Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Obama Justice Department Helped Hillary Clinton Avoid Political Fallout from Private Emails

This kind of coordination between the regime in power and the party's imminent presidential nominee is what you'd expect in a one-party dictatorship. And here we are, the entire political system, up in arms about politically incorrect lewd comments from 11 years ago.

The American democracy's barely functioning. Indeed, if it wasn't for an anti-American organization, WikiLeaks, we'd have likely never known about the true scale of depraved corruption among Hillary Clinton, the Obama regime, the Democrats, and the insidious left-wing party press.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Emails Show Hillary Clinton Campaign’s Response to Fallout":
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton’s political team sought to contain any potential fallout over her use of a private email server by communicating with government agencies, enlisting help of congressional allies and managing public statements, newly released emails show.

Hacked emails belonging to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta were posted by the website WikiLeaks this week, showing her staff candidly debating the tone and substance of responses to media after the 2015 disclosure of her use of a private email server while leading the State Department during President Barack Obama’s first term.

In several electronic exchanges, Mrs. Clinton’s staff appeared to be in communication with government officials about the email issue. One campaign official is shown telling colleagues about a coming procedural step, which was part of the public record, that he suggests he learned from Justice Department officials.

In another case, an attorney for Mrs. Clinton appeared to know the contents of a State Department document release concerning speeches by former President Bill Clinton before it was made public.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign hasn’t confirmed or denied the authenticity of the email trove posted by WikiLeaks, but a campaign spokesman said the release of apparently stolen internal communications showcases Russian attempts to interfere in the U.S. election on behalf of Mrs. Clinton’s Republican rival, Donald Trump. U.S. intelligence agencies have publicly accused Russia of directing hacks and leaks aimed at top Democratic Party officials, but they haven’t reached a conclusion in the specific breach of Mr. Podesta’s emails.

“The timing shows you that even Putin knows Trump had a bad weekend and a bad debate. The only remaining question is why Donald Trump continues to make apologies for the Russians,” said campaign spokesman Glen Caplin. The campaign declined to comment further.

Campaign spokesman Brian Fallon, who worked at Justice before joining the campaign in 2015, is shown in the emails to be giving a heads up about a preliminary hearing in a lawsuit brought by a Vice News reporter against the State Department. Justice Department attorneys were representing their colleagues at State in the matter. The information provided to Mr. Fallon was in the court’s docket.

“DOJ folks inform me there is a status hearing in this case this morning, so we could have a window into the judge’s thinking about this proposed production schedule as quickly as today,” Mr. Fallon wrote to his colleagues on the campaign.

The Clinton attorney, Heather Samuelson, is shown providing a detailed accounting of Bill Clinton speeches discussed in documents that were to be released by State. She also reported how much the former president, who commanded six-figure sums for his speaking engagements, was paid.

“There is one request where speaking fee would have been paid by Turkish govt—WJC’s office declined this,” Ms. Samuelson wrote, referring to Mr. Clinton. “And one speaking engagement with fee from Canadian government, which he did do.”

Ms. Samuelson didn’t immediately return a request for comment...
Well, of course Ms. Samuelson's unavailable for comment! This is an authoritarian regime we're talking about. They're completely unaccountable.

But keep reading.

Things are coming to a head in this country. A Trump win or not, things are gonna blow. Mark my words. Things are going to erupt around here. People will only take the abuse for so long. We're beyond the tipping point now. We're going to explode.

Will 'Fed-Up' Millennials Vote for Third Party Candidates?

I don't vote third party. Insignificant protest votes are a waste.

Frankly, I'll bet "fed-up" Millennials, if they don't like the choices, will simply decide to sit this one out. It's not like their cohort's voter turnout rate is overpowering, or anything.

In any case, from the front-page at today's USA Today:


Nice Photos at Theo's

Theo doesn't post these so much any more.

See, "Pic Dump..."

BONUS: "Another Great View..."

Joanna Krupa Gets Very Racy in Thong Panties on Instagram (PHOTOS)

She's a sweetie!

At London's Daily Mail:


Katie Pavlich, Assault and Flattery

Ms. Katie shamelessly plugged her book on Twitter last night ahead of the presidential debate.

And it's at Amazon, Assault and Flattery: The Truth About the Left and Their War on Women.

David Horowitz on Trump, the Left's Transformation, Campus Anti-Semitism, and More (VIDEO)

Here's David Horowitz speaking at the Beverly Hills Hotel last Wednesday, October 5, at FrontPage Magazine.

And out yesterday, at Amazon, The Black Book of the American Left, Volume 7: The Left in Power: Clinton to Obama.

Foreign Policy Magazine Endorses Hillary Clinton

I've seen and ignored a wave of Hillary Clinton newspaper endorsements as completely expected. Even USA Today issued an endorsement, and they never do.

That's true as well for Foreign Policy, which I thought worth reading, since international relations is my academic specialty (and I've been reading the magazine for over 20 years).

I actually had to laugh at this passage, since the editors might as well be describing Barack Obama:
He has promoted a delusional and narcissistic view of the world, one in which he seems to feel that the power of his personality in negotiations could redirect the course of other nations, remake or supplant treaties, and contain those tyrants he does not actually embrace.
At any rate, read the whole thing, as they say:


Mia Woolrich Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call 2017 (VIDEO)

Just lovely.

Absolutely lovely.

Via Sports Illustrated:



California's Proposition 64 Has Deeply Divided the Medical Marijuana Community

Lolz.

This is interesting.

At LAT, "The push to legalize pot for all has deeply divided the medical marijuana community":
Come November, medical pot dispensary operator Lanette Davies won’t be joining others in her industry in voting for Proposition 64, a measure that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

The initiative could create a flood of new customers for Davies’ nonprofit Canna Care pot shop, which is located in the back of an industrial park on the outskirts of Sacramento. But Davies fears the Nov. 8 ballot measure will result in big corporations driving out small operators, and the government setting steep taxes and fees on cannabis that will put it out of reach for many of her mostly low-income customers.

“Because of the double taxation and the permit fees, you are not going to have affordable medication,” Davies predicted as her customer bought a $33 bag of Jedi Kush marijuana. “The people who are going to suffer are those who are disabled, who are on low incomes. They are not going to be able to get life-saving medicine.”

She is not the only one concerned. Proposition 64 has split the medical cannabis community, with some seeing new opportunity and others fearing it will wreck a system that is working for nearly 800,000 medical pot card holders...
"Life saving medication."

That's good marketing, heh.

Frankly, "medical" marijuana's been a back-door legalization program for recreational users in any case, which has been the goal all along. I'm told that some dispensaries don't even ask for a "medical marijuana" card. You just cruise in there and cop your dope, bro.

So it's pretty rich that these hippies with the hip "Jedi Kush" baggies are all up in arms now that Big Marijuana's coming to town. Hey, you guys are the ones that got it going. Adapt or die, as they say.

Still more.

Why Did NBC News Sit on the Trump Tape for So Long?

Well, it's obvious that NBC wanted to have a big "October surprise," but the story leaked and the Washington Post actually got the scoop.

But see Jack Shafer, at Politico, "Stories get held at every news organization, but NBC doesn’t look good here, and no amount of finessing will make them look any prettier."

Black Assailants Responsible for Nearly 40 Percent of Premeditated Ambush Killings of Police Officers Since 2002

Well, so much for image of the angelic "unarmed" black male relentlessly targeted by "racist" cops.

Frankly, it's more likely the other way around.

At LAT:


Monday, October 10, 2016

Sabato's Crystal Ball: Second Debate 'Reinforces the New Status Quo'

Here's the latest from Larry Sabato and Co., "Clinton Adds to Her Electoral College Edge":
In the broad sweep of U.S. history, very occasionally one of the major parties simply disqualifies itself from the contest to win the White House by nominating an unelectable, non-mainstream candidate. We suspect that there will never be a better example than Donald Trump. The Republican Party chose a deeply divisive figure — one not supported by many senior figures in the GOP even before the release of Trump’s raunchy 2005 discussion with Access Hollywood’s (and now The Today Show’s) superficial, celebrity-worshipping Billy Bush. (Yes, he is of the Bush family, so a Bush finally speared Trump, however unintentionally.) Their X-rated discussion, and Trump’s insistence on discussing Bill Clinton’s sordid past, has caused voters to usher children out of the room when the TV news comes on. Is this the most embarrassing campaign ever? It must be close...
Keep reading.

Amy Adams Risks Wardrobe Malfunction at British Film Festival on Monday Night

At London's Daily Mail, "Wow! Amy Adams Goes Braless in Slashed Toga-Style Gown at British Film Festival on Monday."

Hillary Worried About Jihadists Entering With Refugees in Private Speech

Well, she was saying how refugees were part of the fabric of America at the debate last night. Like so much else, that's not what she said in private.

At Blazing Cat Fur.



Shailene Woodley Arrested

She's a cool chick.

At LAT:


PREVIOUSLY: "Shailene Woodley Says 'No' to Lesbian Revolutionary Feminism — #RadFem."

Deal of the Day: Save on the Hoover Power Scrub Deluxe Carpet Cleaner

At Amazon, Hoover FH50150 Carpet Basics Power Scrub Deluxe Carpet Cleaner.

Also, KIND Breakfast Bars, Honey Oat, Gluten Free, 1.8 Ounce, 32 Count, and, KIND Bars, Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt, Gluten Free, 1.4 Ounce Bars, 12 Count.

More, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 3 Feet (0.9 Meters) - Black.

And, Acer Chromebook CB3-131-C3SZ 11.6-Inch Laptop (Intel Celeron N2840 Dual-Core Processor,2 GB RAM,16 GB Solid State Drive,Chrome), White.

BONUS: Jay Cost, A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption.

ICYMI: James E. Campbell, Polarized [BUMPED]

This one's especially timely as well.

James Campbell's new book, Polarized: Making Sense of a Divided America.

Don't Miss This Debate Analysis from Dan Balz at the Washington Post

I say "don't miss" it not because it's so great or anything, but for the breathless revelatory tone.

Dan Balz and other deans of the establishment media class were just shocked by what they saw last night. Utterly shocked. And they had a hard time writing about it, especially in terms of attempts at objectivity. Balz is so predisposed against Donald Trump is ridiculous, and I normally consider him a fairly balanced reporter. But again, these people were just shocked that Trump would take on the entire establishment with such authority and gusto. And they were in denial that he actually won.

Read on my iPhone last night right before bed and I tweeted:


Post-Debate Panel on Hannity's Last Night (VIDEO)

It's interesting. Listen to Laura Ingraham and Monica Crowley at the opening of the video especially. Nigel Farage comments as well.

We had CNN on last night, and folks there were literally in shock at what happened at the debate, in denial even at how well Donald Trump did.

I'll scroll some of CNN's videos later.

Meanwhile check this out:




PREVIOUSLY: "A CAUSTIC QUARREL: INTENSELY PERSONAL ATTACKS DOMINATE 2nd DEBATE."

A CAUSTIC QUARREL: INTENSELY PERSONAL ATTACKS DOMINATE 2nd DEBATE

That's the banner headline at this morning's Los Angeles Times.

And here's the story online, "Trump and Clinton swipe at each other in vicious second debate." And the analysis, "After a mediocre debate performance, Trump still faces an uphill climb."

I thought it was an energizing debate. I like a fighter, and Donald Trump's got a lot of fight left in him.

L.A. Times photo 14671156_10211165836284754_4691713501241668641_n_zpscageasqx.jpg

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Deal of the Day: Velocity Exercise Magnetic Rower

At Amazon, Velocity Exercise Magnetic Rower: Resistance: DMC System (Drum Magnetic Control), Electronic Tension Control.

Also, KIND Breakfast Bars, Honey Oat, Gluten Free, 1.8 Ounce, 32 Count, and, KIND Bars, Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt, Gluten Free, 1.4 Ounce Bars, 12 Count.

More, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 3 Feet (0.9 Meters) - Black.

And, Acer Chromebook CB3-131-C3SZ 11.6-Inch Laptop (Intel Celeron N2840 Dual-Core Processor,2 GB RAM,16 GB Solid State Drive,Chrome), White.

BONUS: Greg Grandin, The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World.

Carmen Brundler Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call 2017 (VIDEO)

Exquisite!

Via Sports Illustrated:



Donald Trump Strolled Through Dressing Room Full of Nude Beauty Queens

Heh.

Actually, I'm sure millions of men dream of taking such a stroll, lol.

At BuzzFeed, where else?

See, "“We Were All Naked” When Donald Trump Walked Through Beauty Queen Dressing Room."


Donald Trump Pushes Back Against Cowardly GOP Leaders

Good for him.

At WSJ, "Abandoned by GOP Leaders After His Lewd Comments, Trump Pushes Back":

Donald Trump, faced with a coast-to-coast rebellion and a political party in turmoil, Sunday pushed back against Republicans who have abandoned his candidacy after video surfaced of him lewdly bragging about forcing himself on women.

Confronted by a growing chorus of GOP candidates and officials repudiating their own presidential candidate, Mr. Trump Sunday morning sent a series of messages on Twitter denouncing those who have turned their back on him.

“So many self-righteous hypocrites,” said Mr. Trump. “Watch their poll numbers—and elections—go down.”

The release on Friday of a 2005 video of Mr. Trump making lewd and degrading comments about women has led to recriminations from all corners of the party, as the Republican National Committee and its candidates scrambled for ways to protect other GOP candidates and avoid a cataclysmic down-ballot loss.

The speed and breadth of the abandonment of Mr. Trump’s candidacy shocked some longtime party members. “Our party is in its deepest crisis since Watergate in 1974,” said Ron Nehring, former chairman of the California Republican Party, referring to the midterm election when the resignation of then-President Richard M. Nixon led to a Democratic landslide.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told party officials to redirect funds away from Mr. Trump to down-ballot candidates, according to an official informed of the decision. In practical terms, the party will be working to mobilize voters who support GOP House and Senate candidates regardless of their position on the presidential race.

The number of Republicans who denounced Mr. Trump’s comments, withdrew their endorsement of him or asked him to drop out of the race mounted over the weekend, but it was clear that the issue will not go away for those who are trying to carve their own personal path to re-election.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, a Republican facing a tough re-election bid in 2016, was one of the first on Saturday to reverse her position and announce she would not vote for Mr. Trump. On Sunday reporters grilled her on why this occasion led her to abandon him, while she stuck by him on other occasions he said other things she found offensive.

“Those tapes are fundamentally different; he’s talking about assault,” she said in a brief press conference.

Democrats are portraying Ms. Ayotte’s change of heart as rank political opportunism. “There is no answer for what has changed now for Ayotte besides the political winds,’’ said Meira Bernstein, spokesman for the senator’s Democratic challenger, Gov. Maggie Hassan.

The controversy will shape Sunday night’s second presidential town-hall style debate in St. Louis. Mr. Trump has told The Wall Street Journal he won’t quit the race and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani reiterated that Sunday.

“Gosh almighty, he who hasn’t sinned throw the first stone here,” Mr. Giuliani, a confidant of Mr. Trump, said on CNN. “The fact is that men at times talk like that. Not all men, but men do.”

Mr. Giuliani said that Mr. Trump had made “a full and complete apology” for his boastful remarks about pressing himself on women a decade ago, when he was 59 years old. Today’s 70-year-old candidate has changed his thinking significantly about women since then, Mr. Giuliani said.

In the 2005 recording, Mr. Trump said: “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.…

“And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.…Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything,” Mr. Trump added. He also referred to a married woman whom he said he tried to seduce: “I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and f—her.…”

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine said Sunday on CNN that Mr. Trump’s comments about women show a “pattern of assaultive behavior.”

When 2008 Republican nominee John McCain withdrew on Saturday his endorsement of Mr. Trump, that left 1996 nominee Bob Dole as the only living GOP nominee backing Mr. Trump.

In an interview, Mr. Dole said he is still supportive of the party’s nominee. “It was 11 years ago. He shouldn’t have said it, but there’s nothing he can do about it except to do well in the debate,” he said...
More.

So Why is Donald Trump's 'Lewd' Tape the Straw That Broke the Camel's Back?

Heh.

I think the tape's just giving all these establishment hacks an easy exit ramp in preparation for their 2016 machinations. Everyone's looking out for their own skin because they frankly have no clue what's going to happen on election day. Some early polling data show that the so-called "lewd" tape hasn't blinkered Trump's core support. There may be some independents turned off, but if you thought all these modern leftist women were going for Trump, I've got a bridge I can sell you.

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "QUESTION ASKED: “So why is that tape — which to me just sounds like Trump being Trump — the straw that broke the camel’s back?”"

A Richochet piece is linked there, but Ed adds:
Why was Mitt Romney’s perfectly defensible 47 percent comment the straw that broke his campaign? Because the media coordinated its distribution as part of a massive simultaneous carpet bombing...
RTWT.

No One Fills Out a Bikini Like Arianny Celeste

So say the folks at Egotastic!

I'd say no one fills out a bikini like Kelly Brook, but then, I'm not knocking Ms. Arianny.

At Last Men on Earth, "ARIANNY CELESTE EVER SWEATY":
Arianny Celeste is a thing of beauty. Outside of once kicking her boyfriend in the face, she seems perfect in her tanned silicone dream state. You don't need a ring girl for three round fights. But I'd make up the job to if Arianny showed up for casting. All the power in the world to girls who look great when sweaty. Less so to fat guys with glandular issues.

Jon Voight Fires Back at Robert DeNiro

Heh.

DeNiro's a leftist. He's advocating political violence against Donald Trump, just like a good fascist.


Good Reasons to Sleep in on Sunday

Heh.

Sixty-six good reasons.

At the Chive, "Why would you ever get out of bed? (66 Photos)."

Hat Tip: Drunken Stepfather, who relabeled to entry, "Hot Sluts Laying in Bed."

BONUS: At Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is the world becoming so hot from evil carbon pollution ice cream that it snows, you might just be a Warmist."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Branco Cartoons photo Mud-Wrestling-600-CI_zpsbhzan1sv.jpg

Also at Theo's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: Branco Cartoons, "Baiting Trump."

Marine Le Pen's Youth Brigade

Heh.

I think France is on the leading edge of these things actually. The revolt of the masses tends to sweep up the young cohorts eventually. The establishment class is screwing everybody, as the young find out soon enough.

At Foreign Policy, "In Britain and the United States, it’s older working-class voters who are alienated and looking to blow up the system. In France, it’s young people":
FRÉJUS, France — It’s not easy being a teenage member of the National Front.

“Some people close the doors on you,” said Justine Dieulafait, an 18-year-old law student with a gentle manner and a fierce belief that France has no more room for immigrants. “You just have to accept it.”

But in Fréjus, a tranquil beach resort in southern France, Dieulafait was among her people.

Home to 50,000 people, the town is the biggest municipality under the control of the hard-right National Front (FN). As such, it was the perfect place to host last month’s “back-to-school” gathering of the party faithful in a former airplane hangar by the palm-fringed coast.

Most of the conference attendees — waving tricolor flags and sporting “Proud to be French” baseball caps — were middle-aged, a reflection of the party’s core demographic. Yet party leader Marine Le Pen, flanked onstage by a chorus of young women as she sang the national anthem, has also been pitching the FN as the party of choice for alienated French 20-somethings — and the pitch appears to be working.

Hundreds of young people have been elected to local office under her leadership since 2011, and some of the FN’s best-known faces have yet to turn 30. Le Pen’s 26-year-old niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, the blond bombshell of the far right, is France’s youngest MP. And then there is David Rachline, a senator and the mayor of Fréjus, who at 28 has just been named Le Pen’s presidential campaign chief.

At the conference, smartly dressed, articulate young activists were among those pushing Le Pen’s message most fervently. They hammered home the dangers of multiculturalism and Muslims who “segregate” themselves from secular French society; they pronounced themselves enthusiastically in favor of a “Frexit” from the European Union. Like Dieulafait, who joined the FN at 16, they want a government that puts French citizens’ needs before those of immigrants, and they are not ashamed to say so.

If Le Pen wins next year’s presidential elections — a prospect that remains unlikely but not impossible — it will be thanks in part to a growing army of young supporters...
Well, her election "remains unlikely" because the entire political establishment will unify to stop her accession. Parties of the left and center will ally in opposition to the one political force in the country determined to crush the French political class and its globalist, multiculturalist tyranny.

But after Europe's Muslim refugee onslaught, and Britain's Brexit precedent, anything's possible. The people are starting to claw their way back, tearing down the ossified pillars of the old corrupt globalist state. It's awesome.

Keep reading.

Dodgers NLDS Game #2 Postponed Because of Rain?

Actually, it didn't rain.

Here's LAT's Lindsey Thiry, on Twitter last night, and on YouTube below, with Andy McCullough and Bill Plaschke.

Who knows?




Trump Voters 'Unfazed' by So-Called 'Lewd' Comments About Women

Actually, I'm seeing mixed reports on this.

Salena Zito, for example, talked to Trump supporters in Pennsylvania and they're not pleased. They're not so big on Trump after all.

But my sense is that Trump's hardcore base of supporters don't care. Indeed, this is probably one more time where they see the establishment out to take down their man. And can you blame them? Sheesh.

Here's Catherine Rampell:



Steven F. Hayward, Patriotism Is Not Enough [BUMPED]

I love Steven Hayward's writing, and he's got a new book coming out in February, Patriotism Is Not Enough: Harry Jaffa, Walter Berns, and the Arguments that Redefined American Conservatism.

I'll be teaching all day, so shop around on Amazon.

Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion

Following-up, "Donald Trump and American Populism."

At Amazon, Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American History.

Donald Trump and American Populism

From Michael Kazin, at Foreign Affairs, "Trump and American Populism: Old Whine, New Bottles":
Donald Trump is an unlikely populist. The Republican nominee for U.S. president inherited a fortune, boasts about his wealth and his many properties, shuttles between his exclusive resorts and luxury hotels, and has adopted an economic plan that would, among other things, slash tax rates for rich people like himself. But a politician does not have to live among people of modest means, or even tout policies that would boost their incomes, to articulate their grievances and gain their support. Win or lose, Trump has tapped into a deep vein of distress and resentment among millions of white working- and middle-class Americans.

Trump is hardly the first politician to bash elites and champion the interests of ordinary people. Two different, often competing populist traditions have long thrived in the United States. Pundits often speak of “left-wing” and “right-wing” populists. But those labels don’t capture the most meaningful distinction. The first type of American populist directs his or her ire exclusively upward: at corporate elites and their enablers in government who have allegedly betrayed the interests of the men and women who do the nation’s essential work. These populists embrace a conception of “the people” based on class and avoid identifying themselves as supporters or opponents of any particular ethnic group or religion. They belong to a broadly liberal current in American political life; they advance a version of “civic nationalism,” which the historian Gary Gerstle defines as the “belief in the fundamental equality of all human beings, in every individual’s inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and in a democratic government that derives its legitimacy from the people’s consent.”

Adherents of the second American populist tradition—the one to which Trump belongs—also blame elites in big business and government for under­mining the common folk’s economic interests and political liberties. But this tradition’s definition of “the people” is narrower and more ethnically restrictive. For most of U.S. history, it meant only citizens of European heritage—“real Americans,” whose ethnicity alone afforded them a claim to share in the country’s bounty. Typically, this breed of populist alleges that there is a nefarious alliance between evil forces on high and the unworthy, dark-skinned poor below—a cabal that imperils the interests and values of the patriotic (white) majority in the middle. The suspicion of an unwritten pact between top and bottom derives from a belief in what Gerstle calls “racial nationalism,” a conception of “America in ethnoracial terms, as a people held together by common blood and skin color and by an inherited fitness for self-government.”

Both types of American populists have, from time to time, gained political influence. Their outbursts are not random. They arise in response to real grievances: an economic system that favors the rich, fear of losing jobs to new immigrants, and politicians who care more about their own advancement than the well-being of the majority. Ultimately, the only way to blunt their appeal is to take those problems seriously...
Well, good luck with that.

Keep reading.

Gary Gerstle, Liberty and Coercion

Hmm.

I missed this book somehow and just came across a citation of it.

It looks good. Right up my alley even.

At Amazon, Gary Gerstle, Liberty and Coercion: The Paradox of American Government from the Founding to the Present.

Ben Stein: Donald Trump Must Go (VIDEO)

Donald Trump won't go, but he's going to be harangued about it for a month anyway.

Here's Ben Stein, at CBS Sunday Morning, "Ben Stein: Trump Must Go."


Saturday, October 8, 2016

Deal of the Day: Save on Sony 7.2 Channel 4K A/V Receiver with Bluetooth [BUMPED]

At Amazon, Sony STRDH750 7.2 Channel 4K AV Receiver.

Also, Amazon Echo - Black.

More, KIND Breakfast Bars, Honey Oat, Gluten Free, 1.8 Ounce, 32 Count.

Still more, Bluetooth Earbud GoNovate G9 Mini Wireless Headset In-Ear Earphone with Mic for iPhone Samsung and Other Smartphones.

BONUS: Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth.

After 'Lewd' Trump Comments, Republicans Scramble to Salvage Election

Sean Spicer, the RNC's chief strategist and communications director, denies it, but things clearly aren't looking good.

At WSJ, "GOP Scrambles to Salvage Election After Donald Trump's Latest Imbroglio":

A divided Republican Party descended into turmoil, as a startling chorus of GOP candidates and officials repudiated their own presidential candidate and scrambled to find personal paths to political survival just a month before Election Day.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Saturday told party officials to redirect funds away from nominee Donald Trump to down-ballot candidates, according to an official informed of the decision. In practical terms, the party will be working to mobilize voters who support GOP House and Senate candidates regardless of their position on the presidential race.

That means the RNC will push Floridians who support both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to vote. Before today, the RNC wouldn’t have sought to turn out Clinton voters, leaving split-ticket voters for Senate campaigns to target.

The release on Friday of a 2005 video of Mr. Trump making lewd and degrading comments about women has led to recriminations from all corners of the GOP. Mr. Trump’s comments were denounced by the party chairman, the speaker of the house, a squadron of former GOP presidential candidates and a flood of members of Congress.

Unprecedented pressure has mounted on Mr. Trump to step aside, although there appears to be no easy off-ramp for the party that nominated the most unconventional political outsider in its history less than three months ago.  Mr. Trump told the Wall Street Journal he won’t quit the race.

When 2008 Republican nominee John McCain on Saturday withdrew his endorsement of Mr. Trump, that left 1996 nominee Bob Dole as the only living GOP nominee backing Mr. Trump.

In an interview, Mr. Dole said he is still supportive of the party’s nominee. “It was 11 years ago. He shouldn’t have said it, but there’s nothing he can do about it except to do well in the debate,” he said. “I think he can overcome a lot of this in the debate tomorrow night.”

The speed and breadth of the abandonment of Mr. Trump’s candidacy shocked some long-time party members and exposed a shattered party without a clear path forward.

“Our party is in its deepest crisis since Watergate in 1974,” said Ron Nehring, former chairman of the California Republican Party, referring to the mid-term election when the resignation of then-President Richard M. Nixon led to a Democratic landslide. “It’s compounded by the fact that it doesn’t matter whether Donald Trump were to bow out. It’s too late to change the candidate on the ballot.”

The immediate consequence of the RNC’s decision on allocating resources is a halt to the party’s mail program so it can be redirected toward a new universe of voters, the official said. News of the mail program stopping was first reported by Politico. Mr. Priebus and top party strategist Sean Spicer didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Opinion polls across the country show a growing number of voters willing to back GOP congressional candidates and Mrs. Clinton. In Ohio, where Republican Sen. Rob Portman has endorsed Mr. Trump but declined to appear with him, the senator is leading his race by 15 percentage points in public opinion polls, while the presidential battle is basically tied. The RNC could increase the number of split-ticket voters by pushing Clinton supporters who back GOP Senate candidates to the polls.

Mr. Trump’s latest imbroglio is also widening a chasm between the party’s old guard and the legions of voters drawn to his anti-establishment message...
Keep reading.

Fabulous French Model Pauline Moulettes

She's lovely.

Here, "TREATS! EXCLUSIVE: PAULINE MOULETTES BY NICOLAS GUÉRIN."

Also posted at the Fashion Illustrator.

Some Voters Concerned About Donald Trump's 'Inflammatory Comments' About Women

Obviously, I've had it up to here with all these "Look! Squirrel!" distractions from the leftist media, although I mentioned earlier that Donald Trump's allegedly "lewd" comments could be damaging.

Indeed, some earlier polling bears this out.

Here's the Wall Street Journal poll out in September, "Few Voters See Clinton’s Health, Trump’s Taxes as Top Concerns — WSJ/NBC News Poll":

Some of the recent lines of attack that presidential campaigns are using against each other are drawing little interest from voters, among them Democratic criticism of Donald Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns and Republican comments about Hillary Clinton’s health, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.

Instead, voters are more concerned about broader issues that have dogged the two candidates for months, the poll finds. Those include Mr. Trump’s temperament and inflammatory comments about women, immigrants and other groups, and Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, as well as her decisions dealing with Syria, Iraq and Libya.

The survey results suggest that the candidates’ biggest vulnerabilities are issues with deeper roots than the some of the latest campaign-trail attacks making headlines...

Lucy Pinder Saturday Rule 5

Previous Ms. Lucy blogging is here.

She's on Instagram.

And from a Ms. Lucy fan on Twitter:


Bombshell: WikiLeaks Claims Release of Hillary Clinton's Wall Street Speeches

She attacked Bernie Sanders' supporters as a "basket of losers."

She sure has a lot of despised baskets of Americans. This is the real scandal, not Donald Trump's "lewd" locker room chatter.



At WSJ, "WikiLeaks Claims Clinton Speech Text":
The organization WikiLeaks on Friday released what it claimed to be Clinton campaign email correspondence revealing excerpts from paid speeches that Hillary Clinton gave in recent years, before her presidential bid.

A Clinton campaign spokesman declined to verify whether the documents are authentic.

The emails appear to show Mrs. Clinton taking a tone in private that is more favorable to free trade and to banks than she has often taken on the campaign trail. The emails also suggest she was aware of security concerns regarding electronic devices, which could feed into criticism that Mrs. Clinton was careless with national secrets when she was secretary of state.

The release marks the latest time WikiLeaks has inserted itself into this year’s presidential campaign, and it came the same day the U.S. intelligence community accused the Russian government of trying to interfere in the U.S. elections by purposefully leaking emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee and other entities. The intelligence agencies alleged the hacks were directed by the most senior officials in the Russian government, with WikiLeaks one of the entities whose methods are consistent with those of a Russia-directed effort.

“Earlier today the U.S. government removed any reasonable doubt that the Kremlin has weaponized WikiLeaks to meddle in our election and benefit Donald Trump’s candidacy,” said Clinton spokesman Glen Caplin in a statement. “We are not going to confirm the authenticity of stolen documents released by [WikiLeaks founder] Julian Assange who has made no secret of his desire to damage Hillary Clinton.”

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, whose emails were WikiLeaks’s primary target, sent several tweets on the subject late Friday.

“I’m not happy about being hacked by the Russians in their quest to throw the election to Donald Trump,” he wrote. “Don’t have time to figure out which docs are real and which are faked.” He added that the organization’s claim on its website that he owns the Podesta Group, a lobbying firm headed by his brother, Tony, was “completely false.”

Some of the documents in the most recent WikiLeaks release are similar in their design to documents released in recent days by DCLeaks.com, another entity that the U.S. intelligence community says has published documents stolen by the Russian government. The documents have proven difficult to authenticate.

In the two years between her time at the State Department and her presidential campaign, Mrs. Clinton earned millions on the paid speech circuit, including $4.1 million from financial institutions, according to financial disclosures. This became an issue during Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic primary campaign when Sen. Bernie Sanders called for her to release the speech transcripts, particularly for speeches she gave to major financial firms. At the time, Mrs. Clinton said she would “look into” releasing the transcripts but hasn’t provided them.

This past January, the WikiLeaks documents suggest, Clinton campaign research director Tony Carrk emailed excerpts of Mrs. Clinton’s speeches to senior campaign officials, including Mr. Podesta and communications director Jennifer Palmieri, calling them the “flags from HRC’s paid speeches.”

Mr. Carrk said he had obtained the transcripts from “HWA,” an apparent reference to the Harry Walker Agency, which arranged Mrs. Clinton’s paid speeches after she left the State Department in 2013.

“I put some highlights below,” Mr. Carrk wrote. “There is a lot of policy positions that we should give an extra scrub with Policy.”

The more than 80 pages of transcript excerpts appear to have been broken down by a campaign official into sections titled “Awkward,” “Benghazi,” “Email,” and “Helping Corporations,” among others.

The excerpts appear to show Mrs. Clinton taking a more friendly attitude toward financial firms than she does on the campaign trail. At a 2013 speech at a Goldman Sachs event, she is shown lamenting that in Washington, “There is such a bias against people who have led successful and/or complicated lives.” In another speech at a Goldman event, she told the room, “You are the smartest people.”

At another Goldman Sachs speech, discussing how to avoid another financial crisis, she said the “politicizing” of the financial crisis could have been avoided with greater transparency, and told the bankers, “You guys help us figure it out and let’s make sure that we do it right this time.” A year later, at a speech paid for by Deutsche Bank, she said that some element of financial reform “really has to come from the industry itself.”

On the campaign trail, Mrs. Clinton has issued a suite of proposals aimed at curbing some Wall Street risk-taking and holding more individuals accountable for misconduct...
More.

Donald Trump's Elkhorn Supporters Shrug Off 'Locker Room' Comments

Seema Mehta's on the ground in Elkhorn:


Iowa More Likely to Flip from Blue to Red in 2016

At LAT, "Iowa is more likely than any other state to flip from blue to red in the presidential election. Here's why":
Harriet Allspach has lived her entire life in this town 30 miles east of Des Moines, where a Maytag plant once employed every fourth person and summer weekends are for watching kart racing at the dirt track.

Allspach married one of those Maytag workers, took a job herself serving elementary school lunches to her neighbors’ children and never minded party lines, voting for Democrats as well as Republicans.

No longer.

She and her husband, Gary, who retired before they watched the plant close and decimate the local economy, are fed up. They are adamantly not backing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, despite their misgivings about Donald Trump.

“Trump scares me a little with some of the things he says, but I’m more willing to take a chance on that rather than a chance on the status quo,” said Allspach, 65. “The middle class, they are being squished.”

The Allspachs are typical of a demographic — older, white, less educated — that mostly backs Trump and is more concentrated in Iowa, where 91% of residents are white and three of four adults lack college degrees. The populace is a key reason that Trump is doing well in a state that President Obama won twice. Add to the mix an embrace of Trump by conservative leaders here and Democrats who are lukewarm about Clinton, and Iowa is suddenly regarded as the state most likely to flip from blue to red in next month’s election...
Keep reading.

–30–

See Robert Stacy McCain, "Now That the Election Is Over..."

Actually, the notion that "it's over" was my first thought when I saw the news last night, which is why I said I was glad to be off the grid all day.

My earlier blogging is here, "Trump's Lewd Talk Sparks Uproar."

BONUS: At WSJ, "Donald Trump Says Campaign Not in Crisis, and There Is 'Zero Chance I'll Quit'."

It's all a reality show at this point.

Either way, the left's fundamental transformation is sealed.

'The Battle of Algiers' — It's Excellent

I took my older son with me yesterday. He loves hanging out in L.A.

Here're my earlier posts, "Going to See 'The Battle of Algiers' Today," and "At the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles: 'The Battle of Algiers' — 50TH ANNIVERSARY NEW 4K RESTORATION (VIDEO)."

I remember from years ago, although I can't remember where (probably the LGM homos), how leftists praised "Battle of Algiers" as THE cinematic exegesis of the revolutionary experience. It was the radical left's "in" movie.

And I can see why. It's practically a do-it-yourself instructional video on how to mount an insurgency against the hegemonic colonial capitalist ruling classes.

See for example the review, at A.V. Club, from 2004 (when he movie came out on DVD):
In the current political climate, between the war in Iraq and the looming election, topical documentaries and fiction features have flooded the marketplace. But none are more relevant to the times than Gillo Pontecorvo's masterpiece The Battle Of Algiers, which was made nearly four decades ago. Throughout the years, the film has been tagged as a terrorist textbook, an inspiration for the Black Panthers and other radical organizations, yet its startling verity has recently proved useful for Pentagon officials eager to understand how networks like al-Qaeda operate. Still smarting from their moral and tactical failures in colonial Algeria, the French banned the 1965 film for several years, and some countries excised scenes revealing the systemic torture of National Liberation Front (FLN) operatives. But even though The Battle Of Algiers ranks among the great works of revolutionary cinema, Pontecorvo depicts insurgent warfare with a stark, evenhanded realism that feels like history painted on the screen. In fact, many prints actually come with the disclaimer that the film doesn't include a single frame of documentary or newsreel footage. And that's not a boast: It really does seem that real.
 Plus, I missed this earlier, at the New York Times from 1967, "MOVIE REVIEW - Screen: Local Premiere of Pontecorvo's Prize-Winning 'Battle of Algiers': Gripping Re-enactment Opens Film Festival."

And here's a good piece on the conflict altogether, at the World Socialist Web, "Torture in the Algerian war (1954-62)."

More here, from an interesting blog post by a leftist academic, "What was the Algerian War/Why should you care."

Related: James D. Le Sueur, Uncivil War: Intellectuals and Identity Politics During the Decolonization of Algeria. And, General Paul Aussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-terrorism in Algeria, 1955-1957.

Jesse Watters' Fox News Chinatown Segment (VIDEO)

Look, Irvine's like Chinatown, Little Seoul, and Little Tokyo rolled into one.

I'd frankly prefer having Latino immigrants moving in. I'm used to them, for one thing, and I can get by with a little Spanish in a pinch.

And don't get me going about Chinese drivers and their surgical smog face masks. I feel like I'm in Beijing in my own town. Sheesh.

But oh my god!

Jesse Watters exploited stereotypes for political humor!

Actually, I think the worst thing is the video showed literally how many of the Chinese are 100 percent non-assimilated. I mean, how many more Chinese immigrants like this speak not one word of English, and how many more cities could be multiplied in this hodgepodge of cultural invasion?

It's no wonder why Donald Trump surged to victory in the primaries. GOP voters, and many independents, welcomed blunt talk about the out-of-control monstrosity of leftist immigration and lawbreaking illegal alien outreach.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Activists blast 'O'Reilly Factor' Chinatown piece as racist."

Also, at the Daily Beast, "Why Fox’s Racist, Sexist Frat Boy Jesse Watters Will Always Win." And, "WOW: ‘The Daily Show’s’ Ronny Chieng Destroys Fox News’ Jesse Watters: ‘You Ignorant Sack of Sh*t!’"


Trump's Lewd Talk Sparks Uproar

The left's hypocrisy is to be expected. I mean, it's just par for the course.

Following-up from last night, "Donald Trump Apologizes (VIDEO)."

At WSJ, "Donald Trump's Lewd Comments About Women Spark Uproar":
Donald Trump’s Republican presidential campaign was in damage control late Friday after a decade-old recording emerged in which he speaks in crude sexual terms about women.

Mr. Trump quickly apologized for the comments, which included talk about grabbing and kissing women, saying they were “foolish.” But the recording drew blunt rebukes from both the Republican Party’s top elected official and the head of the GOP and didn’t sit well with some of Mr. Trump’s evangelical supporters.

“I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never, ever let you down,” Mr. Trump said in a video statement posted on his Facebook page after midnight EDT on Saturday.

Mr. Trump said he regretted saying the things captured in the recording. “I was wrong and I apologize,” he said.

He then switched his focus to former President Bill Clinton, the husband of his rival, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who he said “has actually abused women.”

“We will discuss this more in the coming days,” he said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said he was “sickened” by the recording and uninvited Mr. Trump to a campaign event in his state scheduled for Saturday. Mr. Trump said in a statement that he would send his running mate, Mike Pence, in his place, and instead spend the day in debate preparations.

In the 2005 recording, Mr. Trump said: “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.…

“And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.…Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything,” Mr. Trump added.

Mr. Trump also referred to a married woman whom he said he tried to seduce: “I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and f—her.…”

“I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” Mr. Trump said in the recording. “Then, all of a sudden, I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.”

“No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever,” said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, in a written statement.

Before the evening was out, Mr. Trump had drawn the opprobrium of other Republicans, including former GOP presidential rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, several GOP senators running for re-election, and former GOP presidential nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Still, few Republicans pulled support from Mr. Trump. Those who did were a trio of Utah politicians: Gov. Gary Herbert and U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz withdrew their endorsements while former Gov. John Huntsman called on the nominee to quit the race.

Two other Republican congressmen who hadn’t supported Trump—Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado—called on Mr. Trump to quit the race. So did Rob Engstrom, the political director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “There is no GOP nominee for president in 2016,” Mr. Engstrom posted on Twitter. “Fundamentally offensive and unqualified.”

Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, dismissed the recording as an ancillary issue for religious voters in the election.

“People of faith are voting on issues like who will protect unborn life, defend religious freedom, defund Planned Parenthood and oppose the Iran nuclear deal,” Mr. Reed said Friday. “A 10-year-old audio of a private conversation with a television talk-show host ranks very low on their hierarchy of concerns.”
Ralph Reed hits the nail on the head, but there's no denying this episode could cause real damage to Trump's campaign. The Democrats smell blood in the water. Last week it was taxes. This week it's lewd comments. It's an extremely well-coordinated campaign to distract the voters from Hillary Clinton's manifest disqualifications for the office. It's actually depressing that it's come to this, but then it's American politics in the culture of reality television, social media, and coarsening progressive collectivism.


Friday, October 7, 2016

Donald Trump Apologizes (VIDEO)

Watch, at A.P. "Trump Apologizes for Lewd Comments":
After being caught on tape making shockingly crude comments about a married woman he tried to seduce, Donald Trump declared in a midnight video, “I was wrong and I apologize.”
Well, it's done now, the damage that is.

Nice that he apologized though. He doesn't come out with apologies like that very often, if ever.

At any rate, it's all over Memeorandum, of course.

Frankly, I'm glad I was off the grid all day.

Going to See 'The Battle of Algiers' Today

"The Battle of Algiers" opens today at the Nuart Theater in West L.A.

I blogged the press release a few weeks ago, "At the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles: 'The Battle of Algiers' — 50TH ANNIVERSARY NEW 4K RESTORATION (VIDEO)."

The L.A. Times posted a write-up, "Once banned, 'Battle of Algiers'' smart, compassionate take on terror and rebellion resonates today."

And here's one from 1993, "'Battle of Algiers' Captures Emotions in Both Camps."

Years ago, when I was an undergrad at Fresno State taking a course on modern France, I read John Talbott's, The War Without a Name: France in Algeria, 1954 - 1962. What I remember most about the book is how much the conflict roiled French society, and how the French military attempted a coup d'etat that led eventually to Charles de Gaulle's return to power with extraordinary constitutional authority under a new regime, the Fifth French Republic. So, it'll be interesting to see "The Battle of Algiers," particularly from the point of view of the revolutionaries who changed the world.

See also, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962.



Obama Delays Deportation of Central American Migrants

Heh.

As if this is surprising.

The longer these people stay, the more potential Democrats flood to voter rolls.

At NYT:


Thursday, October 6, 2016

Jack Dorsey is Losing Control of Twitter

He's apparently not very "managerial" in his management. More "Socratic" in fact.

And he's losing control over Twitter's board of directors. The social media giant is losing money and about to be sold.

At Bloomberg.

Personally, I don't care.

Check out Instapundit's pinned tweet from September 29th and you can see why.

As ObamaCare Collapses, Democrats Eye Nationalized Health Care

It was so predictable that Americans should be extremely angry. Virtually every single criticism conservative levied at Obama's signature health care law --- which was passed on straight party-line voting in Congress --- has come to pass.

ObamaCare's now failing and even the pathetic New York Times can't avoid reporting the truth. Frankly, folks at the Old Gray Lady are probably glad, since it gives leftists a chance to push to "reform" ObamaCare with a "public option" or "MediCare for all."

As conservatives said back in the day, that's what it was all about to begin with: a healthcare reform Trojan Horse to destroy the U.S. healthcare system as we'd known it at the time. And boy, did leftists destroy it.

See:



Clementine Ford is Just Wow

That was my response yesterday to Robert Stacy McCain's post, "No, @Clementine_Ford, Men Don’t Hate Women, But They Definitely Hate You."

2017 Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 S Coupe (VIDEO)

I keep seeing this Mercedes-Benz ad and the car is so aggressive.

It's way out of my price range, and I don't even like Mercedes that much, but this thing's something else.

503 horsepower, for one, heh.

Here's the homepage.



Jessica Ashley in Motion (VIDEO)

Via Playboy:



Creepy Clown Sightings (VIDEO)

From Sarah Hoyt, at Instapundit, "LIFE IMITATES THE ONION: Spike in Creepy Clown Sightings, With More Arrests Across U.S. Also Increased security around some St. Louis-area schools amid creepy clown concerns."

And at CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



BONUS: Here's a particularly creepy clown, from Tuesday's vice presidential debate.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Mike Pence Wins Vice-Presidential Debate (VIDEO)

I did watch.

I didn't blog, but I did watch.

And Mike Pence was definitely a lot cooler under pressure. I turned it on a little bit late, so I guess I missed the beginning where Tim Kaine opened both barrels on Pence, and made himself look out of control, if not desperate and unhinged.

Here's Matthew Vadum, at FrontPage Magazine, "PENCE SCHOOLS KAINE: And holds Hillary accountable":
Donald Trump’s running mate Mike Pence put in a strong showing in the vice presidential candidates’ debate last night, explaining clearly what a Trump administration would do to bring America back from the brink and hitting his opponent Tim Kaine hard.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) laid out a largely conservative vision and a fuzzy but coherent blueprint for restoring America’s greatness last night. His opponent, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), assumed the role of Santa Claus and promised that more handouts, bigger government, and higher taxes on the productive would solve the nation’s problems. Kaine said cops and police brutality are big problems and Pence said the Left is too quick to condemn police before facts are known.

“Law enforcement in this country is a force for good,” Pence said.

Pence brought out onto the national stage the other ticket’s contempt for the State of Israel. After Kaine suggested the Israeli Joint Chiefs of Staff support the Obama administration’s loophole-ridden Iranian nuclear nonproliferation pact, the governor hammered him saying, “that’s not what Israel thinks.”

“You can go check it,” Kaine replied.

Pence then noted correctly that Kaine stayed away from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress about Iranian nuclear arms in February 2015.

“You wouldn’t necessarily know that,” Pence said. “I know you boycotted Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech.”

“I visited him in his office,” was Kaine’s weak reply.

Kaine was on the defensive almost the entire debate while Pence seemed unfazed by anything thrown at him. After Kaine said Trump’s was an insult-driven campaign, Pence laid into him:
I mean, to be honest with you, if Donald Trump had said all of the things that you've said he said in the way you said he said them, he still wouldn't have a fraction of the insults that Hillary Clinton leveled when she said that half of our supporters were a basket of deplorables. It's -- she said they were irredeemable, they were not American. I mean, it's extraordinary.
In a nutshell, Kaine made the argument during the debate that battling terrorism is at least as important as fighting climate change. He got his prefab class-warfare talking points in which should make Democrats happy. He said it was important to elect Hillary Clinton because she’s a woman and her election would be historic and because he and his wife trust Hillary with the life of their son who, like Pence’s son, is deployed overseas in the Marine Corps. The thought of Donald Trump “as commander-in-chief scares us to death,” the senator said...
Keep reading.

And watch, at Fox News, "Who won the vice presidential debate?"

And at the PBS NewsHour, "Watch the 2016 Vice Presidential Debate between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine."

Also, at Memeorandum.

Why is Donald Trump Still Winning?

Well, why's he winning at the USC Dornsife / LA Times Presidential Election 'Daybreak' Tracking Poll.

David Lauter has the answer, at the Los Angeles Times:


David L Henderson, My Teenage Zombie

Some public relations team sent me the blurb on this book.

From David L Henderson, M.D., My Teenage Zombie: Resurrecting the Undead Adolescent in Your Home.
Zombies are not just found in horror movies, sometimes they’re lying on your living room couch. These are undead adolescents whose psychological and social development have come to a screeching halt. Torn by their yearning for freedom and their fear of surviving the outside world, they have stalled in their maturity, motivation, and purpose in life, hijacked by a helplessness and fear of responsibility. Parents often feel ill-equipped to love, support, and guide them—especially when they may be facing a midlife crisis of their own and battling some of the same issues in their own lives. Is it really possible to escape this “undead” state of being?

In My Teenage Zombie board-certified psychiatrist and medical doctor David L. Henderson explains the parts of a teenage zombie (their brain, heart, and spirit), how they got into this undead state, and how to resurrect them back to life. Using real-life examples of families he has counseled, he describes both their physical and psychological characteristics and offers practical suggestions on how to deal with, and in many cases avoid, having an undead adolescent in your home.

The book is divided into three helpful sections:
· The Rise of the Undead: Understanding the Nature of a Teenage Zombie
· The Fear of the Undead: Facing the Anxiety of Confronting a Teenage Zombie
· Resurrecting the Undead: Restoring Your Teenage Zombie to a Life Worth Living

If you are the parent of an undead adolescent, there is hope for you and your child. Or maybe you have children who are not yet adolescents. It’s never too early to prepare for the challenges that await you. Either way, stay calm and start resurrecting zombies!

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

'Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On'

Shake it, baby.

Jerry Lee Lewis turned 81 years-young last Thursday.

The Sound L.A. played "Whole Lotta Shakin'" during my morning drive time. In fact, I'd just pulled into my parking spot at the school. And then boom! On comes Jerry Lee's rockin' piano introduction. So great. It reminded me of my rockabilly days back in the early '80s, when bands like the Blasters and the Stray Cats were playing concerts in Hollywood. Good times.

Watch, ole' Jerry Lee, at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, April 2015. Scroll forward to about 3:20 for "Whole Lotta Shakin'...":

Back On the Chain Gang
Pretenders
6:58 AM

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
Jerry Lee Lewis
6:55 AM

Here I Go Again
Whitesnake
6:37 AM

Doctor My Eyes
Jackson Browne
6:34 AM

Hurts So Good
John Mellencamp
6:30 AM

White Room
Cream
6:24 AM

Your Song
Elton John
6:20 AM

Jamming
Bob Marley & The Wailers
6:06 AM

Your Love
The Outfield
6:02 AM

PBS Interview with David Cay Johnston (VIDEO)

I learned more about the Donald Trump tax issue from this video than I learned from all the other reporting over the weekend combined --- and David Cay Johnston's a leftist.

Watch, from the PBS NewsHour, "Why seeing Trump’s tax returns really matters."

And see the man's book, at Amazon, The Making of Donald Trump.

Can You Trust the Mass Media?

A great segment featuring Judith Miller, at Prager Univeristy: