Young Reporters, Steeped in Social Media, Accustomed to Digital Speed and Always-On World, Grab Spotlight on U.S. Campaign Trail

This is really fascinating, although, except for Time's Zeke Miller, it's all women.

And it's weird, because when I first really started following politics back in the early 1980s, it was the old-timers who were all the most prolific, and authoritative. That's when shows like "This Week with David Brinkley" were the rage. Even CNN was still catching on back then.

Nowadays, fresh out of college and you're reporting from the presidential campaign trail? Pretty amazing.

At NYT, "Millennial Reporters Grab the Campaign-Trail Spotlight":

Had a total fan girl moment seeing the ever fabulous @katieglueck grace the cover of today's @NYTStyles: pic.twitter.com/jyRE36ojfY

— Caitlin Huey-Burns (@CHueyBurnsRCP) March 6, 2016

When the last presidential race was in its early stages, Katie Glueck was a senior at Northwestern University. Now covering the Ted Cruz campaign for Politico, Ms. Glueck, 26, belongs to a select group of millennial reporters who have a front-row seat to the greatest political show on earth.

While youth is a virtue for those covering the turbulent 2016 campaign, it has been known to get in the way now and then. Caitlin Huey-Burns, 28, who covers primaries and caucuses for the website RealClear Politics, said, “I often get asked by voters if I’m writing for the school paper.”

Rosie Gray, 26, who covers the campaign for BuzzFeed, said that her age is only occasionally a factor. “Honestly, the times I feel the most young is when I’m talking to a voter on the trail and I sound like a pipsqueak saying, ‘Excuse me, ma’am, can I ask you a question?’” she said. “A lot of that had to do with how you present yourself and how you act. You can either act like a young little thing or not.”

And she disputed the notion that her age is much of an issue. “I’m not that young,” she said. “I’m 26. Thirty is staring me down the barrel of a gun.”

But Maralee Schwartz, a former longtime political editor at The Washington Post, said that the rise of these correspondents is new indeed.

“They’ve become much more prominent,” Ms. Schwartz said, adding that 2012 “was the first year that you saw how many younger reporters were on the trail. One veteran reporter called me from the bus, stunned, saying: ‘I am the oldest person here. One of them brought brownies.’ They may lack experience, but they can keep pace with the changes and demands and responsibilities of the web.”

*****

Unlike some of their more experienced colleagues, the reporters under 30 also seem to accept the notion that they are always on the clock, that keeping up a running patter with news-hungry audiences via Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat is as much part of the job as filing a 550-word dispatch.

“There are points where I have to remind myself, ‘You haven’t tweeted all day,’ because it is an important part of building our brands and sharing our work, and that doesn’t come to me naturally,” said MJ Lee, a 29-year-old politics reporter for CNN. “But there’s no going back.

“You have no excuse,” continued Ms. Lee, who is married to Alexander Burns, who covers politics for The New York Times. “You have to be up-to-date on everything, because you can be. You have your iPhone and you have Twitter. Why aren’t you up-to-date on the latest thing that happened two minutes ago? When I get on a plane and it’s a small plane and there’s no Wi-Fi, I get uncomfortable.”

Ms. Lee, a 2009 Georgetown University graduate who majored in government and Chinese, said: “Yesterday, we went to dinner, and for some reason I stopped getting email on my phone. And that made me really nervous. And it was maybe 17 minutes.”

The energy required to maintain a constant online presence is just part of the challenge. To write or broadcast anything connected with politics in 2016 is to be exposed to instant backlash. Even a deeply reported and elegantly written campaign story is likely to draw malicious attack.

Well, I'm getting a kick out of the "always-on" digital culture reference, although I hate it, since to me it implies that these young cub reporters don't really know anything. They don't have a personal wealth of political knowledge, and should they come up short, well, there's always Wikipedia.

But then, I'm online much of the time myself, reading the news, and blogging. So, I can't gripe too much about that without being hypocritical.

So, it's all good.

RTWT.

Marco Rubio Is Toast

If Rubio can't win his home state of Florida, it's all over.

The polls are a little mixed so far. A new survey out yesterday from Our Principals PAC (an anti-Trump operation) had Rubio just 5 points behind Trump, 35-30 percent. See the Miami Herald, "Poll for anti-Donald Trump group finds narrowing Republican presidential race in Florida."

But Quinnipiac had Trump up 44-28 over Rubio among likely Republican primary voters the other day. See, "Trump Trumps Rubio Among Florida Republicans, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Leadership Is Important Factor In Race."

But hey, Rubio's doing his best Baghdad Bob impersonation. At NBC News, via Memeorandum, "Rubio on Losses: ‘The Map Only Gets Better for Us’."

And see Politico, "Battered Rubio vows race ‘only gets better for us’: Rivals call on the Florida senator to drop out after he took a shellacking on Saturday night":

The Florida senator, badly trailing Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, lost every state and even failed to pick up delegates in some of the contests.

Despite the dismal news, Rubio offered a rosy picture of the race going forward, especially in the winner-take-all Florida primary.

“We’re going to win Florida, and you’ll find out on March 15 how confident we are,” Rubio said, in Spanish, to supporters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which holds its primary on Sunday. “Tonight we will have more delegates than we did last night,” Rubio promised. “This map only gets better for us.”

Cruz’s campaign, however, said it’s all but over for Rubio.

“It’s devastating. The Florida-or-bust strategy hasn’t worked in the past and it won’t work this time,” Cruz’s spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said. “Cruz continues to amass delegates as conservatives rally behind him and gets closer and closer to making this a two-man race between him and Trump.”

Trump eked out narrow wins in Kentucky and Louisiana Saturday night, while Cruz scored two big, surprise victories in Kansas and Maine. Rubio was left choking on their dust. He lost by double digits in Louisiana, Kentucky, Kansas, and in Maine, where he failed to even pick up a single delegate.Trump eked out narrow wins in Kentucky and Louisiana Saturday night, while Cruz scored two big, surprise victories in Kansas and Maine. Rubio was left choking on their dust. He lost by double digits in Louisiana, Kentucky, Kansas, and in Maine, where he failed to even pick up a single delegate.

Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said the Florida senator has been hurt by the heavy schedule of caucus contests and expressed hope that Rubio’s fortunes will improve with the primaries ahead. “So we feel really good about the map moving forward. And after we win the Florida primary, the map, the momentum and the money is going to be on our side,” Conant said. “At this point, nobody is on track to having the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination. But after we win Florida, we are going to be on our way to doing so.”

Rubio so far has only won one state – Minnesota – and has only half of Cruz’s delegate count and one-third of Trump’s...

Keep reading.

Image Credit: Dr. Marty Fox.

The First Full Biography of Julia Ward Howe

This looks great, from Elaine Showalter, The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe: A Biography.

It's released on Tuesday, but you can pre-order.

Donald Trump Leads in CBS 'Battleground Tracker' Poll Ahead of Michigan Primary

At CBS News, via Memeorandum, "Battleground Tracker poll: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton lead in Michigan."

PREVIOUSLY: "Great Donald Trump Interview on 'Face the Nation' (VIDEO)."

Great Donald Trump Interview on 'Face the Nation' (VIDEO)

Watch, in two parts, "Donald Trump on torture: 'I will always abide by the law'," and "Trump on KKK: 'Hate groups are not for me'."

Great comments on fighting terrorism, especially --- another reason why I really like Trump.

Why Is Donald Trump So 'Yuge'?

At the Mad Jewess Woman's, "WHY Is #Trump So “Yuge”? Not Hard to Figure Out If You Were Raised Old School American."

And at CNN, ".@realDonaldTrump calls for @MarcoRubio to drop out, jokes @TedCruz won Maine bc it's close to Canada #SuperSaturday."

Introducing Amazon Tap

Out March 31st, but you can pre-order now.

Here, Shop Amazon Tap - Small. Loud. Smart.

Why I Left the Conservative Movement

This is an absolutely amazing essay.

My only quibble is with his over-reliance on his military service. Very few people have served in the military, but that doesn't mean that their political voice is less significant as those who have. Besides that, though, the guy pretty much nails it.

From John Kluge, at Richochet, "An Open Letter to the Conservative Media Explaining Why I Have Left the Movement":

I really do not care that Donald Trump is vulgar, combative, and uncivil and I would encourage you not to care as well. I would love to have our political discourse be what it was even thirty years ago and something better than what it is today. But the fact is the Democratic Party is never going to return to that and there isn’t anything anyone can do about it. Over the last 15 years, I have watched the then-chairman of the DNC say the idea that President Bush knew about 9-11 and let it happen was a “serious position held by many people,” watched the vice president tell a black audience that Republicans would return them to slavery if they could, watched Harry Reid say Mitt Romney was a tax cheat without any reason to believe it was true, and seen an endless amount of appalling behavior on the part of the Democrats which is too long to list here and which I am sure you are aware. And now you tell me that I should reject Trump because he is uncivil and mean to his opponents? Is that some kind of a joke? This is not the time for civility or to worry about it in our candidates.

RTWT.

Actually, one more thing: I also don't like this guy's paleoconservative talking points, which I think overlook some of the more firm (bellicose) statements Trump has made on national security.

But again, these are just quibbles. I think the overall thrust of his essay is brilliant, and it's thinking like this that's going to clarify the conservative movement going forward, and force the Republican Party to respect the interests of regular, rank-and-file voters.

Donald Trump and the Republican Party Identity Crisis

Following-up from earlier, "Rank and File Republicans Tell Party Elites to F--- Off (VIDEO)."

Ho-hum.

How much longer are we going to hear about this so-called crisis? I'm tired of it.

Donald Trump's expected to win the Louisiana primary today, and that'll send GOP elites even further into depression. (Check back for election updates throughout the night.)

At the Washington Post, "Trump throws the GOP into an identity crisis":

Only a year ago, Republicans were congratulating themselves on having the strongest field of presidential candidates in a generation — diverse, highly credentialed conservatives who might be the salvation of a party that had lost the popular vote in five of the past six elections.

But now, the question is how close the Grand Old Party will come to annihilating itself and what it stands for.

Donald Trump — dismissed by GOP elders for months as an entertaining fringe figure who would self-destruct — has staged a hostile takeover and rebranded the party in his own image. What is being left by the wayside is any sense of a Republican vision for the country or a set of shared principles that could carry the party forward.

A substance-free shout-fest billed as a presidential debate Thursday night marked a new low in a campaign that has seen more than its share of them.

The increasingly prohibitive front-runner and his three remaining opponents spent nearly the entire two hours hurling insults back and forth, with Trump at one point making a reference to the size of his genitalia.

“My party is committing suicide on national television,” tweeted Jamie Johnson, an Iowa political operative who had been an adviser to former Texas governor Rick Perry, one of the dozen Republicans whose presidential campaigns have been incinerated by the Trump phenomenon. The latest, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, formally dropped out Friday.

Also Friday, Trump clarified earlier statements that as president, he would order the U.S. military to waterboard militants and carry out other acts that violate international law.

In a statement, he said he understands “that the United States is bound by laws and treaties and I will not order our military or other officials to violate those laws and will seek their advice on such matters.”

In Thursday’s debate, moderator Bret Baier had asked Trump what he would do if service members refused to comply with his orders for exteme measures. The candidate replied, “If I say do it, they’re going to do it. That’s what leadership is all about.”

Trump’s musings on torture were among the many remarks that have alarmed establishment Republicans as worrisome and reckless...

Keep reading.

Tanya Mityushina Outtakes Sports Illustrated 2016 (VIDEO)

Following-up from last month, "Tanya Mityushina, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Rookie (VIDEO)."

Via Sports Illustrated:

Deal of the Day: Computer/Gaming Glasses by Gunnar

At Amazon, Up to 60% Off These Gunnar Computer/Gaming Glasses.

And from Michelle Malkin, Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best & Brightest Workers.

Also, Who Built That: Awe-Inspiring Stories of American Tinkerpreneurs.

BONUS: In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror.

Pat Conroy Has Died

I read "The Prince of Tides" after the book came out in movie version, and it was a spectacular novel.

Conroy was a premier writer.

At Fox News, "Pat Conroy, author of 'Prince of Tides,' dies at 70."

Michelle Malkin Speech at CPAC 2016 (VIDEO)

She's fantastic!

Watch the whole thing. It's a little over 15 minutes but it goes by before you know it, she's so mesmerizing.

Rank and File Republicans Tell Party Elites to F--- Off (VIDEO)

This is one of the biggest reasons I like Donald Trump --- he's taking it to the GOP elite, and said elite isn't handling it too well. Their utter contempt for everyday people really pisses me off. And so-called conservatives now attacking Trump supporters are on the wrong side.

At the New York Times, "Rank and File Republicans Tell Party Elites: We’re Sticking With Donald Trump" (via Memeorandum):

From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt regarding the instructions that their party’s most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump.

Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump’s candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear.

In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr. Romney four years ago rebelled against his message and plan. “I personally am disgusted by it — I think it’s disgraceful,” said Lola Butler, 71, a retiree from Mandeville, La., who voted for Mr. Romney in 2012. “You’re telling me who to vote for and who not to vote for? Please.”

“There’s nothing short of Trump shooting my daughter in the street and my grandchildren — there is nothing and nobody that’s going to dissuade me from voting for Trump,” Ms. Butler said.

A fellow Louisiana Republican, Mindy Nettles, 33, accused the party of “using Romney as a puppet” to protect itself from Mr. Trump because its leaders could not control him. “He has a mind of his own,” she said. “He can think.”

The furious campaign now underway to stop Mr. Trump and the equally forceful rebellion against it captured the essence of the party’s breakdown over the past several weeks: Its most prominent guardians, misunderstanding their own voters, antagonize them as they try to reason with them, driving them even more energetically to Mr. Trump’s side.

As Mr. Romney amplified his pleas on Friday, Mr. Trump snubbed a major meeting of Republican activists and leaders after rumblings that protesters were prepared to demonstrate against him there, in the latest sign of Mr. Trump’s break from the apparatus of the party whose nomination he is marching toward.

As polls showed Mr. Trump likely to capture the Louisiana primary on Saturday, the biggest prize among states holding contests this weekend, the party establishment in Washington seemed seized by anxiety and despair. At the Conservative Political Action Conference, a long-running gathering of traditional conservatives, attendees feared that they were witnessing an event that has not occurred in more than a century: the breaking apart of a major American political party.

They spoke ruefully of “fidelity” lost and “values” forgone. They conceded a strange new feeling of powerlessness in the face of Mr. Trump’s ascendance. And they mourned for a 162-year-old party that is starting to seem unrecognizable to them.

Robert Walker, a former Pennsylvania congressman, lamented that the nomination of Mr. Trump, with his profane style and ideological flexibility, “would rebrand the party in ways that would take us a long time to recover from.”

Rick Santorum, a former Republican presidential candidate, warned of the “Republican Party potentially being torn up,” and Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska groused about what would “actually make America great again.” (It was not Mr. Trump.)

Keep reading.

Behind The Tanlines, Zanzibar: Featuring Nina Agdal and Chrissy Teigen (VIDEO)

Watch, via Sports Illustrated, "Behind the Tanlines Zanzibar Part 1 Swimsuit 2016."

Nina Agdal's a dream-woman babe. Seriously.

Charles Evers, Brother of Slain Civil Rights Leader Medgar Evers, Endorses Donald Trump

Hmm... I think Mr. Evers is messing up the left's "racist bigot" narrative.

At the Jackson Clarion Ledger, "Brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers endorses Trump" (via Memeorandum):

Civil rights activist Charles Evers has endorsed Donald Trump for president, touting what Evers refers to as the current Republican front-runner's business acumen.

"I believe in him first of all because he's a businessman. I think jobs are badly needed in Mississippi," he said.

Evers is the brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who was assassinated in front of his Jackson home in 1963.

Asked about Trump's controversial remarks regarding immigration and an incident Tuesday in which 30 black students were reported to have been removed from the candidate's rally in Valdosta, Georgia, Evers responded, "I haven't seen any proof of him being a racist."

However he added, "all of us have some racism in us. Even me."

Evers referenced a proclamation by Gov. Phil Bryant declaring April "Confederate Heritage Month" and said that Trump has not taken similar actions.

According to Evers, the hiring practices of Trump's properties are reflective of him being "fair." Before launching his campaign, Trump was accused of discrimination. In 1973, the real estate mogul and his father were sued by the Department of Justice under the Fair Housing Act for allegedly implementing a system to block black applicants from renting Trump Management's Brooklyn; Queens; and Norfolk, Virginia, properties.

The case was settled with a consent decree.

Evers also addressed Trump's presidential announcement speech, during which the candidate made the following remarks:

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Evers said he doesn't feel the U.S. should be obligated to provide support for undocumented immigrants.

Evers added that he also respects Trump for his faith and that he plans to attend Monday's rally in Madison. Evers said that if he has the chance to speak with Trump he wants to pitch bringing a catfish processing plant to Mississippi...

 Now that's just common sense and pragmatism --- characteristics that radical leftists lack.

More.

If Only Environmentalists Could Open Their Eyes to the 'Imminent Possibilties' of Nuclear Energy...

Nuclear energy is the ultimate "de-carbonized" source of ever-ready power, but far-left enviro-wackos hate it anyway.

After a while you realize environmentalism isn't really about protecting the environment, it's about leveraging far-left collectivist authoritarianism.

At Instapundit, "IF YOU DON’T SUPPORT NUCLEAR POWER, YOU DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING. Nuclear Is the World’s Green Power 'Workhorse'."

Stop Threatening to Move to Canada!

Heh.

This is pretty good, from Brian Lilley, at the Rebel Media (via Truth Revolt):

'Equal Is Unfair'

From Don Watkins and Yaron Brook, Equal Is Unfair: America's Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality.

Deal of the Day: Indoor/Outdoor Electric Griddler by Cuisinart

At Amazon, Over 65% Off This Cuisinart Indoor/Outdoor Electric Griddler.

And from Ann Coulter, ¡Adios, America! The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country Into a Third World Hellhole.

BONUS: From Donald Trump, Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.

The GOP's Strategy of Fragmentation (VIDEO)

From Ronald Brownstein, at the Atlantic, "The Republican Party's Best Bet Against Trump":

More by necessity than design, some of the leading Republicans opposed to Donald Trump are completely reversing their thinking about how he might be stopped after his sweeping wins on Super Tuesday.

After Trump’s victories in seven of 11 states this week, some of his key Republican critics are moving from a long-shot bet on beating him through consolidation to an even riskier wager on denying him the nomination through fragmentation.

Before Tuesday, Republican leaders had almost universally bet on consolidation: clearing the field to unite behind one alternative to the front-runner. But after Trump captured states across the GOP’s geographic and demographic spectrum, those resisting him are now talking about a strategy of fragmentation: encouraging Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich, Trump’s principal remaining rivals, to informally divide the country and simultaneously challenge him on different battlefields.

The goal is to splinter the vote enough to prevent Trump from acquiring the 1,237 delegates he needs for a first ballot nomination at the GOP convention in Cleveland.  “I don’t think consolidation is the path forward; I think that was a December option,” says Stuart Stevens, the senior strategist for Mitt Romney in 2012 and a leading Trump critic. “I think people other than Donald Trump winning delegates is the answer, and that is better achieved not through consolidation.”

Katie Packer Gage, the executive director of Our Principles PAC, the leading conservative group targeting Trump, has now also concluded that fragmentation offers a better chance of stopping him than consolidation, if only because the latter is so unlikely. “Whatever [is] the best option might be irrelevant,” she says. “That might be the only option. There probably does have to be a multi-pronged effort to deny him the nomination.”

It would be tempting to call this a strategy of divide and conquer-except that would understate the position of weakness from which this discussion springs. “I would call it divide and survive,” Stevens says. “No one is going to be conquering.”

Among Republicans nervous about Trump, the talk of consolidation hasn’t stopped. But nothing about Tuesday’s results encouraged it. Instead it underscored the limits confronting each of the candidates chasing Trump, even as it demonstrated both the front-runner’s strengths and continuing challenges.

In most respects, Trump’s performance this week was dominant. Trump crossed the geographic and religious divide that stymied the past two GOP nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, by winning northern and border states with relatively fewer evangelicals that they carried (Vermont, Massachusetts, Virginia) but also taking the heavily evangelical Southern states they lost (Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee). And Trump continued to demonstrate enormous appeal for the party’s turbulent blue-collar wing, carrying at least 46 percent of non-college whites in Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, and Massachusetts.

But in other ways, Trump’s performance hinted at lingering resistance...

More.

Well, we've got Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, and Nebraska caucuses on Saturday, as well as the Louisiana primary. On Tuesday, Idaho, Michigan, and Mississippi hold their primaries, and Hawaii holds its caucuses. We'll know how well this fragmentation strategy is working out real soon, and on March 15th Florida and Ohio hold their primaries, both of which are winner take all. If Kasich and Rubio lose, it's pretty much all over.

I'll have more, as always.

'You Will Be Made to Care'

The new book out from Erick Erickson and Bill Blankschaen, You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe.

Mitt Romney 'Shuts Door' on Attempt to Steal GOP Nomination at the Convention

Following-up from earlier, "Mitt Romney Seeking to Suppress Donald Trump Delegate Count, Steal GOP Nomination at the Convention (VIDEO)."

And now, at the New York Times, "Mitt Romney Shuts Door on Vying for 2016 G.O.P. Nomination":

Mitt Romney put to rest speculation on Friday that he would be open to rescuing the Republican Party by wresting the presidential nomination away from Donald J. Trump at the convention this summer.

At his speech in Utah on Thursday, Mr. Romney tore down Mr. Trump but did not endorse another candidate. Some took that to mean he was hoping that none of the contenders would gather the delegates needed to be the nominee, leaving open the possibility that he could run for president.

But Mr. Romney said on Friday that he has no plans ride in on a white horse to be the party’s savior.

“The people who can save this party are Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio or John Kasich,” Mr. Romney said in an interview in New York with NBC’s “Today” show.

The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee said that he anticipated that one of those three would emerge as an alternative to Mr. Trump in the next couple of weeks and that he would support that person.

Mr. Romney’s remarks about Mr. Trump came up during the Republican debate in Detroit on Thursday night, as Mr. Trump was repeatedly asked to address the criticism. He responded forcefully, calling Mr. Romney “a failed candidate” who “wants to be back in the game.”

But Mr. Romney, who was defeated by President Obama in 2012, insisted the game of presidential politics was over for him.

“There are no circumstances I can foresee where that would possibly happen,” Mr. Romney said of a last-minute run this year. “No reasonable scenario I can imagine.”

I don't believe this for a second. I expect Romney would jump at the chance, in a heartbeat, to be a party savior at the convention.

More, via Memeorandum, "Mitt Romney on TODAY Show: I'll do everything within ‘political bounds’ to stop Donald Trump."

Mitt Romney Seeking to Suppress Donald Trump Delegate Count, Steal GOP Nomination at the Convention (VIDEO)

Reince Priebus, speaking with Greta Van Susteren yesterday, made it sound like the GOP nomination process was running along as smooth as silk. He said the party'd back Trump if he won the nomination.

Elsewhere, major machinations are afoot to deny Donald Trump the nomination. It's pretty sinister, actually. And I've always liked Mitt Romney, but sheesh, the guy just can't let go. He lost in 2012, and badly. He should have just run in the primaries again this year if he's jonesin' so much for the Oval Office. His attacks on Trump just look petty. He didn't hit Obama as hard as he hit Trump yesterday, and that's just sad.

At CNN, "First on CNN: Team Romney explores blocking Trump at RNC":

Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney's inner circle says.

The 2012 GOP nominee's advisers are examining what a fight at the convention might look like and what rules might need revising.

"It sounds like the plan is to lock the convention," said the source.

Romney is focused on suppressing Trump's delegate count to prevent him from accumulating the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.

But implicit in Romney's request to his team to explore the possibility of a convention fight is his willingness to step in and carry the party's banner into the fall general election as the Republican nominee. Another name these sources mentioned was House Speaker Paul Ryan, Romney's running mate in 2012.

You don't have to read too far between the lines of the speech Romney gave Thursday at the University of Utah to see the imprint of this plan. He urged voters to support the candidate most likely to prevent Trump from racking up delegates in their states -- saying he'd back Florida Sen. Marco Rubio if he were voting in the Sunshine State, Gov. John Kasich if he were voting in Ohio, or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the states where he polls as Trump's strongest foe.

"If the other candidates can find common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism," Romney said.

According to the source, Romney does not expect Rubio, Cruz or Kasich to emerge as the single candidate that can accumulate 1,237 delegates and outright defeat Trump before the convention. So the only way to rob Trump of a victory would be to keep him from reaching that magic 1,237 number.

Most Republican states allocate their delegates proportionally, or in a hybrid format that gives delegates both to the statewide winner and at the congressional district level. This means rather than winnowing the competition down to a single Trump alternative, it could make more sense for all of the current candidates to stay in the race for a stop Trump movement, according to one source.

In addition, two senior Republican Party insiders told CNN that the convention scenario is now dominating a lot of conversation in GOP fundraising circles. To be sure, both of these sources are skeptical about Romney being able to execute this plan, but both believe that there is a real attempt underway to try to do this.

In the meantime, they said to look for Republicans like Romney to continue to cast doubt on Trump's business record and to keep pushing for him to release his tax returns...

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Republican Party Establishment Declares War on Donald Trump."

Stephen Bungay, The Most Dangerous Enemy

Check it out, at Amazon, The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain.

And ICYMI, James Holland, The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941.

Amber Lee's Weekend Forecast

Cool and cloudy yesterday, and expected into the weekend.

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

Andrea Tantaros Unloads on Mitt Romney (VIDEO)

Heh.

I love Andrea Tantaros. She's the best woman on conservative television by far.

At Gateway Pundit, "BOOM! @AndreaTantaros UNLOADS on @MittRomney “TAKE IT AND SHOVE IT!” (VIDEO)."

And watch, on YouTube.

PREVIOUSLY: "Republican Party Establishment Declares War on Donald Trump."

Republican Party Establishment Declares War on Donald Trump

I was in the classroom all day today, but I saw the headlines.

I haven't watched the Mitt Romney's speech yet, but I will. At this point I think the GOPe's making a huge mistake. Millions of voters have already voted for Donald Trump. He's won 10 out of 15 of the primaries and caucuses held thus far. If you're looking to create a movement that demonizes the concerns of the average American "Joe Six-pack" voter, then the Republican Party's got your number. It's insane, frankly. You can't change the rules in the middle of the process. If you created the rules, you need to abide by them. I mean, c'mon, if the New York Times is blaring the headline of "Open Warfare" in the party, something's seriously out of whack. Frankly, it's the Democrats who're acting much more rationally at the moment, preparing, behind the scenes, to launch a major attack campaign against Trump under the expectation that he'll be the party's standard bearer. It's the GOPe that's still out to lunch.

It's mind-boggling.

See, at NYT, "Mitt Romney and John McCain Denounce Donald Trump as a Danger to Democracy":

In an extraordinary public rebuke of Donald J. Trump’s campaign, Mitt Romney and John McCain, the last two Republican presidential nominees, denounced Mr. Trump in forceful terms on Thursday and warned that his election could put the United States and even its democratic political system in peril.

Offering himself as a bulwark against Mr. Trump’s march to the nomination, Mr. Romney laid out a precise and lengthy case against Mr. Trump, lacerating his business dealings, his erratic pronouncements on national security and demeaning treatment of women, minorities and the disabled.

Mr. Romney warned that Mr. Trump’s nomination would be calamitous for the Republican Party and, quoting John Adams, even suggested it could be suicidal for the country.

Evoking the specter of totalitarianism, he said Mr. Trump was amplifying a “brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss.”

“His domestic policies would lead to recession,” Mr. Romney said. “His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president.”

Mr. McCain, once a rival of Mr. Romney’s, effectively linked arms with him soon after his address, saying that he shared Mr. Romney’s dismay about Mr. Trump’s ascent. Referring to a public letter released on Thursday by dozens of conservative national security leaders, who vowed never to support Mr. Trump, Mr. McCain echoed their concerns about Mr. Trump’s “uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues.”

The onslaught against Mr. Trump appeared aimed at sowing new doubts among voters about a man who has taken firm command of the Republican presidential race, and stiffening the resolve of mainstream Republicans to reject Mr. Trump.

But the timing of the assault, after Mr. Trump’s commanding electoral victories on Tuesday, may make it futile. And Mr. Romney’s history with Mr. Trump, which he ignored in his jeremiad on Thursday, could undercut the power of his warning: Mr. Romney eagerly sought and publicized his endorsement by Mr. Trump in 2012, even as Mr. Trump heckled and harassed President Obama with accusations that he was not born in the United States...

Keep reading.

Plus, at CNN, via Memeorandum, "First on CNN: Team Romney explores blocking Trump at RNC."

Lots more on this at the link.

Hillary Clinton and Surrogates to Run DEFCON3 Campaign Against 'Racist Bigot' Donald Trump

The Clinton machine is gearing up to the highest stages of political warfare to destroy Donald Trump in the general election campaign.

The New York Times reports, "Inside the Clinton Team's Plan to Defeat Donald Trump":

In the days after Donald J. Trump vanquished his Republican rivals in South Carolina and Nevada, prominent Democrats supporting Hillary Clinton arranged a series of meetings and conference calls to tackle a question many never thought they would ask: How do we defeat Mr. Trump in a general election?

Several Democrats argued that Mrs. Clinton, should she be her party’s nominee, would easily beat Mr. Trump. They were confident that his incendiary remarks about immigrants, women and Muslims would make him unacceptable to many Americans. They had faith that the growing electoral power of black, Hispanic and female voters would deliver a Clinton landslide if he were the Republican nominee.

But others, including former President Bill Clinton, dismissed those conclusions as denial. They said that Mr. Trump clearly had a keen sense of the electorate’s mood and that only a concerted campaign portraying him as dangerous and bigoted would win what both Clintons believe will be a close November election.

That strategy is beginning to take shape, with groups that support Mrs. Clinton preparing to script and test ads that would portray Mr. Trump as a misogynist and an enemy to the working class whose brash temper would put the nation and the world in grave danger. The plan is for those themes to be amplified later by two prominent surrogates: To fight Mr. Trump’s ability to sway the news cycle, Mr. Clinton would not hold back on the stump, and President Obama has told allies he would gleefully portray Mr. Trump as incapable of handling the duties of the Oval Office.

Democrats say they risk losing the presidency if they fail to take Mr. Trump seriously, much as Republicans have done in the primary campaign.

“He’s formidable, he understands voters’ anxieties, and he will be ruthless against Hillary Clinton,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut. “I’ve gone from denial — ‘I can’t believe anyone would listen to this guy’ — to admiration, in the sense that he’s figured out how to capture everyone’s angst, to real worry.”

During the first Republican debate last summer, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, shushed a room full of people at the campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters when Mr. Trump started to speak, almost giddily captivated by the wildness of his remarks. “Shh, I’ve got to get me some Trump,” he said.

Now, Mr. Mook and his colleagues regard Mr. Trump as a wily, determined and indefatigable opponent who seems to be speaking to broad economic anxieties among Americans and to the widely held belief that traditional politicians are incapable of addressing those problems. Publicly, the Clinton operation is letting the Republicans slug it out. But privately, it and other Democrats are poring over polling data to understand the roots of Mr. Trump’s populist appeal and building up troves of opposition research on his business career.

“The case against Trump will be prosecuted on two levels,” said Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster and Mrs. Clinton’s chief strategist in 2008. “The first is temperament,” and whether he is suited to be commander in chief, Mr. Garin said, echoing conversations that have dominated Democratic circles recently. The second “will be based on whether he can really be relied on as a champion for anyone but himself.”

But the tactics the Clintons have used for years to take down opponents may fall short in a contest between the blunt and unpredictable Mr. Trump and the cautious and scripted Mrs. Clinton: a matchup that operatives on both sides predicted would be an epic, ugly clash between two vastly disparate politicians...

It's going to be a brutally close election, but the one thing we know now for sure, the Democrats aren't coming anywhere near the GOP in turnout for the primary elections. Trump even mentioned it during his press conference Tuesday night.

I'll have more on that. If folks thought both 2008 and 2012 were bad (for racist attacks by far-left Democrat Party extremists), they better brace for an even nastier campaign this year. It's going to be at nuclear war levels. Complete annihilation of the adversary, and all the Democrat surrogates, including the leftist MSM outlets, will be down for Donald Trump's complete and utter obliteration.

More.

PREVIOUSLY: "Democrats Fear Dead-Serious Threat in Donald Trump Nomination."

Democrats Fear Dead-Serious Threat in Donald Trump Nomination

They should fear it.

Trump will take the gloves off like no other candidate.

He'll destroy her, and good thing too.

At Politico, "Democrats to Clinton: Don't laugh off Trump threat: The populist billionaire could be a potent general election candidate, Democratic strategists warn":

It’s time to stop pointing and laughing at the Republican primary. For all the GOP front-runner’s flaws, many veteran Democrats are beginning to conclude, Donald Trump is a canny operator who just might end up in the White House if they’re not careful.

He appears to be cracking the code with white working-class voters who could help him put blue Rust Belt states in play against Hillary Clinton. He’s helping to fuel record turnout in GOP primaries and he’s mastered the media like no candidate in recent memory, with his constant feeding of catnip to cable TV and his 140-character missiles on Twitter.

“It’s fair to say there’s been a graveyard already out there of people underestimating him,” said Doug Sosnik, a former Bill Clinton White House adviser. “And I am old enough to remember the sort of Democratic intelligentsia that was hoping Ronald Reagan would be nominated by Republicans in 1980 because everyone knew he was a doddering old right winger who could never get elected president.”

“So there is some danger to underestimating his candidacy,” Sosnik said. "Having said that, I have enough confidence in the judgment of the American people to never elect someone like Donald Trump president of the United States."

Tracy Sefl, a Democratic consultant who was a senior adviser for Ready for Hillary, said Trump was the most dangerous Republican candidate to come out of the primary because he’s “unpredictable, shameless, unapologetic” — and utilizes a non-strategy strategy that has so far worked for him.

“He doesn’t do defense. He’s immune to any sort of fundamentals of campaigning. He’s just doing it his way,” she said.

It’s a mistake to dismiss Trump's appeal against Hillary Clinton, other Democrats have concluded, especially as he continues to roll up wins across the map on his march to the Republican nomination.

“I think Trump could beat her like a tied-up billy goat,” said Mudcat Saunders, a rural Democratic strategist who’s supporting Bernie Sanders. “There are many areas in key swing states like Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania that look like Sherman went through and didn’t burn anything. Empty factories, empty buildings, few opportunities for young people. It’s sad. It should be no surprise to anybody that voters in those areas are gravitating to Trump.”

While most Democrats continue to view their party's front-runner as the favorite to win — including for the simple reason that they believe it’s easier for many voters to picture Clinton in charge of the nuclear codes — there’s still a nagging fear that Trump might prove more competitive in some areas than anyone could have imagined...

Keep reading.

Deal of the Day: Brother XM2701 Sewing Machine

At Amazon, Brother XM2701 Lightweight, Full-Featured Sewing Machine with 27 Stitches, 1-Step Auto-Size Buttonholer, 6 Sewing Feet, and Instructional DVD.

Plus, from Donald Trump, Trump: The Art of the Deal, and Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.

Marriott Argues That Nude Peephole Video Helped Erin Andrews' Career (VIDEO)

At the Nashville Tennessean, "Defense suggests Erin Andrews videos helped career." Also, "Expert says 16.8 million saw Erin Andrews nude."

And watch, at ABC News, "Erin Andrews Trial - Defense Argues Nude Video Didn't Impact Career."

Plus, here's Andrews, in tears, during her testimony on Monday, via CNN:

The #NeverTrump Crowd Should Get a Life

Heh, former Pajamas Media chairman Roger Simon trolls the right's Trump Derangement loons.

Here:

Ted Cruz won three states, including his Texas home and a surprise victory in Oklahoma, Marco Rubio scored for the first time in Minnesota and came close in Virginia, and even John Kasich challenged in Vermont, but there is no question that Donald Trump was the big winner on Super Tuesday on the Republican side. He won seven of eleven states.

The most fascinating, and telling, race was ultra-liberal Massachusetts where Trump won nearly 50% of the vote, suggesting reports were correct that he was altering the electoral landscape, pulling in the long-lost Reagan Democrats, some of whom may have switched parties to vote for Donald. (GOP turnout was huge, dwarfing the Democrats practically everywhere.)

More importantly, it was a different Donald Trump we saw during his Super Tuesday press conference (cleverly not a standard issue “victory” speech) at his Palm Beach resort Mar-a-Lago. Nowhere to be seen was the “con man” excoriated non-stop by Rubio for the last week. Also not in evidence was the neo-Rodney Dangerfield/Don Rickles joker, spraying water to lampoon Rubio. This was a President Donald Trump standing before us, answering questions in a measured and crisp manner and with far more forthrightness than we have been used to with Obama. He even went so far as to reach out to Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell in a manner they may not have deserved, though he didn't mention Christie Whitman, who threatened to vote for Hillary Clinton if Donald was nominated...

Keep reading.

There's a lot of anger and derangement out there.

Where does this kind of hate come from? pic.twitter.com/fW9zxvMAyT

— John Nolte (@NolteNC) March 1, 2016

Donald Trump Dominates Republican Party Super Tuesday Races (VIDEO)

At the video, Trump asks the key question about GOPe resistance to his campaign, "If I'm going to win all of these states, with tremendous numbers ... I think, I think we're a democracy ... it's awfully hard to say that's not the person we want to lead the party, right?"

At the Washington Post, "Trump owns Super Tuesday, but Cruz and Rubio see glimmers of hope":

Donald Trump rode a powerful tide of voter fury to victories across the country on Tuesday, ending the campaign season’s most momentous day of balloting as the unrivaled favorite for the Republican presidential nomination.

The billionaire mogul’s Super Tuesday rout extended from New England to the Deep South, but he resoundingly lost the night’s crown jewel, Texas, to home-state Sen. Ted Cruz, who also defeated Trump in Oklahoma.

Tuesday’s results exposed some vulnerabilities for Trump: He lost late-deciding voters in many states by wide margins to rival Marco Rubio, a sign that the senator from Florida may have had some impact with his withering assault on Trump’s character. Ohio Gov. John Kasich also came close to beating Trump in Vermont.

In Virginia — one of the biggest of the 11 states holding primaries or caucuses and a critical general-election battleground — Trump’s win was also narrower than the latest polls had indicated. Rubio nearly pulled off an upset, though his boost from more highly educated voters in the suburbs of Northern Virginia and Richmond was not enough to offset Trump’s command of Southwest Virginia and rural areas.

Cruz’s twin victories breathed new life into his beleaguered campaign after a string of defeats forced him to mount an impassioned last stand in Texas. Meanwhile, Rubio won Minnesota’s caucuses, giving him his first victory of the campaign.

Still, Trump was dominant. On top of Virginia, he won decisively in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts and Tennessee. With each victory, he solidified a robust and ideologically diverse coalition of working- and middle-class Americans behind his rebellious call to overthrow the nation’s political order.

Trump claimed victory by holding a news conference in the opulent gold-and-white ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, the lavish wonderland he owns in tony Palm Beach, Fla.

Speaking in uncharacteristically measured tones beneath giant crystal chandeliers, Trump tried to assume the mantle of presumptive nominee. He sought to convince party insiders that he could win a general election against Democrat Hillary Clinton, labeling himself as a “common-sense conservative” and portraying her as a relic of Washington...

More.

Marco Rubio Wins Minnesota Republican Caucuses

Heh, he finally won a state.

At WSJ.

And watch, at Fox News, "Fox News projects Marco Rubio wins Minnesota."

‘He Doesn’t Care Who He Makes Mad’ — Donald Trump Support Is Deep and Diverse

Ted Cruz picked up Oklahoma and his home state of Texas. After that it's been all Donald Trump, and vote tallies are still coming in.

Lots of folks are going absolutely batshit crazy at the prospects of a Trump nomination, but all that does is make his supporters love him even more.

At NYT, "Donald Trump’s Backers Express Deep and Diverse Support":

The Huffington Post is NOT happy pic.twitter.com/AviejRhgse

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) March 2, 2016

Donald J. Trump won the vote of a 59-year-old cabdriver in the Boston suburbs who said he lost his trucking business after immigrants began delivering cargo for less.

In Loudoun County, Virginia, one of the country’s wealthiest, he won the backing of a newly separated mother and a longtime Democrat who spoke of the possibility of another terrorist attack, saying, “I don’t think we feel safe right now.”

And Mark Harris, a 48-year-old owner of an antiques shop in Canton, Ga., said he did not much care for Mr. Trump’s ego and worried that his impolitic speech could derail American diplomacy.

But Mr. Harris voted for Mr. Trump, too.

“He’s not afraid to get in the trenches and fight for you,” Mr. Harris said. “He’s going to be a bully, and he’s going to tell them what he thinks, and he’s going to push to get it done. He don’t care who he makes mad in the process.”

Mr. Trump’s string of victories Tuesday, the biggest day of primary voting, was not unexpected. But interviews with Trump voters from the middle-class suburbs of Minneapolis to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains revealed a surprising depth and diversity of support that could sustain him as a front-runner in the critical weeks to come...

More.

The wisdom of the common people ... isn't that a beautiful thing? And it's confounding everyone, on both the left and right.

Republicans Revolting Against Donald Trump Nomination

Well, today's the big day.

If Trump "runs the table," Cruz and Rubio might as well be toast. And after that, you're likely to see ever increasing establishment machinations to deny Trump the nomination at the convention. It could get ugly.

In any case, I'll have all kinds of reporting tonight.

Meanwhile, check out Hot Air, "Ben Sasse on not voting for Trump: 'This is in some ways an 1860 moment'."

BONUS: At USA Today, "Possible party split weighs on GOP ahead of Super Tuesday."

James Holland, The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941

This looks like a great book.

Unfortunately, it's going to have to wait for a while, until I finish some of my other books at the front of the line, lol.

See, The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941: The War in the West, Volume 1.

Very enthusiastic reviews at the link.

'There is no hope for the future of capitalist prosperity and a free society at home and world peace abroad unless the Republican Party is destroyed...'

From David Stockman (the former budget director), at Zero Hedge, "The Good, Bad & Ugly of Donald Trump" (via Serr8d):

America will need the Almighty’s unstinting favor if Donald Trump becomes our 45th President. Still, blessed be The Donald for running a demolition derby in the Republican primaries.

There is no hope for the future of capitalist prosperity and a free society at home and world peace abroad unless the Republican Party is destroyed. And, by golly, Trump may well accomplish the deed.

We need to be clear. There is no longer a Republican Party rooted in the main street highways and byways of America. What’s left of it is not really even the xenophobic, nativist, crypto-racist flotsam and jetsam of the populist right that Trump is successfully calling to political arms.

The fact is, the GOP has mutated into the Warfare State party. Nestled comfortably in the Imperial City, it operates a plethora of special interest rackets which underwrite its incumbents’ bi-annual electoral campaigns out in the provinces.

In the interim, GOP politicians idle their time in the capital and on foreign junkets conjuring and embellishing scary stories about terrorist threats and hostile regimes. So doing, they perceive enemies of the American Imperium to be stalking the planet everywhere and even creeping onto these exceptional shores.

In a word, as the party of the Warfare State, the GOP’s main business has become promoting the agenda, campaigns, machinations and glory of the Imperial City. Whenever its pro forma rhetoric about small government and fiscal prudence becomes inconvenient to the needs of the military/industrial/surveillance complex or the fund-raising requirements of its special interest rackets, the GOP’s putative conservative economics platform quickly becomes “inoperative” in the Nixonian vernacular.

There is no better prototype for the new GOP than Senators Lindsay Graham and John McCain. Their agenda consists exclusively of promoting and superintending Washington’s foreign projects, occupations, alliances and maneuvers. Cycling through Tel Aviv on a regular basis, showing up on the battlements of Kiev and lecturing the Chinese about maritime law in international waters, for example, they comically imitate the first century Roman Senators they fancy themselves to actually be.

Yet after decades in Washington they and most of their Senate colleagues have accomplished nothing that resembles the old Republican verities...

Keep reading.

It's good!

New Nationwide Poll Shows Donald Trump as Strong GOP Front-Runner Ahead of Super Tuesday (VIDEO)

It's at CNN, a new nationwide CNN/ORC poll.

And see, "Trump, Clinton dominant as Super Tuesday looms":

(CNN) - Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are poised to lead the nation's two major parties in this fall's presidential election, with a new nationwide CNN/ORC poll finding each well ahead of their closest competitors just as the race expands to a national stage.

Trump has expanded his lead over the diminished field to capture the support of nearly half of Republican voters, while Clinton tops Sanders by nearly 20 points.

On the Republican side, the new survey finds Trump's lead is dominant, and his support tops that of his four remaining opponents combined. The businessman tops his nearest competitor by more than 30 points: 49% back Trump, 16% Marco Rubio, 15% Ted Cruz, 10% Ben Carson and 6% John Kasich.

Trump's supporters are incredibly enthusiastic about the coming election, and largely committed in their support for him. Nearly 8 in 10 say that they are more enthusiastic about voting this year than in previous elections, among Republicans who are not supporting Trump, just 39% say they are more enthusiastic than in years past. Likewise, 78% of Trump's backers say they will definitely support him vs. 22% who say they could still change their minds. Among those backing other candidates, 57% say they are committed to their chosen candidate.

The survey asked those Republicans not currently backing Trump whether they would support him if he became the party's nominee, and just a quarter of Republicans overall say they probably or definitely wouldn't support him in November. That's about the same as the share saying they wouldn't back Rubio or Cruz.

Trump is widely viewed as the candidate in the field who would be most effective at solving the country's problems, 51% vs. 17% for Cruz, 13% for Rubio and 10% for Carson, and as being best able to handle the responsibilities of being commander-in-chief, 48% say so, compared with 17% for Cruz and 15% for Rubio. The billionaire is also seen as the one who best understands the problems facing people like you, 46% Trump vs. 18% Cruz and 15% Rubio.

As accusations of dishonesty have flown between Trump, Cruz and Rubio, voters say they are more apt to see Trump as honest and trustworthy. Asked who of the five candidates is most honest and trustworthy, 35% name Trump, 22% Carson -- who has largely stayed out of the mudslinging - 14% Cruz and 13% Rubio...

More.

And additional video, "Super Tuesday scenarios: Can Donald Trump be stopped?"

Jessica Simpson's Lovely Window

Heh.

At GCeleb, "Jessica Simpson and Her Strangling Cleavage Window."

An Oscar for the Grievance Industry

I think we've reached a national psychosis on diversity. Things are definitely out of control.

From Joe Hicks, at USA Today:

On the heels of a threatened boycott of this year’s Academy Awards by black film figures comes a well-timed report on diversity in the film and television industries. This report from the aptly named Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at University of Southern California-Annenberg's School for Communication and Journalism argues that these industries have “… an inclusion crisis.”

Is there really a crisis in Hollywood? The report’s lead claim, among a number of loaded assertions, appears to be that “only 28%” of all speaking characters across 414 films, television and digital episodes in 2014-15 were from “underrepresented” racial/ethnic groups. However, this is only 9.6% below the U.S. population norm of 37.9% for those minorities, hardly a crisis.

The report’s major argument about racial bias in Hollywood should raise eyebrows. This community of creative artists and film magnates is perhaps the best-known liberal spot in the nation. The rare conservative who works in this milieu mostly keeps his politics in the closet.

Despite this, the writers of the USC report argue that women, ethnic minorities and even gay, lesbian and transgender people were “excluded,” causing an “epidemic of invisibility.” Tell that to the casts and investors in this year’s films “Carol,” and the “Danish Girl” — both up for Oscars and openly involving Lesbian and Transgender issues.

Responding to the #OscarsSoWhite meme, Jada Pinkett Smith (married to actor Will Smith who starred in Concussion and was shut-out of the nominations) announced that she would not attend the awards ceremonies, with others following suit.

Despite all of this angst, if every Oscar awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences went to a black film artist, would the life of any working-class black person be changed one iota?

Will Smith seems to think so. In announcing that he too would be joining his wife in boycotting, Smith said “… This is so deeply not about me. This is about children that are going to sit down, and they’re going to watch a show, and they’re not going to see themselves represented.”

Is all of this simply a political pitch for racial preferences (often called “affirmative action”) in filmmaking? Should film companies be forced to adopt “diversity goals” and/or “suggested” racial quotas when casting actors and funding projects? TV production executives already meet frequently with representatives of minority group advocates to assess whom they hire, whom they depict and what more they can do...

Keep reading.

A Stunning Donald Trump Super Tuesday Looms

At some point folks are just going to either get on board or get out of the way.

At Politico, "Trump closes in on Super Tuesday romp: As a stunning victory looms, top Republicans are split between those ready to accommodate and others starting to panic":

Donald Trump is poised for sweeping nationwide wins on Super Tuesday, solidifying his position as the Republican front-runner and intensifying the pressure on his struggling primary rivals to find a way forward.

Top Republicans — including governors who convened an emergency conference call on Monday on which Trump was Topic A — expect the real estate mogul to carry as many as 10 states on Tuesday night, an outcome that would deal a body blow to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has staked his campaign heavily on the Southern states holding nominating contests, and to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has yet to win a primary and isn’t expected to do so on Tuesday.

“If Trump wins 8 or more states on Tuesday, it would take a massive collapse on his and/or his campaign’s part for him not to be the nominee,” said Tony Fabrizio, a longtime GOP pollster and strategist who advised Rand Paul.

Trump’s march to the nomination has set off a wave of anxiety across the Republican Party establishment as top officials weigh whether to endorse him — or denounce him as anathema to the party's values. Reflecting that angst, on Monday morning, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the heads of the Republican Governors Association, convened fellow governors for an unusual conference call to discuss how the primary was unfolding — and Trump was a central topic of conversation...

Scott Walker? Boy, he didn't last too long on the campaign trail, now did he?

And Susana Martinez? She'll be lucky to make onto Trump's veep shortlist.

But keep reading.

Jackie Johnson's Increasing Cloudiness Forecast

She's so lovely.

Great to see her back for the week.

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

The GOP Implosion

Everyone's lost their minds.

It's all going to work out. I guarantee you.

At the Washington Post, "The Republican Party’s implosion over Donald Trump’s candidacy has arrived":

MADISON, Ala. — The implosion over Donald Trump’s candidacy that Republicans had hoped to avoid arrived so virulently this weekend that many party leaders vowed never to back the billionaire and openly questioned whether the GOP could come together this election year.

At a moment when Republicans had hoped to begin taking on Hillary Clinton — who is seemingly on her way to wrapping up the Democratic nomination — the GOP has instead become consumed by a crisis over its identity and core values that is almost certain to last through the July party convention, if not the rest of the year.

A campaign full of racial overtones and petty, R-rated put-downs grew even uglier Sunday after Trump declined repeatedly in a CNN interview to repudiate the endorsement of him by David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Trump had disavowed Duke at a news conference on Friday, but he stammered when asked about Duke on Sunday.

Marco Rubio, who has been savaging Trump as a “con man” for three days, responded by saying that Trump’s defiance made him “unelectable.” The senator from Florida said at a rally in Northern Virginia, “We cannot be the party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists.”

The fracas comes as the presidential race enters a potentially determinative month of balloting, beginning with primaries and caucuses in 11 states on Tuesday. As the campaign-trail rhetoric grew noxious over the weekend, a sense of fatalism fell over the Republican firmament, from elected officials and figureheads to major donors and strategists.

“This is an existential choice,” said former senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who is backing Rubio. Asked how the party could unite, Coleman said: “It gets harder every day when you hear things like not disavowing the KKK and David Duke. It’s not getting easier; it’s getting more difficult. . . . I’m hopeful the party won’t destroy itself.”

The choice for voters is not simply one of preference but rather a fundamental one about the direction they want to take the country, with the insurgent Trump promising utter transformation...

You know, maybe all of these GOPe talking heads should defer to the people?

If voters pick Trump, that's democracy in action. The U.S. isn't all of a sudden going to turn into Nazi Germany from the 1930s. People need to have some faith that the constitutional system will work, even with a bombastic fellow like Trump in office. Obama certainly hasn't gotten his way on everything. I seriously doubt Trump's going to be worse, heh.

Keep reading.

I personally love all the hand-wringing and doomsday scenarios. It serves the GOPe right.

Deal of the Day: NordicTrack Treadmill

At Amazon, NordicTrack T 6.5 S Treadmill.

And from Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox, Running from Office: Why Young Americans are Turned Off to Politics.

Also, from Kristen Soltis Anderson, The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials Are Leading America (And How Republicans Can Keep Up).

Influential Republican Senator Jeff Sessions Endorses Donald Trump (VIDEO)

Sessions is the man on immigration border control.

This is an excellent development for Donald Trump.

At the Washington Post, via Memeorandum, "In major blow to Ted Cruz, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama endorses Donald Trump for GOP nomination."

And watch, at CNN:

California Democrats Lose the Fight for Millennial Voters

Oh, well, screw them.

At least youth voters have an independent streak.

At LAT, "A threat ahead: California Democrats losing the fight for younger voters":

The state Democratic Party convention held here over the weekend presented an occasionally jarring contrast: Democrats gathered at what seemed like a 50th college reunion for veteran politicians, and at the same time one of the biggest rounds of applause came at the mention of Bernie Sanders, the presidential candidate few of those politicians support.

The split, largely generational given the youthful tilt of the Vermont senator’s supporters, underscored a hard truth for California Democrats that was barely discussed during the celebratory convention:

Numbers-wise, the party's heading for trouble...

Keep reading.

Interstate 5 Closed Down All Day Saturday After Street-Racing Crash Kills 3 (VIDEO)

This was horrendous.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Suspected street racer arrested in crash that killed three and shut down 5 Freeway."

Also, "Suspected street racer still at large after fiery crash that killed three."

Violent Ku Klux Klan Protest in Anaheim (VIDEO)

So stupid.

Leftists are so out of control it's like they're out to create sympathy for the Klan.

Let them march. As hateful as they are, the Klan has the right to hold a rally. Let 'em be.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Anaheim is land of Disney, not Ku Klux Klan, dismayed residents say."

Chris Rock Skewers Hollywood Racists

I thought he did pretty good (considering how over-the-top was the show's politics).

Here's Kyle Smith, at the New York Post, "Chris Rock crushed it":

Heh, #ChrisRock is nailing it. #Oscars

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 29, 2016

Chris Rock is the guy who once did a skit called “How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police,” which instructed black men they were unlikely to suffer police brutality if they minded their manners. Rock’s contrarian credentials are strong. Even so, his pointed, witty and thoughtful opening monologue at the Oscars was surprisingly rangy: Instead of picking one side or the other, he nailed both.

Rock did exactly what comics are supposed to do: wrap the truth in an irresistible joke. He made both smug white Hollywood liberals and angry black protesters look bad.

Advising the #Oscars­SoWhite crowd, and prominent boycotters such as Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee, that they needed a sense of perspective, Rock said, “Why this Oscars? It’s the 88th Academy Awards. Which means this whole ­no-black-nominees thing has happened at least ­71 other times.”

All those other years, “Black people did not protest. And why? Because we had real things to protest at that time. We were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who’s winning Best Cinematographer. When your grandmother’s swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about Best Documentary Foreign Short.”

In other words: This year’s Oscar hubbub is a fake controversy.

And in the grand scale of things, which is harder to believe — that Will Smith failed to get an Oscar nomination for “Concussion,” a so-so movie that flopped? Or that, as Rock pointed out, “Will Smith was paid 20 million for ‘Wild Wild West’?” The Smiths may not be the last people on Earth with genuine cause to complain about anything, but they’re pretty close.

Rock even worked in a hilarious, because completely accurate, dig at Jada’s acting skills: “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited!”

How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked by the Oscars? Be so good, they have to nominate you. “Concussion” was not that good, and “Straight Outta Compton” and “Creed” were just solid genre movies, not true Oscar-caliber features.

It would have been easy for Rock to point out that the academy’s voters are old and white and out of touch, but that would have been letting them off too easy...

Still more.

PREVIOUSLY: "The Most Political Oscars Ever."

Nina Agdal Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 (VIDEO)

Wake up with the lovely Danish supermodel.

Via Sports Illustrated:



FLASHBACK: "Nina Agdal: American Power's Woman of the Year for 2015."

The Most Political Oscars Ever

I mentioned that my faithful tradition of watching the Oscars might be coming to an end. I think this year's over-the-top political grandstanding is the last straw.

At the Irish Independent, "From racism to rape to climate change - was this the most political Oscars ever?":

Probably the most political #Oscars ever.

— Warner Todd Huston (@warnerthuston) February 29, 2016

Chris Rock set the tone with his opening monologue which tore the Academy apart over the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.

"Welcome to the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the white people's choice awards!" he began, before tackling racism, "Is Hollywood racist? You're damn right it's racist! Hollywood is sorority racist - We like you Rhonda, but you're not a Kappa!"
However, he spoke out against the boycott.

"Why are we protesting this Oscars? It's the 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole 'no black nominees' thing has happened at least 71 other times."

He said black people didn't protest before because they had "real things to protest at the time. They were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who wins best cinematographer."

And so it continued as Rock, who admitted he had completely re-written his monologue in the wake of the diversity controversy, performed a autopsy on the elephant in the room.

Elsewhere, Vice President Joe Biden and Lady Gaga united to promote White House campaign It's On Us, which aims to eradicate sexual assaults on US university campuses.

Biden introduced Lady Gaga for her haunting performance of Till It Happens to You, which was nominated for Best Original Song.

"Despite significant progress over the last couple years, too many women and men are still victims of sexual abuse," he said.

"Let's change the culture so that no abused woman or man ever feels they have to ask themselves, 'What did I do?'.  They did nothing wrong."

Gaga's song features on the soundtrack for the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground which documents alleged incidents of abuse on American college campuses.

For her performance Gaga was joined on stage by survivors of sexual assault.

The winners' speeches provided the perfect opportunity for stars to have their say and Leonardo DiCaprio harnessed his 60 seconds following his first ever Oscar win to highlight the issue of climate change.

"Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world. Climate change is real, it is happening right now," he said...

Keep reading.

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And ICYMI, from Robert Gildea, Fighters in the Shadows: A New History of the French Resistance.

Also, from Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism, and Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944.

Still more, from A. James Gregor, Mussolini's Intellectuals: Fascist Social and Political Thought.

BONUS: Roy MacGregor-Hastie, The Day of the Lion the Life and Death of Fascist Italy 1922-1945.

Gawker's Alex 'Ping Pong Balls' Pareene Behind Donald Trump 'Mussolini Quote' Retweet

Folks might recall Alex Pareene as the former wanker Wonkette blogger who attacked Michelle Malkin with racist Asian "ping pong balls" jokes back in 2006.

So, I personally don't take all of this Trump Mussolini retweet stuff too seriously. These assholes at Gawker are professional smear merchants, and the quote in question isn't even original to Mussolini.

Here's Pareene at Gawker, at Memeorandum, "How We Fooled Donald Trump Into Retweeting Benito Mussolini."

Everyone's picked up on this story, at the New York Times, for example, "Donald Trump Retweets Post With Quote From Mussolini."

More at Memeorandum.

And scroll through 20 Committee's feed for a while. That "Mussolini quote" apparently preceded the dictator's time in power:

This is the source of the "Mussolini quote": the original, scrawled on a house in June 1918, during the Piave battle pic.twitter.com/yY3zWKdanC

— John Schindler (@20committee) February 28, 2016

Tulsi Gabbard Resigns as Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (VIDEO)

Weird, though, is that she's backing Bernie Sanders.

She's a good lady who needs to get the hell out of the Democrat Party.

At Twitchy, "Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii has resigned as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee."

I gotta say, it looks like she drank some Kool-Aid here, lol.

South Carolina Sets Up Super Tuesday Endgame for Bernie Sanders

I was saying so much last night, "Hillary Clinton Wins South Carolina Primary (VIDEO)."

At Politico, "Hillary Clinton's romp dramatically narrows Bernie Sanders' path forward":

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A bruising, 48-point loss to Hillary Clinton in South Carolina Saturday night dramatically narrowed the path forward for Bernie Sanders, raising serious doubts about his ability to win the delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination.

South Carolina will widen Clinton’s delegate lead, currently at one after her Nevada win. But more significant, the contest here demonstrated that the Vermont senator has failed to make any headway at all with African-American voters in the South – even with 200 paid Sanders staffers on the ground and nearly $2 million in television spending, Clinton swept the black vote by a five-to-one ratio, according to exit polls. Among black voters 65 and over, Clinton won by a stunning 96 to 3 percent.

“When we stand together there is no barrier too big to break,” Clinton said at her victory rally in Columbia, where she took the stage alone for the first time without Bill or Chelsea Clinton by her side. “Tomorrow, we take this campaign national.”

Now, heading into Super Tuesday when 11 states will cast ballots on March 1, Sanders will face possibly insurmountable contests in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and Virginia, all states with sizable black populations and where he has not invested as much time or money.

“Delegates determine the presidential nomination and I don’t see a path for Sanders to get there,” said Jeff Berman, a consultant to the Clinton campaign who ran Barack Obama’s 2008 delegate strategy.

Running through a best-case scenario for Sanders, Clinton operatives said they expect Sanders could win Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Vermont – states tailor-made for Sanders because they are caucus states, predominantly white states, New England states, or states with a history of electing progressives.

But even if Sanders manages to pull out significant wins in all five, the delegate math will make it difficult for Sanders to catch up – they represent only one-third of the delegates up for grabs on March 1. And the Clinton campaign has invested heavily in states like Colorado and Minnesota in order to limit Sanders’ margins.

Sanders’ operatives said they are looking beyond Super Tuesday, to the more friendly terrain of Kansas, Nebraska, and Maine to deliver them wins. But by then, Clinton operatives predicted, it could be too little too late to close the delegate gap.

“Our delegate lead will only grow in the period after Super Tuesday,” Berman said.

More.

Hillary Clinton Wins South Carolina Primary (VIDEO)

I think this is the turning of the tide.

South Carolina's results were never in doubt, although the margin for Clinton is pretty spectacular. And with just a few days until Super Tuesday, the importance of the Palmetto State for Clinton can't be understated. She can start to put Bernie away.

At the Last Tradition, "Hillary burns the Hell out of Bernie Sanders in huge SC primary victory thanks to the always reliable robotic Black vote."

And at the New York Times, "Hillary Clinton Wins South Carolina Primary."

Plus, at ABC News, "Black Voters Boost Clinton in South Carolina" (via Memeorandum):

Overwhelming support and record turnout among black voters and her best showing to date among whites gave Hillary Clinton a powerful victory in Saturday’s Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina.

Blacks accounted for 61 percent of South Carolina Democratic primary voters in ABC News exit poll results, breaking the state’s record, 55 percent in 2008. And Clinton won 86b percent of their votes, a crushing score. Indeed she did significantly better with blacks in South Carolina than Barack Obama in 2008...

Keep reading.

Amber Lee's Sunday Forecast

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Harvard Professor Danielle Allen Warns America: We Must Stop Donald Trump

People are asking why I like Donald Trump.

Well, to see him send otherwise thoughtful, rational people into puddles of incoherent rage about the impending neo-Nazi doom is just hilarious. If he's frightening left-wing elites that much, they must not be giving Hillary much of a chance next November. We've gotta stop Donald Trump before it's too late!

Here's Professor Allen, interviewed by Michael Smerconish at CNN,  "'We Must Stop Trump' says Washington Post op-ed writer."

And here's the op-ed in question, "The moment of truth: We must stop Trump."

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Plus, from Randy Barnett, Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People.

And from David Bernstein, Lawless: The Obama Administration's Unprecedented Assault on the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

Still more, from Dean Reuter, Liberty's Nemesis: The Unchecked Expansion of the State.

BONUS: From Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition.