Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Gee, What Could Possibly Be Causing All of These 'Lone Wolf' Terror Attacks?

Occam's razor says go with the simplest explanation, and in this case it's not too complicated. Repeat after me: "It's the jihad."

At WSJ, "Experts See No Single Explanation for 'Lone Wolf' Terror Attacks."


Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Ahmad Khan Rahami Hailed Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki in 'Scrawled Journal' Seized During Arrest

This Rahami mofo was a very bad dude.

If you hear people saying they "don't know what the motive" was, just tell 'em to fuck off.

At the Los Angeles Times, "'The sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets': A scrawled journal found with New York bombing suspect":
Federal authorities on Tuesday filed charges against Ahmad Khan Rahami in a series of bombs planted over the weekend in New York and New Jersey, and said they have recovered a journal in which the 28-year-old immigrant from Afghanistan invoked instructions to attack unbelievers “in their backyard.”

“Inshallah [God willing], the sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets. Gun shots to your police. Death To Your OPPRESSION,” were some of the words scrolled in a journal FBI agents found with Rahami when he was taken into custody Monday.

“My heart I pray to the beautiful wise ALLAH. To not take JIHAD away from [me]. I beg...for shahadat [martyrdom],” said the journal, which was damaged during the exchange of gunfire with police that preceded Rahami’s arrest.

The complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan said the bomb that exploded Saturday in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood was powerful enough to shatter windows three stories above ground and cause millions of dollars in damage.

Fragmentation from the explosive, fashioned from a pressure cooker and left in a dumpster, was blasted up to 650 feet away, according to an affidavit from Special Agent Peter Frederick Licata of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Rahami faces federal charges of using a weapon of mass destruction, bombing a public place, destruction of property by fire or explosive and using a destructive device in the commission of a crime of violence.

In their charging document, federal authorities said they have recovered a cellphone video, shot two days before the Chelsea bombing, that appears to show Rahami blowing up a cylindrical container at or near his home in Elizabeth, N.J.

The video, recovered from a phone believed to belong to a family member of the suspect, shows a fuse being lighted, then an explosion.

“The video depicts the lighting of the fuse, a loud noise and flames, followed by billowing smoke and laughter,” according to Licata’s affidavit. “Rahami then enters the frame and is seen picking up the cylindrical container.”

The 31 people injured in the attack suffered lacerations from flying glass, shrapnel and fragmentation as well as “various head injuries,” according to the criminal complaint. At least one victim was hospitalized.
More.

Ten Times in Past Two Years Terrorists Slipped Through Immigration Process into U.S.

From Matthew Boyle, at Breitbart (via Jihad Watch):
NEW YORK CITY, New York — In the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York City and Minnesota during the weekend, the focus of the national debate has again shifted back to America’s enemies exploiting weaknesses in U.S. immigration screening processes to get into the country to attack the United States.

While President Barack Obama’s administration, and his would-be successor, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton, have promised to increase the amount of people they bring into the United States through immigration, refugee, and asylum programs, the Republican nominee for president, Donald J. Trump, has promised to put the brakes on allowing potential terrorists into the United States.

Below is a by-no-means comprehensive list of at least ten times in the last couple years—there are certainly many more instances—that terrorists have exploited the Obama-Clinton immigration weaknesses to get into the United States. This is the first in a series of stories that will examine specific examples on this front...
Keep reading.

Angelina Jolie Files for Divorce from Brad Pitt

Well, I'm not all sad about it or anything, although these two are probably my favorite people in Hollywood.

I hope he didn't abuse her, above all.

At LAT, "Angelina Jolie files for divorce from Brad Pitt, seeks full physical custody of their kids":
Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt after two years of marriage.

In her Monday filing under the legal name Angelina Jolie Pitt, the actress-director cited irreconcilable differences but didn’t elaborate on what those differences are.

She’s requesting sole physical custody and joint legal custody of their six children but indicated she is willing to give her husband visitation rights.

The separation date is listed as Sept. 15; Jolie Pitt and Pitt were legally married Aug. 14, 2014, and followed that up on Aug. 23 with a nondenominational ceremony held at their chateau in Provence, France, after a two-year engagement.

The couple, who met while working on the movie “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” got together in August 2005. They have six children together: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne.

"I am very saddened by this, but what matters most now is the well-being of our kids," Pitt said in a statement to People magazine. A source close to the couple told the magazine the divorce was "a complete shock."

The decision to divorce was made “for the health of the family,” attorney Robert Offer, who represents Jolie Pitt, told the Associated Press on Tuesday...

Steve Emerson, American Jihad

Emerson got a bad rap in 1994 when he made comments about the Oklahoma City bombing having "traits" common to Middle Eastern terrorism, which once Timothy McVeigh was named as the suspect, essentially destroyed his reputation as a terrorism analyst.

But he's looking more prescient all the time. I read his book years ago, but I think I'll pull it off the shelf for some review.

At Amazon, Steve Emerson, American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us.

Re-Upping David Solway, 'How to Defeat Terrorism'

I posted Solway in July. But since we're going through another round of deadly political correctness following the Chelsea bombing, I thought I'd re-up. This is key, and exactly the opposite of what leftists propose:
The measures and policies that would need to be put in place [to stop terrorism] are so obvious that the failure to implement them is nothing but a sign of lethal complacency and moral cowardice. What are these measures? The list is not unduly long and, as I say, entirely obvious.
* Islamic immigration must be drastically curtailed if not completely stopped. As Donald Trump has cogently warned, “We are allowing people into our country who we have no idea where they are, where they're from, who they are, they have no paperwork, they have no documentation, in many cases.” This, as the proverb goes, is like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. But there are many more horses in the barn to be confined to their stalls. It’s a start.

* Since large Muslim populations are already settled within our borders, surveillance must be intensive, methodical and ongoing. No-Go Zones must be pacified by whatever means, and must be made Go Zones. Self-regulated ghettoes have to be opened up and rigorously policed. Islamic law must be ruled in contravention of common law and legally prohibited. Vigorous action is required. As Andrew Bieszad, one of Walid Shoebat’s co-bloggers, reported at com, the mayor of Calais has now decided to act, to dismantle the so-called refugee “jungle” that has disfigured the town and to displace or deport thousands of its characteristically violent denizens. As Bieszad says, “It has taken a long time, but the French are finally pushing back against the Muslims in Calais.” But nowhere else, it appears.

*All mosques, which are effectively command centers, must be stringently investigated and many must be closed down.

*Every imam in the country should be thoroughly vetted and many should be de-licensed and restricted from preaching.

*Jihadi suspects clearly and unequivocally known to law enforcement agencies should not be so readily allowed, as is far too often the case, to mix freely among the people. As has often been said, lone wolves are usually known wolves. Moreover, it is a mistake to consider them as “lone”; they are really part of a vast ideological pack. Of course, we would need to protect ourselves against abuse of authority where anyone in disfavor with policing agencies or political administrations can be randomly detained. Wolves may be responsibly “tagged,” so to speak, and monitored, whether digitally or in propia persona, by the intelligence community, with a reasonable prospect of interception before yet another outrage is committed—those like the Nice jihadist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who, as The Washington Post reports, “had been connected to assault and theft since 2010” and sentenced to a six month prison term (though “[i]t was not clear whether Bouhlel served any of that sentence”). Admittedly, there is a fine line between liberty and security, the issue will always remain moot, and safeguards will have to be agreed upon even if we lose some battles along the way.

*Muslims and non-Muslims who leave the country to fight alongside terrorist entities must not be repatriated, even if they are passport-holding citizens. They are accessories to those who would destroy us and are therefore enemy combatants.

*Muslim organizations with ties to terror-sponsoring organizations or that lobby for Sharia or for cultural and political influence must be disbanded and outlawed, no matter how powerful and widespread.

No less important, indeed, perhaps the most crucial of the measures I am proposing, has to do with terminology and the concepts it signifies. We keep hearing that the enemy we are facing is “Islamic extremism” or “radical Islam.” Nothing can be further from the truth. This is the most serious in its consequences of the evasions we practice and one that ensures our eventual destruction. The enemy is not radical Islam but Islam pure and simple. The terrorists, their enablers and the “entry” cohort take their warrant from their holy scriptures—the Koran, the Hadith, the Sira, the schools of jurisprudence, and centuries of political and religious commentary.
Read the whole thing.


Taleeb Starkes: Black Lies Matter

Here's the dude's book, at Amazon, Black Lies Matter: Why Lies Matter to the Race Grievance Industry.

And watch, via Prager University:



Max Boot Advising Hillary Clinton?

Max Boot jumped the shark earlier this year with his op-ed at the Los Angeles Times attacking the nomination of Donald Trump, "The Republican Party is dead."

I don't care about the GOP, but I do care about Donald Trump, who was the real target of Boot's wrath.

I'm reminded of Boot's tantrum with his new piece at Foreign Policy, "Why Trump Is the Islamic State’s Dream Candidate."

I probably wouldn't even be blogging this, but a passage from Boot's essay is virtually verbatim from Hillary Clinton's comments yesterday on the New York bombing. Here's Boot:


The core of his [Trump's] approach [to global jihad] is to keep saying the enemy is “radical Islamic terrorism,” something that he (wrongly) claims Clinton never does. “To defeat Islamic terrorism,” he said in Ohio, “we must also speak out forcefully against a hateful ideology that provides the breeding ground for violence and terrorism to grow.” But there’s a good reason why both Presidents George W. Bush and Obama have been reluctant to speak of “Islamic terrorism,” and it’s not because Obama is a closet Muslim, as Trump has insinuated in the past. It’s because they realize that in the battle against terrorism, the United States cannot win unless it can get the support of most of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims. By seeming to insult Islam and Muslims as Trump does, he plays into Islamic State and al Qaeda propaganda, which posits that there is a battle between Islam and the West.
I've highlighted the key portion, the part about "Islam and the West," which is almost exactly what Hillary Clinton said yesterday when she claimed ISIS wanted to pull the U.S. into a "religious conflict," a "war against Islam," which is why they prefer Donald Trump.

I'm sick of people like Max Boot, to say nothing of Haggard Hillary. See my post from yesterday for more, "Democrat 'Our Values' Talking Point: It's Not 'Annoying' — It's Evil."

If Boot's not advising Clinton, then the Democrat Party and Clinton's campaign have been working extremely hard at unified messaging for their army of surrogates. It's impressive messaging, but wrong for America. Unfortunately for them, they're going to find that out too late when Donald Trump wins on November 8th, which is becoming a distinct possibility the ways things have been going this last couple of weeks.

Donald Trump's Winning the Narrative

The terrorism narrative, which is to say, he talking plainly about terrorism, the way regular people talk about terrorism, especially New Yorkers (who should know a thing or two about terrorism).

From James Robbins, at USA Today, "Trump's winning terrorist narrative":
For more than a year, Donald Trump has been raising an alarm about the upswing of terrorism in the United States, promising to address it head-on without any of Washington’s usual political pieties. Jargon-laden responses to terror attacks from the White House and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign only tend to confirm Trump voters' worst fears about the Washington establishment, rather than build support for the Obama-Clinton approach to fighting the Islamic State terrorist group.

On Saturday a pressure cooker bomb detonated in a Manhattan dumpster, wounding 29. A second device was found blocks away and disarmed. This followed a pipe bombing that morning in Seaside Park, N.J., targeting the Marine Semper Fi 5K fundraising race. Fortunately, only one bomb detonated and no one was harmed.

On Sunday, five bombs were found in a backpack near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J. On Monday one suspected terrorist, Afghan immigrant Ahmad Rahami, was arrested after a shootout with police in Linden.

While all this was playing out on the East Coast, on Saturday a man went on a stabbing rampage at a mall in St. Cloud, Minn., wounding nine people before being gunned down by an off-duty police officer. The assailant, Somali immigrant Dahir Adan, whom ISIL claimed as a “soldier,” asked one of his victims whether he was a Muslim before stabbing him.

Monday morning, White House spokesman Josh Earnest attempted to calm rattled public nerves, saying that “when it comes to ISIL, we are in a fight, a narrative fight with them, a narrative battle.” He assured us we are winning it. Democratic presidential candidate Clinton quickly echoed this line, and accused Trump of giving “aid and comfort” to the terrorists by counseling a get-tough approach against radical Islam that strays from the administration’s more restrained rhetoric.

The White House response that America is successfully challenging ISIL’s "narrative" is cold comfort when improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are blowing up on American streets...
Keep reading.

Mark Steyn on 'The O'Reilly Factor' (VIDEO)

At great segment.

I miss Mark Steyn:



Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton Calls for 'Tolerance' After Crossroads Mall Jihad Attack

"Tolerance."

I think Americans are just about out of "tolerance" at this point. We've been so "tolerant" we're about to die from it.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Tone-Deaf Governor Calls for ‘Tolerance’ After ISIS Stabbing."

Samantha Hoopes Visits Coney Island (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated:



Obama Won't Acknowledge Terrorism

From the impeccable Michael Goodwin, at the New York Post, "Obama won’t acknowledge terrorism — and it’s great news for Trump":
Poor President Obama. He had a perfect plan — to use his final UN speech Tuesday to secure his reputation for putting Globalism First. He would preen to the assembled autocrats and bureaucrats about forcing America to take in a record number of refugees, and blast Donald Trump for putting America First.

Hillary Clinton also had a perfect plan. She would keep attacking Trump and his supporters as dangerous and deplorable in hopes that she could scare her way into the White House. With Obama playing the race card to help her with black voters, Clinton would wrap her arms ever more tightly around the president and his policies between now and November.

But terrorist bombings and stabbings are great disrupters, especially when they involve both New York and the heartland in a single weekend. The disruption becomes unbearable when the attacks allegedly are carried out by foreign-born Muslims who were welcomed here with open arms, then turned on their generous American hosts.

Events have a voice and a vote, and the terrorism in Minnesota, New Jersey and New York is scrambling the presidential campaign. It also revealed Mayor Putz to be a horse’s ass as he twisted himself into a pretzel to deny calling the Manhattan bomb a bomb and terrorism terrorism. New Yorkers know that when a bomb goes off on a public street and another one is disarmed nearby, it’s terrorism, stupid.

While the scramble for political safe spaces is still under way, the advantage so far clearly belongs to Trump. His gut instinct to call the Saturday bombings what they were, combined with his demand that refugees and immigrants from countries with a history of terrorism be given tougher scrutiny, fit the nation’s mood and the facts.

Is there any doubt he’s right when he says political correctness has handcuffed law enforcement and that more attacks are coming? Or that his backing by numerous law-enforcement groups reciprocates his support for them? It is a potent message when Americans believe they are less safe than they were eight years ago.

The result of the mayhem and Trump’s boldness is that Obama and Clinton are playing defense. The president hoped to avoid saying anything Monday, no doubt viewing the attacks as a distraction from the lofty thoughts he wants to express at the UN, but events forced him out of his hidey hole...
More.

Americans' Trust in the Media Sinks to Record Low

Well, I'm glad.

I'm not glad trust is sinking. I'm just glad that folks are reporting the survey findings. The media's been a total disgrace lately. It's definitely worse than ever.

At Gallup, "Americans' Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low":
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' trust and confidence in the mass media "to report the news fully, accurately and fairly" has dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling history, with 32% saying they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media. This is down eight percentage points from last year...
Keep reading.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Jackie Johnson's Partly Cloudy and Warm Forecast

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



Democrat 'Our Values' Talking Point: It's Not 'Annoying' — It's Evil

This is an excellent post, at Legal Insurrection, "Annoying Dem Meme ‘o the Day: Hillary & Obama As Defenders of ‘Our Values’."

But if you'll indulge me, I'll offer a correction: Democrats claiming to stand up for "our values" is a longstanding meme I've noticed over the last few years, starting with President Obama himself, when he intones, "That's not who we are." I've repeatedly mocked this meme, and as you can see it's become an organized talking point on the Democrat side. It's not "annoying" though." It's evil. Leftists do not get to define "our values," simply because they don't accept our values. They don't endorse American exceptionalism and the country's historic vision of the "City on a Hill." Frankly, Democrats from Obama on down have been apologizing for these very same values for the last eight years, starting with the Apologist-in-Chief's Cairo speech.

No, we're way past the "annoying" stage. Redefining "our values" is central to Obama's "fundamental transformation" of America. Patriots must recognize this rhetoric for what it is and call it out every time for enabling our enemies and getting Americans killed.




Ahmad Khan Rahami 'Vacationed' in Afghanistan, Brought Pakistani Wife Back Home

Oh brother. This kinda thing's getting to be a model for American jihad, apparently.

Syed Rizwan Farook's wife, Tashfeen Malik, was from Paksitan as well. He picked her up while visiting Saudi Arabia. They were wonderfully "assimilated" into American life, that is, until they slaughtered fourteen innocent co-workers at the San Bernardino government center.

In any case, at the Los Angeles Times, "Suspect in New York-area bombings had traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan":


Ahmad Khan Rahami, a suspect in the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, had traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan several times in recent years, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation.

Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who was captured Monday after a shootout with police, had taken three separate, months-long trips to Pakistan, traveling from there to Afghanistan, the officials said.

Investigators say Rahami had married a Pakistani woman whom he brought with him to the U.S.

The woman left the U.S. for Pakistan in recent days and was intercepted by officials in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, the U.S. official said.

Officials do not know whether she was aware of Rahami’s plans.

Prosecutors in New Jersey on Monday charged Rahami with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon in connection with the shootout in Linden, N.J., that led to his arrest.

No charges related to the bombings had been filed by late Monday.  Superior Court Judge Regina Caulfield in Union County, N.J., set bail at $5.2 million.

Linden is near Elizabeth, N.J., where Rahami lived with his family, Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said.

Rahami, 28, was in surgery after being shot three times by police — in the shoulder, the forearm and leg.

An account from the Union County prosecutor’s office said Rahami was taken into custody after a uniformed police officer approached a man later identified as Rahami about 10:30 a.m. outside a bar in Linden.

“At that time, Rahami immediately produced a handgun and shot the officer in the torso, striking him in his protective vest,” prosecutors said in a statement...
More.

Deal of the Day: Game of Thrones: Complete First and Second Season [Blu-ray]

At Amazon, Game of Thrones: Complete First & Second Season [Blu-ray].

BONUS: From Robert Spencer, The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS.

Chelsea Bombing Suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami Taken Into Custody (VIDEO)

Following-up, "More on Ahmad Khan Rahami."

Updates at Memeorandum.



More on Ahmad Khan Rahami

Following-up, "Ahmad Khan Rahami: Suspect in New York City Bombing is Identified."

At WSJ, "Afghan Immigrant Sought in New York Bombing":
Authorities on Monday named the man they want in connection with a bomb that exploded in Manhattan over the weekend—saying the 28-year-old Elizabeth, N.J., man may be “armed and dangerous’’ after a series of bombs were placed around the New York City area.

Meanwhile Monday morning at an Elizabeth train station, an explosive device recovered by authorities near a trash can detonated as investigators were attempting to disarm it with a robot, authorities said.

The target of the manhunt was identified as Ahmad Khan Rahami, a U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan. Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the man’s northern New Jersey home on Monday, officials said, one of several searches being conducted in the area as the terrorism investigation intensified.

Officials suspect Mr. Rahami is responsible for a bomb that detonated Saturday evening in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 29 people. A follow-up search of the neighborhood by police revealed a similar, unexploded homemade bomb left on the street. Authorities think whoever placed those bombs may also be responsible for a pipe bomb that exploded on the street of the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park earlier that day, according to law-enforcement officials. No one was injured in the earlier explosion.

The ‘’Wanted” poster issued by the FBI doesn't explicitly call Mr. Rahami a suspect, but several law-enforcement officials say he is the person they believe is behind the bomb plot. The officials are working to determine if any other individuals may have been involved.

Counterterrorism officials are trying to determine if Mr. Rahami may have been part of a terror cell, officials added.

Authorities released a photo of the man and described him as 5-feet-6 and weighing about 200 pounds. Mr. Rahami has brown hair, brown eyes and brown facial hair, the FBI said.

The race to solve the bombing accelerated Sunday evening, when New York police and the FBI stopped a vehicle near the Verrazano Bridge. Five people in the vehicle were questioned in connection with the bomb probe but were not charged. Law-enforcement officials described those people as relatives and friends of Mr. Rahami.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that vehicle stop “was helpful’’ to investigators in zeroing in on Mr. Rahami. The mayor said the FBI was looking “more closely’’ at the connections between a bomb that detonated in Manhattan Saturday night, another bomb that was found four blocks away, and the Seaside Park pipe bomb.

On Sunday night, authorities were alerted to a suspicious device found outside the Elizabeth, N.J. train station. When a robot was sent to probe the package, one of the bombs inside detonated, officials said.

FBI officials said the package contained multiple homemade bombs. “In the course of rendering one of the devices safe, it detonated,’’ the FBI said in a statement. No one was injured by the blast.

In a fresh sign of the urgency officials feel in trying to stop additional bomb attacks, alerts were sent to New Yorkers’ cell phones urging them to contact authorities if they see Mr. Rahami or have any information about him.
Keep reading.

Ahmad Khan Rahami: Suspect in New York City Bombing is Identified

Fox News just posted the photo of the suspect, named Ahmad Khan.

Expect updates...

More, from ABC News:


A Weekend of Coincidences

Following-up, "Bomb and Knife Attacks Rattle the U.S."

Here's Robert Spencer, at FrontPage Magazine, "Incidents in NYC, New Jersey and Minnesota look an awful lot like jihad, but the denial is as thick as ever":
It was a weekend of coincidences: acts declared not to be terrorism that just happened to look a great deal like…terrorism.

After a bomb went off at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan and another bomb was found four blocks away, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said: In a press conference in the aftermath, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said, “This was an intentional act.” However, he added that he didn’t think it was terrorism, and refused to agree with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who said that the bombing was “obviously an act of terrorism.”

De Blasio’s position was entirely incoherent: what is an intentional bombing if it isn’t terrorism? Cuomo made a bit more sense as he explained that while it was obviously terrorism, “it’s not linked to international terrorism. In other words, we’ve found no ISIS connection.”

Very well. So he was leaving the door open to it being “right-wing extremists.” But was it an act of jihad? Both de Blasio and Cuomo were committed to denying that there is any jihad that has anything to do with terrorism in the first place, so they would never answer (or, given the state of the mainstream media, be asked) that question, but just to assert that the bombing was not terrorism, or international terrorism, did not entirely rule out that it may have been an act of Islamic jihadis. Yet De Blasio remained mystified: “We know it was a very serious incident, but we have a lot more work to do to be able to say what kind of motivation was behind this. Was it a political motivation? Was it a personal motivation? We do not know that yet.”
More.

Bomb and Knife Attacks Rattle the U.S.

I've got Fox & Friends on right now, and there's an FBi raid happening at this moment in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

I can't wait until authorities release the names of the suspects. If they're Muslim, oh boy, it's going to rattle the campaign.

At WSJ, "Bombs in New York and New Jersey, Stabbing Attacks in Minnesota Stoke Unease":
Three violent attacks over the weekend that left almost 40 people injured remained shrouded in questions, but together they fueled growing fears among authorities about terror assaults by small groups, lone wolves or simply deranged individuals.

And even as those were under investigation, a suspicious device found in a trash can near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J., exploded early Monday as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot, officials said, according to the Associated Press.

Among the earlier incidents, police said a man dressed as a security guard injured nine people in knife attacks late Saturday at a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minn. He was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer.

Authorities said they were investigating it as a possible terrorist incident.

Islamic State-linked Amaq Agency called the man “a soldier of the Islamic State” who “carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition.”

The man, whom police didn’t identify, made references to Allah and asked at least one victim if he was Muslim. He was identified as Somali-American.

In New York, authorities were searching for a bomb maker who set off a blast near a large trash container on a Manhattan street Saturday evening that left 29 people injured from flying debris, including shrapnel.

Police subsequently found an unexploded bomb four blocks away. Authorities said they had identified a “person of interest” in the bombing they would like to speak to.

Earlier in New Jersey, officials said they didn’t yet know whether a pipe bomb that went off before a charity run at a seashore resort Saturday morning was linked to any terror group. Officials were also trying to determine if the Manhattan bombs and the New Jersey device were made by the same individual or group.

No injuries were reported from the blast at Seaside Park as thousands of runners were set to participate in the benefit for Marines and sailors.

The attacks, coming as world leaders gathered in New York City for the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting, heightened concern that similar assaults could be mounted elsewhere, especially in public places with large crowds that are difficult to protect...
Keep reading.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

'Face the Nation' Host John Dickerson Pounds Kellyanne Conway on the Left's 'Birther' Obsession (VIDEO)

Ms. Conway handles the harassment like a true professional.

I think the "birther" controversy will be seen as the last gasp of Clinton's hopes if Donald Trump goes on to win the election.

It's really pathetic.

At CBS:



Hillary's Hexed and Vexed by the White Working Class Vote

Heh.

Like I said at the last post, I love this stage of the election. And it's not just Hilary who's hexed. The mainstream media's hexed too. Hexed and vexed, lol.

At WSJ, "White, Working Class Voters Vex Hillary Clinton":
WASHINGTON, Pa.— Hillary Clinton isn’t banking on winning pockets of Pennsylvania and Ohio packed with the sort of white, working class voters flocking to Republican Donald Trump. She just wants to avoid a wipeout.

Mr. Trump’s path to victory in these battleground states hinges on running up overwhelming margins in largely white counties, neutralizing Mrs. Clinton’s advantage among minority and college-educated voters clustered in the cities and suburbs.

With polls showing the race tightening in these states, Mrs. Clinton is deploying two allies to try to cut into Mr. Trump’s numbers: her husband and Vice President Joe Biden.
The Clinton campaign reckons that if anyone can make inroads with blue collar voters unhappy about their prospects and cool to Mrs. Clinton, it is these two, who came from hardscrabble backgrounds that give them a natural cultural and economic affinity to this slice of the electorate.

One of their prime targets is Pennsylvania. The state is emerging as a firewall for her campaign in blocking Mr. Trump from reaching the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. If he loses Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, he faces daunting odds in clearing the threshold, analysts say.

“Where’s the tipping-point state—the state that would put Trump over 270? I think you can make a stronger case for Pennsylvania than for any other state,” said Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report. “She has to win that, so I think investing a lot of time in that makes a lot of sense.”

Democrats haven’t lost Pennsylvania since 1988 and polls show Mrs. Clinton leads here, but she has been losing ground.

A new Muhlenberg College/Morning Call poll found Mrs. Clinton with a nine-point lead among likely Pennsylvania voters in a head-to-head matchup with Mr. Trump, and an eight-point lead when third-party candidates are included.

A Real Clear Politics average of polling in the state shows she is ahead by about six points, down from nine points for much of last month.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign wouldn’t say how well she would like to do among the state’s white, working class voters, but one benchmark is the 2012 presidential race. That year, Mr. Obama won Pennsylvania by carrying 42% of this constituency, compared with 56% for Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Democrats say Mrs. Clinton didn’t help herself when she made a comment in March that her energy policies were “going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” She later said she was “mistaken in my remarks.”

Jim Davis, chairman of the Democratic Party in Fayette County, Pa., near the West Virginia border, said Mrs. Clinton’s comments stung. “It resonates here and Trump has capitalized on it,” he said. “She’s hurt herself in Pennsylvania.”

Mr. Davis was among the customers and Democratic officials who greeted Mr. Clinton when the former president recently stopped at an Italian restaurant in the county to shake hands. It was one of two stops Mr. Clinton made that day behind partisan lines—in a pair of southwestern Pennsylvania counties won by the Republicans in 2008 and 2012...
With the polls tightening, I've been paying more attention to the Electoral College math, and I don't see much hope for Trump --- or at least much margin for error --- unless he's able to win the Keystone state. When polls are running neck-and-neck there, I'll start getting a little more emotional about things.

But keep reading, in any case.

Deep Concern Among Democrats About Hillary Clinton's Hispanic Strategy

Following-up from earlier, "Hillary Clinton Struggles in Florida."

One of Hillary's biggest problems in Florida is she can't hold the same numbers of Latinos that Obama did in 2012. Indeed, her shrinking Latino vote could cost her the state, when combined with a lot of folks who've said they're just going to stay home.

I'm loving this phase of the campaign. The Democrats are truly freakin' out, and they get more desperate in the attacks each week. I think the rank-and-file are full of it.

At the Washington Post, "Among Democrats, deep concern about Clinton’s Hispanic strategy" (via Memeorandum):
Lagging support among Hispanic voters for Hillary Clinton and congressional candidates in crucial races has stoked deep concern that the party and the presidential campaign are doing too little to galvanize a key constituency.

While Clinton holds a significant lead over Trump in every poll of Hispanic voters, less clear is whether these voters will turn out in numbers that Democrats are counting on to win. Clinton trails President Obama’s 2012 performance in several Latino-rich states including Florida, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona. In those same states, where Democrats’ goal of retaking the Senate hinge, some down-ballot Democrats remain unknown to many Hispanic voters.

That reality has prompted a flurry of criticism of Clinton’s and the party’s Hispanic strategies. Despite a uniquely favorable environment with Republican Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on undocumented immigrants, Democrats are increasingly worried that the opportunity is slipping away to meet a longstanding party goal of marshaling the nation’s growing Hispanic population into a permanent electoral force. The concerns are compounded by Trump’s recent surge in several battleground states.

“We’re not seeing the Democratic Party take advantage of this moment in time, really looking to leverage more engagement in a more strategic way with our community,” said Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza.

One top criticism is that Clinton waited until this month to launch a sustained campaign of traditional, Spanish-language ads in key markets. Previously, the campaign’s Hispanic strategy centered on reaching millennial voters through new media such as Facebook and YouTube. Its television outreach was produced primarily in English and aimed at bilingual households. According to critics, Clinton missed a chance to deploy a broader effort to target the Hispanic electorate like the one that Obama pioneered four years ago.

“This approach may end up being vindicated on Election Day,” said Fernand Amandi, a veteran strategist who led Obama’s research, messaging and paid media operation for the Hispanic vote in 2012. “I just find it to be more risky than replicating what we know worked, which is the sustained approach that the Obama campaign put in place.”

Clinton aides and her allies insist that they are facing a very different opponent than Obama’s, along with new challenges posed by a Hispanic electorate that grows younger and less reliant on traditional modes of communication with each passing cycle.

The dispute goes to the heart of a debate among Hispanic operatives about how much emphasis should be placed on newer ways of reaching younger Hispanics, who like millennials overall are more resistant to backing Clinton than older Latinos...
Well, yeah, she's old and square. Besides, one too many jalapeños might end up putting her under.

But keep reading.

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'Manufacturing Test Explosives' on Tumblr — Left-Wing Manifesto Claims Credit for Manhattan Bombing

Well, this is interesting.

Paul Joseph Watson tweeting the link earlier today:


The page has been deleted, but it's still up in cached format:
Hi.

You probably have all seen the news by now,

the explosives detonated in New York City, that was me. Those were just some tests, I know where I have made errors and I will not make the same mistake next time.

I did it because I cannot stand society.

I cannot live in a world where homosexuals like myself as well as the rest of the LGBTQ+ community are looked down upon by society. It is 2016 and we are still being viewed as mentally ill, sinners, attention seekers, and just plain weirdos in general. I am not going to stand by while under classed and underprivileged people are oppressed. I am not going to stand by while there is inequality in my country such as the racism being seen in white police officers all over the country. I am not going to live in a country where it is OK to have a misogynist, xenophobic, racist Islamophobic, republican candidate running for President of The United States! That’s implying that republicans in general should even be taken seriously as they are all cisgendered privileged white people.

This is not the end, this is just the beginning. I will be remembered. I will make a difference. I will eliminate my targets before it is too late.
I don't think this is authentic. Frankly, with the second device being a pressure-cooker bomb, I suspect these are genuine jihad attacks.

That said, I've been warning about the coming far-left "direct action" attacks for some time. I don't doubt we'll be seeing some, especially if Donald Trump is elected.

Meanwhile, at the Daily Beast:


Los Angeles Rams First Regular-Season Home Game in 22 Years (VIDEO)

It's a noon-time game, for some reason, heh.

Usually you'll have a game at 10:00am and 1:00pm, but the Rams wanna be special, I guess.

In any case, here's the video, featuring Lindsey Thiry of the Los Angeles Times, "Preview: Rams vs. Seahawks in Week 2."

Plus, "Rams will try to bounce back against the Seahawks in L.A. homecoming."

And, "Rams hope to reshape rowdy reputation of Coliseum in NFL circles."

ADDED: Game time's actually 1:05pm. Noon-time is the pre-game show.


Bo Krsmanovic on What's Sexy (VIDEO)

Well, Bo Krsmanovic's sexy, heh.

Via Sports Illustrated:



Previously, "Bo Krsmanovic Summer of Swim 2016 (VIDEO)."

Bonus: At 90 Miles from Tyranny, "Morning Mistress." And at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is a wonderful fossil fuels free sailboat, needed when the world floods, you might just be a Warmist," and "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup."

Here's Your Sunday Kim Kardashian Roundup

I haven't posted Kim Kardashian Rule 5 in four years.

Reaganite Republican used to give me a hard time about it, and I guess I internalized it. But Reaganite's a "Never Trumper," and I've hammered him as an idiot and a loser. Now he's blocked me on the Disqus commenting at his blog, so I called him out on it on Twitter.

What a dick.

In any case, enough about that.

I think Ms. Kim's a good looking lady. She's not at the top of my list, but she's not someone you'd kick out of bed. Not by a long shot.

Here's a bunch of Kimye posting at London's Daily Mail, "The sheer cheek of it! Kim Kardashian puts cleavage and booty on parade in see-through dress as she pulls out another outrageous outfit from wardrobe for Kanye's show," and "Whatever happened to Kim's bra? Kardashian goes without underwear in yet ANOTHER sheer top."

Also, "It's a bit early for that, Kim! Kardashian goes braless in yet another sheer top on early morning outing in New York," and "It's all gone West! Kim Kardashian shows her nipples in a sheer bustier as she wears bizarre outfit with Kanye."

Shoot, the woman's got 48 million followers on Twitter. I think I could get a few hits on my blog with a follower count like that, heh.


Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Colin Kaepernick Branco Cartoons photo Knick-Safe-600-LI-a_zpskccwv9qj.jpg

Also at Theo's, "Cartoon Round Up..."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – San Francisco Forty-Whiner."

Leftists Cheer: Manhattan Bombing Not Tied to International Terrorism — Hoorah!

We're in a very bad state when the best thing to come out of a New York terror attack is that so far there's no official link to global jihad. Boy, leftists are not only breathing easier, they're cheering the findings. That'll sure tell those deplorables!

At the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Manhattan Blast That Injured 29 Does Not Appear to Be International Terrorism."

Actually, it doesn't matter if al Qaeda or Islamic State was factually behind the attack. New York suffered a terrorist attack last night, one of the devices was a pressure-cooker bomb like the one used in the Boston Marathon attack, and but for God's grace no one was killed.

Frankly, regular Americans will be able to see through the left's ruse and appeasement. Donald Trump called it a bombing from the get go, and idiots progs called him out. But Trump was right. Even Hillary Clinton called the attack a "bombing" during the same statement in which she said no one should jump to conclusions. Progs are twisting themselves in knots. They can't even get their Orwellianisms straight.


Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Minnesota Mall Stabbing Attack (VIDEO)

At Legal Insurrection, "ISIS Claims Responsibility for Minnesota Mall Knife-Wielding Terrorist."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Minnesota Mall Stabbing Suspect Made References to Allah, Police Say."





Gerges, ISIS: A History

At Amazon, Fawaz Gerges, ISIS: A History.

Joby Warrick Black Flags [BUMPED]

At Amazon, Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS.

Black Flags photo A1L0DJrbWtL_zpsgsnfcrxh.jpg

Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan, Inside the Army of Terror

At Amazon, ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror.

ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror photo 2015-ISIS-book_zpsehfym3uc.jpg

Stakelbeck: ISIS Exposed

From Erick Stakelbeck, ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam.

Erick Stakelbeck photo 91hBPTFDVjL._SL1500__zps8twupazv.jpg

Stanford's Christian McCaffrey Too Much for Flustered USC Trojans (VIDEO)

Maybe I should be rooting for Stanford.

Christian McCaffrey's the man!

At LAT, "USC can't keep pace with Christian McCaffrey and Stanford in 27-10 loss":

Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey always seemed to be one cut away from tearing a huge chunk out of USC’s defense Saturday evening. There were exceptions: On some plays, he actually did tear huge chunks out of USC’s defense.

There was a long touchdown reception when he was inexplicably uncovered. There was one of the patient, tackle-shedding runs that have made him a Heisman Trophy favorite. Mostly, though, he wore USC down with consistency.

USC could not get in McCaffrey’s way often enough, nor could it get out of its own way with enough frequency. The Trojans hobbled themselves with penalties and muddled play calls in a 27-10 loss to the No. 7 Cardinal in a Pac-12 Conference opener.

USC committed six false starts. Officials threw eight flags on USC overall, for 56 penalty yards, enough to saddle the offense with too many third-and-long tries.

“We clean up the errors, we will be a good football team,” Coach Clay Helton said after the game.

Instead, USC was left gawking at another masterpiece by McCaffrey, who has quickly become a vexing nemesis. Last season, in two games against USC, McCaffrey tallied 710 all-purpose yards against USC, including 461 in the Pac-12 title game. In the past 20 years, only two FBS players had more all-purpose yards against the same opponent in a two-game span.

This season, McCaffrey relegated USC to 1-2, with a suddenly crucial trip to Utah on Friday looming over the Trojans like an anvil...
More.

Also, from Bill Plaschke, "So far it's a bad deal for USC after a 27-10 loss to Stanford."

Islamic State Supporters Celebrate New York City Chelsea Explosion

At Jihad Watch, "Muslims celebrate NYC bomb: “The lions of the Caliphate roar in New York, we cause you pain inside your house”."

Hillary Clinton Struggles in Florida

This is a surprisingly great piece at the New York Times. It must've been painful for them to write. Indeed, if things don't improve for Crooked Hillary, The Donald's going to take the Sunshine State. That would be yuge!



Saturday, September 17, 2016

Weston, The Mirror Test

Here's J. Kael Weston, The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Mirror Test photo 13557924_10210278500141905_6421572641967068311_n_zpsajftskbq.jpg

Shop Books Today [BUMPED]

I'm going to plug my Amazon affiliates sales like crazy today. I need to get my affiliates fees up so I can finance my book addiction, heh.

Thanks for everyone who's been shopping through my links. I always appreciate it and the residual fees are usually enough every month for me to afford a couple of new books, and perhaps some used jewels as well.

Thanks so much.

Here's the link, Books at Amazon.

At Least 25 Injured in Explosion in Manhattan (VIDEO)

I have football on, but accidentally flipped over to CNN and saw the news.




Belgians Have a Term for People Who Drink Stella Artois — Tourists

I first tried Stella Artois this summer at my sister's. At first I thought it was a light beer, but it's not. I was impressed. It tastes good and goes down smooth. When I visited my mom's over Labor Day weekend my sister was there as well, and again we had Stella Artois. I haven't bought any since, but I like it.

So, now I'm getting a kick out of this piece at the Wall Street Journal. It turns out Stella's a tourist's beer. Belgium locals don't drink it:
BRUSSELS — Michel Sabourin, a 75-year-old bar owner, spends most days here tucked between his counter and a 5-foot pink neon sign touting “Stella Artois,” Belgium’s best-sold beer world-wide.

Don’t ask him for a Stella, though. He stopped selling it months ago. “I had to give up,” he said. “I didn’t have enough demand anymore.”

Stella is ubiquitous in bars and restaurants abroad, where it is increasingly seen as one of the most distinctively Belgian products. In the country of its birth, the pilsner has gone flat.

Laurent Van Der Meeren, manager of La Bécasse, a bar and restaurant in a southeastern Brussels residential neighborhood, stopped selling Stella in 2014. He replaced it with Jupiler—a pilsner owned, as is Stella, by Anheuser-Busch InBev NV—which he said is more popular with younger people. “I think it’s a generational thing,” he said.

“Herbaceous, with a metallically bitter finish” is how Michael Vermeren describes Stella. The southern-Belgium chef and zythologist, as beer sommeliers like to call themselves, said it is the last of Belgium’s mass-produced pilsners he would choose.

“Industrial beer isn’t really my thing,” he said. “Stella is an everyman beer and its taste is designed to be liked by everyone.”

At home, Stella had a 6.5% market share last year, far behind Jupiler’s 35%, according to market-research firm Euromonitor International.

On the bright side, “it’s still the No. 3 lager in Belgium,” said Todd Allen, vice president for Stella, which AB InBev said also trails Heineken NV’s Maes Pils...
More.

Okay, Gonna Read Exodus Now

I'm still working on this novel.

Here, at Amazon, Leon Uris, Exodus.

I'll post more links a little later.

Deal of the Day: BARSKA Starwatcher Refractor Telescope

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Also, Top Hunting Products.

More, UTG 1-Day Situational Preparedness Pack, Black.

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

BONUS: Gordon S. Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815.

Gorka, Defeating Jihad

At Amazon, Sebastian Gorka, Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War.

Defeating Jihad photo c0vj-square-400_zpsjqggu2iv.jpg

Mark Danner, Spiral

At Amazon, Mark Danner, Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War.

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Charles R. Lister, The Syrian Jihad

At Amazon, Charles R. Lister, The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency.

Syrian Jihad photo 14359259_10210950332057283_6646780002923705885_n_zpslq6h9aot.jpg

Conflict with Islamic State Intensifies: Local Troops Fighting in Syria and Iraq (VIDEO)

Via ABC News 10 San Diego:



Akhil Reed Amar, The Constitution Today

At Amazon, The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era.

I'm intrigued by this, since for one thing I teach the Constitution every semester, and of course, students know little about it, considering how little constitutional history is taught. But I'm also intrigued by how the Reed Amar book can be contrasted to Terry Moe's new book, Relic: How Our Constitution Undermines Effective Government — and Why We Need a More Powerful Presidency. (Hat Tip: PJ Media, "Stanford Professor on Constitution Day: Following the Founders is 'Dumb'.")

Admiring the Constitution isn't dumb, of course. It's that society has changed so much that government leaders are empowered to blow off the checks their supposed to follow, especially the checks on presidential power.

Here's the blurb from The Constitution Today at Amazon:
America’s Constitution, Chief Justice John Marshall famously observed in McCulloch v. Maryland, aspires “to endure for ages to come.” The daily news has a shorter shelf life, and when the issues of the day involve momentous constitutional questions, present-minded journalists and busy citizens cannot always see the stakes clearly.

In The Constitution Today, Akhil Reed Amar, America’s preeminent constitutional scholar, considers the biggest and most bitterly contested debates of the last two decades and provides a passionate handbook for thinking constitutionally about today’s headlines. Amar shows how the Constitution’s text, history, and structure are a crucial repository of collective wisdom, providing specific rules and grand themes relevant to every organ of the American body politic. Prioritizing sound constitutional reasoning over partisan preferences, he makes the case for diversity-based affirmative action and a right to have a gun in one’s home for self-protection, and against spending caps on independent political advertising and bans on same-sex marriage. He explains what’s wrong with presidential dynasties, advocates a “nuclear option” to restore majority rule in the Senate, and suggests ways to reform the Supreme Court. And he revisits three dramatic constitutional conflicts—the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the contested election of George W. Bush, and the fight over Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act—to show what politicians, judges, and journalists got right as events unfolded and what they missed.

Leading readers through the particular constitutional questions at stake in each episode while outlining his abiding views regarding the Constitution’s letter, its spirit, and the direction constitutional law must go, Amar offers an essential guide for anyone seeking to understand America’s Constitution and its relevance today.

Donald Trump Ends the Controversy, Says Barack Obama Born in United States (VIDEO)

I expect the story will continue to get play over the weekend, but by Monday it's going to be a blip on the radar.

Donald Trump appears to be moving on.

See the big report from last night's World News Tonight:



Friday, September 16, 2016

Ben Shapiro's Seen the Light?

Remember, if you're voting Hillary you're not conservative. And frankly, if you're not voting for Donald Trump you're no conservative either, at least in my book, since to be conservative today means to stop the leftist destruction of the country and try to set America back on the right track. Donald Trump at least gives us a chance.

So, it's amazing how Ben Shapiro, who was one of the biggest, ugliest, and most vicious critics of Trump and the Trump movement during the primaries, is now singing the virtues of the surging Manhattan mogul.

At the Daily Wire, via Memeorandum, "Trump Trolling Master Class: ‘Obama Was Born In The United States. Period.’"

Ben Shapiro photo Csg7gecXgAEbbSy_zpsehmotf1y.jpg


Kristen Keogh's Saturday Forecast

The weather's been just perfect. Sunny, warm, and pleasant.

Via ABC News 10 San Diego:



Millennial Voters Turning Away from Hillary Clinton

The entire Democrat Party establishment is freaking out right now, and all they can do is scream and throw toddler tantrums about this idiotic "birther" story that no one cares about.

Soros-backed Media Matters is urging MSM hacks not to let the birtherism controversy fade away, "Seven Reasons the Media Shouldn't Let Trump Move on From Birtherism."

Seriously, all of this reeks of the most craven desperation. It's really ugly. But then, Hillary turned this campaign into a collective attack on alleged "white supremacy" and "racism," so it's no surprise it's come to this. Shoot, you'd think there weren't any important issues facing the country.

Young voters aren't warming up to the Democrat ticket no matter how hard Hillary throws down the race card.

At WSJ, "Millennials Have Cooled on Hillary Clinton, Forcing a Campaign Reset":
FAIRFAX, Va.— Hillary Clinton’s once-commanding lead among young voters has nearly collapsed, several polls show, a factor making the presidential race much closer in recent weeks and prompting the Clinton campaign to move quickly to keep a core Democratic constituency in the fold.

In its most visible response, the campaign has begun sending the party’s most popular stars to college campuses to urge students not to sit out the election or back third-party candidates, who are drawing support from young voters.

“Elections aren’t just about who votes, but who doesn’t vote, and that is especially true for young people like all of you,’’ first lady Michelle Obama said Friday during a campaign event at a university in Virginia, a battleground state where polls show the race tightening.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a sensation among younger voters during the Democratic primaries, will campaign for Mrs. Clinton this weekend, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a liberal icon, will attend events this weekend at two Ohio universities.

Mr. Sanders previewed his message on Friday, saying he will urge young voters to look past the candidates’ personalities and instead consider Mrs. Clinton’s proposals for debt-free college and for raising taxes on the wealthy to fund government programs.

“I would just simply say to the millennials, to anybody else: Look at the issues. … Stay focused on the issues of relevance to your life,’’ Mr. Sanders said on MSNBC.

The outreach comes as polls show younger voters moving away from Mrs. Clinton. Among those under age 35, Mrs. Clinton’s lead over Republican presidential rival Donald Trump fell from 24 points in late August to just 5 points this month in Quinnipiac surveys. That was one reason her overall lead among likely voters fell from 7 points to 2 points.

Similarly, Mrs. Clinton bested Mr. Trump by 27 points among voters under 35 in a Fox News survey in early August. That lead fell to 9 points in a new Fox News survey.

The trend is appearing in some state-level surveys, as well: In a new poll of Michigan voters, Mrs. Clinton’s 24-point lead among young voters a month ago fell to 7 points. That change helped account for why her 11-point lead among voters overall fell to 3 points in the survey, conducted for the Detroit Free Press and WXYZ.

Gary Johnson, the libertarian candidate, is picking up many of the young voters who had backed Mrs. Clinton. In the Quinnipiac poll, he drew a significant 29% of likely voters under age 35, up from 16% in August. He trailed Mrs. Clinton by only 2 percentage points among those voters, a sign of how potentially damaging he could be to her campaign.

Mr. Johnson’s support overall remains low, and the Commission on Presidential Debates said Friday that both he and Green Party candidate Jill Stein had failed to qualify for the first debate, citing its requirement that candidates have at least 15% support in five predetermined national polls.

Mrs. Clinton struggled to win young voters in the Democratic primaries against Mr. Sanders, who won nearly three-quarters of those under age 30, exit polls showed. President Barack Obama won 60% of voters under 30 in the 2012 election.

These voters may now join the list of trouble spots in the electorate for Mrs. Clinton, along with white, working-class voters, particularly men...
Well, good.

I'm kicking myself at the hilarity of it!

Keep reading.

Donald Trump’s Electoral Map to Victory

Hey, don't get cocky kid (as Instapundit loves to say).

 At U.S. News and World Report, "Trump’s Electoral Map to Victory, Yes He is Going to Win":
Donald Trump’s path to the White House has gained growing plausibility with a flurry of poll numbers showing the Republican nominee on the ascent over Hillary Clinton in some of the most crucial battleground states.

Trump’s new momentum is the product of a hazardous period for Clinton, in which she earned fervent backlash for deriding half of his supporters as belonging in a “basket of deplorables” and then nearly collapsed in public while fighting a previously undisclosed bout with pneumonia that renewed lingering questions about her health and took her off the campaign trail for most of this week.

Three polls showing Trump inching ahead in Ohio, survey results placing him in the lead in Florida and still another poll giving him a slim advantage in Nevada have jolted hardened perceptions about the race 11 days before the first debate in Hempstead, New York. Additionally, a CBS News/New York Times survey of the contest released Thursday found the candidates statistically even nationally, knotted at 42 percent apiece.

Many political observers who concluded the race was slipping out of Trump’s reach after his disastrous August are now recalibrating their opinions and wondering how Clinton will stop her own September slide – a stark indication of how volatile the campaign remains with more than seven weeks until Election Day.

"Hillary's just not a very good candidate. She doesn't have campaign skills, comes off as shrill, and has a cloud hanging over her," says Scott Reed, the senior political strategist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Trump has "shown a new level of message discipline. That's why this election has tightened up."

Polling out of Ohio – where surveys are now tracking Trump ahead by 3 to 5 percentage points – set off alarm bells within the Clinton campaign, which suddenly announced it was dispatching Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Clinton's former rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, to the Buckeye State this weekend to pitch the former secretary of state to young voters uninspired by her candidacy. Warren and Sanders will promote Clinton's plan to make college debt-free across five cities on Saturday.

"We always expected the race to tighten up," Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said on a conference call Thursday. "They call these 'battleground states' for a reason. They are going to be hard-fought."

A Bloomberg survey of Ohio found that a higher proportion of men and older voters are indicating their likelihood to cast ballots – a glaring sign that Clinton needs to rally younger voters and minorities in order to offset that surge benefiting Trump, whose victory is predicated on garnering an unprecedented portion of the white vote.

Liberal advocates also are openly expressing worry that millennials ages 18 to 34 – 45 percent of which are minorities – don't recall or care that the last sustained era of economic prosperity occurred under President Bill Clinton.

"My concern is that they're not turned on to participate," Maria Teresa Kumar, president of Voto Latino, said at a Brookings Institution event in Washington on Wednesday.

Facing little room for error, Trump's climb remains uphill, but Republican strategists are beginning to see an emerging electoral map that would allow him to squeak out a victory.

Trump must hold all 24 states carried by Mitt Romney in 2012 and add Ohio and Florida to the tally. A loss in Florida, Ohio or in increasingly competitive North Carolina – which Romney carried by just 2.2 percentage points over President Barack Obama – would hand Clinton the presidency.

Virginia, the fourth-most competitive state in 2012, has drifted into Clinton's column, analysts believe...
I'm not getting too excited about this.

Now, like I said before, if Pennsylvania looks likely to flip to Trump on election day, I might get a little more emotional. I suspect the Keystone State would perform a bellwether service in that case, with perhaps even a couple more surprises to come as well.

Still, Trump must run the table, so to speak. He's got no margin for error. His election frankly will need to look like a tsunami. That's not the case for Hillary, although they're shitting bricks either way.

More.

Donald Trump Rickrolls MSM Hacks

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "JAKE TAPPER: THAT TRUMP PRESS CONFERENCE WAS A “POLITICAL RICKROLL”."

And at Power Line, "TRUMP OUTSMARTS THE PRESS."

And watch, at A.P., "Trump Drops Birther Theory, Scores Press Coup":
Donald Trump scored a coup against the media Friday, convening the press at his new Washington hotel after promising a big announcement, but delivering just a brief acknowledgement that President Obama was born in the U.S.
Frankly, the whole renewed "birther" controversy is a manufactured media event to help salvage Hillary's sinking campaign. And the utter partisan transparency is absolutely ridiculous.

Notice how the New York Times is going with how Trump "clung" to the lie for all these years, only to disappoint the idiot press corps by conceding Obama was indeed born in the U.S.

Just amazing. Absolutely amazing all of it, and a knee-slapper for Trump supporters.

Well played, Mr. Trump. Well played.