Friday, June 24, 2016

How #Brexit Will Change America and the World

From Daniel Greenfield, at FrontPage Magazine, "Britain is free of global government. America can be next":

Yesterday the British people stood up for their freedom. Today the world is a different place.

Celebrities and politicians swarmed television studios to plead with voters to stay in the EU. Anyone who wanted to leave was a fascist. Economists warned of total collapse if Britain left the European Union. Alarmist broadcasts threatened that every family would lose thousands of pounds a year if Brexit won.

Even Obama came out to warn Brits of the economic consequences of leaving behind the EU.

Every propaganda gimmick was rolled out. Brexit was dismissed, mocked and ridiculed. It was for lunatics and madmen. Anyone who voted to leave the benevolent bosom of the European Union was an ignorant xenophobe who had no place in the modern world. And that turned out to be most of Britain.

While Londonistan, that post-British city of high financial stakes and low Muslim mobs, voted by a landslide to remain, a decisive majority of the English voted to wave goodbye to the EU. 67% of Tower Hamlets, the Islamic stronghold, voted to stay in the EU. But to no avail. The will of the people prevailed.

And the people did not want migrant rape mobs in their streets and Muslim massacres in their pubs. They were tired of Afghani migrants living in posh homes with their four wives while they worked hard and sick of seeing their daughters passed around by “Asian” cabbies from Pakistan in ways utterly indistinguishable from the ISIS slave trade while the police looked the other way so as not to appear racist. And, most of all, they were sick of the entire Eurocratic establishment that let it all happen.

British voters chose freedom. They decided to reclaim their destiny and their nation from the likes of Count Herman Von Rompuy, the former President of the European Council, selected at an “informal” meeting who has opposed direct elections for his job and insisted that, “the word of the future is union.”

When Nigel Farage of UKIP told Count Von Rompuy that “I can speak on behalf of the majority of British people in saying that we don't know you, we don't want you and the sooner you are put out to grass, the better,” he was fined for it by the Bureau of the European Parliament after refusing to apologize. But now it’s Farage and the Independence Party who have had the last laugh.

The majority of British people didn’t want Count Von Rompuy and his million-dollar pension, or Donald Tusk, Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande and the rest of the monkeys squatting on Britain’s back.

Count Von Rompuy has lost his British provinces. And the British people have their nation back.

The word of the future isn’t “union.” It’s “freedom.” A process has begun that will not end in Britain. It will spread around the world liberating nations from multinational institutions.

During Obama’s first year in office, Count Von Rompuy grandly declared that “2009 is also the first year of global governance.” Like many such predictions, it proved to be dangerously wrong. And now it may just well be that 2016 will be the first year of the decline and fall of global governance.

An anti-establishment wind is blowing through the creaky house of global government. The peoples of the free world have seen how the choking mass of multilateral institutions failed them economically and politically. Global government is an expensive and totalitarian proposition that silences free speech and funnels rapists from Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan to the streets of European cities and American towns. It’s a boon for professional consultants, certain financial insiders and politicians who can hop around unelected offices and retire with vast unearned pensions while their constituents are told to work another decade. But global government is misery and malaise for everyone else.

The campaign to stay in the EU relied on fear and alarmism, on claims of bigotry and disdain for the working class voters who fought and won the right to decide their own destiny. But the campaign for independence asked Britons to believe in their own potential when unchained from the Eurocratic bureaucracy. And now Brexit will become a model for liberation campaigns across Europe.

Prime Minister David Cameron Resigns After Britain Votes to Leave European Union (VIDEO)

At London's Daily Mail, "David Cameron stands down as British Prime Minister after voters trigger a political earthquake - and global market panic - by backing vote to leave the European Union in historic referendum."



I'll have lots more on this throughout the day.

The vote was a massive political statement with international structural ramifications that are truly epochal. As I noted last night on Twitter, "It's like end of the Cold War."

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Deal of the Day: Save Over 30% on Bluetooth Enabled Instant Pot

At Amazon, Instant Pot IP-Smart Bluetooth-Enabled Multifunctional Pressure Cooker, Stainless Steel.

Plus, Skechers USA Men's Glides Razan Slip-On Loafer.

Also, Savings in Men's Clothing.

More, from Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton.

Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines.

And, George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones 5-Book Boxed Set (Song of Ice and Fire series): A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons.

BONUS: Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels, Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government.

Why Doesn't Feminism Accept 'Normal' as an Identity?

Robert Stacy McCain is posting at Medium, "Gender, Sexuality and Psychological Maladjustment" (via the Other McCain):
One of the most remarkable controversies of our era is the conflict between transgender activists and radical feminists. Michelle Goldberg outlined this dispute in an August 2014 article for the New Yorker:
Trans women say that they are women because they feel female — that, as some put it, they have women’s brains in men’s bodies. Radical feminists reject the notion of a “female brain.” They believe that if women think and act differently from men it’s because society forces them to, requiring them to be sexually attractive, nurturing, and deferential. In the words of Lierre Keith, a speaker at Radfems Respond, femininity is “ritualized submission.”
Having written a book (Sex Trouble: Radical Feminism and the War Against Human Nature) critical of feminist ideology, I cannot be accused of supporting Lierre Keith’s ideas about patriarchal oppression. Nevertheless, in their disputes with the transgender cult — and yes, the movement has developed a cult mentality in recent years — radical feminists are on the side of scientific truth. “Male” and “female” are biological categories, determined by chromosomes and anatomy. This is simply science, not politics, and the rhetoric of the transgender cult is not actual feminism, but is instead a weird mutant strain of postmodernism, heavily influenced by the “gender theory” popularized by Professor Judith Butler. Radical feminists have taken alarm at the way transgender activists have used the Internet— blogs, YouTube channels and other social media — to promote “transition” as a panacea for every problem young people may experience with their sexual identity. There now exists a vast online community of amateur advice sites on every aspect of transition. Medical providers of “treatment” — hormones and surgery — are now encouraging transgenderism even among preschool children, and some misguided parents appear to be exhibiting Munchausen Syndrome by proxy, by pushing their children toward “transgender” identification.

What is happening here? The rise of transgender mania — for which Bruce “Caitlin” Jenner is the celebrity poster boy/girl — can best be understood as a belated consequence of culture shifts that occurred 40 or 50 years ago, especially in the field of psychology. Whereas once heterosexuality was officially understood as normal, and homosexuality defined as deviant, this understanding was cast aside by the American Psychiatric Association in 1973. If there was no such thing as normal sexual behavior, then it was no longer possible to describe any sexual behavior as abnormal. Pandora’s Box had been opened, and the potential results of this were difficult to predict.

Parents who have more or less traditional expectations for our children find ourselves compelled to protect our children against a culture which increasingly condemns “normal” as a synonym for oppressive. Progressive intellectuals consider you a very bad parent if you expect your boys to be masculine and your girls to be feminine, and you are simply hateful if you expect your children to be heterosexual. Advocates of “gender-neutral parenting” denounce parents who encourage their sons to play sports or who permit their daughters to watch Disney princess movies (which are full of “heteronormative” messages, Women’s Studies professors warn us).

“Until I started studying radical feminism, I never thought of ‘normal’ as an achievement,” I wrote in April 2015 after examining the way gender theory is taught in universities. As our society has lost any consensus of what “normal” adulthood should entail, a growing and quite vocal segment of the culture have demanded that the traditional family and religious morality must be destroyed. This cultural conflict produces profoundly confusing messages for children growing up in a society where there is no generally accepted definition of what kind of adult they should grow up to be.

Amid this confusion, it has become apparent that, in many cases, the transgender cult is exploiting the vulnerability of young people with serious mental illnesses. Many young people buy into a prevailing attitude that “transition” is a cure for problems of identity and social maladjustment. Many of the harshest critics of the transgender movement are those who are “destransitioned,” having quit the process of sex-change “treatment.” One mentally ill 21-year-old lesbian who abandoned this process described herself as “angry as hell” about her experience with “transition-happy therapists and doctors” who “decided to try to medically correct” her, based on their belief that she would “stand a better chance at being a more normal man than a normal woman.” But what is “normal”? And who is qualified to decide?

The egalitarian mentality — the idea of that social hierarchy is always oppressive and that liberation is always the answer to our problems — tends to undermine every source of authority in society. When ordinary people are unable to distinguish between right and wrong, between normal and abnormal, they are compelled to appeal to “experts.” But how do we decide who is qualified as an “expert”? In regard to transgenderism, we find that many people seeking “treatment” end up in a worse condition than they were before they resorted to this expert-approved process. And now we have activists seeking to require schools and other public facilities to accommodate transgenderism despite concerns for women’s safety. What we realize, eventually, is that sane people are being compelled to adjust their own expectations in order to accommodate the demands of mentally ill people who are unable or unwilling to adjust to reasonable standards of social behavior...
Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism."

Yasiel Puig Inside-the-Park Walk-Off Home Run as Dodgers Sweep Nationals at Home (VIDEO)

This was definitely one of the most spectacular walk-offs I've ever seen.

What an amazing finish.

I had the game on, but left to go pick up my wife from work around 9:30pm. When I came home I forgot about the game. When I went back upstairs to my room the Nats had scored a go-ahead run, 3-2, in the top of the 9th. So I sat down to see if the Dodgers could come back, and boy did they ever.

The video's at MLB's YouTube page, "6/22/16: Dodgers complete sweep on Taylor's miscue."

And on Twitter:


Astronomical Housing Market, High Taxes Prompt Exodus of California Residents

It's not like this is new or anything, although this time they're reporting from the heart of the progressive Silicon Valley la la land.

At the San Jose Mercury News, "California's skyrocketing housing costs, taxes prompt exodus of residents":
Living in San Jose, Kathleen Eaton seemingly had it all: a well-paying job, a home in a gated community, even the Bay Area's temperate weather.

But enduring a daily grind that made her feel like a "gerbil on a wheel," Eaton reached her limit.

Skyrocketing costs for housing, food and gasoline, along with the area's insufferable gridlock, prompted the four-decade Bay Area resident to seek greener pastures -- 2,000 miles away in Ohio.

"It was a struggle in California," Eaton said. "It was a very difficult place to live. ... It's a vicious circle."

Eaton is far from alone.

A growing number of Bay Area residents -- besieged by home prices, worsening traffic, high taxes and a generally more expensive cost of living -- believe life would be better just about anywhere else but here.

During the 12 months ending June 30, the number of people leaving California for another state exceeded by 61,100 the number who moved here from elsewhere in the U.S., according to state Finance Department statistics. The so-called "net outward migration" was the largest since 2011, when 63,300 more people fled California than entered.

"The main factors are housing costs in many parts of the state, including coastal regions of California such as the Bay Area," said Dan Hamilton, director of economics with the Economic Forecasting Center at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

"California has seen negative outward migration to other states for 22 of the last 25 years."

A recent poll revealed that an unsettling sense of yearning has descended on people in the Bay Area: About one-third of those surveyed by the Bay Area Council say they would like to exit the nine-county region sometime soon.
Keep reading.

Remember, as I always say, this is the "once Golden State."

British Reality Star Ashleigh Defty Wet and Wild in Sexy Bikini on Holiday in Cyprus

At the Sun UK, "HOT BOD! Ex 'On the Beach' babe Ashleigh Defty gets wet and wild in sexy bikini on holiday showing off her sensational figure - The reality star was seen showcasing her toned figure in Cyprus."

She's on Twitter as well, naturally.

Newport Beach Barbecue Competition (VIDEO)

The Kansas City BBQ Society's hosting the event.

God, that looks fabulous!



Campus Crybabies Come to Congress (VIDEO)

There's nothing else to call these idiots other than spoiled brats.

They're stupid little entitled children.

This juvenile "sit-in" in the House chamber sullies the institution and demonstrates the left's complete ideological farcicality.

At the American Conservative, "Campus Comes to Congress":

The Speaker of the House of Representatives was shouted down by Democratic Congressman as he attempted to regain control of the House of Representatives. Actual U.S. Congressmen behaving like a bunch of giddy Oberlin undergraduates.

They had better not give in. Look, on gun control matters, I am generally — generally — more sympathetic to Democrats than to Republicans. But this mob insurrection on the House floor is profoundly unsettling. I have not looked closely at the legislation, so it is entirely possible that I might support the Democratic proposal. But to attempt to get one’s way by showing utter contempt for rules of the House? No. No, no, no. Their passion does not justify their behavior.

This country is in trouble.
Hat Tip: Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "THE NEW KNOW-NOTHINGS: “The gullible young radicals covering the White House, and how they got that way,” as charted by Benjamin Weingarten at City Journal:
Supposedly liberal and tolerant campuses create “safe spaces” limited to certain identity groups and those of a certain ideological inclination. In reality, safe spaces are safe only from the diversity their inhabitants claim to cherish. Activist students decry institutions based in “imperialism, white supremacy, capitalism, ableism, and a cissexist heteropatriarchy,” as one group of aggrieved black students at Oberlin described it. One can’t escape the impression that liberal arts schools are more focused on coddling the next generation of community-organizing social-justice warriors than on educating them.

The end product is a cultural and political elite made up of entitled leftists ill-equipped to deal with the realities of a competitive world. As Ronald Reagan would say, the problem with America’s elites is that they know so much that isn’t so. They see things as they wish them to be rather than as they actually are. They can be easily manipulated because they’ve never examined their own assumptions. And this makes them ripe for the plucking by Ben Rhodes and his ilk...
Minority Leader Pelosi gives actually gave a shout-out to the leftist media for providing an "echo chamber" for the childish Democrat playground antics.

We're in trouble, alright.

Rebuilding America Now: Hillary Clinton Can't Claim to Stand for Women (VIDEO)

This is great!

At the New York Times, "Ad From Trump Ally, Citing ’90s Scandals, Depicts Hillary Clinton as Anti-Woman."



Dad Tries to Save Baby Left in Hot Car by Putting Her in Fridge (VIDEO)

At CBS News 11 Dallas, "Panicked Dad Put Baby In Fridge After Finding In Hot Car":

MCKINNEY (CBSDFW.COM) – A North Texas father and former teacher in the Celina Independent School District is free on bond. Michael Shannon Thedford was arrested after his 6-month-old daughter died after being left in a hot car yesterday.

Thedford posted $20,000 bond late Tuesday night. He has been charged with manslaughter.

Thedford told investigators he dropped off his three and 5-year-old children at a daycare center, while his wife was at work. He said he went home and went to sleep, forgetting his 6-month-old daughter was still strapped in car seat inside the minivan.

Thedford said when he went outside and found the baby not moving, he immediately took her indoors and put her in the refrigerator, with the door open. He then called his wife and 911, and attempted CPR...
More.

Via Drudge.

Supreme Court Blocks Obama's DAPA Illegal Alien Amnesty Program

This is major.

At WaPo, "Supreme Court won’t revive Obama plan to shield illegal immigrants from deportation":

Deport Illegals photo Bs8MoA_CIAAO70d_zps5218de52.jpg
The Supreme Court handed President Obama a significant legal defeat on Thursday, refusing to revive his stalled plan to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and give them the right to work legally in this country.

The court’s liberals and conservatives deadlocked, which leaves in place a lower court’s decision that the president exceeded his powers in issuing the directive.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.
And at LAT, "Supreme Court deadlock deals defeat to Obama immigration plan":
The Supreme Court deadlocked Thursday over the legality of President Obama’s sweeping immigration plan, dealing a defeat to the White House.

The tie vote leaves in place lower court orders from Texas that have blocked Obama’s plan to suspend deportation and offer work permits to about 4 million parents who have been living illegally in the U.S.
It's a tie. Sends it back to the lower court and let's that decision stand.

Great news, heh.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Michelle Fields Abruptly Ends Interview When Called Out by Steve Malzberg on Corey Lewandowsk Lies (VIDEO)

Fields has a new book out, "Barons of the Beltway," which I'm not going to promote on Amazon. She's a liar.

Steve Malzberg just destroys her here. I mean this is one of the most brutal live take-downs ever. She's completely caught red-handed. I'm sure the publisher has already edited out the bald faced lies about Mr. Lewandowski.

Has there ever been a bigger career meltdown? I don't know if she'll recover.

At Gateway Pundit, "BOOM! Hoaxer Michelle Fields Gets Called to the Carpet on Her Many Lies – Walks Off Interview! (VIDEO)."

And the full video's here, "Malzberg — Full interview with Michelle Fields on the firing of Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski."

A sad little woman.

Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid Step Out in New York City with (Nearly) Identical Outfits

I just dig Kendall, heh.

At People, "Kendall Jenner Twins with Gigi Hadid (Minus One Bra, Plus One Nipple Ring)."

And at Entertainment Tonight, "Kendall Jenner Flashes Nipple Ring in NSFW Sheer Top While Out with Gigi Hadid: See the Racy Look!"

Also, on Instagram.

Donald Trump's Speech: Hillary Clinton's a 'World-Class Liar' (VIDEO)

Following-up from earlier, "Donald Trump Hammers Hillary Clinton in Major Speech Pivoting to General Election."

Watch the full speech, at Fox News 10 Phoenix, "Donald Trump Attacks Hillary Clinton - FULL SPEECH (Trump uses Teleprompter)."

And the transcript's at Politico, via Memeorandum, "Full transcript: Donald Trump NYC speech on stakes of the election."



Donald Trump Turning America Into One Big 'Battleground State' — #MAGA

From Eitan Hersh, at Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight, "With Trump In the Race, The Battleground Is Everywhere":
As the presidential campaigns shift their focus to the general election, there’s a big question about where the battleground will be. Which states will be competitive? What state will be the tipping point? The unusual candidacy of Donald Trump has some people wondering whether the electoral map will look different this year than it has in the past.

There are good reasons to think the map won’t change much; John Sides and Andrew Gelman, for example, recently suggested that, because states are moving increasingly in unison from election to election, it is unlikely that Trump can “scramble” the map.

But new data that I have analyzed with Bernard Fraga of Indiana University tells a different story.

The premise of this story is that although recent presidential elections have featured a predictable set of swing states and safe states, the extraordinary unpopularity of both major candidates (especially Trump) might mean that voter enthusiasm — and therefore turnout — might be different from that of past years. Additionally, Trump is so unlike recent Republican nominees that the past few presidential election results might not be very predictive of his performance.

Suppose, therefore, that we broaden our view and investigate where Democrats and Republicans have generated close contests beyond presidential races. Surprisingly, nearly the whole country has seen very close contests during the past few years.

Consider this map...


Keep reading.

Dana Loesch Debates Bakari Sellers on Gun Control (VIDEO)

Watch, from Don Lemon's program last night on CNN, "Dana Loesch vs. Bakari Sellers on the Politics of Guns."

Dana's making a pretty impressive round of appearances to promote her new book, Flyover Nation: You Can't Run a Country You've Never Been To.

And she's going to be here in California this weekend, at the Politcon Convention in Pasadena. I expect to be heading out to the event on Saturday. Stay tuned for that. She's having a book signing in the afternoon.

Bo Krsmanovic Summer of Swim 2016 (VIDEO)

Hmm.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit rookie Bojana "Bo" Krsmanovic makes quite a splash:



Thanks to the Reader Who Bought a Lexmark Black Print Toner Cartridge

As I always say, I blog for the fun of it, but certainly it's nice getting the Amazon affiliate fees.

Here's the product, Lexmark X651A11A Return Program Black Toner Cartridge.

Thanks so much for shopping through my links. That affiliate payment alone is almost enough to buy a new book!

And thanks to all my readers for checking in at the blog, sharing my posts, shopping though my links, or just generally lurking around these parts. It's greatly appreciated.

Trump Babes Making America Great Again

Spotted recently on Twitter.

BONUS: Don't know if this lady's a Trump supporter, but one can hope. Man.

Joel Kotkin, The Human City

New, from Joel Kotkin, at Amazon, The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us.

Plus, The New Class Conflict.

Blake Lively Loves Babies

Heh.

I love babies too, although my wife and I haven't been in a position to have the full complement of in-home nanny services, to say nothing of house cleaners lol.

She's sweet though. Big families are cool  and oh so politically incorrect!

At the Federalist, "Blake Lively Loves Babies So Much She Wants a House Full."


PREVIOUSLY: "Blake Lively Under Attack for Alleged 'Racist' Instagram Caption."

Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant to Shut Down

Instapundit had this yesterday, "IF YOU DON’T SUPPORT NUCLEAR POWER, YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT CARBON EMISSIONS: Are Greens Coming Around To Nuclear Power?"

Well, if the greens are coming around, they're not around California.

See the Los Angeles Times, "PG&E to close Diablo Canyon, California's last nuclear power plant":
One of California’s largest energy utilities took a bold step in the 21st century electricity revolution with an agreement to close its last operating nuclear plant and develop more solar, wind and other clean power technologies.

The decision announced Tuesday by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to close its beleaguered Diablo Canyon nuclear plant within the next decade runs counter to the nuclear industry’s arguments that curbing carbon emissions and combating climate change require use of nuclear power, which generates the most electricity without harmful emissions.

Instead, PG&E joined with longtime adversaries such as the Friends of the Earth environmental group to craft a deal that will bring the company closer to the mandate that 50% of California’s electricity generation come from renewable energy sources by 2030.

PG&E’s agreement will close the book on the state’s history as a nuclear pioneer, but adds to its clean energy reputation. California already leads the nation by far in use of solar energy generated by rooftop panels and by sprawling power arrays in the desert.

“California is already a leader in curtailing greenhouse gases,” said Peter Bradford, a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “Now they’re saying they can go even further. That’s potentially a model for other situations.”

Under the proposal, the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County would be retired by PG&E after its current U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission operating licenses expire in November 2024 and August 2025.

The power produced by Diablo Canyon’s two nuclear reactors would be replaced with investment in a greenhouse-gas-free portfolio of energy efficiency, renewables and energy storage, PG&E said. The proposal is contingent on a number of regulatory actions, including approvals from the California Public Utilities Commission.

The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, built against a seaside cliff near Avila Beach, provides 2,160 megawatts of electricity for Central and Northern California — enough to power more than 1.7 million homes.

Tuesday’s announcement comes after a long debate over the fate of the plant, which sits near several earthquake fault lines. The Hosgri Fault, located three miles from Diablo Canyon, was discovered in 1971, three years after construction of the plant began...
More.

Plus, "It'll take time — and $3.8 billion — to shut down the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant."

RELATED: From Joel Kotkin, at the O.C. Register, "Climate justice: California's state religion."

Donald Trump Hammers Hillary Clinton in Major Speech Pivoting to General Election

Here's NYT's Maggie Haberman on Twitter. I'll update with the full video when that becomes available on YouTube shortly:


Tuesday, June 21, 2016

ICYMI: Eric Metaxas, If You Can Keep It

Here's the Metaxas book, at Amazon, If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty.

BONUS: From Dennis Prager, Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph.

Donald Trump Running 'Different Kind of Campaign' (VIDEO)

Laura Ingraham speaks out on Fox & Friends. Donald Trump needs to stop going after "personalities" and hit the Clinton machine with a clear and consistent message.

Watch, "Ingraham: Trump campaign needs to send a consistent message."

Trump calls into the show to talk about a "different kind of campaign."

Well, as in "different" means going completely "earned media," we'll see how that works. See previously, "Donald Trump Reportedly 'Getting Crushed' by Corrupt Democrat Party Money Machine."

BONUS: More video at Fox, "Corey Lewandowski discusses dismissal from Trump campaign." He mad a classy exit, that's for sure. I almost expect him to rejoin the campaign at a later date. That this was all choreographed to give the image of competence and change at Trump's headquarters. But we'll see. We'll see.

Hailey Clauson Behind-the-Scenes Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 (VIDEO)

She's so great!

Via Sports Illustrated:



Donald Trump Reportedly 'Getting Crushed' by Corrupt Democrat Party Money Machine

Well, this is ironic, isn't it?

If Trump's campaign is really hurting for cash, he should loan his team's finance arm about $250 million, which shouldn't be a problem, right? Trump's supposedly worth $10 billion. No need to "self fund," which I thought was a stupid pledge in any case. But he needs to be up on the airwaves with rapid response ads and character attacks against Hillary Clinton and the corrupt Democrat smear machine.

If Reince isn't drilling the point home, then the fault lies just as much with the RNC as it does with Trump's organization. A Clinton-Democrat smear campaign of ads won't move the GOP blue-collar base, which already loves Trump, but it could convince some fence-sitting independents, who might succumb to the lies and demonization.

So, that's the problem.

It's all over Memeorandum right now, "Donald Trump Starts Summer Push With Crippling Money Deficit."

And on Twitter:


Donald Trump raised $3.1 million in the month after he became the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, giving him a staggering cash disadvantage heading into the general election against Hillary Clinton.

After largely self-financing the primary election, Mr. Trump said last month that he would begin actively soliciting money for the general election. He appointed a national finance chairman and finalized a joint fundraising vehicle with the Republican National Committee. But his haul that month suggests his campaign was unable to turn his clinching of the party’s nomination into any fundraising boost.

Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile, raised $27 million last month even as she sought to fend off the final weeks of primary rival Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign. She has raised $240 million over the course of the cycle, to Mr. Trump’s $17 million. (He has also loaned himself $45.7 million through May.)

Mr. Trump’s May haul, which he supplemented with $2.2 million in loans, left him with $1.3 million in the bank. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign had 32 times as much in its war chest: $42 million.

Mr. Trump’s cash deficit means it will be extraordinarily difficult for him to rival Mrs. Clinton’s expansive operation, both in TV ads and grassroots efforts. He has said he will rely heavily on the RNC, but the party’s efforts in battleground states are small in comparison to the Democrats and nonexistent in several blue states, such as California, that Mr. Trump says he wants to put on the map.

Mr. Trump, who touts his frugal operation, spent more than he raised in May, paying out $6.7 million over the course of the month. Of that, nearly 20%—or about $1.1 million—went to companies Mr. Trump owns or to travel reimbursements for his children, who serve as surrogates on the campaign trail.

In 2012, GOP nominee Mitt Romney raised $23.4 million in May, the month after he clinched the nomination, and had $17 million in the bank.

Mrs. Clinton’s super PAC also far outpaced Mr. Trump’s network of outside groups last month. The Clinton group, Priorities USA Action, raised $12.1 million in May, an uptick from the previous month, and has $51 million in the bank. Great America PAC, one of the super PACs backing Mr. Trump, raised $1.4 million in May and had about $500,000 on hand at the end of the month. Mr. Trump has at least two other groups backing him, too.

Out Today: Dana Loesch, Flyover Nation

Our long national nightmare wait is over.

Available at Amazon, Flyover Nation: You Can't Run a Country You've Never Been To.



Plus, Dana will be speaking at the Politicon Convention this weekend in Pasadena. Hope to see you there!

Sherpa Fire Raw Video

I guess it's actually spelled "Scherpa." At the Santa Barbara Independent, "Yes, ‘Sherpa Fire’ Is Spelled Wrong."

And at CBS News 5 San Francisco:



More, at the Los Angeles Times, "Dangerous fires, extreme heat across Southern California."

Monday, June 20, 2016

Late Cartoons

I missed posting cartoons yesterday, so what the heck?

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Cartoons."

Branco Cartoons photo Deflecting-600-CI_zpsjbxdeerr.jpg

And at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Theory of Relativity," and Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Roundup."

Cartoon Credit: A.F. Branco, "Deflecting Massacre Blame."

Nina Agdal Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Video 2016

Somehow I missed this clip from earlier this year.

I'm slackin' on my Rule 5!

Via Sports Illustrated:



Deal of the Day: Ivation 1.7 Liter (7-Cup) Precision-Temp Stainless Steel Cordless Electric Tea Kettle [BUMPED]

At Amazon, Ivation 1.7 Liter (7-Cup) Precision-Temp Stainless Steel Cordless Electric Tea Kettle; 6 Preset Heat Settings; Auto Keep-Warm for 2-Hours; Safety Shutoff Boil-Dry Protection, 1500w SuperFast Heatup.

Also, Save 69% on Norton Security Premium - 10 Devices.

More, Computer Accessories.

Plus, Power Wheels Disney Frozen Jeep Wrangler, Baby Blue/Purple.

And, AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable - 6 Feet (Latest Standard).

Still more, from J. Kael Weston, The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan.

BONUS: Clinton Romesha, Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor.

Donald Trump Assassination Attempt: Man Arrested Trying to Kill Trump at Las Vegas Rally (VIDEO)

Now, would this be getting more mainstream media coverage if some "right-wing extremist" tried to steal a policeman's gun at one of Hillary's events?

I think you know the answer.

But see the Las Vegas Sun, "Secret Service: Man at Las Vegas rally said he wanted to kill Donald Trump."

And at the Washington Examiner, via Memeorandum, "19-year-old man tried to kill Trump at Las Vegas rally, officials say."



U.S. Supreme Court Limits 4th Amendment's Ban on 'Unreasonable Searches'

Interesting.

At WSJ, "U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Limits Constitutional Protections Against Searches":
WASHINGTON—A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday limited constitutional protections against searches, ruling that evidence gathered after police illegally detain someone could be used in court absent “flagrant” misconduct by law enforcement.

Writing for the court, Justice Clarence Thomas said a police officer’s possible “negligence” in stopping a pedestrian without reasonable suspicion shouldn’t prevent prosecutors from charging him with a drug offense.

The ruling came in a South Salt Lake City, Utah, case in which a man named Edward Strieff walked out of a house an officer had been watching after getting an anonymous tip about “narcotics activity” happening there.

The officer, Douglas Fackrell, stopped Mr. Strieff, asked what he was doing at the house and ran his identification through a police database. When that produced a traffic warrant, Officer Fackrell arrested Mr. Strieff and searched him, discovering the drugs.

Utah conceded that the police stop was illegal but argued that the discovery of the warrant provided the officer a legitimate reason to arrest Mr. Strieff and search him.

“The warrant was valid, it predated Officer Fackrell’s investigation, and it was entirely unconnected with the stop,” Justice Thomas wrote in the 5-3 ruling. “And once Officer Fackrell discovered the warrant, he had an obligation to arrest Strieff.” That, in turn, authorized the officer to search Mr. Strieff under Supreme Court precedents that allow police to search arrestees to ensure they aren’t carrying concealed weapons.

Justice Thomas was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan filed separate dissents, each joined in part or in whole by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“This case allows the police to stop you on the street, demand your identification, and check it for outstanding traffic warrants—even if you are doing nothing wrong,” Justice Sotomayor wrote. “If the officer discovers a warrant for a fine you forgot to pay, courts will now excuse his illegal stop” and allow prosecution for any evidence he finds...
Also at USA Today, "Supreme Court allows searches based on outstanding arrest warrants":
The decision was controversial because in some cities thousands of people have arrest warrants pending against them, mostly for traffic violations as insignificant as unpaid parking tickets.

There were 16,000 outstanding arrest warrants in Ferguson, Mo., as of 2015 — a figure that amounts to roughly 75% of the city’s population — the Justice Department found during its investigation into the 2014 police shooting of an unarmed, 18-year-old African-American man. Cincinnati recently had more than 100,000 warrants pending for failure to appear in court. New York City has 1.2 million outstanding warrants.

The high court case involved a Utah narcotics detective's detention of a man leaving a house that was under observation for possible drug dealing. Based on the discovery of an outstanding arrest warrant for a minor traffic infraction, the man was searched and found to have illegal drugs...

Hydration Stations in Phoenix (VIDEO)

That's nice, but maybe the Salvation Army should be setting up some hydration stations at the border.

Illegal aliens are going to be dying to get into the U.S. in this weather, literally.



Free Speech Farce: How One College Lets Students Censor Debate

From Jillian Kay Melchior, at Heat Street, "Muzzled Professors: An Inside Look at How One College Lets Students Censor Classroom Debate":

For many students and professors, one of the great appeals of college life is being exposed to new and different ways of thinking. But that age-old process is now under threat at schools around the country. Take the University of Northern Colorado.

After two of the school’s professors asked their students to discuss controversial topics and consider opposing viewpoints, they received visits from the school’s Bias Response Team to discuss their teaching style. The professors’ students had reported them, claiming the curriculum constituted bias.

These incidents, both in the 2015-2016 academic year, reflect a growing trend in higher education. College students increasingly demand to be shielded from “offensive,” “triggering” or “harmful” language and topics, relying on Bias Response Teams to intervene on their behalf. Such teams are popping up at a growing number of universities.

Heat Street filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get a look at some of the complaints to UNC’s Bias Response Team, and a sense of how the team is handling those petitions. In one report reviewed by Heat Street, a professor, whose name was redacted, had asked students to read an Atlantic article entitled “The Coddling of the American Mind,” about college students’ increasing sensitivity and its impact on their mental health.

The professor then asked his students to come up with difficult topics, including transgender issues, gay marriage, abortion and global warning. He outlined competing positions on these topics, though he did not express his personal opinion.

In a report to the Bias Response Team, a student complained that the professor referenced the opinion that “transgender is not a real thing, and no one can truly feel like they are born in the wrong body.”

“I would just like the professor to be educated about what trans is and how what he said is not okay because as someone who truly identifies as a transwomen I was very offended and hurt by this,” the student wrote.

A member of the Bias Response Team met with the professor, the report says, and “advised him not to revisit transgender issues in his classroom if possible to avoid the students expressed concerns.” The Bias Response Team also “told him to avoid stating opinions (his or theirs) on the topic as he had previously when working from the Atlantic article.”

In a separate incident, a professor, whose name was also redacted, asked his students to choose from a list of debate topics, some of them regarding homosexuality and religion.

The Bias Response Team’s notes summarized: “Specifically there were two topics of debate that triggered them and personally felt like an attack on their identity (GodHatesFags.com: is this harmful? Is this acceptable? Is this Christianity? And Gay Marriage: should it be legal? Is homosexuality immoral as Christians suggest?)”

The student, whose name is redacted and who is referred to as “they” in the report, complained that “other students are required to watch the in-class debate and hear both arguments presented.”

“I do not believe that students should be required to listen to their own rights and personhood debated,” the student wrote. “[This professor] should remove these topics from the list of debate topics. Debating the personhood of an entire minority demographic should not be a classroom exercise, as the classroom should not be an actively hostile space for people with underprivileged identities.”

The Bias Response Team wrote that while this incident “did not reach a level of discrimination,” members still contacted the professor to “have a conversation… [and] listen to his perspective, share the impact created for the student and dialogue about options to strengthen his teaching.”

The Bias Response Team wrote that once the conversation was completed, they wanted a full report of “the outcome of your time together. . . so I can document and share with the student that outreach was completed.”

The University of Northern Colorado did not respond to Heat Street’s request for comment about whether the Bias Response Team is a threat to free speech and academic freedom. We also asked to be put in touch with the professors who had received complaints, but we did not hear back before publication...
I don't create "safe spaces" in my classrooms, and I don't let students censor debate, although I don't think my campus has a "bias response team." (And I'm not going to give administrators any ideas.)

I discuss controversial issues in class all the time, presenting both sides of debate, but usually contrasting "Main Street" opinion from the collectivist wisdom found at major media outlets like the New York Times. I always put the New York Times homepage up on the overhead screen, starting from the minute I call the roll sheet. I'll usually begin class lectures with a discussion of the hot news items. It's great. We discussed leftist political correctness after the Belgium jihad attacks (I posted this ABC News piece on administration threats to prosecute anti-Muslim "hate speech" in class), and transgender issues pretty much the whole semester. We had especially good discussions on the trans problem, and one of my students was transitioning from female to male, and told the class that Donald Trump was the only candidate so far that he could relate to! Now that was a teachable moment, heh.

In any case, more at the link.

Carey Murphy Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call 2017 (VIDEO)

Via Sports Illustrated:



Welcome to Port Antonio, a Tourist-Free Haven on Jamaica’s North Coast (VIDEO)

Via GQ:



Eric Metaxas, If You Can Keep It

I mentioned this book last night.

At Amazon, If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty.

Eric Metaxas photo 13445604_10210141097786932_1890168626194202079_n_zps9ltpcvov.jpg

Dana Loesch Hired by NRA as Women's Policy Adviser and National Spokesperson

At the Washington Times, "Dana Loesch lands big NRA role: Special Adviser on Women's Policy."

She's been doing these NRA videos for a while now, in any case, and they're great!


Hope Hicks, the 27-Year-Old Accidental Press Secretary for Donald Trump

From Olivia Nuzzi, at GQ:

From the antechamber to Donald Trump's office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, I was fetched by Hope Hicks. She was apologetic for the wait and a little nervous about what I'd come to discuss—namely, her.

The 27-year-old press secretary was clad in a teal dress, and she dug her stilettos into the colorless carpet as she showed me into the office, a room festooned with enough Trump memorabilia to suggest a serial killer's shrine. There before me sat Trump himself, behind his giant desk, upon which there was nothing resembling a computer, a PalmPilot, or even an Etch A Sketch.

“Oh,” Trump said, flashing his notorious disdain for handshakes as I extended my arm. He stood and reached, Martian-like, for my hand, as if the ritual were not the habit of businessmen or politicians. Hicks, meanwhile, settled into a $5,000 red velvet Knoll lounge chair. She affixed a smile to her face, and then said nothing more to me. As if speaking were not the habit of a spokesperson. But then, Hicks—who never appears on TV and rarely talks to reporters—resembles a traditional political spokesperson about as much as Trump resembles Mister Rogers.

Hicks is a product not of Washington but of the Trump Organization, a marble-walled universe where one's delightful agreeability and ferocious loyalty are worth more than conventional experience. She is a hugger and a people pleaser, with long brown hair and green eyes, a young woman of distinctly all-American flavor—the sort that inspires Tom Petty songs, not riots. And yet Hicks has, almost by accident, helped architect the strangest and least polite campaign in modern American history.

I wanted Hicks to help me understand just how all this had come to pass, how a person who'd never worked in politics had nonetheless become the most improbably important operative in this election. But she declined my request to talk. Instead, she arranged something more surreal: I could talk about her with Donald Trump, in front of her.

Trump, of course, has little experience with subjects other than Trump, which he made clear when I asked him about Hicks's quick ascent to his inner circle. “Bill O'Reilly last night said it is the greatest political event in his lifetime,” Trump said, exaggerating O'Reilly's point. “The most incredible political event in his lifetime! That's pretty big. You know, who knew this was going to happen? So…” He pivoted, reluctantly, to the topic at hand. “Hope's been involved from the beginning, and she has been absolutely terrific.”

Hicks's job—a sui generis role of outsize importance that she half invents on the fly—involves keeping the media at bay and operating as Trump's chief gatekeeper. But she's also summoned in critical moments of confusion to play instigator and score-settler. It was her job to facilitate Trump's rebuke of the Pope after His Holiness questioned the Christianity of anybody who would build a border wall (kind of Trump's thing). And it was she who helped malign a female reporter who'd been manhandled by Trump's campaign manager, immediately claiming she was a lying attention hound. Hicks was also called on this spring to explain why Trump, over the course of three days, advocated four positions on abortion. She tried without success to quell the confusion, declaring, finally, that President Trump would end abortion, simple as that: “He will change the law through his judicial appointments and allow the states to protect the unborn.”

Still, for all the grenades Hicks has to both jump on and lob, it's a more quotidian skill set that seems to impress the boss. “If you see her phone going”—he raised both hands and mimicked Hicks answering several devices—“ ‘This is Hope. This is Hope. This is Hope.’ ” He hung up the make-believe phones. “She gets a call a minute, probably,” he said, seemingly pleased with this antiquated barometer of his own popularity...
More at that top link.

WARNING! 'Game of Thrones' Spoilers!

WARNING: Spoilers ahead. Click away if you haven't seen this week's "Game of Thrones" episode!

*****

I don't DVR shows. My wife does.

If I wanna watch something I prefer to watch it when it goes live. I watch shows on a real TV. I don't stream and I don't record. I've got no time for all that. I'm not much of a television person beyond news and sports. The exception is the cable movie channels, which I love to have, even if I don't watch as many flicks as I should to justify the subscriptions. Call it luxury of affluence, or something, heh.

In any case, for the shows that I do like to watch, like "Game of Thrones," I need to stay off Twitter on Sunday nights.

Jamie Kirchick killed the climax for me last night. Sheesh:

And if you want a full summary and analysis (with spoilers), click on Heat Street, "Everyone Loved ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 9, but I Hated It. Here’s Why."

Omar Mateen's Family Should Be Under Arrest

They should all be behind bars, IMHO. From Robert Spencer, at FrontPage Magazine:

Noor Salman, the wife of Omar Mateen, the Orlando gay nightclub jihad mass murderer, has gone missing, and with good reason: she explodes the idea that Mateen was a “lone wolf” terrorist. She should be arrested – but now she is gone.

Salman witnessed him selling his house to his brother-in-law for $10 – a clear indication that the couple knew jihad was in the offing. She has admitted to law enforcement authorities that she and her husband had recently been “scouting Downtown Disney and Pulse [the nightclub where the jihad massacre took place] for attacks.” Mateen texted her during his massacre, asking if she had seen the news; she responded that she loved him.

As authorities deliberated over whether or not to arrest her, Salman herself showed more dispatch. Last Wednesday, the killer’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen, told reporters that Salman was “no longer here.”

No one seems to have asked Seddique Mateen himself where she has gone, but he probably knows. There are, after all, numerous indications that he may not be as upset about his son’s jihad massacre as he has claimed: he is an open supporter of the Taliban, and the morning after the murders, he posted online a video in which he claims that he was “not aware what motivated” Omar to “go into a gay club and kill 50 people,” but then he adds: “God will punish those involved in homosexuality,” as it is “not an issue that humans should deal with.”

Despite Seddique Mateen’s professed puzzlement over his son’s actions and denial that Omar had been “radicalized,” is it really any wonder that a man who grew up in a household in which the Taliban were held up as positive role models would turn out to be a jihad terrorist? Omar Mateen is known to have cheered at school when al-Qaeda flew planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001; is it likely that his father, a supporter of al-Qaeda’s allies and collaborators the Taliban, rebuked him for doing so?

While not revealing where Noor Salman is, the family issued a statement saying: “Noor is completely innocent and [was] unaware of the attacks.” It added the claim that she is unable to comprehend “cause and effect.” The mainstream media, always anxious to exonerate Islam from responsibility for the crimes done in its name and in accord with its teachings, even dragged out Salman’s middle school teacher to say: “Noor had difficulty with retention, she had difficulty with conceptualizing, understanding, all challenges to her. She tried hard. She was very sweet.”
So, they're going with the fucking retard defense.

That's a new one, I guess. Desperate, but new.

More at that top link.

Folks Hit the Beach on Sunday to Beat the Heat (VIDEO)

It's supposed to be 100 in Irvine today. It got up to 96 yesterday.

Great time to get outside and get into the water.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



Terror Attack in Orlando Re-Exposes Great American Divide

From Salena Zito, at RCP:
SMITHTON, PA - Gunshots echoed across the mountains hugging the valley cut by the Youghiogheny River as anglers, boaters, bikers and day-hikers enjoyed the Great Allegheny Passage recreational area between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

A group of men in their mid-30s, dressed in biking shorts and jerseys, stood around a gazebo built for travelers on the 300-mile trail, discussing where to end their day. The gunfire horrified them — but not in a duck-we're-under-attack way. Their reactions ranged from ridicule to misunderstanding to disgust and concluded with an assumption that they were unsafe around “these people” and it was time to move along.

In truth, the shots came from a local sportsmen's club. Most people around here consider the club members to be among the region's premier conservators; they stock the river every spring, lead clean-up crews along the trail, keep the deer population contained with their hunting and donate venison to needy families who can live off the meat of one buck for more than a year.

Theirs is a tradition passed from father to son. They don't own AR-15s but will defend your right to do so — not because they think people should have semi-automatic weapons but because they see gun ownership as one of our freedoms that Main Street America is ceding to cosmopolitan elites.

On Monday, as the motives and the blame for the Orlando massacre were dissected by “experts” on CNN, a successful Pittsburgh businessman called, distressed by the media coverage.

“Why do they make me feel as though I am somehow to blame for this?” he asked.

He is white, middle-aged, a gun owner, a devout Catholic and, despite his success and widespread respect for his generosity, he felt he heard a “Shame on you!” message from President Obama on down.

Everyone, he said, appeared to blame the tragedy in Orlando on guns, bigots, racism and people whose religious beliefs do not support gay marriage (but likely could care less if someone is gay): “It was like a series of code-words aimed at Middle America.”

Obama, many Democrats and much of the political class always come across as not being on Main Street's side. It is a feeling that makes Americans feel frustrated, ostracized, unsafe. And it adds to that disconnect that pundits always bemoan yet perversely contribute to by piling on against the “otherness” of traditional American culture.

Obama inserted politics into his passionless initial reaction to the Orlando slaughter; a day later, passion emerged only when he attacked Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. In both instances, he blamed Republicans for not passing a semi-automatic weapons ban and a ban on weapons sales to suspected terrorists on the nation's no-fly list.

The last time I checked, Democrats controlled Congress and the presidency in 2009 and 2010 and they never allowed either of those measures to go to the House or Senate floor for a vote...
Keep reading.

Donald Trump Fires Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski

This is breaking.

At USA Today:

And originally from Maggie Haberman, at NYT:


Santa Barbara Sherpa Fire Still Raging Out of Control

This is a nasty, nasty fire.

Watch, at KEYT News 3 Santa Barbara, "Day 4 of fire fight in Scherpa comes to a close," and "West Goleta Residents Told to Think About Preparing."

And at the Santa Barbara Independent, "Scherpa Fire: Sunday Afternoon Update."

And from the Santa Barbara County Information Officer, incredible photos from the other day, when the fire jumps the 101 Freeway near Refugio:





It's still early on the West Coast. More triple-digit temperatures are expected, and this fire is burning in parts of the Santa Ynez outback, where there's few if any service roads.

Showdown Over Gun Control This Week on Capitol Hill

It's astonishing that our politics have come to this.

All of these terror attacks simply do not raise gun control issues.

At WSJ, "Lawmakers Set for New Showdown on Guns":
WASHINGTON—Republicans and Democrats are headed for a new showdown over gun control this week as lawmakers sort through four proposals on the divisive issue in the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre.

The Senate will vote Monday on provisions to limit access to weapons for people on the government’s terrorist watch lists and expand background checks. One Republican-sponsored measure to delay gun sales to buyers on a watch list has secured support from the National Rifle Association.

None of the proposals is likely to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome Senate hurdles. But some momentum was already building for a bipartisan compromise led by Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) to prevent people on the government’s no-fly list from buying firearms while still offering a route to appeal those decisions.

Omar Mateen, the gunman in the Orlando shooting that left 49 dead, was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2013 and 2014 and was placed on the terror watch list. But he was removed when authorities couldn’t find evidence to continue the investigations.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the Federal Bureau of Investigation plans to release Monday a partial transcript of the 911 calls from the gunman inside the nightclub. But she said the transcript won’t include what Mateen said about his support for Islamic State.

“What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this individual’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups and further his propaganda,” she said on NBC Sunday.

The Justice Department didn’t clarify what exactly Mateen said about terror or Islamic State.

The heated election season adds another wrinkle to the political maneuvering in the wake of Orlando. Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump last week broke with many in his party by supporting an outright ban on gun sales to people on terror watch lists. Democrats are intensifying their focus on terror watch lists alongside other measures such as expanded background checks. While Republicans in some tight Senate races might benefit from reaching a deal, such a move could also spark a backlash from conservative voters and from gun-rights groups.

Any gun-control measure would need to overcome significant hurdles, including winning support in the Republican-controlled House...
The administration's memory-holing of 9/11 is outrageous and reprehensible.

That said, I doubt the proposal on the terror watch list restrictions is going to fly. There's too many good, decent people who'll be banned from buying firearms because of bureaucratic screw-ups. Just a week or so ago, Dana Loesch's step-father was detained and questioned at the airport over a mistaken name. It's just not going to work.

Markets Soar After Poll Suggests Britain Will Stay in European Union

Hmm. It's just one poll?

Maybe traders are really jonesin' for the U.K. to stay?

At WSJ, "Global Stocks Soar After Poll Suggests U.K. Will Remain in EU":
Stocks, sterling and oil soared at the start of the week after polls suggested the U.K. was more likely to vote to remain in the European Union in Thursday’s referendum than previously expected.

The Stoxx Europe 600 jumped 3.7%, on track for its best day since August, while the British pound surged more than 2% against the dollar to as high as $1.4674.

Futures pointed to a 1.3% opening gain for the S&P 500. Changes in futures markets don't necessarily reflect market moves after the opening bell

“We’re in this sort of frenzied period where Brexit is front and center,” said Bob Doll, senior portfolio manager at Nuveen Asset Management.

A survey published in the Mail on Sunday showed that 45% of respondents backed the U.K. staying in the trade bloc, compared with 42% in favor of leaving. The poll-of-polls, averaging the last six polls in the U.K. vote, returned to 50/50, suggesting growing momentum for the “remain camp” in the referendum...
Keep reading.

There's no mention of the Jo Cox murder, but no doubt ghoulish British leftists will continue to exploit the poor woman's death.

FLASHBACK: From 2004, "Postcard from Britain: Immigration Is Hot Issue as Elections Approach."

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Father's Day

Sorry for the light posting.

My younger sister was here on Friday, and then yesterday my mom came for Father's Day. We went out to B.J.'s in Irvine for a wonderful dinner last night.

I've been hanging out watching sports all day today, with the exception of an afternoon excursion to Barnes and Noble, where I picked up a copy of the new book out from Eric Metaxas, If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty.

I'm also halfway through Roger Scruton's, Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left. Scruton's an absolutely stellar writer, and the book's excellent. It's heavy duty scholarship, though, so not a quick read. But his command of the literature is breathtaking, and he's just merciless in skewering all the neo-Marxist postmodernist pap.

On the sporting front, the Angels have been outstanding this weekend, especially the pitching. Both offense and defense have been great too, especially yesterday, with the Halos taking the Athletics 7-1. Tim Lincecum made his major league comeback, picking up the win, although this Sports Illustrated piece just savages him as a hollow shell of his old self.

Today Jared Weaver had a pretty amazing outing, a 2-0 shutout over the A's. I don't know how great or not it was according to all the sophisticated metrics of professional analysts, but it was nice to see Weaver pitch the complete game for the win, clearly rekindling some badly needed confidence for a pitcher who's also seen better days.

LAT's Pedro Moura was impressed, in any case:


Saturday, June 18, 2016

Deal of the Day: Save on Outdoor Lounge Sets from Hanover

At Amazon, a great time to be outdoors, Hanover Metropolitan 5-Piece Outdoor Lounge Set.

Also, Save Big on Select Yamaha Bluetooth Receivers.

More, Duduma® Polarized Fashion Designer Sports Sunglasses for Cycling Running Baseball Fishing Tr628 Superlight Frame.

And, Bluetooth Headphones, HaMi Noise Cancelling Headset Wireless Stereo Earbuds with Microphone Gym Running Sports Sweatproof for Android IOS Devices.

Plus, San Francisco Bay OneCup, Fog Chaser, 80 Single Serve Coffees.

Still more, from Kenneth C. Davis, Don't Know Much About History, Anniversary Edition: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned.

BONUS: William C. Davis, The American Frontier: Pioneers, Settlers, and Cowboys 1800-1899.

Kristen Keogh's Triple-Digit Weekend Forecast

Well, it won't be too bad if you're down by the seashore.

Otherwise, if you're out and about, be sure to drink plenty of water.

Here's Ms. Kristen, for ABC News 10 San Diego:



Antje Utgaard Dances in Her Underwear and Skinny Dips (VIDEO)

Watch, at Playboy, "Antje Utgaard Dances in Her Underwear and Skinny Dips When Left Alone at the Playboy Mansion."

Plus, "Is Antje Utgaard the Next Kate Upton?"

She's got a crazy-hot Instagram feed, man.