Russia Story Has Become the 'Brier Patch' from Which the Trump Administration Cannot Escape

Since Maggie Haberman, et al., are attempting to become the next Woodward and Bernstein, I thought I'd actually read their partisan attacks on the White House.

If there's any glee going around, it's found among the radical left's mass-media attack dogs.

In any case, at the New York Time (FWIW), "Rancor at White House as Russia Story Refuses to Let the Page Turn" (safe link):

WASHINGTON — If President Trump emerged from his meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia last week hoping he had begun to “move forward” from the controversy over the Kremlin’s election meddling, as advisers put it, his flight home the next day made clear just how overly optimistic that was.

As Air Force One jetted back from Europe on Saturday, a small cadre of Mr. Trump’s advisers huddled in a cabin helping to craft a statement for the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., to give to The New York Times explaining why he met last summer with a lawyer connected to the Russian government. Participants on the plane and back in the United States debated how transparent to be in the statement, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Ultimately, the people said, the president signed off on a statement from Donald Trump Jr. for The Times that was so incomplete that it required day after day of follow-up statements, each more revealing than the last. It culminated on Tuesday with a release of emails making clear that Mr. Trump’s son believed the Russian lawyer was seeking to meet with him to provide incriminating information about Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

The Russia story has become the brier patch from which the president seemingly cannot escape. It dominated his trip to Europe last week and, after he leaves on Wednesday night for a couple of days in France, it may dominate that trip as well. Every time Mr. Trump tries to put the furor behind him, more disclosures thrust it back onto the Washington agenda...

Keep reading.

Also, at Memeorandum, "‘Category 5 hurricane’: White House under siege by Trump Jr.'s Russia revelations."

Garth Kemp's Monsoon Moisture Forecast

I watched the All-Star Game, and then read books until bedtime, and thus never got around to posting my evening weather entry.

So, it's been a lot cooler, about 10 degrees cooler than Sunday and Monday, which was a relief. We finally got our air-conditioning up and running again as well, so that was extra nice.

More tonight on the weather, but meanwhile, here's Garth Kemp at CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

A.J.P. Taylor, Struggle for Mastery in Europe

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, A.J.P. Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe: 1848-1918.

Max Hastings, Catastrophe 1914

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Max Hastings, Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War.

Is it 'America First'? Or, America in Isolation?

Following-up from this morning, "Emmanuel Macron Pushed Brusquely to the Front of G20 Group Photo, So He Could Stand Next to President Trump (VIDEO)."

This article, below, at the Los Angeles Times, is what I was talking about. 19 nation-states against 1, the United States, most emphatically on the issue of "climate change." It occurred to me last night that all of these other nations are literally leading the world community off a cliff into non-survival and oblivion. There's not enough windmills and solar panels in the world to power the energy needs of the real people of the global community. This, among the most important things, is why Trump's presidency is so brilliant.

See, "Trump's 'America first' approach receives a cold reception at global summit" (safe link):

President Trump's signature slogan — “America first” — has been tweaked recently by administration aides eager to show that his nationalism is not at odds with the United States' traditional global leadership role. Their new version: "America first does not mean America alone."

Yet America was undeniably alone as Trump on Saturday departed the annual summit of the so-called Group of 20 leaders here. With the leaders' final statement, it was evident that Trump's prioritization of American self-interest — on environmental agreements, trade, migration and more — left him, and thus America, often in unfamiliar isolation.

After two days of cordial smiles, handshakes and back-slapping, Trump expressed satisfaction with the summit. Even so, he was alone among leaders of the world’s major economic powers in dissenting from its resolution affirming the Paris climate accord. And while he has threatened to abandon existing trade deals and penalize countries for what he sees as unfair trade practices, particularly on steel exports, the summit’s closing declaration affirmed support for open markets and fighting protectionism.

After the more exclusive Group of 7 summit in May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had described the meeting as “six against one” — the one being the United States. As she closed the G-20 gathering that she hosted this week, Merkel again singled out the United States.

In a news conference, Merkel said she “deplores” America’s decision to walk away from the Paris climate agreement and, despite Trump’s comments, does not believe the administration is open to renegotiating the terms agreed to among more than 190 nations to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Merkel, as she has before, called on European countries to step into the vacuum that Trump is leaving on the world stage.

"We as Europeans have to take our fate into our own hands," she said.

The new French president, Emmanuel Macron, who will host Trump next week in Paris to mark Bastille Day, echoed his ally Merkel. “The world has never been so divided,” he said.

In another break from past decades, the United States seemed closer to Russia — in goodwill if not on many issues — than with traditional allies such as Germany and France after Trump’s genial tete-a-tete with President Vladimir Putin, which was the presidents’ first meeting since Trump took office.

Trump’s meeting with Putin, lasting more than two hours, was his longest with any leader. He raised Americans’ concerns over Russian election meddling, according to aides, but the two presidents decided to put the matter behind them and move on to discuss how they can address their differences over Syria, Ukraine and North Korea.

Unlike many other leaders, including Putin, Trump didn’t hold a news conference at the conclusion as American presidents typically have. Putin, in his meeting with reporters, denied again — as he did to Trump on Friday — that Russia interfered in the U.S. election, and said he thinks that Trump accepted his face-to-face denials.

Putin also said that Trump asked him many questions about Russia’s alleged meddling, which Trump has called “a hoax” despite the consensus of American intelligence agencies that Russia did try to sway the election to Trump. FBI and congressional investigations also are probing whether Trump associates colluded with Russia.

White House officials declined to challenge Putin’s view that Trump accepted his denials when questioned by reporters aboard Air Force One en route back to Washington.

Trump "will be happy to make statements himself" about his meeting with Putin, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said...

More.

Christina Ionno for PSM Magazine for Men

Ooh!

Seductive, "Christina Ionno by Tony Ellis."

Keilani Asmus for Treats! Magazine

At Editorials Fashion Trends, "KEILANI ASMUS FOR TREATS! #12."

Behind the Scenes with Lada Kravchenko (VIDEO)

Following-up from May, "Playboy Playmate Lada Kravchenko May 2017 (VIDEO)."

Watch, at Playboy's YouTube channel, "Behind the Scenes with May Playmate Lada Kravchenko."

Trump the Traditionalist

From arch neocon Elliott Abrams, at Foreign Affairs, "Trump the Traditionalist: A Surprisingly Standard Foreign Policy":

Imagine two U.S. foreign policy analysts plucked from their Washington think tanks and marooned on desert islands, one just before Donald Trump announced his presidential candidacy and the other just before the 2016 election itself. After the election, both are told that the Republican candidate won and are asked to predict the new administration’s foreign policy. Whose predictions would have been more accurate?

At times this spring, the second analyst’s forecasts would have been on the money. Having followed the bitter election, he or she would have foretold the nature of the transition and the early weeks of the new administration as a logical continuation of the campaign. The starkly nationalist rhetoric of Trump’s inaugural address; the president’s unpredictable tweets; the departure of Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, after only 25 days in office; and a whole host of other developments solidified many professionals’ sense that Trump would break dramatically with long-standing traditions and with recent policy. As the months passed, however, the analyst’s predictions would have been increasingly off base as the administration’s foreign policy became more conventional.

Meanwhile, the other desert-island refugee, who would have missed Trump’s surprising ascent and the bizarre campaign that followed, would likely have predicted that no matter who won the GOP nomination and despite any idiosyncrasies that emerged during election season, the realities of governing and of leading in a complex world would ultimately produce a fairly familiar Republican approach to foreign policy. And on balance, this analyst would have been right.

The Trump administration has been in office for less than six months, and most jobs below the cabinet level still remain unfilled, so one must tread carefully when making judgments about its approach or predictions about its future. But it is already clear that this is not a revolutionary administration. The broad lines of its policy fit easily within those of the last few decades. Trump might not be a conventional president, but so far, his foreign policy has been remarkably unremarkable.

A BREITBART PRESIDENCY?

This is a far cry from what many observers expected (and what some continue to worry about): a radical departure from tradition and the emergence of what might be called a Bannonite administration, after Steve Bannon, the populist-nationalist provocateur who chaired Trump’s campaign and was later named his chief White House strategist. Before joining the Trump team, Bannon had led Breitbart News, the online publishing company that he described as “the platform for the alt-right” and that regularly railed against “globalists” in the foreign policy establishment...

Keep reading.

Young Japanese People Are Not Having Sex

That's not good, heh.

At the Independent U.K., "Nearly half of Japanese people are entering their 30s without any sexual experience, leaving the country facing a steep population decline":

The country is facing a steep population decline as a growing number of youngsters abstain from sex and avoid romantic relationships.

Some men claimed they "find women scary" as a poll found that 43 per cent of people aged 18 to 34 from the island nation say they are virgins.

One woman, when asked why they think 64 per cent of people in the same age group are not in relationships, said she thought men "cannot be bothered" to ask the opposite sex on dates because it was easier to watch internet porn.

The number of births dropped below one million in Japan for the first time last year, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research predicts that the country's current population of 127 million will decline by nearly 40 million by 2065.

The fertility crisis has left politicians scratching their heads as to why youngsters are not having more sex...

Plus, more from Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "IT’S A TRICK QUESTION: THEY’RE NOT COMING FROM ANYWHERE. Question: Where do Japanese babies come from?":

Who knew how prescient the Vapors were in 1980, when they warned, “No sex, no drug, no wine, no women?”

Democrats Continue to Beat a Dead Horse

Following-up, "Donald Trump, Jr., Email Allegedly Specifies Tie to Moscow in Effort to 'Incriminate Hillary'."

From Wesley Pruden, at the Washington Times, "Another dead horse, another beating":

We’re finally getting somewhere. Dead horses are useless to most folks, but Democrats, rendering plants and certain newspapers are determined to follow the stink.
The latest scoop by the intrepid horse-hunters of The New York Times has led to a meeting by Donald Trump with Russians who were said to have savory secrets about Hillary Clinton for sale. This was at a meeting during what the newspaper called “an inflection point” in the late, lamented presidential campaign of 2016.

Too bad for the crack scoop artists of The New York Times, it wasn’t actually Donald Trump, but Donald Trump Jr., who manages the family real-estate interests, and what they talked about was American adoptions of Russian babies and a Miss Universe Contest, a franchise owned by the Trump interests, for Moscow. Whether they discussed shoe and bra sizes of contestants, whether the Russians promised contestants with the perfect 38-24-36 measurements so prized by beauty-contest judges, The New York Times did not say. Perhaps the newspaper is saving that for further scoops in the coming days.

It’s not clear what The New York Times was looking for in this particular dead-horse account, perhaps proof that Mr. Trump had sent a campaign team bearing a hollowed-out watermelon with microfilmed specifications for the next generation of the H-Bomb inside. After months of huffing, puffing and promising the real goods, we still haven’t seen a smoking gun, or whatever cliche we’re using this month to describe the evidence that would overturn the election results, cancel the Gorsuch appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, and install Hillary Clinton in the White House at last. Or something like that.

In the Times account, it was “unclear whether the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, actually produced the promised compromising information about Mrs. Clinton.” But with smoke like that — a Russian spy named “Natalia” with an unpronounceable surname is all John le Carre would need to spin a dark tale of intrigue, with or without microfilm in a hollowed-out watermelon. Who needs fire?

*****

So far, the story was another of the nothingburgers served up as appetizers for the promised porterhouse about Russian collusion with Donald Trump, senior not junior, for so long expected from the magpie media. For the record, the account noted that the president’s lawyers said, “The president was not aware of and did not attend the meeting.” But if any reader wanted to think he had, that was OK by the newspaper. If it wasn’t true, it could have been.

Still more.

Hailey Clauson in Sumba Island (VIDEO)

Via Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.

Donald Trump, Jr., Email Allegedly Specifies Tie to Moscow in Effort to 'Incriminate Hillary'

It's still a nothing-burger to me, but everybody's over the moon about this latest development, so here you go.

At NYT, "Russian Dirt on Clinton? 'I Love It,' Donald Trump Jr. Said." (Safe link.)

But see Joel Pollack, at Breitbart, "Donald Trump Jr. Releases 'Russia Email' Chain":

The Times reported the existence of the introductory email on Monday evening, though it had not seen the email, did not possess the email, did not verify the email, and relied on second-hand descriptions from “three people with knowledge of the email,” presumably from the intelligence community or from one of the intelligence committees in Congress.

(On Tuesday morning, it proclaimed: “The Times now has the email to Donald Trump Jr. offering Russian aid to ‘incriminate Hillary’,” after Donald Trump, Jr. had made the email available to the general public.)

Donald Trump, Jr. accompanied the release of the email chain with a statement in which he stated that he thought the lawyer had “Political Opposition Research” on Clinton, and that the meeting had taken place “before the current Russian fever was in vogue.” He reiterated that the lawyer “had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act.” He did not comment on the publicist’s statement that the information was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

The email does not refer to any cooperation, coordination or collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

Honesty, it's not much.

I don't blog about Russia that much because it's a faux scandal created by the faux news media and perpetuated by faux political experts.

Everything's fake. It's the one time in my life in which I don't really enjoy following politics. I haven't watched television news in weeks. I read my books and click around for memes on Twitter, as well as reading a few so-called "hard news" stories on my iPhone apps.

In any case, more at Memeorandum, "Russian Government Sought to Aid Trump's Candidacy, According to Email."

Emmanuel Macron Pushed Brusquely to the Front of G20 Group Photo, So He Could Stand Next to President Trump (VIDEO)

You know, this one story puts the lie to all the leftist media establishment hit pieces claiming how the U.S. was weakened and belittled at the G20 summit (because of President Trump).

Actually, it's a joke. None of those countries at the conference --- not one --- could manage effectively without close economic, military, and diplomatic relations with the U.S.

At the Telegraph U.K, "Emmanuel Macron 'did not breach protocol by pushing to front of G20,' say the French":

Emmanuel Macron was merely following protocol when he elbowed his way to the front of G20 leaders to stand beside Donald Trump for a group photograph, French media claimed on Sunday.

Le Parisien newspaper said: “As shown in a video by the British daily, The Telegraph, the president of the [French] Republic treated himself to a little stroll before taking his place beside his American counterpart.”

Initially placed towards the back of the group for the “family photograph” of leaders attending the Hamburg summit, Mr Macron is shown in the footage pushing to the front.

After surprising Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, as he jostled past him, Mr Macron paused briefly to embrace the Norwegian premier, Erna Soldberg, on both cheeks.

“All this [happened] as Angela Merkel looked on, astonished or even annoyed,” Le Parisien reported.

The newspaper, reputed for its accurate and fair coverage, commented: “Despite condemnation by some media, especially the British, who considered that the French president moved of his own accord to be closer to Donald Trump, in reality the placement follows a strict diplomatic rule.”

You don't "elbow your way" to the front unless you're scared someone else is going to be photographed next to the President of the U.S. and you're not. Good on Macron. His actions show he's not as hare-brained as I'd thought.

Also at American Thinker, "French president Macron pushed his way to stand next to President Trump at G-20 group photo."

Anna Faris Bikini Pics

At Drunken Stepfather, "ANNA FARIS LOOKING GOOD IN A BIKINI OF THE DAY."

Emily Ratajkowski for Harper's Bazaar Australia: 'My boobs are too big...'

Heh.

And who's complaining?!

Here, "EMILY RATAJKOWSKI IS OUR AUGUST COVER STAR":

She ... addressed backlash she has garnered, including her now-famous topless selfie with Kim Kardashian and her unapologetic belief that being sexual and being a feminist are not mutually exclusive. "There's this thing that happens to me: 'Oh, she's too sexy'," she says. "It's like an anti-woman thing, that people don't want to work with me because my boobs are too big. What's wrong with boobs? They're a beautiful feminine thing that needs to be celebrated. Like, who cares? They are great big, they are great small. Why should that be an issue?"

Here, a sneak peek at the August issue before it goes on sale Monday, August 3rd...

Click through for the photos.

Hat Tip: WWTDD, "Emily Ratajkowski Boobs Prevent Her From Getting Work."

Hannah Jeter Revealing Mexico Shoot (VIDEO)

Via Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Hal McRae Ain't Buying 'Your Wussy Modern Sliding Rules...'

Heh.

This is great, on Twitter, "Super B-Day to Hal McRae, who isn't buying your wussy modern sliding rules."

Happy B-Day, brother.

Ellie Goulding Italian Bikini Vacation

At London's Daily Mail, "Good as Gould-ing: Ellie showcases her athletic figure in skimpy black two-piece as she smooches her boyfriend Caspar Jopling on a boat in Capri."

And at WWTDD, "Ellie Goulding Italian Bikini Vacay and Stuff Around the Web."

Jackie Johnson's Very Warm Forecast

We're going to have slightly lower temperatures, but if you're inland, it won't be that much relief.

It's July folks. Wonderful weather if you're down by the beach or out at the pool. Otherwise, stay inside and pump your air conditioning.

Here's the lovely Ms. Jackie, who debuted her baby bump for tonight's forecast.

Trump's Alt-Right, White Nationalist Speech in Poland

Gawd, I'd completely forgotten about Amanda Marcotte!

She blocked me on Twitter years ago, and since she's had no recent meltdowns, she's totally escaped my mind (phew!).

But here she is, gurgling back up from the demonic depths, at Salon (wouldn't you know it?), "Trump’s alt-right Poland speech: Time to call his white nationalist rhetoric what it is." (Safe link.)

Actually, I think Vox beat her to this meme, but at least she's clinging to the ideological hatred, heh.

Today's Deals

At Amazon, Gold Box Deals.

See, especially, Onkyo TX-RZ610 7.2 Channel Network A/V Receiver.

Also, Shop American Flags.

And, Cutter Backwoods Insect Repellent (Aerosol) (HG-26283) (Twin Pack) (11 oz.).

Plus, Shop Camping Equipment.

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

More, Shop Kitchen & Housewares.

Still more, Haribo Gummi Candy, Original Gold-Bears, 5-Ounce Bags (Pack of 12).

BONUS: Ernst Jünger, Storm of Steel.

Eugene B. Sledge, With the Old Breed

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, E.B. Sledge, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa.

Sharyl Attkisson, The Smear

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Sharyl Attkisson, The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote.

Mia Kang Leaves Nothing to the Imagination in Mexico (VIDEO)

Watch, "Mia Kang's 'Vajazzle' Leaves Nothing To The Imagination in Mexico - Sports Illustrated Swimsuit."

California Democrats Plunge Into 'Civil War'

Heh.

I love this.

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

At Politico, "In the wake of Donald Trump's election, progressives are demanding the party move more aggressively on a variety of issues":

LOS ANGELES — Long-standing tensions between the Democratic Party’s moderate and liberal wings have ignited in California, where progressive activists are redirecting their anger over Donald Trump and congressional Republicans toward Democratic leaders at home.

Stoked by a contested race for state Democratic Party chair and the failure of a single-payer health care bill, activists are staging protests at the capitol. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon reported receiving death threats after shelving the health care legislation late last month, and security was tightened at the statehouse after activists disrupted a floor session last week.

The rancor, a spillover from the contentious Democratic presidential primary last year, is aggravating divisions in a state regarded nationally as a lodestar for the liberal cause. Establishment Democrats fear the rhetoric and appetite for new spending could go too far, jeopardizing the party’s across-the-board dominance of state politics.

All of it has taken on new significance as California embraces its role as the focal point of the anti-Trump resistance.

“We’re on the same team,” said Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, chairman of the Assembly’s progressive caucus. “We should not be fighting one another. We should argue with one another. … It should not devolve into something where it could tear the party apart.”

California established itself as a fortress of the opposition immediately after Trump’s election, with Democrats advancing high-profile legislation to defy the new president on climate change and immigration.

But progressives who have long agitated for more spending on social services and for stricter environmental and campaign finance rules believed that they might seize the post-Trump moment for other causes, too. Despite victories on a range of issues here in recent years, liberal activists have fallen short in other areas, unsettling progressives across the country who view California as a state in which they should be racking up wins...

This is especially interesting since Governor Brown has tacked to the hard left, positioning himself as the progressive left's main antagonist to President Trump, especially on, ahem, "climate change." See, "As Trump Steps Back, Jerry Brown Talks Climate Change in China," and "Jerry Brown Announces a Climate Summit Meeting in California."

The revolution inevitable eats its own. Governor Brown can't stop the anarcho-communist hoards agitating for the revolution.

Linda Sarsour Denies Call to Take 'Vaginas Away' From Brigitte Gabriel and Ayaan Ali Hirsi

I saw folks retweeting this Legal Insurrection post last night, "Linda Sarsour’s Little Lie about her vile attack on Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Big Deal."

Sarsour's vile. Extremely nasty.




She published an op-ed yesterday at WaPo, "Islamophobes are attacking me because I’m their worst nightmare."

I responded on Twitter, here and here.

See also, Lee Smith, at the Tablet, "Linda Sarsour’s Jihad."

President Trump Picks Up Marine's Hat

At the Hill, "Trump puts hat on Marine after wind carries it away."

And at Theo's, "WINNING as obvious as Day from Night..."



Added: Here's the video, at Fox News, "President Trump picks up Marine's hat in viral video."

Allie Stuckey Breaks Down 'Signs of Snowflakery' (VIDEO)

She's the Conservative Millennial on Twitter.

And at Fox & Friends this morning, "Reaction after mainstream media melts down over the term 'snowflake' (VIDEO)."

Cosmo May Have Outdone Itself with This Garbage Piece on Baby Gender

At Twitchy, "‘Are you f*cking NUTS?!’":

Dear Cosmo,

Stick it where the sun don’t shine.

Love,

Parents...

Fortunately we have President Trump rolling back the Obama admin's degenerate gender policies.

Leftists are losing on this issue, but don't seem to know it (think Bill Nye the Idiot Guy).

Why Democrats Are Still Losing the War of Ideas

This is great!

From Karol Markowicz, at the New York Post:

Last week, a Politico/Morning Consult poll on President Trump’s proposed travel ban on visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries revealed a somewhat surprising discovery: 60 percent of voters agreed with Trump’s proposed ban. That includes 56 percent of independents and even 41 percent of Democrats.

The plan, however, has a distinct advantage: It’s the only idea on the table.

What’s the alternative to the ban from the left? What’s the plan to stop terrorist attacks? Literally nothing.

Every time there’s a deadly attack, liberals rush to downplay the dead bodies as just a regular part of life and not take any action lest we radicalize more terrorists. After the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, then-President Barack Obama said that we “refuse to be terrorized.” After the November 2015 terrorist attacks in France, the deadliest day of violence in France since World War II, Mayor Bill de Blasio said “terrorists can’t succeed if we refuse to be terrorized.”

But that just isn’t true. We can all refuse to be terrorized and get murdered anyway. Trump’s ban is the only idea that isn’t “Go on with our lives as if nothing happened.”

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders, the great leftist hope, says seriously that terrorism is caused by climate change. No wonder Trump’s ban is resonating...

Professor Caroline Heldman Discusses President Trump and the #G20Summit (VIDEO)

She's a verifiable nutjob, lol.

Remember my post from a long time ago, "Professor Caroline Heldman Clueless on Politics of Town Halls."

Here she is (FWIW), at CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Sean McMeekin, July 1914

At Amazon, Sean McMeekin, July 1914: Countdown to War.

Christina Aguilera Patriotic Instagram Pics

Heh.

At Egotastic!, "Christina Aguilera Patri-erotic Instagram Pics for America."

And at People Magazine, "Red, White, and ‘Dirrty!’ Christina Aguilera Celebrates the Fourth of July with Sexy Photo Shoot."

Danielle Gersh's Hot and Humid Forecast

It's wasn't record-breaking heat, but still above average. Very hot and muggy. My air conditioning was acting up today, so it was uncomfortable around 6:00pm. We've got all the windows open now for some flow-through ventilation, so it's not too bad after all.

In any case, I hope you're enjoying your summer. I'm just chillin'. Watching baseball and reading. I've been getting some exercise too, walking between 5 and 8 miles when I head out (although not this last few days because of the heat).

So, here's the lovely Ms. Danielle with the forecast, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Shop Deals

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

Also, Shop Wheelbarrows.

And, Arizona Arnold Lite Palmer 128 Fl. Oz. - 2 Packs.

More, Mountain House Just In Case...Classic Assortment Bucket.

Still more, Outdoor Boonie Sun Hat - UPF 50 Protection for Men & Women. Wide Brim Summer Hat. Waterproof for Fishing, Hiking, Camping, Boating & Outdoor Adventures. Breathable Polyester & Mesh.

Plus, Gold Armour: LED Lantern - Camping Lantern Equipment Gear - Camping Lights for Hiking, Emergencies, Hurricanes, Outages, Storms, 4 Pack.

Still more, SE KHK6320 Outdoor Tanto Knife with Fire Starter.

And, LG Electronics 43LJ5500 43-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2017 Model).

BONUS: Annika Mombauer, Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War.

Roy Bridge and Roger Bullen, The Great Powers and the European States System, 1814-1914

At Amazon, Roy Bridge and Roger Bullen, The Great Powers and the European States System, 1814-1914 (Volume 1) 2nd Edition.

T.G. Otte, July Crisis

This is great!

T.G. Otte is Professor of Diplomatic History at the University of East Anglia.

Here's his recent book, July Crisis: The World's Descent into War, Summer 1914.

At the video, he name-checks (and calls out) Fritz Fischer's, Germany's Aims in the First World War.

No Apologies: The NRA Stands Up for Truth (VIDEO)

The NRA's been in the eye of the storm for decades, so the latest attack on spokeswoman Dana Loesch is par for the course.

I posted earlier here, "WATCH: Dana Loesch Takes on Critics Who Accuse Her of 'Inciting Violence' in New Video for the NRA," and "Dana Loesch Slams 'Fake Feminists' Behind Anti-NRA Women's March (VIDEO)."

But see Legal Insurrection, "Dana Loesch Slams 'Fake Feminists' Behind Anti-NRA Women's March (VIDEO)."

And here's Grant Stinchfield for the NRA:

Nikki Haley May Be the Best Ambassador to the United Nations in History (VIDEO)

I can't think of another ambassador's who's been more forceful in protecting U.S. and Israeli interests.

I'm really impressed and I hope Ms. Nikki is able to turn her tenure into some presidential capital down the road. She's great.

At this morning's Face the Nation:

Sienna Miller Bikini Photos

She's a cool chick.

At the Superficial, "Brad Pitt Probably Banged Sienna Miller in a Winnebago."

(More at She Knows, "Brad Pitt & Sienna Miller Spotted, Reportedly Dating.")

Mom Defends Sexual Intercourse While Breastfeeding

All in the family, you might say.

At WWTDD, "Mom Defends Getting F***** While Breastfeeding Baby."

Paul M. Kennedy, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Paul M. Kennedy, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860-1914.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



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

Cartoon Credit: A.F. Branco, "Trump Playing the Media."

Emily Ratajkowski Peek Down Blouse

At Taxi Driver, "Emily Ratajkowski Nipple Peek Down Blouse View."

And at Drunken Stepfather, "Emily Ratajkowski - Photo Shoot on a Balcony in Paris - 7/5/17."

BONUS: At Vogue, "How Emily Ratajkowski and More Stars are Putting a Glamorous New Twist on the Topknot."

Hailey Clauson Sumba Island (VIDEO)

She's lovely.

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Somme

At Amazon, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Somme: Into the Breach.

Tomi Lahren on President Trump's Meeting with Vladimir Putin (VIDEO)

I'm not sure what Tomi Lahren's up to: Does she want to be the next Michelle Fields, and ingratiate herself on the left to facilitate ready employment? Or does she want to stay true to her principles and grind it out, working her way up in the media world by paying her dues? Well, if Judge Jeanine's bringing her on the show, I don't know if it's either of these things. Maybe she's still coasting along on whatever remaining capital she has after leaving Glenn Beck's network.

In any case, she's a smokin' hot woman. I dearly hope she sticks to her conservative bona fides.

Danielle Gersh's Record Temperatures Forecast

I was in all day today relaxing, reading, and watching some baseball. While my Angels are struggling, the Dodgers are absolutely on fire, with the best record in the major leagues.

And it was hot. Inland temperatures were in the triple-digits, and it got up to 93 today in Irvine.

So, try to stay cool folks.

Here's the fabulous Ms. Danielle with the forecast, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Just One More Illegal Immigrant Road Sign Left on Interstate 5

These stories are designed to pull at your heartstrings, in classic radical left style, although this is interesting nevertheless.

At LAT (safe link), "With only one left, iconic yellow road sign showing running immigrants now borders on the extinct":

So many immigrants crossing illegally into the United States through California were killed by cars and trucks along the 5 Freeway that John Hood was given an assignment.

In the early 1990s, the Caltrans worker was tasked with creating a road sign to alert drivers to the possible danger.

Silhouetted against a yellow background and the word “CAUTION,” the sign featured a father, waist bent, head down, running hard. Behind him, a mother in a knee-length dress pulls on the slight wrist of a girl — her pigtails flying, her feet barely touching the ground.

Ten signs once dotted the shoulders of the 5 Freeway, just north of the Mexican border. They became iconic markers of the perils of the immigrant journey north. But they began to disappear — victims of crashes, storms, vandalism and the fame conferred on them by popular culture.

Today, one sign remains. And when it’s gone, it won’t be replaced — the result of California’s diminished role as a crossing point for immigrants striving to make it to America....

*****

In the 1980s, more than 100 people were killed as they tried to cross freeway lanes in the San Ysidro area and between San Clemente and Oceanside. Caltrans wanted to do something about the problem and asked [artist John] Hood, a California Department of Transportation employee and Vietnam War veteran who grew up on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, to come up with a sign that would alert drivers and could reduce the number of deaths.

He eventually settled on using the image of a family in an effort to tug at the heart in a way a typical road sign might not. A little girl with pigtails, he thought, would convey the idea of motion, of running.

The sign was inspired by photographs of people crossing at the time, including those taken by former Los Angeles Times staff photographer Don Bartletti.

Caltrans first installed the signs in late 1990 and early 1991. After workers erected a median fence along the freeway’s trouble spots in 1994, officials decided not to replace any future signs that were lost. Around that time, federal officials launched Operation Gatekeeper, which fenced off the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego — pushing illegal immigration east, toward Arizona and Texas. That helped reduce the number of freeway-crossing deaths, Caltrans officials said.

“You create your work, and that’s the extent of it. You never envision something like that to happen,” Hood said about the sign’s evolution. “It’s become an iconic element. It lives on.”

Estela Dutra, a hairstylist at Selena Estetica Unisex on West San Ysidro Boulevard, said she always found the signs offensive. The image is akin to a cattle crossing, she said.

“It’s sort of humiliating, dehumanizing. It makes us look like animals ... primitive people,” she said.

The 72-year-old, a naturalized U.S. citizen, illegally crossed the border 40 years ago. She entered with ease as a car passenger along the San Ysidro crossing, she said.

“I wasn’t asked for a passport or a visa,” she said. “Can you believe it? Those were different times.”

Dutra said she gets teary-eyed when she sees the remaining sign on her way north from a day trip to Mexico. Her sadness doesn’t stem from her journey so long ago, but for those who continue to make the trip — which has become increasingly treacherous.

“I just feel so much sadness for all the families that have to go through that. Can you imagine how much they suffer?” she said. “The families that cross leave everything behind — the little they have — and risk it all.”

More (FWIW).

The truly big story here is that border enforcement works. California's enforcement at San Ysidro is really aggressive, with layers of militarized fencing and aggressive border patrols, with high-technology as well. We can expand this to the rest of the physically-adaptable border. It's doable, totally. It's a political question. That's all.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Shop Amazon Today

Thanks for supporting the blog!

Here, at Amazon, Today's Deals.

And, Savings in Car Audio.

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

More, Shop American Flags.

Still more, Banana Boat Ultra Mist Sport Performance Broad Spectrum Sun Care Sunscreen Spray - Twin Pack - SPF 30, 2 count, 6OZ.

Also, Biofreeze Pain Relieving Gel - 4 Ounce Tube - Pack of 4.

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

BONUS: Hew Strachan, The First World War: Volume I: To Arms.

Sailors and Marines Deploy from Naval Base San Diego (VIDEO)

I'm so glad the local network posts these stories. They're so important.

The family sacrifice is profound, but no complaints.

MAGA!

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Sailors and Marines in the America Amphibious Ready Group and 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit left San Diego Friday for a regularly scheduled deployment. The naval force is comprised of the amphibious assault ship USS America, amphibious transport dock USS San Diego and amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor.

During the deployment, they'll operate with embarked forces of the Camp Pendleton-based 15th MEU, the "Wildcards" of Coronado-based Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23, and various other units...

Doug Ross Reviews, Rediscovering Americanism

At Director Blue, "America’s Last History Teacher: A Review of Rediscovering Americanism, by Mark R. Levin."

Levin's a patriot. I don't always agree with him, but you won't go wrong appreciating his work.

At Amazon, Rediscovering Americanism: And the Tyranny of Progressivism.

Barbara Tuchman, The Zimmermann Telegram

I'm on a kinda pre-World War I reading jag now, thanks to Fritz Fischer's book.

I have this lovely vintage paperback copy of Barbara Tuchman's, The Zimmermann Telegram.

Thanks for your support!

Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought

At Amazon, Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War.

Richard Seymour, Corbyn

At Amazon, Richard Seymour, Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics.

This looks especially interesting in light of that Mark Penn op-ed the other day at the New York Times, and the American left's visceral response to it (at Memeorandum and Twitter).

David Weil, The Fissured Workplace

At Amazon, David Weil, The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It.

Amber Lee's Hot Temperatures Forecast

Well, the true July summer weather arrived on schedule.

It's been pushing 90 degrees in Irvine this past couple of days.

It's getting humid too.

And that's called the weather, heh.

Here's the lovely Ms. Amber, at KCAL 9 News Los Angeles:

Trump's Defining Speech

At WSJ, "In a presidency-defining speech in Poland, Mr. Trump defends the faith and freedom of the Western tradition":

The White House description of Donald Trump’s speech Thursday in Warsaw was simply, “Remarks by President Trump to the People of Poland.” In truth, Mr. Trump’s remarks were directed at the people of the world. Six months into his first term of office, Mr. Trump finally offered the core of what could become a governing philosophy. It is a determined and affirmative defense of the Western tradition.

To be sure, Mr. Trump’s speech also contained several pointed and welcome foreign-policy statements. He assured Poland it would not be held hostage to a single supplier of energy, meaning Russia. He exhorted Russia to stop destabilizing Ukraine “and elsewhere,” to stop supporting Syria and Iran and “instead join the community of responsible nations.” He explicitly committed to NATO’s Article 5 on mutual defense.

But—and this shocked Washington—the speech aimed higher. Like the best presidential speeches, it contained affirmations of ideas and principles and related them to the current political moment. “Americans, Poles and the nations of Europe value individual freedom and sovereignty,” he said. This was more than a speech, though. It was an argument. One might even call it an apologia for the West.

Mr. Trump built his argument out of Poland’s place in the history of the West, both as a source of its culture—Copernicus, Chopin—and as a physical and spiritual battlefield, especially during World War II. The word Mr. Trump came back to repeatedly to define this experience was “threat.”

During and after the war, Poland survived threats to its existence from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Mr. Trump believes that the West today confronts threats of a different sort, threats both physical and cultural. “This continent,” said Mr. Trump, “no longer confronts the specter of communism. But today we’re in the West, and we have to say there are dire threats to our security and to our way of life.”

He identified the most immediate security threat as an “oppressive ideology.” He was talking about radical Islam, but it is worth noting that he never mentioned radical Islam or Islamic State. Instead, he described the recent commitment by Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations to combat an ideological menace that threatens the world with terrorism. He compared this idea of mutual defense to the alliance of free nations that defeated Nazism and communism.

But the speech’s most provocative argument was about our way of life. It came when he described how a million Poles stood with Pope John Paul II in Victory Square in 1979 to resist Soviet rule by chanting, “We want God!”

“With that powerful declaration of who you are,” Mr. Trump said, “you came to understand what to do and how to live.”

This is a warning to the West and a call to action...

Still more.

And President Trump tweeted, "Thank you!"

Bella Hadid on the Runway

At the Mirror U.K., "Bella Hadid struts her stuff on the catwalk in sheer nipple-baring design before slipping into sexy silver number: The jet-setting beauty made her mark at the Alexandre Vauthier show on Tuesday."

And at Taxi Driver, "Bella Hadid in See-Through Top on the Runway."

Today's Deals

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

Also, GoPro HERO5 Black.

Here, Honeywell HT-900 TurboForce Air Circulator Fan, Black.

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

Glad Tall Kitchen Drawstring Trash Bags, 13 Gallon, 90 Count, (Packaging May Vary).

Here, 2 Pounds Unroasted Coffee Beans, Premium Select from RhoadsRoast Coffees (Brazil Cerrado Arabica - Natural 17/18 Screen Coffee Beans, 2 Pounds Unroasted Green Beans).

Kelloggs Frosted Whole Grain Mini Wheats, 70-Ounce.

More, Franklin Sports Field Master Series Fast-Pitch Softball Glove, Right-Hand Throw.

BONUS: Gordon Prange, At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor.

VIDEO: George Clooney — Hypocrite (and Complete Idiot)

I'm shaking my head at this.

Actions speak louder than words, and Clooney's proving how wrong leftists are, and how hypocritical is the entire leftist establishment.

At London's Daily Mail, "George Clooney 'planning to move Amal and their twins back to LA amid security concerns over $25m English country manor', claims magazine."

And watch, from Paul Joseph Watson:

New Album from Breakout Los Angeles Stars Haim

This is great.

They harken back to classic rock sounds, and it's all girls, heh.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Review: New album from L.A. breakout stars Haim makes you believe rock might have a future":

In the music video for “Want You Back,” the lead single from their long-awaited new album, the three sisters of Haim saunter down a deserted Ventura Boulevard, air-drumming as they pass the sushi joints and car dealerships of their native San Fernando Valley.

The video’s early morning shoot may have been the most alone time they’ve enjoyed since 2013. That’s when Haim released its hit debut, “Days Are Gone,” which after years of hard work around Los Angeles finally launched this crafty family band to stardom — and to highly visible relationships with a diverse array of pop luminaries.

Taylor Swift befriended the sisters and took them on tour. Calvin Harris put them on a thumping EDM track. Morris Day even recruited the trio to help him perform “Jungle Love” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Everywhere you turned, Haim was the life of someone’s party.

Now the group is back with “Something to Tell You,” which features contributions by what seems like half of L.A.’s musical community, including producers Ariel Rechtshaid and Rostam Batmanglij and first-call instrumentalists such as Greg Leisz and Lenny Castro.

For all the voices in the mix, though, “Something to Tell You,” due Friday, still feels defined by the unique bond that connects singer-guitarist Danielle Haim, bassist Este Haim and guitarist-keyboardist Alana Haim, who grew up playing music in a family band with their parents. The record makes you believe in the image in the “Want You Back” video of three women sharing a vivid private language.

It also makes you believe that rock might have a future (even if it’s only the genre’s past). On “Days Are Gone,” Haim looked back to the polished sound of vintage Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, and here the sisters continue to rely on guitars and the like at a moment when many of their peers have little use for them...

More.

Milo Yiannopoulos: An Establishment Conservative's Guide to the Alt-Right

Following-up, "Who is 'Alt-Right'?"

I'm reminded of the May '16 article by Milo Yiannopoulos, at Breitbart, "An Establishment Conservative's Guide to the Alt-Right." (Still worth a read, for sure.)

Also, at Instapundit, "IF YOU STRIKE ME DOWN, I SHALL ONLY BECOME MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE: Milo Yiannopoulos has sold 100,000 copies of his new book, Dangerous in a single day," and "PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: Milo Yiannopoulos Files $10M Lawsuit Against Simon & Schuster For Pulling His Book."

And check out Milo's book, currently sold out, heh, at Amazon, Dangerous.

Success is the best revenge, as they say.

H.L. Mencken, Prejudices

Years ago my dad bought me a little paperback copy of this book.

I wish I still had it, actually.

Interesting.

At Amazon, H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: The Complete Series.

Who is 'Alt-Right'?

I'm not, that's for sure.

Some of these people are too cozy with legitimate Nazis and white supremacists (here's looking at you, Lauren Southern). (And don't get me going about Cassandra Fairbanks, *eye-roll*.)

But I gotta hand it to 'em in turning the Alinsky tables on the radical left. Seriously, I can't begrudge the alt-right for taking the fight to the enemy. It's long overdue (you can't count on Beltway Republican barnacles to wage ideological warfare).

From Andrew Marantz, at the New Yorker, "The Alt-Right Branding War Has Torn the Movement in Two." (Via Memeorandum and Red State.)

War on Cops

Following-up, "Suspect in Miosotis Familia Execution Had Posted Anti-Cop Diatribes on Social Media — #BlackLivesMatter."

At timely as ever, Heather Mac Donald, at Amazon, The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe.

She's so awesome.

Suspect in Miosotis Familia Execution Had Posted Anti-Cop Diatribes on Social Media — #BlackLivesMatter

The main story's at the New York Times (FWIW), "Police Officer Is Fatally Ambushed at a Bronx Command Post."

Of course, with all the fake news dominating the leftist mass media, folks won't get to the real outrage of this story, which is that suspect hated the police. Where's all the "Black Lives Matter" protests against this abomination? Crickets from the left.

See the Blaze, "Man who allegedly killed NYPD officer Miosotis Familia publicly shared anti-police rant last year":

The man who allegedly killed an New York Police Department officer in an unprovoked attack early Wednesday has a history of negative views about police officers, according to a social media post he wrote last December.

Ex-convict 34-year-old Alexander Bonds posted a video on Facebook last September threatening to “do something” about police officers who he said were killing people.

“I’m not hesitating. It ain’t happening. I wasn’t a b**** in jail and I’m not going to be a b**** in these streets. They don’t f*** with me and I damn sure don’t f*** with them,” Bonds said in a Facebook video last September. “I’m not playing Mr. Officer. I don’t care about 100 police watching this s**t. You see this face or anything, then leave it alone, trust and believe. I got broken ribs for a reason, son. We gonna shake. We gonna do something.

“Don’t think every brother, cousin or uncle you got that get (unintelligible) in jail is because of a Blood or Crip,” Bonds said. “Police be killing and saying an inmate killed them.”

Police say Bonds fatally shot 48-year-old female NYPD officer Miosotis Familia in the head through the passenger window around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday as she sat in a mobile command unit writing in her notebook. The mother of three was a 12-year veteran of the force and was stationed in the area because of a triple shooting that happened in the area in March. Although NYPD patrol cars are equipped with bullet resistant windows, mobile command units do not have the same capabilities.

Authorities say they identified Bonds and caught up to him several blocks from the crime, fatally shooting him after he brandished a revolver at them. Bonds had reportedly had no prior contact with Familia...

And more at CBS News 2 New York:

Dana Loesch Slams 'Fake Feminists' Behind Anti-NRA Women's March (VIDEO)

From Tucker's show last night:

Amy B. Zegart, Spying Blind

At Amazon, Amy B. Zegart, Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11.

Pauline Maier, American Scripture

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence.

Los Angeles Once Teemed with Dozens of Adult Cinemas

Now there's only two porn theaters in town.

At the Los Angeles Times, "The last (porn) picture shows: Once dotted with dozens of adult cinemas, L.A. now has only two":

In 1979, there were an estimated 800 porn theaters across the United States. But video and streaming have rendered them obsolete. The website Cinema Treasures lists fewer than 35 places now operating as adult theaters in the U.S.

In the 1970s, Los Angeles teemed with dozens of porn theaters. Now only two remain: the Studs and the Tiki. They sit at opposite ends of Santa Monica Boulevard — the former in West Hollywood, the latter in East Hollywood, framing the city in an unseen porno-magnetic field. Both beckon with promises of titillation and, in the case of the Studs, a tag line that reads, “Come explore, relax, and take a load off.”

To investigate these last bastions of adult cinema, I enlisted the help of Los Angeles painter Zak Smith.

Smith is a Yale-educated artist who has appeared in more than half a dozen porn films under the name Zak Sabbath. He chronicled his experiences in the 2009 memoir “We Did Porn.” (Original drawings from that project are currently on view at Fabien Castanier Gallery in Culver City.)

He was curious to explore the L.A. theaters, neither of which he had visited.

“They’re vestigial,” he says. “Like with everything else, the old platforms for porn are being phased out. Software adapts fast, hardware adapts slower — and a theater is the ultimate hardware.”

Plus, Smith sees them as symbols of the ways in which sprawling Los Angeles can unwittingly harbor forgotten pockets of history.

“L.A.,” he explains, “is one of those places that always manages to have at least one of something that shouldn’t exist.”

More.

Charles Krauthammer: President Trump's Warsaw Speech Was His Best (VIDEO)

Following-up, "The End of Alliance."

Watch Dr. K's analysis, at Fox News, "Krauthammer: Trump's Warsaw speech was his best, Reaganesque."

Brooklyn Decker in Arizona (VIDEO)

Via Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Robert Kagan, The Return of History

At Amazon, Robert Kagan, The Return of History and the End of Dreams.

See also Kagan, Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order.

The End of Alliance

President Trump's in Europe and he gave a major address on American foreign relations in Poland today.

See LAT, "Trump frames anti-terrorism fight as a clash of civilizations, defending Western culture against enemies."

There's lots more at Memeorandum, for example, at VOX (safe link), "Trump's speech in Poland sounded like an alt-right manifesto."

And at Free Beacon, "President Trump's Remarkable Warsaw Speech."

More on all of that later.

Meanwhile, of related interest, see Michael Lind, at the National Interest, "Blocpolitik":

THE TRANSACTIONAL nationalism of Donald Trump horrifies the bipartisan foreign-policy establishment, because it suggests the president does not realize that bloc maintenance is not merely one of several goals, but the overriding objective, of U.S. strategy. From the elite perspective, asking whether Americans are getting their money’s worth by protecting Japan, South Korea and rich NATO allies is tantamount to asking for a cost-benefit analysis of federal-government protection of the American South or West Coast. Most members of the foreign-policy elite can no more conceive of South Korea or Poland outside of the U.S. military bloc than they can conceive of Virginia or California outside of the United States of America. Their alarm may be premature, because Trump appears more interested in pressuring American allies to contribute more to U.S.-led alliances than in dissolving them.

Like their American counterparts, the foreign-policy establishments in European nations are not dominated by Bismarckian realists, coldly calculating on a day-to-day basis whether the costs of membership in NATO and EU outweigh the benefits, from the point of view of national interests, narrowly defined. In the campaign that culminated in the vote for Brexit last summer, it was the outsider populists who made arguments in favor of the British (or English) national interests. The British elite was almost entirely opposed. Sometimes they argued on pragmatic grounds that the cost of Brexit would be disastrously high. But it was clear that being part of the European Union, like being part of a trans-Atlantic Euro-American system, was a major part of their personal and professional identities. For most elite Britons, a British departure from the EU could only be thought of as a joke or a nightmare.

The mystery that puzzled Rip Van Winkle in our fable is solved, then. The Soviet threat may have been the original stimulus to the formation of NATO and, indirectly, of an integrated Europe. But the trans-Atlantic Euro-American bloc is so integrated, so held together by ties of military cooperation, economic interdependence and shared values, and so fundamental to the personal identity of elites on both sides of the Atlantic that it endures even in the absence of a credible Russian superpower threat, to which Putin’s limited revisionism cannot be compared.

In other regions, like East, Central and South Asia and the Persian Gulf, there is less deep transnational integration and more traditional arm’s-length alliances. And there is nothing like the common, crusading ideology of Marxism-Leninism in the former Communist bloc or the dominant, if not universal, left-liberal variant of democracy in the contemporary European Union. It is in Asia, rather than in the North Atlantic, that something like the traditional realist account of transactional national diplomacy based on calculations of discrete state interests can still be found.

But even there, in the heartland of twenty-first-century realpolitik, conventional American realists are likely to be refuted. The reason is that the offshore-balancing strategy favored by many realists, with the United States as the “holder of the balance” among multiple great powers, is likely to be rendered irrelevant by the long-term growth of Chinese wealth and power and its consequent regional hegemony.

One alternative to shifting balances of power is provided by more or less fixed geographic spheres of influence. Spheres of influence are disliked by both realists and idealists, including neoconservatives and hawkish neoliberals. But this is a relatively recent development in American history. Before the world wars, the United States channeled the Monroe Doctrine and identified its own sphere of influence. The Open Door doctrine promoted by the United States and Britain more than a century ago was compatible with European and Japanese spheres of influence within the territory of a then powerless and divided China. Although Franklin Roosevelt seems to have envisioned his “Four Policemen”—the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China—policing their regions after World War II, the Cold War quickly became a contest among rival liberal and Communist visions for the loyalties of postcolonial nations and the “captive nations” of Soviet-controlled Europe. In practice, of course, the United States and USSR defended their spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Central America. But the idea that the weak neighbors of a regional great power or superpower should defer to the local hegemon fell out of favor. Indeed, in November 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry declared, “The era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.”

One interpretation of this would be that the historic Monroe Doctrine had lost its relevance in the post–Cold War period, in which the United States asserted its exclusive sphere of influence as the world’s only superpower, not only in the Americas but also in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and every other region. Today, however, America’s project of converting hegemony within its Cold War bloc into universal hegemony—turning the entire planet into a single sphere of influence, as it were—has collapsed thanks to Chinese and Russian resistance and the war-weariness of the American public. But the U.S. foreign-policy establishment refuses to acknowledge the failure of America’s recent bid for global hegemony, pretending instead that the so-called “liberal world order” is under unjustified assault by China, Russia and perhaps Iran. Because China and Russia are engaged in moderate pushback against the American bloc in Asia and Europe, they are supposed to be threats to liberalism, the rule of law and global democracy. Meanwhile, America’s illiberal and antidemocratic allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar, responsible for promoting Salafist jihadist proxies in Syria and elsewhere, are supposed to be understood as states that uphold the liberal world order. This is just propaganda, of a particularly Orwellian kind. What the bipartisan U.S. foreign-policy elite and its allies abroad call the liberal world order is nothing more than the contemporary American bloc, like the “Free World” of the Cold War...

Still lots more, at the link.

Émile Zola, Germinal

I just finished this surprisingly good novel.

At Amazon, Émile Zola, Germinal.

I say "surprisingly good" since the book caught me off guard. It was snappy and felt contemporary, despite being published in 1885.

The main thing is that I was hooked after the first chapter. I can go for a hundred pages or so even if I'm not hooked, but then a novel feels like work. If you're sucked in right off the bat, then it's pure pleasure reading. You don't want to put it down. I love that.

And then, of course, it's a fascinating novel of class struggle (French miners fighting labor exploitation by the "bourgeois" ruling class in the Nord). Indeed, I just picked it up at a used book store by chance, although you'd think leftists would be shouting this one to the moon. (Leftists aren't all that bright, especially the social media trolls, heh).

In any case, it's good summer reading if you're so inclined. And you can check off one of those "classic novels" you've been meaning to read, which is important in my case (since I like to think of myself as a cultured, literate person, heh).

Pauline Maier, From Resistance to Revolution

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Pauline Maier, From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776.

#NationalBikiniDay: Jessica Gomes Goes Down Under in Sydney (VIDEO)

Following-up, "National Bikini Day."

Via Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

How is CNN Not Embarrassed?

From Melissa Mackenzie, at the American Spectator:

A random person created the silly gif of Trump body-slamming CNN, which President Trump then tweeted. It’s important to remember that this was the precipitating event that lead CNN to use its myriad resources to seek out the random person and threaten exposure and shame …for creating a stupid gif.

CNN’s editorial bias and noxious behavior predates the stupid gif. Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta got in a shouting match with President Trump. Trump, in turn, called CNN Fake News. Of course, “Fake News” is now, itself, a meme.

There is tension.

But this infantile jostling between press and president is one thing. It’s another to use resources to target those who create the memes, gifs, and parodies, and threaten those people with exposure if they don’t apologize.

Good people are defending the reporters doing the legwork to find the poor Reddit slob who created the gif. Ridiculous! The reporter may be a nice person, but he’s lost his mind.

That’s what’s happening right now. Decent people are losing their minds and doing profoundly destructive, self-harming, and outlandish things in the defense of what?

Pride?

At what cost is the nonsense proceeding? Do the anti-Trump media and mouth-breathers on the left cheering them on (they’re one and the same, but for the sake of argument), know what they’re doing?

Every day that the media continues to act like rage-monster toddlers, they lose credibility and value. No one will believe their reporting, that’s assured. What’s worse, no one will believe anything at all.

This is a terrible crisis of a whole institution. Last week it was the childish Joe and Mika cutting short a vacation to tangle with the President. This week it’s CNN...

More.

#CNNBlackmail: What Fake News Network's Doxing Threat Says About Journalism

From David Harsanyi, at the Federalist, "What CNN’s Threat to Dox a Redditor Tells Us About the State of Journalism."

PREVIOUSLY: "Backlash Against CNN!"

National Bikini Day

At USA Today, "A brief look at the Bikini: National Bikini Day is July 5th."

BONUS: Flashback, "Smokin' Bikini Model Shendelle Schokman at Cardiff State Beach in Encinitas," and "Shendelle Schokman Bikini Beach Stroll."

North Korea Missile Provokes U.S.

Pfft.

NoKo would be destroyed in seconds of it tried to fight a nuclear war with the U.S.

No, the regime should not get nukes, but let's keep things in perspective.

At USA Today, "Analysis: North Korea missile launch raises the stakes in a big way. What now?":

North Korea’s successful launch of a missile that for the first time could reach the U.S. mainland ratchets up the pressure on President Trump and other world leaders to resolve a growing nuclear crisis with no easy solution.

The test launch came on the Fourth of July, and just three days before a Group of 20 summit convenes in Hamburg, Germany. The timing is almost certainly not coincidental. North Korea uses such occasions to call attention to its provocative acts — and its test elevates the urgency with which Trump and U.S. allies may feel compelled to respond. Hours after the North Korean launch, the Eighth U.S. Army and South Korean military fired surface-to-surface missiles into South Korean waters in a demonstration of capability, the U.S. Army said in a statement.

Trump has repeatedly called on China to rein in its neighbor and close ally. China on Tuesday suggested a compromise: North Korea would stop missile tests if the United States and South Korea scaled back military exercises in the region.

Tuesday evening, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed the intercontinental ballistic missile launch and called it a “new escalation” of the threat. He vowed to bring additional international pressure on the regime.

“The United States seeks only the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the end of threatening actions by North Korea. As we, along with others, have made clear, we will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea,” Tillerson said in a statement. “Global action is required to stop a global threat. Any country that hosts North Korean guest workers, provides any economic or military benefits, or fails to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions is aiding and abetting a dangerous regime. All nations should publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to their pursuit of nuclear weapons.”

Trump has said he would be willing to try the diplomatic route, and even agreed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un face-to-face. Prior diplomatic overtures by two U.S. presidents, Bill Clinton and George W.  Bush, proved failures when the North reneged on the agreements.

North Korea appears intent on developing a nuclear-tipped missile that could hit the United States, saying it needs such a deterrent to prevent a U.S. attack aimed at overthrowing the regime...

More.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying

Lawrence Meyers cited her in my previous entry.

At Amazon, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and Their Own Families.

Why the Left Hates Trump So Much

From Lawrence Meyers, at Town Hall.

On Twitter yesterday, once again I noticed how deeply infected leftists are with Trump Derangement Syndrome.

It's war out there.

Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail

At Amazon, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty.