Tuesday, May 23, 2017
New Deals. Every Day
BONUS: S. Jonathan Bass, Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King, Jr., Eight White Religious Leaders, and the 'Letter from Birmingham Jail'.
Leakers Have Done Far More Damage Than Trump
Leakers who revealed Israel as intelligence source did far more damage than Trump https://t.co/ivM6sx5bOy by @marcthiessen
— Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) May 22, 2017
What a Conservative Sees from Inside Trump's Washington
Here's Instapundit, "HUH. I NEVER REALLY THOUGHT OF MEGAN MCARDLE AS A CONSERVATIVE..."
Click through for the Megan McArdle piece at Bloomberg, lol. She's libertarian, but on many issues she comes off as fairly doctrinaire conservative.
Truck Driving, Once a Road to the Middle Class, is Now Low-Paying, Grinding, Unhealthy Work. Why Do They Do It?
I especially love the peaceful and easy feeling of the cross-country long haul. But alas, there's not much glamour to the job, at least not any more.
At NYT, "Alone on the Open Road: Truckers Feel Like ‘Throwaway People’":
My grandfather and some of my uncles were truckers. This piece by @tripgabriel is exceptional. https://t.co/w7o3fN8zz3
— Alan Blinder (@alanblinder) May 22, 2017
EFFINGHAM, Ill. — The vast Petro truck stop here is a neon-lit, blacktop oasis at the crossroads of America. It beckons big-rig drivers with showers, laundry machines, a barber shop, even a knife store. “Professional drivers only,” reads the sign above the tables of the Iron Skillet restaurant, where truckers sit mostly alone, carrying the solitude of their jobs into an otherwise social setting.Keep reading.
Driving a long-haul tractor-trailer is as commonplace as the items that drivers carry, from blue jeans to blueberries, from toilet paper for Walmart to farm machinery bound for export. There are 1.7 million men and women working as long-haul drivers in the country. Yet truckers — high up in their cabs — are literally out of view for most Americans.
At a moment when President Trump has ignited a national discussion of blue-collar labor and even climbed into a truck during a White House event, trucking, which was once among the best-paying such jobs, has become low-wage, grinding, unhealthy work. Turnover at large for-hire fleets hauling freight by the truckload — the backbone of the industry — runs an astonishing 80 percent a year, according to a trade group. Looming over the horizon is a future in which self-driving trucks threaten to eliminate many drivers’ livelihoods.
Still, trucking continues to draw plenty of newcomers, reflecting the lack of good alternatives for workers without a higher education (one survey found that 17 percent of truckers had less than a high school diploma). Some have lost better-paying manufacturing jobs in the continuing deindustrialization of America. Others have spent years knocking on the door of the middle class in minimum-wage jobs in fast food or retail. To them, trucking is a step up.
Over two days recently, The New York Times spoke to truckers at the Petro stop, which sits at the intersection of Interstate 57, between Chicago and Memphis, and Interstate 70, between Indianapolis and St. Louis. These interviews were edited and condensed. The maps show drivers’ routes in picking up and delivering their loads...
Carol Swain on the Inconvenient Truth About the Democratic Party
For Prager University:
Brooklyn Decker in the Virgin Islands (VIDEO)
For Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:
Anthony Weiner's World About to Get Much Smaller and Sadder
“It took four embarrassments before it really hit home that he f—ed up" https://t.co/NBbPHliebg
— New York Post (@nypost) May 21, 2017
Tomorrow's cover: 'Sick' Anthony Weiner pleads guilty to sexting minor, Huma finally files for divorce https://t.co/DytqxrGrlH pic.twitter.com/PlNRhwqhAV
— New York Post (@nypost) May 20, 2017
Monday, May 22, 2017
Jackie Johnson's Gradual Cooling Forecast
Here's the lovely Ms. Jackie, back for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:
At Least 19 Slaughtered at Ariana Grande Concert in Manchester, U.K. (VIDEO)
But it's still early.
At Telegraph U.K., "Live Manchester Arena explosion 19 dead in 'terror attack' at Ariana Grande concert."
Terrorism is suspected.
Expect updates.
ADDED: Here's Pamela Geller on Twitter, reporting it was a "suicide attack":
Terror in UK: 20 Dead after Suicide Bombing of Ariana Grande Concert in Manchester, Bomb Disposal On Scene https://t.co/Ghxsrv6AhE pic.twitter.com/5y91wgBnDy— Pamela Geller (@PamelaGeller) May 23, 2017
Now here's the front-page at tomorrow's Guardian U.K.:
The Guardian front page, Tuesday 23.05.17 – Murder in Manchester: at least 19 die in arena attack pic.twitter.com/SCqddBZdvb
— The Guardian (@guardian) May 23, 2017
I'll append tweets as I see them:
Screams heard in latest footage showing the aftermath of an 'explosion' in #Manchester pic.twitter.com/uB6MqOV2aL
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 23, 2017
Prime Minister @theresa_may's first statement following the 'possible terror incident' that's left 19 dead in #Manchester pic.twitter.com/MFmhDRf0wT
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 23, 2017
🇬🇧 US Embassy London issues Emergency Message after suicide attack at #Manchester Arena: https://t.co/1q4RqZW58m #manchesterexplosion pic.twitter.com/MMId7aIf0M
— OSAC (@OSACState) May 23, 2017
#Manchester explosion @gmpolice statement: 19 dead and around 50 injured in the incident that's currently being treated as terrorism pic.twitter.com/MsKOLMXyCu
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 23, 2017
Max Boot, the Perpetually Unhappy Camper
He's really pathetic. And that's the saddest thing. I used to find him interesting. I used to respect him. Now look what's happened. All because of President Trump. I don't know. Chalk it up to "Trump Derangement Syndrome."
In any case, here's Boot, at Foreign Policy, "The Seth Rich ‘Scandal’ Shows That Fox News Is Morally Bankrupt":
.@MaxBoot: Fox News has allowed itself to become a sensationalist information weapon for the Kremlin. https://t.co/mIkK8Ecz1y
— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) May 22, 2017
The network I once respected as a necessary antidote to liberal media now peddles craven lies and Russian disinformation.I'm not up on the Seth Rich story, and that's not by accident. I personally stay away from conspiracy theories. That said, I distinctly remember Julian Assange saying, at the time of Rich's death, that he suspected that his sources were putting their lives in danger. I don't recall him conceding that Seth Rich had leaked documents to WikiLeaks. He simply said that powerful people had an invested interest in making those leaks stop. Assange and WikiLeaks (one and the same, as far as I know) have stated consistently that they do not divulge the names of their sources. But that's about as far as I'll go.
It was just a coincidence, but a telling one, that Roger Ailes died on May 18 just as the television powerhouse that he created, the Fox News Channel, was propagating a conspiracy theory involving a Democratic National Committee staffer named Seth Rich, whose murder in Washington, D.C., last summer remains unsolved.
If you don’t watch Fox News, read Breitbart or the Drudge Report, or listen to Rush Limbaugh, you likely don’t have any idea who Seth Rich was. If, however, you are a devotee of those dubious news sources, you have been fed a grab bag of unsubstantiated allegations designed to make you think that Rich was murdered by some kind of Democratic Party cabal for having revealed the party’s secrets to WikiLeaks.
These spurious insinuations have been put forward (before being largely recanted) by a sometime Fox News contributor named Rod Wheeler. Never mind that Rich’s family, the Washington police force, CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, among others, have debunked these conspiracy theories, showing there is no evidence that Rich was a WikiLeaks source, much less that his murder has anything to do with the stolen Democratic Party emails. Sean Hannity, one of the last of the old guard hired by Ailes to rule prime time, nevertheless devoted three separate segments of his show last week to the “DNC murder mystery.” On Sunday morning, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was pushing the same allegation about Rich’s “assassination” on Fox & Friends. Lou Dobbs has spouted these theories on Fox Business Network, too.
Fox’s tasteless conspiracy-mongering has been denounced by the Rich family, which wants the far-right to stop exploiting their son’s tragic death, but it has found support in an unlikely quarter. Ever happy to play the troll, the Russian Embassy in London tweeted: “#WikiLeaks informer Seth Rich murdered in US but MSM was so busy accusing Russian hackers to take notice.”
Oh, well, that, and Max Boot is a special snowflake neocon wienie.
BONUS: At the New York Times, "How the Murder of a D.N.C. Staff Member Fueled Conspiracy Theories."
S. Jonathan Bass, He Calls Me By Lightning
At Amazon, S. Jonathan Bass, He Calls Me By Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty.
Jennifer Delacruz's Monday Forecast
At ABC News 10 San Diego:
Harleys, Hamburgers, and American Flags Welcome Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia
Saudis welcomed President Trump with a Harley-Davidson biker rally and a burrito truck https://t.co/f2TWoZ9SCK
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 22, 2017
Jessie James Decker
From last night at the BBMAs.
😘💋😘 from the @TMobile Magenta Carpet! #BBMAs #BBMAsUnlimited Jess Southern makeup and styling and @RickHenryLA hair pic.twitter.com/s313OiVESh
— Jessie James Decker (@JessieJDecker) May 21, 2017
Big Game Hunter Crushed to Death by Falling Elephant in Zimbabwe
That was some righteous karma at the end there.
At the Telegraph U.K., via Memeorandum, "South African hunter crushed to death by elephant."
On Twitter, one woman writes, "Big game hunter crushed to death under an elephant he's just shot? Good."
Actually, I wish they weren't hunting big game myself, but it's not illegal. And I wouldn't wish the man killed. I get the karmic justice, but it's still a sad loss of human life.
South African hunter crushed to death by elephant https://t.co/MFU6lZ8rmr— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 21, 2017
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Richard White, 'It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own'
At Amazon, Richard White, "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West.
White's the author of, The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815, and the forthcoming, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 (Oxford History of the United States).
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BONUS: Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 (Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy).
The Crisis in American Journalism Benefits No One
The crisis in American journalism benefits no one https://t.co/Pyv81tuYTG
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) May 21, 2017
Killing C.I.A. Informants, China Crippled U.S. Spying Operations
At NYT, with the response at Zero Hedge:
Killing @CIA Informants, China Crippled U.S. Spying Operations, rivaling if not worse than Ames/Hanssen betrayals https://t.co/U22mdiTTvt
— Adam Goldman (@adamgoldmanNYT) May 20, 2017
CIA Incompetence Allowed China To Murder A Dozen CIA Assets: NYT https://t.co/tYmMeSI5NS
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 20, 2017
Idiot Leftist Trying to Save the Internet
At Memeorandum and NYT:
‘The Internet Is Broken’: Idiot Leftist Is Trying to Salvage It. https://t.co/hZe7lWYsxu
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) May 21, 2017
Danielle Gersh's Early Summer Blazing Hot Forecast
Here's the lovely Ms. Danielle with the forecast. Stay cool, people!
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Orwell's Animal Farm
I've had a copy on my shelf for probably 30 years and never read it.
I have an even earlier version of this, an old Signet mass-market paperback, at Amazon, George Orwell, Animal Farm.
The latest, cheaper Signet paperback is here. It's a great little read, heh.
Jennifer Delacruz Continued Hot Forecast
San Diego might not be getting the brunt of the high pressure, if it's any cooler than what we were having up here today.
Either way, here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer, for ABC News 10 San Diego:
Kendall Jenner Steals the Show in Cannes
Flaunt it while you got it, babe.
At London's Daily Mail:
Leggy Kendall Jenner steals the show in a spectacular fashion in Cannes https://t.co/yoGMsFsBtJ pic.twitter.com/31v0gZtRqR
— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) May 21, 2017
'Alien: Covenant' is Rad! (VIDEO)
My son and I caught the early-bird (cheapskate) showing, at the Tustin Marketplace 10 theaters.
That was an extremely enjoyable movie. You feel like you're plopped right back into the original "Alien" with Ellen Ripley (Signorney Weaver). And you don't feel like you've missed too much even if you haven't seen "Prometheus" (which Ridley Scott now thinks was a mistake).
The L.A. Times review (linked at top) was ecstatic about it. So was my son.
Here's the review at the New York Times, below. And do yourself a favor: Go out and have some fun --- see this movie.
See, "Review: ‘Alien: Covenant’ Stays on Brand With Its Terror."
"Alien: Covenant," upholding its long-lived brand, parcels out carefully measured portions of awe, wonder and terror https://t.co/nwkSCHb97s— New York Times Arts (@nytimesarts) May 17, 2017
Louise Mensch Claims President Trump's About to Be Impeached
I don't know. It's like spraying machine gun fire: you're likely to hit something after a while. Maybe Louise is about to get lucky and prove her detractors wrong.
Seen on Twitter (be sure to click through for the tweets):
Twitter Loses It When Louise Mensch Says ‘Marshal of the Supreme Court’ Told Trump About Impeachment https://t.co/jJp3gXUren pic.twitter.com/NNRFxTqvLf
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 20, 2017
This is just sad now. Eternal shame on the people with prominent platforms who have enabled this. https://t.co/ejxSElGnA7 pic.twitter.com/wcA5ngLCdg
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 20, 2017
'The Conceptual Penis'
Truly a riot, and then sad at the same time.
A peer-review hoax along the lines of Alan Sokal's bogus "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity," which was published in the peer-reviewed journal, the Social Text, in 1996.
Seen on Twitter:
THE CONCEPTUAL PENIS AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT: A SOKAL-STYLE HOAX ON GENDER STUDIEShttps://t.co/7HrFFslFET
— Peter Boghossian (@peterboghossian) May 19, 2017
OMG! An academic journal just fell for a big hoax. Published fake paper on "the conceptual penis." Hilarious https://t.co/yGIGas0ksz
— Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) May 19, 2017
Shout out to @peterboghossian who did a Sokal style hoax on the academic farce called Gender Studies https://t.co/du4iA6wf3b
— New Real Peer Review (@RealPeerReview) May 19, 2017
Ridley Scott's 'Alien: Covenant' (VIDEO)
The original "Aliens" is an all-time classic. I love watching that movie, heh.
At the Los Angeles Times, "Review: Ridley Scott's 'Alien: Covenant' is a sleek, suspenseful return to form."
Friday, May 19, 2017
Lawsuit Against Cal State San Marcos Challenges Left-Wing Bias (VIDEO)
At the San Deigo Union-Tribune, "Suit accuses Cal State San Marcos of liberal bias":
A student club is suing Cal State San Marcos, alleging the university spent nearly $300,000 in mandatory student fees this year to promote gay- and gender-equality issues, but refused a request for $500 to bring in an outside speaker with conservative views.More.
The campus chapter of Students for Life, a national group opposed to abortion, filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging its members’ free-speech rights were violated, and the group was subjected to viewpoint discrimination. The suit also accuses the school of violating club members’ right to equal protection.
In the suit, the club argues the university’s student government rejected the funding request that would have been used to help bring in an out-of-state college professor for a presentation on “Abortion and Human Equality” this spring. The suit states that the student government told the campus club that it does not supply money for speakers fees.
However, the suit says, the student government — Associated Students Inc. — funds the LGBTQA Pride and Gender Equity centers with nearly $150,000 each a year, and that some of that money was spent this year on presentations like “Kink 101,” a talk by a local “sexologist.”
And watch, at ABC News 10 San Diego, "Lawsuit claims liberal bias at Cal State San Marcos."
Leftist Conspiracy Theories Flourishing in the Age of Trump
In any case, at Vox, "Democrats are falling for fake news about Russia: Why liberal conspiracy theories are flourishing in the age of Trump."
Democrats are falling for fake news about Russia https://t.co/mZX2ZxzXDp
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) May 19, 2017
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Julian Assange Rape Investigation Is Dropped in Sweden
British authorities said they'd arrest him if he leaves the Ecuadoran embassy.
At Memeorandum and Twitter:
⚡️ “Sweden drops rape investigation against #JulianAssange”https://t.co/etdgpxGNbe— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) May 19, 2017
Liz Habib Friday
Good morning Friday!!!! pic.twitter.com/rOC0DQNPnG
— Liz Habib (@LizHabib) May 19, 2017
Dana Loesch: 'For My Haters'
For all my haters. xoxo pic.twitter.com/sSFMOwQFj5
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) May 19, 2017
'Untitled' Jean-Michel Basquiat Painting Sells for 'Mind-Blowing' $110.5 Million at Auction
Apparently, the painting "remained in the same private collection since it was bought at auction in 1984 for $19,000."
That's a smart investment.
At the Telegraph U.K., "Basquiat painting fetches record $110.5 million at New York auction."
Basquiat painting fetches record $110.5 million at New York auctionhttps://t.co/ga2IlIw717 pic.twitter.com/W93LhJmmAA
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 19, 2017
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Pamela Geller on Rebel Media: #CUNY Terror Invite to Jew-Hater Linda Sarsour (VIDEO)
As noted, I'm against banning her talk. If we forcefully shut down leftists, we're no better than they are on the issue of public speech.
That said, here's Pamela, at the Rebel:
Protest Against New '10 Barrel Brewery' in San Diego (VIDEO)
Actually, I'm against the protest. I'm for the free market to determine the winners and losers. If 10 Barrel's beers are no good, people won't drink them.
At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "East Village's 10 Barrel Brewing prepares for a party and a protest."
And at ABC News 10 San Diego:
Here We Go Again with the 'Special Counsel'
This is great.
Following-up from yesterday, "Robert Mueller Named Special Counsel in Russia Investigation," where I wrote: "If memory serves, past special prosecutions have been a joke."
Well, yeah.
I think the editors at the Wall Street Journal have been reading my blog.
See, "The Special Counsel Mistake" (via Memeorandum and InfoWars):
The special counsel mistake: Rosenstein bends to political pressure, and here we go again. https://t.co/N6vgc24swr— WSJ Editorial Page (@WSJopinion) May 18, 2017
Democrats and their media allies finally got their man. After weeks of political pressure, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein blinked late Wednesday and announced that he has named a special counsel to investigate Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election. These expeditions rarely end well for anyone, and Democrats are hoping this one will bedevil the Trump Administration for the next four years.RTWT.
“My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted,” said Mr. Rosenstein, which is nice but irrelevant. With Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused from the Russia probe, Mr. Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller III, who will now have unlimited time and resources to investigate more or less anything and anyone he wants.
While the decision will provide some short-term political relief, not least for Mr. Rosenstein, it also opens up years of political risk to the Trump Administration with no guarantee that the public will end up with any better understanding of what really happened.
The problem with special counsels, as we’ve learned time and again, is that they are by definition all but politically unaccountable...
Bella Thorne Flashes Pierced Nipple on Snapchat
I guess that's for the up-and-coming stars. Ms. Bella's hit bottom and past redemption, I guess.
She's crazier than ever.
At Taxi Driver, "Bella Thorne Shows Us Her Piercing."
Quarter-Life Crisis
The Left's Assault on President Trump is the Greatest Threat to the U.S. Today
This is really interesting.
"What’s the number one threat to the United States today? The Assault on President Trump." - Stephen Cohen#Tucker #ComeyMemo #FakeNews pic.twitter.com/1QVnrmNgvX
— Vote Trump Pics (@VoteTrumpPics) May 17, 2017
Stephen Cohen on "assault" on @POTUS: "This is beyond belief now, and has become...a national security threat to us in itself." #Tucker pic.twitter.com/T3SJDYbDVa
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 17, 2017
Will Republicans Stick with Trump?
Biggest political question: will R voters stick w Trump? Yes, in short term. But this is beginning of end https://t.co/Xp9K4PY8x3
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) May 17, 2017
Trump's Statements Are Not an Obstruction of Justice
Principled objections to Mr. Trump’s policies and leadership style should not blind opponents to the dangers of repeated, knee-jerk calls for criminal prosecution of the president of the United States. Let the evidence unfold, and reserve serious charges if and when the evidence warrants it. Crying wolf undermines the credibility of the opposition, further divides an already deeply divided country and breeds cynicism about American institutions that is as dangerous to our republic, if not more, than outside meddling.A great piece. RTWT.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Danielle Gersh's Warm-Up Forecast
Here's the lovely Ms. Danielle:
The Most Important Book for College Graduates to Read
I've been meaning to read it, actually.
Bill Gates says this is the most important book for college grads to read https://t.co/XsKtlp1tGf via @qz— Michiko Kakutani (@michikokakutani) May 18, 2017
Shop Today
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Robert Mueller Named Special Counsel in Russia Investigation
If memory serves, past special prosecutions have been a joke.
Robert S. Mueller III named special prosecutor, dramatically raising stakes for Trump in Russia investigations https://t.co/wiouaQfHVV
— Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) May 17, 2017
Just ask Hillary: The appointment of a special counsel gives Trump short-term relief--and a big long-term risk. https://t.co/sD3RKe9oH0
— Susan Page (@SusanPage) May 18, 2017
Iryna Ivanova in Red Bikini
Also at the Daily Star, "Who is Iryna Ivanova? Ukranian Playboy model says ‘boobies’ are the key to success."
Intelligence Leaks Wound America
#Russia intelligence leaks aim at #DonaldTrump, but wound America: https://t.co/WphFv2QMCU
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) May 17, 2017
#PresidentTrump's Fans Shrug Off Oval Office Leak.
At Politico:
Trump's fans shrug off Oval Office leak https://t.co/cJRfVOZ71M via @POLITICOMag pic.twitter.com/9rhdsV9MWp
— POLITICO (@politico) May 16, 2017
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Eric Hinderaker, At the Edge of Empire
At Amazon, Eric Hinderaker, At the Edge of Empire: The Backcountry in British North America.
Evelyn Taft's Warming Weather Forecast
I prefer it a little warmer myself, but not bad. Not bad.
Here's the lovely Ms. Evelyn, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:
Trump Administration's Tempers Flare
It's not what you want, actually.
But, who're you gonna trust?
FWIW, at the New York Times, "At a Besieged White House, Tempers Flare and Confusion Swirls":
One other thing to bear in mind - Trump is dreading the overseas trip https://t.co/FoEfQGlOrZ— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 16, 2017
WASHINGTON — The disclosure that President Trump divulged classified intelligence to two high-ranking Russian officials was a new blow to an already dispirited and besieged White House staff still recovering from the uproar and recriminations from the president’s firing of James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director.
Mr. Trump’s appetite for chaos, coupled with his disregard for the self-protective conventions of the presidency, have left his staff confused and squabbling. And his own mood, according to two advisers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has become sour and dark, turning against most of his aides — even his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — and describing them in a fury as “incompetent,” according to one of those advisers.
Even before the latest bombshell dropped, reports swirled in the White House that the president was about to embark on a major shake-up, probably starting with the dismissal or reassignment of Sean Spicer, the press secretary.
Mr. Trump’s rattled staff kept close tabs on a meeting early Monday in which the president summoned Mr. Spicer; the deputy press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders; and the communications director, Michael Dubke, to lecture them on the need “to get on the same page,” according to a person briefed on the meeting. Even as Mr. Trump reassured advisers like Mr. Spicer that their jobs were safe at the morning meeting, he told other advisers he knew he needed to make big changes but did not know which direction to go in, or whom to select.
Later, reporters could hear senior aides shouting from behind closed doors as they discussed a defense after Washington Post reporters informed them of an article they were writing that first reported the news about the president’s divulging of intelligence.
As they struggled to limit the fallout on Monday, Mr. Spicer and other Trump aides decided to send Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser, to serve as a surrogate.
They realized that selecting such a high official would in some ways validate the story, but they wanted to establish a credible witness account exonerating the president from wrongdoing — before the barrage of Twitter posts they knew would be coming from Mr. Trump on Tuesday morning.
The White House counsel’s office worked with the Army general on framing language, producing a clipped sound bite: “The story that came out tonight as reported is false.”
As he was working on his statement, General McMaster — a former combat commander who appeared uncomfortable in a civilian suit and black-framed glasses — nearly ran into reporters staking out Mr. Spicer’s office.
“This is the last place in the world I wanted to be,” he said, perhaps in jest.
As the general approached microphones on the blacktop in front of the West Wing, one of his deputies responsible for coping with the fallout, Dina Powell, could be seen peering behind the reporter pack to see how her boss’s statement was being received.
On Capitol Hill, there were signs that Republicans, who mostly held the line after Mr. Comey’s ouster, were growing alarmed by and impatient with Mr. Trump’s White House operation.
“There need to be serious changes at the White House, immediately,” said Senator Patrick J. Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican who wants Mr. Trump to appoint a Democrat to head the F.B.I. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, called on Mr. Trump to operate with “less drama” on Tuesday....
*****
There is a growing sense that Mr. Trump seems unwilling or unable to do the things necessary to keep himself out of trouble, and that the presidency has done little to tame a shoot-from-the-hip-into-his-own-foot style that characterized his campaign.
There is a fear among some of Mr. Trump’s senior advisers about leaving him alone in meetings with foreign leaders out of concern he might speak out of turn. General McMaster, in particular, has tried to insert caveats or gentle corrections into conversations when he believes the president is straying off topic or onto boggy diplomatic ground.
This has, at times, chafed the president, according to two officials with knowledge of the situation. Mr. Trump, who still openly laments having to dismiss his first national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, has groused that General McMaster talks too much in meetings, and the president has referred to him as “a pain,” according to one of the officials...
Alexa Chung for Vogue U.K. June 2017
Say it with stripes: @Alexa_Chung sports #MichaelKorsCollection on the June cover of @BritishVogue. 📸: @MarioTestino pic.twitter.com/1rHMta4GIN
— Michael Kors (@MichaelKors) May 15, 2017
Vogue UK June 2017 - Alexa Chung By Mario Testino #BritishVogue - photos: https://t.co/NGFgWC3KZY pic.twitter.com/xpIVC6cLkQ
— Kendam (@kendam_com) May 13, 2017
Emily Ratajkowski and Her Hot Mom
She got it from her mama https://t.co/26enRVFOj8
— Page Six (@PageSix) May 15, 2017
Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful Ma. pic.twitter.com/D7MvhqgZaK
— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) May 8, 2016
Daniel Drezner, The Ideas Industry
That said, he's an interesting guy who writes quirky books.
Here's his latest, at Amazon, Daniel Drezner, The Ideas Industry: How Pessimists, Partisans, and Plutocrats are Transforming the Marketplace of Ideas.
'Black Magic Woman'
Note, back then, Gregg Rolie, who later co-founded Journey, was Santana's lead singer.
Magic Man
Heart
4:56 PM
Simple Man
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4:51 PM
Doctor My Eyes
Jackson Browne
4:48 PM
Have a Cigar
Pink Floyd
4:43 PM
Can't You See
The Marshall Tucker Band
4:37 PM
Message In a Bottle
The Police
4:32 PM
Help Me, Rhonda
The Beach Boys
4:29 PM
Bohemian Rhapsody
Queen
4:24 PM
Sweet Emotion
Aerosmith
4:19 PM
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (Live)
George Thorogood
4:11 PM
Jet
Paul McCartney & Wings
4:07 PM
I've Seen All Good People: A. Your Move / B. All Good People
Yes
4:00 PM
Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
Santana
3:54 PM
I Won't Back Down
Tom Petty
3:52 PM
Tush
ZZ Top
3:49 PM
Space Oddity
David Bowie
3:45 PM
You Really Got Me
Van Halen
3:35 PM
Our Responsibilities as the Survivor Generation
— Commentary Magazine (@Commentary) April 25, 2017
Bill Nye and Rachel Bloom Demonstrate Why Trump Won
Seriously, this makes even progressives cringe. It's bad.
I know it's a cliche now but my god, this is why Trump won. pic.twitter.com/xT8co3YZu1— Jason C. (@CounterMoonbat) April 24, 2017
BONUS: At Pajamas, "Bill Nye the 'Vagina Guy' Indoctrinates Kids Into Gay Sex on Netflix."
UPDATE: Leftists tried to take down the video after the outrage, but the Internet is forever. Here's copy of the clip on YouTube, "My Sex Junk by Rachel Bloom ft. Bill Nye the Science Guy."
Democrats Look to 2020
At NYT:
New 2020 names:
— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) May 1, 2017
- national donors prodding GARCETTI
- MOULTON not ruling it out in private
- and LANDRIEU! https://t.co/aEAUaXtvHC
Susan A. Brewer, Why America Fights
On the evening of September 11, 2002, with the Statue of Liberty shimmering in the background, television cameras captured President George W. Bush as he advocated the charge for war against Iraq. This carefully staged performance, writes Susan Brewer, was the culmination of a long tradition of sophisticated wartime propaganda in America.
In Why America Fights, Brewer offers a fascinating history of how successive presidents have conducted what Donald Rumsfeld calls "perception management," from McKinley's war in the Philippines to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Her intriguing account ranges from analyses of wartime messages to descriptions of the actual operations, from the dissemination of patriotic ads and posters to the management of newspaper, radio, and TV media. When Woodrow Wilson carried the nation into World War I, he created the Committee on Public Information, led by George Creel, who called his job "the world's greatest adventure in advertising." In World War II, Roosevelt's Office of War Information avowed a "strategy of truth," though government propaganda still depicted Japanese soldiers as buck-toothed savages. After examining the ultimately failed struggle to cast the Vietnam War in a favorable light, Brewer shows how the Bush White House drew explicit lessons from that history as it engaged in an unprecedented effort to sell a preemptive war in Iraq. Yet the thrust of its message was not much different from McKinley's pronouncements about America's civilizing mission.
Impressively researched and argued, filled with surprising details, Why America Fights shows how presidents have consistently drummed up support for foreign wars by appealing to what Americans want to believe about themselves.
The Syrian Horrorscape
At the New York Review of Books, "In the Horrorscape of Aleppo":
In the Horrorscape of Aleppo. https://t.co/ifTryoXPRY via @nybooks— Michiko Kakutani (@michikokakutani) May 2, 2017
Over six years of war, millions of Syrians have suffered; beyond the almost 500,000 killed, many more have been paralyzed, disfigured, blinded, traumatized, and uprooted from their homes and communities. As of January, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had registered nearly five million Syrian refugees, in addition to the six million displaced within the country. The demolished neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo make this brutally clear. They contained more than half of Aleppo’s population, until opposition fighters began seizing the area in 2012. Although measures of population movement are guesses at best, international aid agencies report that at least 50,000 eastern Aleppines fled to the western part of the city to avoid shelling by the regime or chaotic jihadist rule. Thousands more made their way to the government-controlled, war-free coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, to Lebanon, or to Turkey, which offered visa-free entry, work permits, and, for many months in 2015, a blind eye to any who dared the perilous sea route to Europe.Almost unbelievable, in this day and age.
In December 2016 the Syrian army, with Russian support, conquered the last insurgent strongholds in Aleppo’s east. UNHCR officials believe that about 36,000 people, rebels and their families, departed by bus under Russian protection for the opposition redoubt in Idlib province. What they left behind conjures memories of Dresden, Coventry, and Tokyo in the aftermath of World War II. The multiple forms of destruction testify to the ingenuity of the world’s arms factories. Bombs have transformed Aleppo into an Escher-like vision of six-foot-thick concrete slabs twisted into braids; five-story apartment buildings compressed into piles ten feet high; and collapsed façades of entire streets exposing rooms with ceiling fans eerily intact and revolving in the wind.
This is the horrorscape to which many residents are returning, only to find themselves still homeless. They camp in makeshift tents beside the remains of their homes, sticking close by to deter thieves from seizing unclaimed land at a time when many deeds have been lost or destroyed. Some sleep inside buildings that are exposed to the elements and subject to collapse at any moment. Children die when balconies crumble or they find shiny objects that turn out to be unexploded bombs...
Keep reading.
The Real Outrage Over James Comey's Firing
A righteous piece, at NYT:
For Trump supporters, the real outrage is the left's outrage over Comey's firing https://t.co/fOI6ZSUEC5— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 11, 2017
Fantasy of Impeachment
And keep in mind, I think Erick Erickson's a dork.
At NYT:
Op-Ed Contributor: Erick Erickson: The Fantasy of Impeachment. https://t.co/2gnpZmMT8x— NYT (@NYT) May 13, 2017
PREVIOUSLY: "It's Not Watergate People. It's Just Fucking Not."
Monday, May 15, 2017
Amber Lee's Patchy Drizzle Forecast
Looks like it's going to be very similar tomorrow.
Here's the fabulous Ms. Amber, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:
Pat Buchanan, Nixon's White House Wars
Great timing.
Just out this week, at Amazon, Pat Buchanan, Nixon's White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever.
WaPo's Crap Hit-Piece on 'Highly Classified' Intel is Fake News
Laura Ingraham's calling bull:
WH source with direct knowledge just told me @washingtonpost didn't talk to ANY U.S. official at mtg w/ Lavrov. "It's Fake News"— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) May 15, 2017
I read the piece. All sources are commenting on background. You can't corroborate the details, and as you can see, the White House is denying.
Former Olympic Medalist McKayla Maroney on Instagram
Also, at IDLYITW, "Ok Then, McKayla Maroney."
GOOD GOD, MAN #MondayMorning https://t.co/jBDJxGCVeS
— IDLYITW (@IDLYITW) May 15, 2017
Shop Today
Also, Best Sellers in Televisions.
More, Deals in Laptops.
BONUS: Richard White, The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815.
Danielle Gersh's Fog and Drizzle Forecast
It's going to be foggy and drizzly, and some part of the O.C. coast will be in the low 60s.
Here's the lovely Ms. Danielle, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:
Why Women Live Longer Than Men
Seen on Twitter:
As my wife says to me often, "this is why women live longer than men." https://t.co/VGF6F2qFoU
— Clay Routledge (@clayroutledge) May 1, 2017
Nope nope nope... 😳😳😳
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) March 8, 2017
Credit: https://t.co/l48z1cr3qj pic.twitter.com/3vVf6l7bdR
Our System of Checks and Balances is Under Assault' (VIDEO)
And no, our system's not under assault --- not by President Trump at least. If there's an assault going on, it's seen in the left's war on our legitimately-elected government. It's seen in the left's revolutionary all-out war on our republic.
Watch, FWIW:
Meme War Veteran
This hat is the most 2017 thing I have yet seen. #Berkeley pic.twitter.com/OVembg6Bma
— Alexander Nazaryan (@alexnazaryan) April 27, 2017
Michael Roberts, The Long Depression
At Amazon, The Long Depression: Marxism and the Global Crisis of Capitalism.
Emojicast
A change in our weather pattern after today.Trending cooler... especially next week. Rain chance late Thu & Fri #GMW pic.twitter.com/mEnsWp0duF
— Veronica Johnson (@VJohnsonABC7) May 2, 2017
Sunday, May 14, 2017
Ruchir Sharma, The Rise and Fall of Nations
At Amazon, Ruchir Sharma, The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World.
Jennifer Delacruz's Drizzly Forecast
Following-up from a little while ago, "Jennifer Delacruz's Cool Cloudy Forecast."
Once more, here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer:
Samuel P. Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies
Here's Samuel Huntington, at Amazon, Political Order in Changing Societies.
Faith Hill
Tulsa tonight! #Soul2Soul pic.twitter.com/KbKUwHlfK5
— Faith Hill (@FaithHill) May 11, 2017
The Frightful Five
The "frightful five" are Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. Which ones could you do without, from the easiest to the toughest? I'd ditch Facebook with no problems, lol. After that, though, it's not so easy to ditch any of these. We're not just talking about ditching one product, but the entire company. I like Microsoft Word, and at work I like Microsoft Outlook for email. And I'm on Apple all the time, since I have an iPhone, which I love. Amazon's mostly for books and stuff, but Google's my bread and butter. I blog on Google, email with gmail.com, and of course search Google exclusively. It'd be hard to give up. So, you get the picture. Manjoo would be bummed to bail out on Amazon, because he uses it for everything and has been since it first went online, which is interesting.
Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google dominate our lives. What would happen if we had to give them up? https://t.co/Q5jJX0h9y7
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 14, 2017
Mother's Day Brings Out the Worst
Good grief! I've had three kids and that didn't happen once. https://t.co/UGEihs31Bj
— Melissa Mackenzie 🌐 (@MelissaTweets) May 14, 2017
THE DAY I PEOPLE FOUND OUT I WAS PREGNANT WITH THING1 what was the day i ceased to be a person and became a vessel, a body without will
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
THAT DAY I CEASED TO BE A PROFESSOR & PROFESSIONAlL, that day i ceased to have 2 Masters & still debating to complete my PhD...
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
MY INTELLIGENCE
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
MY BRILLIANCE
MY TALENT
MY GALL
everything that could define my being, my brawn, disappeared in an ether of condescension
I WAS NOT TO BE TALKED TO
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
I WAS TO BE TALKED AT
i became the VERIFIED property of my spouse, carrier of his spawn, property of his tribe
and yet...
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
and yet...
MOTHERHOOD IN 'AMERICA'
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
Motherhood is an ideal they hold so high, so dear... it's more than an aspiration; it's a manifest destiny...
MOTHERS IN 'AMERICA'
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
as complete human beings expressed in all their complexities?... what do you mean mothers are people?!?
AMERICA
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
LOVES
THE IDEA OF
MOTHERHOOD
it hates,
nay,
it despises
MOTHERS
to the point of
denying our personhood
and our humanity
MOTHERS
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
shouldn't be paid for their mothering
MOTHERS
shouldn't get all the health care they need
MOTHERS
shouldn't be trusted with choices
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS, if this nation really loved not just mothers but all womb-carriers as PEOPLE, motherhood wouldn't be an ideal
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS AS PEOPLE we wouldn't have politicians giddy sending our babies to war
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS AS PEOPLE we wouldn't have 50 million applauding into the White House a guy who bragged about sexual assault
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS AS PEOPLE we would all have HEALTH CARE as the human right it is, regardless of employment or marital status
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS AS PEOPLE you wouldn't rant about stay-at-home moms as 'welfare queens' but ensured we all had a basic income
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS AS PEOPLE you wouldn't fight so hard to deny us & babies free health care, schooling, food, housing
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS AS PEOPLE y'all wouldn't spend energy insulting me onhere instead of pondering all the ways y'all mistreat us
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS AS PEOPLE you wouldn't belittle the labor of Mothering & penalize mothers in old age for those unemployed years
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS AS PEOPLE you would never confuse employment with labor and use that to deny mothers social services in old age
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
IF USA REALLY LOVED MOTHERS AS PEOPLE we mothers wouldn't have to defend our CHOICE of motherhood as proof of our will as free individuals
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
YET HERE WE ARE MOTHERING in spite of living in one of the most misogynist, woman-hating, feminine-loathing cultures in Human history
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
YET HERE WE ARE MOTHERING in spite of living in a country where it is still up to debate whether it's a choice to be or not to be a mom
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
TODAY IS MOTHERS' DAY but it would be every day Mothers' Day if we truly loved the people who become mothers and not just the idea
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
I AM NOT AN IDEA
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
i am a woman, a person, an individual, who loves being a mom to my kids and loves mothering everybody around me
MOTHERS AREN'T AN IDEA
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
we are beings in our complexities and contradictions. we are people. we are individuals. we have human rights too
MY LOVE & SOLIDARITY goes out to all the moms & mothering people out there struggling in spite of the odds against us. i hear you. i see you
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
AND TO THE TROLLS SWARMING THANKS TO @MelissaTweets' PRIVILEGED NAY-SAYING you are all exactly proving my point. thanks for playing.
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
ONE MORE POINT: if 'America' truly loved mothers, y'all would adore us BLACK MOTHERS and rebuked as terrorism this:pic.twitter.com/AvkZFkzYT9
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017
YOU CANT CLAIM TO LOVE MOTHERS, then find excuses not to support black, indigenous, trans, latinx, immigrant, muslim, poor, working moms
— Liza Sabater 🇵🇷👸🏾 (@blogdiva) May 14, 2017