The Forgotten Americans

From Victor Davis Hanson, at National Review, "Obama’s coalition is held together only by his personal mythography":

Political analysts still are arguing over why the Democratic party was washed away in the midterm election. Since 2008, ascendant progressives had been crowing over a fresh mosaic of energized minorities, newly franchised immigrants, single young urban women, greens, gays, and — less often mentioned — upscale professionals and the 1-percenter super-wealthy.

These groups were united by their support for the expansion of entitlements, higher taxes, neo-isolationism, amnesty, opposition to any restrictions on abortion, curbs on carbon-energy development, and gay marriage. But what really held them together was Barack Obama. His exotic name, his racial background, his leftwing ideology, and his Ivy League training appealed to each of these diverse groups. Without him on the ballot — as in 2010 and 2014 — most of these identity groups apparently were not energized enough to turn out in sufficient numbers to make up for middle-class voters turned off by progressive rhetoric and the by-any-means-necessary distortions to achieve its ends.

Indeed, a cynic would sum up the unlikely liberal coalition as a bridge over the middle class. Wealthy, influential progressives had enough capital and income to support new efforts at government redistribution, higher taxes, and the sort of green projects that, at least in the short term, would slow the economy and cost blue-collar jobs — but not really affect the 1 percenters’ own livelihoods much.

At the other end, the underclass welcomed expansions of federal entitlement programs and the idea of an activist state guaranteeing an equality of result for the less-well-off, with the taxes to pay for it all falling on someone else.

Note that the new progressive coalition was largely abstract. In their own personal lives, the upscale denizens of Santa Monica, Chevy Chase, and the Upper West Side did not put their children in diverse public schools, much less live among undocumented immigrants or give up their Mercedeses and Volvo SUVs for fleets of Priuses. None promised to take two fewer trips by jet each year.

Ideally from its point of view, the new progressive partnership would end up with America looking something like California. Sky-high income, sales, and gas taxes and soaring electric rates, coupled with prohibitive housing costs along the state’s 700-mile-long coastal corridor, have turned the once golden state into two cultures strangely united by a common Democratic party.

The coastal elites champion wind and solar mandates, transgender restrooms in the public schools, gay marriage, and high-speed rail. In the interior, rarely visited by the elites or the journalists friendly to them, the preponderance of poorer and minority residents largely explains why of all the states California has the largest number of welfare recipients and the highest percentage of the population below the poverty line, and why it is nearly dead last in public-school performance.

For liberals for whom power is the true goal, California is seen as a success because there are no more conservatives like Ronald Reagan or Pete Wilson in statewide office. Over the last 30 years, unchecked illegal immigration, an influx of high-income urban liberal professionals to the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas, and a steady exodus of the white middle and working classes explain why this liberal blue state has the largest number of both poor and wealthy people in the nation — and a shrinking conservative percentage of the electorate.

But is the California progressive future applicable throughout the United States? This month’s election suggests maybe not, and for reasons that transcend the fact that Californians can bail out of their state in a way that Americans cannot their country...

Keep reading.

Pilgrims and the Roots of the American Thanksgiving

From Malcolm Gaskill, at WSJ, "English settlers of the 17th century were a diverse lot, and they became Americans despite themselves":

In the fall of 1621, 50 English men and women and 90 Native Americans gathered at New Plymouth in Massachusetts. The colonists had arrived a year earlier on a leaky wine ship, the Mayflower, and built a hillside settlement overlooking the ocean, little more than a few wooden huts in a stockade. The first winter had been terrible: Half their number had perished from malnutrition and disease. They had struggled to farm the land, were poorly supplied from England and relied on their Indian hosts for expertise and food.

But in the end, they did it. According to Edward Winslow, who had buried his wife that March, “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling so that we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor.” The Pilgrims, as they would later be known, celebrated for three days—an event immortalized in American history as the first Thanksgiving.

The story has been heavily mythologized, and the numerous depictions of it that have come down to us are mostly patriotic romances, full of errors about the dress, technology and general atmosphere of the day. What we most tend to overlook in the Thanksgiving tale, however, is the wider context of settlement. English colonists—350,000 of them in the 17th century—were a diverse lot, and more English than you might imagine. Having left the Old World for the New, they clung to their old identities and tried to preserve them. In this, they failed, and yet from that failure, a new national character was born—the primary traits of which are still visible in Americans today...

Keep reading.

How the Civil War Created Thanksgiving

From Kenneth Davis, at the New York Times.

Also, from President Abraham Lincoln, at Real Clear History, "A Wartime Proclamation of Thanksgiving":

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

More.

10 Reasons Why Thanksgiving's My Favorite Holiday

From Rick Moran, at Pajamas Media:

I used to spend Thanksgiving with one family member or another — flying to Washington, D.C., or driving to our family house in the Chicago suburbs. It was hard for all of us to get together with 10 children splashed across North America from California to Canada, from the Midwest to the East Coast. But there were usually gatherings of three or four of us on Thanksgiving which made for a satisfying experience.

But the last decade, that hasn’t been the case. The Chicago suburban house was sold years ago after my mother died. And usually, I was working or too involved in a project to take the time. I regret those missed opportunities — especially now that travel is physically difficult for me.

But I’m not asking anyone to feel sorry for me. The long skein of memories of Thanksgivings past is more than enough to fill me up with joy and be thankful for what I have in the here and now.

Those cherished memories led me to write of the 10 reasons why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I’m sure you can add a few reasons of your own...

I like the food, football, family, and the time off from work.

Laughing at the hate-addled nihilist leftists is pretty good too.

RTWT.

The Nihilist in the White House

Obama's the chief far-left nihilist.

They tear down. Never build up. They destroy. Never unite. Like Walter James Casper III.

From Peggy Noonan, at WSJ:

Historical vindication happens. The Obama White House assumes it will happen to them. Thus they can do pretty much what they want.

What they forget is that facts largely decide what history thinks—outcomes, what happened, what it means. What they also forget, or perhaps never knew, is that the great ones are always constructive. They don’t divide and tear down. They build, gather in, create, bend, meld, and in so doing move things forward.

That’s not this crowd.

This White House seems driven—does it understand this?—by a kind of political nihilism. They agitate, aggravate, fray and separate.

Look at three great domestic issues just the past few weeks.

More.

NYPD Arrests #Ferguson Protesters Disrupting Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (VIDEO)

Vile, spiteful minority has to try to ruin the holiday for everyone else.

That's Racist! Obama Approval Drops Among Working-Class Whites

At Gallup:

PRINCETON, N.J. -- President Barack Obama's job approval rating among white non-college graduates is at 27% so far in 2014, 14 percentage points lower than among white college graduates. This is the largest yearly gap between these two groups since Obama took office. These data underscore the magnitude of the Democratic Party's problem with working-class whites, among whom Obama lost in the 2012 presidential election, and among whom Democratic House candidates lost in the 2014 U.S. House voting by 30 points.

Obama's overall job approval rating has dropped throughout the first six years of his administration, and this downward trajectory is seen both among white Americans who are college graduates and those who are not. But the gap between his approval ratings among college-educated and non-college-educated whites has grown. It was six points in 2009, when Obama had the overall highest ratings of his administration, then expanded to 10 points in 2010 and to 12 points in 2013. The gap between these two groups is at its highest yet, at 14 points so far this year.

Whites in general constitute a political challenge for Democrats and the president given their Republican orientation, as evidenced by Obama's job approval ratings so far this year of 84% among blacks, 64% among Asians, 53% among Hispanics and 32% among whites. About two-thirds of adult whites have not graduated from college, making working-class whites a particularly important group politically because of its sheer size...

Well, it's hard out there for the party of "Burn this bitch down!"

More.

And from John Hinderaker, at Power Line, "WHY THE GALLUP POLL MEANS DEEP TROUBLE FOR HILLARY."

#Ferguson Rioters Looting Same Store Michael Brown Accused of Robbing (VIDEO)

Sick.

They're vermin. Like rats on a sinking ship.

At Twitchy, "Full circle: Liquor store Michael Brown accused of robbing being looted (again) [Vine]."

Happy Thanksgiving — Gratitude

Seen on Twitter:

Thank you for serving. #HappyThanksgiving pic.twitter.com/mFwnEvCyVk

— Franci (@LadySandersfarm) November 27, 2014

#Ferguson: No Justice, No Peace — No Brains

From Erik Rush, at WND:

I would say it’s a fair bet that most of those who witnessed the violence that ensued following the announcement that a grand jury in Missouri declined to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown were not at all surprised. Indeed, it appeared that many of those anticipating the decision simply could not wait to get started looting, shooting and destroying property.

The mob appeared to have a particular penchant for razing and burning local businesses. In fact, dozens of businesses in Ferguson burned on Monday night alone, and these were mostly minority-owned. Obviously, those in the community who worked at these businesses are now out of jobs.

Even assuming the decimated businesses carried adequate insurance, of course the owners and franchisees are out of work too, though many will be able to rebuild. All of this will conspire to depress the economy in Ferguson, something of which the participants in the mayhem and madness remain oblivious.

The catalyst to all of this, as the reader is likely aware, was the fact that a man was found innocent of wrongdoing by a grand jury. When you strip away the race issues, there’s not much more to it than that. One man assaulted another – a police officer – and was killed, probably after attempting to relieve him of his sidearm. Amidst widely publicized accusations of police brutality and race-based police targeting of young blacks, a grand jury determined that the officer had not acted unlawfully. Much of the testimony upon which the grand jury decision was based, we are told, was given by those of the same ethnic group as the decedent Michael Brown. In general, the evidence in favor of Officer Darren Wilson’s account of the events was overwhelming.

There are numerous components to this situation which are engender pathos, well beyond a young man having lost his life, another’s life in upheaval and a community in tatters.

One is the disgusting behavior of the rioters, who found themselves unable to rise above the social and psychological garbage being fed them. Another is the manifest evil of those who have been feeding the aforementioned garbage to black Americans for the last several decades, and that of the agitators with more short-term agendas. With regard to the former, I refer to the politicians and career activists who perpetuate the notion that America remains an institutionally racist nation, and that racist police prowl the streets looking for the slightest excuse to gun down a black individual.

With regard to the latter, I speak of those such as the New Black Panther Party (some of whose members were arrested in the Ferguson area with bombs in the days prior to the grand jury decision), and Muslim activists who sought to enroll blacks in their effort to condemn the actions of law enforcement against militant Muslims in Missouri.

While it is not my intention to address this in depth here, the political manipulation of blacks across America in the name of Michael Brown is more than a mere distraction from the increasing attention being focused on Obama’s dismal reign. (Make no mistake: A measure of the agitation in Ferguson and elsewhere is being directly orchestrated by Obama surrogates and the DOJ itself.) As a landmark in the incremental sabotage of race relations, it is validation to the administration of what it can do, and what will be necessary to ignite even larger fires in the future...

More.

PREVIOUSLY: "Obama and the Roots of the Ferguson Rage."

Obama and the Roots of the Ferguson Rage

At FrontPage Mag:

And so the whirlwind, cultivated by Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, the mainstream media and the army of thugs they enabled, is now being reaped. As the result of a St. Louis County grand jury refusing to indict officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown, Ferguson, MO has become Ground Zero, in what irresponsible Missouri State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadali referred to on MSNBC as “St. Louis’s race war.”

One of the race war’s architects pleaded for calm shortly after the decision was announced. Yet even as Obama spoke about that “need for calm” and that there was “no excuse for violence,” he insisted, “We have to try to understand” the anger of those who demanded nothing less than a murder charge absent an ounce of evidence as an “understandable reaction” from people who believe “the law is being applied in a discriminatory fashion.”

Where did those people get that belief? Leave it to Obama to omit that critical information — the same President Obama who met with protest leaders and Sharpton on Nov. 5 at the White House. It was at that unscheduled meeting the president was ostensibly “concerned about Ferguson staying on course in terms of pursuing what it was that he knew we were advocating,” according to Sharpton. “He said he hopes that we’re doing all we can to keep peace.”

One is left to marvel at one of two realities. Either we have a president so utterly naive he believes a hoax-perpetrating, riot-inciting Al Sharpton, who denigrated the grand jury process, pre-organized protest rallies in 25 American cities, and uses his MSNBC platform to fire up racial unrest, is a man of peace. Or the president, who once urged his Latino followers to “punish our enemies,” remains as wedded to the same racial “us against them” mentality as America’s foremost racial arsonist. Is it really possible to believe the former?

Despite Obama’s superficial condemnations of violence, at least 25 businesses were set ablaze, many of which are total losses—and most of which were minority owned.  Ten cars were burned at a dealership, and a “lot of gunfire,” as Ferguson Asst. Fire Chief Steve Fair put it, made maintaining control of the streets highly problematic, if not impossible. Reporters were assaulted, the store Michael Brown robbed prior to his confrontation with Wilson was looted, and at least 61 people have been arrested. “What I’ve seen tonight is probably much worse than the worst night we ever had in August, and that’s truly unfortunate,” said St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar Monday at a 1:30 a.m press conference. Belmar further noted that there was “nothing left” along West Florissant between Solway Avenue and Chambers Road, that he heard at least 150 gun shots, and that he was surprised he and Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, who “got lit up,” as they drove through the area, weren’t hit by that gunfire.

“We talked about peaceful protest, and that did not happen tonight,” Johnson said. “We definitely have done something here that’s going to impact our community for a long time…that’s not how we create change.”

More.

St. Louis Bomb Suspects Couldn't Afford Explosives Until 'One Suspect's Girlfriend's Electronic Benefit Transfer Card Was Replenished...'

Seriously. This is where we are as a society.

"Hey, we're gonna have to hold off on buying bombs until the girlfriend's EBT card clears."

At the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Alleged plot included bombing Gateway Arch, killing St. Louis County prosecutor":

ST. LOUIS • Two men indicted last week on federal weapons charges allegedly had plans to bomb the Gateway Arch — and to kill St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch and Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson — the Post-Dispatch has learned.

Sources close to the investigation were uncertain whether the men had the capability to carry out the plans, although the two allegedly did buy what they thought was a pipe bomb in an undercover law enforcement sting.

The men wanted to acquire two more bombs, the sources said, but could not afford to do it until one suspect’s girlfriend’s Electronic Benefit Transfer card was replenished.

An indictment, with no mention of bombs or killings, was returned in federal court here Nov. 19 and unsealed Friday upon the arrest of Brandon Orlando Baldwin and Olajuwon Ali Davis. Their addresses and Baldwin’s age were not available; Davis is 22.

The Way to Make White People Take Racism Less Seriously

Thomas Crown, on Twitter (via Instapundit):

If you tell white folks that they have created a power structure that reinforces their privilege, they will laugh at you.

— Thomas H. Crown (@ThomasHCrown) November 25, 2014

LIBERALS WILLING TO FIGHT TO THE LAST DROP OF BLACK BLOOD!

From Ann Coulter:

The riot in Ferguson reminds me, I hate criminals, but I hate liberals more. They planned this riot. They stoked the fire, lied about the evidence and produced a made-to-order riot.

Every other riot I've ever heard of was touched off by some spontaneous event that exploded into mob violence long before any media trucks arrived. This time, the networks gave us a countdown to the riot, as if it were a Super Bowl kickoff.

From the beginning, Officer Darren Wilson's shooting of Michael Brown wasn't reported like news. It was reported like a cause.

The media are in a huff about the prosecutor being "biased" because his father was a cop, who was shot and killed by an African-American. What an assh@le!

Evidently, the sum-total of what every idiot on TV knows about the law is Judge Sol Wachtler's 20-year-old joke that a prosecutor could "indict a ham sandwich." We're supposed to be outraged that this prosecutor didn't indict the ham sandwich of Darren Wilson.

Liberals seem not to understand that they don't have a divine right to ruin someone's life and bankrupt him with a criminal trial, just so they're satisfied.

The reason most grand jury investigations result in an indictment is that most grand juries aren't convened solely to patronize racial mobs. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon was basically demanding an indictment of Wilson before Big Mike's body was cold. It was only because of racial politics that this shooting wasn't dismissed without a grand jury, at all...

More.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, More Spiteful Than Ever

Seriously, you can't say he's not a spectacle.

Do read his latest screed post-Ferguson, at the Atlantic, "Barack Obama, Ferguson, and the Evidence of Things Unsaid."

Democracy in America is inseparable from the looting of native American land and the enslavement of blacks. It's unavoidable. @ashnavabi

— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) November 26, 2014

Racism is an actual tool in American history. It serves real purposes. It is not just "white people being mean to black people."

— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) November 26, 2014

Getting variations of the "go back to Africa" rebuttal. Not how this works. We are here to run you out, not the other way around.

— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) November 26, 2014

Hey, speak truth to power, brother. I'm sure race talk like that's doing wonders to improve race relations.

@wendyphd Coates is a huckster, actually. He should move to Botswana.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 27, 2014

Hot Models in Mesh

Nice.

At Egotastic!, "Soho Magazine Best of Women in Mesh."

L.A. Times Features Michael Brown Stepfather on Front Page: Photo Caption Omits 'Burn this bitch down!'

Here's the Times' front-page story from Tuesday morning, following Monday night's announcement in Ferguson and the inevitable black shake-down protests and looting: "Violence erupts after grand jury fails to indict Ferguson officer."

The paper's photographer, Wally Skalij, would have witnessed Earl Head, the husband to Michael Brown's mother Lesley McSpadden, exhorting the crowd to "Burn this bitch down!" But there's no mention of the violent, profanity-laced exhortation at the newspaper.

Seems like a significant omission, but then again, the media is equally responsible for fanning the flames of racial unrest.

The caption at the photo below reads: "Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown's mother, center, reacts in Ferguson, Mo., to the announcement of the grand jury's decision not to indict police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of her son."

'This one goes out to the one I love...'

R.E.M., from yesterday morning on the Sound L.A.

Maggie May
Rod Stewart
3:05 PM

Highway to Hell
AC/DC
3:01 PM

Piano Man
Billy Joel
9:56 AM

Tired of Waiting for You
The Kinx
9:43 AM

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
The Police
9:39 AM

Even The Losers
Tom Petty
9:36 AM

Last Train to Clarksville
The Monkees
9:33 AM

Another Tricky Day
The Who
9:28 AM

Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen
9:17 AM

Show Me the Way (Live)
Peter Frampton
9:12 AM

Don't Let Him Go
REO Speedwagon
9:09 AM

Sweet Hitch-Hiker
Creedence Clearwater Revival
9:06 AM

The One I Love
R.E.M.
9:03 AM

Baby Hold On
Eddie Money
8:59 AM

California Girls
The Beach Boys
8:50 AM

Something About You
Boston
8:47 AM

Black Friday Deals in Musical Instruments

At Amazon, Shop Amazon - Black Friday Deals Week in Musical Instruments.

Tyranny

It's here.

In-Depth Look at the Casting Process for Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

The fashion show's coming up on December 9.

Senator Jeff Sessions: Congress Should Not Fund Wage-Reducing Imperial Amnesty

From the Kelly File:

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez Warns of GOP 'Fear Campaign' Against Illegal Immigrants

This dude's always "warning" about something.

At the Hill:

Democratic lawmakers are warning that the GOP intends to mount a “fear campaign" directed at immigrants in the country illegally who are in line to benefit from President Obama’s executive action protecting millions of them from deportation.

"There's going to be fear-mongering from the Republican Party,” Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) told reporters Monday, as champions for immigration reform sought to shift their focus from pressuring the White House for action to convincing eligible immigrants to sign up.

“The fear campaign is just starting,” Gutiérrez said during a press call hosted by America’s Voice, pointing to proposals from some GOP lawmakers who want to block the president’s plan via legislation.

“They are trying to keep our immigrants from signing up just like they were trying to keep people from signing up for ObamaCare.”

More.

#Ferguson Mayhem

Some video from CNN:



Also at Instapundit, "REPORT: No Indictment In Ferguson Case."

'Dang if that kid didn't start running right at the cop like a football player...'

Witness to Ferguson:

Witness journal entry in GJ evidence: "Dang if [Brown] didn't start running right at the cop like a football player" pic.twitter.com/cHtTIZnEjN

— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) November 25, 2014

Also, "No Indictment in Grand Jury Decision on Michael Brown Shooting (VIDEO)."

No Indictment in Grand Jury Decision on Michael Brown Shooting (VIDEO)

There's all kinds of coverage at Memeorandum.

And at the New York Times, "No Indictment of Officer in Ferguson Case: Grand Jury Finds No Probable Cause for Any Charge."

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon Won't Rule Out Armored Vehicles and Tear Gas (VIDEO)

Here, "Transcript Gov. Jay Nixon calls for restraint."

And, "Gov. Nixon calls for peace, discusses preparations for Ferguson announcement."

'We have 9mms, 40 cals, AK-47s...'

At Twitchy, "‘We ready for war’: Ferguson man tells reporter, ‘We have 9mms, 40 cals, AK-47s’ [Vine]."

Black Friday is Bigger Deal for the Have-Nots

At LAT, "Black Friday highlights the contrast between rich and poor":

In Northeast Los Angeles, 1,000 people huddled in the evening chill last Thanksgiving as they waited outside a Target store for the chance to snap up Black Friday deals.

Across town at the Grove, the mostly upscale stores such as Barneys and Nordstrom were closed that night. Holiday shoppers didn't start massing until well into the next morning.

This year's annual ritual of conspicuous consumption promises an even greater contrast.

Discounters and mid-priced chains, eager to gain an edge on competitors for limited gift budgets, have again moved their opening times earlier into Turkey Day, with Kmart leading the pack by launching specials at 6 a.m. Higher-end retailers, however, are keeping their doors firmly shut until Friday.

Increasingly, the seasonal shopping surge has become a window into America's class divide, in which high earners have benefited from a booming stock market and rising home prices as many others still grapple with stagnant incomes and lingering financial anxiety.

Consider these opposite scenarios: In 2013, Bloomingdale's went against the grain by offering fewer Black Friday bargains than the year before, according to the advertising experts at bestblackfriday.com. At a Wal-Mart in Duarte, customers elbowed one another to get their hands on Crayola crayon sets, marked down to $11 from nearly $20. (A trending Twitter hashtag last Thanksgiving was #WalmartFights.)

"You have people who really need a bargain — they will sit out for two days to get that deal because that may be the only big thing they can afford for the whole family," said Britt Beemer, founder of America's Research Group. "Luxury retailers don't do very well on Black Friday because their customers are not going to fight the crowds."

Uncertainty is driving both retailers and customers, especially on the lower end.

The National Retail Federation has forecast that spending will climb 4.1% to $617 billion in November and December, compared with a 3.1% increase the same period last year.

But a separate survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted average household spending for the holidays will fall to $684 from $735 last year.

The slump is driven by those who earn less than $50,000, called "survivalists," whose ranks have been growing. This year, 67% of American shoppers fall into that category, up from 63% two years ago, the report said.

These are the families that retailers will fight over Thanksgiving night — ones with limited budgets who are willing to gobble down their apple pie and hustle to the malls to score enough discounts to check off Christmas lists, said Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics Inc.

"Once they have spent their budgets, they are done," Perkins said. "Retailers know if they get them first, they may not have anything left to go to other stores."

Katy Perry Twerking

At Egotastic!, "Katy Perry Bikini Pictures Twerking Hot Yacht Party Time Down Under."

Also at USA Today, "NFL confirms Katy Perry to perform at Super Bowl."

Ferguson's Mob Justice

From Professor Jonathan Turley, at USA Today, "Ferguson needs facts, not passions":

Brown allegedly was coming from the commission of a crime where he appeared to threaten a store clerk. The forensic evidence appears to contradict those who insist that Brown was not shot in a struggle but with his hands in the air. There is evidence that Wilson was injured in a struggle, the gun was discharged in the car and Brown was shot at close quarters leaving blood on the gun. Finally, more than a half-dozen black witnesses reportedly gave testimony supporting Wilson. Other scenarios could explain the evidence, and there is still the question of why so many shots were fired. But those questions might never be answered, a reality of some criminal cases.

The law requires us to deal with facts, and when those facts do not support a criminal charge, prosecution is barred regardless of popular demand.

In the end, it rings hollow to cry "no justice, no peace" when you are rioting or looting. There can be no justice if it is merely the result of demonstrations rather than demonstrated facts. Otherwise, the scales of justice become just one more object to throw through the window of an appliance store.

'Briefs laden with the f-word and vulgar references to the female anatomy attempt to provide a crash course on Eminem and Wu-Tang Clan for the justices, whose tastes lean more toward Wagner and Puccini, and illuminate what some scholars say are the misunderstood storytelling attributes of rap...'

Get a kick out of this piece, at the Washington Post, "Supreme Court case tests the limits of free speech on Facebook and other social media."

Hillary Clinton's Appeals to 'Female Victimhood' Just Arent' Going to Cut it in 2016

From Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "WaPo’s Dan Balz’s message to Hillary: Being the first woman president is not a message."

At least WaPo's putting out some decent reporting on the 2016 presidential cycle. Recall, Dan Balz hammered the Dems earlier as the party of old white people. Ouch.

'Schoolhouse Rock' — 'Saturday Night Live' Rips Obama on Unlawful Executive Amnesty

Last night on "Saturday Night Live," via the Daily Signal, "‘Obama’ Rolls Immigration Bill in ‘SNL’ Riff on ‘Schoolhouse Rock!’," and the Lonely Conservative, "Obama Gets School House Mocked on SNL."

Republicans' 2016 Divisions

There's "divisions" every presidential primary season, although what would we do without the Old Gray Lady to remind us of the GOP's?

At the New York Times, "A Deep 2016 Republican Presidential Field Reflects Party Divisions" (at Memeorandum):

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Republican presidential primaries have for decades been orderly affairs, with any momentary drama mitigated by the expectation that the party would inevitably nominate its tested, often graying front-runner.

But as the 2016 White House campaign effectively began in the last week, it became apparent that this race might be different: a fluid contest, verging on chaotic, that will showcase the party’s deep bench of talent but also highlight its ideological and generational divisions.

As Democrats signal that they are ready to rally behind Hillary Rodham Clinton before their primary season even begins, allowing them to focus their fund-raising and firepower mostly on the general election, the Republicans appear destined for a free-for-all.

Balance of Power: What 2014 Elections Can Tell Us About 2016: Not Much at AllNOV. 6, 2014
“I can think of about 16 potential candidates,” said Haley Barbour, the former governor of Mississippi and a veteran of Republican presidential politics dating to 1968. “Almost every one of them have a starting point. But there is no true front-runner.”

The sprawling nature of the race was on display Thursday as an array of would-be candidates took steps to position themselves.

At a gathering of Republican governors here, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey sought to capitalize on the party’s victories this year in Democratic-leaning states while at least six fellow governors tested their messages and met with potential donors.

On the same day in Washington, Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, addressed an education conference and tried to tamp down differences with the right on the Common Core standards. On Capitol Hill, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky continued his outreach to African-Americans by having breakfast with the Rev. Al Sharpton, while Senator Ted Cruz of Texas appealed to conservatives by citing Cicero on the Senate floor in a speech castigating President Obama’s executive action on immigration.

And in California, Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, just back from taking a group of evangelicals from early primary states on a trip to Europe honoring Ronald Reagan’s Cold War leadership, venerated Mr. Reagan in a speech at his presidential library.

If the dizzying activity on a single day captured the depth of the Republican field, it also underlined its factions, split among pragmatists, hard-liners and those trying to bridge the blocs.

Just reading this made me realize how not ready I am for the 2016 presidential cycle. It's on, folks. We're barely out of the midterms and the presidential election is on. Who'll be the first Republican to declare his or her candidacy?

More.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies."

Still more at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Poisoning The Well," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up..."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

'North Dakota has shed its identity as an agricultural state in decline to become an oil powerhouse second only to Texas...'

This is the marquee front-page report at today's New York Times, "The Downside of the Boom."

It's interesting, although caveat emptor. If the Old Gray Lady can smear and destroy the Bakken oil boom, they certainly will. As with any major economic development, folks need to find a nice compromise between private-sector growth and public-sector regulation. As it is right now, it sounds pretty Wild West and laissez-faire.

Israel Reconsiders Military Action Against Iran

An Israeli preventive attack on Iran? Wouldn't that be something else?

At Israel Matzav, "The military option is back on the table."

A lot of factors would have to come together just perfectly for Israel to be able to pull off such a strike. See Whitney Raas and Austin Long, "Osirak Redux? Assessing Israeli Capabilities to Destroy Iranian Nuclear Facilities," International Security (Spring 2007).

Indianapolis Star Pulls Allegedly 'Racist' Thanksgiving Cartoon

An outrage over accuracy. Wow, haven't seen that happen before.

At iOWNTHEWORLD REPORT, "This Cartoon Was Scrubbed By the Indianapolis Star":

Also at Twitchy, "IndyStar, ‘newspaper of record for all #Crackerland,’ pulls ‘appallingly racist’ Varvel cartoon." And here's the newspaper's apology, "We erred in publishing cartoon."

@jjauthor Guess who's coming to dinner? http://t.co/BpvRnf2qD4 @UniteRight @DailySignal @DavidLimbaugh pic.twitter.com/uxuovG6AZE

— varvel (@varvel) November 21, 2014

Jennifer Lawrence Sings 'The Hanging Tree'

Just got back from "Mockingjay Part I."

It's good. Really good. Makes me think.

In any case, here's London's Daily Mail, "Listen to Jennifer Lawrence sing The Lumineers' song The Hanging Tree for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 1."

Obama 'Dangerously Close to Totalitarianism'

At IBD:

Is Obama 'Dangerously Close To Totalitarianism'? http://t.co/iQjSCke1IP … #IBDEditorials via @IBDinvestors - pic.twitter.com/Mwh40v3RPf

— Daniel John Sobieski (@gerfingerpoken) November 22, 2014

Given the president's end-runs around Congress, his shredding of the Constitution and his assault on the authority of the courts, a second term free of electoral restraints may be a frightening prospect.

Judge Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News commentator, raised the question on Neil Cavuto's "Your World" show Wednesday. And while it seems fanciful in light of the safeguards built into our democracy and its institutions, it recognizes the threat posed by the president's policies and actions if left unchecked.

"I think the president is dangerously close to totalitarianism," Napolitano opined. "A few months ago he was saying, 'The Congress doesn't count, the Congress doesn't mean anything, I am going to rule by decree and by administrative regulation.'

"Now he's basically saying the Supreme Court doesn't count. It doesn't matter what they think. They can't review our legislation. That would leave just him as the only branch of government standing."

Dana Loesch Gives Emperor Amnesty a Lesson in Scripture

At Twitchy, "Dana Loesch gives Pres. Obama a scripture lesson":

Obama missed this Scripture in his immigration talk: Romans 13:1. Also Titus 3:1.

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) November 21, 2014

Here are the passages. Romans 13:1:

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

And Titus 3:1:

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good...

Maybe the president should name a Bible czar to help him out of the tricky predicament he’s put himself in with his selective quoting of verse to fit his political agenda?

Islamic State Gains Support in Pakistan

This is truly a nightmare omen for trends in global terrorism. The world's worst terror state throwing its weight behind the world's newest source of Islamic terrorism.

At the New York Times, "Allure of ISIS for Pakistanis Is on the Rise":

LONDON — Across Pakistan, the black standard of the Islamic State has been popping up all over.

From urban slums to Taliban strongholds, the militant group’s logo and name have appeared in graffiti, posters and pamphlets. Last month, a cluster of militant commanders declared their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State.

Such is the influence of the Islamic State’s steamroller success in Iraq and Syria that, even thousands of miles away, security officials and militant networks are having to reckon with the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Its victories have energized battle-weary militants in Pakistan. The ISIS brand offers them potent advantages, analysts say — an aid to fund-raising and recruiting, a possible advantage over rival factions and, most powerfully, a new template for waging jihad.

Although the Islamic State is not operational in Pakistan, just its symbolic presence is ample cause for concern. It is there, after all, that Al Qaeda was founded in the 1980s, followed by other extremist ideologies that easily found the means and support to carry out international attacks...

More.

Background Checks Abandoned in the Left's Open-Borders Executive Amnesty Push

From Michelle Malkin, "Refresher course: When White House promises immigration “background checks,” they lie."

The Realist Creed

A nice piece. Well done.

From Robert Kaplan, at Real Clear World.

Forget Assault Prevention: Dispensing Common Sense Advice Puts You at Risk of 'Victim-Blaming'

From Ashe Schow, at the Washington Examiner, "Colleges struggle with protecting students without being accused of victim-blaming."

Leftists put people in danger. Sad.

Deep Denials, Missed Chances on Newtown Murderer Adam Lanza

This makes me sick. Nancy Lanza especially. She practically deserved to die for her gross negligence toward her son's psychiatric care.

At LAT, "New report on Newtown shooter: Parental denial, breakdowns, missed opportunities":

In February 2007, Yale clinicians identified in Adam Lanza what they believed were profound emotional disabilities and offered him treatment that could give him relief for the first time in his troubled life.

But Adam was angry and anxious, and he didn't want to go. His mother, Nancy Lanza, constantly placating her son, was inclined to pull away from the treatment, prompting a psychiatric nurse to reach out to his father, Peter Lanza, in an urgent email.

"I told Adam he has a biological disorder that can be helped with medication. I told him what the medicines are and why they can work. I told him he's living in a box right now and the box will only get smaller over time if he doesn't get some treatment."

Nancy Lanza rejected the Yale doctors' plan. Adam was 14.

Six years later, Adam, now an emaciated recluse and fixated with mass killers, murdered his mother and massacred 20 children and six educators before turning a gun on himself at the elementary school he once attended in the Sandy Hook section of Newtown.

A report released today by the Office of the Child Advocate pointed to the Yale episode as one of dozens of red flags, squandered opportunities, blatant family denial and disturbing failures by pediatricians, educators and mental health professionals to see a complete picture of Adam Lanza's "crippling" social and emotional disabilities.

While the report does not draw a line between the events in Adam Lanza's young life and the massacre, it points out repeated examples where the profound anxiety and rage simmering inside Lanza was not explored in favor of attempts to manage his symptoms.

For example, at the apex of Adam's increasing phobias and problems coping with middle school, he went to a pediatrician and was repeatedly prescribed a lotion to soothe hands rubbed raw by excessive washing and a laxative to ease constipation brought on by a dangerous loss of weight. Yet, the authors note that there was no effort during these visits to address the underlying causes. A visit to a hospital emergency room was cut short before there was a chance for clinicians to explore Adam's problems at greater depth and schedule him for long-term treatment because Nancy Lanza said that being at the hospital was making Adam anxious.

"This shooting could have been stopped at any point along the trajectory of (Adam Lanza's) life," said Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse was one of the first-graders killed in classrooms in the Sandy Hook School.

"Red flags were evident, yet procedures were not in place to effectively deal with the issues. This is a systemic concern," Lewis said.

Lewis has started a foundation in her son's honor called the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation to create and promote social and emotional learning programs for school-aged children.

More.

VIDEO: An Imperial Presidency

From the Republican National Committee:

Obama Hecked During Amnesty Speech in Las Vegas

You gotta love it.

Indeed, I turned on the TV this afternoon just as Emperor Obama was getting blasted by these assholes.

Sweet.

At National Review, "Never Enough: Immigration Activist Heckles Obama During Amnesty Victory Lap."

Immigration Debate Explodes Despite Voter Desire for Change

Well, you think?

At the Los Angeles Times:

Far from settling matters, President Obama’s unilateral action on immigration all but ensures at least two more years of fierce and angry debate over one of the most contentious and polarizing issues facing the country.

It is a debate that presents opportunity and political risk to both parties, but especially Republicans, who are deeply divided among themselves and badly need to mend relations with a Latino and Asian American population growing bigger and more politically powerful each day.

And, with the loudest, most strident voices likely to dominate the discussion, it is a debate that will continue to mask a broad consensus among Americans, who want compromise and a fix to a decades-old problem — fashioned by Congress and the president working in tandem — rather than more of the partisan brick-throwing that has escalated over the past several days.

Exit polls this month found that nearly six in 10 voters supported legislation that would go further than Obama’s plan by establishing a path to citizenship for the roughly 11 million people in the country illegally — a striking ratio for a largely white, GOP-leaning electorate that swept Republicans to power across the country on Nov. 4.

Even here in Arizona, a state known for taking one of the hardest lines on illegal immigration, there is a strong desire to see the political skirmishing end.

“People want a solution,” said Chuck Coughlin, a GOP strategist who has advised two of the state’s top Republicans, Sen. John McCain and Gov. Jan Brewer, who have sometimes worked at cross-purposes on the issue. “They’re tired of the partisan stalemate and the finger-pointing by both sides.”

Immigration is a uniquely difficult and emotional issue, freighted with the weight of family ties and two broad, sometimes conflicting impulses. The United States, as the president suggested in his speech Thursday night, is both a land of laws and a nation of immigrants; squaring that circle and finding agreement somewhere in the middle has exceeded both the imagination and capacity of elected leaders for a generation.

Obama was never going to placate all sides by going it alone, a move he says was forced upon him by hostile, intransigent Republicans in Congress. What he has done, though, has heightened tensions in the short term and cast the conflict forward into the race to succeed him, placing every White House hopeful on the spot for the next two years.

Because Obama’s actions are not binding on his successor “the next president is going to have to decide whether to continue these policies after 2017,” said Matt Barreto, a University of Washington political scientist who conducts extensive polling among Latinos nationwide. “Whether it’s Hillary Clinton or Chris Christie or Marco Rubio, they’re all going to have to take a position, because it’s a policy that the next president, through his or her executive power, will be overseeing.”

The danger Democrats face is alienating the white working-class voters who have never much cared for the president and who could view the influx of newly hirable immigrants as unwelcome job competition.

Moreover there are voters of all stripe who recoil from the notion of rewarding — or at least excusing — those who break the law, which is how many critics portrayed the outcome of Obama’s single-handed move...

Still more.

Obama's Executive Amnesty is Both Abuse of Power and Failed Policy Reform

At WSJ, "I, Barack":

His unilateral order will encourage more migrants to come in hope of a future amnesty, without matching the ebb and flow of migration to America’s changing labor market demands. His order also offers no prospect of future citizenship, creating a laboring class with less of a stake in American institutions—and less incentive to assimilate.

The politics of immigration is already fraught, and Mr. Obama’s order will make it worse. He is empowering the most extreme anti-immigrant voices on the Republican right, which may be part of his political calculation.

Mr. Obama wants Democrats to get political credit with Hispanics for legalization, while goading the GOP into again becoming the deportation party in 2016. Hillary Clinton would love that, which explains why Bill Clinton is already backing Mr. Obama’s order. Mark this down as one more way in which this President has become the Great Polarizer.

***
The polls show the American people are uneasy about Mr. Obama’s unilateral law-making, and liberals should be too. Mr. Obama is setting a precedent that Republican Presidents could also use to overcome a Democratic majority. How about an order to the IRS not to collect capital-gains taxes on inflated gains from property held for more than a decade? That policy would be broadly popular and also address a basic lack of fairness.

Mr. Obama’s rule-by-regulation has already been rebuked more than once by the Supreme Court. His “I, Barack” immigration decree is another abuse that will roil American politics and erode public confidence in the basic precepts of self-government.

RTWT.

Kenneth Turan Reviews 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1'

A good review, although having to wait a year for a conclusion to the trilogy is a buzz-killer.

At LAT, "Review 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1' is just a place-holder."

And watch, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Final Trailer – “Burn”."

I'm taking my younger son to see it tomorrow.

A Dangerous Move by the President

From David Gergen, at CNN, "Obama's dangerous move on immigration":

One can argue whether this executive order is legal, but it certainly violates the spirit of the founders. They intentionally focused Article One of the Constitution on the Congress and Article Two on the president. That is because the Congress is the body charged with passing laws and the president is the person charged with faithfully carrying them out.

In effect, the Congress was originally seen as the pre-eminent branch and the president more of a clerk. The president's power grew enormously in the 20th century but even so, the Constitution still envisions Congress and the president as co-equal branches of government -- or as the scholar Richard Neustadt observed, co-equal branches sharing power.

For better or worse, Americans have always expected that in addressing big, tough domestic issues, Congress and the president had to work together to find resolution.

For a president to toss aside such deep traditions of governance is a radical, imprudent step. When a president in day-to-day operations can decide which laws to enforce and which to ignore, where are the limits on his power? Where are the checks and balances so carefully constructed in the Constitution?

If a Democratic president can cancel existing laws on immigration, what is to prevent the next Republican from unilaterally canceling laws on health care?

A bad way to start with new Congress

Coming on the heels of midterm elections that were a clear call for a change of course in Washington, starting in the White House, this is also a discouraging way to open the final years of this presidency. A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll finds that by 53-40%, Americans feel positive about the election results; by 56-33%, they want Congress to set policy for the country, not the President; by 57-40% they favor a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants but by 42-32%, they disapprove of Obama overhauling immigration through executive order. Why isn't the White House listening to the public?

In retrospect, it would have been far better if coming out of the elections, the President had said he had promised he would act through executive order before the end of the year, but in light of the election results, he would work with the new Congress for six months. If there were no legislation, he would act on his own.

That would have been a much fairer proposition, would have started out with Republicans on better footing, and would have rallied the public behind him if the GOP refused to cooperate.

Sadly, we instead have an action from the White House that will cast a dark shadow over prospects for legislative cooperation, falls short of what the immigrant population had hoped and steers us into deep, unknown waters in our governance.

Tom Hanks Interview on 'CBS This Morning'

He's made a lot of great movies.

A good guy too, despite his leftist inclinations.

Here, in two parts: "Tom Hanks: Being an actor was a solitary pursuit," and "Tom Hanks: 'I was not intimidated by being the new kid'."

High-Tech Presents for Students

At Amazon, Shop Amazon's Electronics Holiday Gift Guide - High-Tech Presents for Students.

Blacks Arrested Up to Ten Times More

This is interesting, despite the leftist spin.

From Brad Heath, at USA Today, "Racial gap in U.S. arrest rates: 'Staggering disparity'":

When it comes to racially lopsided arrests, the most remarkable thing about Ferguson, Mo., might be just how ordinary it is.

Police in Ferguson — which erupted into days of racially charged unrest after a white officer killed an unarmed black teen — arrest black people at a rate nearly three times higher than people of other races.

At least 1,581 other police departments across the USA arrest black people at rates even more skewed than in Ferguson, a USA TODAY analysis of arrest records shows. That includes departments in cities as large and diverse as Chicago and San Francisco and in the suburbs that encircle St. Louis, New York and Detroit.

Those disparities are easier to measure than they are to explain. They could be a reflection of biased policing; they could just as easily be a byproduct of the vast economic and educational gaps that persist across much of the USA — factors closely tied to crime rates. In other words, experts said, the fact that such disparities exist does little to explain their causes.

"That does not mean police are discriminating. But it does mean it's worth looking at. It means you might have a problem, and you need to pay attention," said University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris, a leading expert on racial profiling.

Whatever the reasons, the results are the same: Blacks are far more likely to be arrested than any other racial group in the USA. In some places, dramatically so.

At least 70 departments scattered from Connecticut to California arrested black people at a rate 10 times higher than people who are not black, USA TODAY found.

"Something needs to be done about that," said Ezekiel Edwards, the head of the ACLU's Criminal Law Reform Project, which has raised concerns about such disparate arrest rates. "In 2014, we shouldn't continue to see this kind of staggering disparity wherever we look."

The unrest in Ferguson was stoked by mistrust among black residents who complained that the city's police department had singled them out for years. For example, every year, traffic stop data compiled by Missouri's attorney general showed Ferguson police stopped and searched black drivers at rates markedly higher than whites.

A grand jury is considering whether Officer Darren Wilson should face criminal charges for shooting a teen, Michael Brown. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Monday as authorities braced for more unrest after the grand jury's decision is announced.

Such tensions are not new. Nationwide, blacks are stopped, searched, arrested and imprisoned at rates higher than people of other races. USA TODAY's analysis, using arrests reported to the federal government in 2011 and 2012, found that those inequities are far wider in many cities across the country, from St. Louis to Atlanta to suburban Dearborn, Mich...

More.

House Republicans Hire Law Professor Jonathan Turley for #ObamaCare Lawsuit

This is interesting.

At IBD, "Turley Joins Republican Challenge to Obama's Lawlessness."

Also at Turley's blog, "TURLEY AGREES TO SERVE AS LEAD COUNSEL FOR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE."

RELATED: "Obama's Executive Amnesty Threatens Constitutional Crisis."

Young Immigrants' Amnesty May Not Extend to Parents

Oh, the perilous path of Democrat Party identity politics.

At the New York Times, "Deportation Reprieve May Not Include Parents of Young Immigrants":

WASHINGTON — Every time Berzabeth Valdez heads out to work from her mobile home on the outskirts of Houston, it crosses her mind that she might not come back.

Ms. Valdez, 48, is a Mexican immigrant who has been living in Texas for 11 years without legal papers, and so without a driver’s license. For her commute to her job as a restaurant manager, she keeps her taillights in working order and never speeds.

“We are terrified of the police,” Ms. Valdez said. “One traffic ticket could end in deportation. I could lose my whole life, everything I have gained for my family.”

One of Ms. Valdez’s daughters grew tired of living with those fears and joined an organization of young undocumented immigrants. The youths, who call themselves Dreamers, won protection from deportation from President Obama in 2012 and continued to press him to extend those measures to others here illegally.

​On Thursday, ​Mr. Obama ​will announce changes to the immigration enforcement system that ​will allow as many as five million immigrants to remain and work legally. But ​the youths ​will face a bittersweet ending, ​because White House officials have decided to leave out their parents, according to advocates familiar with the plans.

“It’s getting so hard to call my mom,” said María Fernanda Cabello, 23, Ms. Valdez’s activist daughter. “I’ve had to tell her, ‘There is a victory coming, and I don’t know if you’re part of it.’ ”

​Mr. Obama ​​will grant ​deportation reprieves to undocumented parents whose children are American citizens and legal permanent residents​ ​if they have lived in the country for five years​​ and have not committed serious crimes, administration officials said. ​Officials say the president can exercise prosecutorial discretion to avoid breaking up families of children entitled to be in the country and to steer enforcement agents toward deporting criminals and foreigners who pose national security threats. ​

But ​some​ senior​ ​administration ​officials have argued that it would be more difficult both legally and politically to make the case for including parents of immigrants in the existing program for young people who came when they were children, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Since that program is based on executive action by Mr. Obama, the youths have deportation deferrals and work permits but no green cards or any other visa or formal immigration status, which only Congress can confer. Their parents’ claim for relief is weaker, the officials said.

The president is facing angry opposition from Republicans to his new initiatives. Calling Mr. Obama’s plans “executive amnesty,” Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, an outspoken adversary, accused him of seizing sole power to decide who can live and work in the United States. “Surrendering to illegality is not an option,” Mr. Sessions said.

Republicans are considering different ways to stop funding for the president’s new measures and for the existing DACA program.

Even after receiving their own reprieves, the youths played a large role in bringing a reluctant president to take more sweeping action unilaterally. They mobilized law professors to build Mr. Obama’s legal case. Early this year, when the president was urging activists to pressure Republicans in the House to take up an immigration bill passed by the Senate, young immigrants decided there was little chance the House would act. Instead, they dogged Mr. Obama, interrupting his speeches and staging street sit-ins at his events.

The hints that their parents could be excluded by the White House have stunned many youths.

“It’s really hard to process when we’ve been pushing so hard for this,” said Ms. Cabello, an organizer in Texas for United We Dream, a national network of youth groups. “I cry every time I think about it.”

The White House ​will ​expand the current DACA program by eliminating the age cap for eligibility, which now excludes those over 30, or adjusting other requirements, measures youth leaders said they would welcome.

According to estimates by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, about 3.3 million undocumented parents have children who are citizens or legal residents and have been living here for at least five years. Many families have some children born in other countries and some who are citizens born in the United States, and the number of eligible immigrants would increase only to 3.4 million if the parents of youths in the DACA program were included.

But for young people in families with no American-born children, it is bitterly frustrating that they have to continue to worry whenever their parents go out the door.

In October, Ms. Valdez recalled, her car was rammed in a rear fender while she was stopped at a red light. An apologetic American driver explained that she was wearing a new pair of high heels and had been unable to press the brake in time.

“Let’s just forget about it,” Ms. Valdez said, eyeing her crumpled fender, and she left to avoid calling the police...

PREVIOUSLY: "Forty-Eight Percent Oppose Obama's Executive Amnesty for Illegal Aliens," and "Barack Broke That — Democrats Now in Worse Shape Than Before Obama Took Office!"

Two-Thirds Say U.S. Is On Wrong Track Post-Midterms, Poll Shows

More from that new NBC/WSJ poll, "'Like It Never Happened': Public Shrugs at Midterm Results, Poll Shows."

PREVIOUSLY: "Forty-Eight Percent Oppose Obama's Executive Amnesty for Illegal Aliens."

Alessandra Ambrosio Arm Workout

Just a few weeks now until the fashion show.

Dems Take Hard Left Turn After Losses

Very hard.

From Chris Stirewalt, at Fox News:

It would have cost Senate Democrats little to have given Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., a win on the Keystone Pipeline. After all, the president could have blown off the vote with an insurmountable veto, citing the need to protect executive prerogatives. So it seemed odd when the White House got coy ahead of the vote about the president’s veto threat. When the time came, though, we saw why: Team Obama had successfully whipped against the Landrieu bill. There was little chance that Landrieu was going to win her Dec. 6 runoff whatever the outcome, but with the Hail Mary turning into a Fail Mary, the seat is signed, sealed and delivered for the GOP. Democrats, led by the White House, ate one of their own rather than defy the orthodoxy of the party’s liberal base. That’s strong evidence that Democrats currently care more about ideological purity than electoral expediency. And that is always a dangerous thing.

*****

An audacious, confrontational approach to the midterm defeat is very much in vogue among Democrats, especially liberal firebrands who believe that a more concentrated version of the party’s ideology would have given more reason for inert coalition members to get to the polls. What the president heard from the two thirds of adults who did not vote was that they wanted more, more, more of his agenda. He started with global warming last week, but in the coming days will turn to immigration. As recent polling has shown, that won’t go over very well. Democrats may blame their inability to motivate their base for a painful midterm cycle, but anything seen as “big” could be very dangerous for a party that is approaching the vanishing point with the blue-collar white voters that once formed its core.

More.

Adriana Lima Screencaps for Pirelli Calendar 2015

At Egotastic!, "Adriana Lima for Pirelli, Start Your Engines, Gentlemen Oglers."

Barack Broke That — Democrats Now in Worse Shape Than Before Obama Took Office!

The f-ker's drunk on executive power and he couldn't give a whack about what happens to the Democrat Party. He's gonna have his way or the highway.

So just watch: Top Democrats --- starting with Hillary Clinton --- are going to abandon Obama with a vicious alacrity. He's destroying the party and the Republicans just need to keep playing it on the straight and narrow, not overreaching, keeping their eyes on the prize of 2016.

Man, life is beautiful.

At Politico, "Democrats to Obama: You broke the party, now fix it":

Enough, Donna Brazile told White House political director David Simas the day after the midterms.

Democrats are in worse shape than when President Barack Obama came into office — the number of seats they have in Congress, the number of governors, a party approval rating that’s fallen behind Republicans for the first time in recent history, enthusiasm, energy. The White House, Brazile said when she came to meet with Simas, has got to focus for the next two years on getting the party into better shape, and Obama’s the best and most effective person to get out the message.

As much Hillary Clinton anticipation as there is, two weeks later, Democrats are still reeling and anxious. Obama may have built his political career without the party — and created anti-establishment alternatives — but he’s a lame duck with a new Congress that’s been elected to oppose him. He needs Democrats. And they need him.

“The base craves his leadership,” Brazile said in an interview later that week, following a meeting of the DNC committee that’s beginning to set the rules for the next presidential nomination. “They want him in the mix, talking about what Democrats accomplished, what Democrats are fighting for, and what the president has done to make lives better.”

Nancy Pelosi was reelected minority leader. So was Harry Reid. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s term at the DNC isn’t up until 2017.

Obama said repeatedly before and after the votes were counted that he wasn’t going to fire anyone because of election results. But if no one’s going to take the blame for 2014, Democrats are hoping he’ll take responsibility for getting things better for 2016.

“He may or may not be the best messenger,” said Vic Fazio, the former California congressman who was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair for the 1994 rout. “But at this point, he is still our messenger. And the first year is very important.”
At least until the next presidential campaign begins in earnest, Democrats say, it’ll be up to Obama to centralize the Democratic message around something other than simply trying to paint the Republicans as extreme.

Interviews with leading party strategists turn to three main suggestions: Obama should be a much more frequent and strong voice on Democratic priorities, he should transform his West Wing political office from a midterm clearinghouse to an instrument for true party outreach, and he should reinvest his energy in the Democratic National Committee — including seeking a full-time chair who can begin the major clean-up and overhaul they need ahead of 2016.

And if doing it for the party isn’t enough for Obama, Democrats say, do it out of self-interest.

“A strong party is the key to a lasting legacy,” said a senior Democratic strategist. “Whether it’s for our ideals as Democrats or it’s for his personal legacy — if we lose the White House and continue to get gutted down ballot, they will repeal the ACA and everything else we’ve fought so hard for, and all of this will be for naught.”

That should be a short-term worry for Obama too, Brazile said.

“The Republicans have not retreated from the battlefield, so why should President Obama surrender?” she said. “He can’t give up, he can’t waver. All of that looks to Democrats like he doesn’t stand for much, and it’s not the truth.”

Keep reading.

Forty-Eight Percent Oppose Obama's Executive Amnesty for Illegal Aliens

From the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, at WSJ, "Obama Faces Skeptical Public on Immigration Action — WSJ/NBC Poll."

More from Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "NBC poll: Executive amnesty is… pretty unpopular with just about everybody."

And ICYMI, "Obama's Agenda Threatens to Divide the Democratic Party."

Immigration's gonna be a anchor on a lot of Democrat Party election prospects in 2016. But hey, it's all about the legacy!

Senate Democrats Throw Mary Landrieu Under the Anti-Keystone Bus

From Susan Davis, at USA Today, "Senate defeats Keystone XL pipeline."



More at Memeorandum.

Obama's Agenda Threatens to Divide the Democratic Party

And The One couldn't care less. It's all about legacy at this point. The way things are going, he's not going to have much of one come 2017.

From Josh Kraushaar, at Nation Journal, "Obama's Agenda Threatens to Divide the Democratic Party."

NFL Concussion Settlement

What a story, at the Los Angeles Times, "For some, NFL concussion settlement proposal is yet another injury."

And check Mike Webster's entry at Wikipedia.

'Come on people now, smile on your brother...'

Hey, folks, try to love one another while I'm slaving away today.

Sending out the love to Mastic, New York.

Peace brother. Eat all you want. This one's for you babe!

Via the Sound L.A.

At the video, Jesse Colin Young, Stephen Stills, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash et al. --- at the "No Nukes" concert, Battery Park, New York, 1979. According to this archive report (via the Tribeca Trib):

On Sept. 23, 1979, two years before construction of Gateway Plaza began, a crowd of 200,000 converged on the landfill for an "anti-nuke" rally. Prompted by the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, the gathering was the biggest demonstration since the Vietnam War.

And at People, "From Bruce to Bonnie, the Hottest Acts in Rock Warm Up the No-Nuke Crusade."

Take Me to the River
Talking Heads
8:50 AM

Happy
The Rolling Stones
8:48 AM

Twist and Shout
The Beatles
8:43 AM

FAME
DAVID BOWIE
8:39 AM

Don't Stop
Fleetwood Mac
8:36 AM

No One Like You
Scorpions
8:32 AM

Get Together
The Youngbloods
8:18 AM

Surrender
Cheap Trick
8:14 AM

Caught Up in You
38 Special
8:09 AM

Love Is a Battlefield
Pat Benatar
8:04 AM

Free Ride
The Edgar Winter Group
8:01 AM

Special Deals in Sports and Outdoors

At Amazon, Shop Amazon Outdoors - 25% Off Select Coleman Campaign & Hiking Gear.

The Best Photos of the USS George H.W. Bush's Homecoming

Sweet.

At the Daily Signal.

Obama 'Has Destroyed the Credibility' of His Administration

Ron Fournier lets loose, on yesterday's Special Report:

Pushing Back Against Feminist Bullies

From Mollie Hemingway, at the Federalist, "It’s Time to Push Back Against Feminist Bullies":

It’s not just women who are hurt by feminist bullies. Everyone is. That’s because human relationships are harmed in the toxic outrage culture. The very perpetuation of humanity relies on men and women getting along well. People who stoke resentment and anger between the sexes, or create false claims about women’s oppression, are making it more difficult for happy, healthy, human relationships to flourish.

Well, leftists pretty much destroy everything they touch, but read the whole thing. She's mad about this, for good reason.

Violent Far-Left Extremists Likely to Exploit Race Riots After Ferguson Decision, FBI Warns

This is wild.

Usually, the federal government's warning us about violent "right wing tea party extremists." So this is a change of pace.

At Gateway Pundit, "FBI: #Ferguson Decision ‘Will Likely’ Lead to Violence – Electrical & Water Treatment Plants Targeted."



Also at ABC News (via Memeorandum), "FBI Warns Ferguson Decision ‘Will Likely’ Lead to Violence By Extremists Protesters":

The FBI bulletin expresses concern only over those who would exploit peaceful protests, not the masses of demonstrators who will want to legitimately, lawfully and collectively express their views on the grand jury’s decision.

The bulletin “stresses the importance of remaining aware of the protections afforded to all U.S. persons exercising their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.”

Within hours of the FBI issuing its bulletin, some police departments across the country issued their own internal memos urging officers to review procedures and protocols for responding to mass demonstrations.

Still, the bulletin’s conclusions were blunt: “The FBI assesses those infiltrating and exploiting otherwise legitimate public demonstrations with the intent to incite and engage in violence could be armed with bladed weapons or firearms, equipped with tactical gear/gas masks, or bulletproof vests to mitigate law enforcement measures.”

The bulletin cites a series of recent messages threatening law enforcement, including a message posted online last week by a black separatist group that offered “a $5,000 bounty for the location” of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who fired the shots that killed Brown on Aug. 9.

In interviews with ABC News, police officials said their departments have identified a number of agitators who routinely appear at mass demonstrations.

“How many of those sympathizers are actually sympathizers?” Rick Hite, the chief of the Indianapolis Metropolitan police department, wondered. Many of them see the protests as a way to “chime in with their own personal agenda,” he said.

In its new intelligence bulletin, obtained by ABC News, the FBI says “exploitation” of mass demonstrations “could occur both in the Ferguson area and nationwide.”

More.

Assassinating the Leader of Islamic State Is a Meaningful Step Toward Destroying the Group, Insiders Say

At National Journal.

Actually, there's some evidence in the scholarly literature that leadership targeting doesn't work. See, Jenna Jordan, "Attacking the Leader, Missing the Mark: Why Terrorist Groups Survive Decapitation Strikes." A great piece of research.

Shop for Thanksgiving Dinner

At Amazon, Shop Amazon - Thanksgiving Dinner and Desserts - Prepare the Perfect Feast.

Fumiko Hayashida, Among First Japanese American Internees, Dies at 103

A tragic, yet fascinating, story, at LAT, "Fumiko Hayashida dies at 103; among first Japanese American internees."

Interesting obit: Fumiko Hayashida, 103, one of the 1st Japanese Americans in internment camps http://t.co/LGdtXRFOlx pic.twitter.com/TpuzUauGjM

— Lauren Raab (@raablauren) November 16, 2014

Dead Democrat Walking

Heh, that has a nice ring to it, especially the "dead Democrat" part.

 VIDEO: "The Atlantic's Molly Ball: Mary Landrieu Is a 'Dead Democrat Walking'."

4 killed, 15 Hurt in Chicago Shootings from Saturday Afternoon Into Early Sunday Morning

Chicago, the model of leftist gun control effectiveness (not).

At the Chicago Tribune, "4 killed, 15 hurt in city shootings":

Three men and a woman died and at least 15 people, including seven teenagers, were wounded in shootings across the city from Saturday afternoon into early Sunday morning.

In the latest fatal shooting, a 27-year-old man died after being shot around 3:15 a.m. Sunday in the Old Town neighborhood on the Near North Side, said Chicago Police Department spokesman News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.

The man was found inside a vehicle in the 400 block of West Evergreen Avenue with multiple gunshot wounds, Alfaro said. The car he was in crashed into several parked cars before coming to a stop.

He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Alfaro said...

RELATED: At Town Hall, "Despite Gun Sales Being Banned in Chicago, Police Superintendent Still Blaming Lack of Gun Control For Violence."

Islamic State's Most Barbaric Video

Not more barbaric, actually.

They just showed more of the barbarity than they usually do.



PREVIOUSLY: "Peter Kassig: Poor Bastard."

'I've never given them money, in case you're wondering why they send me email...

That's Ann Althouse, in a disclaimer on the idiotic email she received from NARAL Pro-Choice America: "'We just learned that TIME magazine apologized for including 'feminist' on their poll of words to ban. What a victory!'"

Seriously.