being accused of “harassment.” Facts are harassment and truth is hate and Oceania Has Always Been at War With Eastasia. Sarkesian is anti-freedom because she is anti-truth. She and her little squad of soi-disant “feminists” are just hustlers looking for a free ride, and the only way they can get that ride is to silence anyone who speaks the truth about them and calls them out as the cheap bullshit artists they actually are. Me? Nobody cares about me. I am not the story. But I am the guy telling the story, and I’m not going to shut up so long as I can breathe. If I drop dead right here, right now, as soon as I click “send,” I will keep telling the truth, because that’s what the job is about. Fuck “social justice.” Give me freedom, and give me truth...

More.

Donald Trump to Hold Campaign Events in Las Vegas Today (VIDEO)

Following-up from previously, "Donald Trump's Momentum (VIDEO)."

At KTNV News 13 Las Vegas:

Donald Trump's Momentum (VIDEO)

At the New York Post, via Memeorandum, "Donald Trump leads polls in 10 of next 14 voting states."

And at the New York Times, "Donald Trump's Victory Spurs Renewed Scrambling Among Republicans."

Amber Lee's Monday Forecast

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Angry Mob Cheers as Huge Blaze Rips Through Migrant 'Refugee' Shelter in Saxony, Germany (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Angry Mob Threatens Migrant 'Refugees' in German Town of Clausnitz (VIDEO)."

There's more, at BNI, "GERMAN patriots cheer and try to stop firefighters as Muslim illegal alien invader center burns in Saxony."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Anti-migrant mobs cheer and try to stop firefighters getting to planned refugee shelter as it goes up in flames in Germany."

Angry Mob Threatens Migrant 'Refugees' in German Town of Clausnitz (VIDEO)

Here's the video, "Refugees cry as they were welcomed by neo-nazis in #‎Clausnitz near #‎Döbeln #‎Germany last night..."

Watch also at Euronews, "German police defend their handling of migrant bus unrest."

More, at the BBC, "German police justify handling of migrant bus incident."

The Party of Bush Yields to a New Face (VIDEO)

Heh.

"Yield" is putting it nicely. Jebbie got the freakin' boot!

At the New York Times, "The Party of Bush Yields, Warily, to a New Face: Donald Trump":

In his emotional seven-minute farewell to a Republican Party that elevated his father and brother to the White House, there were two words that a choked-up Jeb Bush could not bring himself to utter: “Donald Trump.”

Mr. Bush, the former governor of Florida, had been soundly rejected by an electorate he no longer recognized, hobbling his campaign and leaving him little choice but to withdraw from the presidential race.

“The people of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken,” Mr. Bush said, holding back tears. “And I really respect their decision.”

It was a stunning turn for the man who a year ago embodied all the qualities that his party’s elders imagined Republican voters wanted in a president: civility, experience, pedigree and tolerance.

They were wrong.

The party of Prescott Bush, George Bush and George W. Bush is, for the moment, the party of Donald J. Trump.

For the past year, party leaders who had pleaded with Mr. Bush to run and armed his campaign with a record-shattering war chest of $100 million had consoled themselves with assurances that Mr. Trump’s popularity in the polls would never translate into victory at the ballot box.

Mr. Trump, it turned out, knew their voters better than they did.

Mr. Trump’s commanding back-to-back primary wins in two disparate regions of the country have forcefully shaken the Republican firmament out of a prolonged state of self-denial.

“It’s an enormous moment,” said Steve Schmidt, a top Republican strategist on John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008 and George W Bush’s in 2004. Unless further rivals immediately quit the race, “it’s very difficult to see how he is stopped on his way to the nomination.”

Keep reading.

Bob Schieffer on the State of the GOP Race (VIDEO)

Schieffer's excellent home-spun political analysis.

Nothing to disagree with, frankly.

From this morning's "Face the Nation":

WATCH: Behind the Scenes Sports Illustrated 2016 Ashley Graham (VIDEO)

Bodacious.

Gigi Hadid Uncovered for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 (VIDEO)

Watch, "Gigi Hadid Uncovered Swimsuit 2016."

BONUS: "Gigi Hadid Intimates Swimsuit 2016: Watch the exclusive behind the scenes video from the Tahiti SI Swimsuit 2016 shoot, featuring Gigi Hadid."

Deal of the Day: Save 50 Percent on Calvin Klein Underwear

At Amazon, Save on Calvin Klein Underwear.

Also, from Margalis Fjelstad, Stop Caretaking the Borderline or Narcissist: How to End the Drama and Get On with Life (hat-tip: Instapundit).

And from Charles Gati, ed, Zbig: The Strategy and Statecraft of Zbigniew Brzezinski.

BONUS: From Heather Cox Richardson, To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies." (That's last Sunday's funnies, since this morning's aren't up yet.)



Also, at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES: Trump Derangement Edition." Also, at Theo's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – You Didn’t Build That."

'Since the South Carolina contest moved up on the political calendar in 1980, no Republican has carried both New Hampshire and South Carolina and then failed to win the nomination...'

A great piece, from Susan Page, at USA Today, "First Take: History is now on Donald Trump's side."

Why Ted Cruz is South Carolina’s Biggest Loser (VIDEO)

Yeah, Cruz is not cruising to the nomination. He couldn't even win SC's evangelicals.

See Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Why Cruz is SC’s Biggest Loser":

There’s no question that the main story coming out of the South Carolina primary is another big win for Donald Trump. His double-digit margin over his nearest competitors was very much along the lines of his impressive victory in New Hampshire and looked to have won him all of the state’s delegates. Trump proved that nothing he could say — whether it was repeating far-left talking points about George W. Bush, endorsing the ObamaCare personal mandate or opposing entitlement reform — could alienate his supporters. With one third of GOP primary voters solidly in his pocket, it’s possible to argue that he has a clear path to the Republican nomination so long as he is facing two or more competitors in the remaining states, especially once most of the contests become winner-take-all affairs.

But if Trump is the big winner in South Carolina, Ted Cruz is the big loser....

Cruz’s assumption was that once other candidates that appealed to social conservatives like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum dropped out, he could count on a united evangelical vote. But what Trump showed us in South Carolina is that there is no such thing as a united bloc of religious conservatives. Or even of Tea Party voters that should, in theory, also be flocking to Cruz. What’s killing Cruz is that a lot of people who ought not to be voting for someone with Trump’s record are doing so. Cruz is right that he is the principled conservative that represents the beliefs of these voters. But they are still voting for Trump.

Trump may be hitting a ceiling at about one third of the vote. But that bloc is largely composed of the Tea Party and evangelicals that Cruz assumed would never stick with the frontrunner. If this pattern is repeated in the SEC states, Cruz will lose them. And once you get past that point in the calendar, the GOP race moves to northern, Midwestern and southern states where Cruz’s brand of conservatism has even less of a constituency. Trump may triumph there too, especially if Rubio is forced to compete with Kasich. But whatever happens in those states, the least likely outcome there would be victories for Cruz...

More.

And ICYMI, "Donald Trump Wins South Carolina Primary (VIDEO)."

Hillary Clinton Regains Momentum After Crushing Defeat in New Hampshire (VIDEO)

And she's going to consolidate that momentum in South Carolina, which holds its Democrat primary next Saturday, February 27th.

At the Washington Post, "Clinton defeats Sanders in Nevada; black voter support appears decisive":

LAS VEGAS — Hillary Clinton held off a powerful late challenge from rival Sen. Bernie Sanders in Nevada’s Democratic caucus vote Saturday, securing a narrow victory that helps the former secretary of state regain momentum after a crushing defeat in New Hampshire.

Nevada was the first state to test support among minority voters, who have long been expected to be in Clinton’s camp. As it turned out, preliminary entrance polls showed Latinos favoring Sanders, despite having voted for Clinton 2-to-1 when she ran in 2008. African American voters, meanwhile, appear to have overwhelmingly supported Clinton — a development that could bode extremely well for her given the run of Southern states with large black electorates voting in the coming weeks.

“Some may have doubted us, but we never doubted each other,” Clinton told supporters gathered at a Las Vegas hotel ballroom. Clinton congratulated Sanders on a close election, but she got in a few digs, too.

“It can’t just be about what we’re going to give to you; it has to be about what we are going to build together,” she said in an unmistakable reference to Sanders’s large and expensive plans for government-run health care, college and more.

Clinton’s campaign cast doubt on the strength of Sanders’s support among Hispanics, pointing to majority-Latino precincts that she won...

Keep reading.

Also, at PuffHo, "Civil Rights Legend Says Sanders Supporters Yelled 'English Only' at Her."

Well, Sanders won't pick up Latino voters that way, obviously.

Amber Lee's Sunday Forecast

That rain on Thursday sure helped, but it's not coming back for a while yet.

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Donald Trump Wins South Carolina Primary (VIDEO)

He's practically cruising to the nomination at this point.

We'll see what happens in Nevada, but no matter. If he sweeps a majority of the contests on March 1st, Super Tuesday, it's a done deal.

At LAT, "Trump wins South Carolina primary; Cruz and Rubio battle for second as Bush quits the race":

Donald Trump rode a week of insults directed at a popular pope and a GOP president to trounce his opponents in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary Saturday, the most convincing evidence to date that his establishment-smashing campaign is on track to win the nomination.

None of Trump's rivals came close to knocking him off Saturday, despite – or perhaps because of – his position at the center of one of the most polarizing campaign weeks in recent history.

“There’s nothing easy about running for president, I can tell you,” Trump told a cheering crowd in Spartanburg, S.C., late Saturday. "It’s tough. It’s nasty. It’s mean. It’s vicious. It’s beautiful. When you win, it’s beautiful, and we are going to start winning for our country.”

On the other end of the spectrum was the night's biggest casualty, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who quit the race after months of limping along in Trump's shadow and as the target of much of Trump's derision.

"I'm proud of the campaign we've run," Bush told supporters. "But the people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken."

With about one-third of the ballots counted, Trump had about 33% of the vote. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, also running as a party agitator, was running just barely ahead of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for second place.

Many figures in the party elite have viewed Rubio as the last man standing between traditional GOP values and the restive forces that have come to upend them in the 2016 campaign. So far, however, he has not won a contest.

Trump's victory was sweeping. He won among veterans and nonveterans, moderates and conservatives, evangelicals and nonevangelicals, women and men, according to the results of the exit poll conducted by Edison Research for the Associated Press and the major television networks.

As he has throughout the campaign, Trump dominated the vote of Republicans without a college education and those with incomes below $100,000. College graduates were closely divided among backers of Trump, Cruz and Rubio. Those with incomes above $100,000 split their vote between Trump and Rubio, the exit poll indicated.

Almost the only significant demographic group that did not go for Trump were those who called themselves "very conservative," who sided with Cruz...

Still more.

And at Memeorandum.

Jeb Bush Quits 2016 Presidential Campaign (VIDEO)

Obviously, there's lots of news tonight, but this bit on Jeb Bush really rates, heh.

 At USA Today, "Jeb Bush drops out of Republican presidential race."

Our long national nightmare is over - #JebBush suspends presidential campaign. #SouthCarolina #SCPrimary #SouthCarolinaPrimary #GOPprimary

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 21, 2016

Man Captured on Film Being Arrested in a 1963 Protest is Bernie Sanders, His Campaign Says

That's the headline at the New York Times, via Memeorandum.

But see Twitchy:

Photo of Bernie Sanders getting arrested during civil rights protest in 1963 discovered #FeelTheBern https://t.co/JUTBiIrWJT

— TwitchyTeam (@TwitchyTeam) February 20, 2016

Dude's definitely got some credibility on civil rights, despite the attacks of Hillary's henchmen.