Leaked Docs Show How DNC Used Foul Language to Insult Fox News Staff While Praising Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

I really should be blogging this #DNCLeaks story more aggressively. I'm gobsmacked at the utter MSM partisanship and corruption.

Until then, at Heat Street:

The embarrassing Wikileaks document dump of the Democratic National Committee’s private emails reveal how its communications staff derided journalists from news organizations they perceived as unfriendly. At the same time, the DNC was cooperating with friendlier journalists—doling out talking points and pre-approving articles in what appears to be a breach of journalistic ethics.

Much of the DNC’s private bile was reserved for Fox News.

“Is there a Fuck You emoji?” Communications Director Luis Miranda wrote a colleague who forwarded him FoxNews.com freelance reporter Fred Lucas’ questions about Donald Trump bringing up Bill Clinton’s dalliances.

DNC Press Assistant Rachel Palermo then replied: “hahahahahahhahahaha”.

Lucas politely e-mailed the DNC again three days later asking, “I hoped the DNC could weigh in one the appropriateness of Trump attacking along these lines? I would really appreciate any response you have. Thanks very much.”

Palermo then e-mailed Miranda and Deputy Communications Director Mark Paustenbach: “The asshole from fox e-mailed us again. I did some research and there’s still no ‘fuck you’ emoji, unfortunately.”

See what I mean?

Still more.

Are Anarchists and Radical Leftists Saving Violent Protests for the Democrat Convention?

Well, the police presence in Cleveland was phenomenal, so if the forces in Philadelphia can match that, I doubt there'll be any trouble.

But see William Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection, "Are anarchists and radical leftists saving violent protests for #DemsInPhilly?"

At the video, Lee Stranahan interviews Jeremy Segal, a.k.a., Rebel Pundit:

Louise Mensch Implores Me to Come Back to the Light

I love Louise. She's a sweet lady and super smart. She's a role model, in fact.

It's just that my support for Donald Trump is a protest vote against the left. It's that simple. I don't think Trump's conservative. I don't think he's neoconservative. I just know that he speaks his mind, he's got excellent instincts, he's a good family man, and he'll hit the left with all he's got. In that last respect he's the antithesis of Mitt Romney, to whom I threw my unreserved support in 2012, and look what that got me.

In any case, here's Louise on Twitter, responding to Bill Kristol's tweet of Stephen Hayes' essay, "Donald Trump Is Crazy, and So Is the GOP for Embracing Him."

@BillKristol @stephenfhayes not me. Never. @AmPowerBlog come back to the light

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) July 23, 2016

Islamic State Claims Responsibility as Homicide Bombers Slaughter at Least 80 in Kabul (VIDEO)

It's every day now.

It's catastrophic slaughter on a daily basis.

At WSJ, "Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 80 in Kabul":

KABUL—Three suicide bombers killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 230 others at a protest in Kabul on Saturday, according to the Afghan health ministry, where thousands had gathered to demonstrate against plans to reroute a new power line.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on a “gathering of Shiites,” the group’s affiliated Amaq news agency reported, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity.

It is the first attack claimed by the Sunni extremist group in the Afghan capital. Islamic State emerged as foreign forces were withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2014 and has established a stronghold in the eastern part of the country.

An Afghan intelligence agency official said the attack was carried out by three suicide bombers dispatched from Islamic State’s eastern stronghold in the Achin district. “There were three bombers and they were all armed with suicide vests. Probably they all detonated their explosives at once,” the official said...

More.

Donald Trump Goes 'All-In' — And He's Got a Realistic Chance of Becoming President

Following-up from Cathleen Decker's analysis, "Donald Trump Accepts Nomination, Depicts Grim Times Under Obama and Clinton."

Check out Nate Silver, at 538, "Donald Trump Goes ‘All-In.’ How Will Clinton Respond?":

Don't think people are really grasping how plausible it is that Trump could become president. It's a close election right now.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 23, 2016

Donald Trump goes "all-in." How will Clinton respond? https://t.co/VsXRRbJfH7 pic.twitter.com/DoVm79AD1I

— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) July 22, 2016

CLEVELAND — No matter what happens between now and the election on Nov. 8, Donald Trump’s dark and defiant acceptance speech on Thursday will probably be remembered as a pivotal moment in American political history. If Trump wins the election — an increasing possibility based on recent polls — the speech will serve as proof that he did so as an explicitly nationalist and populist candidate, having stirred up support in a country that has historically resisted such movements. If Trump loses to Hillary Clinton, especially by a wide margin, the speech will probably be seen as an historic debacle, the hallmark of a convention that went wrong from start to finish. Either way, the Republican Party might never be the same.

Trump delivered a long and loud address that violated most of the normal rules of acceptance speeches. The speech, and the Republican convention overall, made only perfunctory efforts to appeal to voters who weren’t already aboard the Trump train. It had no magnanimous gestures to Trump’s vanquished Republican rivals. It contained a fair bit of bragging, but not much autobiographical detail. It contained no laundry list of policy positions. Most strikingly, it was unrelentingly pessimistic, whereas acceptance speeches usually aim to soften the blow.

But Trump has broken a lot of rules and gotten away with it, and it will be a few days before we’ll have a sense of Trump’s convention bounce and a few weeks before we can reliably say how the conventions have affected the election overall. Given what Trump accomplished in the primaries, it’s probably prudent to avoid making too many assumptions in the meantime.

However, Trump is at a potential tactical disadvantage because he’s now committed to a strategy, whereas Democrats get to make the next move at their convention next week...

Still more.

How Cal State Los Angeles Canceled on Ben Shapiro After Leftists Compared Him to 'The KKK'

A couple of my students attended Shapiro's talk. The event went on despite the official cancellation.

But there's new information, at Heat Street, "How Cal State Canceled on Ben Shapiro After Liberal Students Compared Him to “The KKK”."

Donald Trump Accepts Nomination, Depicts Grim Times Under Obama and Clinton

Here's Cathleen Decker's take, at LAT, "Trump aims at voters he already has, betting they will give him a November win":

Analysis: With his dark, law + order pitch, Trump bets voters like the ones he already has will give him a victory https://t.co/C3Snsb286p

— Cathleen Decker (@cathleendecker) July 22, 2016

Donald Trump’s Thursday night address, indeed his entire Republican convention, represented a high-risk bet: that a strong desire for change in November will defy the demographic and political tides that have defeated the last two Republican presidential nominees.

The Republican nominee only glancingly reached out to voters other than the ones who led him to victory in the Republican primaries, who make up a much smaller proportion of the November electorate.

He repeatedly spoke of the perils of illegal immigration and trade deals, positions that invigorate the white, blue-collar voters with whom he is most popular.

But apart from a mention of college tuition ills, he said nothing about fresh issues or emphases that might be helpful in attracting women, minority voters or young Americans, the three groups whose increasingly Democratic alliances represent the greatest threat to his candidacy. Those voters were key to successive Republican defeats in 2008 and 2012 — and their numbers have grown since.

Appeals to a broader audience were left to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who introduced her father. She said that he planned to provide for quality childcare, equal pay for women, and college aid. None of those issues had been a priority for her father during the long months of the primary campaign, and none was mentioned in his speech.

Instead, the  speech, the most anticipated event of the  four-day convention, was a slightly more formal, if lengthy, version of the one Trump has been delivering in the 13 months since he entered the race.

He presented a bleak view of America, blamed President Obama for dividing the country by race, and accused Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton of being a “puppet” of a “rigged system” that spreads “destruction.”

Only toward the end of his 75-minute address did Trump graft on a bit of optimism, suggesting that the nation’s problems have all been caused by politicians and would be quickly solved with his election.

“America is a nation of believers, dreamers and strivers that is being led by a group of censors, critics and cynics,” he said.

His tone was entirely in keeping with the convention, which repeatedly foundered over internal divisions but found emphatic unanimity in its opposition to Clinton and to any extension of Obama’s tenure.

One of the audience’s most vociferous reactions came when Trump said that the FBI had used mild terms regarding Clinton’s private email use as secretary of State to “save her from facing justice for her terrible crimes.”

“Lock her up! Lock her up!” delegates shouted.

Trump came into the convention’s final night with Republicans hoping for a rapid change of conversation after days in which self-inflicted wounds had interfered with the highest-profile opportunity for the new nominee to impress American voters.

With patriotic staging and thematic appeals, conventions are meant to flesh out the candidate, as if turning a black-and-white stick figure into a lushly defined future president. Done well, they are minutely timed, extended campaign commercials whose worst quality is that they’re perfect to the point of boring.

This one was far from that.

On none of the four nights did the message put out by the speakers wholly match the theme organizers had set for the day. Speakers who were meant to emphasize the need to create jobs, for example, were spread out over several nights, diluting what could have been a more forceful presentation of Republican goals on Tuesday, the night employment was supposed to be the theme.

Part of the difficulties stem from lingering problems between substantial portions of the party and its new leader. Many of the guests onstage spent little time talking about Trump, a reflection of the distance some Republicans are putting between themselves and him.

On Wednesday night, Trump’s most persistent primary opponent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, appeared onstage and told delegates — and the extended television audience — to vote their consciences in November. That tacit suggestion that they consider abandoning the party’s nominee underscored the ideological battles dividing Republicans.

It is also the case that Trump holds a quirky ideology that combines Wall Street and populist flavors, a mix not seen in a nominee in recent decades. Thursday night demonstrated that anew.

Trump talked of his opposition to international trade deals that have been highly popular within his party, and U.S. involvement in Mideast conflicts that began under a Republican president.

But he also strode in the path of other Republicans, chiefly Richard Nixon, in casting himself as a president who would clamp down on an out-of-control society and blaming “elites” for spurning common Americans.

He vowed to make Americans safe here and abroad, exaggerating to suggest that crime is rising dramatically — it isn’t — and saying that when he takes office, he “will restore law and order to our country.”

But at the same time, he hit on some themes more common to Democrats. He went out of his way to vow to protect gay Americans — at least from attacks by jihadi terrorists — although he said nothing about extending their rights in this country.

The problem facing Trump is that while Republicans have largely forgiven his ideological diversions, his strongly conservative positions — including deporting immigrants who are here without papers, building a giant wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, opposing abortion rights and gun restrictions — are wildly unpopular among America’s expanding voter groups...

Well, we'll see. We'll see.

This election's closer than it should be. If Trump actually starts running a traditional advertising campaign in the key battleground states, I think he'll have a chance.

Still, the cards are stacked against him.

Evelyn Taft's Sunny and Hot Forecast

Hey, it's going to be great at the beach.

The U.S. Open of Surfing starts tomorrow.

Police Chief Says Munich Shooter's Motive is Still 'Fully Unclear'

Yeah, I'll bet.

BREAKING: Police chief: Suspect in Munich mall shooting that killed 9 was an 18-year-old whose motive is still 'fully unclear.'

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 23, 2016

"Fully unclear" is a euphemism for Islamic #jihad. #Munich https://t.co/IDuEtr3Xrw

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 23, 2016

Hillary Clinton Selects Tim Kaine as Running Mate

Following-up, "Hillary Clinton Expected to Choose Virginia Senator Tim Kaine for Veep."

Here's a good piece, at USA Today:

Great @SusanPage analysis: #HillaryClinton goes with her heart on #TimKaine VP pick. https://t.co/0naAhQ3ITw #DEMConvention #DEMS

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 23, 2016

It turn's out Kaine's got some scandal baggage, however. At the Washington Post, via Memeorandum, "Kaine's acceptance of gifts in Virginia could create opening for Republicans."

Echelon Insights Post-Convention Poll

Remember, I expect Donald Trump to be the heavy underdog during the general election, and frankly, I've been surprised this last few weeks that Hillary's not further ahead in the presidential horse race.

In any case, via Hot Air, some overnight post-convention numbers from Echelon Insights:

Echelon-@lucid_hq *Post-Convention* poll (RV)

Clinton 40
Trump 39
Johnson 3
Stein 2
Undecided 17

Clinton 45
Trump 41
Undecided 15

N=911

— Echelon (@EchelonInsights) July 22, 2016

Among LVs, it's:

Clinton 42
Trump 41
Johnson 3
Stein 2
Undecided 12

Clinton 47
Trump 42
Undecided 11

N=740

— Echelon (@EchelonInsights) July 22, 2016

Echelon/@lucid_hq survey (RVs):

Is the Republican Party more or less unified after #RNCinCLE?

Less 34
More 33
Unsure 33

— Echelon (@EchelonInsights) July 22, 2016

Do voters approve of @tedcruz's decision not to endorse @realDonaldTrump?

Approve 40%
Disapprove 32%
Unsure 22%

— Echelon (@EchelonInsights) July 22, 2016

Some internals from our post-convention poll (LVs, 2-way).

Among Rs:

Trump 86
Clinton 5

Among Ds

Clinton 85
Trump 10

— Echelon (@EchelonInsights) July 22, 2016

Previously, "CNN's Instant Poll of Viewers Shows Donald Trump's Speech Brought Down the House."

#Munich Eyewitness Says She Heard Attacker Screaming 'Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!'

Via Paul Joseph Watson:



I will say, though, that there're still conflicting reports.

So, until we have the official German government statement on the attack, I'm withholding broader comment.

Donald Trump's Gloom and Doom Doesn't Match Reality

Following-up, "President Obama Mocked GOP's 'Vision of Chaos and Violence' Moments Before Munich Attack (VIDEO)."

Heh, via Instapundit.

Nope. Doesn't match at all.

When It Comes to Islam, Western Leaders Are Liars or Idiots

Or both.

From Raymond Ibrahim, at Pajamas:

When it comes to the connection between Islam and violence against non-Muslims, one fact must be understood: the majority of those in positions of leadership and authority in the West are either liars or fools, or both.

No other alternative exists.

The reason for this uncharitable assertion is simple: If Islam was once a faraway, exotic religion, today we hear calls for, and see acts of, violence committed in its name every day. And many of us still have “ears that hear and eyes that see,” so it’s no secret: Muslims from all around the world and from all walks of life -- not just “terrorists” or “ISIS” -- unequivocally and unapologetically proclaim that Islam commands them to hate, subjugate, and kill all who resist it, including all non-Muslims.

This is the official position of several Muslim governments, including America’s closest “friends and allies” like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

It’s the official position of Islamic institutions of lower and higher learning: from Bangladeshi high schools to Egypt’s Al Azhar, the world’s most prestigious Islamic university.

It’s the official position broadcast in numerous languages on Islamic satellite stations that air in Muslim homes around the world.

In short, there’s no excuse today for anyone to still be ignorant about Islam, and especially for those in positions of leadership or authority. Yet it is precisely this group that most vehemently denies any connection between Islam and violence.

Why?

Well, they can't talk honestly about Islam, of course.

It would destroy the narrative of peace and comity among the enlightened people of the world. "All you need is love..."

Keep reading.

Plus, flashback video, "The World's Most Dangerous Ideology."

Emily Ratajkowski Launches Amore & Sorvete Swimwear Campaign (PHOTOS)

Ms. Emily's pretty much a gift from god, and thank goodness she's got no inhibitions about her body.

She looks great!

On Twitter:

So happy to announce my campaign w/ @amoreandsorvete 🙌🏽 shop online now https://t.co/8bxE8UHsFA pic.twitter.com/KP3fF1Evnd

— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) July 20, 2016

Extremely excited to announce the new face of Amore & Sorvete emrata it's been a pleasure… https://t.co/b7qMEdzKry

— Amore & Sorvete (@amoreandsorvete) July 21, 2016

Bombshell emrata wearing our new Hula Hula bikini. Exclusive style available online now✌🏼️… https://t.co/vfNOXfFnsk

— Amore & Sorvete (@amoreandsorvete) July 4, 2016

President Obama Mocked GOP's 'Vision of Chaos and Violence' Moments Before Munich Attack (VIDEO)

Well, he can pretend it's not serious with jokes and mockery. He's not up for reelection. Hillary is, though, and hence it's his third term on the line.

Frankly, I was a little surprised he took to the airwaves so soon. We still don't know exactly what happened.

In any case, you gotta love the headlines at Gateway Pundit, "OBAMA Mocked Trump and RNC’s “Vision of Chaos and Violence” 1 Hour Before Munich Attack (VIDEO)."



Plus, more video at CNN, "Obama pushes back against Donald Trump's speech."

Hacked Democrat Emails Reveal Plan for Hillary Clinton Attacks on Bernie Sanders' Religion

Wow!

Bernie's Jewish!

At the Intercept, "New Leak: Top DNC Official Wanted to Use Bernie Sanders's Religious Beliefs Against Him" (via Memeorandum):

"[Sanders] had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage," the CFO of the DNC wrote in a leaked email. https://t.co/z261ZcKrK4

— The Intercept (@theintercept) July 22, 2016

AMONG THE NEARLY 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee, released Friday by Wikileaks and presumably provided by the hacker “Guccifer 2.0,” is a May 2016 message from DNC CFO Brad Marshall. In it, he suggested that the party should “get someone to ask” Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders about his religious beliefs.

From:MARSHALL@dnc.org To: MirandaL@dnc.org, PaustenbachM@dnc.org, DaceyA@dnc.org Date: 2016-05-05 03:31 Subject: No shit It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.

The email was sent to DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda and Deputy Communications Director Mark Paustenbach. It’s unclear who the “someone” in this message could be — though a member of the press seems like a safe bet. A request for comment sent to Marshall was not immediately returned.

More at the link.

The DNC is denying the email was discussing Bernie's belief.

Right.

#Munich Attack: Witness Footage Appears to Show Gunman Opening Fire (VIDEO)

You'd be diving for the pavement at the pop pop pop! sound.

This dude Sebastian Raphael on Twitter has the video. A while ago he said that his girlfriend uploaded it, but I don't see that tweet now.

In any case, it's also at the Guardian, "Witness footage appears to show Munich gunman opening fire – video."

Previously, "#Munich Mall Shooting is Second Attack in Germany in Less Than a Week (VIDEO)."

UPDATE: We're still waiting for information on the shooter. So far, it's all speculation, and frankly, it could be a right-wing attack at this point. We just don't know.

Leftists are going to cheer the dead if the #Munich shooter turns out to be a "far right-wing nationalist." #DemConvention #DemsInPhilly

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 22, 2016

Meanwhile, Robert Stacy McCain's blogging the developments, "MUNICH TERRORIST ATTACK."

Expect further updates.

CNN's Instant Poll of Viewers Shows Donald Trump's Speech Brought Down the House

I retweeted Farhad Manjoo, although I don't think he was thrilled with the numbers, heh.

pic.twitter.com/yMQcOrdRgs

— Farhad Manjoo (@fmanjoo) July 22, 2016

But see BizPac, "CNN probably regrets polling viewers after Trump's RNC speech because, well… WOW."

Look at this poll last night on CNN gauging people's responses to Trump's speech.

And this was on CNN! pic.twitter.com/baLpDuwh6a

— ☆DR.OLMO☆ (@realDrOlmo) July 22, 2016

#Munich Mall Shooting is Second Attack in Germany in Less Than a Week (VIDEO)

Frankly, there's very little information on what happened at this point, but I've trolled a number of videos and again and again speculation returns to the possibility of another Islamic terrorist attack.

It's been just four days since the knife jihad in Würzburg.

Elizabeth Vargas has a special report at ABC News:



I'll have updates.

If it's jihad terrorism once again, let's just say events aren't working to Hillary Clinton's advantage, to say nothing of Angela Merkel's.

Still more at London's Daily Mail, via Memeorandum, "BREAKING NEWS: ‘Several dead’ and 10 injured in shooting rampage inside a Munich shopping centre as police hunt gunman."

A Military Coup Against President Donald Trump? Not Even

Jamie Kirchick is an extremely talented writer and I've long been a fan. But like that of so many others nowadays, he's gone off the deep end with Trump derangement.

Case in point is his argument that the military should oust a President Trump in a coup d'etat, published at the Los Angeles Times last week, "If Trump wins, a coup isn't impossible here in the U.S."

I tweeted something about the absurdity at the time.

But see Breitbart:

Idiot Jamie Kirchick writes it and idiots @latimes print it. #TrumpPence16 #MakeAmericaGreatAgain https://t.co/ReLiqeyIqQ

— Judgment of Solomon (@JudgmentSolomon) July 20, 2016

And at today's Los Angeles Times letters, "A military coup against President Trump? It's irresponsible even to think of it":

To the editor: James Kirchick’s piece weighing the chances of the military overthrowing President Donald Trump is one of the most grotesque op-ed articles I’ve read. (“If Trump wins, a coup isn't impossible here in the U.S.,” Opinion, July 19)

A writer who has never served a day in the military — an organization that in its DNA is meant to protect American democracy — arguing that the same organization would launch a coup against a legitimately elected president is a completely reprehensible claim. Kirchick is blithely ignorant of basic civics, and the constitutional structure of our nation speaks to the paucity of his argument.

This is an affront to all military members who swore an oath to protect the Constitution. While Kirchick has a right to say what he did, he should still be responsible for his words.

John Badertscher, Pittsburgh

My thoughts exactly.

There's another letter at the link.

Trump's really bringing out the crazy on the left.

An Unhinged Republican Convention?

Leftists are going into overdrive tarring conservatives and populist "white nationalist" voters as crazed fascists on the hunt for Mexicans and Muslims.

Actually, I just think there's a hunger among everyday, regular folks for the red meat Trump's dishing out.

But see old-line media hack Joe Klein --- yeah, Joe Klein and the 1990s called ... they want their decade back --- bemoans the "unhinged" rubes of Cleveland.

At Time, "An Unhinged Republican Convention and the Nation’s Greatest Test":

I’m not sure I know how to write about this election anymore without seeming imprudent. I came into this year believing that our government was desperately in need of conservative reform and restraint. I came to those views watching the corroded incompetence of the Department of Veterans Affairs and also in the belief that Democrats had been too unwilling to look at and think clearly about the failures of the welfare state. I had some problems with Hillary Clinton too–from her support for the invasion of Libya to her foolish personal behavior, accepting big-money speeches from Goldman Sachs because, she said, she “wasn’t sure” she was going to run for President. But I would never question her essential decency; indeed, she is one of the most thoughtful politicians I know. And the Democratic Party, for all its politically correct smugness and silliness, has never surrendered its soul to the extremists lurking on its left. The Republican Party, by contrast, has become a national embarrassment. Donald Trump is a national embarrassment. This election will be the greatest test, in my lifetime, of the wisdom of our people and the strength of the democratic project.

Ahem. You see that there?

"And the Democratic Party, for all its politically correct smugness and silliness, has never surrendered its soul to the extremists lurking on its left."

You can see why I consider Joe Klein a relic.

The Democrats are now wholly owned by "the extremists lurking" on the left. And this isn't new. That anyone could even seriously utter such a comment in this day and age is disqualifying. I feel almost sorry for Klein. He's on Twitter but he's only tweeted 332 times, the last time in October 2013. Klein's probably one to say that the most vigorous debate these days remains in the letters to the editor sections of publications like Time Magazine. I mean, c'mon. The dude's a dinosaur. Just ask former presidential candidate Jim Webb if the Democrats remain a centrist party in the Harry Truman mold. Remember, when Webb quit the race he said something to the effect that the party had passed him by, that he wasn't home on the Democrat left in this day and age, a former Marine veteran in Vietnam. Nope, you've gotta be an academic egghead crypto-Marxist like Obama or a crazed old "democrat-socialist" like Bernie Sanders to fit in today. Indeed, Hillary Clinton can't clip leftward fast enough. She's lucky she pulled this off. Had Sanders gone for the jugular from day one, attacking her on Benghazi, the home-brewed server, and Goldman Sachs, he'd probably be making the acceptance speech next Thursday instead of Cankles.

But read the whole thing, in any case.

Republicans Map Path to Victory

At WSJ, "Behind in Polls, Republicans Hope to Blaze New Trail to Victory":

CLEVELAND—Republican Donald Trump’s fall campaign will test whether the most unconventional major-party presidential nominee in generations can cut an unconventional path to the White House.

He aims to outmaneuver Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by capturing a handful of states in the Rust Belt and the Northeast that typically favor Democrats, with an appeal to less-educated, working-class voters.

But the New York businessman leaves the convention here with the most negative public image of any nominee in modern history, particularly among minority voters, according to recent polls, and with many Republicans still hesitant to accept him as their standard bearer.

Those headwinds to winning the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the presidency are particularly strong in some of the country’s more racially and ethnically diverse swing states, polling shows, including Colorado and Virginia, where Mrs. Clinton leads.

Her image, though, is nearly as tarnished as Mr. Trump’s, and the convention here made it clear that Republicans want to make her the focus of the race. Most of the speakers dwelled on her perceived failings, often to chants of “lock her up.’’

In addition, the landscape could change drastically before Election Day, when the conventions will be a distant memory and Mr. Trump will have squared off with Mrs. Clinton in three fall debates. Republican George H.W. Bush, for example, surged past Democrat Michael Dukakis in the fall of 1988.

Advisers to Mr. Trump point to Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as states where he can outperform past GOP nominees, though the three states haven’t voted Republican in a presidential race since at least 1988.

His team is casting an even wider net, suggesting that Mr. Trump can compete in the solidly blue states of Connecticut, New Jersey and Oregon. “I’m not saying we’re going to win, but we’re going to put them into play,” said Donald Trump Jr., one of the candidate’s sons, at a breakfast this week hosted by the The Wall Street Journal. He was referring to the three blue states, which  Republicans lost in 2012 by double-digit margins.

From the campaign’s outset, the Electoral College math has favored Democrats, with Mr. Trump needing to win 64 more electoral votes than Republican Mitt Romney won in 2012.

Still, when the race began last year, the political environment seemed to be tipping in Republicans’ favor. Voters were eager for change, and it had been more than a decade since the share of Americans who thought the country was on the right track outpaced those who thought it was on the wrong track.

That hasn’t changed, and yet Mrs. Clinton still leads nationally, according to Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling throughout this year...

More.

It's going to be uphill, although surprisingly, Trump's been running even with Clinton nationally, and in some key battleground states as well. See the Suffolk poll out yesterday on Ohio, for example, "Suffolk University Ohio Poll Shows Trump and Clinton Tied at 44 Percent."

Hillary Clinton Expected to Choose Virginia Senator Tim Kaine for Veep

God, it's the year of the ultra-safe veep selections.

Clinton shoulda picked Warren. She's have declared war on the patriarchy and mollified the Bernie or Bust crowd.

At the New York Times, "Tim Kaine Seems Likely for Hillary Clinton’s No. 2, but Liberals Balk":

Tim Kaine may not be liberals’ first choice as Hillary Clinton’s No. 2 https://t.co/uRnRR8xC7q pic.twitter.com/CgSh9H1gyt

— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) July 22, 2016

"One group is already disappointed at the prospect of Mr. Kaine on the Democratic ticket: liberals" @amychozick https://t.co/hdaxXHJvDT

— Michael Tackett (@tackettdc) July 21, 2016

Democrats close to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign signaled strongly Thursday that she would choose Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate, rounding out the ticket with a popular politician from a battleground state.

Both former President Bill Clinton and the White House have expressed their support for Mr. Kaine, but aides cautioned that Mrs. Clinton had not yet made a final decision and that other candidates were still under consideration.

Mrs. Clinton is widely expected to announce her choice in an email to supporters while on a campaign swing in Florida on Friday afternoon, an attempt to regain momentum the day after her Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, accepted his party’s nomination in Cleveland. With Mr. Kaine emerging as a clear favorite, one group already expressed disappointment at the prospect of the former governor of Virginia joining the ticket: liberals.

Many of the groups that backed Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in his Democratic contest against Mrs. Clinton had hoped she would extend an olive branch to the liberal wing of the party and choose a vice-presidential candidate whose stances on Wall Street and global trade deals closely aligned with those of Mr. Sanders.

But with the Democratic National Convention beginning in Philadelphia on Monday, the prospects have dimmed for the two liberal senators who were being considered, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. That has led to more liberal scrutiny of Mr. Kaine’s record...

So bland. Yuck.

But hey, you don't want your veep showing you up.

Still more.

Donald Trump Gave the Speech of His Live — And Then Some!

At the New York Post:

Donald Trump needed to give the speech of his life — and he did that, and much more https://t.co/68WYuR5bfA pic.twitter.com/hpb01ar1FV

— New York Post (@nypost) July 22, 2016

TERRIFYING!

Well, that's one way to characterize it, but leftists are pretty much unified that Trump gave a fearsome speech. And some, for example, Van Jones and Sally Kohn, were terrified because it was so good.

In any case, here's Kash Hill, "Holy crap, Donald Trump’s RNC acceptance speech was TERRIFYING."

Ivanka Trump’s speech was inspiring. Donald Trump’s speech was terrifying. https://t.co/HxPGoSJn9O

— Kashmir Hill (@kashhill) July 22, 2016

Milo Yiannopoulos Responds to Orwellian Twitter Ban (VIDEO)

At InfoWars, "Milo Responds to Orwellian Twitter Ban."

Short excerpt here:

The Amount of Immigration Patriotism in Donald Trump's Speech is Amazing!

An interesting post, at V-Dare.

The #NeverTrump Crowd Must Bear Responsibility for a Hillary Clinton Presidency

At AoSHQ, "Yes, #NeverTrumpers, You Are In Fact Morally Responsible for the Hillary Clinton Presidency You're Agitating For."

RTWT at the link.

It's good.

Donald Trump's Speech to the Republican National Convention: #ImWithYou (VIDEO)

The full video is here, "Watch Presidential Candidate Donald Trump's Full Speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Donald Trump Accepts GOP Nomination, Promises to Fix America":

Donald Trump ended his party’s convention Thursday the way he began his history-making campaign: attacking the political establishment, playing to voters’ fears of foreigners and crime, and making bold promises to fix America’s ills.

“I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves,” said the first-time politician whose populist message helped him capture the Republican presidential nomination.

The speech, which ran more than an hour, painted a grim view of the U.S. economy and world affairs under President Barack Obama, and intensified the attack on the record of his rival Hillary Clinton.

“This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness,” he said.

He returned to familiar campaign themes of opposing international trade deals and cracking down on illegal immigration. He drew strong applause when he reiterated his desire to ban immigrants from nations “compromised by terrorism,” and departed from his prepared text to say, “We don’t want them in our country.”

He homed in on Mrs. Clinton, the one issue sure to galvanize Republicans in November. Arguing that her tenure as secretary of state under Mr. Obama fomented instability abroad, he said, “America is far less safe—and the world is far less stable—than when Obama made the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of America’s foreign policy,” he said. “I am certain it is a decision President Barack Obama truly regrets.”

Mr. Trump’s speech was the capstone of a tumultuous convention that exposed some of the risks he faces as he takes his unorthodox campaign into a general election campaign against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s well-funded and well-oiled machine.

Mr. Trump presented himself as uniquely equipped to lead the nation.

“Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it,” he said.

Citing recent episodes of gun violence and attacks on police officers, he put fresh emphasis on law and order.

“Beginning on January 20th of 2017, safety will be restored,” he said. “The first task for our new administration will be to liberate our citizens from the crime and terrorism and lawlessness that threaten our communities.”

Mr. Trump’s message has been honed before oversize crowds on the primary campaign trail. It is less clear how it will play in a tough general election ahead with a broader audience of swing voters. Testing that was one of the chief convention goals, along with trying to unite the party and broaden Mr. Trump’s personal profile...

Actually, it might go over pretty well. A CNN snap poll of those who viewed the speech showed 57 percent had a "very positive" reaction, and another 18 percent were "somewhat positive." Sure, some of that will face, but when Trump's on point, avoids side-harangues, and talks policy, he connects with voters.

But keep reading.

Pam Bondi Speech to the Republican National Convention #RNCinCLE (VIDEO)

I love her accent, and always have.

And she gives a fairly policy-oriented speech:

Republican National Committee Won't Post Ted Cruz's Full Speech to RNC’s YouTube Page

They've posted a snippet here, "We The People Constrain Government" - Sen Ted Cruz 2016 Republican National Convention."

But they're not posting the entire speech.

At Politico, "Cruz's full speech missing from RNC YouTube channel."

It was posted, however, at ABC News 15 Phoenix, "FULL SPEECH: Senator Ted Cruz BOOs & Cheers at the Republican National Convention."

Texas Delegates 'Disappointed' in Ted Cruz Snub of Donald Trump at #RNCinCLE (VIDEO)

Some Texas delegates stressed their disappointment to CBS News, which I posted earlier, "Ted Cruz Unleashes Fury with Donald Trump Snub at #RNCinCLE (VIDEO)."

But here's an even more detailed account, at Fox News, with Martha MacCallum, "Texas delegates 'disappointed' in Ted Cruz."

'Real Housewives' Star Joanna Krupa for Treats Magazine

At London's Daily Mail, "'It's pure art': Real Housewives of Miami vet Joanna Krupa stuns in nude photo shoot for treats! magazine as she weighs in on 'supermodel' debate."

More, "Joanna Krupa by Steve Shaw in Treats! Magazine Issue #11 Preview (2016)."

One of my fav shoots to date! Excited about this w @steveshawphoto https://t.co/hHWo1hpvx4

— Joanna Krupa (@joannakrupa) July 15, 2016

Stunning @joannakrupa 📸 by me for @treatsmagazine #issue11 @smudgestudiola - stylist @lisabae… https://t.co/F2BRMqLAUL

— steve shaw (@steveshawphoto) July 20, 2016

Margot Robbie Swimsuit Surfing Photos in Hawaii

I'm supposed to be taking my young son to see "Suicide Squad," heh.

Maybe this weekend.

Meanwhile, Ms. Margot is lovely:

Photo cred to the creepy pap hiding in the bushes. Thanks for always catching me at my best… https://t.co/bIPC89r1G3

— Margot Robbie (@MargotRobbie) July 21, 2016

Suicide Squad star Margot Robbie snapped surfing like a pro on holiday https://t.co/2DTRjnQEit pic.twitter.com/Wf96U9WvY2

— Mirror Celeb (@MirrorCeleb) July 21, 2016

Margot Robbie In a One Pierce Swimsuit Wipes Out Surfing in Hawaii https://t.co/TFvSQvH9ln pic.twitter.com/rpS9c7qxPk

— Celebzz (@celebzz_a) July 21, 2016

Cover star @MargotRobbie talks Leo, #SuicideSquad, "tall-poppy syndrome," and more https://t.co/9VNNZB6YW0

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) July 16, 2016

Margot Robbie hits the beach in a crocheted bikini! https://t.co/hszQYcPJI7

— People Magazine (@people) July 16, 2016

Samantha Hoopes on How to steal Third Base (VIDEO)

She's so sweet.



BONUS: "Samantha Hoopes topless see through Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016."

Charles Krauthammer: Ted Cruz Has 'Destroyed His Political Career...' (VIDEO)

I think so.

Watch, at Fox News, "Krauthammer: Cruz blew it by making non-endorsement personal."

The Question of GOP 'Party Unity' as Donald Trump Readies Acceptance Speech

Meh.

Who cares about "party unity" anyway. Isn't Trump all about blowing up the party?

At WaPo:

As Trump prepares to formally accept the GOP nomination, party unity remains in question https://t.co/zu5iLCfrDu

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 21, 2016

Laura Ingraham Brings Down the House at #RNCinCLE (VIDEO)

She was pretty awesome.

A freakin' rock star.

Watch the whole thing, "FULL SPEECH: WOW! Laura Ingraham brings down the house at Republican National Convention."



And for the related Twitter meme, picked up by plenty of MSM hacks, see Heat Street, "No, Laura Ingraham Didn’t Make a Nazi Salute With the Wrong Hand at the Republican Convention."

Jackie Johnson's Sunny and Hot Forecast

I'm about to turn on the air conditioning here.

It's going to be a scorcher today.

From the lovely Ms. Jackie, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Bwahaha! Juice Box Ezra Klein's Afraid for the First Time in His Life!

Because Donald Trump!

Look, we've been living a nightmare for nearly eight years under the Hussein administration. A Trump presidency's going to be like walking out of prison into the cool, cool breeze of freedom and prosperity.

But don't miss Ezra "juice box" Klein, at Vox:

Donald Trump’s nomination is the first time American politics has left me truly afraid https://t.co/EsB1fWq1Nc

— Vox (@voxdotcom) July 21, 2016

Tonight, Donald J. Trump will accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president of the United States. And I am, for the first time since I began covering American politics, genuinely afraid.

Donald Trump is not a man who should be president. This is not an ideological judgment. This is not something I would say about Mitt Romney or Marco Rubio. This is not a disagreement over Donald Trump’s tax plan or his climate policies. This is about Trump’s character, his temperament, his impulsiveness, his basic decency.

More.

So, I Guess Jim Hoft is Now Dead to Dana Loesch

Actually, I thought things were getting more or less back to normal on the right side of the polit-o-sphere, but I guess not. Ted Cruz really upended things last night:

. @gatewaypundit You are ridiculous. I never pledged anything. I regret ever being your friend. You are a horrible person.

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) July 21, 2016

'If you were new to the scene, you could be forgiven for thinking that National Review is some sort of leftist site that was created for the sole purpose of howling about Trump...'

I just don't read National Review. It's never been one of my favorites, but it's been forever dead to me since that anti-Trump special edition last years.

But see Bill Quick, "NRO: “Some Sort of Leftist Site…Created For the Sole Purpose of Howling About Trump”."

And I guess Jonah Golberg and his minions have launched some "I Choose Ted" hashtag.

Bleedin' idiots, the lot of them:

Indignant @JonahNRO is the best @JonahNRO. The day's must-read on Trump/Cruz. "I Choose Ted." https://t.co/rJ0Y3bSAUP #RNCinCLE

— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) July 21, 2016

Ted Cruz Unleashes Fury with Donald Trump Snub at #RNCinCLE (VIDEO)

Following-up from last night, "Ted Cruz Booed, Shouted Down After Refusing to Endorse Donald Trump at #RNCinCLE (VIDEO)."

At the New York Times, "Ted Cruz Is Heckled Again the Morning After His Non-Endorsement."

And at Breitbart, "Exclusive - Sarah Palin to Ted Cruz: Delete Your Career - Breitbart."

Also, at the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Ted Cruz Stirs Convention Fury in Pointed Snub of Donald Trump."

And here's Major Garrett, for CBS This Morning:

Ted Cruz is Dead to Me

Well, if you've been watching the Republican convention, you know what's up.

If not, this LAT headline pretty much nails it, "Republican convention dissolves into boos as Ted Cruz withholds endorsement of bitter rival Donald Trump."

There's video here, via AP, "Boos Fill Hall as Cruz Ends Convention Speech."

And on Twitter:

.@BreeSrsly Selfish prick Ted Cruz. He's dead to me. #RNCinCLE

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 21, 2016

Trump Adviser Al Baldasaro Says Clinton 'Should Be Put in the Firing Line and Shot for Treason...'

Heh.

I think this guy's being investigated by the FBI, lol.

Here's WaPo earlier, on Chris Christie's speech last night, "The GOP's new convention theme: 'Lock her up!'."

And from leftist goon Andrew Kaczynski, at BuzzFeed.

Looks like they went with the most unhinged photo they could find, heh:

Secret Service Investigating Trump Adviser Al Baldasaro Who Said Hillary Clinton Should Be 'Shot for Treason'https://t.co/rq1xarofJ1

— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) July 20, 2016

The End of a Murdoch Era

I concur with Chris Cillizza. It's a great read.

This is one hell of a Roger Ailes piecehttps://t.co/FUXnsQpxXq

— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) July 20, 2016

Donald Trump's Battleground Realignment

The key for me is if Trump wins in November. If so, I expect it'll be the beginning of a partisan realignment.

But see Ronald Brownstein, at the Atlantic, "Trump, Clinton, and the Realignment of Battleground States":

Why the Sunbelt & Rustbelt are changing places in @realDonaldTrump vs @HillaryClinton https://t.co/06MHRGm2hT https://t.co/OcUhWSKTbN

— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) July 18, 2016

CLEVELAND—The tumultuous 2016 presidential race appears poised to realign the states at the tipping point of American politics.

Since Bill Clinton’s first victory in 1992, Democratic presidential candidates have consistently run better in the aging, predominantly white and heavily blue-collar swing states clustered in the Rustbelt than in the younger, more diverse, and increasingly white-collar swing states arrayed across the Sunbelt. That pattern, in fact, has largely shaped presidential races since passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 fractured the century-long Democratic control of the “solid South.”

But now public polls and private assessments alike show Donald Trump running more strongly against Hillary Clinton in several of the key Rustbelt battlegrounds than in their Sunbelt counterparts.

With blue-collar whites providing the core of Trump’s support, the Rustbelt has emerged as his most—and perhaps only—plausible path to an Electoral College majority. Simultaneously, Democrats are increasingly viewing Sunbelt states that not long ago were considered safely Republican as the closest thing to a firewall for Clinton, largely because of the resistance to Trump among minorities and white-collar whites. “This shift was probably coming anyway because of the changing demographics of the Sunbelt, but Trump radically accelerates it on both ends,” said long-time Democratic strategist Paul Begala, a senior adviser to the pro-Clinton Priorities USA political action committee.

The trend was underlined last week by the release of a flurry of NBC/Marist College/Wall Street Journal polls that showed Trump even with Clinton in Ohio and just narrowly behind in Iowa, while lagging by virtually identical margins of six to nine percentage points in Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida in the Southeast, and Colorado in the Southwest.

Political strategists in both parties generally rank those four states, plus Nevada, as the five true swing states in the Sunbelt. New Mexico, a sixth Sunbelt state, was competitive during the George W. Bush years, but both sides now place it safely in the Democratic camp. Together, the five most competitive Sunbelt states offer 72 Electoral College votes (led by Florida with 29).

Likewise, strategists identify five Rustbelt states as key battlegrounds: Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. (The final state that both sides have treated as competitive in recent elections is New Hampshire, which is geographically distant from both clusters, but demographically and economically more closely resembles the battlegrounds in the Rustbelt than the Sunbelt.) The five Rustbelt battlegrounds offer 70 Electoral College votes (led by Pennsylvania with 20).

Just gaining ground in the Rustbelt won’t be enough for Trump if he can’t contain his losses in the Sunbelt. Even if Trump flipped all five of the Rustbelt swing states—each of which backed President Obama over Mitt Romney in 2012—he would still lose the election if he can’t win any of the five Sunbelt swing states, assuming no other states changed hands.

The shifting balance in these two key groups of swing states reflects, above all, the changing demography of each party’s electoral coalition. The working-class white voters underpinning Trump’s support represent a much larger share of the vote across the Rustbelt than the Sunbelt, whether using data from the exit polls or the Census post-election survey (which consistently identifies non-college whites as a large share of the electorate than the exit polls do). The Census results identify non-college whites as at least 54 percent of 2012 voters in all five Rustbelt states—and no more than 44 percent in any of the Sunbelt states. And except for Florida, the Rustbelt states, as a group, are also generally older, at a time when Republicans are dominating among whites older than 45.

Contrasting dynamics are molding the Sunbelt states. Diversity is the most important. The non-partisan States of Change project has projected that from 2008 to 2012 the minority share of eligible voters will rise by more in each of the Sunbelt swing states than in any of the Rustbelt battlegrounds, with the biggest increases registered in Nevada (a stunning 7.3 percentage points), Florida (4.5 points), and Colorado (4.3 points). In each of those states except Colorado, the States of Change model projects that the white share of eligible voters will dip below 70 percent in 2016. By contrast, the model projects that whites will still comprise at least 80 percent of eligible voters this year in all of the Rustbelt swing states except Michigan (where it will dip only to 78 percent).

Democrats have also benefited because college-educated whites, who have been grown warmer toward the party since the 1990s, generally comprise a larger share of the total white vote in the Sunbelt than Rustbelt battlegrounds. While the Census found that whites holding at least a four-year college degree represented only a third or less of all white voters in 2012 in Ohio, Iowa, and Michigan, they comprised at least 45 percent of all whites voting in Virginia and Colorado. (College whites clustered at 36 percent of the total white vote in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nevada and slightly above that in Florida and North Carolina). This dynamic may prove especially important this year with most national polls showing Clinton even or ahead of Trump among college-educated whites—a group no Democratic presidential nominee has carried in the history of modern polling dating back to 1952.

It’s possible that this evolving geography could tip other states from both buckets  into the competitive category. When the Trump campaign recently identified 17 states as 2016 battlegrounds in a private briefing for a group of congressional Republicans first reported by the Wall Street Journal, it included reliably Democratic Minnesota in the Rustbelt as a state it hoped to contest. It also identified Republican-leaning Arizona and Georgia in the Sunbelt as diverse states it would need to defend. (Somewhat incongruously, it also included red-tinted Missouri and Indiana from the Rustbelt as states it thought it might need to protect.) But at this point few Democrats—including inside Clinton’s campaign—say they believe any of those will become truly competitive.

Obama’s two victories signaled growing Democratic strength in the Sunbelt, but despite some early party fears, displayed no erosion in the Rustbelt: Compared to the 1992 to 2004 period, Obama improved on the Democratic performance in both groups of states. This year, though, the polling raises the possibility that Trump could advance in the Rustbelt and retreat in the Sunbelt, leaving Clinton potentially more reliant on the latter than the former. That would mark a major reversal...

Ted Cruz Wants His Reagan Moment (VIDEO)

Well, it's going to be interesting, no doubt.

Watch, Fox News, "Lisa Boothe: Ted Cruz wants RNC to be his Reagan moment."

New Britney Spears Photos

Hey, good for her. She's doing really well.

Britney Spears shows off her sexy curves in a very revealing outfit https://t.co/8vedTUM8Gj pic.twitter.com/DSBmAt1pia

— Page 3 (@officialpage3) July 12, 2016

Britney Spears looks seriously toned promoting her new single 'Make Me' https://t.co/UuvBn88nPC pic.twitter.com/kPcU1d4HUu

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) July 16, 2016

Louise Mensch Argues Melania Trump's Plagiarism 'Was Obviously Deliberate...'

I doubt it was deliberate.

My argument's that this faux-scandal wasn't going to hurt (and would probably help) the Trump campaign.

But see Louise, at Heat Street:

Melania Speech Steal Was Obviously Deliberate—Why Are We Falling for It? https://t.co/MODUaCL552 <~~ how right was I about this? #RNCinCLE

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) July 20, 2016

Cassandra Fairbanks to Back Donald Trump Over Hillary Clinton (VIDEO)

She's a vile woman, but weirdly she's coming over to Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.

A career demonstrator, folks might remember my run-ins with "Cassandra Rules" from a couple of years ago. She will use violence to intimidate opponents. I don't like her at all, and conservatives should steer clear of the bitch.

Here:

Why I will board the #TrumpTrain over supporting Hillary Clinton, part 1
.https://t.co/QLIkW7QgEr

— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) June 26, 2016

Look who I found. ❤
Free this fabulous fucker @nero. #FreeMilo pic.twitter.com/XW6JkqnkBK

— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) July 20, 2016

I honestly think the DNC protests will be worse than the ones here. People are far madder about Dems tipping scales for Clinton.

— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) July 20, 2016

Communist Protesters Burn American Flag at #RNCinCLE

I'm not sure why the police wouldn't let them burn the flag, other than the cops stepping in to protect the leftists from getting their heads knocked off. They have to right to burn 'em. Indeed, the folks doing it are apparently the same folks behind the 1989 Supreme Court decision in Texas v. Johnson.

Good times, in any case.

At Free Beacon (video).

And from Carolyn Cole, for LAT:

Outside #RNCinCLe a group of protesters tried to burn two flags; riot police moved in to arrest at least 8 people. pic.twitter.com/WRPf7UdluF

— Carolyn Cole (@Carolyn_Cole) July 20, 2016

More here, from ABC News 15 Phoenix, "ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE AT REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION: FLAG BURNING - FLAG BURNERS - SCARY."

Those #NeverTrump Folks are Pretty Hardcore

Heh, just wow.

pic.twitter.com/atXbLEbfS6

— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) July 20, 2016

Historic Boxing Promoter Don King Backs Donald Trump for President (VIDEO)

Crazy good times, lol.

Via Ruptly, "Tear this system apart."

Deal of the Day: The X-Files: Complete Series Collector's Set

At Amazon, The X-Files: Complete Series Collector's Set + The Event Bundle [Blu-ray].

Plus, from Michael Barone, Hard America, Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Battle for the Nation's Future.

And Ann Coulter, Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America.

More, from Katie Pavlich, Assault and Flattery: The Truth About the Left and Their War on Women.

Kate Obenshain, Divider-in-Chief: The Fraud of Hope and Change.

From Michelle Malkin, Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies.

David Limbaugh, The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama's War on the Republic.

BONUS: Kurt Schlichter, Conservative Insurgency.

'Trump's slogan is make America great again. Hillary's slogan is make America California without the nice beaches...'

Not a great endorsement of California, but hey, I'm stuck here for at least another 10 years and my retirement, lol.

It's Ann Coulter, "Ann Coulter warns California Republicans the nation could turn into California."

. @AnnCoulter says she hasn't watched a minute of #RNCinCLE , is only here 'about town' pic.twitter.com/AwXUtEZ77p

— David Siders (@davidsiders) July 20, 2016

Devin Brugman and Natasha Oakley at Miami Swim Week 2016

Ms. Devin's my top candidate for American Power's woman of the year for 2016, heh.

For us, it's always swim week 😎 @abikiniaday pic.twitter.com/IW0O04Uv5f

— Devin Brugman (@devinbrugman) July 19, 2016

🌞🌞🌞🌞 pic.twitter.com/ZdaWTihXk1

— Devin Brugman (@devinbrugman) July 18, 2016

Surrounded by bikinis and couldn't be happier 🤗👙💕 @tashoakley @abikiniaday #miamiswimweek pic.twitter.com/pYw2hq1Omy

— Devin Brugman (@devinbrugman) July 18, 2016

Are you guys watching the @glamourmag snapchat? 👙💕🌴We've taken over!!! Follow them for a look into Miami Swim Week! pic.twitter.com/ZTxOZ19UjD

— A Bikini A Day (@ABikiniADay) July 16, 2016

My favorite part about Miami Swim Week is going to the runway shows 😍 @abikiniaday #tashanddevmiamiswim pic.twitter.com/Wz9f8OkDxw

— Devin Brugman (@devinbrugman) July 16, 2016

Pixie Lott

At Galore:

I shot @PixieLott for @TheGaloreMag with @loubymc!! See the feature and full shoot here https://t.co/ljgiySYgDW 📷💕✨ pic.twitter.com/VgglJEa8AF

— Hannah Diamond (@Hannahdiamond_) July 20, 2016

#BreakfastatTiffanys crazy💎💎@jeffreestar so funnn - love that you have a shade in our show colour💎wearing @Dior pic.twitter.com/04AAGvl2EU

— Pixie Lott (@PixieLott) July 15, 2016

Pixie Lott ( @PixieLott ) 😍 pic.twitter.com/w7Ipz4caeK

— TCP1 (@TheCelebPhotos1) July 20, 2016

Pixie Lott 😍 pic.twitter.com/3NJctZ09kt

— Babe Land (@BabeLand1) July 17, 2016

Geert Wilders Endores Donald Trump at 'Gays for Trump' Party at #RNCinCLE (VIDEO)

You gotta love it!

Via Ruptly:

Braless Millennials is New Fashion Trend

They're not burning their bras, like in the 1960s, so I guess going braless is about as rebellious as they're going to get.

Rebellion for the selfie age.

At USA Today, "Why Millennials are going braless":

Why #Millennials are going braless. https://t.co/jLjEOohSHX They got nothing else to get fired up about?

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 20, 2016

Photos: Kendall Jenner Frees Her Pierced Nipples in NYC with Hailey Baldwin and Gigi Hadid https://t.co/Q7wWTFuOlY pic.twitter.com/FRyAS3EpuV

— Hype Life Magazine (@HYPELIFEmedia) June 26, 2016

Buying a first bra has long been considered a rite of passage for young women. These days, however, it’s the ditching of the undergarment (or wearing wire-free versions) that's empowering female Millennials.

Sure, going braless is nothing new — the concept is at least as old as the women’s liberation movement of the '60s — but young women today aren’t doing it with quite the political fervor as their feminist predecessors. Today, pushing back from push-ups — by wearing an unstructured bra or no bra at all — is a personal triumph, a choice to be comfortable and a trendy move. ShopStyle.com reports a 56% increase this year to date in shopper searches for bralettes alone.

For Victoria's Secret, the trend presents challenges. The retailer's parent company, L Brands Inc., gets about a third of its revenue from bras. L Brands’ shares are down nearly 30% this year so far. Analysts expect adjusted profit to fall 6.3% in the current fiscal year compared with last fiscal year’s levels, says S&P Global Market Intelligence.

According to Gabriella Santaniello, an analyst focused on fashion at A-Line Partners, "(Victoria's Secret's) message has been a very in-your-face sexy message for so many years: You need a push-up, you need to be sexy, models stick out their hip. Now, it’s good to be natural — so they’re a little late to the game."

Going natural and “not wearing a bra is a choice I find empowering and fun, but I think there’s less passion behind it (than when burning bras was done out of political protest),” says poet Savannah Brown, 19 from London, whose popular YouTube video “sav’s guide to going braless” has over half a million views. “It’s just a day-to-day choice (to skip bras or wear bralettes only). It doesn’t play a huge role in my ideology. It’s more of a quiet protest.” ...

The likes of Kendall Jenner, Demi Lovato, Jennifer Lawrence and Rihanna have been photographed in a number of bra-free outfits, from Jenner's thin black shirts shown on Instagram, to Lovato's nothing-under-her-jacket ensembles on the red carpet, Lawrence's bralette style at movie premieres and Rihanna's braless tour attire.

Costume designer Cynthia Summers, who works on Lifetime’s UnReal and Bravo’s Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, has incorporated bralette and bra-less looks into her shows..

Girlfriends’ character Phoebe (played by Beau Garrett), who lives in Silver Lake, Calif. and favors low-cut boho-dresses, “is pretty much braless all the time,” says Summers.

Speechwriter Takes Responsibility for Melania Trump's Plagiarism (VIDEO)

There's video with Andrea Mitchell, at MSNBC, "Donald Trump Rejects Speechwriter's Resignation."

At the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Melania Trump's Speechwriter Takes Responsibility for Lifted Remarks."

Melania Trump’s speechwriter took responsibility for lifting phrases from Michelle Obama: "This was my mistake." https://t.co/76Ii9Cwjjr

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 20, 2016

And at USA Today, "Trump aide takes responsibility for Melania speech":

A Trump aide has taken responsibility for Melania Trump’s speech, saying she offered to resign but Trump rejected it https://t.co/ZSRrQp5rk6

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 20, 2016

Meredith McIver, an in-house staff writer from the Trump Organization, releases statement on Melania speech pic.twitter.com/mWuPKmjsbn

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 20, 2016

CLEVELAND — A Trump aide has taken responsibility for the controversy over Melania Trump’s speech, saying she offered to resign but Trump rejected it.

In a statement released by the Trump campaign, in-house staff writer (and ghostwriter of multiple books authored by Donald Trump) Meredith McIver said it “was my mistake.”

It took two days for the Trump campaign to even acknowledge that parts of the speech were the same as first lady Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic convention speech. As recently as Wednesday morning, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was denying the overlap in an interview on CNN.

But the press around the speech and the campaign's denial of the obvious overlap in wording was proving to be a significant distraction for the Trump campaign  — although just before McIver's statement, the Republican presidential nominee tweeted that "all press is good press!"

The Rise of a Judo Queen

At WSJ, "How an American Took Down Judo":

As Kayla Harrison, the only American to win a gold medal in judo, prepared for the Rio Olympics at her coach’s dojo in Wakefield, Mass., in March, she spent most of the morning wrestling on the mat. She practiced pins, chokes, armlocks and other submission moves. In judo, this is called “newaza,” or grappling techniques. Unlike the match-ending throws that lift competitors off their feet and slam them down, newaza isn’t flashy or explosive. In American judo, it’s a religion.

“All over the world, I’ve been to so many training camps and they’ll do three rounds of newaza randori, which is sparring, and then they’ll do 10 rounds of standing sparring,” Harrison said. “That’s where they’re weak, so that’s where we should get good. And we are.”

At the London Games four years ago, three American judokas reached the semifinals of their competitions. Marti Malloy won a bronze in the 125.5-pound division. Harrison, who weighs 165 pounds and competes in the 172-pound division, won gold and has since become the top-ranked judoka in the world for her weight class. She said this would be her last Olympic Games. If she decides to join the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed martial arts competition, she could earn millions. For now, she seems to be leaning toward a life in judo.

“Do I really want to start all over in another sport and have a completely new athletic career at the age of 26?” she said. “I don’t know. I want to stay involved in judo.”

Under current UFC weight classes, Harrison—5 feet 8 inches, broad-shouldered and all muscle—would have to lose 30 pounds. UFC competitors, like Bellator MMA, have higher weight classes.

“Obviously we’re aware of her,” said Dana White, president of the UFC, through a spokesman. “We’ll see what happens.”

Harrison could remain in judo—as a promoter. Until now, the sport’s governing body, USA Judo, has sold few tickets and sponsorships to its national tournament. But it recently signed an agreement for Harrison to run the national championships for five years starting in 2018.

To win gold in Rio, Harrison will need four or five consecutive wins—all in the same day (each fight lasts four minutes). Her event is scheduled for Aug. 11. She’s by no means a lock. Harrison lost early in last year’s world championships and won a bronze in 2014...

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