American Power

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Sabine Jemeljanova Rule 5

Seen on Twitter:

#DailySabine @you_kiki https://t.co/UQAJxzaOLp #SabineJemeljanova #Page3 #Boobs #Busty #Brunette #Beauty #Cleavage #Lingerie #Glamour #Model pic.twitter.com/jgcBD1o1h2
— RosieJonesArchive (@CopperMailman) June 18, 2017

Woman Cliff Dives in Swiss Alps Wearing Nothing But a Parachute (VIDEO)

Well, this makes you wanna go cliff diving, lol.

At London's Daily Mail, "Adrenaline junkie throws herself off a cliff completely NAKED for her first ever base jump (good job she was wearing a parachute): Annelise Temple threw herself off the drop in Lauterbrunnen, in the Swiss Alps."

Road Rage in California (VIDEO)

At the Sacramento Bee, "Who caused the California road rage crash captured in viral video? CHP weighs in":

Apparent case of road rage triggers horrifying chain-reaction crash in California. At least one person was injured. https://t.co/ECVmH8RTIk pic.twitter.com/NwSYP35Buw
— ABC News (@ABC) June 23, 2017

California Highway Patrol officers on Monday were still searching for the motorcyclist involved in a shocking Southern California freeway crash that went viral on video last week.

The video, taken on a Santa Clarita freeway shows a motorcyclist at high speed kicking a car in the carpool lane, causing the car to swerve and smash into the center divider in flames, then careen into a truck, knocking the truck upside down, causing moderate injuries.

We talked with CHP Officer Eric Priessman about what the video shows and who might be at fault. Here are his answers, paraphrased...

Keep reading.

Heresy Speech

A very perceptive analysis from Jonah Goldberg, at the Commentary symposium, "Is Free Speech Under Threat in the United States?":

Contemporary social justice activism is a quasi religion and dissent is heresy | @JonahNRO https://t.co/iWSwWs1lD2 pic.twitter.com/UtdPBgxYlU
— Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) June 23, 2017

In the past, threats to free speech have taken many forms—nationalist passion, Comstockery (both good and bad), political suppression, etc.—but the threat to free speech today is different. It is less top-down and more bottom-up. We are cultivating a generation of young people to reject free speech as an important value.

One could mark the beginning of the self-esteem movement with Nathaniel Branden’s 1969 paper, “The Psychology of Self-Esteem,” which claimed that “feelings of self-esteem were the key to success in life.” This understandable idea ran amok in our schools and in our culture. When I was a kid, Saturday-morning cartoons were punctuated with public-service announcements telling kids: “The most important person in the whole wide world is you, and you hardly even know you!”

The self-esteem craze was just part of the cocktail of educational fads. Other ingredients included multiculturalism, the anti-bullying crusade, and, of course, that broad phenomenon known as “political correctness.” Combined, they’ve produced a generation that rejects the old adage “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never harm me” in favor of the notion that “words hurt.” What we call political correctness has been on college campuses for decades. But it lacked a critical mass of young people who were sufficiently receptive to it to make it a fully successful ideology. The campus commissars welcomed the new “snowflakes” with open arms; truly, these are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

“Words hurt” is a fashionable concept in psychology today. (See Psychology Today: “Why Words Can Hurt at Least as Much as Sticks and Stones.”) But it’s actually a much older idea than the “sticks and stones” aphorism. For most of human history, it was a crime to say insulting or “injurious” things about aristocrats, rulers, the Church, etc. That tendency didn’t evaporate with the Divine Right of Kings. Jonathan Haidt has written at book length about our natural capacity to create zones of sanctity, immune from reason.

And that is the threat free speech faces today. Those who inveigh against “hate speech” are in reality fighting “heresy speech”—ideas that do “violence” to sacred notions of self-esteem, racial or gender equality, climate change, and so on. Put whatever label you want on it, contemporary “social justice” progressivism acts as a religion, and it has no patience for blasphemy...

Far-Left Democrats Can't Count on Trump's 'Toxicity' in 2018

Put me on record for Republicans retaining congressional control next year. Things could change, and midterm elections are usually bad for the president's party, but I'm skeptical far-left Democrats can retake control, especially of the House.

I could be wrong, so I'm not betting money on it.

But see Cathleen Decker, at LAT, "There's only one Trump — that's a key challenge for Democrats targeting GOP seats in 2018":

Today's analysis: Atop 2017 losses, a sobering challenge for Democrats aiming at Trump next year https://t.co/wmrSSrNh2V
— Cathleen Decker (@cathleendecker) June 25, 2017

Democrats have hoped that President Trump’s deep unpopularity would propel them to gains in next year’s midterm election as they fight to take control of the House and improve their position in the Senate.

But last year’s contests and this year’s special elections suggest a complication: Trump is so distinctive a politician that it’s hard to persuade voters that other Republican candidates are carbon copies of the president. Trump’s outsized persona makes even those Republicans who share his views seem more moderate, an important attribute to swing voters.

That presents a problem for the party out of power.

Midterm elections traditionally serve as referendums on the president, but voters’ complicated views of Trump may give Republicans more running room than his popularity figures suggest. The votes cast by individual Republican incumbents may be more important to their survival than any linkage with the president.

The first of those key votes is scheduled for this week, as senators confront the GOP healthcare measure, which closely resembles a House-passed bill that is widely unpopular.

In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Friday, only 16% of adults supported the House plan. Three times that percentage thought it was a bad idea. Yet it is far from clear how powerful the issue will be in 2018, given the fast pace of political events.

Warning signs emerged for both parties after the spring series of special elections. Four of the races picked successors to Republicans elevated to senior positions in Trump’s administration; Republicans won all four. A fifth race, to replace California Democrat Xavier Becerra, the state’s new attorney general, was won by Democrat Jimmy Gomez.

In each of the four races in GOP districts, Democratic candidates came far closer to the Republicans than their party has in the recent past — but they did not succeed.

Implicit in the contests was a Democratic effort to repudiate Trump. Yet in the races which attracted more attention and money, Democrats may have suffered from a backlash as the virulence of their opposition pushed more Republicans to the polls.

In the aftermath, Democrats have offered as a partial excuse the Republican voting strength in those districts. But winning next year will require succeeding in Senate races in states that voted for Trump and in House contests where Republicans have the power of incumbency, something they did not enjoy in the special elections this year.

Tuesday’s results in the 6th Congressional District in Georgia, the most expensive House race in history, demonstrated what candidates next year face. There, as elsewhere, Trump loomed over the race even though the candidates seldom talked about him directly.

Republican Karen Handel barely mentioned the president, although members of his administration served as reinforcements for her. Her campaign spent much of its time casting Democrat Jon Ossoff as in league with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and “San Francisco values.” Handel won by just under 4 percentage points.

Ossoff backed away from criticism of Trump in the latter part of the race, but began it by contending that his victory would “make Trump furious.”

Connecting the Republican president and Republican candidate did not work there, suggesting it may not work elsewhere, Republican and Democratic strategists said.

“Voters have very complex feelings about Donald Trump,” said California-based strategist Katie Merrill, citing polling from swing districts around the country. “He’s wildly unpopular, but they still want Congress to try to work with him — and Congress is more unpopular than he is.”

“Simply going into the district and trying to tie them to Trump is not going to be enough to defeat them,” said Merrill, who is working for a super PAC seeking to defeat seven Republican House incumbents in California districts won last year by Hillary Clinton...

Chaim Herzog, The Arab-Israeli Wars

*BUMPED.*

This is the updated edition, essential reading.

At Amazon, Chaim Herzog (updated by Shlomo Gazit), The Arab-Israeli Wars: War and Peace in the Middle East.

Adam Greenfield, Radical Technologies

Just out last week, at Amazon, Adam Greenfield, Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life.

Everywhere we turn, a startling new device promises to transfigure our lives. But at what cost? In this urgent and revelatory excavation of our Information Age, leading technology thinker Adam Greenfield forces us to reconsider our relationship with the networked objects, services and spaces that define us. It is time to re-evaluate the Silicon Valley consensus determining the future.

We already depend on the smartphone to navigate every aspect of our existence. We’re told that innovations—from augmented-reality interfaces and virtual assistants to autonomous delivery drones and self-driving cars—will make life easier, more convenient and more productive. 3D printing promises unprecedented control over the form and distribution of matter, while the blockchain stands to revolutionize everything from the recording and exchange of value to the way we organize the mundane realities of the day to day. And, all the while, fiendishly complex algorithms are operating quietly in the background, reshaping the economy, transforming the fundamental terms of our politics and even redefining what it means to be human.

Having successfully colonized everyday life, these radical technologies are now conditioning the choices available to us in the years to come. How do they work? What challenges do they present to us, as individuals and societies? Who benefits from their adoption? In answering these questions, Greenfield’s timely guide clarifies the scale and nature of the crisis we now confront —and offers ways to reclaim our stake in the future.

Project Veritas: #CNN Producer John Bonifield Confesses: Russia Conspiracy is 'Bullshit' (VIDEO)

At Breitbart, "Project Veritas Undercover Investigation: CNN Producer Admits Network Hyping 'Mostly Bullsh*t." (Via Memeorandum.):

James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas has struck again: This time, a senior CNN producer was caught on camera by one of O’Keefe’s investigators admitting that the network’s relentless bashing of President Donald Trump with the Russia scandal lacks proof.

“Could be bullshit. I mean, it’s mostly bullshit right now,” the CNN producer, John Bonifield, said in a video O’Keefe’s Project Veritas released on Tuesday, when asked about his thoughts on the Russia investigation. “Like, we don’t have any giant proof. Then they say, well there’s still an investigation going on. And you’re like, yeah, I don’t know. If they were finding something we would know about it. The way these leaks happen, they would leak it. They’d leak. If it was something really good, it would leak…. The leaks keep leaking and there’s so many great leaks, and it’s amazing. I just refuse to believe that if they had something really good like that that wouldn’t leak because we’ve been getting all these other leaks. So, I just feel like they don’t really have it but they want to keep digging. And so I think the president is probably right to say, like, look you are witch hunting me. You have no smoking gun. You have no real proof.”

More.

Also at Gateway Pundit, "O’Keefe Undercover Bombshell: CNN Producer Admits Trump-Russia Story is “Bullsh*t” (Video)."

It's pretty good, but my first question is did they buy this guy off, John Bonifield? How did Project Veritas gain access to the CNN studios?

More at the Heavy, "John Bonifield: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know":

You can watch the video that James O’Keefe posted on YouTube above. Be aware, though, that it’s not clear whether more raw footage exists or whether the video has been selectively edited. The video is titled, “American Pravda.”

In it, O’Keefe identifies the man captured by the hidden video as John Bonifield, a CNN producer. It’s not clear whom the other man was (he’s identified as a “PV journalist”) or why Bonifield would have spoken with him so openly. The man says, “Then why is CNN constantly like, Russia this, Russia that?”

In the video posted by O’Keefe, the man he identifies as Bonifield responds, “Because it’s ratings.”

“Because it’s ratings?” the man, identified as a “PV journalist,” queries further. “Our ratings are incredible right now,” says the man O’Keefe identifies as Bonifield.

At another point in the video, the “PV journalist” says, “But honestly, you think the whole Russia sh*t is just like bullsh*t?” The man said to be Bonifield responds, “Could be bullsh*t. I mean, it’s mostly bullsh*t right now. Like, we don’t have any big giant proof.”

He also says, “I just feel like they don’t really have it but they want to keep digging” and “And so I think the President is probably right to say like, look, you are witch hunting me.”

Project Veritas also claims that Bonifield brought up CNN head Jeff Zucker, saying, “Just to give you some context, President Trump pulled out of the climate accords and for a day and a half we covered the climate accords. And the CEO of CNN (Jeff Zucker) said in our internal meeting, he said good job everybody covering the climate accords, but we’re done with that, let’s get back to Russia.”

It’s been a bad week for CNN. The O’Keefe video comes on the heels of the resignations of three CNN journalists after the network retracted and deleted a story on Russia...

More at Memeorandum and Twitchy.

Peter Collier and David Horowitz, Destructive Generation

At Amazon, Peter Collier and David Horowitz, Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About the Sixties.

BONUS: David Horowitz, Radical Son: A Journey Through Our Times from Left to Right.

Seattle's Lesson on the the $15 Minimum Wage - #FightFor15

From Megan McArdle, at Bloomberg, "Seattle's Painful Lesson on the Road to a $15 Minimum Wage: The experiment has hurt low-wage workers, cutting their earnings by $125 a month."

Leftist economists were naturally shooting down the new report, which says low-income workers are harmed by the minimum wage hikes.

ADDED: At Legal Insurrection, "Seattle Minimum Wage Hike Backfires Hurting Low Income Workers."

#FakeNews Meltdown at Cable News Network: #ThisIsCnn

This is after the Anthony Scaramucci story blew up.

From Yesterday:

NEW - 3 CNN staff resign over Scaramucci/Russia story pic.twitter.com/L35Le6ML5p
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) June 26, 2017

Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau and Lex Harris all resigned from CNN over Russia/Scaramucci story. These are big names. https://t.co/5efVCUZl8P
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) June 26, 2017

And today, at LifeZette, via Memeorandum, "Fake News Meltdown at CNN: Retractions, Resignations and Outbursts."

An editor's note from CNN https://t.co/5bHxUVnHHt pic.twitter.com/W3IjT5FPN8
— CNN (@CNN) June 24, 2017

.@CNN did the right thing. Classy move. Apology accepted. Everyone makes mistakes. Moving on. https://t.co/lyVajCKNHx
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) June 24, 2017

"The President did nothing wrong" @Scaramucci and @ChrisCuomo tussle over whether Russia probe is a "hoax" https://t.co/tVGOthQApj
— New Day (@NewDay) June 20, 2017

Alexander Gerschenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective

At Amazon, Alexander Gerschenkron, Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective.

Massive Cyberattack Hits Europe

Like I said the other day, "These really are acts of war and it's increasingly apparent that Western states are losing."

Yep.

See the Telegraph U.K., "Live - Petya cyber attack: Ransomware spreads across Europe with firms in Ukraine, Britain and Spain shut down."

Also at Bloomberg, "New Cyberattack Spreads Across Europe, Hits Rosneft, Maersk":

A new cyberattack similar to WannaCry is spreading across Europe, hitting major companies from Rosneft PJSC in Moscow to A.P. Moller-Maersk in Copenhagen while disrupting government systems in Kiev.

More than 80 companies in Russia and Ukraine were affected by the Petya virus that disabled computers Tuesday and told users to pay $300 in cryptocurrency to unlock them, according to the Moscow-based cybersecurity company Group-IB. Telecommunications operators and retailers were also affected and the virus is spreading in a similar way to the WannaCry attack in May, it said.

The intrusion is “the biggest in Ukraine’s history,” Anton Gerashchenko, an aide to the Interior Ministry, wrote on Facebook. The goal was “the destabilization of the economic situation and in the civic consciousness of Ukraine,” though it was “disguised as an extortion attempt,” he said.

More.

The New York Times Shills for Communism — Again

Can't get enough Walter Duranty over there, lol.

And they never tire of rehabilitating the failed theories of Marxism.

See Bhaskar Sunkara (Editor of the Jacobin), at the Old Gray Lady, "Socialism’s Future May Be Its Past":

Why, 100 years on, the road to socialism runs back through Finland Station in Russia. By @sunraysunray https://t.co/QH0N0Zp6k6
— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) June 26, 2017

Stripped down to its essence, and returned to its roots, socialism is an ideology of radical democracy. In an era when liberties are under attack, it seeks to empower civil society to allow participation in the decisions that affect our lives. A huge state bureaucracy, of course, can be just as alienating and undemocratic as corporate boardrooms, so we need to think hard about the new forms that social ownership could take.

Some broad outlines should already be clear: Worker-owned cooperatives, still competing in a regulated market; government services coordinated with the aid of citizen planning; and the provision of the basics necessary to live a good life (education, housing and health care) guaranteed as social rights. In other words, a world where people have the freedom to reach their potentials, whatever the circumstances of their birth.

We can get to this Finland Station only with the support of a majority; that’s one reason that socialists are such energetic advocates of democracy and pluralism. But we can’t ignore socialism’s loss of innocence over the past century. We may reject the version of Lenin and the Bolsheviks as crazed demons and choose to see them as well-intentioned people trying to build a better world out of a crisis, but we must work out how to avoid their failures...

Try as they might, it's still the old Communism, but with fluffed-up dressing.

These are terrible people. Resist them to the last.

"Workers' democracy" will be dismantled as soon as the "majority" vote in the party elites. It's the same old, same old.

Monday, June 26, 2017

Angels Beat Dodgers in 4-0 Shutout Behind Ricky Nolasco Gem

The Angels went two games above .500 tonight with a sparking win over the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, the opening night of a four-game freeway series.

The Dodgers have the second best record in baseball, just a game or two behind than Houston. And Los Angeles had a 10-game winning streak heading into tonight's game.

#HaloRecap: #Angels blank Dodgers, @RNolasco47 picks up the win!https://t.co/EyQj2dtDum pic.twitter.com/JAmcpjDkLo
— Angels (@Angels) June 27, 2017

So what's up with the Angels?

The joke recently is that they've been stuck one game within .500 ball, up or down, with no end in sight. Well, with tonight's game Anaheim's got a two-game winning streak, so that's encouraging.

The Angels now move into second place in the American League West, still 12.5 games behind the first place Astros. But if they keep performing like this, things will be looking very good going into the All-Star break, especially since injured Mike Trout's expected to return to the lineup any times thereabouts.

Here's more from Mike DiGiovanna, at LAT, "Break up the Angels? They broke, but haven't wavered":

Last rites were administered to the Angels on May 29, the day they learned that star center fielder Mike Trout would need surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb and miss six to eight weeks.

The rotation was already in tatters, having lost ace Garrett Richards to a right biceps strain after one start, Tyler Skaggs to a rib-cage strain in late April and Andrew Heaney and Nick Tropeano to season-ending elbow surgeries.

General manager Billy Eppler was running out of spackle to patch a bullpen that lost its best reliever, Cam Bedrosian, to a groin strain for two months, erstwhile closer Huston Street to a back strain for 2½ months and late-inning man Andrew Bailey to a shoulder injury for 2½ months.

Third baseman Yunel Escobar was on the disabled list, and left fielder Cameron Maybin was about to join him. First baseman Luis Valbuena was hitting .167, and second baseman Danny Espinosa (.141) and right fielder Kole Calhoun (.209) were in deep slumps.

The Angels were already buried in the American League West, a division the powerful Houston Astros led by 11½ games entering Saturday.

Surely, they could not withstand the loss of baseball’s best all-around player, a two-time most valuable player who was batting .337 with 16 homers, 36 runs batted in and a league-leading 1.203 on-base-plus-slugging percentage when he injured his thumb on a head-first slide into second.

Yet, as the Angels enter their fifth week without Trout, they were 2 games out of the second AL wild-card spot heading into Sunday, alive and kicking, their ability to tread water in a pool of mediocrity putting them in position for a possible second-half playoff push.

“It’s miraculous, the job the Angels and [manager] Mike Scioscia have done,” John Smoltz, a Hall of Fame pitcher and Fox television analyst, said on a conference call last week. “Their pitching has just been decimated, and then they lose Trout.

“If they can get some pitching back, then they’re a threat for a wild card. I didn’t think with that many injuries they’d even be hanging around.”

That the Angels are 13-12 without Trout — and 39-39 overall — through Saturday seems as improbable as their 12-0 record on Tuesdays. Even with Trout’s dominant two months, they were 14th in the AL in OPS (.709) and ninth in runs (335) through Friday.

But they’re averaging 5.0 runs a game in Trout’s absence because Maybin and Calhoun heated up, Albert Pujols continued to drive in runs and Andrelton Simmons and Escobar continued to hit. They’re pressuring teams with a league-leading 67 stolen bases, and Eric Young Jr., has filled some of Trout’s void.

Young, signed to a minor league deal last winter, was called up from triple-A when Trout went on the DL. He was batting .288 with an .826 OPS, three homers, 10 RBIs, 15 runs and six stolen bases in 23 games through Friday.

Calhoun followed an eight-for-65 skid by hitting .341 (28 for 82) with five homers and 20 RBIs in 22 games through Friday. Since moving to the leadoff spot on May 16, Maybin is hitting .374 with a .466 on-base percentage, five homers, 10 doubles and 30 runs in 25 games. Pujols is fifth in the AL with 51 RBIs.

Bud Norris, Blake Parker, Yusmeiro Petit, David Hernandez and Keynan Middleton solidified a no-name bullpen that ranks fifth in the AL with a 3.62 ERA and has stranded 91 of 117 inherited runners, an AL-best 22.2% scoring percentage.

Norris, a former starter who signed as a minor league free agent, had a 2.43 ERA and converted 11 of 13 save opportunities before going on the DL because of an inflamed right knee last Tuesday.

Parker, a winter waiver claim who made the club because of Street’s injury, was 3-2 with a 2.16 ERA, 49 strikeouts and nine walks in 33 1/3 innings through Friday. Petit, a minor league free agent, has a 2.42 ERA, 51 strikeouts and 11 walks in 44 2/3 innings of 28 games.

Hernandez, who was pitching for Atlanta’s triple-A team when the Angels acquired him for cash or a player to be named on April 24, has a 2.28 ERA, 27 strikeouts and four walks in 23 2/3 innings of 26 games.

And Middleton, with his 100-mph fastball, has risen toward a high-leverage role with a 2-0 record and 3.43 ERA in 24 games since being called up...

Still more.

Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains

The hot new book among radical leftists, apparently --- #1 New Release at Amazon.

See, Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America.

There's no such thing as the "radical" right, of course. It just sounds super spooky, heh.

Tori Praver See-Through Swimsuit (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, "Tori Praver Shows Off While Wearing a See-Through Swimsuit (VIDEO)."

Alexandra Daddario for GQ Spain

At Egotastic!, "Alexandra Daddario Showing Off Her Heavenly Racktastic for GQ."

And at GotCeleb, "Alexandra Daddario – GQ Spain Magazine (July/August 2017)."

Shop Today's Deals

At Amazon, Today's Deals New deals. Every day. Shop our Deal of the Day, Lightning Deals and more daily deals and limited-time sales.

And here, Deals in Car Stereos, Speakers, and More.

More here, Logitech H800 Wireless Headset for PC, Tablets and Smartphones, Bluetooth Headphones with Mic.

Also, Best Sellers in Televisions.

More, Deals in Laptops.

Plus, Shop Gourmet Food.

Still more, Large Beach Towel, Pool Towel, in Cabana Stripe - (Variety, 4 pack, 30x60 inches) - Cotton - by Utopia Towel.

Again, Koffee Kult DARK ROAST COFFEE BEANS (Whole Bean 5 Lbs) - Highest Quality Delicious Organically Sourced Fair Trade - Whole Bean Coffee - Fresh Gourmet Aromatic.

BONUS: Ayn Rand, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.

Kylie Jenner Flashed Upskirt as She Headed into Craig's Restaurant in Los Angeles

At Cosmopolitan, "Kylie Jenner Accidentally Flashes Her Crotch to Photographers."

And at Taxi Driver, "Kylie Jenner Pantie Upskirt in Tiny Dress."

Katie Hopkins: 'You are Frankenstein. I am your monster...' (VIDEO)

She's a freakin' righteous woman.

Our liberal press is biased. People like you give voice to people like me. You are Frankenstein. I am your monster pic.twitter.com/rF9TDTActR
— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) June 26, 2017

Jennifer Delacruz's Monday Forecast

As usual, this clip wasn't available before I hit the sack, but Ms. Jennifer's always worth a post.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

Noel Monk and Joe Layden, Runnin' with the Devil

Something different for you.

At Amazon, Noel Monk and Joe Layden, Runnin' with the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen.

Anne Tyler, The Amateur Marriage

I picked this book off my shelf a couple of weeks ago to read. The receipt was still in there: I got 25 percent off (it was $5.99) at Target.

It's a perfectly fine book, comforting and humorous. And a rather quick read.

I need to have a novel in progress while I'm reading my big non-fiction and history tomes. It helps if it's a short novel as well, so I can rip through it and feel a sense of accomplishment.

So, with Anne Tyler, it got me to thinking: Should I read more of her books? I bought this one on a whim, as it was. I was about to move into my town-home in Tustin and I was worried about disposable income after the mortgage payments would be due. I stocked up on all kinds of books. I go through jags and obsessive spurts like that.

I was about to give this one to the local library, since I have so many books on my shelves left unread after years and years of just sitting there, but I decided to give it a go, just to feel like I read some "pulp fiction."

In any case, it's worth a look.

At Amazon, Anne Tyler, The Amateur Marriage: A Novel.

Giulio Meotti, A New Shoah

At Amazon, Giulio Meotti, A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

ICYMI: Marjorie J. Spruill, Divided We Stand

At Amazon, Marjorie J. Spruill, Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women's Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics.

Austin Ruse, Fake Science

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, available July 17th, Austin Ruse, Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

"Crazy Bernie Sanders" trending on Twitter -Made with 100% corrupt ingredients (Bank fraud included) https://t.co/Oj98iIxEAZ pic.twitter.com/GQ5wfaOojV
— BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) June 25, 2017

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

Cartoon Credit: Ben Garrison.

Chicago Dyke March Collective Removes Pro-Israel Queers Waving Jewish Pride Flag from Annual LGBT Parade

It's come to this.

At Haaretz, "Chicago ‘Dyke March’ Bans Jewish Pride Flags: ‘They Made People Feel Unsafe’" (via Memeorandum).

Also at Twitchy, "TRIGGERED: Guess the country’s flag banned by tolerant lefties at Pride parade in Chicago."

"As a Jew, I'm not welcome here." If you get "triggered" by a Star of David you need to check your racism. https://t.co/BedsxAjlZJ
— Alex Ryvchin (@AlexRyvchin) June 25, 2017

Dyke March organizer explains the group's decision to expel Jews from Chicago Pride parade. https://t.co/9mgKhbXNig pic.twitter.com/8XYs109bUP
— John-Paul Pagano (@johnpaulpagano) June 25, 2017

Yeah so asking Pride marchers who display a Star of David to leave? That isn't "pro-Palestinian." It's anti-Semitic. https://t.co/h9qj8JT1JS
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 25, 2017

The Dyke March Chicago also banned American flags as symbols of oppression. They allowed flags from other countries. Give me a fucking break
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 25, 2017

The idea that America is uniquely oppressive among nations is one of the more idiotic things I have ever heard (and I've heard a lot!)
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 25, 2017

Pop quiz: Do gays have more rights in A) Israel or B) the Palestinian Authority? https://t.co/fXAPuJenfO
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 25, 2017

Trump Derangement Syndrome Has Become the New Plague

From Roger Simon, at Pajamas:

JUST PUBLISHED> Trump Derangement Syndrome Has Become the New Plague https://t.co/OMicxcqa6C #RogerLSimon via @pjmedia_com
— Roger Simon (@rogerlsimon) June 24, 2017

To what can we ascribe the continuing metastasis of Trump Derangement Syndrome, which has come to infect America, and indeed the world, almost to the level of a true plague?

The most recent of the seemingly endless incidents/outbreaks range from the ridiculous (hapless movie star Johnny Depp making a joke about assassinating the president and then recanting it...his agent must have called) to the genuinely creepy (a Democratic Party official declaring he was glad Steve Scalise was shot).

Yes, this last one was about a congressman, not the president. But we know the atmosphere that condoned it — the same atmosphere that enabled thirty GOP congressmen either to have been violently attacked or to have had their lives threatened since the beginning of May. (Such things did not happen BT/Before Trump.)

In the case of Depp, it was not so much his pathetic remarks that horrified — the actor is in the midst of a public nervous breakdown — but the raucous approval of his comments by the Glastonbury Festival audience, as if he had just given a shout-out to the local football team.

This automatic reaction by the rabble is just another example of the reach of Trump Derangement Syndrome, where assassination talk is de rigueur and Trump is regarded as a combination of Daddy Warbucks and Caligula with a little of The Joker thrown in. (Just the other day, author Michael Chabon told an Israel Radio interviewer that he wakes up every morning with the hope that Trump "is going to have a massive stroke, and, you know, be carted out of the White House on a gurney." The surprised Israeli interviewer told Breitbart he naturally thought Chabon was just joking, but then realized he wasn't. )

Of course the Congress, with its astoundingly tedious and extraordinarily phony Russia investigations, has congressmen and senators competing on an infinite loop to see who... mirror, mirror, on the wall... can be the most hypocritical of all. (Winner so far: Senator Mark Warner. Runner-up: Rep. Adam Schiff). They help spread the infection, scratching scabs that were, at best, of the most tangential interest months ago, until they gush blood all over again, keeping the Russia controversy alive and kicking, at least until Jon Ossoff makes his presidential run of 2032. (Not sure I'm joking.)

And speaking of competitions, the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN are no longer actual news organizations but contestants locked in a non-stop gladiatorial to dethrone Donald Trump via ceaseless leaks, most of which are either disinformation or absurdly trivial, and virtually all of which are illegal in the first place. But they don't care. It doesn't even seem to bother them that their journalistic reputations may be affected. They are infected. By this New Plague.

So they carry the infection on, spewing the bacterium, spreading the TDS Plague as assiduously as did the rats of the Middle Ages, the hated Yersinia pestis, no antidotes allowed, not on their pages anyway. At Blue State cocktail parties from Manhattan to Brentwood, people dare not open their mouths to say a tiny thing in favor of Trump, even to old friends, for fear of eternal ostracism. In our schools, conservatives are not allowed to speak. Patriotic films are only made if Clint Eastwood agrees, or maybe now Mark Wahlberg, on a nice day...

David M. Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, David M. Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed. Volume 1: The German Advance, The Encirclement Battle, and the First and Second Soviet Counteroffensives, 10 July - 24 August 1941.

New Deals. Every Day.

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

See, especially, Marcy NS-716R Magnetic Resistance Recumbent Bike.

Also, Savanna Orchards Gourmet Honey Roasted Nut Mix - Cashews, Almonds, Pecans and Pistachios (30 oz.).

And, Legit Camping - Double Hammock - Lightweight Parachute Portable Hammocks for Hiking, Travel, Backpacking, Beach, Yard - Gear Includes Nylon Straps & Steel Carabiners.

Here, STANLEY FATMAX SL10LEDS Rechargeable 920 Lumen LED Lithium Ion Spotlight.

Still more, LG Electronics 55UJ6300 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2017 Model).

And, 2016 Dell Inspiron 17 5000 Series 17.3" Flagship High Performance Laptop PC, Intel Core i5-6200U Processor, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, DVD+/-RW, Webcam, Bluetooth, HDMI, Windows 7 & 10 Professional.

Even more, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 6 Feet (1.8 Meters) - White.

BONUS: James Jones, From Here to Eternity.

Marisa Miller Rock and Roll Body Paint (VIDEO)

She's as hot as ever.

Also Tori Praver, Daniella Sarahyba, and Ana Paula Araújo.

For Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

H.G. Adler, Theresienstadt, 1941-1945

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, H.G. Adler, Theresienstadt, 1941-1945: The Face of a Coerced Community.

"Theresienstadt, 1941–1945: The Face of a Coerced Community, is the single most detailed and comprehensive account of any concentration camp."

Lakers Draft Lonzo Ball (VIDEO)

At the Los Angeles Times, "Lakers take ex-UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball with No. 2 pick in draft," and "Lonzo Ball is introduced as a Laker with the highest of expectations."

Also, "A look behind the scenes as the Lakers prepared to draft Lonzo Ball."

And, from Bill Plaschke, "Don't bet against Magic Johnson turning the Lakers around":

Four months ago he walked into a conference room at Lakers headquarters, plopped down at the front of a table occupied by several media members, and emptied his emotional pockets.

“I’m putting it all on the line. . . . I’m a risk taker. . . . If I didn’t think we could turn this around, you think I’d be sitting in this room?” Magic Johnson said on that February day after being named the team’s president of basketball operations.

He sounded like an excitable rookie. He had no proof beyond his charisma. He raised as many eyebrows as expectations. Surely this aging former star didn’t think he could rebuild a basketball team in the same daring, audacious way he once led it on the court, did he?

Well, turns out, he did. And the only thing crazier is, he’s doing it.

Four months later, at the end of a wild week that felt like a franchise rebirth, Magic Johnson met again with a few reporters, and again he was filled with the same bravado, only this time it was backed with new point guard Lonzo Ball, enough salary cap space to add two superstars next summer, and a renewed energy that has the town buzzing about the Lakers again.

“Look at my face, do you see that smile, do you see it?” he said Friday afternoon, lighting up his questioners with his giant trademark grin. “OK then! I’ve always bet on myself, right?”

He shook his head and added solemnly, “The tide has turned.”

So far, it has. And despite early skepticism, he’s turned it...

This reminds me of a few high school dances. pic.twitter.com/ASkbJFITUD
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) June 24, 2017

America First Policies PAC: 'Shaken' (VIDEO)

Following-up from previously, "Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, Target of America First Policies PAC."

The group's not out with its attack on Senator Heller yet, although I like this one below.

At at A.P, from January, "Trump advisers start ‘America First Policies’ nonprofit":

WASHINGTON (AP) — Six of President Donald Trump’s top campaign aides have banded together to start a nonprofit called “America First Policies” to back the White House agenda.

The group includes Trump’s digital and data director Brad Parscale, onetime deputy campaign manager Rick Gates and two campaign advisers to Vice President Mike Pence, Nick Ayers and Marty Obst.

David Bossie, another Trump deputy campaign manager, and Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser on the campaign communications team, also will be involved, according to a statement announcing the group.

“Some of the same like-minded individuals who put their energy into getting Mr. Trump elected are now going to be part of a grassroots group to go out there and help with the agenda, help the White House be successful,” Parscale said....

*****

America First Policies will conduct research into public policies and promote Trump’s favored causes, such as dismantling and replacing President Barack Obama’s health care law and changing immigration policies.

One of its first tasks is likely to be advocacy for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, whom the president said he would announce Tuesday night. The group doesn’t have yet have a public website, but its founders said to expect digital and television advertising around issues.

“This goes beyond Trump supporters,” Gates said. “We’re trying to capture all people who believe in the Trump agenda.”

Obama also started a nonprofit group, called Organizing for Action, to back his policies. Some Democrats say that group undercut the Democratic Party by siphoning away donors and keeping separate Obama’s contact list for millions of his supporters.

Many of the details of the new Trump-themed initiative have yet to be finalized.

Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, Target of America First Policies PAC

I don't even know this Dean Heller dude. He was the junior senator from Nevada, until Harry Reid retired. Now he's up for reelection in 2018, and extremely vulnerable. A Republican, he's afraid to vote for ObamaCare repeal, as apparently the state's poor have been helped by the law.

Of course, the new Senate-bill is expected to improve healthcare outcomes for lower-income Americans, helping more people afford insurance and get off the decrepit government Medicaid dole. But all the Democrats can do is scream, "PEOPLE WILL FUCKING DIE!"

In any case, at NYT, "Health Law Repeal Leaves Nevada Republican Torn Between Lawmakers" (via Memeorandum):

AMERICA FIRST POLICIES, the pro-Trump/Pence outside group that Pence has been raising for, is preparing a seven-figure ad buy against HELLER
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 23, 2017

WASHINGTON — Senator Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, is the man everyone wants. This has not been a good thing for him.

Brian Sandoval, the governor of Mr. Heller’s home state, is a Republican, but he is counting on Mr. Heller to provide what could be a crucial vote to maintain President Barack Obama’s health care law, which has been a boon for the working poor in Nevada. Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader who this week will be rounding up votes to fulfill his party’s biggest promise of the last decade — repealing the Affordable Care Act — is trying to prevent Mr. Heller from undermining that goal.

Democrats also want Mr. Heller, but in the form of an unemployed senator. As the only Republican who is up for re-election next year in a state that Hillary Clinton won, he may be their only shot at picking up a seat. Democrats and health care interest groups have been unloading on Mr. Heller all spring with no end in sight.

Far-right Republicans in his state — who strongly support President Trump — also have their eyes on Mr. Heller to see if he will abandon the president. Already a group that Vice President Mike Pence has supported is preparing a seven-figure ad campaign against the senator.

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Trump posted on Twitter, venting about Mr. Heller and other Republicans who are not supporting the Senate bill.

On Friday, Mr. Sandoval acknowledged the obvious. “He’s in the eye of the storm here,” Mr. Sandoval said at a news conference in Nevada as Mr. Heller stood next to him, looking vaguely miserable as Mr. Sandoval announced his opposition to the Senate bill. The legislation could affect 210,000 Nevada residents insured through the health care law’s expansion of Medicaid.

On Friday Mr. Heller said that he, too, was against the bill as it is currently drafted, leaving himself just enough wiggle room to continue his longstanding practice of being the senator in the middle, the man who wants to see the Medicaid program phased out, except when he decides he doesn’t. (Mr. Heller has taken both positions publicly.) He has also voted to take away money from Planned Parenthood, but tells some select audiences that “I have no problems with federal funding for Planned Parenthood.”

Mr. Heller, whose spokeswoman said he was not available for an interview, said at the news conference Friday that “this bill that’s currently in front of the United States Senate is not the answer — it’s simply not the answer.” He said, “It’s going to be very difficult to get me to a yes.”

More.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting.

Piotr Stefan Wandycz, The Twilight of French Eastern Alliances, 1926-1936

At Amazon, Piotr Stefan Wandycz, The Twilight of French Eastern Alliances, 1926-1936: French-Czechoslovak-Polish Relations from Locarno to the Remilitarization of the Rhineland.

Although France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia were in jeopardy from a recovery of German power after World War I and from a potential German hegemony in Europe, France failed in her efforts to maintain a system of alliances with her two imperiled neighbors. Focusing on the period from 1926 to 1936, Piotr Wandycz seeks to explain how and why these three nations, with so much at risk, neglected to act in concert. Wandycz is the author of a well-known study on the series of alliances constructed by France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia in the years following the Treaty of Versailles. In this current volume he picks up the story after the Locarno Pact (1925) and follows the progressive disintegration of the alliance system until the time of Hitler's remilitarization of the Rhineland.

Through an examination of the political, military, and economic relations among France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, the author provides valuable insights into an era that contained the seeds of the future war and the collapse of the historic European system. By relying on French, Polish, and more selectively Czechoslovak and Western archives, and thanks to his intimate knowledge of Central and East European published sources, he has filled a large gap in the history of prewar diplomacy. He shows how the divergent aims of Czechoslovakia and Poland combined with a decline of French willpower to prevent a real cohesion among the partners.

Jennifer Delacruz's Sunny and Hot Heat Forecast

I'm behind on my weather reports! I've been watching shows this last couple of evenings before bed. Normally, I read for a while, and do some scheduled blog postings.

No matter, here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer with the hot heat forecast. It's nice along the coasts, but scorching inland.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

Emily Ratajkowski Thong Bikini on Instragram

At London's Daily Mail, "Emily Ratajkowski showcases her pert derriere in a series of sizzling snaps as she enjoys a scorching getaway to Tuscany."

Also at Maxim, "EMILY RATAJKOWSKI DANCING TOPLESS AT A PHOTO SHOOT IS THE HOTTEST THING YOU'LL SEE TODAY."

British Parliament Hit by Massive Cyber Attack

Hmm...

At the Telegraph U.K., "Blackmail fears after Parliament hit by 'sustained and determined' cyber attack leaving MPs unable to access emails":

Parliament hit by 'sustained and determined' cyber attack https://t.co/gcKA3H7lKX
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 24, 2017

Tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph front page today: 'Blackmail fears after MPs hit by cyber attack' pic.twitter.com/Qu9PhfUDS8
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 24, 2017

Parliament has suffered its biggest ever cyber attack as hackers launched a “sustained and determined” attempt to break into MPs email accounts.

The “brute force” assault lasted for more than 12 hours on Friday as unknown hackers repeatedly targeted “weak” passwords of politicians and aides.

Parliamentary officials were forced to lock MPs out of their own email accounts as they scrambled to minimise the damage from the incident.

The network affected is used by every MP including Theresa May, the Prime Minister, and her cabinet ministers for dealing with constituents.

Experts last night warned that politicians could be exposed to blackmail or face a heightened threat of terrorist attack if emails were successfully accessed.

MPs also apologised to their constituents and expressed concerns that sensitive and private information shared with them may have leaked.

Fears were raised by cyber specialists that “state actors” such as Russia, China or North Korea could be behind the attack - thought Government sources said it was too early for conclusions...

More.

These really are acts of war and it's increasingly apparent that Western states are losing.

Miles Teller's Girlfriend Keleigh Sperry Bikini Pics

Heh, and this is just after last week, "Miles Teller Arrested for Being Drunk and Uncooperative in Public."

The dude needs to get it together or he's going to lose his hot girlfriend, lol.

At London's Daily Mail, "Beach babe! Miles Teller's model girlfriend Keleigh Sperry shows off her impressive body in skimpy blue bikini during Miami getaway."

Beach babe! Miles Teller's model girlfriend Keleigh Sperry shows off her body in a bikini during Miami getaway https://t.co/8Jo7kKYtSL
— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) June 24, 2017

Instagram Model Rebecca Burger Killed by Exploding Whipped Cream Canister

It's actually not a "freak" accident.

Those lethal whipped cream canisters were taken off the market, but apparently in Ms. Burger's case some rogue containers slipped through the regulatory cracks.

At USA Today below, and at Drunken Stepfather, "DEAD INSTAGRAM MODEL OF THE DAY."

Rebecca Burger was reportedly hit by an exploding whipped cream canister that was withdrawn from the market in 2013. https://t.co/zoCe2dm4yE
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) June 22, 2017

Lookouts and Radar Spotters on the Fitzgerald Should've Seen the Oncoming Cargo Ship

This is good. Click through and RTWT.

Maritime mystery: Why a U.S. destroyer failed to dodge a cargo ship https://t.co/duoPYVY99M
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 24, 2017

Ashley McGuire, Sex Scandal

At Amazon, Ashley McGuire, Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female.

Aftermath of Alexandria Showed Left-Wing Bullying at its Worst

From Mary Katharine Ham, at the Federalist, "Aftermath of Alexandria Shooting Showed the Left’s Cultural Bullying at its Worst":

Aftermath Of Alexandria Shooting Showed Left's Bullying At Its Worst https://t.co/q5zpFpDUOd
— The Federalist (@FDRLST) June 24, 2017

The behavior of many on the Left this week sent a message that not only do they not 'get' the other half of the country, they don’t want to. That's a recipe for losing elections.

James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois arrived in a D.C. suburb several months ago and lived out of his van next to a small local baseball field, which had recently been reported as the site of Republican congressional baseball practice. He took pictures of this otherwise unremarkable locale, and showed up there last Wednesday with two guns and a list of six elected Republicans on his person. He verified with a member of Congress that they were indeed Republicans on the field before opening fire, attempting to murder a bunch of them.

A week later, one of the victims, Rep. Steve Scalise, had been smeared by one national media figure and told his wound was “self-inflicted” by a nightly news anchor while he was still in the hospital fighting for his life. Republicans had been scolded for not changing their views on the Second Amendment in response to being attacked, and national media had either moved on from the story or moved on to scolding Republicans for their reaction to it.

Rep. Mo Brooks faced the question about his Second Amendment views just minutes after someone literally tried to murder him. Can we take a moment to think about how utterly crass this is? Imagine an abortion bomber blowing up a Planned Parenthood grand opening in Washington DC, injuring members of Congress in attendance. Then imagine most national news coverage including this question for their colleagues who escaped maiming: “Shouldn’t you probably consider changing your views on abortion? Maybe pass some common-sense limits on it?”

Yet Brooks offered a competent, calm civics class on the subject to anyone who was willing to listen.

Media Doesn’t Want to Talk About What Really Happened
National media covered the incident voraciously for several hours, but within a day, most had moved on to another leak in the Russia story. Less than 48 hours after a multiple assassination attempt on members of Congress, there were no media vans or cameras at the Alexandria baseball field where it occurred. Just for perspective, when Republican staffer Elizabeth Lauten committed the offense of writing something critical of President Obama’s daughters on her private Facebook page, news cameras were camped on her parents’ lawn staking her out for the better part of a week.

When the press was covering the shooting, it was mostly a gauzy, imprecise discussion of how “rhetoric” might have caused it, which means we’re in the business of determining whose rhetoric to stifle to prevent further violence. Wouldn’t you know it? The answer was… Donald Trump’s rhetoric, which has the magical power to compel a Bernie volunteer to shoot a long-time Trump-supporting Republican. Way to go on the narrative assist, there, Rep. Mark Sanford.

The New York Times went so far as to repeat a long-debunked lie blaming Sarah Palin’s political speech for the wholly unrelated shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords in an attempt to make Republicans culpable in a scenario in which Republicans were shot. All of its fact-checkers were presumably engaged in checking the statements of Republicans blaming Democratic rhetoric for the shooting, because those are their priorities. (For what it’s worth, I’ve been on record for a long time about how it’s unwise to conflate political speech with violence in a country that values free speech.)

Let’s Talk about How the Victims Responded, Instead
Less than a week after the shooting, there was a high-profile House election in Georgia—the most expensive House race in history. The Republican candidate Karen Handel had been specifically named by Hodgkinson in one of his anti-Republican Facebook rants. When I say named, I mean he called her a “shit” then exhorted his followers to “Vote Blue!” This tidbit got only the briefest of mentions outside local news, as did the threatening letters containing white powder Handel and her neighbors received days before the election. The powder turned out to be non-toxic.

Hodgkinson’s attempted massacre was not part of media coverage of GA-6 despite his act of intimidation having clear implications there. Targeting a specific population for its beliefs usually has a secondary consequence—to cow the members of the community the murderer didn’t succeed in killing. Would Republican voters be intimidated into staying home or emboldened by this attack on elected Republicans? It seems like an interesting question in a special election where turnout is important and unpredictable, yet it was rarely if ever discussed.

Instead, the only time the shooting came up in national media coverage of GA-6 was when an outside group ran a small, ham-handed ad tying Democratic rhetoric to the shooting. The ad was promptly, rightly denounced by Handel, but the scolding coverage of the ad went on for a day. My, how quickly we move in the news cycle from Republicans literally shot to Republican overreach about Republicans being literally shot.

Handel’s win thanks to the turnout of Republicans could and should have been celebrated as a defiant stand by free citizens in the face of an attack meant to scare them out of engaging in democracy. Exercising your right to vote then celebrating an electoral victory are very healthy ways to defy a gunman who tried to kill people who share your beliefs.

Instead, in the wake of Handel’s solid win, which snatched the #Resistance’s longed-for victory, Washington Post writer Dave Weigel scolded Republicans for “dunking” on Democrats despite everyone’s one-day indulgence of “come together” rhetoric, as if four hours of praise-hands emoji and super-hot memes on Twitter is part of the “climate of hate.”

In our hypothetical above about an attack on elected officials at Planned Parenthood, imagine a loudly pro-choice candidate winning an important, high-profile victory less than a week later and the news media tsk-tsking Emily’s List for celebrating that win...

More.

Friday, June 23, 2017

Bruce Bawer, The Victims' Revolution

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Bruce Bawer, The Victims' Revolution: The Rise of Identity Studies and the Closing of the Liberal Mind.

Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism

Robert Stacy McCain regularly cites this book.

At Amazon, Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations.

Public Support for Single-Payer Healthcare

At Pew Research, "Public support for ‘single payer’ health coverage grows, driven by Democrats":

Public support for ‘single payer’ health coverage grows, driven by Democrats https://t.co/RwfANnwRv1 pic.twitter.com/0I1Un1kT1L
— PewResearch FactTank (@FactTank) June 23, 2017

A majority of Americans say it is the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage. And a growing share now supports a “single payer” approach to health insurance, according to a new national survey by Pew Research Center.

Currently, 60% say the federal government is responsible for ensuring health care coverage for all Americans, while 39% say this is not the government’s responsibility. These views are unchanged from January, but the share saying health coverage is a government responsibility remains at its highest level in nearly a decade.

Among those who see a government responsibility to provide health coverage for all, more now say it should be provided through a single health insurance system run by the government, rather than through a mix of private companies and government programs. Overall, 33% of the public now favors such a “single payer” approach to health insurance, up 5 percentage points since January and 12 points since 2014. Democrats – especially liberal Democrats – are much more supportive of this approach than they were even at the start of this year.

Even among those who say the federal government is not responsible for ensuring Americans have health care coverage, there is little public appetite for government withdrawing entirely from involvement in health care coverage. Among the public, 33% say that health care coverage is not the government’s responsibility, but that programs like Medicare and Medicaid should be continued; just 5% of Americans say the government should not be involved at all in providing health insurance.

The issue of the government’s responsibility in ensuring health coverage remains deeply divisive politically, according to the new survey, conducted June 8-18 among 2,504 adults. More than eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (85%) say that this responsibility falls to the federal government, while about two-thirds of Republicans and Republican leaners (68%) say it does not.

Still, most Republicans (57%) say the government “should continue programs like Medicare and Medicaid for seniors and the very poor.” Just 9% of Republicans say the government should not be involved in providing health insurance at all...

Democrats are socialists, if we didn't know that by now --- and if they had their way, we'd have much worse healthcare outcomes than we already do. Much more healthcare inequality, especially, with the well-off able to afford private medical care, and those less well-off stuck in substandard government-run Cuba-style "healthcare" hellholes.

And don't forget, Venezuala should be a cautionary tale for leftists, but it's not.

Via Memeorandum.

Nina Skye, 21-Year-Old Preschool Teacher in Los Angeles, Fired After Appearing in Pornography Videos

I don't know?

Maybe she can make more money doing porn. She clearly enjoys it. At London's Daily Mail and Heat Street:

'I love teaching, I love sex': Christian kindergarten teacher, 21, who starred in $2,500-a-time PORN films is fired https://t.co/gR6kZIyJ0D pic.twitter.com/RSHodpwA6e
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) June 23, 2017

TFW society won't let you do porn and teach kids how to read. https://t.co/nCjfgZmYqp
— Heat Street (@heatstreet) June 23, 2017

GOP #ObamaCare Repeal Will Transform American Health Care

From Avik Roy, at Forbes, via Memeorandum, "The New Senate Republican Bill Will Transform American Health Care":

Finished reading the Senate HC bill. Put simply: If it passes, it’ll be the greatest policy achievement by a GOP Congress in my lifetime.
— Avik Roy (@Avik) June 22, 2017

I’m very open to thoughtful critiques of the Senate bill from the left. “MILLIONS WILL DIE” is not it.
— Avik Roy (@Avik) June 23, 2017

The hotly-anticipated Senate Republican health care bill came out on Thursday morning. The airwaves quickly filled up with predictable talking points from both sides. But once the dust settles, it will emerge that the Senate bill will have far-reaching effects on American health care: for the better.

Substantial improvements to the House bill

In March, when House Republicans published their bill to replace Obamacare—the American Health Care Act—I described it in Forbes this way: “GOP’s Obamacare Replacement Will Make Coverage Unaffordable For Millions—Otherwise, It’s Great.” I meant it. There were great things about the House bill, in particular its far-reaching reforms of the Medicaid program.

But Paul Ryan’s bill contained a fatal flaw. Its flat tax credits, which provided identical assistance to the poor and the wealthy, would price millions of near-elderly low-income workers out of the insurance market and trap millions more in poverty.

Fortunately, buried in the House bill was a way out of the morass. Section 202 of the bill contains a transitional schedule of tax credits that was meant to serve as a bridge between the old Obamacare system, ending in 2017, and the new Paul Ryan system, beginning in 2020.

It turns out that if you simply kept that bridge in force, and tossed overboard the Paul Ryan flat tax credit, you’d solve all of these problems with the House bill. By making that change, the near-elderly working poor would be able to afford coverage, and the poverty trap would be eliminated.

And that’s precisely what the Senate bill did! Section 102 of the Senate bill—the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017—closely mirrors Section 202 of the House bill, with age- and means-tested tax credits up to 350 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

Making this change not only solves the problems I described above. It also makes it easier to reform the Medicaid program.

Real Medicaid reforms

The Senate bill includes and refines the best part of the House bill: its reforms of Medicaid, the dysfunctional government-run health care program for the poor whose enrollees have no better health outcomes than the uninsured.

Because the Senate bill’s tax credits are robustly means-tested and available to those below the poverty line, the bill is able to repeal Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion while offering higher-quality coverage to individuals who signed up for Medicaid under the expansion.

The reason that Medicaid’s health outcomes are so poor is because the outdated 1965 Medicaid law places a laundry list of constraints on states’ ability to manage their Medicaid programs. As a result, the main tool states have to keep Medicaid costs under control is to pay doctors and hospitals less and less each year for the same care. Hence, many doctors don’t take Medicaid, and Medicaid enrollees struggle to gain access to care.

The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 addresses these problems in several ways.

First, the bill repeals Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, and replaces it with tax credits so that low-income Americans can buy the coverage of their choice at an affordable price.

Second, the bill gives states a new set of tools to make their Medicaid programs. For example, under Obamacare, states are only allowed to check if someone is eligible for Medicaid once a year, even if that enrollee has moved to a different state, or becomes no longer eligible, or is no longer alive. Jonathan Ingram of the Foundation for Government Accountability, in a recent report, recommended allowing states to redetermine eligibility more frequently and thereby culling their rolls of ineligible individuals.

Third, the bill puts the legacy Medicaid program on a long-term per-capita cap tied to medical inflation through 2025, and conventional inflation (CPI-U) thereafter. This change is important, because Medicaid per-enrollee spending is growing at a slightly slower rate than Medical inflation; hence, making the program sustainable requires the use of CPI-U. The fiscal sustainability of Medicaid is essential to making sure that those who depend on the program can know it will be there for them in the future...

Keep reading.

Trevor Noah on the Philando Castile Shooting Video

Leftists think they're on some high horse here?

The cops gunned down this dude. The cops murdered him. It's plain as day. It's not, however, a case for the "Black Lives Matter" movement. That's about cop-killing. We're supposed to be a nation of laws. There was no justice in the Philando Castile case, and that's really sad.

Watch, "Trevor Noah on the Philando Castile Shooting: 'Forget race. Are we all watching the same video?'"

PREVIOUSLY: "Minnesota Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile."

Democrat Party of Hate and Destruction (VIDEO)

Watch, from this morning's Fox & Friends, at Fox News, "Judge Jeanine: Democrats a party of hate and destruction."

April Playmate Nina Daniele (VIDEO)

Here, "Nina Daniele Sexy Pics (10 Pics)."

'Rainbow Armpit Hair for Pride'

Seen on Twitter:

Rainbow Armpit Hair For Pride Is the Most Amazing Thing You'll See Today https://t.co/VBZuvaHxf9 pic.twitter.com/IF9uADBvJv
— Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) June 21, 2017

NO IT ISNT https://t.co/4EV7IjoCyh
— Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) June 23, 2017

Shop Best Sellers in Grocery and Gourmet Food

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Grocery & Gourmet Food.

And, Shop Gourmet Coffee.

BONUS: Cynthia Enloe, Bananas, Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics.

Total Insanity at Evergreen State College (VIDEO)

There's still a couple of things reassuring about the whole mess at Evergreen: One, the leftist totalitarians are still outnumbered by people who oppose them (and who have powerful ways to get the opposition message out); and two, at some point, the Evergreen students will have to go out and make it in the real world. Most of these students will seek jobs at leftist non-profits and radical progressive interest groups and think tanks (if they indeed seek work at all). But if some of them want employment in regular corporate America, they'll find there's a limit at even the most tolerant and progressive firms to the obscenities of social justice extremism.

In any case, watch the video below, and read the commentary and analysis at the Other McCain, "The Catastrophe at Evergreen State":

As has been pointed out, Professor Weinstein “supported Bernie Sanders, admiringly retweets Glenn Greenwald and was an outspoken supporter of the Occupy Wall Street movement” and calls himself “deeply progressive,” but that’s not enough for the thugs at Evergreen.

Out in Paper: Clinton Romesha, Red Platoon

Now available in paperback, at Amazon, Clinton Romesha, Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Monday, June 26, 2017

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Friday, June 23, 2017

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