Donald Trump and the Rebirth of the Republican Party

From Pat Buchanan, at VDare, "Trump Isn’t the Suicide of the GOP, He’s Its Rebirth – And He CAN Beat Hillary In the General!":

“If his poll numbers hold, Trump will be there six months from now when the Sweet 16 is cut to the Final Four, and he will likely be in the finals.”

My prediction, in July of 2015, looks pretty good right now.

Herewith, a second prediction. Republican wailing over his prospective nomination aside, Donald Trump could beat Hillary Clinton like a drum in November.

Indeed, only the fear that Trump can win explains the hysteria in this city. Here is The Washington Post of March 18: “As a moral question it is straightforward. The mission of any responsible Republican should be to block a Trump nomination and election.”

The Orwellian headline over that editorial: “To defend our democracy, the GOP must aim for a brokered convention.”

Beautiful. Defending democracy requires Republicans to cancel the democratic decision of the largest voter turnout of any primaries in American history. And this is now a moral imperative for Republicans.

Like the Third World leaders it lectures, the Post celebrates democracy—so long as the voters get it right.

Whatever one may think of the Donald, he has exposed not only how far out of touch our political elites are, but how insular is the audience that listens to our media elite.

Understandably, Trump’s rivals were hesitant to take him on, seeing the number he did on “little Marco,” “low energy” Jeb and “Lyin’ Ted.”

But the Big Media—the Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times—have been relentless and ruthless.

Yet Trump’s strength with voters seemed to grow, pari passu, with the savagery of their attacks. As for National Review, The Weekly Standard and the accredited conservative columnists of the big op-ed pages, their hostility to Trump seems to rise, commensurate with Trump’s rising polls.

As the Wizard of Oz was exposed as a little man behind a curtain with a big megaphone, our media establishment is unlikely ever again to be seen as formidable as it once was.

And the GOP?

Those Republicans who assert that a Trump nomination would be a moral stain, a scarlet letter, the death of the party, they are most likely describing what a Trump nomination would mean to their own ideologies and interests...

More.

How Trump vs. Clinton Would Reshape the Electoral Map

This is pretty good, from Dan Balz, at the Washington Post.

Matthew Desmond, Evicted

Well, I continue to devour books, especially considering how blogging and tweeting have been less appealing with all the Trump purity wars.

Besides, I'm still getting over some repetitive stress injuries on my left arm. It's been too painful to blog sometimes, man.

In any case, this looks great, from Matthew Desmond, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.

BONUS: Also good, from Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer, $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America.

Earth Hour Celebrates Ignorance, Poverty, and Backwardness [REPOST]

From last year, a repost:

Most excellent.

From Professor Mark Perry, at AEI:

In 2009, Canadian economist Ross McKitrick was asked by a journalist for his thoughts on the importance of the annual one-hour event in energy self-flagellation and green nitwitery known as Earth Hour, which takes place today, March 28, at 8:30 p.m. Here is his excellent response (my emphasis)...

Keep reading.

The Left is Pushing Hard Against Privacy Bills

From Laurie Higgins, at the Illinois Family Institute:

The Leftist effort to sever objective immutable sex differences from both meaning and cultural recognition and to promote the fiction that one’s sex can change marches on. Within hours of the filing of the Pupil Physical Privacy Act (HB 4474) in Springfield, which would prohibit students in public schools from using restrooms and locker rooms designated for the opposite sex, Equality Illinois, an organization dedicated to the normalization of sexual perversion and confusion, flew into a paroxysm of deceit:

HB4474…would stigmatize transgender and gender non-conforming youth by requiring them to use separate restrooms and locker rooms.

This bill is an attack on the well-being and dignity of transgender and gender non-conforming students. It says to them that they are not respected and valued in the very spaces where they should be safe and affirmed.

The only fair option is to ensure transgender students have access to the facilities that correspond to their gender identity.

Despite the demagogic rhetoric of Equality Illinois, policies and practices that acknowledge and respect objective, immutable, and important sex differences do not “stigmatize” or “attack the well-being” or “dignity” of gender-dysphoric students. Respect and valuation of humans does not require affirmation of all their feelings, beliefs, desires, or actions. In fact, sometimes respect and valuation of humans includes not affirming some of their feelings, beliefs, desires, or actions. Many would argue that allowing a boy or girl to deny the meaning and import of their sex through cross-dressing, rendering themselves sterile through the use of cross-sex hormones, and mutilating their healthy bodies is profoundly disrespectful—an egregious denial of their dignity.

The Left believes—sort of—that all reality is determined by the subjective feelings and desires of each individual. So a person’s maleness or femaleness is determined by their feelings not by their, well, maleness or femaleness.

But, it’s a horse of a different color, when other people “feel” that maleness and femaleness is inextricably linked to objective, immutable sex, or when they believe that it’s wrong to pretend people are the sex they are not, or that treating others with dignity requires affirming their wholeness. In such cases Leftists, who with alacrity and regularity violate the law of non-contradiction, claim their subjective feelings (and assumptions) should be considered immutable, absolute, objective truth—you know, unlike each person’s sex...

Keep reading.

RELATED: iOTW Report, "'XY' and 'XX' chromosomes are genetic markers, not a disorder."

Donald Trump Supporters Clash with Protesters in Arizona (VIDEO)

"#CrushTrump" is trending right now on Twitter, and that's for the New York protests against Trump today.

Also, more at "#Arizona Trump."

And at LAT, "Protesters block road outside Donald Trump rally, so supporters walk instead."

Plus, watch at CNN:

Samantha Hoopes Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Video 2016

She's great, heh.



PREVIOUSLY: "Super Sexy Samantha Hoopes Outtakes from Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 in Malta (VIDEO)."

Deal of the Day: Samsung 48-Inch Smart LED TV

At Amazon, a nice deal, 44 Percent Off Samsung 48-Inch 4K HD Smart LED TV.

Also, KIND Nuts & Spices Bars, Maple Glazed Pecan & Sea Salt, 1.4 Ounce, 12 Count.

More, Death Wish Ground Coffee, The World's Strongest Coffee, Fair Trade and USDA Certified Organic - 16 Ounce Bag.

And, from Christian Appy, American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity.

BONUS: Fredrik Logevall, Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam.

David John Vanzo Arrested on Suspicion of Wheeling Dying Mother Into Bank to Withdraw Money

This is one of the most evil stories I've read in a while, and that's saying a lot, considering.

At LAT, "Man accused of wheeling dying mother into a bank to withdraw money is arrested in Pomona."

Also at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Minnesota man suspected of wheeling unresponsive mother into bank for withdrawal is arrested."

The fucker needs to be put away behind bars for a long, long time.

Political Anger 2016: The Decomposition of Traditional Institutions

Interesting.

At the Washington Post, "A deep dive into an angry, and divided, America":

There is so much anger out there in America: “Anger at Wall Street. Anger at Muslims. Anger at trade deals. Anger at Washington. Anger at police shootings of young black men. Anger at President Obama. Anger at Republican obstructionists. Anger about political correctness. Anger about the role of big money in campaigns. Anger about the poisoned water of Flint. Anger about deportations. Anger about undocumented immigrants. Anger about a career that didn't go as expected. Anger about a lost way of life. Mob anger at groups of protesters in their midst. Specific anger and undefined anger and even anger about anger.”

This anger is the culmination of long-emerging trends in American life: “The decomposition of traditional institutions. The descent of politics into reality-TV entertainment. Demographic and economic shifts quickening the impulses of inclusion and exclusion and us vs. them. All of it leading to this moment of great unsettling, with the Republican Party unraveling, the Democrats barely keeping it together, and both moving farther away from each other by the week, reflecting the splintering not only of the body politic but of the national ideal.”

Hat Tip: Instapundit, "ARE YOU FEELING THE LIGHTWORKER’S HOPE-AND-CHANGE YET?"

FLASHBACK: At SF Gate, "Lightworker: Is Obama an enlightened being? / Spiritual wise ones say: This sure ain't no ordinary politician. You buying it?"

Salah Abdeslam Captured in Brussels Raid (VIDEO)

Instapundit had this earlier, "TERROR: Salah Abdeslam, Suspect in Paris Attacks, Is Captured in Brussels."

And at LAT, "European manhunt ends with arrest of suspect in Paris attacks":

The largest manhunt in Europe came to a dramatic end Friday when police in Belgium arrested a fugitive linked to the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in November.

Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national who grew up in Brussels, was captured in a raid that sent loud bursts of gunfire reverberating through the city's Molenbeek neighborhood.

“We got him,” tweeted Belgium's secretary of state for asylum and migration, Theo Francken.

Abdeslam was injured in the leg during the raid and police were preparing to question him late Friday, hopeful that he will reveal crucial information about a Europe-wide network of Islamic extremists.

Images from French TV showed a man with a seemingly injured leg, wearing an off-white hooded top, being bundled into a police car by several armed officers in combat gear. The identity of the man in the footage was not immediately known...

More at that top link.

And more video at Euronews, "Salah Abdeslam, Europe's most-wanted man, arrested in Brussels."

Josh Rubenstein Flies with the Blue Angels (VIDEO)

Very cool.

Rubenstein's the chief meteorologist at CBS News 2 Los Angeles.

It's a ride of a lifetime.

I'm Gay and I've Been Banned from San Francisco!

Heh.

What a headline.

It's from Milo Yiannopoulos, via Ed Dricoll at Instapundit:

“The city has a fetish for banning things (among many other weird fetishes, some of which are OK I guess). Things that are currently unwelcome in San Francisco: McDonalds Happy Meals, Segways, plastic bags, soda vending machines, and gay people with opinions…It’s little wonder that companies like Twitter and Facebook, based in San Francisco, are so rapidly descending into the wacky politics of social justice, censorship, and blatant anti-conservatism.”

Bernie Sanders Claims Sheriff Joe Arpaio 'Ambushed' His Wife at 'Tent City', in Maricopa County, Arizona (VIDEO)

Heh.

What a great story!

At the Phoenix New Times, "Jane Sanders Blasted for Arpaio 'Photo-Op' on Social Media":

After Bernie Sanders' wife took a tour of Maricopa County's Tent City Jail with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, critics today accused her of acting as a "prop" in the spread of racist propaganda.

Among the naysayers was Democratic U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego, who, in a Facebook post, advised Jane Sanders "to take a less naive approach" to promoting her husband's policies if she "is serious about winning over Latino voters in Arizona."

Gallego is an announced Hillary Clinton supporter.

More.

And at Free Beacon, "Bernie Sanders Walks Off Interview":

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) walked away during an interview with a local NBC channel in Phoenix, Arizona.

The footage was released by KPNX, NBC 12 ahead of Arizona’s primaries on Tuesday, March 22 and widely reported by The Hill.

Sanders appeared irked at first by a question from Brahm Resnik about Sanders’ stance on the Minuteman, a group who would voluntarily patrol the Southern border. After Sanders commented on it, Resnik asked Sanders about his wife, Jane Sanders’ recent trip to ‘Tent City,’ an outdoor prison in Maricopa County, Arizona. The prison is run by the famous Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who endorsed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump for Trump’s strong stance on illegal immigration.

Jane Sanders went on a tour around the perimeter of the prison with Carlos Garcia, an immigrant rights activist. Arpaio approached her and invited her inside the prison for an up-close tour, which she accepted.

Sanders appears to be unhappy however with Arpaio’s invite. As Resnik attempted to ask Sanders about the visit, Sanders interrupted and gave his take.

“You know, let me just tell you something, you know, what Joe Arpaio is doing is an outrage. My wife went to look at the so-called ‘Tent City,’ which is something that should not exist. The fact that he crashed her meeting is to me, very, very wrong. Not something that he should have done.”

After Sanders was done, he got up, took off his microphone and walked off the set...

Watch the video at the link.

Donald Trump's Campaign Threatens to Steal Tea Party's Thunder

Ah, hardcore Ted Cruz supporters aren't going to love this argument.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Trump campaign threatens to steal tea party thunder":

Always a bit of a rebel, Debbie Dooley was so frustrated in 2009 over bank bailouts and stimulus packages that she threw herself into organizing Atlanta’s first tea party rally.

Today, the daughter of a Southern preacher has shifted her energy and passion into electing Donald Trump as the latest Washington outsider to shake up the status quo.

No matter that many of Trump’s policies stray from the tea party’s original small-government ideals. The tough-talking billionaire ignites that same anti-establishment fervor that fired up many tea party foot soldiers like Dooley.

In the process, Trump has recast their earlier champions — namely tea party darling Sen. Ted Cruz — as disappointing outsiders-turned-insiders who cater to corporate donors and fail to deliver on big promises.

“The support for Trump is not only a screw-you to the Republican establishment, it’s a screw-you to the conservative establishment,” said Dooley, 57, an energy consultant. “[People] are sick and tired of the same old, same old — just money corrupting the political process. They work hard, they vote for elected officials and they expect them to keep their promises.”

Trump’s candidacy has not only fractured the Republican Party, it’s threatening to break apart the tea party movement and erode a once-powerful voting block that has driven conservative politics and elections for the past seven years.

In addition to grass-root defections by activists like Dooley, tea party leadership has split over Trump’s presidential bid. Some conservative activists met this week to try to stop him, while others have joined his campaign.

Meanwhile, major financial backers, including groups funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, have been sidelined from publicly backing GOP primary candidates, partly out of fear they might alienate their divided base.

The soured relationship should come as no surprise. The tea party was always somewhat of a marriage of convenience between Washington’s free-market powerhouses and frustrated ordinary Americans who showed up at rallies with their tri-cornered hats and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.

Fighting President Obama provided an easy alliance that Republicans at first leveraged to their advantage. But it also was a relationship built on what now looks like a rickety foundation — less about think-tank-driven policies and more about voter outrage against perceived elitism.

From an ideological standpoint, the tea party’s natural candidate should be Cruz, the Texas senator who was swept into office in the tea party revolt and wears his unpopularity in Washington as an “outsider” badge of honor.

But in Trump’s long shadow, Cruz and rival Sen. Marco Rubio, before he left the campaign, suddenly looked to many rank-and-file activists as part of the problem.

“I don’t see Ted Cruz being a job creator,” Dooley said...

Still more.

Deal of the Day: FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing System

At Amazon, FoodSaver V2244 Vacuum Sealing System with Starter Kit.

Plus, KIND Nuts & Spices, Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt, 1.4 Ounce, 12 Count.

Also, Save on Select Baseball & Softball Gear.

BONUS: From Sasha Issenberg, The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns.

Hillary Clinton’s Appalachian Problem

From the great Sasha Issenberg, at Bloomberg.

BONUS: At the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "As Hillary Clinton Sweeps States, One Group Resists: White Men."

Free Trade Doesn't Work

The author Ian Fletcher sent me a copy of this book a few years back, and then harangued me with constant emails about publishing a book review. Hey, I can't power through all these tomes on demand, lol.

Still, talk about timely. I wonder if this guy's lobbying for a trade policy position in the upcoming Donald Trump presidential administration, heh.

At Amazon, Free Trade Doesn't Work: What Should Replace It and Why.

Also, from Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents.

More, from Jeff Madrick, Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present. And from Robert Reich, Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few.

BONUS: From Professor Benjamin J. Cohen, Currency Power: Understanding Monetary Rivalry.

Curly Haugland, RNC Rules Committee Member: 'Political parties choose their nominee, not the general public' (VIDEO)

Oh boy. Talk about bringing on those riots Donald Trump warned about.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "GOP Delegate: We Pick The Nominee, ‘Not The General Public’."

And watch, at CNBC, via Memeorandum, "We choose the nominee, not the voters: Senior GOP official."

Donald Trump and the Left's Accusations of Fascism

From Bruce Thornton, at FrontPage Magazine, "Trump and the Left’s Accusations of Fascism":

The stale ad Hitlerum fallacy used by progressives to demonize violators of the Party Line.

Donald Trump’s success in the primaries and his rhetoric have sparked troubled meditations about an awakening of fascist impulses among his supporters. Bret Stephens has drawn an analogy with the Thirties, “the last dark age of Western politics,” and compared Trump to Benito Mussolini. On the left, Dana Milbank, in a column titled “Trump Flirts with Fascism,” wrote about a campaign rally at which Trump was “leading supporters in what looked very much like a fascist salute,” a scene New York Times house-conservative David Brooks linked to the Nuremberg party rallies.

Much of the rhetoric that links Trump to fascism or Nazism is merely the stale ad Hitlerum fallacy used by progressives to demonize the candidate. They did the same thing when they called George W. Bush “Bushitler.” This slur reflects the hoary leftist dogma that conservatives at heart are repressed xenophobes and knuckle-dragging racists lusting for a messianic leader to restore their lost “white privilege” and punish their minority, immigrant, and feminist enemies. As such, the attack on Trump is nothing new or unexpected from a progressive ideology whose totalitarian inclinations have always had much more in common with fascism than conservatism does.

What Auden called the “low dishonest decade” of the Thirties, however, is indeed instructive for our predicament today, but not because of any danger of a fascist party taking root in modern America. Communism was (and in some ways still is) vastly more successful at infiltrating and shaping American political, cultural, and educational institutions than fascism ever was. But the same cultural pathologies that enabled both fascist and Nazi aggression still afflict us today. These pathologies and their malign effects are more important than the reasons for Trump’s popularity–– anger at elites, economic stagnation, and anti-immigrant passions–– that supposedly echo the “waves of fear and anger” of Auden’s Thirties.

The most important delusion of the Thirties still active today is the idealistic internationalism that had developed over the previous century. A world shrunk by new communication and transportation technologies and linked by global trade, internationalists argued, meant nations and peoples were becoming more alike. Thus they desired the same prosperity, political freedom, human rights, and peace that the West enjoyed. Interstate relations now should be based on this “harmony of interests,” and managed by non-lethal transnational organizations rather than by force. Covenants and treaties like the Hague and Geneva Conventions, and institutions like the League of Nations and the International Court of Arbitration, could peacefully resolve conflicts among nations through diplomatic engagement, negotiation, and appeasement.

The Preamble to the First Hague Convention (1899) captures the idealism that would compromise foreign policy in the Thirties. The Convention’s aims were “the maintenance of the general peace” and “the friendly settlement of international disputes.” This goal was based on the “solidarity which unites the member of the society of civilized nations” and their shared desire for “extending the empire of law and of strengthening the appreciation of international justice.” Two decades later, the monstrous death and destruction of World War I should have shattered the delusion of such “solidarity” existing even among the “civilized nations.” Despite that gruesome lesson, Europe doubled down and created the League of Nations, which failed to stop the serial aggression that culminated in World War II.

But the League wasn’t the only manifestation of naïve internationalism. The Locarno Treaty of 1925 welcomed Germany back into the community of nations with a seat on the League of Nations council. Nobel Peace prizes, and wish-fulfilling headlines like the New York Times’ “France and Germany Bar War Forever,” were all that resulted. The Kellogg-Briand pact of 1928 “condemn[ed] recourse to war for the solution of international controversies, and renounce[d] it as an instrument of national policy” in interstate relations. The signing powers asserted that “the settlement or solution of all disputes or conflicts . . . shall never be sought except by pacific means.”

All the future Axis Powers signed the treaty, and they all soon shredded these “parchment barriers.” In the next few years, Japan invaded Manchuria, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in gross violation of the Versailles Treaty, and Italy invaded Ethiopia. By the time Germany annexed Austria, and Neville Chamberlain’s faith in negotiation and appeasement handed Czechoslovakia to Hitler, all these treaties and conventions and conferences were dead letters, and the League of Nations was exposed as a “cockpit in the tower of Babel,” as Churchill suggested after the First World War.

However, such graphic and costly evidence showing the folly of “covenants without the sword,” as Hobbes put it, did not discredit this dangerous idealism over the following decades. Indeed, it lies behind the disasters of Obama’s foreign policy. Just consider his “outreach” to our enemies, his acknowledgement of our own “imperfections,” his reliance on toothless U.N. Security Council Resolutions, his preference for non-lethal economic sanctions to pressure adversaries, and his belief that negotiated settlements and agreements can achieve peace and good relations even with our fiercest enemies. All reflect the same failure to recognize that our adversaries in fact do not sincerely want to reach an agreement, for the simple reason they are not in fact “just like us,” and so they do not want peace and prosperity and good relations with their neighbors and the “world community.”

The catalogue of Obama’s failures is long and depressing...

A great essay.

Keep reading.

Tuesday's Primary Voters Expressed Major Worries About the Economy (VIDEO)

This is a great segment from CNN below.

Combined, close to 95 percent of GOP primary voters are "very worried" or "somewhat worried" about the economy, and those voters went for Donald Trump by around 45 percent. (Democrats say they're not as worried about the economy, but that's under-reporting in order to protect Obama. They're worried, just not as openly as Republicans are, and even if they say their own economic situation is under control, it's all "There but for the grace of God go I" when these same voters see their very neighbors and family members struggling in the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression.)

Donald Trump 'Won’t Be a Pushover' in the General Election

I don't know why people think he would be. And I don't know why people think that nominating Trump is "giving away" the election to the Democrats.

It's going to be the most polarizing election we've had in decades, and perhaps as close as the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. All the talk about Republican voters sitting out the election is pure speculation at this point. Polls showing large numbers of GOP primary voters saying they'd "never" vote for Trump are likely to change, especially once the general election campaign gets rolling in September. Stay tuned.

In any case, see Instapundit, "DONALD TRUMP’S NEW HILLARY ATTACK AD suggests that he won’t be a pushover in a general election contest (VIDEO)."

Laura Ingraham: Time for Republicans to Unite Behind Donald Trump (VIDEO)

Well, you'd think.

But I expect the GOPe will pull a circular firing squad before uniting behind the electorate's Republican primary front-runner --- and that's sad.

Here's Ms. Ingraham, with Greta Van Susteren yesterday:

Stop Comparing Donald Trump to Adolph Hitler

From Michael Lind, at Politico, "Quit Comparing Trump to Hitler!":

This indirect version of the Hitler smear goes back to the 1950s, when émigré Marxist intellectuals of the so-called Frankfurt School, many of them refugees from Hitler, wondered why the masses of their adopted country had not yet risen up to overthrow capitalism. Their answer was that many if not most of the blue collar workers in the country that had saved them were sinister brownshirts in the making, afflicted with “authoritarian personalities.”

Around the same time, centrists like Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. and Peter Viereck were appalled and puzzled by the demagogic appeal of the red-baiting Senator Joe McCarthy. They couldn’t understand why everybody in America didn’t join them in rallying behind Adlai Stevenson. For these centrists and liberals, the historian Richard Hofstadter supplied an explanation in his essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” More careful historians, in Hofstadter’s time and ours, have demolished his explanation of the populist movement in terms of irrational, quasi-fascist paranoia. But the phrase “the paranoid style” is endlessly recycled by lazy journalists and editorial page columnists. And the equally dubious Frankfurt School concept of the “authoritarian personality” is likewise recycled by social scientists in every election cycle. Typically the liberal academics begin by equating regular conservatism or run-of-the-mill populism with “authoritarianism” and then predictably discover—surprise!—that “authoritarianism” thus defined is found among conservatives and populists.

Of course both sides can play the Hitler smear game. In October 1964, Republican Representative William Miller compared President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society reform to the Hitler regime. More recently, the conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg’s book Liberal Fascism, which equated the entire Progressive-Liberal tradition from Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt to the present with Italian Fascism and German Nationalism, was a best-seller on the right.

That Obama is the new Hitler has been a frequent theme of conservative commentators and politicians during his two terms in office. A low point came when Mike Huckabee said that as a result of the multinational Iranian nuclear deal, President Obama “will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven.”

All of this bears out the “law” of the Internet age put forward by Mike Godwin, an American attorney and author, that "as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” But long before Godwin, the German philosopher Leo Strauss—himself a Jewish refugee from Hitler—dismissed what he called the argumentum ad Hitlerum as a cheap debating trick: “A view is not refuted by the fact that it happens to have been shared by Hitler.”

Actually, Mike Godwin recently argued that Godwin's "law" might not actually apply to Trump --- you know, if the shoe fits, or something, idiot.

In any case, more at the link.

Donald Trump Talks About Bringing Jobs Back Home, With Sean Hannity in North Carolina (VIDEO)

It's a tall order, Trump's claim that he's going to turn things around in the U.S. economy by adopting aggressive trade protectionism. Still, he's resonating with the people like mad.

Here's the New York Times' report on Trump's trade agenda from last week, "On Trade, Donald Trump Breaks With 200 Years of Economic Orthodoxy."

And watch Trump below with Hannity last week in North Carolina. The crowd was overfill, and thousands were still lined-up outside the venue, unable to get in. This is becoming a phenomenon. His campaign's becoming a social movement, and I expect it's even bigger and more spectacular than what bits here and there indicate during mainstream television coverage. Something's happening with the great unwashed silent majority. It's really amazing.

George Kennan Died 11 Years Ago Today, March 17, 2005

Kennan's most famous essay, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," published under the pseudonym "X", laid out the basis for the U.S. "containment" doctrine.

The essay was published at Foreign Affairs, in July 1947:

The political personality of Soviet power as we know it today is the product of ideology and circumstances: ideology inherited by the present Soviet leaders from the movement in which they had their political origin, and circumstances of the power which they now have exercised for nearly three decades in Russia. There can be few tasks of psychological analysis more difficult than to try to trace the interaction of these two forces and the relative role of each in the determination of official Soviet conduct. Yet the attempt must be made if that conduct is to be understood and effectively countered.

It is difficult to summarize the set of ideological concepts with which the Soviet leaders came into power. Marxian ideology, in its Russian-Communist projection, has always been in process of subtle evolution. The materials on which it bases itself are extensive and complex. But the outstanding features of Communist thought as it existed in 1916 may perhaps be summarized as follows: (a) that the central factor in the life of man, the factor which determines the character of public life and the "physiognomy of society," is the system by which material goods are produced and exchanged; (b) that the capitalist system of production is a nefarious one which inevitably leads to the exploitation of the working class by the capital-owning class and is incapable of developing adequately the economic resources of society or of distributing fairly the material goods produced by human labor; (c) that capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction and must, in view of the inability of the capital-owning class to adjust itself to economic change, result eventually and inescapably in a revolutionary transfer of power to the working class; and (d) that imperialism, the final phase of capitalism, leads directly to war and revolution.

The rest may be outlined in Lenin's own words: "Unevenness of economic and political development is the inflexible law of capitalism. It follows from this that the victory of Socialism may come originally in a few capitalist countries or even in a single capitalist country. The victorious proletariat of that country, having expropriated the capitalists and having organized Socialist production at home, would rise against the remaining capitalist world, drawing to itself in the process the oppressed classes of other countries." It must be noted that there was no assumption that capitalism would perish without proletarian revolution. A final push was needed from a revolutionary proletariat movement in order to tip over the tottering structure. But it was regarded as inevitable that sooner or later that push be given.

For 50 years prior to the outbreak of the Revolution, this pattern of thought had exercised great fascination for the members of the Russian revolutionary movement...

There's a PDF version here.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

Hailey Clauson Outtakes Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 (VIDEO)

She's really fabulous.

Of the three cover editions of the new issues, Clauson's are flying off the shelves. The others, not so much.

Jackie Johnson's Above-Average Temperature Forecast

Very summery weather today, heh.

Plus, at the beginning of the video is Island Grissom, one of the THUMS Islands, in Long Beach, which is a man-made oil-production facility. One of my best friends had connections and landed a roughneck job there in the early-1980s, and it was union-pay with astronomical hourly wages. People couldn't believe it when my buddy quit the job after a year or so, because he would have been set for life. Interesting.

Hoover FloorMate Deluxe Hard Floor Cleaner

So, Amazon's really pushing the spring cleaning items, lol.

Here, today only, Hoover FloorMate Deluxe Hard Floor Cleaner, FH40160PC.

Also, Kindle Countdown Deals: Limited-Time Discounts on Amazon Kindle-Exclusive Books.

Plus, Save on Toys and Baby Gear.

BONUS: From Matt Lewis, Too Dumb to Fail: How the GOP Betrayed the Reagan Revolution to Win Elections (and How It Can Reclaim Its Conservative Roots).

Also, from E.J. Dionne, Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism--From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond.

Donald Trump Wins Florida GOP Primary, Knocks Out Rubio; Kasich Wins Ohio to Stay Alive (VIDEO)

Trump won Florida, Illinois, and North Carolina. Kasich took his home state, where he's the sitting governor. Missouri is still too close to call and folks were talking about statewide recounts last night.

In any case, the nomination's Donald Trump's for all intents and purposes. He'd have to have some kind of spectacular collapse to prevent him from heading into the Cleveland convention without the necessary delegates to win on the first ballot. Indeed, with Kasich staying in the race, he'll siphon votes from Ted Cruz, however small, which will allow Trump to continue to win the plurality of GOP primary voters in the remaining contests.

Now all the GOPe can do is hope for contested convention, or frankly, get behind a dark-horse third party candidate, which would mean the end of the party as a legitimate organization.

More, at LAT, "Trump builds momentum with at least 3 more wins; Rubio drops out, Kasich takes Ohio":

Donald Trump romped to victory Tuesday in Florida, chasing Marco Rubio from the race, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich won his home state, raising hopes for those seeking to stop Trump and settle the presidential contest on the floor of the Republican National Convention.

Trump also won North Carolina and Illinois and was locked in a close fight with Sen. Ted Cruz in Missouri.

“I'm getting ready to rent a covered wagon, we're going to have a big sail and have the wind blow us to the Rocky Mountains and over the mountains to California,” Kasich said at a jubilant rally outside Cleveland.

That is just the sort of extended nominating fight the GOP establishment sought to avoid by stacking the political calendar with big early contests, capped by Tuesday night's winner-take-all primaries in Florida and Ohio. California votes on June 7, near the close of the primary season.

Now, many of those same party types see an inconclusive nominating contest as the best and perhaps only chance of thwarting Trump, even if it threatens to shred the GOP in the process.

The setback in Ohio, where Trump campaigned hard, was his most disappointing performance since he finished second to Cruz in February's Iowa caucuses.

His unhappiness was evident as he addressed reporters at his posh Mar-a-Lago private club in Palm Beach, Fla., and complained about the miseries of running for president.

“Lies, deceit, viciousness. Disgusting reporters. Horrible people,” the Manhattan businessman and reality TV star said. “Some are nice.”

Cruz, speaking with 99% of the Missouri votes counted, once more insisted he was the only candidate who could defeat Trump.

“Starting tomorrow morning, every Republican has a clear choice. Only two campaigns have a plausible path to the nomination — ours and Donald Trump's,” the Texas senator told supporters in Houston. “Nobody else has any mathematical possibility whatsoever. Only one campaign has beaten Donald Trump over and over again.”

With Trump's unmatched string of victories, no other candidate is nearly as well positioned to win the nomination ahead of the July convention in Cleveland. He padded his overall delegate lead with Tuesday's victories, putting him ahead of Cruz and Kasich, who had not won a state before Ohio.

But there were signs Tuesday that not just the establishment but rank-and-file Republicans have yet to rally around the party's polarizing front-runner.

Nearly 3 in 10 Republican voters across the five states said they would not vote for Trump if he wins the party's nomination, according to exit poll interviews. Four in 10 said they would consider voting for a third-party candidate if the choice came down to Trump or the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton.

Defections of that magnitude could badly undermine Trump in the general election, and that prospect will probably be stressed by his opponents going forward into next week's contests in Arizona and Utah.

More.

'Top Conservatives' Plot Third Party Run to Stop Donald Trump

Nothing will guarantee a Hillary Clinton presidency more than a plot to run an independent bid against Donald Trump as the GOP nominee.

At Politico, "Top conservatives gather to plot third-party run against Trump":

Three influential leaders of the conservative movement have summoned other top conservatives for a closed-door meeting Thursday in Washington, D.C., to talk about how to stop Donald Trump and, should he become the Republican nominee, how to run a third-party “true conservative” challenger in the fall.

The organizers of the meeting include Bill Wichterman, who was President George W. Bush’s liaison to the conservative movement; Bob Fischer, a South Dakota businessman and longtime conservative convener; and Erick Erickson, the outspoken Trump opponent and conservative activist who founded RedState.com.

Erick Erickson's an asshole.

But keep reading, FWIW.

Donald Trump Has Earned Close to $2 Billion in Earned Media

Well, he's a political genius, that's for sure.

At the New York Times, "Measuring Donald Trump's Mammoth Advantage in Free Media":

Of all the ways Donald Trump has shocked the political system, one of the most significant is how he wins primary after primary with one of the smallest campaign budgets.

He still doesn’t have a super PAC. He skimped on ground organization and field offices. Most important, he spent less on television advertising — typically the single biggest expenditure for a campaign — than any other major candidate, according to an analysis by SMG Delta, a firm that tracks television advertising.

But Mr. Trump is hardly absent from the airwaves. Like all candidates, he benefits from what is known as earned media: news and commentary about his campaign on television, in newspapers and magazines, and on social media. Earned media typically dwarfs paid media in a campaign. The big difference between Mr. Trump and other candidates is that he is far better than any other candidate — maybe than any candidate ever — at earning media.

No one knows this better than mediaQuant, a firm that tracks media coverage of each candidate and computes a dollar value based on advertising rates. The mentions are weighted by the reach of the media source, meaning how many people were likely to see it. The calculation also includes traditional media of all types, print, broadcast or otherwise, as well as online-only sources like Facebook, Twitter or Reddit.

Its numbers are not quite an apples-to-apples comparison to paid advertising. But they do make one thing clear: Mr. Trump is not just a little better at earning media. He is way better than any of the other candidates.

Mr. Trump earned $400 million worth of free media last month, about what John McCain spent on his entire 2008 presidential campaign. Paul Senatori, mediaQuant’s chief analytics officer, says that Mr. Trump “has no weakness in any of the media segments” — in other words, he is strong in every type of earned media, from television to Twitter.

Over the course of the campaign, he has earned close to $2 billion worth of media attention, about twice the all-in price of the most expensive presidential campaigns in history...

More.

Thomas Frank's New Book, Listen, Liberal

Say what you will about him (he's certainly a hardline leftist), Frank's definitely got the Trump phenomenon nailed down.

At Amazon, Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?

Millions of Ordinary Americans Back Donald Trump, and Not Because of 'Racism' Either

The Weekly Standard's piece from last year remains the best analysis on the demographics behind the Trump phenomenon. See, "The Political Establishment's Terrified by Donald Trump's 'Tangible American Nationalism'."

But this Thomas Frank piece, at the Guardian, is pretty darn good --- all the more so since Frank's a hardline leftist. See, "Millions of ordinary Americans support Donald Trump. Here's why":

Trade is an issue that polarizes Americans by socio-economic status. To the professional class, which encompasses the vast majority of our media figures, economists, Washington officials and Democratic powerbrokers, what they call “free trade” is something so obviously good and noble it doesn’t require explanation or inquiry or even thought. Republican and Democratic leaders alike agree on this, and no amount of facts can move them from their Econ 101 dream.

To the remaining 80 or 90% of America [not populated by Trump supporters], trade means something very different [than economic decimation]. There’s a video going around on the internet these days that shows a room full of workers at a Carrier air conditioning plant in Indiana being told by an officer of the company that the factory is being moved to Monterrey, Mexico, and that they’re all going to lose their jobs.

As I watched it, I thought of all the arguments over trade that we’ve had in this country since the early 1990s, all the sweet words from our economists about the scientifically proven benevolence of free trade, all the ways in which our newspapers mock people who say that treaties like the North American Free Trade Agreement allow companies to move jobs to Mexico.

Well, here is a video of a company moving its jobs to Mexico, courtesy of Nafta. This is what it looks like. The Carrier executive talks in that familiar and highly professional HR language about the need to “stay competitive” and “the extremely price-sensitive marketplace”. A worker shouts “Fuck you!” at the executive. The executive asks people to please be quiet so he can “share” his “information”. His information about all of them losing their jobs.

* * *

Now, I have no special reason to doubt the suspicion that Donald Trump is a racist. Either he is one, or (as the comedian John Oliver puts it) he is pretending to be one, which amounts to the same thing.

But there is another way to interpret the Trump phenomenon. A map of his support may coordinate with racist Google searches, but it coordinates even better with deindustrialization and despair, with the zones of economic misery that 30 years of Washington’s free-market consensus have brought the rest of America.

It is worth noting that Trump is making a point of assailing that Indiana air conditioning company from the video in his speeches. What this suggests is that he’s telling a tale as much about economic outrage as it is tale of racism on the march. Many of Trump’s followers are bigots, no doubt, but many more are probably excited by the prospect of a president who seems to mean it when he denounces our trade agreements and promises to bring the hammer down on the CEO that fired you and wrecked your town, unlike Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Here is the most salient supporting fact: when people talk to white, working-class Trump supporters, instead of simply imagining what they might say, they find that what most concerns these people is the economy and their place in it. I am referring to a study just published by Working America, a political-action auxiliary of the AFL-CIO, which interviewed some 1,600 white working-class voters in the suburbs of Cleveland and Pittsburgh in December and January.

Support for Donald Trump, the group found, ran strong among these people, even among self-identified Democrats, but not because they are all pining for a racist in the White House. Their favorite aspect of Trump was his “attitude”, the blunt and forthright way he talks. As far as issues are concerned, “immigration” placed third among the matters such voters care about, far behind their number one concern: “good jobs / the economy”.

“People are much more frightened than they are bigoted,” is how the findings were described to me by Karen Nussbaum, the executive director of Working America. The survey “confirmed what we heard all the time: people are fed up, people are hurting, they are very distressed about the fact that their kids don’t have a future” and that “there still hasn’t been a recovery from the recession, that every family still suffers from it in one way or another.”

Tom Lewandowski, the president of the Northeast Indiana Central Labor Council in Fort Wayne, puts it even more bluntly when I asked him about working-class Trump fans. “These people aren’t racist, not any more than anybody else is,” he says of Trump supporters he knows. “When Trump talks about trade, we think about the Clinton administration, first with Nafta and then with [Permanent Normal Trade Relations] China, and here in Northeast Indiana, we hemorrhaged jobs.”

“They look at that, and here’s Trump talking about trade, in a ham-handed way, but at least he’s representing emotionally. We’ve had all the political establishment standing behind every trade deal, and we endorsed some of these people, and then we’ve had to fight them to get them to represent us.”

Now, let us stop and smell the perversity. Left parties the world over were founded to advance the fortunes of working people. But our left party in America – one of our two monopoly parties – chose long ago to turn its back on these people’s concerns, making itself instead into the tribune of the enlightened professional class, a “creative class” that makes innovative things like derivative securities and smartphone apps. The working people that the party used to care about, Democrats figured, had nowhere else to go, in the famous Clinton-era expression. The party just didn’t need to listen to them any longer.

What Lewandowski and Nussbaum are saying, then, should be obvious to anyone who’s dipped a toe outside the prosperous enclaves on the two coasts. Ill-considered trade deals and generous bank bailouts and guaranteed profits for insurance companies but no recovery for average people, ever – these policies have taken their toll. As Trump says, “we have rebuilt China and yet our country is falling apart. Our infrastructure is falling apart … Our airports are, like, Third World.”

Trump’s words articulate the populist backlash against liberalism that has been building slowly for decades and may very well occupy the White House itself, whereupon the entire world will be required to take seriously its demented ideas.

Yet still we cannot bring ourselves to look the thing in the eyes. We cannot admit that we liberals bear some of the blame for its emergence, for the frustration of the working-class millions, for their blighted cities and their downward spiraling lives. So much easier to scold them for their twisted racist souls, to close our eyes to the obvious reality of which Trumpism is just a crude and ugly expression: that neoliberalism has well and truly failed.

Plus, here's Frank's book, Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?

The 2016 Election and the Soft-on-Crime Democrats

I find this theory a little dubious, although interesting nevertheless.

From James Dobbins, at USA Today, "If anti-Trump protests grow, they could hand Donald the election":

Black Lives Matter protesters may help elect Donald Trump president, just as their predecessors did for Richard Nixon.

Scuffles broke out at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion on Friday after Trump canceled a rally citing security concerns. Earlier that day in St. Louis, Trump was repeatedly interrupted by demonstrators and police made almost three dozen arrests. On Saturday in Dayton, Ohio, a protester rushed the stage being subdued by security. Trump told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that events such as these would only increase his vote tally.

Trump may be on to something. The scenario evokes the turbulent election year of 1968 when Richard Nixon successfully cast himself as the “law and order” candidate against Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Violent crime had jumped 85% since Dwight Eisenhower had left office. Nixon charged that Democrats had adopted a do-nothing approach to this rising crisis. When Humphrey denounced the "storm trooper tactics" used by Chicago police in suppressing demonstrations at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention, his comment seemed to play into Nixon’s hands. Humphrey was attempting to placate his party’s left wing, but a Gallup poll at the time showed that 62% of Americans approved of the way Mayor Richard Daley handled the situation. Siding against the cops was bad politics.

Nixon’s stance that Democrats were soft on crime had a clear racial subtext, coming as it did in the wake of urban riots in Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. Black militancy was on the rise, particularly after Martin Luther King was assassinated in April 1968. The races were divided on whether police brutality was a factor in the unrest. A 1968 Harris poll showed that 51% of blacks believed it was, compared to only 10% of whites. But Nixon knew where the votes were. Another Harris survey that September showed Nixon with a 20-point lead over Humphrey among respondents who blamed black militants as being a “major cause of the breakdown of law and order.”

Then as now, race and law enforcement were tightly intertwined issues. And, then as now, most people in general support law enforcement. In a June 2015 Gallup survey of confidence in American institutions, the police ranked third behind the military and small business in public esteem, with 52% having a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the men and women in blue. Donald Trump made his position clear in January when he said that "Police are the most mistreated people in this country."

This dynamic puts prospective Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in a bind...

Still more, but again, I'm skeptical.

It's been almost 50 years since 1968 and the culture has changed, dramatically so. And a 52 percent majority in Gallup is completely unreliable, since Gallup is the least trusted polling organization out there nowadays. I suspect lots of voters will be moved by Democrat arguments attacking Donald Trump as a racist, and blaming him for unrest. And don't underestimate the power of the media to push the narrative into overdrive. There were political assassinations in 1968 as well, which hopefully we will not have on 2016, but no doubt the deaths of MLK Jr. and Bobby Kennedy drove a lot of the demand for public order after the Democrat Convention in Chicago. It remains to be seen how all of this plays out this time around, but public sentiment is extremely divided, and things could go either way on such a volatile issue as political violence.

Trump's going to be running not just against the Democrats, but the entire collectivist media-entertainment-education complex. As it is USA Today reports that Millennials will flock to Hillary if Trump's the nominee. See, "Poll shows that Millennials would flock to Clinton against Trump."

If there was ever an election to determine the future of America (and the future of freedom itself), this year is shaping up to be it, by a long shot.

The Nazis Weren't Socialists

One of the things I hate the most about online debates is how conservatives always claim that the Nazi Party in Hitler's Germany was "socialist" and hence leftist.

It's just not true, although little I say is likely to persuade anyone at this point.

In any case, below is the comment I left at Avi Green's post, at the Astute Bloggers, "RON MARZ DOESN'T BELIEVE NAZIS WAS ACRONYM FOR SOCIALISTS":

Sorry, Avi, the Nazis, in the 1930s, went to exterminate their rivals as they came to power, particularly socialists and communists. To be a true socialist you have to abolish private property, something the Nazis never did. They saw the Soviet Union as a world Jewish conspiracy, and hated Marxism. These are all facts, found all over the literature on the Interwar period.

National Socialists were what you'd call the "reactionary right" today, people whose vision of the perfect society harked back to an earlier time, i.e., the vision of the "Teutonic Knights" and the "Aryan nation" of pure-blood medieval Germans. Socialists are Marxist, and their perfect society is in the future, under Utopian communism and the withering away of the state. The far right is reactionary, while the far left is radical. Nazis and socialists stand at the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum.

If you don't know this history, then you should. I don't know this guy Ron Marz, and I have no idea if he knows this history, but he's essentially right that the Nazis were not left-wing socialists as conservatives usually use the terminology. Yeah, it's complicated and intellectual, but it's the correct version on this topic.

I can of course append sources to my argument at the comment, if anyone's so interested, but then again, I'm not convinced I'd change anyone's mind. If you think the Nazis were leftists, academic sources and scholarly evidence to the contrary are hardly going to be persuasive.

Donald Trump's 'Unlikely Melting Pot' Campaign

This is amazing.

And it's all the more amazing that the Old Gray Lady's running this.

See, "Donald Trump's Tampa Office Is an Unlikely Melting Pot":

TAMPA — Mireya Linsky, born to a Jewish family in Cuba, came to the United States as a refugee at age 5. Her family lived in public housing here for several years and sometimes relied on assistance from Catholic Charities. She has spent the past 33 years working for the Hillsborough County School District.

So Mrs. Linsky, 55, understands that some may see certain contradictions in the fact that she is now spending several nights a week volunteering here at Donald J. Trump’s campaign office. “Like I’m just pulling the drawbridge up behind me,” she says.

Yet Mrs. Linsky is also quick to acknowledge a long list of racial fears and resentments that she says help explain why she is drawn to Mr. Trump: She is furious at undocumented workers who “come basically to see what they can get.” She is wary of Muslim Americans imposing their religion on communities in the United States. She is fearful of more American jobs being outsourced to China, India or Mexico. She even suspects President Obama “has a dislike for white folks.”

“We’re not taking care of our own,” she said.

Recently, Mr. Trump’s campaign has been engulfed by ugly images of mostly white Trump supporters facing off against, and sometimes attacking, young protesters, many of them black or Hispanic, at Trump rallies in Chicago, St. Louis and elsewhere.

But here in Tampa, in the week before the pivotal Florida primary, conversations with more than 20 volunteers showing up to make campaign calls or otherwise help out at a small Trump campaign office in an old cigar factory yielded some surprises on the subjects of race, ethnicity and bigotry.

For a campaign frequently depicted as offering a rallying point for the white working class, the people volunteering to help Mr. Trump here are noteworthy for their ethnic diversity. They include a young woman who recently arrived from Peru; an immigrant from the Philippines; a 70-year-old Lakota Indian; a teenage son of Russian immigrants; a Mexican-American.

They range the political spectrum, too, from lifelong Democrat to independent to libertarian to conservative Republican. To a person, they condemned and sometimes ridiculed David Duke and other white supremacists who have noisily backed Mr. Trump. “I totally do not agree with them,” said one volunteer, Andrew Cherry.

Yet like Mrs. Linsky, many spoke openly about how fears centered on race and ethnicity were at the heart of their support for Mr. Trump. To a large extent, they traced those fears to the scars they still bear from the Great Recession — lost jobs, drained 401(k)’s, home foreclosures, rising debt, the feeling that the country is broken.

More than anything, several Trump volunteers here said, the Great Recession exposed a corrupt, out-of-touch ruling class in Washington that allows big corporations to outsource jobs at will while doing nothing to address millions of illegal immigrants who compete for jobs and drain government coffers. In Mr. Trump, they say, they see a potential antidote to all of this. A man too wealthy to be bought or co-opted. A man with the blunt-force clarity to declare that he is ready to Make America Great Again.

“I think we’ve come to the conclusion that our country is falling apart, and we have to take care of it,” Mrs. Linsky said.

It would be hard to imagine more politically unfriendly turf for a Trump campaign office than the old Garcia and Vega cigar factory on Armenia Avenue. The factory looms over West Tampa, a Democratic stronghold long dominated by Latinos, especially Cuban-Americans. Today, the factory has been converted into space for start-ups. The campaign rents a small room on the second floor and uses a common area for its phone banks.

Early on Wednesday afternoon, Bob Peele, 62, pulled up to the back of the cigar factory in a pickup truck overflowing with Trump campaign signs. Mr. Peele, burly and bearded, wearing a Harley-Davidson hat and a T-shirt depicting a bald eagle, began unloading signs...

More.

What a great piece, totally not going with the left's "racist" Donald Trump narrative.

Hannah Davis on the Cover of Maxim (VIDEO)

At Us Magazine, "Hannah Davis Looks Seriously Sexy on the Cover of Maxim, Talks About Fiance Derek Jeter."

Video via Maxim:

Jackie Johnson's Beautiful Weather Forecast

Well, it was raining today during this morning's drive-time commute, but it's supposed to warm up to above-average temperatures by mid-week. The valleys could see temps in the high-80s. Amazing.

The rain has been welcomed. See LAT, "Drenched by 'March Miracle,' Northern California reservoirs inch toward capacity."

And here's Jackie, via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Donald Trump's Normal Campaign Monday (VIDEO)

Well, maybe all the protesting has passed.

At Politico, "Trump’s strange Monday: After a tumultuous weekend, his Ohio rally was among the most surprising things a Trump event can now be: Normal":

VIENNA, Ohio — It had all the trappings of a Donald Trump event, but in the end, something was missing.

Trump took his private, eponymous plane down a runway and parked it behind a stage. He enthralled throngs of fans while speaking at the appropriately named “Winner Aviation” outside Youngstown. He promised to build a border wall with Mexico, to fix a decades-old trade imbalance and to, more generally, “make America great again.” Most of all, he promised repeatedly that he’d win the election.

“I backed McCain. He lost. I backed Romney. He lost,” Trump said. “I said, ‘this time we’re gonna do it ourselves.'”

What the event lacked, however, was even a drop of the drama that defined Trump rallies over the weekend. Without a single interruption, Trump’s speech was a far cry from the violence of his events last week—and the exact opposite of a planned rally in Chicago where clashes between supporters and protesters led to the event being canceled.

Indeed, in the 2016 presidential campaign’s new normal, the rally was among the most surprising things a Trump event can be: normal.

With the protesters absent, the event—which served as Trump’s closing statement to his supporters—centered on the billionaire’s message to his backers: a Trump win in Ohio would all but make him the GOP presidential nominee. The polls suggest that could well happen. Trump and John Kasich are close, and the event here appeared an attempt to snatch a last-minute victory.

“Kasich cannot make America great again,” he said, ridiculing the governor for spending more time in New Hampshire “than Chris Christie,” the New Jersey governor and supporter who introduced Trump...

Keep reading.

GOP Evangelicals Hold Less Sway After Mini-Super Tuesday

This is interesting.

If Trump knocks out Rubio after a Florida win tomorrow (which looks pretty likely), and upcoming GOP calendar is extremely narrow for Ted Cruz, especially in terms of the evangelical vote.

At the Wall Street Journal, "After Tuesday, Evangelicals Hold Less Sway in GOP Nominating Calendar":

Missouri and North Carolina have gotten the least public attention among the five states that will vote on Tuesday. But they could be particularly meaningful for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

The two states are just about the last on the nominating calendar with large numbers of evangelical Christians, a group that Mr. Cruz has tried to consolidate. After Tuesday, the primary calendar shifts to states with smaller shares of evangelicals.

The evangelical shares of Missouri and North Carolina residents are 36% and 35%, respectively, according to data from the Pew Research Center. The only state with a larger evangelical population that has yet to vote is West Virginia, where 39% of residents identify as evangelical Christians. That state doesn’t vote until May.

Mr. Cruz’s campaign, which emphasizes social conservative values, was supposed to be built for states with large evangelical populations. But seven of the 10 states with the largest evangelical populations, according to Pew, have voted so far, and Donald Trump has won six of them: Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi and Georgia. Mr. Cruz won only Oklahoma, which borders on his home state of Texas.

As upcoming primaries and caucuses move north and west, away from the states that were supposed to be Mr. Cruz’s base, he could use a win or two. Missouri and North Carolina would give any winning candidate a boost. Together, they award 124 delegates, more than Florida’s cache of 99, the biggest prize on Tuesday. They award their delegates proportionally, so Mr. Cruz could lose the states but still emerge with a prize.

Mr. Cruz may have greater success in Missouri than North Carolina...

Still more.

SUV Tailgater Loses Control and Crashes on I-41 at Little Chute, Wisconsin (VIDEO)

Heh.

At the Appleton Post-Crescent, "Watch SUV tailgate, crash on I-41":

It never pays to tailgate.

Deal of the Day: Bissell CleanView Upright Vacuum

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'Ben Shapiro Betrays Loyal Breitbart Readers in Pursuit of Fox News Contributorship'

That's the now deleted headline at Breitbart, which is now replaced with an apology from editor Joel Pollak, "Statement from Breitbart News Editor-at-Large and In-House Counsel Joel B. Pollak."

Pollak was apparently trying to "make light of" the whole Michelle Fields incident, her resignation, as well as Shapiro's, but it's not turning out too well (via Memeorandum).

More, from Hadas Gold, at Politico, "Breitbart piece mocking editor who resigned was written under father's pseudonym." (Via Memeorandum.)

Here's a cached version of the now-removed piece.

I'm not a huge Breitbart News fan, and probably less so in the future.

How Democrats Abandoned the Working Class and Spurred the Rise of Donald Trump

From Kyle Smith, at the New York Post (via Memeorandum and Right Wing News):

Inequality has risen. Jobs are going overseas. The more the stock market rises, the more the working class feels crushed by globalization.

And all of this has occurred exactly as Democrats have engineered it. Stuff happens, they say. The truth hurts.

Take it from Larry Summers, once one of President Obama’s leading economic advisers: “One of the challenges in our society is that the truth is kind of an equalizer,” Summers reportedly said in a candid moment in 2009. “One of the reasons that inequality has probably gone up in our society is that people are being treated closer to the way that they’re supposed to be treated.” (Summers this week denied saying this.)

The elite professional class, in the 1950s one of the Republican party’s most reliable constituencies, became the very heart of the Democrats by the 1990s. The party of labor morphed into the party of lawyers. This didn’t happen by accident.

In his new book “Listen, Liberal, Or Whatever Happened to the Party of the People,” progressive commentator Thomas Frank (author of “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”) says Democrats need to take a good long look in the mirror if they want answers to why blue-collar workers are feeling abandoned and even infuriated by what used to be their party.

Many such voters are now backing Donald Trump, who is sketching out the problem with America in exactly the terms they agree with: Jobs are either going to Mexico, or going to Mexicans. Unchecked illegal immigration on the one hand and free trade on the other hand are driving down the wages of working-class Americans, or costing them their jobs outright.

This isn’t racism: angry Americans told they were losing their jobs at a doomed air-conditioner factory in Indiana wouldn’t have applauded if told production was moving to Canada instead of Mexico. Either way, they’re losing their jobs.

In Frank’s analysis, around 1972 the Democrats started to suspect their lunch-bucket workers were warmongering dinosaurs doomed by their reliance on dying Rust Belt industries. The party placed its future in the hands of groovy technocrats in non-union fields and wrote off the workers, who soon defected to the Republican party even though Republicans didn’t and don’t apologize for being the party of capital.

Blaming Republican Intransigence (TM) for liberalism’s failures, particularly in the Obama era, is a common excuse that Frank isn’t having. He points to areas such as Rhode Island and Chicago where Republicans are virtually extinct and finds that Democrats behave exactly the same way: They make mild clucking noises about inequality while taking donations and policy ideas from financiers (both R.I. and the City of Big Shoulders are run by former Wall Streeters) and outlining an economic future of enhanced “innovation” designed to tilt the economy even further in the direction of elite knowledge-economy workers and away from those without college degrees.

Innovation, Frank says, is often just code for new methods (from Uber to credit default swaps) to evade necessary protective regulations. Many such innovations pump up profits for rich entrepreneurs and shareholders by unloading employees with benefits in favor of part-timers and freelancers with no benefits. Democrats take big donations from such firms, laud them in speeches, and tell everyone else to get out of the way of the “disruption.”

There is some enticing evidence for Frank’s claim that Democrats deliberately shunned American workers...

Keep reading.

Plus, here's Frank's book, Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?

CBS News Battleground Tracker Poll: Donald Trump Leads Florida, 44-24 Percent Over Ted Cruz, with Marco Rubio's at 21 Percent (VIDEO)

Here, "Poll: Trump and Kasich neck-and-neck in Ohio; Trump leads in Florida" (via Memeorandum).

I haven't seen a single poll with Marco Rubio leading in Florida. Indeed, Trump's got an 18.1 point spread in RCP's average of Florida polling. Rubio's toast.

Ohio's another story, however. Kasich, who is Ohio's governor, has a 2 point spread in RCP's average, and CBS has him tied with Trump for Tuesday's election. It should be pretty amazing, although Ohio won't matter too much if Trump wins Florida. Rubio will be knocked out but there's simply now way Kasich can catch Trump. Ted Cruz will emerge as the main rival in a two man race, but Trump will be prohibitive. The GOPe's schemes to stop the front-runner will have petered out. I don't know what else establishment hacks can do, other than sabotage the convention. But we'll see.

More at Memeorandum.

Plus, watch, at CBS Face the Nation, "CBS News Battleground Tracker Poll: Is Trump on track to win nomination?"

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Local News Coverage of Violent Donald Trump Rally in Chicago (VIDEO)

At the video, pretty intense video of the Friday night rally in Chicago.

And more on the story, at the Chicago Tribune, "After-effects of Trump Chicago cancellation felt in presidential race":

The after-effects from the protest-fueled cancellation of Donald Trump's Chicago rally reverberated nationally throughout presidential campaigns in both parties Saturday, just days before Illinois holds its primary.

Skirmishes between Trump supporters and demonstrators laid bare the country's deep and angry political divide, and Trump, during a speech in Ohio, contended supporters of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders were behind a "planned attack" by "professional" protest organizers Friday night.

"They were taunted, they were harassed by these other people. These other people, by the way, some represented Bernie, our communist friend," Trump said at an airport rally outside Dayton that was interrupted by Secret Service agents surrounding the candidate when a protester tried to take the stage and was arrested.

"(Sanders) should really get up and say to his people, 'Stop. Stop. Not me. Stop.' They said Mr. Trump should get up this morning and tell his people to be nice. My people are nice folks. They are. They're great," he said.

Later Saturday, at a raucous rally in Kansas City, Trump was interrupted several times by protesters.

“We’re going to take our country back from these people,” he said. “These are bad, bad people.”

Trump also threatened to “start pressing charges against all these people” and said the arrest records are “going to ruin the rest of their lives” and would stop the protest interruptions...

Still more.

BONUS: At the Los Angeles Times, "How black, Latino and Muslim college students organized to stop Trump's rally in Chicago."

Donald Trump Attacks John Kasich Over Free Trade, Says Governor Abandoned Ohio

Good.

At the Wall Street Journal:

CLEVELAND — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump attacked Gov. John Kasich for supporting free-trade policies the billionaire businessman said have hurt Ohio’s job market and economy, and he accused the governor of abandoning the state while running for president.

During a rally before several thousand supporters here on Saturday, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Kasich of letting the state’s coal and steel industries fade and said Ohio’s economy was only saved by the discovery of shale oil in recent years.

He also accused the two-term governor of being weak on immigration, spending too much time in New Hampshire on the campaign trail and not addressing the state’s problems.

“Why didn’t he drop out?” Mr. Trump said at a convention center near the city airport. “Now he says he is going to win Ohio? I really don’t think so.”

Mr. Trump has escalated his attacks on Mr. Kasich as Tuesday’s Ohio’s primary draws near.  The businessman had 37% support among Republican primary voters in Ohio, while Mr. Kasich registered 34% support, according to a Real Clear Politics average of recent polls.

Mr. Trump’s event here was disrupted about a half a dozen times by protesters, while his supporters chanted “Trump! Trump!” as the protesters were escorted out. The protests appeared spontaneous, in contrast to the seemingly more-organized confrontation at a Chicago campaign rally on Friday that was consequently canceled over security concerns...

More.

Lily Aldridge Outtakes Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 (VIDEO)

The lovely Lily, for Sports Illustrated.



PREVIOUSLY: "Victoria's Secret Swim Special: Lily Aldridge (VIDEO)."

Amber Lee's Low-Pressure System Forecast

I didn't even see the rain on Friday. My wife texted me, worried about my son, who was walking home from school, about the harsh downpour around 3:00pm.

It cleared up today though, but it's cool out.

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Secret Service Rushes to Protect Donald Trump at Dayton, Ohio, Rally (VIDEO)

At Mashable, "Donald Trump's Dayton rally was tense as security detail stormed stage."

Also, at the NBC News, via Memeorandum, "Secret Service Rushes Stage to Protect Donald Trump at Ohio Rally."

And watch, at CBS News:

Donald Trump Supporter Birgitt Peterson Explains 'Heil, Hitler' Salute at Chicago Protest

Well, I like Trump and all, but I wouldn't want my supporters performing Nazi salutes. Just bad optics, you know?

At the Chicago Tribune, "Trump supporter explains what led to 'Heil, Hitler' salute at canceled Chicago rally":

Yorkville woman who made this gesture, causing an Internet stir, explains what led to it https://t.co/C9FF8YZIjK pic.twitter.com/JvnxbjOEjR

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) March 13, 2016

A 69-year-old Yorkville woman and her husband are defending her actions after a Tribune photo showed her giving a Nazi salute during an altercation with protesters outside UIC Pavilion Friday night following the ill-fated Donald Trump rally.

The photo of Trump supporter Birgitt Peterson went viral on social media this weekend, causing some to wonder about her motivation for making the gesture.

Peterson, who said she emigrated from West Berlin and has been a U.S. citizen since 1982, said the salute came during an argument with protesters and was simply her response to them giving her the Nazi gesture.

Her husband, Donald, insisted: "We're not skinheads, we're not Nazis."

Birgitt Peterson said she and her husband had left the UIC Pavilion after the rally was canceled because of security concerns. "I came out and lit a cigarette and all of a sudden, I was surrounded,'' she told the Tribune on Saturday.

She was wearing a Trump T-shirt, and a group of about 20 protesters began speaking to them, she said.

"The one lady, she said: 'Hey, white supremacist,'" Peterson said.

A woman grabbed the orange lanyard Peterson had around her neck that identified her as a member of the Illinois delegation to a past Republican convention, and then the woman let it go, she said.

Peterson said she told them: "Girlfriend, don't do this. If you want to talk, you have the right to be here to protest. I have the right to be here."

A protester told Peterson that she wanted the woman to "stay safe'' and urged Peterson and her husband to leave, she said. But they were cursing at them also, her husband added.

A young woman who had a shirt comparing Trump to Hitler accused the couple of voting for the Ku Klux Klan, Birgitt Peterson said, quoting the woman as saying, "Hitler is Donald Trump ... This is what you are. Why did you vote for this man?"

Peterson said she responded: "You should know that I haven't voted for anybody because the primary is not until Tuesday."

She said the protesters told her, "You are here to vote for Hitler," and they started giving a Nazi salute.

Peterson said she told the protesters she was German and asked them if they knew what the salute meant.

"So Birgitt decided to teach them to do it,'' said Donald Peterson, who insisted they were "not Nazis'' and absolutely not supporters or "saluting'' Adolf Hitler.

"I lifted my arms," she said, adding that in German she said, "Hail to the German Reich."

A protester who was photographed with Peterson, Michael Joseph Garza, told the Tribune on Saturday he did not believe Peterson was responding to anyone else when she raised her arm in the salute.

"I went up to her and said, 'Ma'am, please leave, we have understood you, we have made a (path),'" Garza recalled. "She said, 'Go? Back in my day, this is what we did,' basically, and then she hailed Hitler."

Jason Wambsgans, the Tribune photographer who took the picture, said he had more than a dozen photos of Peterson giving the Nazi salute but did not see any protesters doing the gesture and has no photos showing that...

Still more.

I wish she hadn't made that salute, for whatever reason. This is the social media age. If you make yourself look like a Nazi, then you're going to be smeared as a Nazi. Simple as that.

Back from Pearson Revel Community Forum at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Hotel, Dana Point

I attended a teaching conference this weekend in Dana Point.

I tweeted:

At a teaching conference today, in Dana Point. Taking a break from the #TedCruz / #DonaldTrump purity wars. pic.twitter.com/6WxLqLV1Dp

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 11, 2016

A lovely hotel, particularly the views overlooking the harbor. The weather was beautiful when I got there Friday morning, but by mid-afternoon we had more of the El Niño downpours.

No matter. It was fun and informative.