Cuck Conservatives Flock to the Progressives

Remember my post from the other day, "Louise Mensch Implores Me to Come Back to the Light."

I pretty much made my case for Trump at the post, but to reiterate the main point: My vote this November is a vote against the left, and to add to it, those so-called conservative "#NeverTrump" goons are frankly working to get Hillary elected, which would be essentially a third term for Obama.

If you're conservative, you're certainly not going to vote for the Democrats.

In any case, see Bill Quick's post, "Vox Day Eviscerates Andrew Klavan":

Vox Popoli: Conservatism in ruins:

It very much looks to me right now as if Trump is going to lose this election on pure incompetence and mean spirit. That might actually make it easier for conservatives to regroup in the ruins of the Republican Party. If he wins, we may need a new party of our own. But whichever way things go, I think we need to open a discussion about how conservatives can not only remain conservative but also win elections in modern America.

Is he even watching the political conventions? This sort of wishful thinking is why no one should bother paying any attention to a cuckservative like Klavan now or in the future. Conservatism is dying. Its diseased remnants are flocking to the progressives, as we always knew they would. And we watch them go with dry eyes and a grim smile, because we don’t need a bunch of useless cucks and moderates who were always happier shooting at their own side than the enemy.

I have never been a conservative. I will never be a conservative. I am delighted to see the conservative movement crumbling into dust. Conservatives conserve nothing, accomplish nothing, and stand for nothing. They will not defend the Church, they will not defend America, and they will not defend the West.

The Alt Right will. Join us, if you have the steel.

I gave up on the formal “conservative” movement a while back, when I realized that Hot Air was an apt name for what almost all of them were spouting, and than almost none of those politicians they supported ever had any intention of winning the war for America that the Leftists and other Democrats were waging on them...

Still more.

Michael Ramirez on the Normandy Jihad Attack

Here, "Normandy Church Attack 07-26-16":

STANDING w FRANCE on Ramirez website: #tcothttps://t.co/gytrW4qbRh
Facebook:https://t.co/WeX1G9jwDl pic.twitter.com/2rMeS5XMP7

— Michael Ramirez (@Ramireztoons) July 15, 2016

Once again, the vile and wretched refuse of mankind have attacked the innocent.
​
Our prayers go out for the families of Father Jacques Hamel, and the nun who is fighting for her life. We pray. Our prayers go out for the people of ​France and for people everywhere who have fallen victim to these heinous acts of terror.

The terrorists who continue to commit these brutal acts, attacking an 84 year old priest and a nun, demonstrate what they truly are, cowards, who prey on the weak, helpless and defenseless.
​
As I have written before, these tragedies expose "those who subvert religion to justify brutal acts of barbarity. Only when the world can see these animals for what they truly are will the world unite against these emissaries of death and destruction."

But before you can go after evil, you must define it. It goes by many names; ISIS, ISIL, lone wolf, DAESH... but they all share one thing in common, the celebration of death in the name of radical Islam.

We pray for those who have been touched by terror.

More.

Helpless Europe

Following-up, "'Shock' in France as 'Soldier' of Islamic State Murders Priest, Takes Nuns Hostage (VIDEO)."

Yes, Europeans are helpless as long as they refuse to grasp the reality of the situation, and of course socialist France won't do it. Perhaps Marine will be elected to the presidency next year, and they'll have a chance.

Meanwhile, here's Bret Stephens, at WSJ, "Is Europe Helpless?" (via Israel Matzav):

At last count, members of the European Union spent more than $200 billion a year on defense, fielded more than 2,000 jet fighters and 500 naval ships, and employed some 1.4 million military personnel. More than a million police officers also walk Europe’s streets. Yet in the face of an Islamist menace the Continent seems helpless. Is it?

Was France helpless in May 1940?

Let’s stipulate that a van barreling down a seaside promenade isn’t a Panzer division, and that a few thousand ISIS fighters scattered from Mosul to Marseilles aren’t another Wehrmacht. But as in France in 1940, Europe today displays the same combination of doctrinal rigidity and loss of will that allowed an Allied army of 144 divisions to be routed by the Germans in six weeks. The Maginot Line of “European values” won’t prevail over people who recognize none of those values.

So much was made clear by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who remarked after the Nice attack that “France is going to have to live with terrorism.” This may have been intended as a statement of fact but it came across as an admission that his government isn’t about to rally the public to a campaign of blood, toil, tears and sweat against ISIS—another premature capitulation in a country that has known them before.

Mr. Valls was later booed at a memorial service for the Nice victims. It would be heartening to think this was because he and his boss, President François Hollande, have failed to forge a strategy to destroy ISIS. But the public’s objection was that there hadn’t been enough cops along the Promenade des Anglais to stop the attack. In soccer terms, it’s a complaint about the failure of defense, not the lack of a proper offense.

Then there is Germany, site of three terror attacks in a week. It seems almost like a past epoch that Germans welcomed a million Middle Eastern migrants in an ecstasy of moral self-congratulation, led by Angela Merkel’s chant of “We can do it!” Last summer’s slogan now sounds as dated and hollow as Barack Obama’s “Yes we can!”

Now Germany will have to confront a terror threat that will make the Baader-Meinhof gang of the 1970s seem trivial. The German state is stronger and smarter than the French one, but it also surrenders more easily to moral intimidation. The idea of national self-preservation at all costs will always be debatable in a country seeking to expiate an inexpiatable sin.

Thus the question of whether Europe is helpless...

Keep reading.

'Shock' in France as 'Soldier' of Islamic State Murders Priest, Takes Nuns Hostage (VIDEO)

We're almost to one attack a day in Europe alone. It's long been the case that we see daily Islamic attacks around the world.

The sad thing is that people in France are "shocked" that there's now yet another jihadist slaughter of the innocents.

At the leftist Guardian U.K., "France in shock again after Isis murder of priest in Normandy: One of the attackers who killed Father Jacques Hamel during mass has been named as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche."

But see London's Daily Mail, "First picture of one of ISIS knifemen who forced elderly priest, 84, to kneel at altar before they slit his throat on camera after invading Mass - then gave 'Arabic sermon' before they were shot dead by police.

Really, be sure to scroll through at Daily Mail. The picture of President Hollande embracing Mayor Hubert Wulfranc fully encapsulates the current crisis of French politics. How long can a society pledged to tolerance and diversity hold out? I'd say the earlier proposal to strip French citizenship from jihadists needs to be given fresh air. And the prison camp on Devil's Island should be opened as a French Guantánamo.

Robert Spencer comments, at Jihad Watch:

“Allahu akbar” is such a constant of jihad attacks that every time it is shouted, it is bearing witness not only to the fact that the murder in question is being committed in the name of Islam and in accord with its teachings, but also to the fact that Western authorities are resolute in their refusal to acknowledge the motivating ideology of the enemy, and thus are abjectly ill-equipped to deal with it adequately.

And as for Hollande saying that France is at war with the Islamic State, we have heard French and other Western officials say that before. But they don’t act as if they mean it...

Well, as I asked above, what will it take? I suspect it'll take Marine Le Pen's accession to the Élysée Palace in Paris. I have no worry that she'd fail to protect the French national interest.

In any case, more headlines:

* Atlas Shrugs, "Muslims SHOUTED ALLAHU AKBAR as they BEHEADED PRIEST in Normandy CHURCH, Nun fighting for her life, STORMED Morning MASS."

*Bare Naked Islam, "FRANCE: Islamic terrorists shouting “Allahu Akbar” slits throat of 84-year-old priest."

* Blazing Cat Fur, "Islamist Knifemen Forced Priest, 84, To Kneel Before They Slit His Throat On Camera: Jihadists Carry Out Slaughter In Church Then Give ‘Arabic Sermon’… And Now Hollande Says ‘We’re At War With ISIS’."

* iOWNTHEWORLD, "Priest murdered during Mass in terror attack on Catholic church in France."

* Legal Insurrection, "Priest in France murdered by ISIS terrorists."

Expect updates.

WikiLeaks Dismantling of #DNC is Clear Attack by Putin on Clinton

Following-up from yesterday, "Is Donald Trump a Vladimir Putin Plant?"

From John Schindler, at the New York Observer:

EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Kremlin's covert operation via Wikileaks to destroy Hillary + the DNC & elect Donald Trump.https://t.co/ezoTER1v3D

— John Schindler (@20committee) July 25, 2016

The recent Wikileaks dump of 20,000 emails belonging to the Democratic National Committee has caused political sensation and scandal on a grand scale. These internal communications reveal nothing flattering about the DNC or Hillary Clinton, who is set to be anointed as the Democrats’ presidential nominee at their party convention in Philadelphia that gets underway with fanfare today.

Wikileaks has thrown an ugly wrench into Hillary’s coronation. DNC emails reveal a Clinton campaign that’s shady and dishonest, not to mention corrupt. Its secret dealings with Hillary’s opponents—whether Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump—have been distasteful and possibly illegal. To say this is an unflattering portrayal of Team Clinton is like saying the Titanic had issues with ice.

The ramifications of this massive leak are already serious. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the embattled DNC chair, has been forced to tender her resignation in advance of the party conclave in Philadelphia, while Senator Sanders, who’s been revealed as the target of much aggressive DNC attention during the Democratic primary campaign, stated he was “not shocked but I’m disappointed” by the Wikileaks revelations. The Democrats are anything but united now as they prepare to take on Donald Trump and the Republicans.

On the eve of the four-day Democratic convention extravaganza, this data-dump could not have been timed better to damage Hillary and her efforts to move back into the White House this November. Although it’s doubtful that leaked RNC internal emails would make any more pleasant a read for the public, Clinton will emerge from this tarred with the indelible brush of corruption and collusion with her party’s leadership to fix the Democratic presidential nomination.

Wikileaks has delivered as promised on its public threats of damaging Team Clinton with hacked emails. Although the DNC can’t deny that many of the leaked messages appear authentic—they wouldn’t have forced the chair’s resignation if they were fake, obviously—there remains the important question of how the vaunted “privacy organization” got its hands on them.

It turns out there’s hardly any mystery there. It’s no secret that the DNC was recently subject to a major hack, one which independent cybersecurity experts easily assessed as being the work of Russian intelligence through previously known cut-outs. One of them, called COZY BEAR or APT 29, has used spear-phishing to gain illegal access to many private networks in the West, as well as the White House, the State Department, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year. Another hacking group involved in the attack on the DNC, called FANCY BEAR or APT 28, is a well-known Russian front, as I’ve previously profiled.

These bears didn’t make much efforts to hide their DNC hack—in one case leaving behind a Russian name in Cyrillic as a signature—and Kremlin attribution has been confirmed by independent analysis by a second cybersecurity firm.

The answer then is simple: Russian hackers working for the Kremlin cyber-pilfered the DNC then passed the purloined data, including thousands of unflattering emails, to Wikileaks, which has shown them to the world...

I'm getting a little more sold on the idea that Russia's behind the hack, although not so much that Trump's a Putin plant.

But keep reading.

Emily Ratajkowski Poses for Harper's Bazaar's August Issue

At Harper's, "EMILY RATAJKOWSKI'S NAKED AMBITION: The actress sits down with the famed feminist author Naomi Wolf to discuss sexuality, shaming, and the notorious Kim Kardashian selfie."

Alan Grayson Threatens to Have Reporter Arrested After Question About Domestic Abuse Allegations

You know, watching all the communist and NoKo sympathizers out there in Philly, I think threats of jail time have now become the default Democrat Party position on uncomfortable press inquiries.

At Twitchy, "Roll tape! Rep. Alan Grayson threatens to have reporter arrested after question about domestic abuse allegations."

Also, "Dana Loesch calls out Florida man *cough Alan Grayson cough* for two DECADES of domestic abuse."

She's tweeting the story out today from Politico:

Florida man accused of beating wife for two decades: https://t.co/gc1nEjKWpx cc @AlanGrayson

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) July 26, 2016

Ireland Baldwin for Treats Magazine

At London's Daily Mail, "Bombshell! Ireland Baldwin shows off her stunning figure as she poses nude in sexy photos for treats! magazine."

And at WWTDD, "Ireland Baldwin Topless."

If the Election Were Held Today Donald Trump Would Likely Win!

Now that's what I'm talking about!

You know, he did get a nice post-convention bounce, heh.

At the Hill, "Nate Silver: Trump would likely win if election were held today" (via Memeorandum).

If the election were today, Trump would likely win. But Clinton's still favored long-term: https://t.co/2uB2oqpXy4 pic.twitter.com/HUTQMaVrBx

— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) July 25, 2016

Finally catching up to the old crook... #CrookedHillary pic.twitter.com/WF3TLMY0hc

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) July 25, 2016

Protesters Proudly Wave North Korean Flag Outside Democrat National Convention in Philly (PHOTO)

Just saw this from Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "CHAOS! COMMUNISTS, ENVIRONMENTALISTS, TRUMP HATERS, BERNIE BACKERS, THOUSANDS PROTEST DNC PHILADELPHIA. JUST ONE GROUP MISSING: HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTERS, claims the London Daily Mail."

And that reminded me of Tania Gail's tweet:

Why the North Korean flag at a Bernie rally? pic.twitter.com/U4qZUl9340

— Tania Gail (@TaniaGailPhotos) July 26, 2016

Leftists love Stalinists. https://t.co/UJccMzLPS0

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 26, 2016

Tania's a Philly native.

She's blogging the convention. See, "Day One: Bernie Rally Meets Mississippi Flag."

U.S. and European Elites Just Not Equipped to Deal With Islam's Insurgency

Well, that's pretty obvious by now.

But see Blazing Cat Fur:

The terror attacks in Nice and Wurzburg are the latest manifestations of what should now be seen as a still fairly low-level Islamist insurgency taking place in a number of west European countries. The fact that this insurgency has been allowed to kindle itself and slowly emerge before now bursting forth represents a profound failure of Western European political culture and of the continent’s elites.

This is not merely a matter of poor police or intelligence work. Rather, it is the culmination of a long process of enfeeblement. The Islamist insurgency is a disease attacking an already weakened body which lacks the means to defend itself...

Trump Stumps the Establishment

Seen on Twitter:

Establishment Trumps People every time; Trump Stumps Establishment, everytime. #DEMSINPHILLY RETWEET #RETWEET pic.twitter.com/iIve2QbBBT

— ⚓ I'm With You ™ (@ImWithYou010) July 25, 2016

Bernie Sanders' Supporters Bawling at #DemConvention #DemsInPhilly #CrookedHillary (VIDEO)

At Heat Street, "Bernie Babies: Sanders Supporters Weep Openly at DNC as Their Candidate Gives His Final Speech."

And watch, at Ruptly, "USA: Cheers and tears as Sanders endorses Clinton at the DNC."

Still more, from Michelle Malkin:

Crying Peter Pan Guy is about to become an Internet Thing.#feelthebern#DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/kLxSIHaZuY

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) July 26, 2016

How Democrat Party Staffers Used Anti-Gay Slurs, Mocked the Name of a Black Assistant, and Created Sexist Craigslist Job Post to Shame Donald Trump

Nasty stuff.

At London's Daily Mail, "Revealed: How DNC staffers under Wasserman Schultz used anti-gay slurs, mocked the name of an African-American assistant and created a sexist Craigslist job post to humiliate Donald Trump."

Democrats are terrible people Horrible.

Protesters Chanting 'Off With Her Head' at #DemConvention #DemsInPhilly #CrookedHillary

Hey, it was a pretty rowdy first night, and lord knows you've got some Jacobins out in the streets.

At Vice News:

Outside the convention, protestors are flying a Bernie Sanders flag and chanting "Off with her head"https://t.co/au9SdOWveR

— VICE News (@vicenews) July 26, 2016

Democrat Chaos in Philadelphia!

At the New York Post:

DNC disarray is the foreshadowing of a Clinton administration https://t.co/Lrrd2XX5VH pic.twitter.com/U3Q8VxYQV2

— New York Post (@nypost) July 26, 2016

Jessica Alba Flaunts Toned Bikini Body During Hawaii Vacation

At London's Daily Mail:

Jessica Alba shows off her perfect figure in a pineapple bikini on her family vacation https://t.co/QvdE8W6ReE pic.twitter.com/n3GCSVJjLE

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) July 21, 2016

Democrats Divided as Convention Starts (VIDEO)

The Wall Street Journal's got an excellent live blog, "After email hack, Sanders supporters reluctant to unite."

The Bernie Bros are not pleased their man urged backing for Clinton:

Is Donald Trump a Vladimir Putin Plant?

Heh.

It's Julia Ioffe, at Foreign Policy, "Is Trump a Russian Stooge?":

Is Trump a Putin plant? In short, no.

My latest: https://t.co/0cBeDB7Kjz

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) July 25, 2016

That blinding flash of light you saw this weekend? That was the byproduct of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the American media’s two greatest obsessions, fusing into a single intoxicating storyline after the Democratic National Committee’s internal emails were hacked and made public with the apparent assistance of Russian hackers, and to the apparent glee of the Republican nominee. The conventional wisdom, after sifting through all the evidence, has reached a verdict, and it’s that Trump is Putin’s stooge, a veritable plant through which Putin plans to take over the United States.

Okay, I exaggerate. But not by much...

RTWT.

Deal of the Day: Hoover WindTunnel 3 Pro Pet Bagless Upright Vacuum

At Amazon, Hoover WindTunnel 3 Pro Pet Bagless Upright Vacuum, UH70931PC - Corded.

Also, KIND Bars, Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt, Gluten Free, 1.4 Ounce Bars, 12 Count.

And, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 6 Feet (1.8 Meters) - White.

Today only, FitDesk Under Desk Elliptical $99.99.

More, from Isabel Hull, Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practices of War in Imperial Germany.

Also, Tim Snyder, Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning.

Logan Beirne, Blood of Tyrants: George Washington & the Forging of the Presidency.

And, Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom.

BONUS: Fergus Bordewich, Killing the White Man's Indian: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century.

Surge of Terror in Germany

From Noah Rothman, at Commentary, "Germany’s Terror Wave":

Germany’s Terror Wave - by @noahcrothman https://t.co/3AVz0BmqGN pic.twitter.com/0xghjwl7k6

— Commentary Magazine (@Commentary) July 25, 2016

All young men; all of Middle Eastern or South Central Asian descent, with varying but generally modest levels of assimilation into Western society. Each was attracted to death cultism—be it of an Islamist or secular variety. Three of these four attackers were known to members of the psychological community and had at one point sought or received help for mental imbalances. None of it was apparently sufficient to prevent the worst.

What the effects of this new wave of terror will be on German and European political culture are not yet clear, but it is a safe bet that the kind of nationalist political backlash gathering support in France will soon materialize in Germany. And without a will to defeat the forces of radicalization abroad, Europeans will have little recourse but to bar the door and keep a watchful eye on their neighbors through lace curtains. Ultimately, that will only intensify the sense of paranoia that Europeans are already justifiably feeling today. The continent is under attack, and it’s only a matter of time before passivity is no longer an option.

Hillary Clinton Inherits a Far-Left Democrat Party in Philadelphia

Well, the Democrat National Convention is finally underway.

Things didn't start out as smoothly as folks would like, I'm sure. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been banished from the proceedings and a major anti-Hillary protest was raging earlier today outside the Wells Fargo Center in Philly.

Only the most dishonest partisan hacks would deny that the Democrats today are in fact a far left-wing party pushing an openly socialist, identity-based agenda. I think the only ones now just noting it are the establishment journalists in the mainstream press. And even then, reporters still insist on calling radical leftist ideologues "liberals." It's pretty maddening.

In any case, the Wall Street Journal provides a pretty decent overview on the front page of the paper today.

See, "Hillary Clinton to Take Command of a Changed Democratic Party":

When Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic nomination on Thursday, she will take command of a party that has little in common with the one she and her husband rode to the White House a quarter-century ago.

The party she will inherit is less white and more liberal. It is better educated and not as willing to compromise with Republicans. Many Democrats today aren’t convinced capitalism is the best economic model or that socialism is taboo.

Nor is the party entirely sold on its new leader. A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll this month showed 45% of registered Democrats and those who lean in that direction would have preferred a nominee not named Hillary Clinton.

“I’m in the hold-your-nose-and-vote-for-Hillary-Clinton camp,” said Jason Frerichs, a Democratic Party county chairman in southwestern Iowa.

Behind the party’s evolution are seismic shifts that have threatened to sweep aside the pro-business, centrist brand of politics the Clintons long embodied. Those same forces could make it tougher for Mrs. Clinton to govern from the center should she win in November.

Working-class white voters once loyal to the Democratic Party have gravitated to the Republicans over the past two decades, drawn by the GOP’s stance on guns, immigration and other social issues.

Amid the exodus, Democrats have moved left.

Only 30% of Democrats considered themselves liberal in 1994, the second year of Bill Clinton’s presidency. That figure had nearly doubled by 2014, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

With minorities, 20-somethings and college-educated voters making up a bigger chunk of the party, some Democrats are questioning tenets that once seemed inviolate. Take capitalism. An Iowa poll early this year showed more than four-in-10 likely Democratic caucus-goers in a state with an outsize influence on the nomination battle described themselves as socialist.

Watching these trends, some Democrats are uneasy. They fear the party will continue to lose state and local contests unless it makes an ideological course correction. For all of President Barack Obama’s electoral success, the party lost more than 80 House and Senate seats under his watch.

“The party has moved steadily left because of the surge of liberal populism, and that has caused the party to be in complete free fall at the subpresidential level,” said Jonathan Cowan, president of the centrist Democratic think tank, Third Way.

“The party is going to have to realize that to get and hold a sustained majority and enact solutions that are even remotely politically feasible, it’s going to have to move toward the center,” he said.

The draft party platform that Democrats approved at a two-day meeting in Orlando, Fla., highlights the sharp left turn the party has taken since Mr. Clinton held the White House 20 years ago.

The 1996 Democratic platform celebrated free-trade deals; the proposed new platform says they don’t “live up to the hype.” Bill Clinton’s platform embraced the death penalty; the new one would do away with it. The old platform boasted of building new prison cells; the 2016 version calls for “ending the era of mass incarceration.”

Eyeing the changes over the last generation, Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducts the Journal survey with Democrat Fred Yang, said: “These are two radically different parties.”

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign declined to comment.

She has signaled she isn’t about to govern in accordance with her party’s liberal faction. In naming a running mate, she passed over both Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts for the more moderate Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Speaking to Charlie Rose of CBS News recently, she said: “We are the center-left party.”

Yet, pressed by Mr. Sanders during the presidential primaries, Mrs. Clinton reversed course and came out against a 12-nation Pacific trade deal she promoted back when she was secretary of state. Hoping to win over his young supporters, she recently rolled out new plans to wipe out public-college tuition for millions of families.

When Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic nomination on Thursday, she will take command of a party that has little in common with the one she and her husband rode to the White House a quarter-century ago.

The party she will inherit is less white and more liberal. It is better educated and not as willing to compromise with Republicans. Many Democrats today aren’t convinced capitalism is the best economic model or that socialism is taboo.

Nor is the party entirely sold on its new leader. A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll this month showed 45% of registered Democrats and those who lean in that direction would have preferred a nominee not named Hillary Clinton.

“I’m in the hold-your-nose-and-vote-for-Hillary-Clinton camp,” said Jason Frerichs, a Democratic Party county chairman in southwestern Iowa.

Behind the party’s evolution are seismic shifts that have threatened to sweep aside the pro-business, centrist brand of politics the Clintons long embodied. Those same forces could make it tougher for Mrs. Clinton to govern from the center should she win in November.

Working-class white voters once loyal to the Democratic Party have gravitated to the Republicans over the past two decades, drawn by the GOP’s stance on guns, immigration and other social issues.

Amid the exodus, Democrats have moved left.

Only 30% of Democrats considered themselves liberal in 1994, the second year of Bill Clinton’s presidency. That figure had nearly doubled by 2014, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

With minorities, 20-somethings and college-educated voters making up a bigger chunk of the party, some Democrats are questioning tenets that once seemed inviolate. Take capitalism. An Iowa poll early this year showed more than four-in-10 likely Democratic caucus-goers in a state with an outsize influence on the nomination battle described themselves as socialist.

Watching these trends, some Democrats are uneasy. They fear the party will continue to lose state and local contests unless it makes an ideological course correction. For all of President Barack Obama’s electoral success, the party lost more than 80 House and Senate seats under his watch.

“The party has moved steadily left because of the surge of liberal populism, and that has caused the party to be in complete free fall at the subpresidential level,” said Jonathan Cowan, president of the centrist Democratic think tank, Third Way.

“The party is going to have to realize that to get and hold a sustained majority and enact solutions that are even remotely politically feasible, it’s going to have to move toward the center,” he said.

The draft party platform that Democrats approved at a two-day meeting in Orlando, Fla., highlights the sharp left turn the party has taken since Mr. Clinton held the White House 20 years ago.

The 1996 Democratic platform celebrated free-trade deals; the proposed new platform says they don’t “live up to the hype.” Bill Clinton’s platform embraced the death penalty; the new one would do away with it. The old platform boasted of building new prison cells; the 2016 version calls for “ending the era of mass incarceration.”

Eyeing the changes over the last generation, Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducts the Journal survey with Democrat Fred Yang, said: “These are two radically different parties.”

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign declined to comment.

She has signaled she isn’t about to govern in accordance with her party’s liberal faction. In naming a running mate, she passed over both Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts for the more moderate Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Speaking to Charlie Rose of CBS News recently, she said: “We are the center-left party.”

Yet, pressed by Mr. Sanders during the presidential primaries, Mrs. Clinton reversed course and came out against a 12-nation Pacific trade deal she promoted back when she was secretary of state. Hoping to win over his young supporters, she recently rolled out new plans to wipe out public-college tuition for millions of families...

Still more.

Blake Lively's an Astonishing Babe

I saw this L’Oreal advertisement this morning and it reminded me what a lovely woman she is.

And below is the bonus coverage from London's Daily Mail on Ms. Blake's Elle cover shoot.

Blake Lively wears plunging leather wrap dress in stunning shoot for Elle magazine https://t.co/6thnZsWuK0 pic.twitter.com/DuevNBQXrQ

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) July 25, 2016

Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels, Democracy for Realists

This is a top work of political science by two major scholars of American politics, Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government.

I just finished Chapter 1. The authors take on what they call the "folk theory" of democratic governance, which is the ideal conception of democracy and electoral politics envisioning majority rule and an informed electorate. They're especially critical of the "retrospective theory of elections," which has been one of the more popular explanations of voting behavior in recent years. The approach, however, doesn't tell us much about electoral outcomes, other than a fickleness surrounding current political and economic issues that tend to make the elections akin to a coin flip.

Achen and Bartels argue that rather than government effectiveness and policy preferences, partisanship and social identity more powerfully determine voter choice and democratic outcomes. The book's amazingly jargon-free so far, and is hence well-suited to the general reader while still deeply embedded within the longstanding debates on democratic theory in American political science.

I'm enjoying it.

In any case, check out more at Amazon, Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government.

I'll have more on the book later. I'm gearing up for my fall semester preparations (syllabus writing, class digital supplements, and so forth), so I thought it'd be good to read some real "science-y" type literature before school starts.

Donald Trump Gets Polling Bounce After Republican National Convention (VIDEO)

Actually, it's a pretty solid bounce.

A number of organizations are reporting a Trump bounce after Cleveland.

This is ephemeral, of course, because the Democrats are likely to get a bounce as well following Philadelphia, but it shows that voters are responding to the GOP ticket, despite what the MSM hacks would have you believe.

Here's the Los Angeles Times, for one, "Trump takes lead over Clinton as GOP convention generates a bounce for its nominee."

And at CNN, "Trump bounces into the lead." He's got a six-point lead in the CNN poll.

Also at Morning Consult, "Trump Surges Past Clinton With Post-Convention Bump."

The one possibility here is that the DNC hacking scandal ends up being more damaging than many would believe, and the Democrats fail to get a significant bounce coming out of their convention.

I doubt that though. Frankly, I expect Hillary Clinton to give a rousing speech on Thursday night, and Bernie's speech tonight will make the case for Democrat unity despite being slammed in the horrible DNC emails. He'll argue that Hillary's better than Trump.

So, we'll see. We'll see.

And watch, at Morning Joe:

Ansbach, Germany: Syrian 'Refugee' Suicide Bomber Pledged Allegiance to Islamic State (VIDEO)

Well, this comes as a surprise (eye roll).

At NYT and France 24:

Suicide Bomber in Ansbach, Germany, Pledged Loyalty to ISIS, Officials Say https://t.co/wYNY82WuuD #news pic.twitter.com/EfDpyqUExp

— Santanu Kandar (@santanukandar) July 25, 2016

Previously, "Syrian 'Refugee' Suicide Bomber Blows Himself Up in Jihad Attack in Ansbach, Germany."

How Political Correctness Leads to Indifference About Child Abuse on the Reservations

It's Naomi Schaefer Riley, at Heat Street, "NEW BOOK: How Political Correctness is Leading Us to Ignore Abuse on American Indian Reservations."

I'm a couple of chapters into Schaefer Riley's new book, The New Trail of Tears: How Washington Is Destroying American Indians.

It's excellent and highly recommended.

Jan Crawford at the National Constitution Center (VIDEO)

Watch, an interesting segment, at CBS This Morning, "National Constitution Center tells the story of America":

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia tells the story of how our founders created a government by the people with an elected president -- and a Constitution that endures and protects us all. Jan Crawford reports.

I don't think the question is whether we can "keep" the Constitution so much as we can preserve the liberty that it was originally designed to protect. The Constitution will be with us for a long time. It's how much the interpretation and practice of our constitutional norms have changed that's troubling.

Glorious: Debbie Wasserman Schultz Booed at Florida Democrat Delegation Breakfast (VIDEO)

Absolutely glorious.

Sally Kohn has the sads, lol, "Heckling of @DWStweets right now during her delegation speech makes me sad. I support protest, but also civility. This just feels mean."

Watch. They booed her right off the stage:



More at Instapundit, "HERE’S VIDEO OF DWS GETTING BOOED OUT OF HER OWN DNC BREAKFAST..."

And at Politico, via Memeorandum, "Bedlam erupts as Wasserman Schultz speaks to Florida delegates."

Previously, "Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Resign Following Explosive Email Leaks."

Cybersecurity Subplot Implicates Russia in Democrat Party Email Hacking Scandal

More on the DNC leaks, a surprisingly tantalizing story of intrigue, at the New York Times.

I'm skeptical, of course. It seems pretty opportunistic for the media to pin this all on Russia, when the world is full of hackers, and frankly China's now considered our biggest cybersecurity enemy.

But what can you do? This fits the meme that Donald Trump is the Putinian candidate.

Democratic leaders and cyberspecialists in the U.S. wonder if Vladimir Putin is meddling in the election https://t.co/tJhvWIMqSF

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 25, 2016

Researchers conclude two Russian intelligence agencies hacked the DNC/s emails and passed them to @wikileaks. https://t.co/mwo3ZtBPBv

— Steven Lee Myers (@stevenleemyers) July 25, 2016

So, Maybe It's Not the Best Idea to Get Out of Your Car While Touring a Wildlife Park (VIDEO)

Heh.

Not too smart, to put it mildly.

Actually, the woman who was killed tried to save the first woman snatched by the tiger.

And as you can see at the video, that animal wasn't messing around.

At the Telegraph UK, "Family argument in wildlife park leaves woman dead after she leaves car and gets eaten by tiger."

And additional video, via CBS News, "Caught on camera: Woman mauled by tiger after stepping out of car."

Syrian 'Refugee' Suicide Bomber Blows Himself Up in Jihad Attack in Ansbach, Germany

Another attack in Germany.

Looks like the Germans got the jihadi flu, heh.

At Telegraph UK, "Ansbach explosion: Syrian asylum seeker killed by own bomb at German bar."

Jesus. Third attack in Germany in as many days. This is an IED. https://t.co/rwt3mzs4DV

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) July 24, 2016

What is going on in Germany? Isn't this the fourth attack in about two weeks? (Mall shooting, axe, machete...) https://t.co/68XfhQjMFm

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) July 25, 2016

BREAKING: BOMBING Near Ansbach, Germany Music Festival – ONE DEAD https://t.co/9mybUxwZtR via @gatewaypundit

— Jim Hoft (@gatewaypundit) July 24, 2016

Detonation occurred at the entrance music festival '#Ansbach Open' in front of wine bar https://t.co/ZsZSAV6DJC pic.twitter.com/2p3qM9rnAO

— RT (@RT_com) July 25, 2016

3. Germany: Attacker was 27 year old Syrian man. #Ansbach

— Veit Medick (@vmedick) July 25, 2016

4. Germany: Attacker was known to local police. Was denied asylum recently but had temporary residence status. Tried to kill himself twice.

— Veit Medick (@vmedick) July 25, 2016

Electoral College Map: Donald Trump More Than Competitive

Tweeted by CNN's master map magician John King:

Click through to look at the map. Trump's been running even with Clinton in some of those battleground toss-up states pictured, Ohio especially (in that Suffolk poll out this last week).

So, just keep an eye on the battleground states. The national horse race polling is interesting, but that's going to be mostly for mass media consumption. It's going to go down to a few key states, and I think Trump could have a good chance. But like I said earlier, he's going to need to go up with advertising, and soon. He'll need to fork over some of his own cash, if nothing else. Sheesh.

Advantage hillaryclinton but @realdonaldtrump more than competitive as we shift from #RNCinCLE 2… https://t.co/QzWKK5ZoKK

— John King (@JohnKingCNN) July 24, 2016

Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook: #DNCLeaks a Russian Op to Help Donald Trump Campaign

Someone noted on Twitter earlier that this is in fact part of a broader effort to otherize Donald Trump as a foreign presence, an un-American Putinian-candidate.

Inevitable spin, I guess.

The Democrat convention's not getting off to a particularly auspicious start.

At Althouse, "Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook floats the conspiracy theory: Russians hacked the DNC emails for the purpose of helping Trump."

How Donald Trump Broke the Conservative Movement (And My Heart)

It's from Katherine Miller, at BuzzFeed, not my favorite publication.

Still, this is interesting because I feel entrenched coalitions are breaking up, and that's not a bad thing. At the least, whether Trump wins or not, American conservatism's going to have to do a rethink.

How Donald Trump Broke The Conservative Movement (And My Heart) https://t.co/CjWivWs4cq pic.twitter.com/sPbVzLx8Vj

— Katherine Miller (@katherinemiller) July 25, 2016

Deal of the Day: EGO Power+ 20-Inch 56-Volt Lithium-ion Cordless Lawn Mower [BUMPED]

At Amazon, EGO Power+ 20-Inch 56-Volt Lithium-ion Cordless Lawn Mower - 4.0Ah Battery and Charger Kit.

Also, Robert Spitzer, Guns Across America: Reconciling Gun Rules and Rights.

And Jennifer Carlson, Citizen-Protectors: The Everyday Politics of Guns in an Age of Decline.

Firmin DeBrabander, Do Guns Make Us Free? Democracy and the Armed Society.

Les Adams, The Second Amendment Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the History, Sources, and Authorities for the Constitutional Guarantee of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

BONUS: Dana Loesch, Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Resign Following Explosive Email Leaks

At Heat Street, "DNC Boss Debbie Wasserman Schultz Resigns After Wikileaks Reveals She Burned Bernie Sanders."

And from Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "WASSERMAN SCHULTZ OUT AS DNC LEADER AFTER CONVENTION."

ADDED: At CNN:

#Breaking: DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz says she will step down https://t.co/J0PJ0m2nUG https://t.co/DhTP65GFlU

— CNN (@CNN) July 24, 2016

Machete Attack: Syrian Muslim 'Refugee' Murders Pregnant Woman in Reutlingen, Germany (VIDEO)

Well, authorities won't to be able to spin this one as an Anders Brevik knock off attack.

At Pamela's, "Knife Jihad: MACHETE WIELDING Muslim “refugee” KILLS woman, injuring two others in #Reutlingen #Germany."

At the Telegraph U.K., "Germany machete attack: Syrian asylum seeker murders 'pregnant' woman in Reutlingen":

A Syrian man has attacked and killed a woman he was reportedly in love with, hitting her with a meat cleaver in the southern German town of Reutlingen.

Another woman and a man were also injured in the attack. Local authorities have identified the man as a 21-year-old asylum-seeker from Syria who was known to the police and had previously been charged with causing bodily harm.

He attacked the woman with a meat cleaver taken from the kebab shop where they both worked shortly after 4:30pm on Sunday. The German newspaper Bild reports the woman was pregnant...

Keep reading.

And still more, at London's Daily Mail, "Syrian refugee, 21, hacks PREGNANT woman to death with a machete and injures two others before hero BMW driver runs him over, in latest attack to shock Germany."

ICYMI: Ann Coulter, In Trump We Trust

Out August 23rd.

Pre-order, at Amazon, In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!

Bernie Sanders Says DNC's Debbie Wasserman Schultz Should Resign (VIDEO)

He's taking it pretty well, heh.

At CNN, via Memeorandum, "Sanders: ‘Awful’ DNC emails should cost party chair her job."

Trump Surrogate Pam Bondi Reacts to Tim Kaine as Democrat Running-Mate (VIDEO)

Following-up from earlier, "Pam Bondi Speech to the Republican National Convention #RNCinCLE (VIDEO)."

Via Fox News:

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Endorses Donald Trump

Heh.

Trump's better for Europe.

At WSJ, "Hungarian Prime Minister Expresses Support for Donald Trump":

BUDAPEST—Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday expressed support for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, citing Mr. Trump’s views on fighting terrorism.

Mr. Orban said Mr. Trump’s proposals for the U.S. would also help Europe solve its security issues in wake of recent terrorist attacks.

The European Union’s current political leadership has failed and should undergo a major revamp to stem the rising fear and insecurity among the European people, Mr. Orban said in Baile Tusnad, a town in Romania’s Transylvania region, which has a large number of ethnic Hungarians.

The Hungarian premier’s annual Baile Tusnad speech gained international interest in 2014, when he rejected liberalism and expressed admiration for “illiberal democracies,” listing Turkey or Russia, among other countries.

Since Mr. Orban came into power with a landslide victory in the 2010 general elections, the Obama administration has criticized Hungary several times for alleged state corruption, failure to observe freedom of religion and shortcomings in following the rule of law.


“The EU is incapable of defending its own citizens, its own external borders, unable to hold together its community—as reflected in the exit of the United Kingdom. What else is needed to state that Europe’s current political leadership has failed?” Mr. Orban said.

The U.K. voted in a referendum last month to leave the bloc...

More.

Laurie Penny Hangs with Twitter's Biggest Troll

This is an excellent excursion into the far-left mindset in the age of Donald Trump.

Bear in mind here that Laurie Penny's a Marxist, or more specifically, she's "a radical queer feminist leftist writer burdened with actual principles."

She thinks Milo Yiannopoulos is a brilliant provocateur who's wrong about everything. She'd deny it, but she's got a hopeless crush on the dude.

But read the whole thing, via Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit:

Army of Unfuckable Hate Nerds explained pointedly by @PennyRed! https://t.co/JzOpiZtWmH #AUHN

— marc maron (@marcmaron) July 23, 2016

“According to the law of the wild web, the spoils go to those with fewest…” — @PennyRed https://t.co/cIS6TE1h0D pic.twitter.com/S2vBwocaxE

— Christopher Pryde (@lowerdoses) July 23, 2016

How to Defeat Terrorism

This is a freakin' awesome piece, from David Solway, at Pajamas:

In summation, until we recognize that Islam itself—not only its presumably “radical” variants—is incompatible with pluralistic Western democracies, we will not be able to save our countries. Pushback is unlikely for some time yet, if ever. Notwithstanding, peaceful Muslims must be pressured by informed opinion to undertake a thoroughgoing transformation of their faith even if the result has little affinity with millennial orthodoxy. The liberal argument that, in so doing, we will drive the moderates into the arms of the radicals is a reductio ad absurdum and, as Milo Yiannopoulos pointed out in an interview with a typical mealy-mouthed British journalist, is actually a threat. Must we keep assuring these putative moderates that Islam is demonstrably a religion of peace in order to keep them moderate? “Be nice to us or we’ll kill more of you,” as Yiannopoulos puts it. Must we refrain from fighting an implacable foe at the risk of finding ever more of them? Is this how we respond to Christians, Jews, Hindus and Sikhs? Such an argument is patently a confession of defeat and guarantees yet more of the same.

Should the measures I and others are recommending be instituted, Islam will not go away, and innocent people will still die in terrorist attacks or find their everyday lives to some extent imperiled by Islamic social and cultural incursions, although to a much diminished degree. Nevertheless, there is no other resolution to our dilemma, failing which the sequel is eminently predictable: the grizzly march of terrorist atrocities like those we have seen since 9/11 (and before) up to the latest carnage in Nice, dramatic Muslim inroads into the culture, eventual civil conflict and armed skirmishes on the streets of our cities, the rise of fascist parties profiting from the general malaise, and the inevitable disintegration of a way of life that we have ignorantly taken for granted.

“There needs to be an admission that we are in a full-scale war—not just lip-service," Robert Spencer writes, “but a genuine acknowledgment, followed by a genuine war footing, and an end to the weepy memorials, empty condemnations, and po-faced get-nowhere investigations. This is not crime. This is war.”

We are now at the inflexion point. Either we are prepared to continue being slaughtered like sheep and to lose our ancestral traditions of rights and freedoms, or we are determined to preserve our Judeo-Christian heritage and the best the West has to offer.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

I doubt Solway's proposals will ever be enacted, much less seriously considered, unless the U.S. suffers another catastrophic Islamic attack on the scale of September 11. Even then, it wouldn't be a Democrat administration implementing anything near this scale. The Democrats are not on the side of American victory in this war. They're just not.

Scottie Nell Hughes Under Fire After Mocking Tim Kaine's Spanish with 'Dora the Explorer' (VIDEO)

She is the kind of fast-talking chick the barks comebacks before really thinking about 'em.

Heh, now she's apologizing. Wouldn't want to lose that lucrative commentator gig at CNN or anything.

Here's the video, "Scottie Nell Hughes on Kaine Speaking Spanish: Didn’t Need a ‘Translator’ for RNC Speeches."

And on Twitter:

I never meant 2 cause hurt rather attempt 2 reference a cute tool I learned/taught Spanish 2 my own children obviously failed. I was wrong

— Scottie Nell Hughes (@scottienhughes) July 23, 2016

'I'm hoping I'm not going to have to brush up on my Dora the Explorer: Scottie Nell Hughes: https://t.co/9CKjCY5hbY #ClintonKaine

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 24, 2016

Erin Heatherton Summer of Swim 2016 (VIDEO)

She's so sweet.

'Wonder Woman' Trailer Debuts at Comic-Con (VIDEO)

Seen on Twitter, "THIS LOOKS FUCKING AWESOME!"

Politico's Ken Vogel Had Agreement with DNC to Approve Hillary Clinto Stories in Advance

Some folks were accusing Twitter of suppressing #DNCLeaks stories on the platform last night, and you can see why.

These WikiLeaks hacks are devastating.

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "JUST THINK OF THEM AS DEMOCRAT OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND YOU WON’T BE FAR WRONG: Leaked emails reveal Politico reporter made ‘agreement’ to send advanced Clinton story to DNC..."

Hey @kenvogel, I think he shared it @RichardGrenell pic.twitter.com/xY5gnmKEwS

— #JeSuisJuive (@lamblock) July 22, 2016

Authorities Claim 'Obvious Link' Between Munich Attacker and Norway Massacre's Anders Breivik (VIDEO)

Okay, right.

The leftist media's got its angle, which will work perfectly to cover-up the growing jihadist threat now terrorizing Europe.

Germany's going to be ground zero of the coming apocalyptic jihad.

At the Telegraph U.K., "Munich shooting: Teenage killer Ali Sonboly 'inspired by far-right terrorist Anders Breivik' and 'used Facebook offer of free McDonald's food to lure victims'."



And at the BBC, "Munich gunman 'obsessed with mass shootings'":

The 18-year-old gunman who killed nine people in Munich was obsessed with mass shootings but had no known links to the Islamic State group, German police say.

Written material on such attacks was found in his room. Munich's police chief spoke of links to the massacre by Norway's Anders Behring Breivik.

The gunman, who had dual German-Iranian nationality, later killed himself.

His name has not been officially released but he is being named locally as David Ali Sonboly.
He has also been referred to as Ali David Sonboly, or David S.

Ah, "David S."

Convenient that.

Indeed, apparently the BBC completely dropped the Islamic given name "Ali" in its initial reporting, all the better to turn this Iranian Muslim into the next Anders Breivik wannabe.

See Raheem Kassam, at Breitbart London:

BBC Scrubs 'Ali' From Munich Killer's Name On TV, In Articles, AND On Social Media https://t.co/GEj73KjxeB

— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) July 23, 2016

BBC 'Fixes' #Munich Killer Article Following Breitbart Expose Of Muslim Name Cover Up https://t.co/TStfw62R4u

— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) July 23, 2016

Austria to Build Huge Border Fence to Stop Invasion of Islamic 'Refugees' Seeking Asylum

Yeah, with all these jihad attacks, you'd think EU countries would be doubling efforts to build those walls.

At the Mirror UK, "Austria announces plan to build huge border fence to stop migrants as Schengen crumbles."

Hat Tip: BNI, "AUSTRIA follows Donald Trump, announces plan to build huge border fence to stop Muslim migrants as Schengen crumbles."

Aline Weber Maxim Magazine Cover Girl August 2016 (VIDEO)

At Maxim, "Say hello to this breakout Brazilian supermodel."

All the photos are here.

She's a real looker.

WikiLeaks Trove Plunges Democrats Into Crisis on Eve of Convention

Heh.

Here's more on the story, via WikiLeaks:

WikiLeaks trove plunges Democrats into crisis on eve of Convention https://t.co/pqWuWfFQckhttps://t.co/kpFxYDoNyX

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 23, 2016

Kelly Brook Goes for a Bike Ride

It looks like she's embracing her fuller frame. And I mean, she's like 25 pounds fuller, lol.

At London's Daily Mail, "'No Bra Bike Ride!' Kelly Brook shows off her perky assets in low cut yellow top as she enjoys a cycle through sunny Rome with boyfriend Jeremy Parisi."

More here, from last September.

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."