Oakland Athletics Complete Four-Game Sweep of New York Yankees

This is something else.

The Yankees have the best offense in baseball, so a four-game sweep by the last-place Athletics has to be embarrassing for New York (and freakin' awesome for Oakland).

At the S.F. Chronicle, "A’s complete four-game sweep of Yankees with 4-3 win":

Hoping your Father's Day was as sweep as ours. #RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/xbq3pNhLUn

— Keep Voting Alonso! (@Athletics) June 18, 2017

RECAP: A's complete four-game sweep of Yankees.https://t.co/1LP0kCIYeJ#RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/7P5G1mHpXd

— Keep Voting Alonso! (@Athletics) June 18, 2017

The A’s clubhouse had a nightclub feel, complete with lights flashing through a spectrum of colors and music blasting at a near-deafening volume.

“The vibe is good right now, and it’s growing,” starting pitcher Jharel Cotton said. “I think we’re confident, and we’re only going to get that much better.

“I just love it.”

That’s what a four-game sweep of the Yankees will do for a team, a feat the A’s accomplished on a scorching hot Sunday afternoon with a 4-3 victory in front of a crowd of more than 34,000 at the Coliseum.

The A’s snapped a string of 26 series without a sweep, a streak that dates to beating Kansas City four straight in September. They hadn’t swept a four-game series in Oakland since victimizing Toronto in July 2014.

“Against a team of that caliber, it’s tough to sweep a three-game series, let alone a four-game series,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said after sending the Yankees away on a six-game skid. “… It was a big series, especially for the younger guys. … To know that you can have a series like this gives you a lot of confidence in yourself and the team.”

More.

Unhinged Leftists Endorse Violence Against Republicans (VIDEO)

Look, this hits too close to home, which is why even Karen Handel has backed away from it (she's hoping not to scare off independent moderates in the district who might feel sympathy for Ossoff, who will whine about how he's being unfairly attacked).

But hey, I can't find fault with this ad (below), out from the folks at Principled PAC.

See Michelle Malkin for the accurate benchmark reference, "Climate of hate: Shooting at House GOP baseball practice."

I’ve warned for more than a decade about the unhinged Left’s rhetoric and the despicable double standards that have given progressives immunity as they falsely blamed Republicans and conservatives for every last random outbreak of violence.

In fact, Unhinged could be re-released today and readers would hardly notice it was written 11 years ago!

Are there any decent Democrats or left-wingers in the public square willing to acknowledge the existence of their own climate of hate — festering with misogyny, liberal racism, and assassination fascination?

Do words and rhetoric only have consequences if they can be used against conservatives and Republicans?

Or will we spend the rest of the day being bombarded with vile gloating like this...

Click for all the tweets linked at Michelle's.

Partisan Polarization in 2016 and Beyond

This is great! From Lee Drutman, at the Voter Study Group, "Political Divisions in 2016 and Beyond: Tensions Between and Within the Two Parties":

I've got a new analysis of 2016 political divides & the future of the parties. Just out. https://t.co/v4LSfM5mTb #VOTERSG

— Lee Drutman (@leedrutman) June 13, 2017

Key Findings:

* The primary conflict structuring the two parties involves questions of national identity, race, and morality, while the traditional conflict over economics, though still important, is less divisive now than it used to be. This has the potential to reshape the party coalitions.

* By making questions of national identity more salient, Donald Trump succeeded in winning over “populists” (socially conservative, economically liberal voters) who had previously voted for Democrats.

* Among populists who voted for Obama, Clinton did terribly. She held onto only 6 in 10 of these voters (59 percent). Trump picked up 27 percent of these voters, and the remaining 14 percent didn’t vote for either major party candidate.

* To the extent that the Democratic Party is divided, these divisions are more about faith in the political system and general disaffection than they are about issue positions.

* By contrast, Republican voters are more clearly split. For the most part, Trump and Cruz supporters look fairly similar, though Cruz supporters are considerably more conservative on moral issues, and notably less concerned about inequality and the social safety net, and more pro- free trade. Kasich supporters are the true moderates, caught in between the two parties on almost every issue, both economic and social.

* In both parties, the donor class is both more conservative on economic issues and more liberal on social issues, as compared to the rest of the party.

* Democrats may be pressured to move further left on identity issues, given that both younger voters and the party’s donor class are quite far to the left on identity issues. If so, American politics would become further polarized along questions of culture and identity...

RTWT.

Suspect Plows Down Muslims Outside London's Finsbury Park Mosque (VIDEO)

Here's the headline at the Telegraph U.K., "FINSBURY PARK ATTACK: Live - 'I want to kill all Muslims': Extra police to protect Muslims during Ramadan after one person dies and 10 injured when terrorist ploughs van into crowd."

I'll bet. Sheesh.

And can you blame the guy, considering? And that's not to justify it, but sheesh. Britain's been taken over. You're likely to have a race war any time now. Leftists can't be surprised.

More, at the Guardian U.K., "London mosque attack: Man, 48, arrested on suspicion of attempted murder - One dead and eight injured after van ploughs into Muslims near Finsbury Park mosque," and "Finsbury Park terror attack: Theresa May heckled at mosque – latest updates - Prime minister praises members of public who detained attacker after van strikes pedestrians, killing one, in Seven Sisters Road."

But see Truth Revolt, "Retaliation? At Least One Killed as Crowd Leaving London Mosque Hit by Van: 'It appears from eyewitness accounts that the perpetrator was motivated by Islamophobia'."

Leftists Grow More Like #ISIS Every Day (VIDEO)

It's Ezra Levant, at the Rebel Media, "How the American Left is 'Normalizing Violence'."

Does Fake News Make a Difference in Politics?

Of course it matters, especially since virtually the entire mainstream media establishment is pitching fake news 24/7.

As noted, I stopped watching any television news last semester, and just have now starting inching back toward any kind of regular viewing. I simply do not trust reporters and traditional outlets to report fairly or accurately. It's just a given now, and of course it influences politics. We're living in two virtual countries with two virtual realities. And it takes a lot of power to shift those realities and make a new narrative strong enough to shift votes. That's why leftists hate President Trump. He beat the fake news industry and still does it everyday by getting his message out on Twitter and through his campaign-style rallies, God bless him.

But see MercatorNet, "Does fake news make a difference in politics? Or is the term just sour grapes from journalists and politicians who misread the electorate?":

As noted in the previous article, most people learn to adjust for fake news in a medium with which they are familiar. Otherwise, tabloids would hardly be shelved at the checkout counter, as they have been for decades. But many are now convinced that fake news put out on social media helped tip the US to Trump. Post-election, Hillary Clinton decried the epidemic of fake news, as did outgoing President Obama.

The air has been thick with statistics on both sides, with conservatives and the far right usually fingered as the culprits. Actually, fake news was purveyed on both sides. Ben Carson did not, for example, say that the ghosts of aborted babies haunt hospitals. Mainstream media sometimes publish fake news too. The Burlington Electric Company’s grid was not hacked by Russia, as the Washington Post recently claimed. Apparently, the Post staffers had not followed the conventional rule of phoning the facility to check before running the story. But did it make much difference anyway?

As it happens, claims for social media’s awesome power aren’t new to the 2016 election. Similarly dramatic claims were made after the 2008 election. Back then the outcome was welcomed by the proponents of the social media power, so we were unlikely to hear much about the perils of fake news.

Indeed, as “astroturf” investigator Sharyl Atkisson observes,  before mid-September 2016, fake news was hardly mentioned. Concern arose among Clinton allies thereafter via progressive site Media Matters and caught on widely from there in traditional media.

Either something happened rather suddenly to social media or there are more conventional explanations for Clinton’s loss. Let’s look at some of the latter:

It wasn’t fake news that made the difference; it was missed news. First, Trump was not the Republican party’s choice of candidate. He was propelled by a base that felt ignored—and ridiculed—by both parties. Sociologist Charles Murray describes that base quite clearly in Coming Apart (2012): They are the working class communities ("Fishtown," in his narrative) quietly disintegrating amid global societal changes. Meanwhile, middle class communities ("Belmont," in his narrative) are thriving, indifferent or even censorious, a few kilometres away.*

The Democrats did not have a Trump. Their candidate was a party establishment figure with massive intelligentsia and media backing. Among those who felt that their concerns would never be heard in those venues, that was her handicap. It’s a good question why Trump was one of the few public figures to grasp the significance of the demographic shift and exploit it. But little will be learned about that from an intense examinations of fake news. Newly recruited Trump voters were motivated by actual bad news in their own communities.

The hole created by the missed news  was widened by the Democrats’ heavy reliance on millennial social media experts to connect with voters. Kay Hymowitz explains at City Journal:

In the past few years, their influence has only grown, as mass-market fashion magazines like Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Marie Claire have given them column space, effectively crowning them the new elite experts on women’s issues.

They weren’t. They had heads full of academic theory and millennial angst but little life experience with—and virtually no interest in—military wives from South Carolina or Walmart managers from Staten Island, who also happen to fall into the category “women.” Nor did the new luminaries or their bosses seem to notice that the latter group far outnumbered their own rarefied crowd.

The internet changes a great deal but it does not change the fundamental nature of reality. One small Atlanta-based pollster sensed that the military wife or the WalMart manager might not wish to risk humiliation, even in the abstract, by giving an honest opinion. So he asked his respondents who they thought their neighbors would vote for. He called the big contest right while major polling firms got it embarrassingly wrong.

Both sides in the election were out of touch...

Keep reading.

Hat Tip: Blazing Cat Fur, "New York Times Sent Three Reporters to the Rebel Media’s Live 2017 Celebration."

Democrat Hopes Sky High in Georgia's 6th Congressional District

From Patricia Murphy, at the Daily Beast, "MONSTER CAMPAIGN: Democratic Hopes Are Sky High in Trump-Testing Georgia Special Election Runoff":

500,000 doors, 100+ staff, 12,000 volunteers: The monster Dem campaign to win a single seat. https://t.co/QO3WoClhyh via @thedailybeast

— Patricia Murphy (@1PatriciaMurphy) June 19, 2017

The $50 million fight to fill Tom Price’s congressional set is now the most expensive House race in American history—and Republicans can blame Trump if Jon Ossoff wins on Tuesday.

SANDY SPRINGS, Georgia—Take the New Hampshire presidential primary, move it next to a Waffle House, douse it in cash and the sweltering June heat of Georgia, and you’ll get the special election runoff in the state’s 6th Congressional District.
In a race that was never expected to be close, the once sleepy collection of solidly Republican suburbs has suddenly become ground zero for the resistance to the presidency of Donald Trump.

“What’s happening? The president is happening,” said Barbara Carr, a 6th District voter who had volunteered to hold a Jon Ossoff sign, along with a dripping Popsicle, on a busy Atlanta street corner Saturday as the temperature climbed past 90 degrees. Trump “doesn’t represent my values.”

The hopes of local Democrats like Carr and others across the country are piled onto Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional staffer who was practically unknown—even to fellow Georgia Democrats—before 2017. But when civil rights icon (and a former boss of Ossoff’s) Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) endorsed him in January, a fire-hose of small-dollar donations from Democratic activists began to pour into Ossoff’s campaign coffers and never stopped.

The nonstop money bomb allowed Ossoff to raise a truly obscene amount of money, $23 million so far, and build a monster campaign big enough to challenge both the Republican machine in Georgia and the Republican on the ballot against him on Tuesday, former secretary of state Karen Handel. Keenly aware that a loss in Georgia would be spun as a loss for the president and his agenda, National Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, sent super-sized resources of their own to Georgia. The $50 million-plus contest has now become the most expensive House race in American history.

“They’re getting statewide saturation,” said Jeff DiSantis, a longtime Democratic operative in the state who ran Michelle Nunn’s 2014 Senate race. “Everybody knows everything there is to know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it, even in a presidential [election].”

It is hard to describe the sheer scope of the campaign Ossoff has been able to build, first to win 48 percent of the vote in the April primary and now to be running even with Handel in a district that is widely considered “R +10,” meaning a GOP candidate starts out with a safe 10-point advantage over any Democrat they’ll face.

While most political candidates, including Handel, have to spend hours a day, and sometimes their entire day, calling wealthy donors for campaign contributions, the small-dollar activist machine fueled by Daily Kos and End Citizens United has largely freed Ossoff from the onus of call time. Instead of dialing for dollars, Ossoff can show up at nearly every meet-and-greet, neighborhood meeting, or canvass party he gets invited to.

He and his campaign can also knock on voters' doors. Lots of them. With two days left before Election Day, the Ossoff campaign has knocked on more than 500,000 voter doors, including 80,000 on Saturday alone. The campaign has six field offices, more than 100 full-time paid staffers, and more than 12,000 active volunteers. The Georgia Democratic Party has focused another 12 full-time staffers solely on minority voter engagement in the district.

An Atlanta-Journal Constitution poll showed that 51 percent of likely voters had been reached directly by the Ossoff campaign, while 32 percent of voters said they’d heard from Handel or her team.

But that same poll also revealed the greatest hurdle Handel faces on Tuesday, and it isn’t Jon Ossoff or his operation. Instead, it is the broad anti-Trump sentiment in the district, including that 35 percent approval rating...

Still more.

Danielle Gersh's Excessive Heat Forecast

Following-up from last night, "Jennifer Delacruz's Heat Advisory Forecast."

Temperatures reached 116 degrees in Palm Springs yesterday, and the forecast is 120 today. These are record-breaking temps. Interestingly, the coastal areas saw barely cooler weather yesterday, which is from the low-pressure moisture that's clinging along the beaches. That's the place to cool off.

So, I'll be sitting pretty in Irvine today, but if you're inland, take a load off your feet, pump the air conditioning, and stay hydrated.

Here's the fantastic Ms. Danielle, for CBS News 2 from yesterday:

U.S. Shoots Down Syrian Fighter Jet

This is interesting.

At the Washington Post:

The U.S. military shot down a Syrian aircraft today for the first time since the start of the civil war https://t.co/hRY6j7SRvm

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 19, 2017

While a lot of attention is focused elsewhere…https://t.co/SJSERH891J pic.twitter.com/ec7v0nf8e1

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 19, 2017

Ergonomic Adjustable Standing Desk

At Amazon, Mount-It! Electric Stand Up Desk, Frame Only, Dual Motor Height Adjustable Standing Desk, Ergonomic, Memory and Timer Function, White (MI-7930).

BONUS: Michael Wallis, David Crockett: The Lion of the West.

Jennifer Delacruz's Heat Advisory Forecast

More heat tomorrow, and as posted earlier, it's going to stay hot through Wednesday.

Frankly, it hasn't been too bad in Irvine. We've had worse, for sure. It'll be interesting to see if we get into the 90s in the area by Wednesday.

I guess I should be thankful. It was a blessed Father's Day. I hope you had a good one as well!

Here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer, for ABC News 10 San Diego:

Joy Ann Reid Attacks Steve Scalise

The guy's literally recovering on his (near) death bed, and MSNBC hack Joy Reid's attacking him, claiming he had it coming.

Debra Burlingame tweeted Pajamas Media:

MSNBC Host Labels Rep. Scalise an 'Extremist' While He Lies in Hospital Bed https://t.co/OzRXeRxSRI #Trending via @pjmedia_com

— Debra Burlingame (@DebraBurlingame) June 19, 2017

Scorching Heat to Last Through Wednesday

At the Riverside Press-Enterprise, and the Weather Channel below:

Heat wave to last through Wednesday, Weather Service says https://t.co/6Ms6TCLonQ pic.twitter.com/UrRfRGF7N3

— The Press-Enterprise (@PEcom_news) June 18, 2017

Las Vegas and Phoenix may threaten all-time record-high temperatures early this week: https://t.co/Y2PrgNxG8S pic.twitter.com/hPbBo64hn0

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) June 19, 2017

Demi Rose Shows Off Curves in Velvet Bikini in Ibiza

She's amazing.

At London's Daily Mail, "PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Bikini-clad Demi Rose Mawby shows off her curves in velvet swimwear as she soaks up the sun at the beach in Ibiza."

BONUS: At the Sun U.K., "Demi Rose puts her stunning curves on display in a plunging bikini as she soaks up the sun in Ibiz," and "Demi Rose goes TOPLESS in Ibiza as she takes a dip in the sea."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



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

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Enough is Enough."

Tyler Cowen, The Complacent Class

At Amazon, Tyler Cowen, The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream.

Sunny Air Magnetic Rower Machine

Shop Today's Deals, at Amazon.

And see especially, Sunny Health & Fitness SF-RW5623 Air Magnetic Rowing Machine Rower w/ LCD Monitor.

BONUS: Andrew Breitbart, Righteous Indignation [Right Nation]: Excuse Me While I Save the World!

Happy Father's Day!

I don't know where this photo was taken, or when exactly. But my dad would have been in his 40s, it looks like (or maybe early-50s).

Have a wonderful Father's Day everybody!

#HappyFathersDay. Miss you, Dad. pic.twitter.com/3ySnXwitQf

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 18, 2017

Here's Jennifer Delacruz from Last Night

Her videos haven't been available before I hit the sack.

Danielle Gersh is hot though, so I'm not letting my readers down when it comes to the tasty weather reports, heh.

In any case, the big news continues to be this massive heat wave we're having in the Southwest. It's supposed to be hotter today than yesterday, and hotter still on Monday and Tuesday.

Here's the fabulous Ms. Jennifer, for ABC News 10 San Diego:

Burying Barack Obama's Legacy

From Caroline Glick, "Burying Obama’s legacy":

It may very well be that this week was the week that Israel and the US put to rest former president Barack Obama’s policies and positions on Israel and the Palestinians.

If so, the move was made despite the best efforts of Obama’s team to convince the Trump administration to maintain them.

The details of Obama’s policies and positions have been revealed in recent weeks in a series of articles published in Haaretz regarding Obama’s secretary of state John Kerry’s failed peacemaking efforts, which ended in 2014.

The articles reported segments of two drafts of a US framework for a final peace treaty between the PLO and Israel. The drafts were created in February and March 2014.

The article series is predicated on the assumption that Kerry and his team were on the precipice of a historic breakthrough between PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. But a close reading of the documents shows that the opposite was the case.

There are two reasons that Kerry had no prospects for reaching a deal.

First, he, Obama and their advisers were too hostile to Israel and its citizens to ever convince Netanyahu that Israel’s interests would be secured.

A February 2014 draft framework agreement, which was based on conversations Kerry and his team held with Netanyahu and his advisers, makes this clear. The draft includes Netanyahu’s demand that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria not annexed to Israel would remain “in place” after the implementation of a peace deal, and presumably, become towns in the future Palestinian state.

In other words, Netanyahu demanded that the Israelis in Judea and Samaria whose towns would be located in the territory of “Palestine” would enjoy the same rights and protections as Israel’s Arab citizens enjoy.

Kerry and his team would have none of it. The February draft agreement notes, “[US] negotiators need to check with PM [Netanyahu] on whether he wants to [maintain this position]… They believe that if so, he will push strongly for ‘in place.’ ‘In place’ is inconsistent with US policy and therefore unacceptable to us as well as the Palestinians.”

In other words, the position of the Obama administration was that all Israelis living in areas that would become part of the Palestinian state must be forcibly removed from their homes and communities.

Haaretz reporters Barak Ravid and Amir Tibon recalled that in previous rounds of negotiations, the Palestinians – unlike the Obama administration – had not rejected this Israeli position out of hand. That is, in demanding the mass expulsion of Israeli Jews from their homes, the administration adopted a policy more extreme than the PLO.

Then there is the problem with the PLO...

RTWT.

On Linda Sarsour’s Politics of Hate

She even more dangerous because of her out attractiveness. She's like a snake deceiving you in the name of the devil, she comes to you like a dove, only to bite you to deliver the hand of death.

At the Tablet, "On Linda Sarsour’s Politics of Hate and the Pathos of Her Jewish Enablers":

On Linda Sarsour’s Politics of Hate and the Pathos of Her Jewish Enablers https://t.co/NR5PDHabJT via @tabletmag

— Joel B. Pollak (@joelpollak) June 18, 2017

Linda Sarsour is a progressive-media darling. One of Essence magazine’s “Woke 100 Women,” Sarsour was named a leader of the Women’s March that followed President Donald Trump’s inauguration, despite declaring that “nothing is creepier than Zionism”—though her wish to “take away” the “vagina” of clitoridectomy victim and human-rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, praise for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, upholding Saudi Arabia as a bastion of women’s lib, embrace of the terrorist murderer Rasmea Odeh, and claim that “Shariah law is reasonable” because “suddenly all your loans & credits cards become interest-free,” are all—at least in my humble estimation—definitely creepier.

Yet Sarsour’s ride on the media wonder-wheel continues—thanks in part to Jewish individuals and organizations who embrace the idea that haters like Sarsour can’t actually hate them. Recently, the “homegirl in a hijab,” as a fawning New York Times profile described her, delivered the commencement address at the City University of New York’s School of Public Health. It was a strange choice on the part of CUNY, not least because Sarsour has zero professional experience in the field. Prior to the event, critics, many of them Jewish, called upon CUNY to rescind its invitation in light of Sarsour’s rhetoric and associations. A group of progressive Jews released an open letter in defense of Sarsour. “In this time, when so many marginalized communities in our country are targeted on the streets and from the highest offices of government” the letter solemnly declared, “we are committed to bridging communal boundaries and standing in solidarity with one another.”

Also coming to Sarsour’s defense was the Anti-Defamation League, which presumably stands against the defamation of women, Jews, and the Jewish state. “Despite our deep opposition to Sarsour’s views on Israel,” its head Jonathan Greenblatt said, before offering the following non sequitur, “we believe that she has a First Amendment right to offer those views.”

No one, of course, disputes Sarsour’s legal right to spout whatever vicious nonsense she wants. But there is nothing in the First Amendment that says Sarsour has a “right” to speak at CUNY, or appear on CNN, or publish an op-ed in the New York Times. As an organization ostensibly committed to fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice, the ADL was under no obligation to defend a Jew-baiting, demagogic, foul-mouthed, sectarian bully—someone who, in fact, asserted that anti-Semitism is “different than anti-black racism or Islamophobia because it’s not systemic.” Not systemic? Tell that to the survivors of the most systematized effort at extermination in human history. If there is a more utterly mendacious claim that perverts the truth about humanity’s oldest, deadliest and very much “systemic” hatred, I’m not sure what it could be.

Still, Greenblatt—whose organization was once devoted to combating anti-Semitism—decided that it was better to side with his fellow progressives in public than risk his position on the team. Why?

This is an important question for Jewish Democrats, since the weird combination of communal masochism and personal arrogance that characterizes Sarsour’s self-appointed “Jewish allies” also makes for a particularly ineffective form of coalition politics—at least for the Jewish side of the equation...

Why? Democrats have been poisoned by the seeds of self-hatred, and thus they'll let people like Sarsour do the work of Satan to destroy them. It's not difficult.

But keep reading.

Andrew Essex, The End of Advertising

*BUMPED.*

Out today yesterday last week, at Amazon, Andrew Essex, The End of Advertising: Why It Had to Die, and the Creative Resurrection to Come.

The Next Energy Revolution

A great piece, from David G. Victor and Kassia Yanosek, at Foreign Affairs, "The Promise and Peril of High-Tech Innovation":

Three trends are driving the new energy revolution: management, data analytics, and automation. https://t.co/ft3nbboy1O

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) June 18, 2017

The technology revolution has transformed one industry after another, from retail to manufacturing to transportation. Its most far-reaching effects, however, may be playing out in the unlikeliest of places: the traditional industries of oil, gas, and electricity.

Over the past decade, innovation has upended the energy industry. First came the shale revolution. Starting around 2005, companies began to unlock massive new supplies of natural gas, and then oil, from shale basins, thanks to two new technologies: horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking). Engineers worked out how to drill shafts vertically and then turn their drills sideways to travel along a shale seam; they then blasted the shale with high-pressure water, sand, and chemicals to pry open the rock and allow the hydrocarbons to flow. These technologies have helped drive oil prices down from an all-time high of $145 per barrel in July 2008 to less than a third of that today, and supply has become much more responsive to market conditions, undercutting the ability of OPEC, a group of the world’s major oil-exporting nations, to influence global oil prices.

That was just the beginning. Today, smarter management of complex systems, data analytics, and automation are remaking the industry once again, boosting the productivity and flexibility of energy companies. These changes have begun to transform not only the industries that produce commodities such as oil and gas but also the ways in which companies generate and deliver electric power. A new electricity industry is emerging—one that is more decentralized and consumer-friendly, and able to integrate many different sources of power into highly reliable power grids. In the coming years, these trends are likely to keep energy cheap and plentiful, responsive to market conditions, and more efficient than ever.

But this transition will not be straightforward. It could destabilize countries whose economies depend on revenue from traditional energy sources, such as Russia, the big producers of the Persian Gulf, and Venezuela. It could hurt lower-skilled workers, whose jobs are vulnerable to automation. And cheap fossil fuels will make it harder to achieve the deep cuts in emissions needed to halt global warming...

More.

Douglas Wilson, Father Hunger

At Amazon, Douglas Wilson, Father Hunger: Why God Calls Men to Love and Lead Their Families.

Danielle Gersh's Scorching Weather Forecast

It won't be too bad along the coasts and in the L.A. and Orange County metro areas. But when you get inland, especially to the deserts, you're looking are very hot temperatures, and into the triple digits early in the week.

Just dish up a scoop of ice cream for your old man, and have a Happy Father's Day!

Here's the lovely Ms. Danielle, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Hadas Malka Murdered by 'Palestinian' Jihadist in Terrorist Stabbing Attack in Jerusalem

An evil and horrifying story, made all the more horrific by the BBC's initial coverage of the murder.

See Twitchy, "BBC deletes tweet about three Palestinians killed after deadly stabbing; Now guess who did the stabbing."

Sad news #Breaking as Police announce that Hadas Malka has died of her wounds in today's attack in #Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/XA8CYSzytH

— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) June 16, 2017

Katie Hopkins tweeted her response today.

The @BBCNews doing their bit pre #AlQuds tomorrow. Stoking tension. LOOK pic.twitter.com/aLHaxF6che

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) June 17, 2017

Also at the Jerusalem Post, "ADAS MALKA, KILLED BY TERRORIST AT DAMASCUS GATE, REMEMBERED AS LOVING, BRAVE WARRIOR."

Stunning Helen Flanagan in Salmon-Pink Bikini on Holiday in Spain

At London's Daily Mail, "Flanagan shows off her enviably lean figure in a pink bikini as she enjoys a fun-filled family holiday with cute daughter Matilda."

BONUS: At the Sun U.K., "OWN GOAL! Coronation Street’s Helen Flanagan accidentally flashes her bra as her top rides down in front of thousands of Celtic fans - The cobbles beauty laughed off the wardrobe malfunction as she took part in a lap of honor."

Violetta Komyshan at Premiere of 'Baby Driver' in Los Angeles

At London's Daily Mail, "Sheer daring! Ansel Elgort's girlfriend Violetta Komyshan wears revealing dress to Baby Driver premiere in LA ... before cutting some shapes with her beau on the dance-floor."

Also, at Taxi Driver, "Violetta Komyshan in Completely See-Through Dress."

Glenn Reynolds, The Education Apocalypse

I read this one a couple of years ago, and it's great!

At Amazon, Glenn Reynolds, The Education Apocalypse: How It Happened and How to Survive It.

Joel Kotkin, The New Class Conflict

I've got this one on order, Joel Kotkin, The New Class Conflict.

Richard Florida, The New Urban Crisis

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Richard Florida, The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class—and What We Can Do About It.

Phoenix Expected to See High of 110 Degrees Today (VIDEO)

Watch, at ABC News 10 Phoenix, "DANGEROUSLY hot this weekend!":

It will be dangerously hot Saturday as we're expected to see a high of 110.

Actually, according to the report, it could 120 on Tuesday. But more at USA Today:

It could hit 120 degrees in #Arizona, Southwest this weekend https://t.co/fNSStuJWrG via @USATODAY

— Beth Duckett (@Beth_Duckett) June 17, 2017

Added:

The NWS has already issued excessive #heat watches for Friday into early next week across the Southwest: https://t.co/sXoaAXBD3C pic.twitter.com/9Im1iOM0IT

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) June 14, 2017

A heat wave will arrive late this week in California and across the southwest US - here's how you stay safe https://t.co/asAP108BNk 🌡️☀️😓 pic.twitter.com/WdUfr2aETC

— NWS (@NWS) June 14, 2017

Reader Poll: Should Conservatives Disrupt Leftists?

The poll's at Legal Insurrection, "To disrupt like the Left, or not to disrupt: that is the question (Reader Poll)."

I've already weighed in, here, "Let's Not Parrot the Left, Laura Loomer and Jack Posobiec."

I've added this comment at Legal Insurrection, in reply to Ms. EBL (who links this Instapundit post, which links AoSHQ):

Actually, Ace isn’t arguing we should use violence. He’s talking about boycotts and blacklisting. Yeah, let’s do that. He doesn’t say to violently shut down left-wing public performances like a bunch of special snowflakes. So-called conservatives have lost their minds. The vote here is running almost 75 percent in favor of shutting down speech — SPEECH — you don’t like. You want to parrot the left, conservatives? Are you going to start hitting antifa leftists over the head with bike-locks, like anarchist Eric Clanton up in Berkeley? No. Are you going to start throwing bricks through the windows of businesses, like the riots on Telegraph Avenue, simply because people like Milo are scheduled to speak? No. Or at least, I’m not. That way lies much more polarization and violence, which purportedly conservatives don’t want. So what’s it going to be?

We won't have debates in this country if conservatives want to fight violent leftists with more violence. That's not what Ace was arguing.

Here's Jennifer Delacruz from the 11:00pm Weather Report Last Night

Following-up from last night, at 10:19pm, "Amber Lee's Hot Weather Forecast."

Ms. Jennifer wasn't up yet, but here she is now:

Tuong Vu, Vietnam's Communist Revolution

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Tuong Vu, Vietnam's Communist Revolution: The Power and Limits of Ideology.

Scott Pelley Signs Off at 'CBS Evening News' (VIDEO)

I like Pelley.

I quit watching ABC News years ago, when Democrat George Stephanopoulos became one of the most important personalities at the network. And same thing for NBC, after the Brian Williams fiasco. Yeah, I know, Pelley's a leftist as well. But I've been watching CBS Evening News exclusively for this last few years, and it's fairly balanced --- or, as balanced as you're likely to get from the elite networks in any case.

Here's the lowdown, at the New York Post. It's cutthroat in that business, "Scott Pelley out of ‘CBS Evening News’":

Scott Pelley is out at “CBS Evening News,” Page Six has exclusively learned.

Sources tell us that “Poison Pelley’s” office was being cleared out Tuesday while the anchor was away on an assignment for the network’s news magazine “60 Minutes.”

We’re told he’s being shifted permanently to “60 Minutes.”

Insiders tell us that CBS News president David Rhodes “is making [Pelley] move to ‘60 Minutes,’ ” and that the pair “don’t get on.”

Another TV insider said that while Pelley’s ratings have been down, “There’s also been friction between him and [Rhodes].”

Added a source, “[Pelley] was pushed out of the ‘Evening News.’ It’s been coming for a long time. This could have been handled better — [Pelley] is away on a story, and they’re cleaning out his office. It’s not the correct way to treat the face of CBS News.”

And by the way, I stopped watching any television news for about six weeks this semester, especially as the Russia conspiracy became too much to handle.

I expect that's going to be more of the norm going forward. I prefer to filter what news I get through blogs and Twitter. It's that, or frankly no news at all, and that's hard for me, as a political science professor.

Amazon Buys Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion (VIDEO)

At Bloomberg, "Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion."

There's talk now of breaking up Amazon under federal antitrust legislation.

I just want to keep blogging my Amazon Associates book business, lol.

At CBS Evening News, from last night:

New Erin Andrews Bikini Pics

At Bro Bible, "Erin Andrews in a Bikini is Something We Haven’t Seen, Well, Pretty Much Ever, Until Today."

And at RealClearHealth, "Erin Andrews Does Rare Bikini Photoshoot for Health Magazine: Fox NFL sideline reporter has battled health scares and sexism, but hasn't broken stride."

Erin Andrews – Health Magazine USA July/August 2017 Issue https://t.co/ku9sWQyKJy pic.twitter.com/o8HrrGSjKD

— juststarz (@juststarz) June 15, 2017

Minnesota Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile

Man, did Valerie Castile let loose about the verdict. Righteous indignation!

Breaking News: The Minnesota officer who fatally shot Philando Castile was acquitted of all charges https://t.co/JmTnv4v7B4

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 16, 2017

'Mad as hell,' #PhilandoCastile's mother reacts to not guilty verdict: https://t.co/JFCN7XJDaA

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 17, 2017

"My son loved this state. He had one tattoo on his body, and it was of the Twin Cities," Valerie Castile said. "My son loved this city, and this city killed my son."

Valerie Castile also addressed the crowd directly after leaving the courthouse, expressing her disappointment.

"The system continues to fail black people, and it will continue to fail you all. Like I said, because this happened with Philando, when they get done with us, they coming for you, for you, for you and all your interracial children," Valerie Castile said. "Y'all are next, and you will be standing up here fighting for justice just as well as I am."

Let's Not Parrot the Left, Laura Loomer and Jack Posobiec

Look, all these so-called conservative Trump supporters are applauding Laura Loomer and Jack Posobiec, after the two tried to shut down the Caesar production of Shakespeare in the Park last night.

While I definitely think the right should practice more of the left's Alinsky politics, I don't agree in this case. It's about speech. You can't complain about leftists shutting down conservatives speakers if your response is just to ape them with the exact same bullying and violence. I'm not tweeting a whole lot about this, since I'd prefer not to lose a bunch of followers. But frankly, folks on the right are being stupid and über-tribal. I rarely agree with Ben Shapiro, but I agree with him here:

Stupid snowflake garbage. Pathetic. https://t.co/bBVb99D0mt

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 17, 2017

Police Say 58 People Are Missing, Presumed Dead in #GrenfellTower Fire (VIDEO)

At the Guardian U.K, "Grenfell Tower fire: 58 'missing, presumed dead' says Met amid protests at May's leadership - latest."

And at Sky News.

Met Police says first #GrenfellTower victim has been identified; 58 people are missing and are assumed to be dead - the number may increase pic.twitter.com/gjyi28sJHM

— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 17, 2017

Nice Tattoo

Seen on Twitter:

pic.twitter.com/FSKbZHDGgH

— SEXYBOOTY 👉ILI 😜 (@VENTULINAF430) June 16, 2017

Morning Coffee

I'm having my coffee right now, although not with this woman, lol.

pic.twitter.com/0imUseYx3M

— Jessica Miller (@camstarwar) June 17, 2017

Alonzo Hamby, For the Survival of Democracy

At Amazon, Alonzo Hamby, For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin Roosevelt and th Crisis of the 1930s.

Doctors Give Update on Steve Scalise's Condition (VIDEO)

Rep. Scalise was very close to death.

The doctors are now much more confident of his recovery than they were on Wednesday, but he's not out of the woods yet, by no means.

Amber Lee's Hot Weather Forecast

I don't see video of Jennifer Delacruz posted tonight, which is strange, since she tweeted she'd be doing the weather through the rest of the week.

No matter, here's the lovely Ms. Amber for CBS News 2 Los Angeles. It's heating up, people. Wasn't too bad today. I hung around the apartment most of the day, but Father's Day's going to be scorching. Keep your daddy cool and hydrated.

Eitan D. Hersh, Hacking the Electorate

At Amazon, Eitan D. Hersh, Hacking the Electorate: How Campaigns Perceive Voters.

'Megan Leavey' Review (VIDEO)

I liked it.

It's not the biggest blockbuster you'll ever see, but I really like Kate Mara, so I made it a point to see this one. Plus, I rarely miss a war movie. I went to the early-bird budget matinee, so the theater was almost empty. I don't see the opening weekend numbers online, although at least the movie's not straight to DVD. It's heavy on the personal relationships, especially Corporal Leavey's relationship to her dog, Rex. It's a tear-jerker as well, but a true story.

It's worth a look, either way. Most refreshingly, the director eschewed any inclinations towards leftist antiwar anti-Americanism. Indeed, the conclusion's hella patriotic, but I'll leave it at that not to spoil things.

See also the Los Angeles Times, "Review: 'Megan Leavey' tells a tale of two war heroes: a woman Marine and her bomb-sniffing K-9":

It’s also a movie that doesn’t wear its issues on its stripes. Without feeling the need to brand itself either a woman-in-the-military movie or animal-activism yarn, [director Gabriela] Cowperthwaite quietly goes about humanizing everything so that both of these elements, which might get treated as hot-button topics elsewhere, gain a kind of understated momentum all their own. Sure, that gives it the slight tinge of a chummy, politics-free, armed-services recruitment video — especially when Common’s around to play the supportive sergeant always this-close from breaking into a smile. But the battle scenes are direct and tense, if not exactly original, and even when the screenplay tosses in a burgeoning flirtation with a fellow K-9er (the charming Ramon Rodriguez), “Megan Leavey” makes it feel like an extra color in a soldier’s story, not a predictable story beat for a heroine...

RTWT.

J. Kael Weston, The Mirror Test

We're sending more troops to Afghanistan, and President Trump has given Defense Secretary James Mattis authority to set troop levels for that entire deployment.

So, I suppose this is a good time to re-up J. Kael Weston's recent book on the conflict, now out in paperback.

At Amazon, J. Kael Weston, The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rage is All the Rage

From Peggy Noonan, at the Wall Street Journal, "A generation of media figures are cratering under the historical pressure of Donald Trump":

NOONAN: Rage All the Rage -- and It's Dangerous... https://t.co/TeZApk0FMB

— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) June 16, 2017

What we are living through in America is not only a division but a great estrangement. It is between those who support Donald Trump and those who despise him, between left and right, between the two parties, and even to some degree between the bases of those parties and their leaders in Washington. It is between the religious and those who laugh at Your Make Believe Friend, between cultural progressives and those who wish not to have progressive ways imposed upon them. It is between the coasts and the center, between those in flyover country and those who decide what flyover will watch on television next season. It is between “I accept the court’s decision” and “Bake my cake.” We look down on each other, fear each other, increasingly hate each other.

Oh, to have a unifying figure, program or party.

But we don’t, nor is there any immediate prospect. So, as Ben Franklin said, we’ll have to hang together or we’ll surely hang separately. To hang together—to continue as a country—at the very least we have to lower the political temperature. It’s on all of us more than ever to assume good faith, put our views forward with respect, even charity, and refuse to incite.

We’ve been failing. Here is a reason the failure is so dangerous.

In the early 1990s Roger Ailes had a talk show on the America’s Talking network and invited me to talk about a concern I’d been writing about, which was old-fashioned even then: violence on TV and in the movies. Grim and graphic images, repeated depictions of murder and beatings, are bad for our kids and our culture, I argued. Depictions of violence unknowingly encourage it.

But look, Roger said, there’s comedy all over TV and I don’t see people running through the streets breaking into laughter. True, I said, but the problem is that, for a confluence of reasons, our country is increasingly populated by the not fully stable. They aren’t excited by wit, they’re excited by violence—especially unstable young men. They don’t have the built-in barriers and prohibitions that those more firmly planted in the world do. That’s what makes violent images dangerous and destructive. Art is art and censorship is an admission of defeat. Good judgment and a sense of responsibility are the answer.

That’s what we’re doing now, exciting the unstable—not only with images but with words, and on every platform. It’s all too hot and revved up. This week we had a tragedy. If we don’t cool things down, we’ll have more.

And was anyone surprised? Tuesday I talked with an old friend, a figure in journalism who’s a pretty cool character, about the political anger all around us. He spoke of “horrible polarization.” He said there’s “too much hate in D.C.” He mentioned “the beheading, the play in the park” and described them as “dog whistles to any nut who wants to take action.”

“Someone is going to get killed,” he said.

That was 20 hours before the shootings in Alexandria, Va.

The gunman did the crime, he is responsible, it’s fatuous to put the blame on anyone or anything else.

But we all operate within a climate and a culture. The media climate now, in both news and entertainment, is too often of a goading, insinuating resentment, a grinding, agitating anipathy. You don’t need another recitation of the events of just the past month or so. A comic posed with a gruesome bloody facsimile of President Trump’s head. New York’s rightly revered Shakespeare in the Park put on a “Julius Caesar” in which the assassinated leader is made to look like the president. A CNN host—amazingly, of a show on religion—sent out a tweet calling the president a “piece of s—” who is “a stain on the presidency.” An MSNBC anchor wondered, on the air, whether the president wishes to “provoke” a terrorist attack for political gain. Earlier Stephen Colbert, well known as a good man, a gentleman, said of the president, in a rant: “The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c— holster.” Those are but five dots in a larger, darker pointillist painting. You can think of more.


Too many in the mainstream media—not all, but too many—don’t even bother to fake fairness and lack of bias anymore, which is bad: Even faked balance is better than none.

Yes, they have reasons...

Jennifer Delacruz to Fill-In for the Rest of the Week

Following-up from last night, "Jennifer Delacruz's Record-Breaking Weather Forecast."

The lovely Ms. Jennifer will be bringing us the weather through the weekend, if I'm reading this tweet correctly.

She's so lovely.

Filling in at the weather center for the rest of the week! Tune in for your heat wave forecast at 7 on @10News #SanDiego #Weather ☀️ pic.twitter.com/tzieyT60rv

— Jennifer Delacruz (@10NewsJen) June 16, 2017

Yoko Ono Will Share Credit for John Lennon's Iconic 'Imagine' (VIDEO)

I had a student last semester claim that John Lennon was one of our "political leaders," or at least "past leader," along with Martin Luther King, Jr., etc., if I remember correctly. That's how deeply the popular leftist culture has burrowed into and infected the youth demographic. They don't know anything. They don't know history going back even to last year, much less the 1960s and '70s. It's out of control.

In any case, from Sarah Hoyt, at Instapundit, "FINALLY! WE CAN STOP BLAMING JOHN ALONE: Yoko Ono gets credit for John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’."

Trump Administration Rescinds DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans)

This is big. Freakin' really big.

More immigration news: The Trump admin just killed DAPA https://t.co/VyPPTzEaLs

— Jon Passantino (@passantino) June 16, 2017

Promise Kept: Trump Admin Rescinds DAPA Amnesty Program https://t.co/RdQR7QVr55 pic.twitter.com/iDjajYnJgx

— The Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 16, 2017

The Trump admin just rescinded DAPA, which would have given legal status to undocumented parents with US children pic.twitter.com/9KzSaLbfAZ

— Marcelo Rochabrún (@mrochabrun) June 16, 2017

Local immigration lawyer says Trump Administration's decision to rescind DAPA will not impact Dreamers: https://t.co/k5D3zfbUU3

— #NBC7 San Diego (@nbcsandiego) June 16, 2017

Jennifer Delacruz's Record-Breaking Weather Forecast

It was hot today in the O.C., but not sure if it was record-breaking (I'll check later, lol).

But parts of San Diego County were just a couple of degrees over the record for this day, and there's some real record heat coming over the next week, especially in the desert areas.

Here's the beautiful Ms. Jennifer, for ABC News 10 San Diego:

Bob Lewis, The Feminist Lie

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Bob Lewis, The Feminist Lie: It Was Never About Equality.

Laura Ingraham: Terms Like 'Resistance' Create a 'Moral Duty to Physically Resist' President Trump (VIDEO)

Watch, at RCP, "Ingraham On GOP Shooting: Terms Like 'Resistance' Create 'Moral Duty to Physically Resist' Trump":

LAURA INGRAHAM: It's a level of viciousness and vitriol that we see on social media but usually that's an anonymous thing. But now people are emboldened and they are saying it in person. They're doing chalk drawings of people and their families on their driveways so they wake up in the morning and they see a chalk drawing.

I think Charles is right. This apocalyptic language we hear on other cable networks, where these are supposedly very respected hosts who get up every morning and say, 'Will be republic survive Donald Trump?' In other words, the resistance is a physical resistance. If you believe your survival is at risk, you have the moral duty to physically resist that. And I think this freak yesterday took it to heart.

The full video from the panel is here, at Fox News' Special Report, "Will calls for unity among lawmakers hold up?"

Glacier National Park, in Montana's Rocky Mountains

So beautiful.

Found at Deborah Feyerick's Twitter feed.

Our most popular pic last week: @GlacierNPS by Daniel Ewert #Montana pic.twitter.com/bga4QpaPdR

— US Dept of Interior (@Interior) June 11, 2017

New York Deli Clerk Suffers Broken Jaw in Avocado Attack (VIDEO)

These thugs were mad about their food order?

These kinds of stories should be getting national coverage, but since the perps are black, it's verboten.

CAUGHT ON CAM: Deli clerk suffers broken jaw after 2 men pummel him with avocados, bananas in NYC deli: https://t.co/IKO6BWjfbQ pic.twitter.com/yoaTuRjuXt

— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) June 14, 2017

WATCH: Angry customers pelt bodega clerk with avocados https://t.co/3NcqAWYwiN pic.twitter.com/tYdQsFREO9

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) June 16, 2017

Sarah Palin Threatens New York Times with Libel Lawsuit

The full story's at Hot Air, "Palin Should Sue The NYT For Its Editorial Blaming Her For Inciting The Gabby Giffords Shooting; Update: “Sickening”; Update: NYT Corrects; Update: Palin Considers Lawsuit."

But if you were on Twitter last night you would have seen the outrage. NYT's editors blamed the Gabby Giffords shooting on the bogus and debunked meme of the "GOP climate of hate" and the "cross-hairs map" that allegedly put then-Representative Giffords' life in danger.

(1/2) @nytopinion - commonsense suggestion by a journalist, am talking to attorneys this AM and exploring options. BTW, wonder.. pic.twitter.com/jACvxwUBZH

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) June 15, 2017

(2/2) ...WHY someone would no longer be in public eye? Think constant libel & slander have anything to do with it? 🤔

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) June 15, 2017

This paragraph in today's NYT editorial on Alexandria shootings is offensively, quasi-Stalinistically wrong: https://t.co/nWhhcHfMso pic.twitter.com/LkJFifUh73

— Jeff B/DDHQ (@EsotericCD) June 15, 2017

Are you fucking kidding me? https://t.co/z9oXkYnm2l

— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) June 15, 2017

Helps to remember the NYT is playing politics when GOP representatives were FUCKING TARGETED FOR ASSASSINATION.

— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) June 15, 2017

We published an editorial last night on the shooting at the G.O.P. men's baseball team practice field in Alexandria.

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) June 15, 2017

We got an important fact wrong, incorrectly linking political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Giffords. No link was ever established.

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) June 15, 2017

We're sorry about this and we appreciate that our readers called us on the mistake. We've corrected the editorial. https://t.co/t1FZ3iEYQJ pic.twitter.com/k7WW5uJIQO

— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) June 15, 2017

This Isn't a Gun Issue (VIDEO)

Here's Dana Loesch. She'll be on Tucker's show tonight, which just started. I'll update with that video later:

This isn’t a gun issue, it’s a rhetoric issue. Twice in one month a far leftist decided to express dissent via murderous rampage.

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) June 15, 2017

President Trump: 'We Are Showing the World We Will Not Be Intimidated...' (VIDEO)

Trump's statement before the congressional baseball game, which is now underway:

Trump: “By playing tonight, you are showing the world that we will not be intimidated” by threats to our democracy https://t.co/s8EWMir4LI

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 15, 2017

Today's Deals

At Amazon, Gold Box Deals.

See, especially, Dremel Multi-Tools.

Also, WEIYI 100-Watt Portable Solar Generator Power Station Power Inverter-Gas-free With Outputs AC 110V (Max 150Wh) 2USB-3.5A ,3DC-12V/15A, Charged by Solar/AC. Built-in Li-on Battery Capacity 40800mAh.

And, Mountain House Just In Case...Essential Bucket.

More, Kirkland Signature Trail Mix 4 Pounds Each (Pack of 2).

Here, G4Free Outdoors Large Pop Up Beach Tent Instant Easy Up Cabana Large 3-4 Person Anti UV Portable Automatic Sun Shelter For Sport Fishing and OuterEQ Instant Tent Camping Tent 3-4 Person.

BONUS: Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy.

Matt Walsh, The Unholy Trinity

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Matt Walsh, The Unholy Trinity: Blocking the Left's Assault on Life, Marriage, and Gender.

Tibby Muldoon Rule 5

Putting up that last post reminded me of the good old days of Rule 5 blogging.

Bob Belvedere used to post some great stuff, at Camp of the Saints, for example, "Rule 5 Saturday: Tibby Muldoon."

Danica Patrick Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (VIDEO)

This reminds me of TrogloPundit, seven years ago! lol.

See, "TrogloPundit's a Danica Patrick Hog!"

Nancy Pelosi Blames GOP for 'Politics of Personal Destruction', Blasting Republicans for 'Criticizing Left-Wing Rhetoric' (VIDEO)

Well, so much for the agreement, comity, and unity among Democrats and Republicans we saw yesterday. (Anyone who knows anything about politics knows it was fake anyway, especially the minority leader's comments.)

So, here you go with thing getting back to normal on Capitol Hill today, at Free Beacon, "Pelosi blames GOP for starting politics of personal destruction in the 1990s," and "Pelosi rips into Republicans for criticizing left-wing rhetoric before shooting: 'How dare they?'"

ICYMI: Camille Paglia, Free Women, Free Men

Following-up, "Camille Paglia: On Trump, Democrats, Transgenderism, and Islamist Terror."

At Amazon, Camille Paglia, Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, Feminism.

Look Who's Outraged by Protests Against Sharia Law

At WND, "U.S. MUSLIMS OUTRAGED BY PROTESTS AGAINST ISLAMIC LAW: Does CAIR Want Shariah to Replace Constitution?"

Um, yes?

#CAIR Islamophobia Watch: Islamophobia and Trumpism are bringing disparate right-wing groups together. https://t.co/wjqRJgpHPg

— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) June 14, 2017

BONUS: At Fouse Squawk, "Act for America 'No Sharia Rally' in San Bernardino."

Steve Scalise's Condition is Worse Than People Think

From last night, from MedStar Washington Hospital Center:

Updated condition of Rep. Scalise. Please find the statement here: https://t.co/1mt8o5wp8u

— MedStar Washington (@MedStarWHC) June 15, 2017

Congressman Steve Scalise sustained a single rifle shot to the left hip. The bullet travelled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs, and causing severe bleeding. He was transported in shock to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, a Level I Trauma Center. He underwent immediate surgery, and an additional procedure to stop bleeding. He has received multiple units of blood transfusion. His condition is critical, and he will require additional operations. We will provide periodic updates.

And just now, at People Magazine:

‘He’s in Some Trouble:’ Donald Trump Says House Whip Steve Scalise’s Condition Is Worse Than People Think https://t.co/cVj41oPjKv

— People Magazine (@people) June 15, 2017

Democrats and Republicans Don't Just Disagree About Policy — They Despise Each Other With the Burning Hatred of a Million Suns

It's true.

Even more interesting is that the New York Times published something true!

Here, "How We Became Bitter Political Enemies":

“If you go back to the days of the Civil War, one can find cases in American political history where there was far more rancor and violence,” said Shanto Iyengar, a Stanford political scientist. “But in the modern era, there are no ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ — partisan animus is at an all-time high.”

Mr. Iyengar doesn’t mean that the typical Democratic or Republican voter has adopted more extreme ideological views (although it is the case that elected officials in Congress have moved further apart). Rather, Democrats and Republicans truly think worse of each other, a trend that isn’t really about policy preferences. Members of the two parties are more likely today to describe each other unfavorably, as selfish, as threats to the nation, even as unsuitable marriage material...

Keep reading.

Ben Garrison on Far-Left Terrorism

On Twitter:

New #BenGarrison #Cartoon "Lighting the Fuse" words lead to actions
The Radical Left is the Mainstream Lefthttps://t.co/Oj98iIxEAZ pic.twitter.com/C1ffwjMdAE

— BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) June 15, 2017

Rebecca Bagnol by Matthieu Sonnet (PHOTOS)

At P Magazine, "'Golden Years' - Rebecca Bagnol by Matthieu Sonnet MQ Photoshoot."

Also, at Drunken Stepfather, "REBECCA BAGNOL OF THE DAY."

Camille Paglia: On Trump, Democrats, Transgenderism, and Islamist Terror

At the Weekly Standard, "In a wide-ranging interview Paglia talks about Donald Trump's successes, how Chuck Schumer emboldened the "resistance," why the left can't condemn Islamist terrorism, and 'the cold biological truth that sex changes are impossible'."

Robert Spencer, The Complete Infidel's Guide to Free Speech

*BUMPED.*

No one trolls the left as hard as Robert Spencer, heh.

Out July 24th, and available at Amazon, The Complete Infidel's Guide to Free Speech (and Its Enemies).

Stuart Varney: 'The Left Has Broken the Rules of Free Speech and Decency' (VIDEO)

A great video, at Fox Business, "The Left, media fueling the climate of violence? FBN's Stuart Varney argues the Left and the media are continuing with partisan attacks, even in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise."

Southern Poverty Law Center Demonized Steve Scalise, but Now Distances Itself from Shooter Who 'Liked' SPLC on Facebook

SPLC's the real "hate group."

At Truth Revolt.

SPLC President: The SPLC condemns all forms of violence. Our hearts are with those who were injured today. https://t.co/fzMVEWuSZQ pic.twitter.com/8qSbuJgr2O

— SPLC (@splcenter) June 14, 2017

Gwen Stefani for Revlon (VIDEO)

Total bombshell babe.

Man.

Riveting Appearance by Rep. Ron DeSantis on Tucker Carlson's (VIDEO)

Fascinating details of the shooting yesterday.

Quite riveting viewing.

Get a Life Hateful Leftists! (VIDEO)

It's the inimitable Mark Steyn, on Tucker's earlier today:

Jackie Johnson's Sunny and Hot Forecast

A huge high pressure pocket is hanging out over the Pacific, and it's moving onshore over the remainder of the week into next. It's going to be really hot.

Here's the beautiful Ms. Jackie, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

James Holland, The Battle of Britain

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, James Holland, The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed History — May-October 1940.

Bryan Adams Photographed the Beautiful Amanda Murphy for Issue 55 of Zoo Magazine

At Art Department Work, "BRYAN ADAMS FOR ZOO MAGAZINE."

And at Drunken Stepfather, "AMANDA MURPHY AND HEATHER KEMESKY BY BRYAN ADAMS OF THE DAY."

Unhinged Rhetoric About 'Nazis' and Trump Derangement Syndrome Leads to Bloodshed

Yep. That's about it.

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "DEMOCRATS’ 2011 NEW CIVILITY PLEDGE GOING SWIMMINGLY."

Also, "OH, THAT LIBERAL FASCISM. ‘F*ck Steve Scalise’: HuffPost writer Jesse Benn wishes ‘violent resistance’ were more ‘organized’."

I'm blocked by this idiot Huffington Post "Jesse Benn," whom I've never heard of before. 🤔#Alexandria

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 14, 2017

More Than 12,000 Tweets Have Called for President Trump's Assassination

Actually, that's probably on the low end of the count.

But see London's Daily Mail:

More than 12,000 tweets have called for Trump's assassination since the inauguration. https://t.co/xgE6BqdhTn

— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) June 14, 2017

Status of Victims in Alexandria Shooting

I pulled my earlier entry, "George Washington University Hospital Spokeswoman Confirms One of the #AlexandriaShooting Victims Has Died."

However, Kevin Lewis, at WJLA-TV Channel 7 News Washington, D.C., has not corrected his tweet from this morning, "Spokeswoman w/ GWU Hospital confirms one patient has died and the other remains in critical condition..."

Frankly, besides updates on Rep. Scalise, there hasn't a lot of news on the status of the other victims. But according to CNN, the others are recovering from their injuries.

See, "GOP House Whip Steve Scalise in critical condition after shooting at baseball practice":

Washington (CNN): Rep. Steve Scalise, a congressional staffer and members of the Capitol police force were shot Wednesday in Alexandria, Virginia, during Republicans' early-morning practice ahead of a charity baseball game.

President Donald Trump said the alleged gunman had been killed. Federal law enforcement officials identified the alleged shooter as James Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Illinois.

At least six people including Scalise, the third ranking member of House Republican leadership as the majority whip, were hospitalized.

Scalise was in critical condition after surgery, according to So Young Pak, spokeswoman for MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Scalise is out of his first surgery, according to a Scalise aide. It is not clear if he will have a second surgery. His wife Jennifer and their two young children are traveling up from New Orleans to Washington now to be with him.

A congressional staffer, Zach Barth, was also shot in the leg and has since been released from the hospital. Matt Mika, a lobbyist for Tyson Foods and former staffer, was also identified as one of the victims. He was out of surgery and in critical condition as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a statement from his family.

House Speaker Paul Ryan also identified two members of the Capitol Police who were injured, Crystal Griner and David Bailey. In a statement, Capitol Police said Griner was in "good condition in the hospital having been shot in the ankle," and that Bailey "was treated and released having sustained a minor injury during the incident."

Rep. Roger Williams, a Texas Republican, was also hospitalized and released with an injury to his ankle.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Mika was in surgery and in critical condition, according to a statement from his family...

Huffington Post Scrubs Jason Fuller Article Calling for President Trump's 'Execution'

Hat Tip: NewsBusters, "HuffPost Spikes Contributor Demanding Execution of Trump."

The piece is still up in cached version, however.

Here, "Impeachment Is No Longer Enough; Donald Trump Must Face Justice":

Impeachment and removal from office are only the first steps; for America to be redeemed, Donald Trump must be prosecuted for treason and — if convicted in a court of law — executed.