Monday, March 20, 2017
I've Finished Allan Eckert's, The Frontiersmen
I've got to plow through chapter after chapter when I'm reading big tomes like this one, mostly because I've got to get on to my next book.
I read most of the day yesterday, except to watch UCLA in the March Madness tournament (against Cincinnati).
In any case, Eckert can't be recommended too highly. Indeed, I'm going to start on book two of his "Narratives of America" series after not too long.
At Amazon, Allan Eckert, The Frontiersmen: A Narrative.
And don't miss others in the series, Wilderness Empire: A Narrative; The Conquerors; The Wilderness War; Gateway to Empire; and Twilight of Empire.
Thanks for your support.
Police Hassle Tommy Robinson at 'Anti-Racism' March in London (VIDEO)
Chuck Berry, One of the 'Founding Fathers' of Rock 'n' Roll, Dies at 90 (VIDEO)
Chuck Berry was a dynamic force on the frenzied rock 'n' roll tours of the 1950s. He died at age 90. https://t.co/VfHehF0JOT pic.twitter.com/hKIqo7bXsJ— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 18, 2017
RIP Chuck Berry. The 1st song that @thebeatles performed at their 1st US concert was "Roll Over Beethoven."— George Harrison (@GeorgeHarrison) March 19, 2017
Watch: https://t.co/rFyPCranEw pic.twitter.com/8JSgALNjDY
BONUS: At CBS This Morning, "Music world remembers Chuck Berry."
I blogged about him on his birthday, in October, "'Johnny B. Goode'."
ChloƩ Valdary
She's a really good lady.
The Gorsuch Confirmation Hearing
It's Showtime: Leonard A. Leo Previews the Gorsuch Confirmation Hearing https://t.co/1uCK4TJnvD— The Weekly Standard (@weeklystandard) March 20, 2017
Also, at HuffPo, via Memeorandum, "Democrats May Be Botching This Supreme Court Confirmation Fight."
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Lisbeth Haas, Saints and Citizens
This one looks excellent.
At Amazon, Lisbeth Haas, Saints and Citizens: Indigenous Histories of Colonial Missions and Mexican California.
Elliott West, The Contested Plains
At Amazon, Elliott West, The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado.
Incredibly High Public Knowledge of the Supreme Court!
At Hot Air, "Yeesh: Just 43% can name a single justice on the Supreme Court."
RELATED: At LAT, "Senate battle over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch."
Senate battle over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has been relatively mild, but that's about to change https://t.co/hNHOf7ShRo pic.twitter.com/i2BBSPtnt5— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 19, 2017
Sunday Sabine Rule 5
At Pirate's, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is a world both drying out from carbon pollution, creating sand everywhere, and flooding, you might just be a Warmist."
Drunken Stepfather, "Steplinks of the Day," and "Agent Provocateur Sugar Baby Bikinis with Lambos of the Day."
At WWTDD, "SI's Definition of Full Bodied Just Got Much Better and Shit Around the Web."
Bro-Bible, "50 of the Sexiest, Must-See Instagram Pictures on the Internet Today."
90 Miles from Tyranny, "Morning Mistress." Bonus, "Watch what happens at 0:25, when two trapped swans notice two humans. The swans knew the humans were their last hope, so they asked them for help!!"
Goodstuff's, "GOODSTUFFs BLOGGING MAGAZINE (284th Issue), with Senta Berger!"
At Odie's, "Ivanka ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."
Plus, the Hostages, "Big Boob Friday."
Still more, at Linkiest, "40 Hottest Instagram Pics of Jem Wolfie."
From last week, at the Other McCain, "Rule 5 Sunday: Whitewashing the Cyborg."
A View from the Beach, "Rule 5 Saturday - A Dutch Treat - Valerie van der Graaf."
At Proof Positive, "Friday Night Babe: Ashley Moore!"
A Slice of Cheesecake, "Valerie Hobson."
More, at Knuckledraggin', "Your Good Morning Girl"
Watch, at Playboy, "Yep, This Is Why Kennedy Summers Is Playmate of the Year 2014."
BONUS: Beth Lilly.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Edmund Wilson, Apologies to the Iroquois
I picked up a used copy.
And the book's available at Amazon, Edmund Wilson, Apologies to the Iroquois: With a Study of the Mohawks in High Steel, by Joseph Mitchell.
Also at the New Yorker, "APOLOGIES TO THE IROQUOIS (OCTOBER 17, 1959 ISSUE)."
Wilson was a very interesting fellow. He published To the Finland Station, a study on "the course of European socialism," in 1940 (and much more).
John Gillingham, Medieval Britain
At Amazon, John Gillingham, Medieval Britain: A Very Short Introduction.
Poll: Most Young Americans See Donald Trump as Illegitimate President
Besides, it's at the Associated Press, heh.
See John Sexton, at Hot Air, "Poll: Majority of 18-30 year olds see Trump as an illegitimate president."
Mariah Carey Busts Out the Big Green Jugs for St. Patrick's Day
Not kidding.
At London's Daily Mail, "Mariah Carey puts on a VERY busty display in plunging PVC dress as she celebrates St Patrick's Day with beau Bryan Tanaka and children Moroccan and Monroe."
Mariah Carey puts on a VERY busty display while celebrating St Patrick's Day https://t.co/s0WX7T28uw pic.twitter.com/1hUn4TEPZM— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) March 18, 2017
Britney Spears Shows Off Two Skin-Tight Cocktail Dresses, Asks Instagram to Choose Which One's More Flattering
Besides, I'm not on Instagram, heh.
At London's Daily Mail, "Strutting her stuff! Britney Spears models two thigh-skimming dresses and asks Instagram to choose the winner."
Britney Spears models two thigh-skimming dresses and asks Instagram to choose the winner https://t.co/KZjcQl8DXO pic.twitter.com/aaRo419coP— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) March 18, 2017
Mayim Bialik Takes on Linda Sarsour
What started all of this is a piece at the Nation (where else?), "Can You Be a Zionist Feminist? Linda Sarsour Says No."
‘Big Bang Star’ Mayim Bialik takes on Linda Sarsour’s anti-Zionist slur https://t.co/UdQuX3IU50— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) March 18, 2017
#LindaSarsour Highjacking #Feminist Movement, push Anti #Israel, #BDS Movement: wants women to attack Israel. #Islamic Left must be stopped pic.twitter.com/ORkBllpv4S— Ben (@benghand) March 18, 2017
#MayimBialik Contradicts Anti-#Israel #LindaSarsour: #Zionism, #Feminism Don’t Mix. Sarsour using feminism for #Islamic #Palestinian agenda pic.twitter.com/AjJpywaDxv— Ben (@benghand) March 18, 2017
Frank Waters, Book of the Hopi
I picked up a copy [a few weeks back], to continue my reading on Native Americans.
This old tome is still available, at Amazon, Frank Waters, Book of the Hopi.
Scary West Virginia Newspaper Cover
But I gotta say, Chris Cillizza's got a point:
This West Virginia newspaper front page should scare Republicans https://t.co/rSockUQ8aG pic.twitter.com/u7xwy5Fat9— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) March 17, 2017
Tomi Lahren's Pro-Choice?
Sure, she's a little too cock-sure about everything. Sometimes she comes off as superficially informed. But when I saw her speak at Comic Con last June, I noticed that she seems kinda mean. She didn't come off as a friendly sympathetic figure. Not at all. Mind you, she took the stage alongside Mary Katharine Ham, who's the nicest lady you'd ever want to meet -- and a smart-as-hell conservative who held her own against blowhard Bill O'Reilly on Fox News for years -- so yeah, Lahren might have had a little competition in that regard. But she just exuded meanness nevertheless.
After the panel, fawning young conservative women swarmed the podium, many of them attempting to get near Ms. Tomi, to get a selfie or even perhaps exchange business cards, or phone numbers, or whatever it is young hipsters exchange these days. I would have liked to say hello, to give Ms. Tomi kudos on her considerably impressive record of conservative commentary. But on second thought I said nah. She seems mean, as noted, but she also came off as stuck up. You know, she's the hot blonde chick you wanted to go out with in high school but would never have been given you so much as the time of day had you approached her. If a young hotsie-totsie like this deigned to speak to you during high school it was most likely for you to get the hell out of the way, you beta male nincompoop. So with that, I made off into the convention hall, not to worry about it too much. I'd scored a couple of photos of the woman's phenomenal legs, so I guess that was an added bonus of attendance.
So now here comes Truth Revolt with the report that Ms. Tomi's pro-choice? WTF?!! You can't be conservative and be pro-choice. It's like you can't be an all-American male and not like women in bikinis. It's just not a thing.
Well, I guess it is, for the young so-called conservative Ms. Tomi.
See, "'Conservative' Tomi Lahren's Pro-Abortion Stance Pleases 'The View'."
Like I said, sometimes I doubt Ms. Tomi's too smart. Definitely nice legs though.
.@TomiLahren explains why she's pro-choice: "Stay out of my guns and you can stay out of my body, as well." pic.twitter.com/0kFXJ7oL9L
— The View (@TheView) March 17, 2017
Lonzo Ball Leads UCLA Over Kent State, 97-80 in #MarchMadness
In any case, I wasn't disappointed. Lonzo sank his first five baskets attempted, at least, including a three-pointer. Later in the game he took a long pass for a massive flying slam dunk. UCLA's a hot team, seeded third for these NCAA championship games.
In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing UCLA play deep into the tournament.
At the Los Angeles Times:
Dynamic freshman duo again carry the Bruins to victory https://t.co/6u34OwoxWj
— L.A. Times Sports (@latimessports) March 18, 2017
FINAL score presented by Sanyo: UCLA 97, Kent State 80.#KSUvsUCLA l #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/K8DWKeUm0Z
— UCLA Basketball (@UCLAMBB) March 18, 2017
TJ Leaf (23 pts), Lonzo Ball (15 pts) & Aaron Holiday (15 pts) powered UCLA past Kent State, 97-80.
— UCLA Basketball (@UCLAMBB) March 18, 2017
MORE: https://t.co/94W2Flb68i pic.twitter.com/r0XrFThWIV
Comic Genius Ace
— Mind-Numbed Robot (@mnrobot) March 18, 2017
Flashback to Sabine
A football kit has never looked so appealing... https://t.co/ubXX57eF8P pic.twitter.com/oQf9FC7rjg— Page 3 (@Page3) March 18, 2017
Geert Wilders and the Real Story of the Election
From Daniel Greenfield, at FrontPage Magazine:
Geert Wilders and the Real Story of the Election https://t.co/Jx82X5jiwG— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) March 16, 2017
The Dutch Coalition Government
From, Matthew E. Bergman, a lecturer at University of California at San Diego, at the Monkey Cage, "The Dutch pushed back against Geert Wilders’s ‘Patriotic Spring.’ Here’s what you need to know":
Has the “Patriotic Spring” sprung? What’s next for #Netherlands after elections, now @monkeycageblog https://t.co/KC0Cpre7Qg
— Joshua Tucker (@j_a_tucker) March 16, 2017
What does a coalition look like?
In multiparty countries, the absence of a clear majority winner means parties bargain over policy and government positions until a coalition emerges that can earn the support of a majority in parliament. In the Netherlands, once that bargaining is done, a more formal coalition agreement then names the prime minister and cabinet, which then draws up the Government’s Statement of policy priorities.
This coalition bargaining process in the Netherlands generally takes about three months. Large parties hold a bargaining advantage because they require fewer partners to form a majority.
Since World War II, the largest Dutch party has been either the centrist Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the social democratic Labor Party (PvdA), or the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Coalitions form around the leader of one of these three to be the prime minister.
As noted in Figure 1, the Labor Party (PvdA) suffered a loss of 26 seats. There are numerous parties of the left and center, along with smaller parties. But adding together the seats claimed by the PvdA, Green Left (GL), Socialist (SP), Christian Union (CU), Party for the Animals (PvdD), pensioners’ (50 Plus) and multiculturalism (DENK) parties falls far short of the necessary majority.
All the major parties during the campaign pledged not to work with Wilders, even though the PPV holds a sizable number of seats. In 2012, Wilders backed out of his governing arrangement with the VVD and CDA. That episode and his further radicalization and controversial statements may leave PPV out of the final coalition.
Friday, March 17, 2017
William Y. Chalfant, Hancock's War
Also, Dangerous Passage: The Santa Fe Trail and the Mexican War, and Without Quarter: The Wichita Expedition and the Fight on Crooked Creek.
David Horowitz, The Left in Power: Clinton to Obama
President Trump's Sweeping Budget Cuts Would Fund 'Hard Power'
At the Los Angeles Times, "Trump's 'hard power' budget makes sweeping cuts to EPA and State Department, boosts defense spending":
President Trump released a spending plan Thursday that would slash programs across government with a machete to pay for sharp increases in the military, veterans’ health and the construction of a wall along the southwest border.More.
On the chopping block: billions of dollars in research aimed at fighting diseases and climate change; job training programs; grants to local communities that pay for public transit and housing, heating oil for the poor; diplomatic efforts across the globe; and libraries.
Proposed for elimination: at least 19 independent agencies including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Trump argued that many of the programs he wants to slash are ineffective, outdated or duplicative. Beyond that, he says the budget is sending a message to reorder $1.1 trillion in the federal government’s discretionary spending around his “America First” agenda, putting defense and border security at the center while curtailing other government functions.
“We can't spend money on programs just because they sound good,” said Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget and a conservative former congressman from South Carolina.
In addition to proposing cuts across the spectrum, Trump would increase funding for school choice, counter-terrorism and the hiring of more border agents and immigration judges and prosecutors. But the biggest increase, by far, would go to the military in the form of an additional $54 billion in annual spending.
The budget, which lacks many details Trump and his agency leaders will add in the coming months, will not become law in its current form...
Shop Deals at Amazon
In any case, I do thank all of you for your support. It's very nice of you. I'm a humble community college professor. American Power isn't as popular as it used to be, although I like to think I can still fill niche here, especially with unabashedly pro-American and politically incorrect blogging. That's never going to change.
In any case, at Amazon, Today's Deals.
Also, Audio Technica AT-LP120BK-USB Direct-Drive Professional Turntable (USB & Analog), Black.
Here, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 6 Feet (1.8 Meters) - White.
And, Millennium Assorted Energy Bars (6 Count) - Long Shelf Life Fruit flavored Bar Bundle - Survival Pack for Calamity, Disaster, Hiking and Meal replacement - with Emergency Guide.
More, Mountain House Just In Case...Breakfast Bucket.
Plus, Koffee Kult - Medium Roast Coffee Beans (2 lb Whole Bean) Highest Quality Delicious Coffee - Fresh Gourmet Aromatic Artisan Blend - Packaging May Vary.
BONUS: Harvey Klehr, Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, and The Soviet World of American Communism.
ICYMI: David Horowitz, Take No Prisoners
At Amazon, David Horowitz, Take No Prisoners: The Battle Plan for Defeating the Left.
David Horowitz Interview with Dave Rubin (VIDEO)
Here's his latest book, at Amazon, Big Agenda: President Trump’s Plan to Save America.
And watch, "David Horowitz on Communism, Marxism, and the Black Panther Party":
Trump Administration Said to Apologize to U.K. Over Spying Claims
This was the big thing on CNN this morning, which I had on for a while while grading essays:
Still more, at Memeorandum, "White House apologizes to British government over spying claims."
Once Called a Hoax, Vallejo Kidnapping Leads to Prison
Harvard-educated man sentenced to 40 years for bizarre Vallejo kidnapping police had called hoax https://t.co/cVmFeM9NYn @brittny_mejia— Hailey Branson-Potts (@haileybranson) March 17, 2017
It had been nearly two years since Denise Huskins had been in the same room as the man who kidnapped her in the early morning darkness.Keep reading.
Standing at a podium in a Sacramento courthouse, she faced him. Then she turned her words against the man — a Harvard-educated former attorney — who had bound, drugged and raped her twice.
“Now we meet face to face, eye to eye,” Huskins told Matthew Muller. “I’m Denise Huskins, the woman behind the blindfold.”
Huskins’ family and friends grew teary eyed as she described her pain after Muller kidnapped her on March 23, 2015, and after the Vallejo Police Department, at one point, publicly portrayed the case as a hoax.
In an emotional scene, Huskins asked that Muller be sentenced to life in prison.
“I know, without doubt or hesitation, that as long as he walks free, there will be more victims,” she said.
At the sentencing, Muller’s defense attorney argued for a 30-year sentence, citing his client’s struggles with mental illness.
“I’m sick with shame,” Muller said, adding that he would accept whatever sentence was imposed.
His parents sat with their younger son and their family and friends, as they waited in silence for U.S. District Court Judge Troy L. Nunley to hand down his sentence:
Forty years in prison.
The kidnapping took place before dawn as Huskins and her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, slept in the master bedroom of his home on Mare Island. The couple awoke to find a stranger standing in the room.
Using a stun gun and a water pistol made to look like a gun, Muller ordered the couple to lie still while he bound and blindfolded them and gave them a sleep-inducing liquid, prosecutors said. A recorded message played over headsets, threatening electric shock if the couple did not comply with his orders.
Muller placed Huskins in the trunk of Quinn’s 2000 Toyota Camry and moved her to the trunk of another car before driving her to his family’s South Lake Tahoe home...
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Legacy of Conquest
I picked up a copy.
It's at my beside. Indeed, I've read the preface to the new edition. She's a energetic writer who's endlessly pleased by the publication of her book. It changed her life. She's got few regrets.
She became something of a public intellectual too.
At Amazon, Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West.
Cas Mudde and Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser, Populism
At Amazon, Cas Mudde and Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser, Populism: A Very Short Introduction.
Dutch Election Sows (Shows) Extreme Political Fragmentation
MY take on Dutch elections. Headline by @nytimes doesn't really summarize different points made in it. #TK17 š³š± https://t.co/9ZmoHAC936
— Cas Mudde (@CasMudde) March 16, 2017
The parliamentary election in the Netherlands on Wednesday was predicted to be the next populist show of strength after the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s election. The Dutch would be the first of a number of European countries to succumb to the right-wing populists’ siren songs in 2017, with the French not far behind.
It didn’t work out that way.
Geert Wilders, who is all too often described as a bleach blond or referred to as “the Dutch Trump,” did not defeat the conservative prime minister, Mark Rutte. In fact, he didn’t come close.
With more than 95 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, or V.V.D., came first with 21.2 percent of the vote, compared to Mr. Wilders’s Party for Freedom, which took only 13.1 percent. Mr. Wilders barely improved on his margin in the 2012 election (where he took 10.1 percent) and failed to do as well as he did in 2010 (where he got 15.5 percent of the vote).
The real story in Dutch politics isn’t Mr. Wilders’s rise, it is the unprecedented fragmentation of the political system. Together, Mr. Rutte’s and Mr. Wilders’s parties look set to make up only 33 percent of the Parliament, with 11 more political parties constituting the rest. This splintering of Dutch politics is making effective governance of the country increasingly impossible.
While previous Parliaments have counted 14 or more factions, what has changed is the relative size of the parties. In 1986, the top three parties together won 85 percent of the vote. In 2003, it was down to 74 percent. Today it is just around 45 percent.
Because of its proportional representation system of voting, the Netherlands is an extreme case. But the trends are similar across Western Europe: The main center-right and center-left parties are shrinking, smaller parties are growing and unstable coalition politics are becoming the norm. There are many reasons for this — from secularization to deindustrialization to the emergence of new political issues, like the environment or immigration.
The consequences have been painfully visible across Europe for some time. It took Belgium 541 days to form a government after its 2010 election. Both Greece and Spain were in recent years forced to hold second elections after the first Parliaments failed to form coalitions. In the Netherlands, forming a government is not quite as difficult, but the next one will most likely be a coalition of four to six parties.
If the Party for Freedom is excluded — and almost all parties have pledged that they will refuse to serve in a coalition with Mr. Wilders — the government will probably consist of five or six medium-size parties that span almost the entire political spectrum. Given that the conservative V.V.D. and the Christian Democratic Appeal are ideologically closer to the Party for Freedom than they are to, for example, the Green Left party with which they will be governing, the government will be rightly perceived as an anti-Wilders coalition.
This will play right into Mr. Wilders’s hands. He has long argued that the Netherlands’ political parties are all the same. Being the leader of the largest opposition party against an internally divided, weak “anti-Wilders” coalition is undoubtedly his second most desired outcome of the elections — after, of course, winning an outright majority of the votes.
The only way to break this vicious circle is for the parties in government to come together to support a positive program, one that justifies their cooperation and their decision to exclude Mr. Wilders...
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Shop Today
I figured out what happened on my *bumped* posts last night: I had the wrong date, the 13th instead of the 14th, so the posts wouldn't bump up to the top of the blog. My bad. I was fatigued from work and I thought the posts were from yesterday and not the day before. In any case, at least Blogger's not all "hinky" after all.
Until tonight, Shop Deals at Amazon.
Here's one, Save on Dyson AM05 Hot + Cool Fan Heater (Certified Refurbished).
BONUS: Carol Anderson, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide.
More Hailey Clauson (VIDEO)
At Sports Illustrated:
Marine Corps Nude Photo Scandal (VIDEO)
At Quartz, "Watch: Senator Gillibrand tears into the marines over why no one’s been held responsible for the nude photo scandal."
And CBS This Morning:
Professor Robert Kelly Viral Children Interruption Video
ADDED: At Althouse, "'My real life punched through the fake cover I had created on television'."
Professor Robert Kelly speaks to us again - now we can officially meet his wife & children š https://t.co/SmwRdyPOd7 #BBCDad pic.twitter.com/smCE8iW431— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 14, 2017
Fear and Loathing at MSNBC
At the Other McCain:
FEAR AND LOATHING AT MSNBC! https://t.co/GxSx1DHubW pic.twitter.com/XWWdGXomav
— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) March 15, 2017
Thank you Rachel Maddow, for debunking the myth that Trump hasn't paid any taxes in 18 years. pic.twitter.com/wRWNbQZzu1
— Elizabeth® (@MissLizzyNJ) March 15, 2017
Dutch Elections Today
And after the Dutch elections on March 15, 2017
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) November 6, 2016
I Will Make The Netherlands Great Again!#MakeTheNetherlandsGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/rZXo1QpOy0
.@BlazingCatFur Dutch Vote Watched Across Europe With a Finger in the Wind. https://t.co/X4huwf0rhg
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 15, 2017
In less than 24 hours, Dutch voters head to the polls. Here's where the race stands now https://t.co/J2kNtCMYVj pic.twitter.com/asKQa62gzS
— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) March 14, 2017
Viacheslav Morozov, Russia's Postcolonial Identity
At Amazon, Viacheslav Morozov, Russia's Postcolonial Identity: A Subaltern Empire in a Eurocentric World.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
President Trump Paid $38 Million in Taxes on More Than $150 Million in Income in 2005 (VIDEO)
And at Bloomberg, "Trump Paid $38 Million Tax on $150 Million Income, Return Shows."
That's huge tax hit. Huge.
It's an effective tax rate of 24 percent. Sheesh. Didn't Mitt Romney get his effective rate down to 14 percent in 2011? I think President Trump needs a new accountant, lol.
And Rachel Maddow needs to get her head screwed on correctly. This is no bombshell. Trump's paying his fair share in federal taxes. Shoot, he's being over-taxed. Maybe that's why he didn't want to release his returns? He's getting hammered by the IRS.
In any case, Maddow's still as butch as ever. I never --- absolutely never --- watch her show. It's been years, literally.
Also, at the Daily Beast, via Memeorandum, "Report: Trump's 2005 Taxes Revealed."
One More Time, ICYMI: Robert J. Utley, The Indian Frontier
From earlier today:
*****
I just finished Utley's chapter on the final campaigns of the frontier wars, which concludes with the surrender of Geronimo in 1886.
It's a great book. Marvelously balanced.
At Amazon, Robert J. Utley, The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846-1890.
One More Time: Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest
From earlier today:
****
I've got this one on order.
At Amazon, Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest.
The book is referenced by Vine Deloria, Jr., in Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto.
Marine Le Pen Informs Young Woman Reporter: 'Madame, the French people have no confidence in the media. Are you aware of that...?'
Marine Le Pen Smacks Down Reporter: ‘No One Trusts the Media’ - https://t.co/MCAzme6GWx pic.twitter.com/robZyew2XM— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) March 14, 2017
Welcome to Spring Break, Miami-Style
At London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE - 'We've been drinking vodka and smoking joints. It's really cool': A haze of weed, booze on the beach, twerking and sex in the open – welcome to Spring Break, Miami-style."
Immigration Fatigue Defines Dutch Elections
From Andrew Michta, at the American Interest:
A predictor for Europe: Immigration Fatigue Defines Dutch Elections @aminterest @RealClearWorld @Marshall_Center https://t.co/a5PdOqX0z1— Andrew A. Michta (@andrewmichta) March 14, 2017
No matter the outcome, tomorrow’s parliamentary elections in the Netherlands will widen the divisions between European elites and publics.Keep reading.
As the Netherlands enters the final stretch in its 2017 election campaign, all eyes have turned to watch the political churning in this small but potentially significant EU member state. The intense interest by the international media is warranted; the Dutch election is the first of the “decisive three of 2017” (followed by elections in France and Germany) that many analysts believe will be leading indicators of the evolution of European politics in coming years. This has made the Dutch balloting in effect the first major European referendum on the past three decades’ immigration policy not only for Holland but also for the largest European countries.
Across Europe there has been a lot of polling, theorizing, opining, and (quite frankly) reading of tea leaves about the outcome of this vote. Paradoxically, the actual numbers of this election matter less than the political undercurrents it has brought to the surface. Geert Wilders’s anti-establishment, anti-immigration Party of Freedom (PVV) may still be positioned to deliver a stunning upset, though newer polling suggests a much tighter race. Still, the recent collapse of popular support for the social-democratic Labor Party (PvdA), a coalition partner of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2012, has made any firm predictions about the outcome a mug’s game. Regardless of whether Geert Wilders’s PVV overtakes or comes a few seats short of current Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s VVD, election day will permanently alter Dutch politics—and the politics of Europe.
The consensus seems to be that, even if Wilders delivers an upset, it is unlikely that his party will be able to enter into a coalition government, and so it will most likely become an opposition party in Parliament. Still, even if the PVV is not able to enter into a coalition, much less form a government, its gains will shrink the center of Dutch politics, making the building of a workable coalition much more difficult. Most importantly, the Dutch election is likely to herald a broader European trend of the center losing more and more ground to extreme left and right political parties. As in the United Kingdom and the United States, the perception that elite policies have failed has spread throughout Dutch society. Wilders’s anti-immigrant message has resonated especially in the aftermath of the 2015-16 wave of migration from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA); the Netherlands has been a prime destination for migrants on account of its generous immigration and welfare policies.
Will the past three decades of multiculturalism and institutionalism continue to define the Continent’s future? This is precisely the question at issue in Europe today. The idea that Europe can in fact become a tapestry of comingling ethnicities and cultures has in only the past couple of years met with hardening resistance, not just in smaller countries like the Netherlands and Sweden but also, and perhaps more importantly, in the largest EU countries, including Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain. The gathering anti-immigrant rebellion in Europe has fueled a resurgent nationalism that cannot simply be dismissed as “populism” or “Islamophobia”—the default position of most media commentary. The predominantly Muslim wave of the current migration—including, for instance, the nearly one million MENA migrants that are estimated to have entered Germany in 2015–16—has contributed to the largest mass migration in Europe since the end of the Second World War (and furthermore, for the first time ever, members of the migrant wave predominantly hail from outside of Europe). At the same time, because of low levels of acculturation among these immigrants, citizenship in Europe is not generally seen as the primary identity marker. Public perceptions and differentiation in Europe increasingly focus on ethnic origin and religion. Hence, unlike in the United States, it matters less and less whether the Muslim population is first, second, or even third generation. One in five people living in the Netherlands is an immigrant or a child of immigrants. This is especially important in larger Dutch cities; for instance, in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, close to half of the population has a first- or second-generation immigrant background. For young people, the numbers are even higher, approaching two-thirds of school age children in those two cities. The high concentration of immigrant populations in Europe’s large cities is a pattern repeated across the Continent, from Paris and Copenhagen through Stockholm and Frankfurt to London and Brussels. The progressive balkanization of neighborhoods in these large cities of Western Europe is polarizing politics and raising tensions between the indigenous European population and immigrants and their descendants...
Illegal Alien Parents Prepare Families for the Worst
She saw the news of the raids happening around the country and felt helpless. Scared. She had lived here for more than a decade, following her father’s advice: Work hard and stay out of trouble.Still more.
But suddenly it felt as though trouble was looking for her. Lorena Napola worried about her four children. What if she were hauled away? Who would make sure they got to school? To doctors’ appointments? To church?
The questions weighed on her in recent weeks. She saw on the news a mother in Arizona get picked up by federal agents for deportation. Napola thought the woman seemed normal. Unassuming. She was without papers. Like her.
Napola’s friends spoke of rumors: Dark trucks filled with people in dark uniforms raiding nearby neighborhoods. She knew President Trump campaigned to crack down on illegal immigration and now he appeared to be a man of his word.
So she went to see Andres Paredes, a leader at her local Mormon church. Three of her children are U.S. citizens, she told him. Would he care for them if la migra came and she were deported?
Paredes, a quiet man who came to the United States from Peru decades ago, drew up power of attorney papers that gave him authority to make school, medical and other decisions for her children in case she and her husband were deported. Napola felt relief that her kids would be cared for and sadness that it had come to this.
“They are my life,” she said. “They are everything.”
As the papers were signed, Paredes said, his heart broke. He has signed power of attorney with two families.
“It’s a big responsibility,” he said softly. “I’m not sure it’s entirely sunk in yet.”
The fear among immigrants in the United States illegally has reached such a pitch that some have altered their lifestyles, won't answer the door if someone knocks and pay close attention to reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions on social media and the news...
RELATED: "Illegal Border Crossings Appear to Drop Under Trump."
Amazing what some seriousness of purpose on immigration can accomplish. It's almost like we're enforcing our laws!
Fire in Downtown Los Angeles Fueled by Red Hot Chili Peppers (VIDEO)
At the Los Angeles Times, "Chili pepper ash and a pungent odor linger at scene of L.A. warehouse district fire."
ICYMI: Alan Taylor, William Cooper's Town
I've got too many books going at one time!
But I love 'em.
This book is fantastic. I can't recommend it enough.
At Amazon, Alan Taylor, William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic.
A Glimpse Into the Life of a Slave Sold to Save Georgetown
At NYT:
A glimpse into the life of a slave sold to save Georgetown https://t.co/da5k7LVSbj pic.twitter.com/v2nPgViW9X— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 13, 2017
He was an enslaved teenager on a Jesuit plantation in Maryland on the night that the stars fell. It was November 1833, and meteor showers set the sky ablaze.
His name was Frank Campbell. He would hold tight to that memory for decades, even when he was an old man living hundreds of miles away from his birthplace. In 1838, he was shipped to a sugar plantation in Louisiana with dozens of other slaves from Maryland. They had been sold by the nation’s most prominent Jesuit priests to raise money to help save the Jesuit college now known as Georgetown University.
Mr. Campbell would survive slavery and the Civil War. He would live to see freedom and the dawning of the 20th century. Like many of his contemporaries from Maryland, he would marry and have children and grandchildren. But in one respect, he was singular: His image has survived, offering us the first look at one of the 272 slaves sold to help keep Georgetown afloat.
These rare, century-old photographs of Mr. Campbell help illustrate the story of those enslaved men, women and children. We shared that story with you back in April, starting a conversation about American institutions and their historical ties to slavery that has engaged many readers.
The photos had been stored in the archives of the Ellender Memorial Library at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., not far from where Mr. Campbell was enslaved.
Clifton Theriot, the library’s archivist and interim director, made the connection late last year after stumbling across an article in a genealogical quarterly about the Jesuit slaves who had been shipped to Louisiana. He was startled to see Mr. Campbell’s name listed among them.
“I thought, ‘I know this name,’” Mr. Theriot recalled.
He went into the archives and pulled out a small, black photo album from the early 1900s. Mr. Theriot went through the album, page by page, photo by photo, until he found them: three photographs of a bearded, elderly black man with pearly white hair.
Underneath was a handwritten notation. It described the man as having been born in “Moreland” or “Mereland,” probably referring to Maryland, Mr. Theriot said.
And it identified him as “Frank Cambell our old servant 19 when the stars fell.” The fiery meteor shower of 1833 was so memorable that many people used it to date important moments in their lives.
Mr. Theriot knew he was on to something: “I was like, ‘This is the guy.’”
He reached out to Judy Riffel, the author of the article that had inspired his search through the archives. She is the lead genealogist for the Georgetown Memory Project, a group founded by Richard J. Cellini, a Georgetown alumnus, to identify the 272 slaves and their descendants...
Hailey Clauson Uncovered for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2017 (VIDEO)
Monday, March 13, 2017
Jackie Johnson's Sunny and Warm Forecast
Here's Ms. Jackie, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles:
CBO Cost Estimate of the American Health Care Act (VIDEO)
Some of the other provisions of ObamaCare, especially the individual mandate, have to go. Doing so would of course weaken the law, making it easier to shift to a more market-oriented alternative. Whatever happens, though, Republicans can't just drop millions of people off the health care rolls. It's going to be political dynamite, as a number of conservatives mentioned last week (see Dana Loesch, for example).
Most of all, congressional Republicans must protect the Trump administration, to say nothing of their majorities in the legislature.
At the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "G.O.P. Health Law Insures Fewer People, Nonpartisan Review Shows."
I personally don't trust the CBO to be "non-partisan," but that's just me.
Also, at CBS Evening News:
Wearing Red, White, and Blue is 'Offensive' at Iowa Basketball Game (VIDEO)
You can't even wear America's colors anymore without being attacked as "racist."
At Zero Hedge, "It Is Now 'Blatant Racism' to Wear Red, White, and Blue."
Also, at Heat Street, "Iowa Teens Blasted for Wearing ‘Offensive’ Patriotic Attire to Basketball Game."
Lightning Deals
At Amazon, Today's Deals.
And, Brother TN450 High Yield Black Toner - Retail Packaging.
Also, GoPro HERO5 Black.
More, Coleman 8 Person Tenaya Lake Fast Pitch Cabin Tent with Closet.
Plus, Acer Aspire 15.6-Inch Full HD Laptop (Intel Core i5, NVIDIA 940MX, 8GB DDR4, 256GB SSD, Windows 10).
And, NordicTrack T 6.5 S Treadmill.
BONUS: David Horowitz, Take No Prisoners: The Battle Plan for Defeating the Left.
Intersectionality as Religion
See, "Andrew Sullivan: Is intersectionality a religion?"
Excitable Andrew's arguably a great writer. It's just so hard to get past all of his baggage (don't look over there!)
But I'll give him a link, to be nice, heh.
At New York Magazine, "Is Intersectionality a Religion?"
"Intersectionality" as orthodoxy is shutting down debate on college campuses, says @sullydish https://t.co/90IdlNiBpq— New York Magazine (@NYMag) March 11, 2017
SEAL Team 6 'Decapitation' Strike Against North Korea
At Business Insider, via Memeorandum, "SEAL Team 6 is reportedly training for a decapitation strike against North Korea's Kim regime."
How the Lack of Ideological Diversity on College Campuses Slows Progress and Threatens the Ideals of Liberal Education
Alexa Ray Joel Uncovered for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2017 (VIDEO)
Amazingly so.
Sean Spicer Ambushed While Shopping at Apple Store in Washington, D.C.
It's just not safe to go about your business on your own. Leftists are truly evil.
Here's some black chick named Shree, attacking the press secretary, via Memeorandum, "Such a Great Country, Such Nasty Bigotry."
Charlie Rose is Back After Undergoing Heart Surgery in February (VIDEO)
I'm normally up at 7:00am to catch the opening of the show, but not on Mondays when my son has late start at school. (We can sleep in an hour longer, which is heavenly.)
Charlie's a good guy. Yeah, they're progs on the show, all of them, but I like the more serious news format compared to the morning shows on the other networks, especially Good Morning America, which is vile.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Sunday Cartoons
Also at Theo's, "Cartoon Roundup..."
Cartoon Credit: A.F. Branco, "The Shadow Knows."
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
I picked up a copy.
Dunbar-Ortiz gets right into "settler colonialism," starting on page 2 of the "Introduction."
She really hates the U.S.
Know your enemies, people. Books like this have a lot of influence.
At Amazon, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States.
New Michael Brown Video Prompts Massive Round of Fake News
At NYT, via Memeorandum, "New Ferguson Video Adds Wrinkle to Michael Brown Case."
And at Conservative Treehouse, "CNN Tries Another Michael Brown Con Job – Everything About The “New” Mike Brown Video is Fraud Here’s Proof…," and from Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "NO. NEXT QUESTION? DOES NEW VIDEO IN THE MICHAEL BROWN CASE CHANGE ANYTHING?"
Still more, at Gateway Pundit, "VERY FAKE NEWS: CNN Releases New Mike Brown Video at Convenience Store – Suggests It’s From Day of Shooting."
The Glory of Rhian Sugden
Also, "NEW CBB LINE-UP: Former Page 3 girl Rhian Sugden to be part of most explosive Celebrity Big Brother ever as O.J. Simpson and Peru drug mules ‘join the line-up’ — Model is set to have some VERY interesting housemates."
Rhian Sugden joins the line up of the most explosive #CBB series ever https://t.co/OtmqwvhalW pic.twitter.com/3JhIBrtMGA
— The Sun (@TheSun) March 12, 2017
Far-Right Surge in the Far-Left Netherlands
A great piece, surprisingly.
At the Washington Post:
Anti-immigrant anger threatens to remake the liberal Netherlands https://t.co/5OvIlBfutY— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 12, 2017
Internet Addiction Resistance
Here's a great piece, with the reference to the book, from Ross Douthat:
My Sunday column: Resist the Internet:https://t.co/BNR0FYxWpQ— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) March 12, 2017
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Here's Owen Wister, The Virginian, in Mass-Market Paperback
Here, Owen Wister, The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains (Signet Classics).
And it turns out Zane Grey had read Owen Wister to study the format of the Western novel. Here's my previous entry, "Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage."
(I'm not a Western fiction fanboy, so this is new information to me. I do love it, though.)
Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage
This book's over 100 years old and still in print.
At Amazon, Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage.
Disney Now Provides Training to Help Young Stars Avoid Scandals
At the New York Post, "Burned by fallen princesses, Disney is training stars to avoid scandal":
The House of Mouse is putting its foot down on starlets-gone-wild https://t.co/wqCCOoDa4Y
— New York Post (@nypost) March 11, 2017
In the last few months, Bella Thorne has tweeted a photo of herself wearing nothing but high heels, and also Snapchatted a pic of her newly pierced nipple (seen through a sheer pink top) and one of her sharing a kiss with a bosomy pal during a vacation to Mexico.Debby Ryan DUI? She was the goodiest of the goody-two-shoes child stars. My kid used to watch all of those shows at the time.
It’s a far cry from the 19-year-old’s days playing cutesy dancer CeCe Jones on the Disney Channel show “Shake It Up.” But Thorne’s rebellion is par for the course for the kiddie network’s roster of female stars — many of whom have ditched Disney’s squeaky-clean image for meltdowns, arrests and scandal.
Last April, 23-year-old Debby Ryan, the actress who starred in Disney’s “Jessie,” was arrested for DUI and pled no contest to the lesser charge of reckless driving after crashing her Audi into another vehicle in Los Angeles. Demi Lovato, who appeared on Disney’s “Sonny With a Chance” for two years, has been candid about her battle with drugs and alcohol, as well as bulimia and self-harm. Last April, two months after her Disney XD show “Lab Rats” ended, then-20-year-old actress Kelli Berglund was arrested for using a fake ID. There was “High School Musical” star Vanessa Hudgens’ nude-photo leak of 2007 and Miley Cyrus’ barrage of hypersexualized, pot-smoking antics. And no one can forget “Mickey Mouse Club” member Britney Spears’ epic, shaved-head, umbrella-thrashing meltdown a decade ago (her former manager, Sam Lufti, said in a lawsuit that Spears was on drugs at the time).
While stars-gone-bad is not a new phenomenon, Disney’s sheltered teen flock trashing its squeaky-clean image faster than you can say M-I-C-K-E-Y — letting the world know they are sexual beings and unashamed to party.
Recently, Disney has tried to provide more guidance to its young stars with classes focused on healthy living and social-media responsibility. Speaking to The Post exclusively about the courses, studio insiders also reveal for the first time that the network offers “life skills,” coaching actors on how to navigate the wilds of social media and pitfalls of fame.
But if the latest batch of troubled Disney princesses is any indication, the kid-friendly channel still has its work cut out for itself...
But I agree: Part of growing into adulthood is embracing the side of sexual being, and unless you're a cloistered monk outside of filming Disney programs, it's going to be hard to resist the pull of the young celebrity party culture. Young people want to explore. I partied like it was going out of style when I was young, to my great dismay later. I had to work extra hard in my late-twenties to make up for lost time. But I think there's a pay-your-dues kind of need-for-experience thing going on as well. You have to screw up sometimes before you know how to make it better.
In any case, more at the link.
ICYMI: Vine Deloria, Jr., Custer Died for Your Sins
At Amazon, Vine Deloria, Jr., Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto.
There's No Feminism Without the Baby-Killing
Feminism is an anti-male, anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-capitalist hate movement controlled by the Democrat Party. pic.twitter.com/pcNKfyBapM— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) March 9, 2017
Heh. Can you tell me what feminism's all about, lol? https://t.co/40AizcJ0JT— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 10, 2017
You don't need a Ph.D. in gender studies to understand what "crazy" means. https://t.co/AaaSHW2d5a pic.twitter.com/qO1wotXgHV— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) March 10, 2017
And today, from Katha Pollitt, at the Nation, "Can a Feminist Be Pro-Life?"
Is there pro-life feminism? @kathapollitt replies to @LNEnriquez and @dleonhardt https://t.co/j1iuZemHvY— The Nation (@thenation) March 10, 2017
These are bad people. Very bad.
Ranking King Kong Movies
From Christian Toto, at Pajamas, "All the King Kong Movies ... Ranked."
Hollywood's Conservative Minority Faces Backlash in the Age of Trump
At LAT, "In liberal Hollywood, a conservative minority faces backlash in the age of Trump":
As an Academy Award-winning producer and a political conservative, Gerald Molen has worked in the entertainment business long enough to remember when being openly Republican in Hollywood was no big deal.Keep reading.
“In the ’90s, it was never really an issue that I had to hide. I was always forthright,” recalled the producer, whose credits include “Schindler’s List” and two “Jurassic Park” movies. “It used to be we could have a conversation with two opposing points of view and it would be amiable. At the end, we still walked away and had lunch together.”
Those days are largely gone, he said. “The acrimony — it’s there. It’s front and center.”
For the vast majority of conservatives who work in entertainment, going to set or the office each day has become a game of avoidance and secrecy. The political closet is now a necessity for many in an industry that is among the most liberal in the country.
Since the presidential election, some conservatives feel that their political beliefs are more of a career liability than ever — even for those traditional Republicans disenchanted by President Trump.
“I feel absolutely it has harmed me professionally,” said Andrew Klavan, the L.A.-based screenwriter and novelist, and a “reluctant” Trump supporter. His credits include the 1990 Michael Caine dark comedy “A Shock to the System” and the novel “True Crime,” which was made into a movie directed by Clint Eastwood.
Klavan said that producers have “called my agent asking, ‘Why would you represent this guy?’ Anything that lowers your odds is going to hurt.”
While no official tally exists, conservatives in the local entertainment industry estimate their numbers could be as high as a few thousand. That’s a small fraction of the nearly 240,000 entertainment-related jobs in the county estimated in the most recent Otis Report on the Creative Economy of the L.A. Region.
Friends of Abe — the industry’s largest conservative organization — alone counts about 2,500 people on its roster, having started a decade ago with just a handful of individuals led by actor Gary Sinise.
The organization, which keeps the identities of its members secret, holds monthly social events as well as lunches for new members. A new member can only join through a recommendation by an existing member. The group doesn’t endorse candidates, but does hold speaking events with past guests including Trump, Ted Cruz and Glenn Beck.
Hollywood conservatives are themselves a divided group when it comes to Trump, whose brash style and controversial policies on trade and immigration have alienated many Republicans.
Leaders of Friends of Abe said its members have sharply divergent views on the current president...
Kate Hudson and Candice Swanepoel
Reader Recommendation: Hervey Allen, The Forest and the Fort: The City in the Dawn
Thanks to the enthusiastic reader who recommended Hervey Allen's, The Forest and the Fort, the first book in a three-part series called The Disinherited and later published together as The City in the Dawn.
At Amazon, Hervey Allen, The Forest and the Fort: The City in the Dawn.
Bernard DeVoto, Across the Wide Missouri
Here's a classic for you.
At Amazon, Bernard DeVoto, Across the Wide Missouri.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize. Across the Wide Missouri tells the compelling story of the climax and decline of the Rocky Mountain fur trade during the 1830s. More than a history, it portrays the mountain fur trade as a way of business and a way of life, vividly illustrating how it shaped the expansion of the American West.