Leftists Angry at F.B.I. Director James Comey

Well, I went back to bed yesterday after posting a couple of entries in the morning. I slept and read books intermittently, then picked up my son from school at 3:30pm. When I got back, I checked the television to see if the World Series was starting, and that's when I caught all the news about the F.B.I. bombshell.

Legal Insurrection has the story, "Who could have predicted Weiner would bring down Hillary’s campaign?"

And at Memeorandum, "Emails in Anthony Weiner Inquiry Jolt Hillary Clinton's Campaign."

The biggest kick is the leftist meltdown, heh.

Progs thought they had this thing in the bag and now the F.B.I's dropped a bummer of an October surprise on them.

Here's far left Jane Mayer, at the New Yorker, "James Comey Broke with Loretta Lynch and Justice Department Tradition" (via Memeorandum).

And WaPo's Matthew Miller, who is former communications flack for the Department of Justice, flipped his wig. You gotta love this:

I wrote a piece in July on why Comey's public comments about Clinton were such an inappropriate abuse of power. 1/ https://t.co/G8croz4qWZ

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

He flagrantly violated DOJ rules with his press conference. Then went on to break new ground discussing details of the case to Congress...2/

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Each time, he either violated or seriously stretched DOJ rule & precedent. Press conference was the original sin, & it begat the rest. 4/

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

But today's disclosure might be worst abuse yet. DOJ goes out of its way to avoid publicly discussing investigations close to election. 5/

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Not just public discussion either. Often won't send subpoenas or take other steps that might leak until after an election is over...6/

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Why? Because voters have no way to interpret FBI/DOJ activity in a neutral way. Who is the target of an investigation? What conduct? 7/

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

This might be totally benign & not even involve Clinton. But no way for press or voters to know that. Easy for opponent to make hay over. 8/

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

Which takes us back to the original rule: you don't comment on ongoing investigations. Then multiply that times ten close to an election. 9/

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

For whatever reason (& there are many theories), Comey continues to ignore that. But only for Clinton. 10/

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 28, 2016

And then there's the precious Clinton lackey Kurt Eichenwald, bless his heart:

No emails being examined by FBI were to or from Clinton. All of this has to do with procedures followed by an aide. https://t.co/mcsBi7j7XU

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 29, 2016

And Eichenwald's really only worried about the reputation of the F.B.I., not Hillary's chances or anything. Nah.

My deepest concern is not the election. It's the incalculable damage that Comey has done to the @FBI by making it (wrongly) seem political.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 29, 2016

Right.

Some Donald Trump Voters Warn of Revolution if Hillary Clinton Wins

This was at the New York Times on Thursday, via Memeorandum.

Well, I doubt we're going to see revolutionary agitation on the right, although people will be pissed if Trump loses. The anger in the electorate's going to linger a long time, and will continue to dramatically shape American politics. Trumpism (populism and nationalism) isn't going away.

Trump supporter brings effigy of Clinton with noose to rally https://t.co/J4x6q1rFln pic.twitter.com/PSC4RX54Ge

— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 27, 2016

Lolz. More at Shakesville, "This Is Intolerable."

WikiLeaks Dumps Mean Hillary's Presidency Would Be Tainted from Day One

It's John Fund, via Instapundit.

A Clinton White House will be corruption central, and it'll keep congressional investigators busy. See WaPo, "House Republicans are already preparing for 'years' of investigations of Clinton."

'We Are in for a Pretty Long Civil War...'

From Julia Ioffe, at Politico, "In back rooms and think tanks, Republicans are already mourning their party — and plotting the fight over who’s going to be in it after Trump":

As the country geared up for the third and final presidential debate last week, the fellows of the storied conservative Hoover Institution gathered in Palo Alto to present their research to the think tank's wealthy patrons. Elsewhere in America, in the homestretch of perhaps the weirdest election the nation has ever experienced, things were getting tense, excited, even feverish. But the rooms at the Hoover retreat at Stanford University could have doubled as a funeral parlor, and the lectures as eulogies for a bygone era. Larry Diamond, a prominent political sociologist known to fellow scholars as “Mr. Democracy,” talked about the breakdown of the party system. Kori Schake, a National Security Council official in the George W. Bush administration and adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign, spoke about how the U.S. was endangering the international order it had itself created. Peter Berkowitz, a conservative political scientist and commentator, gave a talk about “the unraveling of civil society” in America.

“Obviously the party and the conservative movement are very troubled, and there will obviously be a crisis whether Trump wins or loses,” Berkowitz told me later. “What are the core conservative convictions going forward?”

“If he wins, he will for all intents and purposes reshape what it means to be a Republican,” said Schake when I called her. “We’re fumbling our way through, which I hope will lead us to consensus, but we’re nowhere near it now.”

This election, the conventional wisdom goes, has done tremendous damage to the American body politic, but nowhere is the damage as severe as it is inside the party that nominated the wrecking ball known as Donald Trump. Now the party of Ronald Reagan is being led by a man with no discernible ideological leanings, save for an affinity with some of history’s ugliest. In the face of mounting evidence that Hillary Clinton is set to dominate the electoral map on November 8, Republicans across the right side of the spectrum recognize there’s defeat coming. And behind the scenes, in conversations and closed-door venues—the Hoover gathering was not open to the public—the people who once considered themselves the heart, or at least the head, of the party have begun a very pessimistic reckoning.

As yet there seems to be no coherent vision for what kind of future November 9 brings for the Republican Party—or, for that matter, if there will even be a Republican Party they could support. “You’re assuming that ‘establishment Republicans’ are going to be Republicans anymore,” said Juleanna Glover, a GOP lobbyist and former staffer to then-Senator John Ashcroft of Missouri.

“The likelihood of the Republican Party surviving this, of there being another Republican president in the future, is small,” said one movement conservative who served in the Bush White House. “I don’t think the party survives.”

Far from the halls of the Hoover Institution and big Washington policy shops is a force they cannot control: the Trump campaign, a small collection of social-media gurus, Breitbart alumni, and Trump family members who have managed to capture the majority of Republican voters in the U.S., and who may use their new power to launch a media network, or take over as the new axis of the GOP, or both. And as the old establishment looks on in horror, the civil war in its ranks has already begun.

I agree with this. The GOP is crashing, although the Republican establishment, including most of those up at Hoover, bear much of the blame. There's no underlying voter coalition supporting the GOPe. I doubt the huge white working class vote, especially the 60 percent-or-so of white non-college-educated men, will care much about rekindling the GOP if Trump loses on November 8th.

I personally welcome the crackup of the party. I've been saying for a long time that the two-party system needs a major realignment. It looks like the Democrats are going to be the majority party for a while, and there needs to be a real party of opposition to challenge them in upcoming elections. "Democrat-lite," which has been the sellout GOP in recent years, won't do.

In any case, still more at the link. (Via Memeorandum.)

(If Trump loses, I hope we can get a leader like Marine Le Pen to form an American nationalist party. Heh, that'd be so cool.).

Teaching Again Today

I'm teaching all day again today, my regular Thursday schedule.

I did manage to get some things posted on the blog overnight, and I'll have more tonight and over the weekend.

Meanwhile, keep shopping through my Amazon links. Every little bit helps. And remember, when you shop through my links, you're helping me finance my book addiction through no additional cost to yourself. I'm always thankful.

Here, Shop Books.

Also, Best Selling Products.

More, Kind Bar Plus Bar: Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate PLUS Protein, Box of 12.

Shop for Amazon Accessories as well.

BONUS: Edward Klein, Guilty as Sin: Uncovering New Evidence of Corruption and How Hillary Clinton and the Democrats Derailed the FBI Investigation.

What Is to be Done About the Republican Party?

See the commentaries from Russell Baker, G.W. Bowersock, and David Bromwich, at the New York Review of Books, "On the Election—I."

Queer Feminism at Marquette University

From Robert Stacy McCain, at the Other McCain.

The Right's Fever Swamps Aren't Going Away

I got a kick out of this, despite its far-left progressive bent.

Heh. The Fever Swamps Aren’t Going Away, So We Need to Adapt https://t.co/LeLYCGtvs4 @PatriarchTree @EdDriscoll

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) October 26, 2016

Neighbors Come Together Over Stolen Campaign Sign

Good news:

Neighbors with opposing political views come together over stolen campaign sign https://t.co/LbzlNctX9T pic.twitter.com/mSpJcSWKnK

— KMBC (@kmbc) October 22, 2016

Keeley Hazell

Found on Twitter:

#ManicMonday 😰 @KeeleyHazellFan @Fan_of_Boobies pic.twitter.com/10Xl8kkcU0

— World Class Beauty (@LoveLucyP) October 24, 2016

Election 2016: The American Way or the European Way?

Excellent video, as always.

From Pat Condell:

Kendall Jenner Loves Showing Off

At W Magazine, "KENDALL JENNER, REVEALED: THE 20-YEAR-OLD MODEL LOVES SHOWING OFF HER BODY."

What We're Not Talking About This Election

From Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today, "Talking about Trump's sex life lets us avoid reality":

My last column noted that although America is fighting something like five wars, nobody seems to be talking about it. It would be nice if that were the only important subject that’s not getting enough attention but it isn’t. Here are a few other topics that would be getting major daily attention, if our press and our candidates were better...

Keep reading.

Shop Today

I'm heading out to the college.

(I have two classes on M-W; four on T-H, which means T-TH I'm gone literally from 6:00am to 5:00pm.)

In any case, until later.

At Amazon, Shop Books.

BONUS: Alison Gopnik, The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children.

'Go Your Own Way'

On the Sound L.A., a little while ago, while dropping my kid off at school.

Fleetwood Mac:

Bad Company
Bad Company
8:33 AM

Let It Be
The Beatles
8:27 AM

Rock the Casbah
The Clash
8:24 AM

Barracuda
Heart
8:19 AM

Lonely Is the Night
Billy Squier
8:03 AM

No More Mr. Nice Guy
Alice Cooper
8:00 AM

Don't Stop Believin'
Journey
7:56 AM

Misty Mountain Hop
Led Zeppelin
7:51 AM

Under My Thumb
The Rolling Stones
7:38 AM

Somebody's Baby
Jackson Browne
7:34 AM

Go Your Own Way
Fleetwood Mac
7:30 AM

Rag Doll
Aerosmith
7:26 AM

Little Baby Cries When Daddy Kisses Mommy (VIDEO)

So cute.

Watch, "Adorable little baby cries each time her parents kiss each other."

Thousands of California National Guard Troops Forced to Repay Enlistment Bonuses (VIDEO)

Obama's pledged to investigate the matter, but hasn't promised to forgive the repayments.

Talk about FUBAR.

At LAT, "Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses a decade after going to war," and "Defense secretary orders Pentagon to stop collecting California National Guard bonus repayments."

The Clichés of Third-Wave Feminism

From Robert Stacy McCain, at the Other McCain.

The Godzilla Theory of Social Justice Warriors

From Kathy Shaidle, at Five Feet of Fury, "My NEW Taki’s column: The Godzilla Theory of Social Justice Warriors."

'Black Jeopardy'

Here's the video, from last weekend's SNL, "Black Jeopardy."

You gotta love it, heh.

Plus, here's Gavin McInnes, at Rebel Media, "SNL's Trump sketch shows that America finally gets it."

Democrat Corruption is Much Worse Than Trump

You can say that again.

From Andrew Klavan, at Pajamas.

Caitlin Stasey on Instagram

She's some Australian actress, with an Instagram account, of course.

At WWTDD, "Caitlin Stasey Gets Topless Again and Shit Around the Web."

Also at the Mirror U.K., "Former 'Neighbours' star Caitlin Stasey now has a VERY racy career."

Newt Gingrich Blows Up at Megyn Kelly: 'You Are Fascinated with Sex!' (VIDEO)

I think Megyn handled herself well, actually.

I know conservatives say she's all anti-Trump, but if we had more people in the media like her we'd have a lot better news coverage.

Anyway, the heat makes for good television.

From the "Kelly File" last night:

Also, at WaPo, via Memeorandum, "‘You are fascinated with sex’: That Megyn Kelly-Newt Gingrich showdown was one for the ages."

Hillary Clinton Has Turned Americans on Each Other

Well, Hillary's just starting the pattern mastered by Obama, the Us vs. Them style of demonization politics.

From Scott Adams, "The Bully Party":

I’ve been trying to figure out what common trait binds Clinton supporters together. As far as I can tell, the most unifying characteristic is a willingness to bully in all its forms.

If you have a Trump sign in your lawn, they will steal it.

If you have a Trump bumper sticker, they will deface your car.

if you speak of Trump at work you could get fired.

On social media, almost every message I get from a Clinton supporter is a bullying type of message. They insult. They try to shame. They label. And obviously they threaten my livelihood.

We know from Project Veritas that Clinton supporters tried to incite violence at Trump rallies. The media downplays it.

We also know Clinton’s side hired paid trolls to bully online. You don’t hear much about that.

Yesterday, by no coincidence, Huffington Post, Salon, and Daily Kos all published similar-sounding hit pieces on me, presumably to lower my influence. (That reason, plus jealousy, are the only reasons writers write about other writers.)

Joe Biden said he wanted to take Trump behind the bleachers and beat him up. No one on Clinton’s side disavowed that call to violence because, I assume, they consider it justified hyperbole.

Team Clinton has succeeded in perpetuating one of the greatest evils I have seen in my lifetime. Her side has branded Trump supporters (40%+ of voters) as Nazis, sexists, homophobes, racists, and a few other fighting words. Their argument is built on confirmation bias and persuasion. But facts don’t matter because facts never matter in politics. What matters is that Clinton’s framing of Trump provides moral cover for any bullying behavior online or in person. No one can be a bad person for opposing Hitler, right?

Some Trump supporters online have suggested that people who intend to vote for Trump should wear their Trump hats on election day. That is a dangerous idea, and I strongly discourage it. There would be riots in the streets because we already know the bullies would attack. But on election day, inviting those attacks is an extra-dangerous idea. Violence is bad on any day, but on election day, Republicans are far more likely to unholster in an effort to protect their voting rights. Things will get wet fast.

Yes, yes, I realize Trump supporters say bad things about Clinton supporters too. I don’t defend the bad apples on either side. I’ll just point out that Trump’s message is about uniting all Americans under one flag. The Clinton message is that some Americans are good people and the other 40% are some form of deplorables, deserving of shame, vandalism, punishing taxation, and violence. She has literally turned Americans on each other. It is hard for me to imagine a worse thing for a presidential candidate to do.

I’ll say that again.

As far as I can tell, the worst thing a presidential candidate can do is turn Americans against each other. Clinton is doing that, intentionally.

Intentionally.

Still more.

French Riot Police Battle Hundreds of Migrants as Calais 'Jungle' is Demolished (VIDEO)

Burn it freakin' down.

And send those "migrants" back where they freakin' came from.

At Telegraph U.K., "Calais 'Jungle' demolition: Mayor warns crisis 'far from over' as more migrants arrive despite camp."

Democrat Operative Robert Creamer Ran a Political Terror Campaign

From Austin Bay, at Instapundit, "WHERE’S THE MEDIA OUTRAGE?: Democrat operative Robert Creamer ran a political terror operation — with the goal of influencing the 2016 election."

The scum had inside access at the Obama White House:

Creamer visited the @WhiteHouse 340 TIMES in the last few years. Tell Chris Wallace to ask @HillaryClinton tomorrow https://t.co/UH2Yt4mknq

— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 19, 2016

Victoria's Secret Angels Working Out (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Stella Maxwell Flaunts Her impeccable Posterior in Thong Bodysuit."

Boy, these ladies are working it!

For Victoria's Secret:

Stella Maxwell Flaunts Her impeccable Posterior in Thong Bodysuit

At London's Daily Mail, "What's her (Victoria's) Secret? Stella Maxwell flaunts her impeccably pert posterior in a thong bodysuit as she gears up for the annual lingerie show."

Teaching Today

Apologies for light posting.

I'll be teaching all day today, and will be back for more blogging tonight or in the morning.

Meanwhile, thanks to all of those who've been shopping through my Amazon links.

I'm going to pick up my own copy of Hillbilly Elegy when my associate fees get posted. I'm looking forward to reading it.

After reading the first couple of chapter's of Cornel West's Black Prophetic Fire, I was moved to pick up my old paperback copy of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, which has been sitting on my shelf for years now, unread, surprisingly. It's been a fascinating book to read.

Also, I'm about 100 pages into Robert S. Gordon's, The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War. It's an amazingly snappy read for such a massive and intellectually weighty tome.

In any case, thanks again.

More blogging later.

Deal of the Day: Save On the Hoover Linx Cordless Stick Vacuum

At Amazon, Hoover Linx BH50010 Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner.

Also, Cyber Power Mini Towers.

BONUS: David Horowitz, The Black Book of the American Left Volume 7: The Left in Power - Clinton to Obama.

Here's David Horowitz on Tom Hayden

At FrontPage Magazine, "Tom Hayden, LA, and Me":

Tom Hayden and I were once comrades-in-arms in a movement to overthrow America's democratic institutions, remake its government in a Marxist image and help America's enemies defeat her sons on the field of battle. Now he is running for mayor of Los Angeles and many people are asking me, "Does this past matter?" I think it does.

Hayden and I were deadly serious about our revolutionary agendas. During the Vietnam War, Tom traveled many times to North Vietnam, Czechoslovakia and Paris to meet communist North Vietnamese and Viet Cong leaders. He came back from Hanoi proclaiming he had seen "rice roots democracy at work." According to people who were present at the time, including Sol Stern, later an aide to Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein, Hayden offered tips on conducting psychological warfare against the U.S. He arranged trips to Hanoi for Americans perceived as friendly to the Communists and blocked entry to those seen as unfriendly, like the sociologist Christopher Jencks. He attacked as "propaganda" stories of torture and labeled American POWs returning home with such stories as "liars." Even after America withdrew its troops from Indochina, Hayden lobbied Congress to end all aid to the anti-Communist regimes in Vietnam and Cambodia. When the cutoff came, the regimes fell and the Communists conquered South Vietnam and Cambodia and slaughtered 2.5 million people. When anti-war activist Joan Baez protested the human rights violations of the North Vietnamese victors, Hayden called her a tool of the CIA.

On the domestic front, Hayden advocated urban rebellions and called for the creation of "guerrilla focos" to resist police and other law enforcement agencies. For a while he led a Berkeley commune called the "Red Family," whose "Minister of Defense" trained commune members at firing ranges and instructed high school students in the use of explosives. He was also an outspoken supporter of the violence-prone Black Panther Party.

Why do these facts still seem important? It is not that I think a man cannot learn from his mistakes, or change his mind. Far from it. I myself have recently published a memoir recounting my own activities in the radical Left, a past that I now regret. I find this history relevant not just because Hayden is now proposing himself as the chief executive of one of America's most important cities, but because he has never been fully candid about this past. He has not owned up to the extent of his dealings with America's former enemies or to the true agenda of the Red Family commune, which was little more than a left-wing militia. He has remained silent about the criminal activities which included murder of the Black Panther Party, whose cause he promoted at the time.

To be fair, Hayden has admitted to some second thoughts. In an abstract way, he now understands that the democratic process is better than the totalitarian one. He now claims to embrace more modest ambitions about what can be accomplished in the political arena. Yet, in all these years, he has not found the courage to be candid about what he actually did.

His silence on these matters has been coupled of late with an ongoing attack on the FBI, the CIA and other authorities responsible for the public's security and safety. In his 450-page memoir, published only a few years ago, Hayden included many pages of his FBI dossier, along with his sarcastic comments suggesting that the agents who kept an eye on him were no different from the agents of a police state trying to suppress unpopular ideas. Just last week Hayden, along with American communist Angela Davis and other '60s leftovers, led a march on Los Angeles City Hall organized by something calling itself the "Crack the CIA Coalition." Among its demands were "Dismantle the CIA" and "Stop the media cover-up of CIA drug involvement," a reference to a San Jose Mercury News story discredited by the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and the Washington Post that claimed the CIA had flooded Los Angeles' inner-city communities with crack cocaine.

This sowing of suspicion of legal authority is troubling in a man who proposes himself as the leader of a city like Los Angeles, which has many political, racial and economic fault lines, and in which there are visible tensions between its diverse communities. At worst, it fuels the racial paranoia of elements in the inner-city community who are convinced that there is a government plot to eliminate their leaders, not to mention their community itself...

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Tom Hayden, The Long Sixties."

Tom Hayden, The Long Sixties

I picked up a copy of this book years ago, although I never did read it.

I just pulled it off the shelf in light of the news of the man's passing. Might as well give a few chapters a whirl now that the dude's kicked the bucket.

At Amazon, Long Sixties: From 1960 to Barack Obama.

PREVIOUSLY: "Tom Hayden Has Died."

Tom Hayden Has Died

Hayden spoke at my college a few years back.

I never liked him personally. I always thought he was a bad person, a treasonous scoundrel.

In any case, at the Los Angeles Times, "'The radical inside the system': Tom Hayden, protester-turned-politician, dies at 76."

J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy Available on Kindle for $4.99

That's a deal!

At Amazon, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (Kindle Edition).

BONUS: Robert S. Gordon, The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



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

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Mirror, Mirror on the Wall."

Emma Roberts Rule 5

At Popaholic, "Emma Roberts Looking Like a Doll."

Below here is some random hottie!

But see more, at Drunken Stepfather, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY."

At Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is a world turned to desert because of fracking, you might just be a Warmist."

Plus, at Wirecutter's, "Your Good Morning Girl."

At 90 Miles from Tyranny, "Morning Mistress."

Lindsey Pelas, "Yo."

And at WWTDD, "Sara Jean Underwood Keeping the Rolls."

At Egotastic!, "Demi Lovato Hot Performance In Mexico."

Still more from Proof Positive, "Best of the Web* Linkaround."

The Chive, "Bad girls bend at the waist (44 Photos)."

BONUS: At Blazing Cat Fur, "University of Toronto Professor is Simply Not Insane."

As Trump Delivers His Gettysburg Address, Republicans Prepare for Civil War

A good piece, from Dan Balz, at the Washington Post.

Whatever happens is good. The GOP needs a shakeup.

The Coming GOP Civil War. #Gettysburg #MAGA https://t.co/latOV6zbwr

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) October 22, 2016

Horrific Tour Bush Crash in Desert Hot Springs: 11 Dead

You can see from the photos that the bus driver rear-ended the semi at full speed.

BREAKING UPDATE: Tour bus crash on I-10 has killed at least 11 people. https://t.co/uN4vLKMC0a

— The Desert Sun (@MyDesert) October 23, 2016

The bus was just moved away from the big rig @MyDesert pic.twitter.com/yj35wb6uE6

— Colin Atagi (@TDSColinAtagi) October 23, 2016

I-10 CRASH UPDATE: At least 10 people killed in crash involving tour bus and semi-truck on WB side, @KESQ reports https://t.co/Voc8NIxo6G pic.twitter.com/aQ6j5BZFFS

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) October 23, 2016

Leland Faust, A Capitalist's Lament [BUMPED]

A #1 new item, at Amazon, A Capitalist's Lament: How Wall Street Is Fleecing You and Ruining America.

In the Mail: David A. Keene and Thomas L. Mason, Shall Not Be Infringed [BUMPED]

This came yesterday earlier.

It's a lively read. I read the introductory chapter last night and I really recommend it.

At Amazon, Shall Not Be Infringed: The New Assaults on Your Second Amendment.

Dana Loesch on 'State of the Union' with Jake Tapper (VIDEO)

My friend Dana Loesch joined Gov. Jan Brewer, Sen. Bob Kerrey, and Bakari Sellers for this morning's CNN panel.

Watch, "Trump vows to sue every woman accuser after election," "Oprah on Clinton: 'You don't have to like her...'"

Great to see @jaketapper today for @CNNSotu ! Thanks for tuning in!https://t.co/DtjpFEftiP

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 23, 2016

And buy Dana's book, Flyover Nation: You Can't Run a Country You've Never Been To.

The Economist Special Report on Russia: Putinism

"Ominous" is the word folks are using to describe this cover at the Economist.

Here's the report, "The threat from Russia: How to contain Vladimir Putin’s deadly, dysfunctional empire."

WikiLeaks sees the conspiracy there, a poorly veiled anti-Semitic conspiracy. Nasty:

The new sober cover of the Economist, which is controlled by Lynn de Rothschild, Clinton's "loyal adoring pal" https://t.co/oTCspy3ddR pic.twitter.com/KuRRfEELLJ

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 22, 2016

Reflections on Hillbilly Elegy

From Aaron Renn, at City Journal, "Culture, Circumstance, and Agency."

And, Amazon, J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.

Bella Thorne at the Nail Salon

At London's Daily Mail, "Bella Thorne flaunts belly button on outing to nail salon wearing blue knitted hat and ripped hipster jeans."

BONUS: At Egotastic, "Bella Thorn in Tiny Daisy Dukes in Los Angeles."

New Elizabeth Hurley Bikini Shots

At London's Daily Mail, "Elizabeth Hurley, 51, flaunts her impeccably toned abs and perky bust in saucy selfie."

Glenn Beck in the Tank for Hillary Clinton?

Heh.

This was a Breitbart meme last week, "Glenn Beck: Electing Hillary Clinton 'Is a Moral, Ethical Choice'."

So here's his response, in a chat with Dana Loesch:



Here's the updated story at CNN, "Glenn Beck: Opposing Trump is 'moral' choice — even if Clinton is elected."

Old America vs. New America and the 2016 Election

I guess this is another way of talking about the Coalition of Restoration versus the Coalition of Transformation, which is Ronald Brownstein's formulation of the current realignment in American politics.

See Cathleen Decker, at LAT, "This election is much more than Trump vs. Clinton. It's old America vs. new America":

The contrast in the 2016 presidential election was as evident Thursday as it has ever been: Donald Trump spoke to a largely white audience in Ohio, a state that has traditionally picked presidents but finds itself somewhat marginalized this year.

Soon after, Michelle Obama, the nation’s first African American first lady, campaigned for Hillary Clinton in Arizona, a state where Latinos have changed the political environment so much that Republicans may well lose there for only the second time since 1948.

The dramas surrounding the Trump campaign have sometimes obscured an underlying reality of 2016: Trump and Clinton are running for the same job, but they are talking to and being sustained by two different Americas.

There’s the old one — a distinction not of age alone, but cultural perspective and outlook — that Trump appeals to as he courts white, rural voters and social conservatives. His support base is heavy with voters uneasy with the turns the country has taken in recent years and, broadly speaking, more comfortable with an era when white men like Trump ran things.

And there’s the new America, the one Hillary Clinton has homed in on with her appeals to women, gay and lesbian Americans, the young, and minorities.

Clinton is not a perfect representative of that new America  —  in part because of her long tenure on the political scene. But the themes on which she has conducted her campaign and popular surrogates like the Obamas have helped shore up her connection. So, too, has her historic reach to become the first woman president.

The focuses of the two candidates echo their parties’ strengths —Republicans with older and whiter voters, Democrats with younger, more culturally and racially diverse ones.

Their slogans also show their aim: Clinton’s is “Stronger Together,” an appeal to the patchwork of groups, many of them flexing new political muscle, that make up her base. Trump’s is “Make America Great Again,” a proposition that harks back to a time when a different, more homogeneous order prevailed.

Trump has never identified his target era, but his cultural references seem to push back decades. Thursday, at a rally in Delaware, Ohio, in a conservative and partly rural area north of Columbus, he brought up “The $64,000 Question,” a quiz show that went off the air in 1958.

In Arizona, before a diverse crowd of thousands, the first lady evoked groups that were often ignored in that era as she delivered a ringing speech on behalf of Clinton.

“We are a nation built on differences, guided by the belief that we are all created equal,” she said. “Hillary knows that our country is powerful and vibrant and strong, big enough to have a place for all of us and that each of us is a precious part of the great American story.”

At his rally, Trump spoke, as he almost always does, to a crowd made up almost completely of white voters. In what has become a common refrain, he framed the election in apocalyptic terms: “Either we win this election or we are going to lose this country,” he said.

To his followers, that threat is all too real. Judy Krauss, a 70-year-old retired teacher who attended the Trump rally, said she worries that “leftist liberals” are changing America for the worse.

“They’re already in the schools, already in the media, already in the Republican Party,” she said.

Michelle Churma, wearing a pin on her shirt with an image of a machine gun and the phrase “Plead the Second” — a reference to the 2nd Amendment —  said she feared the country would go “in an awful direction” if Clinton is elected.

“There’s an America that holds fast to the Constitution … the idea that everyone has an equal chance,” she said. The other believes “everyone has to have the same stuff … the government owes me.”

Earlier this fall, at a shopping mall not far from the rally site, representatives of the other America spoke of their discomfort with Trump.

“We’re married; he’s not OK with that,” said Terri Glimcher, 60, of Powell, Ohio, as she sat in the food court with her wife, Tammy McKey. They were able to marry after the Supreme Court legalized gay unions last year. “He wants to overturn that. And that’s scary.”

Downstairs in another part of the mall, Omeliah Nembhard, 21, said that she was no big fan of Clinton but that Trump struck at the fears of her immigrant family, which moved here from Jamaica.

“My family came here for opportunity, and Donald Trump is taking that away,” she said. “He’s taking America out of America. “

The version of America seen at the ballot box has changed dramatically over the years...

Still more.

Britt Bergmeister Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Casting Call 2017 (VIDEO)

She's fabulous:

Struggles of North Carolina Rural Voters (VIDEO)

This is interesting, even riveting in some respects.

Rural life is so different, and yet so beautiful. I love North Carolina. I love the mountain feel, the Appalachian feel.

Watch this clip, featuring white folks in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, from the PBS News Hour:

Donna Brazile Claims She's Being 'Persecuted' After Megyn Kelly Asks Her How She Obtained the Exact Same Question as Hillary Clinton at the March 13th Debate (VIDEO)

Truly despicable.

Talk about a rigged election. That's not up for debate.

The whole video's good, but go to 5:55 minutes at the clip:

'We will drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.'

Good.

There's a lot of draining to be done.

Here's Donald Trump at Gettysburg, "Trump makes 'closing argument,' again attacks accusers."

Trump: “We will drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.” https://t.co/tByfpF7dN5 https://t.co/FyVLPrVZyj

— CNN (@CNN) October 22, 2016

Reuters Calls the Election for Hillary

Crooked Hillary's been ahead in the Electoral College for almost the entire campaign, but Reuters is making a bid deal of her current lead. See, "Clinton far ahead in Electoral College race: Reuters/ipsos poll" (at Memeor
andum):

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton maintained her commanding lead in the race to win the Electoral College and claim the U.S. presidency, according to the latest States of the Nation project results released on Saturday.

In the last week, there has been little movement. Clinton leads Donald Trump in most of the states that Trump would need should he have a chance to win the minimum 270 votes needed to win. According to the project, she has a better than 95 percent chance of winning, if the election was held this week. The mostly likely outcome would be 326 votes for Clinton to 212 for Trump.

Trump came off his best debate performance of the campaign Wednesday evening but the polling consensus still showed Clinton winning the third and final face-off on prime-time TV. Trump disputes those findings.

And some national polls had the race tightening a wee bit this week though others had Clinton maintaining her solid lead. But the project illustrates that the broader picture remains bleak for Trump with 17 days to go until the Nov. 8 election.

Trump did gain ground in South Carolina where his slim lead last week expanded to seven points, moving it into his column from a toss-up. Unfortunately for him, he lost ground in Arizona, which is now too close to call.

Additionally, he is facing a challenge for Utah’s six Electoral College votes from former CIA operative and Utah native Evan McMullin. The independent candidate is siphoning votes away from Trump in a state that is Republican as any in the nation. In some polls, McMullin is even leading. (The States of the Nation is not polling on McMullin.)

Utah, like almost all of the states, is a winner-take-all contest.

Keep reading.

Facebook Employees Pushed to Remove Trump's Posts as Hate Speech

Facebook employees threatened to quit over Trump, angry that Mark Zuckerberg allowed Trump's posts to stay up, even though, according to employees, his comments violated the social network's terms of service.

At WSJ.

Good on Zuck. But what you're seeing is the axis of ideological conflict going forward, starting very soon, in fact. And leftists are going to win, more and more. Conservative speech will be shut down as "hate speech." First it'll be on private services like Facebook, but if Hillary gets a couple of Supreme Court nominees confirmed, Court rulings may well chip away at longstanding protections for speech. Look for cases arising from the hotbeds of political correctness, America's college campuses.

The Movement for Prison Reform on the Right

From Megan McArdle, at Bloomberg, "How the Right Changed Its Mind on Prison":

One of the heartening developments of the last few years has been the emergence of a serious movement for prison reform on the right. These people are not simply coming over to the left-wing side; they have their own ideas about de-escalating mass incarceration, and an increasingly serious commitment to doing so.

Political scientist Steven Teles has just released a new book on the phenomenon: “Prison Break: Why Conservatives Turned Against Mass Incarceration.” I sat down with him on Thursday to ask him about the book and talk about what it might mean for the future of both criminal-justice reform and the Republican Party.

Keep reading.

Cornel West Lecture at Long Beach City College

The man is a real, live prophetic firebrand. I was amazed, practically shocked, at the power and intensity of his speaking.

And believe me, I'm generally not coming from his point of view. Still, pretty amazing talk.

College President Eloy Oakley tweeted:

Proud to intro @CornelWest to @LBCityCollege students & staff. Commitment to truth & action #equity #socialjustice pic.twitter.com/Fn8vMsroKq

— Eloy Ortiz Oakley (@EloyOakley) October 21, 2016

TY Dr. @CornelWest for speaking truth to @LBCityCollege students & staff. We were all blessed to hear your words. pic.twitter.com/6bC2UPJ7OO

— Eloy Ortiz Oakley (@EloyOakley) October 21, 2016

Also, check out West's latest book, Black Prophetic Fire.

Like I always say, it's better to know your enemies, so I read everything I can get my hands on, left and right. It makes me a better teacher frankly, and damn if Cornel West doesn't make some good points regardless of ideology.

See also, Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism.

Deal of the Day: New Lady Gaga Album: $3.99 [BUMPED]

Hurry.

Offer ends in a little more than 14 hours.

At Amazon, Joanne [Explicit].

BONUS: Robert S. Gordon, The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War. (I'm loving this book.)

A Frightening Preview of Hillary's America

From Daniel Greenfield, at FrontPage Magazine, "Dark and Unaccountable":

Hillary Clinton, of all people, summed up this debate and this election best.

“What kind of country are we going to be?”

The Evita of Arkansas is a compulsive liar who has never told the truth in her life. But this time around she was right. This election does not come down to the personalities. It comes down to the kind of country we are going to have. And in the third debate, the one that took a break from the petty haranguing of media lackeys like Lester Holt and Martha Raddatz, the issues took center stage.

The core issue came into focus with the very first question asked by Chris Wallace. Wallace asked Hillary and Trump if their vision for the Supreme Court was based on the Constitution or not. Hillary launched into a spiel about a Supreme Court that would stand for class warfare and gay rights. The only time she mentioned the Constitution was when she insisted that the Senate was constitutionally obligated to confirm Obama’s nominee. That is her vision of the Constitution; a document that grants her power to reshape the country without regard to the Founders or any previously existing rights or freedoms.

It fell to Trump to speak of justices who would “interpret the Constitution the way the founders wanted it interpreted”. And that is the core issue. Personalities and politicians come and go. Today’s trending topic has been forgotten a day later. Outrages explode like fireworks and then fizzle out.

The weapons of mass distraction have been deployed and detonated. They keep going off in blasts of media gunpowder to divert our attention from whether we will live under the Constitution or under the Hillary. Will we have the rights and freedom bound into the Constitution or corruption justified with cant about the need to defend the oppressed by giving unlimited power to the oppressors.

The final debate finally focused on the issues. Instead of leading with the scandals, it asked about gun control, amnesty and open borders. It asked what kind of country are we going to be?

And, are we going to be a country at all or an open border weeping undocumented migrants destroying what’s left of the middle class as the masterminds rob the country blind while preaching piously to us about all the poor Syrians, Mexicans and LGBT youth they want to protect?

Americans have had a preview of the country that Hillary Clinton would create under Obama. They received yet another preview of it at a final debate in which Hillary echoed Obama’s Orwellian language in which endless spending was dubbed “investing” and in which government would save the middle class by regulating and taxing it out of existence for the greater good of the officially oppressed.

Hillary Clinton promised free college and cradle to grave education that would be debt free. Americans would be the ones plummeting deeper and deeper into debt to pay for degrees in gender studies. She promised viewers pie in the sky to be paid for by higher taxes on the rich. But as Trump pointed out, that’s the class that her donors come from. Did Warren Buffett and George Soros invest all that money into her victory just to pay higher taxes? Did they do it right after they bought the Brooklyn Bridge?

Or will Americans buy the bridge believing Hillary’s promise that she “will not add a penny to the debt”?

The only way Hillary can hope to do that is to appoint Bernie Madoff to be her Treasury Secretary.

When Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump wrangled over tax hikes or tax cuts, the debate is whether crooks like the Clintons should have a massive pot of taxpayer money to “invest” into their donors.

But beneath it is the same big question; do we live under the Constitution or under the Hillary?

In Hillary Country, just like in Obama Country, there are always more “investments” to make and you had better pay your “fair share”. There are always special identity group interests that need money. There are always more regulations, taxes, fines and fees. And it’s all for the children.

The ones that Hillary will grimace at when the cameras are on her and nudge away with the point of her shoe when the little red light turns off.

But there is no lie that Hillary Clinton will not tell and no lie that her pet media fact checkers will not back her up on....

Still more.

East Coast Hacking Vendetta

I blogged this morning and logged onto Twitter no problem, but then not too long later no dice.

I couldn't access the site, and I saw the news of the massive DDoS attack.

And now, at Bloomnberg, "The Possible Vendetta Behind the East Coast Web Slowdown" (via Memeorandum):

Millions of internet users lost access to some of the world’s most popular websites Friday, as hackers hammered servers along the U.S. East Coast with phony traffic until they crashed, then moved westward.
A global attack on one provider of Domain Name System services, Dyn Inc., took down sites including Twitter, Spotify, Reddit, CNN, Etsy and The New York Times for long stretches of time -- from New York to Los Angeles.

Kyle York, chief strategy officer of Dyn, said the hackers launched a so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack using “tens of millions” of malware-infected devices connected to the internet. Speaking during a conference call Friday afternoon, York said Dyn was “actively” dealing with a “third wave” of the attack.

By Friday evening, Dyn said it had stopped the hacks. "As you can imagine it has been a crazy day," Dyn spokesman Adam Coughlin wrote in an e-mail. "At this moment (knock on wood) service has been restored."

Security professionals have been anticipating a rise in attacks coming from malware that targets the "Internet of Things," a new breed of small gadgets that are connected to the internet. That was after a hacker released software code that powers such malware, called Mirai, several weeks ago.

Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency and the FBI are aware of the incidents and “investigating all potential causes.”

Keep reading.

Lady Gaga at the Bitter End Nightclub (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Deal of the Day: New Lady Gaga Album: $3.99."

At CBS News 2 New York:

Update on the K-12 Implosion

From Glenn Reynolds, at Instapundit, "K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: What Politicians Mean When They Ask for More Education Spending."

And see Reynolds' book, The K-12 Implosion.

BONUS: The Education Apocalypse: How It Happened and How to Survive It.

Wonder Woman's Visceral Impact (VIDEO)

The U.N. has named Wonder Woman the Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls.

This fills Lynda Carter with pride. And she makes a point that she first did this role 40 years ago. She looks great --- she looks like she could still do the role, va va voom!

At CBS This Morning:

More on Hitler and Nazi Germany [BUMPED]

I mentioned I was surprised by the publication of a major new Hitler biography, Volker Ullrich's, Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939.

Mainly that's because there's been so much first rate research on the Nazi leader that I'm surprised historians came up with anything new.

When I was finishing grad school, Ian Kershaw published a two-volume biography that reviewers at the time said was unlikely to be surpassed. See, Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris, and Hitler: 1936-1945 Nemesis. (I don't think I need to read too much more beyond Kershaw's work, but that's me.)

Then there's the famous biography from Joachim Fest, Hitler.

And also John Toland's bestseller, Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography.

Not to mention, Alan Bullock's Hitler: A Study in Tyranny.

I also linked Michael Burleigh the other day. See his masterful work, The Third Reich: A New History.

I'm interested in reading Richard Evans' work on the Nazi regime, in three volumes, The Coming of the Third Reich; The Third Reich in Power; and The Third Reich at War.

I was interested as well in Timothy Snyder's recent book, Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, but he argues the Holocaust is analogous to the threat of global climate change, which even reviewers thought wacky. He's lost me on that. I think I'll pass.

Great Robert Costa Piece on the Crumbling of the Republican Party

This is a much better report than the one from the New York Times I posted earlier here, "Republican Party on the Verge of Extinction?"

Robert Costa used to be at NRO, and he's an outstanding reporter with excellent inside sources and a real feel for movement politics.

At WaPo:

#DonaldTrump-driven divide will consume #GOPe long after the election: https://t.co/Zee2HtbS7a #TRUMP #TRUMPTRAIN #MAGA #Rigged

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) October 20, 2016

How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History

This is pretty intense, although for all the claims of Russia cyber-spying and hacking, I've yet to see what I consider rock-hard evidence. It's all technical and circumstantial. It's weird, frankly.

See Esquire, "Russia Hackers to Blame for Wikileaks Emails - Proof Vladmir Putin Was Behind the Clinton Email Hack."

Just read it at the link:

How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. Historyhttps://t.co/lsZlUq46EQ pic.twitter.com/WZ74Gs2eTL

— Tyler Coates (@tylercoates) October 20, 2016

Candidates Struggle to Remain Civil at the Al Smith Charity Dinner (VIDEO)

Actually, sounds like a pretty hilarious roast.

At New York Magazine, "A Night of Laughter, Charity, and Boos: The Candidates Struggle to Remain Civil at the Al Smith Charity Dinner."

'Johnny B. Goode'

Tuesday was Chuck Berry's 90th birthday, and the dude's still rockin'.

From Tuesday morning's drive-time, "Johnny B. Goode," at the Sound L.A., "Chuck Berry Is Still Rockin'":

Chuck Berry, who turns 90 today, has announced a surprising treat for his fans.

The rock and roll pioneer will release a new album in 2017. Titled Chuck, it's a collection of mostly new, self-written material featuring the band that backed him on over 200 shows at the Blueberry Hill Club in St. Louis -- including his children Charles Berry Junior (on guitar) and Ingrid Berry (harmonica) along with Jimmy Marsala (Berry's bassist of 40 years), Robert Lohr (piano), and Keith Robinson (drums).

Berry says in a statement that he's dedicated the project to his wife of 68 years, Themetta Berry. "My darlin' I'm growing old! I've worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!"

Charles Berry Junior adds, "These songs cover the spectrum from hard driving rockers to soulful thought provoking time capsules of a life's work."

 And flashback to 2008, "Never Ever Learned to Read or Write So Well..."

Book Review: Nancy Isenberg's, White Trash

This is a great book review, from Professor Jefferson Cowie, at Foreign Affairs, "The Great White Nope: Poor, Working Class, and Left Behind in America."

Here's the book, at Amazon, Nancy Isenberg, White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America.

And an excerpt from Professor Cowie's review:

Most Americans are optimistic about their futures—but poor and working-class whites are not. According to a recent analysis published by the Brookings Institution, poor Hispanics are almost a third more likely than their white counterparts to imagine a better future. And poor African Americans—who face far higher rates of incarceration and unemployment and who fall victim far more frequently to both violent crime and police brutality—are nearly three times as optimistic as poor whites. Carol Graham, the economist who oversaw the analysis, concluded that poor whites suffer less from direct material deprivation than from the intangible but profound problems of “unhappiness, stress, and lack of hope.” That might explain why the slogan of the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump—“Make America Great Again!”—sounds so good to so many of them.

A stunning U-turn in the fortunes of poor and working-class whites began in the 1970s, as deindustrialization, automation, globalization, and the growth of the high-technology and service sectors transformed the U.S. economy. In the decades since, many blue-collar jobs have vanished, wages have stagnated for less educated Americans, wealth has accumulated at the top of the economic food chain, and social mobility has become vastly harder to achieve. Technological and financial innovations have fostered economic and social vitality in urban centers on the coasts. But those changes have brought far fewer benefits to the formerly industrial South and Midwest. As economic decline has hollowed out civic life and the national political conversation has focused on other issues, many people in “flyover country” have sought solace in opioids and methamphetamine; some have lashed out by embracing white nationalist rage. As whites come closer to becoming a plurality in the United States (or a “white minority,” in more paranoid terms), many have become receptive to nativist or bigoted appeals and thinly veiled promises to protect their endangered racial privilege: think of Trump’s promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and his invocation of an unspecified bygone era when the United States was “great,” which many white Trump supporters seem to understand as a reference to a time when they felt themselves to be more firmly at the center of civic and economic life.

Trump also loves to tell his audiences that they are victims of a “rigged” political system that empowers elites at their expense. On that count, the evidence supports him. Consider, for example, the findings of a widely cited 2014 study by the political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, who researched public opinion on approximately 1,800 policy proposals (as captured by surveys taken between 1981 and 2002) and found that only those ideas endorsed by the wealthiest ten percent of Americans became law. This domination of politics by economic elites has produced the de facto disenfranchisement of everyone else—a burden experienced by the entire remaining 90 percent, of course, but perhaps felt most acutely by those who have fallen the furthest.

For poor and working-class white Americans, the profound shifts of the past few decades have proved literally lethal: beginning around 1999, life expectancy—which had been increasing dramatically for all Americans during the twentieth century—began to decrease for less educated middle-aged whites. Angus Deaton, the Nobel Prize–winning economist who discovered this trend along with his wife and collaborator, the economist Anne Case, speculated that this demographic group is “susceptible to despair” because they have “lost the narrative of their lives.”

Nancy Isenberg’s White Trash aims to uncover the historical roots of this social calamity and explain its political effects. It’s an ambitious book that doesn’t quite succeed but that is nonetheless frequently revelatory...

Keep reading.

University of Toronto Threatens to 'Silence' Professor Jordan Peterson Over Mandatory Gender-Neutral Pronouns 'Zie' or 'Hir'

Professor Peterson refuses to utter these completely insane "gender neutral" pronouns.

From Kelsey Harkness, at the Daily Signal, "University Threatens to ‘Silence’ Professor Protesting Genderless Pronouns."

Bestselling Item: Bluedio T2s Turbine Bluetooth Wireless Headphones [BUMPED]

At Amazon, Bluedio T2s Turbine Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Headphones with Mic, 57mm Drivers/Rotary Folding, Blue.

Marine Le Pen Interview

This woman is absolutely phenomenal.

I admire her more than any other world leader short of Benjamin Netanyahu.

At Foreign Affairs, "France’s Next Revolution? A Conversation With Marine Le Pen":

Marine Le Pen tells Foreign Affairs, "anyone would be better than Hillary Clinton." https://t.co/GIgw2MryPI

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) October 19, 2016

As the youngest daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the right-wing French political party the National Front, Marine Le Pen grew up in politics, starting to campaign with her father at 13. Trained as a lawyer, she won her first election in 1998, as a regional councilor, and in 2011, she succeeded her father as party leader. She soon distanced herself from his more extreme positions, and eventually—after he reiterated his claim that the Holocaust was a “detail” of history—she expelled him from its ranks. These days, in the wake of the European migrant crisis, the terrorist attacks in Paris and Nice, and the Brexit vote, Le Pen’s nationalist, Euroskeptical, anti-immigrant message is selling well. Recent polls show her as a leading candidate for the presidency in 2017, with respondents preferring her two to one over the Socialist incumbent, François Hollande. Le Pen spoke with Foreign Affairs’ deputy managing editor Stuart Reid in Paris in September.

Antiestablishment parties, including the National Front, are gaining ground across Europe. How come?

I believe that all people aspire to be free. For too long, the people of the countries in the European Union, and perhaps Americans as well, have had a sense that political leaders are not defending their interests but defending special interests instead. There is a form of revolt on the part of the people against a system that is no longer serving them but rather serving itself.

Are there common factors behind Donald Trump’s success in the United States and yours here in France?

Yes. I see particular commonalities in the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Both reject a system that appears to be very selfish, even egocentric, and that has set aside the people’s aspirations. I draw a parallel between the two, because they are both success stories. Even though Bernie Sanders didn’t win, his emergence wasn’t predicted. In many countries, there is this current of being attached to the nation and rejecting untamed globalization, which is seen as a form of totalitarianism. It’s being imposed at all costs, a war against everybody for the benefit of a few.

When asked recently who you supported in the U.S. election, you said, “Anyone but Hillary.” So do you support Trump?

I was quite clear: in my view, anyone would be better than Hillary Clinton. I aim to become president of the French Republic, so I am concerned exclusively with the interests of France. I cannot put myself in an American’s shoes and determine whether the domestic policies proposed by one or another candidate suit me. What interests me are the consequences of the political choices made by Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump for France’s situation, economically and in terms of security.

So I would note that Clinton supports TTIP [the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership]. Trump opposes it. I oppose it as well. I would also note that Clinton is a bringer of war in the world, leaving behind her Iraq, Libya, and Syria. This has had extremely destabilizing consequences for my country in terms of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the enormous waves of migration now overwhelming the European Union. Trump wants the United States to return to its natural state. Clinton pushes for the extraterritorial application of American law, which is an unacceptable weapon for people who wish to remain independent. All of this tells me that between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it’s Donald Trump’s policies that are more favorable to France’s interests right now.

The unemployment rate in France now stands at around ten percent, the second highest among the G-7 members. What are the roots of France’s economic malaise, and what solutions do you propose?

These days, everyone is proposing the National Front’s solutions. We recorded a nice ideological victory when I heard [Arnaud] Montebourg [a former economy minister in Hollande’s Socialist government] pleading for “made in France,” which is one of the major pillars of the National Front.

The unemployment rate is much higher than that because there are a bunch of statistical shenanigans going on—involving internships, early retirement, part-time work—that keep a number of French from being counted in the unemployment statistics.

There are a number of reasons for [the high unemployment]. The first is completely free trade, which puts us in an unfair competition with countries that engage in social and environmental dumping, leaving us with no means of protecting ourselves and our strategic companies, unlike in the United States. And in terms of social dumping, the Posted Workers Directive [an EU directive on the free movement of labor] is bringing low-wage employees to France.

The second is the monetary dumping we suffer. The euro—the fact of not having our own money—puts us in an extremely difficult economic situation. The IMF has just said that the euro was overvalued by six percent in France and undervalued by 15 percent in Germany. That’s a gap of 21 percentage points with our main competitor in Europe.

It also has to do with the disappearance of a strategic state. Our very Gaullist state, which supported our industrial champions, has been totally abandoned. France is a country of engineers. It is a country of researchers. But it’s true that it is not a country of businesspeople. And so quite often in history, our big industrial champions were able to develop only thanks to the strategic state. In abandoning this, we are depriving ourselves of a very important lever for development.

*****

Many credit the European Union for preserving the peace since World War II. Why are they wrong?

Because it’s not the European Union that has kept the peace; it’s the peace that has made the European Union possible. This argument has been rehashed repeatedly, and it makes no sense. Regardless, the peace hasn’t been perfect in the European Union, with Kosovo and Ukraine at its doorstep. It’s not so simple.

In fact, the European Union has progressively transformed itself into a sort of European Soviet Union that decides everything, that imposes its views, that shuts down the democratic process. You only have to hear [European Commission President Jean-Claude] Juncker, who said, “There can be no democratic choice against European treaties.” That formulation says everything. We didn’t fight to become a free and independent people during World War I and World War II so that we could no longer be free today just because some of our leaders made that decision for us.

What do you make of Germany’s leadership in recent years?

It was written into the creation of the euro. In reality, the euro is a currency created by Germany, for Germany. It’s a suit that fits only Germany. Gradually, [Chancellor Angela] Merkel sensed that she was the leader of the European Union. She imposed her views. She imposed them in economic matters, but she also imposed them by agreeing to welcome one million migrants to Germany, knowing very well that Germany would sort them out. It would keep the best and let the rest go to other countries in the European Union. There are no longer any internal borders between our countries, which is absolutely unacceptable. The model imposed by Merkel surely works for Germans, but it is killing Germany’s neighbors. I am the anti-Merkel.

What do you think of the state of relations between France and the United States, and what should they be?

Today, French leaders submit so easily to the demands of Merkel and Obama. France has forgotten to defend its interests, including its commercial and industrial ones, in the face of American demands. I am for independence. I am for a France that remains equidistant between the two great powers, Russia and the United States, being neither submissive nor hostile. I want us to once again become a leader for the nonaligned countries, as was said during the de Gaulle era. We have the right to defend our interests, just as the United States has the right to defend its interests, Germany has the right to defend its interests, and Russia has the right to defend its interests...

Still more.

Final Debate Unlikely to Change Minds

Well, yeah, the respective coalitions are pretty well locked in, but still ... perhaps there's a few undecideds out there.

At WSJ, "Voter Support for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Reverts to January Levels":

After all of this year’s election turmoil—the noisy clashes over Donald Trump’s comments on immigrants and women, the  Hillary Clinton email and family foundation controversies—public views of the two candidates have wound up right where they started in January.

Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton are no more liked or disliked than when the year started, nor have more people come to view the prospect of their election with optimism, Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling finds. And in a head-to-head matchup, Mrs. Clinton’s 10-point lead of today is exactly where it stood in January.

Those numbers suggest that while tonight’s debate may produce dramatic moments and big headlines, it is unlikely to change the trajectory of the race. The 2016 election might seem turbulent, with its battle of personalities, hacked emails and late-night tweets. But underneath, there has been more stability than volatility...

Actually, I suspect WSJ/NBC oversampled Democrats in their polling, but the truth will be in the results on November 8th. I'm ready.

Keep reading.

Deal of the Day: Save Big on Select Fiesta Kitchenware

At Amazon, Fiesta 6134M7RO Multi 11-pc Cutlery Set w/ Oak Block.

Plus, Sound Intone I65 Headphones with Microphone and Volume Control for Travel, Work, Sport , Foldable Headset for Iphone and Android Devices (White/gold).

Also, Levi's Men's 501 Original-Fit Jean.

BONUS: Kim R. Holmes, The Closing of the Liberal Mind: How Groupthink and Intolerance Define the Left.

The Case for Trump

From VDH.

Lindsey Pelas on Instagram

At WWTDD, "Lindsey Pelas and Her Ta-Tas Rule Instagram."

Go right to the source here.

Baseball's Booming Television Ratings

Baseball's doing great!

The NFL not so much, lol.

Baseball ratings this year are yuuuge https://t.co/PcBrQmp94q

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) October 18, 2016

I'm a Bible-Thumping Etiquette Teacher for Trump

Heh.

I love this.

From Diann Catlin, at USA Today:

I first encountered Donald Trump during the Republican Party primary debates. Night after night as he took on his opponents with vitriol and poorly chosen words, I would tell my husband, “I will NEVER vote for this man. He is simply Rude with a capital R.” I actually loved the night Sen. Marco Rubio dished it back, giving Trump a dose of boys-will-be-boys, and me a dose of front-seat boyish braggadocio.

I am not a reality TV viewer, and having never heard him utter “You’re fired,” I simply began listening to Trump relative to the key issues Americans face. Of course we need to secure the borders, and of course we need to improve job growth in America. We must lower our debt and we certainly must value the life of the unborn child. When I listened to the Trump children (who definitely would have seen their father in both good and bad times) speak of him with respectful reverence, I had to question my early summation of Trump.

Over the years earning a living as an etiquette teacher, I have met and corrected brash and character-challenged individuals. When I decided to vote for Trump, many of my friends said: “You, an etiquette consultant, can vote for someone so uncivil?” The more I encountered Trump in various televised interviews, the more I realized if his prickly corners were carved away, his strength on the issues would surface. I read his list of possible Supreme Court nominees and recalled how Obama’s liberal appointees had voted. I realized judgeship appointments would be crucial in the next years, and that Hillary Clinton would be appointing “Obamaesque” lawyers who would tilt the court even farther left.

I have taught the Bible, God’s Word, verse by verse for over 30 years. I like God’s ways. I know that he creates life in a mother’s womb. I know that he wants words of edification to come from our lips. I also know that he wants discerning believers to take part in government. Honestly, I find it embarrassing when evangelicals do not vote. To use as an excuse against voting that Trump is rude or worldly does not hold water, because God has always used imperfect people for his glory.

When God used David, whom he called a man after his own heart, he used a human David who not only committed adultery but murder. God uses people like Trump and like me who are sinners but whose specific issues, like the life of the unborn child, align with his word.

I kept weighing all I was seeing because deciding not to vote was not an option. One thing I know is that Barack Obama is as far from aligning with Christian values as any president we have ever had. And with 30 years of public service doing little for the issues Christians value, Clinton is simply more of Obama...

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